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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
LTTE about to be destroyed - A military affairs home page
"The Aarmy is thus able to move deep into LTTE controlled territory, taking towns and major bases the LTTE depend on to recruit troops and extract supplies, especially food," it said.
The Strategy Page said: "So far this year, the LTTE has lost nearly 6,000 dead, while the army has lost nearly 600 soldiers. In the last two years, since the ceasefire collapsed, the LTTE has had over 9,000 of its fighters killed.
In that time, LTTE controlled territory has shrunk from 15,000 square kilometres, to 4,000.
The air force and navy have crippled LTTE smuggling efforts, but not eliminated them. Tamil fishermen from India are still willing to risk arrest or injury to move weapons, medicine and diesel fuel to LTTE controlled beaches in northern Sri Lanka.
The fee paid for these trips has been going up from about $1,000 to over $2,000. But the blockade has eliminated the use of cargo ships for these supply runs. So instead of getting hundreds of tons of supplies at time, the LTTE has to be satisfied with a few tons.
The government fears that, after the defeat of the organised LTTE in Sri Lanka, they will still be under attack from an LTTE expatriate terrorist organization. There are actually two LTTEs. There is the one in Sri Lanka. This one is under heavy attack, and about to be destroyed. Then there is the LTTE overseas.
Originally set up to raise money among expatriate Tamils (from Sri Lanka and southern India), this organization uses many illegal methods to buy and smuggle military goods into Sri Lanka. Because of some of the scams used to raise money, the offshore LTTE turned into a criminal gang. Failed rebellions often leave large, purely criminal, organizations in their wreckage. But the LTTE-In-Exile is threatening to turn into a terrorist organization as well. ( News from - Strategy Page military affairs home page)
The Strategy Page said: "So far this year, the LTTE has lost nearly 6,000 dead, while the army has lost nearly 600 soldiers. In the last two years, since the ceasefire collapsed, the LTTE has had over 9,000 of its fighters killed.
In that time, LTTE controlled territory has shrunk from 15,000 square kilometres, to 4,000.
The air force and navy have crippled LTTE smuggling efforts, but not eliminated them. Tamil fishermen from India are still willing to risk arrest or injury to move weapons, medicine and diesel fuel to LTTE controlled beaches in northern Sri Lanka.
The fee paid for these trips has been going up from about $1,000 to over $2,000. But the blockade has eliminated the use of cargo ships for these supply runs. So instead of getting hundreds of tons of supplies at time, the LTTE has to be satisfied with a few tons.
The government fears that, after the defeat of the organised LTTE in Sri Lanka, they will still be under attack from an LTTE expatriate terrorist organization. There are actually two LTTEs. There is the one in Sri Lanka. This one is under heavy attack, and about to be destroyed. Then there is the LTTE overseas.
Originally set up to raise money among expatriate Tamils (from Sri Lanka and southern India), this organization uses many illegal methods to buy and smuggle military goods into Sri Lanka. Because of some of the scams used to raise money, the offshore LTTE turned into a criminal gang. Failed rebellions often leave large, purely criminal, organizations in their wreckage. But the LTTE-In-Exile is threatening to turn into a terrorist organization as well. ( News from - Strategy Page military affairs home page)
President to answer the public's woes
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will answer the questions of public in a live TV program at 9.30 pm tonight on Rupavahini, ITN and several other television channels.This is a part of the Janapathi Janahamuwa (Meet the President) series which had been arranged by the Presidential Secretariat to allow the people to directly bring their woes and problems to the Head of the country.
Several key ministers, a few senior officials from the government will join with the President for the program and a group of journalists will also be there to go on with the discussion. General public will be able to speak to the President dialing the telephone number which will be shown on the screen at the discussion.
The live program will also be broadcast on SLBC, Lakhanda and other radio stations. Presidential Secretariat sources said that questions on the anti-terror drive, political developments, economic scenario and other matters of interest to the public could be brought to the discussion.
Susanthika qualifies for the second round
Susanthika Jayasinghe qualifies for the second round heats :: Susanthika Jayasinghe qualifies for the second round heats of the women's 200m at Beijing Olympics recording a time of 23.04 seconds
Toronto non-profit raised millions for Tamil Tigers
A Toronto non-profit group wired more than $3-million to overseas bank accounts, some of them linked to the Tamil Tigers, before it was shut down by the government in June for alleged terrorist financing, says an RCMP report released yesterday.
The report, marked "Secret" but unsealed by order of a Federal Court judge, provides the first detailed look at the banking activities of the World Tamil Movement (WTM), a Toronto-based group accused of bankrolling Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers guerrillas.
Most of the money, $1.9-million, went to an account at the Bumiputra Commerce Bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that the RCMP report says "is utilized as a vehicle to forward money to the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] from Canada."
The 83-page financial report is the fruit of two years of analysis of banking records seized by Canadian anti-terrorism police who are investigating a financial network run by supporters of the Tamil Tigers that allegedly raised money in Canada to buy arms for the guerrillas.
"The bank records seized ... demonstrate that the World Tamil Movement has developed an elaborate machine like entity that moves throughout the Greater Toronto Area collecting funds with extreme proficiency," the police report says.
Stockwell Day, the Public Safety Minister, announced on June 16 that his government had added the WTM to Ottawa's official list of terrorist groups, alongside the likes of Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. The WTM is the first Canadian community group to be listed.
The WTM has denied any involvement in terrorist fundraising and vowed to challenge the government's decision, and at a large outdoor rally in Toronto on July 5, Tamils waved Tamil Tigers flags and endorsed a statement condemning Ottawa's decision to ban the WTM.
The Minister has accused the WTM of transferring money to LTTE bank accounts in Sri Lanka, but the RCMP's Feb. 1, 2008, financial report paints a more detailed picture of a complex network made up of 20 Canadian bank accounts.
Five banks held the accounts: Toronto Dominion, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank, CIBC and the National Bank of Canada. The Canadian account holders wired money regularly to accounts in Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Tamil Tigers-controlled areas of Sri Lanka.
RCMP Corporal Deanna Hill, the author of the police report, wrote that the WTM's financial set-up was "congruent with the money laundering techniques often employed by organized crime groups.
"I also believe that the number of accounts alone demonstrate that the World Tamil Movement has utilized the Canadian banking system to raise funds in a manner that is best suited to financing the terrorist activities of the LTTE."
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for 25 years for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority, which has faced discrimination under the island's Sinhalese majority.
In addition to fighting a conventional guerrilla war, however, the Tigers also employ terrorist tactics, such as suicide bombings and political assassinations, which has landed them on international terrorist lists, Canada's included.
The RCMP began investigating the Tamil Tigers' Canadian fundraising network in 2002, focusing on the WTM's large head office in Toronto and its smaller branch offices in Montreal and Vancouver. Police raided the Toronto and Montreal offices in 2006.
Police seized letters from the Tamil Tigers leadership thanking Canada for its donations, explaining how the money had been used to purchase weapons, and asking for more. But much of the police evidence appears to have come from a study of bank accounts held by the WTM and its officers.
The Project Osaluki financial report claims the WTM's most lucrative fundraising method was a pre-authorized payment program, in which the group persuaded hundreds of its supporters to sign forms allowing money to be withdrawn from their bank accounts each month.
The WTM took in up to $763,000 a year using the payment scheme. On a single day in 2005, the WTM withdrew $63,528 from 1,582 bank accounts. "It is obvious from the amounts collected with this method that the pre-authorized payment scheme is effective, timely and spares valued resources," says the RCMP report.
Most of the forms had been signed in Canada but police also interviewed witnesses who said they had signed them at Tamil Tigers checkpoints in Sri Lanka. "Upon their return to Canada, these persons were visited by representatives of the World Tamil Movement to exact the collection of the monthly stipend," Cpl. Hill wrote.
In addition, the WTM made money through bake sales, car washes, newspaper sales, merchandise sales and festivals, the report says. "To date, the total amount of Canadian dollars that have been forwarded to accounts internationally from accounts controlled by the World Tamil Movement in Canada is $3,101,803.33." ( News from - National Post)
The report, marked "Secret" but unsealed by order of a Federal Court judge, provides the first detailed look at the banking activities of the World Tamil Movement (WTM), a Toronto-based group accused of bankrolling Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers guerrillas.
Most of the money, $1.9-million, went to an account at the Bumiputra Commerce Bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that the RCMP report says "is utilized as a vehicle to forward money to the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] from Canada."
The 83-page financial report is the fruit of two years of analysis of banking records seized by Canadian anti-terrorism police who are investigating a financial network run by supporters of the Tamil Tigers that allegedly raised money in Canada to buy arms for the guerrillas.
"The bank records seized ... demonstrate that the World Tamil Movement has developed an elaborate machine like entity that moves throughout the Greater Toronto Area collecting funds with extreme proficiency," the police report says.
Stockwell Day, the Public Safety Minister, announced on June 16 that his government had added the WTM to Ottawa's official list of terrorist groups, alongside the likes of Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. The WTM is the first Canadian community group to be listed.
The WTM has denied any involvement in terrorist fundraising and vowed to challenge the government's decision, and at a large outdoor rally in Toronto on July 5, Tamils waved Tamil Tigers flags and endorsed a statement condemning Ottawa's decision to ban the WTM.
The Minister has accused the WTM of transferring money to LTTE bank accounts in Sri Lanka, but the RCMP's Feb. 1, 2008, financial report paints a more detailed picture of a complex network made up of 20 Canadian bank accounts.
Five banks held the accounts: Toronto Dominion, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank, CIBC and the National Bank of Canada. The Canadian account holders wired money regularly to accounts in Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Tamil Tigers-controlled areas of Sri Lanka.
RCMP Corporal Deanna Hill, the author of the police report, wrote that the WTM's financial set-up was "congruent with the money laundering techniques often employed by organized crime groups.
"I also believe that the number of accounts alone demonstrate that the World Tamil Movement has utilized the Canadian banking system to raise funds in a manner that is best suited to financing the terrorist activities of the LTTE."
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for 25 years for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority, which has faced discrimination under the island's Sinhalese majority.
In addition to fighting a conventional guerrilla war, however, the Tigers also employ terrorist tactics, such as suicide bombings and political assassinations, which has landed them on international terrorist lists, Canada's included.
The RCMP began investigating the Tamil Tigers' Canadian fundraising network in 2002, focusing on the WTM's large head office in Toronto and its smaller branch offices in Montreal and Vancouver. Police raided the Toronto and Montreal offices in 2006.
Police seized letters from the Tamil Tigers leadership thanking Canada for its donations, explaining how the money had been used to purchase weapons, and asking for more. But much of the police evidence appears to have come from a study of bank accounts held by the WTM and its officers.
The Project Osaluki financial report claims the WTM's most lucrative fundraising method was a pre-authorized payment program, in which the group persuaded hundreds of its supporters to sign forms allowing money to be withdrawn from their bank accounts each month.
The WTM took in up to $763,000 a year using the payment scheme. On a single day in 2005, the WTM withdrew $63,528 from 1,582 bank accounts. "It is obvious from the amounts collected with this method that the pre-authorized payment scheme is effective, timely and spares valued resources," says the RCMP report.
Most of the forms had been signed in Canada but police also interviewed witnesses who said they had signed them at Tamil Tigers checkpoints in Sri Lanka. "Upon their return to Canada, these persons were visited by representatives of the World Tamil Movement to exact the collection of the monthly stipend," Cpl. Hill wrote.
In addition, the WTM made money through bake sales, car washes, newspaper sales, merchandise sales and festivals, the report says. "To date, the total amount of Canadian dollars that have been forwarded to accounts internationally from accounts controlled by the World Tamil Movement in Canada is $3,101,803.33." ( News from - National Post)
No reversal in Northern liberation - President
President Mahinda Rajapaksa asserted that after the lapse of a prolonged period of absolute tolerance and patience and failed negotiations with the LTTE, his Government eventually responded in the language best understood by the terrorists with the strong resolve of not turning back until the very last terrorist is captured.
President Rajapaksa made this assertion when he presided and addressed a mammoth and colourful rally at the Ruwanwella Esplanade yesterday, in support of the UPFA candidates contesting the forthcoming Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections on August 23.
“We liberated the Eastern Province and will liberate the North too very shortly. There is no turning back under any circumstances or influence now, until every inch of land is recaptured and each and every terrorist is killed or captured. Our Armed Forces are fighting the terrorists to protect our Motherland at the risk of their lives,” the President said.
“We will fight the war until every citizen, regardless of his ethnicity, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or Malay, has the right to live in his Motherland, sans fear nor suspicion, in perfect harmony and unity,” the President reiterated.
He pointed out that it was by no means an easy task and they would have to face daunting challenges and obstacles as they proceed. They would however end up victoriously.
Outlining briefly the sequence of events that transpired since his assumption to office on November 19 up to the closure of the Mavil Aru Anicut by the LTTE, the President pointed out that the people gave him a mandate to re-unite the entire country and make it stable and secure.
Nevertheless, a spree of continuous and heinous crimes were committed in cold blood, against innocent and unarmed men, women and children, and the Armed Forces by the LTTE, sans any breathing space to his Government.
The Government in turn relentlessly and painstakingly strove to resolve the crisis peacefully and amicably with the LTTE, by using all means at their disposal and by a process of continuous dialog and negotiation.
Government delegations were in Geneva twice for talks. Nevertheless, the LTTE rejected all these peaceful paths. It is then that he as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, had to take decisive action in ordering the Armed Forces to attack the terrorists on all fronts.
From then onwards, the gallant Armed Forces have consolidated themselves and achieved victory after victory and defeated the terrorists.
President Rajapaksa opined that as envisioned in the Mahinda Chintanaya, his Government shifted development which was confined only to the Western Province, mainly Colombo and its suburbs, to the village to uplift the living standards of the village polity too.
Based on this policy, the villagers are now able to fetch enhanced prices for their produce such as Tea, Rubber and other minor crops. They now have fully concreted roads in their villages.
After completion of the main roads his Government has now embarked on a programme to construct all roads at the Provincial Council level. The Government has set aside a colossal sum of Rs 3,000 million for this.
Other Development programmes such as ‘Gama Neguma’ and ‘Maga Neguma’ are also in progress. Several employment-generating programmes in the sphere of tourism among others, are also in the pipeline.
“Place your whole-hearted faith and trust in our Government which is dedicated and duty-bound with responsibility, to protect our ‘Motherland’. Ensure that our Government wins the Provincial poll of Sabaragamuwa convincingly,” President Rajapaksa added.
Ministers Susil Premjayantha, Puthra Sigamany, A.H.M. Fowzie, Dinesh Gunawardena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Mano Wijerathna, Tissa Witharana, Athauda Senevirathna, former Chief Minister of the Sabaragamuwa Province Mahipala Herath and former UNP Minister Nandimithra Ekanayake also addressed the rally.
This was the third consecutive victorious rally from a series of rallies organised by the Government to garner votes for their respective candidates.
(news from - Daily News)
President Rajapaksa made this assertion when he presided and addressed a mammoth and colourful rally at the Ruwanwella Esplanade yesterday, in support of the UPFA candidates contesting the forthcoming Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections on August 23.
“We liberated the Eastern Province and will liberate the North too very shortly. There is no turning back under any circumstances or influence now, until every inch of land is recaptured and each and every terrorist is killed or captured. Our Armed Forces are fighting the terrorists to protect our Motherland at the risk of their lives,” the President said.
“We will fight the war until every citizen, regardless of his ethnicity, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or Malay, has the right to live in his Motherland, sans fear nor suspicion, in perfect harmony and unity,” the President reiterated.
He pointed out that it was by no means an easy task and they would have to face daunting challenges and obstacles as they proceed. They would however end up victoriously.
Outlining briefly the sequence of events that transpired since his assumption to office on November 19 up to the closure of the Mavil Aru Anicut by the LTTE, the President pointed out that the people gave him a mandate to re-unite the entire country and make it stable and secure.
Nevertheless, a spree of continuous and heinous crimes were committed in cold blood, against innocent and unarmed men, women and children, and the Armed Forces by the LTTE, sans any breathing space to his Government.
The Government in turn relentlessly and painstakingly strove to resolve the crisis peacefully and amicably with the LTTE, by using all means at their disposal and by a process of continuous dialog and negotiation.
Government delegations were in Geneva twice for talks. Nevertheless, the LTTE rejected all these peaceful paths. It is then that he as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, had to take decisive action in ordering the Armed Forces to attack the terrorists on all fronts.
From then onwards, the gallant Armed Forces have consolidated themselves and achieved victory after victory and defeated the terrorists.
President Rajapaksa opined that as envisioned in the Mahinda Chintanaya, his Government shifted development which was confined only to the Western Province, mainly Colombo and its suburbs, to the village to uplift the living standards of the village polity too.
Based on this policy, the villagers are now able to fetch enhanced prices for their produce such as Tea, Rubber and other minor crops. They now have fully concreted roads in their villages.
After completion of the main roads his Government has now embarked on a programme to construct all roads at the Provincial Council level. The Government has set aside a colossal sum of Rs 3,000 million for this.
Other Development programmes such as ‘Gama Neguma’ and ‘Maga Neguma’ are also in progress. Several employment-generating programmes in the sphere of tourism among others, are also in the pipeline.
“Place your whole-hearted faith and trust in our Government which is dedicated and duty-bound with responsibility, to protect our ‘Motherland’. Ensure that our Government wins the Provincial poll of Sabaragamuwa convincingly,” President Rajapaksa added.
Ministers Susil Premjayantha, Puthra Sigamany, A.H.M. Fowzie, Dinesh Gunawardena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Mano Wijerathna, Tissa Witharana, Athauda Senevirathna, former Chief Minister of the Sabaragamuwa Province Mahipala Herath and former UNP Minister Nandimithra Ekanayake also addressed the rally.
This was the third consecutive victorious rally from a series of rallies organised by the Government to garner votes for their respective candidates.
(news from - Daily News)
Cocaine in Sri Lanka
A small portion of Cocaine worth over Rs.150, 000 was detected for the first time after 15 years, by the recently appointed Police Central Anti-Vice Striking Unit Colombo Branch. Cocaine is considered an expensive narcotic circulated among local affluent consumers.
Sri Lanka says it will care for war displaced
A top Sri Lankan official said Monday that civilians displaced by a new wave of fighting in the country's civil war had adequate food and shelter and he vowed to ensure they were cared for as the war intensified.
Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have been forced to flee their homes in the north in recent weeks as government forces seized large chunks of territory that had been controlled by the Tamil Tiger separatists, international aid groups said.
The Red Cross said health authorities were struggling to meet the basic needs of the displaced. The U.N. said thousands were living under trees. Amnesty International said the rebels appeared to be using the displaced as a buffer against the military and said government restrictions on bringing goods into the area increased the hardship.
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe denied anyone was living under trees, insisting all those displaced had shelter and saying there were two weeks of food stocks in place to ensure no food crisis developed.
"These are our people. They are Sri Lankan citizens, and we have taken every possible step to ensure ... that they are not abandoned," he said.
Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have been forced to flee their homes in the north in recent weeks as government forces seized large chunks of territory that had been controlled by the Tamil Tiger separatists, international aid groups said.
The Red Cross said health authorities were struggling to meet the basic needs of the displaced. The U.N. said thousands were living under trees. Amnesty International said the rebels appeared to be using the displaced as a buffer against the military and said government restrictions on bringing goods into the area increased the hardship.
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe denied anyone was living under trees, insisting all those displaced had shelter and saying there were two weeks of food stocks in place to ensure no food crisis developed.
"These are our people. They are Sri Lankan citizens, and we have taken every possible step to ensure ... that they are not abandoned," he said.
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