'There is no military solution': Go tell that to NATO

I might also add "Go tell that to President Sarkozy of France" for, he will be sending additional French troops to Afganistan soon! Every conflict has a solution however long it takes. That end, is the very end of the conflict itself.

The World wars, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese war against Cambodia's Pol Pot, the Peruvian war against the Sandanista did have the end of defeat for the enemy and was followed by the restoration of peace.

Why prevent Sri Lanka from following a similar course especially when the government, the majority of citizens and the soldiers are yearning for the defeat the LTTE and the dawn of peace in the country?

Can our NGO bosses justify the invasion of northern Iraq by Turkey, a member of NATO, with NATO supplied arms and kill Kurds if there was no military solution to their problems?

If there is no military solution why is NATO fighting in Afganistan even after Al Queda extended an invitation to talk peace?

If there is no military solution why are the allied forces fighting in Iraq at enormous cost in men, material and money?

It is not a matter of friendly war games in these two countries. It is of paramount importance to kill as well as debilitate the perceived enemy before he kills others. It is, also propelled by the desire to impose a solution economically and politically favourable to the invaders of both Afganistan and Iraq. We saw this starkly illustrated in Kosovo.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/04/03/features4.html

Smashing pots and pans: CIA-inspired

It seems that UNP National Organizer S.B. Dissanayake has borrowed a leaf from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency which helped to stage the rightwing military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende's government in Chile. With the ousting of the popularly elected Allende the way was open for the notorious General Augusto Pinochet to seize power.

The CIA paved the path to his military dictatorship by instigating Chilean housewives to demonstrate on streets with pots and pans and beat them to protest against the rising cost of living in Chile under Allende's Government in 1973. S.B. Dissanayake has modified this a bit by planning to smash pots and pans instead of beating them.

Once a government is elected under a democracy, the normal procedure is to allow it to run its normal course. But Ranil, S.B. and company have no such patience. From day one since Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected President they have been wracking their brains on ways and means to topple his regime.

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http://www.srilankawatch.com/index.php?

Sri Lankan bishop appeals for peace zone near prominent Marian shrine

With Sri Lankan forces closing in on the Marian shrine of Madhu in northwestern Sri Lanka, Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar, Sri Lanka, has appealed to government forces and the Tamil rebels to leave the area around the shrine a "zone of peace."

"Today as the military operations are taking place very close to the shrine, we are compelled to make an urgent appeal to both the government and the (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to respect the Madhu shrine and (its) area as a zone of peace," Bishop Joseph said in a written appeal.

Tamil rebels had already moved into the church compound, and Sri Lankan soldiers were very close, the bishop said.

"The situation is really serious, and the shrine could be razed to the ground unless an immediate cease-fire is declared there," Bishop Joseph told Catholic News Service April 1 following his appeal.

Read more,
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801777.htm

Muslims' future secure only with Govt tie - up - Hisbullah Calls Hakeem a traitor

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) stalwart M.L.M. Hisbullah said yesterday that it was only by joining hands with the Government that the Muslims of the East could aspire to have a Chief Minister from the Muslim community.

Addressing the media, Hisbullah said a gathering of Muslim politicians, Ulamas (religious leaders), scholars and other eminent persons from the Muslim community had decided to contest the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council election jointly with the UPFA to elect a Muslim Chief Minister for the Eastern Province, under the Betel Leaf symbol.

He said had SLMC leader A. H. M. Ashraff been alive, he would have considered the present leader Rauf Hakeem a traitor.

"The SLMC was formed by Ashraff to represent Muslims in Parliament. He (Ashraff) had a desire to see the appointment of a Muslim Chief Minister and this could be secured only from the Eastern Province," Hisbullah said. However, he said Hakeem had become a traitor of the Muslims.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/04/03/pol01.asp

UNP, SLMC in tie-up for provincial polls

The opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) have entered into a formal electoral pact to contest the election to the Eastern Provincial Council (PC) scheduled for May.

A senior UNP leader told The Hindu that the alliance was formalised at a meeting here on Tuesday evening. “It has been decided that candidates of both the parties would contest on the UNP election symbol, elephant. Talks would continue on seat sharing and details could be expected to be finalised in the next few days,” the leader said.

April 3 is the last date for filing nominations. The Tamil Makkal Vidutai Pulikal, a rebel LTTE faction, has entered into a pact with the ruling United People’s Freedom Party (UPFA) of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Hours after the SLMC-UNP tie-up was formalised, senior SLMC leader M.L.A.M. Hisbullah joined the UPFA.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/03/stories/2008040356231500.htm

Indian rice for Lanka despite export ban

India has agreed to provide stocks of rice required by Sri Lanka despite the existing ban on domestic rice exports, following a request by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said Trade Marketing and Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunawardene. The Minister was speaking at a press briefing at the CWE Secretariat yesterday.

"Rice exports have been banned by India considering the escalating domestic demand and the world food shortage. But, India has agreed to export the required stocks only to Sri Lanka on the direct intervention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa", the Minister said.

The Minister said the Ministry in collaboration with the Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat will take all possible measures to import the required stocks before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

He categorically refuted allegations levelled by certain elements with narrow interests that the Government has been importing rice.

Read more,
http://www.sinhalaya.com/news/english/wmview.php?ArtID=15071

Journalism and unionism: Different from terrorism

It is reported that the Sri Lankan security forces have arrested three Sinhalese men in Colombo. They have been identified as journalists attached to a trade union paper (not a known national newspaper). There is strong evidence proving their links to the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and they were nabbed with a haul of arms and ammunition in their possession.

Soon after the arrests of these so-called journalists, politically motivated movements, going under various names, came out with their usual slogans of ’free’, ’fair’, ’abduction’, ’human rights’, etc and attempted to manipulate the situation to discredit the government on human rights issues.

During the investigation, it was found that one of the Sinhalas, LTTE terrorists was a ranked activist in one of the trade unions in the railway department. The leading figure in the gang, during his confession, had stated that their party was against ’neo imperialism’, with a different face and their main aim was to strongly act against it.

Incidentally, this new development was revealed at a time when the so-called ’ultra leftwing’, ’anti neo imperialist’ party leaders like Vickramabahu Karunrathna, called upon the Tamil Tigers to join hands with the working masses in the country and abroad to fight together to liberate the country from global capital and national oppression. According to the media reports, Karunrathna was said to have made the above comments at a public meeting at ’Krishjohn’ social club in Eastham, organised by the Tamil Information Centre, Tamil Community Forum and the World Peace Organisation in East London.

He is expected to address a series of meetings in Britain with his newly found theory, probably with the full patronage of the pro-LTTE organisations active abroad. Apparently, Karunrathna is not aware that he is calling the working masses in the country to join hand with an organisation, whose top nine leaders, including Prabhakaran, Soosai and Pottu Amman are criminals and ’wanted’ by the Interpol.

Read more,
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=131611

Sri Lanka's SOS to Pakistan for urgent arms supplies

Faced with stiff resistance from Tamil Tiger guerrillas, Sri Lanka has ordered emergency military supplies from Pakistan, according to official sources here.

In a development noted with some concern by the Indian establishment, the Sri Lanka Army has sought 150,000 rounds of 60 mm mortar ammunition and as many hand grenades for immediate delivery, the sources said.

Sri Lanka has also requested $25 million worth of 81 mm, 120 mm and 130 mm mortar ammunition to be delivered within a month, the sources told IANS.

General Sarath Fonseka, the Sri Lankan army chief who spent six days in India last month, has conveyed the requirements to his Pakistani counterpart, General Ashraf Pervez Kayani, said the sources.

Read more,
http://www.indiaenews.com/srilanka/20080402/108257.htm

Sri Lanka Muslim lawmakers resign to contest provincial poll

Three members of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a minority Sri Lankan political party, have resigned their parliamentary seats to contest the forthcoming provincial council poll in the eastern province.

The party has a strong base in Eastern Sri Lanka where a sizable population of Muslims live.

SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem, general secretary Hasen Ali and Basheer Segu Dawood will contest the eastern districts of Trincomalee, Amparai and Batticaloa, a senior SLMC official said.

The SLMC has struck a deal with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to form an alliance to contest all three districts in the poll scheduled for May 10.

The UNP and SLMC have agreed to contest the elections together on the UNP ticket.

Read more,
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=2053919366

LTTE mines uprooted during rains, army operations also hit

Heavy rains in northern Sri Lanka has uprooted LTTE laid landmines, which are floating over ground in the region hampering army operations, causing concern to the authorities.

It was a virtual swap of mines and some explosives as heavy rains swept these ammunitions away, landing both in the army and LTTE controlled areas, media reports said.

Army and LTTE activities were hampered by the rains which brought down the intensity of battle for a few days, the reports said, adding since the mines are not buried deep, many were swept away by flash floods following heaving rains.

The situation is, however, now returning to normalcy and the army operations has picked up against the Tamil Tiger militants.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa summoned the ground commanders from Jaffna and Vavuniya last week during the security council meeting.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200804021322.htm

Intel to target Sri Lanka for investment

Having achieved great results from its investment in China, Intel is planning to next invest Sri Lanka, which has a population of over 20 million, according to Cadol Cheung, managing director at Intel Capital Asia Pacific.

Cheung pointed out that the company invested US$200 million in China to set up a technology foundation beginning in 2005 which has achieved great results, as a result the company will continue to proceed with this strategy.

In 2007, Intel spent US$639 million across 166 investment plans, of which, 77 were new projects totaling US$554 million while 63 were investments overseas valued at 37% of the total amount. Main target markets included mobile Internet communications, digital home, business applications, storage, medical and processing

Read more,
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080402PD207.html