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OCTOBER 2004
“I do not agree with a word of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it”
- Joltaire
ISSN 0266 - 44 88 Vol. XXIII No. 10 OCTOBER 2004
Published by: TAMIL TIMES LTD PO Box 121, Sutton, Surrey SM13TD United Kingdom Phone: 020 - 8644 0972 Fax: 020 - 8241 45.57
Email: admin(atamiltimes.org editor(a)tamiltimes.org p.rajanayagam (abtconnect.com Website: http://www.tamiltimes.org
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Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. The publishers assume no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork.
CONTENTS
Stalemate Continues O3 Peace Council meets 05 Playing a corrective role O7 Options for Sri Lanka 09 Fratricidal killings 13 Call to LTTE on human rights 15 Rise and fall of JHU 16 Remembering Rajini 19 News Track 25 Ananda Coomaraswamy 33 Classified 36
Cover Page . Seväthousands took parti
Samadhi' - meditation for peace on 2
Sept 2004 in Colombo (abowe) LTTE delegation led by SPTamilselvan leaving for Europe om 28 Sept (below)
St.
Given the cont have behaved in idea of Constitutin sections of societ national Consensu the LTTE is a desi dent Kumaratung Lanka's parliame Society to particip; Council for Peace invited the Current the main oppositio to co-chair the ( Rajapakse. True 1 the day. Not only invitation to co-cha the meeting therel for which the NAC Not surprisingl Sri Siddhartha Su ter Speaking at th Concern at the U why the UNP lead While the prev be Commended fo peace process, it talks in April 2003 recognize that ma Cluded from the t taken not in a tra entire process rais cions among thos In this backgro NAC would have | put forward and ex resuming peace ta during the previou Self Governing AU and Constitutional land.
Many have bla larly between the main obstacle to The LTTE itself h; One voice'. Hence sider their boycott and contribute to i COmmitment to er then he ought to NAC and take full
There appears
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 3
Peace TalkS alemate Continues
radictory manner in which the major political parties the past while in government and in opposition, the g a Consultative process involving wider influential y, including political parties, with the aim of forming IS on the ethnic issue and peace negotiations with rable and Welcome one. Pursuant to this idea, Presia had invited all political parties represented in Sri mt, religious dignitaries and Cross sections of Civil ate in the inaugural meeting of the National Advisory and Reconciliation (NAC). The President had also leader of the Opposition in parliament and leader of n United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremasinghe, council along with the Prime Minister Mahinda 'O form petty parochial partisan political rivalry won did Ranil Wickremasinghe decline the President's air the meeting, but also his party decided to boycott by seeking to seriously undermine the very purpose
Was Convened. y therefore that the Most Venerable Thibbotuwawe mangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwate Chaphe inaugural meeting of the NAC expressed grave NP's absence saying that he could not understand tership was keeping away from the forum. ious government under Ranil Wickremasinghe must or the way in which it helped to carry forward the must be realized that the LTTE pulled out of peace when his government was in power. It is also well to iny concerned individuals and organizations felt exhen ongoing peace process that was being undernsparent manner. The secrecy that surrounded the sed exaggerated and unnecessary fears and suspie who felt that they were being kept out. und, one would have thought that the platform of the provided an ideal opportunity for all stakeholders to change views with a view to forming a consensus on alks with the LTTE taking account of what transpired Is 6 rounds of talks, LTTE's proposal for an Interim Ithority (SGA), and generally on the type of political solution which can lead to lasting peace in the is
med the absence of "a southern consensus, particutwo major political parties - SLFP and UNP - as the eaching a political settlement to the ethnic conflict. as called upon the 'southern parties' to 'speak with , the UNP and its leader are well advised to reconof the NAC and act with a sense of responsibility its deliberations. If the UNP leader is genuine in his lding the conflict and seeking a negotiated peace, accept the President's offer to him to co-chair the
part in its deliberations. to be hardly any difference between the Govern

Page 4
4 TAMIL TIMES
ment's and the UNP's positions in regard to the resumption of peace talks with the LTTE. The President at the inaugural meeting of the NAC set out the government's position clear: "The LTTE insists that the government should agree to discuss at first only their SGA proposals. The government's position has been that we accept the Concept of setting up an Interim Administration in the interim period, whilst a permanent solution is negotiated and implemented. But, we require a commitment from the LTTE that the Interim Administration as well as the final solution would be based on the Oslo Declaration signed by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE which declared that the Federal solution should be sought within the framework of a united Sri Lanka."
G. L. Peiris on behalf of the UNP told the press on 7 October, "The President during her National Advisory Council (NAC) speech indicated that she would start talks based on the Oslo Declaration. That is exactly our position." The UNP leader on 19 October addressing his parliamentary group said, "The Tokyo declaration stresses the necessity for an Interim Administration for reconstruction and development of the North East. Further, parties have agreed on a blue-print, a federal system in the areas of historical habitation of the Tamils, based on internal Selfdeterminataion within a united Sri Lanka, for a political solution.”
It is therefore clear that both the main political parties hold similar positions on the issue of resump
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OCTOBER 2004
on of peace talks. The LTTE says that it is ready to estart talks which have remained suspended for the ast 19 months. The question therefore is as to why he Norwegian facilitators are finding hard to get the parties to the negotiating table.
It is learnt that the LTTE insists that any resumed alks must be based only on its ISGA proposal withbut reference to the Oslo declaration in which "the parties agreed to explore a solution founded on the orinciple of internal self-determination in areas of hisCorical habitation of the Tamill-speaking peoples, based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka. The parties acknowledged that the solution has to be acceptable to all communities." This agreement between the Government and the LTTE was reached during the third round of talks held in Oslo from 2 to 5 December 2002.
It is said that the Government's insistence on the LTTE reiterating its commitment to the Oslo declaration is that it is of the view that the LTTE's SGA proposal does not accord with any known model of a federal structure, and therefore contrary to the Oslo declaration. In the Government's characterization of the ISGA proposal, it is a blueprint for a confederal structure, if not outright secession. Some within government circles go as far as to say that the condition put by the LTTE for starting the talks only on the basis of the SGA without reference to the Oslo declaration not only represents a retreat from its previous commitment to a federal solution, but also gives away its hidden separatist agenda.
The Government also is keen to ensure that any interim structure that is set up should be part of a continuum leading to the final settlement, which, of course, will have to accord with the provisions of the Oslo declaration.
On the other hand, the LTTE is insisting that the talks should begin only on the basis of its proposal for an ISGA. It is refusing to allow any other proposal to be put on the table at the start of the talks. It says that after the talks start, the Government may move amendments to the ISGA proposal and come out with its own ideas. The LTTE has also made it clear that it will not be prepared at this stage to enter into any discussion on the core political issues for an eventual constitutional settlement. That, it says, can be taken up only after the ISGA has been set up, institutionalised and has worked successfully for an unspecified period of time.
So the stalemate continues. It is reported that the Norwegian Special Envoy, Eric Solheim and Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi are due to arrive in Colombo with a view to persuading the parties to agree on suitable agenda for the resumption of talks. There is also pressure upon the parties from the international community, particularly from the United States and European Union, to get back to the negotiating table. One hopes that this pressure and the efforts of these gentlemen yield positive results.

Page 5
OCTOBER 2004
National Advisory Co
aims at national cons
The inaugural meeting of the National Advisory Council on Peace and Reconciliation (NAC) proposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga aimed at building a national consensus vital for implementing a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict took place at the Presidential Secretariat on October 4. Mahanayake Theras, as well as religious leaders from all the religious communities and leaders of political parties represented in the Parliament barring the main opposition party the UNP, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) attended the meeting. Also present were the leaders and representatives of the major non-governmental organisations promoting a peaceful resolution of the conflict and lasting peace in Sri Lanka.
President. Kumaratunga had invited all political parties represented in Sri Lanka's parliament, religious dignitaries and cross sections ofCivil Society to participate in the inaugural meeting of the National NAC.
A media release issued by Sri Lanka President's office said, “The NAC will be a broad-based national forum that will provide a means for the people of this country to contribute towards a political settlement and work towards reconciliation. The NAC will comprise three standing committees namely, a political, religious and civil society, which is, expected to consult, so as to ascertain the widest possible spectrum of views on how to bring about a negotiated political settlement and peace with dignity and democracy.”
Many who have been campaigning for a "bipartisan southern consensus' on the ethnic issue were dismayed by the decision of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and its leader Ranil Wickremasinghe not to attend the meeting of the NAC. The UNP kept out of the inaugural sessions insisting there was no purpose in building a southern consultation or consensus until peace talks are first resumed with the LTTE.
The political head of the LTTE, Thamilselvan, speaking from Geneva, described the council as a "time-wasting tactic' and said stalled peace negotiations
could resume on the proposal for an Int( Authority.
The Tamil Na (TNA) boycotting t stated, “The JVP, th alliance partner, a Urumaya (JHU), a parliament strident mencement of talk posals. This must in proposed national A Peace and Reconci exercise in futility. the recommenceme ess, in a meaningfu boycotted the meet Prime Minister who made the open Government is full gotiated settlement He said the negotia will be transparent tation with all dem ties and all sections The President plained the purpo: NAC. She Said: “W on the following te tional forum for Peace process betw and the citizenry, 1 elected representati their religious lead of civil society.
This council w where the Goverr country informed ( negotiations proce ures undertaken foi and for reconstruct of the North East. forum for its memb ernmentoftheirvie regard to the Peact them to suggest ap process forward. I every one of the va constitute our natic heard on this most tion, interested gr to express their v the council. I also would serve as a f advise to the Gov
 

TAMIL TIMES 5
basis of the LTTE's rim Self-Governing
tionalist Alliance he event had earlier : government's main d the Jathika Hela barty represented in y oppose the comon the ISGA proevitable result in the dvisory Council on iation becoming an It would only retard ht of the peace procway.” The JHU too ng. Mahinda Rajapakse ing remarks said the 7 committed to a neof the ethnic crisis. tions with the LTTE und will bein consulocratic political parof the civil society. in her address exse of setting up the e envisaged the NAC rms: Firstly, as a naconsultation on the een the Government mainly through their ves and also through rs, as well as leaders
ill serve as a forum, ment will keep the f the progress of the ss, as well as measethnic reconciliation on and development t will also serve as a rs to inform the Govws and concerns, with Process and also for proaches to move the will be a forum for ied communities that 1, to have their voices 'rucial issue. In addiups could be invited aws and concerns to Lope that this council rum for dialogue and rnment on measures
that need to be adopted for national reconciliation, unity and ethnic harmony.” She made it clear that the consultation in this national forum is not meant to be an alternate to the negotiation between the Government and the LTTE. "My government shall continue to engage the LTTE, who we recognise as the primary actor, in the process of negotiating an end to the conflict and attaining peace. My Government's dialogue with the LTTE will be a separate and priority process. But as a democratic, people's government, we are under obligation to keep ourselves properly briefed of the views and concerns of all our peoples. We are aware that many peace efforts have stumbled due to the non-inclusion of the major players of our body politic in the process. We believe that any peace process must be open, inclusive and obtain the participation of the people at various levels. If everyone is not willing to participate, we must endeavour to obtain at least, the inclusion of the majority of our peoples. This is why we believe that a forum or institution such as the NAC is essential for that part of the Peace Process which should include the participation of the country. We see the two processes as moving parallel. The Government will engage the LTTE and continue the dialogue with it, through the facilitators, whilst the Government will separately consult with the country through the people's representatives, within the framework of the NAC. The first process is not dependent on the second, neither is the second on the first,” the President said.
On the contentious issue that is holding up the resumption of the peace talks, she said: "The LTTE insists that the government should agree to discuss at first only their ISGA proposals. The government's position has been that we accept the concept of setting up an Interim Administration in the interimperiod, whilst a permanent solution is negotiated and implemented. But, we require a commitment from the LTTE that the Interim Administration as well as the final solution would be based on the Oslo Declaration signed by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE which declared that the Federal solution should be sought within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. The negotiations with the LTTE as well as the consultation within the NAC could work out the level and extent of devolution and other details regarding this.'
She also indicated the kind of politi

Page 6
6 TAMIL TIMES
cal settlement needed to ensure ethnic harmony and permanent peace in the entire country. She said: "We believe that the solution lies in seeking alternatives to the concept of a monolithic, unitary State - to blend power with principle, to reconcile authority with freedom. We are looking at a form of power sharing with a high level of democratic participation in decision-making, law-making and governance by the regional authorities or the devolved units. We do not believe that the dismemberment of the Sri Lankan State, demanded by the LTTE through the employment of terrorist means, would in anyway be a solution to the Tamil peoples problems. We are seeking a compromise that would satisfy the aspirations of all the communities ofpeoples living within our State - a compromise that would be democratic and pluralistic.”
President Chandrika Kumaratunga also urged UNP Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesingheto reconsider his decision to boycott the NAC. Emphasising the importance of southern consensus on a suitable structure for settling the conflict once and for all, the President quoted from the speech made by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on November 26 last year: “Whenever the party in power attempts to resolve the Tamil issue, the party in opposition opposes it and derails the effort. This mode of conflict continues even when the opposition becomes the ruling party and attempts reconciliation. This Sinhala political drama with its typical historical pattern has been staged regularly for the last fifty years.” The President further said that as a negative consequence of this chess game, in which the Tamils were used as pawns, several peace efforts had failed, several peace negotiations had collapsed, several peace agreements had been torn apart and several peace pacts had become defunct. Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Maha Nayaka Thera of the Malwatte Chapter in his speech said: "It is with the pure and noble intention of ushering peace to our mother land that I address this inaugural meeting of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation that was formed to re-establish peace in this island of Sri Lanka. I wish to express our delight and blessings for Her Excellency the President's resolute endeavour to establish this Advisory Council to usher in peace.'
“The winner creates hatred in the mind of the loser. The loser lives in sor
row. One who lives i in tranquility by ren tory and defeat. This pronounced by Budd be mindful of when peaceful resolution of istic manner,” the Ven Thera said in his addr Later, he conveyed UNP’s decision to ke NACPR to the deleg ganisations who calle He said that he could r the UNP leadership from the forum when tunga had convened til raise a united voice tc the national problem. tion was also urged by ticipate in the NACPE UNP when it expla LTTE's position on th mate in the peace talk The Archbishop of Oswald Gomis said il in peace we must ha mind to believe we n we must have peace stressed that no peac while having dispute parties and religions. periences prove that united we stand,' hes Vidyanithi Brahm Sharma who spoke or lowers of Hinduism pl of late Prime Minister naike to establish reg appealed to Presiden consider the establish He said he believed tribute largely in solvi Urging the President talks without any furt “There may be hindra but we should not wit expectation we have o said.
Moulavi M HIME religious leader said, working for peace thanked the President NACPR and said it ha form to openly disci minorities. With regar ess he said "the final acceptable to all.
Foreign Minister amar said: "I earnest position Leader to thi ring to the face-to-fa US President George

OCTOBER 2004
equanimity lives puncing both vicis the eternal truth na that we have to we contemplate a conflicts in a realcrable Mayanayaka
CSS.
his regret over the ep away from the ates of various ori on him in Kandy. otunderstand why was keeping away President Kumarahe NAC in a bid to find a solution to The TNA delega’ the prelate toparR together with the lined to him the e continuing stale
S. fColombo Rt. Rev. we were to usher ve the strength of eed peace and that . The Archbishop e can be achieved s among political “Our own past exdivided we fall, aid. lasri S Kuhananda behalf of the folraised the proposal SWR D Bandaraional councils, he t Kumaratunga to ment of the same. hat it would conng the ethnic issue. to resume peace her delay, he said: inces to our target hdraw. That is the fthe President' he
Buhari, the Islamic “Islam considers - worship”. He for setting up the is provided a platuss grievances of l to the peace procolution should be
Lakshman Kadirgy request the Opnk again.' Refer:e debate between Bush and his op
ponent John Kerry which he himself attended, he said though the debate was hard-hitting, they were cordial to each other. The minister said in a mature democracy dialogue and civility is important.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa in his speech said though the JVP was sitting on this council where there were different parties it did not mean that all shared the same opinion regarding the peace process. “We have differences of opinions but that should not be an obstacle for peace talks," he said. For some reason we as a nation have still not been able to correct the divide and rule policy bequeathed on us by the Colonial Era even during the post colonial period. "Since we had not been able to get over that trap and march forward, we have been faced with a grave national crisis today', he said. He observed, "Diversity of communities was a factor which helped to beautify a country or region. But unfortunately, this factor which should beautify our nation had led to its division on new cultural lines and boundaries. A great and onerous responsibility is cast on us all today to prevent our cultural and national identities from becoming boundaries that would divide our nation.'
Minister Douglas Devananda, Secretary General (EPDP) said: “I am one of the many Tamil militants, who, after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement, convinced that our armed struggle had proved the point that the Sri Lankan State could not continue to deny the legitimate rights of the Tamil people, and that it would henceforth be possible for the Tamil people to live as equals with the Sinhalese and the Muslims within a united Sri Lanka, if substantial devolution of powers to the Provinces could be guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Having spelt out from the standpoint on the EPDP, the salient features that the solution to the ethnic problem should contain and traced the history of the several failed attempts to reach a constitutional settlement to the conflict, he turned on to the present predicament of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. He said: "The concept of "sole representation' is self-destructive. It precludes political pluralism and democracy. Consequently, it results in the loss of human rights.” He fervently appealed to the LTTE, and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, “if you really have the interests of the Tamil people at

Page 7
OCTOBER 2004
heart, if you do not want the Tamil people to suffer any more and, if you really desire a political solution to the ethnic problem within a united Sri Lanka founded on the federal structure as agreed to by your representative in Oslo in December 2002, please return to the negotiating table. Any further delay in returning to the negotiating table would be a betrayal of the Tamil people. Please grab this opportunity presented to you once again by the President."
SLMC Deputy Leader M.M. Shaheer was quite direct in his brief speech where he said a Muslim delegation should be an integral part of the peace delegation.
The National Peace Council (NPC) in a press release stated the NAC was "a start to a more broad-based peace process in which there is more dialogue and less unilateralism.'
Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Nirupama Rao is reported to have praised President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's decision to convene an all party National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation as an excellent effort to usher peace into the country when she called on Tourism and Investment Promotion Minister Anura Bandaranaike at his Rosmead Place residence recently. She also said there is a manifest transparency and emphasis on regional cooperation in the Government's peace efforts and expressed confidence that the NACPR will receive the consensus ofall political partiesto find a joint solution to the country's ethnic probiem.
Apparently, there are three different aims of the peace process that are reflected in the stands of the Government, the main opposition party the UNP and the LTTE/TNA on the NACPR. The President has throughout believed in a constitutional settlement to the national conflict, the UNP continues to stick to its strategy ofkeeping the LTTE engaged in peace talks with the view to expedite the development of the national economy through increased foreign assistance and the LTTE does not want the talks to deviate from its goal of setting up the Interim Self-Governing Authority for the North-East. Coincidentally, the UNP's strategy favours the LTTE in realising its goal directly or indirectly if a negotiated political settlement is not feasible.
The UNP previously having given
Intern playim
The LTTE's high egation to Europe, lec leader, SP Thamilselv run into problems th pate.
Their purpose in tı was said to be to cor tional experts on thei interim self-governin Northeast. It was also ternational communi stance on resuming t the basis of those IS( the LTTE delegation h other messages that seriously considerift as a credible political eyes of the world.
the impression that
should agree to resum on the basis of the II posal now appears tc stance. The leader O Wickramasinghe, addr the UNP Parliamental toberheld at the Parli said, "The Tokyo decl necessity for an Inter for reconstruction an the North East. Furi agreed on a blue-prin in the areas of historic Tamils, based on in minataion withina un a political solution. for the Government is immediately. We are r one to accept the LT1 als in total. The UN talks based on the should be started. A ceed, alternative propc up. Delay creates se economy as foreign blocked." However, i ther in fact the LTTE resume talks on the together with the Oslo rations.

TAMIL TIMES 7
ational community ng a corrective role
Jehan Perera
level political delby political wing an, appears to have ey did not antici
ravelling to Europe hsult with internar proposals for an g authority for the to canvass the inty regarding their he peace talks on GA proposals. But lave been receiving they will need to hey are to advance organisation in the
the Government ption ofpeace talks LTTE's ISGA prohave changed its if the UNP, Ranil essing a meeting of ry group on 19 Ocamentary complex aration stresses the im Administration d development of ther, parties have t, a federal system al habitation of the ternal self-deterLited Sri Lanka, for The only way out to start peace talks lot pressuring anyE's ISGA proposP's stance is that ISGA proposals s discussions pro}sals could be taken vere strain on the assistance remains It is doubtful whewill be prepared to basis of the ISGA ) and Tokyo declaO
The most important component of the peace process is the ceasefire agreement. There have been many occasions in the past two and a half years when the ceasefire has seemed to be seriously threatened.
The discovery of LTTE arms shipments by the navy, the movement of LTTE troops across government lines without permission and the initial government support for the breakaway LTTE faction headed by Karuna led to very tense and dangerous situations. But, the most continuous source of tension that had eroded public faith in the ceasefire has been the LTTE assassinations of their Tamil political opponents and of government informants.
During their stay in Geneva the LTTE's political delegation met with representatives of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists. These leading human rights organisations took up the issue ofpolitical killings and recruitment of child soldiers with the LTTE. Nicholas Howen, Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists said that they expected the LTTE to respect international human rights standards. He added that they had "appealed to the senior LTTE leaders to show the world that they are both willing and capable ofrespecting the lives and rights of all Sri Lankans.”
Loubna Freih, the Resident Representative of Human Rights Watch in Geneva said she objected to the LTTE's killing of "perceived Tamil opponents and recruiting child soldiers." Paul Splinter of Amnesty International said that the "climate of fear, especially in the east, will make it even more difficult to find a lasting peace in the country."
A joint press release by the three organisations also said that such victims included Tamil political parties not aligned with the LTTE, members of rival factions in eastern Sri Lanka, and sundry military informants reporting to the Sri Lankan government.

Page 8
8 TAMIL TIMES
In addition Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen wholeads the Norwegian facilitation team to Sri Lanka met with the LTTE delegation in Geneva and impressed on them the need to end the political killings and other violations of the ceasefire that had negative implications for the peace process.
The Norwegian embassy put out a statement that said, among others, “Helgesen stated that Norway condemned the political killings taking place in Sri Lanka and appealed to the delega
tion that the LTTE does everything pos
sible to stop such killings.”
The Norwegians appear to be realising that unless the killings stop the peace process is unlikely to move forward and the government will find it difficult to establish an LTTE-dominated interim administration for the north east that has credibility among the people.
Addressing bias
After they signed the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE found themselves treated in a very positive manner by most of the international community. The international community was impressed that the LTTE, which had gained the reputation of being among the world's deadliest militant organisations, had turned towards a political process of conflict resolution.
Thereafter, the emphasis of the international community appeared to be a desire to engage with the LTTE by giving them economic aid and exposure visits rather than to criticise them. This has resulted in a widespread perception in Sri Lanka that the international community is biased towards the LTTE.
The Norwegian facilitators, in particular, have been accused of being biased towards the LTTE. As the facilitator, Norway has played the vitally important role of engaging closely with the LTTE, building up confidence and preparing the LTTE for dealing with the political process.
It is difficult for a party that is having a close relationship with another to publicly chastise or condemn the other. The more likely course of action would be to bring up disagreements in private. In the face of the LTTE's stubborn persistence in eliminating its rivals and other ceasefire violations, the facilitation of Norway has been easy to criticise as be
ing unduly favourab The LTTE's acti months of ceasefire desired. The records tional monitors show violated the ceasefi times as against l l crnment.
Most of these ha child recruitment, but incidents where ther selves put into extr LTTE. Further, the tributed 146 killing to the LTTE. In this by the Norwegian fa handed in their pub regard to the condu is likely to be percei The Norwegiar monitoring mission ceived as partial tov ineffective. This has its inability to stop lating provisions of ment. The problem i openly refused to he international monito A solution wou the role of the interna this can only happer ment and LTTE agre ened role. In the abst of peace talks such likely to materialise dor Juergen Weerth man national dayce responsibility for Sl its political elite anc seen in this context.
Unfair criticism
Speaking on the man day of unity, th dorto Sri Lanka mad Norway's role in th recent months Norw under increasingly h from sections withi disturbing instance Lanka Broadcasting September carried item a story that col an attempt to under ibility in the minds ( some unnamed exp from India, Philippi having condemned hypocritical in conde

OCTOBER 2004
le to the LTTE.
}ns over the first 28 have left much to be kept by the internathat the LTTE have re agreement 2439 times by the gov
ve been incidents of there have also been nonitors were thememe danger by the government has at; during this period context any attempt cilitators to be even lic comments with it of the two parties ved as bias. -led international has also been pervards the LTTE and
been on account of the LTTE from viothe ceasefire agreeis that the LTTE has ed the rulings of the
S. ld be to strengthen tional monitors. But if both the governe to such a strengthence ofa resumption an agreement is un. German Ambassa's speech at the Gerebration putting the i Lanka's future on people needs to be
occasion of the Gere German ambassae a strong defence of e peace process. In 'ay has been coming larsh criticism, even the government. A was when the Sri Corporation in late but as its first news ld be understood as nine Norway's credf the people. It cited atriate organisations nes and Sri Lanka as
Norway for being mning suicide bomb
ings in Iraq, but not elsewhere.
What was surprising about this news item was not that some expatriate organisations in some countries had indeed made such a criticism against Norway. Different organisations can have their own points of view. But what was surprising was that the state's own radio should have chosen to give this particular news item the top slot for the day.
The demonstrations outside the Norwegian embassy, including some by the government's coalitionally the EPDP, and the benign attitude shown towards them by the police, suggest tacit governmental approval. This is a matter of concern both to those who believe in the present peace process and to the international community that strongly supports it.
Ambassador Weerth made it clear that he did not agree with those who sought to blame the Norwegians for the present problems in the peace process. He said, "The responsibility for the future of your country lies in your hands or still is in the hands of the political elite and your people, and failure is their collective failing. We should therefore be grateful to the Norwegians for their role as facilitator and never blame them for the lack of progress in the peace process.” There is a need to recognise and appreciate a simple fact. Peace talks between the government and LTTE have been suspended for nearly 19 months. Previously no ceasefire with the LTTE lasted more than 3 months. In fact at the outset of the ceasefire there were prophets of doom who
predicted that the ceasefire would col
lapse with an LTTE attack after 3 months, which they thereafter revised to 6 months. The continuation of the ceasefire for 32 months, and for 19 months without peace talks, is a major accomplishment. At least a part of the credit for the continuation of the ceasefire and the no-war situation should go to the Norwegian facilitators and to the international monitors.
The reason that lines of communication remained open between the government and LTTE has been their presence in the country. The more outspoken they are to the parties about ceasefire violations, the more stable will be Sri Lanka's no-war situation which is the most inportant possession of the people. O

Page 9
OCTOBER 2004
Options for Sri
Jayadeva Uyangoda
Re-working Autonomy - Part I
The JVP has begun a new mobilizational initiative in the Eastern province. Called negenahira udawa (“Awakening in the East'), it seeks among other things to marshal political pressure to de-merge the temporarily merged Northern and Eastern provinces. This campaign is also being organized to counter the LTTE's ISGA proposals that embody the Tamil nationalist argument that the Northern and Eastern provinces, despite the ethnic diversity in the Eastern province, constitutes a single, politico-administrative entity of the Tamil-speaking peoples. Securing the collective rights of the Tamils, the ISGA proposals imply, is contingent on the "territorial unity' of the “Tamil nation.” It is this proposition that the JVP seems to question.
Raising concerns of the Sinhalese people in the Eastern province, at a time when a political settlement to the ethnic conflict is being spoken about, is not a bad thing. The government does not seem to address their concerns. Even those civil society groups who campaign for a federalist power-sharing arrangement for Sri Lanka do not take up the concerns of the Sinhalese minority living in the Eastern province. The LTTE, which seeks the administrative control of the Eastern province, has no specific plans for the non-Tamil minorities there. The JVP is taking up the cause of the Sinhalese in the Eastern province in this specific context.
However, there are serious political limitations in the way in which the JVP, the JHU as well as sections of the SLFP and UNP have posed the question of the Sinhalese community in the Eastern province. In their reckoning, any power sharing arrangement with the Tamils will invariably result in the denial of the rights of the Muslims and Sinhalese communities in the East and therefore power sharing should be resisted. In this approach, either the unitary state system should continue so that the central government protects the Muslim and Sinhalese communities, or if there is devolution at all, the Eastern province should be de-linked from the North.
Old Thinking
The main fau that it does not l constitutional innd the old and outdate ing that is deeply viation from the ve stitutionalist mode crisis of the Sri La urgently needs nev tions. While such d lacking, there is a constitutional disc day. The crisis is larization of politic and Tamil polities ity caught in the n are so mutually ex hardly communica While the Tam the state has travels the finest minds o prudence in Sinhale pling, with no succ tary problem whet become the steppi tion. Actually, wh constitutionalism i during the past thr bodied in the 13th form package of 19 stitution of 2000opposition from m stitutional-legal po ciety.
Against the sta ment in the constit in Sinhalese societ new constitutional polity in the form proposals. Having 1 the narrow framew unitarism, the Sinh course, in both it political theory, ha spond to the LT confederal regional ing this huge gulfb tional visions is in cult task in re-buil pluralist, multi-nat
Conventional Fe(
Meanwhile, the ederal constitution acceptance among
 

t of this approach is ind itself to any new vation. It stays within d constitutional thinksuspicious of any denerable unitarist conl. To come out of the nkan state, Sri Lanka y constitutional direcirections are seriously so a general crisis of ourse in Sri Lanka tomanifested in the poal visions in Sinhalese with the Muslim polhiddle. These visions clusive that they can te with each other.
il nationalist vision of cd beyond federalism, fconstitutional jurisse polity are still grapess, with the elemenher federalism would ng- stone to separaatever advances that in Sri Lanka has made ee decades — as emamendment, PA's re95 and the draft conare there despite the ost of the great conwers in Sinhalese so
te of underdeveloputional jurisprudence y has now emerged a vision for the Tamil of the LTTE's ISGA emained itself within ork of constitutional alese nationalist disconstitutional and ; no categories to reTE’s proposals for autonomy. Overcometween two constitueed a new and diffiding Sri Lanka as a
on polity.
eralism
federalist and conf. lism that has gained ome innovative con
TAM TIMES 9
stitutional thinkers in the Sinhalese and Tamil societies also demonstrate a major limitation. It enunciates primarily the conventional federalist concept of "spatial autonomy' which is based on the principle of territorial federalism. In this approach, the solution to autonomy demands ofan ethnic minority or nationality is to grant them autonomy in the territory where they are concentrated. This arrangement makes a national minoritya regional majority. A fundamental shortcoming of this territorial autonomy model is that it does not provide for the grievances of regional minorities, except through a bill of rights.
The fear of federalism that has been expressed by Muslim and Sinhalese communities in the Eastern province is essentially one that emanates from the inability of the territorialized autonomy to assure the minorities within that unit their own rights, safety and security. Muslims in the Eastern province have been particularly apprehensive about the possibility of a "peace deal' between the government in Colombo and the LTTE at their expense.
But the Muslim political leaders have not been able to come out with an alternative to the eventuality of such peace deal, interim or permanent. They also need to breakaway from the conventional constitutionalist approaches to autonomy and power sharing and envision innovative options. However, in the absence of fresh political and constitutional thinking, the Mulism political leaders, as fragmented as they are, have been only allowing themselves, particularly of late, to be used by Sinhalese political leaders as pawns in their power struggles.
In the context of the contemporary political realities in Sri Lanka, the constitutional discourse on power sharing needs to be deepened in two areas. Firstly, in the Sinhalese society, the state reform agenda should decisively shift away from the framework of outdated unitarism and de-centralization, go beyond devolution and explore federalist and confederal options for regional autonomy. If this advancement fails to take place in the Sinhalese society, its constitutional thinking will continue to lag behind the constitutional thinking in Tamil society. Moreover, in the long run, secession, which all unitarists and decentralizationists dread to think about even as a distant possibility, might even become a constitutional reality.
Minorities
The second level at which the discourse on autonomy and power sharing

Page 10
10 TAM TIMES
needs to be deepened is to address the concerns of all "minorities.' Sri Lanka has many minorities. Our political understanding of identity communities needs to be reinforced by the recognition that the constitution of majorities and minorities is not always as simple as the nationalists alike would wantus to believe. In the specific way in which the state power is spatially organized in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese, for example, are both amajority and a minority. They are the national majority in the island and a regional minority in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
In a similar logic, the Tamils are a national minority and at the time they are the ethnic majority in the North and East. The conventional territorial principle of federalism gives power to the national minority making them a regional majority, but silent about that segment of the national majority which becomes a regional minority, as in e case of the Sinhalese in the Eastern province.
Other than "national and "regional' minorities, there are local majorities and local minorities as well. The Muslim community in the Eastern province is a regional minority in the North and East. At the same time, they are a local majority in some distinct areas in the Eastern province while being a local minority in all districts in the North. The Plantation Tamils represent an equally complex picture. They are a major regional minority in the Central and Uva provinces, but a local majority in the Nuwara Eliya district.
Then, there is yet another construction of minorities as dispersed minorities. Theyare dispersed in small, yet significant, numbers in many provinces and districts. Muslims are a dispersed minority in many districts outside the Southern region of the Eastern province. The Northern, Eastern as well as plantation Tamils are also dispersed in a number of provinces.
Finally, there are “marginal' minorities - Burghers, Malays, Telugu and Malayalam communities, as well as the Vedda people - who continue to remain small minorities, sometimes concentrated in certain localities. They are marginal in a double sense. They are not recognized as politically or electorally useful minorities. Therefore, in the democratic process, they continue to suffer marginalization. Similarly, deprived of political worth, they have no access as communities to the public goods which the state dispenses. In that sense too, they are marginalized from the domain of public resource distribution. The state at best
treats them as mere
Minority Concern
Now, this pictur Lanka can give rise about power sharin federal polity. Before constitutional imagi lineate the grievance these minority com better inform us w tions and arrangem sioned anew. For an group their concern four categories. (i) R cal communities, (ii (iii) representation, , stitutions of governa the language of rig four specific domai recognition rights, s sentational rights an
How should we future political inst tively ensure and gi of the minorities v spectrum spanning f the Veddas? It inde ening of not only o federalism, but also ism itself. In other w design the political c ralist Sri Lanka in "deep federalization column, I will prese of my own suggesti
Non-Territorial Federalism - Part It appears that c negotiation stalem present is that there as well. The UPF LTTE, the facilitatic custodians of Sri La society actors at ho the Sunday newspa appear to have run c to advance Sri La through the resump This in a way prov committed to democ in Sri Lanka to exp concerning a fresh r state. In this article 1 some options that conventional wisdo
Asymmetrical Aut
Concerningfede tonomy, one challe ment will face in n LTTE, sooner than translation into con

OCTOBER 2004
individual citizens.
S
e of minorities in Sri to some novel ideas g arrangements in a engaging in any new ning, let us also deis and concerns of all munities that might hat kind of instituents could be envialytical ease, we may s into the following Lecognition as politi) security and safety, and (iv) access to inance. Translated into hts, they constitute ns of rights, namely, ecurity rights, repred governance rights.
design Sri Lanka’s itutions to construcuarantee these rights who occupy a wide rom the Sinhalese to ed requires the deepur understanding of the idea of federalwords, we need to reorganization ofa plua new framework of l. In the next week's ht to the readers some ons in this regard.
I
one dimension of the ate in Sri Lanka at is a deadlock in ideas A government, the ors and international nka’s peace, the civil me and abroad, and per columnists —all but of ideas as to how nka's peace process tion of negotiations. ides space for those ratic political change lore some new idcas e-organization of the :oo, we will look into go beyond our own
Υ,
tonomy
ralism as regional aunge that the governegotiations with the later, concerns the stitutional principles
the "framework claims made by the LTTE in the ISGA proposals. In fact, the ISGA proposals have baffled conventional federalists. The conventional federalism presupposes that all autonomy units should have more or less similar degree of competencies and powers. In this thinking, Sri Lanka's North and East should not be different in its range of competencies from, say the Southern province. But, the premise on which the ISGA is based is that the federal unit of the North and East should not be equated with other units of the federal republic. It seeks a special status to accommodate Tamil “nationhood” within one federated state that can also incorporate the parallel state structure that the LTTE has built over the years.
This indeed calls for a framework of what has come to the constitutional discourse as "asymmetrical power sharing.' What it means is that one unit of autonomy, like Quebec in Canada, would be accepted as being entitled to a higher degree of competencies and powers than the other units, on the principle of "distinctiveness' of the people who constitute the majority in that unit. Translated into Sri Lanka's political realities, asymmetrical federalism would presuppose that the North and East in which the Tamils constitute the majority would be recognized as a "distinct' region in the sense that the autonomy there is designed to address the specific political aspirations of the Tamil people for self-deter. mination within the state of Sri Lanka. In brief, the Tamil-majorityNorth and East will have more powers than the Sinhalesemajority regions in the rest of the country.
There will invariably be objections to this model of asymmetrical autonomy on the premise that asymmetry itself will encourage secession. But actually, asymmetry is a framework that provides to the secessionist community a constitutional incentive to stay within the Sri Lankan state. It is the recognition of their "special' or "distinct' status that invites them back to the Sri Lank an state. The "distinctiveness' accords their autonomous unit more powers than for the units of the majority community. That special status is also acknowledged on the premise of past discrimination and deprivations which the community has suffered. It also recognizes the bitter reality that during the war of twenty years, the process of state formation in the Tamil polity had developed in a direction of separateness that cannot be easily wished away. In this reasoning, the accommodation of separateness as well as rectifying

Page 11
OCTOBER 2004
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past discrimination, requires not secession, but special and legally sanctioned special status within the constitutional state.
Is devolving powers to the periphery withina federalist framework, in order to make the national minority a regional majority, adequate to address the possibilities for secession? The existing argument for devolution as well as federalism in Sri Lanka seems to say 'yes' to this question. It does not go beyond giving away powers to the periphery. The fear offederalism leading to separation is also largely linked to this "giving away' approach to power sharing. This approach has also led to a situation where none of the proposals for ethnic conflict management in Sri Lanka contains ideas for reforming the power structure at the center. This position needs to be revised now. Instead, a package of state reform that combines autonomy to regions and at the same time linking regions back with the central government is necessary. A strong second chamber, representing the regions and with powers similar to those in other federal countries like USA and Germany, will be a useful institution to bring the periphery back to the center. This will also provide an effective mo
dality to address th LTTE's ISGA prop 'shared rule' while t in 'self-rule. We m though that the dom discourse in Sinhal both in shared rule a of autonomy,
Non-Territorial. Fe
The institution can also be creativel to combine territor non-territorial feder ofnon-territorial po ing particular attent scientists and constit that can address the ties in plural societi way. As particularly gium during the pa ades, the idea of no ism creates assembl nity Councils, the which are elected to spective ethnic con either not confined t or dispersed over a deed, the very notic federalism is design cept of right to self-d
 

TAMIL TIMES 11
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e concern that the osals are weak in hey are quite strong ay note in passing inant constitutional ese society is weak ind self-rule aspects
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of second chamber y modified in order ial federalism with lism. The approach wer-sharing is gainion among political utional jurists asone concerns ofminories in an innovative " developed in Belst two to three decn-territorial federalies called “Commurepresentatives for represent their rehmunities, who are ) one territorial unit, number of units. Inn of non-territorial ed to define the conetermination ofcom
munities from a non-territorial perspective. It seeks to empower members of a ethnic or cultural community, who subjectively profess a specific group identity and live either outside the boundaries of the so-called "homeland' or even dispersed without having any claim to such a "homeland.'
A creative application of the principle of non-territorial federalism in Sri Lanka will enable us to design institutions of representation at national, regional/provincial as well as local levels. At the national level, the composition of the Second Chamber could combine both territorial and non-territorial principles with weightage to the latter, or exclusively on the non-territorial principle, since the House of Representatives provides arepresentation on the basis of territoriality. A slightly different option would be to establish separate Community Councils at the national level for the main ethnic communities with specific powers over group specific domains such as culture, language, education, religion and social welfare. It will also provide an institutional mechanism to address group rights claims of the ethnic communities. Professor Yohan Galtung has proposed a set of cultural councils, on the basis of non

Page 12
12 TAMIL TIMES
territorial federalism, for Sri Lanka as an option worth exploring.
Federalism at Lower Levels
In this national level of broadening federalism, there is still the possibility of representation being confined to the main communities, by excluding smaller communities in the districts. There are two ways to prevent this possibility of exclusion. The first is setting up of regional or provincial institutions of nonterritorial power sharing (Regional/Provincial Community Councils), to run parallel with the territorially designed Regional/Provincial Councils. The second option is to create mechanisms for representation for the numerically smaller minorities in the region/province who would not get representation under the existing system. This will require reworking of the composition of the councils with changes to the election laws to ensure that all minorities are fairly represented, despite their numbers or the absence of localities of their demographic concentration.
For example, the composition of the Southern Provincial Council can be defined in such a way as to ensure fair rep
resentation to Musli and Hambantota dis plantation Tamils ij districts. The electo representation there ensure fair represen to plantation Tamils districts, who woulc an election because weakness. An option single constituency Provincial or region they live in two sepa matters here is not th ofthe community, bu ness as well as the power them throug sentation. The region nities in the Weste Central and Sabaraga immensely benefit f scheme of this natur ritorial and non-territ sharing.
There can still smaller minorities f of governance. For e and Telugu speaking tural communities in community in Colo
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ms in Galle, Matara ricts as well as the
Galle and Matara ral laws governing can be modified to ation, for example, in Matara and Galle not stand to win at of their numerical is to treat them as a within the Southern al council, although rate districts. What a numerical strength tits numerical weakcommitment to emguaranteed repre|al minority commurn, North-Eastern, muwa provinces will rom an institutional e that combines terorial forms of power
be exclusion of still rom the assemblies ;xample, Malayalam g working class culColombo, the Malay imbo and Gampaha
districts as well as in the Hambantota's Malay Colony, will continue to remain unrepresented at the regional or provincial councils. Their numbers may be seen inadequate to make a community constituency adequate for separate representation at the regional level. To ensure their representation at a suitable level of governance, we need to design new institutions and mechanisms at local and municipal levels. There too, institutional innovation can go hand in hand with reforms in the electoral laws. Guaranteed representation, even falling short of a general qualifying cut off point, can be combined with re-working the composition of local or municipal bodies to ensure participation at local governance the marginal minorities.
Deep federalization, as a measure of further democratization of Sri Lanka's polity, requires federalization at three tiers of the state - central, regional and local/municipal-combining territorial and non-territorial principles. In a sense, Sri Lanka provides an opportunity to show the way forward for other plural societies in constitutional innovation in a context of civil war transition. O
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Page 13
OCTOBER 2004
Fratricidal killing and the peace pro
Dr. S. Narapalasingam
The suspension of the protracted war under the Norway-brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) reached on 22 February 2002 prevented further loss of thousands of valuable lives estimated to have mounted to around 65,000 by then. Despite the suspension of the peace talks in April 2003, the relative peaceful conditions continued to prevail. But, the killings resumed with the eruption of infighting between the breakaway faction led by the LTTE Batticaloa-Amparai special commander “Col.” Karuna, who defected in March 2004 and the mainstream LTTE. In the ongoing internecine conflict Tamils are killing Tamils.
The internal conflict has exacerbated the divisions in the North-East within the Tamil community and between different ethnic groups. The conflict between the Muslims in the East and the LTTE intensified communal tension and has alienated further the two communities. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) wants the authorities to provide adequate security in all Muslim populated areas especially in the Eastern region, following the recent killings of several Muslim civilians allegedly carried out by the LTTE in the Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa districts. The Muslim leaders are also insisting that a separate Muslim delegation must participate in future peace talks, since the apprehension and aspirations of their people are distinctively different and these need to be considered separately when deciding on the structure of political settlement to the North-East conflict.
Challenge to LTTE
The breakaway Karuna faction poses a direct challenge to LTTE's ideology, as their allegiance is firstly to the East, which has different demographic and economic features and socio-economic problems vis-a-vis the North. The renegades want regional powers to enable the people in the East to manage their own affairs. Importantly, the sporadic attacks in the East by Karuna loyalists challenge the authority of the LTTE there putting the LTTE
in an awkward posit with the government ticipated in the six tween September 20 as the sole represen the North and East. T important reason for tance to resume peac advice of the internat return soon to the ne; The formation of Tamilleelam Makkal (TMVP) under Ka pledging to continue gle “according to the tions of the Tamil pec ing that “the liberat would be based acco principles' contrary violent approach of Prabhakaran has inte tation. In fact, Karun urging the Tamils to indicates that the ma ing it now is his a LTTE's leadership ra sation that there is 1 tinuing further the ar. the legitimate righ Moreover, the launch cal formation, Tar Viduthalai Munnani the General Secretary Democratic Liberatic G. Gnanasekaran and recently proclaime (TMVP), V. Murali another significant c internecine conflict.
Inajoint stateme the two leaders on O nounced, "the purpos parties was to work the aspirations of t people in Sri Lanka. the statement: "Sri L. conflict continues to ter signing the cease tragedy is that the Ta in the hands of LTTE sole representative LTTE continues to m

TAM TIMES 13
S CeSS
ion when the talks resume. It has parrounds of talks be02 and April 2003 tative of Tamils in his is said to be one the LTTE's reluce talks, ignoring the ional community to gotiating table.
the political party, Viduthalai Pulikal runa’s leadership the freedom strugadvice and aspiraple” and guaranteetion of the Tamils rding to democratic to the authoritarian the LTTE leader V. nsified the confrona's recent statement support his party in reason for formnimosity towards ther than the realino purpose in conmed struggle to win its of the Tamils. ning ofa new politimileelam Iykkiya (TIVM), jointly by y of Eelam National on Front (ENDLF), the President of the cd political party tharan (Karuna) is levelopment in the
int issued jointly by ctober 15, they ane of uniting the two together to achieve he Tamil speaking "They have said in anka's tragic ethnic shed blood even affire agreement. The umils are the pawns E, which claims the of the Tamils. The assacre mercilessly
its opponents, where the Sri Lankan Government and the monitoring committee witnessing without uttering a protest. The Tamil speaking people's freedom struggle had taken a diversion, as for now they are to fight the terrorism within. The Tamil-speaking people were prisoners of the circumstances and had suffered enough in the hands of LTTE, and will tolerate no more the prolonging treacherous and barbarian act of Prabhakaran. The demand and content of the LTTE's ISGA only proves to continue without a mandate, leaving no room for democracy. A time has come for the Tamil to unite and fight against the terrorism, which exists in the name of liberating the Tamils.” This is undoubtedly a serious charge against the LTTE leader.
Eliminating adversaries
Faced with the challenge to its "sole authority'status, the LTTE has launched a violent campaign to eliminate the opposing Tamils describing all of them as “para militaries” or “informants”. In the internecine feud, not only the cadres of rival LTTE factions but also unarmed EPDP and EPRLF members have been assassinated. Despite the LTTE's assertion that it had no hand in the Suicide bomb blastin Colombo on July 7 and the effort to implicate the rival Karuna faction in the incident, it was widely known that the suicide bomber was sent to Colombo by the mainstream LTTE. The intended target was Minister Douglas Devananda, the EPDP leader who escaped narrowly.
The EPDP leader has been considered by the LTTE leaders as a nuisance like a prickly thorn for quite some time. His stand on the North-East issue is undermining their claim for a separate state. The EPDP is against the creation of oneparty authoritarian state in the NorthEast and has rejected LTTE's interimself. rule proposals. Although, the EPDP failed to win parliamentary seats in the east, the party is still active there. This is seen by the LTTE as a potential threat to its dominance. The LTTE considers all Tamil groups and parties not supporting its policies and nationalist goal as saboteurs.
Not only EPDP members but also activists of other rival Tamil parties are being targeted in the current campaign to eliminate the "traitors'.
The Tigers are also at the receiving end in this violent feud. The attack on September 7 by a group of heavily armed

Page 14
14 TAM TIMES
men on the Liberation Tigers' border post in Periya Pullumalaikilling 8 and wounding 2 LTTE cadres was widely reported to have been carried out by the Tiger renegades. But, the LTTE said the attack was by Sri Lankan army commandos assisted by some armed paramilitary cadres. The Army denied any involvement in the attack. "The fight was between LTTE cadres and Karuna's men. The Army, did not have anything to do with it," the Army spokesman said. The killing of Tiger cadres loyal to Wanni leadership by the renegade Karuna group even after the murder of the field commander Reggie continues in the Eastern province.
Tamil silence
While the cold-blooded murderous campaign of Tamil on Tamil violence' continues unabated, the Tamil community especially the expatriates settled in Western countries where there is freedom of expression have by and large stayed silent. Veteran journalist D.B.S. Jeyarai speaking at the slain Balanadarajah's remembrance meeting held in Toronto, Canada said: “The right to life is the most important of all rights because all other freedoms are derived from this right alone. It is unfortunate that the entire Tamil community has not realized thatthedenial oflife by eliminating people with other opinions should be stopped." The reluctance to condemn openly the current killing spree indicates the predicament of the Tamil community, The Tamil media both at home and abroad are also playing safe to the detriment of the future well-being of the community.
V. Anandasangaree, the TULF leader, openly warned of the peril in continuing with the internecine killings and selfcentered approach to a negotiated political settlement long before Karuna and Gnanasekaran emerged on the political scene. In a statement released to the media he appealed to students and youths to come forward to rise against the atrocities committed by the Tamils on Tamils. LTTE and the CFA
Both the LTTE and its proxy the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have been constantly accusing the government of neglecting the peace process. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, TNA parliamentarian from Jaffna district during his visit to the U.S. told an interviewer in Washington D.C.: “Our immediate concern at the moment is to try and save the ceasefire agreement. The Sri Lankan Gov
ernment and the mili cally trying to destab Karuna factor is bein ernment to target pror bers as well as Tamil reality, the Governme of waging a proxy wa Nation. Therefore, ul stances our "number save the ceasefire agre fire agreement itselfi and without the ceas be a peace process at This type of con emerged only after K. is because of the urge disarm the renegade K the meeting with N peace envoy Erik Soll dor Hans Brattskar Thamilselvan told th the Norwegian facilit ernment of Sri Lanka article 1.8 of the ce (CFA) under which it paramilitaries working army and to remove th east. But it is yet to a sion of the CFA'. T been maintaining its egade Karuna group tary unit' of the army LTTE, indulging in factional in-fighting.
The LTTE had in the government must Karuna affair, as it w flict within the organi; obtaining governmer have undermined the only politico-militar North-East ready to region. But, when th found that some arm renegade Karuna gro after the major assaul Friday, they raised th ernment disarming the of the ceasefire agree LTTE has in additior ment's protection gua resto perform “politic
Paradoxically, launched against the the LTTE on Good have been possible, if truce monitoring mis the powers to enforc ger movements from East coast took plac CFA. Moreover, thou patched by the Wanni

OCTOBER 2004
tary are systematiilize the east. The g used by the Govminent LTTE menmintellectuals. So in nt is in the process r against the Tamil nder these circumone' priority is to ‘ement as the ceasesingravejeopardy, efire, there cannot all.'
icern for the CFA aruna's revolt. This ncy and the need to Caruna group. After orwegian special neim and Ambassaon September 16,
le press: "We told
ators that the Govshould implement ase fire agreement pledged to disarm g with the Sri Lanka em from the northbide by this provihe government has stand that the renis not a paramilibut a faction of the what is essentially
itially insisted that ; not meddle in the "as an internal conzation. Importantly, ut assistance would LTTE's claim as the y authority in the take control of the e leaders in Wanni ed members of the up were still active tlaunched on Good e issue of the gova renegades interms ment. Recently the asked for governrantee for their cadalwork in the East. the swift attack Karuna faction by Friday would not the Norwegian-led ssion (SLMM) had e the CFA. Sea TiMullaitivu to the e contravening the sands ofcadres disi leadership crossed
government-controlled areas armed with everything from artillery guns to mortars. Since the newly elected government had instructed the military not to confront the LTTE in case this led to the full scale resumption of hostilities, the armed LTTE cadres were able to move swiftly into the eastern zone that was then under Karuna's control. Karunarecentlyaccused the SLMM and the Sri Lankan government of aiding the LTTE in this operation.
The threat to the ceasefire comes from two sources: firstly the failure by the parties to strictly adhere to and comply with its provisions and the SLMM’s reluctant and inefficient way in which it handles violations of the ceasefire; and secondly suspension of peace talks after 6 sessions of negotiations in 6 months. According to LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamiiselvan this was "time wasted'. But interestingly, Karuna who was also a member of the LTTE team at the talks in a statement released to the press on October 13, has said that the LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham had told him when asked about the conclusion of the talks, the LTTE leader had wanted the team to drag the talks for five years! The Norwegian facilitators hoping an early negotiated political settlement drafted the MoU in the present form. They did not give much thought to all aspects of the conflict and the inherent problems that existed in finding a political solution acceptable to both sides and to all the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The main aim was to stop the fighting between the two adversaries, which was achieved at a price. Nevertheless, it gave hope to many both in and outside Sri Lanka of realising permanent peace. The international community too was delighted. All parties including the facilitators now feel the adverse consequences of dragging the peace process without any progress in negotiatingapolitical settlement. An early settlement would have prevented the split in the LTTE and the internecine killings. A new front in the ongoing struggle has now opened for the LTTE under Prabhakaran's leadership. Taking an enlightened view
In an open letter addressed to the LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran, the TULF leader V. Anandasangaree told him in the most kindest and politest manner to give up intransigence and accommodate pragmatic and practical approaches that could be acceptable to all the ethnic groups in

Page 15
OCTOBER 2004
the country. The foreign and local media published the long letter on October 15 and 16. In his conclusion Anandasangaree has said: "I wish to tell you that we should now stop playing the same old record over and over again. The whole world knows what our problem is and what the acceptable solution would be (suitable federal structure). Hence without wasting time, conceding the fact that our people cannot and should not be allowed to suffer any more, take a quick decision to workout a solution with the support of the International Community without any further delay. You have ample opportunities even now to winover the minority Muslims and Sinhalese in the North and East. You must also convince your own cadres that those who fought very bitterly for freedom should not deprive others of their freedom and bring them under their subjugation whether they are Sinhalese Tamils or Muslims."
A senior politician who had been in politics for nearly half a century knows the dire necessity to take an enlightened view and consider the long-term welfare of the people in seeking a fair and just settlement to the ethnic conflict in a multi-ethnic country such as Sri Lanka. But the basic problem is that there are huge conceptual differences that cannot be reconciled by urging the ultra Tamil nationalists to abandon their ideologies when they have fought fiercely for more than two decades on the basis of their nationalistic beliefs. The conflict between the LTTE and the government is not just an ethnic conflict and the LTTE leader is not the typical Tamil politician of the bygone era who thinks along Anandasangaree's line. Nor is he a military commander who has captured power in a bloodless coup d'etat. It is true the conflict started as a straightforward ethnic conflict between the politically powerful majority Sinhalese and the powerless minority Tamils but since 1987 it had evolved as a violent power struggle in pursuit of a political project which is beyond the limits of any power sharing arrangement that is intrinsic to a federal system.
Meanwhile, the terror campaign to silence dissent seems likely to continue in the name of liberation and this is what should worry the discerning Tamils. What is happening now in the NorthEast will please the Sinhala ultranationalists. Some may even look forward to bringing down further the Tamil population to a "manageable' proportion. At the present time it is this destructive process that must be stopped as a matter ofurgency while continuing with the peace process and returning to the negotiating table with the aim of reaching a political settlement. O
R
(
Oct 6 - In a pre: October, three leadin, man rights organisat ternational, Human the International Con stated as follows:
"At a meeting wit tion Tigers of Tamil E egation visiting Gen ternational, Human the International Con (ICJ) called on the L cal killings and the re soldiers and demonst respect international human rights law in
The LTTE deleg S.P. Thamilselvan, 1 litical wing, is visiting countries to conside) next steps in the st peace process. Inte rights organisation. LTTE delegation on ber.
"We appealed to leaders to show the w both willing and cap, the lives and rights ol said Nicholas Howe eral of the ICJ. “We make a clear public c ternational humanit. rights standards and putting them into eff "At a time when v ing back to peace talk to have dramatically ing of perceived Tam is still recruiting chi Loubna Freih, Gen Human Rights Watch Victims ofkillings tivists from Tamil po aligned with the LT rival LTTE faction in leged Sri Lankan mi "This climate of fear east will make it ever find a lasting peace warned Peter Splinte sentative for Amnest S.P. Thamilselval ing with human rig that the LTTE denies

TAM TIMES 15
ights Groups” all to LTTE
ss release dated 6 g international huions, Amnesty InRights Watch and nmission of Jurists
h a senior Liberaelam (LTTE) deleva, Amnesty InRights Watch and mission of Jurists TTE to end politicruitment of child rate how they will humanitarian and Sri Lanka. ation, headed by eader of their pog several European r the Tamil Tigers alled Sri Lankan rnational human s met with the ! Tuesday 5 Octo
the senior LTTE vorld that they are able of respecting fall Sri Lankans,” n, Secretary-Genlook to them to :ommitment to inarian and human practical ways of ect,” he added. ve should be movas the LTTE seems escalated the killhil opponents and ld soldiers,' said eva Director for
l. 5 have included aclitical parties not TE, members of a the east, and allitary informants. , especially in the more difficult to
in the country," r, Geneva Reprey International.
said in the meethts organisations responsibility for
such killings but that the LTTE would consider the development of confidence building measures to end killings that are threatening the peace process.
In the last two weeks reported killings have included: Valli Suntharam, a 61 year old trade union activist and member of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), shot dead in Jaffna on 27 September; Selvarajah Mohan, a 22 year old Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) supporter, stabbed to death after being taken from his home in Jaffna district on 24 September; Rajadurai Sivagnanam, killed in Batticaloa district on 22 September; and Somasundaram
Varunakulasingham, a central committee member of the EPDP, shot dead in Colombo on 23 September. Recruitment of child soldiers also continues. UNICEF has documented that in May, June and July 2004 alone, the LTTE recruited 259 children, while releasing 106- and UNICEF acknowledges that they learn about only a small proportion of child recruitment.
The human rights organisations also met with members of the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights, set up in July with the support of the LTTE. "Such human rights initiatives could be positive if they help to prevent serious human rights violations and give ordinary people away of seeking protection and remedies,” said Nicholas Howen. “We urge the LTTE to affirm publicly that they will cooperate fully with this Secretariat. The international community should assist any genuine moves towards a culture of respect for rights and the need for this new Secretariat to be independent and professional," added Nicholas Howen.
For further information, please Contact ISABELLE HEYER at International Commission of Jurists +41-22-9793800, LOUBNA FREIH at Human Rights Watch +41-79-2023285 or PETER Si PLINTER at Amnesty International, +41-22-9069483.

Page 16
16 TAMIL TIMES
The rise andf
of the JHU
Champika Liyanaarachchi
Blackmail, manipulations by the two principal parties and greed for material gain, have all contributed to the pathetic plight that has befallen the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) - the dark horse of the April 2 General Election, which made quite a sensation by winning nine seats at its maiden outing.
The controversialidea ofan all-monk party to contest the April 2 elections was ironically first proposed by Venerable Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala Thera, who tendered his resignation last Friday. He is now trying to withdraw his resignation for reasons best known only to him. Ven. Sumangala Thera first made his intention of contesting the polls known to Ven. Dhammaloka and Sihala Urumaya leaders, a few hours after President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved parliament,
The President dissolved Parliament at midnight on February 7, and the following morning Ven. Sumangala Thera was firing away calls to his bhikku and lay friends claiming that he was going to contest the April 2 polls by converting his "Bodhu Maga (Buddhist way) campaign into a political party. He invited Ven. Dhammaloka Thera too to join him. Interestingly, Ven. Dhammaloka Thera, by then, was known for his controversial resolution, passed in Anuradhapura in 2002, prohibiting monks taking to politics.
The declaration was made at the “Buduputh Maapiya Harasara Ulela” (ceremony to venerate parents of Buddhist monks) in the presence of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera, who by then had announced that he was going to contest the next Presidential election.
The resolution passed by Ven. Dhammaloka Thera at that point was deemed a slap on the face of Ven. Soma Thera and one engineered by the UNP to discourage the popular monk from contesting the Presidential race.
Many attribute the powder baby' reference by Ven. Soma Thera at several sermons following the Anuradhapura episode, as a manifestation of his resent
ment ofVen. Dhamm Yet, this very same Thera, backtracking ( declaration, jumpedt ing Ven. Sumangala" general elections.
However, there v Elections Commis monks that only the the time of the dissol to contest. Thus, a "Bodu Maga” became By then the thre strongmen, Tilak Kar Ranawaka and Uday made it clear to ther not think it prudent contest the election. F were adamant that th
contest.
Their next stepw registered parties wh test the April 2 polls. Democratic United L was notkeen on conti the monks started Ariyawansa Dissana The Sihala Urumi shocked. So was Ve ananda, the leader o Sammelanaya (JSS), the JHU. They neve monks were in such alized that the venel become the laughing ifthey madetheir el the DULF - a party for an entirely differ Ven. Medhanand; the junior monks for grace upon the Mah said if the monks w should do so only ur party like Sihala Uri not do that, the JSSle should form a new pi next election. It was tion ofavoiding a nati that the Sihala Uruma the decision to opt campaign to give the register.
 

oCTOBER 2004
laloka's resolution. Ven. Dhammaloka on his controversial he bandwagon joinTherato contest the
was a snag, with the sioner telling the parties registered at ution were eligible party by the name
a non-Starter.
e Sihala Urumaya Lunaratne, Champika a Gammanpila had nonks that they did for the monks to However, the monks ey somehow had to
as to go looking for ich would not conOn hearing that the alith Front (DULF) esting the elections, negotiating with yake of that party. aya leaders were n. Ellawala Medhf the Jathika Sanga the Bhikku wing of *r thought that the desperation and reable Theras would stock of the nation ectoral debut under which was created ent purpose. a Thera reprimanded trying to bring disla Sangha. He then ere to contest they der the banner of a umaya. If they canader said the monks arty and wait till the with the sole intenional embarrassment iya leaders then took out of the election monks a chance to
That’s how the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) was born.
And we all know how the SU trio put their weight behind the monks - be it in mustering funds for the election campaign, organizing meetings, preparing their speeches and basically doing everything. All this, coupled with the new wave of nationalism that swept the country following Ven. Soma Thera’s death saw the JHU getting 552,724 votes, which got them nine seats in parliamenta feat that stunned the two principal parties. This performance which made the JHU the third force in the South - initially put both major parties in an awkward position.
By then the SLFP and the UNP have mastered the art ofbuying over minority parties. But handling an all-monk party was an entirely different scenario, or that's how it appeared initially.
However, gradually the strongmen of the two parties used those who had already become patrons of the temples to reach the monks in order to "strike a deal'. The UNP bore a grudge. The party knew that the bulk of the 552,724 votes that went the JHU way, originally were earmarked for the UNP. These were the disgruntled and disillusioned UNP supporters who voted for the JHU.
If the UNP was to woo back those voters - either they had to dissipate the JHU or make the all-monk party really unpopular.
As for the UPFA minority government, the JHU appeared the easiest option to garner the badly-needed simple majority in parliament, given that monks like Ven. Ellawala Medhananda and Ven.
Kotapola Amarakitti were known for their
pro-SLFP stand. However, this was before they realized the strong hold the UNP had on the likes of Ven. Dhammaloka Thera. In addition there was this determination of the SUtriothat the JHU should not align with any of the two main parties. The reason being that any alignment was likely to weaken the clout of the party.
Despite knowledge of the JHU acrimony over the cross-over ofVen. Kathaluwe Ratanaseeha and Ven. Aparekke Pangnananda and the manhandling of Ven. Kolonnawe Sumangala Thera in the House, the UPFA strongmen started working on the JHU members.
By then, the party was on the fast track to self-destruction.
One ambitious young monk who was adamant that he be given the post of

Page 17
OCTOBER 2004
Speaker in the House, declared his intention of becoming the JHU Presidential candidate after he failed to fulfil his first ambition. He made clear his intentions to a few of his friends. However, this reached the ears of another equally ambitious monk who was incensed over the whole issue and vowed to fight for the same position. This sharply divided both lay and clergy supporters. The disgusted SU supporters meanwhile distanced themselves from both.
The generally level-headed Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thera meanwhile shocked the party by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ceylon Workers Congress, without informing anybody in the party, for reasons best known to him.
Meanwhile a respected senior monk MP from a rural area refused to stay in non-airconditioned rooms, claiming he too should have the comforts enjoyed by members who were junior to him.
In addition, the SU leaders were told, in no uncertain terms, to mind their own businesses and some like Ranawaka and Gammanpila had to go through the ordeal of being told, "you got only 50,000 when you contested. We have got 500,000. We know how to manage our affairs'.
With all these reports - weaknesses of the monks and the disappointment of the SU leaders - reaching the UPFA and the UNP, both parties looked for opportunities to serve their own agendas.
The UPFA worked on the monks while the UNP worked on the lay strongmen.
And both succeeded. However, the UNP ended up with the prize catch. The Sinhalanationalists and the SU supporters are still to come to terms with Tilak Karunaratne's decision to re-join the UNP. Especially, given the fact that he previously left both the UNP and the SLFP when he could have easily become a Cabinet Minister during either regime. The SU supporters and the Sri Lankan constituency are yet to buy the excuse given by Karunaratne for the drastic decision - that it was quite late that he realized that one has to be in a main party to get the nationalist demands met.
Whatever the real reason - the outcome is clear.
The UNP which had a score to settle with the JHU for tapping its vote base, had caused a lethal blow to the country's
premier Sinhala nati The move to wo to the UNP fold has two birds at one go, ship had been on the dable Sinhalanation district. In fact, sor had been very critic especially after the defeat at the last Ge. The Alliance, or working on the mol Kolonnawe Sri Sun was walking along a dor with Ven. Ud Thera, was in for as Jeyaraj Fernandopul pass by them, in Dhammaloka, "How Ven. Dhammaloka “They are in good ci After the minist fled Ven. Sumangal the vehicles he was ti was only then that Thera told him abou sial vehicles given 1 maloka Thera had lat to party leader Ven, anda and the other to MP Ven. Udawatte An understand Sumangala Thera ha party room, wrote h and had immediatel the then parliament the JHU, Ven. Athu After he handed ove had explained there
ΠηOVE.
An angry Ratan ignation letter into that a resignation by the party from the on by others and th the matter before immediately.
Interestingly, ev the lay leaders of th the transaction, and reasons for their di themselves from the
However, Ven. gala Thera and Ver Thera were ignoran Ven. Kolonnawe been known througl stance. A son of a Urban Councillor, t been strong suppoi

TAMILTMES 17
bnalist force. o Karunaratne back een a case ofkilling for the UNP leaderlookout for a formialist for the Kalutara ne UNP strongmen al of the leadership, UNP's humiliating heral Elections.
the other hand was iks. In August Ven. langala Thera, who parliamentary corriuwe Dhammaloka hock when Minister le, who happened to quired from Ven | are the vehicles?' Thera had replied, ondition”. *r went away, a bafa Thera asked what alking about were. It Ven. Dhammaloka t the two controvero him. Ven. Dhamer given onevehicle Ellawala MedhanKandy district JHU Nanda Thera. ably incensed Ven. ld then rushed to the is resignation letter y handed it over to ary group leader of reliye Ratana Thera. :r his resignation, he ason behind his rash
a Thera tore the respieces and told him him would not save humiliation brought at they should bring the party hierarchy
en by then, some of le party knew about this was one of the ecision to distance : monks. Kolonnawe Suman. Athureliye Ratana t about this. Sumangala Therahad out for his pro-UNP former Kolonnawa oth his brothers had ters of former Con
sumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake.
The Venerable Thera started supporting the National Joint Committee (NJC) and National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) since the mid 90s and was the compere at many of their meetings, including its maiden meeting of NMAT held in Matara.
Ven. Dhammaloka Thera, on the other hand, had been a nationalist student Bhikku leader since the late 1980s, as an undergraduate of the Kelaniya University. At the university however he was deputizing for Ven. Hedigalle Wimalasara Thera - who later earned a name for his famous fast-unto-death campaign against the 2000 draft Constitution opposite the Pettah Bo tree.
Both Ven. Wimalasara and Ven. Dhammaloka were contemporaries of JVP strongmen and Ministers Vijitha Herath and Anura Dissanayake, who too were student leaders at the same university. Often the nationalist duo were pitted against the two JVP student leaders.
Ven. Dhammaloka Thera later made a name as a reputed preacher and as a result was bestowed with the honour of conducting the "Buddha Vandana'at the first convention of the Sihala Urumaya held in May 2000 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park.
Compared to them, scholar monk and party leader Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera was a novice to the nationalist movement. In fact he was brought to the limelight by the Sihala Urumaya leaders. Immediately after the de-proscription of the LTTE in September 2002 by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, the SU leaders decided to start a bhikku wing for the party to conduct a protest campaign throughout the country against the lifting of the ban.
The Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya (JSS) was born as a result and it was a SU member from the Ratnapura district who proposed the name of Ven. Medhananda when the SU leaders were looking for an erudite monk. Though he had earned a reputation for his vast knowledge of history and archaeology, it was only after he was appointed the leader of the JSS that the Venerable Thera got actively involved in the nationalist politics.
Ven. Ratana Thera’s political record goes parallel with that of Champika Ranawaka - a senior JVP member in the

Page 18
18 TAM TIMES
1980s who later joined the NJC, NMAT, SU and the JHU.
The Central Committee of the JHU moved to investigate into the vehicles issue by appointing a disciplinary committee on October 4. Four days later the Supreme Council of the party sabotaged the move by suspending the Central Committee. The wings of Champika Ranawaka, who had done so much for the party, were clipped and a clear message has been sent to the lay seniors by the monks that they do not need the services of the SU seniors anymore.
Ranawaka was known throughout for his non-aligned policy - that the JHU should not support any of the two principal parties.
Now that Karunaratne too had joined the UNP, Ranawaka is seen as the biggest obstacle by an influential group of JHU monks, in their efforts to support the government.
Udaya Gammanpila, a former JVP student leader turned nationalist, who has
set an unbroken nat Advance Level Con later topped the bal University, today is a man engaging in acti tics.
While a handfulo at break-neck speed ment, the former SU, a majority of the di clergy supporters of their weight behind F demanding that the should be revived sc intellectuals who lef the fold and disassoc tally from the JHU, s have made a mockery tics.
The new wave o ism - started in the 1 later made its wa Vidahana, National (NJC), National Mov rorism (NMAT), Sih
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ional record in the merce stream and ch at the Monash nother disappointed ve nationalist poli
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sillusioned lay and the party have put anawaka. They are Sihala Urumaya on to bring all the t the party back to iate themselves toince the monk MPs rofnationalist poli
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Joint Committee ement Against Terala Urumaya (SU)
OCTOBER 2004
and finally Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) - had its ups and downs depending on the size of the political vacuum created by the two main political parties in their quest to resolve the North and East conflict.
The last experiment of the nationalists - sending monks to parliament has ended up a disaster and most probably this is the last time that the monks would contest elections as a party.
The victims are the Sihala Urumaya leaders - who were forced to lend the party as a vehicle for the monks in order to avoid a national humiliation. The SU leaders had to later go through the ordeal of witnessing how some of the leading monk parliamentarians brought disgrace to Sinhala nationalism.
The JHU today has rendered its parents asunder with Karunaratne joining the UNP, Gammanpila at home and Ranawaka left to start from scratch.
Daily Mirror, 13 Oct 2004)
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Page 19
OCTOBER 2004
Remembering Raj
Rajasingham Thirana
Sydney Knight
Death is a certainty. However, as we keep the 15th anniversary of Rajini Rajasinghan Thiranagama's assassination, on September 21, 1989, one ought to reflect on her tragic death.
Walking through the corridors oftime, one can picture the Sri Lanka of 1989. Violent Lanka is perhaps an apt description.
A few days before Rajini died, Gladys Jayewardena was gunned down. She was also very vulnerable.
To quote Charles Diskens, "Those were the days'. It was gun culture: the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Only “man was vile”.
In a reflection like this, one has to ask a number of questions. Primarily: when we human beings are not the source of life, although theologically we are considered to be co-partners ofcreation in a sense,
canany ofus termin What right have we? Rajini in my estin category of persons fied with Dietrich BC Germany, Bonhoeffe Cost of Discipleship man is driving a vehic be stopped and the d the seat.
Bonhoeffer, like fused to leave Germa 44 was a victim of H could have stayed int to come back to Jafi new Medical Faculty In "The Broken P co-authored, there w, read the manuscript published and in 19 that we Sri Lankans W
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TAM TIMES 19
late anybody's life?
lation belongs to the Who must be classiinhoeffer of Hitler's I, in his classic "The ", says that if a mad le, that vehicle must river removed from
Rajini after him, reny and at the age of itler's wrath. Rajini he UK but she opted na and teach in the 7 there.
almyrah” that Rajini as a sense of hope. I before the book was 39 was full of hope ould soon solve our
problem. For in that book one sees the author's saying: since we are part of the problem, in us is the solution. There was the hope that we could solve our problems.
At the meeting we had at the Fort to celebrate Rajini's death, there was the commitment to carry on the struggle to solve our problems as tribute to Rajini.
What happened to all that? Thanks to the University Teachers for human rights, UTHR Jaffna we have a body of persons critiquing the brokenness and realities of today's Sri Lanka
In fifteen years, we seem to have in a sense forgotten the death of Rajini. Has life become so cheap? And death of this type so frequent that one could become cynical. I do not think Rajini died in vain. She has given us the courage to critique. Those who live by the sword will die by the Sword. The world will never ever forget Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called the Mahathma, for he chose Ahimsa and paid the price for it. He was able to organise the Quit India campaign.
Martin Luther King found space in the US for the descendants of the African slaves who initially worked in the cotton
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20 TAMIL TIMES
Indo-Lanka Defence Pact
Oct 19-It looks as if the much talked about Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between India and Sri Lanka is to be finalised "within a few weeks' according to official sources in Colombo.
Three joint secretaries from the Indian Ministries of Defence and External Affairs have been in Colombo having discussions with their Sri Lankan counterparts on the DCA, purchases of armaments from India, and the question of Indian financial and technical assistance to upgrade the strategic military cum civil airfield in Jaffna.
A delegation from the Government of India met with Sri Lank's Ministry of Defense officials and discussed matters related to bilateral defense cooperation, said a press release issued by Sri Lanka Defense Ministry in Colombo Tuesday, 19 October. The press release said, "A five-member delegation from the Government of India led by Mr. Ranjith Issar, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, held discussions with a team headed by Mr. Cyril Herath, Secretary of defence and comprising the service chiefs, senior officials of the ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Nigel Hatch, President's counsel in regard to the proposed agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka concerning cooperation in the field of defence.
The meeting was held at the Ministry of defence on the 19th October 2004. Bilataral defence cooperation in the fieldofMilitary Training, Exchange of military Intelligence and information, Maritime surveillance to preventillegal activities affecting both countries, official visits and bilateral meeting at different levels participation in training programmes, joint military exercises, etc. were discussed among other matters.”
India and Sri Lanka have been discussing the question of signing a DCA on and off after former Lankan and Indian Prime Ministers, Ranil Wickremesinghe and ABVajpayee, decided to go in for it "at the earliest" in 2003.
But there had been delays due to various reasons including the change of governments in the two countries. Having settled down now, the new United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government in Sri Lanka, and the United Peoples'Alliance (UPA) government in India, are showing a renewed interest in realising the commitment made at the highest level a year ago.
“The team is here to do the finishing touches to the proposed Indo-Sri Lanka defense agreement,” Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Ciril Herath told the press. Herath held talks on the pact with Indian officials in New Delhi in February this year.
(continued from page) fields of the Southern United States. King too was killed. But King said that the evil of our times is the silence of the majority. If we are part of the "silent majority', we cannot honour the life of Rajini. Rajini's father, now a widower for his wife Mahila died in August, Nirmala in the UK and Sumathy and Vasuki in the field of University education like Rajini, and Rajini's husband and children, can rest assured that Rajini did not die in vain. For she, with others, began and continued the process to create the space for the spirit of a plural society.
We must, all of us in Sri Lanka, together work for a society where every voice is heard without fear or favour. One cannot always be in a tunnel. The light should come. May it come soon, so that we can continue to be thankful for lives like Rajini's.

OCTOBER 2004
New anti-LTTE front
Chennai, Oct 16 - The Tamilleela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), apolitical party launched by LTTE rebel leader Karuna (Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan), and Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) led by GGnanasekaranjoined together and formed an umbrella organisation known as the Tamileela Iykkiya Viduthalai Munnani (TIVM) "to save the Tamil-speaking people from the LTTE dictator's terrorism and to achieve the right of self-determination of the Tamils."
In a joint statement, released here, Karuna and Gnanasekaran said the international community should put pressure on Sri Lankan Government to work towards finding a lasting solution for the ethnic issue. At the same time it should also ban all the activities of the LTTE, for it would never come forward to accept a peaceful and democratic settlement,” they said.
Accusing the LTTE of murdering more Tamils than the Sri Lankan Forces, the two leaders said the LTTE could not be the true representative of the Tamils. “Therefore the TVIM opposes handing over of the interim administration to the LTTE,' they stressed.
The two leaders also called upon all the countries that had given refuge to Sri Lankan Tamils not to send then back till a permanent solution was achieved. Tracing the history of the ethnic conflict, the leaders said though two years had passed after the ceasefire agreement between the Lankan Government and the LTTE was signed, both the parties had not shown any interest in finding an amicable political solution to the conflict. "The ceasefire agreement only vests power with the LTTE to act with impunity, leaving Tamils a hostage in their tentacles,” they said.
The current situation, they said, had allowed the LTTE to arrest anyone at anytime and detain him or her for any period or execute them without it having to cite any reason for its actions. "Extortion and kidnapping for ransom still continued and no one dared to interfere," the two charged.
Compulsory NICs for elections
Sri Lanka parliament on October 7 passed by 191 votes the Elections Special Provisions Bill seeking to make the National Identity Card compulsory for voting but with an amendment agreed upon by the Government and the main opposition parties. None of the members present at the time of voting opposed the bill.
This was the first time since the UPFA government came to power in April, that near unanimity was achieved in Parliament on a vote for any Bill or Motion.
The Tamil Nationalist Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who had earlier opposed the Bill were absent at the time of the vote though they took part in the debate up to the moment of the vote was taken.
The amendments proposed and agreed upon by the party leaders were presented by the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne. The NIC or any other identification document including a photograph certified by the Grama Niladhari of the area or a photograph certified by the superintendent of a plantation in plantation areas, both to be also countersigned and authenticated by the Divisional Secretary of the area concerned would be valid for a voter to cast his/her vote at an election.

Page 21
OCTOBER 2004
A period of one year has been stipulated for the issue of NICs by the Commissioner for Registration of Persons while the new law becomes effective only after the Election Commission is constituted under the provisions of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, Minister Seneviratne told the House before the vote.
Earlier in the day Minister for National Security and Buddha Sasana, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, told the House that additional provision in a sum of 345 million rupees will be allocated to the Department for Registration of Persons which will be relocated in another building with additional staff and 250 computers to issue 15,000 new NICs on each working day, Wickramanayake said there were 2.8 million people who did not have NICs at present and the government estimated that all those who did not have NICs could be issued these in one year's time
The enactment of the new law has been welcomed by civil society organisations. The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) which commended the new law said in a press release: "Passing the Bill for making National Identity Card compulsory in voting, by Parliament without a division after reading a unanimous consensus by all the political parties as a rare event in the recent political history for the purpose of safeguarding the democratic rights of the people, has to be admired by us as one of the landmark in the political scene of this country for upholding the voting rights of the people. We thankfully salute all the members of Parliament both in the govern
Muslim participation in peace talks
Oct 9 - SLMC leader, Rauf Hakeem, said an appointment has been sought with President Chandrika Kumaratunga to clarify the UPFA government's stand on the future of the Muslim community. “I am also looking forward to meeting NUAlleader Ferial Ashraff for discussions shortly to work out a joint strategy to advance the cause of Muslims in future peace talks", Hakeem said.
He said he wants to cement relations between the Tamil and Muslim communities, especially in the Northeast, to win rights and aspirations unitedly. The SLMC Parliamentary delegation met their TNA Parliamentary colleagues in Parliament on 8 October to initiate cooperation. This meeting was held under the joint chairmanship of TNA Group leader R. Sampanthan and Hakeem. “We decided to meet every month to further our cause unitedly and iron out any differences that exist in our positions relating to the resolution of the North-East conflict", the SLMC leader said.
The task of working out the agenda for these talks is led by SLMC chairman Basheer Seguldawood and TNA convenorSuresh Premachandran. "In bringing unity among the Muslim MPs, we have always cooperated towards bringing about abroad consensus'', Hakeem said. The aim of this exercise by the SLMC is creation of a united political movement to speak in one voice', he said.
I would like to point out that when we were members in UNF government, similar meetings took place under the chairmanship of Minister. A. H. M. Fowzie at his residence. This was to moot an idea ofan adjournmentmotion to highlight the

AML TIMES 21
ment and the Opposition for this step.
When we look at the history of elections in this country thus far, various malpractices that have taken place in the sphere of voting have to be considered as dark spots that we added to the political history of our country. As an organisation engaged in monitoring elections and standingtouphold the people's democratic rights PAFFREL had been agitating from 90 decade for making our official identity card compulsory for voting to reduce electoral malpractices and impersonations.
Therefore, casting aside political differences and making the identity card compulsory for voting by all the people's representatives in Parliament who are committed to apolicy of good politics, in considered by us as an exemplary step towards safeguarding the citizens civil and political rights.
However, by merely passing this as an Act in Parliament
will not accomplish everything, a realistic step has to be taken to issue identity cards without delay to all the citizens who do not have identity card at present. For that purpose all necessary physical and human resources have to be provided to the Department for Registration of Persons.
Similarly urgent solutions and alternative procedures have to be found for the practical problems that will be faced by the people in the process of getting identity cards. Action should also be taken to induce all the citizens to obtain identity cards. As an organisation committed is the protection of democratic rights of the people in this country we are ready to provide any assistance in this matter.
need for a separate Muslim delegation at the peace talks."
The SLMC has consistently demanded that the assurance given by the LTTE and the UNF government and the international community in this connection be fulfilled.
The SLMC has also responded to the president's letter where she had suggested working out a compromise solution as the LTTE is opposed to a separate Muslim delegation.
"We have pointed out in our reply to president that it is inaccurate to say that the LTTE is opposed to a separate Muslim delegation as the dispute relates to the timing of permitting a separate delegation by the Muslims”, Hakeem noted. At the Bangkok Rose Garden sessions of the peace talks, the LTTE and the government delegation agreed that the Muslim delegation would be permitted to take part at an appropriate stage in the negotiations, he said.
It is the position of the UNP that a separate Muslim delegation should be allowed to participate in the negotiations when the proposals to establish an interim administration for the North East is taken up for discussion. The UNP in their proposals for a provisional administrative structure for the North-East had clearly stated that a separate Muslim delegation should participate and that the SLMC could also submit its alternate proposals for discussion on behalf of the Muslims, Hakeem said.
“In keeping with the position taken by the SLFP and all its constituent members in Parliament and outside, it is a moral obligation of the President to give the assurance that a separate delegation status would be given to the Muslims once the peace talks resume to discuss the ISGA proposals by the LTTE.”
In its letter to president Kumaratunga the SLMC has requested for an appointment to discuss these matters further so that the party could consider its participation at the deliberations of the national advisory council for peace and reconciliation.

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22 TAMIL TIMES
SLMM on Ceasefire Violations
Oct 9 - The Tigers have recruited 1,424 children, out of which 45 have been abducted during the last 28-month truce period ending August 31. They have also abducted 359 adults during the same period, a spokesman of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said.
The SLMM’s latest statistics reveal that from February 2002 to end-August 2004, from the 1,760 complaints recorded from all districts in the North and East, 1,424 had been ruled as ceasefire violations, categorised as "Child Recruitment', broadly within the "Measures to Restore Normalcy" group.
Within the "Abduction” category for adults and children respectively, of 871 and 97 complaints recorded by the SLMM, 359 and 45 respectively, have been declared as CFA violations.
There had been 10 cases of torture, 28 of intimidation, 33 of extortion, 16 forced recruitment of adults and 4 assassinations ruled as violations, by the LTTE.
Within the “Offensive Military Operations" category, five cases of firing of weapons, three abductions of soldiers and cadres, eight instances of illegally carrying arms and a case of a military related abduction had been recorded.
Sethusamudram project,
a boon to Jaffna?
Oct 5 - Amidst loud protests in Sri Lanka over India's plan to dig a shipping channel through the Pak Strait, a Tamil geographer of Jaffna University has come to its defence saying that the project will be a boon rather than abane for the war-shattered economy of Jaffna.
"The fear that the digging of the channel will lead to an increase in the water flow, and that this will erode and submerge large parts of the western Jaffna coastline, is unfounded," says Dr Soosai Anandan.
He told Hindustan Times on Sunday, that the proposed channel was too far away from the Jaffna coastline for changes in the water flow to have any significant impact on the coast. “The Jaffna coastline is 40 to 50 kms from the alignment of the canal," he pointed out. "Waterflow will be affected only up to a distance of about one kilometre from the canal," he explained.
"Increased shipping in the Palk Strait, will actually lead to prosperity both on the Tamil Nadu side and the Jaffna side. If the present minor ports on the Tamil Nadu will get a boost, so will the minor ports on the Jaffna coast. The presently undeveloped ports at Kayts, Thalaimannar, Kankesanthurai and Point Pedro will get a chance to develop,” Dr Anandan said.
"Increased shipping will also lead to the development of the hinterland, currently ravaged by war. Trade and tourism will increase, and both the Sri Lankan North and South Tamil Nadu will benefit,” he forecast.
The Government of India's Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project involves the digging of a channel in the Palk Strait, 12.8 metres deep and 300 metres wide, entirely within Indian waters. The channel will help fair sized coastal vessels to ply between India's western and eastern coasts, without having to circumnavigate Sri Lanka.
Presently, the shallow Palk Strait is navigable only for small fishing trawlers and flat-bottomed larger vessels. If the Palk
 

OCTOBER 2004
Furthermore, ten cases on the construction of new positions, eleven on the movement of military equipment and an instance where weapons had been deployed have also been ruled and recorded as ceasefire violations.
There have been five complaints against the LTTE as to activities at checkpoints as opposed to one against the GOSL.3 fishing restrictions by the GOSL is recorded. 10 instances where the LTTE has restricted the movement of the SLMM are on record. All these have been ruled as violations.
Overall, from 4,903 total number of complaints against the LTTE and 961 against the government, 2,439 violations against the LTTE and 111 against the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) had gone on record, the SLMM said.
Meanwhile, according to a statementofthe Presidential Secretariat, there had been 146 killings since February 2002 to September 30, 2004. These killings attributed to the LTTE had occurred after the ratification of the CFA.
The total number of atrocities reported were 1,746, which included 146 murders, 285 abductions, 190 robberies, 301 ransom demands, 161 harassments to parents of the abducted children, 164 violence against other political groups and 181 MoU violations.
Strait is opened to fair-sized vessels, shipping costs for Indian coastal trade will come down.
Dr Anandan said that during the North East monsoon (October to February), the water flow would be in the southwesterly direction and during the South West monsoon (May to September), it would be from the south west to the north east. "But these flows will not lead to much coastal erosion,' the geographer assured. However, he conceded that there was some merit in the concerns expressed by environmentalists in Sri Lanka. "These concerns should be addressed. The interests of the fishermen of the area should be safeguarded, especially. But I do not support the campaign to scuttle the project,” Dr Anandan said. "Any development work will lead to some adverse environmental impact. But we cannot halt development because of that. If a road has to be built through a forest, some trees will have to be cut," he argued, "It is my contention that the benefits of the Sethusamudram project, far outweigh the disadvantages," Dr Anandan asserted.
However, the Tamil sentiment in Dr Anandan came out when he pleaded that the project should be implemented only after the Tamil areas of the Sri Lankan North East acquired autonomy. "It is only when the Tamils here have an autonomous administrative system that they will be free to develop Jaffna peninsula and the ports here," he said. "Right now the ports in the Jaffna peninsula are designated as High Security Zones and are under the Sri Lankan Army and the Navy. With severe restrictions on the movement of people, these ports cannot be developed to serve the people of the area,” Dr Anandan said.
Generally, the Sethusamudram project is opposed by the majority Sinhalese, as well as the minority Tamils of Sri Lanka, for environmental as well as economic reasons.
Both say that the digging of a canal in the narrow and shallow Palk Strait will increase the water flow from the Bay of Bengal and led to serious coastal erosion in North Sri Lanka, and also destroy the natural habitat of the marine species in the Palk Strait.
The Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan government have an addi

Page 23
OCTOBER-2004
tional complaint, which is that the channel will obviate the need to call at Colombo port, and this will affect the latter's business. Vessels in Indian coastal trade would not need to call at Colombo or any other Sri Lankan port en-route. It is also feared that the canal will hamper the development of the proposed ports in the southern tip of Sri Lanka. (Hindustan Times)
Environmentalists rejected the recent statement by Jaffna University Geographer Dr. Soosai Anandan and claimed that the proposed Sethusamudram project would jeopardise the envi
Conference to consider India's
role in Lanka's peace process
The controversial Indian politician, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, appears to have taken renewed interest in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict particularly in the context of the trajectory the Norwegian facilitated peace process is taking. Some observers view his intervention at this stage as reflecting the current official position of New Delhi which is said to be concerned about the prospect of an LTTE controlled self-governing authority being set up in the northeast of the island.
It is learnt that Dr Swamy is the key figure behind conference scheduled to be held in the Indian capital on October 30 at ... which Sri Lankan Tamil issue is set to receive much focus.
It has been reported that this international conference will consider and deliberate on the need for India's resumption of a role in the Sri Lankan peace process to find an amicable solution to the ethnic Tamil problem. The one-day conference is to consider the circumstances and conditions under which India may have to intervene in Sri Lanka to ensure a long-term democratic solution to the Tamil issue in harmony with India's national interest, according to Dr. Subramanian Swamy, former Law and Commerce Minister of India.
non-official conference Dr. Swamy, the moving spirit behind the, told the "Asian Tribune' here that the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is set to receive global focus at the conference scheduled to be held in the Indian capital on October 30.
According to Dr. Swamy, the one-day conference is a sequel to a meeting in Belmont, USA, this August, of a group of Sri Lankan Tamils with him. The group had reportedly requested him to convene a seminar by inviting scholars and public personalities from the countries concerned. As many as 35 delegates, most of them from India, will participate in the daylong deliberations, he said.
President Dr. Abdul Kalam has sent a special message for the conference wishing it success, he said, adding similar messages have been received from Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Interior Minister Shivraj Patil. It has also been reported that India's National Security Advisor, J N Dixit, a former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, who has had close and intimate interaction with both the Sri Lankan government and the various Tamil groups, has sent a paper outlining the salient features of India's current policy vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Though the proposed conference has been described as “non-official, with so many messages from such highly placed individuals in the Indian administration, it does not take much to discern that the conference has the fullbacking from New Delhi. Two scholars from China, one from Israel, and one each from Nepal and Bangladesh besides three representatives from the US embassy in New Delhi will be among foreign partici
 

TAMIL TIMES 23
ronment of the Jaffna Peninsula and the future of the Mannar Oceanic National Park. Lanka Hydraulic Institutes (LHI) Hydraulic Engineer, Dr. Malith Mendis pointed out that no one was in a position to accurately predict the changes to the water cycle in the Jaffna peninsula and its environs since there had been no study done on the subject. "We have suggested the postponement of the project until serious investigations were done to study the water cycle and soil structure of the peninsula,' he said.
pants, Dr. Swamy said. Two representatives from Sri Lanka, including EPDP leader, Douglas Devananda, are also expected to attend the conference.
According to Dr. Swamy, now that the Norway-sponsored peace negotiations remainstalled, the conference will also examine whether there are any alternatives to the Norwegian peace initiative.
Elaborating, Dr. Swamy is reported to have said that the conference would consider the circumstances and conditions under which India may have to intervene in Sri Lanka to ensure a long-term democratic solution to the Tamil issue in harmony with India's national interest.
Discussions will also focus on the role of the international community, especially of the U.S., China, Israel and SAARC countries, he said, adding "that is why I have invited delegates from these countries, especially Israel and China.”
People smuggling racket busted
ASri Lankan employee under investigation for his involvement with human traffickers specialising in smuggling Sri Lankans to European destinations, had admitted that he helped them to send 14 Sri Lankans to the UK on British passports on August l, according a report in the Colombo daily, "The Island".
A senior CID official said the airline worker had charged Rs. 50,000 each from the would be immigrants. The airport services agent played a pivotal role in the clandestine operation, the official said. He helped the passengers to obtain boarding passes and "negotiate' whatever the obstacles within the BIA, the official said.
"We believe some of the 14 passengers were being held by British authorities. But we are yet to receive the confirmation," he said. According to him, three persons ran the clandestine operation. “We raided their houses in Colombo without success.”
The racketeers had charged Rs. 1.4 million to 2.6 million from each. Some of the would be immigrants had promised to pay them after they reached their destination.
The official expressed serious concern over the peoples' readiness to depend on racketeers despite this particular offence being non-bailable.
The airline official's luck ran out when authorities arrested a group of Sri Lankans, 25 adults and six children, on September 16 when they were waiting to board a direct SriLankan airlines flight (UL 505) to London. The arrests were made at the transit lounge after the group had successfully passed the airline checking desk, customs, and immigration and emigration barriers on the pretext of taking a flight to the Maldives byproducing genuine Sri Lankan passports.
The airline official was taken in shortly after their arrest,
(continued on page 25)

Page 24
24 TAM TIMES
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OCTOBER 2004
Senior EPDP cadre shot
SSSSSSSSLSSSSSSLSSSSSSLSSLLLSS
dead: Sept 18 - A senior member of the EPDP was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Putt alam, north of Colombo
on 18 September, Saturday around 11 a.m. Police said. The EPDP cadre, identified as Mr. Thambithurai Sivakumar, 42, was going home in Thillaiyadi, Putta lam when he was shot three times in the head with a handgun by gunmen riding a motorbike, according to Police. Mr. Thambithurai is from Tellipalai, Jaffna. EPDP has accused the LTTE of carrying out the murder. EPDP blocks Norway embassy with coffin: Sept 20 - A large number of EPDP supporters yesterday brought the coffin of slain EPDP activist Thambithurai Sivakumar to Colombo and demonstrated opposite the Norwegian Embassy, burning effigies of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and Political Leader S.P. Tham ilchelvan
Protestors chanted slogans accusing peace broker Norway of supporting the LTTE despite the continuous killings allegedly by the Tigers. Protestors chanted slogans saying "the international community has failed to protect Tamil democracy', 'Royal Norwegian Government, what is your response?". "Prabhakaran, Thamilchelvan, Pottu Amman and Balasingham are all criminals'. The protestors led by former Jaffna district EPDP Parliamentarian V. Sivadasan arrived at the Norwegian Embassy with the coffin around 10 am. They left the wooden coffin containing the remains of Thambithurai Sivakumar at the embassy's gate, demanding action from the Norwegian peace brokers. The protestors had also planned to hand over a memorandum to the Norwegian government urging it to adopt effective measures to control the LTTE. Mr Sivadasan later handed over the petition to embassy officials within the premises but journalists were barred from entering the area. After meeting embassy officials, Mr. Sivadasan told journalists that the officials had agreed to discuss the matter with
(continued from page 23)
The ongoing investigations have revealed the airline official fraudulently used another employee's passport to issue boarding passes to the passengers. He had handed over the boarding passes and 25 passports stamped with original British visas (14 M series and 11 N series) to the passengers while collecting their genuine Sri Lankan passports.
The detection prompted the Law and Order Ministry Secretary Tilak Ranaviraja to call an urgent meeting with representatives of a Malaysian firm responsible for producing the new N series passport. "They were here recently and were taken aback when we produced the tampered passports. We have never detected forged N series passports before."
“We believe the passports had been obtained from their genuine owners who appeared to have obtained genuine British visas and visited the UK before they gave away their passports. Subsequently their photographs had been expertly replaced with photographs of the would be travellers."
"It was a chance detection. We wouldn't have acted if the SriLankan airlines staff didn't inform us of their suspicion of some of the travellers," he said. The detection was the largest single one at the BIA of a group leaving for a European destination.
The CID has received the support of the British High Commission in investigating the fraud. With their assistance, the CID had identified the original owners of the altered passports. "We have so far recorded statements of nine. Some of them appear to have genuine reasons for losing their passports but we are in the process of checking their statements."
The official didn't rule out the possibility of more SriLankan airlines staff being involved in the racket. Replying to questions, the CID spokesperson said the arrested persons included a mother and her son. The remaining children were to travel as the offspring of some of the UK bound illegals. They were from the northern and eastern districts, Kandy and Kotahena.

TAM TIMES 25
the facilitators and the LTTE. Mass meditation for Peace: Sept 21 - Hundreds of Buddhist monks and other religious leaders participated in a peace meditation to mark Universal Peace Day on the Bandarnaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) grounds in Colombo, on Tuesday, 21 September. The meditation was organized by Sarvodaya and other civil society groups. At least 200,000 men, women and children clad in white took part in the meditation, called "Ahimsa Samadhi". The crowds stayed through heavy rain during the meditation. The objective of holding this campaign was to urge all peace loving people in the country to work hard to establish a peaceful atmosphere which is immensely needed for people to live without fear and also to continue with the future development activities.
Leaders of all political parties including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Opposition leader Rani Wickramasinghe, United National Front Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, NUA leader Ferial Ashraff and United People Freedom of Alliance Deputy Defence Minister Rathnasiri Wickramanayke also attended. Canada's grave concern: Oct 20 - The Canadian government expressed its strong support for the Norwegian-facilitated peace process and showed concern about the continuing impasse that prevents a resumption of peace talks, a communique from the Canadian High Commission said.
The Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ms. Valerie Raymond urged the LTTE to return to peace talks and show flexibility with regard to peace negotiations. In her meeting with the LTTE political head Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi, the High Commissioner conveyed to the LTTE Canada's "grave concern over the deteriorating security situation and ongoing political killings and urged them to also fully respect the Ceasefire agreement and to promote and respect human rights. She told the LTTE that Canada remained concerned over the reports of continued recruitment of children," said a press release from the High Commission.
The statement said the government should "continue its efforts to forge a consensus, within the governing UPFA coalition, to resume the talks as soon as possible," and to "seek bipartisan support for advancement of the peace process." It said Canada believes that a negotiated settlement, which satisfies the legitimate aspirations of all Sri Lankans, is the only way to secure a lasting peace. Norway urged to act against LTTE: Sept 22 - EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has written to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskar calling upon the Norwegian Government to adopt effective measures to control the LTTE which does not care for international opinion but kills, abducts and attacks civilians with the aim of becoming the "Sole Representative of the Tamil People' by the process of elimination of political opponents. Pointing out that ever since the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE was signed in February 2002, the LTTE had been engaged in attacks, abductions and killing of civilians including political opponents, the EPDP leader said, "In recent times the LTTE has intensified its killings of members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the only Tamil political party in the Sri Lankan Parliament that refuses to fall in line with the fascist goals of the LTTE. ... As we have stated before, the LTTE is concentrating on killing the top and second rung leaders of the EPDP. The LTTE is hoping to attain the status of "Sole Representative of the Tamils' by this process of elimination. We call upon the Royal Norwegian Government to adopt more effective measures to control the LTTE. Appeasement of the LTTE will not help to preserve democracy, human rights and political pluralism among the Tamils of Sri Lanka.” JHU wants ban on slaughter of cattle: Sept 23 - The Jathike Hela Urumaya (JHU) moved an adjournment motion in parliament proposing to ban the slaughter of cattle in the country, and the Government promised to bring forth legislation to ban the slaughter of cows at least in the near future. JHU monk parliamentarian

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Venerable Kolonnawe Sumangala Thera said that Sri Lanka with a large Buddhist population should not tolerate the cruel manner in which cattle are slaughtered. "We have a long tradition of compassion. A nation like ours, which was named the Dhamma Deepa, should stop inhuman practices like this. Or we will protest on the streets very soon," he said.
The Thera's views were supported by CWC member V. Puthirasigamoney, who said that September was a month during which the Hindu community refrained from the consumption of meat, and appreciated JHU monk MP for making the proposal during this month. Karuna's brother killed: Sept 24 - Elder brother of LTTE breakaway former eastern commander, Karuna, 40-year-old brother Vinyagomoorthy Sivanesasuntherai alias Reggie, who commanded the cadres loyal to Karuna in Batticaloa after his brother left the area in May this year, was reportedly killed in an ambush by LTTE forces in the Maduru Oya sector on the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa district border in the early hours on Thursday, 23 September. An LTTE official said there was an operation by their special forces in the interior jungles northwest of Batticaloa against some elements of renegade commander Karuna's paramilitary, according to a report in the Tamilnet. Two senior associates of the renegade LTTE commander, Elilan and Thumilan, were also killed in the operation, according to the report.
According to unconfirmed reports five Wanni faction cadres - three women and two males - also were killed in the encounter between the two sides. Reggie who joined the LTTE in 1985 joined his younger brother Karuna leaving the LTTE challenging the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran. Reggie had launched several attacks on the Wanni cadres since his brother was virtually forced to leave the east after an LTTE crackdown against Karuna and his suspected supporters.
Contradicting to LTTE claims, security sources have been quoted in the media as saying that Reggie was killed by one of Karuna faction's members, Pushpan who is the brother of Ranjan, Karuna's former driver who was executed by Karuna in April this year on suspicion that he had passed information to the Wanni leadership. Pushpan appeared to have remained with Karuna despite his own brother's killing to take revenge. "He killed Reggie and two of his close associates and then surrendered to the LTTE, a security official was quoted as saying,
According to military sources in Batticaloa, the LTTE Wanni leadership has stepped up operations in LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa after sending Bhanu from Kilinochchi to head the military wing in Batticaloa and Ampara replacing Ramesh who took over as military head following Karuna's defection. After Bhanu was airlifted from Kilinochchi to Batticaloa, a large number of LTTE fighting cadres from Wanni had reached LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa from various entry/exit points in Batticaloa to assist their operations to flush out Karuana loyalists from the east. Another EPDP senior member killed: Sept 24 - A central committee member of the EPDP was shot dead at the entrance to his home in Colombo on Thursday afternoon, 23 September. The senior EPDP cadre, Somasunderam Varunakulasingham, 39, was
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being driven home in his car around 3 p.m. when unidentified gunmen shot him in Vihara Lane, Wellawatte, a predominantly Tamil suburb of Colombo. The victim's wife, Sandalakshmi, also suffered serious gun shot injuries and was hospitalised.
Warnakulasingham has been a long standing member of the EPDP. He is a father of three children. He was a confidant of the party leader Douglas Devananda and had worked with him for over 15 years. The EPDP claims the LTTE had so far killed around 130 EPDP activists altogether since the ceasefire was signed in February 2002.
Meanwhile, a former LTTE cadre known to be a close supporter of Karuna was shot dead while he was at his home at Manampitiya in Mananthota on Wednesday, 22 September. Polonnaruwa police Inspector L.,H.Piyasena said the 22-year-old victim identified as Rajadurai Sivanathan alias Kutty had deserted the LTTE after serving it as an active cadre for about 7 years. UNP demonstration: Sept 24 - United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians, thousands of party cadres and activists joined a mass demonstration to protest against the worsening economic situation under the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government in front of the Colombo Fort railway station for nearly two hours. Placards carried by the demonstrators protested against the increasing cost of living, wanted increase in salaries and demanded the UPFA to take steps to find a solution to the burning ethnic conflict. UNP Parliamentarians addressing the party supporters said, this is the first step towards toppling the UPFA Government. Leader of UNP and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya did not participate in the demonstration. Youth found stabbed to death: Sept 25 - Mr. Selvarajah Mohan, 22-year-old youth of Rajakiramam west village was found dead with cut injuries on his neck in Malusanthi area in Vadamarachi division in Jaffna district on Saturday, 25 September, according to the Police. The body of the dead was taken to Manthikai base hospital. Nelliyady Police officer-in-charge Mr.J.A.Dharmadasa said no one had been arrested nor identified in connection with the murder and that investigations into the murder were continuing. TNA MPs denied Canadian visas: Sept 25 - Four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians were refused Canadian visas to attend the pro-LTTE Pongu Thamil celebrations which was hel in in Toronto on September 25. The four MPs, Joseph Pararajasingham, Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam, N. Gajendran and Mrs Padmini Sithamparanathan, applied to the Canadian High Commission in Colombo for visas but they were turned down on the basis that the applications came in too late. But some sources from the High Commission said the Canadian government had other reasons and did not wish to encourage people from other countries to take part in the controversial Toronto festival, Conditions not right for refugees to return: Sept 26 - The Indian head of mission of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said conditions were not conducive for Tamil refugees to return to their homes in Sri Lanka. Lennart Kotsalainen, while speaking at a seminar in southern Madras city, added that much also depended on the peace process in the island. "It is anybody's guess how slow or quick the peace process will be," he said,
There are an estimated 150,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India - about 66,000 of them in different camps run by the Tamil Nadu state government, while the rest are on their own. The refugees fled to India over years of fighting between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan security forces. Kotsalainen said with its "limited contact" with the refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had been able to help repatriate about 2,500 refugees since mid-2002, though some l2,000 had managed to make their own way home. While a majority of them were prepared to return home only if conditions improved, "even now with the unsettled nature, there is a minority of refugees ready to go back," Kotsalainen said. Fingerprints on passports: Sept 27 - Sri Lankan applying for passports will be forced to place their fingerprints when a proposal put forward by the Immigration and Emigration Department comes into effect with government approval. Controller T. Jinadasa said the move to include the fingerprint in the passport was proposed

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to the Ministry of Law and Order and Public Security for implementation as part of the plan to prevent the misuse of passports. He said under the new system the fingerprint would be included in an invisible manner minimizing the chances of tampering with it, unlike the present system where the photographs of the scanned photographs are changed. He said the decision had been taken in the wake of a series of fraudulent cases where passports had been tampered with and were being used for major human trafficking rackets.
Mr. Jinadasa also said they would be halting the system of issuing one-day passports with effect from October 1. The one-day service has been lengthened to three days, but the applicants would still have to pay the same rate of Rs. 5,000 for an all country passport and Rs. 2,500 for a West Asia passport. The one-day passport system was in operation for 13 years and netted huge revenue to the government. Under the new system, persons from outstations would have to travel to Colombo to hand over the application and return to collect two days later. US funds projects in Batticaloa: Sept 27 - The U.S. Embassy inaugurated four projects in Batticaloa District aimed at improving the health and vocational skills of local residents. These initiatives funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) included the donation of cardiac patient monitoring equipment and renovation of the water-sanitation system at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, provision of processing equipment and training for three inter-ethnic women's cashew cooperatives, improvements to a Sarvodaya training centre and the Manchanthoduwan Technical College, both of which cater to Muslim and Tamil youth. Together these four projects, which represent approximately $138,000 of support and assistance from the United States, are expected to benefit more than 1 million Sri Lankans in the East. Abductee found with his throat slit: Sept 27 - An ex-EPDP activist who was abducted on the night Friday, 24 September was found dead by a police patrol around mid-night at Arsady Junction, Pt. Pedro with his throat slit. Nelliady police inspector J.E.D. Dharmadasa said a man had come to the residence of Sellarasa Mohan around 8:00pm had wanted to hire out a sound system from Sellarasa for a wedding nearby and Sellarasa had gone with the man to install the sound system. Later a police patrol from Nelliady had found his body dumped on the road side. Inspector Dharmadasa said they suspected LTTE of killing Sellarasa. Another coffin at Norwegian Embassy; Sept 27 - The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) placed yet another coffin bearing the remains of a slain member outside the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo demanding the direct involvement of the Norwegian facilitators to put an end to the killing of their members by the LTTE. The coffin carrying the remains of EPDP member Somasunderam Weerasingham, who was shot dead on 3 eptember, was placed outside the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo around 11 am along with wreaths. According to EPDP media spokesman Nelson Edirisinghe, Somasunderam Weerasingham was the 167th EPDP member killed by the LTTE following the signing of the ceasefire agreement. He told the media that in future they would place the body of every slain EPDP member inside or outside the Norwegian Embassy premises. "We will turn the Norwegian embassy into a cemetery if it fails to stop the LTTE's killing spree," he warned. US funds Sri Lanka Police: Sept 28 - US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jeffrey J Lunstead, and Sri Lankan Inspector General of police Indra De Silva signed an agreement at the US Embassy initiating a two year program administered by the U.S Department of Justice where Sri Lanka Police will receive equipment and training worth S250,000, a US embassy press release issued on September 28 said.
Several hundred policemen throughout Sri Lanka will soon benefit from new equipment and training offered by the United States under a program aimed to improve the performance of local community policemen. Valued at US$ 250,000, the program will run for two years and is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice under the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP). "We're proud to be able to offer this assistance to local Sri Lankan policemen as a tangible benefit of the peace process," said Ambassador Lunstead. "Hopefully this

TAMIL TIMES 27
program will lead to better public relations within the communities where they work," Lunstead added.
EPRLF member shot dead; Sept 28 - A member of the EPRLF(V) was shot dead allegedly by LTTE gunmen in Jaffna on 27 September, Monday afternoon, Police said. The man, identified as Valli Sundaram from the coastal village of Myiliddy was riding a motorbike on KKS Road between Maruthanamadam and Inuvil when two gunmen on a motorbike shot him with a handgun, according to Police. The victim V. Sundaram was a member of the ValikamamNorth Pradeshiya Sabha.
In a press release, the EPRLF(V) said, "Comrade Valli Sundaram was a warm, hospitable and a genial man. When he was gunned down by the fascist goons of the LTTE at 2.30 p.m. on 29th September 2004 he was 61 years old. This frail old man was killed at Maruthanamadam while he was riding his motorcycle.
Com. Sundaram has long history of struggle for the rights of our people. He was a worker in the KKS cement factory and when he started working with EPRLF, he was an active trade unionist. He has been a courageous and outspoken critic of the LTTE fascists who has trampled underfoot every civilized value of the Tamil civil society. He steadfastly fought for democracy, human rights and social emancipation of the most oppressed sections of our society. Com. Sundaram has been a father figure for most of our young comrade. He has by word and deed taught us how to lead simple lives, to be true to our principles and to be resolute in our struggle for freedom and social emancipation. He has inspired confidence in hundreds of our cadres and won the respect of many more. The EPRLF expresses its deepest sympathies to Com. Sundaram's wife and to his two children.
This is yet another example of the callous and the barbaric character of the fascist LTTE, which has carried out a ruthless campaign of eliminating Tamil intellectuals, human right activists and political activists of other Tamil political organizations." Youth shot, two killed in Ampara: Sept 29 - Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a youth in Kiran, north of Batticaloa, on 28 September, Tuesday night, according to the Police. In another incident two Singhalese were found shot to death on the Akkaraipattu-Ampara road, south of Batticaloa, around 10 p.m. Police in Akkaraipattu said the two Singhalese were riding a motorbike when they were shot dead. The motive for the killing was not clear, they said. Mr. Kanapathipillai Vivekanandarasa, 19, the youth who was shot in Kiran, told Police that he was not affiliated to any party or paramilitary and that he was a salesman. He said gunmen had come to the house in Kiran where he was staying and had shot him after calling him out. Mr. Vivekanandarasa is from Manjanthoduvaai, a suburb on the southern outskirts of Batticaloa tOWn. Signature campaign against Norway: Sept 29 - Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the party of Buddhist monks, launched a signature campaign in Kandy vowing to collect five million signatures against the Norwegian facilitation in the Peace Process. Venerable Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, the Deputy Leader of the JHU, addressing a meeting at the Central Market in Kandy, vowed that he personally would be campaigning for three days in Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Galle, Matara and Polannaruwa districts. “Norwegian envoys are the real enemies of people of Sri Lanka. They are sympathetic to Tiger demands," said Sobhitha Thera.
Ven. Pandit Madagama Dhammananatha Thera of the Asgiriya Maha Vihara said that the objective of obtaining the signatures is to pressure Sri Lanka's President to prevent the division of the country. Kandy district JHU parliamentarian Ven. Udawatta Nanda Thera said, "We do not need Norwegians support. If the our government needs any support to solve the ethnic problem, it should seek the assistance of India." The signature campaign is expected to last 30 days, according to JHU sources,
Karuna loyalist killed: Sept 30 - A man who was abducted from his home on 29 September, Wednesday night, by unidentified men, was found shot dead in Redd Barnapuram in Eravur, 14 kilimoetres north of Batticaloa, Police said. The body of the man, Dharmalingam Gopalakrishnan, 30, was found in shrub near his home with several gunshot wounds on his head on Thursday morn

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ing, according to Eravur Police. Police sources alleged that Gopalakrishnan was killed as he was suspected to be a loyalist of the Karuna faction.
Six Tigers killed: Sept 30 - A woman died at Panichchankerni around noon on Tuesday, 28 September, when LTTE cadres fired indiscriminately after being attacked by Karuna loyalists. Senior military officials based in the East and Colombo said LTTE cadres fired rocket propelled grenades and mortars at random for about one hour after Karuna loyalists mounted a commando-style assault on an isolated road block situated a few kilometres away from the Kadjuwatte army camp. The incident took place in the LTTE-held area. This particular point is manned by about six personnel during the daytime and about 12 in the night. The military believed at least six LTTE cadres were killed in the attack.
The LTTE moved reinforcements to cordon off the area to track down the attackers.
"Two women with shrapnel wounds were rushed to the Valaichenai government hospital shortly after the firing ceased. One of them succumbed to injuries and the other was subsequently transferred to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital," an officer based in Colombo said. At least two others who had suffered minor injuries entered the government-controlled area, he said.
Muslims stage hartal in the east: Oct 1 - Life in the Akkraipattu town in eastern Sri Lanka was brought to a standstill on 30 September when residents staged a hartal, forcing shops to put up shutters. Old tyres were burnt on the roads while all government offices remained closed. Thousands of Muslims from Vattamadu, Thirukkovil and Akkaraipattu took part in the hartal in protest against alleged harassment by the LTTE of Muslim paddy farmers and death threats issued to them. During the past few weeks, a large number of Muslim farmers have complained to the police and the Norwegian-led monitors of LTTE excesses. They have said the LTTE was attempting to deprive them of their land as well as
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Security in the town was beefed up with additional police personnel brought in to defuse tension and prevent any clashes. They said although they Muslims had pinned their hopes on the CFA thinking the LTTE violence against them would abate, the opposite had happened. Unless the SLMM and the international community heeded their plight and restrained the LTTE from unleashing violence, organisers said they would be compelled to take their protests to Colombo like the democratic Tamil parties. w Karuna cadre killed: Oct 1 - A close associate of former Liberation Tigers' commander Karuna was shot dead by LTTE's special jungle warfare units operating in Kulaththu Madu near Vakaneri, 40 kilometres north of Batticaloa, on 30 September, Friday night around 11 pm, according to a Tamilnet report. The dead man was identified as "Ruben'. "At least two in Ruben's group were injured in the attack. Our units are now looking for them in the jungles", the report said quoting an LTTE source. Businessman shot: Oct 2 - A businessman was shot around 5.30 p.m. on 1 October by unidentified gunmen near Punanai, 45 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa. The businessman, Mr. Poopalapillai Sivapragasam, 47, was returning from Welikanda on his motorbike on the Valaichenai-Polannaruwa Road when four gunmen who had trailed him on their motobikes shot and wounded him, Police said. Mr. Poopalapillai runs his business in the Valaichenai bazaar. A Sri Lanka army convoy rescued him when he lay wounded on the roadside, they said. His assailants are reported to be Karuna loyalists. Curfew in Manna: Oct 2 - Police on 1 October clamped a curfew in Mannar after Muslims, irked over the killing of Muslim on Thursday, 30 September, clashed with members of the LTTE pistol group and set fire to two LTTE offices. Police said the curfew would be in force till 6.00 p.m. but would be continued if they found the situation still volatile.
The LTTE administrative offices' in Pesalai and Thalaimannar were burnt to the ground in the early hours by angry mobs. The LTTE cadres on duty at that time decamped to save their lives and the Special Task Force have been summoned to maintain law and order, police said.
The LTTE pistol group allegedly gunned down Faisal Salem (38), a resident of the Karasal village at Pesalai while he was returning home on his motorbike with one of his friends. The protest and agitation began on Thursday in the Karasal village and soon spread to the other nearby villages with scores of Muslims taking to the streets demanding the LTTE killers be brought to justice and an end to killings. A senior police officer said that mobs attacked the LTTE office on Moor Street when Salem's body was brought to the Mannar Base Hospital. Two civilians killed in shooting: Oct 3 - Two civilians who came under attack by LTTE gunmen in the general un-cleared area of Valachchenai on Saturday, 2 October, died on the spot, a complaint made to the Police by a civilian stated.
One of the victims, Tambiah Mannavan (32) of Umaliyavadu, Madurankulam, Valachchenai was a farmer and talking to a section of LTTE breakaway members in his compound when armed LTTE gunmen of the Wanni faction stormed the place and shot indiscriminately, a news release form the Sri Lanka Army said. During the shooting, another unknown member of the LTTE breakaway group who was present at that time received gunshots and died on the spot, according to the complainant, Kumara Muttu Gurashi (30) of Umaliyavadu, Madurankulam, Valachcenai. Those armed LTTE assailants afterwards brought a tractor and took away the remains of the victims towards un-cleared areas in Vakarai. The complainant who was an eye-witness to the incident had further alleged that the group of assailants comprising about 100-150 armed LTTE men showed up at the location when the firing took place. The Valachchenai Police have kept the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission informed of the incident. Tigers want prisoner swap: Oct 3 - The LTTE has sent a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee with the names of ten LTTE cadres whom they want in exchange for the two home guards who are presently in their custody. The 10 LTTE men have been in detention having been remanded by the courts.

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The ten LTTE cadres are those who had been taken into custody in Batticaloa on two occasions. Their real names and the names used by the LTTE are indicated in the letter. The eight LTTE cadres who had been taken into custody on July 14, 2003 while they were bound to Karadiyanaru by a vehicle are as follows: Sivanathan Thiruman Vanam alias Thamilisai, Vinayagamoorthi Shyamala alias Sudarwili, Navarathnam Manjula alias Thilakadevi Navaratnam Pumidamalar alias Nerkochai Kadiresapilai Rajikumar alias Rajigan, Kopalasingam Dayanandan alias Daya, Sridharan Sudakaran alias Kannan, Thyagarasa Muralidaran alias Kankalan. They were arrested with the firearms they had in their possession. The other two who were taken into custody on July 7, 2003 while they were riding a mobike at Valachchenai, Ottamawadi with a hand bomb in their possession. They are Sandiridasa Jayaweera alias Piyos Rajendra and Wadivel Sandira Kumar. The place of arrest and the offence committed are indicated in that letter.
Tigers have indicated that they are agreeable to release the two home guards with their fire arms if the ten Tiger cadres are released with fire arms and hand bombs. Norway condemns political killings: Oct 5 - The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said that the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgessen had conveyed to the LTTE's political wing head Thamilselvan, when they met in Geneva on Monday, 4 October, his country's growing concern over the LTTE's breach of the ceasefire agreement and had made it clear that Norway condemned the political killings carried out by the Tigers,.
The Embassy said: "Deputy Minister Helgessen communicated to the LTTE delegation Norway's growing concern regarding continuing breaches of the ceasefire agreement. Helgessen emphasised the negative implications of ceasefire violations for the peace process as a whole and underlined that such violations also make the work of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission difficult."
"Helgessen stated that Norway condemned the political killings taking place in Sri Lanka and appealed to the delegation that the LTTE does everything possible to stop such killings,” said the embassy. US urges LTTE to end violence: Oct 5 - The United States has called upon the LTTE to end violence against political opponents and to cease the recruitment of child soldiers. In a statement, US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said, "The US is committed to supporting the peace process launched after the 2002 Cease Fire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE. President Kumaratunga has shown flexibility in her proposals to renew discussions with the LTTE. Further delay in restarting negotiations can only damage the interests of all Sri Lankans who stand to gain from a return to real peace. We urge both parties to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring peace to the island," Mr. Boucher said. "Only a negotiated settlement according to the agreed terms of the Oslo Declaration can achieve an equitable and long-lasting resolution to the bloody conflict that has divided the nation for too long. The people of Sri Lanka deserve an opportunity to live in peace. Any settlement must preserve the territorial integrity, unity and national sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Both sides have to take steps to ensure that all provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement are adhered to." SLMM on home guards issue: Oct 6 - The SLMM in a press release stated that the SLMM did not find acceptable acts of apprehending persons in order to put on pressure for release of detainees of either party to the CFA. Moreover, the SLMM Head of Mission noted that there is no logic in connecting the two completely separate cases of the current detention of the two Home guards and the list of names put forward by the LTTE, citing ten cadres arrested by the GOSL more than a year ago. The cadres were duly processed through the judicial system in accordance with National Law.
Furuhovde explained that the SLMM has engaged itself intensively at the local level in Trincomalee in trying to persuade the LTTE to release the detained Home guards, even though they had been apprehended carrying firearms within LTTE controlled area. Furthermore, the SLMM has also taken up this issue with LTTE Political Wing leader Mr. Tamilshelvan at top-level meetings in Kilinochchi. The SLMM urges the LTTE to re-examine its posi

TAM TIMES 29
tion on the issue of the two detained Home guards and hopes for their release. Two Muslims shot dead: Oct 6 - Two Muslims, Mohamed Noor Mohamed Sedu Mohamed (45) a teacher and K.M.Kuddoos (aged 42) a farmer were shot dead allegedly by the Tigers on 5 October at about 7.00 p.m. at Athugala, Welikanda in eastern Sri Lanka, on their way back home from the mosque. Muslim people are becoming restless and frustrated about the LTTE as their attacks and killings have turned towards the Muslims, sources said. Police prevent building LTTE memorial: Oct 7 - Sri Lanka Police arrested four workers who were constructing a memorial in Mannar town for "Victor'(Mr. Marcelin Fuselus), a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers who was killed in battle with the Sri Lanka army in 1986. The masons and their assistants were arrested when they were starting work on the memorial at the roundabout in Bazaar Street in the heart of Mannar town around 7.30 p.m. Sri Lanka army and Police stepped up patrols and deployed more troops in the town following the arrest.
Victor' was LTTE's Mannar district commander in 1985-86. He was from Pangkattukottil, a coastal village near Mannar town. Police said they arrested the four workers as they had no permission to build the memorial at the Bazaar Street roundabout. Life sentence quashed on appeal: Oct 8 - Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal quashed the life sentence imposed on a Tamil youth, Mr. Mylwaganam Wijeyaratnam, who was charged under the Prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) and acquitted him from all charges indicted by the Attorney General. He was indicted for causing death to a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at Kaddumurippu in 1995, based on the confession made by him under the PTA. The Colombo High Court which heard the case in the year 2002 found the accused guilty on all charges and imposed life sentence on him. The accused appealed against the life sentence imposed by the HC that he was not given a fair trial. The defence took up the position that the conviction based on the confession of the accused during the course of police interrogation was not a voluntary one but obtained under duress. Mines threat in North and East: Oct 8 - The UN Mine Action Report on Sri Lanka for 2004 says that nearly 500,000 people in 405 villages in the North and East are believed to be threatened by mines. Civilians in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullativu, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara are at risk, the report said.
The UN report has been issued in anticipation of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, to be held at the end of November. It states that landmines, unexploded ordinance (UXO) and improvised explosive devices (IED) stemming from almost two decades of armed conflict are causing between 15 and 20 casualties daily. Mines and UXO in Sri Lanka have been assessed as "containable', provided that the present peace process continues and donor funding for capacity building and operations meet the current demand for expansion and procedural demining. The report stressed the necessity for continued coordination and quality management in demining operations, gathering and dissemination of data, and management on mine action. The annual expenditure for mine action in Colombo is nearly US$ 1.6 million and includes the clearing of nearly 3,000 minefields and 700,000 landmines.
Sri Lanka officially became a party last month to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which also prohibits the indiscriminate use of landmines and their intentional use on civilians during a war. However, Sri Lanka is yet to ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines or the Mines Ban Treaty. As of June 30, 2004, 143 states had ratified the convention, which came into force on March 1, 1999. Abducted and killed: Oct 7 - Six suspected armed LTTE cadres, clad in military-type uniforms abducted and killed a civilian in the general area of Sevanapitiya in Welikanda on October 6 Wednesday night, Police reports said. The victim's bullet-riddled body was found abandoned on the banks of a rural tank. The 37 year old victim, Dharmalingam Sathyalingam, whose house at No. 1 14 of Mutugala, Sevanapitiya was stormed by the six armed men at about 9.00 p.m. before he was taken away to an undisclosed place, according to information given by neighbours. The Mutugala Police post was informed of the murder by neighbours.

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30 TAMIL TIMES
Muslim MPs seek separate representation at talks
Oct 9 - Muslim Members of Parliament belonging to different political parties who met at Environment and Natural Resources Minister A. H. M. Fowzie's residence on 7 October agreed to act together in the common interest of the community, particularly at a time when a solution for the ethnic problem was being actively pursued, a Ministry media release said. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, NUA leader Minister Ferial Ashroff, UNP Members Kabir Hashim and Myown Musthafa, CWC Faizer Musthafa, National Muslim Congress Chairman Anver Ismail, Media Deputy Minister and NUA Secretary General Cegu Issadeen, SLMC Secretary General M. T. Hassen Ali, MPs Rishard Badiudden, N. A. Majeed, Ameer Ali, Nijamudeen and Hussein Bhaila were present.
At the meeting, the members had resolved to seek for an independent delegation to be included to participate in the political negotiations for resolving the ethnic problem. They held the unanimous view that all Muslim Parliamentarians should act collectively in common national issues.
After paying attention to the security situation of the country they unanimously adopted the following resolution: "We the Muslim Members of Parliament, fully appreciate and welcome the efforts taken by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to resume Peace Negotiations with the LTTE, and in that context we do express our sincere hope that the talks will result success. In the event of the resumption the peace talks, we do hereby resolve to request the President to accommodate an independent Muslim delegation to safeguard Muslim interests and to achieve their political aspirations.” STF kills killer of LTTE activist: Oct 9 - A political activist of the Liberation Tigers was shot dead by a gunman suspected to belong to the Karuna faction of the LTTE in Akkaraipattu, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Saturday 9 October, Police said. The gunman was later shot dead by a Special Task Force (STF) patrol that pursued and cornered him in a house. "We pursued the gunman when he saw him fleeing the scene of murder. We had to open fire when he attempted to evade arrest by attacking us," said an STF officer in Akkaraipattu. STF is the elite counter insurgency arm of Sri Lanka Police.
The driver of the passenger van in which the LTTE activist was about to board was injured when the gunman opened fire, Police said. The LTTE political activist was identified as "Jude'. Muslims want equal partnership: Oct 9 - Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has urged the government to make clear its stance on the issue of North-East Muslims and to ensure an 'equal partnership' status to the Muslim Community in the future peace talks, if the government wishes its participation in the National Advisory Council on Peace and Reconciliation.
"We want to know where we stand," said the Party General Secretary Hasan Ali. SLMC was invited among other political parties to be a member of the NAC, but the Congress wanted certain issues to be cleared before sending their representative, Ali said. Speaking on the issues on which the party demands clarification Ali said, they would want to know how the government will assure the rights and the aspirations of the community are safeguarded, if an interim authority is set up as was demanded by the LTTE.
"We are an important stake holder in this process, we have lost over 17,000 lives, acres of lands were taken forcibly and millions and millions worth of properties. were destroyed, we have burning issues that need urgent attention," he said. The party which went before the public with an election manifesto talked mainly about its stand on the peace process would support the move if their demand on equal participation is met. "What we will have to say in the NAC would also be the same as those we stated in our election manifesto which was accepted by the Muslim Community," he added. Tamil scholars honoured: Oct 11 - Three day North East Tamil Literary Festival concluded in Jaffna conferring Governor's Award on eight Tamil scholars and releasing videocassette on the life and literary works of veteran Tamil Professor K.Sivathamby. Earlier a cultural pageant, which commenced from the Nallur Kandasamy Temple, arrived at the venue, Jaffna Hindu Ladies College where the three-day festival was held.
R.Sadachcharadevi (Kunthavai), S.L.M. Haniffa, VSivasubrama

OCTOBER 2004
nian, M. Kanagasabai, K. S. Sivakumaran, Kulanthai M.Shanmugalingam, P.Stanislauz and K. Sellathurai were the recipients of the Governor's Award for the year 2004.
Governor's Award were handed over by the NE Provincial Council Chief Secretary Mr.Rangarajah and literary awards for the year 2003 by Professor K. Sivathamby. Mr.R.Thiakalingam, Secretary to the Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs presided over the final evening session. Mr.S.Rangarajah, Chief Secretary of the North East Provincial Council (NEPC) was the chief guest and Professor K.Sivathamby was the Guest of Honour. Messrs: S.Sivanandan, Senior Assistant Secretary in the NE Provincial Education Ministry, Dr.T.Kamalanathan, and Head of the College of Education, Mr.P. Vickneswaran, and Jaffna Zonal Director of Education participated as distinguished guests. Wickremesinghe's Indian visit: Oct 12 - India's Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh and Sri Lanka's Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickramesinghe met during the latter's visit to India and held wide ranging discussions, said a press release issued in Colombo.
The press release issued by the Opposition Leader's office stated, "India's desire to see a speedy solution to the ethnic conflict of its closet neighbour, Sri Lanka was expressed by the Indian minister of External Affairs Mr. Natwar Singh, at a wide ranging discussion held with the Sri Lankan opposition leader, Mr. Ranil Wickramesinghe. Mr. Singh demonstrated a keen interest to learn the current situation of the peace process. Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe described the consistent stance taken by the United National party with regard to the peace process and the peace talks. The opposition leader emphasized that either in power or out of it his party is committed to a negotiated political solution for the conflict.
In addition to the peace process, strengthening of Indo-Sri Lanka relations was also discussed at length during the meeting Mr. Singh was of the view that both countries should strive more to expand relations in all aspects, as this would be mutually beneficial and make great contribution in the sphere of development. Mr. Wicramasinghe said that he is fully aware of this fact and his government while in power took various steps to expand and strengthen trade, cultural and other relations ships between the two neighbours.” Grenade attack inside Chinabay; Oct 13 - A grenade attack took place targeting a leading private sector cement factory which is located in Chinabay, about 9 km off Trincomalee town. Prima Milling Complex, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation refinery, airport and Fisheries Corporation office are also located in Chinabay.
According to a police report, a person who came from the seaside had thrown the grenade and it fell inside the premises of the factory and exploded. Army officials rushed to site on receipt of information and had collected the clip of the exploded grenade from the site. The SLA and Police immediately launched investigation into the incident, sources. Four policemen named in assault case: Oct 14 - Four policemen of Jaffna Police, T Dhanapala, Pushpamali Fernando, Asela and Ariyasinghe were identified at the identification parade held in Jaffna Magistrate's Court in connection with the alleged assault on Mr. Ruwan Chandrasekara, regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) and his associate Mr.S.Feroz on 27 September, according reports from Jaffna.
Ruwan Chandrasekara and Feroz identified the policemen as being among the group that allegedly assaulted thim when they went to inquire about an arrested Tamil youth and kept in the police custody. About 46 policemen were produced for the identification parade along with about 322 laymen. The Magistrate RT Viknarajah allowed the applications made the suspects applications to for bail and for permission to leave Jaffna peninsula. Hostage taken in lieu of escapee:Oct 13 - Chandrasekaram Ramesh Prabakaran (aged 16) of 9th Colony, Kokkaddicholai who was with the LTTE since 2001 had reportedly escaped from the LTTE and disappeared. The LTTE cadres came in search of him and failing to locate the whereabouts of Ramesh Prabakaran had taken hostage his brother-in-law. They have instructed the wife of this man to produce her brother if she wanted the release the of her

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husband. The woman is said to be confronted with two difficult choices, whether to save her husband or betray her brother. Karunas cadres killed: Oct 13 - Two Karuna faction cadres were killed while another six were badly injured when a member suspected to be from of the LTTE Wanni faction hurled a hand grenade and opened fire at them on 12 October at Welikanda in eastern Sri Lanka.
Military spokesman Col. Sumedha Perera said that according to information, an LTTE cadre from Wanni had reportedly made overtures to a group of breakaway LTTE men for some time and suddenly detonated the hand grenade before firing at this group of LTTE men who were reportedly at a house in the area. The injured LTTE men of the breakaway group carrying their two dead friends, had reported the matter initially to the Nagastenna Police post after the incident. The injured were admitted to the Welikanda hospital and later transferred to the Polonnaruwa base hospital since their conditions grew worse, he said. SLMC wants enhanced safety: Oct 14 - Sri Lan-ka Muslim Congress Leader (SLMC) Rauff Hakeem is to urge Defence Ministry authorities to heightened security in all Muslim populated areas especially in the Eastern region, following several killings of Muslim civilians allegedly carried out by the LTTE. Hakeem will also submit his request to the Chief of Security Staffshortly. He will request for special security measures to the Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa districts, sources said. The SLMC leader who recently visited the Eastern Province after the killings assured the Muslim population that he would work towards establishing a safety measure in all Muslim populated areas, after discussing the matter with relevant defence personnel. JVP supporters hold demo: Oct5 14 - A group of supporters of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) held a demonstration in front of the Trincomalee office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission (SLMM) Thursday, 14 October, around noon demanding the release of two Sinhala home guards who are reported to have been taken into custody when they strayed into LTTE controlled area on September 27.
Police and army soldiers provided tight security to the SLMM office, which is located along the Inner Harbour Road facing the Trincomalee harbour. The main gates of the SLMM were closed and guarded by security forces to prevent protestors entering the office premises, sources said
A spokesman of the group addressing the gathering appealed to the SLMM to take immediate step to release the two Sinhalese home guards to reduce the tension in Trincomalee where all three communities live. He warned that some elements are working to create chaos in Trincomalee to meet their own ends using the current volatile situation, Abduction fisherman in Jaffna: Oct 14 - A fisherman had been abducted and another was injured when an unidentified group, alleged to be LTTE cadres, aboard a fishing boat assaulted two fishermen engaged in fishing in Manalkadu in Jaffna on 13 October and abducted one of them. Military sources said these fishermen attached to the St. Anthony Fishing Association in Jaffna were at sea when they gagged the men assaulted and abducted the fishermen. The escaped fisherman had reported the matter to the Fishing Association and sought admission to the Mannai hospital because of the injuries inflicted on him by assailants, sources added. Senior LTTE cadre killed: Oct 5 - A senior member of the LTTE's intelligence unit and close confidante of the LTTE's intelligence chief Pottu Amman, was reportedly killed in an ambush attack in the Pancichankerni township in the Batticaloa district. The victim was identified as Ravindran. Another intelligence unit member, Suthagar, was severely wounded in the incident. Former LTTE cadres who are loyal to Col. Karuna are believed to have carried out the attack. In a statement issued in the east after the incident, LTTE blamed the Sri Lankan army helping Karuna loyalists to carry out attacks. However, in a recent interview to the media, Karuna said it is the Wanni LTTE leadership who gets help from the Sri Lankan army. Karuna pointed out that the LTTE military leaders travel with Sri Lankan army protection, and use transportation provided by the Sri Lankan armed

TAMIL TIMES 31
forces. Indo-Lanka direct link: Oct 17 - Telecom connectivity between India and Sri Lanka entered a new phase on 16 October with the Indian Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran inaugurating a direct communication (microwave) link between the two countries. The inauguration was a simultaneous affair, via video conferencing, with Sri Lanka's Minister for Posts and Tele-communications D M Jayaratne opening the link in Colombo. Expressing confidence that the connection would benefit people of both countries, Maran said this was yet another step in strengthening Indo-Sri Lankan ties. Former Black Tiger killed: Oct 17 - A former LTTE cadre, reportedly a Black-Tiger, who had left the LTTE, was killed when he came under a grenade attack during the night of 16 October while at his home at Boundary Road, Putur, Batticaloa. Military sources said that the victim had been identified as 27 year old K. Sinnavan Maheswaran. The victim was at home asleep when the grenade-carrying assailant, alleged to be a relative of the victim, stormed into the house and threw a hand grenade at him. The victim was rushed to the Batticaloa hospital but he was pronounced dead before being admitted. Vaiko confident of lifting LTTE ban: Oct 17 - MDMK leader Vaiko, has expressed confidence that the Union Government would lift the ban on LTTE. He was responding to reporters' queries here on what he thought about the LTTE spokesperson Tamilselvan's plea to the Indian Government to lift the ban on the organisation, at a time when the peace negotiations were on. Vaiko pointed out that he had for long endorsed the view that the ban should be lifted when peace negotations were on.
On the BJP-Shiv Sena's defeat in the Maharashtra elections, he said "the defeat for the Sangh Parivar will continue."
Referring to the “Golden star of honour and dignity award' given to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by the International Human Rights Committee, he said it was not a recognised body of the UN. "The award is nothing but a mockery, when crimes against women are on the increase in Tamil Nadu," he said.
He described as "natural and justified" fishermen's fears that implementation of the Sethu Samuthiram project would affect their livelihood and that fish wealth would be depleted in the Gulf region. The Government should create awareness about the project and how it would actually benefit them, he said. IGP wants Tamil language fluent policemen: Oct 18 - The new Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando said that police personnel fluent in the Tamil language would be deployed to all police stations in the Jaffna peninsula. He made this statement during a brief visit to Jaffna on 18 October. This was his first official visit to the Peninsula since assuming duties as the new IGP recently. He also held talks with area police officers and found out their shortcomings. The IGP also discussed ways and means of improving public-police relationship in the future. He also met Jaffna Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission representatives and inquired about the ground situation in the area. Illegal entrants spark terror-scare: Oct 18 - Airport security officers were scrambled to meet an Air Canada jet carrying seven illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka and the Dominican Republic. They were travelling on false documents and were suspected of being terrorists. Officers waited outside Terminal 1 and then escorted the men off the flight. They were detained for several hours for questioning.
Air Canada spokesman Laura Cooke said seven people were detained for lack of documents on Flight 1849 from Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic. Airport officers said the flight crew became suspicious of the men. The Sri Lankan men, who couldn't speak English or French, had Canadian passports issued to them under French names. Mugshots of the illegal immigrants were imposed over photos on the documents, police said. Alien smugglers are now using French Canadian passports to smuggle Sri Lankans and Indian nationals to Canada, police said. UNP demonstrates in Colombo: Oct 19 - United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians including hundreds of party cadres and activists joined in what is dubbed as "Kitchen Revolution" on 19 October, Tuesday in various locations in Colombo.
Placards carried by the demonstrators protested against the

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increasing cost of living, demanded increase in salaries and asked the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to take immediate steps to find a solution to the ethnic conflict. The demonstrations are aimed at "opening the eyes of the Government", said the organizers of the protest. People are undergoing immense suffering due to economic slump caused by the inaction of the Govt. in regard to the peace process, the protesters said.
UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Rajitha Senaratne addressing the party supporters in Kollupitya junction said, "We will surround the President palace and send home the UPFA government in March of next year. After that UNP will build up new North-South government." Many UNP parliamentarians and former Ministers participated in the protests, but the UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was a notable absentee. UNP organizers said that a people's canpaign is to be launched in November and also that additional campaigns will be held this month in other parts of the country. Former TNA MP shot dead: Oct 19 - Mr. Kingsley Rasanayagam, wo was elected at the April 2004 election as Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, and later resigned from Parliament at the request of the LTTE high command, was shot dead on 19 October, Tuesday evening around 6.20 in the eastern town by unidentified gunmen. He was shot in his car near Kalliyankaadu Cemetry in Batticaloa town. Mr. Rasanayagam was believed by the LTTE to be a close associate of renegade Liberation Tigers commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna). A Policeman who was providing security to him was injured when the gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire, Police said. Mr. Rasanayagam is from Periyar Kallar south of Batticaloa. He was a former bank officer and later worked with the LTTE. Dead body found chained: Oct 19 - Mr.Thambipillai Pakkiaratnam, aged 26, was found dead with gunshot injuries on head and chest along Trincomalee-Batticaloa road about three km off Vellaikutty junction. His both legs were found chained, and there was evidence that the victim had been tortured. He was a native of Karaveddy-Navatkadu in Batticaloa district. According to relatives of the victim members of the LTTE's intelligence wing, are alleged
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to have kidnapped Mr. Pakiyaratnam the day before. Tiger supporter killed: Oct 19 - Mr. Kathirgamathamby Ganeshamoorthy, aged 43, was shot dead by unidentified men Tuesday, 19 October, early morning around 3.30 a.m in his house located in the village lyankerny in Eravur division in Batticaloa district. He was a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the assailants are suspected to be members of Karuna group. Security forces foils abduction: Oct 20 - Security forces at the Black Bridge entry/exit point in eastern Sri Lanka reportedly rescued a civilian while he was being allegedly abducted by two LTTE cadres from Kiran in Eravur. Military sources said that the civilian, identified as 22 year-old N. Nallarathnam of Kiran was being forcibly taken to an LTTE-controlled area in a lorry when troops found him. Later, the victim was handed over to the Eravur Police for investigations Ex-military intelligence officer shot dead: Oct 20 - An exmilitary intellgence officer of the Sri Lanka army was shot dead in Colombo by unidentified gunmen on 19 October, Tuesday night, Police said. The ex-intelligence officer, Mr. Mohammed Suresh Casim, was found dead in his car in Dehiwela, a southern suburb of Colombo. Mr. Casim had worked in Trincomalee during the war, Police sources said. He was discharged from military intelligence for alleged atrocities against civilians, according to a media reports. Youth shot dead in Trinco: Oct 21 - A youth, named Krishanaraja Lokithan (aged 26) was shot dead at about 9.00 p.m. at Anbuvalipuram, Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka. It is reported that this youth was from Kokkatichcholai, Batticoloa and had sided with the Karuna faction during the split in the LTTE, but he later left the movement and had been staying with his relatives at Ambuvalipuram. SLTTA donates sports equipment: Oct 21 - Sri Lanka Table Tennis Association (SLTTA) donated more than sixty thousand rupees worth of Table Tennis tables and other accessories to Trincomalee district sports unit of the LTTE to introduce and develop Table Tennis sport in the LTTE controlled Muttur east villages in eastern Sri Lanka. SLTTA President, Mr. Daya Samaraweera, who is also Superintendent of Police in Trincomalee, handed over the sports equipments to Mr.Theepan, Trincomalee district head of the sports division of the LTTE Wednesday, 20 October, a ceremonial event held in the premises of the North East Provincial Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry. "We are prepared to go to Sampoor village in the LTTE controlled Muttur east to conduct coaching camps for students and youths," said Mr Samaraweera who has been promoted and transferred to Moneragala district as Senior Superintendent of Police. He added the Police and LTTE have joined hands to promote goodwill and peace through sports in the district. The question of whether cleared or uncleared areas would not arise for the development of sports in the district, Mr Samaraweera added. Schoolboy abducted: Oct 21 - A student, Govindan Prakash (aged 16) from Umammil Street, Chankaladi, and Batticoloa is reported to have been abducted on his way from school. His elder brother, Govindan Viji, is alleged to have been suspected by the LTTE to be a supporter of Karuna faction and had gone in search for him twice and failed to locate him. It is reported that the younger brother had taken into custody by the LTTE to bring pressure on the elder brother to surrender. Undergrads on murder charge on bail: Oct 21 - Jaffna High Court Mr. K.P.S. Varatharajah ordered bail for Mr. Jeyabalasingham Thushikanth and Mr. Ratnasingham Thavaseelan, both undergrads of Jaffna University. They were among the eight suspects remanded in connection with the murder of Arunasalam Muththiah of Punnailaikadduwan on 9 September this year. Of the eight suspects six including two undergrads were detained in Jaffna prisons on the orders of Jaffna Magistrate. The HC Judge allowed two undergrads on cash bail of ten thousand rupees each and two hundred thousand rupees surety bail. Bail applications on behalf of the other six suspects were rejected by the High Court. the sources said. Jaffna University Students Consortium and other Student Groups had earlier demanded the release of these two undergrads, as they have to prepare for examinations. O

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Ananda Coomaraswamy: 127th Birth
The erudite scholar, reCOndit and distinguished lingu
New Coomaraswamy volum: Once again, a collection ofAmanda Coomat beenpublished in the United States andmarks the anniversary of his birth in
onAugust 22, 1877.
A magnificent set of three volumes - One of thema biography-was publis mark his Centenary by the Bollingen Press of Princeton University. The pre his son, Dr. Rama Coomaraswamy is called The Essential Ananda K. contains selected extracts from his most important writings.
Coomaraswamy's life story has been told in some detail by Roger Lipsey in a model biography, sympathetic but clear-eyed and critical, painstakingly researched but not burdened with trivial detail, shunning any half-baked psychologising, narrated in elegant prose, and attuned to those aspects of the oeuvre to which Coomaraswamy himself would have wished attention to be drawn.
Here we shall concern ourselves less with biographical matter than with an introduction to Coomaraswamy's ideas and writings. We will focus on certain intellectual and spiritual contours in Coomaraswamy's development, isolate some of the landmarks, and offer a few remarks about the influence and significance of his work. It should be said plainly at the outset that nothing less than a fulllength study could do justice to the scope and depth of his work nor to the manifold influences issuing from it. By the end of his life Coomaraswamy was thoroughly versed in the scriptures, mythology, doctrines and arts ofmany different cultures and traditions. He was an astonishingly erudite scholar, a recondite thinker and a distinguished linguist. He was a prolific writer, a full bibliography running to upwards of a thousand items on geological-studies, art theory and history, linguistics and philology, social theory, psychology, mythology, folklore, religion and metaphysics. He lived in three continents and maintained many contacts, both personal and professional, with scholars, antiquarians, artists, theologians and spiritual practitioners from all over the globe.
We can discern in Coomaraswamy's life and work three focal
points which sha writings: a conce political question the conditions of di and with the probl of the present to t "East' to the 'West' traditional arts an pelled an immen scholarly enterpris emerging preoccu gious and metapl which was resolve ance of metaphysi scholarly eruditic some over-simplifi tinguish three ʻro swamy's intellectu mentator and Indo Indian art, perennia of these roles was
certain period in his 1917 to 1932, and 1 tively. The three : became interwov swamy's life and h
Born in Ceylon
Born in Ceylon father and an Engli raswamy was brou following the earl ther. He was edu College and at L where he studied ogy. As part of h Coomaraswamy ca tific survey of th Ceylon and seeme tinguished academ ologist. However, u his experiences wh work, his interests He became absorbe traditional arts an and of the social

TAMIL TIMES 33
Anniversary thinker ist
aswamy's Writings has Xolombo 127yearsago
7ed many years ago to sent Volume, edited by COOmaraswamy and
ped his ideas and n with social and s connected with aily life and work, ematic relationship he past and of the , a fascination with crafts which imse and ambitious se; and thirdly, an pation with relihysical questions id in a “unique balcal conviction and n. Allowing for cation, we can disles' in Coomaraal life: social comlogist, historian of l philosopher. Each dominant during a life: 1900 to 1917, 932 to 1947 respectrands eventually 'en in Coomarais work.
in 1877 of a Tamil sh mother, Coomaght up in England y death of his farated at Wycliffe ondon University botany and geolis doctoral work rried out a sciene mineralogy of l poised for a disic career as a gender pressure from le engaged in field took another turn. d in a study of the
crafts of Ceylon conditions under
which they had been produced. In turn he became increasingly distressed by the corrosive effects of British colonialism.
In 1906 Coomaraswamy founded the Ceylon Social Reform Society of which he was the inaugural President and moving force. The Society addressed itself to the preservation and revival not only of traditional arts and crafts but also of the social values and customs which had helped to shape them. The Society also dedicated itself, in- the words of its Manifesto, to discouraging “the thoughtless imitation of unsuitable European habits and custom'. Coomaraswamy called for a re-awakened pride in Ceylon's past and in her cultural heritage. The fact that he was half-English in no way blinkered his view of the impoverishment of national life brought by the British presence in both Ceylon and India. In both tone and substance the following passage is characteristic of Coomaraswamy in this early period:
How different it might be if we Ceylonese were bolder and more independent, not afraid to stand on our own legs, and not ashamed ofour nationalities. Why do we not meet the wave of European civilisation on equal terms? . . . our Eastern civilisation was here 2000 years ago, shall its spirit be broken utterly before the new commercialism of the West? Sometimes I think the eastern spirit is not dead, but sleeping, and may yet play a greater part in the worlds spiritual life.
Prescient words indeed in 1905
In the years between 1900 and 1913 Coomaraswamy moved backwards and forwards between Ceylon, India and England. In India he formed close relationships with the Tagore family and was involved in both the literary renaissance and the swadeshi movement. All the while in the subcontinent he was researching the past, investigating arts and crafts, uncovering forgotten and neglected schools of religious and court art, writing scholarly and popular works, lecturing, and organising bodies such as the Ceylon Social Reform Society and, in England, the India Society.
In England he found his own social ideas anticipated and given forceful expression in the work of William

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Blake, John Ruskin and William Morris, three of the foremost representatives of a fiercely eloquent and morally impassioned current of anti-industrialism. Such figures had elaborated a trenchant critique of the ugliest and most dehumanising aspects of the industrial revolution and of the acquisitive commercialism which increasingly polluted both public and private life. They believed the new values and-patterns of urbanisation and industrialisation were disfiguring the human spirit. These writers and others like Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens and Matthew Arnold, had protested vehemently against the conditions in which many were forced to carry out their daily work and living. Ruskin and Morris, in particular, were appalled by the debasing of standards of craftsmanship and of public taste. Coomaraswamy picked up a phrase of Ruskin's which he was to mobilise again and again in his own writings: "industry without art is brutality”. This was more than a facile slogan and signals one of the key themes in Coomaraswamy's work. For many years- he was to remain preoccupied with questions about the reciprocal relationships between the conditions of daily life and work, the art of aperiod, and the social and spiritual values which governed the civilisation in question.
We can catch resonances from the work of the anti-industrialists in a passage such as this, written by Coomaraswamy in 1915:
If the advocates of compulsory education were sincere, and by education meant education, they would be well aware that the first result of any real education would be to rear a race who would refuse point-blank the greater part of the activities of fered by present day civilised existence ... life under Modern Western culture is not worth living, except for those strong enough and well enough equipped to maintain a perpetual guerilla warfare against all the purposes and idols of that civilisation with a view to its utter transformation.
This articulates a concern with the purposes of education which was to remain with Coomaraswamy all his life. The tone of this passage, ardent, vigorous, sharp-edged, is typical of Coomaraswamy's writings on social
subjects in this pel Later in life turned less often ti and political ques had become aware economics, althoug ignored, are the n least part of our pro he never surrender that an urbanised a ialised society cont istic values was pr to human develop ways ready to pull a his literary quiver w late as 1943 we find New English Week subject of education caustic than those c We cannot prete til by the phrase 's We COme tO mean a ard... Modern educ to fit us to take our ing-house and at the culture breeds a rac ask, What kind of v ing?
Coomaraswamy theory has, as yet, tention. It has been his work as an art h metaphysician. Tl proper but it shoul that Coomaraswamy concerned with s throughout his life, situated in a wider, tional viewpoint, m spective but his cor tative standard of 1 thread through his w only touched on hi However, a close inc developed ideas abc eracy, social organ ernment would ma study.
Coomaraswamy a social commentat vealed until his late political and social early period in his proper place within traditional framewc him to elaborate wi Vasquez has called culture'. The seeds araswamy in India a with his early wr through his mature long time germinati

od. Coomaraswamy explicitly social ions. By then he that "politics and h they cannot be ost external and blem'.- However, cd the conviction ld highly industrolled by materialofoundly inimical ment. He was albarbed shaft from hen provoked. As nim writingto The ly, again on the , in terms no less f 1915: nd to culture unandard of living' qualitative standation is designed blace in the countchain-belt; a real se of men able to vork is worth do
's work on social received scant atovershadowed by historian and as a mis is right and i be remembered was profoundly ocial questions These came to be and from a tradiore adequate percern for a qualiiving runs like a ork. Here we have s social thought. uiry into his fully ut education, litisation and govke a fascinating
s significance as ir is not fully rer work when the insights from the life found their an all-embracing rk which allows at Juan Adolpho a metaphysics of sown by Coomd Ceylon, at first tings and later ork, have been a g. The harvest, if
October 2004
it does come, could be none the less rich for that. We should not imagine that because he at first received a lukewarm or even unfavourable response from his compatriots (an attitude which in some measure persists to this day) that this betokened any kind of failure but rather that his ideas were then, just as his later writings are now, from one point of view, "ahead of their time'. Ultimately Coomaraswamy's most important function as a social commentator lay in his insistence on relating social and political questions back to underlying religious and metaphysical principles. In this respect he anticipates some of the more percipient of present day social critics who realise that our most fundamental problems derive from a progressive etiolation of authentic moral and spiritual values.
This period of Coomaraswamy's life is important for the ways in which some of his ideas and attitudes-later to be assimilated into a traditionalist vision, took shape. Coomaraswamy was impelled by the contrast between the traditional and the modern industrial cultures of the two countries to which he belonged by birth.
The second refrain which sounds through Coomaraswamy's life is closely related to his interest in social questions and became the dominant theme of his public career-his work as an art historian. From the outset Coomaraswamy's interest in art was controlled by much more than either antiquarian or “aesthetic' considerations. For him the most humble folk art and the loftiest religious creations alike were an outward expression not only of the sensibilities of those who created them but of the whole civilisation in which they were nurtured. There was nothing of the art nouveau slogan of "art for art's sake in Coomaraswamy's outlook. His interest in traditional arts and crafts, from a humble pot to a medieval cathedral, was always governed by the conviction that something immeasurably precious and vitally important was disappearing under the onslaught of modernism in its many different guises. As his biographer remarks... history of art was never for him either a light question - one that had only to do with pleasures - or a question of scholarship for its own sake, but rather a question of setting right what

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OCTOBER 2004
had gone amiss partly through ignorance of the past. Coomaraswamy's achievement as an art historian can perhaps best be understood in respect of three of the major tasks which he undertook: the "rehabilitation' of Asian art in the eyes of Europeans and Asians alike; the massive work of scholarship which he pursued as curator of the Indian Section of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the penetration and explanation of traditional views of art and their relationship to philosophy, religion and metaphysics. Again, for purposes of convenience we can loosely associate each of these tasks with the three main phases in his adult life whilst remembering that it was in the middle years (1917-1932) that he devoted himself almost exclusively to art scholarship.
In assessing Coomaraswamy's achievement it needs to be remembered that the conventional attitude of the Edwardian era towards the art of Asia was, at best, condescending, and at worst, frankly contemptuous. Such an artistic illiteracy was coupled with a similar incomprehension of traditional philosophy and religion, and buttressed by all manner of Eurocentric assumptions. Worse still was the fact that such attitudes had infected the Indian intelligentsia, exposed as it was to Western education and influences.
From the early days of his fieldwork in Ceylon Coomaraswamy set about dismantling these prejudices through an affirmation of the beauty, integrity and spiritual density of traditional art in Ceylon and India and, later, in other parts of Asia. His work on Sinhalese arts and crafts and on Rajput painting, though they can now be seen as formative in the light of his later work on Buddhist iconography and on Indian, Platonic and Christian theories of art, were nevertheless early signs of a prodigious scholarship.
As a Curator at the Boston Museum Coomaraswamy performed a mighty labour in classifying, cataloguing and explaining thousands of items of oriental art. Through his professional work, his writings, lectures and personal associations Coomaraswamy left an indelible imprint on the work of many American galleries and museums and influenced a wide range
of curators, art his and critics - Stella Andrae, and Heinri a few of the more
Here we sh; Coomaraswamy's traditional art but few of the cardina art, in Coomarasw ways directed tov pose: a daily utilit was fond of callir of present needs' preservation and moral values and derived from the t appeared. A Tibeta cathedral, a Red In nese puppet, a Hi piece of Shaker fu tefacts and creatio sought a symboli intelligibility of t crafts, he insisted on a more or less p tion', as does mod ibility'. Traditiona in the private visi in a symbolic lang Modern art, wh alist perspective sance and all post by contrast, divorc ues, tyrannised by 1 nality', controlled timental) conside from the subjecti individual artist ra well-springs oftra son, needless to s well on modern ar
Our artists are any obligation to have abandoned to isfaction of pres stract art is not an scendental forms 1 ture of a disinteg During the la swamy's life and tered their trajecto austere in his per tially withdrew frc social worlds in w freely over the la dressed himself ti and explication ( physics, especiall India and pre-R His later work is d references to Plat

TAM TIMES 35
orians, orientalists Kramrisch, Walter hZimmerto name well-known. Lll not rehearse complex vision of will only stress a ideas. Traditional my's view, was alvards a twin pury, towards what he g "the satisfaction , and towards the transmission of spiritual teachings radition in which it n tanka, a medieval dian utensil, a Javandu deity image, a niture - in such ars Coomara-swamy c vocabulary. The raditional arts and , does not depend }recarious recogniern art, but on “legl art does not deal on of the artist but
guage. ich fromatraditionincludes Renais-Renaissance art, is ed from higher valhe mania for "origiby “aesthetic' (senrations, and drawn fe resources of the ther than from the lition. The compariay, does not reflect t! An example: 'emancipated from ternal verities, and tradesmen the satnt needs. Our abconography of tranbut the realistic picated mentality. e 1920s Coomarawork somewhat alry, Hebecamemore sonal lifestyle, parm the academic and hich he had moved st decade, and adthe understanding f traditional metay those of classical naissance Europe. ensely textured with ) and Plotinus, Au
gustine and Aquinas, Eckhart and the Rhinish mystics, to Shankara and LaoTse and Nagarjuna. He also immersed himself in folklore and mythology since these too carried profound teachings. Coomaraswamy remained the consummate scholar but his work took on a more urgent nature after 1932.
The vintage Coomaraswamy of the later years is to be found in his masterly works on Vedanta and on the Catholic scholastics and mystics. Some of his work is labyrinthine and not easy of access. It is often laden with a mass of technical detail and with linguistic and philological subtleties which test the patience of some readers. Of his own methodology as an exponent of metaphysics Coomaraswamy wrote,
We write from a strictly orthodox point of view... endeavouring to speak with mathematical precision, but never employing words of our own, or making any affirmation for which authority could not be cited by chapter and verse; in this way making our technique characteristically Indian.
However formidable some of Coomaraswamy's later writings may be they demand close attention from anyone seriously interested in the subjects about which he wrote. There is no finer exegesis of traditional Indian metaphysics than is to be found in Coomaraswamy's later works. His work on the Platonic, Christian and Indian conceptions of sacred art is also unrivalled. It hardly matters what one picks up from the later period: all his mature work is stamped with rare scholarship, elegant expression and a depth of understanding which makes most of the other scholarly work on the same subjects look vapid and superficial. In this discussion of Coomaraswamy we have referred only briefly to some aspects of his work. However, it will be clear enough that he was a man of wide interests and achievements. From a traditionalist point of view we can unhesitatingly ratify Coomaraswamy's own words: "I have little doubt that my later work, developed out of and necessitated by my earlier works on the arts, Indian philosophy and Vedic exegesis, is really the most mature and most important part of my work.”
Courtesy of The Island, 22 Aug 2004

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36 TAMIL TIMES
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Sivayogamalar - Mrs Ratnam, Uduvil. With deep sadness, the family announces the passing away on September 17th 2004 of Mrs Ratnam Siva yoga malar, beloved wife of the late Ratnam (Retired P.W.D. Overseer); sister of Patkunamalar (Ma
laysia), late Baby (Malaysia); loving mother of late Thillainadesan, late Sugirthamalar, Sambasivam (Retired Manager, Peoples Bank), Dr. Paramathasan (Swindon), Mahadevan (Consultant Engineer, Nuwara Eliya), Vimalendran (Accountant, Croydon), Indranee (Canada), mother-in-law of late Pushpamalar, Mangayakarasi, late Mailvaganam, Saro, late Maheswary Ratna, Jayapathy (Canada). Grandma will be fondly remembered and missed by her grandchildren Sivakumar, Dr. Gowri Manohari, Premkumar, Dhamayanthy, Thabotharan, Niruba, Dr. Dhanushan. Myura, Balamayuran, Vijitha, Rathees, Dhayani, Shiya, Dharshana and 14 great grandchildren. Funeral rites were performed at the family residence at 'Sugirtha Mahal, at 1st Mile
 
 

Post, UduViland the Cremation took place at Pipili Cemetry, Manipay on Tuesday 21st September 2004-10-04. The members of the family wish to thank all friends and relatives Who attended the funeral, sent floral tributes and messages of Sympathy and assisted them in several ways during the period ofbereavement.
A Remembrance Poo
OCTOBĚŘ2004
Jah will be held on Sunday, 7th November 2004 at Highgate Murugan Temple, London N6 followed by lunch. All friends and relatives are cordially inViited.
-13 Sandacre Road, Nine Elms, Shaw, Swindon SN59UU. Tel:01793 871435/ 17 Tindale Close, Sanderstead, South Croydon Surrey CR2ORT. Tel:0208 651 6129 (UK).
Mrs Vimaleswary Nadarajah of Kokuvil, Jaffna beloved wife of Mr. P.Nadarajah; daughter of the late Sivasambu and Nagasowpackiam of Sandilipay, daughter-inlaw of Ponnampalam and Sellamma; loving mother of Harindran (UK), Darshidaran (Dubai), Nihaldaran (UK), Sharmina (New Zealand) and Jamuna (UK); mother-in-law of Rahini, Subathira, Lingeswary, Sivashanmuganat
han and Jeyakumar; grandmother of Sanjiv, Aneesha, Theevia, Satheesan, Abana, Shivani, Shivagar, Darshan and Keeran, Sister of Thirugnanaselvam, Mrs Rajeswary Gunaratnam, Mrs Parameswary Thiagarajah, Mrs Vigneswary Kanagarajah and late Kulasabanathan, Sisterin-law of Mrs Thangamuttu Nagalingham and late Mrs Valliammai Seenivasagam (Malaysia) passed away on 17th September 2004. The funeral rites were performed at her residence at 64 Temple Road, Kokuvil and the cremation took place at the Kokuvil Hindu Crematorium.
The members Of the family wish to thank all friends and relatives who attended the funeral and send messages of sympathy. - 65 Beaminster Gardens, llford, ESSex G6 2BW. Tel:020 85.5099.72
Third Year Re
In loving memory of Mr. S.
membrance Sivagnanasekeram on the third anniversary of his passing away on 4th October 2001.
Sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his everloving wife Gnanadevi, sons Ranjan, Mohananddaughterin-law Pavithra. You have never left our hearts and Our thoughts as weremember you in our daily life. We will treasure your love, wisdom and beautiful memory forever.
- Mrs Sekeram, Ranjan, Mohan and Pavithra
and for Quick Sale
Just over 3 Larchams prime land with existing old building, available in Nallur.Jaffna. Excellent location. Sale to highest offer. Reply to E 91, Clo Tamil Times.

Page 37
OCTOBER 2004
ABOUT PEOPLE AND EVENTS ,
IN MEMORAMS
Mr PONNUDURAI NARENDRANATHAN, most dearly beloved and adoring husband of Gnanambal; dearest loving and proud Appa to your children, Dr Thrinayani Jegathambal, Prof. Mrs Sowmya Wijayambal, Sobhana Meenambal, Dr Mrs Priyadarsani Brahathambal, Adhithya Thrilochanan, Mrs Vasutharini Girijambal, Agasthya Ponnambalam and Ambika Dhakshayani; father-in-law of Dr P Arulampalam, T langovan and R Srikanthan and Dr Meera Narendranathan, darling dearest Thaththa to your grandchildren, Abhirami Janani Raveendran, Amarnath Thirumadhavan Raveendran, Ninmala Arulampalam, Janaki Saruhasini Srikanthan, Janarthanan Ragavan llangovan, Dhivya Saraswathy langovan, and Divani Kruthika Naremdranathan.
Dear Appa, in our mind... a constant thought in our heart ... a silent sorrow, but always remembered with love and pride. Ever present, ever missed, ever loved, especially on this the tenth anniversary of your passing away on the 24 September 1994. You are greatly missed but never forgotten, always in the thoughts of your family and friends. God Bless.
(Address: 53 Crossways, South Croydon, Surrey, CR28JQ
Thaththa
Thaththawe wish you were here today, Forthere are manythings we wish to say, Where did the time go? Ten years it's been, Oh how it felt like your time here went by so fast.
Although some ofus have not met you, And although some of us do not remember you, We can tell what kind of man you were, For you left an everlasting impression on a vast amount of people's lives.
Giving us joy, care and most importantly love, You definitely made a place in all of our hearts. Oh Thaththa how we miss you so much We will always keep thinking of you,
And will love you more and more each dayl
By Janani & Amarnath (on behalf of all the grandchildren)
WSrian
 

TAMIL TIMES 37
FORTHCOMINGS
EVENTS
Nov. 1. All Saints Day
2. All Souls Day 5. lypasi Velli (3) 8. Krishna Eekathasi 10. PiratnOSam 11. Deepavali 12. Amavasai, Skanthashashi startS; Keethara GoWri ends; fypasi Velli (4) 15. Sathurthi, Feast of St. Albert the Great
17. Shashti, Soorasamkaram 18. Thirukkalyanam 21. Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary 22. Sukkla Eekathasi; Kaarthigai Somavaram (1) 24. Pirathosam, St. Arumuga Nawalar Guru Pooja 26. Full Moon; Karthigai; Sarvalaya Deepam 27. Vinayaga Viratham Starts 29.Kaarthigai Somavaram(2) 30. Sankadakara Sathurthi; Feast of St. Andrew
Medical Institute Of Tamils (MIOT)
Fund raising evening of Classical Music and Dance
MIOT is organising a fund raising event (South Indian Classical Music and Dance) on Saturday, November 6th 2004 starting at 6.30pm. This will be held at Harrow Arts Centre, Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Middlesex, HA54EA performed by Senior Artists from London.
Programme
O Music Orchestra by Sri Gnanasundaram (Violin), Sri P Gnanavaradhan (Venu), Srimathi Malini Thanabalasingam (Veena), Sri Karaikudy Krishnamurthi (Mridangam), Sri Bangalore Prakash (Gadam)
O Bharathanatyam by Srimathi lindumathi Srikunnar with Sri Aravindhakshan (Vocal & Nattuvangam)
The money raised through this programme would be sent for developing educational needs in Vanni and for the Annai llam project, a Centre of excellence in Counselling the war victims (PTSD-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at 87, Kanahambihaikkulam, Killino-chchi near A9. MIOThas been Supporting this project since its inception i.e., for the past 06
years.
We want to develop Annai llam as a rehabilitation centre, which Would be in aposition to train the War victims, to be able to earn a living for themselves and lead an independent life.
The health care profesSionals in UK founded MOT in 1988 and have been supporting the health care projects in Tamil homeland, taking up human rights issues with various Organisations involved with human rights and supported an orphanage in Batticaloa.
Research project: MIOT's latest venture is a joint research project with Department of community medicine, Jaffna Medical College.
This project aims to study the prevalence of diabetes among people aged 25+ and suggest methods of prevention, control and management of this condition which remains undiagnosed in mainly 50% of the cases.
Research in Primary care
There are 2 pilot projects (one in Main street, Jaffna & another in Chavakachcheri) to provide free primary care consultation (with facilities to refer to secondary care, if need arises) is being Worked out and hope to be functional by January 2005. It is hoped
DO ROVT JVU NO CON S) (T ) Eo
nkans.co.uk

Page 38
38 TAMIL TIMES
that patients who cannotaford would benefit. If this pilot project succeeds the model would be implemented in several villages where there is an urgent need for basic primary care.
MIOT is working in close association with the Centre for Health Care (CHC), Killinochchin education and training of AMP/RMP and other related paramedical personnel.
In 2004, MOT has helped to fund the shortcoming in funding of staff at
lysed war victims ir the learning centre learning centre wi RMPs, AMPs andre Sionals.
We have appoir Jaffna to coordinate ties with the medici North & East. This interested to help in needs (equipment, etc.) to coordinate
Jaffna medical School. Over £2500 have medical SChool and been donated to the Pathology depart- of their visits to Nor ment to meet the basic needs. MIOT people would benef donated £22000 for the purchase of D motorised autorichshaws to the para- (
Vocal Arangetram
of Selvi Pairaviy Rajenc
Some years ago, one might have been concerned in regard to the position and future of
fortes ρroνis her L kal-p
Karnatic Classical music rhyth in Britain. But the Work of avan" Bharatiya Vidya Bhava- Of Mr. n's UK centre - the larg- achar est lndian Cultural Cen- 9.SS. tre outside lndia, haS en- חך sured the position of the hitar" Indian performing arts in hari, Britain as Central to Our dium mainstrean traditions. Which
None could exemplify signa this better than Selvi title, y Pairaviy Rajendran who, nada at age 14, gave us her prefat South Indian classical her g music debut at the Beck Theatre on Sat- Again, hersvaras we urday July 24. She is one of the foremost followed one of Tyag
vocal – and Vina – students of Smt. Sivasakti Sivan-esan, Bhavan's Resident Karnatic Music Teacher. It is indeed the devoted and tireless Work of our Sivasakthi over many years that has played so vital apartin securing Karnatic music's place in our British Asian heritage,
Pairaviy's programme was beautifully introduced by her 9 year old sister, Shangary, who indeed spoke of Karnatic Music “in our adopted country". The compere for the evening was Sitalakshmi Nandakumara, whose thoughtful and informative introductions to each piece added to one's enjoyment.
Pairaviy began herperformance with the Bhairavi varnam Viriboni which gave her the opportunity of demonstrating her range - especially in the lower register, mandrasthayi. These followed Vandisuvudadyali, with words by Purandaradasa, melody in Nata raga. Herein, Pairaviyestablished for us one of her really strong
kritis, Dudugugala, estingly, interposed pallavi in between e rendering of the mar
Her main piece i programme was P. Saravanabhava in M adi tala. lt was pleas in a principal positio ally it forms the ma Pairaviy's alapana melodious, and her Sri Baluraghuramar to the challenge Pair tempo of the piece i Pairavily to give us w passages of Slowk lowed by fast passa shorterlength in go These followed a C percussion passage mic accompanists. Chander, We WelCOnr Bangalore Prakash
 

OCTOBER 2004
Vanni. E10000 for in KilinoChChi. The | Continue to train lated health profes
vteda COOrdinatorin 2 the MOTS activiall institutions in the would enable those the field of medical teaching, training, Via MOT With the make the most use th East in Order Our 枋 r P Kukathasan Dverseas Secretary
dran
, Manodhama (lmation). She revealed Itter confidence in ana Svaran, and her mic dialogue with BhS Resident Teacher dangam, Sri M.Balde, Wasa joytowit
here ensued DiksS Sarasvatimanoa short piece in metempo Adi tala , despite the Raga ture (ankitam) in its vas given as in Kanraga. Pairawiysgood Oryalapana showed reat purity of tone. are exCellent. These jaraja's magnificent in Gaula raga inter1 1/2 lines of the ach svara / sahitya y charanams. n the first part of her apanasan Sivan's fadhyamawatiraga, ant to hearthis raga nin a concert. Usungalam at the end! was beautiful and violin accompanist rose so Creatively viyposed. The slow opened the way for pnderfully extensive alpana Svaran, folyes of progressively uccha - Sequence. elightful Tani solo s by all three rhythApart from Sri Balaed Our Oldfriend Sri bn Ghatan, and One
of Sri Balachander's most outstanding sishyas, Pirashanna, on Morsing. In “Balannas" second mridangam - solo paSSage Sosyncopated and complex was his playing that it seemed as if two mridangams Wereatwork The eye contact of all three with Pairaviy-asthroughout the Concert - was a joy to witness.
After the Chandrakauns piece that followed the interval, Pairaviy sang her other main piece, the Ragam, Tanam Pallavi in the 59 Melakarta Dharmavati. In the Alapana she showed a wonderfully lyrical inventive powerinall three sthayis and toward its close, was not afraid to remind us of Dharmavati's most famous Janya raga, Ranjani. Again, Sri Baluraghuraman gave a Superb violin alapana. Pairaviy's maturity of voice was shown especially well in her superb tanam, wonderful pulsating invention adorned with brilliant brigas. She showed once again that she was not in a hurry, one of the hallmarks of her youthful talent.
The Pallavi in Khanda triputa was set by T.V.Gopalakrishnan. Beautifully leisured melodic variations here gave full scope also to Sri Balu and the three percussionists. Svaram was again a delight, and the manner in which she progressively shortened her phrases in a nine beat rhythm to 4 1/2 then 2 1/4 beats showed her mathematical talent
The Chief Guest of the evening was Padma, Wibhushan The Hon. Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, and it was a privilege to have him among us. He then spoke warmly and with humourof.SelviPairaviy's achievement and talent. Dr. Saraswati Sundaresan also spoke.
Pairavily resumed her programme with a piece in Latangi, the 63 Melakarta, by the late lamented N. Veeramani Iyer, Guru of our dear Sivasakthi. This was followed by Varuvay Varuvay a Ragamalika to the libretto of Subramanya Bharati. An unusual piece - a Kavadichindu or Pilgrims' song-then followed. It was in Chenchurutti, and composed by Periyasami Turan, and was so lively, and a further change for some spirited percussion!
Your reviewerthen spoke, emphasizing Pairaviy's inventive skills.
Pairavily then addressed the audience, seemingly not the least fatigued after so wonderful a performance, and thanked those concerned-particularly her Guru, Smt.Sivasakti Sivanesan, beautifully. She concluded her Arangetram with Tillana by the Chief Guest, Dr. Balamuralikrishna, followed by Tiruppukal and Mangalam.
Truly this was an evening not easily forgotten, and one will watch Selvi Pairaviy Rajendran's future with eager interest.
- John R. Marr

Page 39
OCTOBER 2004
ARRTH: A Star is BC
Those who were fortunate enough to be present on the occasion of the Carnatic Vocal Arangetram of Selvi Arnthi, daughter of Dr. & Mrs PangayatseIvan, at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon, on the 18th September 2004, will remember this splendid concert for a long time to Come. Arrthi haS a fine i melodious voice. This has been honed by years 38 of hard Work and dedication under the tutelage of her Guru Ms. Yasotha Mithiradaas and it was evident throughOut the three-hour Concert.
The concert got off to a flying start with the Varnam "Viriboni’in Bhairavi raga and this was followed by compositions by Muthaiya Bhagavathar and Saint Thyagarajah. After the intermission came the main piece of the concert Ragam Thanam Palawi” in Kalyani raga. Arthi also sangpopularlyrics like Ramanukku” (Arunachala Kavirayar) and "Chinan Chiru Kizhiye'(Bharathiyar)
Amthis rich and trained voice brought the emotive content of the alapanas. The classical purity of the ragas, Clarity of the lyrics, the grace and elegance with which She delivered the neravals and sangathis at the right speed-these were
Mrs Gibbs, He Allen's Girls' Sch Arrthi's inspired pe her many-sided tale elocution, etc.
Prof. T. W. Gopa nOWned musician fi the Chief Guest C complimented Arrt debut and praised hi belief that One Sho On the bankS Of Rive Carnatic music. Eve, nourish a natural tal
Whether Arrthị ( a professional musi ent career keeping in can look forward to soul-stirring music from
Dr. F
My Tribute to Mr. Henry Balasingham
滋
My memory runs as far back as 1967, when I was a young undergraduate of the University of Ceylon and had joined the Ceylon Public Service, where 1 met Mr. Henry Balasingham in the Labour Department. He was the Head of a Brall Ch Of the EPF Division Of the Labour Department at that time. He was
like a father to me, g port for my higher me a lot to pursue m tion and providedal quired as a young in He taught me there a Public Servant an good foundation for He was a veryk every one. He alwa and pleasing Smile every one with wh Mr. Balasingham di ference what So eve uS and there was no ing upon him as a treating us as Sinh was a strong bindi tween US.
We losť tou,Ch. W years and with grea him last year. lf inc unfortunate Conflicts been separated in
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 39
lighlights of Arnthi's Irmance. From Varto Mangalam, there nevera dull moment was hard to believe his Washer first con
irrthi received WOnsupportfrom Sivash (Violin), Balachr(Mridangam), Pra(Ghatam), PirasaMorsing) and Lava(Thampura). admistress James pol, impressed by formance, recalled nts including drama,
lakrishnan, the reOm Tamillnadu, was f the evening. He ni on her excellent brforgiving lie to the uld have been born r Cauvery to master n Thames Water can ent! chooses to become Cian Or has a differusic as a hobby, we years and years of this gifted artiste.
Ram (Crawley)
sving his fullest supstudies. He helped y University educathe protection I rean from the village. quired behaviour of the basics to lay a me in my career.
ind person loved by WS had an innocent and was helpful to om he associated. not show any difin his dealings with juestion of our lookTamil alien and his lese aliens. There g relationship be
h each other for 30 difficulty I located for the prevailing
We would not have his manner. When
MUTUAL HARMONY AT DUSK
In a quiet corner with memories there They relax at leisure and reminisce - So content that they, no joys did miss In life together, with the love they share.
They speak but with eyes and Smiles, Their hearts always entwined in love Sitting in a flowers and fruits grove. Their love is treat, their love is sweet Tho' they've plodded miles and miles.
RECOLLECTIONS
You Canne but once in our life,
and left too. Soon by the back door, just like the mid
Winters Sun. While you stayed, you were jolly
and jelly-like
and fun, were pregnant with prolific thoughts
and grace, frothing, broiling in creativity, honesty,
equality and generosity, with ethereal ideas
and ideals - immune to worries, pains, diffidence
or anxiety,
shed vainglory-lights on vague,
exciting futures Charned with Sweet Sound of
hearts' entangling explored the world on wild hobby
horse dreams laughing, running, dancing, playing,
frolicking. And suddenly left us stunned stone -
like, vexed. Kidst Here one second in memory -
banks, next.
- Professor Kopan Mahadeva
we met, I can remember how long it took for him to recognise me and how delighted he was to see me again. He could not speak at that time, but indicated his warm feelings and joy meeting and listening to my career achievements. Possibly, he would have felt that he, himself had contributed a lot towards these achievements during the earlier days. I very gratefully endorse it. I was moved to fears to see him in his Sick bed. He Will be remembered for ever.
Mr. Balasingham has left three precious children to follow his footsteps As a Buddhist I wish that he attainS Nirvana.
S.Wirithamulla
Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Page 40
40 TAMIL TIMES
Bharatha Natya Arangetram ( Smruti Sinmyee, gracefully in Vazhu
I am happy to write this appreciation of the Bharatha Natya Arangetram of Smruti Sinmyee of Nadana Bramam Vazhuvoor School of Dance, which took place at the Sutton Secombe Theatre on 4th September 2004.
The performance began with the invocatory song on Ganesha and was followed by Thodaya Mangalam - Sri Gnana Sabesar Sthothram, the traditional introduction of a Vazhuvoor Dance recital, and it was rendered with reverence. Smruti Sinmyee no is doubt was the Centre of attraction. Everybody's eyes were focu-ssed on heras she appeared, Smart and bright. It will not be an exaggeration to say that she kept her poise and high standard She had been trained to perform, right from the OnSet.
Bharatha Natyam being a devotional dance form, has elements of worship in its presentation and the role of music cannot be over emphasized. The accompanying artists - vocalist Kalaimamani' “Kural İsai Chelvar' Sri Manickam Yogeswaran, the the violinist Sangeetha Vidwan' Sri L. Kothandapani and Flutist “Venuganamani” Sri P. Gnanavarathan, all senior and experienced in their respective fields, beautifully Orchestrated the music to support the dancer. Young Selvan Kirthiplayed the Mridangam skilfully and with a good sense of maturity. Ahalya Pushparaja was a well-expressed compere.
In the first half of the program, Smruti Sinmyee presented Ganesha Pancharathnam in the Raga Veena Vadhini, Alarippu in the Raga Natai, Jatheeswaram in the Raga Kalyani and Murugan Kavuthuwam in the Raga Shanmugapriya. While Alarippu and Jatheeswaram are traditional crisp items of Bharatha Natyam, the Pancharathnamand the Kavuthuvam are of religious themes.
An int that Smrt perform th Celebrate Vanam. ally refer the danc Combines expressi i presentai . Of the Bh form. By longest S. Nattuvan role. The Smrti Si impart to an ability acquired Smruti Sinmyee's V beautiful centrepiec Bharatha Natyam a, Style were well brou aggressive recitation lables, the avoidanc and gently yet most ngam gave finesse Young Kirthiplayedt feel for tone.
In the Second hal three padams, a sp presentation and Thị am before concludi alan. It was evident t did enjoy herself ve. danced the Padam, Pommaiya' in the Ra nada - it was done most enjoyable to we Padam — ‘Ramanan 'Enakunarul lillaiyah anagari referred to Ramayana — Sita's a entation required de Smruti Sinmyee ros asam, depicting the artistic presentation imaginatively indee the Varnam, Padar Bhavan that Smrutib beautiful.
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f 'oor style
icate piece of work ti Sinmyee was to at evening was the d Dhanyasi Raga The Varnam is usued to as a test for er Since this item
pure dance and )n, and requ-ires ion of all aspects aratha Nataya art far, it is also the ngle item in which gam plays a key suppleness, which myee was able to her movements is through training. arnam Was thus a e. The beauty of nd the Vazhuvoor ght out. The nonof the rhythmic syle of any stridency effective Natuvato the Whole item. he Mridangam with
of the programme, pecial Navarasam llana in Desh Ragng with the Manghat Smruti Sinmyee y much when she “Nan Oru Villai Atu ga Navarasa Kansprightly and was toh. The Sloka and a Smaranan' and in the Raga Vijeyhe episode in the duction. The prespth of feeling and e up to it. Navarline moods was an and she did it very l. The synopsis of and the Sanchara ought out were very
The practice of striking picturesque poses was really started by Vazhuvoor Ramiapillai after he studied the sculptures in the Thanjavurand Chidambaram Temples. Such poses were incorporated in Smruti Sinmyee's Thilana. The Mangalam brought to a close an enjoyable evening and a beautiful programme. In the course of the evening, Smruti Sinmyee earned the encouragement and blessings of the Chief Guest Smt. Pushkala Gopal, the artistic director of Mudralaya, and the commendation from her school.
Smruti Sinmyee's performance was based on the Vazhuvoor Style, the hallmark described as "fluid grace and a deep yet subtle feel for abhinaya". It would suffice to say that Smruti Sinmyee combined the essential components of Bharatha Natyam -expression, melody and rhythm, and her performance was graceful and a joy to watch. The auspiciousness of the Occasion, comparatively simple stage setting, classical music, Varnam and Padams and Orthodox Bharatha Natyam, althesebrought to mind Girija's own successful Arangetram in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Here it is appropriate to mention that Girija's love and devotion to the Vazhuvoor style had its beginning in the intensive training she had from her guru in Jaffna Smt. Thiripurasundari Yoganantham, a premier disciple of the late Natya Kalakesani Vazhuvoor B. Ramiapillai.
I would be truly reflecting the response of the audience offriends, relatives and art lovers when I say that they were unanimous in their heartiest Congratulations to the entire family of Mr and Mrs Varothayasingam for their presentation of a beautiful programme of Bharatha Natyam in which gifted members of the family harmonised. The quiet person behind the scenes, Smruti Sinmyee's father, whose encouragement and support, which made the programme possible, deserves special mention.
My Prayers that the family will develop further the artistic gift they have been blessed with.
-Viji Cumarasamу
"EL ONLY ) ))--SRI LANKA
676 360
-SOUTH INDIA -SINGAPORE
REI

Page 41
OCTOBER 2004
SriLankan Airlines prese Silver Jubilee Award to Taproba
SriLankan Airlines and its main agent in Britain, Taprobane Travel celebrated their quarter century association with a grand party at the Hyatt Regency Church Hotel. The party, hosted by SriLankan Airlines, was in honour of Taprobane Travel and a tribute to its Chairman and Managing Director Mr Gamit Ameresekere and DireCtOr MrS Karimini ROdrigo.
The champagne party was one in the series of events and promotions launched by SriLankan
(From L to R) Taprobane Travel and from SriLankar Gunawardena, Manager UK, Irelar Mr. Jeremy Soertsz, Sales & Markt
and Ms. Marie Rix, Sales
Mr. Gamit Amerasekere
Airlines to celebrate its 25th anniversary and the evening took off with its Manager for UK, Ireland and
Scandinavia, Mr May while detailing whai
Australian Newsletter
Melbourne is a city with a population approaching 4 million, but in the world of insects, it is something quite different. Research ShowS Melbourne is a giant, 100-kilometre-wide super-colony of invading Argentine ants. Listed as one of the world's worst 100 biological invaders, billions of these tiny black creatures have, over the past half a century, made almost every part of the city's urban sprawl their home. At just three millimetres long, the Argentine ant is a wellknown and apparently harmless household pest, although it may, through sheer weight of numbers, threaten native plants and animals. The ant was first found in Melbourne's suburbian town of Balwyn in 1939, possibly the result of just a Single stowaway queen and a few loyal workerants.
Australia is one of the most sparsely populated democracies in the world, where there are 13 million voters spread over 8 million sq km and the electorates range from the 28 sq km Wentworth in suburban Sydney to the 2.1 million sq km Kalgoorlie, which takes up most of Western Australia and COverS an area the size of western Europe. Federal elec
tions were held on th elect 150 Seat House and half the places Senate. Internationa low on the agenda in predominantly on dc the six-week long
been unusually/igor electionS Were annO ter Howard Seemed the pantheon of Lib pied only by Sir Rc just the formalit/ ofa tory to be accompli. Norwegion ship that Howard's stanci aga ers, Iraq War and
Trade Agreement S. negativity on Howat ing the campaign.
Howard was leading days before po, ling.
in a roW, Labour W. government and th seemed prepared
change. But it woulc struggled to provide its favourand the op showing Labour in Labor failed to recon the economic prosp reforns of the 1980s middle When a bette
WWWarmaSSOCiates.CO.uk - use
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 41
nt ne Trave
, Managing Director, in Airlines, Mr. Manoj ld & Scandinavia,
ting Manager, UK Manager.
nog Gunawardena, really took place
during the hardyears, complimented Mr. Gamit Ameresekere for playing his part with honour and placing his country before everything else in all his dealings. He paid tribute to all professional travel staff that represented Taprobane Travel over the years, which gave the agency its reputation for professionalism. He extended his special thanks to Mrs Kamini Rodrigo and congratulated Mr. Gamit Ameresekere for piloting the splendid group of staff over the years.
Mr. Gamit Ameresekere, replying, thanked SriLankan Airlines for their thoughtful gesture in hosting the Silver Jubilee party to celebrate the 25-year partnership. He mentioned with pride that during this period, his company had flown 65,000 of their clients on SriLankan Airlines and contributed E 27 million in revenue. He thanked the Clients for their support, staff of SriLankan Airlines and his own Staff for their Contribution towards what had been achieved.
he 9th of Octoberto of Representatives in the 76-member l issues have been a campaign fought mestic issues and campaigning has OuS. Just before the Linced Prime Minisassured a place in eral leaders OCCuobert Menzies with | fourth straight vicshed. Tampa - the came to symbolise ainst asylum SeekAustralia-US Free hed an element of d government durYet, Prime Minister in opinion polls just After three defeats as utterly keen for he electorate also to contemplate a lappear that Labor a Sustained case in inion polls were not good light. Indeed, struct policy around erity created by its . It tacked down the roption was to sus
tain an aggressive economic reform agenda While using its Social policy Credentials to provide an innovative and generous safety net. Even losing a third election can be justified if the government is cohesive and the economy strong. But failing at the fourth attempt and beyond is poor form, indicating an inability to shape the policy agenda and to instill confidence by way of sustained political dominance of the government. Australia began the search for protection even though it faces no current threat from long-range weapons and has recently joined a long list of countries - including South Korea, Japan, Britain and Israel- which are currently Working with US on missile defence shield. Canberra and Washington declared sharing "deep concerns about the proliferation of ballistic missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction'. The programme that will cost about $50bn over the next five years, is in its early stages and eventually will have the ability to track and destroy incoming ballistic missiles through advanced radar systems. Opponents to the project in Australia argue that the development of a defensive Shield could have a destabilising effect on the country's Asia-Pacific neighbourS.
- Sivasupramaniam Sitsabesan
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