The Lanka Academic
 
JANUARY 24, 2010 EST, USA
 
QUAERE VERUM
 
VOL. 10, NO. 293
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Political solution not a demand of Tamils
ens, jan 25. COLOMBO: Mahinda Rajapaksa, incumbent President and the ruling party’s candidate in the January 26 Sri Lankan Presidential election, has told a group of journalists that unlike the elite living in Colombo and overseas, the Tamil masses are not interested in a “political” solution to the Tamil question.

“A political solution is the demand of the Tamils in Colombo, the Tamil Diaspora, and the NGOs.

When I visited the Tamils in Jaffna, in the refugee camps and in the plantation areas of the hill country, they did not ask for a political solution to their problems.

They asked me to address the basic problems of day to day living,” the Virakesari Weekly quoted him as sayin More...Discuss this story
Published: Sun Jan 24 22:04:04 EST 2010

General Puts Up a Fight in Sri Lanka’s Election
nyt, jan 25. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — When President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced late last year that he would move the presidential election up by two years and seek a fresh mandate from Sri Lanka’s war-weary electorate, he seemed like a shoo-in.Having vanquished the fearsome Tamil Tiger insurgency in May with a no-holds-barred assault on its last stronghold, Mr. Rajapaksa enjoyed widespread adulation. The opposition parties were fractured and in disarray. No one, it seemed, could match the president’s popularity, despite deep unease about what seemed to be the increasing concentration of power in the hands of his family and rising corruption.But to near-universal surprise, an alphabet soup of political parties has rallied around the retired general who led Sri Lanka’s army to victory against the Tamil Tigers, Sarath Fonseka. More...Discuss this story
Published: Sun Jan 24 20:36:31 EST 2010 Back to the top
Sri Lanka Vote Hinges on Tamils
WSJ, Jan 25. OLOMBO, Sri Lanka—This country's presidential vote Tuesday pits two chief architects of the country's defeat last year of Tamil separatists, underscoring the political divide that remains after 26 years of ethnic strife.

The leading contenders among the field's 22 candidates are President Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected five years ago on a promise to crush the Tigers, and retired Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who oversaw the rebels' battlefield annihilation in May. Most Sri Lankans view them as war heroes. They are seen as war criminals by the country's minority Tamils, who could end up deciding the outcome of a vote observers say is too close to call.

The war pitted the government, dominated by Sri Lanka's predominately Buddhist Sinhalese majority, against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fought for a homeland for the largely Hindu ethnic group. More...Discuss this story
Published: Sun Jan 24 22:06:51 EST 2010 Back to the top

India stars in Sri Lanka polls too close to call
 Rediff, Jan 25. Sri Lanka's [ Images ] presidential polls on January 26, between incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse and the combined opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, may be surprisingly too close to call, even as it has emerged that Rajapakse did the Congress party a favour during the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu last year by withdrawing the use of heavy weaponry against pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in the last days of the war... Back to the top
Sri Lankan Vote Winner Must Find Path to Victory Over Inflation
 Bloomberg, Jan. 25. Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The winner of tomorrow’s Sri Lankan presidential election must find a way to triumph in a long battle against inflation while sustaining economic growth in a nation still healing from a 26-year civil war. Voters will choose between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka, who quit in November... Back to the top
War President versus war general in Sri Lanka
 Malaysian Insider , Jan 25. NEW DELHI, — Sri Lanka’s contemporary heroes clash tomorrow in violence-marred polls that pit the victorious war President against his popular former army commander... Back to the top
Opposition has lost the game, says SLFP
 hindu, jan 25. With one day to go for one of the most intensely fought Sri Lankan presidential elections, the opposition backing the candidature of commander-turned-politician Sarath Fonseka on Sunday charged President Mahinda Rajapaksa with preparing the stage for a coup to prevent peaceful transition of power... Back to the top
Rajapaksa suffers setback; Kumaratunga supports Fonseka
 Rediff, Jan 24. The stage is now set for what is expected to be the most closely contested Presidential polls in Sri Lanka [ Images ], with the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger Sarath Fonseka exuding full confidence of emerging victorious... Back to the top
Sri Lanka opposition warns of election coup
 AFP, jan 24. COLOMBO (AFP) – Tension increased on Sunday ahead of Sri Lanka's first peace-time presidential election after the opposition accused the ruling regime of preparing a state-backed coup... Back to the top
Sri Lanka opposition warns of poll violence
 AFP, Jan 24. COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's opposition warned on Saturday of possible vote-rigging and violence by the ruling party in next week's presidential election as both sides wound up campaigning... Back to the top
Millions spent on election propaganda
 BBC, JAn 25. Main presidential candidates in Sri Lanka have spent an staggering Rs... Back to the top
Post LTTE, bitterly divided Sri Lanka set to elect president
 NewKerala, Jan 25. By M.R. Narayan Swamy, New Delhi, Jan 24 : A viciously split Sri Lanka goes to the polls Tuesday to elect a president in the first nationwide election after the decisive rout of the Tamil Tigers... Back to the top
Poll violence will reverse Lanka's good image, warns US
 ZeeNews, Jan 23. Colombo: Expressing concern over the escalating poll violence in the run up to the January 26 Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka, the US has warned this could reverse the good image, the nation has started building after the end of the civil war in May last year... Back to the top
The gloves are off in Sri Lanka's election
 Asian Times, Jan 23. BANGALORE - With Sri Lankans going to the polls on January 26 to elect their next president, there is considerable apprehension that polling will be neither free nor fair... Back to the top
Displaced Tamils demand a better life
 BBC, Jan 23. For thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils there is only one issue that really matters in next week's presidential election - their rehabilitation after months in government-run camps... Back to the top
2 Tamil Tiger backers sentenced to US prison
 The Washington Post, 23 jan. NEW YORK -- Two supporters of the now-defeated Tamil Tiger insurgents in Sri Lanka have been sentenced in New York to prison in the United States... Back to the top
A new beginning for Canadian Tamils
 National Post, Jan 23. When people use the term "immigrant success story," they probably have someone like my friend Roger in mind... Back to the top
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