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Tasingle forging alance; 2. Scene of LTTE's broadcasting tower by the airforce on 17 Oct 2006; 3. Body count by ICRC of of over to 1 Oct 2006 4. JWPleader Somawansa Amarasinghe leading prota ty Service personnel inspecting the Galleharbour which was a target LLLHHLHHLHLH LCLCLCLL LLLCCL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLLLLLLL0LLaLLLLL LLLLHLLLL

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2 TAMIL TIMES
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OCTOBER 2006
"I do not agree with a word of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it'
- Poltaire
Til
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ISSN 0266 - 44 88 Vol. 25, No: 10 OCTOBER 2006
Published by: TAMIL TIMES LTE) PO Box 121, Sutton, Surrey SM13TD United Kingdom Phone: 020 - 8644 0972 Fax: 020 - 8241 4557
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CONTENTS
War or Peace? O3 Talks in Geneva 05 NEmerger annulled O6 Army's debacle 09 Truck bomb attack 12 Tigers target navy base 14 Political Violence 16 Movement for federalism 18 UNP-SLFP aliance 19 The Karuna factor 20 indian Model 22 Conflicting signals 24 Sri Lanaka and UN 26 Crisis & Opportunity 27 Book Review 28 AJ Kanagaratna 30 NeWS Track 31
Classified 37
Talks are S the LTTE in SW backdrop of sc ling a further es LTTE with the Several hundre The military retaliation but Tigers in the nc the Sri Lankan February 2002. this military mis and over 200 ir On Monday, tacks in recent with explosives personnel going least 115 Sailor On 18 OCtO reportedly killed sives and disgu an attack upon Galle in the Col the Navy report approached the These incide year-old ceasefi though neithert They only serve during the last half of them civi according to the The latest a tional diplomacy Tigers to the ne To complica decision on 16 provinces of the law delivered ar ethnic Conflict.
The Norther then President, tion following th 13th Amendmer lishment of Prov inces was to ha province within Whether or not Continue.
However Sin the people who of War and the not be fulfilled, Sive PresidentS since 1988, the la
The merger
 

TAMIL TIMES 3
WAR OR PEACE2
heduled to take place between the Government and itzerland later this month on 28 and 29 October in the me of the most horrifying incidents of violence signalCalation of fighting between government forces and the body count of casualties on both sidés running into ls. offensive launched on October 11, under the pretext of h blatant violation of the ceasefire, against the Tamil rthern sector turned out to be the biggest debacle that military suffered since the ceasefire came into effect in While scores of Tigers also died during the operation, adventure led to the death of over 130 soldiers dead jured.
16 October, in one of the deadliest Tiger suicide attimes, a Tiger suicide bomber driving a truck packed rammed into a convoy of buses with hundreds of Navy on vacation at Habarana in central Sri Lanka killing at s and wounding more than 150 others. ber, a team of 15 Suicide cadres of the LTTE were } when they, in five speed boats packed with explosed as normal fishing boats, made an attempt to mount the Naval Base located in the southern port town of urse which they self-detonated two of their boats and edly attacked and destroyed the other three as they
mouth of the harbour. ints of massive violence reflected the fact that the fourire was no longer being observed by both sides, even he government nor the LTTE has publicly disavowed it. d to mark a new high in the level of escalating violence year in the course of which more than 2,000 people, lians, have been killed in fighting since April this year,
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. ttacks came at the start of a week of hectic internaaimed at bringing back the Government and the Tamil gotiating table in Geneva later this month. e an already complex situation, the Supreme Court October on the merger of the Northern and Eastern island declaring it invalid ab initio and had no force in other blow to any attempt at a negotiated peace to the
and Eastern provinces were merged in 1988 by the .R. Jayewardane by means of presidential proclamasigning of Indo-Lanka Accord pursuant to which the t to the Constitution was enacted providing for estabncial Councils. The temporary merger of the two provfe been followed up with a referendum in the Eastern | year seeking the will of the people of that province on they wished the merged status of their province to
econditions required for a referendum - return of all had been displaced due to the continuing conditions 2quirement of disarming all the armed groups - could he exercise has been postponed every year. Succesof the country have extended the merger every year est Presidential order is due to expire in November this year. f the two provinces was part of the compromise deal

Page 4
4 TAMIL TIMES
brokered by India which found place in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of August 1987.
Almost all the Tamil political parties, whether they are pro-LTTE or not, they hold the concept of a merged North-East province as an article of faith, and their reaction to the recent Supreme Court judgment on the issue demonstrates this.
Even before the latest judgement, New Delhi had expressed displeasure at any move that would delink the two provinces. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on record as saying recently that Sri Lanka's Tamil majority north-east should not be demerged without a referendum.
It is reliably learnt that it was at New Delhi'a prompting that the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka peace process - Norway, EU, Japan and US - in their statement of 12 September 2006 made a specific reference to the same issue by stating, "There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the North and East which could endanger the achievement of peace."
Many who wish to see a negotiated resolution to the conflict regard that a de-merger of the two provinces at this juncture will worsen the problems in Sri Lanka and make a solution more difficult. And they feel that the government has to seek ways and means of continuing with the merger until conditions in the North and East are conducive to conducting a referendum on the issue.
Except for the JVP and the JHU, none of the other parties wants the present arrangement to be disturbed. It has been reported that at the recent SLFP parliamentary group meeting many Ministers and MPs voiced their concerns saying the judgment, though it might be legally correct, would aggravate the ethnic crisis and give rise to dissatisfaction among the Tamil community.
In its judgement, the Court also provides a way out by stating that the merger of the two provinces can be effected by fresh legislation.
Expressing unhappiness over the possible adverse consequences from the judgment, and promising parliamentary support, senior members of UNP called on the Government to Work towards the remerger of the North and East through a Bill presented to Parliament.
The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are now on the verge of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on matters of national interest.
The problem created by the Supreme Court judgment is probably the first challenge testing the capacity of these two parties to jointly deal with and resolve common national issues such as the merger of the Northeast. The court decision has placed the issue fairly and squarely on the political arena, and the question is whether they will be prepared to bring in legislation to provide for the merger of the two provinces subject to a referendum in the east as contem

OCTOBER 2006
plated in the Indo-Lanka agreement. If that happens, the alliance of the two parties will have passed its initial test.
Only a few days remain for the Geneva talks. It appears that they are to take place not because the parties have been converted to the cause of a negotiated peace, but because of pressure from the international community as represented by the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka peace process, namely the EU, US, Japan and Norway.
It is to be noted that the peace talks facilitated by Norway began in September 2002. Six rounds of negotiations between the GoSL and the LTTE took place after which the LTTE pulled out of the peace talks in April 2003. Thereafter, the process drifted aimlessly and the parties taking up positions and submitting preconditions for the resumption of peace talks without any regard to the parameters set out at the commencement of the peace process and reinforced by the Tokyo Declaration of 12 June 2003.
However, the contents of the Co-Chairs statement of 12 September 2006 seek to reinstate and bring back any proposed peace talks between the parties within the frame of the previously agreed parameters. They state that the parties should "resume negotiation and show real political commitment to achieve a political solution based on the previous six rounds of negotiation" with the "legitimate interests and aspirations of all communities, including the Tamil, Muslims and Sinhala communities," being "accommodated as part of a political settlement," and that the "LTTE must show that it is willing to make the compromises needed for apolitical solution within a united Sri Lanka.”
No agenda has been announced for the forthcoming Geneva talks. We consider that the Co-Chairs and Norway in particular as facilitator, should get the parties to address the following matters:
(a) The need for the parties to be required to eschew the use of violence or the threat of use of violence against each other or other parties in Sri Lanka as a precondition for the peace process to be progressed. This is because the tragic experience of unbridled violence being practised during the last four years demonstrates this need;
(b) The issue of agreeing and putting into practice the Declaration of Human Rights and Humanitarian Principles drawn up by lan Martin, the international human rights advisor to the peace process, as discussed and decided by the parties during the fifth and sixth round of talks held respectively at Berlin and Hakone in Japan;
(c) The issue of exploring a political Solution founded on internal self-determination based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka as decided during the third round of talks between the parties in Oslo.
Discussion and agreements on these issues are basic and central to the question of War or Peace in Sri Lanka. O

Page 5
OCTOBER 2006
Govt-LTTE ag to talks in Gene
Oct 19 - The Government and the
Tamil Tigers have agreed to attend peace talks in Switzerland on 28 and 29 October despite the unprecedented blood-letting between the two parties in recent weeks. Though the parties and the Norwegian facilitators have not yet agreed on an agenda, they seem to have been pressured into attending the talks by the international community.
Following discussions with Jon Hanssen-Bauer, the Norwegian special envoy to Sri Lanka peace process, in Kilinochchi on Thursday (Oct. 19) the political head of the LTTE, S. P. Thamilchelvan, told media that the Tigers had given their consent to participate in the talks in Geneva after the International Community, through Norwegian facilitators, had guaranteed a safe travel arrangement. On the same day, he also met and had discussions Ambassador for Switzerland where the negotiations are scheduled to take place.
Talking to media after the separate meetings with the Norwegian and Swiss delegations at the LTTE Political Head Quarters in Kilinochchi, Mr. Thamilchelvan said the talks in Geneva dependent on Colombo acting in accordance with the International Community's security guarantees and assurances provided to Tigers.
Commenting on LTTE's reaction to call for for ceasing violence, Thamilchelvan said the facilitators were aware of the LTTE's commitment in ceasing violence. But, the Sri Lankan Government continued to engage in "state terrorism”. Thamilchelvan defined "state terrorism' to include as all acts of violence by Sri Lankan forces, ranging from aerial attacks on civilian targets, extra-judicial killings, use of paramilitaries against civilians, and blocking humanitarian supplies to civilian population.
Asked whether the agenda for talks in Geneva was prepared, the Tiger Political Head said they have not discussed the topic of the talks or the details of the participants. The Tigers will inform these to Norway in a few days, he said.
When asked about LTTE's reaction to the recent Sri Lankan Supreme Court
ruling that rendere East invalid under tution, LTTE Polit by saying that the not be devided by not accepted the S tion, he said.
The consent o tend talks in Geneva following intensive the Norwegian faci and forth between had discussions wi ers including t Kilinochchi where the LTTE lead Thamilchelvan.
Japanese speci shi Akashi, who w; cent days also play ting the agreement tend peace talks. countries, India a also applied pressu return to the negoti UNglobal Eme nator, Jan Egeland ment said the UN Sri Lanka in any w ment and the partie necessary to preve mote reconciliation "The United N whole internatio watching the dram lence in Sri Lanka v Sri Lankans benef the cease-fire and return to a cessatio resolving their diff tions table," Mr. E.
Following an Yasushi Akashi, T Tigers remained co the talks later this political solution c until the attacks b on the ground cea: to discuss a politic, ings and bombings if the government LTTE woul recipro said. "We remain cc the talks. There is n

TAMIL TIMES 5
ree
V2
'd the merged Norththe Sri Lankan constiical Head responded Tamil homeland cananyone. Tamils have Sri Lankan Constitu
if both parties to atlater this month came negotiations between litators shuttling back Colombo where they th Government leadhe President, and they had talks with ership headed by
all peace envoy, Yasuas in Sri Lanka in reVed a key role ingetof both parties to atThe European Union nd the United States ure on both parties to ating table.
rgency ReliefCoordiof Norway, in a statestands ready to help ay which the governs to the conflict deem nt violence and pro
l. ations and indeed the nal community are latic increase in viovith deep concern. All ited immensely from the parties must now n of hostilities and to rences at the negotiageland said.
earlier meeting with hamilselvan said the mmitted to attending month but stressed a ould not be arrived at y government forces se. It was impossible al solution when killcontinued adding that ceased its attacks the ocate accordingly, he ommitted to attending o change on that. But
the government action during the next few days will be the deciding factor if the talks actually do take place," Mr. Thamilche-lvan said.
Yasushi Akashi said, "We obtained commitments from Mr. Thamilchelvan that LTTE was prepared to go to Geneva for talks on the 28th October. I have insisted the importance of both sides to end all acts of violence and create an atmosphere for peaceful, sincere and honest discussions.” Akashi also said that one Geneva meeting woul not deliver total and durable peace and that several meetings woul be needed. Both parties have to patient and flexible in their attitudes, but they should feel frce to discuss anything and everything on their minds, Akashi added.
According to the Secretary General of the Government's Peace Secretariat, Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Sri Lankan government continued to emphasise its commitment to the proposed peace talks to be held in Geneva later this month, despite a series of very serious ceasefire violation by the LTTE in forms of suicide bomb missions. "We are committed to the October 28-29 talks. We are going to Geneva, despite these setbacks, because our objective is for a settlement through negotiations.”
Government Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle told a media briefing in Colombo that the government was ready for talks scheduled for October 28th - 29th at Geneva. He believed the talks would take place as planned. He said that different quarters question whether talks could be held under the present situation and added the government would take part in the talks not to satisfy the LTTE but because the government firmly believed that solutions should be found for the questions that confront the Tamil community that lived all parts of the country. “The All Party Conference (APC) was created to gather views from political parties including Tamil parties to formulate a solution to address the legitimate grievances of the Tamils. With all the political parties including the two major parties coming together to address this issue this is the best opportunity for the Tamils,' Minister Rambu-kwelle said speaking to the media.
According to the peace secretariat website, although the composition of the Government's delegation has not been finalized yet, it is expected to include the following: Minister of Health

Page 6
6 TAMIL TIMES
Care, Nutrition & Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva, Foreign Minister Man-gala Samaraweera, Chief government Whip Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Minister of Housing & Construction Ms Ferial Ashraff, Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunge, Secretary General SCOPP Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary Foreign Ministry H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, H.L. de Silva PC, Gomin Dayasri, Chandra Fernando and Coordinating Secretary to the President Sajin Vaas Goonewardena.
The LTTE has yet to announce the names of its delegation. It is believed that in the absence of the LTTE's Chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, Mr Thamilchelvan will lead the LTTE delegation. Anton Balasingham is unlikely to participate at the Geneva talks scheduled for October 28. He reportedly told The Sunday Leader (Colombo), "I am advised by my doctors to rest at home, avoid travelling and other strains. Under these circumstances, I don't think I will be able to participate at the peace talks in Geneva."
The announcement confirming that the parties would definitely attend peace talks in Geneva following days of devastating acts of violence on top of the daily catalogue of targeted killings throughout the Northeast of the island.
On 11 October the military suffered one of its worst debacles - 133 dead and over 200 injured - in recent times when it launched an ill-fated of fensive against the Tigers in the northern sector across the Forward Defense Lines around Muhamalai. The Tigers too suffered large number of casualties.
Two days later on 18 October, two people were killed and 26 wounded in a sea-borne suicide attack by a team of 15 Tamil Tigers on the Navy Base located in the southern coastal town of Galle. In this attack which was foiled by the Navy, the Tigers had reportedly deployed five speed boats packed with explosives, two of which were self-exploded and three attacked and destroyed by the Navy. O
The Supreme Co 16 October, ruled tions issued by the late Mr. J R Jyawal Northern and Easter ate as one administra ministered by one Council were null a legal effect.
Abench offivej by Chief Justice Sara tices Nihal Jayasingh Raja Fernando and agreeingalso ruledt then President to ap der published in the tablishment of a Pro the Eastern Province and continuing viola ers' fundamental rig The court obser mation made by the claring the Northerr inces as one administ when neither of the ( on Section 31(1)(b Council Act as to the ons and the cessatic satisfied. Therefore the order must nect invalid.
The judgments Amendment which Chapter XVIIA to t vides forextensive d tive and executive Councils.
It also stated Amendment was cel ber. 1987 and a Pro established for the E each of the other 8 dated 3.February Council has not bee Eastern Province by bers as required by the Constitution c
merger.
The court ruled a Provincial Coun election ofthe mem pertained to the fra the sovereignty oft
 

OCTOBER 2006
?me (COUTA1US
urt of Sri Lanka, on that the proclamahen President, the dene, enabling the Provinces to opertive unit and be adelected Provincial ld void and had no
1dges presided over h N. Silva with Juse, N.K. Udalagama, N. G. Amaratunga hat the failure ofthe point a date by orGazette for the esvincial Council for was an infringement tion of the petitionnt to equality. ved that the proclathen President deand Eastern Provrative unit was made ponditions specified ) of the Provincial surrender of weapin of hostilities was the court ruled that issarily be declared
tated that the 13th
introduced a new ne Constitution proevolution of legislapower to Provincial
that although the tified on 14 Novemincial Council was astern Province and Provinces by order | 988, a Provincial n established for the an election ofmemArticle 154 A (2) of ue to the imposed
hattheright to have il constituted by an pers of such Council hchise being part of le people and its de
nial was continuing infringement of the right to the equal protection of the law guaranteed by Article 12(1) of the Constitution.
The Petitioners, JVP Parliamentarians Jayantha Wijesekera and L. K. Wasantha along with A.S. Mohamed Buhary of Sammanturai had filed separate petitions seeking a separate Provincial Council for the East.
The JVP petitioners had asked the court to declare that the Proclamations issued by former President J.R. Jayewardene on September 2 and 8, 1988 enabling the Northern and Eastern Provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council and purported amalgamation of the Northern and Eastern Provinces were null and void.
They had also sought a declaration from the court that the failure of the President to appoint a date by order published in the gazette for the establishment of a Provincial Council for the Eastern Province was an infringement and a continuing violation of their fundamental right to equality. They asked that such an order be directed to be made by the President.
They had sought another declaration from the court that the consequential failure to afford the petitioners and other inhabitants of the Eastern Province an opportunity to exercise their right to vote at an election for membership of the Provincial Council of the Eastern Province was a denial of their right to equality and equal protection of the law.
They asked the court to declare that two separate persons be appointed by the President as Governors of the Northern Province and the Eastern Province.
Background
The North and East provinces were merged 1988 by the then President J.R. Jayewardane by means of presidential proclamation following the signing of Indo- Lanka Accord pursuant to which the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted providing for establishment of Provincial Councils. The tem

Page 7
OCTOBER 2006
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porary merger of the two provinces was to have been followed up with a referendum in the Eastern province within a year seeking the will of the people of that province on whether or not they favoured merger.
However since conditions required for a referendum - return of all the people who had left the two provinces in view of the disturbed situation and disarming of the all the armed groups - could not be fulfilled, the exercise has been postponed every year. Successive Presidents have in the country have extended the merger for a year since 1988 and the latest Presidential order on the merger is due to expire in the month of November.
The court judgment de-linking of the East from the North has come against the backdrop of the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference - Norway, EU, Japan and US - advising against such moves. In a joint statement issued from Brussels on 12 September 2006 making reference to the subject of merger of north and east they declared: "There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the North and East which could endangertheachievementofpeace.”
India's stand
Sources in the l Affairs in New De Hindustan Times th "unfortunate'. But given the ruling on was nothing that Inc It was for the Sri La look at remedies if continuing the merg There are inc Rajapaksa governme legal and constituti gard. Perhaps, the g cure the help of th National Party (UN legal provisions to c The ruling Sri L (SLFP) and the UNP of signing a MOU matters of national it was an UNP gov brought about theme it is pointed out.
The UNP haS c; ment to work towa the North and Eastt liament if they want to move forward Sn
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 7
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Winistry of External lhi reportedly told at the judgment was since the court had legal grounds, there ia could do about it. nkan government to it was interested in
2. ications that the nt was exploring the nal route in this revernment could seopposition United ?) to make suitable ntinue the merger. nka Freedom Party renow on the verge or cooperation on interest. Moreover, inment, which had ger in the first place,
led on the Governs the re-merger of ough a Bill in Pari the peace process othly. “It is Presi
dent Mahinda Rajapakse's responsibility to present a bill before Parliament to re-merge the North and East if he wants to restore the status quo,” Lakshman Kiriella, Senior UNP MP, said. He added that its implementation depended on the will of the government.
Asked if the UNP would support a bill to merge the two provinces, particularly given the certainty the JVP would oppose it in parliament, Kiriella said they would do so subsequent to studying the clauses of the bill. "In such an event, we will examine the Bill and if it is satisfactory, give our support to the government for the necessary two-thirds majority,' he said.
JVP hails order
Predictably, the JVP and the JHU were jubilant and hailed the Supreme Court judgment for the de-merger of the North-East as a great victory for the people.
Wimal Weerawansa, Parliamentary Group Leader of the JVP which initiated the Court action, said not only the court order but the day itself was historical. "The inhabitants rose up in rebellion

Page 8
8 TAMIL TIMES
against the first white governor and against the British imperialism on a day like today in 1818. So it is remarkable that this order which will have an enormous impact on the so-called Eelam concept was made on such a day. The merger of North and East forms the bedrock of Tamil Elam separatist policies,” he said. Mr. Weerawansa said it was a victory for all people that the Supreme Court corrected a grave mistake committed in history even after 19 years. Asked to comment on the impact of this order on the peace process, Mr Weerawansa said: "It's not relevant to us, what impact an order given by the country's Supreme Court would make.'
Meanwhile, JHU’s Legal Advisor Udaya Gammampila said this order had done justice to the majority of people. He said it was a pleasure to note that they too contributed to waking up of a nation which had been in a deep slumber for 19 years.
The North and East Sinhala Organization (N-ESO), which expressed its satisfaction at the judgment to de-merge the two provinces, said it would help ensure safety and rights of all communities in the North and East Its President Ven Sempathiye Ananda Thera said the government in the past had turned a deafear to the request made by the organization to de-merge the North and the East. He said majority of the people would be happy about this court order as it was a defeat for the LTTE
Former North East Governor and former J.R. Jayewardene - Cabinet member Tyronne Fernando said the judgment to de-merge North and East was a farreaching one. He said North and East was too large a unit for a single Governor and one administration. However, he said the merger of the North and East was a temporary one.
More harm than good
However, there are important mainstreampolitical leaders, even on the government side, and civil society leaders who think that the judgment would do more harm to the cause of peace and understanding, than good.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Government Parliamentary Group members criticized the landmarkjudgment that the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces was illegal, saying that this was not best time for such a decision.
Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj
Fernandopulle warne would aggravate the it may be legally cori The Minister tol ing held at the Parliar October that the cou tionally be placed in that it would give ris among the Tamil cor at a time when the w was at stake.
Foreign Mir Samaraweera, Con Minister D.E.W. G Minister Nimal Siripa lic Administration Amunugamatoojoine ment was ill-timed ar gravate the ethnic cri President Raj stopped short of op judgment but insiste North and the East si de-merged should be people in the area ti referendum.
Almost all Tam stressed the need to merger as a prerequi ethnic problem. The Tamil parties subscrit with the TNA descri" opment as something the aspiration of the TNA Jaffn a d Sivajilingam told the ation would now coi and form a separate interest of their com situation as a declar Tamils," he said.
Tamil National liamentarians on Tu ing disrupted the pr Lankan parliament, Supreme Court ruling of the Northern an into one unit. The in the assembly ag. judiciary which the used to nullify any a peaceful resolutio lem. Sri Lankan jo acted against the the island receivedi European colonia charged.
TNA parliame (9) morning walk ka's parliament in p Court ruling.

Ya
that the judgment hnic crisis though Ct.
the Group meetent complex on 16 try would internabad position and : to dissatisfaction munity, especially ole peace process
ster Mangala titutional Affairs Inasekara, Health a de Silva and Pub
Minister Sarath din saying the judgd that it would “agsis.' apaksa however :nly criticizing the d that whether the hould be merged or a matter left to the ) decide through a
il political parties continue with the site to resolving the pro and anti-LTTE ped to the same view bing the new develgrunning counter to Tamil community. Strict MP M.K. media that the situmpel them to secede state in the greater munity. “We see the ation of war against
Alliance (TNA) parsday (17 Oct) mornoceedings of the Sri rotesting against the annulling the merger
Eastern Provinces amil MPs protested inst the Sri Lankan charged was being rangement towards of the national probdiciary has always mil interests since dependence from the powers, the MPs
arians on Thursday i out of the Sri Lanotest of the Supreme
Gajendrakumar
OCTOBER 2006
Ponnambalam in a statement to the parliament said his party would boycott the sittings of the parliament until the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) revealed its stand on the merger decision, parliamentary sources said. He said the SC order on the merger of two provinces has scuttled the opportunity to find a political solution to the Tamil national problem within a united Sri Lanka. He said TNA parliamentary group would boycott the parliament and that the government should reveal its stand before November 7th on the Supreme Court order on the merger of two provinces.
Soon after Mr. Ponnambalam conchuded his statement, TNA parliamentarians got up and walked out the parliament, TNA sources said.
The TULF declined to comment on the court order delivered by a five member bench. Party leader V. Anandasangari said the recent developments in the country, including the latest court order on Northeast de-merger issue was now helping to strengthen the hands of Tigers to score over Government in the eyes of the international community.
The EPDP, a Tamil party allied to the Govrnment said the judgement was in line with the present constitution, and therefore they had no comment on it. Party spokesman S. Thavarajah said they, however, stood for the merger of the two provinces under the constitutional reforms in the future to resolve the Tamil national question.
D Siddhrathan of the pro-government Peoples' Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) said that de-merger would hamper the taskoffindinga solution to the ethnic conflict. Having helped bring about the merger of the North and the East through the 1987 Accord, India should take "credible" steps to see that the merger continued, Siddharthan said.
SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said the North and East conflict would not come to an end with the de-merger. "We will closely monitor the possible implications of the judgment that annulled the merger. Whatever they may be, the SLMC will continue to guide the community promoting co-existence among all three communities,” he said. "When the decision was taken to merge the Northern and Eastern provinces, Muslims - the dominant community in the Eastern province were not consulted. We never asked for a merger orade-merger," Mr Hakeem said. O

Page 9
OCTOBER 2006
Armed forces suff
major debacle in northern battl
D BS Jeyaraj
Wednesday, October 11, was the day of the Tiger in the northern theatre of war. The 'defensive' offensive launched by the armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) was repulsed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a day of fierce fighting from dawn to dusk in the Kilaly-Muhamalai region of Jaffna peninsula.
The Sri Lankan Army commanded by Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka suffered what was easily the single biggest debacle in recent times after the GOSL began its series of "Defensive Offensives' against the Liberation Tigers. At least 130 soldiers were killed and 519 wounded while the LTTE suffered 22 deaths and an unknown number of injured cadres. Both sides have now returned to their earlier positions and are engaged in sporadic, low - intensity artillery fire.
The military advance was not unexpected as preceding events pointed to a high military build-up in the area. There had been intermittent exchange of artillery fire for many days between both sides along the Forward Defence Line (FDL) axis of Kilaly - Eluthumattuvaal - Nagar Kovil axis in the lower peninsula. There was also aerial bombardment of areas described as LTTE positions by the GOSL for many days.
Both sides strengthen defences
The past few days had also seen a massive increase in military preparations by the GOSL. The Tigers protested at this visible military build - up to Norway. At the same time the LTTE also began strengthening its defences .The GOSL denied that it was planning an of fensive. It re-iterated that the armed forces would only defend themselves or enhance defence by "neutralising' LTTE positions. Since this has been the usual excuse of the GOSL in justifying military operations it was a foregone conclusion that a 'defensive offensive’ was on the cards.
The night of October 10 saw the intermittent artillery fire escalating. The morning saw military movement on
ground. Troops firs dawn from the Nag Vadamaratchy East laʼs eastern coast. Tl along the South - W peninsula commence light. Troops from th base in the peninsula after daybreak.
By 6.30am there ment by troops on all bombers and Mi 24 h engaged in aerial bo facilitate troop mov Naval gunboats fire coastal points betwee Thalaiyaddy.
Diversion
The LTTE also be tillery. By 7.30 the N called it a day and tur apparent manoeuvre tention. Naval gunboa ued to patrol the coas tchy east and Pachila Troops moving o dduvaal did not focu expected. The army ha about 800 metres int Muhamalai and reach eter of LTTE lines. I home this advantage forces veered south - \ tinued.
The troops movi: from Kilaly also chai personnel moved inv Easterly direction. B now spreading out an region between Muha this advance was suc could goaround Palla highway or Jaffna - K. close to Iyakkachchi. have been only a sł Elephant Pass.
The troops were battle tanks, armour personnel carriers and bulldozers to clear th finder troops advance

TAMIL TIMES 9
broke out before ar Kovil camp in long the peninsuroops from Kilaly 2stern coast of the moving out at first Eluthumadduvaal 's south started out
was forward movethree fronts. K- fir elicopter gunships nbardment to help ement on ground. d from the sea at in Nagar Kovil and
gan firing their arNagar Kovil troops ned back. It was an o divide enemy at|ts however continit along Vadamarapalli.
ut from Eluthumaon Muhamalai as d already advanced ) LTTE controlled ed the outer periminstead of pressing further, the armed vestwards and con
g along the coast ged course. These 'ards in a South - oth columns were i advancing in the malai and Kilaly. If essful, the troops and reach the A-9 ndy road at a point rom there it would drt, short way“ to
lso using a lot of d cars, armoured heavy vehicles like way. After paththe tanks and ar
moured cars followed and established a safe route through the underbrush. Then bulldozers cleared and flattened the area as far as possible. The main formations of infantry troops then advanced along ground cautiously.
The LTTE resistance to these rapidly advancing columns seemed feeble. The artillery fire lacked vigour. Earlier attempts to advance through Muhamalai via the A - 9 axis had seen the LTTE deploying innumerable claymores and anti
- personnel mines along the route. This
time the mines and booby traps were conspicuously scarce. It looked like the army was going to repeat its Mawilaru, Muttur, Sampur, Muhamalai successes.
GOSL propaganda
The GOSL and its armed forces had certainly been confidently cocksure in the recent past. It considered the limited successes it had enjoyed earlier as a predictable pattern. The GOSL has been engaging in propaganda that the Tigers were at a low ebb. This propaganda was widely believed and had led to a strident demand in the south, that an all out war be conducted against the LTTE. As former air force chief and father of present air force commander, Harry Goonetilleke observed the "Government believed its own propaganda.”
The seeming docility of the LTTE had given the wrong picture to the GOSL. The strategic withdrawals by the LTTE in recent times had bolstered this feeling. Even during the current battle the Tigers had let the army move in without much resistance. An overconfident army had either walked into or been lured into a deadly trap.
By 9.30am the GOSL troops seemed to have penetrated nearly 2-3 miles deep into Tiger territory in the Pallai region. Some vanguard troops were even further up from the main body. It was around this time that the roaring Tiger pounced. The advancing troop formations were breached in three points.
The vanguard column was attacked at a certain point and pressured to retreat sideways. The troops found a chain of deadly mines being triggered like some gigantic fireworks display. LTTE firing intensified. A whole company was wiped out. The main advancing body was attacked frontally. Tigers also attacked the military in the rear. It was a virtual encirclement of GOSL troops.
The fighting soon transformed itself into artillery and mortar firing. The LTTE

Page 10
10 TAMIL TIMES
kept up an intense barrage. One tank was demolished. Three other armoured vehicles were greatly damaged. The intense battle went on for five hours till 2. 30 p.m. The air force flew only one sortie during this period. It was unable to engage in customary indiscriminate aerial bombardment because it may have hit GOSL troops. Helicopter gunships were worried about getting hit by LTTE's surface to air missiles. The army was all alone.
There was practically no close combat or face to face fighting. The bulk of the fighting consisted of tank and antitank firing, artillery shelling and mortar fire. The GOSL usually fires artillery barrages indiscriminately and intensely, against perceived LTTE positions. Superior firepower is used to its advantage.
Army restricted
This however did not work out in this instance as the GOSL troops had advanced and were widely scattered. It was not possible to fire from Kilaly or Eluthumadduvaal at random for fear of hitting own troops. The army was therefore restricted initially to field artillery and mortars. The LTTE apparently advanced to comparatively close quarters and fired RPGs and 60 mm shells from portable artillery.
The LTTE at one point advanced beyond original FDL's into army controlled areas. They turned back after a while and began clearing operations. The heavy fighting gradually subsided after 2. 30 p.m. Intermittent artillery fire of low intensity continued throughout the night. It continued even on Thursday (12).
The armed forces had incurred heavy losses. About 20 privately owned vans and mini-buses were commandeered by the armed forces to supplement army vehicles in transporting the dead and injured back from the frontlines. Troops suffering major injuries were taken to the Varany camp in the Thenmaratchy sector. Three helicopters then airlifted them to Palaly. Thereafter they were flown to Colombo and Anuradhapura for treatment. Vehicles took those with minor injuries and dead bodies along the road in Jaffna to Palaly.
Initially, GOSL and defence services spokespersons tried to obscure the truth. They gave ridiculously low casualty figures. Later the various security force websites began increasing casualty figures. Different news agencies quoting unnamed defence sources began giving out
comparatively accu end of Oct 12, an ac emerging.
At least 130 sol Of these 55 bodies curity forces them trieved by the LTTE were handed over to Kilinochchi playgr
Paavannan who usu
ternational organisat ies retrieved by the to the Red Cross or port problem.
A total of 5 9 SI Of these 283 were and 40 to Anuradha dents saw and heard rens throughout nig injured soldiers, m wounded, are in the
More bodies
According to L spokesperson Ilanth more dead soldiers to be located. Som diers could succuml said the final tally o be over 200. It mu cording to some re 78 personnel are sti Interestingly enc defence spokesper the LTTE suffered in
One newspaper has
alty figure at 400. usually goes to tow curity force victor There were no sto front. News agenc wrote about “contra casualties on both hours concluded t had suffered a majo According to Ila 10 LTTE deaths at ll. With some of dying, the toll had r ing day. There is that the Tiger casu up in the coming c injured LTTE cadr those killed, the mc is a woman Capt those killed at leas auxiliary force Sirappu Padai.”
Tigers guilty of d Given the rece there is a strong p

OCTOBER 2006
rate figures. By the curate picture began
liers had been killed. were retrieved by seselves. 75 were reE. 74 of these bodies the Red Cross at the bund by the LTTE's ally interacts with inions. One of the bodLTTE was not given
time due to a trans
oldiers were injured. brought to Colombo pura. Colombo resii ambulances and siht and day. The other any of them walking : Palaly hospital.
TTE defence affairs lirayan, there may be whose bodies are yet e of the injured sol) to their wounds. He fdead soldiers could st be noted that acports, the army says ll “missing.” ough some GOSL and sons are saying that nore than 200 deaths. ; put the LTTE casuOne journal, which mn with stories of seies remained silent. ries from the battleies, which initially dictictory' claims of sides, had after 48 hat the armed forces r debacle. anthirayan there were the end of October the seriously injured isen to 22 the followa strong possibility alty figures could go ays. The number of es is not known. Of st senior Tiger so far Isaichelvi. Among t four were from the (nown as "Makkal
eception ht LTTE track record ossibility that the Ti
gers are deliberately playing down their casualty figures. The glaring disparity between GOSL and LTTE casualty figures make many suspicious. There was a time when the LTTE never hid its casualty figure, but in recent times, the Tigers have been guilty of deception. Even if the LTTE is being economical with the truth, in this instance the "supressed" figures may not be large because of the nature of fight
1ng. ノ The GOSL was advancing and the LTTE defending. The defender is usually at an advantage. The army was also practically encircled at one point. Also the Tigers seem to have used mortars and RPGs with deadly precision, thereby killing and injuring many soldiers. It must be remembered that hand to hand fighting was virtually non-existent. One story doing the rounds among defence circles in Colombo was that the LTTE had fired some sophisticated artillery or missiles never used earlier s
At least one soldier was taken alive by the LTTE. Samantha Weerasinghe of the Fourth Gemunu Watch is now undergoing treatment at the Kilinochchi hospital. The ICRC has inspected the 18 year old youth. According to Colombo sources the Fourth Gemunu Watch has been practically decimated. The special airborne and mechanised units have also been affected. It is said that soldiers of the 53rd Division comprised the assault force numbering over 5,000.
Major loss for LTTE
Significantly the LTTE suffered amajor loss before Wednesday's fighting. On October 7, Lt. Gen. Akbar of the LTTE was killed along the Muhamalai FDL as a result ofan army shell. Akbar who is a Batticaloa Tamil was the head of the Victor anti-armoured artillery unit, which specilises in combatting tanks and armoured vehicles. Akbar who joined the LTTE in 1990 got married in 2003. He was from its inception, the chief of the Victor unit. It was named after former Mannar Tiger commander Victor.
This unit known generally among LTTE cadres as the “RPG Commando' had its roots in the “Col' Kittu artillery unit and its baptism of fire was during "Operation Sathijaya." It then became a sub-division of the “Imran-Pandian” until named after two of Pirapaharan's trusted bodyguards. By 1997-98 the anti-armoured artillery unit began functioning independently under Akbar. Members of this unit have vertical and

Page 11
OCTOBER 2006
not horizontal stripes on their uniforms. Though many stalwarts of this unit like Maj. Navachandran, Lt. Col. Manivannan and Lt. Col. Chutta are no more. Akbar had survived despite being a veteran of many"Jayasikuru' and "OyathaAlaigal" battles.
Blood sacrifice
Akbar's death at a critical time may very well have affected LTTE fortunes as the Victor unit was of crucial importance in countering army advances. His death however seems to have inspired his unit members to perform well during war. Instead ofbeing abad omen, it seems to have become the "blood sacrifice' made to the gods before war to ensure victory. This was a practice in the lost martial tradition of the Tamils that is now being revived by the Liberation Tigers.
Whatever the statements made by GOSL and defence spokespersons about the armed forces responding to attacks by the LTTE on the Kilaly-Elathumadduvaal-Nagar Kovil FDL, it was common knowledge before hand that a major onslaught of a 'defensive-offensive' nature was imminent. The objective was to take Elephant Pass before talks began in GeneVa.
It was only last week that this writer drew attention to this prospect in these columns. A brief excerpt: “Mahinda and his minions are more concerned with the taking of Elephant Pass before talking in Geneva. Against that backdrop the Elephant Pass offensive seems a definite possibility unless extra-heavy international pressure is exerted on Colombo to desist. Poor Norway is powerless in this. Only the superpowers and regional powers can restrain the Rajapakse regime in this. If the IC is really genuine about a political settlement some positive, preemptive pressure on Colombo is a prerequisite.'
At a time when the country was being carried away with the belief thatthe Tigerhadbecomea kitten (Kotidan poos patiyek) this writer warned that such an assumption was wrong. "There is also an unknown factor. Colombo’s calculations are based on the assumption that a military success over the LTTE is inevitable in Elephant Pass. The best laid plans of men and mice go awry. Whatever the crowing in Colombo, the Tigers are still
not a spent force.
tles, but not the w point as to whether would continue to Fonsekas define th conflict. There may and turns on the ro was what I wrote l
Major offensive
It became soon offensive was being hicles had been mc Jaffna - Kandy road material to Kodik Varany region. Son stuff to Ariyaalai an coastal point along hicles had also mov Point Pedro road a Varany on the Poi mam road. The veh dicated that war m brought from Palaly readiness for a large The GOSL den fensive being planr edged that war m moved to the frontli tion proffered was were being replenish tine and not for off The LTTE also nent GOSL offensi of combatting alleg ger political commis Tamilselvan asked t toring Mission (SI frontlines and asce who the real aggress however refused to SLMM. The excuse could not be guarant that the GOSL was
Sea - borne attack
The armed for deered more than 20 Gurunagar - Pashai rine exercises were u boats on October 9, lagoon. It appeared 1 were planning to l assault, across the l on the lagoon. Since low, heavy naval bo: and hence the lighte
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TAM TIMES 11
hey have "lost' batur. It is also a moot elupilai Pirapaharan t the Rajapakses and venue and terms of be unexpected twists d to Elephant pass," st week.
pparent that a major planned. Military veving south along the bringing in men and „mam - Mirusuvil — e vehicles had taken i Ariyaalaimunai, its he Jaffna lagoon. Veed along the Jaffna - ld then de-toured to ut Pedro - Kodikaaicular movement inaterials were being - Kankesanthurai in - scale operation. ed charges of an of ed. It was acknowlaterials were being ine, but the explanathat depleted stocks led as a matter of rou2nsive purposes. warned of an immiye under the pretext 2d LTTE attacks. Tisar Suppiah Paramu he Sri Lanka MoniMM) to go to the tain for themselves ors were. The GOSL provide access to the was that their safety eed. This actshowed hiding something.
ces also comman) boats belonging to 'oor fisherfolk. Mandertaken with these nd 10, in the Jaffna nat the armed forces unch a sea - borne goon to Poonagary he waters were shalts could not be used fishing boats it was
eeper for Childcare. 149 (UK)
felt. Intensive aerial bombardment and artillery firing on Poonagary and adjacent Kalmunai strengthened this belief.
On Tuesday (October 10), the GOSL authorities in Jaffna announced a 45 hour curfew from 8 a.m to 5 a.m and on Thursday ( 12), in certain places like Koilakkandy, Thanankilappu, Kachai etc. These were all vantage points on the peninsula from where a lagoon crossing to the mainland could have been done.It was widely believed then that an amphibean operation was to be conducted soon.
Colombo's intentions
The conduct of President Mahinda Rajapakse provided further clues about Colombo's intentions. When representatives of the four Co-Chairs of the peace process met Rajapakse, they requested the GOSL to refrain from undertaking military operations, because talks were scheduled on October 28 and 29. Rajapakse however parroted his familiar stance about reserving the right to defend the country from LTTE attacks. If that was one indication, there was also the symbolic gesture of climbing the cockpit of an Israeli K- fir Jet. These bombers have wrought much civilian destruction and the pilots responsible are potential contenders for a war crimes trial. Yet Rajapakse deliberately identified himself with these embodiments of aerial ter
Or.
Against that backdrop, there seems little chance of the campaign for war ceasing. There may be a lull in the fighting, but the GOSL will certainly continue with 'defensive - offensive' operations. The Rajapakse regime is built on a war agenda. Rajapakse and his sidekicks have gone too far in projecting themselves as latter day Dutugemunus to hold back now. The Rajapakse regime has enhanced its image in the south, that it will not bow down to Tiger might. It cannot go for talks after a resounding defeat.
In the self-perception of the GOSL and its armed forces, too much is at stake to call off war now. More battles are likely to follow, until a decisive stage is reached.The LTTE too cannot lower its military resistance.This situation cannot change for the better until and unless the international community is serious and sincere about ending the war and promoting peace in Sri Lanka.
So then, the fighting will very likely continue. The sword - bearing lion and grimacing Tiger cannot purr and meow like lesser felines. The Sinhaya has to roar and the Puli has to growl. The country in general and the Tamil people in particular can only cry out Aiyo

Page 12
12 TAMIL TIMES
Truck-bomb att kills over 100 navy
Navy personnel, some bound for their base in Trincomalee and others heading South on vacation had gathered at Diganpathana to board buses to their respective destinations when, on Monday 16 October, an explosives laden truck driven by a suspected suicide bomber belonging to the Tamil Tigers rammed into the convoy of buses killing at least
15 sailors and injuring over l 50.
The attack near the town of Habarana, about 190 km (20 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, was one of the worst suicide bombings even by the high standard set in Sri Lanka where the Tamil Tigers have carried out innumerable such attacks in past years.
The attack came at the start of a week of hectic international diplomacy aimed at ending a rash of fighting between the military and Tamil Tigers ahead of planned peace talks in Geneva on October 28-29. Many feared that this attack was likely to be a setback to the proposed talks. "It's a serious and brutal attack," said SLMM spokesman Thorfinnur Omarsson. “We hope it will not have difficult consequences for the peace talks. It is important the talks are not af. fected by this.”
According to reports, the explosives laden truck had come from the Dambulla end but strangely it had not been checked at the Miris goniyawa check point. Mirisgoniyawa is the junction where the road branches off to Anuradhapura and Trincomalee. Habarana is on the Trincomalee Road. Digampathana is in between Inamaluwaand Habarana on this road.
The victims were mostly Navy sailors going home on vacation, but some civilians in the area were also killed, military officers at Colombo's Media Center for National Cecurity said. “This inhuman act is clear revenge by the terrorists on the Navy which inflicted successive defeats on the LTTE against their attempts to smuggle arms and explosives in the recent past,” the Center said in a Statement. -
Officers said the attack took place near a transit camp where the Navy gathers its men heading to or returning from the eastern naval base of Trincomalee.
"There were about 1 damaged in the explc Navy officer. The c near the town and stepped out of their cide bomber ramme truck into the vehic “The Sailors wel and were not carryi they were either go porting back after v. There were som area and civilians wi blast, he said, addin go up as bodies hac and a count was stil A witness said buses attacked had c truck driven by the destroyed. He said t driver was found abo from the scene.
Local journalist was among the first to the Scene. She des of the blast. “Everyw tered bags of cloth equipment and the b ors, whatever they ing on holiday. The suicide bomber's ve She said that the bus park used by going on leave. "T buses carrying sai They were parked were all damaged. nearby and so there to homes or to civil Tiger military Ilanthiraiyan said h regional command sponsible. But he sa be justified if it w who had carried i forces also launchi War Zone and on ci ting that they car "When Sri Lanka a tinue to bomb targ ... how could anyb to refrain from tar lations.”
This massive a

OCTOBER 2006
ack
(e.
Sbuses and 13 were sion,' according one onvoy had stopped many sailors had buses when the suithe explosive laden es, he said. e in civilian clothes g weapons because ing on leave or recations,” he added. e small shops in the 're also caught in the g that the toll could been blown to bits lon.
that several of the aught fire, while the suicide bomber was he body of the truck out 50 meters (yards)
Indumathie Jayasena people given access scribed the aftermath there there were scatles, helmets, boots, elongings of the sailmust have been takre is debris from the hicle as well.' : blast took place in a the navy for sailors here were about 14 lors in the convoy. at the spot and they People do not live was no damage done lans.” spokesman Rasiah e had to check with a r if the LTTE was reld the bombing could is indeed the Tigers out as government d attacks outside the ilians. Tacitly admitied it out, he said, rforce bombers conis in Tamil homeland dy expect the Tigers eting military instal
tack with the loss of
so many Navy personnel constitute a big blow to the government forces, particularly coming after the debacle suffered by the army when over 130 soldiers were killed and over 200 injured in the northern sector on l l October.
The Presidential Secretariatin a statement claiming that the dead and injured were unarmed sailors said that the carnage was yet another example of the LTTE's "cowardly use of extreme violence against unarmed services personnel.” It was further proof of the LTTE's "unmitigated commitment to violence to achieve its ends,' the statement said adding that it was in total disregard of the international demand that the LTTE abandon violence and seek a peaceful way of achieving its goals. "It was significant that this attack took place as envoys from Japan, the US and Norway were arriving here to discuss progress in the peace process and the up coming talks in Geneva," the statement pointed out.
The day following the Habarana attack, in bombing raids carried out by the SLAF against LTTE targets, attacked and destroyed a Tamil Tiger radio tower in the north. LTTE officials said the main 500-foot-high broadcast tower at Kokkavil had been destroyed after being hit 25 times during bombing on Tuesday (17) morning. An electricity generator and two vehicles were also destroyed in the attack, the pro-rebel TamilNet website reported.
Monday's attack was yet another sign that the four-year-old cease-fire was no longer being observed, even though neither the government northerebels have publicly disavowed it. It was also part of an increase in violence over the last year: more than 2,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed in fighting since April, according to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
Condemnation
The UNP strongly condemned LTTE attack on Navy personnel at Habarana. A statement released by Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said: “The UNP strongly condemns the killing of 100 persons including Sri Lanka Navy personnel and civilians by the LTTE terrorists at Habarana and conveys its deepest condolences to the families of all those who were killed in the savage attack. The UNP also condoles with the families of soldiers who were killed in fighting at Muhamalai. During the UNP administra

Page 13
OCTOBER 2006
tion we were able to stop the war and save the lives of the civilians and the members of the armed forces but it is to be regretted that the situation had changed now. We will cooperate with the government in its efforts to save the lives of our citizens and eradicate terrorism.'
UN Secretary General: While deploring the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka, UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan termed the attack as "appalling' and stressed that a return to civil war would not resolve the conflict. "He calls upon all parties to refrain from the use of force and to return to the negotiation table at the end of this month, as tentatively agreed by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE,” Mr. Annan’s spokesman said.
United States: The United States condemned the LTTE for the carnage and stressed the importance for the rebels to renounce terrorism because it was only by ending violence, a renewed commitment to peace talks and a constructive engagementby both sides could apolitical solution be achieved. "Though there have been no claims of responsibility, this attack is in keeping with the tactics of the LTTE. As we and others in the inter
national community LTTE must renour Onlythrough the ce renewed commitme constructive engag cana political solut achieved,” State De Sean McCormacks Australia: Aus ister Alexander Do' attack, which he cal of terrorism." Dow LTTE for the attack, toreturn to the neg tralia is gravely co towards increasing v Downer said in a s through the cessati negotiated settleme tion is possible."
New Zealand Helen Clark said til justification for such emphasized that th was through negotia Sri Lankan commu were concerned ab ments in the island. "This is the lates where security has (
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have made clear, the ce the use of terror. sation of violence, a nt to peace talks, and ment by both sides on to this conflict be partment spokesman aid in a statement.
ralia's Foreign Minwner condemned the led a "deplorable act ner also blamed the and urged both sides tiating table. “Ausncerned at the trend olence in Sri Lanka,” tatement. "It is only on of violence and a ht that a lasting solu
Prime Minister here was no possible dreadful carnage and e only way forward tions adding that the hity in New Zealand out recent develop
ttragedy in Sri Lanka leteriorated over the
TAMIL TIMES 13
recent months. At least 2,000 people have already been killed in the violence in Sri Lanka this year. There is a significant Sri Lankan community in New Zealand who I know are deeply concerned about recent developments in the country. New Zealand calls on the parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to cease all hostilities immediately, and create a favourable environment for the peace talks scheduled to open in Geneva on October 28. The only way forward is through negotiations," Ms. Clark said.
France: France firmly condemns the attack on 16 October 2006 which caused the death of 100 and injuring more than 150 sailors. France offers her heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and hopes the numerous injuries will have a prompt recovery. France expresses her sincere sympathy to the Sri Lankan authority. France has been preoccupied by the continuous spiral of violence over the last weeks. The Sri Lankan conflict cannot be solved through weapons and only a negotiated political agreement can end it. Consequently France requests all parties to stop violence and resume rapidly negotiations in order to reach a political solution. O
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Page 14
14 TAML TIMES
TigerStarget navy in daring Suicide a
Oct. 19 - Suspected Tamil Tigers, posing as fishermen, blew up two of their boats packed with explosives in a suicide attack on the Dakshina Naval Base located in the Sri Lankan Southern port city of Galle on Wednesday 18 October.
While the Tiger suicide squads blew up two of their boats at the entry point of the harbour, the Navy reportedly attacked and destroyed the remaining three boats which exploded in flames, according to Sri Lanka's Defence ministry spokesman. All the attackers were reportedly killed, but it was not clear as to how many of them were aboard the LTTE's boats. However, the proLTTE TamilNet Web site reported that a liS-member attack team had entered Galle harbour in five boats and that three boats exploded.
Two of the Navy's Inshore Patrol Craft (IPC) and one Coastal Patrol Craft (CPC) were "slightly” damaged
in the battle. One sa The 20 injured, i vilians, were broug Galle town, said hc Dr Shelton Perera sa A curfew was c town, a popular toul facilitate search ope gers who might hav land, according to In Police Victor Perera. moving from house duct the search ope been difficult to ge from the streets as still looking to gett the schools,” said brought the situation are only carrying ol tion,' he said.
It appeared that cided to step up its the Sri Lankan milit ond attack on the ]
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OCTOBER 2006
baSe ttack
ilor was killed. ncluding seven ciht to hospital in spital spokesman id. . lamped on Galle ist destination, to rations for any Tie entered area by spector General of "The army is now to house to conration. But it has t the people away some of them are heir children from Perera. “We have under control and ut a search opera
the LTTE had deoffensive against ary. It was the secNavy in the same week. On Monday, 6 October, a Tiger uicide bomber ammed a truck illed with exploives into a convoy If buses carrying Navy transporting undreds of Navy ersonnel going on acation at Habarana in central Sri Lanka killing at east ll5 sailors ind wounding more han 150 others in ne of the deadliest Tiger attacks in re'ent times.
In a statement, he military said ive Sea Tiger sui:ide boats had ar
ived to attack the
Dakshina Naval 3 as e in Galle at .45 a.m. "These boats were disguised as normal ishing boats. When
the Navy closed up for inspection three boats approached the Naval boats. The Navy destroyed three suicide boats and the other two approached towards the Galle harbour self-detonating at the entrance. One sailor was killed in the incident while ll were injured. One sailor is missing in action. The situation has been brought under contrel,' it said.
Dead bodies of seven of the LTTE suicide cadres who perished in the failed attempt to attack the Dakshina Naval Base were found washed ashore on Thursday (19) afternoon, according to Deputy Inspector General of Police for Southern Province. The bodies of those four dead Tigers were found washed ashore by civilians and the Police as normalcy returned to the town of Galle, he said.
Navy Spokesman Commander D. K. P. Dassanayaka in a later detailed statement said, "The Navy Wednesday (18) morning at about 7.45 a.m. foiled an LTTE attempt to launch a suicide attack on the Dakshina Naval Base
when it destroyed five suicide boats.
speeding towards the harbour, mingling with fishing boats.
“Inshore Petrol Craft (IPC) located at the Marshal Point, where the Navy conducts routine checks on the boats entering the harbour, spotted the Tiger boats speeding towards the harbour entrance at around 7.45 a.m.
"Naval troops on board the IPCs and the shore batteries engaged the Tiger boats, completely destroying three of them. The remaining two suicide boats were blastedjust outside the harbour entrance. The blasts damaged two Water Jets (Inshore Petrol Craft) of the Navy."
He said in the encounter that lasted nearly 15 minutes, one sailor was killed and 12 others injured. Two sailors were also reported missing following the confrontation. "We believe at least 10 LTTE cadres on board the suicide boats were killed,” he said adding, "The LTTE tried to enter the Naval base by mingling with the innocent fishermen but they failed in their attempt as the Navy detected them before entering the harbour.'
The Navy had spotted suspicious boat movements off the Yala coast on the previous night (Tuesday, 17 Oct) prompting search operations in the area with residents also being alerted. Although it was not clear if they were the same boats which attempted to infil

Page 15
OCTOBER 2006
trate the Naval Base in Galle. Navy spokesman D.P.K. Dassanayake said while he was unable to make a detailed report due to security concerns, the Navy nevertheless had deployed patrol craft that very night to investigate.
Security experts however believe there was a serious security lapse con
sidering the fact that despite the spot
ting of "suspicious boat movements off the Yala coast the previous night” the LTTE's attack boats had however managed to get close to the mouth of the harbour not far away from the location of the Dakshina Naval Base.
Dassanayake denied rumours that the LTTE fired Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) from the nearby Rumassala Hill which is on the southern flank of the Naval base. "They cannot fire RPGs from such a long distance' he said. The Tigers had fired RPGs from their craft before they were destroyed, he said. Asked about a bigger LTTE vessel disappearing in the sea when the smaller boats were attacked, he dismissed the suggestion. There were many vessels in and around the area but they couldn't have come on the LTTE mission, he said.
Though daring in its endeavour, the fact is that the LTTE lost five of its speed boats posing as fishing vessels and an estimated 15 of its Black Tigers belonging to its Sea Tiger wing in this failed operation. The identity of those cadres who perished in this operation will not to be known until such time as the LTTE leadership decides to publicly honour them by including them in their list of 'martyrs”.
The attack came only days ahead of scheduled talks between the Government and the LTTE starting October 28 in Switzerland. Though both sides have committed themselves to the talks, fears have been expressed that the attack could jeopardise its prospects.
Analysts and government officials believe the latest attacks are an attempt by the Tigers to demonstrate their strength before they sit down for peace talksscheduled to be held in Geneva later this month.
The Government, claiming that its forces had "repulsed an attack by the Tigers on the Galle harbour and SL Navy camp Dakshina, asserted that it would not be deterred by such acts in the run up to the October 28 and 29 talks with the Tamil Tigers. "All es
sential steps to Base have been ta ment appeals to th led by the false rumo Cabinet Mir ment's spokesma Keheliya Rambu Tamil Tigers of 1 tacks in the south voke a backlash a ple that could he international sym talks. It is conte backlash by the against Tamil civil the Tigers' claim t can live in peace c separate homelan ple to remain caln voked by such atta trap that has been la reporters.
"Their other m to hit economic an ests by targeting destination. They said.
Rambukwella ment would go for on October 28 an recent violent inc holding talks to ap) Tamils in the Nort genuine grievance been resolved by ments. We will go try to address thes to solve the basic p people, whose chil cation by the LTT barbaric terroris 1 driven a whole ger the stone age,' Ran government delega sic political issue talks to the impl Ceasefire Agree stressed. Eye witness acco According to a Walgamage, a real “When we heard didn't know what ately ran to get a \ We saw a few boat bour and explode, were high-speed b sions were sudden, rifying. There was window panes an tered. Everyone rar by and watched the

TAMIL TIMES 15
afeguard the Naval cen and the Governpeople not to be misrs, it said
ster and Governon defence matters, wella, accused the unching deadly atof the island to proainst the Tamil peop the Tigers to win pathy ahead of the ded that a violent majority Sinhalese ans could strengthen hat the Tamil people nly if they achieve a | "We ask the peoand not to get procks and fall into the d by the LTTE," he told
otive may have been d commercial interthis popular tourist ailed miserably," he
said that the governthe talks in Geneva d 29 in spite of the dents. "We are not pease the LTTE. The h and the East have s and they have not successive governbeyond the CFA and e issues. The aim is "oblems of the Tamil iren are denied eduE. The fascist and
Prabhakaran has eration of Tamils to bukwella Said. "The tion would raise ba; and not limit the ementation of the ment (CFA),” he
int BBC report, Ramila estate broker, said, the first blast, we t was. We immediew of the harbour. come into the harThe boats we saw ats and their explounexpected and termassive noise and other glass shatinto buildings close harbour from there.
There was a thick cloud of black smoke which rose up and covered everything. There was a navy checkpoint in the water. Many big ships are parked there, there are also fishing boats. The checkpoint checked every boat morning and evening. That was where the first boat exploded. And once that went up, was when the others came racing in.
I think the navy thought this might happen. Earlier this year, l hear they came to people's houses here and asked for our help and told us to be alert.
We saw a few boats come into the water and explode. After the explosions, everybody started shooting. It was terrifying. The navy boys were running around engaged in a gun battle and not fully dressed because it was early morning. They swarmed around the town, searching everything because some of the attackers disappeared into the town. Then everybody started running. All the women and children ran to the temple."
Vijitha Liyanage, a procurement of ficer with Catholic Relief Services, saw the explosions. "There were so many blasts, and we saw black smoke bellowing from the direction of the navy camp,' he said. "It was very scary, as we have not experienced something like this in Galle.” Blow to tourism
The attack on the southern port city could be a major blow to Sri Lanka's tourism industry, with peak season about to begin in Galle and its nearby beaches, a major draw for travellers.
While Galle, 70 miles south of the capital, Colombo, also is home to Sri Lanka's main southern naval port, it is also a popular tourist spot, known as Sri Lanka’s “Rivier” for its high-end hotels and pristine beaches. Hotel owners said they feared for the tourism industry in the wake of the bombing.
"Before, I could reassure my guests that southern Sri Lanka had never been a target," said one hotelier in Galle describing the attack as "two hours of madness”. "Now, it's on our doorstep,' said the Manager of a prominent beach side hotel, who did not want to be named, adding that the violence would likely first affect the five-star tourism that had only recently developed on the island. “All the hotels are greatly concerned. After a year of tsunami and another quiet year because of the situation (in the north), we were all hoping for a good year,” the Manager said. O

Page 16
16 TAMIL TIMES
Fratricida Politic Violence among
Tamil Speaking Pe
The background
Several of us, deeply disturbed by the continuing escalation ofpolitical violence, met recently and shared our concerns. While all political violence is unacceptable and merits unqualified condemnation, we focus on the sharp escalation of in such violence among the Tamils and between the Tamils and Muslims. We consider this trend to be both suicidal to the Tamil speaking people and a critical impediment to resolving the national question adversely affecting the entire population of this Island. The ethnic minorities have faced discrimination almost from the time of independence. The nature and intensity of such discrimination have fluctuated, frequently manifesting in calculated violence. Tamil groups also have engaged in much violence. An increasing share of the political violence is fratricidal, either Tamil-Tamil or Tamil-Muslim.
Resolving differences
Fratricidal violence has been misguidedly indulged in by activists in many struggles against oppression in the belief that it may be the only means to effectively settle differences. We do not subscribe to this view. Differences that may arise on policies, strategies, personalities or on any other matter will have to be resolved through discussion among the partners in the struggle, not by liquidation. Resorting to fratricidal violence can only deepen divisions, provoke counterviolence and undermine the struggle. Bitterness created by liquidation or expulsion of communities will linger, like in the case of the fratricidal clashes among Sri Lankan Tamil groups in the late 80s and early 90s and the recurrent instances of ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims since the 80s.
Value of diversity
A culture of permitting free expression of opinions and lively discussion of differences has been a feature of successful struggles (e.g. the movement against Apartheid in South Africa and the US Civil Rights Movement of the third quar
ter of the last centur liberation/indepenc India). In contrast, and intolerance, eve helpful to enforce l the emergence of d ther oppression (e.g. the French Revoluti and the post BJP p munal conflict in II may be that both quality the potential
ment is underminec verse tilt of the ba facilitating further 1 sion.
Need for independ Among the Tam maining politically either aligned to the misingly opposed t independent minde effectively lobby wi foreign governmen tional agencies agai pression is dwindl quences are increas: litical developments seas. Particularl marginalization ofth ership. At Thimpu parliamentary lead militant groups to fo Principles', which h recognition as refle sus at that time. Ev sus is secured now, opposed to it to qui
Loss of moral hig A major concer violence, especial civilians of all ethn losing the moral hi by Tamil leaders w against violent Sup the state. Readyres civilians, and indifl and human rights I gitimacy of the stru; lence and denial of cruitment and use
 

OCTOBER 2006
fratricidal violence and assassinations, torture and brutality, and the intolerance and suppression of dissent, resorted to by various Tamil groups have contributed to the loss of much support, locally and globally. Attempts to undermine the autonomy and integrity of non-government organizations, political parties, newspapers, universities, schools and y, and the Gandhian other institutions functioning in the North lence movement of and East by various agencies have also culture of violence been counter productive. Even if some in if it appears to be of these activities appear to yield immeinity, is a recipe for diate gains, their long term impact on the ictatorship and fur- community is overwhelmingly negative. USSR under Stalin, In contrast consistent upholding of valpn in the later stages, ues and principles played a critical role roliferation of com- in the success of the struggles led by idia) The end result Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King
in numbers and in and Nelson Mandela.
strength of the movel, increasing the ad- Upholding human rights lance of forces and We are also concerned about the rights
majoritarian oppres- and sensitivities of regional minorities. They need to be valued, respected and legitimized. It is increasingly accepted lent voices among the Sinhalese (though not yet by ils, most of those re- the government) that federalism and inactive appear to be ter-ethnic power sharing are necessary LTTE or uncompro- to regain national unity and integrity. In o it. The number of turn, Sri Lankan Tamils need to accept i Tamils available to the need for power sharing in the regional thin Sri Lanka, with capital (Trincomalee) as well as sub-rets and with interna- gional autonomy, particularly for sub-renst majoritarian op- gions in which regional minorities are ing, and the conse- dominant. Those who campaign against ingly reflected in po- ethnic violence, ethnic cleansing, ethnic in Sri Lanka and over- oppression and displacement, de-legitiy hurting is the mize their protests if they do not also eparliamentary lead- protest against ethnic violence, ethnic in 1985, the Tamil cleansing, ethnic oppression and displacers worked with five ment of civilians of other communities, rmulate the “Thimpu especially if they occur at the hands of ave gained enduring their own ethnic group. Civilized politi:ting a Tamil consen- calculture demands that we need to proen if such a consen- test all violations of human rights and to it is easier for those uphold the rights and welfare of women, astion its legitimacy. children and all vulnerable sections of the population. Those who claim to fight for ground human rights cannot afford to be selecis that the culture of tive. ly violence against ic groups, has led to Building Coalitions gh ground occupied It has to be emphasized that we are hen the struggle was not indulging in a exercise to divert atression of Tamils by tention from the continued injustices rt to violence against committed against the minorities for erence to democratic over five decades, nor to subvert any orms devalue the le- ongoing struggle against such injustice, gle against state vio- but to underline the need to mobilize all minority rights. Re- available resources and to avoid any acof child combatants, tion or advocacy inconsistent with

Page 17
OCTOBER 2006
legitimate objectives. We note that the first major majoritarian attack on a minority was the disenfranchisement of the Malaiyaha Tamils soon after independence. Sadly, except for S.J.V. Chelvanayagam and one or two others, most Sri Lankan Tamil and Muslim Members of Parliament were complicit in this exercise. Those who opposed it were mostly the Sinhalese Marxist-Leninist and, of course, the Malaiyaha Tamil Members. The development of majoritarian policies was facilitated by the failure to evolve principled coalitions of minorities and progressive forces. Defining our values and goals
In conclusion, to supplement the values referred to above, we reiterate our belief in the following extracts from the Oslo statement of 5th December 2002, which the parties in conflict, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government, agreed to explore:
"... a solution founded on the principle of internal self-determination in areas of historical habitation of the Tamil speak
ing peoples Structure W Lanka and communitie between the gion as wel tre ... Huma ... Law anc to ensure th needs of wo account ... with their fa todians anc place, wheth tary ... con segments of the peace pi Signatories on b lective Against Fl Violence'
Rev. Jeffre Vellaitha- mbi A Bavinck, Sharmi Caspersz, Bish Chickera, Rohan l Fernando, Fr. Reid S laraj Gunasega Gunase-kera, Sa
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y Abayasekera, meerdeen, Ben i Boyle, Fr. Paul op Duleep de 3drisinha, Nimalka S. Fernando, Wimaram, Lakshman njana Hattotuwa,
TAMIL TIMES, 17
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Page 18
18 TAMIL TIMES
MoVement for Federal Constitu
A number of well know persons, both within and outside Sri Lanka, have formed the 'Movement for a Federal Constitution in Sri Lanka and appealed to all "All People of Sri Lanka, Expatriates of Sri Lankan Descent and Sri Lanka's Well Wishers' to support the introduction of a Federal Constitution in the island.
A large number of persons have subscribed their signature to the following document which has been widely published:
“We of the "Movement for a Federal Constitution in Sri Lanka" are a group of individuals of Sri Lankan descent and well wishers of Sri Lanka. We promote the implementation of a federal constitutional framework in Sri Lanka to achieve a lasting peace in the island. This paper presents our position in regard to the vi
ability of a federal solution to resolve the
prolonged and selfdestructive ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The appropriate form of the federal constitutionshall be exploredata later stage.
We believe that the unitary nature of the constitution of Sri Lanka inherited and retained since its independence has failed to fulfill the equitable political representation and the national aspirations of ethnic minorities in Sri Lanka. It has also brought significant economic disadvantages to rural and remote regions of the country due to inequitable distribution of resources.
The failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to address the legitimate grievances of Tamil people resulted in the birth of Tamil militancy and armed resistance leading to two decades of bitter civil war. The resulting war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, destroyed property worth billions of rupees and left the economy of the island in ruins.
The sad reality is that Sri Lanka is continuing to slide deeper and deeper into a vicious cycle of violent ethnic conflict. The longer ittakes to reconcile our dif. ferences through meaningful negotiations, the much deeper the mistrust and disharmony between the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities will become, leading to the further escalation of the conflict with loss of many more innocent lives. So there must be an immediate but genuine drive to end this ethnic conflict. To this end, there is an urgent need to
replace Sri Lanka's c stitution with an ap framework that accom mate aspirations of and Muslim peoples There have been eral solution to the eth sides of the divide. Fec dle ground" for both conflict and an effec end the Sri Lankan el eralism underlies a sy': in which sovereignty divided between a ce. thority and constitu such as regions and provides substantial litical and economic centre and the periph tation of a federal co work in Sri Lanka wi adherence to pluralis ble development and Sinhala, Tamil and areas of the island. F further the opportun Tamil and Muslim c oncile their differen sensus to build a unit on the recognition ol right to determine its tiny.
A federal system been successfully im countries of the wol ethnic, multi-relig Countries such as C. Belgium, the USA, are examples of plura achieved federalism degrees of devolution noting that the size Switzerland is signif that of Sri Lanka.
We firmly belie all the peoples of Sr guarded through the eral Constitution for federalism readily ac nic, religious and cl we find in Sri Lanka stitution will be ofg will maximise the po nomic and cultural suring unity in diver people. We are also sistent with the pat cent elections, the

OCTOBER 2006
3. tion
urrent unitary conpropriate federal modates the legitihe Sinhala, Tamil of Sri Lanka. dvocates for a fednic conflifact on both eralism is the 'midsides of the ethnic tive framework to hnic conflict. Fedstem of government is constitutionally ntral governing auent political units provinces. It also devolution of popowers between the ery. The implemennstitutional framell pave the way for m and more equitatransparency in the Muslim populated ederalism will also ity for the Sinhala, ommunities to recces and reach coned Sri Lanka, based seach community's ; own political des
of governance has plemented in many
ld that have multi
ious populations. unada, Switzerland, india and Australia societies that have
through different of power. It is worth of the federation of cantly smaller than
e that the rights of Lanka can be safedvocation ofa FedSri Lanka, given that commodates the ethltural diversity that Such a federal coneat benefit in that it ntial for social, ecolevelopment by enity of the Sri Lankan confident that conrn of voting in rehajority of Sinhala,
Tamil and Muslim peoples of Sri Lanka are in favour of a Federal solution to the current conflict. Therefore, there is an urgent need and a solid basis for us to launch an active campaign for a federal constitutional solution to the current ethnic conflict, as the only viable alternative to end the senseless war and bring peace and prosperity for all the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. M
We believe that a Federal Constitution which involves power sharing with democratically elected state government(s) in the north and east will minimize threat to national security. It does not envisage a compromise on sovereignty and territorial integrity as falsely assumed and publicised by chauvinistic elements. Sadly, the proponents of such propaganda have no consideration of or compassion for the plight of the people suffering in war torn areas, who have been caught up in the mindless and endless killing and destruction. This chauvinistic point of view will further increase interethnic resentment and bitterness between the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities. We also denounce the threats and intimidations aimed at peace activists, journalists and political activists who stand for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.
Movement for a Federal Constitution in Sri Lanka stands for peace, equality, and an effective federal solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka that guarantees the protection of the civil and human rights of all its citizens.
We appeal to the Sri Lankan Government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other armed groups to immediately cease all acts of hostilities and violence.
We call upon the Government and the LTTE to start peace talks without further delay and work towards achieving a lasting solution to the conflict based on a Federal Constitution that promotes a fair and equitable framework to address national and other social issues.
We urge all social and political organisations within and outside Sri Lanka to actively campaign for an effective federal solution to the conflict.
We also support the participation of a Muslim representation in future political negotiations to ensure that the aspirations of the north-eastern Muslim community are adequately accommodated.
The time has come to act and save the country. Prolonging this senseless war will lead to economic and social failure of the Sri Lankan state.
Act now to save Sri Lanka; Act for a Federal Sri Lanka.” O

Page 19
OCTOBER 2006
The Common Nati Agenda: Opportun
or Consensus
Rajan Philips
By the time this appears in print, the Memorandum of Understanding between the UNP and the SLFP may or may not have been signed in Colombo. There has been much expectation about this agreement between the two parties and its significance for establishing the much desired 'southern consensus' to end the northern alienation.
In my view, the rapidly changing ground realities and the terms of the so called Common National Agenda (CNA) that is the basis for the MOU are more a cause for concern than celebration.
As I see it, the CNA brings Mahinda Rajapakse closer to UNP positions on economic matters and moves the UNP closer to Mahinda Chinthanai on the ethnic question. This is the very opposite of what should have happened, and certainly on the ethnic question the CNA should have been more generous than the Chinthanai. A consensus based on Mahinda Rajapakse's election platform will not end the northern alienation but only aggravate it.
The circumstances in which the CNA is being formulated and adopted are hardly conducive to finding a fair and just political solution to the Tamil question. The government's insistence on the two-pronged military-political approach (which so far has been only military and not at all political), the resulting escalation in violence to the 1980s level, and the bull-in-a-China-shop judgment of the Supreme Court on the question of the North-East merger have opened all the old wounds to a new festering grief.
The CNA is based on the premise that the civil society, the professions, the business community, the media and the general public have strong desire for the UNP and the SLFP to work together within a new political culture of cooperation and consensus. It is noteworthy that the agreement will be between the UNP and the SLFP, rather than the Peo
ple’s Alliance ofwh the major partner also no reference t trade unions in the
The premise is that the general de two principal polit the Sinhalese to rea extent and modali transform the Sri I unitary straight-jac federal arrangemer compounds the eth of a larger politica six key areas: ethni forms, good governa opment, nation bui velopment. In this nic issue is not onl redefined in terms the premises of the ment and the peace
The CNA’s po issue is an unambig the government's cl ing primacy to mili ostensibly pursuing The problem with t as the Tamils are ( that they can see, a ecution of military i the Tamils are still biguous declaration he is committed to tonomous Tamil ul East within a federal In the context of the ern Province it is un rate Muslim unity : lished. A President the more necessar highhanded ruling C The CNA is no saying that the mil response to "terror the state's "param the sovereignty anc of Sri Lanka. This

TAMILTIMES 19
nal ism
ch the SLFP has been ince 1994: There is the workers and the reamble to the CNA. also questionable in sire has been for the cal organizations of h a consensus on the ies of devolution to ankan state from its ket to a more flexible it. Instead, the CNA nic question as part program, involving c issue, electoral reince, economic devellding and social deformulation, the ethy diluted but is also that are contrary to 2002 ceasefire agreerocess that followed. sition on the ethnic uous endorsement of irrent strategy ofgivtary initiatives while a political solution. his approach insofar oncerned is that all nd suffer, is the exnitiatives. Politically, vaiting for an unamby the President that establishing an auit in the North and but united Sri Lanka. realities of the EastIvoidable that a sepahould also be estabal commitment is all in the light of the the Supreme Court. lacking in clarity in ary initiatives are a m” in keeping with unt duty to protect territorial integrity” s really begging the
question and it is both deceptive and futile to try to isolate the LTTE, however abominable its human rights record might be, from Tamil politics, and to evoke the paramount duty of the state when the execution of that duty in the North and East invariably means keeping those areas in a permanent state of war.
There is no question that after the glory that was Sampur, the military and sections of the government wanted to continue with the military offensive rather than focusing on the political solution. The latest convert to this thinking is G.L. Pieris, the chief architect of the CNA and the chief government negotiator during the UNP-LTTE peace process. In an interview to the Chennai Hindu, Pieris declared that “there is a strong current of opinion in the country that there has to be a military response to terrorism.” This has always been one of the many currents of opinion in the South, and one that got a mighty boost after Sampur but has suffered a bloody nose since Muhamalai.
The primacy of a military response cannot be the opinion or strategy of a statesman, but only that of a warmonger and opportunism always leads not to statesmanship but warmongering. A sensible political leader, considering the myriads of miseries that most Sri Lankans have gone through in the last 25 years, will work tirelessly for cessation of all hostilities. But the Rajapakse administration wanted to strike a blow for the Sinhalese against the LTTE. The Sampur success opened up visions of even larger military goals - to recapture Elephant Pass, to establish a position of military strength before the next round of talks. Muhamali, Habarana and Galle, all of which could have been avoided, came along to dampen the prurient enthusiasm of the South.
Even so, the government might have made a plausible case for a military of fensive against the LTTE if it had made equally forthright and determined advances on the political front. There has been effectively none despite the many activities through the All Party Committee, the Experts Panel and so on. These exertions are all open ended and the real purpose of which is to propitiate every Sinhalese who has an opinion against devolution rather than produce a comprehensive system of devolution to ad

Page 20
20 TAMIL TIMES
dress the longstanding grievances of the Tamils and the Muslims.
A rather pathetic illustration of this misplaced effort is the new enthusiasm in Colombo for India's old Panchayats, which too is for the purpose of winning over JVP and JHU support for devolution in the All Party Committee. The Committee should talk to the members of the 1999, H.A.P. Abhayewardhana Commission on Local Government Reforms, and kick start the implementation of the Commission's recommendations to revamp Sri Lanka's Local Governments system, instead of going on a pilgrimage to India to study the Panchayats. Needless to say local government reforms should not be confused with the political need for a higher form of devolution, the former should be an integral part of, and not a substitute for, the latter.
There is also new enthusiasm - both in the CNA and the reports coming out of the Experts Panel - for reforming the system of governance, in general, through recourse to the old Donoughmore Committee system, by providing for minority cabinet positions, by enforcing the implementation of Tamil as an Official language, and by establishing a bicameral legislature with minority representation in Colombo. There is talk about electoral reforms but no plan to terminate the presidential system. Given the Supreme Court's disturbing track record on political reforms to render justice to the minorities, the reform of the Court should also be on the agenda. Again, it would be a grave mistake to consider these changes as a substitute for substantive devolution, but should be a necessary part of the overall devolution package.
As I said at the outset, the government owes the Tamils and the Muslims an unequivocal commitment to undertaking substantive devolution to reform the structure of state and governance in Sri Lanka. All other good suggestions for improving governance should be subordinated to the main project of devolution. The government should also strive towards ending all forms of hostilities and reestablish the climate for peaceful politics that was certainly nascent immediately after the ceasefire agreement of2002. Seen in this perspective, the proposed Common National Agenda would appear to fall short of expectations. O
Sri L and
Asiar
I. Introduction:
Since June 2006 tion of the Liberat Eelam (LTTE) led Muralitharan (Colo portedly abducted dren for recruitment 1) As the confli cible recruitment ofc According to UNIC gust 2006, there we cases of under age LTTE. Of these, 643 of 18, and 902 were der l 8 but have nd There were also 10 of under age recruit group. UNICEF est base only reflects a number of children
(2) While the Sri earlier rightly conde of children by the L lence over the recru the Karuna group. C ducted in unnumbe by the Karuna grou the security forces
various military che
security forces failed to As the Norweg parleys with the Sri and the LTTE to res tober 2006, Karun over. In March 200 ern commander, C from the LTTE prot discrimination oft the Tiger's northe LTTE, on the otherh Karuna was forced volved in corruptio ger’s code of condu National Party lead successfully engin ous split in the LT
Following the hundreds of cadre with Karuna and h ing in massive cas Karuna later form Viduthalai Pulikal ( tion Tigers), a pol he is the Presiden

OCTOBER 2006
ankan PeaceTalkS the Karuna factor
| Human Rights Commission
, the breakaway facon Tigers of Tamil by Vinagamoorthy nel Karuna) has remore than 100 chil
ct escalates, the forhildren too escalates. EF, as of 31st Aure 1545 outstanding recruitment by the i were under the age recruited while unow passed that age. outstanding cases ment by the Karuna imates that its datathird of the actual recruited.
Lankan government mned the recruitment TTE, it maintains siitment of children by Children are often abred vehicles manned from the vicinity of and passed through ckpoints. Sri Lankan notice anything illegal ian mediators hold Lankan government ume dialogue in Ocfactor looms large 4, then LTTE's eastblonel Karuna, split sting againstalleged he eastern Tamils by rn leadership. The and, alleged that Col. to quit as he was inand violated the Tiit. Sri Lanka's United rs claimed credit for ering the most seriTE. split, the LTTE sent to engage in battle s supporters, resultalties on both sides. d Tamileela Makkal amil Peoples Liberatical party of which The armed clashes
between the LTTE and the Karuna faction began in earnest and these clashes had direct implications on the cease-fire agreement signed on 22 February 2002.
II. Proposed peace talks of 28-29 October 2006
Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE reportedly agreed to hold unconditional talks. However, the same has been denied by both the parties to show their tough posturing. There is little optimism over the proposed peace talks. On 5 October 2006, the government of Sri Lanka proposed to increase 40% in defence expenditure for 2007 to cover increased weapons procurement and air strike costs. (3) The intensified military conflict that has displaced over 200,000 people shows no signs of respite. On 10 August 2006, Mr Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, put Sri Lanka next to Lebanon and Darfur in the list of the humanitarian disasters that required immediate attention of the international community. If the proposed talks are held, it is unlikely that the first round will make any substantive progress. Like in the Geneva talks held on 22-23 February 2006 both the Sri Lankan government and LTTE might once again reiterate their commitment for the cease-fire agreement only to be spoiled by the Karuna faction, in addition to violations by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.
If the proposed peace talks are held, the facilitators must emphasise on three key issues: (1) developing mechanisms to ensure respect for cease-fire agreement; (2) ensuring respect for human rights and international humanitarian laws; and (3) unrestricted access to the humanitarian agencies for distribution of humanitarian aid.
In this issue of ACHRWEEKLYREVIEW, ACHR addresses the need for developing mechanisms to ensure respect for the cease-fire agreement.
III. Developing mechanisms to ensure respect for the cease-fire agreement

Page 21
OCTOBER 2006
a. Karuna factor
Since the split of the Karuna faction,
cease-fire agreement of February 2002 has
been all but systematically violated by
both the Sri Lankan government and the
LTTE. As the SLMM states, "During
the first year the Ceasefire Agreement has been implemented in terms of mili
tary operations. The separation of forces
has not been fully implemented. Freedom of movement has been implemented in general, but failure of the Parties to restore normalcy remains the reason for the majority of complaints from the population".
The cease-fire agreement of February 2002 has not been revisited but the role of the Karuna group remains critical. The LTTE has accused the government of giving military support to the Karuna faction. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has corroborated the LTTE accusations.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in its "Geneva Report" presented at the Geneva talks on 22-23 February 2006 stated: "Continued attacks on LTTE forward defence localities throughout the period showed that one or more armed groups were actively engaged in offen
sive operations ag The continued sinations of civil supporters, in the merous reports o' ians strongly indic are operating in th SLMM receiv complaints relating assments, extortio tions where an arm suspect. Sighting ol ing to represent Ka to SLMM and or SLMM monitors armed men in civil in Valaichchenai, they belong to the
SLMM Distric has also been con claiming to be Karu clearly identified Karuna faction anc TMVP who, contra mitment, became ( GOSL controlled March. SLMM has tact with Karuna su members and their ties are often confi.
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TAMIL TIMES 21
inst the LTTE. ..... righ number of assasns, including LTTE East, as well as nuharassment of civilles that armed groups t area. d a large number of o assassinations, hars, assaults or abduced group is the main armed civilians claimuna is often reported the 28th of March ncountered l0 - 15 an clothes operating ho told SLMM that Karuna faction.
Office in Batticaloa acted by individuals na members. The only armed group is the their political front ry to the GOSL comven more visible in areas in the East in I been in direct conpporters and TMVP presence and activirmed by GOSL offiials. SL-MM was ven advised by Minstry of Defence to void movements in ertain parts of iOSL-controlled araS north of atticaloa due to seurity reasons. There re a number of indiations that the OSL is actively suporting the Karuna oup. Known aruna supporters ve been seen movg to and from SLA mps, and it is evint that the security rces and police in me areas are not takg action to prevent ned elements from opting."
While killings by ral factions of the med groups in conct situations are thing new, it is the 'ect support given the Karuna group the Sri Lankan gov
ernment that puts the respect for the cease-fire agreement into question.
In the last two and half years, there has not been any scope to revisit the cease-fire agreement to bring the Karuna faction within the ambit of the cease-fire agreement. Unless the Karuna faction is brought within the ambit of the ceasefire agreement, the peace process cannot withstand intimidation, extortions, abductions and clandestine killings in which civilians and suspected supporters of different groups are the main victims.
b. Strengthening the SLMM
Under the cease-fire agreement of February 2002, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been given very weak mandate. Each District has a Local Monitoring Committee (LMC) consisting of five members, two appointed by government of Sri Lanka, two by the LTTE and one SLMM monitor serving as the chairman. The committees were mandated to inquire into incidents and alleged violations of the cease-fire agreement, seeking to resolve any dispute at the lowest possible level. Any complaint is recorded and processed by the LMC.
The representatives of the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in the LMC were bound to oppose each other's accusations. The SLMM monitors being compelled to give decisive opinion, they of ten faced criticism. Former President Chandrika Kumartunga had perfected the art of accusing the SLMM of biases. Of ten the SLMM is denied unrestricted access for investigation.
The cease-fire agreement of February 2002 must be revisited if the proposed peace process is to make any progress. Bringing the Karuna faction within the ambit of the cease-fire agreement is a pre-requisite for holding substantive talks in the future. In addition, the Local Monitoring Committees must be strengthened and consist of independent and international representatives with the mandate to investigate the allegations without any restrictions on access to persons and places.
The degree of willingness to revisit the cease-fire agreement to bring the Karuna faction within the ambit of the cease-fire agreement and to strengthen the mandate of the SLMM will reflect the commitment of the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for finding a peaceful solution to the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka.
[III Oct 2006] O

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22 TAMIL TIMES
Of devolution
Nisala Rodrigo
A wide array of voices is calling for the adoption of Indian federalism as the solution for the conflict in Sri Lanka. The most common argument in favor ofemulating the Indian system is that both the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian government would readily accept it, because the Tamils of India live peacefully under this system. With the Tamils' and the Indians” acceptance of this solution, it is argued that the LTTE's violent separatist cause would lose legitimacy and that the position of the democratic Tamil moderates would be strengthened. Providing that the above assumptions are true, the question to ask is: would the Indian system actually work in Sri Lanka? Are the conditions which contribute towards the success of federalism in India present in Sri Lanka?
Similarities
As a starting point, I offer two important similarities between India and Sri Lanka. The first is that both have strong traditions of democracy, indeed the two oldest democratic traditions in South Asia. Democratic norms are so entrenched in both countries that it is inconceivable for any non-democratic form of governance to succeed, although autocracy had been attempted at great cost. India survived Indira Gandhi's two years of “Emergency" rule, although it resulted in a great fragmentation of India's political scene. J.R. Jayawardene’s undemocratic extension of Parliamentended in 1988, but not before utterly ruining communal relations in Sri Lanka and beginning a process leading to the Indian intervention and the second JVP uprising.
The second similarity is that both countries have suffered from what scholars call “paired-minority” conflicts. In a paired-minority, each party of the conflict perceives itself to be a minority in danger of extinction. As numerical minorities, the Indian Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamils expressed their anxieties of living in "majority-rule' democracies well before independence was achieved in either country. Attempts to work out a power-sharing arrangement with the Indian Muslims failed, with the outcome of Partition in 1947 which was without a doubt the defining event in post-colonial South Asian history.
In Sri Lanka, the rise of Sinhala nationalism removed any possibility that
power-sharing would as the majority comr of being a minority m mutable basis of Sinh the fact that the islan been the only histo Sinhala people. Aft Sinhala nationalism be ideology of the state language policy, and marginalized. A sense ism (which for the mc viously exist) evolve placing the demand fo sharing with regiona. Tamil-majority areas demands were met w lence, creating the co militancy and the sub Hindu political co dia also stemmed fro1 the Hindus were a mi scheme of things and nent was the only h tions, but it largely to tragic communal viole Partition. Three Indo a haemorrhaging dis further contributed tc alists' belief that thei der siege and needed ter they came to pow coalition in the late l the India-Pakistan c with the developmer ons by both countrie Interestingly, Indi: a great deal to teach dangerous paths whi conflicts can take. Pe portant lesson is th not necessarily resolv can even exacerbate to solve a border dis flashpoint for violen mir. However, it See people want to kno' managed its broad di eralism against all od uneven economic and European scholars ha general success in th the pace of Europear Lanka, the question system can offer t paired-minority con vast size of India’s ti and diversity which somehow integrates
 

OCTOBER 2006
even be attempted, hunity's own fears anifested. Theimla nationalism was d of Sri Lanka has ic habitat of the er independence, 'came the dominant beginning with the Tamil identity was of Tamil nationalist part did not pred in response, rer communal powerautonomy for the of the island. These ith increasing vioinditions for Tamil sequent civil war. onsciousness in Inm a perception that nority in the grand that the Subcontipme of their tradiook shape after the ince associated with -Pakistan wars and pute over Kashmir the Hindu nation* homeland was unto be defended. Af. er through the BJP 990s, the stakes of onflict were raised it of nuclear weapS.
and Sri Lanka have each other on the ch paired-minority rhaps the most imat separation does e such conflicts and them. The inability pute can serve as a ce, such as in Kashms that what most v is how India has versity through fedis, such as slow and social development. ve examined India's eir efforts to hasten integration. For Sri is what the Indian resolve its own lict. However, the rritory, population, its federal system also serves to make
the study of this federal system difficult.
Evolution of India's federal system
My understanding of the evolution of India's federal system comes from the research of Michael Burgess, Professor of Politics & International Relations and Director of the Center for Federal Studies at the University of Kent, who cites a number of "mainstream” arguments explaining the process leading to the 1950 Constitution and its relatively centialized federation. In the first part of this series, I present a history of the development of India's federal system, beginning With the integration of the Subcontinent under the British Raj in the 19th century. What I will show is that the federal contract outlined in India's Constitution was not designed to resolve any conflict between the central government and the regions; for the most part, it merely formalized the already-existing relations between the two. Although I conclude that the Indian model of devolution does not suitably address Sri Lanka's particular situation, it does have an institution which if properly modified, may help to reintroduce power-sharing into Sri Lankan governance.
After the suppression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British sought to establish a single constitutional order to govern both the areas under their direct rule- the provinces or "Presidencies,” which encompassed over half of India's population and territory- and those under indirect rule- the princely states which maintained feudal relations with the British Crown. The Government of India Act 1858 made the Governor-General (also called the Viceroy) the chief administrator of the British Raj responsible to the Secretary of State for India in London. This centralizing Act was soon balanced by the Indian Councils Act 1861, which allowed the provinces to pass their own legislation.
Contrast between India and Sri Lanka
In contrast, Ceylon was ruled separately as a crown colony, and the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1832 integrated the Kandyan and maritime regions under a single administration. This unitary system was established for the purpose of undermining Kandyan nationalism, which had produced a major uprising in 1817-18 and a smaller one in l830. The Governor's power was counterbalanced by the Executive and Legislative Councils, making Ceylon the most constitutionally-advanced non-white colony in the British Empire at that time. Half of the Legislative Council was comprised of native “unofficials,” and its equal representation distributed among

Page 23
OCTOBER 2006
Sinhalese, Tamil, and Burgher appointees marked the beginning of communal power-sharing in the island. The provinces originally served purely administrative functions, without any form of self-government, although representation in the Legislative Council was later based on province. The 193 l Donoughmore Constitution enacted universal suffrage and removed representation by community, but it preserved power-sharing in its executive committee system until independence in 1948.
In India, the British began the process of granting self-rule to Indian natives at the provincial level in the early 20th century. The Government of India Act 1919 established the concept of "diarchy" which was a form of powersharing between the British and the Indians. The provincial legislative councils were elected by Indians, and these councils appointed ministers to hold a number of provincial portfolios such as education and agriculture. Other portfolios such as finance and home affairs were held by British executive councilors appointed by the provincial governors. However, the central government remained immune to reform, and self-rule was still not forthcoming at that level.
The Government of India Act 1935 abolished diarchy in the provinces, and all portfolios were transferred to the ministers having the confidence of the elected provincial legislatures. However, diarchy was established in the central government. Although the bicameral Federal Legislature consisted of representatives elected by the people and the provincial legislatures and appointed by the princely states, power was concentrated in the Governor-General who still controlled India’s finances, foreign affairs, and defense. Act 1935 was never implemented because both the Indian nationalists and the princely states refused to participate. Independence and the 1950 Constitution
Diversity through flexibility and pragmatism
In 1946, a Constituent Assembly was elected by the provincial legislatures to negotiate a constitution for an independent India, and most of the princely states also sent representatives. In the following year, the Constituent Assembly became the Parliament of the Dominion of India, and the powers of the GovernorGeneral were vested in its Cabinet. After meeting for 166 days over nearly three years, the Assembly produced a constitutional draft which was enacted in 1950. The provinces became states into which the princely states were integrated. The
first election in inc held in 1952, and t voted members to til the Indian Parliame through the single tı Prof. Burgessex stitution as the pro tion of the British co tralization and the t leadership." The C. was dominated by Congress, which in by the painful expe well as its agenda f delegates believed government was no order and quell furt sentiment led to th sions in Articles 35 of the Constitution, things allowed for th governments by thi on the advice of Pal Congress also b central authority w nomic development The Constitution t concept of "federal ing that central leg ride state legislatio flict between the tw powers exclusively tral and state gover current powers ins ian system was est more flexibility in c At the same tim that India's diversit tion of regional se pensable. Prof. BuI characteristics of th commodate this di ibility and pragmat to activate procedu boundaries along et the establishment states' earmarked f sources, and 3) per claims for specials centralization of pc structures at the su and Kashmir, being jority region in Inc autonomy arrange 370, including sep. to fundamental rig property. The no Sikkim, Assam, M. were also given spe lating to representa ernments and the pr law and practices i
Indian Devolution The above hist

TAMIL TIMES 23
lependent India was he State Assemblies he upper chamber of nt, the Rajya Sabha ansferable vote. plains the 1950 Coniuct of the "interaclonial pattern of cenhinking of the Indian onstituent Assembly the Indian National turn was influenced ience of Partition as or development. The that a strong central :cessary to maintain her separatism. This e Emergency Provi2-360 in Part XVIII which among other le dissolution ofstate e President of India, liament. elieved that a strong as necessary for ecot and modernization. hus established the supremacy," meanislation would overn in the event of con/o. In addition to the allocated to the cennments, a list of conpired by the Australtablished to provide :enter-state relations. le, it was understood y made the continualf-government indisgess described some ne Indian state to acversity through flexism: 1) a Willingness res to redefine state hnolinguistic lines, 2) of "special category or extra financial reiodic assessments of status and further delitico-administrative b-state level. Jammu the last Muslim-malia was given special ments under Article arate laws pertaining nts and ownership of theastern states of anipur, and Mizoram cial arrangements retion in the state govotection of traditional 'n Article 371.
in Sri Lanka ory demonstrates that
Indian federalism was not invented overnight but took form over decades. In comparison, Sri Lanka's unitary state was also something that was largely inherited from British rule, as opposed to being invented by the Sinhala nationalists. Just as the "centralized' federalism of India's 1950 Constitution evolved from the British Raj and was merely redefined by Congress to serve a nation-building agenda, the unitary state enshrined in Sri Lanka's 1972 and l978 Constitutions was little more than the preexisting system embellished with a pro-Sinhala Buddhist slant (but without the provisions to protect minority rights). The strong historical legacy of the unitary state suggests that
a political settlement must detail a proc
ess of devolution and not simply list its terms.
An example of the folly of seeking a "paper" solution can be found in the 13th Amendment, which was based on the system of devolution in India. There are many explanations for the failure of the 13th Amendment, and I reserve a discussion of the collapse of the North-East Provincial Council for the second part of this series. Here I would only state that the Provincial Council system has failed to produce functional regional governments everywhere else in the island. Most of the blame for this failure has been placed on the concentration of power in the Executive President, the countless number of Cabinet Ministers overlapping the portfolios which are supposed to be devolved, and the ambiguous language in the 13th Amendment (the collapse of the Constitutional Council and its associated Human Rights, Police, and Public Services Commissions due to the poor wording in the l7th Amendment gives a certain truth to this last accusation).
I would argue that the decisive factor behind the failure of the Provincial Councils in the South has been their utter lack of popular support. The 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution by Jayawardene with the approval of Rajiv Gandhi, without even a popular referendum. With no public backing, there was no incentive to devolve powers to the Provincial Councils and to make the system work. There was nothing in the 13th Amendment or in the Indian Constitution it was based on to lay out the process for a unitary state to democratically devolve power. This approach was repeated in the PA's proposals for constitutional reform from l995to 2000. Devolution, which was supposed to be the focus of these proposals was again treated as a static solution, as if a compromise reached on paper would automatically

Page 24
24 TAMIL TIMES
produce a federation.
The Spanish model
In contrast, the Spanish model of devolution is relevant because it is the only system in the world (that I'm aware of) which lays out the procedure governing the democratic devolution of power from a unitary system. Spanish devolution has no pretensions that a federal contract can be hammered out in one blow and implemented in the next in a society where the very topic serves to divide people more than to unify them. Each region holds a referendum to determine whether its people desire their own subnational government. Afterwards, each sub-national government chooses from a list in the constitution which powers it wants to be devolved. In contrast to the rigidly-delineated lists of reserved, devolved, and concurrent powers found in most federations, this flexible setup allows the sub-national governments to prioritize their own powers based on
both popular demand and fiscal restraints. .
It is ideally suited for unitary systems seeking to devolve power. Power sharing at the centre
Given that the devolution of power in Sri Lanka is an uncertain venture at best, I argue that a power-sharing mechanism in the central government would have to be included to further accommodate the minorities. The 13th Amendment and the PA's constitutional proposals failed to provide such a mechanism. However, the Indian upper legislative chamber, the Rajya Sabha can be modified to serve this purpose. Whereas the Indian chamber represents the states weighted by population, in Sri Lanka it could represent the provinces weighted by district to provide greater representation for the minorities, as I described in my article on Spanish devolution. The five districts of Northern Province alone would fill at least 20% of the seats. Because this arrangement would rely on preferential voting systems such as the single transferable vote and the alternative vote, candidates contesting ethnically diverse districts such as Trincomalee would have incentives to reach out to other groups, as a plurality vote would not be sufficient for victory.
Like the German and Spanish upper chambers (and unlike the American, Swiss, and Australian ones), the Indian Rajya Sabha does not have as much power as the lower chamber. The composition of the lower chambers in these three federations determines the government, and Sri Lanka should adopt this particular feature as well. At the same
Cor
IT is more than t Co-Chairs of the Tc ence on Sri Lanka, re countries and someo tries in the world, ga Brussels about the w Lankan government Tigers of Tamil Eel hostilities and "com tionally'. However,
declaration remains
fighting continues w quences to the civili island nation.
According to thi Sri Lanka Monitorir on the major violatio Fire Agreement (CFA were killed and thou: rendered homeless in July 22 and Septem tions agencies estin 2.3 lakh people hav displaced in the last The governmen gers, besides exchan have been indulgin splitting on the cor precede a resump Mahinda Raja-paks: "credible guarantee V. Prabakaran and th munity to the effect
dialogue would not
time, the upper ch enough power that seriously contested, a power-sharing functio
The Spanish m combined with a weighted by distric either Mahinda Ch Communiqué, as th orthodox notions o systems. Neverthe power and power-s are not sufficient to ties into the political antee their human ri cle, I will exploreh tem affected relatio tral and state govel contributed toward, gration and disintegratic Reference: Michael tive Federalism. T. Oxon (UK). Routle,

OCTOBER 2006
nflicting Signals
B. Muralidhar Reddy
hree weeks since the kyo Donor Conferpresenting 58 donor the influential counve the good news in illingness of the Sri
and the Liberation am (LTTE) to cease le to talks unconditheir September 12 a mere wish even as rith alarming consean population in the
: latest ruling by the g Mission (SLMM) ns of the 2002 Cease A), 200-odd civilians sands of people were the violence between ber 26. United Nanate that more than e become internally
five months.
t and the Tamil Tiging regular gunfire, g in some fine hairlditions that should tion of talks. The a government wants s' from LTTE chief le international comthat a fresh round of be used yet again by
amber should have its seats would be and that it would serve
. odel of devolution n upper chamber t would not violate intana or the Oslo ry do not conform to f unitary or federal less, devolution of haring at the center integrate the minorimainstream nor guarghts. In the next artiow India's party sysns between the cennments, and how it ; both national intein. (October 13, 2006)
Burgess. Comparaheory and Practice. ige, 2006. O
the Tigers for military augmentation.
The Tigers, on the other hand, want the government to "honour” the CFA and stop the offensive. Both are blaming each other for the hostilities.
The SLMM, the mechanism appointed to oversee the implementation of the CFA, is in jeopardy in view of the LTTE's insistence on the withdrawal of European Union (E.U.) members from it. The truncated SLMM is faced with the gigantic task of documenting the ground situation. Besides, both the government and the LTTE have given enough signals about their lack of trust in the monitors. The government is livid with what it describes as repeated attempts by the SLMM to equate a democratically elected sovereign government with a terrorist outfit. The LTTE, equally disdainful of the monitors, has virtually evicted the SLMM from the territory it holds.
However, it must be said to the credit of the SLMM that it is doing a marvellous job despite all these constraints. Its latest ruling (given on September 26) is a grim reminder of the growing human tragedy. It blames the LTTE for creating the situation that led to a major military of fensive, by closing the Mavil Aru sluice gates on July 22. At the same time, the SLMM seems to make out a case that having completed a successful operation, the government is in no mood for talks
OW.
The ruling is particularly disconcerting, coming as it does after the Brussels declaration. The conference's appeal does not seem to have had the desired impact. At least not yet, despite Colombo's confirmation that it had received "positive signals" from the LTTE leadership on a resumption of the talks.
The impact of the hostilities on ordinary citizens is difficult to imagine. Reports from Jaffna town and Jaffna peninsula, which have been virtually cut off following the closure of the A9 highway for two months now, speak of sewere shortages of food and medicine. Educational institutions have been shut down and students face the threat of losing an academic year. A litre of petrol in Jaffna town reportedly cost Sri Lankan Rs.500 in the second and third weeks of September.
The SLMM ruling says: "The hu

Page 25
OCTOBER 2006
manitarian crisis in many areas in the North and in the East is steadily worsening with limited supplies being brought up to Jaffna and into various LTTE areas leaving thousands of people without basic necessities and paralysed economic activity. Aid agencies are in general prevented from going into LTTE areas. With the monsoon season on its way it is likely that the conditions of people in general will get worse.
"The situation in the Jaffna peninsula continues to be tense with intensified fighting between the LTTE and the security forces along the FDL forward defence line) and a high number of assassinations and abductions. There are no indications that this will change in the upcoming week. The humanitarian situation is affected and there are indications of food, fuel and basic needs shortages, despite provisions coming in by boat.
"Curfew is lifted twelve hours a day in the whole area, apart from areas being closed for cordon-and-search when incidents have happened. It is expected that curfew hours will remain the same in the upcoming week.
"According to the Government Agent there are approximately 10,000 civilians who have registered to be transported by ship to Colombo via Trincomalee. The population on the peninsula seems to be pessimistic when it comes to ending the confrontations.'
Cost of conflict
The ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka is no ordinary one in military or political terms. It has evaded solution for 23 years and cost at least 66,000 lives. The worst fears about its deadly consequences for the nation as well as for the region are confirmed in a study by a Mumbai-based think tank, the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG). According to the study, “Cost of conflict in Sri Lanka', Sri Lanka is the most militarised society in South Asia. It says the island nation has 8,000 military personnel per one million people. Even Pakistan - it is said that while every country has an army the Pakistan Army has a country - has only half that number, 4,000 military personnel per one million people. The figures for other South Asian countries are: Nepal 2,700, India 1,300, and Bangladesh 1,000.
In terms of military expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) too, Sri Lanka spends the most: 4.1 per cent. In the case of Pakistan it is 3.5 per cent, India and Nepal 2.5 per cent and Bangladesh 1.5 per cent. The figures cannot be expected to be an accurate representation of the actualities as there is very little information and knowledge about the LTTE's military spending.
Sri Lanka's defence expenditure as a percentage of its GDP is not only the
largest in South As other conflict-ridd Colombia, Myanm dan, the Philippine: a few, the research Devika Mistry, not level of militarisa Lanka, a country v “Paradise on Eart Indian Ocean', cou. in other countries f The study has link between the or and the steep rise “Sri Lanka witnes dramatic increase in from an allocation GDP in the 1970s cent in 2000,” it sa have declined to 4 the CFA.
The figures cit tain to the 2004-05 reduced to a piece unlikely that the de a percentage of GD contained at the lev after the CFA.
The strength of has risen from 15,0 early 1970s to 1.5 cludes multi-barrel ri range artillery, mort armoured personne is much smaller; it h and uses fast attac guns, inshore and ol and landing craft. Th supersonic fighterand choppers, inclu The LTTE’S est 10,000 but this does capability given its ers and guerilla tacti 2,000 personnel. Th tioning air force an fences but it is said te five small aircraft, one or two airfields LTTE's annual exp and military-orient the island and abroa million.
The study says which is essentially penditure on weap nance of a war ecol ity.
“It does precio nomic well-being o. control, despite run economic organisati that the outfit's an where between S17 m, the expenditure former networks is study says.
“The LTTE spe

a but also higher than in countries such as ur, Sierra Leone, Suand Uganda to name ers, Semu Bhatt and !. In other words, the on witnessed in Sri riously described as " and "Pearl of the i be much higher than cing internal strife.
established a direct going ethnic conflict n defence spending. sed one of the most military expenditure of 0.5 per cent of the to as high as 6.3 per ys. It is supposed to per cent of GDP after
ed in the study perperiod. With the CFA
of paper now, it is fence expenditure as P for 2005-06 can be el seen in the period
the Sri Lanka Army )00 personnel in the lakh. Its arsenal inocket launchers, long:ars, battle tanks, and 1 carriers. The Navy as 20,000 personnel k craft with 23 mm fshore patrol vessels he Air Force uses Kfir bombers, MiG-23s, ding MI-24s.
imated manpower is ; not reflect its actual use of suicide bombcs. Its navy has about e LTTE has no funci no anti-aircraft dehave acquired about and has constructed . The study puts the nditure on its cadre d networks, both in d, in the range of $8
that for the LTTE, a military outfit, exons and the mainteomy gets top prior
is little for the ecothe people under its ing a few social and ns.” However, given ual income is any5 million and S385 bn its cadre and in"insignificant", the
nds a minimum on
TAMIL TIMES 25
its cadre and the maximum on sustaining a war economy and its support base internationally." Of the total income, $100 m to $250 m is believed to come from drug-trafficking, although there is as yet no direct evidence of the outfit's involvement in this trade. Local taxation and extortion are said to contribute about S30 m; human smuggling and funds siphoned off from non-governmental organisations gives S3m to S5 m; contributions from the Tamil expatriate community fetch about $40-50 m; and profits from businesses $35-50 m.
The SFG researchers say, “The possibility of it Sri Lanka) becoming a less militarised nation lies only after 2011, conditional on the resolution of internal conflict before 2006-07." It is this frightening prospect that makes it imperative for all concerned to make a concerted ef. fort towards a resolution of the ethnic strife.
Hardline thinking
Since the Brussels Declaration, public space in Sri Lanka is agog with debate among the moderates and the hardliners on the merits of engaging the Tigers now. The hardliners are seething with anger over the supposed role played by Norway in persuading the Co-Chairs to come up with a communique announcing a return to "unconditional talks". In their discourses they make out as if the whole world has hatched a conspiracy to dismember the island nation and give Tamil Eelam to the Tigers on a platter. They wonder why the rest of the world is pressing for a resumption of talks when the military is giving a bloody nose to the Tigers.
The “capture” of Sampur and the unexpected low-profile response of the LTTE only seem to have strengthened the views of the hardliners. The bottom line of this school of thought is, "why does it become an un-winnable war” every time we are winning? There is no dearth of voices within the Rajapaksa government which echo this sentiment, and the thinking of the regime appears to be largely influenced by it.
No one familiar with the LTTE's track record will dispute the Sri Lanka government's contention that it is futile to resume talks without credible guarantees. But the question is: how can the government expect the international community to "put in place” a practical mechanism to ensure that the Tigers do not exploit yet another round of talks to strengthen themselves militarily? A tall order for anyone, given the ground realities.
Rajan Philips, an engineerby profession, has attempted to answer a host of issues raised by the hardliners post-Brussels. In an article in the government-run

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26 TAMIL TIMES
newspaper Sunday Observer, titled "To talk, or not to talk” he says, "A military solution to the Tamil question can only mean one thing: turning the whole of the North and East into permanent high-security zones and feeding the people there with daily dry rations. Such an ending, even if it were feasible, will not bode well for the rest of the country politically, economically and socially. That will be the end of Sri Lanka as a moral entity.'
Rajan says the LTTE has no moral bone in its body to complain on behalf of the affected Tamils but that does not excuse the state of its basic responsibility to all its citizens, including Tamils.
"A state consumed by military operations will invariably fall short of its civic responsibilities, and the state of Sri Lanka has fallen far, far short of this responsibility, time and time again. For this reason alone the resumption of talks should be welcomed as a positive development,” he writes.
He further says that the government could and should act on reaching a consensus with the United Nationalist Party. (UNP) in the South, opening a forum for identifying the concerns of the Muslims in the East, dealing with non-LTTE Tamil groups, and reaching out to the Tamil diaspora and that there is nothing preventing the government from acting on these fronts while engaging the LTTE in bilateral talks.
On why the government cannot launch an all-out offensive to "finish off the LTTE, he makes interesting points. "The question has often been raised that if it was alright for the Army to crush the JVP Janata Vimukthi Peramuna), why should there be qualms about letting the Army to finish off the LTTE now? The answer is simple: it is the ethnic disparity between the Army (which is all Sinhalese), and the LTTE (which is all Tamil) with the result that any fight between the Army and the LTTE takes a far heavier toll on non-combatant Tamils than the Army's attacks on the JVP (all Sinhalese) drew on the general Sinhalese population. The Army in fact saved the Sinhalese from the JVP, but the Tamils are tossed between the fire and the frying panas the Army and the LTTE battle on.”
He disagrees with the view that talks could further strengthen the LTTE and goes on to argue that the ceasefire and the political distractions played a role in the breaking away of Col' Karuna, the LTTE's sacked commander of the Eastern Province, and the blunting of the LTTE's fighting edge.
On the treatment of the LTTE on a par with the government, Rajan says, “There is a widespread notion in Colombo that the LTTE has been given pref.
Sri immu und
The following is Asian Human Rig (AHRC) issued on 1 following a judgment preme Court of Sri La ber 2006 removing th ligations under i 1 thatraises unprecede
A judgment mad Court of Sri Lanka on l5 has all but remove the international hun nity. The court dec United Nations conv Sri Lanka nor the diri ing bodies are bindi The decision has tre tions both for the ci international human
The decision was the case of Nallaratna case, the UN Human held that the state pa violated the Internat Civil and Political Ri party. The committee Lanka to "provide t effective and appropr. ing release (from dete compensation' (Co l 033/2001: Sri Lank CPR/C/81/D/1033/2001; paragraphs 1,2,&3(C3) together with article 7).
The Human Righ this decision on the b
erential treatment b
community compare ganisations in simila e.g. the PLO [[Pales ganisation), Hamas, can Army), etc. Wha LTTE, in comparab is that the internatic had no alternative T mally and effectivel
His conclusion of talks gives the go portunity to addres previous government ern consensus, reach and non-LTTE Tami needs of the displa end to kidnapping a and develop a polit the LTTE's bluff.'
IFrontline

OCTOBER 2006
Lanka:
A country
ine from obligations *r international law
a statement by the hts Commission 8 September 2006 delivered by the Sunka on 15 Septeme country from obternational law Inted questions for
e by the Supreme Friday, September d the country from han rights commulared that neither entions signed by 2ctives of monitorng on the country. mendous ramificaountry and for the ights community. made in relation to m Singarasa. In that Rights Committee rty (Sri Lanka) had ional Covenant on ghts, to which it is a then instructed Sri he author with an iate remedy, includntion) or retrial and mmunication No. a, 23 August 2004, violations of article 14, and paragraph 8 read 2, paragraphs 3 &
ts Committee made asis of the Optional
y the international d to other armed orconflict situations, tine Liberation OrIRA (Irish Republiis unique about the e world situations, nal community has amil agency to for
deal with.' s: "The resumption vernment a new ops the omissions of s in building a southout to the Muslims groups, address the ced people, put an ld targeted killings, cal solution to call
October 13, 2006)
Protocol to the ICCPR, to which Sri Lanka became aparty in 1997. However, the Supreme Court held that being aparty to the Optional Protocol violated the Constitution of Sri Lanka, on the basis that it allows the Human Rights Committee to use judicial power within Sri Lanka, which is unconstitutional. The court held that for the country to join the protocol or any convention it must take the matter to parliament and then have it approved by referendum.
The judgment effectively nullifies Sri Lanka's obligations under international law, except those that have been incorporated into domestic statutes. It puts in place a tremendous obstacle to Sri Lanka's participating in any treaty bodies or other UN agencies for human rights. It is binding with immediate effect on all courts in the country and the state itself. As long as this judgment stands, Sri Lanka will be unable to protect and promote human rights under the laws and institutions of the United Nations.
For instance, consider how Sri Lanka pledged to the United Nations on April 10-during its successful bid to be elected to the new Human Rights Council - that it would:
"Take appropriate implementational measures in respect of relevant recommendations made by the Human Rights Treaty Bodies after considering the Periodic Reports submitted by Sri Lanka in the past, through the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights Issues, Co-Chaired by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights.
"Build capacity in the Ministry of Human Rights, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and other independent statutory bodies established as a part of the national human rights protection systems.
“Introduce a Human Rights Charter in line with the policy statement made by the President of Sri Lanka soon after assuming office.
"Invite the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of expression and opinion and also the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture to undertake missions in Sri Lanka.
"Co-operate with Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies by submitting future Periodic Reports on time.
“Become a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights

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oCTOBER 2006
of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography."
As a result of the court's ruling, Sri Lanka is now without a position from which to fulfil any of these pledges.
The Asian Human Rights Commission calls for the UN Human Rights Council to take the following steps in response to this decision:
1. Demand that Sri Lanka explain, as
a member, how it will deal with this court judgment. If the government is unable to explain how it will overcome the impasse that has been created by the ruling, then upon what grounds can it claim to participate in treaty bodies and other human rights mechanisms, including the council'?
2. Urgently consider the implications of a state party refusing to implement, as a matter of law, the views of a treaty monitoring body on individual cases.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must also enter into discussions with all concerned parties on how to address the implications of this ruling, which are to the knowledge of the AHRC unprecedented in the history of the United Nations. If not decisively tackled, such a ruling by a domestic court may do enormous damage to many decades of work for the promotion of international human rights norms and standards. If left unattended, it may serve as encouragement for similar-minded courts in other countries, which may likewise decide to withdraw their states' commitments under international laws.
The judgment comes at a time that Sri Lanka is already the cause of growing international attention and alarm. The worsening situation in the country is due to top the agenda at the September sitting of the Human Rights Council. Many European states and international rights groups are talking of the desperate need for a credible monitoring body to stem a surge in killings and disappearances. The European Commission has itself issued a resolution calling on the UN rights council and commission to take appropriate steps. Donor countries have threatened to withdraw or limit assistance if a credible solution is not found to the worsening conflict. This court ruling will only further aggravate all of these concerns.
With this Supreme Court decision, all concerned agencies and persons should be asking, what next for Sri Lanka? Whether or not the country should be suspended from involvement in international bodies, or face sanctions, remains to be seen. However, the Asian Human Rights Commission has clearly iterated for a number of years that the rule of law has ceased to exist in Sri Lanka. It is a
A Cris
The SLMM rep lations of the cease LTTE and the Goy the need for a spee logue table.
Sept29 - The la Lanka Monitoring N the major violation Agreement (CFA) and the Liberation T from July 22 to Se light on the growing in the island nation.
It squarely blam ating a situation, by Arusluice gates on. major military offen ment. However, thi suggest that having C ful operation, the G mood for talks now.
The SLMM ru makes sad reading coi three weeks after the sels declaration of tl Lanka announcing th parties to return to the conditionally” Impl conveyed by the tw. talks was the commi tilities. Yet, as if not Co-Chairs, reflectin, the 58-odd donor cou to all parties concer the violence and pav ingful negotiations.
This appeal doe made the desired imp despite Colombo's ( had received “positiv LTTE leadership on stalled talks, albeit o temS.
land which has seen where massive viole at any time. For thes be ignored. If in the Human Rights Coun ble solution to the the Supreme Court, a national human righ ies and discourse wil to the citizens of Sr only be for the wors community cannot a without jeopardisi which it stands. O

TAMIL TIMES 27
s and an opportunity
B. Muralidhar Reddy
rt, detailing the viore agreement by the 'rnment, underlines y return to the dia
est ruling by the Sri ission (SLMM), on of the Cease Fire by the Government gers ofTamil Eelam ptember 26, throws humanitarian crisis
es the LTTE for creclosing the Mavil uly 22, that led to a sive by the Governe SLMM seems to ompleted a successovernment is in no
ling particularly ming as it does nearly September 12 Brusne Co-Chairs of Sri e willingness of both * dialogue table “unied in the readiness o parties to resume tment to cease hostaking chances, the g the sentiments of ntries, had appealed hed to put a stop to 2 the way for mean
not seem to have act. At least not yet, onfirmation that it e signals' from the resumption of the the Government's
utter carnage, and ce couldre-emerge reasons, it cannot coming weeks the il obtains no tangiroblem created by reference to inter; instruments, bodbecome irrelevant Lanka, which can The international low this to happen g everything for
Terrible impact
The impact of the hostilities on ordinary citizens is difficult to imagine. Says the newly appointed SLMM chief, Maj. Gen. Lars Solvberg: "As a result of these actions over 200 civilians have been killed and several thousands are internally displaced creating a serious humanitarian crisis in the eastern and northern parts of Sri Lanka.' Conservative United Nations estimates suggest that in the phase of unrest from April alone over 2.25 lakh people have been rendered homeless.
Reports from Jaffna town and the Jaffna peninsula, virtually cut off from the rest of the world because of the closure of the A9 highway for nearly two months now, speak of severe food and medicine shortages. Educational institutions are shut down and students are threatened with loss of a precious academic year. A litre of petrol in Jaffna town reportedly cost Sri Lankan Rs. 500 in the second and third week of September.
The SLMM report noted: “The humanitarian crisis in many areas in the North and in the East is steadily worsening with limited supplies being brought up to Jaffna and into various LTTE areas leaving thousands of people without basic necessities and paralysed economic activity. Aid agencies are in general prevented from going into LTTE areas. With the monsoon season on its way it is likely that the conditions of people in general will get worse.
"The situation in the Jaffna peninsula continues to be tense with intersified fighting between the LTTE and the security forces along the FDL forward defence line) and a high number of assassinations and abductions. There are no indications that this will change in the upcoming week. The humanitarian situation is affected and there are indications of food, fuel and basic needs shortages, despite provisions coming in by boat. Curfew is lifted twelve hours a day in the whole area, apart from areas being closed for cordon-and-search when incidents have happened. It is expected that curfew hours will remain the same in the upcoming week.
"According to the Government Agent there are approximately 10,000 civilians who have registered to be transported by ship to Colombo via Trincomalee. The population on the peninsula seems to be

Page 28
28 TAMIL TIMES
pessimistic when it comes to ending the confrontations.'
The growing crisis makes it imperative for the Government and the LTTE to heed the counsel from the international community and head towards the dialogue table. There is no dearth of voices within and outside the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government urging it not to let go the military edge gained over the Tigers easily and rush into talks. But while the Tigers' military challenge should be met squarely, the misery of the thousands caught in the crossfire cannot be ignored.
As things stand, President Rajapaksa has everything going him. For the first time in the country's history, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) headed by him, and the Opposition United National Party, have joined hands in the quest for a common approach to the country's problems. It is a tribute to the largeheartedness of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP chief and former Prime Minister that he has responded to the President's appeal for a common minimum programme despite provocations by the managers of the ruling party. Since the November 2005 Presidential election, the SLFP has liberally poached from the rank and file of the UNP.
Though many continue to be sceptical of the ultimate outcome, the coming together of the archrivals has had an electrifying impact on politics in the island nation. The ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, an electoral alliance partner of the SLFP, is furious.
The SLFP-UNP unity could go along way in containing the war-mongers and in halting the campaign for a de-merger of the north and the east. There is a consensus within and outside Sri Lanka that the de-merger now could only heighten tensions and that the need of the hour for the Government is to expedite the process of resolving the ethnic conflict.
The Rajapaksa regime has the backing of the international community too in its war against the LTTE and can bank on it for any kind of help. This is evident from a series of developments, particularly in the current year, such as the decision of the European Union to ban the LTTE and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's refusal to meet a delegation of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance last week.
The Sri Lankan Government should make the most of the situation and respond at the earliest to the Brussels declaration on a range of issues. The LTTE should understand the futility of the politics of blood and agree to a dialogue with sincerity.
The SLMM reports summarises the
BOOK REVE
Cl lineC
Children of War: A
Revi
As someone wh the field of econom regarding this book My work so has bee and then in the area ever, what I found publication is its foi development and 1 Something we all k of extremely unequi ment in Sri Lanka. Western Province, w age to reap the great Lankan economy. T North and the East h aggravated in the lig
What I want to day is a lacuna in that I think Dr. Sa helps fill in some m oddyears, in the gen attention has been on issues of identit whole we have foc look at issues of re. ity. Hence, we hav pressive archive ofk issues of Tamil right lence, identity etc comes from the fel SL, I can also say th within the feminist where the category tity” has been the fo as has been issues ( en's right as human have a great deal to of recognition and w deal from it.
I think, howev has resulted also in ure of other kinds |- - expectations of the parties. It says: "Th underline that the tions committed ha escalation in hostil that the parties real the current situatio their power to mov engaging in militar Hindu)

OCTOBER 2006
W
hildren, War, and
Juality in Sri Lanka
Spirations and Opportunities by Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
iew by Nimanthi Perera-Rajasingham
o is well outside of lics, what I can say will not do it justice. n mostly in the East,
of feminism. Howuseful regarding this cus on disparities of egional variations. now is the existence al levels of developWhile we sit in the 'e know that we manest benefits of the Sri he inequalities in the lave been even more ht of ethnic conflict. briefly highlight topresent scholarship rvananthan's work anner. In the last 20 eral political climate, focused increasingly y and ethnicity. As a used on the need to cognition, of ethnice developed an im(nowledge regarding is, ethnicissues, vio. As someone who minist movement in at it has been similar movement as well of woman, or 'idencus of the movement of recognising womrights. No doubt, we gain from the politics 'e have gained a great
er, that this politics a fallout, or an erasof politics. Nancy
world from both the le SLMM would like gravity of the violaveled to a dangerous ities... It is important ise the seriousness of n and do whatever in 'e forward instead of confrontation." (The
Fraser calls it the repression of socialist memory to be replaced by issues of recognition. We have over the last years spent a great deal of energy thinking through rights, but not issues of distribution or the need to redistribute unequal material wealth more evenly throughout the country. We have forgotten to focus in other words on the economics of the material well-being of the people of Sri Lanka. Material Inequality in many instances can produce frustrations and these are linked to ongoing ethnic strife. Rights are only useful as long as we focus also on how we can distribute material wealth so that people are empowered to demand rights. In a sense, the focus of this study, on the aspirations of children and the opportunities available to them ask just these kinds of questions. Some of these questions are, how can we think of equal rights for minorities, if do not think of poverty and access to resources at equal measure? What is the purpose of free education if children have access to low standards of education only?. If we look at page 11 of Dr. Sarvananthan's book, we see clearly an example of the disparities he keeps highlighting over and over again. He marks that the WP has 49 percent share of the national GDP in 2003 while the NP has the lowest in the country of 2.7 percent. Surely, no federal solution that does not discuss with equal rigour the redistribution of resources to those who occupy the lowest echelons of income in the North and the East can amount to much? This book is useful for just this purpose, that it highlights in a stark and straightforward manner the need to think of rights and peace along the lines of the material lived conditions of people's lives. This book demands a return in a sense of that repressed socialist memory that paid better attention to issues of equal education, trade access and opportunities and equal access to higher education and training for youth.
Some of the work I have done in the East have looked at issues of children in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. What

Page 29
OCTOBER 2006
I have noticed is that both the state and the LTTE, that Dr. Sarvananthan calls "the shadow state' have done little to ameliorate the conditions under which children live. While both sides use children for political mileage, neither cares for increased opportunities for children. The state will not provide quality educa
tion and schools may close or barely
manage. Often the state will pay for a few teachers, but well below the necessary numbers. Often when I was in Batticaloa, there were young women who worked as volunteers hoping that this would lead to a paid job eventually. Because these women had no employment they worked rather than stay at home. They had been working as volunteers sometimes for a few years, but schools did not get salaries to make them permanent teachers. Often schools would ask for increase in the number of salaried teachers, but to no avail. In terms of the LTTE, they would go into schools to recruit children and take children on their way to schools and classes. Schools are actually a space to recruit them. Today the Karuna faction does no better. In the light of the ongoing violence children are being recruited at a high rate and are killed in confrontation. The needs and aspirations of children fall between the faultlines of ethnic conflict and they have few means to access resources. Along with low levels of distribution into these regions, and few opportunities of economic growth, again stifled now by impeding war and internecine killings, children's spaces shrink further and further.
What seems to be the result of ethnic tensions and displacement, and I quote from the book here is that “the Northern population has become heavily dependent on reliefswelfare handouts from the government and reliefdonor agencies, and remittances from kith and kin and friends abroad." (70) I do not wish to suggest that those affected by war do not deserve welfare opportunities, but that it should not be in the form of simply handing out rations. These may enable people to manage, but it also sustains and encourages a heavy dependence, and disciplines societies to be less proactive regarding their future aspirations. Often even when it comes to vocational training opportunities for youth, the training is of extremely poor quality which result in badly trained youth. This does not in many ways, as remarked by Sarvanan
than, open the doors skills, and those wh leave the region in s ployment.
As a result of nic the unequal distrib wealth and the heavy and foreign remittan Northern has very 1 catch up. Children in little option but to s the south, search to Lanka at all costs, women search for hu country as the mean and conflict.
Let me turn brie at the statistics prov The actual move nities for youth seen their aspirations. As ofthe children questi sue higher educatior Sarvananthan can be importance placed c North. (77) Of those pursue higher educal part of them choose the Humanities and A Sarvananthan notes, graduates between l from the Arts and E and many of the gr departments are cor able. This marks ag education available perhaps of the main sities in Sri Lanka. It offitin what children beneficial to them employers in the reg
One also notest ment opportunities ! gion. Despite womer often men are hired than women. Furthel feel less able to me hometowns and des ment as an option. marks, when it com ing most women wi conventional gende sions. While these and women may pr and other conventio ment, this also ma' still tied to notion ( look at employment in page 106, it is cl are employed at the

TAMIL TIMES 29
for youth to obtain ) are better skilled arch of better em
: only conflict, but ution of material reliance on welfare ’es, as a region the ttle opportunity to such instances have arch to migrate to migrate out of Sri and as for young Isbands outside the to escape poverty
ly to look in depth ded in this work. ments and opportuat huge odds with 'he book show 84% oned wished to pur... This according to because of the high n education in the who do manage to ion it seems a large or desire to study in Arts faculties. As Dr. of the unemployed 990-2000 60% are Humanities streams aduates from these sidered unemployain the low quality to students outside urban based univeralso marks the lack believe will be most ind the demands of ion.
he unequal employor women in the reoutnumbering men, it a much higher rate young girls/women ive outside of their re in-house employAs the book also re’s to technical trainre given training in stereotyped profestre of course useful fer sewing, poultry hal kinds of employks how women are f domesticity. If we batterns as described var how few women rofessional and sen
ior levels. In Jaffna only 1% out of the 10% were women to be employed is managerial and senior positions. Women in the professional sector in all districts in extremely low. As Sarvananthan states, except for clerical positions in which women outnumber men, in all other professions men are preferred for most jobs, even though women may be highly qualified. This puts to the test the transformative and disruptive power that the nationalist struggle has had in the North. If liberation struggles have ruptured older forms of gender-stereotypes, why then are so few women employed generally? Occupation patterns in the Northern Province still in many respects seem determined by caste occupations as well, according to this book. Again, in our obsession to look at issues of ethnicity, we have forgotten to look at other social structures and hierarchies that necd to be urgently looked at. Hence, the castic dynamics at play, I think only hinted at in this book, are another aspect that I would like to know more of. Again, this too questions the transformative powers of the liberations struggles of the north.
I would like to conclude my review by simply highlighting what I stated in the beginning. This study highlights the lack of opportunities for youth in the North. This is due to the conflict situation in the North and we see how much employment opportunity has increased as a result of the CFA. However, this study also highlights the extreme results in circumstances of the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities in the last 20 years. This may not be directly a result of ethnic conflict so much as our loss of focus on issues of class, caste, employment, poverty, and redistribution. It is also because of the manner in which both the state and the LTTE have monopolised all economic activities. As the conclusion of this book documents, the LTTE impose stifling taxes on trade, monopolise the trade of essential commodities, which in turn means that manufacturing activities are at a nil in the region. Hence, Children of War: Aspirations and Opportunities is important for the primary level empirical details it offers us that highlight the need to focus on regional disparities as an important part of resolving tensions and fissures in Sri Lanka.
nimanthir(a)yahoo.co.in) O

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30 TAMIL TIMES
A.J. Canakaratne (1932
Jafna's Literary So
. Rajan Philips
A. J. Canakaratne, who passed away on 10 October 2006, has been endearingly described as Jaffna’s Regi Siriwardene. AJ was a great admirero of Rcgi, would have even considered Regi to be his mentor and did go on to edit and publish Regi’s writings, but in the circumstances of Jaffna the role that AJ played is beyond comparison.
For almost all his life, save for his university years at Peradeniya and his short stay at the Lake House in Colombo, AJ lived in Jaffna - in fair weather and foul, in sunshine and in rain, in the good times of yesteryears and through the traumas of the last twenty years. Jafina is nothing without its premium on schools and students and AJ belonged to a generation when Jaffna students were encouraged to take to arts and humanities unlike the later generations who were stampeded into a narrow cramming of the sciences. It was this grounding that enabled AJ to be a unique resource as a literary and social critic in Jaffna.
After his early education at St. Patrick's College, a bastion of Catholic conservatism, A) studied English (Honours) at Peradeniya under the likes of E.F.C. Ludowyk and Doric de Souza both effervescent and progressive intellectuals of their time and every time. From Peradeniya English, AJ took the by then well-trekked path to the Features page in the Ceylon Daily News. What might have turned out to be a lifelong career...at the Lake House was cut short by AJ's inadvertent act of non-compliance with a directive from Esmond Wickremasinghe, then the Managing Editor of the Daily News. ..
This was the 1960s and the Minister of Education in the first Sirimavo Bandaranike government, Badudin Mahmud, decided to open the admission to Royal Primary to all island competition rather than limit it to the children.of
Old Boys and othern For reasons that are mise, Esmond Wick Mahmud’s move crit Features Editor to as of the feature write
AJ, who did his rese
ces at Royal College the Minister's deci: one and was welcom the school. AJ repor tor that there was i and the two decide thing on the matter.
... When AJ's find editors” meeting, Esn he's face reportedly though he kept his came not long after AJ from the Features room. AJ got the m Mail Train to Jaffna ney of the permanen dred years Jaffna ha: tion community - in the peninsula than livelihood - with har economic space exc
AJ CANAGARATNA MEMORAL ME will be held at 6 prm on Saturday, 18 Nove at YMCA Hall, 642 Forest Road, Walthamstow,
organised by VIMBAM. Contact: O7956 490 694; 07984 136160; 02
 
 

OCTOBER 2006
otables in Colombo. not difficult to surremasinghe wanted icized and asked the sign the task to one rs. The task fell on arch, spoke to Sourand concluded that sion was a popular ed by those who ran ted back to his edinothing to criticize d not to write any
ing came up at the mond Wickremasingurned "crimson' alquiet. The fall out with the shoving of section to the news assage and took the , a rare return jourkind. For over hunbeen an out-migrahore people leaving oming in to earn a dly any middle-class pt for teachers, who
ENG mber 2006 London E17
08 4728323
have been aplenty, and much fewer lawyers and doctors.
AJ's father was the well known Proctor Canakaratne of Jaffna. Of his two younger brothers - Selvam Canakaratne settled down in Colombo becoming the Managing Director of Ceylon Printers besides continuing his panache for freelance writing, and Dr. S. G. Canakaratne joined the academia first serving the Chemistry Department at Peradeniya and now a Professor in Ohio, USA.
Although not a place for careers, Jaffna offers, rather it used to offer, its unique charms, customs, challenges and complexities to anyone with patience, curiosity and commitment. The source of Jaffna's cultural and intellectual pride is its unique traditions of commentary on Tamil literature and in the practice of Hinduism both of which set Jaffna apart from the mass of Tamil speakers in South India. To its credit, the practice of Hinduism in Jaffna did not prevent the Christian and Muslim Tamils making their own contribution to Tamil literature and society, and to the creation of a truly secular political culture. Arumuga Navalar's precept - "English for the body and Saivam for the soul" - exemplifies the source and success of this ethos.
It is no exaggeration to say that AJ created his own niche within this ethos and this tradition, and his role was well recognized during his lifetime even as he was respected and loved by everyone who came to know him. It will also be remembered and celebrated by future generations of Tamil literati. AJ's uniqueness stems from his academic and intellectual background that was almost entirely English and not at all in Tamil classics. This enabled him to develop his own personality in Tamil prose that was closer to common usage yet rigourous and substantive in content, rather than the alliterative embellishments that provide easy titillations but leave no lasting impact on the reader.
He began and continued to be Jaffna's main, if not the only, gateway between the outside intellectual world and its native players. His first book in Tamil, Mattu (churn-staff), a translation of well chosen English essays on literature, culture and politics, heralded his arrival on the Tamil literary scene. His later cornmentaries on contemporary Tamil literature created a following not only in Jaffna and Sri Lanka but also in Chennai and South India. .
What made AJ lovable to his many friends and followers were his simplicity, humility and affability. He was a pedant to many and in more ways than

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one. In a society where those with "little English' tend to think no end of themselves, AJ was the affable resource who needed help in English. AJ's resourcefulness was institutionalized when Jaffna was finally given a university of its own and A was given a teaching position in the University. His wit and humour be
came an integral part of Common Room
conversations and university life itself.
He did not give up on journalism; rather journalism in Jaffna came to him for help. For years, he edited and published The Co-operator, the journal of Jaffna's once vibrant co-operative movement. When the Saturday Review was started, AJ was once again an automatic resource for the new weekly. The now defunct weekly epitomized the limitations and defiance of Tamil politics and nationalism. Saturday Review was the face of Jaffna's defiance to its oppression and occupation by government forces that began in 1979 and has not been let up since. AJ stuck with Jaffna through its years of trial and tribulation. He walked the fine line between the occupying army
and the infighting m sacrificing his intell He did not become apologist for any of many others did. AJ to be a supine fellow although he had viev tive views - on all very well known it Jaffna. He dubbed t who slavishly sul “white tigers." He e on the so called Ta religiously hold tha Tamils only began can only end with "stark raving nuts." I have known AJ my school days whe Co-operator, later litical periodical in when I was on the of the Saturday Revi Jaffna in 2004, and soon after the cease of Rev. Paul Caspers Marshal Fernando, D
Five civilians injured in SLA rocket fire: Oct 2 - Barrage of rockets fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Valaichenai Paper Factory and Murakodanchenai camps between 6:00 pm and 7:40 pm on Saturday (30 Sep) seriously injured five civilians including three women in the villages of Thihilivettai, Pondukalchenai, Navalpitty and Tharavai in LTTEcontrolled northeast areas of Batticaloa district. The injured were rushed to the Medical Centre run by the LTTE where they are being treated, according to LTTE sources. The injured were identified as Kathamuthu Pithamparam, 37, Ms. Karuvathamby Kannama, 40, Ms. Mylvaganam Mohanavathani, 42, Ms. Velautham Ranee, 44 and Seenithamby Subramaniam, 51. Many SLA shells fell within cattle farms killing 20 cattle and 17 goats belonging to village residents.
Trader shot and injured: Oct 2 - Unidentified armed persons shot and injured a trader at Vayal Road in Mannar, around 8:25pm on Sunday (1). He was first admitted to Mannar general hospital and later transferred to Anuradhapura hospital as his condition was reported critical, sources said. The injured trader, Machchendra Thevan, had been running a video shop located along Second Cross Road in Mannar town, sources said.
Tamil civilian shot dead: Oct 2 - Unidentified armed persons shot dead a Tamil civilian at Bharathipuram in Killiveddy in Muttur division on Saturday (30 Sept) evening. He was identified as S.Thangarajah, 44 and labourer. Unidentified men who came in a motorbike fired at Thangarasa when he was returning home located in Bharathipuram lane with provisions. His body was handed over to Muttur district hospital for post-mortem examination.
Police constable shot dead: Oct 2 - Unidentified armed men shot dead a police constable attached to Pothuvil police station on Monday (2) around 9:00 a.m at Rottai region in Pothuvil, Amparai district and escaped from the site on the victim's motor

IAMIL IMES) 3T
ilitants, but without 'ctual independence. a ghost writer or an the Tamil groups, as was not brought up raveler of any group, vs - critically reflecof them. They were the grape vine of he men of the cloth pport the LTTE — qually poured scorn mil Democrats who the troubles of the with the LTTE and it. AJ called them
for forty years, from n AJ was editing the rying to start a poJaffna, and finally Board of Governors ew. I last saw him in previously in 2002, fire, in the company Z, Dr. Kumar David,
Jayaratne Malliyagoda - some of us returning to Jaffna to commemorate our visit twenty three years earlier as part of the first fact finding the delegation of the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) during the Emergency Rule of 1979. AJ had translated into Tamil the MIRE publication: Emergency '79.
In 2002, he gave us the most penetrating analysis of the situation in Jaffna and the prospects for a permanent peace. As he put it, it called for a leap of faith for a Tamil to believe that the UNP that burnt the Jaffna Library in 1981 and burnt the PA's Constitutional Draft in Parliament in 2000 would deliver a lasting solution to the Tamil question. In the musical chairs that is Colombo politics, it really does not matter who is in power, and the echo from Colombo is anything but music in Jaffna.
AJ left Jaffna earlier this year for medical treatment in Colombo. That became his last journey out of the peninsula. He died and was buried in Colombo, but he will live in the collective memory
r. Vijaya Kumar, and of Jaffna's literati wherever they are.
N cycle, Pothuvil police said.
The victim was identified as Sellathamby Thiruchelvam, 38, and father of two children. He was shot at with a pistol while riding on his motorcycle to Pothuvil police station from his home at Oorani in
Pothuvil. Rottai is a village located 4 km north to Pothuvil, a town in the Amparai district.
11 LTTE cadres killed: Oct 2 - The bodies of the ll Tiger cadres killed Saturday (30 Sep) dawn in the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) attack, were handed over to the Tigers by the Representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday (1 Oct), according to Batticaloa District LTTE Deputy Political Head, S. Seeralan. The STF says the Tigers had entered the STF controlled area, but Tigers said the attack was an STF ambush and showed the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials the attack site. Liberation Tigers Batticaloa District Commander Col. Ramesh, who had taken command recently, attended the funeral of three of the eleven Tiger cadres who were killed in an alleged Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) ambush inside the LTTE territory in Batticaloa.
Police retaliates against attack: Oct 3 - A group of attackers who lobbed grenades and shot at two police checkposts behind the Murunkan Police station around 2:00 am on Tuesday (3). Four civilians, 2 family men and 2 teenage girls, in Murunkanpitty were wounded when Police fired mortar shells in retaliation. Additional policemen, Special Task Force (STF) personnel and Sri Lanka Army troopers were rushed to the site. Troopers recovered the body of a youth with gunshot injuries which the Police claimed to be of a LTTE cadre. Some weapons were also recovered at the attack site, according to the Police. The clash lasted for 2 hours till 4:00 a.m., Police said
JVP threatens massive campaign against President: Oct 4 - Thousands of JVP protesters marched against Co-Chairs involvement and Norwegian facilitation in the

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Sri Lankan peace process Wednesday (Oct 4) evening in Colombo. The Sinhala nationalist party, the JVP, launched the pro
Woman, auto driver shot dead: Oct 4 - Unidentified armed men shot dead a 50 year old woman, Ms. Thurainayagam Jeyamalar allias Kuttiyamman, at Urikadu in Valvettithurai, around 8.30 am on Wednesday (4). Separately, an auto-rikshaw driver was shot dead at Adiyapatham road in Kokuvil on the same day. He was identified as Shanmugam Subramaniam, 42, of Koddady. Meanwhile, an explosive device went off when the driver's sonin-law attempted to remove the body out of the auto-rikshaw. The victim's grand son, Vijayarajah Anushtan ll, was injured in the blast.
Jaffna students call off boycott: Oct 5 - The 3-week long boycott of schools by students was called of following a conference between Jaffna Bishop, Rev. Fr. Thomas Saundaranayagam, and the representatives of the Jaffna District Student Federation Federation, held at the Bishop's House at 3.00 pm on Wednesday (4). The Directors of Education, Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University, professors, lecturers and a number of well-wishers discussed the impact of boycott in the education and submitted a memorandum urging the Government of Sri Lanka to create conditions conducive for education, sources in Jaffna said. Bishop Saundaranayagam had earlier in public appeal urged that the boycott of schools be called off.
Video shop owner shot: Oct 5 - Unidentified gunmen shot and injured a video shop owner on Wednesday (4) around 7:30 pm at his house in Mayalahu Raoad at Akaraipattu, 50 meters from Akaraipattu police station in Amparai district. The man, seriously injured, was rushed to Akaraipattu hospital and then transferred to Amparai district hospital for intensive treatment. The injured man, the owner of Krishna video shop, has been identified as S. Pakiyarajah, 55.
Sri Lanka doubles defence spending: Oct 5 - The Sri Lankan government plans to double defence spending next year,. Defence spending will rise 100 percent next year to 139.6 billion rupees from 69.5 billion budgeted for 2006, according to the appropriation bill to be presented to parliament. Overall spending goes up 40% to 804.6 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) in 2007 from that budgeted for this year.
Analysts said the increase in spending was higher than anticipated, expecting the budget deficit to widen due to increased defence expenditure, and wondering where the government will find the money. "It looks as though they might be planning to upgrade their defence hardware, which means they will have to raise foreign money,' Dushyanth Wijayasinghe, head of research at Asia Securities in Colombo said. "They could do that partly from dollar bond issues and partly from long-term credit lines from (arms) suppliers, he said adding. "They need to get public sector spending under control... and improve tax collection. There's no other way.”
Meanwhile, many investors have either cancelled or held back investments in Sri Lanka's $23 billion economy amid serious clashes between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers, especially since late July when the military launched a major onslaught against the LTTE. "The peace process will be key," Wijayasinghe said. "If they can take it forward, that will relieve a lot of pressure on the inflationary front and enable the corporate sector to take a longer view."
Soldiers killed in claymore mine attack: Oct 5A Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier was killed and two others injured in a claymore explosion targeted at the SLA foot patrol in Nampankulam area in Vavuniya at 7:50 am on Thursday (5), Vavuniya Police said. The body of the dead soldier has been taken to the Vavuniya General hospital. The injured soldiers were first

OCTOBER 2006
admitted to the same hospital and later transferred to Anuradhapura General Hospital for further treatment.
Retired school principal shot dead in Jaffna: Oct 7 - Former principal of the Mahajana College in Thellipalai, Mr.C.Nagarasa, 67, was shot dead by two unidentified men, at his home near Thurkai Amman Temple, around 7:00 am on Saturday (08). Two men came to his house in a motorbike and called for Mr.Nagarasa. One of them shot at him when he came to the entrance to talk to them, source said. Mr.Nagarsa was working as Planing and CoOrdinating officer with the Jaffna office of Social Services Department. He worked with the Ministry of Hindu Cultural Affiairs after retiring as school principal.
“Paramilitary cadre injured in sniper attack: Oct 8 - A member of an anti-LTTE Tamil group was injured in a sniper attack by suspected Tamil Tigers on Saturday (7) at 6:00 p.m. at the Vavunativu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp in Batticaloa, said civil society sources. S. Ganeshamoorthy, 38, was admitted to the Batticaloa Teaching hospital with serious injuries, hospital sources said. Vavunathivu is located 7 km north west of Batticaloa town.
Police officer shot dead: Oct 8 - Suspected LTTE gunmen opened fire on a security patrol unit of the Chenkaladipolice Sunday (8) around 8:05 a.m. near the Chenkalady police sentry point killing a police constable. Officer M. Chandrasiri, 45, from Dehiyanthara region in Galle, succumbed to his injuries while he was being taken to the Eravur district hospital, hospital sources said. Chenkalady is located 13 km Northwest of Batticaloa. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has been informed of the incident.
Co-Chairs Envoys meet President: Oct 9 - The Colombo-Ambassadors of the Co-Chairs-countries met with Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse and expressed their concern about the continuing hostilities between the Government forces and the Tamil Tigers even after both parties agreed to resume peace talks during the later part of October.
The meeting with the Ambassadors of United States of America (USA), Japan, Norway and Germany representing the European Union (EU) at the President's his Temple Trees residence on 9 October came following an urgent LTTE warning to the truce monitors on Saturday, 7 October, that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was readying for an offensive in the Northern Front.
The previous Wednesday (4 Oct), Sri Lankan Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, reportedly told the Co-Chairs' Ambassadors that the Sri Lankan military would continue with "preemptive" strikes in a bid to “curb terrorism notwithstanding the ceasefire agreement." He had further told them that whatever the military did in LTTE territory was a defensive measure, according to media reports.
Co-Chair envoys on Monday were reported to have discussed with Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse the urgent need of ceasing all hostilities in the lead up to October 28 talks.
They also expressed their fullest support for the resumption of talks between the warring parties.
Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer following his visit to the island the previous week had reportedly briefed the Co-Chairs Ambassadors on the latest developments following the agreement between the Government and Tigers to resume peace talks again.
Father of 6 shot dead in Akkaraipattu: Oct 9 - Unknown gunmen on bicycle shot and killed a Samurdhi officer attached to Akkaraipattu Alayadivembu Regional Secretariat in Amparai District Sunday around 7.00 p.m, said Akkaraipattu police. The Samurdhi officer, Manickam Tharmalingam 47, a father of six of Vivekandanda Road in Akkaraipattu, seriously injured in the shooting, was rushed to the Akkaripattu hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The gunmen had come to his

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house, called him out and shot at him. Akkaraipattu is 58 km south of Batticaloa.
"Samurdhi' is a poverty alleviation program originally begun by the UNP regime on the advice and guidelines of the IMF and World Bank. Poverty alleviation programs are strongly recommended by the IMF/World Bank to countries implementing the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) as a means of cushioning the political repercussions of harsh economic reforms stipulated by the two institutions.
Soldier injured in claymore attack: Oct 9 - A group of suspected Tamil Tigers triggered a claymore mine on Monday (9) around 10.30am on Komanthurai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) road patrol unit on Theevu road at Vantharumoolai in the Eravur police division, seriously injuring a SLA trooper, sources in Batticaloa said. R.W.S.S. Ratnayake 26 was rushed to Polannaruwa hospital, hospital sources said. Exchange of gunfire between the attackers and the SLA lasted for more than thirty minutes following which the SLA cordoned off the area and conducted search. No one was arrested in the search, local residents said. Vantharumoolai is the entry point to the LTTE controlled region in the Batticaloa district, according to the Cease Fire Agreement of 2002.
Fishmonger shot dead: Oct 9 - A fishermonger was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Savatkadu area in Valikamam sector of the Jaffna peninsula, around 11:30 am on Monday (9), police said. The victim was identified as Selvarasa Ithayarasa, 28, father of 5 children. The gunmen ridding a motorbike fired at Selvarasa who was cycling from market to his home. He died on the spot. Mallaham Magistrate who visited the scene ordered the police to hand over the body to the relatives after inquest.
VC resigns for release of kidnapped Dean: Oct 10 - The Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University based in Batticaloa, Prof S Ravindranath, submitted his resignation on Tuesday Oct 3), after the abductors of the Dean of the Faculty of Culture and Arts, Dr Bala Sukumar, said that he would not be released unless Dr Ravindranath resigned from his post.
Bala Sugumar was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Saturday night, 30 September, while he was at his home in Uppodai Road, Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka.
Bala Sugumar's family lost their only daughter to the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka two years ago, and with the kidnapping of her husband Mrs Bala Sugumar is undergoing severe mental trauma, the University officials said. Dr Ravindranath had submitted his resignation to the Chairman of the University GrantsCommission (UGC), Dr Gamini Samaranayake. But Dr Samaranayake said that he could not accept the resignation as only the appointing authority, the President of Sri Lanka, could do so. Bala Sukumar had pleaded for the acceptance of the resignation as his life was in danger.
The Senate of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) appealed to the kidnappers to release the Dean of the Arts Faculty, Bala Sugumar, without further delay, officials of the Eastern campus said. Education had come to a standstill due to fear and uncertainty gripping the staff and students at the campus in the aftermath of kidnapping, the appeal said.
The kidnapped Dean Dr Bala Sugumar, was released by his kidnappers on Tuesday (Oct 10) midnight in Batticaloa, near his home, after he was held captive for ten days, according to his family members.
Unidentified gunmen came in a van, kidnapped him on 30th September, Saturday night, while he was at his Uppodai home in Batticaloa. The kidnappers demanded the immediate resignation of the Vice Chancellor of EUSL, Dr. S. Ravindranath, for his release. Even though Dr Ravindranath submitted his resignation the following day, 1st October, to the University Grants Commission (UGC) Bala Sugumar was not released until Tuesday.

TAMIL TIMES 33
Bala Sugumar said that he was returned home safely and vowed to join the academic activities of EUSL again to help the undergraduate students and for the benefit of the area people. Meanwhile, his wife Piramila Sugumar thanked everyone, including the media personnel, for their relentless campaign in getting her husband released. The Senate of the EUSL, various Muslim Organizations in Eravur, and academics issued appeals to release Bala Sugumar on humanitarian grounds.
20 youths abducted in 2 days: Oct 10 - More than 20 Tamil youths were reported abducted in Akkaraippattu and Thirukkovil area in Amparai district by unidentified armed gang travelling in white vans on Sunday (8) and Monday (9), according to local sources. Relatives of abducted filed four complaints, two in Akkaraippattu and two in Thirukkovil. Following the abductions, tension prevailed in the area on Monday. Even though a number of Tamil youths were abducted in the recent past in the same area, people are reluctant to lodge complaints out of fear of reprisals, sources said. Akkaraippattu and Thirukkovil are located 58 km and 69 km south of Batticaloa respectively.
Earlier, UNICEF had issued statements on the abduction of youths in Batticaloa and Amparai districts, and discussed the issue with the LTTE and Karuna Group which are generally blamed for forced recruitment.
Karuna group member shot dead: Oct 10 - A suspected Tamil Tiger gunman riding a motorbike shot dead a member of the Karuna group on Tuesday (10) around 10:30 am at Akaraipattu in Amparai district, said Akkaraipattu police. The dead youth was identified as K. Jesuthasan, 24, of Kumburumoolai, Kiran in the Batticaloa district. The assailant had followed the victim and his wife on motorcycle from the Regional office of Karuna group in Akaraipattu to the public market. When the couple were about to go shopping the gunman shot dead Jesuthasan at close range and escaped from the site, said the police. People in the market area fled in panic from the scene of shooting and tension prevailed in Akaraipattu town, said local residents. Akkaraipattu district Magistrate Mr. T. L. A. Manab visited the scene to conduct inquest into death, and ordered the police to hand over the dead body to the relatives after post-mortem examinations.
3 killed, 2 injured in bomb explosion: Oct 10 - A bomb concealed in a Dolphin van taken into custody by Vavuniya police 15 days earlier exploded on Tuesday (10) around 12 noon, half an hour after being released, killing 3 civilians and seriously injuring 2 at Periyarkulam, Poonthottam in Vavuniya, said Mr. Chanthanayake, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Vavuniya Police. Anandan, who had driven the released van to his relatives' house at Periyarkulam in Poonthottam, had sounded the horn on finding the gates of the house closed. Karupaiah Palsamy and his wife Vasanthy Palsamy had come out and opened the gate for Anandan. The bomb exploded as the van was being parked, said the Village Council Chairman of the area. Anandan and the Palsamy couple died on the spot while two women in the neighbouring house were seriously injured.
Ban on remote controlled toys: Oct 10 - Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry has banned with immediate effect the importation of remote controlled toys. "Due to prevailing security situation restrictions have been imposed on the importation of remote controlled toys to the country," said a statement of the Ministry of Defence with the signature of Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse. Approval of the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order should be obtained to import remote controlled toys (cars and jeeps).The operating range of remote controlled toys should not exceed 10 meters, said the statement. Remote controlled Air Crafts/Flying Devices are not permitted to be imported. Prospective applicants importing such items should obtain approval of the Ministry of Defence by submitting rel

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evant catalogues, added the statement.
Youth's body, weapons found in Eravur: Oct 11The body of a Tamil youth alleged to be a member of Liberation Tigers was recovered near Murkodanchenai tank by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) after the SLA sentry points were attacked by LTTE cadres Monday (9) night around 8.00 pm. The body had several bullet wounds and was been taken the Eravur district hospital for postmortem examinations, hospital sources said. Murakodanchenai SLA claimed that the youth had died in the retaliatory fire against the attackers. A Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG), a T56 assault rifle and two handgrenades were recovered by the SLA near where the body was found, the police said.
Police officer injured in grenade attack: Oct 11 - A Sri Lanka Police constable was seriously injured when suspected Tamil Tiger assailants hurled a hand grenade towards a police street patrol between Kalviyankadu and Kopay on Tuesday (10), sources in Jaffna said. The injured constable was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching hospital, hospital sources said.
Vessel leaves Trinco taking passengers: Oct 11 - About five hundred stranded Tamil civilians in Vavuniya on Wednesday left from Trincomalee port by a vessel "Sakthi' chartered by the Sri Lanka security forces. The civilians were brought to Trincomalee from Vavuniya by several buses on the previous day and they spent the night on board the vessel, port sources said. Another group of eight hundred stranded civilians are waiting in Vavuniya to leave by sea from Trincomalee port.
Meanwhile, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, defence ministry spokesperson, said at a press briefing in Colombo that a Trincomalee-KKS passenger vessel service is scheduled to be started from Wednesday. Sources in Colombo said the vessel "Jetliner' is likely to be deployed to transport passengers daily from Trincomalee to KKS. This vessel could take about four hundred passengers at a time.
Tamil teacher shot dead: Oct 11 - A Tamil graduate teacher was shot dead on Wednesday (1 l) morning around 9:00 am allegedly by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stationed in Kinnaiayadi camp while he was taking class to students. Thirunavukarasu Sivagnaselvam, 32, is a teacher at Saraswathie Vidiyalayam located in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district. He was rushed to the Valaichchenai government hospital but succumbed to injuries. The victim is from Nagamunai Ampilanthurai located in LTTE controlled territory, but during the time of killing he was residing with his relative in a house located along Nalliah Road in Batticaloa. According to initial reports, the victim had reported to school on Wednesday morning. Later he had been asked to come to Kinnaiayadi camp by soldiers. Students had seen soldiers talking to the victim for about fifteen minutes. SLA soldiers assaulted the students when student witnesses said gunshots had come from the SLA camp nearby. Saraswathie Vidiyalayam is located about 29 km northwest of Batticaloa.
Auto driver shot dead: Oct 11 - Unidentified gunmen shot and killed an auto-rikshaw driver at Thumpalai road in Pt. Pedro in Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday (11). The victim was identified as Emiliampillai Thevarajah,56, of Thumpalai. He was returning to Pt. Pedro town from Thumpalai when armed men stopped his vehicle and fired at him, sources said. His body was taken to Manthikai hospital, the sources said.
Tamil youth abducted in Mannar: Oct 11 - Unidentified men on Sunday (8) afternoon had abducted a Tamil youth named Simon Godwin Nixon at a place near pubic cemetery in Mannar, according to a complaint lodged with the regional office Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), Mannar Po

OCTOBER 2006
lice and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The victim, a resident of Periyakamam in 100 houses project in Mannar had been abducted while travelling in a three-wheeler by unidentified men who also came in a three-wheeler, according to complaints lodged by relatives of the victim.
Three EPDP cadres shot dead in Jaffna: Oct 12Suspected Tamil Tiger gunmen shot dead three cadres of Eelam People's Democratic Front (EPDP), including the group's principal organizer for the Jaffna islets, at ll:30 a.m. in the central part of Jaffna town on Thursday (12). One EPDP cadre was injured in the attack. A youth was killed and the owner of a clothing store was injured when Sri Lanka Police opened fire after the killings. EPDP cadres were identified as K. Sutha,23, of Karampon, Kaytes, Paralasingham Satheeskumar,24, of Delft, and Rasaiah Nakenthiran, 33, of Karampon, Kayts. Rasaiah Nakenthiran was reportedly in charge of EDPD activities in the islets off Jaffna town, sources said. They were selling Tamil daily Thinamurasu along Power House Road, between KKS road and Kasturiar Road in Jaffna, when they were killed.
The civilian killed in the police shooting was identified as Tharmakulasingham Nirushan,20, of Manipay road, Jaffna. The injured civilian, A Kuganeswaran, 33, from Ramalingam Road, Thirunelvely and Kanthan have been admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital and are receiving treatment for their injuries, sources said.
Abducted mill worker shot dead: Oct 12 - A rice mill employee abducted by unknown gunmen on Wednesday (11) at Vinayagapuram in the Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa, was found dead with bullet wounds on Thursday morning around 3.00 a.m at 4th Cross street, Kanakipuram in Vinayagapuram, said Valaichenai police. Balasubramaniam Suthaharan, 24, of Ootuchenai, Vadamunai, was an employee at the rice mill at Kaduruwella in Polannaruwa. Suthaharan, a married man, fled in fear to his realtive's house in Vinayagapuram from his home in Vadamunai on the border of Polanaruwa district, a village in the LTTE. controlled area. On Wednesday, Suthaharan attended to some personal business at a bank around 2.00 pm, visited his grandmother in Vinayagapuram and was returning to his residence at 6:00 p.m. when the gunmen abducted him.
Muslim worker shot dead in Colombo: Oct 12 - A Muslim worker from Kattankudy in Batticaloa district, employed at the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) in Colombo, was shot dead by unknown gunmen riding in a three-wheeler at 8:45 pm Thursday in Maradana, sources in Colombo said. M.S.M. Saleem, 28, was riding in a motorbike towards a hotel located along Semens Road in Maradana to buy dinner when he was shot by the gunmen who followed him in the three-wheeler. He was pronounced dead on admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Colombo National Hospital Colombo police crime branch, hospital sources said.
2 Police killed, 2 EPDP cadres injured: Oct 12Two Sri Lanka Police constables were killed, one Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier and two cadres of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) were injured when the pickup truck they were travelling in from Ariyalai along Navalar Road came under claymore attack by suspected Tamil Tigers, close to Kachcheri-Nallur junction, on Thursday (12). The injured EPDP cadres were identified as Kanthan,30, Deputy organizer for the group for Islets off Jaffna town and Kuganesan,33. The Sri Lanka Police and the SLA soldier were providing security to the EPDP cadres at the time of the attack. The claymore was fixed to the fence along Navalar road, Jaffna Police said.
Two youths shot dead by army: Oct 13 - Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers at the Manambi Market Army Checkpoint,

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in Vadamarachchy region in Jaffna district, opened fire and killed two youths travelling in an auto trishaw along the Thikkam. Mavil junction road when the youths defied SLA order to stop. around 12:00 noon on Thursday (12). Earlier, the soldiers tried to stop two other youths riding a motorbike at the same checkpoint located near the Thikkam Distillery, but they ran away leaving the motorbike behind. The two bodies were handed over at the Manthikai Government hospital in the evening and both the motorbike and the auto trishaw were taken to the Point Pedro police station.
In a separate incident, suspected Tamil Tigers riding a motorbike fired at Police officers on guard duty near the Mallakam Courts in the morning and killed Dilipkumara Ratnasekara, 42, from Thankodduwa.
Two youths shot dead: Oct 13 - Unidentified armed men shot dead two youths aged about 25 on Thursday (1 l) night. Bodies of these youths with gunshot injuries were recovered Friday morning at Kanthapuram, about eight km off Vavuniya town. Hands of these youths were tied and face of one of the dead was covered with a black cloth, residents of the area said.
According to civil sources that these youths had been brought to the site in a white coloured van and shot dead by unidentified men Thursday night around 9:00 p.m. The white coloured van left the scene after leaving these bodies in the area. Two spent cartridges of AK47 rifle were found at the site.
The victims were not identified till noon Friday. But monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) based in Vavuniya visited the scene and held inquiry.
Home guard shot dead: Oct 13 - Unidentified men shot and killed a home guard near a petrol filling station located at Aariampathy on Friday (12) morning around 6.30 am, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim was waiting for bus to report for duty at police check point at Kallady in Batticaloa when he was shot. U.L.M. Azad, 35, a father of one child, lived in Kattankudy Border Road. He succumbed to injuries when being taken to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
Meanwhile, a naked body of a male aged about 30 was recovered near East University located in Vantharumoolai in Eravur Police Division on Thursday (1 l) night. The victim's face was badly damaged and the identity has not been established yet. No gunshot injuries were found on his body. Vantharumoolai is located about 15 km off north of Batticaloa. Kattankudy is located about 7 km off south of Batticaloa.
Security tightened following killings: Oct 13 - The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in Jaffna Peninsula introduced tight security measures after 9 persons including 3 Policemen and 3 EPDP paramilitary members were killed on a single day, on Thursday (11). Soldiers stationed in key junctions in Jaffna and other towns stopped every passenger vehicle and conducted thorough checking. In many locations people were made to wait nearly one hour, sources in Jaffna said.
Though fighting in the Forward Defense Lines (FDL) in Thenmarachchi ceased Friday, the violence continued. Murugesu Nagasury, 36, a liquor shop owner was shot dead Nachchimar Kovilady along the Jaffna - Kankesanthurai road around 11:30 am by two unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike, eyewitnesses said. Nagasury was from Velanai in Jaffna islets.
3 youths killed, another injured: Oct 14 - Three youths were killed and another injured when armed men stopped the auto-rikshaw in which they were travelling in and opened fire. The incident occured at Samalankulam in Vavuniya, around 1 pm on Saturday (14), police said. Two youths died on the spot while the other died while being transported to Vavuniya hospital by local residents, according to the police. The three who were killed in the shooting were identified as Vaithilingam Mahenthiran, Nadarasa Navarasa and Navaneethan. The injured youth, Roopan, was taken to Vavuniya hospital and later transferred to Anuradhapura hospital, the police said. Police recovered empty bullet casings of AK-47 assault rifle from the site.

TAMIL TIMES 35
Three men shot dead in Vavuniya: Oct 15 - Three Singhalese men were shot dead at Kanthapuram, about 8 km from Vavuniya, around 9 am on Sunday (15). They were travelling in a car with two other Muslim men when their vehicle was stopped by unidentified persons, who allowed the Muslim men to leave the area and killed the three, according to the Police in Vavuniya. Eight people have been shot dead in Vavuniya during the past three days.
The bodies were recovered with their hands tied behind and faces covered with their clothes at the site where two other men were shot dead on Thursday (12), the police said blaming the Tamil Tigers for the killings The victims are yet to be identified, he added.
STF offensives repulsed - LTTE: Oct 15 - An of. fensive launched by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troopers on Saturday (l3) night into LTTE controlled territory south of Batticloa, was repulsed according to LTTE officials in Batticaloa. A Tiger Major and a Captain were killed in action. Meanwhile, LTTE sources in Amparai said the STF troopers who penetrated into Kanchikudicharu were forced to retreat following a series of Tiger ambush attacks launched on them. LTTE sources in Batticaloa claimed that the STF had suffered heavy casualties when Tiger fighters fought the STF troopers back. LTTE Captain Thathankan (Kovinthan Ponnuthurai), 31, from 39 Colony, Vellaveli and Major Kuyilkannan from Amprai district were killed while fighting back the STF troops who penetrated the LTTE territory.
Two youths shot, injured: Oct 15 - Unidentified gunmen shot and injured two Tamil youths from Arayampathy in the Kattankudy Police limits around 2:30 pm on Saturday (14). The critically injured youths, Konamalai Kanthanesan, 28, and Gopal Raju, 26, were admitted to the Batticaloa Teaching hospital for treatment. They were shot at near the Arayampathy Church. Arayampathy is located 7 km south of Batticaloa.
4 civilians killed, 2 injured in Jaffna: Oct 15 - Four civilians were shot dead and two seriously injured in Jaffna peninsula in three separate incidents within the 24-hours from 6:00pm on Saturday and 6:00 pm on Sunday, according to local sources in Jaffna. Unknown gunmen who arrived at a bakery in Oluvil road in Karampan, Kayts at 8:30 pm on Saturday, interrogated the owners and customers present in the bakery and opened fire at them. Thavarasah Kunatheepan, 23, from Karampan South, and Ramu Sellathurai, 43, from Nedunkuda, Karainagar, were killed on the spot. Two others, seriously injured during the shooting, were taken to Kayts hospital immediately, and later around midnight were transferred to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in critical condition, hospital sources said.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen shot and killed Saravanamuttu Panachavarnam, 58, a retired police seargent at his residence in Thambachetti, Vadamaradchy at 8:30 am on Sunday. In a separate incident, unknown gunmen who entered Kopay Christian College at 11:30 am on Sunday while a Teacher Training Course conducted by the UNICEF was in progress, threatened the teachers before shooting dead the watcher, Sabaratnam Arulratnam, 30. The gunmen escaped after committing the crime, teachers present at the school said.
Building contractor shot dead: Oct 16- Unidentified gunmen shot dead a contractor at Malkampity road in Samanthurai police division in Amparai district on Sunday (15). The victim succumbed to his wounds after being admitted to Akaraipattu hospital in a critical condition, hospital sources said. The deceased has been identified as contractor U. K. Rahim, 50, a father of four. The assailants had called Rahim out of his house and shot him at close range before escaping. The contractor was reportedly engaged in building and road constructions in Samanthurai, Karaithivu and Kalmunai. Sammanthurai is located 17 km north east of Amparai.

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36 AML TIMES
Tiger arms ship sunk, claims Navy: Oct 16 - The Navy said it thwarted yet another LTTE attempt at arms smuggling, when it destroyed a LTTE trawler loaded with weapons, killing all onboard the vessel, 35 nautical miles off West Arippu Sea in Mannar on 15 October. "Around 9:00 am the Navy detected a boat flying a Sri Lankan flag and with no registration marks and another vessel which was later released after inspection, moving fast towards the north, near the Indo-Sri Lanka . maritime border. On signalling for its identity and firing warning shots across its bow, the other boat's crew suddenly opened fire with grenade launchers and small arms, injuring three of our sailors and three fishermen in the earlier released trawler," a senior Naval official said, while adding that the Navy's retaliatory fire completely destroyed the boat and its occupants. “On observing the size of the explosions, we are certain that the Tigers were transporting a large stock of weapons and explosives,” the official said.
SLA trooper killed, two injured: Oct 16 - One SLA trooper was killed and two seriously injured when Tamil Tigers retaliated with mortar fire against mortar attack launched SLA soldiers from Vavunathivu SLA base on LTTE's Forward Defence Line (FDL) on Sunday at 10:00 pm, according to LTTE sources. M. Samanthasiri, 34 was identified as the SLA trooper killed. The two seriously injured have been admitted to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Vavunathivu is located 6 km northwest of Batticaloa town.
4 civilians killed in Jaffna: Oct 16 - Four civilians including a Grama Sevaka and a Sinhalese man were killed in separate incidents between 6:00 am and 8:30 am on Monday in Jaffna peninsula. Markandu Mahendran, 39, who served as Grama Sevaka in Ariyalai for several years was shot dead by unknown gunmen at his residence in Ariyalai at 6:00 am. Two unknown gunmen arrived at Selliah Nanthan's house, 42, shot and killed him at close range at 8:00 am on Monday. Nanthan's house is located in Tellipallai Road, Vaddukoddai. Ariyathurai Ariyasivam, 40, who runs a tea-shop in the central part of Jaffna town, was shot dead by unknown gunmen at his business premises around 8:30 am Ariyasivam, a father of four children, was displaced from Mandaitivu and was residing in Kokuvil. Iranagama Sooriyasinghe, 56, a Sinhala civilian who settled in Viyaparimoolai in Vadmaradchy was shot dead by unknown gunmen when he was on his way to a nearby shop to buy provisions. Sorriyasinghe is originally from Galle, according to sources.
SLAF Kfir bomber comes down in Negombo: Oct 16 - A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Israeli-built Kfir bomber came down as it took off to bomb LTTE territory on Monday (16) evening at 5:45 pm. The Kfir jet fell into the Negombo lagoon. The pilot ejected himself from the Kfir before it came down, according to Sri Lankan military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe. The Kfir (Young Lion in hebrew) multi-role combat aircrafts form the main offensive component of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and have been used in the last few months in the fighting between government forces and the LTTE. Bombing raids have inflicted much destruction to infrastructure in LTTE controlled areas and have resulted in several civilian casualties. Kfirs are fitted with GE J-79 engines that can carry a total external payload of 5,500 kg (12,100 pounds).
Retaliatory bombing raid in Mullaithivu: Oct 16A one-year-old baby girl and a 12-year-old girl were killed and 15 civilians - eleven women and 4 men - were wounded when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Kaiveli, a village in Puthukudiyiruppu, between 5:15 and 5:45 pm on Monday, according to LTTE sources in Mullaithivu. Four SLAF Kfir bombers targeted a civilian settlement on the left side of Puthukudiyiruppu - Paranthan Road. 9 civilian houses were destroyed in the bombardment. A one-month-old baby miraculously escaped from the attack. A Kfir jet came down in Negombo when it took off to bomb Puthukudiyiruppu this evening, the sources said.
It is said that the SLAF bombing was in retaliation to the

OCTOBER 2006
truck-bomb bomb attack in Habarana in which around 100 Sri Lanka Navy troopers were killed. LTTE Peace Secretariat officials in Kilinochchi said the truce monitors had visited and inspected the civilian site and the hospital where the wounded were being treated.
Policeman, SLA trooper killed in mine attack: Oct 16 - A policeman attached to Valvettithurai police station and a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper were killed by a remotely triggered claymore blast on Monday (16) when the SLA road patrol was attacked by suspected Tamil Tigers between Udupidy and Valvetithurai in Vadmaradchchi north. The SLA unit was on its way Valvettithurai from the Udupidy junction SLA camp when the attack occurred. The two men died while they were being taken to the Manthikai hospital in a private vehicle. The claymore device was attached to a bicycle left leaning on the wall of an abandoned Christian cemetery located on the UdupidyValvetithurai road.
Abducted Hindu priest released: Oct 17 - Unidentified armed men abducted the Hindu priest of Colombo Kochikadai Ponnambalavaneswara temple on Saturday (14) around 2:00 pm at the Fort bus stop and released him Monday 5:00 am at the Five Lamps junction in Colombo, reports from Colombo said. Priest Janarthanan Balajegatheesa Sarma said that he was assaulted by the abductors but refused to disclose information about the abduction.
Two civilians shot dead in Point Pedro: Oct 17Two men, a Muslim, and a Tamil were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in two separate instances in Point Pedro and Viyaparimoolai area in Vadmaradchchi north on Monday (16). Gajathu Mohamed Mustafa, 43, of Vinayaga Mudaliyar Road, Point-Pedro, the husband of a Tamil woman, was stopped and shot dead at Oddadi Road in Pt. Pedro around 1:30 pm on his way to Pt. Pedro town. In a separate incident, Vairamuthu Nallathamby, 58, a family man of Thunnalai in Vadmaradchchi who had come on personal errand to Viyaparimoolai was shot dead around 3:00 pm by unidentified men.
Fisherman abducted: Oct 17 - A fisherman was abducted by unidentified armed men on Saturday (14) night from his house located Sinnathamby Road in coastal village Thalavaai in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district, according to a complaint filed by his wife with the Police. Wilfred Gamini, 45, a father of five children, was forcibly abducted by unidentified men who had entered the house breaking the door of the house, according to the complaint. Thalavaai village is located about 15 km off northeast of Batticaloa.
Police constable shot dead: Oct 17 - Unidentified gunmen shot dead a police constable attached to Kallady police station in Batticaloa on Tuesday (17) around 5:20 am at a bus halt close to the Kurukal Madam Special Task Force (STF) camp in Batticaloa. Illayathamby Ilankeswaran, 43, father of 4 children, of Kurukal Madam, died on the spot when gunmen fired at him when waiting for bus on his way to work from home.
Two youths shot dead in Trincomalee: Oct 17 - An employee at the World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Project (NEHRP) in Anpuvallipuram and an unidentified Tamil youth in Paliayootu were shot dead in Trincomalee in two separate incidents, sources in Trincomalee said.
Muthu Mohanaraja, 24, was shot dead on Monday (16) night around lo:00 pm. in Anpuvallipuram, a suburb in Trincomalee town where he had been residing. He was employed as driver in NEHRP. In another incident an unidentified Tamil was shot dead on Saturday (14) around 7:30 pm His hands were tied behind.
Meanwhile, a claymore mine placed near the sixth mile post along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road exploded. No one was injured in the explosion. Security sources said the claymore mine had been placed targeting a navy vehicle carrying troops, but exploded after the SLN vehicle passed the site.

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OCTOBER 2006
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W. T.S MOORTHY - THIRUGNANA SAMBANTHA MOORTHY (aka Sam), beloved husband of KARUNESWARY (aka Joe) of Wallington, Surrey, precious father of Dr Ram Prakash and Prasant Yogan (Australia) and much loved son of Kathi resu Vela utham and Thangapillai (Sundaram) of Pan nalai, Tellipallai, Jaffna, son in law of late Mr & late Mrs. V.V.Rajas of Colombo 6, ever loving brother of Kamachipillai, late Meenachipilai, Saraswathy, Parameswari, Subramaniam and
WWWarmaSSOciates.CO.uk-uSE
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 37
SAMUDRA & TSM
invite applications to employ a Qualified Experienced
Carnatic Vocalist & Miruthangist to Perform, Teach and Conduct Workshops.
For further information and details
- Email: drumsbhavanGDhotmail.com
Or: ragaranjani2004G)aol.com Closing Date: 7. 11.2006
Naguleswaran, brother-inlaw of late Rajadurai, Appapillai, late Srinivasagam, late Jebaratnam, Selvaranee, Jegatheeswari and of Pushpakanthi, Parameswari, V. R.T. Rajan, Sivanathan, Surenthiran and late Rajanayaki, co-brother of Sanmugam, Balasundaram, Atputhasothimalar, Dr Manjubhashini, Sarathambikai and late Siva Vijayakantha, expiredon Wedneday 20th September
2006.
After religious rituals, his remains were Cremated aCcording to Hindu Rites on Monday 25th September 2006, at the South London Crematorium, Streatham Vale,
London.
For details contact Tel: O208 6698161
'Sai Jyothi, 150A Sandy Lane South, Wallington, Surrey. SM69NR.
Tyagarajah-C, Retired Deputy Director of Education, Jaffna; Ex. Principal, Skandavarodaya College, EX. Director of Physical Education, University of Jaffna; of Weth
araniar Valavu, Uduvill and 34, .
Murugesar Lane, Nallur,
passed away in Colombo on
08.10.06.
He is the Son of the late
Rao Sahib M.C.Thamby and the late Mrs. Thamby; son-inlaw of the late Mr. & Mrs. Navaratnarajah; beloved husband of Yasodhara (Ex. Principal, Manipay Hindu Ladies College), darling father of Rahulan (Australia); loving father-in-law of Malini, precious grandfather of Nishan and Shayan; brother of the late Jayalaxmy, the late Jayasingh, Sivapckiam and the late Sivapragasam; brother-inlaw of the late P.S. Cumarasamy, Subadra Sivanayagam, Rudra Nava-ratnarajah, Sivakumaran, Kousalya Thedchanamoorthy and Radha Rajaratnam. The Cremation took place at the Galkissa Cemetry on 10th October 06 at 5 p.rn.
(An Appreciation of Mr.C.Tyagarajah appears at page 41)
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38 TAMIL TIMES
IN MEMORAMS
First Year Remembrance Treasured Memory of Emmanuel Anthonisamy
Your presence we miss, your memory we treasure, loving you always, forgetting you never. In loving memory of Mr. E.Anthonisamy, Retired Chief Senior Tug Master, Colombo Port Commission and Navigating Officer, Ceylon Shipping Corporation, on the first anniversary of his passing away on October 4th 2005. Sadly missed and fondly remembered by your loving wife Hilda; children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law and sons
in-law.
10 Sandi Ct, North Mankato, MN 56003, USA
Tel. 507-625-2726
Forthcoming Events
November 01. Eekathasi; All Saints
Day 02. All Souls Day 03. Pirathosam; lypasi Velli (3) 04. Feast of St. Charles
BOrrOmea 05. Full Moon 06. Karthigai 08. Sankadakara Chathurthi 10. lypasi Velli (4), Feast 01. Of St. Leo the Great. 11. Feast of St. Martin of
Tours 12. Feast of St. Josaphat 15. Feast of St. Albert the 01. Great 16. Eekathasi 17. Feast of St. Elizabeth of 01. Hungary 18. Sani Pirathosam 20. Amavasai; Karthigai 01. Somavaram (1) 21. Feast of the Presenta01. tion of Blessed Virgin Mary 22. Feast of St. Cecilia 23. Sathiya Sai Baba's
01. Birthday 24. Chathurthi; Feast of 01. Christ, The King 26. ShaShti 27. Karthigai Somavaram(2) 30. Feast of St. Andrews At Bhavan Centre, 4A Castletown Road, London W149HQ. Te: O207381 30894.608. Website: www.bhavan.net 4th November - 6 p.m. Melody of Strings by Sanjay Guha & students 5th November - 6 p.m. Vani Fine Arts 8 the Bhavan present Carnatic Vocal Concert by Shri Kalaimamani P. Unnikrishnan and accompanying artistes from India. 19th November - 6 p.m. Sitar Concert by Pt Budhadiya Mukherjee & Bijoyadit Mukherjee
W.Srila
 

OCTOBER 2006
Fifth Year Remembrance
on the fifth anniversary of his passing away on the 4th October 2001. Sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his ever loving Wife Gnanadevi, sons Ranjan, Mohan and daughters-in-law Pavithra and Luxmy. You have never left our hearts and we will treasure your love, wisdom and beautiful memory foreVe.
- 43 Lynton Road in loving memory of New Malden Mr.S.Sivagnanasekeram Surrey
ASSociation of Tamil Parishioners UK (ATP-UK)- Press Release
We are a faith based charity (Christian)- based in South East London, established to assist the Tamils in Britain to enhance their social and spiritual well being, focusing primarily on children and young adults with the aim of addressing their needs and concerns
Our mission is to empower the Tamils in Britain, without regard to religion, gender and socio-economic status, to overCome Social, economic and Cultural barriers and to become contributing and productive citizens in an integrated and sustained way.
Earlier this year we received a grant from the Faith Communities Capacity Building fund from the Community Development Foundation which has allowed US Fund from the Community Development Foundation (CDF) which has allowed us to implement our objectives aimed at enhancing social integration and community cohesion.
This press release will help us to seek out and extendour services to all Tamils in the UK. We would very much appreciate any support the Tamil Times can provide in helping us conmunicate our work. Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information Mathew Manoharan (Chairman) Association of Tamil Parishioners (ATP-UK)(Charity No. 1107935) 44 Wastdale Road, Forest Hill,SE231 HN Tel: 02086993052 - Email: info(Qatp-uk.org
ORMATION STE
nkanS.COm

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OCTOBER 2006
Review of the 7 CD's released by Smt. Sivasakthi SiVanesan
By John R. Marr
lf any further proof were needed of the pre-eminence in Britain and Europe - and wider- of Smt. Sivasakthi Sivanesan as a supreme concert soloist and teacher of South Indian Classical music, these wonderful discs are that proofl
For many years, Sivasakthi has been Resident Teacher of Karnatic Music, Vocal and Vina, at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's UK Centre, West London. We have been So fortunate there to have so dedicated a teacher, and are perhaps too modest concerning her - stature as a vocal soloist. To own a set of these CD's is a must for every serious student of South Indian music, whether professional Oramateur.
The discs fall into two groups: 1) Voyages l to V and 2) Ragam Tanam, discs land lll. For the first five, she has splendid support from the violin of Sri Balu Raghuraman, Bhavan's Resident Teacher, and the Mridangam of Sri M. Balachandar, Bhavan's Resident Teacher òf Mridangam. Additional percussion is provided on Ghatam by Bangalore R.N. Prakash and on Morsing by Sri K. Sithamparanathan. It is thus noteworthy that the entire production was made in the UK, so integral a part of our culture has Karnatic Music rightfully becomel in the five Voyages Smt. Sivasakthi firstly shows her total integrity as a teacher. In Voyage l She demonstrates the rudiments of music in Svaravali and Jantai Varisais, keeping to the basic “teaching scale” Mayamalavagaula. Voyage ll takes us to the next levels: of AlankaramS in different tallas, and Gitams, largely in the Raga Malahari. In Voyage Ill we travel further into Gitam, and on to Svarajati and Jatisvaram and then to the principal learning-discipline of the Varnam. Furthereasy Compositions are encountered in Voyage IV, which also introduces Tevaram and Divyanama Kirtana (of which more later!). Voyage V climactically takes us to kriti and kirtana, but again including Jatisvara and Tevaram, and also Tiruppukal.
Smt. Sivasakthi performs throughout flawlessly: the rich sonority of her voice, its range and her beautiful enunciation are stunning. One is listening to a concert, as well as to a lesson! It is hard to pick and choose... but, for me, her performances of Gajamukanai in Sankarabharanam (Voyage IV, track 4) and Gajananayutam, Chakravaka and Kalaivani, Suddha Dhanyasi (Voyage V, tracks 1 and 4) stand Supreme. Not only are they beautifully sung, but they are preceded by wonderfully inventive alapanas, and include superb kalpanasvaram.
It would seem appropriate to offer Some suggestions Sivasakthi gives arohanas for Hindolam and Gambhiranata in Voyage V (tracks 2 and 3) and it would have been helpful to
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75047
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 39
have arohanas and avarohanas for all the ragas in these Voyages.
The back of Voyage V's inlay shows the same menu as Voyage IV - though the booklet indeed matches the correct Contents
These are some problems with the booklets, and perhaps future releases of these invaluable discS could include Some emendations. The most noticeable is the inconsistency between the (correct) cross-reference tables of the Intervals, Svarasthanas, in the book. lets for Voyages III to V- and those for both the Ragam Tanam discs and the listed svaras given for the preceding ragas in those discs. Instances are in Voyage Ill's booklet wherein, right opposite the note-names list, where antra (sic) ga is, correctly ga3 appears the list of svaras for Mohanam (for Ninnu kori), that includes antara ga, there referred to as G2. Similarly, in the booklet for Ragam Tanam, disc II, Sankarabharanam's Ga and Niare, wrongly, termed G2 and N2, despite, over the page their correct rank as Ga3and Ni3.
The Divyanama kirtanas that Smt. Sivasakthi delightfully renders in Voyage IV (track 8) and Voyage V (track V) are in fact both of Western origin. Indeed, the tune, Pahi Ramachaindra, is included in the Dikshitar repertoire of Western-origin melodies as Syamale Minakshi. M.B. Rajani discovered the French origin of Sarasanetra that features in Voyage V, in 2003.
Tirugnanasambandhar, Appar and Sundarar in fact composed all the Tevaram (in order: Books I-III, IV-VI and VII) not "most of"as stated in Voyage IV's booklet. So superb are the renderings of all these discs that one greatly hopes for commen Surate nOteS!
Turning to the two Ragam Tanam discs, il comprises Kalyani and Todi, disc II Sankarabharanam and Kharaharapriya. These are interesting choices as all four belong to the Diatonic Series, whereby they are respectively the Ma, Ga, Sa and Ri murchhanas of Sankarabharanam.
All four adopt the same "Guru sishya" model for the alapanas. For these discs, Smt. Sivasakthi Sivanesan secured the expert collaboration of the renowned musician and scholar, Sri T. V. Gopalakrishnan. Teacher and "student" sing passages of alapana in Canon.
All four alapanas show that, in this manodharma or inprovisation-form, the "how to" can be taught but the actual result is up to the artiste herself. All provide a challenging learning-curve for the serious listener. One cannot rate Alapana, the musical essay on the chosen Raga, too highly.
For Sankarabharanam (Disc II, track 2) alone, this “teacher-student” pattern is followed in Tanam, which is further improvisation of the raga that now features pulse, though not rhythm. For the other three ragas on these discs, the master, Sri T.V.G. gives us his superb solo offerings.
What a joy to hear Smt. Sivasakthi and Sri T. V. Gopalakrishnan in these discS, and what a service Smt. Sivaskathi Sivanesan has done to Karnatic Music in this country and for the world at large.
/EL ONLY )) ))-SRILANKA
-SOUTH INDIA 676 360 -SINGAPORE

Page 40
40 TAMIL TIMES
MRS.MARGARETSAVERIMUTTU: A gentle touch and a piercing Whisper
I have studied under many remarkable teachers at the Jaffna Holy Family Convent. Margaret Saverimuttu whom we fondly called Margaret Teacher was indeed one of the many great educators who carry the hallmark of the Holy Family Convent. Like most of the teachsers at the convent, she was academically gifted, talented, and elox quent and possessed all the noble qualities expected of a teacher. But, Margaret Teacher will be remembered by her students for her innocence and simplicity. Her character was shaped not only by her parents, but also by the Irish Holy Family nuns who established our convent one hundred and fifty years ago. We will remember her as a strongwilled determined disciplinarian with a disposition of serenity and radiance. She was a genuine person who had the gift to make a disenchanted child enchanted. She reached out and touched every child under her care. In her own softly-softly manner, she was a Crusader who practiced, in Jaffna, the presentday United States law "No Child Left Behind". I was one of the fortunate children who had the opportunity to learn from this sincere person. The encouragement I received had a profound influence in my life. My narrative, henceforth, is drawn from the lasting memories of my childhood.
Margaret Teacher, in fact, taught a few generations of us. My aunt and some of my other teachers studied Latin and Tamil Literature from her. She was my English teacher in 1961 when I was twelve years of age. At that time she was the assistant principal of the Convent, a "Class Teacher", and the Head of Evangelist House, one of the four houses that we were grouped in at School for participating in competitive extracurricular activities. From dawn to dusk she laboured in caring for her family and her extended family-we, the girls of the Holy Family Convent.
The Seventh Class A division room Was Situated on the ground floor of the upper school building facing the large school stage. Margaret Teacher would make each one of us stand on the stage and read a passage or a poem aloud. She made it mandatory that no child was left behind. We all had our chance. Pronunciation, eloquence and poise were the focus, and "I can do it" was the implicit motto. To date, I vividly remember an examination which included reciting a poem from a respected English poet, Christina G. Rossetti. The sheer enthusiasm that surrounded Margaret Teacher's class made us all very motivated. We wanted to please her. I memorized the poem. To make sure I knew it well, I also practiced reciting it to my father before I went to school.
That day, in 1961, all thirty of the class were present. One by one we recited the poem. My classmates were all very good. They performed magnificently. Then came my turn.
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me, Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree.
 

OCTOBER 2006
Be the green grass above me
paused after the fifth line.
With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou Wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.
stumbled again. I looked at Margaret Teacher, who Called me down. The Show Continued with the others taking their turns.
I was upset that I had not finished the poem and, more so, I was terrified at the thought of failing my English exam. When I came down from the stage, I felt the gentle touch of Margaret Teacher who whispered "That was very good Agnes. If you had finished the poem, it would have been excellent". She gave me 83% grade for English which I neverexpected. A seemingly uneventful event that took place 45 years ago left a profound and lasting effect on me. The gentle touch and the whisper of encouragement made a monumental difference to the self-esteem of a feeble, self-conscious, skinny little nervous girl.
Through performance art, Margaret Teacher brought a sense of realism and a modern perspective of humanity to the girls of the Holy Family Convent. Every year, she staged English and Tamil plays. She would always choose a play of Shakespeare. She relentlessly encouraged her children. Through gentle touch and piercing whispers "Little Girls" were constantly administered with boosts of confidence and doses of self-esteem. They indeed grew stronger in character. Little girls stood steadfastly by their convictions. The sixties' past pupils, Jacintha Benedict, Subothini Vandergoen, Vanitha Bastiampillai and Evangeline Jacob are examples of exemplary performers produced by the Holy Family Convent of Margaret Teacher era.
In 1962, the tragic death of her husband shook us all. They were building a beautiful new home very close to our school. On the Jaffna Main Street. While her beloved husband, Chelam Peter Saverinuttu, brother of our late Antonia teacher (Mrs. Saminathar), viewed his house that was near completion from the edge of the Main Street, a CTB (Ceylon Transport Board) bus fatally knocked him down. Margaret Teacher returned to school to teach with her two young sons Gerard and Mark, while her baby daughter Amirthanjali was left under the good care of the children's beloved nanny Lily.
After teaching for forty years, Margaret Teacher retired from our school and joined St. Martin's Minor Seminary of Jaffna and, later, St. Francis Xavier's Major Seminary of Columbuthurai to teach English to the seminarians. Margaret Teacher was also a committed lay woman in the Catholic Community of Jaffna. She represented Jaffna at the National Synod that took place after the Second Vatican Council in Rome. Her dedications to our Catholic Church, the Jaffna DioceSan Union and to the many charitable organizations were remarkable.
Margaret Teacher taught many generations of girls at the Holy Family Convent. We feel her gentle touch and draw strength from her firmness. Herreassuring Whispers continue to linger, Mrs. Margaret Saverimuttu was 85 years old when she parted this world on 8th June 2006.
Agnes P. (Francis) Thambynayagam St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK

Page 41
OCTOBER 2006
YOUNGACHEVER INACCOUNTANCY
Balasundaram SUNDARA-BALAN has qualified as an ACCA affiliate at the young age of 18 from the prestigious and the largest UK based Accountancy Institute which has 260,000 students and 110,000 members in around 170 countries. The ACCA Singapore office has confirmed that at 18, Sundarabalan is the youngest ACCA in Singapore and 繫偲 possibly one of the youngest globally. x Sunderabalan who followed his Course from the Singapore Accountancy Academy (2005-2006) is also awaiting his B.Sc.(Honours) results in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brooks University which qualifies him to follow his Masters in Financel Accountancy/Banking at Oxford. He had his IGSCE(Cambridge) from the Seychelles Independent school after his early education in TamilNadu and is now at Singapore Tamasek Junior College to sit the Advance Levels in November. He is also the Silver medallist having got the second place overall in Singapore and ranking in three subject globally. Sunderabalan is a keen cricketer having captained his school team in Singapore. He is the only child of Mr. Soma Balasunderam, a Chartered Accountant himself and Jeyaluxumy who are exporters from Singapore.
LATE CHINNATHAMBYTYAGARAJAH,
PRINCIPAL EMIRITUS, SKANDA VARODAYA COLLEGE - ANAPPRECATION
A popular figure in the educational and sports arenas of Sri Lanka, Thiagu to his friends, C. Tyagarajah passed away in Colombo on Sunday the 8th of October after a brief illness. At Jaffna Hindu where he had his entire schooling he was the Senior Prefect, captained the school football team to many gories and was an outstanding athlete besides being an active debater and keen student. When he finished his degree at Peradeniya he was handpicked by none other than Orator Subramaniam as one of his able lieutenants into the portals of Skanda Varodaya. Whether in studies or sports Thiagu was one of the strong pillars to support orator who was then spearheading Skanda to great glories in the Sri Lankan edu cational horizons.Above all, being a local man, his public relations was at its best which built a strong bridge between the management and the parents. His popularity was so high that he ended up as one of the well accepted Principals of Skanda Varodaya which institution got the best out of Thiagu, After spending the best part of his career at Skanda Varodaya, he moved into the educational administration as Circuit Education Officer Education Officer in different Circuits, then as the Education Officer in the Regional Education office from where he retired from Government Service as the Deputy Director of Education. After retirement he served as the Director of Sports at the Jaffna University campus which area was much after his heart. His loyalty and love for his Alma Mater was so high and sincere that he served in various capacities in the JHC OBA and was a source of strength during our OBA carnivals and building programmes. He was deeply religious, led a very simple life and was bdessed with great humane qualities.
He is survived by his dear wife Yasothara, Principal aniritus, Manipay Hindu Ladies College and their only son Ragulan in Sydney, Australia. May his soul attain the all the gories.
V.Sivasupramaniam - Seychelles
 

TAMIL TIMES 41
Autralian NeWSletter
Deepavali celebrations in New Zealand may envy many around the globe. New Zealand's Governor General Satyanand along with Prime Minister Helen Clark ceremoniously launched this year's celebrations in Auckland's Central Business District. Auckland is the home of a large number of migrants from South East Asia and Deepavali was celebrated across the region with great fanfare. The active participation of New Zealand polity in these celebrations and despite gruelling political climate both Prime Minister Clarke and Leader of the Opposition Dr Brash sharing the dais during celebrations were no doubt positive reflections of New Zealand.
A study has established that unhealthy dietary habits including large intake of junk foods and fizzy drinks and lack of exercise along with over estimation of self-health are baneful to ethnic groups and in particular to those from South East Asia. It is also revealed that children in the age group of 5 to 14 with South East Asian lineage were more likely to be hospitalised for asthma than others and conclusively recommends greater awareness on health issues.
The political climate and the conflicts in the Tamil homeland of Sri Lanka dominated the social arena in Australia and several campaigns were initiated to create greater awareness among local communities, NGO's and the government.
K J Yesudas, one of the popular play back singers of
yesteryear toured Australia and New Zealand recently and his concerts attracted unusually high numbers in all major centres.
- Sivasupramaniam Sitsabesan
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