ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Apr 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s military authorities say there is a renewed attempt to revive the defeated Tamil Tiger terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North to launch another phase of its struggle for a separate state.
The military in a statement reveled that information on several key suspects who were leading the campaign for resurgence of the LTTE surfaced in the general area of Pallai in the Jaffna Peninsula.
Investigations into the activities of former LTTE operatives have resulted in several arrests which in turn have led to recovery of arms, ammunition, explosives and other material that were in their possession.
Investigations have revealed that the local group was functioning under the instructions of Europe-based LTTE leaders Nediyawan and Vinayagam who were preparing the ground for another armed struggle.
Immediate objectives of the local group included the recovery or war like material dumped by the LTTE during retreat, re-establishment of LTTE intelligence network, regrouping of the potential cadre including those rehabilitated, collecting information on potential targets including in other provinces, the military said.
Military Investigations have revealed that the funds for the subversive activities came from Europe using an illegal money laundering scheme in the subcontinent known as Hawala system. It has been found that many safe houses, vehicles and other resources required for resurgence of the LTTE had been procured by the suspected LTTE leaders using this money.
Three local leaders in the attempted resurgence of the LTTE were identified as Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan, who was involved in aerial attacks on Anuradhapura Air Base and Kollonnawa Petroleum Storage in year 2007, Selvanayagam Kajeepan alias Gobi, and Navarathnam Navaneethan alias Appan.
All three LTTE operatives were shot dead by the security forces during the Thursday night’s search operation in the general area of Nedunkerni in Vavuniya.
Investigators have trailed the three suspects and made several arrests of second and third level cadres who were under the command of the three leader. However the main three had remained elusive.
On March 13 when a team of police and army officers zeroed in on Gobi, the leader, who was taking shelter at the residence of the Tamil activist Balendran Jeyakumari, shot at the police and escaped.
A search in Jeyakumari’s residence had found A Menelab F-3 type mine detector, and therefore, Ms. Jeyakumari was placed under arrest on suspicion of aiding and abetting Gobi in his activities.
The general area where the three leaders -Thevihan, Gobi and Appan -were hiding was identified. On 10 April 2014 troops in a search operation in the jungle area off Padaviya recovered four backpacks containing rations, medicine, cloths, and other items believed to be used by the suspects.
The troops have surrounded the identified area and in the early hours of Friday, April 11 the three armed suspects who attempted to escape the area clashed with the troops in the cordon. All three were killed and two of the dead were later identified as Thevihan and Gobi. The third is yet to be identified, but is believed to be that of Appan.
Sri Lanka police said 65 persons including 10 women were arrested in the past month under suspicion of attempting to resuscitate LTTE. Sri Lankan authorities recently arrested a senior LTTE cadre called Subramaniam Kapilan a.k.a. Nandigopal when he arrived at the Colombo airport following his deportation from Malaysia.
The government on April 01 banned the LTTE and 15 other Tamil diaspora groups that are alleged of having terror links and involved in reviving the terrorist movement in the country.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said a volume of information on the whereabouts of the suspects came from the local people who did not approve of any attempt of resurgence of the LTTE and the information helped immensely in the investigations.
Judicial inquiry into the Friday’s incident is in progress, the Spokesman said.
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Sri Lankan government emphasizes the need for maintaining troop presence in North
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Apr 12, Colombo: Following Friday’s confrontation between the security forces and LTTE operatives in Vavuniya, the Sri Lankan government emphasized the need to maintain the presence of troops in the North.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s special envoy on human rights and Government Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday’s incident has underscored the need to keep the military on alert.
Speaking to media after meeting with the chief prelates of Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters in Kandy on Saturday, the Minister said the Friday’s incident, where three LTTE operatives were killed by the security forces during a fierce clash, proves that Sri Lankan government has taken the right decision to keep the troops in the former war zone.
Sri Lankan Army teams searching for LTTE operatives including the escaped LTTE suspect Gobi confronted the suspects early Friday in the North. During the clash the army shot and killed the three LTTE suspects.
Minister Samarasinghe said at the United Nations human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva last month many western nations criticized the government for keeping troops in the North five years after the war ended and requested the Sri Lankan government to reduce the military presence in the North.
However, yesterday’s incident shows to the international community, that the government took the right decision to maintain troop presence, the Minister said.
He said the Sri Lankan government will not resort to measures to jeopardize country’s national security within a short period of 4 – 5 years.
Reiterating the call made by External Affairs Minister Prof. G L Peiris, Minister Samarasinghe said that Sri Lanka would not cooperate with the UNHRC in implementing the resolution adopted last month since Sri Lanka has no confidence in an international investigation to be conducted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Jayalalitha has already negotiated her place in a future BJP administration. Karunanidhi woke up late and abandoned the Congress Party to get some scraps off the BJP's dining table, but Jayalalitha will topple his chair so he will hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The question is: Will Modi's RSS mindset drive him towards aggressive action against Sri Lanka, or is all of this mere electioneering to climb into the saddle, at which point he will tell Jayalalitha to shove off?
Although Modi is a Hindu Zealot, and a Free Marketeer, he is DEFINITELY not in love with the NeoColonialist West seeking to undermine and religiously convert Hindu India, and pit India as a foil against China.
The Economist magazine, for example, is taking a very hardline against Modi as it does against Sri Lanka. The Economist is a strong supporter of Christian Evangelism in Asian countries. It is that self-interest that is driving it to criticize Modi, and not the stated reason of his failure to protect Muslims in the Gujerat riots. The Courts in India have exonerated Modi of any culpability for riots. The latter is only a convenient PRETEXT for The Economist to use.
Modi, the undoubtedly smart man that he is, can see that Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka is waging a SIMILAR BATTLE, as Hindu-majority India is, against these foreign powers seeking to undermine, destabilize, convert and dominate Sri Lanka. Will he be able to see past the CASTE RIDDEN RACISTS in Tamil Nadu playing the "We Hindu" card, to adopt a comrade-in-arms attitude of friendship towards Sri Lanka?
Only time will tell. In the mentime, let Sri Lanka PREPARE for ALL EVENTUALITIES with our own alliances.
Narendra Modi is intimately familiar with the attitudes of High Caste Hindus who appeal to "Hinduism" to suppress the vast majority of low-caste Hindus in India.
He is very likely to INSTINCTIVELY RECOGNIZE the HIGH-CASTE HINDU Tamil Politicians of Tamil Nadu for what they REALLY are: RACIST demagogues who discriminate against and suppress their own low-caste people in Tamil Nadu, now attempting to DIVERT ATTENTION AWAY FROM THEIR OWN DISCRIMINATORY ACTIONS by demonizing the Buddhists of Sri Lanka.
He should KNOW from the example set by Dr. Ambedkar who embraced Buddhism in India with his followers, that we Buddhists abhor CASTE DISCRIMINATION.
OUR TOLERANCE is a PRODUCT OF OUR FAITH. That TOLERANCE and ACCEPTANCE led to the tangible achievements in Sri Lanka ... such as HIGH LITERACY, BASIC HEALTHCARE, EQUAL EDUCATION, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES, etc etc ... that India has yet to attain.
It is up to Our Leaders in the GOSL to REACH OUT to the new Prime Minister to-be Narendra Modi and to demonstrate and convince him the VALUES of EQUAL OPPORTUNITY that we share with him, as a MATTER OF FAITH of the majority Buddhist Community of Sri Lanka.
FEAR NOT the IMPENDING CHANGE in Govt of India. EXPLORE IT and TRY TO USE IT to develop a more amicable, enduring, mutually supportive relationship with India that was not possible with the Congress Party-led Govt of India, enslaved by the West.
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Sri Lankan government in touch with Indian political leaders - Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Apr 13, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government is in touch with the leaders of political parties in India who may come to power at India's general elections, a government minister has said.
Cabinet spokesman and Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has said that the government is holding a series of talks with the leaders of India's mainstream political parties including Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Minister Rambukwella has told Ceylon Today that the government is holding talks with Modi as he is expected to be the next Prime Minister of India.
He has said that the government is closely monitoring the situation developing in India and setting up a political platform accordingly.
"We are having a series of dialogues with all the Parties that are contesting for the general elections in India. After all, they are our neighbors and holding discussions is a continuous process," the Minister was quoted as saying.
In EVERY country, renewable energy plants are granted a higher tariff to PROMOTE renewable energy by offsetting its current high costs due to the INITIAL Low Volume of installation, and to offset the pollution costs not currently levied against fossil power plants.
These subsidies SHOULD BE MAINTAINED to provide the required INCENTIVE to install higher cost renewable energy plants. But, that cost will be recovered FULLY by moving the nation towards self-sufficiency in energy free of fossil fuel imports, and towards a cleaner more sustainable environment.
The higher cost of renewable energy should be passed onto the dirtier fossil energy producers through a pollution tax. It should not be passed on to the CONSUMERS through a higher tariff. That will provide the necessary INCENTIVE for building renewable energy power plants instead of fossil power plants for all but the minimum capacity to accommodate the demand for the always dispatchable base load power component.
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Sri Lanka cautioned on rising renewable energy costs
April 20, 2014
Sri Lanka's Central Bank has sounded a note of caution and over the rising burden of renewable power on consumers as the proportion of non-conventional renewable power (NCRE) increases in the grid.
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"Although the country is keen on including more renewable energy to its total generation plan due to its sustainable and renewable nature, the current tariff of NCRE sources keep rising compared to other conventional energy sources," the Central Bank said in its 2014 annual report.
"Hence, the acquisition of advanced technology to improve cost effectiveness is important to ensure that the public is not burdened by rising tariff of NCRE."
Sri Lanka has a target of increasing non-conventional renewable energy to 20 percent by 2020 from the current 10 percent.
Critics say the global renewable lobby is a powerful special interest group that had managed to grab billions of dollars of tax-payer money especially in developed nations by propagating highly refined arguments.
Renewable energy companies have also benefitted from 'climate change' where carbon dioxide emissions are blamed for warming temperatures, though the latest data seem to indicate that the world has not warmed for over 15 years, despite millions of tonnes of the gas being pumped into the atmosphere.
The Central Bank's warning for more efficient technology comes as the renewable lobby in Sri Lanka has used even more innovative methods than the rest of the world based on economic nationalism to gain even higher profits.
In the last tariff decision the mini-hydro companies were offered a flat tariff of 16.70 rupees per unit, but those using 'local' inputs were given an even higher rate of 17.15 rupees.
For wind, a tariff of 20.62 rupees was inflated to 21.22 percent for using 'local' inputs.
Biomass dendro get a tariff of 25.09 rupees, municipal waste 26.10 rupees. In the tariff decision, rates moved up between 20 to 38 percent , despite the earlier rates already being some of the highest in the world.
Analysts have said that Sri Lanka's current power tariffs for larger households are probably the highest in the world (about two to three times the generation cost) and have also tilted the playing field in favour of solar power companies.
Solar is the expensive form of renewable energy costing over 35 rupees a unit.
CEB has lost some of its best customers to solar companies through the net metering process, though it has allowed large domestic customers an avenue to escape the unjust tariff.
The high household tariff was a quasi-taxation income re-distribution tool aimed at cross-subsidizing losses on small households, though net metering has allowed it to subsidize solar power companies instead, critics say.
In Sri Lanka the rising cost of new renewable feed-in tariffs are partly due to currency deprecation which pushes up costs of imported capital equipment.
Mini-hydro feed in tariffs are among the cheapest. Almost all sources of non-conventional renewable power except waste heat are several times more expensive than coal which costs about 10 rupees a unit in Sri Lanka.
Ironically currency depreciation is also strongly linked to subsidies in the power and energy sector, where bank credit and money printed to keep interest rates down has triggered almost all recent balance of payments crises episodes.
If the rupee is continuously depreciated by the central bank, non-conventional energy such as wind where more than 20 rupees are paid for a unit, may become relatively less expensive in the future, analysts say.
-LBO
In EVERY country, renewable energy plants are granted a higher tariff to PROMOTE renewable energy by offsetting the higher costs due to the INITIAL Low Volume of installation, and to offset any pollution costs not being levied against fossil power plants.
These subsidies for renewable energy SHOULD BE MAINTAINED to provide the required INCENTIVE REQUIRED to install higher cost renewable energy plants.
That higher cost will be recovered MORE THAN FULLY by moving the nation towards self-sufficiency in energy free of fossil fuel imports, and towards a cleaner, more sustainable, environment. Sri Lanka is arguably the most highly population country in the world with more than 800 people per square mile. We MUST CONSERVE our natural resources and become independent of imported fuels. Self-sufficiency in energy and a healthy national Balance of Payments are essential prerequisites if we are to survive as a nation in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive for natural resources.
The higher cost of renewable energy should be passed onto the dirtier fossil energy production plants through a POLLUTION tax. It SHOULD NOT be passed on to the CONSUMERS through higher tariffs.
That will provide the necessary INCENTIVE for building renewable energy power plants instead of fossil power plants for all but the minimum capacity required to accommodate the demand for the always dispatchable base load power that cannot be accommodated by time varying forms of renewable energy such as solar and wind.
This is an ESSENTIAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT that we dare not ignore as a nation given that Sri Lanka spends as much as 30% of our GNP on fossil energy imports. Germany today produces 40% of its energy from renewable sources. The comfort of that high degree of self-sufficiency was achieved by a national decision implemented several decades ago through national subsidies to PROMOTE investments in higher cost solar and wind at all levels: individual homeowners, farmers, non-energy businesses, and energy companies. At a time when Germany's energy supplies from Russia are being threatened by the Ukraine crisis, the wisdom of its investment in renewable energy becomes crystal clear.
Can Sri Lanka, threatened by powerful external adversaries hellbent on destroying our country and preventing Sri Lanka from importing oil at discount from friendly countries, such as Iran, do any less than Germany? Let us exercise the WISDOM and FORESIGHT needed to protect our Motherland.
"Birds of a Racist Feather, Flock Together" PECKING away at each other in the quest for Tamil votes in the Lok Sabha elections! Even on BASHING Sri Lanka, a PENALTY FREE activity for them, they can't agree!
Old demagogues never die, they don't even fade away!
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‘Jayalalithaa shedding crocodile tears for SL Tamils’
By K. Lakshmi
TheHindu.com
April 22, 2014
DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Monday accused Chief Minister Jayalalithaa of shedding crocodile tears for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Addressing a public meeting in Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Karunanidhi recalled the resolution passed by the AIADMK government led by her in the past in the Assembly, urging the Centre to take measures for the arrest and extradition of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran.
“She is now shedding crocodile tears for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and Prabakaran,” he said, reacting to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s charges earlier in the day that the DMK had betrayed the Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamil Nadu fishermen repeatedly. He also recalled her statement in the past that the LTTE and its leader should never be allowed to set foot on Indian soil as it could endanger the security and sovereignty of the nation.
“It is only the DMK that has raised voice for the welfare of the Lankan Tamils,” he said, claiming credit.
The DMK withdrew support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance after being convinced that the national party did not share the DMK’s concerns for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils. “Congress could not be trusted anymore,” he said.
Responding to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s charge that she stalled only schemes benefiting the DMK, Mr. Karunanidhi said the new Secretariat-cum-Assembly complex, the Samacheer Kalvi scheme and Anna Centenary Library were all aimed at benefiting the people but opposed by the AIADMK government which relented only after the intervention of courts.
Despite his ill-health, the DMK chief said he had come to seek votes for the party candidate and his grand-nephew, Dayanidhi Maran, in Chennai Central constituency, as party cadre had a special place in his heart.
I have been pointing out the MASSIVE INFLUX of Illegal Tamil Immigrants from Tamil Nadu into Sri Lanka during the years the LTTE controlled the North and East of Sri Lanka.
It came as a SHOCK to me when the last CENSUS revealed that DESPITE MASSIVE EMIRGRATION of about 1.0 million Sri Lankan Tamils OUT of Sri Lanka, that the Tamil population of Sri Lanka has increased by over 0.5 million, indicating a net influx of over 1.5 million ILLEGAL TAMIL IMMIGRANTS INTO Sri Lanka.
It is bad enough that a vociferous Eelamist Tamil Diaspora, beyond the reach of Sri Lankan Law, has been created by the exodus of Sri Lankan Tamils, but even the BENEFIT to Sri Lanka of the DEPARTURE of these troublesome dissatisfied group has now been NEGATED by the INFLUX of EVEN MORE Illegal Indian Tamil Immigrants!
The GOSL seems to be STRANGELY SILENT on this problem, as are the PATRIOTIC Political Parties of Sri Lanka.
I have no explanation WHY it is being ignored, despite bringing it to their attention, not only by us but by the OPA (Organization of Professional Associations) of Sri Lanka as well.
This is a CRITICAL National Security Issue that requires IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, or else these ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS and their future PROGENY will cause a permanent shift in the demographics of Sri Lanka that will PROMOTE future separatism.
Bravo, Charles .... You have spoken for me on this ISSUE, as well!
All of those who now criticize President Mahinda Rajapakse were either dedicated "peaceniks" cowardly advocating the disintegration of Sri Lanka even as our people were being blown to bits, or were outright enemies of our Motherland cheering for the enemy to complete that task.
They now frequent Patriotic Websites, such as LankaWeb, posing as "Super Patriots" who advocate EXTREME solutions, and criticize President Mahinda Rajapaksa in foul language for the "FAILURE" to execute their unworkable, ultimately destructive, "SOLUTIONS". Their PURPOSE is to undermine not only the President and PIT the Patriotic people of Sri Lanka against each other, but also to drive the Patriotic Websites into DISREPUTE.
Let us recognize these snakes in the grass for who they really are: Eelamist enemies, or Political opponents, of the President FRUSTRATED by their INABILITY to oust this immensely popular, patritic, war-winning, sensible and dharmishta President who restored our Motherland to peace and tranquility, so our long-suffering families can live and prosper in peace in Sri Lanka progressing at a furious pace to becoming Resplendent again.
We have met and fought this enemy on many battlefields before. The deep camouflage of these omnipresent chameleons, lovingly crafted over long periods and hidden deep within apparently different "blogging personalities", simultaneously commenting and vociferously debating one another as if they are different people, DOES NOT FOOL US ... we KNOW who they really are!
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