“All the world is my world, all
humanity is my fraternity”
she'll be in the sound of veena "
- Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyar
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There are positive signs that the government-LTTE peace talks would
recommence early November.
The Thinakaran on Tuesday reported that an Indian vessel with explosives was
detained by the Navy in Jaffna when it strayed into Sri Lankan waters.
The Virakesari quoted Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskaar saying there was
no immediate possibility of commencing peace talks and his country was very keen
that the ceasefire should hold.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday
allayed fears about a Rs 2,000-crore project to deepen
the Palk Straits that is on top of the priority list of the
DMK and its allies in Tamil Nadu.
to begin within two weeks [Sunday Observer]
As Hambantota is more strategically situated than Singapore, the
Singaporeans had always been behind discouraging Sri Lanka from building
a second harbour, it was explained.
The many feasibility studies for the Hambantota harbour would be shelved.
Such studies for the development of Sri Lanka's ports had cost the nation
many billions of rupees, running into many years for repayment, while
accumulating rates of interest was colossal. India's proposed Sethusamugram
Canal to dredge the Indian side of the sea which borders
Sri Lanka and India covering a distance of 260 kilometres was described as
an Indian political gimmick. Dr. Deheragoda said that the project would not be
feasible; the canal would need constant digging; the displaced sand would
destroy part of the southern Indian coastline and part of the Jaffna peninsula.
“No peace, no war” may be better than the alternative:
Both sides in Sri Lanka's civil war have enough on their plates without either
negotiating peace or taking up arms again. The Norwegian-led ceasefire
monitors, at any rate, see no sign of preparation for war. But the stalemate
has a price: aid is trickling in, but the pot of gold expected a year ago is still
at the end of the rainbow. The high price of oil helped widen Sri Lanka's
trade deficit by 56% in the first seven months of this year compared with
last. Official reserves of foreign exchange at the end of August were $2
billion, covering just three months' imports. Economic complacency may be
even less justified than the political variety.
Sinna Bala has been interlinked with the evolution and growth of the Tamil
militant nationalist movement from its pioneering days. He has a history that
is equal if not more to that of LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan. Sinna
Bala has to a very great extent personified the various stages and phases
of the course of Tamil political struggle.
His murder is a horrible violation of his inherent right to free expression,
political opinion and above all, the right to life. It is the right to life that is the
most important of all because all other rights are derived from that basic
right. Without life there can be no other rights.
Navaratri, the Hindu festival that celebrates progress on the spiritual path. It
is a joyful time for adherents of the Hindu faith as they gleefully worship the
three goddesses that will aid them along the path to enlightenment.
in new book [TamilNet]
Liberation Tigers’ Political Strategist and
Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham,
in his new book published this month,
provides “a critical elucidation of all peace
efforts the LTTE participated in, from
Thimpu talks to the recent Norwegian
facilitated negotiations,” the books
publishers said this week. “The
significance of this voluminous study,
running into more than five hundred
pages, lies in its exposition of a new realm
of material, hitherto unknown and the new
insights it provides into the dynamics of
the Tamil liberation struggle,” publishers
said in an e-mail to TamilNet.
Sumathy Ram knew very little about cinema when she flew down from
Houston, in the U. S., to make `VishwaThulasi' with Mammootty and Nandita
Das in the lead. But now that the project is complete, you have a whole lot
of people in the know showering appreciation on it:
"M. Kumaran, son of Mahalakshmy" (directed by 'Jayam' Raja): This is
definitely not a surprise hit. The success of "M. Kumaran..." is mainly
because of the novel and modern way it portrays a relationship between a
mother and son. There is no melodrama. Casting is the other major success
of the film, whether it is Ravi the hero, or Nadiya as his glamorous mother, or
Asin as the heroine. It is a coup of sorts to have a young and slim Nadiya act
as mother to 20-something Ravi.
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