srilanka1998
Member
- Registriert
- 26. Juli 2005
- Beiträge
- 511
UN humanitarian office plays politics with lives of Jaffna displaced
[ Northeastern Monthly ] [ 00:03 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The media however did refer to the other side of the coin – the desperate lives of the people of Jaffna, especially those who were identified with the LTTE in some way. Fear eventually forced these people to take the momentous decision of abandoning their homes and moving to the Wanni, terrified though they were of the military checkpoints as well as the random army patrols they would encounter on the way.The INGOs were approached by the NGO Consortium as the trickle of displaced humanity began to grow in volume and Kilinochchi awoke to the fact that it was on the horns of a dilemma. However, the INGOs had responded by stating they could not render any immediate assistance because their mandate did not allow them to feed or house refugees fleeing from fear of retaliation by the armed forces in the government-controlled areas.
Sri Lanka: Reconstructed?
[ Medical Student ] [ 00:16 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Lack of NGO aid in the North will be devastating to the region. Considerable amounts of reconstruction in the northern regions are sponsored and carried out by the expatriate community living abroad. War will also sever the links between them and the local agencies in northern Sri Lanka. Most people I spoke to in northern Sri Lanka agreed on two things. On one hand they are bitter that they are not seeing much of the cash promised by the international community, due to the suspension of the PTOM by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, they are dreading the possibility of returning to war and to days of constant fear. One day, as I crossed back to the army-controlled Jaffna, passing barbed wire fences, minefields and unoccupied houses in the high security zone, I saw a little boy playing with a punctured football outside a set of tents. Looking back, I wonder how he became part of the group of people labelled 'internally displaced': was it by the tsunami, or war? And I wonder whether he will ever know a place that he can truly call home.
Government, co-chairs, India to hold LTTE to CFA and wage shadow war against it
[ Northeastern Monthly ] [ 01:51 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The signatories to the Ceasefire Agreement – the Sinhala government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – delivered their opening statements at the Geneva talks on 22 February 2006. The contents of the statements brought into sharp relief the political gulf between the two sides on the Agreement. That was of course evident well before Geneva. The LTTE leader, Veluppillai Prabhakaran, had unveiled the organisation’s one-point agenda for Geneva, to “discuss only the full and speedy implementation of the Agreement” (Viduthalai Puligal, jan/06). The underlying logic is simple. The Sinhala government and LTTE could fully implement the Agreement in letter and spirit.
Sri Lanka to turn back clocks by 30 mins in April
[ Reuters ] [ 11:42 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka will permanently move its clocks back by half an hour in April, a senior official said on Monday, putting the island five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in line with neighbor India.The director of the policy research and information unit at the Sri Lanka's president's office, Lucien Rajakarunanayake, said the decision came after parents complained that it was still dark when children left for school in the mornings.The move will reverse a 1996 decision to move the clocks forward to reduce electricity consumption in the evenings, pleasing politically powerful Buddhist monks and astrologers who never accepted the original change.The government decision will also put clocks in the island in line with Tamil Tiger rebels, de facto rulers of a seventh of Sri Lanka, who never adopted the original time change in their territory.
Sri Lankan president summons all parties in effort to save peace process
[ China Post ] [ 11:49 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's president summoned the leaders of all major political parties on Monday in a bid to salvage the country's faltering peace process, threatened by increasing violence as well as by sharp differences among his allies. "We all have to discuss and find ways to continue the peace process," President Mahinda Rajapakse told the party leaders _ ranging from radical Buddhist monks to Marxists. It was the first meeting of all major parties since Feb. 22-23 talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva, where they agreed to scale down violence and meet again on April 19-21. However, truce monitors fear a recent resumption of attacks _ with three deaths in three days _ could put the talks in jeopardy. The opposition UNP, which previously said it would back the government's peace efforts, is now demanding more transparency.
Vaiko's new friends
[ Rediff ] [ 12:04 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The expected has happened. That Vaiko and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would move away from the Democratic Progressive Alliance, more appropriately from the DMK, was expected even before the campaign for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections began. Even before the 'two brothers' (Karunanidhi and Vaiko) embraced each other. It all began with the way Sun TV 'blacklisted' Vaiko from the day he was released from jail after his incarceration under the Prevention Of Terrorism Act, and set out on a padayatra in the state. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when Vaiko finally clinched an alliance with the ruling All India Anna DMK headed by J Jayalalithaa. But some questions remain unanswered: how can Vaiko be friends with the person who had him detained indefinitely under POTA till a court order released him out after 500 days? How can Vaiko be on the same platform with the person whom he once called a fascist?
Marxists call on Sri Lanka to take tougher line on rebels
[ AFP ] [ 12:16 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
A key ally of Sri Lanka's government urged a tougher stance against Tamil rebels and to beef up training for the country's security forces to deter the Tigers from going back to war. "The government of Sri Lanka should speak softly and carry a big stick, which will greatly negate the LTTE threat of a return to hostilities," the Marxist JVP said Monday after a routine meeting of political parties with President Mahinda Rajapakse to discuss the island's peace process. The JVP, or People's Liberation Front, whose support is crucial for the survival of Rajapakse's minority government, said in a statement it opposed Colombo making concessions to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during talks in Switzerland last month.
Lanka's masked realities
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 12:40 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
For a poor country Sri Lanka has indeed taken impressive strides in social development. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is lower, and life expectancy and literacy are higher in comparison with other South Asian countries. But this is a façade, which hides a grim reality, points out Dr ST Hettige, Professor of Sociology at the University of Colombo. "By giving all the necessary shots to the child, it can be made to survive. But what kind of life is this child going to lead in the coming years? We don't seem to give much thought to this question," he told Hindustan Times.
[ Northeastern Monthly ] [ 00:03 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The media however did refer to the other side of the coin – the desperate lives of the people of Jaffna, especially those who were identified with the LTTE in some way. Fear eventually forced these people to take the momentous decision of abandoning their homes and moving to the Wanni, terrified though they were of the military checkpoints as well as the random army patrols they would encounter on the way.The INGOs were approached by the NGO Consortium as the trickle of displaced humanity began to grow in volume and Kilinochchi awoke to the fact that it was on the horns of a dilemma. However, the INGOs had responded by stating they could not render any immediate assistance because their mandate did not allow them to feed or house refugees fleeing from fear of retaliation by the armed forces in the government-controlled areas.
Sri Lanka: Reconstructed?
[ Medical Student ] [ 00:16 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Lack of NGO aid in the North will be devastating to the region. Considerable amounts of reconstruction in the northern regions are sponsored and carried out by the expatriate community living abroad. War will also sever the links between them and the local agencies in northern Sri Lanka. Most people I spoke to in northern Sri Lanka agreed on two things. On one hand they are bitter that they are not seeing much of the cash promised by the international community, due to the suspension of the PTOM by the Supreme Court. On the other hand, they are dreading the possibility of returning to war and to days of constant fear. One day, as I crossed back to the army-controlled Jaffna, passing barbed wire fences, minefields and unoccupied houses in the high security zone, I saw a little boy playing with a punctured football outside a set of tents. Looking back, I wonder how he became part of the group of people labelled 'internally displaced': was it by the tsunami, or war? And I wonder whether he will ever know a place that he can truly call home.
Government, co-chairs, India to hold LTTE to CFA and wage shadow war against it
[ Northeastern Monthly ] [ 01:51 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The signatories to the Ceasefire Agreement – the Sinhala government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – delivered their opening statements at the Geneva talks on 22 February 2006. The contents of the statements brought into sharp relief the political gulf between the two sides on the Agreement. That was of course evident well before Geneva. The LTTE leader, Veluppillai Prabhakaran, had unveiled the organisation’s one-point agenda for Geneva, to “discuss only the full and speedy implementation of the Agreement” (Viduthalai Puligal, jan/06). The underlying logic is simple. The Sinhala government and LTTE could fully implement the Agreement in letter and spirit.
Sri Lanka to turn back clocks by 30 mins in April
[ Reuters ] [ 11:42 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka will permanently move its clocks back by half an hour in April, a senior official said on Monday, putting the island five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in line with neighbor India.The director of the policy research and information unit at the Sri Lanka's president's office, Lucien Rajakarunanayake, said the decision came after parents complained that it was still dark when children left for school in the mornings.The move will reverse a 1996 decision to move the clocks forward to reduce electricity consumption in the evenings, pleasing politically powerful Buddhist monks and astrologers who never accepted the original change.The government decision will also put clocks in the island in line with Tamil Tiger rebels, de facto rulers of a seventh of Sri Lanka, who never adopted the original time change in their territory.
Sri Lankan president summons all parties in effort to save peace process
[ China Post ] [ 11:49 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's president summoned the leaders of all major political parties on Monday in a bid to salvage the country's faltering peace process, threatened by increasing violence as well as by sharp differences among his allies. "We all have to discuss and find ways to continue the peace process," President Mahinda Rajapakse told the party leaders _ ranging from radical Buddhist monks to Marxists. It was the first meeting of all major parties since Feb. 22-23 talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva, where they agreed to scale down violence and meet again on April 19-21. However, truce monitors fear a recent resumption of attacks _ with three deaths in three days _ could put the talks in jeopardy. The opposition UNP, which previously said it would back the government's peace efforts, is now demanding more transparency.
Vaiko's new friends
[ Rediff ] [ 12:04 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
The expected has happened. That Vaiko and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would move away from the Democratic Progressive Alliance, more appropriately from the DMK, was expected even before the campaign for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections began. Even before the 'two brothers' (Karunanidhi and Vaiko) embraced each other. It all began with the way Sun TV 'blacklisted' Vaiko from the day he was released from jail after his incarceration under the Prevention Of Terrorism Act, and set out on a padayatra in the state. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when Vaiko finally clinched an alliance with the ruling All India Anna DMK headed by J Jayalalithaa. But some questions remain unanswered: how can Vaiko be friends with the person who had him detained indefinitely under POTA till a court order released him out after 500 days? How can Vaiko be on the same platform with the person whom he once called a fascist?
Marxists call on Sri Lanka to take tougher line on rebels
[ AFP ] [ 12:16 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
A key ally of Sri Lanka's government urged a tougher stance against Tamil rebels and to beef up training for the country's security forces to deter the Tigers from going back to war. "The government of Sri Lanka should speak softly and carry a big stick, which will greatly negate the LTTE threat of a return to hostilities," the Marxist JVP said Monday after a routine meeting of political parties with President Mahinda Rajapakse to discuss the island's peace process. The JVP, or People's Liberation Front, whose support is crucial for the survival of Rajapakse's minority government, said in a statement it opposed Colombo making concessions to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during talks in Switzerland last month.
Lanka's masked realities
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 12:40 GMT, Mar. 6, 2006 ]
For a poor country Sri Lanka has indeed taken impressive strides in social development. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is lower, and life expectancy and literacy are higher in comparison with other South Asian countries. But this is a façade, which hides a grim reality, points out Dr ST Hettige, Professor of Sociology at the University of Colombo. "By giving all the necessary shots to the child, it can be made to survive. But what kind of life is this child going to lead in the coming years? We don't seem to give much thought to this question," he told Hindustan Times.