Liberation Tigers handed over 74 bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in black body bags Thursday evening in Kilinochchi. Another soldier's body was taken to Kilinochchi Thursday evening.

"The (main) handover took place on Thursday evening at 8pm local time at Omanthai checkpoint on the A-9 road," said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which acted as intermediary.

Omanthai, 260kms north of Colombo, marks the de facto border separating government and LTTE-held territory and lies just north of Vavuniya.

More than fifty bodies of SLA soldiers are strewn around in the battlefield in unidentifiable state, according to LTTE officials.

133 SLA soldiers were killed in action or reported missing according to the official figures released by the Sri Lankan defence ministry media co-ordinating centre Thursday.

More than 200 SLA soldiers were killed when LTTE defense formations under Special Commander Col. Theepan defeated the SLA forces Wednesday, LTTE officials claimed.

The LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said that LTTE had seized 16 Multi Purpose Machine Guns (MPMGs), 4 Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPGs), a Grenade Launcher, lite anti-tank weapon, 98 assualt rifles and large amounts of ammunitions from the Gemunu Watch SLA soldiers.

More than fifty bodies, severely damaged and decomposed state, were still found strewn around inside the LTTE territory and inside the no-go zone, he added.

Most of the dead troopers belonged to the Gemunu Watch regiment of the SLA.

Director of LTTE's NGO Liaison Office, Mr. Pavarasan, handed over 74 black body bags to the ICRC official Katja Lawrence at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Identification details of more than 50 soldiers, gathered from various identity cards and papers, were provided to the media by Mr. Pavarasan.

Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Liaison Office in Kilinochchi, Lars Bleymann and Gunnar Johannsson also visited the Kilinochchi Central Playground where the bodies were packed into black bags.

Defence ministry media officials in Colombo reported 78 SLA soldiers as missing in action and 55 dead. 283 SLA soldiers were severely wounded, according to the figures issued by Colombo.

The bodies were taken to the SLA camp in Vavuniya in four vehicles.

The Liberation Tigers and Sri Lankan government blamed each other Friday for a flare-up of the conflict in Amparai.

Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troopers launched a pre-dawn offensive into Liberation Tigers territory in Amparai Thursday, the LTTE said. "The STF ground troopers have moved in 6 km into our territory inside Kanchikudicharu," said LTTE Amparai District Political Head S. Jeya.

The Liberation Tigers fighters were engaged in defensive clashes with the STF troopers, according to the Tiger political head of the Amparai district.

The STF on Thursday regained areas in the Ampara district, bringing them under government control for the first time in 20 years, reported the Sunday Times newspaper.

"LTTE terrorists launched artillery and mortar shells towards the police Special Task Force (STF) defences," at Kandjikudiaru in Ampara, the defence ministry said. It said there were no reports of casualties in the overnight artillery exchanges.

The STF was targeting villages in the area surrounding Kanchikudichcharu with artillery shelling from Thirukkovil, Sahama and Kanjirankudah camps and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were also targeting the villages.

Kanchikudicharu villagers have fled inwards into other villages via Santhanaru. Some civilian houses have been burnt down by the STF troopers who advanced into Kanchikudicharu, the Tigers said.

The LTTE Amparai District political head has complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that the STF offensive was a major violation of the Ceasefire Agreement.

Sri Lanka has banned imports of remote-controlled toy cars, boats and planes because of fears the Tamil Tigers could use them as bombs, a senior military official said last Tuesday.

"You get remote-controlled planes and cars which can be operated on the road. If it gets into the wrong hands, they can bring a small toy, send it underneath a vehicle and blast it," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Two to three kilograms (4.4 to 6.6 lb) of explosives can go in one of those cars without any problem," he added.

"This can pose a threat. The LTTE are desperate today... There is no telling what they could do. They could make use of some of this equipment."

However, while imports have been banned, existing stocks of remote-controlled toy cars are still readily available on supermarket shelves in central Colombo.

The ban comes during a new chapter of Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war and after a spree of roadside bomb attacks and clashes that have killed hundreds of troops, civilians and LTTE fighters since late July.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were not immediately available for comment on the toy ban, which the official said would be a temporary measure.

Police imposed a curfew in Kattankudy as two days of clashes between religious factions resulted in damage to over 30 houses and a number of vehicles. Orthodox Muslims and an Islamic sect that preaches pantheism clashed on October 2 and 3, damaging 32 houses and a van and burning down 3 motorbikes.

A deviate religious faction led by Abdur Rauff Moulavi, who often is in odds with the main Islamic religious authority, Jammiyathul Ulama and another group, were reported to be involved in this incident.

During the curfew, the town seemed deserted and persons entering the town defying the curfew were beaten and chased away by Police.

A group of Muslim youth ordered other Muslims not to perform certain Islamic rituals that had been practised for hundreds of years, reported The Island. When this request was turned down, they went against those Muslims who refused to do away with the usual rituals and attacked their homes.

A majority of Muslims in Kattankudy are said to be against these youth but are frightened because they are allegedly back by an armed group that openly operates in the town. The armed group is said to be led by an ex-policeman and residents complain that the local police do not take action to apprehend the armed group

Many rich Muslim businessmen and farmers on the east coast are followers of Rauff Moulavi and 'Payilvaan', with Sufi leanings. Rauff Moulavi's critics say that his teachings have borrowed from Hinduism and is the work of Muslims of Tamil Nadu origin, settled in Kattankudy.

The Deputy Director General of Police for Batticaloa- Amparai districts, Lasantha de Silva, arranged a conference to control the clashes and defuse the tension.

Representatives of the Ulama Council and the Islamic "Sufi" sect, involved in the conflict, A. Majeed, the District Coordinator for SLFP, SSP M. Kirigal, ASP A. Jamaldeen, the Chairman of Kattankudy Urban Council, members of the Council and journalists participated in the conference held for two hours.

The conference ended without reaching any compromise.

Sympathizers of the Kattankudy Jammiyathul Ulama Council and Federation for Kattankudy Mosques and other Organizations placed 10 demands to the sect led by Rauf Moulavi.

The demands included respecting the rules and regulations of Kattankudy Jammiyathul Ulama Council, stopping the radio broadcast and publishing the newspaper run by them and giving compensation to the houses damaged.

Meanwhile, many youths were seen gathered in the Kattankudy Grand Jumma Mosque and Bathriya Jumma Mosque, which are the centre of focus to both factions. In Kattankudy Grand Jumma Mosque only, more than thousand youths gathered and a large number of Policemen patrolled the area in Armed Personnel Carriers.

A similar incidence of violence occurred between these factions in 2004 and received wide media coverage. There was a settlement between Jammiyathul Ulama and Rauf Moulavi negoatiated at that time, under the patronage of former Batticaloa District parliamentarian Mr. M. L. A. M. Hizbullah, but the details of that are not known.

Germany has officially frozen any new aid for projects in Sri Lanka in a bid to put pressure on the government and the LTTE to get back to peace talks.

The German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in a statement issued Friday said Germany was increasing pressure on the conflict parties in Sri Lanka as it believed that without peace there could be no development.

“New commitments of more than 38 million euros, meant for projects in Government as well as Tamil areas, are therefore frozen until the peace process will be restarted. Already for some time several projects in the Tamil areas had to be interrupted due to security reasons as well as the EU listing of the LTTE as a terror organization,” Minister Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul said in the statement

“For weeks we have been demanding an immediate return to the negotiating table and a shaping of a common future,” Ms Wieczorek-Zeul.

As long as both sides engage in intensive conflict, “it is not meaningful for the German government to commit additional funding that cannot reach the people of Sri Lanka”.

“There cannot be a military solution to the conflict between the Singhalese and Tamils” the minister said. “The flare-up in the conflict since the start of the year has led to the deaths of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands.”

Since previous demands to return to peace negotiations remain unfulfilled, the donors have to act now to increase pressure, so that the population, already suffering from the impact of the tsunami, could dare to hope, the statement said.

According to analysts, the decision of the Minister appears to have been prompted by an inability to implement projects in Sri Lanka. Since the start of the year, most of the North-East projects implemented by the GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) have had to be scaled down, with expatriate staff withdrawing to Colombo.

While such a decision has been expected by insiders for some time, its timing surprised many, in a week of seeming progress towards peace talks, reported the Sunday Times.

“Moreover, the phrasing of the conflict as one between the “Singhalese and Tamils” and the reference to “Tamil areas” in an official statement of the Government of Germany, might lead to some concern in Sri Lankan Government and diplomatic circles,” the paper said.

The arrest of a Tamil youth, Poobalapillai Kantharajah, 26, from Batticaloa, on September 29, shed light on an abduction and extortion racket that has plagued the eastern city for some time.

Investigations carried out following the arrest show that although several complaints had been made to the police with regard to suspicious activities taking place in highly residential areas in the city, no attention was paid to them and no action taken on the complaints made.

In fact, in one instance, the police had told several residents who lodged a complaint on suspicious activities taking place in their neighbourhood that they need not worry as they were aware of it and that the persons in question were affiliated to the Karuna Group.

The Sunday Leader learns that the leader of the group of abductors was once arrested by the Athurugiriya police, but was released following orders from the IGP.

Kantharajah was arrested by the Kotahena Police on a tip-off by the son of an abducted businessman and was captured when he was collecting the ransom money for the release of the businessman.

During interrogation, Kantharajah confessed that he was affiliated to the Karuna group and that there were two groups affiliated to the Karuna Group who were behind the abductions of Tamil businessmen in Colombo.

Kantharajah has revealed to the police that apart from the group he was affiliated to, there was another group that carried out abductions as well. However, this group he has said took those abducted to areas in the Polonnaruwa District.

According to informed sources, Kantharajah was arrested once earlier by a special police crime detection unit, but was released soon after on orders received from the IGP.

Kantharajah said that the groups were led by one T. Nagulendran who resided in a house in Malabe.

The group has also had another house in Thalangama, from where they operated. Both houses have been taken on rent from Sinhalese people and the van used for the abductions was also owned by a Sinhalese, according to Kantharajah. The house Kantharajah was living in at the time of his arrest was raided and searched by the Kotahena Police soon after he was taken into custody.

"We knew they were Tamils and we saw some of them carrying batteries to the house. So we told the police that there were some suspicious activities taking place in the house," a resident said.

The response from the police is something that would astound anyone. The response had been that no one living down the lane should worry as they were members of the Karuna Group.

"The police said that and after that what can we say?" one neighbour asked.

The Sunday Leader also spoke to the Thalangama Police, who denied knowledge of any suspicious activities taking place in the area. In fact, the police said that they had no idea of a house in Thalangama being raided on September 29 following a statement made by Kantharajah.

As for the complaints lodged by residents, the police dismissed it by saying that they receive a lot of complaints from people in the area of suspicious activities and sometimes they receive complaints of paper sellers and beggars on the road as well.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed a one-member committee to report on the abductions taking place in the city.

Tamil politicians however are sceptical of the whole process as they feel it is yet another attempt made by the government to fool the public.

TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan charged in parliament last week that the government has so far not taken any steps to address the issue of abductions of Tamil civilians by armed gangs.

The arrest of Kantharajah saw many versions of his affiliations coming to light. The government initially went on record publicly claiming that he was an LTTE cadre, who was collecting funds for the organisation.

This statement however was made by the government even after the suspect himself had confessed to being a Karuna cadre giving out all details of the group's activities in the city, especially with regard to abductions and extortion.

However, later a spokesperson from the Karuna faction was also reported admitting that the police had indeed captured one of their cadres. The spokesperson had also maintained that the cadre was arrested on baseless allegations.

The government then kept quiet about the whole issue and maintained that it was still investigating into the true affiliations of the suspect arrested by the police.

Government Defence Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told a media briefing last week that anyone carrying out such activities would be brought to book, even if it was Karuna or his men.

Rambukwella also noted that the government was still looking for Karuna.

(edited)

A five-member International Mission on Press Freedom visited Colombo from October 9 to 11 at the invitation of leading media institutions and organizations in the country.

Tamil media persons and Tamil media institutions in Sri Lanka have been subjected to intimidation and harassment said an International Press Delegation in its press briefing at the conclusion of the International Mission's three-day visit to Colombo.

The delegation said at the press briefing that it is the utmost duty of the government to safeguard the media institutions and media personnel.

Press freedom in the North East has been seriously affected, said the delegation.

The government has agreed to hold independent inquiry into the killings of journalists with the support of the international community, the delegation said.

Sunanda Desapirya of the Free Media Movement (FMM), A. Nixon, Joint Secretary of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) and M. Mussamil, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, thanked the international press delegation for visiting Sri Lanka in support of local journalists.

The Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Advocacy Mission to Sri Lanka comprised delegates from the International Media Support (IMS), International Press Institute(IPI), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), United Nationals Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International News Safety Institute (INSI).

The international mission sought to address threats and murders of journalists, censorship, and possible legal reforms.

At a meeting held on October 10 at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo, Mr. R. Bharathy, the secretary of the Federation of Tamil Media Associations, and joint secretary, Mr. Nixon, explained the difficulties faced by the Tamil media in Sri Lanka.

It was pointed out that four journalists have been gunned down within the past six years by SLA Troops and the paramilitary groups. Citing the case of BBC reporter Mr. M. Nirmalarajan, killed in Jaffna on Oct 25, 2000, the delegation was told that though clues for the killing were discovered the government not only failed to conduct proper inquiries but helped the assassins flee Sri Lanka.

The meeting was also told of internationally acclaimed investigative journalist Sivaram (Taraki), who was assassinated on Apr 28, 2005, near the parliament in the country’s capital, in a High Security Zone, and though the culprits were arrested, no enquiries have yet been held.

The delegation was also told of the several incidents in Colombo in the recent past where Tamil media personnel have been selectively targeted.

Detailing the state of affairs in Colombo, the speakers said that paramilitaries collaborating with SLA personnel have effectively prevented the sale of the two newspapers in the East for the past three months.

Referring to the state of affairs in East, the delegation learnt that consequent to the killing of Mr. G. Nadesan, the reporters are afraid to work in those areas and all six senior reporters have sought refuge in foreign countries.

Sunantha Deshapiriya, summing up the situation stated that paramilitary groups with assistance of the government have registered themselves as political parties and are indulging in indiscriminate killings in North and East with the help of SLA personnel and reporters are fearful of working in these areas.

Mr. Deshapiriya also mentioned the case of Sinhala journalist Mr. Lakmal Sampath, who was allegedly killed by a Lieutenant in the Sri Lankan Army on whom no action was taken.

The IFJ is organizing another tour between October 23 and 25, with the goal of bringing more attention to journalists’ conditions in Sri Lanka and promoting media independence and safety.

The group will meet with senior colleagues as well as government and military officials, the IFJ said. The visit also includes a roundtable discussion among Sri Lankan and other South Asian editors. The topic: the challenges of independent media during times of conflict.

The LTTE claimed last Saturday (October 7) that it had blunted a Sri Lankan offensive in Vaharai, on the border between Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts in Eastern Sri Lanka.

The Liberation Tigers claimed to have "boxed" an area of 10 square kilometers and repulsed the three-pronged Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive that was supported by heavy artillery shelling, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment and rocket fire from the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) gunboats.

The offensive was launched from Kajuwatte SLA camp, south of Vaharai towards Panichchankerni, from Sinhapura SLA camp 3 km inside the LTTE territory in Kattumurivu and the Sri Lanka Navy attempted to land troops in Panichchankerni, the LTTE said.

The LTTE said 400 soldiers and an 80-strong force of paramilitary cadres of the Karuna Group were involved in the attack.

The Military Spokesman of the LTTE, Rasaiah Ilanthirayan said that the Sri Lankan troops had penetrated 1.5 km into LTTE-held territory. But other reports said that SLA troops had gone 5 kms in.

The Tigers accused Colombo of triggering the latest fighting – a charge rejected by the government – and said the new violence represented a major setback to reviving peace talks.

"This is serious blow to the peace process. We have complained to the Norwegians," LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said, referring to Norway's role as peacebrokers in the conflict.

"The large-scale offensive comes at a time when the co-chairs have called on the parties to halt all violence and come for unconditional direct talks and the LTTE has responded positively to that call," the Tigers said.

The LTTE said they had lodged formal protests with Norway and Nordic truce monitors over the military action, which they blamed on government forces.

The truce monitors condemned the push by the army into LTTE territory. Thorfinnur Omarsson, spokesman of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, said: "It is totally unacceptable if the military penetrate Tiger territory. That is an offensive right after agreeing to talks."

The SLA described its actions in the island's east as "defensive" and said they were intended to "neutralise artillery and mortar fire".

"The Tigers fired artillery and mortars at our forward defence lines, and the military wants to neutralise them and push them back [to the east]," a military source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "This is a defensive measure."

The government claimed the aerial attack was to prevent the Tigers moving artillery guns. Tamil Tiger fighters are “highly mobile” in the area and are trying to move armaments after government forces captured the town of Sampoor last month, the Media Center for National Security said on its website.

The defence ministry insisted the Tigers provoked the violence and that troops were only defending themselves. "In spite of the peace initiatives, security forces are compelled to repulse the continuous provocative attacks of the Tigers," the ministry said. "Security forces are experiencing provocative actions from the Tigers despite the assurances given by them few days ago (to enter talks)," the ministry said.

The military, which claimed to have recovered 22 bodies of Tiger guerrillas on Friday, revised down the number to 12, but said security forces had seen more behind LTTE lines.

"Twelve bodies of Tiger terrorists shot down when they attempted to infiltrate the forward defence lines were handed over to the Valachchenai hospital," the defence ministry said in a statement. "Troops have observed 40 to 45 bodies of Tiger terrorists laying ahead (of) the defence lines," it added.

The Liberation Tigers denied the SLA claim that 12 dead bodies of Tigers were captured by the Sri Lankan forces. They claimed 11 cadres were killed in action.

The military statement said two soldiers were killed and eight wounded. But hospital officials said about 50 combatants wounded on Friday were brought in for treatment. At least 6 seriously wounded were airlifted to Colombo for further treatment.

The Tigers said they had recovered the bodies of 13 government soldiers and that another soldier was captured. They claimed more than 30 soldiers had been killed in the fighting.

A SLA Major who led the crack forces and paramilitaries into Tiger territory, identified as Major W. S. A. Wijetunge, was among the dead. Nine bodies of Sri Lankan soldiers were dug up, in addition to the 2 bodies recovered later, and handed over to the ICRC by the Tigers. Earlier, Sri Lanka had declined to receive the bodies.

The slain SLA Major was responsible for military activities in areas Punanai, Valaichenai and north of Valaichenai, according to Sri Lankan military officials in Batticaloa.

The dead soldiers were identified as S. P. Fernando, D. M. Muthubanda, T.M.C. Pushpakumara, C.J.M Ariyaratne, K. Premachandra, R.M.K. Ratnayake, L.G. Bandaranaike, S.M. Silva and E.D.Gunawardene.

Although Colombo accepted the dead bodies of the Sri Lankan armed forces through the ICRC, they declined to accept the bodies of the 6 paramilitary cadres killed in action.

Two civilians were killed, one in Panichchankerni and another in Vaharai, press reports said. Seven civilians were also wounded.

Military officials said the navy sank two boats of the rebels' naval Sea Tiger wing in waters off Batticaloa, while the air force bombed newly-built rebel bunkers south of Trincomalee harbour.

They said many Tiger casualties were lying near the forward defence line that separates rebel from government territory in Batticaloa. Military officers have said they are keen to inflict as many casualties as possible before any talks.

The LTTE claimed the Sea Tigers defeated an SLN attempt to land troops in Panichchankerni and that one SLN boat sustained damages in the counter-attack.

"Two tractors full of SLA soldiers were killed in our counter-attack," he said. "Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir jets bombed our area in 4 sorties. Heavy artillery shelling was launched from Valiachenai Paper Factory SLA camp."

The Tiger operation was conducted under the supervision of Special Commander Col. Sornam. Vehicles used by the military, two 81 mm mortars with more than 100 shells, one 60 mm mortar with shells, 10 Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers, PK LMGs, AK LMGs, AK-47 rifles, and a quantity of ammunitions that included landmine-proof shoes left behind the retreating Sri Lankan forces were displayed by the Tigers in Vaharai.

Sri Lanka's government plans to sharply raise its state spending in 2007 from levels it budgeted for this year, including a rise in defence spending amid renewed civil war.

Defence spending will rise 100 percent next year to 139.6 billion rupees from 69.5 billion budgeted for 2006, the appropriation bill seen by Reuters ahead of its presentation to parliament showed.

Sri Lanka will raise overall spending to 804.6 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) in 2007 from that budgeted for 2006, a government appropriation bill presented to parliament showed on Thursday.

Officials have included police spending with the armed forces, and say no direct defence spending comparison can be made.

"We have included police. All security-related and all defence-related expenditures are there," said R.A. Jayatissa, Deputy Secretary to the Treasury. "This reflects a large increase in salaries."

"It looks as though they might be planning to upgrade their defence hardware, which means they will have to raise foreign money," Dushyanth Wijayasinghe, head of research at Asia Securities in Colombo told Reuters.

Jayatissa said the government was also comparing its 2007 forecast to 609.3 billion rupees rather than the amount budgeted for last year, citing an appropriation act – which means that overall spending would increase by 32 percent rather than 40 percent.

"The expenditure of the government ... will be 804,643 million for the service of the period beginning January 1, 2007, and ending December 31, 2007," the appropriation bill said.

In its appropriation bill issued in late 2005, the government forecast its overall expenditure would total 568.3 billion rupees in 2006.

"They need to get public sector spending under control ... and improve tax collection. There's no other way," said Dushyanth Wijayasinghe, head of research at Asia Securities in Colombo.

Analysts say much will depend on whether a new round of peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and the government due later this month will defuse weeks of the worst fighting since a 2002 truce and halt a new chapter of the island's two-decade civil war.

Many investors have either cancelled or held back investments in the $23 billion economy amid a rash of violence that has killed hundreds of civilians, troops and rebel fighters this year and flared into military offensives in August.

"The peace process will be key," Wijayasinghe said. "If they can take it forward, that will relieve a lot of pressure on the inflationary front and enable the corporate sector to take a longer view."

Inflation rose to 11.2 percent in September as measured on a 12-month moving average, due largely to the impact of high international oil prices on a country that produces no crude of its own. The central bank has had to raise its policy rates three times so far this year in a bid to tame inflation.

Some analysts, however, fear fighting between the government and Tamil Tigers could hit the economy and dent growth prospects. The central bank and government have forecast economic growth of around 7.0-7.5 percent for 2006 and 8.0 percent in 2007.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Monday declared the merger of the northern and eastern provinces, effected in 1987 as part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, "null and void and illegal."

The move defied explicit calls by international backers of the Norwegian peace process, including India, for Sri Lanka to refrain from moves which would inflame tensions and undermine a negotiated settlement.

Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil party has reacted angrily, disrupted the proceedings of Parliament in a protest against the Supreme Court decision.

The Tamil MPs charged the Sri Lankan judiciary which they charged was being used to nullify any arrangement towards a peaceful resolution of the national problem.

The Northeast merger was temporarily effected under the Accord, pending a referendum. Amid the conditions of war that have gripped the Northeast for the past two decades, the merger has been extended annually.

The Supreme Court’s ruling Monday in favour of a petition by Sinhala nationalists is a direct attack on the Accord’s recognition of the Tamils’ historic homeland in the island’s Northeast.

Indeed, the Court declared that material provided by the Sinhala nationalist petitioners resulted in "volumes of material to establish the divisions that existed in historic times and that the eastern province was part of the Kandyan Kingdom at the time of British conquest."

The 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord recognized the Northeast as "the historical habitat of the Tamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka" and thus deemed the Northern and Eastern Provinces to be merged and operate as one administrative unit and be administered by one elected council

From a Tamil perspective, that merger was the single most significant achievement of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, which failed on many other counts, including the prevention of state-sponsored Sinhala colonization of Tamil areas.

When earlier this year three members of the ultra-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) filed a case demanding the merger be repealed, many Tamils saw the outcome as a foregone conclusion – the Supreme Court had already upheld other nationalist demands, including the abrogation of a much-heralded tsunami aid sharing mechanism in 2005.

On Monday jubilant JVP supporters burst crackers outside the court building and its leaders posed before television cameras.

Last month the Co-Chairs of the donor community backing the peace process – the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway – cautioned against the move.

"There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the north and east which could endanger the achievement of peace," they said in a statement.

"The legitimate interests and aspirations of all communities, including the Tamil, Muslims and Sinhala communities must be accommodated as part of a political settlement," they said.

Separately, the Indian government, in a notable diplomatic intervention, opposed the de-merger.

The point was made by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Indian press reports said.

At their meeting on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Havana, the Indian leadership had also pressed that the island's Tamil-majority Northeastern province should not be de-merged without a referendum and that such a referendum would only be possible when there was a 'conducive atmosphere,' IANS reported.

In his reply to Mr. Singh, President Rajapakse distanced his government from the opposition to the merger now before the Sri Lankan judiciary, IANS also reported.

But Monday this week a five-member Bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, gave the ruling on the JVP petition.

The Bench said the President had no powers to effect a merger of provinces under Emergency Regulation, and only Parliament could decide on the subject.

The court referred to the two conditions laid by the India-Sri Lanka Accord before considering merger — cessation of hostilities and laying down of arms by Tamil militant groups. It said the President went ahead with the merger, though the conditions were not met with after the LTTE violated ceasefire.

The international community has seen the merged Northeast province as a tool to address the Tamil demand for self-autonomy for the regions they have traditionally inhabited.

The JVP’s petitioners said the merger would result in the "Muslim and Sinhala communities being permanently subjugated to a minority." The situation would exacerbate "ethnic cleansing," they said.