Sunday, May 22, 2005

News in Brief

Trinco quiet after deadly violence but still simmering

The Trincomalee vicinity was relatively calm today while tension still prevailed between the North East Sinhalese Organization and the LTTE sponsored Tamil People’s Organization, according to sources from the East.

Meanwhile, senior military officials held a meeting at the Trincomalee Naval Base yesterday with the presence of Secretary Defence, Three Forces Commanders, Inspector General of Police and senior government officials to curb the spread of violence, according to army sources.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake told lankamuslims.com that the army is providing maximum security to prevent clashes. He added that the Sinhalese and Muslim shops remain opened today while some of the Tamil shops were closed.

Meanwhile, three LTTE cadres who entered the Kumara Business centre and exploded a grenade inside the shop were cornered and attacked by anngered public. LTTE cadres Sakthivel Yasotharan, Tharmalingam Pirabaharan and Nathan were injured during this incident and have been admitted to the Trincomalee Hospital, sources claim.

Trincomalee Magistrate and Additional District Judge M.Ganesharaja last Wednesday instructed police to initiate a dialogue between all concerned parties to find a peaceful resolution to the Buddha statue crisis in Trincomalee. However, no amicable resolution was reached between the parties. No further news was available on the other unauthorized religious places of worship erected in UDA territory

LTTE cadres allegedly shot the former Mayor of Trincomalee, Periya Adi Sooriyamoorthi while he was standing in front of his house last Wednesday night. The former Mayor had played a prominent role to reconcile differences between ethnic groups in Trincomalee in the past few weeks after LTTE called for protest campaigns that led to a chain of violent acts. His conditions remain critical according to hospital sources.

The new replacement statue erected by the North East Sinhala Organization.(NESO) a few days ago, triggered the LTTE sponsored harthal that crippled Trincomalee town for the last several days.

The Trincomalee vicinity is relatively calm today while the tension still prevails between the North East Sinhalese Organization and the LTTE sponsored Tamil People's Organization, according to sources from the East.

Meanwhile, senior military officials held a meeting at the Trincomalee Naval Base yesterday with the presence of Secretary Defence, Three Forces Commanders, Inspector General of Police and senior government officials to curb the spread of violence, according to army sources.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake told lankamuslims.com that the army is providing maximum security to prevent clashes. He also added that the Sinhalese and Muslim shops remain open today while some of the Tamil shops were closed.

Meanwhile, three LTTE cadres who entered the Kumara Business centre and exploded a grenade inside the shop were cornered and attacked by an angered public. LTTE cadres Sakthivel Yasotharan, Tharmalingam Pirabaharan and Nathan were injured during this incident and have been admitted to the Trincomalee Hospital, sources claim.

Trincomalee Magistrate and Additional District Judge M.Ganesharaja last Wednesday instructed the Police to initiate a dialogue between all concerned parties to find a peaceful resolution to the Buddha statue crisis in Trincomalee.

However, no amicable resolution is reached between the parties so far and the controversial Buddha statue still remains No further news is heard about the other unauthorized religious places of worship erected in UDA territory.

Alleged LTTE cadres shot the former Mayor of Trincomalee, Periya Adi Sooriyamoorthi
while he was standing in front of his house last Wednesday night.

The former Mayor had played a prominent role to reconcile differences between ethnic groups in Trincomalee during past several days after LTTE called for protest campaigns that led to a chain of violent acts. His conditions remain critical according to hospital sources.

The new replacement statue erected by the North East Sinhala Organization.(NESO) a few days ago, triggered the LTTE sponsored harthal that had crippled Trincomalee town for the last several days.

LTTE office in Batticaloa attacked.

The LTTE office in Periyakallaru, Batticaloa was attacked last Saturday evening by unidentified men causing death to an elderly lady who was residing in a neighbourhood house. No LTTE cadres were present at the time of the attack, according to sources.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said that this attack may have been carried out by the Karuna faction at the same time he said that it maybe a way of the LTTE putting the blame on the Karuna faction.

The LTTE political office in Samapanthurai, Amparai was also attacked by an unknown group last Friday causing injuries to three LTTE cadres. The person in charge of the office, Yarlavan was slightly injured while the other two were badly injured, according to sources from Batticaloa.

Eastern Sri Lanka had turned into a hotbed of violence after the Eastern LTTE command broke away from the mainstream group demanding regional autonomy. The factional war for supremacy in the East had destroyed hundreds of lives inboth factions.

Minor tidal waves today and tomorrow likely in Galle – but no need for panic.

Geological and Met Department Chiefs positively ruled out any cause for panic or anxiety following the very minor tidal wave that swept a little inward in Galle early yesterday morning. But inordinately strong winds could whip up very minor tidal waves such as yesterday's" he said, ruling out any cause for fear or panic.

Geological and Mines Bureau Chairman Professor P.G.R. Dharmaratne said after the coastline being cleared of all wind-breakers ( buildings etc) strong winds such as yesterday's abnormal 40kmph force wind could whip up a minor though not threatening tidal wave. Normal winds are not more than 14 kmph, he said.

Director-General of the Geological Department Dr. G.H.T.Dharmaratne said the occurrence was not due to any specific geological activity. "It was combination of a very slightly higher water level that's normal during a full moon , vast acres of beachfront swept flat by last year's Tsunami and an extremely powerful wind of slightly over 40 kmph blowing inward." He said.

Continuing winds also had sea levels about a half of a meter higher than normal mid-morning today with signs of it remaining at normally high full-moon day levels today as well as tomorrow.. Powerful winds today and tomorrow can see a repetition of small tidal waves but they will not be powerful enough to drive further inland or cause any damage, he said.

The tidal wave monitoring unit at the Met.Department predicted sea levels to rise over .65 meters this evening and tomorrow evening - slightly higher than normal predictions. It is believed that in general there has been a slightly higher post-tsunami sea level caused by a significant change in ocean depths and topography caused by the December 26th. Sea bed earthquakes that rocked the entire Indian ocean and abutting sea and land areas.

Professor Dharmaratne said they had been also monitoring yesterday's Sumatra 6.2 earthquake and ruled out any connection between that quake and the mild tidal wave at Galle yesterday.

Khalid

News Today

Vesak lull in Trinco turmoil

Defence Secretary Major Asoka Jayawardena said yesterday that a speedy solution would be found to bring normalcy in Trincomalee town. He led a high level team to assess the ground situation on the instructions of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Major Asoka Jayawardena, Chief of Defence Staff Daya Sandagiri, Army Chief Major General Shantha Kottegoda, Air Chief Air Marshall G.D. Perera, IGP Chandra Fernando and Eastern Province DIG Neville Wijesinghe had separate meetings with the Tamil People's Alliance and Buddhist monks yesterday. They said that they would submit a report to the President on the situation.

Trincomalee remained a ghost town for the fifth day yesterday as the hartal called by the Tamil People's Alliance (TPA) protesting the erection of a Buddha statue at Trincomalee junction and calling for its removal continued. Although several shops had been opened in the morning, they were later closed on the orders of the TPA.

TPA President V. Vigneswaran said that they had decided to suspend the hartal for three days from today to honour the Vesak festival.

Vigneswaran said Vesak holidays could be used to bring an understanding between the sides. If no solution was found before Wednesday the hartal would be observed in the entire North East, he said.

Another meeting with Buddhist monks, arranged by the Police, was held at Jayasumanaramaya yesterday. Ven. Dehiowita Piyatissa Thera requested the high level team to take necessary steps to protect Sinhala villages and temples. According to police only two minor incidents were reported yesterday and security had been beefed up in several areas.

The Buddha statue jointly erected by Buddhist monks and Trincomalee Three-wheeler Drivers' Association was unveiled on May 15. An unidentified group threw a hand grenade at the Buddha statue on Monday night.

The TPA organised a hartal on Tuesday protesting the erection of the statue and one youth was killed and four of the same family were injured on Tuesday at the Marathaddi junction. Since then there were sporadic acts of violence causing tension.

readers a happy Vesak

Hopes rise as the moon waxes: The scene on Friday night when the illumined pinnacle of the Ruwanmeliseya in Anuradhapura, a beacon aglow, drawing vast crowds to ponder on the Dhamma this Vesak season.