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Tigers face ‘extinction’ as
Sri Lanka keeps up offensive
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Tamil
Tigers are threatened with
“extinction” following a massive
military drive against them, but
a political solution will be crucial
to end long-standing Tamil griev-
ances, observers say.
The Tigers’ de facto state in
the north of the island has been
crumbling rapidly. They lost their
political capital Kilinochchi earlier
this month to a military offensive
that has been going on for nearly
two years.
But bigger battles may still lie
ahead as security forces move to
capture the coastal town of Mul-
laittivu, the last urban stronghold
of the beleaguered Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Sri Lanka’s defence ministry
said the “countdown to extinc-
briefs
Canada nabs teens
planning killing spree
MONTREAL: Police on Saturday ar-
rested two teenagers who allegedly
were planning a shooting spree at a
university and a church in the central
Canadian province of Manitoba.
The suspects, a boy and a girl,
both 17, intended “to harm a number
of persons at random. This included
students, adults, church parishioners
and pretty much anyone that was
tion of the Tigers” had begun with
the capture of Kilinochchi, where
the rebels had all the trappings
of a de facto state, including a
civil administration with a bank,
courts and a police force.
Military observers agree that
the guerillas’ chances of holding
out are slim. The rebels admit-
ted 2,000 of their fighters were
killed in 2008, the biggest single
loss in a year, while the military
appeared to have suffered fewer
casualties thanks to the use of
heavy weapons and air cover.
“They (the Tigers) are out-
numbered,” said Nanda Godage,
a military analyst contributing to
local newspapers. “They have
never faced such a large force
against them and it looks like
their days are numbered.”
going to get in their way,”
Winnipeg police spokes-
woman Jacqueline Chaput
told CBC television news.
Police discovered the plot and
arrested the teenagers after
finding firearms that had been
stolen some months ago from
a Winnipeg home. – AFP
Sanskrit mantras
for the opening
SALEM: Oregon State
Senate and House of Rep-
resentatives in Salem will
reverberate with Sanskrit
mantras on Jan 28 and 29
respectively.
Military officials say eight divi-
sions are closing in on the jungle
and lagoon district of Mullaittivu,
where the Tigers are known to
have key military bases as
well as hiding places for Tiger
supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.
But Godage said: “I don’t think
the battle will be over after the
fall of Mullaittivu,” adding that a
bigger challenge will be estab-
lishing a political plan to address
the long-standing grievances of
minority ethnic Tamils.
Former Tamil rebel-turned-
politician Dharmalingam Sith-
adthan said the 37-year war
had entered its final phase with
the Tigers’ backs to the wall,
but political power-sharing was
needed to seal the military vic-
tory. – AFP
Rajan Zed, acclaimed
Hindu statesman, will read
the opening prayers from
ancient Sanskrit scriptures
before Senators and
Representatives on these
days. After the Sanskrit
delivery, he then will read
the English translation of
the prayers. Sanskrit is con-
sidered a sacred language
in Hinduism.
Zed, who is president
of Universal Society of
Hinduism, will recite from
Rig-Veda, the oldest scrip-
ture of the world still in
common use, dated from
around 1,500 BCE. – AFP
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Obama arrives for
WASHINGTON: Feted by thousands
and invoking history to steel the
United States against crises at home
and abroad, Barack Obama rode
a hope-fuelled inaugural train to
Washington on Saturday, three days
before he is sworn in as president.
Rejoicing supporters braved knif-
ing cold to cheer Obama along the
train tracks from Philadelphia to
Washington, as he paid homage to
his hero Abraham Lincoln who took
the same route to the White House a
century and a half ago.
Along the way, Obama urged
his countrymen to unite in a new
“Declaration of Independence” from
bigotry, small thinking, prejudice
and ideology.
In Philadelphia, the cradle of US
independence, and again before a
Obama talks
to train
passengers
on the
Whistle Stop
Train Tour
outside of
Baltimore on
Saturday.
EPAPIX
theSun | MONDAY JANUARY 19 2009
shivering 40,000-strong crowd in
Baltimore, Obama told Americans
to draw strength from US independ-
ence heroes at a time of rare national
peril.
“Let’s make sure this election is
not the end of what we do to change
America, but the beginning,” the
president-elect said.
“Only a handful of times in our
history has a generation been con-
fronted with challenges so vast,” said
Obama, 47, highlighting the diving
economy and wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
“And yet while our problems may
be new, what is required to overcome
them is not,” he told around 300
supporters in a flag-draped station
waiting room.
“What is required is a new dec-