Growing chinese factor in Sri Lanka

On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.

This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line.

This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects China’s supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West.

Even India, Sri Lanka’s long-time ally and the traditionally dominant power in South Asia, has found itself sidelined in the past two years — to its obvious irritation. “China is fishing in troubled waters,” Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s Home Minister, warned last week.

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The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a “string of pearls” strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma.

The strategy was outlined in a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher J. Pehrson, of the Pentagon’s Air Staff, in 2006, and again in a report by the US Joint Forces Command in November. “For China, Hambantota is a commercial venture, but it’s also an asset for future use in a very strategic location,” Major-General (Retd) Dipankar Banerjee of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Delhi said.

The British Navy used the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee as its main regional base until 1957 and still shares a naval base with the US on the nearby island of Diego Garcia. China has no immediate plans for a fully fledged naval base but wants a similar foothold in the Indian Ocean to protect its oil supplies from piracy or blockade by a foreign power, analysts say.

Beijing sent three ships on an unprecedented anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden in December, and in January a Chinese defence White Paper said that the navy was “developing capabilities of conducting co-operation in distant waters . . .”

China has cultivated ties with Sri Lanka for decades and became its biggest arms supplier in the 1990s, when India and Western governments refused to sell weapons to Colombo for use in the civil war. Beijing appears to have increased arms sales significantly to Sri Lanka since 2007, when the US suspended military aid over human rights issues.

Many of the arms have been bought through Lanka Logistics & Technologies, co-headed by Gotabhaya Rajapksa, the Defence Secretary, who is also the President’s brother.

In April 2007 Sri Lanka signed a classified $37.6 million (£25 million) deal to buy Chinese ammunition and ordnance for its army and navy, according to Jane’s Defence Weekly.

China gave Sri Lanka — apparently free of charge — six F7 jet fighters last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, after a daring raid by the Tigers’ air wing destroyed ten military aircraft in 2007. One of the Chinese fighters shot down one of the Tigers’ aircraft a year later.

“China’s arms sales have been the decisive factor in ending the military stalemate,” Brahma Chellaney, of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, said. “There seems to have been a deal linked to Hambantota.”

Since 2007 China has encouraged Pakistan to sell weapons to Sri Lanka and to train Sri Lankan pilots to fly the Chinese fighters, according to Indian security sources.

China has also provided crucial diplomatic support in the UN Security Council, blocking efforts to put Sri Lanka on the agenda. It has also boosted financial aid to Sri Lanka, even as Western countries have reduced their contributions.

China’s aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost $1 billion last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain just £1.25 million.

“That’s why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism,” said B. Raman of the Chennai Centre for China Studies. “It knows it can rely on support from China.”

Report: Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

Nusli wadia says he did not finance book on Jinnah

New Delhi: Industrialist Nusli Wadia, grandson of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, on Monday dismissed a suggestion that he had financed the book by Jaswant Singh to glorify Pakistan's founder but said he was "appalled" by the BJP leader's expulsion from the party.

"It is all nonsense. My grandfather is my grandfather, it is not going to change. I don't need Jaswant Singh to write a certificate for him," he told CNN-IBN.

On the debate over the book 'Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence' involving some 'very close' friends of his, Wadia said, "In the case of Jaswant Singh, I don't think anybody has the right to say he doesn't have the right to write a book."

To a question on the action taken by BJP against Singh, he said, "I am surprised, yes. I am very surprised. I am saddened and I am appalled."

Asked how he felt when he saw BJP leader L K Advani, a friend of his for the last 30 to 40 years, in the current situation, Wadia just said, "Sad, very sad."

Source: Times Of India hotclicks
http://timesofindia.hotklix.com/link/news/India/I-didnt-finance-book-on-Jinnah-Nusli-Wadia

Indian Cricket Team Schedules

Compaq Cup 2009 Tri-Series India/Srilanka/Newzealand
Fixtures For Indian team
   
Fri Sep 11         
14:30 IST     2nd Match - India v New Zealand
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo    

Sat Sep 12         
14:30 IST     3rd Match - Sri Lanka v India
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo    
   
Mon Sep 14         
14:30 IST     Final - Team1-Team2 in Points Tabl
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo


ICC Champions Trophy 2009/10  indian team schedule/semi and finals
   
Sat Sep 26         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     Group A - India v Pakistan
SuperSport Park, Centurion    

Mon Sep 28         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     Group A - Australia v India
SuperSport Park, Centurion    

Wed Sep 30         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     Group A - India v West Indies
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg    
   
Fri Oct 2         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC (A1 v B2)
SuperSport Park, Centurion    
   
Sat Oct 3         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC (B1 v A2)
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg    
   
Mon Oct 5         
14:30 local | 12:30 GMT
18:00 IST     Final - TBC v TBC
SuperSport Park, Centurion

'Haunted' Indian station reopens

A Indian railway station which was abandoned for 42 years because of fears that it was haunted has reopened in the eastern state of West Bengal.

 

Locals and railway workers say they lived in fear of a female phantom who frequented Begunkodor 260km (161 miles) from the state capital, Calcutta.In 1967, a railway worker is said to have died days after he saw a "woman ghost" draped in a white sari.Officials say the story was made up to avoid postings at the remote station.They argue that it was primarily railway employees who expressed fears about the "woman ghost" at Begunkodor.

"Soon all railway employees fled Begunkodor and trains stopped stopping there.It made life very difficult for locals," said Basudeb Acharya, former chairman of the parliament's standing committee on railways.
Mr Acharya says employees "cooked up the ghost story " to avoid a posting at such a remote station.

Source: Times Of India
Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8236178.stm

Time For A Little Joke: Little Mary and Johny

Little Mary was not the best student in Sunday School. Usually she slept through the class. One day the teacher called on her while she was napping, ''Tell me, Mary, who created the universe?''

When Mary didn't stir, little Johnny, an altruistic boy seated in the chair behind her, took a pin and jabbed her in the rear. ''God Almighty !'' shouted Mary and the teacher said, ''Very good'' and Mary fell back to sleep.
A while later the teacher asked Mary, ''Who is our Lord and Savior?'' But Mary didn't even stir from her slumber.

Once again, Johnny came to the rescue and stuck her again. ''Jesus Christ!'' shouted Mary and the teacher said, ''Very good,'' and Mary fell back to sleep. Then the teacher asked Mary a third question, ''What did Eve say to Adam after she had her twenty-third child?'' And again, Johnny jabbed her with the pin.
This time Mary jumped up and shouted, ''If you stick that damn thing in me one more time, I'll break it in half!'' The Teacher fainted.