britishtamil.com

The traditional civil-military division of labour has now been altered by the war in Sri Lanka. Military is a leading stakeholder. Sri Lanka no longer is an exceptional ?third world democracy?. It is now a full-blown ?national security state?. The defence establishment has stepped into the domain of governance at par with the office of the president. The Sri Lankan state has always been an ethnic majoritarian and communal one. The only state reform initiative implemented in 1987 had to come from outside, because the state refused to reform itself voluntarily. That continues to be Sri Lanka?s problem even today, wrote well known political scientist of Sri Lanka, Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in an article appeared in the October 25th issue of Economic and Political Weekly.

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Unidentified armed men knifed a 43-year-old mother and her son while robbing their house during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours Wednesday night in Thirunelveali Kalaasaalay area in Jaffna, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, extortion from traders, wealthy persons and high government officers through intimidating phone calls have escalated in Jaffna. Robberies by armed groups during curfew hours in Jaffna peninsula while the SLA troops are on patrol, have also escalated.

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The closure of entry point at Oamanthai in Vavuniyaa by the Colombo government for the last three days has created a human crisis affecting emergency patients and supply of medicines to civilian hospitals, said B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Thursday. Intense shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the entry point has made the ICRC officials posted there to leave. “By imposing a sanction on food, medicine and by maintaining an inhumane economic blockade, the Sri Lankan government is pinpointing the war at the civilians, disregarding International norms to be observed. The indications are that Colombo is adamant in pursuing an aggressive war,” he told TamilNet.

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Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops Wednesday morning recovered the body of a fellow trooper from a sentry post located in the Front Defence Line (FDL) area in Ariyaalay in Jaffna and handed it over to Jaffna police. Gun shots were heard from the said area Tuesday midnight and the soldier was found with gun shot wounds during the search conducted on hearing the gun reports, SLA troops said in the statement to the police.

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The aid and relief money generously given to Sri Lanka by various governments and international organizations tacitly helps filling the coffers of the Sri Lankan government and its foreign exchange capacity in waging the war against Tamils. The Tamil Nadu government should therefore consider sending the relief money in the form of much needed commodities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs in Vanni and should make sure that they reach the Eezham Tamils in the non-government controlled areas directly says, Professor E.A. Selvanathan of the School of International Business, Griffith University, Australia.

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The aid and relief money generously given to Sri Lanka by various governments and international organizations tacitly helps filling the coffers of the Sri Lankan government and its foreign exchange capacity in waging the war against Tamils. The Tamil Nadu government should therefore consider sending the relief money in the form of much needed commodities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs in Vanni and should make sure that they reach the Eezham Tamils in the non-government controlled areas directly says, Professor E.A. Selvanathan of the School of International Business, Griffith University, Australia.

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