The largest buyer of Sri Lanka’s exports, expresses concern at a controversial decision to tax imported ‘minority language’ television programs

The minority government is confident it will would soon get the crucial two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Voting for us strengthens President Rajapakse, the JVP says.

The Ceasefire Agreement is at the heart of the contest between two antithetical visions of what Sri Lanka should be.

LTTE Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Anton Balasingham explains the circumstances in which the talks were held and the issues discussed.

‘We firmly believe that it is better to walk away from the negotiation table without any progress being made, rather than agreeing to any conditions detrimental to the sovereignty of the country’

No sooner had the first face-to-face talks in three years between the LTTEand the Sri Lankan state ended in Geneva, controversy erupted anew over what had been agreed at the table.

SLMM rejects Army denials

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) last week urged the military to be truthful on the issue of armed groups operating in the east with outgoing SLMM head Hagrup Haukland insisting “there is no doubt that such groups do exist.”

'We also emphasized the humanitarian situation prevailing in the Tamil homeland. We also brought to focus the fate of war affected, war displaced and the tsunami ravaged people in our homeland.''

If such attacks and killings should re-occur SLMM fears that the next round of talks is put at stake'

The editor of the State Department web site either does not know what this conflict is all about .'

Sri Lanka's delegation is coming with a deal-breaking brief

Norwegian-brokered talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government in Geneva this week look set to be acrimonious and confrontational, even though they are only centred on the February 2002 ceasefire agreement.

Whilst the LTTE has said it is wants to discuss the failures of implementation of the agreement, the government is at the last minute, reverting to demanding that the agreement be re-drafted. That, the LTTE says, is out of the question.

International ceasefire monitors are insisting that there are indeed ‘armed elements’ operating in government-controlled areas in the volatile Eastern Province although there is no proof these armed groups had the backing of the military.