Talks scheduled for Monday, between the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) and the Sri Lankan government, have once again been postponed, as government officials were reportedly too busy with local elections due to take place on the 8th October.

The current round of talks resumed on the 16th September after several months of stalling.

Internationally, these talks are considered crucial to addressing the legitimate grievances of Eelam Tamils.

The United States in particular, have over the past two years reiterated to the Sri Lankan government that talks with the TNA on devolution are a crucial part of any meaningful attempt at addressing the causes of the conflict - a view that will no doubt have been reinforced following the TNA's overwhelming success at the recent elections.

See 'Blake turns up pressure on Sri Lanka'

Reportedly purchased from the Chinese under a loan scheme, the aircraft will be used to provide domestic passenger flights across the island.

Earlier this year, the Economist commented on the "creeping militarisation" in the country, in a piece entitled, "Sri Lanka's Army - In bigger barracks".

“A notable omission from the agenda was any initiative to pare back Sri Lanka’s now bloated armed forces. Instead, the government is finding new things for them to do.

Soldiers are taking on the civilian middlemen who control the vegetable trade by selling cheap produce, some of it from military farms. The navy has even opened a vegetable shop near one of its biggest camps in Colombo. The army has an air-ticketing agency. It is building roads and bridges, and houses for the internally displaced. Soldiers built one cricket stadium and renovated another for the World Cup earlier this year.

Restaurants along the highway to Jaffna in the north are mostly army-owned or -run. The army will even supervise the private companies that collect the rubbish in Colombo.”

Read the full report here.

Writing in Himal, the BBC correspondent, Charles Haviland shared his thoughts on his journey to the North-East.

"Clusters of soldiers went by on tractors and, with extraordinary regularity, there were neat, manicured army camps and signs showing how northern Sri Lanka is divided up: Welcome to 66 Division, Welcome to 561 Brigade. For how much longer will the north remain essentially one huge garrison? For a lot longer, it seems."

[more]

Over 100 Sinhala Buddhist monks and supporters attacked a Japanese Buddhist Temple in Kollupitiya on Sunday, forcing worshippers to barricade themselves in for fear of assault.

The Sinhala monks, followers of the Theravada sect of Buddhism, reportedly launched the attack to protect Sri Lanka from the Mahayana sect of Buddhism - the form practised at the Japanese temple.

One worshipper who hid inside the temple as the Sinhala monks stormed the temple, said,

“The Buddhist monks forcibly entered the premises shouting out that we stop our prayer session.

The monks said we should only have Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and not Mahayana,”

Worshippers were trapped inside for over four hours before the police were able to free them and escort them to safety.

In addition to the aggression exhibited by the protesters, the rescue operation was further hindered by five bhikkus who sat in front of the closed door and refused to permit the police to enter.

Freed worshippers, chanted "Budu Saranai" ('May the blessings of Lord Buddha be with you') as they were escorted out by the police, only to find their olive branch provoked yet more vociferous protests from the Sinhala monks.

Despite the violent scenes, police spokesperson, Maxie Proctor, confirmed that no arrests have been made.

The Sinhala monks were reportedly led by two monks, Ven. Akmeemana Dayaratne and Ven. Hakmana Nandajothi.

One of the trapped worshippers, who wished to remain anonymous, reported that this was the fourth such attack on the temple by Sinhala Buddhist monks.

She accused a former professor of Peradeniya University being behind the attacks. 

“We found out that the so-called professor who was asked to leave the university now works as a tuition teacher,” said the worshipper.

See 'Monks destroy Muslim shrine as police stand idle' (Sept 2011)

“It was devastating. They weren’t saying anything,” said 21-year old Aranee Muru a university student who had to take a year out because of the protests.

“Democracy needs to speak louder.”

Further to our analysis last week on Sri Lanka’s trade, debt and currency quandary, see this report by LBO:

The Sri Lankan Highways Ministry is borrowing $500 from local banks, ostensibly to finance road reconstruction.

The loan is part of Colombo’s growing reliance on loans from domestic banks to meet shortfalls in its budget, as government spending continues to outstrip its revenue. (see p9 here).

The state has been increasing its control over the banking sector by using publicly owned pension and insurance pension funds to buy banking stocks - nationalisation by stealth.

Unsurprisingly, domestic bank lending to the Sri Lankan government grew by almost 14 per cent in the first six months of this year.

The increase in lending to the government coupled with increasing state control over the banks means the banking sector is unable to stop accumulating bad debts – cheap loans to state agencies that are unlikely to be repaid. 

5 people have been arrested for printing 20,400 copies of the JVP newspaper ‘Lanka’, the Daily Mirror reported.

The report comes as the split in the JVP deepened, with both factions planning to hold separate conventions to expel their rivals.

‘Lanka’ is currently run by the dissident JVP, with the main faction claiming ownership of the newspaper.

The Managing Director of the newspaper, on the side of the dissidents, was arrested last week on assault charges, after a member of the main faction alleged he was assaulted by him.

Despite an ever-increasing call for an international, independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Rajapaksa asserted that the world should commend Sri Lanka on its 'rehabilitation programme' for alleged LTTE cadres and the release of 1800 Tamil men and women from detention.

All the men and women said to be released on Friday had been detained as suspected LTTE cadres, and ordered to under go a 'rehabilitation' programme.

Speaking at Temple Trees, Rajapaksa claimed that these men and women were the last of over 12,000 alleged LTTE cadres to be released.

However, human rights groups have highlighted that several hundreds of Tamil men and women continue to be held, over two years after the end of the war, under the PTA (prevention of Terrorism Act).

Instructing the Tamils not to look back at the past, Rajapaksa said,

"As you rejoin society today after two years of vocational training, you go out as free men and women."

"But there will be anti-social elements who will prey on you.

"But I hope you will work for peace and ethnic harmony in this nation of ours. We must not dwell on the bitter past, but look to a prosperous future."

A last-ditch attempt at halting the deportation of Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka has failed.
42 men and 8 women were arrested and questioned by Sri Lankan police on arrival at Colombo airport.

There is now serious concern for the wellbeing of the deportees.

Channel 4 has obtained documents containing an admission by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to have passed on information regarding 14 asylum seekers to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, in breach of UK and European law, although the UKBA claim that none of those individuals have been deported.

Reports suggest that two Tamils had been removed from the list of deportees, before the flight took off.
Karim Assad, solicitor for one of the refugees told Channel 4: "The fact that my client has been taken off the flight despite the judicial decision suggests that the UKBA considers it unsafe to remove him."

Contrary to reports by various human rights groups, the UKBA believes that there has been no evidence of torture of Tamil deportees in Sri Lanka.

Shadow Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander said he was seeking assurances from William Hague that the refugees will not be tortured on their return.

"We need to be clear that the British government has done its job in ensuring that these people are not going to be tortured."
"I will be seeking assurances from William Hague that he has personally looked into the matter and is sure that torture is not going to be perpetrated and human rights abuses are not going to be committed" said Mr. Alexander, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

See our earlier posts:

'Deportation delayed after last gasp court order' (Sep 2011)

'UK still 'complicit' in torture of Tamils' (Sep 2011)

'Delhi court halts deportation for fear of genocide' (Sep 2011)

"concerns on the lack of accountability for the serious allegations of war crimes, the lack of reconciliation with the Tamil community and with events that have taken place since the end of the civil war".

"Canada will continue to speak loudly and clearly on behalf of human rights around the world, especially in Sri Lanka."

Baird has been noticeably increasing the pressure on Sri Lanka after also meeting with with Sri Lankan envoy Chitranganee Wagiswara earlier this month and accusing them of using “heavy-handed tactics” against the Tamil people since the war. “We want to see action,” said Chris Day, Mr. Baird’s spokesman.

"urge the Commonwealth to revoke Sri Lanka's membership until it holds the perpetrators to account and they are judged in international courts."

Leaked US embassy cables, state that MP Mervyn Silva was believed to be giving patronage to drug traffickers in 2009, along side his son, Malika Silva.

"According to a former Sri Lankan security services official, drug kingpins in Sri Lanka have political patrons in the government, chief among them Dr. Mervyn Silva, a Member of Parliament and the Minister of Labor."

"His son, Malika Silva, is suspected of trafficking the drug “ecstasy” in Colombo nightclubs."

A further cable drew attention to the wider culture of impunity within the Sri Lankan state, highlighting its failure to investigate or prosecution those accused of corruption whilst in public office.

"A government commission established to investigate bribery and corruption charges against public officials that resumed operations in 2004 continued through 2009, although with little activity."
 
"There are unconfirmed reports of links between drug traffickers and individual corrupt officials." 

"However, since late 2007, there have been no arrests of government officials on bribery or corruption charges related to drugs." 

According to the cables, in 2009, Sri Lanka experienced an increase in the consumption of heroin, cannabis and ecstasy.

Sri Lankan officials attempted to prevent the broadcasting of the Channel 4 documentary, 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' on Norweigan TV channel NRK2 on Tuesday.

The documentary, containing first-hand video footage of war crimes, has already been broadcast worldwide on several mainstream news outlets.

However, Sri Lankan officials remain intent on preventing any further broadcasts.

NRK2 reportedly 'ignored calls from the Sri Lankan Embassy to cancel transmitting a contentious programme."

In a last ditch attempt embassy officials released the following statement,

“We urge NRK 2 not to air the UK Channel 4 program and give coverage to content which is unsubstantiated and without any guarantee of authenticity.”

“At a time when a great deal of efforts are underway for reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka, this type of sinister and unsubstantiated visual material could inflame the passions of those elements concerned only about carving out a mono-ethnic enclave against the wishes of Sri Lankan nationals treading on democratic pluralistic ideals.”