Tigers blew up two SLN gunboats

Sea Tigers today blew up two Sri Lankan Navy gunboats escorting a Navy personnel carrier bringing the ceasefire to the verge of the collapse.The Sri Lankan Navy personnel carrier, named Pearl Cruiser, transporting 700 soldiers is now under attack by the sea Tigers, SLMM said..

Meanwhile Sri Lankan Air Force is targeting Sea Tiger boats surrounding the Navy personal career. The Security forces have also launched a coordinated strike at LTTE positions in Monkey Bridge, Kattaparichchan, and Sampur in the East.(SLN)

Kilinochchi under attack

Sri Lankan security forces are pounding LTTE positions deep inside the guerrilla held territory in a combine air, naval and ground strike after sea Tigers blew up two Naval gunboats escorting a Navy personnel carrier.

Sea Tiger boats laden with explosives rammed on the two Navy gunboats sinking both in the seas off Jaffna. Navy said five sea Tiger boats were destroyed in the confrontation.

Governments Defence Affairs spokesman Keheliya Rabukwella said the Navy personnel carrier, named Pearl Cruiser was safe and out of danger. Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottier, who has one ceasefire monitor aboard the Navy ferry said it was sailing towards Indian waters.

Meanwhile Security Forces bombarded LTTE positions in the North and the East in a coordinated assault. Kafir fighter jets bombed what the defence officials called identified LTTE targets in Kilinochchi.LTTE targets in Mullaitivu are also under air assault. (SLP)

Zoo-Paa and the TNA Conference of Clowns

The Tamil National Allegiance is a group of Members of Parliament all befuddled, bemused and bewildered. Where their constituents should be represented and their voices heard they perform like the organ grinder’s monkeys except that the organ grinder is in the Wanni jungles while their performances take place in the assembly chamber of the House of Parliament at Kotte-Jayawardenapura, a suburb of Colombo.

Recently they performed a funeral in the chamber, "corpse" and all. The "corpse" performed extremely well and got in line for an Oscar of sorts. And what a sight it was but fortunately they were a band of clowns dancing to the roar of an external feline force.

They have a vast repertoire of highly entertaining events to amuse their fellow parliamentarians except that they (the latter) do the talking and the governing, the TNAs do the feigning and the clowning. Known as the Conference of Clowns slated by them is a mimicry of Gandhian Satyagraha though quite illiterate about this great movement and a whole series of attams (jumping about to do some kind of twists and turns). One of them will be kolattam, if allowed with wooden sticks shaped like AK47s another kavadi attam and there will even be a mailattam, the peacock fertility dance.

The TNA’s request to have a hide and seek session was disallowed by the Clerk of the House due to security reasons. There was concern that some passers by in the Kotte-Jayawardenepura neighbourhood may want to join in the fun and games inside the House of Parliament.

Incidentally all TNA M.Ps have been told that they should never bring to the House facilities any pregnant members from their families, friends or staff. Should by any chance one or more of them should become pregnant, they should submit a doctor’s certificate to the effect countersigned by the local Government Agent and Police Authority. They have also been advised to seek the help of the Clerk of the House for guidelines before they engage themselves in activities that may lead to pregnancy but under no circumstances should any of their female staff become pregnant. Involved here is the safety of the Members of Parliament.

Mafia Tiger technology is believed to be so well advanced a suicide bomb could be placed even inside the womb of a woman and remotely controlled by the Pistol Gangster Commissar Zoo-Paa in Kilinochchi. Only person who can override him is the Great Wanni Chief of Groundhog Hole somewhere near Mulliyawalai.

Meanwhile reports are afoot that in Colombo if a pregnant woman or pregnant-looking woman is seen, people flee to great distances away; the Bambalawattan will flee to Kahatagosdigiliya! The country’s airline too has taken some precautions. Unless a lady between the age of puberty and menopause produces evidence that she is not pregnant, she will not be allowed to board any of its aircraft. No airline staff should dare become pregnant.

On the whole, the country is safer if no one gets pregnant. The Tigers forbid anyone from becoming pregnant since the 2002 CFA; if anyone does, then she automatically becomes a suicide bomber. The Tigers are well supplied to ensure that none of their young ladies get pregnant except by order for suicide bomber action.

The TNAs do not get involved in such intimate matters; the ground is too dangerous for them even to dare a peep or sneak. They are only there to receive orders and get to work as directed by the Wanni powers. Furthermore, their romantic instincts have been badly mauled serving terror perpetually and keeping an eye on their dear lives should Zoo-Paa go bonkers; he often does. He has terrible dreams of Dr Hoole strangling him and so sleeps with a razor his Canadian born-of-the-same-womb sent him, under his pillow. He must be careful; going for a ghost of his delusion he may have his head shaved off!

Incidentally he is believed to have lost his own razor in Geneva. It is believed Anton Balasingam alias Stanislaus took the precaution to steal it to preserve his own life, and threw it into one of the lakes there. He knew that with Zoo-Paa you never could say! Erik Solheim is not familiar with this kind of razor, the cutthroat, so he could not help him and Zoo-Paa was not interested in a Gillette or any shick-shuck. And Balasingam has sworn never to go anywhere Zoo-Paa goes.

The TNA members are hosted weekly at the Cadjan House in Kilinochchi. It begins with a 5-minute of Obeisance Prayer of chant, “How great you are Sir Zoo-Paa" in front of the guy himself grinning in glory. Soon afterwards they receive their orders. Zoo-Paa’s suggestion to have a pampattam in Parliament has been turned down. The TNAs were told that Sinhala snake charmers do a much better job of it than Mavai Senathirajah and his clowns. Furthermore, rat snakes do not sway and dance and Senathi and his fellows are mortally scared of cobras. The Clerk of the House has now recommended they should do a Paravaikavadi (Bird Kavadi) in the chamber of the House with Zoo-Paa doing the dangling, just to see where his grin would go when the hook tightens his flesh.

No doubt the TNAs are having a great time and of course the Government of Sri Lanka pays them. However, it is Zoo-Paa who watches them with razor-sharp eyes and tells them what to do and also what not to do. Among the latter, never speak for the people who elected them. Because only what the LTTE speaks counts for the Tamils.-Martin Singarayar

Co-Chairs invite India to play role in ending Lanka’s conflict

With tensions between the government and LTTE peaking to new heights, the European Union, Japan, Norway and the United States have invited South Asia’s most influential nation — India — to play a more formal role in reversing the country’s worsening conflict.

"India has been invited," said Yasushi Akashi, visiting Japanese peace envoy, referring to another gathering of the co-chairs scheduled to take place in Tokyo at the end of May. "Our invitation is out and India is examining it in a positive spirit, I think."

Speaking at a press conference shortly before his departure to New Delhi yesterday, Akashi said the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference will be meeting again to "take stock of where we stand, where we are going, where we should be going, whether we have done anything wrong`85 and why there is no more progress in the peace process". It is to this conference that India has been invited, he pointed out, adding that the co-chairs were "somewhat flexible" regarding the role Sri Lanka’s neighbour might play in future. Akashi stopped short of saying the co-chair group will expand to include India, remarking instead that: "In the forthcoming Tokyo meeting, we will adopt procedures which India finds acceptable and comfortable`85 what we also consider to be most appropriate."

The parties will examine how the co-chairs and India, one of the most influential countries in the region, could work together. Akashi said the objective was also to determine what India feels its approach should be.

Akashi indicated that tensions between the government and LTTE had further deteriorated and that attempts to get the two parties to Geneva had failed thus far. They were "stuck before the door of the second round of Geneva talks because of a very intensive controversy as to the degree of compliance with the ceasefire agreement". In all negotiations over the transport of LTTE commanders, there had been an abiding mistrust on both sides.

Asked whether, in his opinion, relations between the two parties were at their worst, Akashi replied: "I would say that the relations between the government and the LTTE are at their worst since I began my role as the Japanese Government’s representative in the peace building in this country". He noted that the atmosphere was "fraught with a foreboding sense of a major disaster".

In his meeting on Tuesday with LTTE political wing leader, S P Tamilselvan, the latter had emphasised that the government must fully comply with the cease-fire agreement. "I said that the questions of compliance could be dealt with at the Geneva meeting if and when they go there but they (LTTE) would like to see progress and compliance by the government side on this matter," Akashi reported, clearly choosing his words carefully. "They wanted to see President Rajapakse give orders to his armed forces, in his capacity as commander-in-chief, to conduct their duties in such a way that they will not do anything which goes beyond their responsibility."

This had been duly conveyed to Nimal Siripala de Silva, head of the government’s peace delegation. Akashi expressed satisfaction at de Silva’s speech in parliament yesterday morning which outlined President Mahinda Rajapakse’s position on widespread allegations against the state. He also said, however, that "whether the government’s response is adequate or not will be seen in days to come".

The envoy said "it goes without saying" that he had expressed strong disapproval to Tamilselvan about any acts of violence perpetrated by the LTTE. He referred specifically to the suicide bombing last month which seriously injured Army Commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka. "Such acts of violence, I said, were certainly against international standards and norms," he asserted. "If the LTTE wants the international community to play a positive role in the peace process, they have to take into account how the international community views acts of violence on their part as well as on the other part."

Akashi emphasised that the ownership of the peace process lies entirely to the government and the LTTE. The international community plays only a supporting role. "Perhaps too much is expected of us," he commented. "Sometimes, we are unduly criticised for doing too much or too little. But I want to make it absolutely clear that the ownership of the peace process belongs to the government and LTTE with the help of Norway as facilitator."

Referring to the upcoming Tokyo confab, Akashi said he hoped it wouldn’t be "just another co-chairs meeting". The last gathering was held in Oslo at the end of April and culminated in the group of four condemning and calling halt to all acts of violence.

"I can’t predict the outcome of the forthcoming meeting of co-chairs in Tokyo," he said. "It is my strong hope that it will not be just another co-chairs meeting in view of the extremely dangerous situation in which we find ourselves here, in Sri Lanka."-Island-by Namini Wijedasa

US agency labels Sihala Urumaya a ‘terrorist’ organisation

In what could be seen as a shocking announcement, the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) Terrorism Knowledge Base (TKB) sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security has designated Sihala Urumaya – the precusor to the Jathika Hela Urumaya – as a terrorist organization

The TKB database used by scholars and academics researching global terrorism trends classifies a purported attack by Sihala Urumaya on Sinhala and Tamil cultural event at the New Town Hall in 2003 as an act of terrorism.

The TKB is an organization set up after the horrific April 1995 bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, and is sponsored by, amongst others, the US Department of Homeland Security. The TKB claims to incorporate the Rand Terrorism database. The Daily News reported the attack on October 29, 2003 with the headline "Mob attack mars cultural show" and a strapline "Sihala Urumaya members spotted at the scene."  When contacted Jathika Hela Urumaya spokesperson Nishantha Warnasinghe who was also a politburo member of the then Sihala Urumaya called the decision simply ‘hilarious.’

Calling Sihala Urumaya a democratic party he reminded that they have even gone to the LTTE controlled areas, unarmed.

"It is not justifiable. There are certain standards to be considered before designating a terrorist organization," Mr. Warnasinghe said.

He said it was proved later that Sihala Urumaya did not have any hand in the attack and the matter was never tried in courts. "We do not understand the logic behind calling Sihala Urumaya a terrorist outfit," he said.-Daily Mirror-By Damitha Hemachandra