According to Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe the LTTE had been launching mortar and artillery attacks on Army positions at Mankerni, Kadjuwatte and Mavil Aru over the last few days. The Forces had retaliated by identifying Tiger positions through radar and fired multi-barrel rockets.

The Forces had attacked the Vakarai and Kadirveli Tiger camps according to all the articles. These camps have 30,000 cvilians around them placed as human shields says the Lankadeepa and Divaina. Most of casualties were displaced persons according to the Island.

The army fire hit two schools in Vakarai which was used as temporary shelters for some thousand people displaced by the recent fighting in Sampur accoding to the Daily Mirror.

The army claims to have Mortar Locating Radar which could identify the location of LTTE artillery positions to the last 10 metres. But LTTE peace secretariat head S. Pullithevan has called the claim “stupid” and said the Government Agent could confirm that it was a area housing civilians who had fled the fighting in Sampoor.

SLMM acting spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir does not appear to have made a call on the attack according to the Daily Mirror article but said that from a CFA perspective even retaliation is a violation of the agreement adding that instead of pointing fingers at each other it is important to focus on what had taken place in Vakarai and take measures to cease all hostilities. A weekly SLMM statement released on Monday said that there are 35,000 refugees in the Vakarai area.

BEYOND THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
In another story carried only by the Daily Mirror we learn the not so shocking news that the LTTE have ruled out a proposed alternative Jaffna route from Pooneryn via Kilinochchi. Pulithevan has said the jetty in Sangupity, the crossing point to reach Jaffna, was heavily damaged by military bombing. Apparently the Sangupity jetty will take at least two years to repair.

Lars Solvberg was taken to Pooneryn to see first hand the damage only to be greeted by military shelling forcing him to take shelter. Keheliya Rabukwella had admitted that the alternate route could still lead to LTTE tax raising since the route still runs through LTTE areas.

JUMBO TALK
The other major story is the apparent settlement of the UNP’s disputes at yesterday’s Working Committee meeting. The Daily Mirror calls it as a victory for Ranil, but it really looks like a breather for him. Admittedly none of the reformist’s agenda had gotten passed with the compromise being that a committee headed by Ranil and Karu will study and carry out the reforms within three months. Former UNP party secretary NYKK Weragoda was appointed secretary to the reforms committee. Before the Working Committee meeting, there was a more than one hour-long discussion between the Ranil group and Karu group to sort out matters.

In other news India has agreed to donate 6,800 tons of foodstuff to the Jaffna residents. Also CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman mysteriously resigned his post Cabinet post and then was convinced to take it back.

LTTE HAPPENINGS
The Divaina headlines and the Lankadeepa frontpages that LTTE mortar fire had hit a village in Valachcheni. The target had been an army camp in Siththandi. The Divaina says seven civilians were seriously injured while the Lankadeepa says that five women were seriously injured.

The Island says that 10 airport employees at the Charles de Gaulle airport have lost access due to suspected links with the LTTE. The move followed a security investigation where 72 airport workers were targeted. Another 40 employees are under investigation according to the Island story. The Divaina frontpages the same story but gives a wild figure of 40 Tamil workers losing access to the airport. What do the editors at these papers really do?

The Lankadeepa also frontpages an article that 35,000 kg of essential food items are stuck in Trincomalee due to the lack of ships to transport goods to Jaffna.

The Island headlines that the UN representative Allan Rock is supposed to meet representatives of the Karuna group about their possible involvement in child recruitment. The LTTE has already been put on a UN “list of shame” and it is possible that the Karuna group could follow.

UNP DECISIONS TODAY
The other major story frontpaged in both the Sinhala dailies is the UNP Executive Committee meeting scheduled for today. Rukman Senanayake’s post of Chairman and Tissa Attanayake’s post of Secretary are supposed to be confirmed at this meeting. There is a possibility that SB Dissanayake’s proposed reformed might be put to a secret ballot.

SNIPPETS
The Government is considering purchasing electricity from Tamil Nadu to alleviate the impending power crisis. The power would obtained via a transmission line from Mannar or Puttalam and the idea is to purchase 150MW according to the story which is frontpaged in the Island.

The Daily Mirror frontpages that Transparency International thinks that Sri Lanka’s public sector is more corrupt than before. Sri Lanka occupied the 84th place among 163 countries.

VICTOR BRINGS DISGRACE
Police Chief Victor Perera has immediately revealed his hand by saying that the abductions taking place in the country are bring overhyped by the press to bring disrepute to the country. He had pointed out that a case where a Tamil girl in Modera was supposed to have been abducted eventually turned out to be a situation where she had eloped with her lover. He also said that they did catch one group where three army deserters had been making ransom money and said that he believed that there were other small groups like this that the police would eventually apprehend.

How can you solve the ethnic problem when the Police Commissioner of your country cavalierly dismisses abductions of the minority, instead of buckling down and doing his job?

The Daily Mirror carries that Mahinda has appointed a Commission of Inquiry into 15 incidents of alleged human rights violations since August last year.

GREEN IDIOCIES
The Divaina headlines and the Island also carries that the Supreme Court has overturned the expulsion of Keheliya Rabukwella. It’s been done on the very reasonable basis that Keheliya was not given the right ot be represented by a lawyer at the inquiry and that the Working Committee of the UNP didn’t have legal right to expel him. Chalk up one more for UNP stupidity.

The Island headlines that an attempt to reconcile the UNP reformists with Ranil’s supporters yesterday had failed. Everything the Reformists had proposed had been shot down according to the article which also pointed out the notable absence of Rajitha Seneratna a prominent supporter of the reformists.

FIGHTING THE WAR THE WRONG WAY
Officers from the Army’s 512 brigade have told the editors of Uthayan, Thinakural and Walanpuri newspapers, not to carry any LTTE related news including messages and speeches related to the upcoming LTTE Heroes Day week as per the Daily Mirror. However when contacted military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, after speaking to the relevant official at the Jaffna 512 brigade, told the Daily Mirror that there was no warning to the newspapers not to carry LTTE related news but simply an appeal to clarify rebel news with the army and get the military version of incidents which occurred in the peninsula.

DISEASED
The Daily Mirror headlines that all hospitals in the country have been alerted by the Health Ministry’s Epidemiological Unit as the number of suspected Chickungunya virus cases increased rapidly yesterday, The Health Ministry said more than 2,000 people have been affected by the virus

The Divaina also says in a small article that the LTTE’s international operations are now mostly conducted in France since most of the other Western countries they operate from are now banning them.

In a fresh aerial attack the Air Force yesterday destroyed a Sea Tiger base in Vakarai, the military claimed. 

The Daily Mirror says that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission described the Kilinochchi bombing as a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement and confirmed the civilian deaths.

LEAVING THE SINKING SHIP
The Divaina headlines that about 16,000 Tamils living in the Vakarai and Kadirveli areas waiting to cross to Government held territory according to people who have already crossed. About 200 people (the Lankadeepa specifically says 189) have crossed over to the Punani and Mankerni government held areas.

JAFFNA CONTINUES TO STARVE
A two man UN team will come to Colombo to discuss a safe sea route to provide supplies to Jaffna according to the Island’s headline. The move to involve the UN comes after the ICRC refused to help unless the Government and the LTTE provide security guarantees. The article concludes that it is extremely unlikely that the UN initiative would be successful since the LTTE would probably not provide security guarantees to the UN either.

ICRC delegation chief Toon Vandenhove is carried in the Daily Mirror as saying in a press conference yesterday that the ICRC cannot do anything if the Government and the LTTE do not come to an agreement.

He drew attention to the fact that the ICRC office in Jaffna had come under a hand grenade attack a month ago and also pointed out that there was a mine attack at the KKS harbour some years ago endangering ICRC officials.

The Daily Mirror headlines the Government’s meeting with the Co-Chairs representatives. There’s nothing new to report here, with standard arguments about the A9 closure being rehashed. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa continues to claim that there’s no humanitarian crisis in Jaffna.

UNP FIGHTING
The Lankadeepa carries a letter from Gamini Lokuge to Ranil Wickremasinghe which defends Karu’s statement earlier this week saying that his views are shared by the majority of the party.

OTHER STUFF
2007 budget is to be presented on November 16 in Parliament by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Finance Minister.

Three innocent bystanders were shot dead yesterday afternoon by an armed gang in Wellampitiya. Two men armed with a T-56 rifle came in a three-wheeler and opened fire at a middle-aged Muslim national (identified as Mohamed Janiar Mohamed Sayid , recently released on bail on a shooting incident) who was with a group of youth at Ambagaha Junction in Old Awissawella Road at Wellampitiya around 12.30 p.m.

The duty of Rs.20 on a litre of petrol has been increased to Rs.25 according to Ceypetco as per another Lankadeepa frontpage article.
 

JAFFNAIANS ARE STARVING
The Lankadeepa headlines that the Sri Lankan Government has made a request for the Indian private sector to deliver essential items to the Jaffna peninsula, in a development that clearly underlines the difficulties that the population in the peninsula must be facing.

In order to do this the Indian government has waived restrictions that prevent the export of cooking oil and dhal. However finding ships to charter and travel from South India to Point Pedro harbour is proving difficult.

COLOMBO KIDNAPPINGS CONTINUE
The Daily Mirror also prominently frontpages the continuing story about abductions of (mostly) Tamil civilians in Colombo. Of 54 abductions 36 are missing, 9 have been killed and only 9 released after the payment of a ransom. The latest abduction was on Monday of Slave Island shop owner Marimuthu Sivamani. Two other abductions on Saturday are also reported in the article. Members of the Civil Monitoring Committee (including Mano Ganeshan and Vasudeva Nanayakkara) had met IGP Victor Perera to express their futile concern.

THE FRUITS OF TALKING
The Island headlines that the Air Force resumed airstrikes in retaliation against LTTE attacks on Army camps in Mankerni and Kadjuwatte, yesterday. They were the first Government attacks since the failed peace talks. The article also mentions separate incidents of Tiger killings of a Home Guard and a civilian in Jaffna Town as well as a claymore mine in Vauniya targeting a military checkpoint.

The Divaina says that the Tiger stations IBC and TTN are under investigation in France.

GREEN FIGHTING
And the UNP infighting continues as Galle MP Vajira Abeywardena has sent a letter to Ranil criticizing Karu’s letter carried yesterday. Vajira pulls no punches as he implys that Karu got his posts in the UNP after failing in his business ventures. The Lankadeepa carries the entire letter while the Daily Mirror carries a smaller story. Vajira has called Karu’s letter a breach of party discipline and asks for action to be taken against him.

The Government will be banning polythene from 1st Jan 2007 as headlined in the Divaina.

The new Pakistani High Commissioner Shahzad Chaudry has dismissed his predeccesor’s allegation that Indian intelligence was behind the claymore bomb attack in Kollupitiya in August in the Daily Mirror.

However Nimal Siripala is also quoted as saying that he didn’t think that this round of  talks were a failure since this was the first time that the LTTE had agreed that a political solution was possible for the ethnic conflict. He mentioned that Thamilselvan had agreed that the UNP-SLFP pact was an important step forward.

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle had explained that the humanitarian crisis in Jaffna is not being resolved because the Government is unable to send supplies by sea because of the LTTE threat to ships.

The Island headline highlights the Government claim that the LTTE caused the closure of the A9. The LTTE attack on Muhamalai on August 11th destroyed over 50 vehicles and the SLMM is quoted as saying “LTTE advanced on the forward defense line near Muhamalai entry/exit point and cadres landed on several beaches in the south, Kayts and Mandativu. The LTTE claimed that they were responding to artillery attacks, but considering the preparation level of operations it seems to have been a well planned LTTE initiative.”

The Daily Mirror also frontpages that, President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the purchase of two new ships to ferry goods to Jaffna within two weeks according to the Commissioner of Essential Services S.B. Divaratne. A ship that can carry some 8,000 metric tonnes with 400 containers, will operate from the end of this week to the peninsula

The Navy last evening destroyed a LTTE vessel unloading arms at the Sand Bank off the Mannar seas. After the explosion, navy divers recovered 27 mortar shells of 120 mm guns and 85 ammunition used for 12.7 mm guns. The vessel that exploded with a huge sound was about 14 metres long and they believe 5 LTTE cadres would have died.

GET RID OF THE LOSER
The other big story carried in the papers today is Karu Jayasuriya’s statement about the SLFP pact and the democratization of the party. It’s a very revealing look at the current internal situation of the party, since he burnishes it with a Mahatma Gandhi quote which says that even if one fails to get the co-operation of one’s closest friend, at the crucial juncture you have to work according to your conscience.

In a move to placate the dissent the MPs Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, Gamini Lokuge, P Dayaratne and Amra Piyasili Ratnayake were appointed vice presidents of the party. Sajith Premadasa (among others) has been made Assistant Secretary.

All the papers carry pictures of yesterday’s fire at the Arpico plastics factory at Mattegoda. The factory was manufacturing rigifoam and plastic water tanks. Helicopters and 12 fire engines and water bowsers had to be brought to control the fire.
 

The Daily Mirror headlines Jon Hanssen Bauer’s statement to let the parties reflect on the situation and not to draw hasty conclusions or take actions that could increase the suffering of civilians in Sri Lanka. Nimal Siripala has said that it was regrettable that the LTTE who initially agreed to come to talks unconditionally has now come up with conditions.

The Daily Mirror article as well as the Divaina headline are about the LTTE’s proposal that the 60,000 or so troops be withdrawn from the Jaffna peninsula and that a referendum under international supervision be held do “determine their aspirations”. We didn’t carry this yesterday considering it one of the many comedy pieces of the weekend talks but the Divaina feels its necessary to trumpet a headline that the Government is not agreeable to this. Their lazy reporting on the talks continues as the headline article mentions that the LTTE delegation will be going to Norway.

In contrast their sister paper the Island says that the LTTE’s follow-up visits to Norway and Iceland have been canned and implies that it’s a snub by the Scandinavians who may be ticked off by their intransigence over the A9 issue.

FAKING YOUR CONCERN
The Daily Mirror headline article also notes that the Government’s response to the SLMM’s proposal that they transport supplies to Jaffna via Muhamalai had been the dubious excuse that they were concerned about the security of the monitors owing to the sporadic fighting in the area. We’ll also note that the LTTE continues to refuse security guarantees for ICRC ships that’ll transport supplies to the peninsula, presumably so that they can continue their system of taxation across the A9, despite their claims of a humanitarian crisis.

The Lankadeepa headline echoes much of the Daily Mirror article. It carries a translation of what it says is Eric Solheim’s closing statement. Their hopeful headline is that both parties have agreed not to attack each other.

Another 16 LTTErs had surrendered to the army in Trincomalee yesterday. “Some of them were minors and had been schooling when the Tigers abducted them” according to Brigadier Samarasinghe the army spokesman. This is despite the Tamileelam Child Protection Act “passed” by the LTTE, recently.

The Lankadeepa says that two Navy buses on the Trincomalee-Pulmudai road narrowly escaped a Tiger claymore bomb.

Serunuwara TNA Pradeshiya Sabha Member Gopala Krishnan Padmanathan was shot dead last morning by two motorcysle gunman who escaped.

TNA Wanni District Parliamentarian Sivanathan Kishore escaped a grenade attack on his house which saw six police officers injured.

AUNTY’S BACK
The Island headlines and some other papers also mention the return of Chandrika. She was a good girl and did not use her VIP privileges at the airport. “I don’t use these facilities now, because I am no longer treated as a VVIP by this government” is her plaintive cry in the Island.

The Lankadeepa’s negative headline says that both sides accused each other of coming to the talks with a warlike mentality. Eric Solheim had warned the LTTE that their lack of patience means that the Tamil people are not getting any relief, while reminding the Government that a failure at the talks will lead to no aid.

The Diviana headlines Eric Solheim’s opening statement and also frontpages a much more optimistic article on the talks. Solheim had said that any solution must be arrived at in the framework of a single country. The headline article carries what appears to be the bulk of his statement and also carries a statement by Heidi Tagliavini a Swiss Foreign Office official. The other frontpage article mentions various statements by the Sri Lankan delegation (Ferial Ashroff, Rohitha Bogollagama are mentioned apart from Nimal Siripala’s statement) and but notably does not mention anything of substance was agreed on. All in all it is a disgracefully lazy job of reporting by the Divaina.

Their sister paper the Island does a better job and gives a rough summary of the issues raised in the talks. The article hilariously mentions that the LTTE had pointed to the proposed ISGA as an example of how they were “more committed to democratic principles than the Government” and challenged the Government to repeal the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution as a token of its commitment to democracy and pluralism. The Sixth Amendment they said prohibits the peaceful advocacy of a separate state through democratic means. 

The Daily Mirror continues their excellent work carrying the best summary of what happened over the weekend. The LTTE had started the second day of talks insisting that the A9 reopening was the only subject of negotiation while the Government side had refused to back down. They had refused to sit down until the Norwegians managed to placate them and gotten the session off to a delayed start. The Government felt the A9 should remain closed as was the case between 1994-2002 while the LTTE said the closure was a “Berlin wall dividing Tamil people and their families.” The Government had denied claims of a humanitarian crisis owing to the A9 closure and said the move was so that the LTTE could get back their tax revenue from their toll-booths on the road. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had offered to address the humanitarian crisis in Jaffna as claimed by the LTTE by offering to carry out the transportation of goods, which the Government found unacceptable. The Government had also suggested that the LTTE give security guarantees to the ICRC to facilitate the transportation of supplies by sea to Jaffna which seems to not have been accepted. The talks had ended with the LTTE refusing to attend further sessions until the A9 was reopened.

OTHER REASONS TO BE DEPRESSED
The Daily Mirror also depressingly carries a government denial that Sarath Fonseka’s visit to Jaffna indicates a military buildup. The LTTE’s Irasiah Ilanthirayan, shrilly claimed yesterday the Sri Lankan armed forces were escalating the military hostilities by engaging in provocative offensive preparations and rehearsals.

The Daily Mirror also points out that the Tigers, on Saturday and Sunday, killed three soldiers and injured nearly ten despite the Geneva farce. The paper also carries a military claim that more than 75 underage children are forcibly being given military training at the Kadiraweli Tiger Camp in Trincomalee, according to escapees.

Another frontpage piece in the Daily Mirror summarizes the deaths due to the conflict for the year to date. An organization called Home for Human Rights (HRH), says that based on media reports, from January to September this year, 1339 civilians lost their lives. 325 persons were abducted or reported missing from January to 19 September this year.

The Island frontpages a story about how the UNDP and UNICEF is said to have released funds to the TRO after the 2004 tsunami. The UN office is of the opinion that financial assistance to the group is justifiable as it plays a pivotal role in humanitarian work in the North East.

WATERED DOWN
The other leading story in the papers is about the destruction of the flooding due to torrential rain over the last two weeks. The Lankadeepa says 285,000 people have been displaced while 18 have died in storm-related incidents. The Divaina says that 400,000 have been displaced. The Lankadeepa’s areawise breakdown of deaths says 7 in Gampaha, 4 in Kegalle, 3 in Galle, 2 in Colombo and one in Puttalam.

The All Party Conference head, Minister Tissa Vitharana is currently in India to study the ‘Panchayat system’ of devolution of power from the Central Government. Visits to Karnataka and Kerala to observe how power devolution will be made.

KARUNA TERROR
The Sinhala papers carry different headlines, with the Divaina headlining that the hartal declared by the TNA over the Supreme Court’s rejection of the North East merger is largely a failure according to military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe. The Lankadeepa also fronts the story saying that the hartal was effective only in Jaffna and Mannar areas. The Lankadeepa article mentions that the Karuna group had threatened reprisals against any who would follow the hartal.

The Daily Mirror says that on Monday an armed group in Kiran had confiscated 20,000 copies (the Lankadeepa says 10,000) of the Tamil Veerakesari newspaper being transported by bus to Batticaloa and Ampara, preventing distribution. The gang had also threatened anyone who would continue to distribute the paper.

The Free Media Movement put out a statement which is quoted in the Daily Mirror, saying “Veerakesari was the only Tamil language news paper which has been distributed in the East for some time now. Other two Tamil dailies Sudar Oli and Thinakural, were banned at the beginning of the year in Batticaloa and Ampara allegedly by the Karuna group. According to the Sudar Oli management one third of its circulation has dropped due to this ban”

The Lankadeepa headline is about a panic scare after shots were heard from the Galle “Dhakshina” naval base at 2 pm yesterday. Quite mysteriously no explanation has been volunteered by the forces.

About 29 LTTErs have surrendered to the forces over the last two weeks according to the Lankadeepa.

AUNTY GETS A JOB
All the papers front that former President Chandrika Kumaratunga was appointed a senior consultant to UNESCO for education in Asia, but has asked for Sri Lanka to be excluded from her area of responsibility. Kumaratunga’s office refuted various news items and insulting comments and cartoons carried in the government media, as well as the private media, saying she was pleading for jobs from international organizations.

THE POLICE ARE STUPID
Predictably the special traffic plan to operate several main city roads as one-way has been postponed indefinitely, because the whole idea is idiotic.

Both the CPC and Lanka IOC reduced the price of a litre of petrol by Rs. 5 and a litre of diesel and furnace oil by Rs. 2, for the second time in a month. However the price of kerosene will remain the same.

Wimal of the JVP has told the Divaina that the JVP don’t want the post of Leader of the Opposition, and that contrary to all their bitching aren’t opposed to the UNP-SLFP tie-up but want to see a unitary state.

The Daily Mirror carries a completely unsourced Indian point of view on the MOU saying that (like of all of us) they are happy but cautious. We are not told whether it’s an Indian official or a local Johnny-on-the-street saying this.

AND THEY’RE OFF
Both the government and LTTE delegations left for the Geneva peace talks yesterday as per the Daily Mirror’s headline story. The Government delegation led by Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva consists of Ministers Rohitha Bogollagama (the big spender), Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Ferial Ashraff, lawyers Gomin Dayasiri and H.L.De Silva, former Police Chief Chandra Fernando and Peace Secretariat Chief Palitha Kohona according to the President’s office.

The LTTE delegation led by S.P. Thamilselvan consists of 19 members, which is larger than any team sent by the LTTE for any previous talks. Six overseas LTTE representatives will join the team in Geneva. Thamilselvan has said that at the conclusion of the talks the LTTE delegation would travel to Oslo for meetings with the facilitators before returning to Sri Lanka.

TANKING OUT
The Island headlines that the LTTE have at least one Czechoslovakian built T55 tank, that was almost certainly captured from the SL Army. T55 has a 100mm cannon, and while the army uses steel shells there have been shells made from brass that were recently discovered by the Army. Even more worryingly the LTTE had removed two armoured fighting vehicles out of four T55s and two Ukrainian built BMPs abandoned during the disastrous October 11th Muhamalai battle. At least one of these could be made functional according to the article. The article goes on to say that the October 11th debacle has affected the army’s offensive capability to such an extent that new recruits will be needed to bolster numbers.

AN HONEST AG
The Island also frontpages that PA Pematilaka has been appointed as Auditor General. There had been fears that the Government would appoint an outsider to the post after the department discovered some hugely damaging tax frauds. The union had expressed confidence in the appointment as Pematilaka was a seasoned professional who had been a senior deputy to the previous AG for four years.

ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE
The Lankadeepa headlines that the ocean stretch from Wellawatte to Wattala will be made a high security zone where dinghies and small boats will be banned from entering. Trawlers and some fishing vessels will be allowed to operate from 6am to 6pm only. The precise area will be from Wellawatte’s Kinross area to Uswattekeiyawe.

The Daily Mirror frontpages that 12 main roads in Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Kompannaweediya and Cinnamon Gardens will be made one-way while several other roads interconnecting Galle Road, R A de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road) and Thurstan Road will also be made access only roads hereafter. This disastrous plan has been hatched because of growing security risks.