Sri Lanka

Taxonomy Color
red

  • IC in disarray over war and casualties

    Feb 03
    As the number of Tamil civilian deaths mounted inside the government proposed safety zone due to artillery bombardment by Sri Lankan forces, the co-chairs and India reacted with varying responses showing disarray within the international community on Sri Lanka’s ongoing civil war.
     
    The Royal Norwegian government, which facilitated the latest peace process between Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), condemned the war whilst the European Union and the United Kingdom demanded a humanitarian ceasefire to supply food and medicine and create a safe passage for civilians.
     
    Over 500 civilians died last week in the military’s deliberate shelling of populated areas, including the ‘safe zone’ Colombo announced.
     
    The United States and Canada limited their reactions to merely expressing their concern but India and Japan remained unmoved by the plight of the Tamils caught in the war.
     
     
    Humanitarian ceasefire
     
    EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel on Thursday, January 29 called for a ceasefire between Sri Lankan forces and LTTE to allow food and medical supplies to be sent to the civilians living in the LTTE controlled territory in Vanni.
     
    "This is an escalating humanitarian catastrophe. We are extremely worried about the terrible situation facing people trapped in the fighting," in the combat zone in the northeast of the island, Michel said in a statement.
     
    "Everything must be done to prevent the suffering of the population and stop further bloodshed and I therefore urge that a window of cessation of hostilities be agreed by the parties to allow civilians to leave the combat zone," he urged.
     
    Michel said that "many civilians have died and hundreds of wounded people are deprived of adequate medical care."
     
    The EU's Michel said the top priorities at the moment were the safe passage for food convoys organised by the World Food Programme, and full access for medical staff and life-saving medicines.
    On the Same day, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to agree on immediate 'Humanitarian Ceasefire'.
     
    Miliband said in his statement that "military advances by the Sri Lankan Government against the LTTE have come at a severe humanitarian cost."
     
    Humanitarian corridors must now be set up and respected by both sides so that civilians have the opportunity to move away from the conflict area and humanitarian assistance can be safely delivered, he said.

    Political observers, commenting on statements made by the UK noted the adjective of the nuanced statement 'Humanitarian Ceasefire', and said that it may imply allowing Colombo government to continue its war while separating civilians from the LTTE.
    No ceasefire
    However, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's human rights minister, rejected calls for a ceasefire, vowing to continue the military offensive against the LTTE.
    "There will be no ceasefire," Samarasinghe said.
    "We will continue with our military operations and we will continue to liberate areas which had not been liberated so far."
    US Saddened
     
    On Friday January 31, the United States expressed its concern over humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka and hoped the 25-year old civil war would soon come to an end, without urging the Sri Lankan government which is waging the bloody war to end it.

    "We're very concerned about the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka," State Department spokesman, Robert Wood, told reporters at his daily press briefing yesterday when asked about the worsening humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

    Wood said the US is working through UN organisations to try to provide whatever help it can.

    "It's a very sad situation, especially some of the attacks against the media. We've been very concerned about that," he said.

    Terming it as a longstanding conflict, Wood said the US would like to see a better outcome of this civil war in Sri Lanka.

    "Hopefully at some point, you know, this war will come to an end and, the Sri Lankan people can begin to think about a better life for themselves and their children," he said.
     
     
    Deep concern
     
    Canada also reflected similar sentiments, in a statement of its own, expressing its deep concern by the ongoing unrest in northeast of Sri Lanka.
     
    "Recent developments underline the urgent need for progress toward a meaningful and durable political solution," Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said.
     
    "Canada calls on all parties to allow full, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers, and ensure the safe and voluntary movement of civilians from combat zones," said Cannon.
     
    The Canadian government, added that it continues "to deliver strong messages to all parties to the conflict about the importance of a return to the peace process and the need to promote and protect the values of freedom, human rights and the rule of law."
     
     
    Unmoved
     
    India which sent its Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, did not release any statements demanding a ceasefire or condemning the killing of civilians.
     
    Japan, which is the second largest aid provider to Sri Lanka, after Iran, was also not concerned with the civilian casualties.
     
    Japan’s special envoy Yashushi Akashi, was quoted by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry as “expressing satisfaction at the efforts by the Sri Lanka Government to safeguard the civilian population in the north.
  • Karunanidhi falls inline with Delhi, Abandons Tamils
    Backing Delhi's stand on Sri Lankan ethnic conflict, ruling Dravida Muneetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, February 3 urged the Sri Lankan government to ‘extend its full cooperation’ to ‘work out a permanent solution which will ensure full devolution of powers and autonomy to Tamils living in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka’ while washing its hands off the ceasefire demand saying the state government had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign country.
     
    Spelling out DMK’s stand on the issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said he wanted a solution to the issue in "a democratic way", effectively distancing the party from Tamil freedom struggle.
     
    It is for the first time that the DMK had openly backed autonomy and devolution of powers as a solution to end the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.
    The party had earlier rejected the 1987 Indo-Lanka accord which envisaged the concept of devolution of powers. The LTTE and the Tamils and rejected the accord.
     
    Commenting Karunanidhi’s change of stance, Paataali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader Dr. S. Ramadoss criticized the DMK Executive Council resolutions for not containing any ceasefire demand.
     
    "Does Karunanidhi not know that ceasefire is a prerequiste for peace-talks? Does this omission not reveal that the Rajapakse Government and the Karunanidhi Government are no different at the ideological level?" he said.

    The PMK leader said that the DMK Government had "washed his hands off" the Eelam Tamils. The creation of a welfare organization for Lankan Tamils was done as early as 1958 by the DMK. Ramadoss wondered why the DMK was pulling the Eelam struggle back by half a century.
  • As war nears end, India's power blunted in Sri Lanka
    After decades of strong-arming tiny neighbour Sri Lanka, India finds itself jostling for influence as the civil war nears an end, its power blunted by the island nation's growing ties with Pakistan and China.
     
    While domestic political sensitivities over the fate of Sri Lanka's Tamils forced India to ease its leverage, rivals China and Pakistan stepped into the breach, offering Colombo military assistance in its war against the Tamil Tigers.
     
    China has sold Jian-7 fighters, anti-aircraft guns and JY-11 3D air surveillance radars to the resurgent Sri Lankan army as it seeks to finish one of Asia's longest-running wars by squeezing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters in a shrinking patch of jungle in the north.
     
    Pakistan also supplied the army small arms, multi-barrel rocket launchers and trained Sri Lankan air force in precision guided attacks against the LTTE, strategic analysts said.
     
    "There have been several shipments of weapons from Pakistan. What has made a real difference to the outcome of the war is the Sri Lankan air force which has been rigorously trained by Pakistan in precision-guided attacks.," retired Indian army major general Ashok Mehta said.
     
    India, by contrast, has limited its military assistance to the Sri Lankan army to "defensive weapons".
     
    India has been limited by its insistence on protection of Sri lanka's Tamils, who are closely linked to 60 million Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, across a narrow strait from Sri Lanka.
     
    "The shine has somewhat gone off from the leverage India has over Sri Lanka, partly because India has allowed it to happen," said Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternative.
     
    China's and Pakistan's help against Tamil Tigers may have been crucial, a former Sri Lankan official said.
     
    "If not for China and Pakistan, we would not have been able to finish off the insurgency," K. Godage, a former deputy head of Sri Lanka's foreign office, told Reuters.
     
    India trained and armed Tamil Tigers in the early 1980s and followed it up a disastrous 1987-1990 peacekeeping foray into Sri Lanka, which has cast a long shadow over the war and made Sri Lanka wary of its giant neighbour.
     
    National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan asked Sri Lanka to stop seeking arms from China or Pakistan last year, saying India as the regional power would still meet its defence requirements.
     
    Narayanan made an unscheduled visit to Colombo last year to ensure Sri Lanka did not become a cockpit of regional rivalry, as with Afghanistan where Islamabad fears the influence of India.
     
    This week, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the two discussed safety measures for Tamils trapped in fighting between the army and Tamil Tigers separatists, and post-war reconstruction.
     
    The visit was also to cool tensions with Tamil Nadu politicians in India's ruling coalition who are sympathetic to the Tigers and demand India broker a ceasefire.
     
    WIDER POWER STRUGGLE
     
    The strategic battle in Sri Lanka is seen as part of a wider power struggle in South Asia, involving not only India and Pakistan but also China, which seeks to gain influence in the important economic region. China has made strides developing strategic assets, like the Gwadar port in Pakistan, the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota and assets in Yangon, part of a strategy to protect shipping lanes.
     
    Sri Lanka sits next to shipping lanes that feed 80 percent of China's and 65 percent of India's oil needs.
     
    "There is a convergence of strategic interest in Sri Lanaka among regional powers," said security analyst C. Uday Bhaskar.
     
    But ignoring India may be hard for Sri Lanka. As the war appears to draws to a close, the focus is turning to the state of Sri Lanka's $32 billion economy.
     
    Sri Lanka is suffering from costly short-term foreign debt. The war is expected to cost nearly $2 billion this year.
     
    Indian investments in Sri Lanka have grown. Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top mobile operator, launched operations in Sri Lanka with a $200 million investment this month. Sri Lanka is also dependent on India for much of its fuel.
     
    "Strategic relationship is also governed by trade, and India has a lot of room to manoeuvre in Sri Lanka," Saravanamuttu said.
  • Tamils protest Vanni killings, mandate Eelam
    Hundreds of thousands of Diaspora Tamils gathered in their countries of residence to protest at the killing of civilians in the Vanni and at the continuing war in which civilian hospitals and safe zones are being targeted.
     
    In Britain, the largest ever gathering – over 100,000 people – marched through the centre of London on January 31 carrying placards calling for an end to the war and expressing their support for an independent Tamil Eelam (see separate story).
     
    In a show of solidarity with the Northeast Tamils caught up in the war in Sri Lanka, about 45,000 Canadian Tamils people took part in the protest throughout the day on January 30, forming a human chain. There were about 30,000 people on Front St. alone, Toronto Star reported.
     
    The large number of protesters at the Union Station, causing such an overwhelming sea of humanity that police were forced to close off the roadway for a time, City news reported
     
    “It was an amazing sight, all the more so because it stayed so peaceful. There are probably thousands, tens of thousands of Tamils here all trying to bring some attention to their cause," confirmed CityNews reporter Francis D'Souza at the height of the madness.
     
    "You can see them on the street corners here trying to hand out pamphlets just to let people know what they're actually talking about."
     
    Many held up copies of photographs of children maimed and killed in the violence. Others wore armbands or carried banners denouncing the deaths of civilians in this latest bloody phase of a civil war that has gone on for a generation, the Star said.
     
    University of Toronto graduate student Supanki Kalanadan, who helped organize the massive rally, said the only hope now is for a ceasefire.
     
    "People have no access to food or shelter. Everyone here has someone back there who is affected," the Star quoted Ms Kalanadan as saying.
     
    In Australia, events are occurring across Sydney and Melbourne. In Sydney, a mass hunger strike has been underway for days to highlight the unfolding humanitarian crises taking place in the North East.
     
    Organised by members of the Tamil community, the fast transformed a Hindu temple into a temporary epicentre of angst and despair against the Sri Lankan Government’s military campaign.
     
    “The people in the North East continue to live in fear of aerial bombing and mortar attacks on an hourly basis and still the world continues to ignore their pleas for help” said Janakan Sivaram, an active member of the Tamil youth community, who have been instrumental in the growing voices of discontent towards the lack of global condemnation towards an unfolding genocide.
     
    “We have protested and lobbied relentlessly to bring to light the fate of the tamil people, now it has come to the stage where we are willing to go the extreme measures to make our voices heard by the Australian government and its people”.
     
    Norwegian Tamils, spurred by the brutal attacks by the Sri Lanaka armed forces killing and maiming many innocent Tamils in Vanni, gathered unannounced in front of the Norwegian Parliament on January 31, voicing that each hour delay in stopping the war will increase the number of people killed in Vanni.
     
    The Norwegian Tamils called on the Norwegian government to urge the Sri Lanka government to stop the war on the Tamils in Vanni in its capacity and right as the key actor in bringing peace in Sri Lanka.
     
    Meanwhile, hundreds of Berlin Tamils engaged in a similar spontaneous demonstration in front of the Indian High Commission in Berlin January 30, demanding the Indian Government to immediately stop its assistance to Sri Lanka in killing the Tamils in Vanni.
     
    The Berlin Tamils continued their protest demonstration shouting slogans bearing the photo of Muthukumar who laid his life in self-immolation in support of the Eelam Tamils in Chennai, for nearly 3 hours in front of the Indian High Commission in Berlin.
     
    India too saw a number of activists take to protests and rallies, the largest of which was the funeral of Muthukumar, the Tamil Nadu journalist who self-immolated in protest at the war and at India’s silence on the matter (see separate story).
     
    More than a 1000 Tamil activists belonging to various political organizations and social movements laid siege to the Tanjore Air Force base on January 31, violating prohibitive orders.
     
    The activists, led by Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam President Kolathur T.S.Mani and Thamil Desiya Pothuvudamai Katchi (Tamil National Communist Party) General Secretary P. Maniarasan, were protesting against the air-force base at Thanjavur being used by the Indian Army to supply lethal and non-lethal weaponry to Sri Lanka in its genocidal war on the Tamils.
     
    Speaking to news persons, Maniarasan charged that India's weapon supply to Colombo was routed through the Thanjavur air-force base, from where it would reach the Palali air-force base in Sri Lanka. This led to a violent confrontation between the police and the activists, media reports said. More than 1000 activists, including Kolathur Mani and Maniarasan, were arrested. 244 of them were remanded to judicial custody. Those imprisoned include women and children.
  • Canadian human chain protests genocide
    Over 50,000 Tamils took to the streets of Toronto, Canada, on January 30 to protest against the "genocide of innocents in Sri Lanka's conflict zone."
     
    Carrying banners, placards and shouting slogans in icy conditions, the protesters formed a human chain in downtown Toronto from 12 noon to 6 pm to highlight the "plight of innocent Tamils" at the hands of Sri Lankan forces.
     
    Extended over many kilometres, the human chain jammed the city centre and threw traffic into chaos.
     
    They called upon the world community to prevail upon Sri Lanka to stop the "genocide of innocent Tamils " in the name of fighting terrorism.
     
    Sharannya Mohan looked back and forth on Front St. As far as she could see, Tamils stood shoulder to shoulder denouncing what they call genocide in Sri Lanka, reported The Star newspaper.
     
    "We can't all be terrorists," the 21-year-old York University student said with a twisted smile.
     
    "It's not only Tamils that should care about this," 17-year-old Phavalan Rahendram was quoted by CBC News as saying.
     
    "This is the killing of human beings. This is a genocide."
     
    Representing the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) and various other bodies, the protesters distributed leaflets which read: "We want peace, help us," "Join us to stop the genocide," and "Then Rwanda, now Sri Lanka."
     
    CTC spokesperson David Poopala Pillai said: "Sri Lanka was fooling the international community by talking about a political solution. They are on the path to wiping off Tamils."
     
    He said Sri Lanka was lying to the world by saying that the retreating LTTE was targeting innocent civilians.
     
    Thayan Raghavan Paranchothy, spokesperson for the organisers, said they had received chilling video accounts from the "conflict zone to show the barbaric treatment of Tamils" by Sri Lankan forces.
     
    "Sri Lanka is carrying out a systematic genocide of innocent Tamils who are seeking shelter under trees. They are being lured into so-called safe zones which are then being bombed by Sri Lankan forces," he said.
     
    "On January 26, Sri Lankan artillery bombed a so-called safe zone, killing over 300 innocents and injuring thousands. Hospitals are being bombed and the injured are dying unattended," said Paranchothy who also runs the biggest Tamil Vision International television channel in Canada.
     
    The human chain converged on the historic Union Station before dispersing with an appeal to the world to stop "the genocide" by Sri Lanka.
     
    The word had gone out, via Facebook, MySpace, university and high school student associations, on several Tamil radio stations, on tamilcanadian.com and websites for some of the 30 Tamil newspapers in Toronto, that only a massive turnout would get the message to Canadians about what was happening on the tiny island off the southern tip of India.
     
    "Canadians think we all belong to the Tigers," said Milly Thangarajah, 28, who took a half-day off from her accounting job to join the throng.
     
    "That's like saying all Caucasians are in the Ku Klux Klan. I don't even have a speeding ticket."
     
    "The people have no access to food or shelter. Hospitals and orphanages are bombed. There is no medicine," said Supanki Kalanadan, 22, a University of Toronto graduate in teaching.
     
    "The government won't let media in to see what they're doing. No one has been able to contact their friends or relatives to find out what's going on."
     
    Kalanadan and Mohan left Sri Lanka as children. But the annihilation of their culture is as real to them as it is to their parents.
     
    "This is not going to end until the government has killed every single Tamil," said Kalanadan.
     
    "Everything will be lost, our traditions are already getting lost. How can we celebrate Diwali (the Hindu festival of light) when 20 people are dying every day?"
     
    Dr. Pushpa Kanagaratnam, who will be part of a panel on south Asians at the Ontario Psychological Association convention next month, has spent many of her years in Toronto working with her fellow Tamils.
     
    "The war is destroying an ethnic identity," she said told The Star. "Tamils have a collective sense of suffering. No one hasn't been touched by the war. We've known this all of our lives."
     
    Thangarajah grew up in Sri Lanka, pleaded for her father's life as soldiers held a gun to his face. "The people are no longer normal."
     
    Young people led the drive to organize the demonstration, said Mohan, because "we were educated in Canada. We have been very lucky to live here. We want to use our freedom here to say that Tamil rights need to be respected, too."
     
    Sujeepan Kalanadan and Praveen Arul, both 16, were part of a silent protest at Middlefield Collegiate in Markham this week to dramatize the Sri Lankan government stranglehold on news about the war.
     
    "There were Chinese kids who joined us," said Kalanadan. "It was good to see."
     
    "We're out here to tell Canada to take a stance with us," said University of Toronto student Shya Theba.
     
    "The last I heard from any of my family members was one month ago when they called for two minutes. They were telling us they didn't have any money to buy food, and if we send money there's no way it will reach them,” the Toronto Sun quoted her as saying.
     
    "They're pretty much stranded."
     
    Kajena Ravindra, 11, was at the protest with her entire family.
     
    "I have to see the prime minister and I have to talk to him about this," she said, her mother looking on in tears.
     
    "The government needs to take action. There are bombs falling on little children. They want food but they cannot afford it." 
  • 10,000 French Tamils demonstrate in Paris
    More than 10,000 French Tamils participated in a demonstration protesting against the killing of several hundred civilians by Sri Lanka military in the past week, and urging Pakistan to stop military and other assistance to the Sri Lanka Government to prosecute war against Tamils, sources in Paris said.
     
    The protest was organized by the World Tamil Coordnating Committee (WTCC), in the historic Etuval area of France in front of Embassy of Pakistan on January 28.
     
    The demonstration followed a spontaneously organized protest by an activist segment of French Tamils in the La Chappelle area the previous day.
     
    Demonstrators carried an effigy of Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapakse, and shouted slogans condemning the artillery attacks and aerial bombardment by Sri Lanka military that killed, in one day, more than 300 of civilians. The civilians had sought refuge in Udayaarkaddu safety zone demarcated by the Government where the military targeted their attacks.
     
    Representatives of the French Tamil community handed over a memorandum to the Pakistan Embassy official, appealing to Pakistan Government to stop aiding Colombo in the perpetration of war against Tamils.
     
    Participants in the protest said, this is the first time in France, such large numbers had assembled, and that there is marked increase in the involvement of expatriate Tamils in activities related to Tamil struggle.
     
    The previous day, several hundred French Tamils had gathered in front of the French Parliament to demonstrate in protest against the genocide of Tamils in Vanni, but they were sent back by the French police, even though they had obtained official permission, sources in Paris said.
     
    The protestors, however, went ahead and started the demonstration in La Chapelle area where the crowd swelled to around 4000 persons.
     
    Though the police asked the protestors to leave the area in the beginning later they allowed the demonstration to proceed on learning about the genocide unleashed by the Sri Lanka government on Tamil civilians in Vanni.
     
    The protestors demanded that the French media should report the large demonstration and expose Sri Lankan government’s actions. The complained that the French media is exercising self-censorship in reporting the carnage of Tamils in Vanni.
     
    The demonstration was continued until after media persons visited the site to cover the event.
     
    The Tamil traders in La Chapelle closed their business establishments offering full support to the demonstration.
     
    These were part of a series of smaller protests, including another in La Chapelle, Paris on 23 January. More than 4000 Tamil men, women and students, braving the cold weather, held hands forming a human chain. ‘Our leader is Pirabakaran!’, ‘Thamil Eelam is our country!’, ‘Tamils are as the same as the people of Kosovo!’ were some of the slogans shouted by the demonstrators.
     
    The demonstration was organized by the Tamil business owners in Paris who had closed their business establishments to join the demonstration.
  • Last statement of Muthukumar
    Dear hardworking Tamil people
     
    Vanakkam!
     
    I am sorry at having to meet you at this juncture when you are hurrying to work. But there is no other option. My name is Muthukumar. I am a journalist and an assistant director. Right now, I am working in a Chennai-based newspaper. I am also one like you. I am just another average person who has been reading newspapers and websites of how fellow Tamils are daily being killed, and like you I am unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to sleep and unable to even think.
     
    While his ancient land of Tamils lets anyone coming here, like the Seths, to flourish, our own blood, the Tamils in Eelam are dying. When we lend our voices to say the killings should be stopped, Indian imperialism maintains a stony silence and does not give out any reply. If India's war is really a justifiable one, they can wage it openly... Why should they do it stealthily?
     
    The Indian ruling class is eager to annihilate a very large population by using the hollow excuse of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in order to satisfy the vengeful and selfish goals of a few individuals. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were not the only ones charged with the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. The Jain Commission Report held that the people of Tamil Nadu were also guilty of this murder. If so, are you also the murderers who killed Rajiv Gandhi?
     
    They say the British killed people in Jallianwallahbagh, but what are they doing in Mullaiththeevu and Vanni? Look at the children being killed there. Aren't you reminded of your children? Look at the women being raped? Don't you have a sister in that age? When Rajiv Gandhi was killed why where frontline leaders of the Congress not with him? Why did Jayalalithaa, an alliance partner, not go to take part in such a massive rally that Rajiv took part in? Such questions are not being raised, and they are not being answered by them either. People, please think. Are they your leaders? What is the guarantee that these people--who indulge in politics through their money and muscle power--will not target us tomorrow? If they turn against tomorrow, who will be on our side?
     
    Kalaignar [Karunanidhi]? Even at that point of time, he will make an announcement that the members of parliament will resign. Then, he will understand (?!) the Central Government. Then, he will once again request for a right decision, and pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly--like actor Vadivel's comedy in the film Winner where he claims that no one has touched him until a particular month, a particular week, a particular time. People! A paper will not achieve anything! Now, the Election-time Tamil Kalaignar, who wants to be the leader of the worldwide Tamils and who desires to transfer all the money in Tamil Nadu to the coffers of his family, has hidden himself in the hospital afraid of bearing the brunt of people's anger. This paper tiger staged such major fights in order to get the required cabinet portfolios for his ministers, but truthfully, what has he done for Tamil or for the Tamils? He has himself admitted once, "Will the honey-gatherer remain without licking the back of his hand?" If we look at his puppet-shows, it looks as if he has done a lot of licking...
     
    In reality, the Indian military's role in Sri Lanka is not just against the Tamils. It is against all Indians. They tried the sexual techniques they learnt from Sinhalese soldiers with innocent Assamese women! They learnt the strategies of how to crush the Tamil Tigers from the Sinhalese and they applied it to crush the fighters in the north-eastern states! As if this were not enough, what do we learn from the fact that the Indian and Sri Lankan peacekeeping forces were deported from Haiti because of sexual misdemeanour? That the India-Sri Lanka alliance is not an ideological alliance, but a sexual one! So, because the alliance between the Indian and Sri Lankan armies is against the fundamental human rights of the Indian people, try to rally students and democratic organizations towards the cause on a national level.
     
    Tamil Eelam is not the need of Tamil Eelam alone, it is the need of Tamil Nadu also. Because of the fishermen of Rameswaram. There are laws in the world to protect goats and cows. But, are the Tamils of Rameswaram and the Tamils of Eelam lower than cows and goats? The Indian media carries on a systematic campaign that Tamil fishermen who cross [maritime] boundaries are attacked because of the suspicion that they might be Tamil Tigers. Don't they ever read newspapers? Often, Taiwanese fishermen are arrested at Chennai because they lost their way at sea. If it is possible for people from Taiwan, which is thousands of kilometers away to lose their way, can't they believe the fact that the Tamil fisherman from Rameswaram, which is just 12 miles away from Lanka strays away from his route?
     
    Our government is killing our brothers in Eelam by using our name, our Indian identity. The Indian government wants us to be isolated in this struggle. We don't want that to happen. So, please tell the Central Government that you too support our brothers who are fighting.
     
    People of Tamil Eelam, and Liberation Tigers....
     
    All eyes are now in the direction of Mullaiththeevu. Tamil Nadu is also emotionally only on your side. It also wants to do something else. But what can we do? We don't have a true leader like you have... Please don't leave hope. Such a leader will emerge from Tamil Nadu only in such desperate times. Until then, strengthen the hands of the Tigers. Because the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation was placed in the hands of a few selfish people, the history of Tamil Nadu has been dragged to the stone ages. Please don't do that mistake.
     
    Dear International Community, and our hope Obama...
     
    We still have hope on you. But, there is no guarantee that a sovereign republic will not torture its people through ethnic discrimination. It is possible to cite instances from America's own history. After all, boxing hero Muhammed Ali said, "The little white in my community would have come only through rape..."
     
    As long as you remain silent, India will never open its mouth. Perhaps India may break its silence after all the Tamils have been killed. Until then, are you going to keep looking at India's mouth? They say that the war in Vanni is against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. They say that the Tigers are using the people as a human shield. If that is true, why do they come into the safety zone declared by the Government and kill people? This one evidence is enough that irrespective of whether the Tamil people are dependent on the Tigers or on the Government, they are going to be killed for the sole reason that they are Tamils. Is this not genocide?
     
    If India, Pakistan and China are supplying arms, Japan is giving economic aid, and moreover India is bullying Sri Lanka and thus killing Tamils, why don't you realize that you are also committing the same murder by your silence and your blindness? Nobody becomes a terrorist simply by taking up arms.
     
    Jayalalitha says that the Tigers should lay down arms--as though the problem arose because the Tigers took up arms. In reality, the Tigers were formed because of the genocide of Tamils in Eelam, and they are not the reason for it. They are not the reason, just an outcome.
     
    As long as Indian Government's involvement was not exposed, it kept saying that this problem was an internal affair and that India could not interfere. It also said that it was aiding Sri Lanka in order to prevent China, Pakistan and America from gaining supremacy in Sri Lanka. Yet, to kill Tamils, it joins hands with Pakistan that has killed scores of Indians and was responsible for the attack on the Indian Parliament, the serial-blasts in Mumbai and the recent strikes in Mumbai. If that is so, we suspect that Pakistan's terrorism in India is a mutually agreed-upon concept created by both sides in order to exploit and squander their respective citizens.
     
    Now, they are attacking the ambulance of the International Commitee of Red Cross, are they also Tamil Tigers? They killed 17 aid workers from France, were they Tamil Tigers? China's tanks, India's spy planes, Pakistan's artillery... not only these kill our people, but the silence of the International Community also kills them. When will you realize this--after a people who greatly desire justice are totally wiped away from the face of the earth? If you are interested in adding us to the list of Aborigines, Maya and Inca peoples, each day one of us will come in front of you and kill ourselves, as it comes in one of our myths.... Please leave our sisters and our children alone. We are unable to bear this. We are fighting with the sole hope that one day we will watch them laugh whole-heartedly. Even if we accept for the sake of rhetoric that the LTTE should be punished, we must realize that both India and Sri Lanka lack the moral ground to hand out any punishment.
     
    Justice derailed is worse than justice denied.
     
    With eternal love,
    Your brother against injustice,
    Ku. Muthukumar, Kolathur, Chennai 99.
     
    Dear Tamil people, in the struggle against injustice our brothers and children have taken up the weapon of the intellect. I have used the weapon of life. You use the weapon of photocopying. Yes, make copies of this pamphlet and distribute it to your friends, relatives, and students and ensure that this support for this struggle becomes greater. Nanri.
  • New movement to protest Eelam Tamils
    Concerned by New Delhi's inaction and driven by the need to bring about change in the prevailing tragic scenario in Vanni, five leaders of prominent Tamil Nadu parties, Vaiko, Dr. S. Ramadoss, Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan and D. Pandian, jointly launched the Eelam Tamils Protection Movement (ETPM) following a consultative meeting in Chennai Wednesday. Top leaders of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Tamil Nationalist Movement held closeted discussions on how to save the Eelam Tamils.

    Tamil Nationalist Movement leader Nedumaran has been chosen as the convenor of this front. As the first step, the ETPM has announced a silent black-flag protest near the Gandhi Statue on the Marina beach in Chennai on Friday, Jan 30, Gandhi's death anniversary.
  • Sri Lankan warns civilians, fires 5000 shells targeting safety zone
    The Sri Lankan government issued a stark warning to Tamil civilians living in Vanni, raising fears that the Sri Lankan military is planning to step up artillery and aerial bombardment leading to even more civilian casualties.
     
    A government statement said the fight against the Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was at "the decisive stage" and that it could not guarantee the security of tens of thousands of non-combatants living outside a designated "safety zone" in LTTE-held territory.
     
    "The government calls on all civilians to enter the demarcated 'safety zone' as soon as possible," the statement said.
     
    "The government cannot be responsible for the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE terrorists," it added.
     
    Even though the Sri Lankan government unilaterally proposed the safety zone, its military has repeatedly targeted the area in the past week killing and wounding scores of civilians including children.
     
    On Monday February 2, alone Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired More than 5,000 artillery shells and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) rockets throughout the whole day from all directions into the safety zone.
     
    At least one hundred civilians could have been killed or maimed in the indiscriminate barrage. The casualties are uncountable as the whole population is forced to reside inside the bunkers throughout the whole day
     
    Furthermore, whilst the Sri Lankan government wants civilians to move into the safety zone, it has prevented international relief agencies operating within the zone.
     
    On Tuesday, January 27 SLA instructed UN and World Food Programme officials to keep away from 'safety zone,' which has been subjected to continuous artillery barrage, denying civilians any meaningful space of refuge, said the latest reports from the offices of the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Kilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu.
     
    "Completely given up by the International Community, the civilians are left to face the fate at the hands of their genocidal killers. Indications are that they would rather choose to die starving rather than getting caught by Colombo's army of predators," said a medical staff at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital.
    "These are people who have maternal attachment to their land and freedom."

    "If the abettors of Colombo's war, India and especially the Co-chairs, do not change their attitude, these people would face hunger and death. The situation is worse than what the world has witnessed in Congo and other countries in the Africa," he said.

    "They think people would walk into the hands of the SLA as they were forced to do in Sampoor and Vaakarai, but they fail to grasp the reality.
  • Rare images emerge of Tamils trapped in war
    A mother and father lay on the floor, their two young children cradled between them. Floral pillows and other bedding were strewn about: They were apparently sleeping when an artillery shell hit their makeshift shelter in northern Sri Lanka, instantly killing them all.
     
    This photo, taken Jan. 23, along with other pictures and video footage taken last week were given to The Associated Press by independent observers. They offer a rare glimpse of the growing toll the civil war has taken on the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the all-but-sealed conflict zone.
     
    The images show that despite repeated government denials, civilians are being killed and maimed in the fighting.
     
    Some of the victims were attacked inside a government-declared "safe zone" in LTTE-held territory and the wounded were brought to the nearby Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital, which itself has come under attack.
     
    The hospital, overflowing with wounded civilians, was shelled Monday for the fourth time in two days, killing two patients, said Kandasamy Tharmakulasingham, a government health official. A total of 11 people have been killed since the first attack on the hospital Sunday afternoon, he said.
     
    One of the last working medical institutions in the region, the hospital lies outside the "safe zone" the government established Jan. 21 inside LTTE territory as a refuge for civilians. The government pledged not to attack the safe area during its offensive against the LTTE, but it has come under repeated artillery attack, according to local health officials and human rights groups.
     
    Government troops have brought the Tamil Tigerss to the brink of defeat in recent months, forcing them out of much of the de facto state they once controlled in the north, capturing their administrative capital and shattering their dream of establishing a separate homeland for minority Tamils. The offensive has also raised growing concerns about the fate of civilians in the war zone.
    Journalists and most aid groups have been barred from the area of the fighting, but independent observers shot video footage and photographs over the past week and provided them to The Associated Press. The observers provided the images on condition they not be identified because they feared government reprisal.
     
    The photograph of the slain family was taken in the early morning of January 23 in the village of Udayarkattu inside the "safe zone," according to the observer who took the picture. It showed the bloodied bodies of a woman, two young children and a man lying among brightly colored floral pillows, a green mat, striped sheets and other bedding. A bicycle, stacked blankets and other household items could be seen in the background.
     
    An artillery shell struck between two makeshift shelters where people displaced by the fighting were staying and the family of four was killed instantly, the observer said. A second photo showed the body of a woman wearing a red-and-white checked dress lying face down under debris in another shelter nearby.
     
    The video footage, taken last week, showed Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital packed with dozens of severely wounded people, including many young children. Many of the wounded were lying on mats underneath beds because of overcrowding.
     
    The footage showed young boys and girls with amputated legs and arms, and an elderly woman missing her right leg writhing on a mat on the floor. A toddler, his head bandaged and left eye swollen closed, lay nearby, his gauze-covered hands useless as flies buzzed around his face.
     
    "We were caught in shelling after I unloaded our goods. Both my sisters were killed," a teenage boy with no arms sobbed in despair in the footage.
     
    Nearby, a middle-aged man lay on a bed with one leg amputated above the knee and the other amputated below it. "I was sleeping with my family when the shells fell," he said, gesturing helplessly.
     
    "My wife and two children, aged 7 and 10, were blown to pieces and I screamed."
     
    Another man, his right arm missing below the elbow and his left hand bandage, recalled: "I got caught in a shell attack near my house. That's all I remember. When I woke up, my hand was cut off."
     
    The footage showed young children, including a baby who appeared to be less than 1-year-old with both legs heavily bandaged.
     
    Asked about the video and photographs, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara asserted: "No civilians have been killed."
     
    "There may be civilians injured, but not due to shelling. They may be injured because they have been employed on the construction of (LTTE) defenses. Civilians maybe have been injured due to crossfire," he said.
     
    Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top health official in the war zone, estimated last week that more than 300 civilians had been killed in the recent fighting, something the government has denied. Varatharajah has not updated his estimate.
     
    The government has accused the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, of holding the civilians against their will as human shields, a charge the LTTE deny.
     
    A government spokesman insisted the civilians move en masse to the "safe zone" immediately. "The government cannot be responsible for the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE terrorists," said spokesman Lakshman Hulugalle.
     
    He did not say how the civilians could move if they were being held against their will.
     
    The United Nations said the government could not absolve itself of responsibility for the safety of the civilian population. "You can't cherry pick from the laws of war. The warring parties remain responsible for civilians at all times," U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said.
     
    President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Monday the military was on the verge of ending Asia's longest-running civil war.
     
    "The strongholds of terror once believed to be invincible ... have fallen in rapid succession, bringing the final elimination of terror from our motherland and the dawn of true freedom to all our people well within our reach," he said in a message to mark Independence Day, which falls on Wednesday, February 4.
  • Tamilnadu erupts over Eelam
    Tamil Nadu prepared for a total shut down on February 4, Sri Lanka’s Independence Day to protest against the killing Tamils in Sri Lanka. The general shutdown, called by the newly formed Eelam Tamils Protection Movement (ETPM) comes amidst widespread public anger at Delhi’s continued support for Sri Lanka’s war.
     
    In the past week, 2 people have committed suicide by self-immolating themselves in protest of Delhi’s continued support to Sri Lankan state. A third person who jumped from a 100-metre high telecommunications tower protesting against Indian inaction against Sri Lanka’s brutal war against Tamils.
     
    Businesses associated with Sri Lanka, including Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lankan Airlines, were attacked and destroyed.
     
    Across the state, students observed fasts and trade unionists, womens organisations and lawyers took to the streets against the continuing killing of Tamils in the neighbouring island.
     
    Student uprising
     
    On January 23 200,000 students from various schools and colleges took part in a state wide boycott in support of Eelam Tamils. Students of more than five colleges in the state are on indefinite hunger strike and in various parts of the state, students are indulging in road-blockades and are taking out processions to show their solidarity with the Eelam Tamils.

    As means of diffusing the student uprising, the government of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, January 31 announced an indefinite closure of all state-aided, state-run and private colleges in the state.
     
    "This reminds us of the 1965 anti-Hindi agitations that rocked Tamil Nadu. At that point of time too, colleges were indefinitely closed that lasted well over three months," said a senior Tamil activist.
     
    Advocates in indefinite boycott
     
    Demanding the International Community to impose sanctions on Sri Lanka and calling for the resignation of Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his approach to the Tamil issue, the Madras High Court Advocates Association Thursday, January 29 called for an indefinite boycott of courts.
     
    The Tamil Nadu Advocates Association, the other major lawyers collective, has also asked its members to abstain from court proceedings for a week.

    Madras High Court Advocates Association President Paul Kanagaraj has called for an association meeting Tuesday to chart out the future course of action.

    Likewise, the Tamil Nadu Advocates Association President S Prabakaran has urged the Center to take steps to stop the genocide of Tamils.
  • Gothabaya says hospitals are legitimate target, patients flee repeated shelling
    As Sri Lankan Army repreatedly targeted the last two functioning hospitals in LTTE controlled territory in Vanni killing and maiming scores of civilians, the country’s Defence Secretary declared that hospitals are legitimate targets in the ongoing conflict.
     
    "No hospital should operate outside the Safety Zone...everything beyond the safety is a legitimate target," Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse told the Sky News,
     
    In recent days Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has fired artillery shells targeting the last two functioning hospitals inside LTTE controlled territory in Vanni.
     
    A nurse who was attending a wounded patient at Udaiyaarkaddu makeshift hospital (Kilinochchi hospital) was killed when 3 shells hit the hospital. 10 civilians, including ICRC/SLRC staff stationed in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu, were wounded, according to a civilian source.
     
    This was the fourth attack on Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital in the last few days.
     
    SLA shelled Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital on Sunday February 1, killing nine civilians, including patients and their family members in the ward. More than 15 civilians were injured.
     
    The indiscriminate attack on the hospital has caused panic and tension among the hundreds of wounded civilians at the hospital. The shelling has come despite repeated calls from the medical authorities not to fire shells on the civilian medical facility and within a few hours of a public statement from the ICRC, which said it was shocked by the shelling on hospital twice in recent days.
     
    "Three artillery barrages struck a hospital in Sri Lanka’s chaotic war zone, slamming into its pediatrics ward and its women’s wing and killing nine patients," Associated Press report said quoting ICRC.

    Earlier, the Sri Lankan military commander of Vanni SF-HQ had instructed the Government Agent of Mullaiththeevu district to shift the hospital to safety zone, giving an ultimatum to the officials. However, as the attacks continued, the ICRC and UN officials had to seek refuge at the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu.
     
    A United Nations humanitarian spokesman in Sri Lanka today voiced concern over the shelling of a hospital in the zone of fighting between the Government and rebel forces, emphasizing the ever-increasing threat to the lives of some 250,000 civilians trapped by the conflict.
     
    Gordon Weiss of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the hospital, in the north-east of the island nation, was shelled numerous times over the past day, resulting in the killing of 11 people altogether, including one nurse.
     
    Mr. Weiss said that it is uncertain where the shellfire came from but that his office had notified both the Government and the separatist LTTE about the damage, but the strikes have not halted.
     
    Analysts point out that Gothabaya interview comments to Sky News is virual admission to the culpability of SLA shelling Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital.
     
    The hospital has around 600 patients, with new people arriving all the time of which hundreds are critically injured and cannot be treated.
     
    Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.

    Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a signatory to the First, Second and Third Geneva Conventions and it ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, by accession to it, on 23.02.1959.
  • Poor response to Rajapakse’s safe passage offer
    The 48-hour deadline served by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the LTTE on Thursday, January 29, to allow the displaced to move to safer areas expired on Friday with very few civilians taking up the offer.
     
    The LTTE labelled the offer a “deception”' and called for an “internationally mooted ceasefire” to provide meaningful relief to civilians caught in the war. However, Sri Lanka swiftly rejected any possibility of a ceasefire.
     
    In the 48-hours, only 26 civilians crossed through Oamanthai into Sri Lankan government controlled area, according to Vavuniya District Secretariat sources.
     
    Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military sources put the number of civilians who crossed Oamanthai at 65.
     
    Rajapakse said he was offering safe passage to the civilians so they could leave the LTTE held territory. Earlier Rajapakse accused the LTTE of refusing to let the civilians leave.
     
    "I urge the [LTTE], within the next 48 hours to allow free movement of civilians to ensure their safety and security. For all those civilians, I assure a safe passage to a secure environment," he said.
     
    However, LTTE political wing leader B Nadesan denied the LTTE was blocking civilians.
     
    Nadesan speaking to the BBC said the people did not wish to end up in the hands of "their killers".

    Nadesan told BBC's Chris Morris in Colombo that 28 people had been killed by shellfire during Rajapakse's offer of 48 hour safe passage period.
     
    Tamil observers pointed out that the safe passage offers came with no practical measures in place to facilitate the movement of people through heavily militarised areas and forward defence localities. The government did not request the help of ICRC or any other aid agency to monitor or support the movement of people.
     
    MDMK leader Vaiko commenting on the 48-hour ceasefire announced by Rajapakse said it was only aimed at "fooling" the world.
     
    In a statement released in Chennai, Vaiko said 'unless there is an unconditional ceasefire, the present announcement can only be seen as an excuse to intensify army offensive and aimed at fooling the world," Vaiko said.
     
    India cannot claim credit to the latest announcement of truce from Colombo, as "it never pressed for a ceasefire," with the Sri Lankan leadership, he said.
     
    New Delhi, however, saw the offer differently and welcomed Sri Lanka’s announcement that its army would allow a safe passage to Tamil civilians trapped in northern parts of the island nation and hoped they would be able to move to safety from the area of conflict between military and LTTE.

    "India welcomes this important announcement and hopes that with implementation of these steps, the condition of civilians caught in those conflict areas will improve," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters in New Delhi.

    Menon noted that safety of civilians trapped in northern areas was one of the issues discussed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee with Rajapakse during his visit to Colombo recently.

    "We are happy to see the steps being taken by Sri Lanka and we hope that all civilians will be able to move to safety," the Foreign Secretary said.
  • Sri Lanka spends over $1 billion defending the Rupee
    The Sri Lankan government which is adamant that the local currency, Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR), will not be devalued continued spending large sums of its already dwindling foreign reserves trying to prop up the Rupee at its current levels against the US Dollar.
     
    Since peg defence began by selling dollars and injecting liquidity to sterilize cash shortages, a total of 1,182 million dollars had been spent, reports Lanka Business Online (LBO).
     
    In December alone, Sri Lanka spent 125 million US dollars defending the rupee in foreign exchange markets, LBO reported citing the latest data.
     
    In early December the peg was loosened and the rupee moved steadily from 110 to over 113 to the US dollar. However in the latter part of December, the central bank spent 160.20 million US dollars in the month and also bought 34.50 million from the market., LBO reported.
     
    The highest amount of 587.7 million US dollars was spent in October when the rupee was tightly pegged to the US dollar at just under 108 rupees, according to Central Bank data, LBO reported.
     
    In the past week however a new dollar peg had started to develop around 113.87 rupees to the US dollar, and reserve losses have again started to pick up, dealers told LBO.
     
    According to LBO, excessive sterilized intervention of a dollar peg usually snowballs into a severe currency crisis, a process which some monetary economists call 'amplification.'
     
    According to official data end-November foreign reserves were 2,029 million dollars.
    Since the end of November to January 16 the central bank's holding of Treasury bills had increased from 92.8 billion rupees to 151.0 billion rupees or 510 million dollars at an average exchange rate of 113.80 rupees.
     
    The monetary base of the country (reserve money) was at 259 billion last week from 253 billion rupees at the end of November indicating an increase of around 50 million US dollars over the same period.
     
    The increase in the central bank Treasury bill holdings, less the increase in the monetary base indicates an approximate level of sterilization of foreign reserve losses and appropriations, reported LBO.
     
    At the 2,029 million dollars level at end-November, the Central Bank said foreign reserves were enough to cover 1.7 months of imports, reported LBO.
  • Sri Lanka denies FX crisis, banks on 'patriotic Diaspora'
    Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to little more than enough for six weeks of imports. And Japan, traditionally the island’s biggest donor, is cutting aid globally.
     
    But while local economists say the situation is critical government will inevitably have devalue the rupee by 20% this year or accept a conditions-laced bailout package from the IMF, the Central Bank is adamant neither is necessary, the Sunday Times reported.
     
    Instead, the government is to launch a campaign on February 4, Independence Day, to attract Sinhalese expatriates to invest in Sri Lankan treasury bills and bonds.
     
    The Sunday Times quoted a top Colombo economist as saying foreign reserves of around 1.5 months worth of imports was precarious and immediate solutions needed to be found.
     
    “Any level below two months is worrying while three months is the acceptable level,” he said, adding that even if tea prices rise and oil prices continue at low levels, petrol bills have to be paid (at least $2 billion a year) while the CB will be compelled to eat into the depleted foreign resources to defend the rupee in the money markets.
     
    Another economist said Japan, Sri Lanka’s largest donor, was cutting aid globally.
     
    Sri Lanka’s overall balance-of-payments was negative, which the CB was hiding from the public by not disclosing the (correct) figure, according to Dr Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Principal Researcher of the Point Pedro Institute of Development and currently Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar in the US.
     
    He however feels a depreciation of the rupee at this moment is too little too late and says approaching the IMF is the only realistic option.
     
    The last time Sri Lanka got an IMF standby credit facility was in 2001 which was required to buy costly military equipment after the Elephant Pass military camp was taken over by the LTTE, and due to high oil prices. Last week Elephant Pass was re-captured by government troops.
     
    Most economists contend that the government is left with few options – either devalue by 20%, seek an IMF package or enforce import controls similar to the 1970-77 era, the Sunday Times said.
     
    However, currency dealers told Reuters the central bank called a meeting with bank treasuries on Monday to assure them the rupee will not be devalued and to explain plans to build up reserves and meet its external borrowing needs this year.
     
    Economists and exporters say the rupee should be depreciated to about Rs 128-130 in relations to a US dollar.
     
    It is now around Rs 114, after a marginal float of the rupee some weeks back by the CB. The rupee hit an all-time low of 114.15 a dollar on Jan. 5, while it hit a life closing low of 113.85/114.00 on Friday, Reuters said.
     
    However, Nandalal Weerasinghe, chief economist at the central bank, confirming the meeting with bankers, told Reuters the Times’ report was false.
     
    "There is no necessity for central bank to devalue the currency by 20 percent and this is an erroneous, politically-motivated news report," he said.
     
    The current reserves position is similar to 1975-76 during the controlled economy of the Sirima Bandaranaike regime, when however there weren’t much imports, according to a retired World Bank economist.
     
    However, Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said there was no cause for alarm and thus the need for IMF support did not arise. Instead the government would turn to Sri Lankans abroad, he said.
     
    “The general assessment from our envoys is that with interest rates falling and a patriotic feeling amongst [Sinhala] people, there is a lot of interest to invest,” Mr. Cabraal told the Sunday Times.
     
    “The Tamil diaspora also wants to invest in the north and east,” he said.
     
    The campaign to raise up to $500 million this year will be launched on February 4, Independence Day, in North America, Europe, Asia and West Asia, The Sunday Times reported.
     
    Teams led by CB Deputy Governors, Asst’ Governors and other CB officials along with the six lead banks will go on roadshows across the world with the initial phase in February.
     
    The campaign will take teams to the US and Canada; Qatar & Dubai among others in West Asia; Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands and the UK in Europe; Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Japan in Asia; and Australia and New Zealand.
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