According to Sri Lankan media reports, around 70 cadres of TMVP have fled the organisation to join the Tamil Tigers in the east during the past few months.
Leader of New Left Front, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, in a column that appeared last week in Lankadeepa accused the Rajapakse administration of spending 500 billions of national wealth in its military drive to kill Tamil Tigers.
Sri Lankan national flags flew from buildings and lamp posts and posters covered walls in the capital Colombo and across the south of the island as part of week-long celebrations ordered by the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse to mark the capture of Pooneryn in the north.
Sri Lanka unveiled its biggest ever war budget as it vowed to defeat Tamil Tigers and announced new taxes additional borrowing to plug the gap spiraling government spending and revenue.
Earlier this month President Mahinda Rajapakse unveiled a budget comprising of tax rises and heavy borrowing to support the government’s war efforts against the LTTE, declaring that offensive operations in the country's north would continue.
India Thursday formally handed over to the international Red Cross nearly 1,700 tonnes of relief material meant for civilians displaced by war in Sri Lanka’s north, but a top government official insisted that Colombo alone would distribute the aid.
Amnesty International last week called on Sri Lanka's government to stop blocking humanitarian aid intended for the more than 300,000 people displaced by fighting in the north.
The LTTE continue to be an extremely potent, most lethal and well-organised terrorist force in Sri Lanka and has strong connections in Tamil Nadu and certain pockets of southern India, a tribunal said.
Despite a poor human rights record and even as Sri Lanka spurned advice from international monetary agencies, continuing with its policy borrowing heavily to fund a dragging military offensive, Asian Development Bank announced USD 630 million to the island over the next three years.
The All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) is a farce of the Sri Lanka government. It was always used to impress upon India and the International Community. The basic premise of the APRC not to go beyond unitary constitution of Sri Lanka, will not bring in any meaningful result.
At a time of global financial crisis, Sri Lanka’s reliance on borrowing combined with plunging foreign exchange reserves, spiraling inflation and poor fiscal policies are making Sri Lanka the most vulnerable in the region, according to international monetary experts.
Industry experts predicted the loss of EU trade concessions for Sri Lankan textile exports would lead to massive closure of apparel manufacturing units and loss of at least 100,000 jobs in the Indian Ocean Island.
