srilanka1998
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- 26. Juli 2005
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Tamils protest in northern Sri Lanka amid tight security
[ AP ] [ 02:50 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
About 200 people on Monday marched along the streets in this northern Tamil heartland to protest the alleged attempted rape of a girl by a soldier and the subsequent killing of one person by gunfire. Dozens of noisy protesters shouting slogans against the presence of the Sri Lanka army in the peninsular handed over a petition to a representative of a European cease-fire monitoring team that demanded the soldiers leave. Jaffna, the traditional homeland of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, has been tense since Friday, after angry villagers accused a soldier of trying to rape a 16-year-old girl in the village.
Sri Lanka's buttock brouhaha
[ The Guardian ] [ 10:56 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
There are many important issues being contested: recovery from the tsunami, an uneasy ceasefire in the long-running civil war, arguments over corruption. But unwittingly, it seems, Mr Senaratne has touched on an issue equally close to many of his compatriots' hearts.Sri Lanka is a conservative country. Westerners are advised to cover their shoulders and legs to avoid attracting attention, and Sri Lankan women bathing in rivers manage, in contravention of all laws of topology, to thoroughly clean themselves while barely ruffling their sari. But there are contradictions. Although the "wet sari" scene is about as risque as local films will venture, these garments - even on portly elderly women - often happily expose the midriff. And workers in rice paddies still wear the traditional loincloth. Known as the amude, this clothing (as the MP was keen to point out) exposes the buttocks. Kind of like an agricultural version of the G-string.
One thousand young Tamils paraded in front of 'Thalaiyaaddi' in Batticaloa
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 11:05 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
One thousand young Tamil men and women were rounded up from their homes and paraded in front of 'Thalaiyaaddi.' 'Thalaiyaaddi,' a practice conducted by paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), shocked the Tamils who were forcefully taken from their homes, especially during the time of ceasefire. 'Thalaiyaaddi' is conducted by men whose faces are hidden with a bag with holes for the eyes and nod to identify captives who should be detained for further questioning. At 4 a.m. on 31 October, more than 500 SLA soldiers searched the heavily populated areas of Mamangam, Jeyanthipuram, Iruthayapuram and Urani in the Batticaloa Disctrict. After, the SLA seized 1,000 young Tamil civilians, they were brought to army grounds where they were paraded in front of the 'Thalaiyaaddi' men.
Rajapaksa evokes 'southern nationalism'
[ The Hindustan Times ] [ 11:29 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Bread and butter issues, the economy, unemployment and sky rocketing prices are major concerns. But these are stressed mostly by voters who are backing the UNP. In the south, these are less in number than those who are backing the SLFP/JVP combine. SLFP/JVP supporters do not deny the existence of these issues, but say that if Rajapaksa is given a chance, he will bring prices down and give employment to people. Communication skills are playing a key role in the campaign in the south. While Rajapaksa is seen as a good communicator with the appropriate people-friendly body language and voice, Wickremesinghe is not.The UNP, which is essentially a party of traders and businessmen, both small and big, has a large vote bank in the south. Undoubtedly, Rajapaksa, the "southern man" has a distinct advantage over Wickremesinghe the "outsider". But the latter is by no means a washout. In fact, all the pre-election surveys predict a close fight.
Killing of Senior Military Intelligence officer
[ TCNR ] [ 11:37 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Initial police investigations into Saturday night`s killing, of senior Military Intelligence officer, Lt. Col. T. Rizvi Meedin, had revealed that the shots were fired by a person who had been travelling with the officer in his official car. The assassin (name withheld on legal advice) is believed to be a close associate of the officer, who shared a bottle of liquor with him at the officer`s Kiribathgoda residence over a hour before the killing. `The shots were definitely not fired from outside,` a well informed source said.Meedin, attached to the Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) in Colombo, had been shot twice in the head while he was returning home in his car. The victim was at the wheel. The sources did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of a close associate (name withheld on legal advice) of the officer in Saturday`s killing.
Mahinda Rajapakse - The Road to Disaster
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 11:59 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
The upcoming election is to elect a Sinhala President and that is a problem for the Sinhala people. It is not a problem for the Tamils. If the Sinhala people want crooks who have had their hand in the Tsunami till as their President, that is their problem. If they want hoodlums who have wrecked the South in armed uprisings (in 1971 and again in 1989) with the murder of thousands of civilians who included University professors, leading professionals and charismatic Sinhala leaders such as President Kumaratunga's husband, and an extensive destruction of infrastructure which included much-needed agricultural equipment, which be described as 'the vandalisation of a country', that is a choice for the Sinhalese.
Sri Lankan president says country's int'l image changed
[ Xinhua ] [ 12:41 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is due to end her presidency in mid-December, said Monday she has changed Sri Lanka's international image during her two terms. Addressing a public rally in Bibile in the central part of the island, Kumaratunga said when she was elected president in 1994, Sri Lanka's international image had taken a battering due to the armed conflict with the Tamil Tigers and a rebellion launched by the leftist extremists. "The word peace was unheard of until I came in," said the president, adding that she had taken the initiative for a negotiated settlement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) aimed at ending the long drawn out separatist armed conflict.
EU monitors worry unrest could upset S.Lanka poll
[ Reuters ] [ 12:43 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
A breakaway rebel group in Sri Lanka could be a cause for concern in this month's presidential election, and any malpractice may prove decisive, the chief EU election monitor said on Tuesday. John Cushnahan said he was worried there could be trouble in Tamil eastern areas around the Nov. 17 poll between the main opposition chief Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed a ceasefire to halt two decades of violence in 2002, but a breakaway group, led by a renegade Tiger known as Karuna, has since emerged. "I'm worried what will happen in the north and east," Cushnahan, the European Union's chief monitor, told Reuters. "There's been a lot of speculation over what Karuna will do."
[ AP ] [ 02:50 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
About 200 people on Monday marched along the streets in this northern Tamil heartland to protest the alleged attempted rape of a girl by a soldier and the subsequent killing of one person by gunfire. Dozens of noisy protesters shouting slogans against the presence of the Sri Lanka army in the peninsular handed over a petition to a representative of a European cease-fire monitoring team that demanded the soldiers leave. Jaffna, the traditional homeland of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, has been tense since Friday, after angry villagers accused a soldier of trying to rape a 16-year-old girl in the village.
Sri Lanka's buttock brouhaha
[ The Guardian ] [ 10:56 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
There are many important issues being contested: recovery from the tsunami, an uneasy ceasefire in the long-running civil war, arguments over corruption. But unwittingly, it seems, Mr Senaratne has touched on an issue equally close to many of his compatriots' hearts.Sri Lanka is a conservative country. Westerners are advised to cover their shoulders and legs to avoid attracting attention, and Sri Lankan women bathing in rivers manage, in contravention of all laws of topology, to thoroughly clean themselves while barely ruffling their sari. But there are contradictions. Although the "wet sari" scene is about as risque as local films will venture, these garments - even on portly elderly women - often happily expose the midriff. And workers in rice paddies still wear the traditional loincloth. Known as the amude, this clothing (as the MP was keen to point out) exposes the buttocks. Kind of like an agricultural version of the G-string.
One thousand young Tamils paraded in front of 'Thalaiyaaddi' in Batticaloa
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 11:05 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
One thousand young Tamil men and women were rounded up from their homes and paraded in front of 'Thalaiyaaddi.' 'Thalaiyaaddi,' a practice conducted by paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), shocked the Tamils who were forcefully taken from their homes, especially during the time of ceasefire. 'Thalaiyaaddi' is conducted by men whose faces are hidden with a bag with holes for the eyes and nod to identify captives who should be detained for further questioning. At 4 a.m. on 31 October, more than 500 SLA soldiers searched the heavily populated areas of Mamangam, Jeyanthipuram, Iruthayapuram and Urani in the Batticaloa Disctrict. After, the SLA seized 1,000 young Tamil civilians, they were brought to army grounds where they were paraded in front of the 'Thalaiyaaddi' men.
Rajapaksa evokes 'southern nationalism'
[ The Hindustan Times ] [ 11:29 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Bread and butter issues, the economy, unemployment and sky rocketing prices are major concerns. But these are stressed mostly by voters who are backing the UNP. In the south, these are less in number than those who are backing the SLFP/JVP combine. SLFP/JVP supporters do not deny the existence of these issues, but say that if Rajapaksa is given a chance, he will bring prices down and give employment to people. Communication skills are playing a key role in the campaign in the south. While Rajapaksa is seen as a good communicator with the appropriate people-friendly body language and voice, Wickremesinghe is not.The UNP, which is essentially a party of traders and businessmen, both small and big, has a large vote bank in the south. Undoubtedly, Rajapaksa, the "southern man" has a distinct advantage over Wickremesinghe the "outsider". But the latter is by no means a washout. In fact, all the pre-election surveys predict a close fight.
Killing of Senior Military Intelligence officer
[ TCNR ] [ 11:37 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Initial police investigations into Saturday night`s killing, of senior Military Intelligence officer, Lt. Col. T. Rizvi Meedin, had revealed that the shots were fired by a person who had been travelling with the officer in his official car. The assassin (name withheld on legal advice) is believed to be a close associate of the officer, who shared a bottle of liquor with him at the officer`s Kiribathgoda residence over a hour before the killing. `The shots were definitely not fired from outside,` a well informed source said.Meedin, attached to the Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) in Colombo, had been shot twice in the head while he was returning home in his car. The victim was at the wheel. The sources did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of a close associate (name withheld on legal advice) of the officer in Saturday`s killing.
Mahinda Rajapakse - The Road to Disaster
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 11:59 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
The upcoming election is to elect a Sinhala President and that is a problem for the Sinhala people. It is not a problem for the Tamils. If the Sinhala people want crooks who have had their hand in the Tsunami till as their President, that is their problem. If they want hoodlums who have wrecked the South in armed uprisings (in 1971 and again in 1989) with the murder of thousands of civilians who included University professors, leading professionals and charismatic Sinhala leaders such as President Kumaratunga's husband, and an extensive destruction of infrastructure which included much-needed agricultural equipment, which be described as 'the vandalisation of a country', that is a choice for the Sinhalese.
Sri Lankan president says country's int'l image changed
[ Xinhua ] [ 12:41 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is due to end her presidency in mid-December, said Monday she has changed Sri Lanka's international image during her two terms. Addressing a public rally in Bibile in the central part of the island, Kumaratunga said when she was elected president in 1994, Sri Lanka's international image had taken a battering due to the armed conflict with the Tamil Tigers and a rebellion launched by the leftist extremists. "The word peace was unheard of until I came in," said the president, adding that she had taken the initiative for a negotiated settlement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) aimed at ending the long drawn out separatist armed conflict.
EU monitors worry unrest could upset S.Lanka poll
[ Reuters ] [ 12:43 GMT, Nov. 1, 2005 ]
A breakaway rebel group in Sri Lanka could be a cause for concern in this month's presidential election, and any malpractice may prove decisive, the chief EU election monitor said on Tuesday. John Cushnahan said he was worried there could be trouble in Tamil eastern areas around the Nov. 17 poll between the main opposition chief Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed a ceasefire to halt two decades of violence in 2002, but a breakaway group, led by a renegade Tiger known as Karuna, has since emerged. "I'm worried what will happen in the north and east," Cushnahan, the European Union's chief monitor, told Reuters. "There's been a lot of speculation over what Karuna will do."