srilanka1998
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Battered by tsunami and war, Sri Lanka vote is a referendum on a faltering peace process
[ AP ] [ 01:30 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's year opened with the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami and is closing with a presidential election that highlights its deep divisions over how to end its 22-year civil war. Thursday's vote comes against a daily backdrop of bombings and drive-by shootings in a land of tea plantations and wide, sunny beaches that is one of South Asia's worst bleeding sores. The vote for a successor to Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka's pioneering peacemaker and president for the past 11 years, has become a referendum on how to deal with the Tamil Tigers and their war for autonomy in the northeast of the island.
A Unitary Unit, Federalism or Independence
[ Illangai Thamizh Sangam ] [ 03:28 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
The international community, the SLFP as led by Mrs Kumaratunge, the UNF and the LTTE are all supposedly committed to seeking a Federal Constitution to solve the nation's ethnic dilemma. Federalism, however, is a vague and uncertain concept. The ISGA proposal by the LTTE is the only concrete alternative to an Unitary Constitution made so far. Regardless of whether this amounts to Federalism or something more than that, the fact is that neither the international community, nor the SLFP as defined above have offered any acceptable alternative to these proposals. All the international community, the SLFP and the UNP have done is condemn the idea of separation, which in essence amounts to nothing more than Independence from the continuing Sinhalese domination and suppression of Tamil aspirations.
Mahinda or Ranil - What Difference to the Nation ?
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 03:34 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
One would imagine that with all the thunder and bluster being generated in the run-up to the presidential elections by the two main contenders Messrs. Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremesinghe, that each of them are offering serious alternate policies to put this country on the path towards peace and prosperity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both their manifestos not only give the most superficial treatment to the issues bedeviling this country - wretched governance and corruption, the ethnic conflict, the economy and inequity but also in a strange sort of way in word and deed give the impression that it will be business as usual under both dispensations particularly in respect of our miserable governance with hardly any accountability, corruption and the ethnic conflict.
Sri Lanka candidates to woo India
[ PTI ] [ 12:31 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
With Sri Lanka's presidential election campaign drawing to a close tomorrow, the two main contenders are poles apart on how to deal with the peace process and economy, but both want India's help in various areas if elected. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse wants India's help in the peace process although he has not clearly spelt out what that role should be. He has hinted about getting India involved in a monitoring role. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is also seeking India's support to modernise Sri Lanka's armed forces and the police if he is elected. He wants New Delhi's help to set up a rapid deployment unit to deal with inter-communal clashes especially in the island's multi-ethnic eastern province.
Lankan poll: Eastern Muslims divided
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 15:21 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
If one takes Sri Lanka as a whole, Muslims are backing the United National Party (UNP), whose candidate in the November 17 presidential election is Ranil Wickremesinghe. But in the Eastern districts, where the community is politically important, it is split down the middle between Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Muslims, who are 8.5 per cent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million, are the third largest community in the Island, and are much sought after by the major political parties. Local conditions, past affiliations, and the influence of local leaders seemed to matter in the Muslims' choice. In Pottuvil, for instance, the fact that the area had been a long standing stronghold of the UNP seemed to be a decisive influence.
Sri Lanka vote campaign winding down peacefully
[ AFP ] [ 15:22 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka has banned liquor sales and political rallies ahead of this week's presidential vote as monitors described campaigning so far as the most peaceful in decades. The government announced that bars would remain shut for four days before and one day after Thursday's election while all campaign rallies must end by midnight Monday. The ban on political meetings will continue for another week after the election, police said on Sunday adding that the move was aimed at preventing celebrations that could lead to violence. "This has been the most peaceful election campaign in the past 20 years," said Kingsley Rodrigo, the head of the main poll monitoring outfit, People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL).
Hardline allies cost Sri Lanka's PM votes in east
[ Reuters ] [ 15:26 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan barber Nicholas Aruldas likes Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, but he cannot bring himself to vote for him at this month's presidential election. Like many fellow minority ethnic Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka's war-torn, tsunami-battered east, Aruldas has been scared off by Rajapakse's hardline Marxist and Sinhalese nationalist allies and says he has no choice but to vote for his main opponent instead. "The Prime Minister is a good person and friend of the poor," Aruldas said as he trimmed a client's hair in his modest salon in the eastern town of Batticaloa. "But we can't vote for him because of his alliances with the (Marxist) People's Liberation Front and National Heritage Party," he added.
Only under self-ruled Northeast, free and normal education is feasible - Tamil students
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 15:26 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
The declaration at the student uprising convention, attended by more than 2000 students from 72 schools in Jaffna, held at the Kailasapathy hall in Jaffna University on Friday asserted that, free and normal education is feasible only in a self-ruled Northeast. The full text of the declaration follows: Tamil people have a long history of educational tradition. This tradition gave very high priority for the education of the next generation whatever the family's financial situation happens to be. Therefore, they are a highly civilised people possessing outstanding institutions. Not only that, they use their education as their primary resource for their livelihood. They have served well in government sectors before independence in 1948. The universities were filled with Tamil students prior to 1970.
[ AP ] [ 01:30 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's year opened with the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami and is closing with a presidential election that highlights its deep divisions over how to end its 22-year civil war. Thursday's vote comes against a daily backdrop of bombings and drive-by shootings in a land of tea plantations and wide, sunny beaches that is one of South Asia's worst bleeding sores. The vote for a successor to Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka's pioneering peacemaker and president for the past 11 years, has become a referendum on how to deal with the Tamil Tigers and their war for autonomy in the northeast of the island.
A Unitary Unit, Federalism or Independence
[ Illangai Thamizh Sangam ] [ 03:28 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
The international community, the SLFP as led by Mrs Kumaratunge, the UNF and the LTTE are all supposedly committed to seeking a Federal Constitution to solve the nation's ethnic dilemma. Federalism, however, is a vague and uncertain concept. The ISGA proposal by the LTTE is the only concrete alternative to an Unitary Constitution made so far. Regardless of whether this amounts to Federalism or something more than that, the fact is that neither the international community, nor the SLFP as defined above have offered any acceptable alternative to these proposals. All the international community, the SLFP and the UNP have done is condemn the idea of separation, which in essence amounts to nothing more than Independence from the continuing Sinhalese domination and suppression of Tamil aspirations.
Mahinda or Ranil - What Difference to the Nation ?
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 03:34 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
One would imagine that with all the thunder and bluster being generated in the run-up to the presidential elections by the two main contenders Messrs. Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremesinghe, that each of them are offering serious alternate policies to put this country on the path towards peace and prosperity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both their manifestos not only give the most superficial treatment to the issues bedeviling this country - wretched governance and corruption, the ethnic conflict, the economy and inequity but also in a strange sort of way in word and deed give the impression that it will be business as usual under both dispensations particularly in respect of our miserable governance with hardly any accountability, corruption and the ethnic conflict.
Sri Lanka candidates to woo India
[ PTI ] [ 12:31 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
With Sri Lanka's presidential election campaign drawing to a close tomorrow, the two main contenders are poles apart on how to deal with the peace process and economy, but both want India's help in various areas if elected. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse wants India's help in the peace process although he has not clearly spelt out what that role should be. He has hinted about getting India involved in a monitoring role. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is also seeking India's support to modernise Sri Lanka's armed forces and the police if he is elected. He wants New Delhi's help to set up a rapid deployment unit to deal with inter-communal clashes especially in the island's multi-ethnic eastern province.
Lankan poll: Eastern Muslims divided
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 15:21 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
If one takes Sri Lanka as a whole, Muslims are backing the United National Party (UNP), whose candidate in the November 17 presidential election is Ranil Wickremesinghe. But in the Eastern districts, where the community is politically important, it is split down the middle between Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Muslims, who are 8.5 per cent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million, are the third largest community in the Island, and are much sought after by the major political parties. Local conditions, past affiliations, and the influence of local leaders seemed to matter in the Muslims' choice. In Pottuvil, for instance, the fact that the area had been a long standing stronghold of the UNP seemed to be a decisive influence.
Sri Lanka vote campaign winding down peacefully
[ AFP ] [ 15:22 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka has banned liquor sales and political rallies ahead of this week's presidential vote as monitors described campaigning so far as the most peaceful in decades. The government announced that bars would remain shut for four days before and one day after Thursday's election while all campaign rallies must end by midnight Monday. The ban on political meetings will continue for another week after the election, police said on Sunday adding that the move was aimed at preventing celebrations that could lead to violence. "This has been the most peaceful election campaign in the past 20 years," said Kingsley Rodrigo, the head of the main poll monitoring outfit, People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL).
Hardline allies cost Sri Lanka's PM votes in east
[ Reuters ] [ 15:26 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan barber Nicholas Aruldas likes Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, but he cannot bring himself to vote for him at this month's presidential election. Like many fellow minority ethnic Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka's war-torn, tsunami-battered east, Aruldas has been scared off by Rajapakse's hardline Marxist and Sinhalese nationalist allies and says he has no choice but to vote for his main opponent instead. "The Prime Minister is a good person and friend of the poor," Aruldas said as he trimmed a client's hair in his modest salon in the eastern town of Batticaloa. "But we can't vote for him because of his alliances with the (Marxist) People's Liberation Front and National Heritage Party," he added.
Only under self-ruled Northeast, free and normal education is feasible - Tamil students
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 15:26 GMT, Nov. 13, 2005 ]
The declaration at the student uprising convention, attended by more than 2000 students from 72 schools in Jaffna, held at the Kailasapathy hall in Jaffna University on Friday asserted that, free and normal education is feasible only in a self-ruled Northeast. The full text of the declaration follows: Tamil people have a long history of educational tradition. This tradition gave very high priority for the education of the next generation whatever the family's financial situation happens to be. Therefore, they are a highly civilised people possessing outstanding institutions. Not only that, they use their education as their primary resource for their livelihood. They have served well in government sectors before independence in 1948. The universities were filled with Tamil students prior to 1970.