Sea link named after Rajiv, Sena wants Savarkar's name !!!

India's first sea bridge in this financial capital will be named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced in Mumbai. But this has upset several Opposition parties in the state.

The move to name the sea link between the main island and its suburbs after Gandhi came in response to a surprise demand to this effect by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, state opposition parties thought they should have been consulted on this.

"Rajiv Gandhi was born in Mumbai, he was a son of the soil and it will be appropriate that the bridge be named after him," Pawar said in his speech at an inaugural function.
Amidst thunderous applause, Chief Minister Chavan accepted Pawar's suggestion and made the announcement on the dais at the Rang Sharda Auditorium, Worli, where the official inauguration function was held after the bridge was thrown open by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi.

The 5.6-km Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BSWL) on the Arabian Sea cost Rs 1,634 crore ($16.34 billion) and the authorities hope some 150,000 vehicles will use it each day for a toll that ranges between Rs 50 and Rs 100 per trip based on the size of the automobile.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister's prompt acceptance of Pawar's suggestion to name the sea bridge after Rajiv Gandhi immediately stirred controversy as Opposition parties said they should have been consulted over this.

Criticising the decision, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Bharat Raut said it was a long-standing demand of the Sena to name the sea bridge after revolutionary leader Veer Savarkar.
"It would have been appropriate for the state government to consult all political parties over naming the country's first sea bridge before unilaterally announcing any name," Raut said.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde too felt the sea link should have been named after Savarkar.

"If not Savarkar, they could have considered other prominent historical figures for naming the bridge," he said.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe wondered what the urgency was to name it after Rajiv Gandhi.

"There are thousands of places and institutions already named after him. It would have been better if the Government had considered the name of a Maharashtra leader, saint or historical figure for the bridge," Gorhe said.

Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), at the forefront of the sons-of-the-soil agitation in the state, also expressed its reservations over the bridge's name.

MNS spokesman Shirish Parker said that though Rajiv Gandhi's contribution to the country's progress and modernization was not in doubt at all, the state government could have considered many other options for naming the bridge.

Petrol price hiked by Rs 4, diesel up by Rs 2 !!!

For the first time after it was re-elected the UPA Government raised fuel prices on Wednesday. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora took the decision to hike fuel prices after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Petrol price was hiked by Rs 4 a litre while diesel got costlier by Rs 2 per litre. The prices will come into effect by 12 am on Thursday.

"The prices of kerosene and cooking gas are not being changed," Deora said, adding the Government will continue to incur a subsidy of Rs 15.26 per litre and Rs 92.96 per cylinder on these two fuels, respectively.

Public sector oil companies have seen losses on fuel sale widening to about Rs 170 crore per day on firming global oil prices and may end the fiscal with over Rs 49,000 crore in revenue loss.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have seen losses on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene inflating from Rs 130 crore to about Rs 170 crore per day, an industry official said.

The three firms calculate the desired retail selling price of the four government-controlled products on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international oil rates of the previous fortnight.

The firming international crude oil prices, which are at a seven-month high of about $73 per barrel, widened losses on petrol to Rs 6.94 per litre from Rs 6.08 per litre in the second half of June.

On diesel, the losses have soared to Rs 4.11 a litre against Rs 2.96 previously.

Oil companies have already increased Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices by 6 per cent.

The hike comes on back of over 12 per cent hike on June 15. ATF price on that day were raised by Rs 3,949 to Rs 36,252 per kilolitre in Delhi.

International crude oil prices have firmed to a seven-month high of $72 per barrel on hopes of demand revival in the US.

Aus attacks continue, SC acts tough with Govt !!!

Noting that attacks on Indian students in Australia have not stopped despite the best efforts of the Government, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to take more stringent measures to ensure the students' safety.

"We should not push the problem under the carpet," the Supreme Court said.

The court asked the Centre for a detailed affidavit on the issue in two weeks and said that the safety of students is very important.

Attorney General of India GE Vahanvati assured the court that the Australian government was taking adequate measures to deal with the assaults.

Earlier this month, the Apex court had directed the Centre to explain the steps initiated to ensure safety of Indian students facing racist attacks in Australia and the measures taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

The court passed the order on a public interest petition filed by advocate DK Garg.
There are nearly 93,000 Indians studying in Australia.

J-K on the boil after woman alleges misbehaviour by cops !!!

An indefinite curfew was imposed in Baramulla town of north Kashmir on Monday following violent protests over alleged police misbehaviour.
A woman was killed and several others were injured in the protest.

The curfew was imposed in the town, 55 kms from Srinagar, after security personnel opened fire to quell a mob protesting against local policemen who allegedly misbehaved with a woman in a police station on Sunday evening, official sources said.
According to the sources, police opened fire after teargas shelling and baton charge failed to disperse hundreds of violent protestors.

“Curfew has been imposed in the town to maintain law and order,” Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Latif-u-Zaman Deva told PTI.

“We are monitoring the situation which is very tense,” he said.

The trouble erupted in the town on Sunday when angry groups of youth indulged in stone pelting after a woman came out of the local police station and alleged that the cops misbehaved with her.
However, police denied the woman's charge and said her husband Mohammad Yousuf Bhat was picked up for questioning in connection with the abduction of a teenaged girl by the woman's brother.

“The woman came to the police station and sought release of her husband. She threatened to end her life when police asked her politely to leave the police station and produce her brother,” a police spokesman said.

The locals then indulged in stone-pelting at the police station after the woman alleged that the police officer misbehaved with her.

The situation took a turn for the worse on Monday morning when people took to the streets again and indulged in stone-pelting demanding action against the police personnel who allegedly misbehaved with the woman.

Maya gets SC notice for her Rs 1,000-cr statues !!!

The Supreme Court issued a show-cause notice to Uttar Pradesh government for using public money for installing statues of Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday.

A vacation bench of the Supreme Court took up a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against Mayawati for allegedly misusing public money for installing statues of prominent Dalit leaders like Dr BR Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram besides party symbols.

The PIL seeks a stay on the inauguration of these statues on July 3.

The petitioner has alleged that the multi-crore projects of installing statues are being carried out as a state policy, which is arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution.
Sixty statues of the elephant, the party symbol of the BSP, have been installed at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The PIL also seeks the removal of Mayawati statues and all party symbols from public places.

Critics want to pull down Mayawati, her statues
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, too, described Mayawati’s alleged spending as “shameful.”

“She is spending Rs 1,000 crore on establishing statues of elephants and herself. Can there be something more shameful than this in Indian politics?” he asked.

“Of what use will be the statues in UP. The Rs 1000 crore could have helped wipe out poverty of thousands of people, provide basic amenities and education,” he said, addressing a meeting to thank voters of his constituency Sivaganga on Sunday night.

Pointing out that people all over the country had rejected caste politics, he said this was especially true in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, “where 20 years of caste domination has gone”.

A new style LTTE begins to take shape !!!

Subsequent to the LTTE’s promise in May, following its military debacle, to “silence its guns” and switch to political methods, a significant second step has recently been taken. If it holds firm to these promises and expectations, then, we may be entering a new era, a third phase, in post-independence Tamil nationalism. I am referring to an announcement on 16 June by Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, who I have not heard of before, the “Coordinator of the Committee for the formation of a Provisional Transnational Government (PTG) of Tamil Eelam.” The announcement has received the imprimatur of Selvarasa Pathmanathan, better known as KP, the LTTE’s “Head of International Relations” and probably its current de facto leader.About two years ago I predicted that a transformation of the LTTE’s ideology and strategy was inevitable in the light of changing local and international conditions, only to be met with derisive laughter by those who cannot see beyond their noses, or maybe by most people. Several months ago I also pointed out that with the impending obliteration of both armed and democratic Tamil nationalism at home, the leadership of the Tamil movement would, for a period, pass to the diaspora; not many agreed with this either. Events, however, have borne out both.

What the announcement says
The LTTE announcement does not say that the PTG has been formed; rather, a committee has been established to make proposals and report back by the end of the year. Nor is it clear that a decision has been made to secede from Sri Lanka and attempt to form a separate state - note for example the use of the word “Transnational”, not Transitional. The implications of Transnational is that Tamil people in Lanka, as well as the one million or so in the diaspora, will be drawn into a consultative process; this bears out both my predictions. The announcement, now widely circulated on the internet (Google ‘Tamil Transnational Government’ for links), tasks the committee with duties enumerated in nine points. A summary of the important ones is as follows. The Thimpu Principles (recognition of the Tamils as a ‘nation’ meaning a people with a distinct identity of their own; the homeland concept; the right to self-determination) has been crafted in. That is, not withstanding obligatory mention of the Vattukkotai Resolution, the question of secession has been left algebraic, something to be determined later depending on how the national question evolves. One of the nine points goes a long way towards accepting the separate identity of the Muslims, replacing their crude subsuming under the gross title of “Tamil speaking people” during the Prabhakaran era. Another point calls for partnership with the TNA, hopefully replacing the master-vassal relationship that typified the Prabhakaran era.

ome other guidelines too implicitly reject the methods and strategies of that era; for example emphasis on democratic consultation and an appreciation of the importance of international diplomacy. Doubters will want to see practical actions and results, not verbalising, before they believe any of this. Considering the huge damage that the LTTE has done to the Tamil cause (and to itself) on all these points, naysayers are right in demanding proof in palpable forms. This is an uphill task the new-LTTE will have to address if it wants to win credibility. The PTG’s role in rehabilitation, a huge need for Wanni Tamils today, is not mentioned, though protection of the IDPs from abuse is addressed.The Editorial Board of Tamil-Net posted what to my mind is the most astute commentary to issue from within the Tamil nationalist movement on the new development. A few extracts are essential.“The need of the time now is the metamorphosis of the infrastructure into a democratic and inclusive transnational government of Eezham Tamils to strengthen the diaspora socially, economically and culturally;

to achieve the goal of independence and sovereignty of Eezham Tamils in the home country and to meet the international challenges internationally.”“However, the process of this noble venture is not a hasty affair. For a smooth beginning, primarily it needs consensus of the existing infrastructure, and to become inclusive it needs the consensus of the circles outside of it also. It needs a strong foundation, careful planning and step-by-step implementation. The existing infrastructure has a greater responsibility in the metamorphosis from command structure to representative structure.”“It is also advisable to create as many as possible grass-root democratic organizations among Eezham Tamils, vested with specific tasks to face the different facets of the current misery. Such grass-root institutions are helpful in sustaining and safe guarding the democratic nature of the superstructure of transnational governance.

If successful, and if the time demands, the transnational government can also become the government in exile.”Anybody who knows how to read between the lines will get a pretty shrewd idea of what is being said. Whether this promise, or more precisely this recognition of the challenges of democracy, will translate into action needs to be watched.

The critical question for the LTTE is, will it be able to retain the allegiance of the majority of Tamils and succeed in winning them over to its new line, or is the LTTE finished politically, as its is militarily, a spent force, a has been? What now is the attitude of the people in Wanni concentration camps to the LTTE after the torments they have suffered? The reason why, despite its abominations and follies, the LTTE won and held the allegiance of the mass of Tamils and the youth in the past was because it stood up and fought against oppression. However, first the Tamil people, and now finally the LTTE itself, have come to realise that obsessive militarism and pointless terrorism paved the way to disaster.

Theoretical struggle
The LTTE has a monopoly of Tamil support in the diaspora, but the diaspora includes a multitude of nutcases who do not understand the transition now proposed; they want to fight to the finish over the bodies of other people (most recently the Wanni Tamils). The challenge the new leadership faces is to win the theoretical struggle over the intellectually infantile ultra-nationalists in the diaspora and secure its line in sharp political debate in Leninist style. Is the new leadership up to the challenge? I don’t know. But if the reformed LTTE is not up to this challenge then I do not see any other entity on the horizon capable of providing leadership to the Tamil nationalist ‘cause’. The quislings? Forget it! If the Tamil and Muslim communities do not regard themselves as minorities with distinct identities of their own, well that’s fine by me; no skin off my Marxist back.The most grievous error in the nine-point announcement is that the new-LTTE sees its relationship with the Sinhalese South as nothing more than its issues with the Sinhala state. There is not a word in the document about the progressive, democratic, Leftist and anti-fascist movements among the Sinhalese people. There is not a word about alliances with such Sinhalese forces. On this the new-LTTE is as politically backward, blinkered and bankrupt as the Tamil nationalists of the Ponnambalam-Chelvanayagam and Prabhakaran eras! If it isolates itself from democratic struggles in the South it will be curtains for the new-LTTE as well.

Grave threat to DEMOCRACY !!!

In 1973 when the draconian Press Council Bill was passed in Parliament an independent English language newspaper headlined it—“ Mephistopheles claims the soul”—referring to the evil spirit to whom Faust sold his soul in the 19th century German legend.
Last week this law was reactivated setting off alarm bells as to whether Sri Lanka was going back to the era of the infamous D. E.M.O’ CRACY. obituary, and the cremation of the father of Truth and Liberty.
On this page today we spotlight the stinging protest by 8 media organizations including publishers and editors over the reactivation of the dreaded law, the continuing white van abduction and arrest of journalists.
Journalist was taken in van from Wattala to Kandy - ABDUCTION
Journalist and NGO employee Krishni Kandasamy, the most recent victim of media harassment, said she had worried about how her disappearance would affect her mother’s health all the while she was being held by her abductors.
“My mother is in the habit of calling me at office several times a day,” she said. “I knew how anxious she would be the moment she heard I had not turned up at the office. I begged my abductors to allow me to tell my mother that I was okay.”
Ms. Kandasamy, a resident of Wattala, Colombo, was abducted last week by three men in civilian clothes who claimed to be policemen. She was driven to an unknown destination and questioned. When she was finally dropped off, she found herself in Kandy, from where she had to find her way back to Colombo.
She said she had stepped into the street to head to work when she was stopped by three men in a van who told her she was required to give a statement to the police. When she insisted that she had to inform her mother first, she was forced into the van and driven away.
“It was then around 8.30 am. It was around 2.45 in the afternoon when I was taken to a room for questioning. During the long drive, I had no idea where I was being taken,” Ms. Kandasamy said. Because she kept saying she had to call her mother to say she was safe, she was finally allowed to make the call, just before she was led in for questioning.
“They let me make the call from my mobile phone. I told my mother I had been taken in by the police for questioning and that she need not worry. When she asked where the police station was, I said I did not know. I was about to tell her to inform my husband when the phone was taken away from me.”
Her mother then called Mrs. Kandasamy’s husband, Ifam Nisam, also a journalist, and a few others, who immediately started calling police stations in the Wattala area. None of the stations said that anyone by the name of Kandasamy was being detained.
After being questioned about her work, Ms. Kandasamy was led back to the van and driven for more than two hours before being finally dropped off in Kandy.
“I told the men I had no money to take a bus. They gave me Rs. 200 and asked me to go home. I got into a bus and called my husband and told him what had happened,” she said.
The police have deployed two teams of investigators to follow up on the incident, according to police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara.
90 day detention order for astrologer - ARREST
Police have obtained an order to detain for 90 days an astrologer who predicted bad times for President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Chandrasiri Bandara who contributes an astrological column to the Sinhala weeky Iriduna was apprehended after the prediction was published in the paper’s June 18 edition.
He had stated that Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake would be made President of the country in September this year, while the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe would become the Prime Minister of the country.
It is learnt that the police were keen to know how he had made such a prediction that slighted the head of state. The UNP has charged that the government was now attempting to control even astrologers while moving towards a dictatorship.
“We welcome the military successes but we do not approve the dictatorial acts committed on the strength of these successes,” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.
Ultimatum for Jaffna newspaper
Newspaper agents in Jaffna received an unsigned letter yesterday demanding the closure of the Jaffna newspaper “Uthayan” at the end of the month.
The letter said the agents should not sell the newspaper and the Uthayan staff should not report to work after June 30.
The matter had been brought to the notice of the army and police in Jaffna. The threat comes less than three days after some 6,000 copies of Tamil language newspapers, including the Uthayan, were burnt in Jaffna town.
This is not the time to charge, fine and jail journalists - PROTEST
Eight media organisations in Sri Lanka have called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reconsider the re-activation of the Sri Lanka Press Council Law under which journalists could be fined or jailed.The organisations have sent a joint memorandum to President Rajapaksa about the Government’s move. The full statement is as follows:
“It is with a sense of deep concern and disappointment that the media organisations herein under mentioned have learned of the re- activation of the Sri Lanka Press Council Law No 5 of 1973 which has the power to fine and/or sentence journalists and publishers to terms of imprisonment. A media culture cannot be based on slapping charges against journalists, fining them or sending them to jail. Instead the modern world has accepted a self-regulatory mechanism by media persons themselves as the way forward. The Sri Lanka Press Council Law has a controversial history. It was meant to have a ‘chilling effect’ on media freedom, which included the power, inter-alia, to send journalists and publishers to jail.
“ On October 13, 1994 by Cabinet Paper No. 94.11.009, Your Excellency gave your consent to establish a self regulatory mechanism in place of the Statutory Press Council. It is our understanding that this consent was given because Your Excellency believed the Press Council which could impose penal punishment on journalists was an archaic piece of legislation and self regulation was a more democratic means of regulating the press.
“Your Excellency will remember that as Honourable Leader of the Opposition, you spoke (Hansard 2002 June 18 Col 888) for an independent and responsible press in Sri Lanka when an amendment was brought to the said Law to repeal the laws relating to criminal defamation. Your Excellency is no doubt aware this amendment was passed unanimously by Parliament. Following the passage of the amendment the Sri Lanka Press Council Law was made inoperative in or about 2003.
“A series of consultations between media associations in Sri Lanka and leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament had culminated in broad, bi-partisan agreement being reached that the newspaper industry would appoint a self regulatory mechanism as a ‘fair exchange’ for the repeal of laws relating to criminal defamation that were used as an instrument of government repression on media practitioners at the time. Consequently, media organizations united, and together with the newspaper industry, established the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka, under the provisions of the Arbitration Act No. 11 of 1995, six years ago. Unlike the Press Council, the Press Complaints Commission is no financial burden to the State or the complainant.
“It is in these circumstances that the media organizations regret that the Government has reneged on its earlier commitment to support self-regulation. Furthermore, our disappointment stems from the fact that the Government did not consider it useful, or prudent, or both, to have any dialogue whatsoever with the under-mentioned media organisations, which represent the vast majority of publishers, editors, working journalists, media trade unionists and activists who overwhelmingly support the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka.
However, if any problem exists with respect to the system of self-regulation, such problem(s) should be discussed and resolved immediately. But it’s indeed disconcerting to note that instead of strengthening the systems of self-regulation, the Government has opted to re-activate the Sri Lanka Press Council law No 5 of 1973 which impedes media freedom in Sri Lanka.
“We, the undermentioned media organisations urge the Government to reconsider this ill advised decision and have a dialogue with us, the stake-holders to promote self-regulation as part of media culture in the interest of democracy and a responsible and free press in Sri Lanka.
In view of the public importance of this matter we will be releasing this letter to the media.”
This must stop: SLPI
The Sri Lanka Press Institute yesterday said it was deeply disturbed about the re-appearance of the dreaded white van to abduct journalist Krishni Ifham (Kandasamy). She was bundled into the white van outside her mother’s Wattala home and driven apparently to Kandy by three people (the driver and two others) who she believed were policemen as they told her they wanted a statement from her.
This young mother of two who works for the Inter News, a media development institution, had at the end of her long ordeal been asked some questions about her previous employment in the Panos office in Colombo. She was then dropped off at the Kandy bus stand with Rs. 200 bus fare to get home to Wattala, a statement from the SLPI said.
She first lodged a complaint with the Wattala police and thereafter at the Kiribathgoda police station as requested by the police, as the area she lives in comes under the jurisdiction of the latter.
“The SLPI has no quarrel with the journalist, like any other citizen, being questioned by a legitimate law enforcement agency in connection with any investigation that is underway. If this was the case, she could have been requested to report to a specified police station or even taken there with a chaperone, and any questions that needed answers asked and a statement duly recorded, the SLPI said.
But why a white van and, presumably, a drive to Kandy? The victim does not know exactly where she was taken because there were curtains on the van and she could not see where it was heading. She presumes it was Kandy because she was eventually dropped off at the Kandy bus stand, the Institute said.
According to the SLPI statement Ms. Ifham says she was in no way harassed, was given a bun and a sachet of milk and questioned in a civilized manner. No statement, however, had been recorded. As this is being written, nothing further has been heard about this matter and there had been neither an admission nor denial of the suspicion that an agency of the state was involved.
Other more serious cases including the killing of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunga followed by an assault on Rivira editor Upali Tennakoon, and more recently, assaulting and breaking Lake House journalist Poddala Jayantha’s leg, remain unsolved. There is a strong perception both locally and overseas that the harassment of journalists bears a State imprimatur. Such will be the general belief until it is proved otherwise, the statement added.
“We stress with all the emphasis at our command that this must stop. If an agency of the State is in fact involved, those responsible must be brought to account. If not, whoever is engaging in such actions is clearly intent on falsely implicating the State and must be urgently brought to book,” the SLPI said.
“The war against terror is now thankfully over. But there have been too many incidents involving journalists to discount an attempt at creating a fear psychosis in the media and preventing the airing of subjects that may be unpalatable to some in authority. This must stop,” the SLPI said.

US warns travellers of S.Lanka terror attack risk !!!

The United States issued Sunday a warning for its nationals travelling to or in Sri Lanka about the risk of possible terror attacks despite the recent crushing of Tamil Tiger separatists.

Sri Lanka defeated the Tamil Tigers last month but rebel remnants still posed a threat and could carry out assaults, the state department said in the latest travel advisory on its website.

"No new terrorist incidents have occurred since the government?s declaration of military victory over the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)," the advisory said.

"Despite the conclusion of hostilities, remnants of the insurgency group remain."
It also noted that Sri Lanka itself was maintaining a heightened state of security despite claiming it had ended the conflict, which lasted almost 40 years.

The US state department warned its nationals against travelling to the island's northern province and to much of the east where battles took place till mid-May between government forces and the Tigers.

"Travel in some parts of the country remains highly restricted by the Sri Lankan government, with particular sensitivity concerning the large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps (in the north)," it said.

The military is holding nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians who escaped the fighting in internment camps and has severely restricted access to them. About half a dozen foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin are held in the camps.

The state department also warned US citizens of Sri Lankan origin that they may be subjected to additional scrutiny upon arrival and while in the country.

"In some cases, foreigners of Sri Lankan origin may be detained without their embassy being notified," the statement said. "The activities of journalists, researchers, aid workers, and volunteers receive particular attention."

The latest US warning came as Colombo asked other countries, especially western nations, to relax travel advisories which have discouraged tourists to the South Asian island.

Sri Lanka: Is the war really over? A Ground Report !!!

The end of the conventional war in the north and the east of Sri Lanka witnessed the almost total annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) including its leadership. However, the Government forces are still carrying out clearing up operations throughout the island. Tens of thousands have been slaughtered; many thousands wounded; hundreds of thousands expelled from their habitats and many hundreds of thousands interned into camps. The deaths of the militants have been celebrated by the overwhelming majority of the Sinhalese and some of the Tamils and Muslims. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is allegedly engaged in destroying any incriminating evidence of its culpability in war crimes. The fate of three doctors, who were earlier praised by the UN for their heroic services to the wounded during the war, serves as an example.

HistoryThe LTTE commenced as a guerilla force and over time developed its own conventional fighting capability by having a ground force, a navy and a rudimentary air force. It had a strong local and diasporic base and a vast fund raising network. The LTTE targeted attacks on civilian, political, security individuals, religious symbols and civilian groups, particularly in the south. Its initial aim was to fight against the Sinhala discrimination and the government security forces. In the process it began to kill members of other Tamil groups and repress its own Tamil community.

The LTTE was ruthless in removing diversity of opinion within the Tamil community by armed force, not by political means. Thus many leaders of the Tamil bourgeois parties[1] and left parties and groups[2] were eliminated. The ruthless repression of any political opposition to it alienated many working people in the areas under the LTTE control.

I believe that the LTTE’s defeat was brought about by its military strategy and tactics based on terror and over reliance on conventional force, its violent attempt to become the sole representative of the Tamil people; misreading of the international balance of forces and a lack of progressive economic or political policies. It simply believed that imposition of a separate Tamil state was the only response to the discriminatory policies of the successive governments against Tamils. It substituted ethnic struggle for class struggle. As a nationalist movement it could have survived by either compromising with the capitalist class or resorting to mass struggle, but it did not do either. The political support of the Sinhala workers and the other oppressed people for the nationalist struggle of the Tamil people gradually diminished. The methods of the LTTE enormously helped the Sinhala ruling elites to whip up anti-Tamil chauvinism to protect the privileges and interests of the ruling elites.

War Preparations and the LTTEWhen the security forces of the GoSL went to war in 2006, they were well-trained and enjoyed superiority in firepower and mobility. They built up their force levels on land, in the air and at sea en masse to ensure success against the LTTE. Evidently, the LTTE failed to read this turnaround taking place in the capabilities of the Security Forces and adapt its military line of action accordingly. Instead, it stuck to a conventional warfare mode that was doomed to fail although it inflicted many casualties on the advancing government troops.
When the LTTE floundered in the Eastern Province in 2006, offering only limited stiff resistance, the regime made up its mind to go all the way against the LTTE.

Is the war over?Elimination of the top leadership of the LTTE with many of their cadres assassinated or dead may not represent the total end of the LTTE. The post-Pirapaharan era of the LTTE may represent a departure from the strategy and tactics of terror previously adopted by the LTTE.

The GoSL and the LTTE have declared that the war is over. Does this mean that the GoSL will devolve political power to the North and the East? Those who lean towards the left and Tamil groups within the GoSL believe it will devolve power at least to the extent granted by the 13th amendment to the Constitution[3]. Those who lean towards the right within the GoSL believe it will not devolve power at all. Those who are outside the government are similarly divided. Given the sorry history of devolution in the country it is hard to believe that the optimists will succeed. The extreme nationalist forces within the GoSL have already commenced their campaign against any power devolution.

The GoSL has stated that the state of emergency and Prevention of Terrorism Act would remain in force for some time to come. The eastern province has been firmly under army control since mid-2007. There are army checkpoints in the town centre, armed thugs prowl the back streets and reports of abductions and disappearances continue. To quote the Defence Secretary, “The war is like a cancer. Even after curing a cancer, there is a period for radiation treatment. It is the same with the war on terrorism.” Meanwhile the President in his victory speech has adopted a new doctrine following on the path of Bush doctrine. While inviting investments in the north and the east, while talking of a home grown solution to the political situation, there are no minorities in the island, he said. He branded the population into two categories: those who love the country and those who don’t.

Media FreedomThe GoSL’s vendetta against anyone critical of the war, particularly in the media continues. Targeting journalists for “treason” indicates a broad offensive against human rights bodies and non-government organisations, which have been branded as “terrorist sympathisers”. The methods used are not limited to arrest and prosecution as evident from the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, who was posthumously awarded UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2009. As in numerous other cases, the police have made no arrests yet. Most of these threats seem to target international organisations that exposed to a limited extent the exterminationary tactics used by the GoSL. Only three days back, the Centre for Policy Alternatives[4] received a 1989 type of threatening letter demanding compliance with the GoSL programs. Disappearances seem to continue. On June the first, Poddala Jayantha, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association was abducted by a gang who came in a white van, severely assaulted and later released.

Access to camps and war ravaged areasDespite many requests by the international community, the GoSL has continued to refuse full access to the areas destroyed by the war and to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians interned in the so-called welfare villages encircled by barbed wire and security forces.

The Economic repercussionSri Lanka spent and will continue to spend a significant part of its gross domestic product on the war effort, thus exacerbating its dependence on the world capitalist system. The very high military expenditure has significantly contributed to a weakening economy, rising cost of living, inflation, unemployment and an impending economic collapse. The GoSL hopes to survive by relying on massive foreign loans. It is using the “war victories” as a mechanism to divert attention from the crises the country is faced with. The next pretext will be in the form of “an emergency” caused by the rapid deepening of the country’s economic crisis and an eruption of working people against the imposition of new burdens. The broader fear in Colombo ruling elite is that the military defeat of the LTTE will be followed by a wave of political unrest and social struggles. The GoSL has mortgaged the Sri Lankan state to the hilt to finance massive military spending and imposed the full burden of the war on the working class. Now, confronting the impact of an unprecedented global economic crisis for which it has no answers, the regime has no alternative but to use police state measures to stamp out opposition, particularly by working people.

Key political decisions are made by a military cum political unit rather than in parliament or cabinet. Unelected bureaucrats can make outrageous threats against diplomats and journalists. GoSL operates with complete contempt for the law, the constitution and the courts. Elements of the Sinhala majority in the south now want the President to be treated as the King of Sri Lanka. The government will boost its armed force, already one of the largest per capita in the world, from 200,000 to 300,000 within a population of around 20 million. The navy and air force each have around 30,000 personnel and the home guard another 35,000. All of the above will be used against workers, peasants and youth seeking to defend their rights and conditions.
The role of China, India, Pakistan and the USThe Global political and economic balance of forces has played a significant role in what is happening in Sri Lanka. All the major powers, with the United States in the lead, have backed the GoSL while turning a blind eye to its abuse of democratic rights. Britain and other EU countries also assisted the GoSL by selling military equipment in the last three years of the war, it was reported. If the US is now raising concerns, it is only because instability in Sri Lanka threatens broader American economic and strategic interests in South Asia, in particular the growing influence of China. This is of major concern to the Indian Government also.

The US and India are intent on countering China’s strategy. Thus under the guise of humanitarian concerns, India has sent a military medical team to Sri Lanka. Earlier the US proposed to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade to northern Sri Lanka to evacuate refugees - an offer that appears to have been turned down. None of these moves is motivated by concern for working people in Sri Lanka who have born the brunt of 25 years of war. Rather the island is being drawn into the international rivalry that is intensifying as the global economic crisis deepens and foreshadows far more catastrophic conflicts.

Military defeat and Political defeat of the LTTEYet, the difference between defeating the LTTE militarily and destroying the LTTE politically does not seem to have been completely understood by many.

The GoSL would require enormous amounts of human, material and financial resources to be spent on maintaining its forces in the north and the east. The psychological effects caused by the war on society as a whole, including the Tamils and armed forces of all sides to the conflict will continue to be challenging and daunting, which will make the dream of political unity an ever receding mirage.

The Tamil psyche is hurt as never before. Their feeling of subjugation has multiplied with the end of the conventional war. Most Tamils perceive this war as an invasion to grab ‘their land’. Their sense of anger and resentment will remain for a long time. The war and its aftermath have accelerated the tensions and distance between the majority of the Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil diaspora. This has also brought the Sri Lankan national question to the forefront of international discourse, second only to the questions of Palestine and Darfur. It has become embedded in the maelstrom of conflicts that are currently inflaming large parts of Asia. The desperate and deadly situation faced by the many thousands of Tamil civilians interned in the camps will become a serious international issue.

These developments do not bode well for the GoSL or the Sinhalese, though Sinhala nationalist groups and the GoSL will try to put a positive spin on the situation. Almost all Sinhala nationalist groups seem to see this phenomenon as of a transient nature, which they believe would go away when the ‘massive’ infrastructure development programs for the north and east are jump started.

My simple question is: How could the capitalist ruling elites of the island, who have never been able to engender and sustain such development in the South of the island, be expected to undertake such a development in the North and East of the island?

Link to Class StruggleFrom its very origins, the war has been bound up with the class struggle. At every point of crisis, the weak Sri Lankan bourgeoisie has whipped up anti-Tamil chauvinism as the means of dividing the working class and shoring up its hold on power. The war was launched in 1983 by a United National Party government amid a horrific wave of anti-Tamil pogroms. These were being carried out in response to a growing rebellion by the working class against the impact of the government’s free market agenda. Over the past three years, the GoSL has repeatedly accused striking workers and protesting students of being accomplices of the “Tiger terrorists”. Having been strengthened by the defeat of the LTTE, the most reactionary sections of the ruling elite will soon be calling for the crushing of the new enemy, the working people.

The LTTE’s defeat is primarily a political, not a military question. Its perspective of a separate capitalist state of Eelam has proven to be a deadly trap for the working people. Its sectarian outlook and attacks on Sinhalese civilians has only deepened the communal divide and played into the hands of the Sinhala extremists in Colombo. The LTTE’s plans for a separate state represented the interests of the Tamil bourgeoisie, not the Tamil masses, and always depended in the final analysis on the support of one or other of the imperialist powers.

The atrocities committed in Sri Lanka will serve as a warning to working people anywhere in the globe. As capitalism plunges into its worst economic crisis since the 1930s, the ruling elites around the world are reaching into the tool bag of political reaction to secure their rule. Anti-Tamil chauvinism in Sri Lanka finds its parallels in anti-immigrant xenophobia, various nationalisms and numerous forms of chauvinism based on religious, ethnic and linguistic divisions. These can also become the starting point for local and international wars. The only alternative to such barbarism will be to explore the path towards socialism.

ConclusionIn Sri Lanka, as elsewhere, cultural diversity and tensions were manipulated to divide and weaken the working people to preserve the interests and privileges of the ruling elite. In the process, the fundamental democratic and social aspirations of the people have been crushed. The military defeat of the LTTE has not resolved the fundamental issues that underpinned the conflict. It has shown that the territorial unity of the capitalist state can be maintained only on the basis of ruthless repression of the people using military force. Through such repression it has reinforced its defence of Sinhala nationalism. The socio-economic problems of discrimination based on language and nationality and poverty linger on.

The LTTE’s military defeat clearly confirmed that the struggle against imperialism and the fight to secure democratic rights can only be advanced on the basis of a program relying on the support of the working people of the world. The answer to discrimination and racial oppression lies not through a separate state, but through the broad unification of the oppressed people in a common struggle against it.

As I have indicated many times before, our stand in defending the democratic rights of the Tamil people against all forms of chauvinism and racism, was neither an expression of political support for the LTTE nor for separation, nor to bring about a Tamil capitalist regime in the north and the east. Rather it is an expression of our acceptance of the right of the Tamil people for self-determination and the necessity for building unity of the Tamil and Sinhala working people to defend their interests against exploitation and repression by the ruling elite which divides diverse communities along racial, religious and caste lines.

I believe that the way forward lies in the paradigm change Sri Lanka needs to go though, which is alien to its current political traditions of exploitation through repression and subjugation. Firstly the equitable distribution of the fruits of economic development and participatory democracy are essential for the society to progress, especially, when the majority of people are surviving from one meal to the other. Internationally, there is a widespread demand for a refashioning of the world economic order, an end to the unconscionable arrogance of the wheelers and dealers and a call for governments to be more accountable for the welfare of its people. Sri Lanka needs to understand this reality and act accordingly. Secondly, while recognizing the specific problems facing the Tamil community, the injustices faced by the Sinhalese, and Muslims and challenges they all face due to capitalist globalisation also need to be recognised and addressed.