President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared that the country has been completely freed from clutches of separatist terrorism as Sri Lankan’s took to streets in celebration as news came in yesterday confirming the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

State television flashed footage of the body of the fallen LTTE leader shortly after President Mahinda Rajapaksa concluded his address to the nation from Parliament to announce the end of the war.

“From now on it is only the laws enacted by this sovereign Parliament that will be in force in every inch of Sri Lanka,” said the President after the military captured all areas in northern Sri Lanka that were once held by the Tamil Tigers.

Thousands of people took to streets waving national flags and the sound of crackers could be heard in many areas as the Commander of Sri Lanka Army General Sarath Fonseka confirmed that the body of V. Prabhakaran has been positively identified.

A former senior LTTE member Vinyagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, who defected form the LTTE and is now a minister in the government visited the place where the LTTE leader’s body was found and too confirmed that the dead man was the elusive leader of the Tamil Tigers.

It was not clear when and how he was killed but the footage clearly shows he had gunshots injury on the head.

The death of Prabhakaran ends nearly three decades of terrorism perpetuated by the group under his leadership that claimed the lives of Sri Lankan President R. Premadasa as well as former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, many Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim political leaders, members of the armed forces, the police and thousands of civilians.

Colombo, May 19
Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran is “alive and safe”, a website sympathetic to the rebels claimed on Tuesday.

While rejecting Colombo’s claim of Prabhakaran being killed, and “assuring his safety and well-being”, LTTE’s international relations Head S. Pathmanathan on Tuesday accused Colombo of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders B. Nadesan and S. Puleedevan.

There was no independent confirmation of the report in the pro-LTTE website
TamilNet. Sri Lankan officials have in the past denounced as propaganda similar
claims by TamilNet.

Pathmanathan in the statement said: “I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai Pirapaharan is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people.”

Categorically rejecting Prabhakaran's death claims, he asked “the Tamil community to be vigilant and to exercise maximum restraint whilst grieving for the loss of Tamil civilian lives in the barbaric conduct of the final chapters of this battle”.

Prabhakaran’s face apparently caught fire and he breathed his last in a small stretch of land near the coast in Mullaitivu district, an area about 400 km from here which he had made his hideout a long time ago, building seemingly impregnable underground bunkers. — IANS

Washington, May 19
Hundreds of Tamil protesters on Tuesday held a demonstration in front of the White House asking US President Barack Obama to help save the lives of civilians in Sri Lanka’s war zone.

Carrying banners and posters, Tamil protesters who had come from various parts of the country were raising slogans that Obama was their only hope and reminded the US President of his statement last week on Sri Lanka in which he had urged Tamil Tigers to lay down arms and Lankan government to stop shelling heavy weapons.

Despite the fact that the LTTE had announced to silence its guns, the Sri Lankan government was continuing with its killing of innocent civilians, alleged on of the protestors, Gerard Francis. — PTI

A former Bangladeshi intelligence chief helped a Dubai-based group and an ‘unnamed country’ in the aborted bid to smuggle a massive cache of arms and ammunition to the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), according to the sensational confession of a former Bangladeshi top intelligence officer.

Retired Wing Commander Sahabuddin, former Director of the National Security Intelligence, said Dubai-Based ARY group, owned by a Pakistani, funded the arms smuggling attempt with the help of the then Director of the NSI, retired Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, who was detained last week.

Sahabuddin stated that Rahim, ULFA leader Paresh Barua, ARY group managing director Salman Yusuf Rahman and the High Commissioner of an unnamed country supervised the bid to smuggle the huge cache of arms and ammunition, reports Bangla daily Prothom Alo.

Both Rahim and his NSI successor retired Major-General Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury were arrested last week in connection with the 10 truck-load of arms and ammunition purchased from China and recovered at a Chittagong jetty in April 2004.

The former NSI Director said Rahim held several meetings with ARY group managing director in Dubai and Dhaka, at least two of which were attended by Tarique Zia, the son of the erstwhile Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and widely known as the point-man for all government decisions.

Rahim also held several meetings in Dhaka attended by ARY group’s senior representatives, the High Commissioner of the unnamed country, his defence attaché, Paresh Barua and Tarique Zia, according to Sahabuddin.

The NSI provided local transport and some costs for ARY group representatives when they visited Bangladesh.

In return, ARY MD Salman Yusuf Rahman assured they would open up a television channel in Bangladesh, with Rahim’s wife as the chairperson.

Washington, May 19
Observing that Pakistan is "playing both sides", US Defence Secretary Robert Gates today said Islamabad commits itself to be part of the US-led war against terrorism in the region but continues to maintain links with the extremist elements.

"Look, maintaining contact with this group, in my view, is a strategic hedge," Gates told the CBS news in an interview responding to a question that parts of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence are still servicing support to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"They (Pakistan) are not sure who's going to win in Afghanistan. They're not sure what's going to happen along that border area. So to a certain extent they play both sides," Gates said. This is not for the first time that a top US leader has made such an observation.

Top US leaders in the past several months have openly stated and expressed concern that that the Pakistan Army, especially its ISI, has been maintain contacts with the Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and providing them support against the US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Another top Pentagon official said there was a need to exert continued pressure on Pakistan's tribal belt to defeat terrorist outfits like the al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

"I think the long-range piece with Pakistan is to continue to put pressure on the Federally Administered Tribal Area and North West Frontier Province in a way that eventually puts us in a position to be able to defeat al-Qaeda," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, said at the Brookings Institute, a Washington- based think tank.

Mullen said there is growing insurgency in Pakistan, where the al-Qaeda leadership lives. "So the key in the strategy is to defeat al-Qaeda."

"They're living in Pakistan and being protected by the Pakistanis...., the Taliban in particular. So we must do that," he said.

Getting rid of the safe haven for al-Qaeda in Pakistan is the top priority for the US strategy in the region, he said.

Referring to the ongoing Pakistani military action against the militants in the Swat valley, Mullen said this action needs to be sustained.

"In the past, this has not been the case," he said. Mullen said that he was concerned about the peace deal in Swat, which did not work.

"I was very concerned about the Swat deal that was made a couple of months ago, that obviously didn't work," he said referring to the now defunct peace deal signed between the NWFP government and Pakistani Taliban in Swat. — PTI

President Asif Ali Zardari returned here on Monday after concluding his official visit to Libya, the UK, the US and France which was officially described as “extremely successful” despite some scathing criticism at home.

President Zardari stayed abroad for 21 days, the longest ever foreign trip by any Pakistani ruler beating the previous record of 19 days spent by former military dicator Gen Musharraf.

Zardari drew lot of flak from political leadership and virtually the entire independent media who accused him of undertaking foreign jaunts at a time when the country was facing challenges of gigantic proportions.

Islamabad, May 19
The Pakistani authorities have started discreet negotiations through clerics with a top Taliban commander for rehabilitating Sikh families evicted from the Aurakzai tribal region after they failed to pay jaziya (religious tax) imposed by militants.

The administration of the semi-autonomous Aurakzai Agency has, on the directives of the federal government, assigned to clerics the task of holding talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan deputy chief Hakeemullah Mehsud.

The clerics will make efforts to pave the way for rehabilitating the Sikh families in the area where they had been living for centuries, the Dawn newspaper quoted a source as saying.

The source, however, declined to disclose the names of clerics involved in the talks, but said the meetings were going on peacefully. The source said the 35 Sikh families that were displaced were willing to come back to Aurakzai Agency.

The Sikh families were forced to leave Feroze Khel area of Aurakzai Agency after the Taliban burnt their houses and looted their shops.

The Taliban had imposed jaziya on the Sikhs for being non-Muslims and for the protection of their lives and property.

The Sikhs failed to raise the amount demanded by the Taliban in April, following which their houses were attacked.

Thirteen Sikh families are now living in Merozai area of Aurakzai Agency on land belonging to the Shia community where the Taliban has no influence. — PTI

Yangon, May 19
Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours expressed "grave concern" on Tuesday over the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but China said it would not interfere in the regime's affairs.

On the second day of the closed trial, five prosecution witnesses testified against Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating her house arrest after an American intruder swam to her lakeside home two weeks ago.

The charges, denied by the Nobel Peace laureate, drew international condemnation and calls for Asian governments to get tough with Myanmar's ruling generals.

Setting aside its line of non-interference, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said the "honour and credibility" of its troublesome member was at stake.

It urged "humane treatment" for Suu Kyi and reminded the regime that it had ignored the 10-member group's previous calls for her release from detention.

Nevertheless, ASEAN chair Thailand said the group would not change its policy of engagement with the regime.

"Events over the last week have raised concern and we expressed our concern very clearly, but our policy is to engage and continue to engage constructively," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in Bangkok.

Critics say the charges, which carry a three- to five-year jail term, would silence the charismatic Suu Kyi during multi-party elections in 2010, derided by the West as a sham to entrench more than four decades of army rule.

The European Union said on Monday it is considering tougher measures against Myanmar, four days after the United States renewed its sanctions.

The EU also wants Asian governments to exert their influence on the regime and planned to raise the issue at an Asia-Europe meeting in Hanoi next week.

The media and public are barred from the trial held in Yangon's Insein prison, which was ringed by heavily armed police manning barbed wire barricades on Tuesday.

Nyan Win, a member of her defence team, said they were allowed to meet privately with Suu Kyi on Tuesday.

She again insisted on her innocence and told them: "Don't worry about me. I will face whatever happens". — Reuters

London, May 19
Under fire for his handling of a scandal over lawmakers' expense claims, Britain's House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin is set to resign from the coveted post, being the only person to do so in 300 years.

Martin was accused for his inability to bring in reforms into the system governing MPs' expenses, with the public also outraged in an already recession-hit Britain.

The move comes after dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday where his authority was openly challenged, with some 15 legislators asking Martin to step down.

Today 23 MPs from all main political parties have signed a ‘vote of no confidence’
against Martin.

The Speaker said on today, "In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of speaker on June 21,". — Agencies