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Abimanasingham Manickasothy had played an important role in the negotiations between the Liberation Tigers and the then Premadasa regime in the 1989-90 periods and when the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was expelled from Sri Lanka by former President Premadsa.

The following is the gist of his answers to the media in the press meet Wednesday:

The hidden agenda of the government is to show the world that all the problems of the Tamils have been solved and that they have elected their representatives in a democratic election, Packiasothy told the media.

A political party, which in its inception had vouched to establish a separate independent state for the Tamils, later joined the ruling regime claiming that it is entering the democratic stream, secured ministerial positions but now it is a fact that it cannot even contest under its own symbol but has to compromise with the ruling power to contest under the symbol of the ruling party, he further said.

Our group has decided to boycott JMC permanently once it wins the election and our seats will continue to be vacant in fact our aim is to defeat the aim of the government to hoodwink the world, he explained.

It is obvious that if a Tamil party captures JMC, being shorn of its powers, it will remain powerless even to eliminate a stray dog from the streets of Jaffna, he said.

Tamils struggle for their rights began at a time even when there were four train services a day from Jaffna to Colombo, hundreds of lorries and busses plying on the A9 road and a continuous electricity supply from Laxapahana was available to the people of the North the claim to restore these by the government is but an obvious propaganda ploy to lure votes for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), in an effort to show the world that the Tamils are not opposed to a unified Sri Lanka but whole heartedly support it, by securing victory in Jaffna Municipality Council (JMC) election, Abimanasingham Manickasothy, the principal candidate of the Independent group contesting JMC election, told the media in a press meet held Wednesday in Bastion Hotel in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.

The magazine says the global recession is sparking fears that multiple states could slip all at once into the ranks of the failing ...

A school which has not recorded a single pass in a public examination among its student population from its very inception is reported from the Ibbagamuwa Education Zone.

The school is Hipawwa Mahabodhi Vidyalaya near the Arankele Meditation Centre in Kumbukwewa. There are only 24 students in this school and the number of teachers is four.

'We live in the 21st century. But still the shadows of caste discrimination haunt in our society. Educational authorities should look into this matter sympathetically and implement a special program to grant some sort of relief to these children who are a part of our future generation,' he said.

UNP MP S.B Dissanayake said today that the situation within the Internally Displaced Camps in the North are so dire that these person if given the freedom to move out of these camps would prefer to live under trees than inside the camps. The situation in those camps is so bad that if the people were given to go free they will go live under trees.
There are so many diseases spreading within these camps, there are no sanitation facilities, and water is scarce. At this time when we must make the Tamil people feel equal we are just angering them by keeping them within these camps that aren t just prisons but are almost like hell Dissanayake said.

Failed states: Sri Lanka s ranking improves

http://www.democracy-building.info/switzerlands-political-system.html

http://www.map-of-switzerland.com/images/switzerland-politcal-map.jpg

where the expat Tamil doctors and businessmen sip their Chivas Regal and bag millions in professional fees.
Without trying to dig into the past, dig into your pockets, as you did for the LTTE, now do for the Tamil humanity.
Be a Good Samaritan to those you know!


to safeguard the lives of the innocent Tamil citizens, but target only the LTTE leadership.

Spent Rs 100 Million on his foreign trips

Before she embarked on her Far East holiday at the beginning of January, Mugabe withdrew US$92,000 from the central bank in Harare, Zimbabwean sources said. Accompanied by her children, she stayed first at the Malaysian island resort of Langkawi. She then moved on to Singapore where she was joined by her husband for a few days.

There had been speculation in Zimbabwe that the president would cancel his annual holiday in the face of a growing economic and political crisis. The country is beset by a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 2,100 lives.

Over the past nine months Zimbabwe has been without a legal government. Talks to implement a power-sharing agreement have collapsed and hostility to his rule has intensified. Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, returned for talks yesterday after two months in Botswana.

Annual inflation has soared to more than 231m% and a Z$100 trillion banknote was introduced on Friday. Dozens of activists have been detained, accused of plotting to overthrow the regime.

Nevertheless the Mugabes went ahead with their holiday. While the president stayed on in Singapore until January 11 before flying home, his wife flew to Hong Kong on January 9 and installed herself in the 600-a-night Harbour suite on the 18th floor of the Shangri-La.

There she played hostess to the couple s daughter, Bona, who studies in the city, and to a stream of relatives and friends. She rarely went out but other members of the party were ferried around in black limousines costing 60 an hour.

Grace Mugabe is more than 40 years younger than her 84-year-old husband. Formerly his secretary and mistress, she finally married him in 1996 after the death of his wife of 30 years, Sally, a Ghanaian intellectual. They have three children, Bona, Robert and Chatunga.

Grace Mugabe has often been blamed for encouraging her husband s extreme views. Last year she said he would never surrender power.

Since becoming first lady, she has spent a fortune on foreign shopping trips, built a mansion in Harare, dubbed Gracelands, and acquired several formerly white-owned farms. Once, when asked why she spent thousands on expensive Ferragamo shoes while her people starved, she replied: I have very narrow feet, so I wear only Ferragamo.

She used to indulge her passion for shopping in the boutiques of Paris, New York and London. But when America and the European Union imposed sanctions on the Mugabes and their cronies they turned to the Far East.

Hours after the fracas on Thursday she left Hong Kong for home, where many call her Dis Grace behind her back.