“On Sri Lankan issues as you remember, I have established a Panel of Experts and they have reviewed all these situations and made many recommendations.



Sri Lanka's ambassador to Belgium, Luxemburg and the EU, Ravinatha Aryasinha, called the screening of 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' today an "indecent hurry" that is part of a wider "obsessive attack".

In a statement released by the embassy, Aryasinha states,

Amnesty Secretary-General Salil Shetty met with Kevin Rudd and pressed him to back calls for an independent international investigation into war crimes.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s friend Adam Werrity has been accused of discussing arms deals with the Sri Lankan Government, Channel 4 reported tonight.

Three ‘highly placed sources’ in Sri Lanka have independently told Channel 4 news team that Mr Werrity discussed ‘arms deals’ with a senior figure in Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime.

He was reportedly asked by the Sri Lankan official to lobby the British Government over the supply of ‘arms, security equipment and aviation parts’.

Speaking to the Indian foreign secretary, Ranjan Mathai, during his 3 day visit of Sri Lanka and the North-East, Anandasangaree of the TULF, Sitharthan of the PLOTE and Sritharan of the EPRLF, condemned the Sri Lankan government's attempt to "change the demographic pattern of the North-East".

They added that Tamils were 'highly perturbed' by the ever increasing militarisation of the North-East.

Mr. Adam Werritty, the close friend of British Defence Secretary Liam Fox whose working relationship with the minister is under investigation by the Ministry of Defence and at the centre of a media storm, was a frontman for Dr. Fox in the latter’s dealing with Sri Lanka, The Daily Telegraph newspaper revealed Monday.

A senior source at the British Foreign Office told The Times Sunday night that there had been disquiet at Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s links to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa since late last year.

Dr Fox sent a senior delegation of British naval officers to the inauguration of Rajapaksa in what the Sri Lankan regime believed was a gesture of support for his second term as President, the paper reports Monday.

In its lead editorial Monday, The Times newspaper said UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox owed the country “an explanation and an apology” for having given unparalleled official access to the Ministry of Defence and talks overseas to Adam Werrity, a close friend.

The editorial adds:

India will help in re-building 79 schools in the war-shattered Vanni, visiting Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said Monday.

The schools are located in Vavuniya, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi, he told reporters.

India will also restore the famous Tirukoteeswaram Temple in Mannar, and has offered help in restoration of another ancient temple near Sampur.

Asked about the once much-vaunted, but crawling, Indian housing project, which he visited on Sunday, he agreed that the pace of progress was slow.

Addressing soldiers gathered for the army's 62nd anniversary parade, army commander, Jagath Jayasuriya, congratulated them on the 'major development role' they are purported to have played in the North-East.