Troops capture LTTE airstrip in Panikkankulam area; JHU calls for commission to probe INGO activities; CPI national secretary D. Raja: We will not allow any assistance to Sri Lankan Army from Indian side
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  • Sri Lankan Troops has reportedly captured a LTTE airstrip in Panikkankulam area, seven kilometres northwest of Mankulam. According to military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the airstrip, 500 meters long and 50 meters wide, is located west of the A9 road. “There are signs that the LTTE had made use of this airstrip to land and park their small aircraft in an emergency as it comprised a taxiway and parking areas”, Nanayakkara said1 . This is the first time that Sri Lankan forces engaged in the Wanni liberation came across such airstrip despite reports about several airstrips used by the LTTE in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

    Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Government has decided to deport the ZOA Project Manager in Kilinochchi who had refused to accede to the request by the government to leave Kilinochchi. Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said at a press conference that the Italian INGO official had refused to leave Kilinochchi for Vavuniya when all other foreign NGO personnel obliged2. The Minister further stated that steps would be taken to cancel his visa and deport him immediately. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa confirmed that the ZOA Project Manager had been working for the LTTE3. Further, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has called for the appointment of an independent commission to probe the activities of International NGOs involved in relief work in uncleared areas in the North. According to them, such a commission should comprise a team of patriotic retired servicemen who are pro-government4.

    While participating in a state-wide fast organised by his party to condemn military action against Tamils and attacks on Tamil fishermen, the CPI national secretary D. Raja demanded a change in India’s foreign policy towards Sri Lanka. He said that the Indian Government should articulate its position on various issues, including military assistance to the Sri Lankan Army, attacks on Tamil fishermen and planting of sea mines by the Sri Lankan Navy. According to him, “The situation demands that the Indian government explain its position. There are reports that three Indian soldiers were injured in the war between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE. The Indian government has not reacted so far. It must make it clear whether it is clandestinely helping the Sri Lankan Army. We will not allow any assistance to the Sri Lankan Army from Indian side5.” Meanwhile, in a statement AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa alleged that the Indian government had remained not just a passive witness but was an active collaborator by supplying arms, providing radars and training to the Sri Lankan armed forces. She said “After the disastrous IPKF misadventure and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian government had taken a decision that it would not get involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. But now, we have the same government going all out to help the Sri Lankan armed forces6.”

    Elsewhere, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said that the country’s tea exports rose by more than 40 per cent in the first eight months of the year and is on track to earn a record 1.4 billion dollars this year. Tea shipments climbed 41 per cent to 883 million dollars from January to August over the same period a year earlier, helped by strong demand from Russia and the oil exporting nations of the Middle East, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said in a statement. In fact, Tea is of crucial importance to the Sri Lankan economy since it is the country’s biggest agricultural export. The country earned a record US $ 1.02 billion from tea in 2007 and is on track to better its performance and hit a record 1.4 billion dollars this calendar year, said Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi7.

    Meanwhile, the Science and Technology Minister Prof. Tissa Vitarana stated that Sri Lanka will be constructing construct atomic reactors to generate power, exploiting vast deposits of ‘Thorium’ found along the coastline from Beruwala to Negombo as a solution to the power crisis facing the country8.

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