UPFA in the lead in the Polonnaruwa district

Party Name Votes % Seats
United People's Freedom Alliance 107910 59.73% 6
United National Party 63265 35.02% 4
People's Liberation Front 7381 4.09%

No violence in polling stations -- PAFFREL Chief

Kingsley Rodrigo of the election watchdog agency, PAFFREL, stated a short while ago that there have been no violence reported in any polling station. He said also that PAFFREL had expected much violence related to the Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Council Elections yesterday (August 23), but confirmed that it was a peaceful election.

Earlier, certain political parties, media activits and other interested parties had painted a bleak picture regarding PC election.

Reach outer LTTE defences of Nachchikudha

Troops of Task Force 1 marching along the Mannar- Poonaryn road (A-32) on the Kilinochchi southern front today reached the outer defences of Nachchikudha LTTE stronghold.

According to the defence sources in the area, troops have been able to dominate about 1 km stretch of the earth hump made by the LTTE, located in the Vannerikkulam area, East of Nachchikudha. Fierce fighting prevailed in the area from morning to evening, sources said.

Meanwhile radio-monitoring reports confirmed that 12 terrorists were killed and 15 others injured on the Kilinochchi front alone, in the day's clashes. In addition, reports indicate that 4 soldiers suffered injuries during the same.

LTTE terrorists Killed University Sinhala Student

A Sinhala student of Eastern University in Eravur has been shot dead by suspected LTTE terrorists around 8.45, last night (Aug 21). According to the defence sources in the area, the victim has been shot outside the students' hostel using a micro pistol.

The victim has been identified as S. Pahan Samarasinghe, a student of Commerce Faculty and a resident of Pothuhara , Kurunagala. Police conducts further investigations.

AL centres in Vanni shifted

Some G.C.E. Advanced Level centres have been shifted due to fighting on the Kilinochchi front. Of the 10 centres in the Kilinochchi administrative district, three in the Pooneryn area were shifted to Kilinochchi Central College on August 11. The examination began on August 6.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), which represents INGOs active in Sri Lanka said the centres had to be shifted due to shelling at Vanneikkulam in Pooneryn.

The Examination Department said that altogether 108 centres had been established in the Districts of Mannar (12), Jaffna (76), Mullaitivu (10) and Kilinochchi (10). An official said that the fighting hadn’t seriously affected the examination. He was confident that the examination could be held as scheduled.

The examination will end on September 3. The Examination Department said that there would be a three-day break beginning August 22 due to PC elections in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces on August 23.

The IASC in its latest bulletin released on Monday (18) quoted the Kilinochchi NGO consortium as having said that 4,372 newly displaced had been accommodated at 12 schools in the Kilinochchi district. The Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights said that the Government Agents in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu had brought this to the notice of the Consultative Committee on Humanitarian Assistance (CCHA).

According to the UNICEF, 7,500 children in Madhu education zone and about 4,500 in Vavuniya (north) zone havebeen displaced by the fighting. The agency said that education material, too, had been lost due to multiple displacements and the quantity of materials were insufficient for the upcoming term.

First South Asia Economic Summit

While the 15th SAARC Summit successfully completed in Colombo, the first ever South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) picks up at the BMICH from 28th to 30th August and it will be held parallel to the SAARC Trade Fair 2008 which will also be held at the BMICH.

The need for regional economic cooperation is paramount with traditional trade partners of South Asian Countries at a time there is global economic turmoil and at a time countries struggling in the wake of financial market crises coupled with soaring costs of energy and food.

Sri Lanka, holding the Chair, has an opportunity and responsibility to provide leadership in setting the agenda to take SAARC through this challenging time to emerge a stronger regional group. A key input for this process would be the contribution of academia, the private sector and civil society of South Asia.

SAES will focus on leading economic integration issues including the status and challenges facing the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), and regional integration in services and investment. Key regional infrastructure issues such as transport, ICT and trade facilitation measures are also addressed in separate sessions.

Summit will provide a forum for discussion of regional solutions to critical global challenges. A surge in global energy costs has provided a platform for regional cooperation in energy, particularly given the fact that some members have surpluses in energy whilst others face serious energy deficits.

The global food crisis will also be discussed from a South Asian perspective, debating regional options and solutions. Climate change is another critical challenge – interlinked with a whole gamut of development related issues. Given the difficulties in achieving a global consensus for action on this matter, the onus is on South Asian countries to tailor solutions to regional threats within the constraint of regional capabilities.

SAES will also comprise of a series of parallel sessions addressing a variety of specific interests including Sri Lanka’s bilateral trade arrangements with India and Pakistan and sectoral issues such as cooperation in tourism, labour migration, and issues facing weaker economies.

SAES objectives are: to take stock of the new economic-related issues emerging from the 15th SAARC Summit; to follow up on the major theme of the 14th SAARC Summit in 2007, i.e., improving “connectivity” in the region (transport, energy, and trade facilitation); to look at deepening and broadening economic integration by fast tracking goods liberalization under SAFTA and incorporating services and investment for liberalization in the region, respectively; to examine measures to strengthen the SAARC process by empowering the SAARC institutions and the Secretariat; to look at integrating sub-regional economic cooperation to a broader South Asian framework; to analyze ways and means of encouraging more people-to-people contact by promoting tourism and other means; and to assess emerging new issues in South Asian economic cooperation. These issues will be discussed in the context of achieving the SAARC Development Goals (SDGs).

SAES will be jointly organized by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL) in collaboration with a number of institutes in the region: Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), India; South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), Nepal; and South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE), Nepal. The SAES will also have collaboration and technical inputs from the World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNDP Regional Centre Colombo, and the Asian Development Bank.