Veteran political analyst faces surveillance harassment in Jaffna

Australian think tank seeks ‘selective focus’ on building ‘Sri Lanka MDA’

An Australian think tank, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), established by the government in 2001 and partially funded by the country’s Department of Defence has brought out a geopolitical ‘special report’ of the Indo-Pacific Island States in the context of maritime security and major-power competition prevailing in the Indo-Pacific. The study, which is also assisted by Japan, the other key player in the Quad formation led by the USA, divides the island states into two groups, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and Indian Ocean island states (IO island states). “Australia’s efforts should be focused on Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the central Indian Ocean,” is one of the key findings of the report. “In Sri Lanka, Australia should focus on helping to develop the national Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) system.” Full story >>

US think-tank lists India's strategic assets in Indian Ocean Region

New Delhi is “heavily, albeit quietly,” expanding its naval and air power across the Indian Ocean, a study by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the Washington DC based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) revealed on Friday with an interactive map that shows the various locations across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) where India has recently made investments and expanded presence and access. The study lists four kinds of assets: Offshore military bases, coastal radar networks, access to foreign military facilities such as the French naval base on Réunion Island and strategic commercial ports as the deep-water East Container Terminal in Colombo, a joint venture by Japan and India. “From US perspective, this is all good news,” comments CSIS AMTI Director Gregory B. Poling in a video introduction of the study. Full story >>

Chinese Op-Ed condemns US ‘security’ projection of ‘China threat’ in South Asia

“China does not object to the development of cooperative relations between the US and other countries. However, some US steps in the guise of a response to the so-called China threat theory aim at affecting China's overseas security interests and interfering in the BRI. China is firmly opposed to such moves,”  Global Times, the English version of the paper operated by the Communist Party of China, said in an Op-Ed piece on Tuesday. “Sri Lanka has an important strategic position in the Indian Ocean, and its significance is increasingly valued by major countries. It will be the new [Gotabaya] government's strategic choice to strike a diplomatic balance and avoid being involved in the conflicts between great powers,” the piece further said. Full story >>

China, Pakistan send top diplomats to meet Gotabaya in Colombo

Newly elected SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was visiting New Delhi to patch up Colombo’s relations with India, was also strengthening his trust with China and Pakistan upon his return to Colombo on Monday. Former Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao, was visiting Mr Rajapaksa as the envoy of Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Chinese News agency Xinhua reported that Colombo and Beijing have agreed to speed up cooperation on major economic projects. In the meantime, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also timing his visit to Mr Gotabaya on the same day. Full story >>

India strengthens defence ties with Japan

The Japanese Minister of Defense Kono Taro and Minister of Foreign Affairs Motegi Toshimitsu met their Indian counterparts Rajnath Singh and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the first India-Japan “2+2” defence and regional foreign policy meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. Apart from the move for the speedy conclusion of the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) defence pact between the countries, Japan has agreed to take part in the Information Fusion Center for the Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), according to a joint statement issued by the parties. The IFC-IOR set-up in Gurugram, Haryana in December 2018 is an Indian move to collate data on sea lanes in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through which 75 per cent of the world’s maritime trade and 50 per cent of global oil pass. Full story >>

2ND LEAD (Adds photos)

Collective message from Tamils on Heroes Day: Rajapaksas can’t kill Tamil Eelam dream

Thousands of people took part in Heroes Day amidst SL military intelligence trying to ‘discipline’ the students and the people from not attending the memorial event on Wednesday. The people were determined to proceed with the event despite showering heavy rains at the grounds where Tamil war heroes (Maaveerar) lie buried in the occupied Tamil Eelam. Self-mobilised grassroots organised the remembrance events. Alternative locations were chosen for the war cemeteries (thuyilum-illam) grounds, which the occupying SL military was continuing to use, in an uncivilised manner, as the grounds for their cantonments. Sinhala soldiers were seen snatching the photos from the parents who were on their way to the thuyilum-illam in Ampaa’rai. The SL Police also seized the loudspeaker and a vehicle used in the mobilisation for the commemoration of the Sea Tiger War Heroes at Munai in Point-Pedro, Jaffna. Full story >>

Colombo attempts to officially block students from marking Heroes Day at Jaffna University

The occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has instructed the Competent Authority at the University of Jaffna to declare the premises of the University out of bounds to the student community on Tamil Eelam Heroes Day and the day after. Professor K Kandasamy has issued a letter to this effect on Tuesday. In the meantime, the student leaders of Jaffna University Student Union have been instructed not to stage any event inside the university premises on 26 and 27 November, also by the Competent Authority, Prof Kandasamy. However, the students have vowed to proceed with the remembrance event on Wednesday as planned. Full story >>

Demand Tokyo Co-chairs, India to bring international mediation between Tamils and GoSL

Unlike during the genocidal onslaught in 2009, the US and India are now more tightly intertwined in their foreign policy approach on the maritime affairs of the states in the Indian Ocean. There is a joint Indo-Pacific outlook, especially after the 2013 launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). There would be no different approaches or nuances between the two powers, as it was the case in the previous decade. The US and India, along with two other key partners in the region, Japan and Australia, would be acting en bloc. The Rajapaksa establishment is very well aware of this reality. It is time that Tamils muster their historic courage and articulate a joint demand for international mediation. It is also the time that the foreign actors who were pulling the wrong strings during the 2009 genocide and its aftermath now take account of their earlier practices. Full story >>

Russian naval vessel visiting Hambantota coincides with return of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

The Sinhala Navy was enthusiastically arranging sporting and cultural events for the crew of Perekop, a naval training vessel of the Russian Baltic fleet, which docked at Hambantota port operated by China, a day after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as the SL President. “India is likely to welcome this decision since it has been concerned over the use of the strategically located port by the Chinese Navy and has been desirous of Russia expanding its presence in the Indo-Pacific region to make it more inclusive,” observed Mumbai-based The Economic Times in a news report published on Friday. Full story >>

US ambassador-turned-consultant hints at capitalising on ‘shared interests’ with Gotabaya

“The key question for the United States is now whether the two countries [Sri Lanka and the US] can reset their dialogue on the Indo-Pacific and regional peace and capitalize on the interests they share,” says Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, a retired career member of the U.S. Foreign Service and a former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka (1992-1995). In an interview conducted for the blog of the Council on Foreign Relations, by Alyssa Ayres, one of her colleague at the Washington DC based consulting firm, McLarty Associates, Shaffer mentions one of the ‘interests’ shared by the US as “preventing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from resuming their campaign”. Full story >>

Reject engagement with genocidaire Gotabaya

Newly sworn-in SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denounced the existence of Eezham Tamils as a nation in the North and the East of the island. The wartime genocidaire Defense Secretary wants Tamils to become ‘Sri Lankans’ capitulating to the Sinhala Mahawansa doctrine, which possesses the requisite intent for Tamil genocide. The Tamils and their political leaders must unambiguously state now that there would be no engagement with genocidaire SL President and the SL State unless he openly and publicly declares Eezham Tamils as a nation entitled to the right of self-determination. The foreign state actors upholding the engagement paradigm are ultimately responsible for the continued crimes against Eezham Tamils in the island. Full story >>

High voter turn-out in North-East

The people in the North-East have voted in large numbers in the SL presidential elections held on Saturday. The Tamil voters have ignored the calls for boycott as they didn’t want to see the return of the war-time SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the next president and opted to back Sajith Premadasa, the lesser evil of the two main candidates. The Chairman of the SL Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, has described the polls as the most peaceful presidential election in the history of the island. However, war-displaced Tamil-speaking Muslims transported from Puththa’lam to cast their votes in Mannaar were attacked by the supporters of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Full story >>

Shivaji manifesto demands IC make Colombo to provide autonomy to Tamils

The Tamil people call upon the International Community (IC) to make the SL State grant autonomy to them in the merged North-East. If the SL State fails to offer Tamils their legitimate rights within the first one year of the new term of the incoming SL President, the IC and the UN should conduct a UN-monitored referendum to determine the political preference of the Tamil people. Furthermore, the IC and the UN should launch international investigations on the crimes committed in the island against the Tamil people, including the genocide, says M.K. Shivajilingam, the Tamil candidate contesting the presidential elections. The Tamil-speaking Muslim people and the Up-country Tamils are entitled to self-determination. They shall be given full autonomy to look after their affairs in their regions, the manifesto released in Trincomalee states. Full story >>