Lakbima Online's POLITICS of the week

Federal? What federal?

No sooner than news broke that the UNP was dropping its federal idea, party leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was flooded with phone calls. Despite phrasing their questions in diverse ways, all enquirers got a stock answer: “We always supported the devolution of power but we never mentioned the word ‘federal’. It was Chandrika who introduced this word ‘federal’. Subsequently, this government resurrected the word and used it to level allegations against us. But we never said ‘federal’. The last power sharing proposal that we put forward was rejected. Therefore, we are trying to put forward a new proposal. That’s all there is to it.”
It was Lakshman Kiriella who later reported to Ranil that TULF leader V Anandasangaree had publicly expressed shock at the UNP’s latest position on power sharing. “Why should we bother ourselves over something stated by a man who is not shocked that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government is killing Tamils?” replied Ranil.

Blood brothers

While President Mahinda Rajapaksa herded a delegation to New York to attend the UN General Assembly sessions, the UNP started an email protest against them by circulating an electronic letter titled ‘Blood Brothers’. The email contained, among other things, information about threats on Sunday Times Defence Correspondent Iqbal Athas, allegations about the MiG-27 deal and details of human rights violations in the country. It’s believed that this email made its way into many inboxes, including those of international leaders.

A close shave

As President Rajapaksa was readying to address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, he received a telephone call from Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe (who was in Geneva to attend sessions of the UN Human Rights Council). The Minister told him that an attempt to have a resolution passed against Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council had been defeated. “Loku deyak,” responded the President. “I am very happy. I can now address the UNGA with confidence.” Campaigners had tried for two weeks to have the resolution passed at the Human Rights Council, even calling Sri Lanka a graveyard and submitting statistical and other data related to disappearances, abductions and killings. But Samarasinghe and his team maintained staunchly that much of their information was flawed. Later, Sri Lanka’s Office of the Permanent Representative to the UN insisted that a resolution had never been on the cards.

American PR advisors this time?

The People’s Campaign to Alleviate Public Suffering’ — a UNP effort to distribute propaganda leaflets at 400 weekly fairs — is now in full force. On September 22, Ranil Wickremasinghe was spied at the Negombo weekly fair, a sheaf of papers in hand. While he was giving out the leaflets, a man carrying a child in his arms approached him. “Sir,” he said, “I can no longer afford to buy milk powder for my child.” What did Ranil do next but hoist the child into his own arms (much like American Presidents often do)! Not that this helped bring down the price of milk powder but...
Later, Ranil was also approached by a woman who cried that the rising cost of living was unbearable and that she could not afford to eat. The Opposition Leader hurriedly looked around for his security officer, to get some money for the woman. Ever the handyman, Johnston Fernando quickly intervened - supplying a thousand rupee note for Ranil to gift the woman.

How are you?

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came face to face with Ranil Wickremasinghe at Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle’s house. Both were there to pay their final respects to Fernandopulle’s mother, who had passed away. Fernandopulle quickly pulled Gotabhaya to the same sofa on which Ranil was seated. The Presidential brother, sporting a wide smile, put his hand out and asked the Opposition Leader: “How are you?” Without missing a beat, Ranil replied (also with a smile): “Making your life difficult.” Gotabhaya laughed. The pair had a brief conversation after which the Defence Secretary left.

Hot protest against Arbour’s visit

The National Patriotic Movement met in Borella on Wednesday, headed by Gunadasa Amarasekera. They debated heavily about the forthcoming visit of Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It was finally resolved that the NPM would pile onto the streets in protest against her arrival. The NPM’s Manel Mal Movement also met the same day under the auspices of Convenor, S L Gunasekera. They named 2008 as the Year for Defeating the LTTE by Strengthening the Armed Forces. They also decided to make sure that every soldier received a greeting card on 1 January 2008, offering them best wishes. Wimal Weerawansa, Gomin Daysiri and Upali Jayasekera also attended.

Just another UNP trick

The JVP Politburo met on Tuesday at their Battaramulla party headquarters, chaired by Somawansa Amarasinghe. During the meeting, they received information that Jeyaraj Fernandopulle’s mother’s funeral would be held the same afternoon. Consequently, they decided to limit their discussions to urgent matters so that they could attend the funeral.
The JVP first spoke about the two weeks of public meetings they had been holding. All of them agreed that they had been quite successful and resolved to organise many more in future.
Afterwards, they spoke about reports that the UNP had shed the federal idea. They shared the opinion that this was just another UNP trick. “This a complete sham,” held Vijitha Herath. “The UNP just wants to lose its federal label. They have absolutely no intention of giving up the concept. Not to leave the devolution of power.” “It’s one of their new conspiracies,” agreed Wimal Weerawansa. “This was obvious from both of the UNP’s rag sheet newspapers last weekend. There was nothing in those two papers supportive of us. So, it isn’t out of love for us that they are going down this path. We must be careful. The UNP is eyeing our 37 seats.”
Herath added: “Ravi Karunanayake has said the US Ambassador had come rushing to meet Ranil Wickremesinghe the moment the UNP made its announcement about shedding federalism. The US Ambassador went running there because the UNP is a buddy of the West. The UNP will never distance itself from the West. It’s the same with this federal story.” Somawansa pitched in that nobody takes Ranil seriously.
The Politburo then spoke about the forthcoming visit of Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “This woman is coming to Sri Lanka on the Government’s invitation. The Government still hasn’t learnt a lesson. They brought Allan Rock here. He gave misleading information to the world about Sri Lanka. Then they got down John Holmes. He said Sri Lanka is a very dangerous place and the Government called him a terrorist. There’s no sense in bringing people here and blackguarding them after they’ve left. They must have some foresight and not let them come here at all.”

Is it the 10% ?

The blue and red satakayas are wishing each other: Tikiri Kobbekaduwa Governor,Central Province, hands over an envelope to recently appointed National List MP Basil Rajapaksa during the Bandaranaike commemoration held last Wednesday (Sept 26) at the Horagolla Samadhi.
Pic by Sisira Hemakumara

My, aren’t we chummy?

On-again off-again friend of the Rajapaksas - Anura Bandaranaike - met Basil Rajapaksa for a chit chat during the week. There was, in fact, a general (and uncharacteristic) overflow of goodwill between the Rajapaksas and Bandaranaikes last week. On Wednesday, Basil attended functions at the Bandaranaike Horagolla Samadhi to mark the joint S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike commemmoration. The function had been organised by Sunethra and Anura Bandaranaike. Chandrika couldn’t make it to the event because she was abroad.
“Basil,” said Sunethra, upon seeing him. “It’s the first time I’m seeing you in national dress. Very smart!” She then recounted an anecdote about her father. “My father once went to a dog show dressed in a full suit, complete with tie and coat. Someone asked him why he didn’t have on a national suit instead. My father replied that he had worn western dress because he was there for a dog show!”
Not long after his swearing in, Basil also had a round of discussions with foreign diplomats. Among them were the High Commissioners of India and Pakistan, World Bank Resident Representative Naoko Iishi and the head of the European Union’s Delegation to Sri Lanka Julian Wilson.

Tick, tock...tick, tock Lankan time

Tick, tock...tick, tock Lankan time
--Lakbima Online
By Dilini Algama

Finally, exams can be spoken of in the past tense. The computer may now be switched on for frivolous reasons of chatting and checking mail other than for assignments and searching the internet for information about Joseph Conrad and other such writers that students don’t read voluntarily.
If I stay up till 2:00 a.m. in the morning it’s for the pleasant reason of having read an ‘unputdownable’ book or having gone through a magazine till then and not because I had to memorize the differences between one confounded theory and another.
Half the stress is from keeping to exam time tables, studying one thing when you really feel like studying something else.

Time...

There are times when you don’t want to study at all and all you want to do is to go wake your parents up from their afternoon nap because the house is too quiet and you want some noise even if it’s the sound of two annoyed people throwing pillows at you while threatening to take much pleasure in breaking your limbs.
All this makes me wonder whether humans were ever really programmed to work according to schedules. Back when we had to work according to the school time table it never really did cross our minds that at 12:40 p.m. we would have Social Studies and History.
We just knew that at 1:20 p.m. it would be over.
The honking and bad words in morning traffic make me say a rather vehement ‘no’. If the bus stops somewhere for a long while, passengers will look at their watches, even give them a good shake (as if that would help things) and look about sighing to catch the eyes of someone who’s doing the same thing.
The clock hung on the back wall of our church is not for the convenience of the congregation, although brave souls will turn back to look at it, but for the pastor giving the sermon; it’s because he can see from the pulpit that really, he should have finished the sermon fifteen minutes ago.
But see, even pastors don’t like to work according to schedules. They do not like time frames and restrictions being the free souls that they are. They want to go on and on ceaselessly and the more watch-regarding the congregation becomes the happier they are.
Try scheduling choir practices at any given time, just to see what will happen. Of course I can let you know what will happen just here.
If you ask the choristers to come to church at 6:30 p.m. the first chorister will only appear at about 7:30 p.m. and the last will slowly walk up the isle at about 9:00p.m. and that too will be the choir leader.
And an hour and a lot of bickering later choir practice will finally start. Annoyed parents will be told that they can collect their children at 11:00 p.m. and even after 12:15 a.m. choristers will still be belting out Christmas carols and sleepy, yawning parents will be seen outside talking to each other about the importance of proper scheduling.
You can even take nature for an example of not sticking to schedules.
Now it rains when it shouldn’t and doesn’t when it should and half the dams built to catch water could substitute for cricket grounds. Of course, this is not entirely the fault of the weather, you see, I’m pretty sure that the weather anchors have a hand in this.
There they are all nicely saying that it’ll rain ‘tehmoreuw’ in ‘kilambeuw’ and that probably works as a summoning charm. If they were to say that there’ll be bit of a ‘droi’ spell, well a dry spell it’ll be. You can even take the TV actually.
Programmes will go on for ages past their scheduled times. Teledramas will take more than their allotted thirty minutes to finish. Another thing is that most of the childrens’ favourite programmes like Robin Hood and other such things were totally dispensed with whenever there was some minister giving a special speech.
That was so unfair, especially when you were a child who already had a wooden sword, crudely constructed yes, yet a wooden sword it was, under your bed and plenty of garden foliage to drape around yourself (and itch later for). Watching the prince of thieves was really the highlight of the week (meaning Robin Hood, that is).
See? Schedules are just not done. Man wants to be free, but then he also wants to be Brad Pitt and he can’t. So there are certain things man has to live with. Schedules will never be followed. I’ve been to weddings where bridegrooms have been over an hour late to get to church and we are talking about the guy who does not have to be late to make an impression. It is the bridegroom. Choir leaders will be late.

Alien concept

Sermons will go on. Favourite programmes will be scrapped to show uninteresting human beings spraying spit onto microphones and emitting speech as a by-product. And of course, this is all because someone very pompously declared that things should be different.
They give out TV schedules with Sunday papers saying that they’ll show some programme at a certain time and people come to expect it. Someone thought it would be a good idea to spread the good word that choir practices will be held at a certain time.
You see, that’s where it has all gone wrong. You must never give anyone the opportunity to expect things. Because if you fail to deliver, then you have failed to deliver and you don’t want to be in that position.
You were never meant to be in that position anyway. Scheduling is probably an alien concept to the human population. It was probably brought down to us in one of those flying saucers that some believe in and some don’t. Or possibly it was something that was in that box which Pandora opened and may be it got away with the rest before the lid closed down on hope, although how hope survived there with all that evil is beyond my comprehension. But then many things are. And scheduling is possibly one of them.

Arthur C. Clarke His ultimate legacy - space elevators

Arthur C. Clarke His ultimate legacy - space elevators

--Lakbima Online

Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England, and as a boy enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science-fiction magazines (pulp magazines, many of which made their way to England in ships with sailors who read them to pass the time). After secondary school and studying at Huish’s Grammar School, Taunton, he was unable to afford a university education and got a job as an auditor in the pensions section of the Board of Education.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early warning radar defence system which contributed to the RAF’s success during the Battle of Britain. Clarke actually spent most of his service time working on the Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar, as documented in his semi-autobiographical novel Glide Path. GCA did not see much practical use in WW-II, but after several more years of development, it was vital to the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. He was demobilised with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war, he earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at King’s College London.

A ‘Clarke’ orbit

In the postwar years Clarke became involved with the British Interplanetary Society and served for a time as its chairman. His most important contribution may be the idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He was the first in the world to propose this in a paper privately circulated among the core technical members of the BIS in 1945. The concept was later published in Wireless World in October of that year. Clarke has also written a number of non-fiction books describing the technical details and societal implications of rocketry and space flight. The most notable of these may be The Exploration of Space (1951) and The Promise of Space (1968). In recognition of this a geostationary orbit is sometimes called a ‘Clarke’ orbit. While Clarke had a few stories that appeared in fanzines between 1937 and 1945, his first professional sale appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946; Loophole was published in April, and Rescue Party, was published in May. Along with his writing, Clarke worked briefly as Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts (1949) before devoting himself to writing full-time from 1951. Clarke also contributed to the Dan Dare series, and his first three published novels were for a juvenile audience.
In 1948, he wrote The Sentinel for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected, it changed the course of Clarke’s career. Not only the basis for 2001, The Sentinel introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to Clarke’s work. Many of Clarke’s later works feature a technologically advanced but prejudiced mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars, Childhood’s End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution. In 1953 Clarke met and quickly married Marilyn Mayfield, a twenty-two year old American divorcee with a young son. They separated permanently after six months, although a divorce was not finalized until 1964.
He has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956, immigrating when it was still called Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in Colombo. Clarke holds citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka. He has long been an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers’ Club, and living in Sri Lanka has afforded him the opportunity to visit the ocean year-round. It also inspired the locale for his novel The Fountains of Paradise, in which he describes a space elevator. This, he believes, will ultimately be his legacy, more so than geostationary satellites, once space elevators make space shuttles obsolete.
His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future, published in book form in 1962. A timetable up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a global library for 2005.
Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal, and has stated that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood’s End. He has also said that he was one of several who were fooled by a Uri Geller demonstration at Birkbeck College. Although he has long since dismissed and distanced himself from nearly all pseudoscience, he still advocates research into purported instances of psychokinesis and other similar phenomena.

Record

In the early 1970s he signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, which won him all the main genre awards and has spawned sequels that, along with the 2001 series, formed the backbone of Clarke’s later career. In 1975, his short story The Star was not included in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka because of concerns that it might offend Roman Catholics even though it had already been selected. The same textbook also caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare’s work with that of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Isaac Asimov.
In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers. In 1988, he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome and has since needed to use a wheelchair most of the time. Clarke was the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004, and Chancellor of Moratuwa University, Sri Lanka, from 1979 to 2002.

Courtesy BOOKWORLD

Google docs adds presentation app

Google docs adds presentation app

By Jennifer LeClaire - Lakbima Online

Google Docs, a Web-based platform for creating, sharing, storing, and publishing documents, has offered capabilities for word processing and creating spreadsheets, but has been missing a major piece of the Microsoft Office puzzle — until now. Last week Google added business presentation software, the element that many analysts said was preventing the Web-based office suite from contending with Office on a larger scale.
Google’s business presentation software attempts to answer Microsoft’s PowerPoint with a Web-based twist. The application lets users create simple Web-based presentations that co-workers can update and view from their own computers.
“From student groups to sales teams, people are turning to the Web for help improving both personal and group productivity,” Sam Schillace, director of engineering for Google Docs, said in a statement. “Putting documents in the cloud surrounded by easy-to-use features for collaboration and sharing can save people hours of inefficiency and frustration and even enable new ways of working together.”

Natural addition to docs

The way Google sees it, presentations are a natural addition for Google Docs because they are usually created with the intention of being shared. Web-based, collaborative presentations eliminate the need for users to manage and compile group members’ input in separate attachments, and make it possible for multiple users to view a set of slides while a moderator controls the presentation.
“Most people don’t make presentations for themselves. So it wouldn’t be like a document you would use as a record or a spreadsheet. Presentations are inherently documents intended to be shared,” said Paul DeGroot, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. “If Microsoft is correct that collaboration is a key driver, then solutions like Google Docs may be a better fit for many organisations.”
A demo Google posted on YouTube illustrates the new application in action. The business presentation features are still in simple, early stages, the company admitted, but the Google Docs team is making them available now. Google said updates and improvements will continue to roll out over the coming months.

Real-time collaboration

But right out of the virtual box, Google’s business presentation software offers many capabilities. Users can create and keep presentations in one place on the Web that is accessible anytime, from any Internet-connected computer.
In addition, users can manage, update, and share presentations with colleagues by sending an e-mail invitation to edit the presentations together online and in real-time, or contribute at different times to the same presentation.
Moreover, users can present and control slide shows for all viewers over the Web, with no special setup required, and chat with viewers in real-time via the integrated chat functionality. In addition to this, Google Docs lets users import existing presentations and control permissions on created presentations to make them available to the general public or to selected individuals.

Microsoft Office killer?

Along with going head-to-head with other Web-based applications, Google Docs is competing with Microsoft’s SharePoint, a collaborative Web portal that is a free component of Windows Server.
DeGroot said that Microsoft’s solution is expensive and doesn’t lend itself to interorganization sharing. “Companies developing Web-based applications are, to some extent, limiting the effectiveness of Microsoft’s most important Office strategy, which says Office tools are a great way to collaborate and communicate,” DeGroot said.
“The difficulty there is that Microsoft’s strategy really lacks a Web element,” he concluded. “Google’s solutions are inherently collaborative inside and outside of an organization.”
sci-tech-today.com

Hackers control PCs

Hackers control PCs

By Jim Finkle - Lakbima Online

A few weeks ago Candace Locklear’s office computer quietly started sending out dozens of instant messages with photos attached that were infected with malicious software.
She was sitting at her desk, with no sign that the messaging software was active. By the time she figured out what was going on, several friends and colleagues had opened the attachments and infected their computers.
It took eight hours for a technician to clean up her computer. But because the malicious software worked so secretly, she’s still not convinced that all’s clear.
“I’d like to think that it’s gone. But I just don’t know,” said Locklear, 40, a publicist in San Francisco. “That’s what is so frustrating.”
Computer security experts estimate that tens of millions of personal computers are infected with malicious software like the one that attacked Locklear’s machine. Such programs, generally classified as malware, attack companies along with consumers. Some are keyloggers, recording every key stroke that the user enters — sending valuable bank account information, passwords and credit card numbers to hackers. In July, hackers used keylogging software to gather passwords to databases at the U.S. Department of Transportation, consulting firm Booz Allen, Hewlett-Packard Co and satellite network company Hughes Network Systems, according to British Internet security software maker Prevx Inc. And other malware programs turn PCs into “zombies,” literally giving hackers full control over the machine. The zombies can be instructed to act as servers, sending out tens of thousands of spam emails promoting counterfeit medications, luxury watches or penny stocks without the PC owner ever knowing about it.
The computer that controls the zombies — known as the command and control center — is able to change the text of the spam depending on what his or her customer wants to sell.
Monster Worldwide Inc (MNST.O) said last month that confidential contact information of millions of its job seekers was stolen by criminals who used zombies. Contact data for 146,000 job seekers using the official U.S. government jobs Web site was also taken. Monster said it would beef up its security, but even with enhanced protection there are no guarantees.
Security experts say that while companies and consumers need to be vigilant to protect themselves against Internet-borne threats, determined criminals are hard to beat. “I hate to scare people, but there is never 100 percent (security),” says Gadi Evron, a researcher with Internet security firm Beyond Security. “If you want to know for sure, never do anything with your computer and never connect to the Internet.”
Evron has organized conferences between government and industry researchers to fight hackers who set up botnets, or networks of millions of zombies. He said the picture painted by some presenters was depressing.
“The problems are not getting solved. They are getting worse,” he said. “The bad guys are making a lot of money.”
Still, he and other security experts recommend that PC users take basic precautions, including installing up-to-date security software, keeping current with updates that software providers distribute over the Web, and backing up files. There’s a wide range of PC security software available, including ones that were recently updated or about to be introduced by BiDefender, CA Inc (CA.N), Check Point’s Zone Alarm, F-Secure Corp, Kaspersky Labs, McAfee Inc (MFE.N), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Prevx Corp, Symantec Corp’s (SYMC.O) Norton Security and Trend Micro Inc (4704.T).
More important than security software, users need to monitor their own behaviour. The bulk of malware is installed on computers by users who either click on a Web link or on a file that is attached to an email or instant message. PC users can greatly reduce the risk of infection by only visiting familiar Web sites and avoiding unknown attachments.
“You won’t know you are infected until one day your ISP turns you off or restricts access or money starts disappearing from your bank account,” said Adam O’Donnell, a senior research scientist with Cloudmark, which sells anti-spam software.
- Reuters

Resolving Lanka’s ethnic issue still a distant dream

-The Nation' News

Resolving Lanka’s ethnic issue still a distant dream

Playing his best role as Master in the fine art of doublespeak, President Rajapaksa explains his two pronged strategy of simultaneously pursuing the diametrically opposed goals of war and peace to audiences at the UN General Assembly

“Any negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue would not be worth the paper written on, unless terrorism is eliminated by military means” – Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary- on the eve of the UN sessions. His statement was in sharp contrast to what his brother President Rajapaksa said in his address to the UN assembly when he emphasized that, “ his regime was committed to a negotiated and honourable settlement of the ethnic war”

The fine art of doublespeak came into vogue last week as both the government and the opposition grappled with contentious issues, possibly with the same objective-that of securing power for themselves in the immediate future.

The government’s posturing was enacted in far away New York where President Mahinda Rajapaksa was attending the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations. Although the state media made much of the fact that the President was one of the few heads of state speaking on the inaugural day of the sessions, Rajapakse’s attention lay elsewhere: on the many human rights groups keen to embarrass him on the world’s stage.

At his address to the United Nations itself, Rajapaksa was not in a compromising mood. Speaking in Sinhala to a sparse audience, he declared that terrorism anywhere is terrorism and that there was no such thing as ‘good’ terrorism. He made the case that his regime had ‘liberated’ the east of the country but stopped short of asserting that he would opt to do the same for the north.

Rajapaksa did say however that his government’s thrust in the East was part and parcel of a strategy to convince the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that the latter could not win a war against the military. He emphasized that his regime was committed to a negotiated and honourable settlement of the ethnic issue.

Even if that was for the consumption of international audiences who were keen to ascertain the President’s thinking, the real doublespeak came in the behind- the scenes meetings, where the President was busy repairing the damage caused by months of negative publicity-some of it due to his own government’s bungling, the rest of it engineered by LTTE propaganda.

There were meetings with United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon as well as Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, but the icing on the cake was meeting Eric Solheim, formerly the chief broker of talks with the LTTE, and now Norway’s Minister of International Development. It was the perfect photo opportunity for Rajapaksa to smile for the cameras and announce to the world that the government is willing to talk to the Tigers yet again!

Then there was Sri Lanka’s expensive and expansive Foreign Minister, the much travelled Rohitha Bogollagama, reiterating that Sri Lanka was committed firmly to a negotiated settlement of the ethnic war, pooh-poohing any suggestions that a military option was being pursued.

Of course, all this must be taken with a pinch of salt because the ‘ground situation’ as they say, is somewhat different from what is said and done in the plush conference halls in New York. And proof of that came from none other than Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

On the eve of the UN sessions, Rajapaksa (Jnr.) was to say that any negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue would not be worth the paper it is written on, unless terrorism is eliminated by military means. Such a sentiment would enjoy considerable support in the south of the country, in the context of the now redundant Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) entered into by the LTTE and the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration.

So, that leaves us with the all important question: what exactly is the government’s policy vis-a-vis the ethnic crisis? Will it attempt to stamp out terrorism-and therefore the LTTE militarily, and then opt to negotiate? Is this a practical option to pursue? Or, will it adopt a two-pronged strategy of aggressively pursuing war while adopting the peace stance at international fora?

The government itself is probably searching for answers to this dilemma. The hawks in the establishment would dearly love to annihilate the LTTE, but their hands are tied due to international pressure, the lack of funds for military spending, and the sheer enormity of the task. Nevertheless, this seems to be the more favoured option, at least at this moment in time.

If that was the poser for the Rajapaksa regime, even the opposition United National Party (UNP) appears to be in a quandary about its stance on a negotiated settlement. This caught the limelight when UNP stalwart Ravi Karunanayake said this week, that his party was considering options other than a federal solution to devolving power to the minorities, under any proposed power sharing agreement.

This statement was significant for several reasons. Firstly, although Karunanayake says the UNP is willing to consider ‘other options’, he does not say whether these options offer more or less devolution than the federal model. Secondly, these sentiments come from Karunanayake, and not from the leadership of the UNP or in the form of an official communiqué from the party.

Now, it is well known that the UNP is assiduously courting the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) these days, and that the JVP is playing hard to get, but making noises to the effect that it could consider joining forces with the UNP, if the latter is more flexible in its policy towards the national question. It is also known that the ‘F’ word, federalism, is anathema to the JVP.

Therefore, Karunanayake’s statement appears to be an attempt by the UNP to test the waters with the leftists. But already, it has sent alarm bells ringing with the much respected moderate Tamil politician, V. Anandasangaree calling on the UNP to be cautious in its decision making.

It would be a sad day for this country, if the UNP which in recent times has steadfastly stood for negotiated peace through maximum devolution of power to the minorities, was to now suddenly embrace a more nationalist stance solely with the short term objective of coming to power. It would be an extremely short sighted move that could prove disastrous for the country in the long run.

Both the government and the opposition therefore appear to be playing to the gallery of public opinion, because both factions are keen to secure power: the government, to retain it in the face of a surge of unpopularity brought about by economic burdens being heaped on the public, and the opposition eager to regain control after being a dozen years out of office, and sensing a window of opportunity.

The net result though, is that any resolution of Sri Lanka’s burning issue of ethnic division appears to be as distant as ever.

****

On the Offensive on All Fronts

On the Offensive on All Fronts

Several diplomatic efforts, including high level official visits, were made to South East Asian countries, to curb the Tigers from using these places for procurement and shipping of arms and ammunition, to the north and east.

These efforts paid off, as these countries employed greater vigilance to stem the flow of weapons to Sri Lanka, in the recent past.
Besides these efforts, the government has sought to promulgate Emergency Regulations (ER), to make it an offence, not only to procure such material, but also to aid and abet, as well as fund such procurements.

Govt. plugging the gaps
Under fresh regulations, titled Restriction on the Procurement of Certain Items, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made it an offence for any Sri Lankan national, resident here or overseas, from procuring, aiding or abetting or providing financial assistance under these regulations. Upon conviction after trial by the High Court, a person is liable to Rigorous Imprisonment for a term between three months and five years, and a fine not exceeding Rs. 500,000.

Under the category of weapon systems, weapons and ammunition, military aircrafts, naval ships, armoured vehicles, artillery, naval and air defence guns, aircraft guns and accessories, missiles and rockets, all types of grenades, all types of firearms, pistols, machine guns, automatic rifles, 40 mm grenade launchers, 40 mm RPGs and mortars (60mm, 81 and 82mm) have been listed as prohibited items and equipment.

Armoured vehicle spares, submerged vehicles or underwater vehicles, explosive detection equipment, digital jamming devices, infrared illuminators, GPS equipment, inclusive of aviation GPS and laser designators have been prohibited under the category miscellaneous items and spares. Laser Range Finders and Radar Range Finders and Thermal Image Devices are also in this list of prohibited items that, however, could be procured with Defence ministry approval.

Under special equipment, all types of radars and radar spares, all types of parachutes, night vision devices and beta lights, while all types of military switches used for booby traps and IEDs and ISF electric and ISF percussion igniter switches have been prohibited. The list could be further enlarged by the Defence Secretary in the interest of national security, preservation of public order and the maintenance of essential services and supplies.

So, it appears that the government is leaving no stone unturned to throttle the Tigers in every conceivable sphere, and is going hammer and tongs, to defeat the LTTE on all fronts.

Alive to the fact that the LTTE, taking a beating on the battle field, is likely to turn its guns on key defence and economic installations in areas outside the north and east, the Government has set up high security zones (HSZ) around key places such as the Colombo Port, the Katunayake International Airport and the adjacent Sri Lanka Air Force base, to name a few HSZs. The Government has set up these HSZs under ERs promulgated recently. (See Katunayake HSZ map).

Army draws first blood in Wanni
Militarily, this has been a significant week, as the security forces launched separate operations on what has been an impregnable forward defence line (FDL) along the Kilali-Muhamali-Nagakovil axis.

The military claims that 20 Tigers were killed as against two soldiers, in the pre dawn attack on Kilali, when small groups of soldiers from the 4 CLI, broke into the area and destroyed eight bunkers.

The LTTE, however, concedes the deaths of four Tigers and claims an unknown number of dead soldiers were removed by the military, which returned to base after three hours of fighting. The pre dawn attack on Sunday at Nagarkovil, where the military is quite strong, did not produce the desired results, while five Tigers were killed in another attack on the Muhamalai FDL. Intercepted LTTE messages revealed that an LTTE area leader Ravi disappeared during the confrontation.

The LTTE is trapped in an area of 6,500 sq. kms., due to the ongoing operations by the security forces. The Tiger strength is in the region of 3,000 cadres, including 1,800 on Jaffna FDLs along this axis, and 1,200 Sea Tigers.
The August 11 and October 11 attacks last year by the Tigers and the security forces respectively, saw each side that attacked first pay the bigger price.

This week, the attacks by the security forces, were swift and as a result, the casualty count was far below that observed on either side, in the two major attacks last year.

The LTTE is blaming the army for initiating the ground attack with battle tanks, in Kilali, while the army maintains that the Tigers fired 120mm and 81 mm mortar rounds during the attack.

The attacks up north, were launched Sunday, despite setbacks in Thampanai, in Mannar, till late Saturday (22), when the Tigers rained artillery and mortars and attacked the military’s FDLs killing Captain Alagiyawanna and three soldiers and injuring 32 more. Several Tiger cadres were also killed during the confrontation, and the military claims it captured three bunkers.

The security forces had broken into the FDL in Periythampane, from the direction of Vilathikulam. The battle was co-coordinated by Wanni Special Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya and Brig. Jagath Dias, on the instructions of Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The eastern flank of the A-9 Road, was guarded by the newly created 57 Brigade that faced a major debacle recently and subsequently, came under Jagath Rambukpotha. The army had advanced about two kms. beyond Periyathampanai, since March this year, when operations in the Mannar region commenced.

Meanwhile, the Army Chief had earmarked another operation on Monday, to target the LTTE in the Giant Tank area, popularly called Yodhawewa in the Mannar region. The second Commando Brigade and the 10 Gajaba Regiment were deployed for the attack. According to battle plans, the elite forces and the infantry troops were detailed to capture a row of bunkers west of Yodhawewa area, from where the LTTE launched attacks on security forces and vehicles on the Vavuniya- Mannar main supply route. Amidst stiff resistance, the security forces managed to capture seven bunkers during the battle.

Three soldiers were killed and 22 others injured in the confrontation, when security forces stormed the LTTE bunkers, killing around 30 Tigers. Capt. Thushara Wettasinghe lost a leg when he stepped on an anti personnel mine. Capt. Wettasinghe, a valiant officer, was awarded the Veera Vikrema Vibhushana for his galantry during the Thoppigala battle.

Strategies and Tactics
The modus operandi of the security forces was likely to succeed in the Mannar region via the Wanni jungles, but in approaching the northern Jaffna FDLs, a new approach may have to be devised.

The military began its operations by systematically clearing the Tigers off their habitat. Initially, small groups, including elite forces, penetrated the jungles. This is in contrast to previous efforts of sending battle tanks and columns of soldiers, who were vulnerable.
This ‘Eelam War IV’ saw the military put its artillery, mortar launchers and multi barrel rocket launchers into good use, while ground troops specialized in jungle warfare, penetrated Tiger territory.

Military aircraft kept pounding rebel positions and destroying Tiger assets with the support of ground and electronic surveillance.
Even last week, as we reported, air sorties were carried out on an LTTE base consisting of large arms and ammunition dumps, which had also harboured the special Imran Pandiyan “regiment” of the Tigers.

Navy rules the waves
On the part of the Navy, on several occasions, Fast Attack Craft (FACs) have intercepted Tiger craft carrying reinforcements and supplies, while Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) have helped destroy Tiger vessels laden with arms and ammunition. This was the case just a fortnight back, with three ships destroyed in the space of 24-hours.

This week, the Navy, on Thursday (27), launched an attack on a flotilla of Sea Tiger boats from Nayaru area cruising towards Podwakattu. During the confrontation, in the sea off Trincomalee, the Navy destroyed three Sea Tiger craft, killing an unknown number of cadres onboard. A naval rating was killed and several others injured in this battle that lasted nearly four hours.

All out War on Terror
With the Navy destroying nearly a dozen LTTE ships loaded with arms and ammunition, the government has also moved to cripple the LTTE’s procurement of weapons, weapons systems, spares and ammunition at the first instance, by introducing new ERs.

Internationally, too, the Tigers procurement mode has been placed on low gear after a spate of arrests of LTTE operatives in the US, UK, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France, among other countries.
On the ‘KP’ affair, this is how Senpathi reported on September 16:

“Top officers in the Sri Lankan Defence establishment are convinced that the Americans, who conducted an undercover sting operation, had planned to take it to its logical conclusion.”…
“In August 2006, the FBI netted in 11 people, including Sri Lankans and foreigners, involved in procuring weapons. But, they had deliberately kept out Pratheepan Thavarajah’s name in the press release, for fear that he would become a fugitive.

The US, which has been working closely with the Indonesian authorities, was able to take over Thavarajah, who was grilled by Indonesian authorities for a week. Some officers feel, a similar pattern would befall Kumaran Pathmanathan, as the US authorities would want to get at the bottom of the LTTE network. This would help unravel the network of other terrorist organizations, they believe.”

As expected, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, was quick to connect the local efforts to root out terrorism, with the international campaign to uproot the menace.

“Terrorism anywhere is terrorism. There is nothing good in terrorism. Sri Lanka has taken an upfront position in the global community’s efforts to deal with terrorism. We have become party to 11 out of 13 UN Conventions for the suppression of the various acts of terrorism,” said President Rajapaksa.

Though the President made a boast of signing 11 of the 13 UN Conventions on terrorism, he may have forgotten the international fall out just last September, after a five-member Bench of the Supreme Court dismissed the Sinharasa application based on the UNHCR determination on his case. (Please see relevant box story)

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Military Matters - The Nation' News

Buoyant Ranil poised to strike in November

Politics - The Nation' News

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Buoyant Ranil poised to strike in November

Has the main opposition, the United National Party, woken up to reality? This is the question being posed by many, in the aftermath of the remarks that were made by Colombo District UNP Leader Ravi Karunanayake last week. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Karunanayake announced the UNP’s desire to stick to the unitary nature of the Constitution when devolving power to the strife ridden northern and eastern provinces of the country.

Earlier, the UNP notwithstanding the ideas expressed by various other political entities such as the JVP and the JHU, advocated federalism as a solution for the country’s ethnic conflict. Surprisingly, however, the UNP has now thought it fit to go along with the thinking of what appears to be that of the majority, following the military successes achieved by the UPFA government recently, which had the backing and the blessings of a larger segment of the majority community.

UNP’s latest stance
Though Karunanayake made it more or less official, the UNP’s latest stance was first made public by Moneragala District UNP Parliamentarian Ranjit Madduma Bandara at a TV talk show telecast two weeks ago. In fact, Athuraliye Rathana Thero who represented the JHU, asked for clarification from Madduma Bandara when he announced that the UNP stands for a unitary constitution.

The UNP’s latest stand could be construed as a significant departure from its original position. The UNP, which was in power for a short stint from 2002 to 2004, was part and parcel of an agreement signed between the government and the LTTE, whereby it advocated federalism as the solution to the ethnic question. The agreement spelt out that the government in power (the UNP) and the LTTE agreed on a federal solution to the ethnic crisis which plagued the country.

Under the auspices of the Norwegian facilitators, the UNP government entered into the Oslo Declaration in December 2002, whereby the LTTE too committed itself to a federal solution. The declaration was attested by Minister G.L. Peiris on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government and LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham on behalf of the LTTE. The statement issued by the Norwegian Government on the occasion stated thus: “Responding to a proposal by the leadership of the LTTE, the parties agreed to explore a solution founded on the principle of internal self-determination in areas of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking peoples based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka. The parties acknowledged that the solution has to be acceptable to all communities.”

Having attested the agreement, the LTTE demanded something which went beyond the federal structure to facilitate an interim administration through the Interim Self-Governing Administration (ISGA) proposal, which could be described as a step towards separatism.

At the November 2005 presidential election, people saw a paradigm shift in the LTTE’s stand when the self-proclaimed sole representatives of the Tamils in the north east and elsewhere in the country imposed a boycott on the election, which gave an edge to UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa over UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Presidential election
The general perception among the people was that if the LTTE favoured a federal solution and was yearning for peace in the country, it would not have resorted to such action, which defeated the very idea conceived in Oslo in 2005.
The 2005 presidential election campaign saw more communal sentiments being expressed by the UPFA, while the JVP, obsessed with nationalism, embarked on a virulent campaign against the UNP candidate. The JVP’s verbal abuse and unfounded allegations against the UNP also helped to fan communal emotions among the general public, which propelled Mahinda Rajapaksa to the helm of politics in the country.

Mangala Samaraweera and company, who advocated federalism under the guidance of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and a seasoned campaigner of the ‘Sudu Nelum’ programme by which they propagated a just solution for the ethnic crisis, also went along with the JVP for mere political advantage. The end result was disastrous for the moderate Tamils, by which the country was dragged into a senseless war.

The UNP’s latest position would have sent shock waves through moderate Tamils who had faith in it as a party which cares for all, including the minorities. It could alienate the moderate Tamils from the UNP, which could have severe implications for the party in the long run. It would certainly leave the UNP with no option but to turn towards the LTTE or a proxy of the LTTE which would make a fresh political bid in the south, mainly in the Colombo District to rally the support of the Colombo-based Tamils who hitherto voted with the UNP, come what may. However, others say that the UNP would be the best option for them, being the best out of the worse.

The UNP’s latest thinking is that this may be the only way forward for the party, given that a President who believes in communal politics is in power. As to whether the UNP is making a mistake by the shifting of its policy is yet to be seen, though political commentators are forecasting a dismal future for the party as far as minority support is concerned. However, this could be a mere political exercise by the UNP to test the waters and see how it would fair with the Sri Lankan electorate if it shifts its stance on the character of the country’s Constitution.

JVP stance
As it stands today, it appears that the UNP is trying to overcome a certain short-term problem politically. Some think that the present shift would help the party to solicit the support of the JVP, which had reached breaking point with the government over a number of issues. JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe recently announced that the JVP does not have a personality problem with the UNP and that it was opposed to the UNP only due to its policy, which was obsessed with federalism and its international network, which works against the interests of the country.

The UNP is now poised to discuss this matter at length in a meeting with the party’s apex Working Committee and Political Affairs Committee, which is likely to include the latest amendment to the party’s policy framework after deliberations. Senior UNPers were taken aback for a while when they first heard of the party’s new policy shift, since they did not perceive the motives behind the move. However, party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had reportedly told some of his close associates that the UNP did not advocate federalism as a policy at any stage and invited the people to read the presidential election manifesto of 2005, to get a hang of the UNP’s thinking on devolution of power while others think that politics is always a game of hoodwinking the people. It is their fervent opinion that the present shift is more temporary than permanent, until the UNP rides back to power, after which it would turn back to its original policy of advocating federalism as a policy to solve the present crisis.

What’s in a name?
The reactions of the Political Affairs Committee and the Working Committee over the UNP’s latest major policy shift are yet to be seen. It would most likely sail through the two policy-making bodies of the party without much heartburn for Wickremesinghe since most of the members in the Working Committee are ready to accommodate the point of view expressed by the leader.
UNP National Organiser S.B. Dissanayake is of the opinion that whether it is unitary or united, the UNP is committed to extensive devolution to resolve the ethnic crisis. In his view, the name makes no difference since it has a good example to cite in the Indonesian Aceh Province. He states that the party at no stage emphatically stated that it would only support a federal solution.

The thinking of the more affluent class in the UNP is that all these are mere political exercises to throw a veil over the masses to focus their attention on something else since the party is not quite ready to overthrow the government at the next Budget in November.

The sentiment expressed by a senior UNPer was, that it is very unlikely the UNP would try to do so now. He was of the opinion that the time was not right and the conditions were not conducive for such a move.

Nevertheless, the UNP is still toying with the idea of overthrowing the government at the second reading of the Budget and if the numbers are right, the opposition would ask for a division in Parliament. However, it appears that the government is mindful of the fact and is vigilant about the UNP’s political manoeuvering, which would otherwise take the government by surprise.

Dilemma
It is learnt that at present the UNP is having a dialogue with the JVP, but the JVP is in a dilemma and does not want to show the country that it is in truck with the UNP in the exercise of toppling the government.

The JVP is yet to take a decision as to whether it would vote with the Budget or not but the very likely scenario is that it would not, since most of the measures taken by the government during the recent past have been termed by the JVP as measures that go against the well-being of the people.

Besides, the UNP is in the process of adjusting itself to suit the conditions put forward by the JVP, and create an environment conducive for it to allow the UNP to come back to power. The Wickremesinghe administration in the UNP is ever-ready to do whatever the JVP wants in its pursuit of power.

The UNP, which imposed a ban on its members with regard to mentioning deadlines for overthrowing the government, is working stealthily towards achieving its goals. Wickremesinghe is buoyant these days and his attitude has instilled confidence in the people who are close to him. His aim is to make a joint effort by soliciting assistance from everybody possible to topple the government. The question is whether the government is ready to face the showdown in November.

Challenge
In fact, President Mahinda Rajapaksa challenged the UNP to topple the government, if possible, at the next Budget. Though the President did issue a challenge to the UNP, he too was not sure as to what would happen at the Budget.

Against this backdrop, having Basil Rajapaksa in Parliament is an additional advantage for the President. Basil Rajapaksa would definitely put his heart and soul into salvaging the waning image of the government and try to keep the government members intact to face any eventuality in Parliament.

Although the government has mismanaged the economy and brought more misery to the poor over the past two years owing to many factors, some of which were beyond its control, the work undertaken and completed in the east is somewhat commendable. After having liberated the east from the clutches of the LTTE, the government embarked upon massive development projects to win the hearts and minds of the people of the east.

On top all this, it is also exploring the possibility of fully implementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to create separate provincial councils for the north and the east. The northern council will operate under a special Advisory Council appointed by the President until such time that elections are held for the north. The Advisory Council will be empowered to function as the board of ministers and all the powers specified in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution are likely to be discharged through the so-appointed Advisory Council.

In the east, the government is envisaging holding elections and restoring democratic norms for the people to choose their own elected representatives.

The hitch at present is the presence of armed groups headed by Karuna Amman operating without any hindrance. This is the major problem faced by the people of the east, and it also threatens democratic principles being implemented there. However, the government’s plan to bring forth a good deal for the people who have undergone immense suffering due to the separatist war in the east have been successful so far, with the Muslim community being given its share to get effectively involved in the process.

Catastrophic condition
In general terms, the country is facing a catastrophic condition economically and otherwise with the oil prices skyrocketing in the world market. The projected loss of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for the year 2008 is estimated at a staggering Rs. 48 billion, which would drastically increase soon enough since world oil prices are expected to reach the US$ 100 mark per barrel very soon.

Given these circumstances, economists are predicting a dismal future for the county under any government in power if Sri Lanka doesn’t push for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic problem and increase its productivity, while creating an environment conducive to foreign investments.

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Policy shifts or policy shows -

• President explains two-track policy to UN amidst confusion and contradiction
• UNP explains about-turn on F-word, but issues strong attack on 'blood brothers'
• JVP, Mangala group also take steps towards political realignments

By Our Political Editor

President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the UN General Assembly sessions in New York on Tuesday

It is strange but true. Some of the key stakeholders in the country's festering ethnic conflict -- the Government, the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) and even their protagonists, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- were making fresh policy pronouncements this week.

It comes after more than a five-year long ceasefire that remains only on paper. An undeclared Eelam War IV is raging. In the light of all this, more military and political wars are inexplicably a certainty. President Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa is for both war and peace. "We launched military operations," he told the 62nd United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York on Tuesday "to convince them (the Tiger guerrillas) that it would not be possible to obtain a military victory." Paradoxical enough, the same message he gave the UN was delivered to Rajapaksa and his own Government just four days earlier.

United States Ambassador, Robert O' Blake, declared, "The tactical successes should not tempt the Government to re-consider whether Sri Lanka's conflict can be won by military means." The US is an important member of the Donor Co-chairs who are underwriting the peace process together with facilitator Norway, Japan and the European Union member countries.

"Our goal remains a negotiated and honourable end," declared Rajapaksa setting out the second of his dual track policy at the UN. To achieve this, he pinned his hopes on the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) by saying it is "working successfully towards it." However, there were growing new doubts over such a possible success. Barely 24 hours before Rajapaksa had spelt out his two-track war cum peace policy to world leaders and diplomats, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe sprung a surprise. His United National Party will no longer insist on a federal solution to the conflict.

A two-page document released on Thursday explained the UNP's position. It said, "there must be a credible power sharing between the national government, Regional/Provincial Councils and Local Authorities. The Centre must identify the powers needed for the national government and parliament." The document, which was a reiteration of UNP policy, did not refer to any settlement based on a federal system.

In moving away from that previous position, UNP front liner Ravi Karunanayake was to claim that the word "federal" was put to use by the media and not by the UNP. Even if he or his party believed that would absolve them from any blame, the ploy was too transparent.

In doing so, the UNP seemed to try to harmonise itself with the position taken by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The JVP is opposed to any federal system. Like the UNP now, the JVP has stood for maximum devolution within certain confines. It was only last Sunday that JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe declared in a signed article written exclusively to The Sunday Times that "in our view the UNP is not capable of mobilising its membership or following on a programme of action. That is why their slogans are hollow. There is no meaningful action to back those slogans."

Here was Wickremesinghe responding in his own way to the assertions proving again that there are no permanent enemies in politics. That naturally means that the APRC, already faltering would flounder further. Thus, the question remains whether they will be able to work successfully towards any acceptable political package.

It was The Sunday Times sister paper Lankadeepa that ran the story of the UNP dropping its previous commitment to a federal solution. Interesting enough the JVP politburo was in session that day. Its leader Somawansa Amerasinghe was to say that Wickremesinghe's remarks were aimed at "getting our 37 votes." He said it was his understanding that an APRC political package to end the ethnic conflict, to be announced in November, would be within the framework of the 13th amendment to the Constitution. He said the Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe had visited Norway and was engaged in a secret exercise to resume peace talks between the Government and the LTTE.

JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa was stronger in his criticism of Minister Samarasinghe. He said he (Samarasinghe) had not given up his agenda to work towards becoming Foreign Minister. He failed once before, during the last Cabinet re-shuffle despite asking two leading Colombo-based envoys to espouse his case. He was now trying to play the role of a Kapuwa (broker) to revive peace talks in the hope that he would be made the Foreign Minister.

Weerawansa said it was a "crying shame the way some ministers stooped to any level to achieve their personal ends." Weerawansa was also critical of the upcoming visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbor. He said the Government had not learnt its lessons after the visits of Allan Rock and Sir John Holmes. JVP's foreign affairs spokesman Vijitha Herath said that if the UNP was unable to defeat the Government during the budget, UNP leader Wickremesinghe would be in "great trouble".

A discussion on the JVP's stance on the budget could not be concluded. The meeting had to be adjourned early since two of their members - Wimal Weerawansa and Vijitha Herath - were to represent the JVP at the funeral of the mother of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle.

The UNP dropping the federal system of governance in finding a solution to the ethnic problem also caused some minor ripples in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-M faction. Its convenor Mangala Samaraweera was in Galle when he read the news in the Lankadeepa. Later, he sought a meeting with UNP leader Wickremesinghe. There, the latter explained the nuances and gave him a copy of the two-page document which the party was to release later.

Samaraweera, it turned out, was satisfied that the UNP stood for maximum devolution though there was no express reference to a federal system. That exclusion, it was pointed out, did not mean any dilution in the UNP's approach to resolve the conflict, it was pointed out.

Though it was Ravi Karunanayake who was tasked to explain the UNP's position on 'federalism', it became clear that the Party was making a major re-alignment. The UNP has, clearly decided that there is an urgent need to win back the support of the southern voters, which largely eroded because the UNP was perceived as a party that took a soft-line on the LTTE.

The fact that one of the biggest debacles inflicted on the LTTE, the breakaway of the Karuna faction, was done politically, and largely due to the UNP's pursuit of peace talks from 2002-2004 has been lost on the southern polity. The fact that LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran himself indicated that he engineered the North and East boycott of the 2005 Presidential Elections to get Ranil Wickremesinghe defeated was because of the UNP Leader's "trap" for the LTTE through an international safety net, is also lost on the south.

In addition to this, what Defence Secretary Lt. Col. (Ret.) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says, almost grudgingly, that the UNP has come to drop 'federalism' because of the military successes over the LTTE, and its popularity with the southern masses, seems to have some truth in it.

The UNP Leader was to later explain the party's sudden decision to drop the F-word from their own vocabulary. He said the party had not been using this word - federalism - in recent years. They are for power-sharing, and in their previous proposals they have not used that word. When he was asked by some ; what of the Oslo Communiqué, and whether the UNP has jettisoned that as well, he replied in the negative, and said that the Oslo Communiqué only referred to "exploring federalism".

Even more significant was the typed note released after the party felt that Ravi Karunanayake had not explained the party's position adequately. In that 'special statement', the UNP quoted its leader as saying the Party opposes separatism, and that while terrorism requires a "military response", the causes that lead to separatism require a "political solution".

It went further to say that a negotiated settlement should be based on renunciation of violence, human rights and democracy - and even acknowledged the concerns of some sections of the majority Sinhalese that devolution will lead to separatism. The party seemed to stick to its international safety net principle, which Prabhakaran called a "trap" for the LTTE, but what was equally striking was the fact that it even questioned whether the Province must be the unit of devolution for the future. "If new units of devolution are being demarcated, it should be based on political, social and economic criteria", it said.

Clearly, the UNP was aiming at winning back the lost ground of the Sinhalese vote-base in the long-term, and the JVP's support in the immediate. Menawhile, the LTTE, in a statement a day ahead of Rajapaksa's UN address, took to task the remarks made by Retired Lieutenant Colonel Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the all powerful Defence Secretary, that "We cannot establish permanent peace in the country by winning only half or two third of the war against terrorism… President Rajapaksa cannot implement the desired political solution to the north and east conflict unless LTTE terrorism is defeated 100 per cent."

The LTTE said, "Two important facts can be gleaned from this statement (of the Defence Secretary's) that was clearly endorsed by the President himself. Firstly, that the GoSL intends to intensify the war in the north and secondly that the APRC was a façade to fool the international community."

Thus, on three key fronts - the Opposition, the LTTE and even the international community - President Rajapaksa and his Government appear to have moved into a cul de sac. Its own initiative or the lack of it has prolonged the political process. The new turn of events is making matters worse. The political process is not moving hand in hand with the ongoing military thrust. It is moving faster.

The glitter of the Big Apple, or New York, and the glamour of brushing shoulders with the world leaders and diplomats would no doubt be a lifetime experience for most of nearly 85 members of the Sri Lanka delegation. The piece de resistance, the address by President Rajapaksa, in the afternoon of UNGA inaugural alas was bereft if anything new or striking. Of course, there were a few asides.

One was a pot shot at the West in general, and probably the George W. Bush Administration, in particular. Rajapaksa declared: "Guided by the principles of Buddhism, we have long respected the rights of our fellow human beings. Therefore, it had not been necessary for us to experience global wars or the deaths of millions to, learn to recognize their value. My country has no record of inflicting misery on fellow human beings for the purpose of empire building, for commercial advantage or for religious righteousness."

The other was a lament on the issue of human rights - a subject on which the Government has come under severe international criticism. In turn, Government Ministers have also been heaping strong criticism on senior UN officials who came to Colombo to speak with Government leaders on the same subject. The last was on Sir John Holmes, the UN Under Secretary General. If Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake called him "uncivilised," his Ministerial colleague, Government Spokesman and Chief Government Whip, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle branded him a "terrorist".

And on Monday, President Rajapaksa lamented at the UN that the "tool" of human rights was being used to victimize Sri Lanka. He said "…human rights are too important to be used as a tool to victimize States for political advantage. It is essential that international action to facilitate compliance with human rights standards is fair and evenhanded. Human rights have to be protected and advanced for their own sake, not for political gain."

The remarks would have been more credible if those front liners in the Rajapaksa Government did not brand the UN human rights officials with wild titles and hurled ugly remarks. Barely a day after President Rajapaksa and his usually large entourage had arrived in New York, than the UNP circulated a four-page document titled "Blood Brothers" to foreign missions at the UN. It said, "through this second pamphlet Blood Brothers we bring you another sordid account of the tightening grip of Rajapaksa Incorporated on Sri Lanka's polity, economy and society and the country's rapid descent into failed state status.

A potentially rich and prosperous country is today as a result of the machinations of the blood brothers facing - massive defaults in governance, a ruined economy, violation of human rights, hundreds of thousands of displaced people, a highly militarized state, widespread corruption, and the pauperisation of the people through daily increase in the prices of food, fuel and transport."

Here are some highlights of the "Blood Brothers" document:

* Democracy at Grave Risk: Serious allegations are now being made that Mahinda Rajapaksa's narrow win at the Presidential Elections in November 2005 was as a result of his "bribing" the LTTE to order its instruction to over 600,000 Tamil voters under LTTE control in the North not to vote."

* Appointment of Basil Rajapaksa: In callous disregard of democratic conventions and practice, misusing the immunity accorded to an Executive President, and in a show of unmatched arrogance of power, Rajapaksa has had the effrontery to appoint his brother Basil a Member of Parliament. He is being tipped to head an important Ministry.

* Harassment of the Judiciary: An attempt has been made to influence the decision of Magistrate (Ms Darshika Wimalasiri) on the matter of granting bail to a Minister's (the infamous Mervyn Silva) son Malaka, by threatening the Magistrate's mother on the night before the bail decision was to be given.

* Peace through WAR: While his Foreign Minister, "BOGS" (name Bogollagama shortened) preaches of a negotiated political solution to the national problem, Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother the Defence Secretary (Gotabhaya Rajapaksa), orders his troops to wage all-out war.

* Media Freedom: The Sunday Times published a report by its Defence Correspondent Mr. Iqbal Athas, on the irregularities connected to the purchase of MiG 27 jet fighters from Ukraine. Subsequent to this report, Mr. Iqbal Athas' security was withdrawn and he received death threats. Senator Jopesph Biden, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalsits, had written to President Rajapaksa drawing his attention to the intimidation of Mr. Iqbal Athas.

There were a number of other unrelated developments too. Mangala Samaraweera had to skip the Janarala by the National Congress in Moneragala on Friday. He appeared before the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's Disciplinary Committee with a battery of six lawyers. The five-member Committee is headed by Power and Energy Minister, John Seneviratne. Samaraweera's lawyers argued that the Disciplinary Committee was not properly constituted. They argued that it was appointed by the SLFP Central Committee which in itself was illegally constituted.

His lawyers are to now submit written objections on October 15. A ruling on this is expected two days later. Thereafter, the Committee will decide the next date for its sittings. Questions were raised whether Samaraweera was still opting to be in the mainstream SLFP, despite his breakaway faction, to which Samaraweera had responded that he went for the inquiry because he respected the SLFP Constitution. That answer still did not seem to answer the question, whether he still opted for membership of the mainstream SLFP headed now by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Policy shifts or policy shows -

• President explains two-track policy to UN amidst confusion and contradiction
• UNP explains about-turn on F-word, but issues strong attack on 'blood brothers'
• JVP, Mangala group also take steps towards political realignments

By Our Political Editor

President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the UN General Assembly sessions in New York on Tuesday

It is strange but true. Some of the key stakeholders in the country's festering ethnic conflict -- the Government, the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) and even their protagonists, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- were making fresh policy pronouncements this week.

It comes after more than a five-year long ceasefire that remains only on paper. An undeclared Eelam War IV is raging. In the light of all this, more military and political wars are inexplicably a certainty. President Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa is for both war and peace. "We launched military operations," he told the 62nd United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York on Tuesday "to convince them (the Tiger guerrillas) that it would not be possible to obtain a military victory." Paradoxical enough, the same message he gave the UN was delivered to Rajapaksa and his own Government just four days earlier.

United States Ambassador, Robert O' Blake, declared, "The tactical successes should not tempt the Government to re-consider whether Sri Lanka's conflict can be won by military means." The US is an important member of the Donor Co-chairs who are underwriting the peace process together with facilitator Norway, Japan and the European Union member countries.

"Our goal remains a negotiated and honourable end," declared Rajapaksa setting out the second of his dual track policy at the UN. To achieve this, he pinned his hopes on the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) by saying it is "working successfully towards it." However, there were growing new doubts over such a possible success. Barely 24 hours before Rajapaksa had spelt out his two-track war cum peace policy to world leaders and diplomats, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe sprung a surprise. His United National Party will no longer insist on a federal solution to the conflict.

A two-page document released on Thursday explained the UNP's position. It said, "there must be a credible power sharing between the national government, Regional/Provincial Councils and Local Authorities. The Centre must identify the powers needed for the national government and parliament." The document, which was a reiteration of UNP policy, did not refer to any settlement based on a federal system.

In moving away from that previous position, UNP front liner Ravi Karunanayake was to claim that the word "federal" was put to use by the media and not by the UNP. Even if he or his party believed that would absolve them from any blame, the ploy was too transparent.

In doing so, the UNP seemed to try to harmonise itself with the position taken by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The JVP is opposed to any federal system. Like the UNP now, the JVP has stood for maximum devolution within certain confines. It was only last Sunday that JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe declared in a signed article written exclusively to The Sunday Times that "in our view the UNP is not capable of mobilising its membership or following on a programme of action. That is why their slogans are hollow. There is no meaningful action to back those slogans."

Here was Wickremesinghe responding in his own way to the assertions proving again that there are no permanent enemies in politics. That naturally means that the APRC, already faltering would flounder further. Thus, the question remains whether they will be able to work successfully towards any acceptable political package.

It was The Sunday Times sister paper Lankadeepa that ran the story of the UNP dropping its previous commitment to a federal solution. Interesting enough the JVP politburo was in session that day. Its leader Somawansa Amerasinghe was to say that Wickremesinghe's remarks were aimed at "getting our 37 votes." He said it was his understanding that an APRC political package to end the ethnic conflict, to be announced in November, would be within the framework of the 13th amendment to the Constitution. He said the Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe had visited Norway and was engaged in a secret exercise to resume peace talks between the Government and the LTTE.

JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa was stronger in his criticism of Minister Samarasinghe. He said he (Samarasinghe) had not given up his agenda to work towards becoming Foreign Minister. He failed once before, during the last Cabinet re-shuffle despite asking two leading Colombo-based envoys to espouse his case. He was now trying to play the role of a Kapuwa (broker) to revive peace talks in the hope that he would be made the Foreign Minister.

Weerawansa said it was a "crying shame the way some ministers stooped to any level to achieve their personal ends." Weerawansa was also critical of the upcoming visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbor. He said the Government had not learnt its lessons after the visits of Allan Rock and Sir John Holmes. JVP's foreign affairs spokesman Vijitha Herath said that if the UNP was unable to defeat the Government during the budget, UNP leader Wickremesinghe would be in "great trouble".

A discussion on the JVP's stance on the budget could not be concluded. The meeting had to be adjourned early since two of their members - Wimal Weerawansa and Vijitha Herath - were to represent the JVP at the funeral of the mother of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle.

The UNP dropping the federal system of governance in finding a solution to the ethnic problem also caused some minor ripples in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-M faction. Its convenor Mangala Samaraweera was in Galle when he read the news in the Lankadeepa. Later, he sought a meeting with UNP leader Wickremesinghe. There, the latter explained the nuances and gave him a copy of the two-page document which the party was to release later.

Samaraweera, it turned out, was satisfied that the UNP stood for maximum devolution though there was no express reference to a federal system. That exclusion, it was pointed out, did not mean any dilution in the UNP's approach to resolve the conflict, it was pointed out.

Though it was Ravi Karunanayake who was tasked to explain the UNP's position on 'federalism', it became clear that the Party was making a major re-alignment. The UNP has, clearly decided that there is an urgent need to win back the support of the southern voters, which largely eroded because the UNP was perceived as a party that took a soft-line on the LTTE.

The fact that one of the biggest debacles inflicted on the LTTE, the breakaway of the Karuna faction, was done politically, and largely due to the UNP's pursuit of peace talks from 2002-2004 has been lost on the southern polity. The fact that LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran himself indicated that he engineered the North and East boycott of the 2005 Presidential Elections to get Ranil Wickremesinghe defeated was because of the UNP Leader's "trap" for the LTTE through an international safety net, is also lost on the south.

In addition to this, what Defence Secretary Lt. Col. (Ret.) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says, almost grudgingly, that the UNP has come to drop 'federalism' because of the military successes over the LTTE, and its popularity with the southern masses, seems to have some truth in it.

The UNP Leader was to later explain the party's sudden decision to drop the F-word from their own vocabulary. He said the party had not been using this word - federalism - in recent years. They are for power-sharing, and in their previous proposals they have not used that word. When he was asked by some ; what of the Oslo Communiqué, and whether the UNP has jettisoned that as well, he replied in the negative, and said that the Oslo Communiqué only referred to "exploring federalism".

Even more significant was the typed note released after the party felt that Ravi Karunanayake had not explained the party's position adequately. In that 'special statement', the UNP quoted its leader as saying the Party opposes separatism, and that while terrorism requires a "military response", the causes that lead to separatism require a "political solution".

It went further to say that a negotiated settlement should be based on renunciation of violence, human rights and democracy - and even acknowledged the concerns of some sections of the majority Sinhalese that devolution will lead to separatism. The party seemed to stick to its international safety net principle, which Prabhakaran called a "trap" for the LTTE, but what was equally striking was the fact that it even questioned whether the Province must be the unit of devolution for the future. "If new units of devolution are being demarcated, it should be based on political, social and economic criteria", it said.

Clearly, the UNP was aiming at winning back the lost ground of the Sinhalese vote-base in the long-term, and the JVP's support in the immediate. Menawhile, the LTTE, in a statement a day ahead of Rajapaksa's UN address, took to task the remarks made by Retired Lieutenant Colonel Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the all powerful Defence Secretary, that "We cannot establish permanent peace in the country by winning only half or two third of the war against terrorism… President Rajapaksa cannot implement the desired political solution to the north and east conflict unless LTTE terrorism is defeated 100 per cent."

The LTTE said, "Two important facts can be gleaned from this statement (of the Defence Secretary's) that was clearly endorsed by the President himself. Firstly, that the GoSL intends to intensify the war in the north and secondly that the APRC was a façade to fool the international community."

Thus, on three key fronts - the Opposition, the LTTE and even the international community - President Rajapaksa and his Government appear to have moved into a cul de sac. Its own initiative or the lack of it has prolonged the political process. The new turn of events is making matters worse. The political process is not moving hand in hand with the ongoing military thrust. It is moving faster.

The glitter of the Big Apple, or New York, and the glamour of brushing shoulders with the world leaders and diplomats would no doubt be a lifetime experience for most of nearly 85 members of the Sri Lanka delegation. The piece de resistance, the address by President Rajapaksa, in the afternoon of UNGA inaugural alas was bereft if anything new or striking. Of course, there were a few asides.

One was a pot shot at the West in general, and probably the George W. Bush Administration, in particular. Rajapaksa declared: "Guided by the principles of Buddhism, we have long respected the rights of our fellow human beings. Therefore, it had not been necessary for us to experience global wars or the deaths of millions to, learn to recognize their value. My country has no record of inflicting misery on fellow human beings for the purpose of empire building, for commercial advantage or for religious righteousness."

The other was a lament on the issue of human rights - a subject on which the Government has come under severe international criticism. In turn, Government Ministers have also been heaping strong criticism on senior UN officials who came to Colombo to speak with Government leaders on the same subject. The last was on Sir John Holmes, the UN Under Secretary General. If Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake called him "uncivilised," his Ministerial colleague, Government Spokesman and Chief Government Whip, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle branded him a "terrorist".

And on Monday, President Rajapaksa lamented at the UN that the "tool" of human rights was being used to victimize Sri Lanka. He said "…human rights are too important to be used as a tool to victimize States for political advantage. It is essential that international action to facilitate compliance with human rights standards is fair and evenhanded. Human rights have to be protected and advanced for their own sake, not for political gain."

The remarks would have been more credible if those front liners in the Rajapaksa Government did not brand the UN human rights officials with wild titles and hurled ugly remarks. Barely a day after President Rajapaksa and his usually large entourage had arrived in New York, than the UNP circulated a four-page document titled "Blood Brothers" to foreign missions at the UN. It said, "through this second pamphlet Blood Brothers we bring you another sordid account of the tightening grip of Rajapaksa Incorporated on Sri Lanka's polity, economy and society and the country's rapid descent into failed state status.

A potentially rich and prosperous country is today as a result of the machinations of the blood brothers facing - massive defaults in governance, a ruined economy, violation of human rights, hundreds of thousands of displaced people, a highly militarized state, widespread corruption, and the pauperisation of the people through daily increase in the prices of food, fuel and transport."

Here are some highlights of the "Blood Brothers" document:

* Democracy at Grave Risk: Serious allegations are now being made that Mahinda Rajapaksa's narrow win at the Presidential Elections in November 2005 was as a result of his "bribing" the LTTE to order its instruction to over 600,000 Tamil voters under LTTE control in the North not to vote."

* Appointment of Basil Rajapaksa: In callous disregard of democratic conventions and practice, misusing the immunity accorded to an Executive President, and in a show of unmatched arrogance of power, Rajapaksa has had the effrontery to appoint his brother Basil a Member of Parliament. He is being tipped to head an important Ministry.

* Harassment of the Judiciary: An attempt has been made to influence the decision of Magistrate (Ms Darshika Wimalasiri) on the matter of granting bail to a Minister's (the infamous Mervyn Silva) son Malaka, by threatening the Magistrate's mother on the night before the bail decision was to be given.

* Peace through WAR: While his Foreign Minister, "BOGS" (name Bogollagama shortened) preaches of a negotiated political solution to the national problem, Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother the Defence Secretary (Gotabhaya Rajapaksa), orders his troops to wage all-out war.

* Media Freedom: The Sunday Times published a report by its Defence Correspondent Mr. Iqbal Athas, on the irregularities connected to the purchase of MiG 27 jet fighters from Ukraine. Subsequent to this report, Mr. Iqbal Athas' security was withdrawn and he received death threats. Senator Jopesph Biden, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalsits, had written to President Rajapaksa drawing his attention to the intimidation of Mr. Iqbal Athas.

There were a number of other unrelated developments too. Mangala Samaraweera had to skip the Janarala by the National Congress in Moneragala on Friday. He appeared before the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's Disciplinary Committee with a battery of six lawyers. The five-member Committee is headed by Power and Energy Minister, John Seneviratne. Samaraweera's lawyers argued that the Disciplinary Committee was not properly constituted. They argued that it was appointed by the SLFP Central Committee which in itself was illegally constituted.

His lawyers are to now submit written objections on October 15. A ruling on this is expected two days later. Thereafter, the Committee will decide the next date for its sittings. Questions were raised whether Samaraweera was still opting to be in the mainstream SLFP, despite his breakaway faction, to which Samaraweera had responded that he went for the inquiry because he respected the SLFP Constitution. That answer still did not seem to answer the question, whether he still opted for membership of the mainstream SLFP headed now by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.