Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

The first documentary poignantly highlighted the situation prevailing in the Eastern Sri Lanka. Both Karuna lead TMVP and the Sri Lankan government came under constructive review highlighting the predicament prevailing there. Karuna group was blamed for child recruitment and highhanded activities in the east, whilst the government forces were exposed for taking a passive approach towards Karuna group.

The civilian comments summed up the real need that they want peace. Even the Muslim civilians interviewed were critical of Karuna group. When he programme presenter and coordinator Juliana asked about the LTTE activities the very same crowd critical of Karuna group maintained silence reflecting their fear to expose the LTTE in the manner the exposed the TMVP. This particular circumstance clearly highlighted the emerging democracy amidst fear psychosis of the people for the LTTE in the east.

Why don't you call the Sinhala occupying forces and the Sinhala settlers out of the occupied territories of Tamil Elam? Then both of our problems will be solved and we can try to live as amicable neighbors.

Ramblings, fumblings and jumblings

My dear Mahinda Aiya,

Ayubowan, vanakkam, asalamu alaikkum and best wishes as you crisscross through the crisis within crisis and almost every important front, with confusion if not chaos and contradictions making the scenario one hell of a mess, muddle and mud hole.

With the economy widely predicted to be falling apart despite various claims by the Central Bank and other propaganda organs, the government has run into its latest controversy in trying to raise a huge loan of US$ 500 million from a consortium of lending firms. The main opposition UNP sees elements of deception, double-dealing and grave danger to the country in the proposed deal. The UNP?s policy-making working committee has therefore decided to write to the lending institutions including some well-known international banks that a future UNP government will not honour the terms of this agreement. That means the loan will not be repaid. The UNP?s decision provoked you and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake to come out with thundering statements accusing the main opposition party of trying to sabotage the plans to develop the country and especially the eastern province which is supposed to have been newly liberated.

The political row over the international loan came amid another major international crisis over the human rights situation and the breakdown of law and order in Sri Lanka. The issue which has been burning for some months virtually exploded with the visit of the United Nations Humanitarian Chief Sir John Holmes and some bombshell statements he made after visiting some northern and eastern areas. Initially the government had not been keen on allowing the visit by Sir John but it was under heavy pressure from the international community that it finally gave in though it decided to monitor or regulate the visit. For instance Sir John?s visit to Jaffna was reported to have been heavily censored by the military commanders there. They are alleged to have handpicked the representatives to meet Sir John and also told them what they could ask and what areas were taboo.

After making his way through all those political landmines, Sir John finally decided to drop his big bombshell in Colombo. He reportedly told the Reuters News Agency in Colombo, he believed Sri Lanka was one of the most dangerous countries in the world for humanitarian workers. The government was enraged. Prime Minister Wickramanayake hounded Sir John Holmes in parliament and at a public meeting the next day an angry Prime Minister went even further describing Sir John as a ?yaka?.

But the United Nations is apparently standing by him as it stood by Alan Rock when he made similar comments last year. Analysts believe that this time the co-chairs of the Tokyo donor conference ? the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway ? are likely to take action in the United Nations for some sanctions to be imposed on Sri Lanka. India is also likely to support such moves and if an acceptable devolution package is not produced within days or weeks the possibility of UN intervention including even the stationing of UN peacekeeping troops looms large. The main opposition UNP has given a deadline till today for the All Party Representative Committee headed by Professor Tissa Vitharana to come up with a fair and just solution to the ethnic conflict. Latest reports indicate the APRC will go beyond the SLFP proposals and recommend that the province instead of the district be the unit of devolution. More interestingly it might reach a compromise on the crisis between the united and the unitary status of Sri Lanka by recommending that the word, single state be used instead of the controversial united or unitary. Whether words could untie the knots within knots and muddles within muddles is another matter.

Minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda now says his party will not contest the eastern provincial elections unless a comprehensive political package is produced before the polls. Sir John Holmes during his visit to the east reiterated the demand that the Karuna faction must be disarmed if free and fair polls are to be held in the east. The army commander in Batticaloa also agreed that the Karuna faction must be disarmed. With the eastern province more in a limbo of uncertainty than in any state of liberation what will happen there or what will not happen is as complex, confusing and contradictory as so many other issues in the ?achcharu chinthanaya? of the current era.

Adding to the confusion is the position of the CWC. Last week the CWC members sat in the opposition side making it 112-112 while party leader Arumugam Thondaman reportedly was in India to consult Sai Baba or some astrologer. With lots of cock and bull stories doing the rounds as to where the here-and-there CWC will end up, most analysts were asking whether the cockerel party had a tendency for fowl play or foul play.

In the jigsaw of the changing political scene and alliances, the role of Chief Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle is also very much in the headlines and front pages. Last Thursday the Highways Minister threw a party at the five-star Waters Edge to mark his appointment as SLFP treasurer. Reports say that despite the presence of the entire Rajapaksa sangamaya, the chinthanaya principle of ?mathata thitha? was put into the deep freezer and Black Labels flowed fast and freely. Tipsy wags quipped that the Access chief who is known to be a multi billion highways contractor besides arms deals must have paved the way free for the Highways Minister to make it to the top of the party.

On Friday parliament heard another sordid story of waste and corruption at a time when millions of people are suffering without their basic needs. An embarrassed Science and Technology Minister held his head in shock and shame when he realized what had happened in his own Ministry. A Montero jeep had been loaned to the ministry at a rental of Rs. 1.8 million a year plus Rs. 60,000 a month for fuel. It was for the use of the Minister and the Deputy Minister. The JVP said it had the address of the place from where the vehicle was loaned to the Ministry and alleged it was none other than the residence of the Deputy Minister. This was denied by the government Chief Whip but such and other stories of scandal and corruption in high places makes the Cabinet salary cut look like a small piece of sticking plaster for a killer cancer. So the malignant cancer spreads and the country looks hopefully for a surgeon who might save it by tackling the roots and removing the malignant cells.

Yours sincerely,
Koththamalli

The United Nations says that Undersecretary John Holmes had all along maintained that humanitarian aid workers in Sri Lanka are at risk.

It was only the latest in a long line of blunders by Annan, whose leadership on the world stage, from Rwanda to Iraq to the Sudan, has proven a spectacular failure.

But, some may ask, can?t Annan express his opinion? Yes, but his ill-considered jibe carries serious repercussions. It undercuts efforts to stabilize postwar Iraq efforts that have been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. It stigmatizes the embryonic Iraqi government and strengthens the hand of Iraqi insurgents and foreign terrorists determined to strangle democracy and defeat the U.S.-led, U.N.-backed security operation.

Why would Annan want to undermine the U.N.?s own efforts in Iraq at a time when the world body faces mounting criticism for failing to respond effectively to international crises?

Annan?s statement that the war was ?illegal? is both false and spurious. By Annan?s logic, the 1999 U.S./British-led intervention in Kosovo, which was conducted without benefit of a Security Council resolution, also was ?illegal? despite the fact that the international community supported it.

Must have a proven record for adding fire to fuel