The Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the LTTE, launched a surprise attack on a Sri Lanka Navy camp at Erukkalampiddi in Mannaar in the early hours of June 11, temporarily ceasing control of the camp for about 2 hours before withdrawing.

The Sea Tigers seized arms and military equipments, including a radar, from the camp, LTTE officials in Vanni told TamilNet.

The operation was carried out by Marine Commandos, a special forces unit of the Sea Tigers.

The Tigers seized a 50-caliber machine gun, 81 mm mortars, Light Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers and several other pieces of military hardware from the camp, the Tigers said.

The Sea Tiger Marines of Lt. Col. Cheran unit launched the seaborne lightning strike at 2:08 a.m. Wednesday and brought the entire installation under their full control within 10 minutes, according to the LTTE officials.

Commander Viduthalai led the Commandos while Commander Ilanko led the sea mission including counter-attacks on Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessels dispatched from Thalaimannaar SLN Command.

One 50 caliber machine gun, one 50 caliber barrel, two 81 mm mortars, one PK-LMG, one Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPG), one Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW), one 60 mm mortar, one AK-LMG, one T-56 assault rifle, one radar equipment, two-hundred-and-three 81 mm shells, sixty-five 60 mm mortar shells, four RPG propellers, six RPG shells, three kit-bags, 1,195 50 caliber rounds, 5,870 T-56 rounds and several other ammunitions and military accessories were seized by the Sea Tigers.

The Tiger commandos were in full control of the SLN installation for almost two hours and destroyed the camp at 3:45 a.m., before leaving the Mannaar island at 3:50 a.m., the Tigers said.

Five Tiger commandos were killed in action.

Sea Tiger commandos had verified that 9 Sri Lankan troopers were killed in action. One of the Sri Lankan troopers, seriously wounded, succumbed to his injuries later, according to the Tigers.

Many of the soldiers stationed at the camp belonged to the Gajaba Regiment.

Just before they left, the Sea Tiger commandos destroyed a power generator that was supplying electricity to the camp.

The Sea Tigers attributed the mission to the memory of Lt. Col. Kadaafi, a commander of the Sea Tigers Special Engineering Division, who was killed two months ago.

LTTE officials supplied photos taken during their mission to reporters who went to cover the display of the arms and ammunition that were seized during their mission.

Erukkalampiddi is located 7 km northwest of Mannaar city and 8 km southeast of Peasaalai, in the island of Mannaar.

Sri Lankan police detained more than 50 people for questioning following twin bomb attacks in the southern parts of the island on June 6.

A claymore along the roadside as a bus was passing Katubedda, near the University of Moratuwa, 18 km south of Colombo, on the morning of Friday June 6, killing 21 passengers. The bus on route 255 was heading to Mt. Lavinia from Kottawa. Over 60 people were wounded in the attack.

That afternoon, another bomb exploded on a bus at Polgolla in Kandy, with the explosion taking place near Mahaweli National College of Education and claiming 2 lives and wounding another 20.

Sri Lankan newspapers reported that many of those taken into custody were Tamil university students who were detained after house-to-house searches.

Most of them were rounded up near the town of Moratuwa, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.

"Fifty-one people have been picked up for questioning" in connection with the Moratuwa blast, Nanayakkara told AFP.

Some of those detained were rounded up on Friday night, while the rest were picked up on Saturday, he said.

Police also arrested one person in connection with Friday's second bus bombing in the central district of Kandy, the military spokesman said.

The defence ministry appealed Saturday to the public for help.

"Citizens are advised to be vigilant to unattended packages, bags and electronic items," the ministry said in a notice published in newspapers and in text messages sent to the nation's over eight million mobile phone users.

Colombo blamed both attacks on the Tamil Tigers, but the LTTE did not comment, though in the past, they have denied attacking civilian targets.

On the Monday following the attacks, a group calling itself the ‘Ellalan Force’ claimed responsibility for attacks on ‘transport vehicles’ and said they were a response to Sri Lankan government aerial bombardments and claymore attacks in the Tamil regions.

Friday's blasts occurred two days after the military blamed LTTE for a bomb attack on a railway track that wounded 27 civilians in Colombo.

A Reuters witness said the bus targeted in Colombo on June 6 was shredded by shrapnel and the floor was covered in blood and debris.

"I was on my way to office and suddenly I heard a loud explosion and saw people screaming with blood all over," said Aruna Wickramarachchi, a 45-year-old hotel worker.

"My leg was also injured from the explosion," Wickramarachchi said, adding that she was among about 100 passengers on the bus.

A 45-year-old man who identified himself only as Nalaka said he was thrown from his motorcycle by the explosion.

"When I got up I saw the bus and quickly got into it. Some people lay dead. Some others were bleeding," he told AP Television News.

An official with the police bomb disposal unit, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the roadside bomb was detonated by remote control.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on people to remain calm.

"Remain vigilant against the forces of terror and continue to assist the police and security forces in the task of eradicating terrorism from our country," he said in an statement.

"This could be the start of a worsening cycle of targeting civilians," Jehan Perera of National Peace Council, an activist group, told The Associated Press.

He said the attacks were likely "tit-for-tat kind of retaliation," by the LTTE, who accuse the military of killing Tamil civilians with mines and air raids.

"The government must also be careful with its own operations," he said.

The LTTE did not comment on the attacks Friday, but if they are responsible it would indicate an ability to strike deep inside government territory despite a maze of security checkpoints around the capital and its suburbs, reported The Associated Press.

With much of the fighting taking place hundreds of miles to the north, the recent attacks have shaken the south, home to Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority, and left residents fearful.

"I don't know how this war is being fought in the north. I see that only on the television. But, it now seems the war has come to the capital," said Roshan Dhammika, a 30-year-old who drives a motorized rickshaw.

Fighting between the military and the LTTE has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact in January, though a renewed civil war has been raging since 2006.

Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of fighting given its superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east, reported Reuters.

But they still see no clear winner on the horizon.

Foreigners allowed deposit accounts

Foreigners are to be allowed to deposit money with Sri Lankan banks in a move to promote investment in an economy which is short of domestic savings. The central bank said Sri Lankan citizens living abroad, corporate bodies incorporated outside Sri Lanka and foreign institutional investors will be allowed to invest in savings and time deposits in designated foreign currencies or in rupees with commercial banks. A deposit account will have to maintain a minimum balance of at least $10,000 or its equivalent and total foreign deposits. Previously foreigners could only invest in the treasury bond and treasury bill markets. Analysts said the move was to raise more money after the central bank had failed to assure dollar inflows in its previous attempts at liberalising capital markets. "This is a desperate move to raise more dollars in the economy," an analyst, who asked not to be named told Reuters. (Reuters)

Christians abducted

Christians in northwestern Sri Lanka have been subjected to an outbreak of abductions in recent days. The World Evangelical Alliance reports that a Sri Lankan pastor and his assistant were abducted on May 31. Pastor Kandiah Sivakumaran and his assistant Mariyappan Yuvaneswaran were abducted in Tabbowa, in the Puttlam District of Sri Lanka. The pastor was active in Christian ministry. The abductors, who have not yet been identified, arrived at the scene in a white van. The two men were released the following Monday. Restrictions on Sri Lankan Christians have been increasing. A new curfew law requires individuals to report where they are going and what they are doing, and another law attacks late night prayer meetings, Gospel for Asia reports. Gospel For Asia’s Bible college and its students have also been attacked and harassed. (Mission Network News)

PhD thesis in Tamil

For the first time, candidates will be able to submit their PhD thesis in Tamil, after Bharathiar University (BU) in Coimbatore decided to allow the submission of thesis, except for those on English literature, in Tamil. The decision facilitates candidates ‘to express’ their ideas more effectively and encourages more students to pursue research. “When Germans, Chinese and Japanese can do research in their respective mother tongue, why not a Tamilian in Tamil in this state," asked the Vice Chancellor of BU Professor G Thiruvasagam. “Language should not be a barrier for those who want to pursue research," he said. The Vice Chancellor claimed "no university in India allows a candidate to submit the thesis in his or her own mother tongue." However, there is no compulsion the thesis should be in classical Tamil. Notably, the BU is now preparing the list of examiners abroad who know Tamil to examine thesis copies for award of the doctoral degree or M.Phil. The varsity has instituted an award - Dr. Kalaignar Ariviyal Virudhu (Dr Kalaignar Science Award) - for the best thesis submitted in Tamil. (newindpress.com)

Mother detained as 2 killed in London

A Tamil mother suspected of stabbing two of her children to death and critically wounding her baby girl was lonely and depressed by her life in Britain, her relatives said. Police detained Sasikala Navaneethan, 35, under the Mental Health Act over the deaths of her son, 5, and his sister, 4. Their six-month-old sister remains in a critical condition after all three children were stabbed at their home in Carshalton, South London, late on May 30. Police refused to give details of the incident but press reports suggested that the throats of the older children had been cut. Neighbours described seeing a “tiny bundle” being carried out of the house. “It was obviously a child,” one said. The children’s father, Navarajah Navaneethan 39, was initially questioned but later released by the police. Speaking through an intermediary, a relative of Mrs Navaneethan said she had become depressed after her brother and his wife moved out of the house. (The Times)

Our demand for independence is no mere whim; it has emerged as a direct consequence of a specific, prolonged history of racially-motivated oppression and violence by the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan state.

For over sixty years since the British gave the island independence as a single entity, the Sinhala-dominated state has implemented a series of racist laws, including a constitution (in 1972 and 1975) that places their language and religion as ‘first and foremost’.

Our demands for equality have been met by state violence and state-backed mob violence. For three decades, our peaceful demonstrations, civil protests and  hungerstrikes were met by police and army violence, racial riots and ever-more discriminatory laws.

It was only after three decades of peaceful agitation, that armed resistance to Sinhala domination began.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka form a nation of people. We are an ethnically distinct population with our own language, culture, traditions and history.

The Sinhalese of Sri Lanka also constitute a nation with their own language, culture, traditions and history, distinct from us. We therefore consider the Tamils and Sinhalese as distinct and equal nations. We do not consider ourselves superior or inferior to the Sinhalese.

The traditional Tamil homeland is in the Northeast of the island of Sri Lanka. The Sinhala homeland is in the south of the island.

Until colonial rulers arrived, there was no single form of united rule over the island. It was only under the British colonial rule that the different parts of the island were turned into a single administration, based in a capital in the south – Colombo.

The single state of (Ceylon, later renamed) Sri Lanka which was given independence in 1948 is therefore a colonial construction. It is as ‘fabricated’ as those other countries which received independence from colonialism with ruler-straight borders and artificial governments.

As we are a distinct nation, with our own homeland, we have the right to self-determination under the UN principles established to end colonial rule.

Though as a nation entitled to self-rule, we initially did not seek independence, but sought accommodation with the Sinhalese in equality and justice.

But within eight years of independence, the Sinhala majority, using the principle of ‘one-person, one vote’ chose a government that made Sinhala the official language, instead of English. For example, Tamils had to learn Sinhala to get jobs, especially in the state.

Since then, the two largest parties (which are Sinhala-dominated) in the island have competed for votes by promising more and more Sinhala chauvunist policies (i.e. ethnic ‘outbidding’).

In the late sixties and seventies, university admission for Tamil youth was sharply reduced, by declaring our districts as ‘privileged’ and thus requiring Tamil students to score higher marks for university entrance than students from Sinhala areas.

In 1962, the military began keeping Tamils out, the beginning of an ‘ethnically pure’ army: Sri Lanka’s military is 99% Sinhala. The army’s regiments are named after Sinhala kings, which in their mythology, defeated Tamil kings. The military’s rituals are Buddhist.

Five times since independence, there have been big state-organized Sinhala mob violence against the Tamil people: 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. Thousands of people have been massacred, many tortured and raped.

The most extensive was in July 1983, when at least three thousand people died when Tamils in the south were ethnically cleansed and driven to the north.

Since the Tamil armed struggle began in the early eighties, as a form of resistance to racial domination and subjugation, the country has been at war.

The way the Sinhala-dominated state wages its war to destroy the Tamil Tigers shows how it views the Tamils.

Against areas the government does not control, it uses indiscriminate, mass aerial and artillery bombardment, blockade of food and medicine resulting in widespread starvation and suffering.

In areas it controls, it uses abductions, executions, torture, rape. The targets are Tamil politicians and party workers, journalists, civil society activists, aid workers (including Christian and Hindu priests), etc.

The Tamils have been told by the international community that instead of seeking independence by exercising our right to self-determination, we should seek a solution within Sinhala-dominated Sri Lanka.

But the Tamils have had a long history of being oppressed; sixty painful years. Our efforts to be accommodative, to share power with the Sinhalese have been rejected and we have suffered ever more repression and violence.

The demand for an independent state emerged in 1976 when the Tamil parties united into the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). In 1977, the TULF won all the seats they contested in the Northeast by a landslide, receiving a resounding mandate for an independent state.

We have never abandoned our desire to be independent.

In 2001, the four major Tamil parties (which included the TULF and those militant groups which gave up arms) again united into the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). It 2001 and 2004, the TNA contested elections on a platform supporting Tamil independence and won with landslide again.

Since the mid-nineties, Tamils have sought refuge from the oppression and the brutal war of the Sinhala-dominated state and fled to Europe, Canada and Australia. In all these places, Tamil Diaspora has continued to demand independence.

In short, the demand for independent Tamil Eelam has broad, enduring support.

With every passing decade, despite the ferocious violence and repression unleashed by the Sinhala state with international support, our determination to be free, to rule ourselves as equals with other peoples of the world, has grown stronger.

In the name of equality and justice, we ask for your support.

Sri Lanka has refused requests by Norwegian peace mediators to visit LTTE territory, and said fresh peace talks hinged on Tamil Tiger guarantees to lay down arms and stick to a negotiation timetable.

Nordic ceasefire monitors quit the country this year after the six-year Norway brokered truce disintegrated.

Earlier, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, said he wanted to meet directly with peace facilitators.

However, the government said the team headed by Norway's Special Peace Envoy John Hansen Baur, would, for now, not be allowed to visit the Tigers’ northern stronghold.

"We don't want Mr. Baur coming up, so that they can take photographs of him and say 'Mr. Baur has come to see the terrible sufferings inflicted on Tamil people of the Tamil Ealam'. It can't be propaganda," Rajiva Wijesinghe, the secretary-general of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), told Reuters late last Wednesday.

"Baur had wanted to go. But we have told him, we want a very clear idea of why you are going. It would mean a commitment of the LTTE and what they want Baur to come and talk about."

The government said it would only consider restarting the dead peace process when the LTTE agreed to a clear road map to ending the 25-year civil war.

The government's stance comes amid intensified fighting between the military and Tigers, after the government formally pulled out of the six-year-old Norwegian brokered ceasefire agreement.

"What the Sri Lankan government wants is - the Norwegians have to give us a clear road map," said Wijesinghe.

"Unless you have a clear road map that leads to a democratic political solution, I don't think you can take any LTTE claim to negotiate a deal.

"Part of that road map would be a ceasefire and commitment ... guaranteeing of laying down of arms. That road map should make very clear to us, there is a very genuine commitment to negotiate to a political solution."

If the Tigers want to pursue peace talks without laying down arms, they should at least guarantee de-commissioning of arms, Wijesinghe added.

The government’s response came after the LTTE ruled out the possibility of direct talks without Norway.

Puleedevan said while the LTTE had been in close contact with key Norwegian figures such as Erik Solheim and the Norwegian Ambassador, it would wait for the facilitators to be granted access to Kilinochchi to further discuss issues relating to future peace talks with the government.

“There are several issues we want to discuss with the Norwegian facilitators before discussing peace with the Sri Lankan government. We want to hold a meeting with the Norwegians. However the facilitators are not being granted access to enter Kilinochchi by the Sri Lankan government,” Puleedevan told the Daily Mirror in a telephone interview from Kilinochchi.

Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona had told the media in Singapore that the government was looking for a negotiated end to the conflict but stressed that so far the LTTE had not shown an interest to enter into such constructive dialogue.

“The LTTE is free to come back to the negotiating table but it must do so genuinely with a commitment to negotiating a sustainable peace and for that it must also leave aside its weaponry,” he had said.

Kohona said the LTTE had re-armed itself to hit back after the truce began in 2002, and vowed the present government was no longer willing to simply agree to a ceasefire agreement without a commitment on the part of the LTTE to achieve a final solution to this problem.

The LTTE Peace Secretariat Head meanwhile assured the safety of the Norwegians if they were to visit Kilinochchi adding that there were no security constraints in visiting the LTTE controlled areas.

“There are no security constraints in coming to Kilinochchi. We have people from the UN and other international organizations coming into our areas every day. This once again is only a false story just like my arrest,” Puleedevan told the Daily Mirror.

Dismissing reports that he had been arrested by the LTTE Intelligence services on the direct orders of LTTE Leader, Velupillai Pirapakaran, Puleedevan said the news items were all false as there was never a move to arrest anyone within the organization.

He also dismissed reports of an internal dispute within the LTTE, insisting that the organization continued to function as usual. 

“The LTTE has no problems. Our only intention is to receive the Norwegians in Kilinochchi as they are the official facilitators. Till then we will not discuss anything,” he said.

While support of the international community is necessary for achieving the goal of liberation, the Tamil people should clearly understand that policies of the International community towards different nationalist struggles are often inconsistent and motivated by self-interest, Balakumaran, a senior member of the Liberation Tigers said during an interview with an Australian Tamil radio station.

Listening to other people’s dictates and compromising the ideals only reflect the weakness of a liberation struggle, he added.

He also expressed confidence on the strength and resilience of the Tamil people to confront obstacles in the marathon towards liberation.

The translation of the Interview with K.V. Balakumaran, aired by Cheythi Alaikal, an Australian Radio broadcast on June 4, 2008, follows:

Q: Recent news stories advance the theme that LTTE should settle for solutions short of Tamil Eelam. What is your comment on this trend?

Balakumaran: One has to view this with a deep understanding of the historical background to the conflict. Tamil Eelam is not a hastily concocted concept. Conceptualized before 1948, it developed gradually over time and was strengthened by history in the years since independence. I do not want to repeat history on how the support for Tamil nationhood grew gradually and finally it received mandate in 1977 elections. Colombo has attempted to blur this truth and has been trying to establish that Tamil Eelam was invented by LTTE. The truth is that the responsibility to advance this mandate currently rests with the LTTE.

LTTE was guided by this ideal since its inception. However, the movement has articulated clearly that it is open to examining credible alternate proposals. We regret that this request has not received the attention it deserves. Everyone knows that the South is not ready to offer any solutions to Tamil grievances; even the solutions proposed by International Community. Recent news stories are intended to break the determination of Tamil people and to create confusion among our people. One has to question why such messages were not articulated by other powers to national struggles of other peoples, for example why India didn’t say this to Bangladesh; US to East Timor, Kosovo, or to the many nations breaking away from the old soviet block?

Our people have to clearly understand the motives behind such moves by the International community.

Q: Is there a need for our people and the LTTE to recognize the political climate of the International Community, and modify their ideals?

Balakumaran: Certainly not. We are a nation. We cannot change who we are. Our people have undergone untold suffering in the past three decades. We are in the midst of a war. We should preserve our spiritual power to overcome the odds until we achieve our liberation.

Q: A solution to Tamil struggle can be achieved only with the support of the International Community. Do you agree?

Balakumaran: This is a universal truth – we accept this. We agree, we have to go along with the International Community. At the same time, our people must have a deeper understanding of this inevitable condition. We must inquire why is International actors are responding differently to the national liberation struggles of different peoples. The axioms accepted for one struggle is negated for another. We will realize that countries are motivated by their own self interests in the outcome. A national liberation struggle is cognizant of the welfare of its own people. If the struggle begins to listen to other people’s dictates, and compromises its ideals for other people’s welfare, than that reflects the weakness of the struggle. Tamil people have a duty to clearly understand this.

Q: For a liberation movement to be successful, how important is it necessary to show its strength?

Balakumaran: We traditionally equate strength with military might; but, military strength is only one aspect of the liberation struggle. Liberation struggle draws its strength from the determination of its people. Desire for freedom, once felt, never leaves the mind even for a moment. There is no substitute for freedom. A liberation struggle cannot be quenched except by reaching its goal. It does not mean amassing battlefront successes. This is a marathon; having the strength to confront the obstacles to the finish is how the success of a liberation struggle is assessed. Our people are demonstrating this strength and the accompanying resilience.

Q: Can we expect that Sinhala leaders will offer a just solution to the Tamil question?

Balakumaran: History proves that this will never happen. Since 1948, our people lived with this illusion – while the first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake was in power, we believed Kottalawela will be good to us – since then, South has had a array of leaders J.R. Jayewardene, Premadasa, Chandrika, and now Rajapakse. Sinhala people, driven by their perception of history, is in a mindset, which will not allow them to elect leaders who can pursue a fair and just approach to resolve the Tamil issue.

In the current government policy makers include extremists like Champika Ranawaka and JHU. Tamil struggle is aimed at changing this mindset. Our experience shows this change cannot be created by us. That is why we are now seeking nationhood to preserve our lives and livelihood. However, we are not pessimists; if a Sinhala leadership offers us a just solution we are willing to consider it.

Q: The leaders of the South are elected by Sinhala people. Do Sinhala people then deny existence of Tamil grievance?

Balakumaran: Certainly. Over the years, racist ideas were sowed within the Sinhala populace. These ideas have taken a deep root in their collective conscience. Sinhala people have been led to believe all their ills have been caused by the Tamil people. Our struggle will lift this illusion and show the practical realities of the difficulties Sinhala people face. Our liberation struggle will also help the Sinhala people to recognize the real path to achieve peace prosperity and happiness. Sinhala army is the guardian of Sinhala racism. To lift this illusion, we must beat back the Sinhala army from our homeland.

Q: What political aspirations should the Tamil people have?

Balakumaran: We must be clear of our goal. There must no confusion about our goal. The strength of this belief is the propelling force. Currently, LTTE is the only credible vehicle to achieve this goal. People may find fault with members who spearhead this struggle, may not agree with every activity; but at no time, their belief in the goal should waver. The ideal, the liberation, should transcend the individual. Our people have a clear distinction between the ideal and the shortcomings of some individuals who pursue this ideal. Tamil people have shown this clarity; our message to them is to continue in this path.

Q: How can the media help Tamil people?

Balakumaran: Media must inform the Tamil people with truthful news.

Q: How would you like India to view the Tamil issue?

Balakumaran: We observe Tamil Nadu state along with Indian national government. There is a link between us. Our regret is that the India’s policy makers are viewing Tamil people’s struggle through their lens of their country’s political welfare. Until Indian central government approaches this intellectually and recognize that ours is a struggle for survival by an oppressed people in the land of their birth, India cannot make any healthy, fruitful contribution. India has approached our struggle as an integral part of their national political equation. Like in a political chess game, India has taken positions beneficial to the governments in power. We have said clearly Tamil Eelam is not against India; we will uphold Indian welfare as our own. There was a time, when India looked after our welfare as her own. India will change its current policy towards us one day. We believe firmly, our strong cultural ties to our brothers and sisters in India will help their policy makers to select a just and fair path towards our people. We cannot wait for India’s change of mind to continue with our liberation. One fact should be clear, no one should doubt our friendship, and strong ties to India.

Over thousand expatriate Tamils demonstrated on June 10 outside the Commonwealth Secretariat where Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa was attending a conference of Commonwealth leaders.

Meanwhile several hundred other Tamils who arrived at the demonstration in Pall Mall were turned away by Police, citing space restrictions, to another space in Trafalgar Square.

Next to the Tamil demonstration fifty Sinhalese staged a protest in support of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa.

A thousand Tamil expatriates attended the demonstration from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

With an official restriction on the number of people permitted to gather, police extended the designated space, but as protestors continued to arrive, directed them to another gathering point in Trafalgar Square.

About fifty Sinhalese, carrying several Lion flags, demonstrated next to Tamils in support of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Police separated the two groups with barriers and metal sheets.

The Sinhala protestors denounced the British Tamil Forum, which had coordinated the organizing of the Tamil demonstration as a Tamil Tiger front.

On June 9, Amnesty International organized another demonstration against the Sri Lankan president outside the Commonwealth Secretariat protesting repression of media in Sri Lanka.

South Asia director of the Amnesty International, Sam Zarifi, told the BBC the government should understand that Sri Lanka is ‘not forgotten’ by the international community.

“Certainly the situation in Sri Lanka has been the source of the increasing concern around the world because the deterioration has been rapid,” Sam Zarifi told BBC Sandeshiya.

The government is not seen to be willing, he said, to respond to the concerns by human rights watchdogs and the international community.

“We hope President Rapaksaksa understands that this is not a forgotten conflict,” Mr. Zafiri added.

The number of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka in May rose 18.4 percent from a year earlier, despite security concerns stemming from the country's civil war, officials said on June 11.

Arrivals rose to 31,140 from 26,307 a year before, the island's state tourist authority said. Arrivals in the January-May period rose 1.2 percent to 196,403 from 193,981 a year earlier, reported Reuters.

"May was a low month, when we had night curfews in the airport," a top official at Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority told Reuters asking not to be named

Tourist arrivals fell 40 percent in May 2007 due to the night closure of Sri Lanka's only international airport after Tamil Tiger air raids on fuel installations and the air force base adjacent to the airport.

The tourism industry expects arrivals in future to drop because of an upsurge in violence this year from the 25-year civil war between the state and separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

Renton de Alwis, chairman of the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority Sri Lanka, said: "I don't think these (bombings) would deter people from visiting Sri Lanka. No tourists have been involved in any of these incidences."

At least 32 people have been killed and over 100 wounded in a series of bomb blasts targeting civilians in two commuter buses and two trains in capital Colombo and central Sri Lanka during rush hours since May 26.

The Tourism Development Authority said arrivals from the Middle East rose 78.1 percent in the January to May period compared with a year earlier.

Tourist arrivals from north Canada, United States, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and Australia have dropped during the first five months of the year, Authority data showed.

The number of visitors from Russia in January-May was 38.3 percent higher than a year earlier. French arrivals jumped 48.4 percent and those from Switzerland rose 47.9 percent.

The violence, since early this year, has claimed the lives of more than 4,500 people, mostly rebels, according to military figures.

Although the popular tourist destinations are not in the conflict zone, sporadic bomb blasts in and around the capital, Colombo, are a threat to the tourist industry.

This year, the tourist authority is aiming for 600,000 foreign visitors and a 43 percent increase in foreign earnings from tourism to $550 million, officials said.

Tourist arrivals fell 11.7 percent to 494,008 in 2007, with the renewed violence blamed for the failure to reach a target of 600,000 tourists. Earnings from tourism fell 6.1 percent to $385 million.

Tourism is one of Sri Lanka's main sources of foreign exchange, along with garments, remittances and tea.

In an international survey released June 9, Colombo was cited as one amongst the less appealing cities in which to live, reported the Daily Mirror newspaper.

According to the Quality of Living Global City Rankings 2008 covering some 215 cities, Auckland was named as the city with the best quality of living in the Asia Pacific region while Dhaka is the city with the region's worst quality of living.

European cities dominate the worldwide rankings having the best quality of living locations with Zurich retaining its 2007 title as the highest ranked city, followed jointly by Vienna (2), Geneva (2), then Vancouver (4) and Auckland (5).

The survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments.

The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

For personal safety, Pakistan is one of the lowest-scoring destinations followed by Colombo, Dhaka, Jakarta and Manila. Singapore is the region's best location for personal safety, scoring 120.2 compared to Karachi's 25.3.

"Border conflicts and internal issues, combined with high levels of crime, make many other countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia less appealing relocation destinations," senior researcher, Slagin Parakatil said.

"Personal and family safety is of paramount importance when employees consider opportunities overseas. Cities that are, or are perceived as, unsafe may experience difficulties in attracting the best people and skills," he said.

Data was largely collected between September and November 2007 and is regularly updated to take account of changing circumstances.

In particular, the assessments will be revised in the case of any new developments.

The database contains more than 350 cities, but only 215 cities have been considered for the quality of living 2008 ranking to compare from one year to the next.

Canadian cities dominate the rankings in the Americas. Vancouver has the best quality of living followed by Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Cape Town in South Africa and Port Louis in Mauritius are the region's cities with the best quality of living followed by Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Auckland is the city in Asia Pacific with the best quality of living, followed by Sydney and Wellington. Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore ranks two places higher than in 2007, slightly higher than Japanese cities such as Tokyo.

"Businesses face constant challenges in identifying new markets, expanding operations and acquiring and strategically deploying resources. Establishing suitable allowances linked to local costs and quality of living is essential in encouraging expatriate employees with transferable skills to accept international assignments," Mr. Parakatil said.

Accusing both the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of acting irrationally, Mano Ganesan, leader of Western People’s Front (WPF) and the Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) said in a media release June 7, “[n]either the government nor the LTTE have any control over blasts going on in the respective territories under their own control,” and appealed to the Tamil civilians travelling from NorthEast to stay away from Colombo and the South as both areas are “unsafe and insecure for Tamil civilians.”

Full text of the media release follows:

“Capital Colombo and south in general are unsafe and insecure for Tamil civilians travelling from north and eastern provinces. The recent bomb blasts have triggered hate and doubts on all those Tamils coming to Colombo from northeast.

“The state media is orchestrating this hate campaign on an hourly basis. Rational behaviour cannot be assured within the security establishment authorized to maintain law and order.

“We are not in a position to assure safety to Tamils coming to Colombo from north and east. Therefore I call upon the Tamils to refrain from coming to Colombo until further notice. Nobody other than me, the Colombo district’s elected Tamil parliamentarian has more legitimacy to make this announcement said Mano Ganesan in a statement.

“Member of Parliament for Colombo district Ganesan who is the Leader of Western Peoples Front and Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission said further in his statement, Numbers of persons have been reported arrested and gone missing immediately after the bomb blasts. We have come to a situation where it is difficult to differentiate between the acts of Abductions and Arrests.

“The family members of the victims are pleading for relief at our offices and crowding at police stations. The plights of the elderly parents are awful. On the other hand the expressions of grief of the family members of the bus bomb victims in Moratuwa and Kandy are heart breaking.

“The cries of the civilians are haunting me. All these people are suffering due to the sins of power hungry politicians of both sides. These are chain actions to the bombings in Colombo and in Wanni. We have absolutely no controls over these activities.

“Neither the government nor the LTTE have any control over blasts going on in the respective territories under their own control. So is the inactive parliamentary opposition. All civil society voices have drawn in the war drum beats. There are only empty rhetoric statements but the sufferings of the people are ascending from bad to worse.

“Both the government and the LTTE are at war. The illogic and irrational pundits in the government and LTTE have stopped listening to the international community. Their actions have triggered acts of revenge over the innocent civilians of both sides.

“We go to their assistance when people are at trouble. We make noises and take up the issue when civilians go missing due to extra judicial activities of the state. We are running campaigns on sharing political power as solutions for the national question. We are doing this in the name of peace in this country. We are committed to the just cause. We are risking our own personal lives yet we do not want to go down in the history as cowards. We are not running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. We face the pressure and the burden hence we have to inform the reality. Our limits have extended to the limits now. We are unable to cope up with the situation.

“I therefore call upon the Tamil people of the north and east to refrain from coming to Colombo until further notice. This is the only way available for me to support the maintenance of some order in Colombo.”

'Ellalan Force', a shady identity in which name terror threats come from time to time in Colombo as well as in Jaffna, on June 9, claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on "transport vehicles".

The group said the attacks were "stern replies" to four Sri Lankan attacks, an aerial bombardment and three LRRP (also known as DPU) Claymore attacks, in which 26 Tamil civilians were killed.

The statement emailed to media further read that the 'Ellalan Force' was able to blast bombs despite heavy security arrangements made by the government.

"The Sinhalese must understand situation clearly and think about why the 'Ellalan Force' continue their attacks," the statement titled 'A Stern Warning of Revenge,' said.

The statement went on to say that the only way to stop such attacks was stopping attacks on Tamil innocent civilians.

Organising peoples’ vigilant groups and other security arrangements would never bring any solution to avoid the bomb attacks, the statement said, urging the Sinhala civilians to put pressure on the government to stop the attacks that targeted innocent Tamil civilians.

"We want to claim that we are responsible for the bomb attacks on the transport vehicles and other attacks as stern replies to the following LRRP attacks and aerial bombings of the Sri Lankan Govt and its Forces," it said and cited the following attacks on civilians:

"1. The LRRP attack at Kilinochchi – Murukandy area on 23-05-2008, where 16 innocent Tamils were killed.

"2. The Air Force bombing on the sameday at Chundikkulam where two female children were killed.

"3. The LRRP attack at Karippaddamurippu, Mankulam area, on 02-06-2008, where 6 innocent Tamils were killed.

"4. Another LRRP attack at Moontrumurippu, Palappani area on 05-06-2008, where 2 innocent Tamil civilians were killed."

The statement, emailed from [email protected] also carried the address of a blog site, ellfor1.blogspot.com, giving the warning in Tamil and English.

The battered harbour town of Hambantota, on Sri Lanka's southern tip with its scrawny men selling even scrawnier fish, seems an unlikely focus for an emerging international competition over energy supply routes that fuel much of the global economy.

An impoverished place still recovering from the devastation of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hambantota has a desolate air, a sense of nowhereness, punctuated by the realization that looking south over the expanse of ocean, the next landfall is Antarctica.

But just over the horizon runs one of the world's great trade arteries, the shipping lanes where thousands of vessels carry oil from the Middle East and raw materials to Asia, returning with television sets, toys and sneakers for European consumers.

These tankers provide 80 per cent of China's oil and 65 per cent of India's - fuel desperately needed for the two countries' rapidly growing economies. Japan, too, is almost totally dependent on energy supplies shipped through the Indian Ocean.

Any disruption - from terrorism, piracy, natural disaster or war - could have devastating effects on these countries and, in an increasingly interdependent world, send ripples across the globe. When an unidentified ship attacked a Japanese oil tanker travelling through the Indian Ocean from South Korea to Saudi Arabia in April, the news sent oil prices to record highs.

For decades the world relied on the powerful U.S. Navy to protect this vital sea lane. But as India and China gain economic heft, they are moving to expand their control of the waterway, sparking a new - and potentially dangerous - rivalry between Asia's emerging giants.

China has given massive aid to Indian Ocean nations, signing friendship pacts, building ports in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka, and reportedly setting up a listening post on one of Myanmar's islands near the strategic Strait of Malacca.

Now, India is trying to parry China's moves. It beat out China for a port project in Myanmar. And, flush with cash from its expanding economy, India is beefing up its military, with the expansion seemingly aimed at China. Washington and, to a lesser extent, Tokyo are encouraging India's role as a counterweight to growing Chinese power.

Among China's latest moves is the billion-dollar port its engineers are building in Sri Lanka, an island country just off India's southern coast.

The Chinese insist the Hambantota port is a purely commercial move, and by all appearances it is. But some in India see ominous designs behind the project, while others in countries surrounding India like the idea. A 2004 Pentagon report called Beijing's effort to expand its presence in the region China's "string of pearls."

No one wants war, and relations between the two nations are now at their closest since a brief 1962 border war in which China quickly routed Indian forces. Last year, trade between India and China grew to $37 billion and their two armies conducted their first-ever joint military exercise.

Still, the Indians worry about China's growing influence.

"Each pearl in the string is a link in a chain of the Chinese maritime presence," India's navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, said in a speech in January, expressing concern that naval forces operating out of ports established by the Chinese could "take control over the world energy jugular."

"It is a pincer movement," said Rahul Bedi, a South Asia analyst with London-based Jane's Defense Weekly. "That, together with the slap India got in 1962, keeps them awake at night."

B. Raman, a hawkish, retired Indian intelligence official, expressed the fears of some Indians over the Chinese-built ports, saying he believes they'll be used as naval bases to control the area.

"We cannot take them at face value. We cannot assume their intentions are benign," said Raman.

But Zhao Gancheng, a South Asia expert at the Chinese government-backed Shanghai Institute for International Studies, says ports like Hambantota are strictly commercial ventures. And Sri Lanka says the new port will be a windfall for its impoverished southern region.

With Sri Lanka's proximity to the shipping lane already making it a hub for transshipping containers between Europe and Asia, the new port will boost the country's annual cargo handling capacity from six million containers to some 23 million, said Priyath Wickrama, deputy director of the Sri Lankan Ports Authority.

Wickrama said a new facility was needed since the main port in the capital Colombo has no room to expand and Trincomalee port in the Northeast is caught in the middle of Sri Lanka's civil war. Hambantota also will have factories on site producing cement and fertilizer for export, he said.

Meanwhile, India is clearly gearing its military expansion toward China rather than its longtime foe, and India has set up listening stations in Mozambique and Madagascar, in part to monitor Chinese movements, Bedi noted. It also has an air base in Kazakhstan and a space monitoring post in Mongolia - both China's neighbours.

India has announced plans to have a fleet of aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines at sea in the next decade and recently tested nuclear-capable missiles that put China's major cities well in range. It is also reopening air force bases near the Chinese border.

Encouraging India's role as a counter to China, the U.S. has stepped up exercises with the Indian navy and last year sold it an American warship for the first time, the 17,000-tonne amphibious transport dock USS Trenton. American defence contractors - shut out from the lucrative Indian market during the long Cold War - have been offering India's military everything from advanced fighter jets to anti-ship missiles.

"It is in our interest to develop this relationship," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a visit to New Delhi in February. "Just as it is in the Indians' interest."

Officially, China says it's not worried about India's military buildup or its closer ties with the U.S. However, foreign analysts believe China is deeply concerned by the possibility of a U.S.-Indian military alliance.

Ian Storey of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore said China sent strong diplomatic messages expressing opposition to a massive naval exercise India held last year with the U.S., Japan, Singapore and Australia. And Bedi, the Jane's analyst, added "those exercises rattled the Chinese."

India's 2007 defence budget was about $21.7 billion, up 7.8 per cent from 2006. China said its 2008 military budget would jump 17.6 per cent to some $59 billion, following a similar increase last year. The U.S. estimates China's actual defence spending may be much higher.

Like India, China is focusing heavily on its navy, building an increasingly sophisticated submarine fleet that could eventually be one of the world's largest.

While analysts believe China's military buildup is mostly focused on preventing U.S. intervention in any conflict with Taiwan, India is still likely to persist in efforts to catch up as China expands its influence in what is essentially India's backyard. Meanwhile, Sri Lankans - who have looked warily for centuries at vast India to the north - welcome the Chinese investment in their country.

"Our lives are going to change," said 62-year-old Jayasena Senanayake, who has seen business grow at his roadside food stall since construction began on the nearby port. "What China is doing for us is very good."

Sri Lanka's defence ministry earlier this month launched scathing attacks against journalists critical of its war against the LTTE, labelling them "cowboy defence analysts" and "enemies of the state."

In two commentaries published on its website, the ministry also railed against what it said was "crap" being written about its escalating effort to eject the Tamil Tigers from the island's north, reported AFP.

The ministry presents reporters with a stark choice of being either pro-government or pro-LTTE – sparking renewed alarm among media rights activists about freedom of the press in Sri Lanka, the agency said.

The defence ministry, headed by the hawkish brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, said in its May 31 editorial that "media personnel may have their individual reservations of the war against terror," but stressed that the "success of any war effort needs public support."

"The armed forces of this country are engaged in the noble mission of liberating the country from the clutches of terrorism," said one of the commentaries carried on the official defence.lk website.

It said some writers were damaging morale, and warned that the ministry "does not wish to entertain mere doomsayers who always try to undermine the soldiers' commitment."

It also warned it would take "all necessary measures to stop this journalistic treachery against the country," but did not elaborate.

"Those who commit such treachery should identify themselves with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rather than showing themselves as crusaders of media freedom," added the article.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based press rights watchdog, said it was "very shocked" by the comments and accused the ministry of giving "indirect support and justification for all the recent violence against the press."

At least 12 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed over the past two years, while others have been abducted, tortured or illegally detained, according to Amnesty International.

The second commentary on the ministry's website also slammed reporters who "try to speculate (there is) something fishy about" the government's huge arms procurements.

"We do not mind any person trying to make his living by writing whatever crap to the newspapers. Yet, we too have our right to lay bare the truth of those cowboy defence analysts, for the good of the public," the ministry said.

It urged anyone reporting on the decades-old war against the LTTE to stick to "pure reporting" and not mislead the public with "inane comments that they are not qualified to make."

Journalists are already barred from visiting the front lines and from crossing into LTTE-held areas.

The ministry said that criticism of the war was a part of the LTTE's "psychological operations," and that the "obvious aim of this is to bring international and public pressure on the government to abandon the military effort."

Culprits identified in the commentaries included the Free Media Movement (FMM) – , a Colombo-based media watchdog – as well as several local media outlets and "dollar vultures in many foreign funded NGOs."

The threats posed by the contents of the two Defense Ministry website articles "are in effect a death warrant to journalists and editors of the media," the FMM said in a statement.

Noting that the articles make serious allegations against "former FMM Convenor Sunanda Deshapriya, Sunday Times Associate Editor and defence columnist Iqbal Athas, and eight news outlets," International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific said, “The Government of Sri Lanka must show it has the authority to order an end to these hate-inspiring attacks by defence personnel against independent media voices.”

Meanwhile the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reverse the direction in which his government has turned, and restore to journalists throughout the country the right to freely report without fear or intimidation.

In a letter sent last Friday, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon stated, “President Rajapaksa, we recognise that your government is involved in an ongoing conflict with Tamil secessionists. But the security of the nation will not be enhanced by policies that curtail one of the most basic rights guaranteed in Article 14 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution — the right to freedom of expression.”

The committee, which expressed growing alarm by the government’s policies toward journalists who write critically about the conflict between Sri Lanka’s military forces and Tamil secessionists, noted that it had witnessed an increase in harassment, intimidation, and detention of reporters, many of whom are columnists in senior positions with well-established careers.

“Those who wish to harass, harm, or even kill journalists can operate with relative impunity in Sri Lanka. Your government, particularly the Defence Ministry, has done nothing, even as violence escalates in many parts of the country,” the letter charged.

“Based on our research, we have concluded that your government is stifling news reporting that it finds inconvenient, precisely because those reports attempt to accurately reflect the ebb and flow of such a war. Suppressing journalists will neither alter the course of the conflict nor generate more public support for it,” Simon emphasised.

Sri Lanka's bitter ethnic war which has left thousands of people dead has escalated sharply since January, when the government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the LTTE.

The defence ministry says it is winning the war, and so far this year has reported the deaths of 4,033 Tamil Tigers.

At the start of the year, the island's military said the LTTE had 3,000 fighters.

The announcement from Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day had been expected since the RCMP raided the non-profit organization's Toronto and Montreal offices more than two years ago. That was shortly after the Conservatives declared foreign Tamil Tiger guerrillas and their henchmen outlaws in Canada.

The move left representatives of one of Canada's largest and most active voting blocs saying that the Tories have alienated them further, and suggesting that Ottawa should concentrate instead on bringing an end to the civil war in Sri Lanka.

No charges have been laid against anyone associated with the raided Canadian offices, although one alleged WTM fundraiser was recently arrested in Vancouver. Mr. Day urged the Canadian public to "stay tuned" to the continuing RCMP investigation.

Yesterday's announcement was aimed at stanching the flow of funds to Sri Lanka by targeting the Tigers and their emissaries. "If the funds are identified as from the WTM, the World Tamil Movement, then those funds are in the process right now of being frozen," Mr. Day said.

The federal government says the WTM was created in 1986 and is the "leading front group" in Canada for the Tigers, formed to acquire and transfer money to Sri Lanka in the direction of the Tamil Tigers. In the past, WTM members have described themselves as an ethno-cultural group celebrating the Tamil identity and have repeatedly said they don't solicit funds.

The minister made the announcement in Toronto, which is possibly the largest centre for the Tamils outside of Asia.

This spring, the Mounties filed hundreds of pages of affidavits to support their allegation that the WTM is the Tamil Tigers' de facto Canadian arm. One document suggests guerrilla leaders in Sri Lanka sent letters asking the person "in-charge of the Canadian section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" to acquire and remit the equivalent of $3-million in a six-month period.

The RMCP material also includes allegations that the WTM mapped out specific fundraising blocks in Toronto, using illegally acquired government voters lists with Tamil names highlighted. Police photos of the WTM offices allegedly show pictures of Tamil Tiger leaders placed alongside the likes of Lenin, Mao, Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela - suggesting a belief the guerrillas will eventually be considered revolutionary leaders rather than terrorist outlaws.

However, the Tamil Tigers find themselves increasingly isolated and condemned by Western governments for their continued use of assassination and suicide-bombing campaigns, including a bus bombing that killed 23 civilians this month.

The guerrillas are better regarded in Sri Lanka's north and east, where the Tamil ethnic minority is pretty much ruled by the Tigers, and considers them its champion for independence.

Refugee communities like Toronto, where Sri Lankans come to escape decades of civil war, also tend to regard the Tigers as freedom fighters who respond to alleged "state terrorism," such as forced disappearances and aerial bombardments.

"Right or wrong, we are all very much connected to what is happening in the civil war," said David Poopalapillai, a spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress. "The Canadian government is looking at the situation in Sri Lanka from the wrong lens."

Recent blacklistings by Canada and the European Union have caused the Tigers to lose control of territory, he said. And a Liberal MP responded to the announcement by suggesting the Tories should do more to foster peace in Sri Lanka.

"What has this government done to engage the Sinhalese and Tamil community to come to a dialogue?" said Scarborough MP Jim Karygiannis, whose riding is a major Tamil centre. He added that the Conservatives know they have alienated Tamil voters, so they no longer care about evenhandedness.

The Conservative mentality, the MP said, is "we can't get them to vote for us, so we're going to write them off."