At a public meeting organised by his son Karti Chidambaram to explain the Congress party's stand on the sensitive issue, Chidambaram said the LTTE had never been the sole representatives of 40 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils.

"India has no moral responsibility to pressure the Sri Lankan government to hold talks with armed militants,'' he said. India's stand was clear. Just like the Centre was not in a position to negotiate with armed groups operating in Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, Sri Lanka too would not initiate a dialogue with armed militants.

Quoting President Pratiba Patil's speech, the home minister said the Centre would definitely arrange for a ceasefire if the LTTE declared its willingness to lay down arms simultaneously with Colombo suspending military operations. Asking what was wrong with India's policy, he appealed to the LTTE to lay down arms as no state, president or prime minister would negotiate with armed groups. More...Discuss this story Published: Sun Feb 15 20:16:03 EST 2009

Since leaving office Mr Samaraweera, who was also Mr Rajapakse's Chief Campaign Co-ordinator during his successful 2005 presidential campaign, has become one of the most outspoken critics of a regime he was instrumental in getting elected.

With that important piece of local political background in mind, here's what he had to say about recent events in Sri Lanka, accusing President Rajapakse of seeking to create 'a Sinhala Buddhist supremacist, Burmese-style junta' in Sri Lanka and urging the US and other Western governments to consider travel bans on key figures in the Sri Lankan government for human rights and other violations.

He concludes by highlighting his fears for his own safety. More... Discuss this story Published: Sun Feb 15 20:20:24 EST 2009

President Mahinda Rajapakse's Freedom Alliance won 36 seats out of 58 in the Central Provincial council, and had collected nearly 60 percent of the votes counted in the North Western provincial council, election officials said.

Rajapakse had turned Saturday's vote into a referendum on his military campaign to crush separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas who are cornered in the north-east of the island. More...Discuss this story Published: Sun Feb 15 05:14:14 EST 2009