‘TNA manifesto contains Prabhakaran's policies’

It is an open secret that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had been the unofficial political wing of the LTTE when the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit was at its best. The TNA leaders had no option, but to surrender meekly to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran due to fear.

Since then, Prabhakaran remote-controlled the TNA leadership through his jungle hideout in Wanni until the terror outfit was military crushed in May, 2009. Prabhakaran informed his decisions to the LTTE’s political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvam who acted as the unofficial boss of the TNA.

All TNA parliamentarians were summoned to the LTTE political headquarters in Killinochchi as an when Thamilselvam wanted and the TNA leader R. Sampanthan and his fellow parliamentarians looked mere puppets. When the Tamils in the North and the East had been subjected to untold hardships due to LTTE threats, TNA parliamentarians did not utter a word as they feared that the Tigers would eliminate the entire TNA leadership.

But most moderate Tamils in the North thought that the TNA would abandon its LTTE agenda after Prabhakaran and his goons were vanquished at the Nandikadal lagoon a little over four years ago. Instead, the TNA was bought over by the LTTE rump and a section of the Tamil diaspora which now lavishly funds the former Tiger-proxy party.

The TNA’s separatist agenda came to light with its election manifesto for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). The TNA manifesto has let the LTTE cat out of its bag, making it obvious that Sampanthan and his men are continuing from where Prabhakaran had left.

The TNA has called for the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces in its manifesto presented last week. It further states that devolution of power should be on the basis of shared sovereignty, necessarily over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers.

“To achieve the above including self-reliance it is imperative that we need self-government. We have set out a two-stage constitutional process to secure this.

While we do our utmost to play a positive role in promoting self-government for the Tamil-Speaking Peoples in the North-East, we will carry on with our political negotiations for meaningful sharing of powers of governance,” the TNA said.

TNA’s chief ministerial candidate C.V. Wigneswaran had even gone to the extent of threatening to obtain direct Tamil diaspora funding for the NPC, if he is given a mandate at the polls to be held this month.

The leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), Wimal Weerawansa said that the controversial TNA manifesto contains the policies of Prabhakaran. Addressing an event at the National Youth Centre, Maharagama on Wednesday, he said though the LTTE was defeated in 2009, the political threat of the emergence of a separate state still prevails.

“In their manifesto, the TNA is demanding land, police, education, social and economic powers. They also demand the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. These are the things that were demanded by Prabhakaran,” Weerawansa claimed.

He alleged that Wigneswaran had stated that Prabhakaran is a hero and such statements indicated that the TNA supports separatism. He added, through merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces the TNA wants to destabilise the government with the support of certain Muslim leaders.

He said, in the past, some governments became unstable due to the pressure exerted on them by the TNA. “During the tenure of J.R. Jayewardene, K.W. Devanayagam demarcated the Eastern Province in favour of an Eelam State and included Eelam supporters in the diplomatic services,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, former Mannar Sea Tiger Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), Balasuresh, received the membership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from Minister Susil Premajayantha and Deputy Minister, Sarath Kumara Gunaratne.

Obtaining party membership, the former LTTE activist said, he is living a good life today as a result of the development activities carried out by the government. He also said due to the mistakes in the past, many people senselessly died and many properties were damaged, adding that he joined the LTTE due to racially divisive ideas implanted in the minds of the people by the LTTE.

As the campaign in the North reaches its peak, TNA leader Sampanthan cautioned the southern political forces not to criticise his alliance’s manifesto with malicious intentions, as it has been “prepared in a manner to ensure the dignity of the minorities and to uphold the integrity of the country”.

Sampanthan, along with TNA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, C.V. Wigneswaran and other candidates of the Alliance, addressed a media briefing at the Green Grass on the TNA’s manifesto on Thursday in Jaffna. Leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF), Mano Ganesan, also addressed the briefing, in support of the TNA.

The TNA Leader, detailing the TNA’s manifesto said the Alliance has no intention of harming the integrity of the country. “What we emphasise is the need to maintain the integrity of the country by ensuring the rights and the dignity of the minorities. We also want a political settlement to the Tamil question, which should be durable and ensure the dignity of the Tamils. We are for the unity of the country. We don’t want the country to be divided,” he said. It appears to be an attempt to play different cards – the raciest cart to the North and the unity card in the south.

Abduction of Dayasiri’s campaign financier

Sarath Ratnayake, the main financial supporter of United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) candidate, Dayasiri Jayasekara, who has also provided him a Hummer luxury vehicle, was abducted, assaulted and dumped in Anuradhapura last week.

Jayasekara accused those engaged in the preferential vote race of being responsible for the disappearance of his closest supporter and the police suspect the person had been abducted by an organised group.

Ratnayake, a millionaire businessman had reportedly gone missing on Wednesday night, prompting his wife to lodge a complaint with Hettipola and Wariyapola Police stations. Ratnayake was admitted to the Anuradhapura Hospital and is under observation. Police also said he was unconscious, and as such they could not record a statement on the incident until the late hours of Friday.

Though the police said they could not observe any external injuries, sources said there is evidence of Ratnayake being physically assaulted. “I see this as a gross violation of the people's right to engage in a free and fair election by those who are engaged in a campaign of gaining preferential votes by hook or by crook.

They also want to show that those who supported me once are now aligned with another candidate of the same party. This incident also raises concerns whether they are providing ammunition to the opposition and foreign forces that are against the government,” Jayasekara charged.

Basnayake Nilame of the Kataragama Devale in Tissamaharama, Ratnayake is believed to be the largest financier of Jayasekara's election campaign, even providing a Hummer vehicle to facilitate his campaign.

“I contacted the President and the Defence Secretary to inform them regarding the disappearance of my long-standing supporter and requested assistance to find Ratnayake as soon as I heard the news,” Dayasiri was quoted as saying.

Pope confirms tour of Sri Lanka

Pope Francis I, has accepted an invitation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to tour Sri Lanka during pontiff’s forthcoming tour of Asia. Rev. Father Benedict Joseph, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo confirmed that the Holy Pope would visit Sri Lanka.

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has already approved the visit and the Archdiocese is expected to announce the dates of the tour in near future. Fr. Benedict Joseph has said that Pope Francis I is eager to visit the island.

According to formalities the local Catholic Church needs an agreement with the government and once agreed the Bishops’ Conference must issue a formal invitation to the Pope to visit the country. It was only last month that the President Rajapaksa extended an invitation to Pope Francis I to visit Sri Lanka.

Ranil continues his day dreaming

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe continues to day-dream of capturing power. Ever since the UNP lost the executive presidency in 1994 and the fall of its last Government under his premiership in 2004, Ranil has been making various statements on the UNP coming to power.

Each time the UNP embarks on an election campaign or holds its party convention, Ranil has adopted various ploys by giving different time-frames of UNP capturing power, in a desperate attempt to keep the morale of the party supporters.

On the other hand, it was a different tactic by Ranil to deviate attention from the leadership crisis so that supporters could live under an illusion that the UNP would ‘soon’ come to power.

But how soon it would be is anybody’s guess, going by the UNP’s dismal record during the past 27 elections. Ranil made use of the UNP’s 67th anniversary celebrations on Friday to give another broken promise. He said that Friday’s ceremony would be the last anniversary celebrated as the opposition. Ranil pledged that the UNP would be commemorating its 68th anniversary next year after forming a government.

“This is the last anniversary we are celebrating as the opposition. The UNP will pave the way for a general election in 2014 and we will win it. We will celebrate our 68th anniversary under a UNP government,” the UNP leaders said.

Meanwhile, an official committee of inquiry has concluded that only 176 files have been set ablaze at the cemetery by some officials of the UNP-led Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) recently. However, the officials had permission to destroy only 126 files. The balance, 52 files, had been destroyed by mistake, the committee of inquiry has concluded.

The three-member committee of inquiry, appointed by Western Province Commissioner of Local Government, Chandrani Samarakoon, to probe the incident has finalised its findings and the report was to be handed over to Secretary of the Western Provincial Council, Jayanthi Wijetunga. The committee of inquiry had questioned 10 persons involved in the incident.

UNP crisis over speakers

The loyalists of Ranil and Sajith had a recent discussion to iron out differences and make a united effort to win the Provincial Council elections. But insiders said both sides were not genuine in their efforts though they initially agreed to forget differences and work tirelessly to put the UNP on the winning track.

But on the very next day, Ranil’s confidants broke the agreement and omitted names of Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya from the speakers list at main UNP political rallies in the North Western and Central Provinces.

Some moderate UNP parliamentarians later told the Ranil loyalists that Sajith and Karu have been in high demand by the UNP candidates contesting the Provincial Council elections. But there has not been any positive response from the party leadership as Sajith and Karu have been forced to remain backstage in most of the UNP rallies.

There have been different stories on Ranil’s meeting with Navi Pillay last weekend at his private residence at Fifth Lane. Prior to the Opposition leader’s meeting Pillay with a group of UNP seniors, Ranil and Pillay had been engaged in a closed door meeting. At the end of the 15-minute meeting, Pillay had whispered a secret to Ranil but none of the UNP seniors were aware what it was all about.

Th United Nations said on Wednesday that it was ‘fully supportive of the work that UN Rights Chief Navanethem Pillay was doing while she was on the ground in Sri Lanka.’

“We fully support the work that Navanethem Pillay was doing while she was on the ground in Sri Lanka. We may have more to say on this down the line, but for now, basically, those are the standard principles,” a UN spokesman was quoted as saying.

PC polls campaign in full swing

The Provincial Couincil elections campaign in the Central, North Western and the Central Provinces reached the peak with only a fortnight away from the elections. All major parties have intensified their campaigns in full force.

President Rajapaksa presided over at a series of UPFA main rallies which began last Monday with the party’s 62nd anniversary celebrations. The first of the ten major UPFA rallies was held at the Maligapitiya grounds in Kurunegala under the patronage of the President who symbolized the unity of the ruling party with holding hands of leading candidates together – Dayasiri Jayasekera, Athula Wijesinghe and Johan Fernando, the eldest son of Trade Minister Johnston Fernando.

Johan has been in the forefront among the freshers contesting the PC polls. He has been extremely popular among the masses in the province.

There have been a few isolated incidents during the election campaign with the leatest being reported from the Central Province yesterday. One person was wounded after a shooting incident that took place near the residence of UPFA candidate for the Central Provincial Council, Jagath Chandraratna in Peradeniya last morning. Police said a supporter of the candidate had sustained gunshot injuries following the shooting which occurred in the early hours of yesterday. The Police is yet to identify the gunman. The wounded person was admitted to the Kandy General Hospital after being shot in the leg.

Great deal of misinterpretation prevails - GL

The second day of the Army's third annual international conclave ‘Defence Seminar - 2013’ saw speakers elaborating under the theme of ‘Regional Stability - Regional Perspective'. The three day defence symposium began on 3rd September at the hotel Galadari in Colombo. Minister of External Affairs Prof G.L Peiris and Senior Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama were among the distinguished panel of speakers.

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also present during the second day sessions.

Addressing the gathering on ‘Political and Foreign Relations’ Prof G.L Peiris said that having underhand motives certain parties vested with pitiful interests act on a process of destabilizing the country while spreading strong misinformation on our Army's role. “Such misinformation is reflected in the UNHRC report too and the deliberate use of the word ‘intrusive’ for presence of the Army in the north, is inaccurate, unjustified and wrong” he added. He also said that “this assertion contradicts the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report that they (UN) themselves have prepared in which their own independent surveys, conducted on 197 northern civilians at random, said that they want the Army to be there, considering the extent of humanitarian roles, being performed by them”.

“It was the perception of the people that had been articulated to the OCHA,” he added.

Further elaborating on the present situation he said that “they are now amassing funds with the view to reviving the movement for separatism. Earlier, they owned ships, petrol sheds, aircraft, banks and suchlike as investments to buy weaponry to be smuggled to Sri Lanka when the armed forces were waging war against them”.

“With that accumulated finances, they are now buying people, information campaign, overseas rump who are prepared to destabilise Sri Lanka now on its recovery path.” he added.

The Minister also pointed out that UN High Commissioner Pillay defines the current government as authoritarian. Commenting on the coming provincial elections and establishment of democracy, he reiterated that “Almost after 25 years, northerners have been able to vote in provincial elections, scheduled in a couple of weeks and that itself is a victory for the people and democracy”. If the country is heading towards authoritarian, such a situation will not prevail, the Minister said.