Word: sri
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...shopkeeper cowers behind his counter, paralyzed by indecision and fear. Sri Lanka's presidential campaign is at its height, but in the southern town of Ambalangoda the streets are nearly deserted, save for police and army troops on patrol. Under orders to open the shops of Ambalangoda, the uniformed men move up and down the streets, using the butts of their automatic rifles to knock the locks off the shuttered storefronts. The shopkeeper would gladly comply, but that could cost him his life. A general strike has been ordered by the People's Liberation Front (J.V.P.), Sinhalese extremists...
...military invasion of the Republic of Maldives would seem to be almost as remote as the Indian Ocean archipelago itself. A collection of some 1,200 coral islands that together make up only 115 sq. mi. of land, the country lies several hundred miles southwest of India and Sri Lanka. Its 195,000 citizens, most of them Sunni Muslims, earn their living largely from fishing and tourism. Possession of guns is outlawed, except for the fewer than 2,000 lightly armed members of the National Security Service, and violence is virtually unknown. Yet last week the capital island of Male...
Nearly all the invaders were believed to be former Tamil separatist guerrillas from Sri Lanka, apparently in the pay of Maldivian elements hostile to Gayoom. The President issued pleas for military intervention from India and the U.S. as well as Britain, which held Maldives as a protectorate from 1887 until 1965. Following an emergency Cabinet meeting, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi dispatched some 1,600 troops to restore order in Male and commanded navy warships to head toward Maldivian waters. Paratroopers arrived less than twelve hours later, landing aboard two Soviet-built IL-76 transport aircraft at the national airport...
...invaders left at least 30 dead, most of them civilians, and nearly 100 injured. According to Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel, several eyewitnesses identified as the leader of the band a once prominent Maldivian businessman named Abdulla Lutefi, who currently operates a farm near the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Several years ago, Lutefi was arrested for entering Maldives with a firearm, apparently in an attempt to overthrow Ibrahim Nasir, Gayoom's predecessor as President. Both Sri Lankan and Maldivian authorities suspect that Lutefi may have hired the Tamil mercenaries, many of whom have become increasingly inactive since India sent army...
...Yugoslavia' s numerically dominant Serbs demand a larger share of influence, several Soviet republics push for greater autonomy. -- Why many Israeli voters are flocking to the splinter parties on the right and the left. -- Sri Lanka' s Tamil and Sinhalese militants move violently to disrupt elections. -- A personal odyssey along the 2,076- mile U. S.- Mexican border...