A bomb blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels ripped through a cafe in eastern Sri Lanka Friday, killing 11 people and casting a cloud over pivotal provincial elections scheduled for Saturday. The government hailed the elections as a key step in restoring normalcy to the Eastern Province, which it freed from 13 years of Tamil Tiger rule last July. But even before the attack, the opposition and independent observers raised questions about the polls, accusing the ruling party of misconduct in its effort to ensure a victory it sees as its rightful reward. [ full story | comments ]

A bomb blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels tore through a cafe Friday evening in eastern Sri Lanka, killing 11 people and casting a cloud over crucial provincial elections scheduled for Saturday. The elections were meant to be a final step in restoring normalcy to the Eastern Province, which the government freed from 13 years of Tamil Tiger rule last year. To ensure a smooth poll, the government sent an unprecedented 28,000 police officers and an extra 4,000 soldiers to back up the thousands of troops already in the province, authorities said. [ full story | comments ]

30 Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed, five dead bodies of SLA troops were recovered after heavy fighting at Ka'rukkaaykku'lam Friday morning, according to LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan. Two PK Light Machine Guns, one AK LMG, five T-56 assault rifles and military hardware including ammunitions were seized by the Tigers. The SLA, while pulling back was towing an Armoured Personnel Carrier that had caught fire, the Tigers said. Ka'rukkaaykku'lam is located 2 km east of Adampan. [ full story | comments (3) ]

All activities of the political parties and independent groups contesting the Eastern provincial council elections ended Wednesday midnight, the office of Elections Department (ED) announced Thursday. Meanwhile, expressing fear that Colombo was preparing itself for a large-scale election rigging, UNP parliamentarian Laxman Kiriyelle has accused the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry for its alleged involvement in distributing blank polling cards in the East. It is also alleged that nearly 170,000 polling cards remained stagnant in the post offices without being delivered and these were taken away by the paramilitary Pillayan group. [ full story | comments ]

The provincial council election scheduled for Saturday in war-ravaged eastern Sri Lanka is an attempt by the Colombo government to dress up its military occupation with a democratic façade. The real character of the poll is revealed by the government’s alliance with the paramilitary Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and the presence of large numbers of troops and police to intimidate voters. The creation of an eastern provincial council was itself a provocative move. Provincial councils were first established in Sri Lanka under the 13th constitutional amendment as part of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord to end the country’s civil war. [ full story | comments ]

Returning to Colombo after several years, one is struck by the military checkpoints at key crossings where visitors are waved on but young Tamil males are not. The fortified capital is pasted with war posters – a map of Sri Lanka, with an eye in the middle and a caption: "Are you alert? If you are, your village and your country are safe." It is the ordinary Tamils who are paying the price, especially those in areas not controlled by the Tigers. "Nowhere in Sri Lanka are the Tamils safe," a Western diplomat told me in Colombo. "What's happening here is de facto ethnic cleansing," as Tamils flee for India or the Middle East and beyond. "The government doesn't seem to care if they all leave." [ full story | comments (3) ]

Four men have been charged with conspiring to support the banned Tamil Tigers terrorist organisation, Scotland Yard has confirmed. The men - arrested in London, Wales and Swindon - are accused of possessing laptops, antennas and high-powered magnets for terrorist purposes. They are due to appear at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. The Tigers have fought for a generation in Sri Lanka, to gain an independent state for the Tamil minority. A Scotland Yard spokesman said earlier that the arrests of the men, aged 33, 39, 46 and 51, were part of a long-term investigation into support for overseas terrorism. [ full story | comments (5) ]

Movement Against Media Suppression (MAMS), a common front organization consisting of five major media organizations, held a memorial event Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. in front of Fort Railway Station, Colombo, in remembrance of the 14 slain journalists. The MAMS, in a leaflet gave the statistics, describing the state of media freedom in Sri Lanka where 14 journalists were killed in recent years, 8 journalists were subjected to abductions, 4 were imprisoned, 5 electronic broadcasts were blocked, 1 website blocked, 3 records of suppressive laws against media and countless number of harassments against media and media personnel. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels Wednesday claimed they had killed nine soldiers and repulsed an army advance in areas controlled by the guerrillas to the north of the island. The pro-rebel, Tamilnet.com website reported that the army faced stiff resistance when it launched twin attacks to break through guerrilla-held areas in Mannar on Tuesday. "An armoured personnel carrier was destroyed by an LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) mine, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding many," the website said, quoting rebel officials. [ full story | comments ]

At the invitation of the Reconciliation and Peace Desk, the Colombo Diocese of the Anglican Church, a team of religious leaders visited Mannar from 15th – 18th April 2008. The team included a senior Buddhist Monk, several Anglican priests, a Methodist priest, a Catholic Priest, a Catholic nun and two lay Christians. The visit was intended as a solidarity visit to the people and religious leaders in Mannar and to better understand the present situation in Mannar. Below are extracts from an eight page report they submitted after returning to Colombo. The excerpts deal mainly with the group’s observations on the ground. The inter religious solidarity group report was released on Monday. [ full story | comments (3) ]

Britain has released former Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel Karuna Amman from prison where he was detained on immigration charges, it said on Friday, believing he could not be convicted of war crimes. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed disappointment, saying police should continue to investigate the former eastern rebel commander. They accuse him of abuses including torture and child soldier recruitment both before and after his 2004 split from the mainstream rebels. [ full story | comments ]

A former leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels who was jailed in the UK in January has been transferred to an immigration detention centre. Col Karuna was sent to jail in January for identity fraud after being arrested in London late last year. He was carrying an apparently genuine Sri Lankan diplomatic passport issued under a false name. It is not clear if he will be deported. Human rights groups want him charged in the UK with war crimes. That now seems unlikely. [ full story | comments (1) ]

Arumugam Jagan, an opposition candidate in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province elections, can barely campaign. His posters are torn down or covered in tar. He says he has been threatened by former rebels allied with the ruling party, and his supporters have been attacked as they handed out fliers and threatened with retaliation after Saturday's vote. The government has hailed the provincial election as a milestone in its campaign to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels and end this Indian Ocean island nation's 25-year civil war. But the opposition and independent observers say the ruling party is doing whatever it takes to ensure a victory it sees as its just reward for freeing the region from 13 years of rebel rule. [ full story | comments (1) ]

Sri Lanka's military announced the capture of a small town in the north after fighting Friday, calling it an important step in dismantling guerrilla strongholds in the area. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the soldiers took control of Adampan town in northern Mannar district, which could restrict guerrilla movement and transportation of arms. Fifteen rebels and two soldiers were killed in the fighting. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached immediately for comment. It was not possible to obtain independent confirmation of the military's claims because reporters are not allowed in the war zone. Both sides are known to exaggerate death tolls and damage inflicted upon each other while underreporting their own losses. [ full story | comments ]

The Sri Lankan government has launched a fundraising drive amongst Sinhala expatriates in support of its military. The initiative was formally launched Tuesday at the Sri Lankan High Commission in London and is to be continued in other capitals with Sinhala Diaspora. Several businessmen came forward to contribute towards the UK target of GBP 100,000, press reports said. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London, Mrs. Kshenuka Seniwiratne, bought the first ticket in a raffle for the project. [ full story | comments (13) ]

Sri Lanka's military barred foreign journalists Thursday from covering weekend elections in the east that are seen as a test of confidence in the government, which seized the region from Tamil Tiger rebels last year. Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando said any foreigner not registered as an election observer cannot be in Eastern province during the polls. An Associated Press reporter and a photographer were stopped at a checkpoint and were asked to go back. Fernando said the barring of journalists and other foreigners during the elections was for their own protection. [ full story | comments (2) ]

The Sri Lankan government has not seriously engaged the recommendation by several special procedures and by OHCHR to establish a human rights monitoring mission under U.N. auspices to document and report on violations committed by all sides to the conflict and to prevent further violations. Sri Lanka did not reply to any of the 12 questionnaires sent by special procedure mandate holders between 1/1/2004 and 31/12/2007, nor to over half of the 94 letters of allegations and urgent appeals sent by special procedures in that period. Sri Lanka has not implemented the principal recommendations of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings. [ full story | comments (7) ]

A leading Tamil actor and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhakam (DMDK) party president Vijayakanth says one should not think that the arms support by India to Sri Lanka is against Sri Lankan Tamils. During his maiden address to media persons in New Delhi, he was asked to comment about the reported arms supply to Srilankan government by India and was it not against the interest of Tamils. "Why do you think it is against Tamils? It may of commercial interest’’, Vijayakanth asked media persons. [ full story | comments (21) ]

Sri Lanka’s worsening human rights record and failed promises for improvement undermine its claim for a place on the UN Human Rights Council, a coalition of more than 20 national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) said in a letter released today. Sri Lanka pledged when it joined the Human Rights Council in 2006 to implement recommendations from UN bodies. It has notably failed to do so – including through its refusal to confront the problems of torture and enforced disappearances. Six candidates – Bahrain, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Timor Leste – are running for four seats allocated to Asian states. [ full story | comments (5) ]

The main opposition UNP and its eastern province election ally the SLMC have alleged widespread polls violence especially by the Pillayan group – a breakaway LTTE faction which has linked up with the ruling UPFA symbolically giving betel sails to the boat. The UNP-SLMC alliance has also alleged that some 170,000 of the 980,000 poll cards had not been given to the voters before last weeks deadline and they believe that these cards cover almost 20 per cent of the total number of votes, and might be used to rig the election on a massive scale as in Wayamba. On Sunday the UNP also alleged that the Pillayan group was distributing illegal identity cards which would be used by bogus voters. [ full story | comments ]