Мr. President,
Yоuг Excellencies,
1. I have great pleasure in congratulating His Excellency Joseph Deiss, оn his assumption of the Chair of the 65th Session of the General AssembIy.
2. I also take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to the President of the 64th Session, Н.Е. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, for his effective stewardship of the General Assembly.
Мг. President, Excellencies,
З. That the United Nations is now in its sixty fifth уеаг serves to underline the durability of this organisation. It is аn important mechanism in ensuring соoperation between States and а forum for discussion between sovereign nations. We must never underestimate the importance of this organisation based as it is, оп the principle of equal treatment of countries big and small.
4. It is in this spirit that I address you аt а crucial juncture in the history of mу own country. In two months, I will Ье assuming office for mу second term. Му mandate will Ье very different from mу last. For mу second term as President, mу promise to mу people, is to deliver sustainabIe реасе and prosperity to all and ensure that terrorism will not bе blе to raise its ugly head again.
6. In 2005, I was elected bу mу people оn а promise to rid mу country of the menасе of terrorism. I am both proud and humbled that I саn stand befoгe you and say that Sri Lanka is now аt реасе, реасе that was only а dream а few years ago,
7. Over the past уеаг, much has bееп reported and much has bееn said regarding mу country's liberation from terrorism. However, far less has bееn said of the suffering we had to undergo and the true nature of the еnemy we have overcome.
8. The rapidly forgotten truth is that we had to face опе of the most brutal, highly organised, well funded and effective terrorist organisations, that could even spread its tentacles to other countries.
9. Мапу of the atrocities of terrorism that the West has соrе to experience in гесепt times, the people of Sri Lanka were themselves the victims of, for nearly З0 years, losing almost опе hundred thousand lives, among them being а President of Sri Lanka, а visionaгy leader of India and scores of intellectuals and politicians.
10. The LТТЕ was ап organisation so brutal, that even those it claimed to represent, the Таmil community of Sri Lanka, were as much victims of its terror as the rest of the population of оur countгy.
11. Those who obseгving from afar, suggested that the Sri Lankan government should have conceded to the demands of the terrorists, need to bе reminded that terror is terror, whatever mask it wears and however it is packaged. То all those, I say this. Му responsibility is to the entire nation. Му responsibility is to the lives of millions of men, women and children, and those yet to bе bогn. Му responsibility is to the реасе and prosperity of the nation and the right to а peaceful lifе for all who live there.
12. In this context, it is woгth examining the capacity of current international humanitarian law to meet contemporaгy needs. It must Ье remembered that, such law evolved essentially in response to conflicts waged bу the forces of legally constituted States, and not terrorist groups. The asymmetrical nature of conflicts initiated bу non-state actors gives rise to serious problems which need to bе considered in earnest Ьу the international community.
1З. As we close а sad chapter in our countгy's histoгy, I would like to remind you that we, along with mапу others, made repeated attempts to engage the LТТЕ in constructive dialogue. It is much to bе regretted that all these attempts were rejected with reckless arrogance and contempt. It is in these circumstances that we were compelled to mount а humanitarian operation with the blessings of mаnу international fгiепds, to nеutгаlisе acts of terrorism апd restore реасе and security.
Ехсеllепсiеs,
14. The entire focus of оцг паtiоп, is now оn building а lasting реасе; healing wоunds, ensuring economic prosperity and guaranteeing the rights of the whole nation to live in harmony. We аге mindful that in order to fulfill these aspirations, есоnоmiс development and political reconciliation must go hand in hand. Towards this end, constitutional changes which appropriately reflect aspirations of оur people will bе evolved with the full participation of all stakeholders.
15. We аге pursuing а nation-wide agenda of renewal. Sri Lanka has already returned ovег 90% of the internally displaced persons to their original villages that were previously riddled with landmines, and provided the essential infrastructure necessary to resume nоrmаl life. We have helped bring back the vitality of youth to former child soldiers.
16. We have rebuilt the Eastern Province and begun the same task, in the North. Sri Lanka's Armed Forces now have the role of delivering essential services, rebuilding habitats, clearing mines and restoring vital infrastructure to whole tracts of formerly decimated land.
17. Despite the lingering dangers that have remained, Sri Lanka has nevertheless repealed а substantial рап of the Emergency Regulations so necessary during our conflict situation and plans to гереаl а good part of the remainder in the coming months.
18. А great deal has bееn said bу those beyond оuг borders about our Tamil community. Let me bе clear, nо nation оn earth саn wish Sri Lanka's Tamil community mоге good fortune than Sri Lanka itself.
19. То the misguided few, I say, do not allow yourselves to bесоmе аn instrument of division, hate and violence, to bе used as аn еnablег for hatred to bе геbогn in another form. Rather, come, let us join hands and break the bonds of mistrust to rise to new horizons.
20. Sri Lanka recognises the challenges we face, among the greatest of which is healing the wounds of the recent past. То this end, earlier this уеаг, а Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission has bееп established.
21. This independent Commission, comprising eight Sri Lankans of eminence and stature, has already begun its work. Recently, the Commission handed over to me аn interim communication recommending certain administrative steps that mау need to bе taken in the reconciliation process.
22. We believe that for the rebuilding and healing of our nation to succeed, the process must evolve from within. If history has taught us опе thing, it is that imposed external solutions breed resentment and ultimately fail. Ours, bу contrast, is а home grown process, which reflects the culture and traditions of our people.
23. We ceгtainly welcome the suppoгt of the inteгnational community as we rebuild our lands and our еconomу. We sincerely hope that they will bе prepared to take а practical approach to developing paгtnerships with Sri Lanka through inteгnational trade, investment and сарасitу building. То those nations who join with us, we say thank you.
24. Our еconomу is well оn the way to realising the dividend of реаее. We аге experiencing steady and sustained growth including duгing the last quaгter of over eight регcent, moderate inflation and low interest rates. During the last five (5) years, we saw our рег capita income double. It is our ambition to take this fuгther; to double yet again the present рег capita income Ьу 2016 and also bеcomе оnе of the top 30 countries for doing business bу 2014.
25. "Маhiпdа Сhinthаnа - Visiоn for the Future", mу election manifesto aгticulates mу vision of having sound infrastructuгe at the national, provincial and rural levels, which is vital for the inclusive growth, that will make development meaningful to the entirety of society.
26. Our strategy during the last 5 years, despite our struggle against terrorism, has paid dividends for all Sri Lankans. Му country has graduated to middle income еconomу status. Unemployment has declined to around 5 percent. Above аll, poverty has declined from around 25 регcent to below 15 percent. I саn also proudly claim that my country through this economic strategy is comfortably realizing the millennium development goals, well in advance of the target set bу the United Nations. We аге proud to have а very high literacy rate of over 93 рег cent and low infant mortality rates, all due to а policy of free education and free health facilities.
27. We аге аt present strongly focusing оn putting in place the necessary public infrastructure and strengthening the enabling policy environment for the private sector to invest even moге in mу country, making good use of the current роst conflict scenario and the inclusive development framework. Rapid growth is being witnessed in the leisure industry, tourism, urban development, alternative energy sources, knowledge based initiatives, IT and enabling services. Energy efficient and green energy technology based industries аге among those attracting major investments.
Мг. President,
28. In order to achieve the full realization of оцг potential, we desire а supportive external environment. Towards this end, we will always look for constructive engagement and partnerships. We will from our side, continue to contribute as we have always done, to the cause of multilateralism and а principled global order.
29. In this regard, I am happy to note that 2010 marks the fiftieth anniversary since we first contributed to а UN Peacekeeping Mission. Оur Armed Forces and the Police аге today combat tested, with а capacity to саггу out their duties in the most challenging of conditions. I wish Мг. President, therefore to use this forum to re-affirm our willingness to further enhance ouг support to the UN Peace-Keeping Operations.
Мг. President,
30. The world unlike in the раst has bесоmе severely vulnerable to natural disasters. Almost eveгy day we sее millions of people becoming victims of severe floods, landslides, volcanoes, cyclones, earthquakes and the like. It has bесоmе increasingly difficult for affected countries to manage unassisted, the рost disaster recoveгy programmes. The гесеnt natuгal calamities in ouг region underline the crucial need for effective action, in which there is collective participation, to reduce human suffering. Without doubt, climate change and global warming аге today issues which demand the uгgent attention of all nations.
Мг. President,
31. Among the political issues that have continued to fester for too long, is the continued denial of the right of the Palestinian people to а State of their own within recognized and secuгe borders. It is the fervent hope of the people of Sri Lanka that this most tragic of situations would Ье resolved without delay in а sustainable mannег.
Мг. President,
32. Our guiding principle must always bе that of mutual respect in international discouгse, even as we disapprove and condemn measuгes such as unilateral embargoes.
33. Experience in the гесеnt past amply demonstrates that these embargoes impact not оn governments but оп the most vulnerable sections of the community. In the same spirit, I would call for the empathy of the international community, towards the aspirations of the Cuban people.
Мг President,
34. 1 also wish to uгge with аll the emphasis аt mу command the need for greater concern and involvement оп the part of the international community to assist the people of Africa in their efforts to elevate the quality of life оп their continent.
35. Leaders who have bееп chosen bу their people often face difficult decisions. They must bе entitled to the good will and confidence of the international community with regard to the heavy burdens they аге required to shoulder. The results of their decisions must bе evaluated objectively and must bе allowed to speak for themselves.
36. That is not to say countries should operate in isolation. In this globally interdependent world, we must work together where we сап and constructively counsel each other where appropriate.
37. The United Nations forms the bedrock of this interaction and in this role it will always receive the support of Sri Lanka.
Мау the NobIe Triple Gem Bless You.
................................................................................................................................
Oh! Beauteous Lanka! Thou Art Our Ratna Deepa, Janma Bhumi!
Ratna Deepa Janma Bhumi
Lanka Deepa Vijaya Bhumi
Me' Ape' Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Repeat Chorus
Aadi Sinhale' Ae' Vira Meemuthun Layin
Saara Wu Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Maanikyase' Pologabee' Nidhana Vee
Aththe' Ae' Abheetha Du Puthun
Jathiye' Naamayen Sangrama Bhumiye'
Jeewithe' Puda Heluu Lay Kandai
Chorus
Sindhupamana Wavu Thala Mathin Adee'
Padma Renuwen Sugandha Vee
Ran Karal Namaa Hamaa
Sith Prabhodayen Puraa
Enne' Un Helu Prana Vayuwai
Chorus
Ganga Tharanga Raawa Dee Ridee Vanin
Mal Pipee Kolen Kole' Hapee
Gayana Karanne' Aakasaye' Nagee
Virayange' Ae' Yaso Geetha-yayi
Chorus
Aadi Sinhale' Ae' Vira Meemuthun Layin
Saara Wu Udaara Wu
Maathru Bhumi-yayi
Maathru Bhumi-yayi
..........................................................................
Sri Lanka's First Lady
meets Michelle Obama
Lanka Deepa Vijaya Bhumi
Me' Ape' Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Repeat Chorus
Aadi Sinhale' Ae' Vira Meemuthun Layin
Saara Wu Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Maanikyase' Pologabee' Nidhana Vee
Aththe' Ae' Abheetha Du Puthun
Jathiye' Naamayen Sangrama Bhumiye'
Jeewithe' Puda Heluu Lay Kandai
Chorus
Sindhupamana Wavu Thala Mathin Adee'
Padma Renuwen Sugandha Vee
Ran Karal Namaa Hamaa
Sith Prabhodayen Puraa
Enne' Un Helu Prana Vayuwai
Chorus
Ganga Tharanga Raawa Dee Ridee Vanin
Mal Pipee Kolen Kole' Hapee
Gayana Karanne' Aakasaye' Nagee
Virayange' Ae' Yaso Geetha-yayi
Chorus
Aadi Sinhale' Ae' Vira Meemuthun Layin
Saara Wu Udaara Wu
Maathru Bhumi-yayi
Maathru Bhumi-yayi
..........................................................................
Sri Lanka's First Lady
meets Michelle Obama
Sept 25, New York: Sri Lanka's First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa met the United States first lady Michelle Obama yesterday at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Westchester,New York. Mrs. Rajapaksa, who has accompanied President Mahinda Rajapaksa to New York, along with first ladies from 40 other countries, participated in a tour, organized by the wife of U.S. President, on the 80-acre four-season farm.
 |
214 comments:
1 – 200 of 214 Newer› Newest»Patriots,
A Great Speech by a Great President and a Great Human Being, that brings honor and fame to our Resplendent Motherland!
Jayawewa, Sri Lanka!
Semper Fidelis, Patriots of Lanka
By Ananda-USA
Our Motherland, resplendent Sri Lanka,
Hallowed be thy name!
Thy children flock today to vote,
To preserve thy immortal flame!
The Lion Flag flutters proudly aloft,
To remind us this freedom's day!
Our duty to keep thee, safe and strong,
As our forefathers did yesterday!
A Mahinda Rajapaksa by deed and word,
Strode forth boldly to eternal fame!
To lead his people to a safer world,
When all others retreated in shame!
More powers for Basil and Wimal
Reallocation of subjects effected through new Gazette notification
SundayTimes.lk
September 26, 2010
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has re-allocated functions of two key ministries, giving them new responsibilities. Main among them is the Ministry of Economic Development which is under Basil Rajapaksa. It has been given the added responsibility of Foreign Direct Investment development, Development of infrastructure facilities for the rural and plantation sectors and Investment Development in the private sector. The Rural Development Training and Research Institute has also been brought under his Ministry. These are in addition to the responsibilities already vested.
A Gazette notification issued on September 13 lists 14 ministries where there has been re-allocation of functions. The Ministry of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities which is held by Wimal Weerawansa has also been given new functions.
The Urban Settlement and Development Authority, which came under the purview of the Ministry of Defence, has now been placed under this Ministry. A new function listed for the Ministry is “to work for the upliftment of living standards in Urban Settlements and to prepare and implement plans, programmes and projects which have been prepared, taking into consideration the proposals, if any, submitted by persons living in urban settlements”. The Urban Settlement Development Authority Act No 46 of 2008 has also been brought under this Ministry.
It was only in May, this year, that President Rajapaksa vested the Urban Settlement and Development Authority in the Ministry of Defence. The reasons for the shift are not immediately clear. However, Government sources said yesterday that a proposal to set up a separate Authority to develop the City of Colombo was now under consideration.
The financial administration of state corporations, statutory bodies and government owned companies has been brought under the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
More welfare centres shut as IDPs start new life
Nation.lk
September 26, 2010
Forty-two of the 47 welfare centres set up in the north for internally displaced people have now been closed, a top official announced.
The government set up these welfare centres in 2009 to accommodate more than 280,000 civilians, who fled the LTTE during the final phases of the humanitarian operations.
Major-General Kamal Gunaratne, Competent Authority on Resettlement in the North, also said 265,000 civilians had now been resettled in their villages with necessary infrastructures.
The government has given all families resettled with a resettlement payment of Rs25,000 and dry rations for a period of six months.
The government has planned to complete the resettlement of all remaining civilians before the end of year.
According to Major-General Gunaratne, currently there are around 27,000 civilians to be resettled but actually only 10,000 live in welfare centres.
All other remaining civilians, yet to be resettled, are living out of these welfare centres with the permission of the authorities.
Most of the inmates go out in the morning and return in the evening as they find their livelihoods elsewhere by engaging in agricultural and other day-to-day activities including construction and trivial work. (news.lk)
Sri Lanka to develop a new tourist zone in Kalpitiya isles
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 25, Colombo: Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa recently said that plans are underway to develop the Kalpitiya area of the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka as a super tourist zone.
The Ministry expects to develop 14 islands in Kalpitiya area under the Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project (KITRAP).
According to Sri Lanka's tourist promotion office the project will build eco-friendly tourist resorts with around 5,000 hotel rooms in over 4,000 acres of land in the peninsula. The resorts will be built with water sports and recreation facilities.
Kalpitiya, the stretch of land planked between the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other side, and the nearby islets in the Puttalam District will be developed under the KITRP as a major tourist destination similar to Bali in Indonesia, according to tourism officials.
The government expects to complete the project within four years and it is anticipated that 45,000 employment opportunities can be created via the tourist zone.
However, the government has promised not to evacuate the fishermen from this famous fishing area.
This MUST BE STOPPED NOW.
Today's illiterates are tomorrow's poor and disaffected dependent on government assistance.
............
Over 260,000 children do not attend school in Sri Lanka, Census and Statistics Department says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 25, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Census and Statistics Department figures have revealed that as many as 261,709 children aged between 5 and 17 from a total of 4.3 million do not attend school.
The survey conducted by the Department has attributed this situation to the involvement of these children in various economic activities.
The survey showing statistics for 2009 has stated that 557,599 children had been found to be engaged in work.
The Department is to reportedly conduct this survey on children engaged in economic activities with the assistance and technical advice from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The Census and Statistics Department survey covered 16,000 housing units in all the districts except those in the North.
Ananda, dear chap, thanks for posting the full version of Presidents speech. This visit of the President to address UN General Assembly was a shattering blow to all the delusional dreams Peelam plonkers had about war crimes, genocide, Hauge, pariah state etc. The President delivered a fantastic speech, got applauded by world leaders, met all the leaders he wanted to meet, had productive discussions with them, and the first lady hung out with Mrs. Obama. You can see from dispirited comments by delusional Peelam blackguards that they have come back down to Earth now. Of course knowing these fellows they will whip themselves into a frenzy again very soon on some other wild goose chase.
Cheers!
Konnappu Bandara,
Yes, indeed!
MR's speech ELOQUENTLY summarises Sri Lanka's accomplishments against terrorism in the last two years for all the world to see.
He provided PROOF that terrorism can, and must be, defeated militarily where necessary, and that it is best done by the government of the affected country itself, not by foreigners who have no understanding and/or empathy for people who are not their own.
His words are also a WARNING to foreign countries, humanitarian organizations, and the UN itself, that their self-serving interference on pre-textual manufactured "humanitarian grounds" often extends the horrors precipitated by that terror to decades, instead of allowing it to be eradicated it in a few years by the legally constituted government.
By UNDERMINING national governments through foreign intervention, these organizations take on responsibilities that they can rarely see through to completion. They end up presiding over humanitarian disasters that they themselves grow to monumental proportions.
Such was the 30 year terrorist conflict in Sri Lanka, with foreigners of every stripe EXACERBATING it, through direct military intervention, active financing and support from abroad for that terrorism, preventing the elected government from taking the measures necessary to confront and defeat that terrorism.
They rarely understood that terrorist cancers often require radical surgery to save the VICTIMS, not PANDERING to the TERRORISTS; that failure to cut away the malignancy in a timely way could kill the patient.
ANTI-TERRORIST SURGERY; painful, but necessary.
My Comment at the Global Post:
September 26, 2010
.............
The Author of this article is obviously a biased representative of the Tamil Eelamist Diaspora who sought to carve out a Tamil-only Racist Apartheid state in Sri Lanka, one of the only two functioning multicultural democracies in South Asia.
Sri Lanka's Tamil people were rescued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa from the clutches of a murderous terrorist organization with terrorist tentacles spread throughout the world. He is now fast-tracking the development Sri Lanka into the next Wonder of Asia with the assistance of China, India, Japan and other powerful allies within a strong disciplined democratic framework, but not the anarchic one that allowed a safe haven for terrorists.
Only presidential term limits were removed; the President must still be re-elected by the people. The Tamil people of Sri Lanka enjoyed equal rights before this terrorism 30 years ago, that continued through that period and the present, and will continue in the future as well. What they will not have are the special rights they demanded within an apartheid system that are unavailable to other citizens. Only 5% of the 300,000 Tamils housed in IDP camps still remain there until demining of their lands is completed; 95% have been resettled. 7,000 former Tamil Tiger cadre who surrendered are being rehabilitated and trained in skills for employment. There is no "colonization of Tamil lands" .. only the restoration of their homes to people of ethnically cleansed communities, and throwing open all land in Sri Lanka to people of all communities to live in without hindrance, as it was in the past before the terror began. No Tamil-only Aparthied Bantustans will be allowed in the Resplendent Isle of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka President invites US business leaders to invest in the country
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has met and invited leading businessmen in the United States to invest in Sri Lanka without trepidation as the country is now poised to enjoy a strong economic growth and becoming one of the best countries for investment in the world.
Business executives from a variety of business enterprises, including the hospitality and tourism industry, the beverage industry, and the aerospace and defense community met the Sri Lankan President at a luncheon held at New York City's Helmsley Hotel last week.
Sri Lanka President was in New York to attend the 65th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
President Rajapaksa personally greeted each of the 150 business executives at the luncheon. The executives from the Coca Cola Co., the Boeing Co., Google, Hilton Hotels and Resorts and Starwood Hotels and Resorts were among the attendees.
The President invited the entrepreneurs to join the newly formed U.S.- Sri Lanka Business Council, which seeks to expand the commercial relationship between the two countries by promoting trade and investment opportunities that benefit both nations.
US Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has expressed hopes to invest in the Sri Lankan market and to extend support to enhance investment opportunities between Sri Lanka and the US.
During the meeting the President noted that Sri Lanka's per-capita income has been increased two fold in the past five years and the government targets is to double this figure by the year 2016.
Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris addressing the attendees said Sri Lanka today has a promising economic future and the country is on the threshold of an economic renaissance.
"Sri Lanka is today, without any exaggeration, one of the world's best destinations for investment," Prof. Peiris has stated.
Approving the fifth tranche of a US$ 2.5 billion loan last Friday, the International Monetary Fund, which recently upgraded Sri Lanka to "middle income emerging market" status, said the overall economic conditions are improving and the economy is likely to show strong growth this year on the back of improved fundamentals and political stability.
Sri Lanka's Elections Department to add former IDPs to electoral list
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Elections Department has commenced the process of adding internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have returned to their home villages from welfare camps, to the electoral list following data collected by the Grama Niladharis of the respective areas.
Assistant Elections Commissioner Nishantha Diripriya Herath has said that the Grama Niladhari from each area has commenced collecting information of the displaced who have returned, local Daily Mirror reported.
The returnees are to be added to an updated 2009 electoral list.
It has been reported that the Elections Department is to prepare a second list or a 'B list' adding details of the eligible voters who have returned to their original homes.
The list is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Three Years' Jail For Three Sri Lankans, A Malaysian Who Abduct Teenager
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Three Sri Lanka nationals and a Malaysian were sentenced to three years' jail by the High Court here Monday after they pleaded guilty to abducting and wrongfully confining a teenage boy last year.
Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah handed down the sentence on S. Selvakumar, 32, B. Jayanathan, 26, and J. Anthony, 22, all from Sri Lanka, and a Malaysian, T. Ramu, 22.
They were ordered to serve the sentence from the date of their arrest, which was last Oct 30.
The four men pleaded guilty after the prosecution offered an alternative charge under Section 365 of the Penal Code with abducting the teenager, from Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, with intent to cause him to be secretly and wrongfully confined.
They were charged with committing the offence near the Teratai Mewah Apartment, Jalan Langkawi, Setapak here at 8.50am on Oct 26 last year.
They were earlier charged under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, with abduction and wrongful confinement of the boy at B-08-40 Pangsapuri Mutiara Magna Kepong here between 8.50am on Oct 26, 2009 and 12.30am on Oct 31, 2009.
Lawyer M. Kavimani represented Selvakumar, Ramu and Anthony, while Jayanathan was represented by lawyer C. Natarajah.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib prosecuted.
My Comment submitted to The Hindu on the article: "No justification for extending ban on LTTE, says Vaiko", September 27, 2010.
...............
Vaiko is an incurable demagogue who sponsored terrorism in Sri Lanka, and undermines India itself using Tamil nationalism as a weapon to propel himself into power. What a loser!
After 30 years of murder and mayhem by Eelamist Tamils who wailed as victims abroad, while committing atrocities aggressively within Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Tamils have been rescued from slavery by a terrorist group by the Sri Lanka government.
Never again will any Sri Lankan citizen be allowed to be enslaved by any group of terrorists. Sri Lankan Tamils has full and equal rights in Sri Lanka before Eelamist terrorism began, while it was underway in government controlled areas, and will have such rights in the future as well. No Tamil-only Racist Aparthied Bantustan with special rights for Tamils that are not available to other citizens will be allowed in Sri Lanka. One Indivisible Nation, One Indivisible People sharing One Indivisible Destiny is our inheritance in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka government to introduce mediatory boards for Northern Province
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Justice has planned to introduce the mediatory boards to the entire Northern Province to benefit people by providing opportunity to settle disputes before going to courts.
Deputy Minister of Justice Reginald Cooray says that the mediatory boards will be formed as one per each divisional secretariat area in the Northern Province. There are 16 divisional secretariats in Northern Province.
Reputed and respected persons will be appointed on voluntary basis to the mediatory board to settle the disputes of the people. Police will be instructed to direct minor disputes to mediatory boards prior to taking them to courts.
The mediatory boards have become a permanent structure in Sri Lanka's judiciary system settling thousands of issues every week saving time and resources of the courts and people.
Land of Ram is no longer at war with itself
Vir Sanghvi
September 26, 2010
WHAT you might have missed in the furore surrounding the Ayodhya/ Babri Masjid judgment is that there are two quite different disputes to be resolved here. The first is the property title dispute. This has raged for decades long before most of us had even heard of the Babri Masjid or the Ram Janmabhoomi.
The parties to this dispute claim that the land on which the Babri Masjid stood before it was demolished by kar sevaks is either land that belongs to a Muslim mosque or to a Hindu temple. This dispute is not easy to resolve because both sides offer conflicting historical evidence. Was this site regarded as Ram Janmabhoomi throughout history? Or is the Ram Janmabhoomi claim a later construct?
I have no idea what the rights and wrongs of this dispute are. I know that many archaeologists deny that there ever was a temple at the site. Equally, other archaeologists say that they have found evidence that a temple did stand on this location. Still others argue that even if a temple had once existed on the land, there is nothing to suggest that it was destroyed and a mosque built in its place. A more off-beat interpretation states that there may have been a Buddhist monastery that pre-dated the mosque.
The courts have spent decades looking at all the evidence and no doubt if the Supreme Court allows them to they will give a considered verdict. I have no idea what that verdict will be and frankly, I don’t even think that it is terribly important. No matter what the High Court judges decide, the losing party will appeal against the judgment and the case will drag on for many more years.
I have heard people say that this is too important an issue to be left to the courts. I think they are wrong. At one level, the dispute is about property ownership. Whoever can establish legal title will win the case. And the courts are the right place for that kind of decision to be handed down.
But the property case is not the important aspect of the dispute. There was already a tussle of long standing over the ownership of the site when the VHP launched its agitation against the Babri Masjid.
When the VHP’s agitation appeared to strike a chord, L K Advani and the BJP stepped in and turned the Ayodhya movement into a nation-wide crusade.
As far as I am concerned, the real history of Ayodhya does not begin with the property dispute. It begins with the Rath Yatra and with the BJP’s decision to re-invent itself as the party of Ram.
When Advani went on his Rath Yatra, his position was simple and clearly enunciated: millions of Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born on this site. It is, therefore, one of the most sacred spots in Hinduism. There is a mosque on the spot that was constructed centuries after the birth of Ram. It is not a particularly significant mosque in terms of the Muslim religion. Because of the property dispute, namaz has not been said here for decades. What would it cost Muslims to abandon this mosque or even to move it, brick by brick, to another location nearby? They would still have their mosque. And Hindus would have the opportunity to worship at one of their most sacred spots.
Land of Ram is no longer at war with itself
......continued.....
The beauty of Advani’s position was that it paid no attention to history. He did not say that he had proof that Lord Ram was born there. Nor did he claim to have proof that Muslims had destroyed a temple that stood on that site. His position was based on faith. If millions of Hindus believed that Lord Ram was born on that spot, then that should be enough to cause Muslims to re-consider. After all, what is religion but a matter of faith?
Of course, this position derived its ostensible reasonableness from sleight of hand. The truth was that the overwhelming majority of Hindus had never even heard of this spot till Advani told them that it was Ram Janmabhoomi. In fact, there are other spots that also claim to be the birthplace of Ram and until the Rath Yatra began nobody regarded this land as occupying a special place in Hinduism of the kind that, say, the Brahma temple at Pushkar has always occupied.
The important thing about Advani’s argument was not whether it was founded in fact but that it touched a chord. To the horror of the BJP’s political opponents, the Advani position found many takers among Hindus, including those who were not particularly religious.
As Advani’s campaign evolved, it became clear that Ayodhya was not about a mandir or a mosque. It ultimately became a symbol of Hindu frustration.
Advani’s supporters believed that secular India had discriminated against Hindus in an effort to appease Muslims who voted as a single bloc and therefore kept the Congress in power. Because Hindus did not vote as a religious bloc, they became second-class citizens in their own country, people of no importance to the Congress because they were not a vote bank.
You must understand that those were different times. India had just recovered from a bloody Sikh militancy and the assassination of its Prime Minister. The early hopes generated by the Congress landslide of 1984 had fizzled out. There was gloom and darkness everywhere. By 1990, when the movement gathered steam, India was effectively bankrupt, forced to pledge its gold reserves with the Bank of England.
History says when a political system is seen to be failing, people return to the loyalties that preceded the emergence of that system. And so, many Indians — both Hindus and Muslims — retreated to thinking of themselves in terms of religion rather than nationalism.
Once that happened, then both sides saw the dispute in starkly simplistic terms. The Hindus argued that Indian secularism was so twisted that it allowed Muslims to occupy one of the most sacred spots in Hinduism. Muslims argued that Islam was under threat. The majority was seeking to take over mosques. Once the Babri Masjid was surrendered, similar disputes at Kashi, Mathura and other spots would be revived.
Land of Ram is no longer at war with itself
......continued 2.....
In that sense, the Ayodhya dispute was a creature of its time, a symbol of religious divides in a failing, despondent country.
So, here’s my question: does Ayodhya still have the same resonance for either Hindus or Muslims? Have we not regained our faith in the Indian system, recovered our optimism and begun to think of ourselves more as Indians and less as Hindus and Muslims? Will the India of the 21st century still be dominated by a quarrel over a medieval mosque?
My sense is that the answer to all those questions is the same. India has moved on. We have gone beyond the Babri Masjid. Ayodhya was a symbol of national failure, of Indian despondency. It has no relevance to today’s resurgent India where the public mood is entirely different.
That’s why the BJP rarely mentions Ayodhya any longer. And that’s why Muslims have stopped going on about the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
So yes, the judges will eventually adjudicate on one dispute: the title to the Ayodhya land. But the larger dispute about how Hindus are treated and whether Muslims are favoured has already been resolved. This is a new India, one that is ready and willing to surge forward. We look to the future. And do not re-open the pointless quarrels of the past.
Land owned by Tamils STOLEN by the LTTE, say returning Expatriates!
..............
UNF legalized LTTE land deeds
By Chaminda Perera
DailyNews.lk
September 28, 2010
Government officials in the Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts yesterday said that they get a number of complaints from people who have returned to the country after a lapse of 20- 25 years over the illegal occupation of their lands. Lands taken over by the LTTE were distributed among Mahaveer families by them during the time of the Ceasefire Agreement.
The UNF Government had issued the illegal occupants of these lands official title deeds. An official of the Kilinochchi District Secretariat who wished to remain anonymous told the Daily News that the Government had issued title deeds to the people who occupied these lands illegally during the time when the Ceasefire Agreement was in force. The official said the LTTE considered the people who left the area under their control as traitors.
The official said their lands were distributed to families who have made greater contribution to the LTTE and they were given Mahaveer status. The LTTE has issued these illegal occupants a title and later the Government allowed them to prepare their land deeds.
The official said that the Government at that time allowed the people living in such lands to get their lands deed prepared.
The official added that there were several instances where the original title deeds for these lands were destroyed by Lands Registry officials with permission from higher authorities during the CFA period.
According to a senior police officer in the Mullaitivu Police Division, the police get at least five such complaints a day. He said the original occupants come with their valid title deeds and lodge complaints with the police.
The people who returned to the area do not know where they should go to reclaim their lands illegally occupied by the Mahaveer families. They complain to the Police, the Divisional Secretary and Grama Niladharis without success.
The official said most Mahaveer families who were resettled in the district have been given alternative lands but they demand lands given by the LTTE.
This matter was also brought before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission by members of Mahaveer families when it met at Karachchi Divisional Secretariat recently. They complained that they developed the lands given by the LTTE and sought compensation from the Government. A senior official of the Vavuniya District Secretariat Lands Office told the Daily News that the Mahaveer families had their own lands before the LTTE gave them lands but their original lands are located more interior to the A 9 road and they do not like to live there now.
He was of the opinion that this problem can be sorted out if these families are requested to use their original lands.
Interesting article on Development of Sea Ports in Sri Lanka!
............
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
By Jayantha Rathnayake
Island.lk
September 27, 2010
Introduction
Within a matter of three years a brand new port has come up in the south of Sri Lanka, closer to the main shipping route than the port of Colombo and simultaneously an expansion to existing port facilities in Colombo is taking shape under South Port project. There is another brand new port viz. Oluwil, to commence business in the first quarter 2011. This seems a remarkable achievement for the country of which ports mainly depend on the transhipment container volume for survival. Yet, will this development ensure an uninterrupted flow of cargo to Sri Lanka? This paper is an attempt to answer this question by looking at potentials a port such as Trincomalee can offer in the future to retain the transhipment business with Sri Lanka.
...More
Issues affecting the Development and Expansion of Sea Ports in Sri Lanka!
........
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
By Jayantha Rathnayake
Island.lk
September 27, 2010
Introduction
Within a matter of three years a brand new port has come up in the south of Sri Lanka, closer to the main shipping route than the port of Colombo and simultaneously an expansion to existing port facilities in Colombo is taking shape under South Port project. There is another brand new port viz. Oluwil, to commence business in the first quarter 2011. This seems a remarkable achievement for the country of which ports mainly depend on the transhipment container volume for survival. Yet, will this development ensure an uninterrupted flow of cargo to Sri Lanka? This paper is an attempt to answer this question by looking at potentials a port such as Trincomalee can offer in the future to retain the transhipment business with Sri Lanka.
Transhipment Hub status of Colombo and changing shipping environment
The international shipping scene is in constant change in the unending quest for excellence as in any other industry. Among multiple changes that are taking place in the shipping environment, a few aspects as shown below, which are more relevant to Sri Lanka need consideration as a prelude to the topic under discussion.
* Indian port development
* Sathusamudaram ( SSCP) and Thai canal projects
* Trend of ships getting bigger
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
.......continued 1.......
Sri Lanka vs. Indian port development
Whilst Hambanthota port is taking water to be ready for the first vessel scheduled to arrive in November and Colombo South Port work is in progress (sans sealing the agreement for the construction of the terminal) and also Oluwil port is due to be opened in early part of 2011, a flurry of similar activities is taking place in neighbouring India. In Southern India, much-talked Vallapadam port will be commissioned by end of 2010 ( DP World Website) and a host of other new, as well as improved ports, will be ready to offer services to merchant ships soon. A few of these ports such as (1) Vizhimjam ( 23- 27 meters draft), (www.vzhinjamport.org) (2) Ganagavaram ( 21 meters) and (3) Krishnapatnam ( 19 meters) are examples promising to offer deeper draft, which will be one of the decisive criteria in the near future, than any currently operational container ports in Sri Lanka. India has proposed in 2007 a 12.4 billion USD ports upgrade plan enabling India to keep pace with growth of traffic (http://www.portstrategy.com). Projected cargo traffic growth in India by 2011-12 is 876.70 million mt. from 521.58 million mt in 2004-05. Of which container traffic volume is projected to be 12.50 million teus in the same year from 4.5 million teus in 2004-05 (National Maritime Dev. Proramme-2006). The port expansion plan includes inter alia:
* A green port to be developed as an all-weather, deep water, multipurpose port for handling vessels with a draught of 18 to 20m at Gangavaram in Andra Pradesh in East Coast of India. (www.gangavaram.com).
* Vallapadam port by DP World in Kochi, Kerala state. Vallapadam is considered to be a direct threat to Colombo as it intends to compete with Colombo transhipment volume (Financial Times of India, 22nd March, 2010).
* The south-eastern Indian port of Chennai, managed by the Chennai Port Trust (CPT), is planning a mega-container terminal capable of handling super post-Panamax container vessels of 13,000 to 15,000 teu.
* Indian government has approved the long awaited Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) at an estimated cost of Rs. 2427.40 crores (1 crore = ten million). The depth of the canal would be 12 metres and it will facilitate ships up to 10m draft a shorter passage. This will result in saving of up to 424 nautical miles of sailing distance and up to 30 hours of sailing time on passage from east coast of India to west coast of India and vice versa.
* The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has signed an agreement with Gateway Terminals India Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture company formed by Maersk A/S CONCOR Consortium for operation of the Third Container Terminal on BOT (Built Operate and Transfer) basis. Process of developing Fourth Container Terminal at JNPT has also been initiated.
* A Feasibility study for a container terminal at Ennore Port has been completed. Further action in this regard is being taken by the port authorities. Ennore Port is also set to enter in to chemical handling operation through private sector participation.
* A project on deepening of approach channel up to 18.7 meters at Paradip port has been approved.
* Plans prepared by Kerala State government to use private sector participation for developing five more ports in Kerala in addition to the proposed Vizhinjam container transhipment terminal (http://www.keralaports.com ).
* New world-class container port at Krishnapatnam Port; 200 km north of Chennai to be developed BOT basis. (Indian Ministry of Shipping web site).
In view of the fact that 80% current transhipment volume of port of Colombo is associated with Indian ports, effect of the emerging Indian ports, as shown in the Picture 1, on Sri Lanka has to be taken in to careful consideration in the context of Sri Lanka trying to become the hub of the region.
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
.......continued 2.......
In order to support the new ports to retain and handle local cargo and attract cargo from Colombo, the Indian government is even thinking of relaxing Cabotage regulations thus allowing foreign vessels to carry cargo from other coastal ports, for instance, to Vallarpadam to make it a transhipment container port. An Indian journal reports quoting a Govt. official saying that the Shipping ministry of India is believed to be finalizing details for the plan, and a cabinet note on the proposal will be prepared soon (The Hindu Business Line, 19th July 2010). The relaxation will allow foreign shipping lines to carry cargo between Vallarpadam and other Indian ports, despite opposition from domestic carriers as it would lead to the opening up of India’s coastal waters to foreign ships.
In addition to the above, the Indian Shipping Ministry Secretary D.T Joseph is quoted saying following with regard to Vallapadam ‘Shipping ministry is prepared to consider scaling down the vessel related charges to the level of those being levied by the Colombo Port on an experimental basis for six months if it will draw good response from the trade". (Financial Times of 22/03/2010).
Indian ports are only one agent of the threat the port of Colombo is facing. There are a few others taking shape in the neighbourhood.
Sethusamudaram (SSCP) and Thai canal projects
The strategic advantage of SSCP to India is that this project envisages obtaining a navigable sea route connecting East and West coasts of the country, with a reduction in travel distance of more than 420 nautical miles (650 km) for larger ships. It is expected to bring economic benefits to Tamil Nadu, especially and particularly to Tuticorin port, which is to become a model port along with 13 other minor ports (Indian Ministry of shipping web site on port development, April 2010).
As shown by Picture 2, there were five alternative routes considered by many commissions. (There were nine committees, before India gaining independence and, five committees after the independence). Most of the commissions have suggested a land-based alignment across Rameswaram Island). Estimated cost of the project in 2004 was IRS 4,000 crores. With that much cost, the depth envisaged for this canal is for ships with weight of 30,000 DWT and less. Most of the new generation ships (with weight more than 60,000 DWT and tankers with weight above 150,000 DWT) cannot however make use of this canal.
Ever since the Sethusamudram projects got under way (dredging), various quarters expressed concern over the implications of the successful completion of this project. Out of all, religious concern has so far played the most critical role by delaying the project through court cases. Their concern is that this project in its currently accepted form viz Alternative 5, would destroy the bridge supposed to have been built by Lord Rama (Sathu Rama) and therefore it is an act of sacrilege. This belief occupies an important place in the Hindu mythology and therefore touches the minds of majority Hindus of India. Apart from that some experts have expressed concern over the practicality and the viability of this project stating that any gain by using this canal would be negligible.
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
.......continued 3.......
Now the State of India is faced with a dilemma as for the course of action and future of SSCP. Total suspension of the project is most unlikely, despite many concerns, as such an action would be politically much damaging to the Congress party. Therefore, most likely scenario would be that the government would go ahead with the project. However, instead of Alternative five, which if implemented, would be destroying the Lord Rama’s Bridge, the State would cut the canal through Rameswaram Island; perhaps Alternative 4. If it happens, the Colombo port would be affected to the extent of the ships which can negotiate the canal. Tuticorin transhipment container volume, presently transhipped via Colombo, which is about 330,000 teus per annum, would be the first to be diverted to one of the newly constructed ports in the lower East coast of India, such as Chennai or Ennore from where these cargo would get connected to main line vessels, which perhaps by that time, would not be transiting via Malacca Straits but through Thai canal! Effect of Thai canal too, therefore is, important to be examined in the context of future of Colombo port.
The Thai Canal, formally known as Kra Isthmus is a plan to construct a canal across southern Thailand, like that of Suez and Panama enabling ships to avoid going through Malacca Straits (en.wikipedia.org/thai_canal). The location of the Thai Canal is as shown by Picture 3. Proposed Thai canal
As a way out, for the ships are compelled to sail around Malay Peninsula, the Kra canal was suggested as early as 1677 (Wikipedia). This idea resurfaced several times in 18th, 19th centuries but in 1897, Thailand and the British Empire agreed not to build it to protect the dominance of Singapore as a harbour in the region. But in the 20th century, in 1985 with a Japanese plan to use nuclear device to construct the canal, this idea re-emerged.
Length of proposed canal could be anywhere between 50-100 km and the depth would be 25 meters. With the problems in transiting Malacca Straits which is infested with pirates on one hand and the draft of 25 meters is limited to a narrow passage which is frequented by large bulk carriers and oil tankers, attention was re-focused on this project and therefore in 1993, an access highway was commenced. According to US Government, this project has now been undertaken by the Chinese to be completed in ten years with an estimated cost of 20-25 billion USD (Dr. Satapon, 2009).
Once the Thai Canal is in operation, it will bring some remarkable changes to East/West trunk sea route. The voyage time for cargo on either direction would be reduced considerably. It could tend to usher positive effects on Sri Lanka in terms of the Thai Canal will enable Sri Lanka to be more competitive as a transhipment hub: but especially those ports in the Eastern coast (Trincomalee and Oluwil) and to some extent, those in South coast placing them directly in line with the Thai Canal, bringing new importance to these ports and opening hitherto untapped opportunities.
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
.......continued 3.......
Trend of ships getting bigger
For some time, there were divergent views as to the limits of the size for container ships that can float on the oceans, though they seemed feasible on the drawing boards. Any doubts on this were dispelled as vessels which can accommodate over 11,000 teu, such as the Emma Maersk (see Table 1) which is already in service and seven more of sister ships, (which, though designed carrying capacity is 13,500 teus, the owners; Maersk Line carry only up to 11,000 teus at 14 mt per teu basis) are entering into service (www.maerskline.com 2010).
Now experts say that it has become increasingly clear that there are no insurmountable technical barriers to further increases in the size of container vessels which can accommodate 18,000 teus (ESCAPE report on Port Development 2007). In 2008, the South Korean shipbuilder STX Corporation announced plans to construct a container ship capable of carrying 22,000 teus! (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Container_ship).
Table 1 illustrates the comparison of the biggest container vessel at present time and that that are on the drawing board. Ships size is any way a function of the market demand for cargo.
Enhancing vessel size will have multiple effects on the port development:
* Requirement of deep draft for the large vessels to come in will limit ‘calling ports’ to a selected few. For instance, planned 18,000 teu vessels can call only on the ports that have 21 to 25 meter draft. Thus the economic viability of colossal amount of money spent in constructing new ports is becoming a moot point as the order book now comprises of big vessels with 37.8% being over 8000 teus capacity ships.
* The principal objective of shipping companies in going for bigger vessels is to gain the economies of scale and thereby getting a marketing edge. It is said that, through Emma Maersk, a container can be carried to Europe from China (10,800 nautical miles) at a lower cost than a container is road-carried for 100 kilometres.
* Transhipment hub status of some of the ports will be challenged and some of today’s key transhipment hub ports could become feeder ports.
* Major shipping lines would increasingly compete with the existing ports by getting involved in terminal operation. For instance, Maersk already has 50 terminals in 34 countries (www.apmterminals.com). Further in 2010, Maersk will be constructing Cai Mep Terminal in Vietnam and Dachan Bay in Shenzhen, China (Maersk Web site). Continuation of this trend means one day it will be an ‘own affair’ for the shipping companies handling their own ships in own terminals, to the detriment of ports, in the relatively less affluent countries.
Once the location advantage is lost resulting in a further drop of cargo volume, having already lost Tuticorin Cargo due to commissioning of Sethusamudram, Colombo port will not have much cargo to attract as for the operators of supper container vessels, maximum draft of 19 m planned for Colombo South Port would not be appealing and therefore it is natural that shipping lines operating those ships looking for an alternative to cater for Indian cargo volume. Should we allow them to choose Gangavaram with 21 draft or Vizhinjam with 23-27 m draft or any other planned new ports such as Hankasserry or Alappuzha or Munambam or Ponnani or Beypore or Azhikka etc ?. What about Trincomalee?
Shall we look at Trinco port now?
.......continued 4.......
Trincomalee
Situated on the North East coast of the Island, Trincomalee is Asia’s largest and finest natural harbour with unlimited draught (Ports of Sri Lanka - Hand Book 1989). The harbour is able to shelter over a hundred of the largest ships.
Trincomalee has a large harbour area of 2030 hectares; (as against 195 hectares in Colombo) (CASA Weekly, April, 2010) but it has no facility to handle container cargo. On an average basis, about 320, (SLPA unpublished data, 2009) ships call annually at Trincomalee; majority of these being Bulk vessels carrying wheat to the Prima flour milling factory and those vessels which used to carry provisions and armed forces and passengers to the North when the conflict was going on.
Shame on You, Sarath Fonseka, for uttering such treacherous falsehoods that placed the motherland in peril, for political gain and personal revenge!
SHAME ON YOU!
...............
Sri Lankan court to hear controversial "white flag" case next week
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 28, Colombo: A Sri Lankan court has today rescheduled the trial-at-bar against former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance Leader retired General Sarath Fonseka for October 4th and 5th.
Fonseka was also present in the Colombo High Court when the controversial "white flag"case was heard today. He did not attend courts yesterday as he was indisposed.
The Court had ordered the publisher of The Sunday Leader newspaper Lal Wickramathunga and its editor Ms. Frederica Jansz to be present in courts on the next day of hearing.
Fonseka was accused of disclosing state secrets for allegedly telling The Sunday Leader newspaper in an interview that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had ordered the shooting of senior LTTE cadres who tried to surrender to the security forces carrying white flags during the final stages of the war last year.
Sri Lankan government blames that the former Army chief's comment during the campaign for presidential election in January this year was the reason for the UN Secretary-General's decision to appoint a panel of experts on Sri Lanka to probe war crime charges.
The local media reported soon after the hearing today that Fonseka's Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetti had informed court that though court had directed to hand over a photocopy of the note book used by Jansz for the interview with Fonseka only 30 pages had been handed over. He said there were more than 80 pages in the note book.
Following a request made by Ladduwahetti, the judges had granted permission for him to personally check the notebook.
Courts fixed the next dates for the hearing for October 4 and 5.
Sarath Fonseka indicted for creating a Private Army using deserters.
What was the purpose and intent of this Private Army?
....................
Sri Lanka's ex-Army Commander indicted on one more count
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 28, Colombo: Attorney General of Sri Lanka indicted former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance parliamentarian retired General Sarath Fonseka in Colombo High Court today.
Fonseka was charged of organizing soldiers who had deserted the Army, providing protection to them and acting to abolish their loyalty to state.
Retired captain Senaka Haripriya Silva is also indicted on same counts together with Fonseka.
Court denied a request of bail for Silva due to objection of the prosecutors.
Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundara fixed the trial on December 13.
Absolutely! The USA, for example, treats suspected Al Quaida and Taliban detainees differently from those detained for ordinary crimes.
.............
Sri Lankan government cannot treat suspected LTTE detainees under normal laws, says Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 29, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has said that suspected LTTE detainees cannot be treated under the same law as everyone else.
Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has told the BBC that any country in the world would agree that they could not be treated like ordinary criminals.
"The detainees are providing us with information about others who are still at large. The authorities need to keep them for longer to extract more information about the rebel activities and people involved," Abeywardena was quoted by the BBC report.
Meanwhile, former LTTE cadres currently being rehabilitated in the North have reportedly turned up for job interviews in the private sector today (29) at the job fair held in two camps in Vavuniya.
The Sri Lankan government has organized the two-day special job fair for the rehabilitated former LTTE combatants.
The local media stated that they are being interviewed mostly for jobs in factories.
Some 4,000 former LTTE cadres have been released after rehabilitation at the Pompemadu and Nelunkulama camps in Vavuniya. These combatants have been given vocational training to prepare them to earn a living.
We don't care what they do in Norway, but keep these terrorist lovers OUT OF Sri Lanka!
WE KNOW how they UNDERMINED Sri Lanka in pursuit of their own agendas!
..............
Norwegian NGO picked to evaluate failed Sri Lankan peace process
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
September 28, 2010
Norway-based NGO Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI) has won a major contract from the Norwegian government to appraise the Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka, with the emphasis on the disastrous 2002 bid, launched during the tenure of the then Sri Lankan Premier Ranil Wickreemsinghe.
The evaluation team is led by Gunnar Sorbo. Among the other experts involved in the process is Prof. Jonathan Goodhand. Sorbo has held positions as trustee or member of several boards, including the Norwegian Agency for International Development, the Research Council of Norway and member of the North-South/Aid Commission appointed by the Norwegian Government
The CMI is one of the major recipients of Norwegian financial assistance over the years and received numerous government contracts.
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, in its website said that the evaluation would cover Norwegian peace efforts from 1997 to 2009. It went onto say that the report of the inquiry, which would be available in April, next year would contribute to international debate on conflict prevention. A spokesperson for the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry yesterday told The Island that Norway had informed the government of the ongoing evaluation process.
The inquiry team will seek the opinion of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government, the UNP and Tokyo Co-Chairs comprising the US, EU, Japan and Norway. It is not clear whether the inquiry team would seek the opinion of the UN as well as India and China. According to the tender document, the final draft should be ready by January 30, next year. The final draft is expected to be made available to stakeholders early March next year for them to comment on the findings and recommendations.
According to the CMI website, it receives Norwegian government funds through the Research Council of Norway and its main clients include NORAD, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Danida, Sida, UN and the World Bank.
The Murderous Legacy of the LTTE!
Tamil Saviours? .. I don't think so!
...............
Sri Lankan government says some 89,000 war widows in the North and East
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Child Development and Women's Affairs Ministry has said that there are thousands of war widows in the North and East.
According to the Ministry, some 89,000 women in North and East have become widows due to the three-decade long armed conflict.
Deputy Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister M.L.A.M Hizbullah has said that there are 49,000 widows in the East while 40,000 in the North.
The Deputy Minister has stated that about 25,000 are from Batticaloa, of which 12,000 are below age 40 and about 8,000 of them have minimum three children, but none of them have any form of income.
No more Fly-by-Night Buddhist Priests!
................
Sri Lanka to release a directory of Buddhist monks
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Buddhist Affairs has planned to release a directory of Buddhist monks, Prime Minister D.M. Jayarathna who is also the Minister of Buddhist Affairs revealed to media.
The directory will comprise the names of Buddhist monks, their residential temples, telephone numbers, date of ordaining, age and other important information.
The directory will be supplied free of charge to temples around the island, the Ministry says. The Ministry requests the Buddhist monks to assist in compiling the directory by providing information.
The Prime Minister said to media that the directory would stop the moves of some scrupulous elements that manipulate the saffron robe for personal gains.
Quick Decisionmaking and Strategic Investments in National Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies sets CHINA on the path to Future Economic and Technological DOMINANCE, while America remains mired in Tea Party Democrazy.
Sri Lanka IS following in CHINA's footsteps, NOW!
Anarchic Democrazy will not feed us, or guarantee a good future; DISCIPLINED economic development and national technological prowess will.
Damn the naysayers, full speed ahead!
...........
China gives new meaning to shooting for the moon
By Thomas Friedman
September 28, 2010
CHINA IS doing moon shots. Yes, that's plural. When I say "moon shots" I mean big, multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing investments. China has at least four going now: One is building a network of ultramodern airports; another is building a web of high-speed trains connecting major cities; a third is in bioscience, where the Beijing Genomics Institute this year ordered 128 DNA sequencers -- from America -- giving China the largest number in the world in one institute to launch its own stem cell/genetic engineering industry; and, finally, Beijing just announced that it was providing $15 billion in seed money for the country's leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry, starting in 20 pilot cities. In essence, China Inc. just named its dream team of 16-state-owned enterprises to move China off oil and into the next industrial growth engine: electric cars.
Not to worry. America today also has its own multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing moon shot: fixing Afghanistan.
This contrast is not good. I was recently at a Washington Nationals baseball game. While waiting for a hot dog, I overheard the conversation behind me. A management consultant for a big national firm was telling his colleagues that his job was to "market products to the Department of Homeland Security." I thought to myself: "Oh, my! Inventing studies about terrorist threats and selling them to the U.S. government, is that an industry now?"
We're out of balance -- the balance between security and prosperity. We need to be in a race with China, not just al-Qaida. Let's start with electric cars.
China gives new meaning to shooting for the moon
........continued....
The electric car industry is pivotal for three reasons, argues Shai Agassi, the CEO of Better Place, a global electric car company that next year will begin operating national electric car networks in Israel and Denmark. First, the auto industry was the foundation for America's manufacturing middle class. Second, the country that replaces gasoline-powered vehicles with electric-powered vehicles -- in an age of steadily rising oil prices and steadily falling battery prices -- will have a huge cost advantage and independence from imported oil. Third, electric cars are full of power electronics and software. "Think of the applications industry that will be spun out from electric cars," says Agassi. It will be the iPhone on steroids.
Europe is using $7-a-gallon gasoline to stimulate the market for electric cars; China is using $5-a-gallon and naming electric cars as one of the industrial pillars for its five-year growth plan. And America? President Barack Obama has directed stimulus money at electric cars, but he is unwilling to do the one thing that would create the sustained consumer pull required to grow an electric car industry here: raise taxes on gasoline. Price matters. Sure, the Moore's Law of electric cars -- "the cost per mile of the electric car battery will be cut in half every 18 months" -- will steadily drive the cost down, says Agassi, but only once we get scale production going. U.S. companies can do that on their own or in collaboration with Chinese ones. But God save us if we don't do it at all.
Two weeks ago, I visited the Coda Automotive battery facility in Tianjin, China -- a joint venture between U.S. innovators and investors, China's Lishen battery company and China National Offshore Oil Co. Yes, China's oil company is using profits to develop batteries.
.....MORE
1000 schools to be developed as prestigious schools
News.lk
September 29, 2010
The Education Ministry has earmarked a plan to develop over 1,000 schools in urban, rural, and remote areas throughout the country with all resources.
Among over 9700 schools in the country over 340 national schools are administered by the line ministry of education and all others come under the purview of Provincial administrations.
Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has said that these selected schools will be provided with all required resources in order to over come the high demand for national and prestigious Schools.
The Ministry expects to provide these selected schools with laboratory equipment, Computer Centres, Language Skills Development Centres,
Sports equipment and other human and physical resources needed to improve overall quality of education.
No terror attack in Sri Lanka since end of LTTE war
IndianExpress.com
September 29, 2010
No terrorist act has taken place and no one has died due to the menace in Sri Lanka since the end of LTTE war last year, a top military commander has said.
"Since 19th May 2009 until now, no terrorist act has taken place in Sri Lanka and no one has died due to terrorism," Commander of the Wanni Region Major General Kamal Gunaratne said.
"Not only the people in the former LTTE dominated Wanni underwent sufferings and were oppressed by the LTTE, they were also living in fear and anxiety but people in the other parts of the country too had the same panic and the phobia," Gunaratne said while speaking at Wanni Region Army Headquarters at Vavuniya.
The major general said during the height of the LTTE war family members refrained from travelling together. This was to avoid the menace of becoming victimised by bus bombs, sudden bomb blasts, bombs in train carriages and other forms of "terrorism".
The peaceful environment has not only brought in peace of mind and confidence to the people of Wanni but for the country as a whole. The senior commander emphasised the country has been liberated with great sacrifice.
"No one could be permitted to spoil these great sacrifices, and it is the duty and responsibility of everyone to look after it..," he said.
Meanwhile, the state owned 'Daily News' reported that only 27, 400 IDPs remain to be resettled and out of them 19,000 were from the Pudukudiiruppu and Pudumathalan areas.
They are unable to be resettled yet since the area is heavily congested with landmines and de-mining operations in the area are underway, it said.
The security forces rescued around 295,000 people from the LTTE and out of this over 265,000 people have been resettled in their original habitats, the newspaper said.
Those resettled Tamil IDPs included 7,185 families comprising of 19,604 persons in Kilinochchi, 7,775 families (19,257 persons) in Mullaitivu and 18,948 families (59,830 persons) in Jaffna.
This is clear case of non-expert "environmentalists" talking absolute nonsense about nuclear power.
1. Minister Champika Ranawaka is absolutely right and Sri Lanka is "not too small" for nuclear power.
Sri Lanka's power needs are growing astronomically, and reliable low-cost electrical power is the single greatest determinant of economic growth.
2. If Fossil Energy plants are built to meet these needs, they will cause much more environmental pollution, and impose much greater uncontrolled fuel costs on the country than nuclear plants.
Our long term plan should be to build as few fossil power plants as possible to meet urgent current needs, and to PHASE THEM OUT in the future as we bring on nuclear power to meet the base loads, and deploy renewable power sources, energy storage and use strategies to reduce on-demand base load power plant capacity.
3. The nuclear waste issue is not a show stopper, because spent fuel rods can be returned to the foreign fuel supplier for reprocessing. Nuclear waste generation and power plant acquisition difficulties can be rediced if Sri Lanka only becomes a USER of fuel rods and NOT A FUEL MANUFACTURER.
Rods manufactured in other countries can be used and returned to the same vendor for reprocessing, under appropriate safeguards. As such, the nuclear waste generation within the country will be minimal.
4. The most important considerations for Sri Lanka are the safe OPERATION of the nuclear power plants, SAFEGUARDING them from terrorist attacks, and preventing UNAUTHORIZED DIVERSION of the spent fuel rods.
The proliferation risks associated with unauthorized diversion can be minimized through purchasing advanced reactors that employ "neutron poisons" to prevent use of the spent fuels for military/terrorism purposes.
5. Special reactors that can be sold to small countries such as Sri Lanka, that are willing to abide by NPT protocols and return the spent fuels and/or reactor cores for reprocessing, are currently available for purchase from several major countries that produce nuclear power plants. Several types of modular .. one-time-fueled .. reactors will soon become available. The entire reactor core of these reactors is returned to the manufacturer at the end of their operational life.
6. While nuclear power meets the on-demand base-load, RENEWABLE ENERGIES such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind energy and ocean wave energy should be pursued vigorously at several different levels.
Large scale power plants should be supplemented with small scale power production on residential, individual business, and village levels. Government subsidies should be offered to individuals not only to become self-sufficient in energy, but also to pay them to produce and deliver excess power to the grid. In this way, the burden of power production at central generation plants, and the burdens of power transmission and distribution can be significantly reduced.
7. A large portion of imported fossil fuels goes towards meeting transportation needs. This burden can be significantly reduced by adopting a strategy of transforming Sri Lanka's fleet of consumer and business vehicles to fully electric vehicles that are charged by the owners at their residential/business solar power plants, and through an omnipresent network aof electrical charging outlets at every business location, and parking space.
Furthermore, to reduce the time required to charge the batteries, modular battery pack exchange/rental schemes can be devised, with the rental fee tied to the additional energy in the newly battery pack above that in the returned battery pack.
In these ways, Sri Lanka can exploit its small driving distances, and its wealth in available solar energy, to become self-sufficient in energy at low cost in both economic and environmental terms.
In all cases, a base load nuclear energy production capacity should be an essential component of the energy production strategy.
......continued.......
Environmental concern over Sri Lanka nuclear plans
By Saroj Pathirana
BBC News
September 29, 2010
Garbage on a beach in Sri Lanka Critics say Sri Lanka lacks the wherewithal to handle ordinary garbage - let alone nuclear waste
Environmentalists in Sri Lanka have expressed concern over government plans to build a nuclear power plant by 2025.
Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka announced that the government intends to build the plant to fulfil increasing demands for energy.
The minister has said the country needs to ensure that there will be no power cuts in the future.
But the campaigners say that the island is full of natural sources of energy.
Observers are also sceptical as to whether the country will be able to get the technological know-how to build such plant.
Mr Ranawaka has said that the government is already having discussions with Russia over buying nuclear fuel and sending nuclear waste back.
At present only a handful of countries including India, France, the US, Japan, Russia, the Ukraine and Germany have nuclear plants.
Small power projects
"We are considering nuclear power as an option in our long-term generation plan for 2025," he has been quoted by the local media as saying.
Other options, such as solar and wind energy, are not viable either because Sri Lankans consume too much energy at night time or because there is not enough wind.
But environmentalists warn of dire consequences if the plan goes ahead.
Centre for Environmental Justice spokesman Hemantha Withanage told the BBC that Sri Lanka is "too small" for a nuclear power plant.
"How a country which struggles to manage ordinary household refuse thinks that it will be able safely to dispose of nuclear waste is a very important question," he said.
There is no proper rubbish management in Sri Lanka - residents who live near garbage collection centres continuously complain of unbearably bad odours among other environmental issues.
Mr Withanage argues that Sri Lanka's renewable energy sources - such as solar and wind - can meet energy requirements if they are properly managed.
But energy minister Ranawaka - who begun his political career as an environmental campaigner against thermal power plants - insists that the nuclear option is the only viable alternative.
The BBC could not contact the minister despite repeated attempts.
Great!
The Thorium cycle .. developed primarily by India .. has many advantages over the Uranium cycle.
However, Sri Lanka should not contemplate manufacturing, or even mining, nuclear fuels in Sri Lanka, because of excessive environmental impact. Every unit of nuclear fuel mined and produced, spawns a vast volume of radioactive byproducts that would alienate land in Sri Lanka that has a very high value to its people.
Instead, Sri Lanka should buy finished fuel rods, or even one-time-fueled reactor cores, from foreign suppliers and limit itself only to using these for power production. At the end of use, the spent fuel rods/modular reactor cores should be returned to the foreign supplier for reprocessing or disposal.
In this way, Sri Lanka can gain unhindered quick access to nuclear power plant technology, without impaling itself on international anti-proliferation regulatory barriers, avoiding the costs and risks of environmental degradation it can ill afford in a densely population nation without any land land it can permanently alienate.
.............
Lanka to seek power from Thorium
By Ifham Nizam
September 29, 2010
Sri Lanka will be in a position to use thorium, a radioactive metal, to generate nuclear power as 30 per cent of the world’s deposits lay between Kerala in India and Beruwala, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says.
The Minister said he was confident that thorium would be an asset on the completion of the ongoing extensive studies conducted by Indian and local scientists.
Thorium was the second most powerful substance after uranium in the generation of nuclear power, the Minister said.
Last week in Vienna, he explained to the International Nuclear Community how nuclear technology would be utilised for the development of the country as spelt out in the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma 2010.
Ranawaka requested Technical Cooperation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a pre-feasibility study on the use of nuclear energy for power generation in Sri Lanka by 2020.
Sri Lanka's ex-Army Chief will lose his parliamentary seat, government says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 30, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government Thursday said that following the President's endorsement of a 30-month jail term for former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka, he would be ineligible with immediate effect to sit as a Member of Parliament.
Cabinet Spokesperson and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the media that according to the Constitution, Fonseka would be deprived of his seat.
Meanwhile, Military Spokesperson Major General Ubaya Medawala has told the media that the sentence would be Rigorous Imprisonment.
Fonseka is expected to be transferred to the Welikada Prison later today and security has been tightened around the prison.
Fonseka is currently held in military detention in the Naval Headquarters.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today approved the prison sentence given by the second court martial against former Army Commander after finding him guilty of four charges related to alleged irregularities in military procurements during his tenure as Army Chief.
Bravo, Sri Lanka!
Jayawewa!
............
Sri Lanka to enact new laws against exploitation of children
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka is planning to formulate and enact necessary laws to protect children from exploitation and provide them with maximum protection.
Addressing a media briefing today the Minister of Child Development and Women's Affairs Tissa Karaliyadda has said that the President has given instructions to formulate necessary legislation to prevent exploitation of children for begging and underage labour and provide maximum protection to women and children from social discriminations and ill treatment.
Accordingly prevailing Acts are being revised, the Minister has said.
The Minister has explained that during the war abuses of women and children did not come to the open as the masses were more concerned over their security and safety but now, with the end of the terrorism, the problems relating to child abuse and mistreatment of women have come to the attention of the society.
Pointing out that unscrupulous groups use children for financial gain by using them in begging during festivals and other occasions, Karaliyadda has said that the government is considering implementing new laws to take stringent action against such groups.
The Minister urged the people to start treating the children right from birth to build a strong base for a disciplined and honourable society.
Micro starts car exports
By Harshini Perera
DailyNews.lk
September 30, 2010
First consignment for Nepal:
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa inspecting a car to be exported to Nepal while Micro Cars Limited Chairman/CEO Dr Lawrence Perera looks on. Picture by Chaminda Hittetiya
Micro Cars Limited will be exporting ten cars, of the Micro MX7 model as an initial shipment to Nepal. There will be 150 cars in line with the first year commitment from Micro to Nepal which will include Micro cars as well as mini vans in the future.
The cars are sold in Nepal with the franchise of a Nepal distributor who is financially strong, well-informed about the car market and who can deliver a good after service facility, Micro Cars Limited Chairman/CEO Dr Lawrence Perera said at the shipment of cars to Nepal yesterday.
He said the Micro MX7 will be exported at US $10,000 without export taxes which is generally priced at Rs 2.2 million in Sri Lanka.
The car will be priced at Rs 2.3 million in Nepal. The company uses 40 to 50 percent import component in vehicle manufacturing while 35 percent is from the local component. It encourages the local repairers and manufacturers.
“We have come to a proposal with the Transport Ministry to test ten Micro buses to be used in the public transportation system as an initial test.
“The car market in Sri Lanka is around 20,000 a year but we as a local company could only take 10 percent of the market share,” he said.
“We have a larger market share of 80 percent in the SUV jeep segment while the small car segment is 10 to 12 percent and 15 percent for medium cars. The best selling vehicle is SUVs and four new models will be launched in the future,” Dr Perera said.
Wife of Sri Lankan ex-army chief rules out pardon appeal (Roundup)
Monstersandcritics.com
October 1, 2010
Colombo - The wife of the former army chief in Sri Lanka imprisoned for 30 months for violating tender procedures said Friday the family would not be appealing for a presidential pardon.
But plans to challenge the court martial's verdict before the Court of Appeal remain unchanged, Anoma Fonseka said.
'We have no plans to appeal to the president for a pardon,' she said, adding that her husband and former army chief Sarath Fonseka 'has not committed an offence.'
Fonseka started his sentence after being transferred to a high-security jail in Welikada in Colombo city late Thursday after President Mahinda Rajapaksa endorsed the verdict handed down by a court martial earlier.
Anoma Fonseka, along with some 200 supporters of the Democratic National Alliance, a political party led by Sarath Fonseka, was present Thursday outside the prison headquarters to witness her husband being transferred.
She visited him in prison Friday, and returned carrying his uniform, after he was issued his prison regulation shorts and shirt.
'Is this this gift my husband has got after 30 years of war against the terrorists? Does he deserve this?' she said as she left the prison, visibly upset.
Sarath Fonseka had been in military custody at the Navy headquarters since February 8 during the court martial.
His wife's comments came as a local newspaper quoted Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as saying that the president would be ready to re-evaluate the verdict if Fonseka pleaded for a pardon.
'Fonseka's conviction wasn't a political issue and it couldn't be resolved by protests or intervention by third parties,' the defence secretary, who is the president's brother, was quoted as saying in the Island newspaper.
But Fonseka's wife said the decision to sentence her husband was politically motivated and done according to the wishes of the president.
Fonseka, who spearheaded the military campaign against Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, later entered politics after a fall-out with Rajapaksa.
The former general, who lost to the incumbent Rakapaksa in presidential elections in January but went on win a parliamentary seat in April, claimed that the courts martial were aimed at keeping him out of politics.
The government said Fonseka would lose his seat because of the sentence.
However, Fonseka's party spokesman Vijitha Herath said they would be contesting the loss of his seat in the courts in addition to appealing against the 30-month sentence.
Fonseka's party and the main opposition Untied National Party have vowed to launch a public protest campaign against his sentence.
'We have to raise the question whether this government still has the legitimate right to rule the country after resorting to illegal acts such as jailing the former army chief,' UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said in a statement.
The ex-army chief also faces charges in the civilian courts including conspiracy against the government and disclosing military secrets.
An earlier court martial convicted him of involvement in politics while serving as commander and dishonorably discharged him in August. He was stripped of his medals and the rank of general.
The second court martial tried him on charges of approving tenders in favour of company owned by his son-in-law. Fonseka had awarded three tenders to the company to supply items to the army.
Fonseka's lawyers' argument that the company was entitled to tender to supply the army, was not accepted by the court martial.
Economic dividends alone not enough to heal the wounds of war in Sri Lanka, US says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 02, Colombo: The future of Sri Lanka holds promise with the end of the war and the impressive economic progress but economic dividends will not by themselves heal the wounds of war and secure lasting peace and prosperity for Sri Lanka, a high ranking United States official says.
Addressing the World Affairs Council in San Diego Thursday on the U.S. policy in South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. said a range of humanitarian, political, and other steps must be taken to ensure the Tamils of Sri Lanka a future of hope, opportunity, and dignity to reap the dividends of peace.
The former U. S. Ambassador to Colombo noted that the most of the nearly 300,000 displaced civilians have left the welfare camps and begun to reestablish their lives.
"It will now be important for the Government to work with the Tamil community to organize local and Provincial Council elections as soon as possible so that a new, freely elected indigenous leadership can emerge in the North for the first time in almost thirty years," he pointed out.
To achieve lasting peace and true reconciliation Sri Lanka must investigate and ensure justice for the war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law that human rights and other groups allege occurred in the final stages of the conflict, the official urged.
He said the U.S. has welcomed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and hopes that it will probe violations of international humanitarian law, identify those responsible and make appropriate public recommendations.
"Having defeated one of the most murderous terrorist groups in the world, President Rajapaksa now has an historic opportunity to build a tolerant, multi-ethnic democracy in Sri Lanka that will bring lasting peace and unprecedented prosperity," Assistant Secretary Blake observed.
Blake said he has a special attachment to Sri Lanka as he has served as Ambassador for three years from 2006 and witnessed the resumption and end of the conflict. Since the end of the war he has returned to the island several times and seen a renewed sense of purpose among the people, he said.
According to Assistant Secretary Blake, the U.S. has provided $89 million in food and other humanitarian aid for the internally displaced in Sri Lanka and additional assistance for demining so they can return to their villages and homes.
Another $25 million have been provided to catalyze new private sector partnerships and agricultural development to provide livelihood opportunities for the resettled people in the North.
300MW Norochcholai Coal Power Plant in the Northwestern Province to begin generating electricity.
............
Sri Lanka's first coal power plant to begin operations this month
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 01, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Power and Energy sources say that the country's first ever coal power plant will commence preliminary operations for power generation this month.
The power plant is to be seasoned with the use of diesel as fuel instead of coal. Actual coal power generation is to commence in January 2011.
The coal power plant, situated in Norochcholai in the Northwestern Province of Sri Lanka will generate 300 megawatt in the first stage. The generation capacity is to be increased up to 900 megawatt through the second and third stages.
The Ministry says the construction is 95% complete now.
The construction of the three phases of the US$ 1.35 billion plant is being carried out by a Chinese company.
Now, Pak accuses India of giving birth to suicide bombings via LTTE in South Asia
According to The Nation, while opposing Indian External affairs Minister S.M. Krishna's accusation that Pakistan was linked to terrorism, Sial told 192 UN members that India had conducted state terrorism in Kashmir where people resorted to revolt against New Delhi's rule marked by repression.
"India ... conceived, created and nurtured the most lethal terrorist organisation, which introduced suicide bombings in our region, still it has the nerve to give lectures on morality to others," Sial said.
--------------------------
Nice one. Wouldn't be easy to respond to this one.
Unto us a Solomonesque Verdict is Given ... Divide Ayodhya in two: 2/3 to Hindus; 1/3 to Muslims!
.............
Ayodhya: It’s Ramjanmabhoomi
Anand Raj Singh
October 01, 2010
LUCKNOW: The disputed site in Ayodhya should be split into three parts among Hindus and Muslims, the Allahabad High Court ordered on Thursday, and, on an anxiously awaited centuries-old question, ruled that the spot where a makeshift temple was built after the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid was Lord Rama's birthplace.
By a majority 21 decision on the partition, the court's Lucknow Bench also ruled that status quo must be maintained at the pertinent 2.7acre land, but the separate judgments of the three justices agreed on one point: the area under the central dome of the 1528-built structure where the Ram idol now exists belongs to Hindus. Justices S U Khan and Sudhir Agarwal decreed that the plot be divided equally among the Hindus, Muslims and one of the oldest litigants in the 60yearold title suit. The third judge, Justice D V Sharma, registered a dissenting note, saying the entire land belonged to Hindus.
While Hindu organisations largely welcomed the verdict, the Sunni Wakf Board expressed disappointment and announced its plan to appeal before the Supreme Court. The Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect which is among the three potential owners of the land, too spoke about identical future plans, challenging the decision to give one-third land to the Wakf Board.
The nation at large showed no possibility of a flareup, as religious outfits and political parties reacted to the verdict with poise. An odd procession in Haryana or a random incident of bursting of firecrackers in UP provoked none. And it wasn't just the ruling Congress that said the HC order should not be seen as a victory or defeat of anybody; even the Sangh Parivar was quick to observe that it was "not against any particular community".
Besides that of the Wakf and the party representing the 'Ram Lala Virajman' (deity), the court recognised the right of Nirmohi Akhara, a litigant since 1959, to the land - the portion comprising Ram Chabootara, Sita Rasoii and Bhandar.
The court, nonetheless, permitted "any adjustment" but only after ensuring that the "adversely-affected party may be compensated by some portion of the adjoining land which has been acquired by the Central government". The order, in effect, meant that the share of Muslims in the land would be in a part that excludes what is meant for the two other litigants.
The President is on the right track:
Building a LAW-ABIDING DISCIPLINED SOCIETY is a MUST for Sri Lanka's future progress in the world.
An Anarchic Indisciplined Society will only pit us against each other in internecine conflicts.
The FIRST THING TO DO when trying to get out of a hole IS TO STOP DIGGING!
.............
Sri Lanka President seeks insight from Buddhist prelates for common problems
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 02, Polonnaruwa: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday (01) met with the chief incumbents of the Buddhist temples in Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, and Trincomalee districts and sought the guidance from the Nayaka theras to find solutions to the problems common to the region.
During the discussion, the President pointed out that his goal is to build a law abiding and disciplined a society that will never be subjected to decay.
The government is fulfilling with extreme diligence its responsibility to nurture Buddhism while safeguarding the rights of people of all religions, the President said, adding that the country's law is is being implemented to all citizens equally.
The chief prelate of the 12 temples in Polonnaruwa district Venerable Wenderuwe Sri Upali Nayaka Thera led the group of monks in the discussions.
Ministers Maithripala Sirisena, Bandula Gunawardena, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Chief Minister of North Central Province Bertie Premalal Dissanayake, Governor of the North Central Province Karunarathne Diulgane, Deputy Ministers S. M. Chandrasena, Susantha Punchinilame, Chandrasiri Sooriyarachchi, Siripala Gamlath, S. D. Gunawardena, P M Earl Gunasekara were present at the occasion.
MR invited to address Oxford Union Society again
Island.lk
October 1, 2010
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been invited to address the Oxford Union again. This is the first time in the history of the prestigious organisation a head of State has been invited to address it for the second time.
The President of the Union, James Kingston, in his invitation to President Rajapaksa, says that the latter’s ‘extra ordinary leadership’has seen the momentous achievement of a final and total victory against the forces so long threatening the peace and stability of the Sri Lankan people.
"Your successful conclusion of this 30 year military conflict ranks as one of the most significant acts seen by the world in recent years; and, in conjunction with the Sri Lankan Society of Oxford, we humbly wish to use the occasion of your visit to present you with a mark of the Oxford Union’s respect for your accomplishment in fostering lasting peace," Kingston says on behalf of the Oxford Union.
Towards a LAW-ABIDING and DISCIPLINED SOCIETY: Surrender of illegal unlicensed arms in the Eastern Province!
Jayawewa!
............
Sri Lanka Police orders to surrender all unlicensed fire arms in the Eastern Province
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 02, Colombo: The Sri Lanka Police has issued a directive to surrender all unlicensed weapons in use in the Eastern Province to the police.
Accordingly, all unlicensed fire arms in operation in the East are to be handed over to the nearest police station before October 30, 2010.
The local media Saturday quoted Senior DIG in charge of the Eastern Province, Edison Gunathilaka as saying that every police station in the Eastern Province has been notified of the directive.
The DIG has said that legal action would be instituted after October 30 against any person who possesses an unlicensed fire arm.
The police have reportedly decided on this move following information regarding large numbers of unlicensed firearms are in operation in the Province.
What could be MORE TRUE than India's role in spawning LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka?
India initiated and supported LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka during Indira Gandhi's and Rajiv Gandhi's tenures as Prime Minister .. that is an ESTABLISHED, UNDENIABLE, ACKNOWLEDGED FACT.
.................
Now, Pak accuses India of giving birth to suicide bombings via LTTE in South Asia
NewKerala.com
October 1, 2010
Islamabad, Oct 1 : Addressing the UN General Assembly, Pakistani delegate Amjad Hussain Sial has alleged that India had supported terrorist elements in neighbouring countries and also helped to set up the most lethal terrorist organisation, the Tamil Tigers, which introduced suicide bombings in the South Asian region.
According to The Nation, while opposing Indian External affairs Minister S.M. Krishna's accusation that Pakistan was linked to terrorism, Sial told 192 UN members that India had conducted state terrorism in Kashmir where people resorted to revolt against New Delhi's rule marked by repression.
"India ... conceived, created and nurtured the most lethal terrorist organisation, which introduced suicide bombings in our region, still it has the nerve to give lectures on morality to others," Sial said.
Referring to Krishna's claim that Jammu and Kashmir was part of India, Sial said that the disputed territory was on the agenda of the United Nations, which had passed resolutions to that effect. The first Prime Minster of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, had also made commitments, reaffirmation of which Pakistan welcomed noting that Kashmir was not the property of either India or Pakistan, but belonged to the Kashmiri people.
He further alleged that India had failed to fulfil its commitments and that it maligned Pakistan on terrorism in order to hide its own behaviour.
"The ongoing indigenous peaceful, unarmed, non-violent and widespread movement for 'Azadi' i.e. freedom in Kashmir has once again proved that despite facing decades of repression and some of the worst forms of human rights violations at the hands of Indian security forces, Kashmiris refuse to accept any other solution than the exercise of their just right to self-determination," he added.
However, Indian delegate, Manish Gupta, accused Pakistan of making "false allegations" about his country. He further said that Pakistan should focus particularly on the issue of terrorism and devise ways to dismantle it.
Asking Pakistan to tackle its own problems, Gupta said the violence in Jammu and Kashmir was being waged by "forces that don't want peace," and added that free elections in Jammu and Kashmir had been conducted.
N. Korea aided LTTE : Rohan
By Lakna Paranamanna
DailyMirror.lk
October 02, 2010
The North Korean Government aided the LTTE in procuring weapons since 1997 until the end of the conflict, International Counter Terrorism expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratna alleged yesterday.
Speaking before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) Prof. Gunaratna said it was LTTE Auditor/ Accountant Ponniah Anandarajah who was involved in procuring arms through the North Korean Government to the LTTE. “He was operating from outside Thailand and almost all the major weapons were procured from North Korea,” he said. Prof. Gunaratna added that it is important for the Sri Lankan Government to let North Korea know that they are aware of the information. He said apart from the propaganda and fund raising activities which the LTTE conducted globally in the form of front cover and sympathetic organizations, the procurement and shipping of arms were heavily carried out through the accumulated funds. “Although the LTTE exploited some of the Middle Eastern and Western European countries for arms procurement, they initially procured their arms from India and the Indian Government facilitated it,” Prof. Gunaratna said.
“Unfortunately at this point, Sri Lanka did not understand the importance of maintaining a good relationship with India,” he said. Prof. Gunaratna stressed on the importance maintaining a good relationship with India if peace is to be established in Sri Lanka.
Lanka should counter negative image
By Lakna Paranamanna
International counter terrorism expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratna said the Sri Lankan Government should at least now take steps to issue a white paper to counter the accusations of alleged war crimes during the final stages of the war.
“As a country Sri Lanka failed to project the ground reality of what happened and the LTTE took advantage of the situation. The Government should have issued a white paper on the fifth no-fire zone and the failure was a miserable letdown on the part of Sri Lankan leaders,” he said speaking before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) yesterday.
Therefore, he said the Government should at least take steps now to issue a white paper stating the number of casualties and fatalities during the war. Based on his interviews with the LTTE doctors and coroners and doctors who operated in the areas of the final clash, Prof. Gunaratne said that the number of civilian casualties would only be a maximum of about 1400 although the UN still quotes the number as 7000.
LTTE International network still active
Prof. Gunaratna said although the LTTE had been dismantled militarily within Sri Lanka, the global network of the LTTE still remained untouched. “There are some 42 LTTE officers operating in North America itself. The main mistake which the Governments in Sri Lanka have been making over the years is focusing solely on defeating the LTTE militarily.
Therefore no effort was made to dismantle the international network,” he pointed out. He remarked that it was the LTTE member Nediyawan operating in Norway who currently runs the LTTE structure although Selvarasa Pathmanathan aka KP is currently known as the successor to LTTE leader Prabhakaran “Nediyawan promotes Prabhakaran’s agenda and hence there is no significant shift in LTTE leadership.
SEC creates history
Becomes best performing capital market in world:
Political stability spurs investor confidence :
By Charumini DE SILVA
DailyNews.lk
October 02, 2010
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) became the best performing capital market in the world recording a growth of 111.14 percent, while the All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the CSE crossed 7,000 milestone creating history yesterday, Colombo Stock Exchange Business Development Manager, Thushara Jayaratne said.
The CSE topped with 111.14 percent, followed by MSE Top 20 Index with 109.71 percent. DSE General Index was 56.48 percent becoming the third. The ASPI closed at 7,147.77 moving up by 150 points whilst the Milanka Price Index (MPI) recorded 7,829.05 up by 276.3 points.
Colombo Stock Exchange
The turnover for the day was Rs 6.01 billion. All indices of the capital market recorded their highest levels yesterday.
Speaking to the Daily News Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson, Indrani Sugathadasa said the result was a combined effort of all stakeholders of the stock market.
As the regulator SEC made good directives and guided the market to have a fair and transparent market.
“The credit should also go to President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he opened the door for foreign investers to invest in our country and the political stability of the country provided immense confidence to all investors”, she said.
Logan Rockefeller Global Lanka Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd., Managing Director, Channa de Silva said this signifies that all fund managers across the world are looking at the Bloomberg rankings. Sri Lanka gaining the top slot will interest and will influence them to invest in the CSE.
“No other country in the world currently enjoys the unparallel growth potential that the country offers after the 30-year war. All economic indicators demonstrate beyond any doubt of rapid impressive economic conditions in Sri Lanka, which will be a significant factor to attract investments”, he said.
The Price Earning Ratio (PER) has increased up to 28 times whilst the Price to Book Ratio (PBR) was over three times. However, at least another two to three large companies which are doing well in construction, leisure and power has absolute priority to up the liquidity and provide the ever increasing local retail market.
The Government development efforts in roads, power, sea, air ports and other hardcore infrastructure elements are critical to attract investors. Therefore, their commitment to the country will rapidly increase with the CSE becoming the best in the world, de Silva said.
Sri Lanka Foreign Minister says 18th Amendment was needed for country's progress
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 01, Colombo: Sri Lanka's External Affaires Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has defended the recent passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution saying that it was urgently needed to proceed with the development work and not about the removal of term limits.
In an interview with Megha Bahree, a staff writer for Forbes, the Minister has said that the bill had to be approved urgently to prepare the budget for the next year and to appoint the commissions as rapidly as possible.
"Had we not implemented it, we could not have put together our budget by November. The Supreme Court couldn't have intervened if it hadn't been marked urgent," Prof. Peiris was quoted.
Regarding the term limits, the Minister has said that people may elect the person they wanted.
"The people of Sri Lanka want us to get on with the job and not an endless see-sawing in Parliament," he has said.
When asked about the development in the North and East, the Minister has pointed out that new industries to promote fisheries and the agriculture are springing up in the region with the assistance of Japanese and American companies. Several apparel companies have also opened up factories and an economic renaissance is taking place in the region.
Hi Ananda:
One of my friend recently visited Sri Lanka. People now can not smoke or drink (alcohol) or behave indecently in Galle Face now and this has created a tremendous family environment in Galle Face.
This is a good start.
Law and order situation is somewhat better and I expect major improvements after all constitutional amendments are passed.
However I lament leniency on Mervin even though he does do work for the electorate.
But he should have been severely furnished for tree incident.
I hope that he will not become a further embarrassment to the government.
Swarnajith Udana,
Welcome back!
It is good to know that after 30 years of decline, respect for the law, discipline, and decent behavior is conciously being revived in Sri Lanka.
Recently, MR held a conference with leading Buddhist priests on just that subject of how to promote a law-abiding disciplined society in Sri Lanka.
Come and visit us more often, if you can.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa LEVERAGES the United Nations General Assembly Meeting to market Sri Lanka, and ATTRACT FUNDS for Sri Lanka's Infrastructure and Economic Development.
It is his PERSONAL DIPLOMACY that has ALREADY brought Billions of Dollars to Sri Lanka.
Furthermore, a diplomatic offensive to defend Sri Lanka cannot be sustained like beggars without spending funds for entertaining diplomats and other decisionmakers. We should be glad that we have in the President who has the vision and ability to perform superbly in that role.
Yet, Incurably Jealous, Frustrated, Anti-National Politicians, who never brought a dime of development money to the Motherland, CRITICIZE HIM!
GOD DAMN these DO-NOTHING NAYSAYERS!
...............
Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN - Lalith Weeratunga
This was the President’s most successful UN visit:
UNGA offered a multitude of opportunities:
No development without peace and no peace without development:
Top US business leaders attend meeting hosted by SL Ambassador:
Thirty-four tour operators here as result:
Meetings with important EU representatives:
Fruitful interaction with UN Secretary General:
Invitation from Wall Street Journal, another highlight:
By Manjula FERNANDO
SundayObserver.lk
October 03, 2010
The Opposition had a gala time, coming out with numerous allegations and claims regarding President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to New York to attend the United Nations’ 65th General Assembly. Among them, the main allegation was about a ‘gigantic’ entourage consisting of 130 members. Their reports also alleged that the Lankan Mission spent lavishly to reserve four storeys of a super-luxury hotel - the Waldorf Astoria-for the delegates.
Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga told the Sunday Observer that these allegations are largely based on fiction and may have been brought up to personally attack and tarnish the image of the president.
He said the numbers involving the delegation were outrageously exaggerated as much as the expenditure for the UN visit.
“I have accompanied the President on every single UN visit he had made since 2006. This was the most fruitful visit during his entire tenure as Head of State. I can say this with much authority,” Weeratunga said.
Excerpts of the interview:
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first trip to the UN was in September 2006. It was like being in the dock. He was trying to defend the country against an ocean of allegations. The LTTE propaganda was so intense that Sri Lanka was seen as a barbaric nation, the Sinhalese were seen as a barbaric ethnic community which ‘decimated’ the Tamils, if I may use that word. But that was not the real picture.
In 2006 we were at Mavilaru, at the beginning of the humanitarian operation. At the UN, the President had to grapple with the situation and convince the world Community that Sri Lanka was not a barbaric nation and that we were not killing Tamils, that the effort was to free the Tamil people from the clutches of LTTE terrorism. That was probably the first occasion a Sri Lankan president was able to expose the real face of the LTTE.
It was a single-handed onslaught on the LTTE’s shrewd propaganda war. Their network was formidable. It had reached Presidents, Prime Ministers, world bodies and regional bodies like the European Union (EU). We simply could not match their well-oiled propaganda machine. Their propaganda mill was run with millions of dollars.
As a State actor, our media campaign had to abide by international rules and norms; transparency, good governance, accountability and whatnot. On top of all that, the West never looked at us sympathetically. We never got a fair hearing.
Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN - Lalith Weeratunga
....continued 1.....
Then there were some NGOs and individuals who lived on the war, who thrived on situations like ours. They never wanted the country to achieve peace. This is not fiction, but a known fact.
INGOs worried
In fact, some INGOs are now very worried that Sri Lankas model will be emulated by other countries burdened with terrorism. They wished the situation would ‘simmer’ and take root. When there is terrorism in the land, there are all sorts of beneficiaries; arms dealers, corrupt humanitarian bodies and other groups who gain by it. It was a huge feat for the Government - liquefying their propaganda war.
The UN tour last week, the first visit by Sri Lanka’s Head of State after the end of the brutal war with the LTTE, became a landmark visit because this was the first occasion when the President went before the world body to narrate Sri Lanka’s success story: To say that this is what we had done, to clear misconceptions whipped up by LTTE remnants. Our aim was to ensure zero casualties. That was a miracle. Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN and the President stood there with pride.
There was speculation that the UN was going to investigate war crimes and take the Rajapaksas before a war crimes tribunal. Such a move would have affected the whole country and not just the Rajapaksas. The President was ready to face any eventuality and go before whatever tribunal to redeem the country of any evil.
His speech at the UNGA was prepared after a painstaking process. It was not just written, it was developed after an in-depth review of contemporary issues and our own concerns. There were inputs from various sources, but the main thrust of the speech was made by the President himself. He said, “This is the line that I want to emphasise”.
He wanted to say “let us forget the past and concentrate on our future”.
Even his speech at the Millennium Development Goals Summit, where he quoted from the Maha Parinibbana Sutta (Buddha’s last sermon), was very forceful and carried much impact. He said “If there is any kingdom in which women and children are treated well and being looked after and protected, that is a righteous society”.
Sri Lanka has a very positive attitude towards women and children. In fact, we produced the world’s first woman prime minister. The US is yet to produce its first woman president.
If you look at the President’s General Assembly statement, there are a good number of instances where he emphasised, “let us forget the past and tread the path towards reconciliation”. He had to cast away the smoke blanket of misconstructions and convince the world body that the nation has been put on a development footing and the reconciliation process has in fact begun. He said, “There would neither be development without peace nor would there be peace without development.”
Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN - Lalith Weeratunga
....continued 2.....
Investment potential
Despite the difficult conditions, Sri Lanka’s economy has been growing. During the last quarter, the country had shown an outstanding 8.5 percent growth. It is paramount to our survival, to bring in top level investments. With the elimination of terrorism, there is so much potential in this country. That message had to be delivered. We are looking at Sri Lanka as a top class tourism destination. The New York Times featured Sri Lanka as its number one tourism destination out of 30 countries. We must capitalise on these opportunities.
The UN General Assembly, in that context, offered us with a multitude of opportunities.
A world leader must go before the world community and convince them to take an interest in Sri Lanka. You cannot lure investors by being here and writing letters.
I have accompanied the President on all his previous visits to the UN. In my view, the 2010 visit was the most fruitful and forceful. I was associated with almost all bilateral meetings he had with the world leaders.
The President arrived in New York on September 20 and was there for seven days.
There were intense behind-the-scenes operations to make his stay productive. There was a big team behind its success. We had to make the maximum use of our influence to make important meetings happen. The backstage team played an important role in making them happen.
A fairly large supporting staff from the External Affairs Ministry as well as others accompanied the President on his visit to the US, but to say the entourage consisted of 130 members was outrageous.
Large security contingent
I have to admit that the President’s local security contingent was fairly large. It consisted of 25 PSD security personnel. The security of our President is paramount. I don’t think anyone will question that. They were allowed to carry weapons in the US. This was in addition to the Secret Service personnel provided by the US Government.
The President was earger to introduce young MPs to the world leaders and get them (young leaders) accustomed to the happenings at the UN. The reason for young MPs to accompany the President this year was because this was the Year of Youth in the UN calendar. There were a number of activities lined up for young delegates in parallel to the UNGA. Therefore, it was improper to describe it as a pleasure trip.
A medical response team and a group of media personnel also travelled with the delegation. They were an important part of the UN contingent.
The Sri Lankan delegation also comprised 15 top business community leaders, all of whom contributed immensely in the discussions with the US business and trade community. They were the heads of John Keells, Brandix, Senok, Carsons Cumberbatch and Laughfs and business magnate Dhammika Perera.
Their presence and interaction helped build confidence among US investors. Sri Lanka’s ambassador in the US Jaliya Wickremasuriya organised a luncheon meeting for US business leaders at New York City’s Helmsley Hotel. Top trade moghuls were among the packed gathering. Sri Lanka could not attract even five guests to such events before. The outcome of these meetings will be seen in the near future.
Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN - Lalith Weeratunga
....continued 3.....
Best destination for investment
External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris, delivering the keynote address at the event, said Sri Lanka boasts an economy with strong fundamentals - a market poised for continued growth and international investment. Noting the nation’s promising economic future, Prof. Peiris said, “Sri Lanka is today, without any exaggeration, one of the world’s best destinations for investment.... We are on the threshold of an economic renaissance in Sri Lanka.’’
Executives from the Coca Cola Co., Boeing Co., Google, Hilton Hotels and Resorts and Starwood Hotels and Resorts were among the 100 business leaders, analysts and representatives of chambers of commerce and industry present on the occasion.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. said, “This forum has the potential to grow into a US-Sri Lanka business council, to bring together companies and governments. Companies like Pfizer want to invest in emerging markets such as Sri Lanka.”
President met investors
President Rajapaksa made it a point to walk round the tables and extend personal invitations to each and every business personality there to travel to Sri Lanka and explore the vast potential created after the end of LTTE terror. It was a welcome gesture.
Thirty top level tour operators will be here tomorrow to explore possibilities of expanding their businesses here. Their interests will guarantee a continued flow of tourists from the US and Europe. The team of operators will tour Sri Lanka for five days to study and evaluate the conditions before starting their promotional work. A major US hotelier who owns 1,000 hotels worldwide has already shown interest in setting up business in the island.
Don’t forget the fact that Sri lanka is targeting 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2015. This year, we will probably reach one million arrivals. The highest recorded by Sri Lanka so far is half a million. Malaysia brings in 20 million tourists a year. We have a long way to go.
Ban Ki-moon
The President’s interaction with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon was one of the most fruitful meetings.
The Secretary General had 20 minute slots for each UN delegate, but his meeting with President Rajapaksa lasted for about 40 minutes.
At this meeting which was very cordial, the Secretary General said you are now a South Asian leader. You must look beyond Sri Lanka. He congratulated the President on his election victories. His words were “what can’t you do with such political victories.”
He was extremely pleased with the IDP’s situation.
I feel Sri lanka could look forward to a good working relationship with the UN in future. Ki-moon may send an emissary shortly to discuss continuing relations with Sri Lanka.
The Secretary General clarified that the panel appointed by him had no mandate from the Security Council or the General Assembly to investigate. It was there to advise him on a personal capacity. Therefore, he said, “try and work with them so it will help him to help Sri Lanka”.
The President briefed him on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. He said he had appointed eight people of eminence and stature and anyone can come before this Commission to testify including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Following Ki-moon’s assurances that the panel had no investigative mandate, the President said the members could attend the LLRC sessions and testify before the Commission. He said the Commission will enable them to have a discussion.
This was in stark contrast to what certain people hoped. They wanted Sri Lanka to be put on the mat, to be taken before the Security Council and imposed with embargoes. That was how they planned to defeat the Government and not by a people’s mandate.
Sri Lanka was on a strong wicket at the UN - Lalith Weeratunga
....continued 4.....
President visits Wall Street Journal
Another highlight of the President’s visit during the UN Assembly was the invitation he received from the Wall Street Journal. This news paper is regarded as a strong opinion maker which can make or break governments. President Rajapaksa was invited by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board. The Sri Lankan business leaders also took part in this visit.
Relations with the West
Normally, during the UNGA, we do not ask for meetings with the US President due to his hectic schedule. The Deputy Premier of the UK attended the sessions. There was no representation from France as well.
The German Chancellor had a banquet to which President Rajapaksa was invited.
There was no particular effort on our part to engage the main players of the West. But all the meetings that took place on the sidelines of the UNGA were well-planned and well thought out. We wanted to meet people whom we rarely meet and hold meetings that would be beneficial to the country.
The meetings with the Thai and Malaysian Premiers were very important in that sense. Their cooperation will help Sri Lanka to counter the LTTE’s international operations.
The President had bilateral meetings with the Emir of Qatar, Presidents of Iran, Hungary and Turkey which currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Security Council and Prime Ministers of Jamaica, Thailand, Norway, Malaysia and Portugal.
Portugal, Hungary and Turkey are members of the EU. The Portugal PM during the bilateral meeting called on the President to treat them as partners in our foreign policy, implying that they are prepared to speak on behalf of Sri Lanka. Meetings with these important EU countries who could better understand our situation were significant because their assistance will help clear EU’s misgivings on Lanka.
Meeting with Norway
Meeting Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was one of the important events. Associated with him was Minister Eric Solheim, a one time peace envoy to Sri Lanka. The President said Norway has to play a different role now. They were earlier facilitating a so-called peace process which could have ultimately doled out one third of the country to the ruthless LTTE.
The President very clearly said that if Norway wanted to be involved in Sri Lanka, their help will be welcomed for infrastructure development than in any other area. He said Norway was one of the early development partners of Sri Lanka before their interest shifted elsewhere under manipulation. Their first project was started in the mid-1970s from Hambantota under NORAD.
IMF loan
There were also many hidden dividends which followed the Presidnet’s UN visit. The announcement of the delayed third tranche of the US $ 2.6 billion IMF loan being released came on the heels of his landmark speech.
Exaggerated reports
There are allegations about reserving the Waldorf Astoria, an expensive luxury hotel for the UN delegation. The hotel was reserved after an indepth security assessment and taking into consideration the travelling and other constraints, by our Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona.
There are hotels in New York, such as the Ritz Carlton and Hilton, which are much more expensive than this hotel.
During the sessions, the delegates have to walk to the UN Headquarters. Only the Head of State will be taken in a motorcade. The President’s motorcade consisted of six cars. This is as per the recommendation of the organisers.
A bullet-proof car is provided by the US Government for the President and the Mission will have to hire the other cars. It is outrageous to say that Sri Lanka’s UN Mission hired 80 cars.
Several cars and a few other vehicles had to be hired to facilitate the delegates and the media personnel, but there was no need to hire 80 cars. All these reports and allegations have been exaggerated and inflated to give a different twist.
Eelam Project continues ABROAD under the TGTE while Sri Lankan opposition politicos undermine the nation at HOME.
..............
Rudrakumaran 'PM of Tamil Government'
BBC.com
October 03, 2010
Visvanathan Rudrakumaran (photo: Lake House)
Mr. Rudrakumaran served as a legal advisor to the Tamil Tigers
The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has elected its prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker after ratifying its constitution at a meeting in New York, the TGTE said.
It said the former legal advisor to the Tamil Tigers, Visvanathan Rudrakumaran, was unanimously appointed as the first ever PM while two leading expatriates from Canada and Switzerland were elected as the speaker and his deputy.
The meeting at the United Nations Plaza Hotel on 01 October was also addressed by international dignitaries including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the statement said.
Delegates in New York were joined via teleconference with London and Paris and the delegations has agreed to form a parliament and to create the post of a prime minister and three deputy posts.
There will also be an advisory body -Senate.
Election fraud
The TGTE earlier admitted that there have been accusations of many elections irregularities, including the stuffing of ballot boxes, during the election of 112 delegates in Western countries and Australia.
Kumaran Pathmanathan named Mr V Rudrakumaran as the coordinator of the formation process. Assisting him was a task group consisting of formation and advisory committees
Tamilnet
TGTE, a group formed by a section of the pro- Tamil Tiger diaspora, is working on establishing "an independent, sovereign State of Tamil Eelam," and developing "a pragmatic approach" in relation to the relief and development work in the north and east of Sri Lanka, it said.
The TGTE programme was set on motion in a meeting convened by Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP) in Kuala Lumpur in June 2009, according to Tamilnet website.
KP arrested in Bangkok in September 2009 is held by Sri Lankan security forces in Colombo with relative freedom of movement.
Meanwhile, thousands of suspected former rebels are held in detention centres in the North since the Sri Lankan government claimed victory over Tamil Tigers in May 2009.
"Mr Pathmanathan named Mr V Rudrakumaran as the coordinator of the formation process. Assisting him was a task group consisting of formation and advisory committees," it says.
However, TamilNet quoted TGTE members saying, "the question of one-person dominated leadership or collective leadership was not at all taken for voting in the TGTE Constitutional Assembly meeting held in New York Thursday and Friday".
The West Watches RISING Sri Lanka with Trepidation because what their PRECONCEIVED BIASES prevents them from UNDERSTANDING, they FEAR!
............
FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Sri Lanka
By C. Bryson Hull
COLOMBO Oct 3 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa this week signed off on a 30-month prison term against his erstwhile army commander and political arch-rival, in a case critics say shows the president is becoming more authoritarian. [ID:nSGE68T05F]
Following is a summary of key risks to watch in Sri Lanka:
* FISCAL REFORMS
The International Monetary Fund released the fifth tranche of Sri Lanka's $2.6 billion loan in September and said the country's economic reform plans would boost its fiscal position and growth potential. [ID:nSGE68Q0EL] But the crucial caveat was that it must execute the reforms as planned.
So the country is under pressure to deliver on plans to boost revenue, rationalise a byzantine, costly tax code and above all, tighten fiscal discipline. Credit rating agencies have said adherence to the IMF programme is integral to maintaining the upgraded outlooks and ratings they have given Sri Lanka.
What to watch:
-- Whether Rajapaksa gives in to the classic temptation of all Sri Lankan leaders: dipping into public coffers to boost subsidies or dole out state jobs.
-- Concrete steps to make state-run entities revenue earners. Most of the deficit reduction plan hinges on turning around loss-making state ventures hampered by subsidy schemes, mismanagement and an infamously intractable corps of bureaucrats.
-- The recommendations of a presidential tax reform commission, which were due in August and still are not out.
* EXTERNAL PERCEPTIONS
Rajapaksa rushed a constitutional amendment through the parliament, which his ruling alliance controls, that removed the last vestiges of any checks on a presidency that was already barely checked. It also removed his two-term limit in office, even before his second six-year term has begun.
The weakened opposition predictably lambasted the move as a slide toward constitutional dictatorship, and the United States criticised the changes as well.
All that has led to continually negative international press for Sri Lanka and Rajapaksa's government, which has kept up the defiant stance it took when fighting off intervention as it neared victory over the Tamil Tigers in a quarter-century war.
It has hired British public relations firm Bell Pottinger to help boost its reputation, but continued strident, inconsistent government statements will undermine Sri Lanka's efforts to pitch itself as a sound investment destination, especially in the West.
What to watch:
-- A shift in the tone of the government
FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Sri Lanka
....continued....
* STATE SECTOR LABOUR UNREST
Rajapaksa has yet to make good on a promised pay hike for Sri Lanka's state employees. He kept the pressure off since his election in 2005 by appealing to workers to wait so he could pay for the war against the Tamil Tiger separatists.
But since the war ended in May 2009, public employees have been demanding he deliver. The government says the rise will come in the 2011 budget due in November but impatience is growing.
Already, university students have held strikes, which traditionally presage labour unrest. A handful of state workers have held token strikes.
What to watch:
-- The tenor and frequency of student and labour strikes. If they rise above token acts, that's a clear sign of more to come.
-- Whether trade unions drop their support for Rajapaksa and drift back toward the now-rudderless opposition. Union members in Sri Lanka have traditionally been quick to lose fealty to leaders they view as doing too little for them.
-- Any overt action by the Marxist JVP, a party that set off 1971 and 1988-89 insurrections that led to more than 100,000 deaths, to channel dissatisfaction into public support
* THE RAJAPAKSA FACTOR
The president and his family together have direct control of nearly 70 percent of this year's budget through the portfolios they hold. Three brothers occupy key positions, and his eldest son is a lawmaker who is being groomed for a bigger role in the family business of politics.
One presidential brother is the parliament speaker and another -- the only one of the three not publicly elected -- runs the state security apparatus with a special brief to develop prime state-owned property in Colombo.
A third runs a new ministry overseeing tourism, nation building and investment promotion, which encompasses just about all the lucrative post-war investment and development areas.
The president is also the finance minister, so in short, any big investment decision needs a Rajapaksa blessing.
What to watch:
-- Whether Rajapaksa can shake off concerns among wealthy local investors that his government will interfere with investments to settle political scores, or for coercion.
-- Can the Rajapaksa family turn around a growing external impression that government policy is aimed at entrenching their influence more than serving national goals?
* POLICY INCONSISTENCY
Sri Lanka's pitch that it is a growing investment destination has certainly found traction in terms of infrastructure development and tourism since the end of the war. It has also found a lot of takers for government securities, which offer relatively high yields. [ID:nTOE68Q06M]
But some potential investors have expressed frustration at inconsistency in terms of inward investment policy, and there are many stories of political interference or extortion in foreign projects.
The government has said it is changing the existing Board of Investment, but has not been clear about how except to say it will be under the economic development ministry run by Basil Rajapaksa, a legislator and the president's brother.
Since foreign direct investment has actually been slowing down since the end of the war [ID:nLDE67O1I8], there is a risk that Sri Lanka may find fewer takers than it hopes.
What to watch:
-- Any growing clarity on foreign investment policies.
-- Concrete evidence that the government is making promised reforms to make foreign investment easier.
(Editing by Andrew Marshall)
Sri Lanka's safety concerns about 4.5GW Koodankulam nuclear power plant in TN, among the world's largest
...........
Sri Lankan government to discuss safety precautions of nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu with the Indian authorities
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 03, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has expressed concern over the safety precautions adopted by a nuclear power plant being set up in Tamil Nadu in Southern India.
The government has initiated a dialogue with Indian authorities on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant that is currently under construction in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu in South India.
Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka has been quoted in the local media as saying that Sri Lanka would discuss the safety precautions adopted by the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
"We are currently in discussion with the Indian authorities on the plant in Tamil Nadu and we also plan to discuss the safety network set up by India with regard to the plant and whether Sri Lanka is also included in the network," he has said.
According to Ranawaka, the government would also discuss with India the necessary safety precautions Sri Lanka would have to adopt when the Kudankulam power plant is in operation.
When completed the Koodankulam nuclear plant will produce 4.5 GW of power making it among the world's largest.
Fortress Lanka of Old RISING Again!
To become
INDOMITABLE,
IMPREGNABLE,
INVINCIBLE
.. like Switzerland!
Ratna Deepa, Janma Bhumi
Lanka Deepa, Vijaya Bhumi
May Apey Udara Wu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi!
Mathru Bhumi-yayi!
Jayawewa, Maniyeni!
..............
Sri Lanka Army to establish new division to defend Southern Province
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 03, Colombo: Sri Lanka Army has planned to establish a new division to defend the economically booming Hambanthota district where an international harbor and an international airport are being constructed.
Addressing media today at a ceremony in Anuradhapura to mark the Army's 61st Anniversary and the upcoming Army Day on October 10, the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said that the new division would be named as 12 Division.
The Southern Command will be set up with the new 12 Division and 11 and 14 Divisions positioned in Galle and Matara districts respectively.
How China and India Displaced the West in Sri Lanka
By Amantha Perera
Time.com
October 03, 2010
A Chinese engineer watches the excavation process at the construction site for the new deep water shipping port in Hambantota, southeast of Colombo, March 24, 2010
As a Sri Lankan military offensive destroyed the last remnants of the Tamil Tiger separatist insurgency in May of last year to end a quarter century of bloody civil war the country faced a problem at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva: The European Union (EU) was trying to move a resolution critical of Sri Lanka, and calling for an investigation into rights violations during the offensive. Sri Lanka's representative at the Council, Dayan Jayatilleka reached out for support from two friendly nations, India and China. The result was that instead of a resolution censuring Sri Lanka, 29 members in the 47 member Council adopted a resolution commending the government. Only 12 voted against it, and six abstained.
"We did not totally rely on the support of India and China, but their support did have a ripple effect" that neutralized the EU resolution, Jayatilleka who is currently a visiting lecturer at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore told TIME. (See the confrontation between the UN and Sri Lanka.)
Support from China and India was critical during the bloody final three years of the conflict, as the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa faced increasing criticism from Western nations on the conduct of a military campaign that was gaining the upper hand over the Tigers. China was also one of Sri Lanka's main arms suppliers.
"Without their help, I don't think we could have ended the conflict," Jayatilleka said. China, together with Russia, ran interference for Sri Lanka at the U.N. Security Council, and according to another Sri Lankan diplomat, former Additional Foreign Secretary Nanda Godage, they also warned Western powers against any unilateral action in Sri Lanka.
More than a year after the conclusion of the war, the support of the two Asian powerhouses has not waned, with India and China having become two of Sri Lanka's major donors. India has committed $800 million in low-interest loans to assist the redevelopment of the war-ravaged north and east, and has undertaken to fund the construction of 50,000 new houses in the former conflict-zone — almost a third of the 160,000 new houses the U.N. estimates are needed.
Indian companies have been among the first to line up to take advantage of Sri Lanka's expected postwar economic boom. "The situation between 2006 and 2009 held us back, we need get back on the horse here," Raymond Bickson, CEO of Taj Hotels, India told TIME. The Taj group is exploring the possibilities of acquiring a hotel property just outside Colombo's international airport and undertaking a 100 room redevelopment project.
The Chinese have not been far behind with at least $500 million in assistance to develop infrastructure, ports, the power grid in the south and the construction of highways in the east. The assistance has come during a time when Western powers continue to call for international investigations into the final phase of the war. On August 15, the EU suspended a concessionary tariff applied to Sri Lanka, which had made Europe the single largest market for the country's exports, on the grounds Sri Lanka was allegedly contravening human rights conventions. But on the same day that the EU suspension came into effect, President Rajapaksa was opening the $ 350 million port at Hambantota, which was mostly financed by China. (See how business is returning to Sri Lanka.)
How China and India Displaced the West in Sri Lanka
....continued.....
India has long been the pre-eminent player in Sri Lankan affairs, having had thousands of its own troops deployed there to help fight the Tigers between 1987 and 1990. India lost 1,200 personnel in that counterinsurgency effort, and a Tamil Tigers suicide bomber assassinated then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May of 1991. China's growing role is a relatively new development.
Both Jayatilleka and Godage feel that when pressure by the Western block mounted, Sri Lanka simply revitalised strong ties with the two giants dating back to the 1950's. Jayatilleka told TIME that Sri Lanka acknowledged the growing global importance of the two but never forgot that they were Asian powers.
"In Asia there is an understanding that the state should be powerful enough to withstand (internal threats)," he said.
Godage told TIME that Sri Lanka has so far adroitly juggled the two regional powers, whose relationship is often tenuous. "We continue to cultivate the closest relationship with China while keeping India happy."
The diplomatic juggling act could also potentially lure critical Western powers into once again backing the Rajapaksa government. "The Americans would want to counter Chinese influence," Godage told TIME.
A recent meeting between Rajapaksa and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on the sidelines of last month's UN General Assembly sessions could be the first signs the icy relations are thawing. Norway's previous role in Sri Lanka was as the facilitator of the disastrous 2002 peace accord between the Tigers and then Sri Lankan government. Rajapaksa scrapped the accord in 2008 before the Army launched into the final strongholds of the Tigers. "Having them (Norway) in our corner will to an extent neutralise western hostility," the former diplomat said.
Women clear Sri Lanka's landmine legacy
By Mel Gunasekera (AFP)
October 05, 2010
MANNAR, Sri Lanka — Valmathi Jegadas is a different sort of mine clearer to the testosterone-fuelled explosives specialists portrayed in the 2008 Oscar-winning Hollywood hit, The Hurt Locker.
A farmer's wife in northern Sri Lanka, Jegadas, 37, earns 200 dollars a month risking her life, and she admits being scared each time she steps into the minefields that are a legacy of the island's long and bloody civil war.
"This is the best-paying job in my village," Jegadas, who has three children, told AFP, adding that her mother and husband were both killed in 2007 by artillery attacks.
Since joining the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) nearly a year ago, Jegadas says she has disabled more than 700 mines in Mannar district.
She works along former defence lines of the separatist Tamil Tigers, the rebel guerrilla force who fought the government for decades before being finally defeated in May last year.
Increasingly, international humanitarian organisations are training women to find and defuse mines.
"Women carry the burden after the war in most homes. They want the money, and they don't take short-cuts when clearing mines," said Nigel Peacock, a technical advisor for FSD in Mannar.
"Demining is probably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but these ladies are very committed. They do a better job than the boys."
The government's social services ministry estimates the war-torn north and east regions of Sri Lanka are home to some 90,000 war widows.
"Over 50 percent of female-headed homes are single parents under 30 years of age supporting their own and extended families," said Visaka Dharmadasa, director of the Association for War-Affected Women.
With most post-war jobs in fisheries, construction or farming, women have few options for a steady income.
"And demining pays well. It is considered a high-status, respectable job, unlike poultry-raising," said Imelda Sukumar, government agent for the district of Mullaittivu.
Wearing heavy body armour, a ballistic face-shield and helmet, and carrying their tools, each day they crawl into minefields laid in jungle shrubs and muddy trenches.
Pushparani Thavaratnam, 38, is another woman prepared to take the risk due to the financial rewards and a sense of helping her community recover after the war.
"If I tell you I don't get scared, then I'm lying," she told AFP after defusing a rusty anti-personal mine with her bare hands.
"The fear is still there. It's impossible to clear all the mines. Every bomb I remove maybe helps save 10 people or maybe just one," said Thavaratnam, whose pay cheque feeds her husband, two teenage sons and mother.
The Sri Lankan military estimates more than a million landmines and other unexploded devices were planted in the last few years of the war, threatening the lives of civilians who are now returning to their villages.
The army runs the largest de-mining operation, while organisations like FSD, the Mine Action Group and the Halo Trust are also working in Sri Lanka.
But the international effort is running into budget problems less than 18 months after a massive military offensive finally wiped out the Tigers.
Women clear Sri Lanka's landmine legacy
.....continued...
The United Nations estimates it takes only three dollars to lay a mine, and 1,000 dollars to remove one.
FSD is short of two million dollars to maintain its annual nine million dollar budget for Sri Lanka this year as donors scale back operations.
"Key areas like residential zones and wells have been cleared, but there's still plenty more mines out there. We are running out of funds to put more deminers on the ground," said Peacock.
The need to clear mines is increasing as those who were displaced by the violence try to settle back into their previous lives.
"The military had a pattern of laying mines, there are maps available. But the Tigers haphazardly laid mines," said Major General Ronny Bohoran, a former military officer who now works for FSD.
The government's military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawela agrees, saying that "landmines are scattered all over" which makes clearance "a difficult and expensive task."
He says that more than 2,000 square kilometres (700 square miles) of land still need to be demined.
Despite all the sophisticated safety equipment, the effort has a human cost with a French deminer and two young boys among those killed this year. The military estimates over 700 mine deaths since 2003.
"During the war I used to think what if a rocket kills me? I didn't want to die," said Morine Aswine, 25, who supports her widowed mother and younger sister.
Having lost her father to a roadside mine in 2008, Aswine has cleared mines in Mannar since February.
"People are returning to their villages more quickly than we are removing mines," she said. "Now I fear if we don't get enough aid money, we won't be able to remove all mines and people will get hurt for years to come."
Fredrica Jansz confims Sarath Fonseka's TREASONOUS false allegations against Defence Secretary to High Court
.............
Editor stands by her version of Sri Lanka ex-Army Commander's 'white flag' interview
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 05, Colombo: The Chief Editor of English weekly Sunday Leader told the Colombo High Court that former Army Commander retired General Sarath Fonseka accused the Defence Secretary of ordering to shoot the surrendering Tiger leaders during the final battle.
When the controversial "white flag" case was heard at the Colombo High Court Monday, the Sunday Leader Editor, Ms. Frederica Jansz stood by her version of the interview with the former Army Commander.
During the interview with her, Ms. Jansz told the Courts that Fonseka informed her that the Defence Secretary directed Brig. Shavendra Silva by phone to kill the Tiger leaders without permitting them to surrender.
Justice Deepali Wijesundera presided the three-judge trial-at-bar with Colombo High Court judges WTMPB Warawewa and MZ Razeen.
The witness said that she conducted the interview on December 08th 2009 at the former Army Commander's elections office at Reid Avenue.
The Editor said she intended to question Fonseka about his life and the ongoing election campaign but her last question was about the white flag issue.
Ms. Jansz told the court that Fonseka in his interview said that the senior LTTE leaders through third party countries have informed Basil Rajapaksa of their willingness to surrender and Basil Rajapaksa has conveyed the message to the Defence Secretary.
The witness informed the court that when inquired, Basil Rajapaksa vehemently denied Fonseka's claim.
She said that when inquiries were made from Fonseka on his controversial statement prior to publication, the former commander confirmed that no changes should be made to the statement.
The controversial 'white flag' story involves comments made by General Fonseka during the last Presidential election where he had told the English weekly that on the orders of Defence Secretary, security forces shot and killed senior LTTE members when they had tried to surrender carrying white flags during the final stages of the war last year.
Sri Lankan government recently claimed that the former Army chief's comment was the reason for the UN Secretary-General's decision to appoint a panel of experts on Sri Lanka to probe war crime charges.
The case will be taken up again on Wednesday October 6 at 1:30 p.m.
India's Super Hercules plane takes to the skies
October 06, 2010
WASHINGTON: The first of India's six C-130J Super Hercules airlifters, considered the world's most advanced transport aircraft, has completed its maiden flight.
The first Super Hercules that donned Indian Air Force (IAF) colours in June took to the skies for its maiden flight Monday, its manufacturer Lockheed Martin said, releasing images of the plane in flight at its Marietta plant in Georgia.
The aircraft will now complete a series of company and customer flight tests prior to delivery in December. The second and third aircraft are due to fly within the next few weeks, it said.
Purchased from the US in a $1 billion deal, India's six stretched-fuselage C-130J-30s would provide the Indian Army and Indian Air Force "new special operations capabilities using the world's most advanced airlifter", according to Lockheed.
Equipped with India-unique operational equipment, including an infrared detection set (IDS), the aircraft for the first time will provide the IAF an ability to conduct precision low-level flying operations, airdrops and landings in blackout conditions.
To ensure 80 percent availability of the aircraft at any given time, Lockheed Martin has offered a long-term maintenance contract to the IAF on the lines of the ones it has with the US Air Force and the air forces of Australia, Britain and Canada.
The C-130J primarily performs the tactical portion of an airlift mission. The aircraft is capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the prime transport for air dropping troops and equipment into hostile areas.
The flexible design of the Super Hercules enables it to be configured for many different missions, allowing for one aircraft to perform the role of many. Much of the special mission equipment added to the Super Hercules is removable, allowing the aircraft to quickly switch between roles.
The C-130J Super Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft, is a comprehensive update of the venerable Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems.
The aircraft can also be configured with the "enhanced cargo handling system". The system consists of a computerised loadmaster's station from where the user can remotely control the under floor winch.
The cargo compartment is approximately 41 feet long, 9 feet high, and 10 feet wide, and loading is from the rear of the fuselage. Initially developed for the USAF, this system enables rapid role changes to be carried out and so extends the C-130J's time available to complete tasks.
These combined changes have improved performance over its C-130E/H siblings, such as 40 percent greater range, 21 percent higher maximum speed, and 41 percent shorter take-off distance.
Govt committed to build law-abiding society - President
Defence.lk
October 04, 2010
The government is committed to develop the nation and build a law-abiding society. We will punish those who commit offences according to law regardless of their status or position. Law is equal to all, stated President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He made this statement addressing a gathering in Polonnaruwa during a visit to the area on Saturday (2 Oct).
We have been falsely accused of various offences. Some even try to take us to the international tribunal. We have taken all decisions considering the will of the people, he said.
We are committed to win this economic war. Our aspiration is to bring contentment to the people. If you are not happy, then development is not achieved, stated the President.
After nearly three decades of war, this country is united. In the past, a part of this area was under terrorists. Now, opportunity is there for people to live without fear. In the past people in these areas faced a lot of hardship due to terrorism. Now we have been able to completely do away with the notion of 'border villages', the President added.
In the past, the people of this area provided rice for the entire nation. We will take all necessary steps to make this district as prosperous as before. We will provide all facilities to all sectors functioning in the area including farming, he said.
Meanwhile, during a progress review meeting with the North Central Province administrators and other state politicians, President Rajapaksa instructed authorities to take strict action against Marriage Registrars who sanction underage marriages. He told that there should be no more child brides in the country.
If found guilty, relevant Marriage Registrars should be stripped of their duties in addition to initiating legal action to impose further penalties, he added.
He brought to the notice of the gathering written complaints and pictures received from the public as evidence that such underage marriages exist.
President Rajapaksa highlighted certain information he had received on child brides in Welikanda, Polonnaruwa. He said that he had received information that in the area, there were a large number of married female children under the age of 15.
He said that Marriage Registrars should not just stick to documents produced by applicants but to verify age and other details.
He told officials of the Women's and Children's Affairs Ministry to map out an effective program both in awareness and prevention to eradicate the scourge.
Courtesy: PRIU
Resettle them IMMEDIATELY!
.............
Sinhalese lived in Jaffna before war seek resettlement
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 06, Colombo: Around 100 families that lived in Jaffna prior to the start of the war have returned to Jaffna seeking resettlement there, sources from the Northern Province said.
The families belong to the major ethnic community Sinhalese, lived in Jaffna mainly engaged in businesses. They have left the area 30 years ago with the commencement of hostilities.
The families have come to Jaffna to meet the Minister Douglas Devananda and the other senior government officials including the Jaffna District Secretary Mrs. Imelda Sukumar. They have asked for the lands they had earlier settled in Jaffna or alternative land.
However, the District Secretary of Jaffna told Hiru radio today that these persons were not permanent residents of Jaffna and lived their temporarily.
SL Peace Keeping Troops to deploy to LEBANON!
..........
Sri Lanka to deploy troops to Lebanon for peace keeping
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 06, Colombo: Sri Lanka Army is considering to deploy peace keeping troops to Lebanon from next August, a media report said today.
The Sri Lankan government had received a request from Lebanon to send soldiers for peace keeping operations, citing the Defence Ministry website Sri Lanka's state-run TV ITN said.
Currently a Sri Lankan contingency of nearly 1,000 soldiers is engaged in peace keeping operations in Haiti under MINUSTAH, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
Sarath Fonseka Would have been be DRAWN & QUARTERED in the past for his TREASONOUS FALSE ALLEGATIONS made for POLITICAL GAIN & PERSONAL REVENGE!
This man SHOULD NEVER BE PARDONED!
Instead, he should be PROSECUTED FURTHER TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW for his additional CRIMES of Fraud, Recruiting & arming Army deserters, and making False War Crimes Allegations against the Nation!
.................
Sri Lanka's ex-Army Commander never retracted 'white flag' story, witness says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 06, Colombo: Sri Lanka's imprisoned former Army Commander, parliamentarian Sarath Fonseka, never retracted his 'white flag' story that accused the Defence Secretary of ordering the Army's top brass to kill the senior LTTE leaders surrendering with white flags to security forces during the final stages of the war, a newspaper editor told the courts today.
Appearing on the witness stand for a second day Wednesday (06) during the trial against the former Commander and the then Chief of Defence Staff, Ms. Frederica Jansz, the chief editor of the English weekly Sunday Leader, told the Colombo High Court that Fonseka never retracted the statement and he had repeatedly confirmed the statement.
The Editor's notebook containing the information has been presented to the High Court.
Ms. Jansz told the three-member bench of the High Court that the Sunday Leader carried the story on December 13, 2009 as a top story on leader page.
Following the publication of the story, Ms. Jansz said she rejected a request by the parliamentarians Mangala Samaraweera and Anura Kumara Dissanayake to publish a correction as the story would be damaging to Fonseka's election bid for the presidency.
Ms. Jansz said a clarification was published on the 20th of December in the newspaper at the request of Fonseka.
In his clarification, Fonseka has said that not a single LTTE leader with white flags surrendered to the forces even though an order has been issued by the Defence Secretary to shoot them but the LTTE leaders had died during the battle.
Even in this clarification, Fonseka never denied the initial statement made by him on the white flag incident, the witness said.
The Sunday Leader Editor told the court Fonseka first told her on December 12 that got the information about the white flag story from a journalist who was with the 58 Division of the Sri Lanka Army of which Major General (then Brigadier) Shavendra Silva was the Commander.
However Fonseka has not motioned that during her initial interview with him on December 8th, she emphasized.
The court examined the Sunday Leader Editor's notebook containing the relevant notes. The trial was adjourned until Monday, October 11.
GLOBAL EELAMISTS still striving to RESURRECT the LTTE!
Vaiko wails before Delhi High Court to allow the LTTE to make further HUMAN SACRIFICES to the Sun God!
Vaiko KNOWS that not enough BLOOD has been spilled to sate his insatiable thirst!
Why is this Worshipper of Kali still free to roam India
................
Pro-LTTE groups seek to implead themselves before tribunal
Sympathisers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Tuesday sought to implead themselves as parties in the proceedings of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal headed by Delhi High Court Judge Vikramjit Sen.
At the tribunal's sitting here, N. Chandrasekaran representing the Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam (TDI) said he was an ‘aggrieved' party and had the locus standi to represent in the case. The TDI was declared an unlawful association by the government for the sole reason that it was supporting the LTTE.
“We have filed two writ petitions in the Madras High Court challenging the ban and the constitutionality of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. We want to remove the ban on the LTTE so that we can approach the High Court to lift the ban on our organisation. Though different cases, they are inter-connected,” he said.
Additional Solicitor-General Amarjit Singh Chandhiok representing the Union government said the issue of whether the TDI was banned for supporting the LTTE was a matter pending before the High Court. The State was well within its powers in banning the organisation considering public order, he said.
To this, Mr. Chandrasekaran said hundreds of cases booked against supporters of the LTTE had ended in acquittal. “When TDI leader P. Nedumaran and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko were detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), the Supreme Court ruled that mere support extended to a banned organisation was not an offence,” he said.
Seeking to participate in the proceedings, Mr. Chandrasekaran said the representatives of the Central and State governments should be allowed for cross-examination.
The Tamil Nadu People's Rights Forum, represented by its advocate M. Radhakrishnan, said the Tribunal should have its sitting in Sri Lanka as the Centre in its notification had mentioned that the LTTE was based in that country. Since the LTTE did not have an office or office-bearer in India, only its sympathisers or supporters could represent its case.
While claiming locus standi in the hearing, Mr. Radhakrishnan went one step ahead and said a former LTTE cadre had authorised him to represent before the Tribunal.
According to him Joseph Robinson, a former LTTE cadre based in London, had sent an email asking him to appear on his behalf and argue for lifting the ban on the LTTE. When Mr. Justice Sen went through a copy of the email and wanted to know its veracity, the advocate said he would produce all relevant documents, including the Power of Attorney. In view of the claim made by the Centre that the LTTE did not exist, the Tribunal could only listen to the views of its sympathisers, supporters or agents.
Pro-LTTE groups seek to implead themselves before tribunal
........continued.........
Vaiko's charge
Speaking to reporters at the venue, Mr. Vaiko said the State government was using the ban on the LTTE to frame cases against those supporting the cause of Tamil Eelam. “I am facing two cases on charges of sedition. The ground on which the government seeks to extend the ban on the LTTE is baseless and unjustified. There is enough evidence to prove that the ban is illegal,” he said.
Accusing the government of trying to stifle the voice of those supporting Tamil Eelam, he said innocent people fleeing from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu were branded as LTTE cadres and forced to return or stay in special camps.
Mr. Vaiko said the Judge while dismissing his plea to be impleaded as a party had noted that he would allow any person with credibility to represent provided the views differed with that of the government. “It is on these grounds that I have sought representation,” he said.
The State was represented by the Superintendent of Police (‘Q' Branch CID) Ashok Kumar who stated that all relevant documents seeking the extension of ban on the LTTE were already filed before the Tribunal.
On the representations made during the hearing Mr. Justice Sen reserved his orders.
Sri Lanka Defence Forces: Please take note.
The Need to prepare for high-tech wars of the future apply to Sri Lanka as well; only the scale and actors in the threats differ.
........
Kalam asks India to prepare for high-tech wars
October 06, 2010
NEW DELHI: Cautioning about nuclear arsenal of some of India's neighbours and the cyber threats posed by their hackers, former President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday asked the security leadership to develop capabilities, including strategic missiles and military satellites, by 2020.
Kalam, who is hailed as the nation's missile man, also told them to prepare a military leadership firmly rooted in integrity to keep out corruption from the defence forces and maintained that warfare was not just about fighting wars, but also enabling peace.
"All around our nation, there are nations which possess nuclear arsenal...Computers with intelligent software will fight in the place of many strategic systems. They will be more powerful -- which will travel at the speed of light -- to destroy the economic capability of countries exceeding the power of nuclear weapons," Kalam said, delivering the 15th Field Marshal K M Carriappa memorial lecture here.
"India has to focus and strengthen its capacity on four fronts. Hence we should visualise the following five scenarios in place before the year 2020. They are: Space-based surveillance and reconnaissance, intelligence, defence, weapons and strategic alliances," he said at the event organised by the Army.
However, the former President did not take the name of any nation while highlighting the challenges posed by them to India's security in the cyber and nuclear domain.
He emphasised the need for "multiple centres with anti-ballistic missile systems, aircraft surveillance with deep penetration strike capabilities...Inter-continental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads beyond 5,000-km range, and intermediate range ballistic missiles with 5,000-km range, whose probability was in sight now."
Kalam, who was earlier the principal scientific advisor to the Central government, said India should pursue "strategic alliances" with neighbours and other critical locations, establish mutually beneficial economic cooperation and "imbibe confidence among neighbours that aligning with democratic India is (of) the paramount importance for their internal peace and prosperity."
Warning that the transformational technologies that could enhance quality of life could become "dangerous tools" in the wrong hands, he said this phenomenon was true not only for technologies, but in social networking too.
"Past animosities, real or perceived enmities, and large inequities in development within nations and globe are waiting to use such networking and technologies for vicious purposes," he said.
"Social evil of corruption forms the other dimension and it cannot be allowed to intrude into the defence systems," he added.
Noting that the challenge was to equip the Indian security establishment to combat the fast-paced technology- driven warfare, Kalam said the whole war environment would be network centric and could be electronically controlled, combined with space,deep sea and ballistic missile encounters.
Kalam asks India to prepare for high-tech wars
....continued...
"The winner of future warfare will be the armed force which can visualise the strength of the enemy, not based on previous wars but based on the current capabilities, and technological advancements in the global scenario," he said.
"Our officers serving in the armed forces will have to get trained in virtual reality based simulated war fronts of all the terrains and all extreme conditions of warfare.
"Walk through during a space, chemical, nuclear and electronic encounters or attacks need to be visualised and proper counter measures, with decision making process, need to be propounded," he added.
Pointing out that future soldiers would be knowledge workers, Kalam said, "the future battlefield would require a synergised team work with joint services operation and use of land, aerospace and ocean as important war theatres."
Advocating the need for leveraging India's cyber knowledge base, the former President said in the electronically linked world, nations were increasingly linked economically and during war, destruction would be more severe and fatal if the economy collapsed.
"Cyber technology is the tool for such type of war. The future war that is powered by cyber war can create destruction effortlessly at the speed of light. The ICBMs and nuclear weapons will be becoming insignificant in the cyber warfare environment," he added.
He called for training of the country's work force, be it armed forces personnel, lawyers, police, judges, and others, on the possibilities of technology-centric crimes and war, warning that "in the absence of such awareness programme, a country can be defeated even without a missile or aircraft attack just through intelligent cyber war."
Without directly mentioning the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008, Kalam said the nation had witnessed how terrorist operations were commanded and controlled using mobile communication devices in the midst of people, armed forces and paramilitary forces.
"In modern day, fight against terrorism (includes) blocking these communication devices using local high powered jammers. In such missions, one of the important strategic needs is fast and secure encryption and decryption. It is an essential tool towards preventing terrorists from achieving coordinated attacks," he added.
SRI LANKA SHOULD ACCELERATE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION to 2015!
India projects 63 GW of nuclear power plants by 2032, with 7GW of new plants under construction now.
India sees NUCLEAR POWER as the only way to free itself of imported fossil fuels for meeting its BASE LOAD requirements.
Sri Lanka should follow suit, accelerating its plans to deploy 5GW in 2-3 Nuclear Power Plants beginning construction in 2015, and NOT LATER in 2020 as currently planned!
.........
India to launch six N-reactors in next 2-3 years
October 07, 2010
NEW DELHI: India is expected to launch six more nuclear reactors in the next two to three years, a top government atomic scientist said here on Wednesday.
"Six more reactors are scheduled to be launched in the next two or three years," Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India R Chidambaram said here while addressing the 25th Brigadier S K Mazumdar memorial lecture here.
Chidambaram said four reactors, including two units each in Kakrapar and Rawatbhata, are in an advanced stage of construction and will help in increasing the installed nuclear capacity to 7000 MW. One of the reactors at the Kudankulam power plant in Tamilnadu is also expected to start functioning by the end of this year. The reactor has been made with assistnce from Russia and will be inaugurated during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in December.
He said the government's vision was to reach nuclear power capacity of 63,000 MW by the year 2032. "Of this, the contribution of reactors set up through international cooperation is likely to be about 40,000 MW," he added.
On climate change, Chidamabaram said the government is considering launching the ninth National Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which will look at the development of the Advanced Ultra Supercritical Technology (AUST) for coal-based power plants.
Antony hints at military threat from China
October 06, 2010
NEW DELHI: In an apparent reference to China, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said India's neighbours are building military capabilities at a "feverish" pace and the country needs to be "vigilant and prepared".
Without naming anyone, he said some nations were keen to "incite" threats to India's unity and integrity and stressed the need for securing the country's land, air and sea borders in view of the current security scenario.
"Our neighbours are building their military capabilities at a feverish pace. To successfully meet such challenges, the need for us to be vigilant and prepared at all times goes without saying and is unquestionable," he said.
Antony, who was speaking at the Field Marshal K M Cariappa annual memorial lecture here, did not name any particular country but was clearly referring to China which has been boosting its military capabilities close to Indian territories.
China has been deploying missiles and constructing road infrastructure along the Indian border and recent reports suggested that it is also developing military infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Antony pointed out that the strategic and geo-political situation along with the compulsions of history posed unique challenges for the country.
Observing that country's economic success story, democratic political system and pluralistic society are an object of admiration and envy for several countries, he said, "Some nations are keen to incite threats to our unity and integrity."
He said the prevalent security environment "necessitates securing our land, air and sea borders to effectively guard against traditional threats to our land borders, defending our airspace and protection of our maritime energy supply routes."
At times, the strength we derive from our political system and social fabric throws up challenges, but the nation has by and large responded to these challenges in a mature and a peaceful manner, he said.
Wealth corrupts; Absolute wealth corrupts absolutely!
.............
Saudi prince murders manservant-lover
October 06, 2010
LONDON: A Saudi prince has beaten his man-servant lover to death in a sexually motivated attack at an exclusive London hotel, a media report said Wednesday.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasir Al Saud, the grandson of the billionaire king of Saudi Arabia, murdered Bandar Abdulaziz after subjecting him to weeks of physical and sexual abuse, the jury at Old Bailey was told, Daily Mail reported on its website.
The royal allegedly downed champagne and six Sex on the Beach cocktails before repeatedly punching his 32-year-old aide in the head, knocking out teeth and leaving him with severe brain injuries in the suite they shared at the five-star Landmark Hotel in Marylebone.
He also strangled Abdulaziz with such force that he fractured bones in the servant's neck and bit him on both cheeks in a way that clearly had a ‘sexual connotation', the court heard.
Al Saud, 34, allegedly tried to ‘cover his tracks' by cleaning up blood from the attack before raising the alarm. He was said to have at first told police that Abdulaziz had suffered the injuries in a robbery.
The prince later changed his story and admitted killing his servant, but he denies murder and one count of grievous bodily harm with intent.
The pair arrived in London in December last year for the final leg of an extended world holiday. They had visited Prague, Milan, Marrakesh and the Maldives, apparently using the Spartacus International Gay Guide as a travel planner.
Al Saud enjoyed a party lifestyle in the capital, rising late and spending the afternoons shopping before eating out and going to nightclubs until the early hours.
He was spotted flirting with barmen and used male prostitutes at least twice during his stay, the jury was told.
The prince told police he was a ‘friend and equal' of Abdulaziz, the adopted son of middle-class Saudi parents, and that his aide travelled with him everywhere.
But the court heard how Abdulaziz flew in economy while Al Saud went first class. It was also said the servant walked two steps behind his master and slept most nights on the floor of the hotel room they shared.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: "Their was a far more complicated relationship than the defendant was prepared to admit and there was an abusive undertone to it."
"Bandar was treated as an aide or servant and there was a far more sinister aspect to the defendant's treatment of the victim," Laidlaw said.
"He would beat Bandar up and the abuse was not confined to physical violence - there was a sexual element to it as well."
Saudi prince murders manservant-lover
....continued...
The jury saw CCTV footage of an earlier attack in which Al Saud bared his teeth as he subjected Abdulaziz to blows with his fists and elbows in the hotel lift Jan 22.
Laidlaw said: "What is also evident from the victim's behaviour is that he had become by this point almost entirely submissive."
"He could not or did not at any stage offer any sort of resistance, attempt to fight back or even to raise his hand to the defendant."
On Feb 14, the night of the alleged murder, the pair went for a Valentine's meal before returning to their hotel just before midnight.
Police experts found forensic evidence from Al Saud on Abdulaziz's underwear. Despite this, the prince continued to deny he was gay.
But Laidlaw said: "The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies."
A search of the prince's laptop revealed he looked at gay massage and escort agency websites, jurors were told.
Al Saud's mother is the daughter of King Abdullah. His father, Prince Abdulaziz, who is the nephew of the king, watched from the public gallery as his shaven-headed son sat in the dock following proceedings through an Arabic interpreter. The trial continues.
Bob Woodward is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.
Without COMMITTMENT to VICTORY, FAILURE is CERTAIN in the GAME OF WAR!
UNWAVERING COMMITTMENT TO WIN was Mahinda Rajapaksa's secret of success in Sri Lanka's Eelam War, as it was Abraham Lincoln's in the American Civil War!
WARS must be fought by the ENTIRE PEOPLE, ALL of the PEOPLE .. both rich and poor; not only by poor people's sons while the rich and privileged wine and dine, and rake in unconscionable profits in Wall Street.
If NATIONAL security is at STAKE, distribute that stake EQUALLY to all in the NATION. Let ALL segments of society carry the load, and sacrifice equally.
Bring back a UNIVERSAL DRAFT, apply it UNIFORMLY to Harvard University and to Podunk University.
Exempt NO ONE, I say!
................
Obama doesn’t have ‘X-factor’: Woodward
Alex Spillius
The Daily Telegraph
October 03, 2010
NEW YORK: President Barack Obama is letting down his troops and seems not to have the commitment and 'X-factor' to win the war in Afghanistan, Bob Woodward has told The Daily Telegraph.
This strong opinion is all the more stinging because it comes not from the US President’s usual vociferous critics but Bob Woodward, the legendary Watergate journalist who is normally scrupulous at keeping his views to himself.
“I believe in neutral inquiry,” he tells The Daily Telegraph in an interview. “That is the core job of the journalist.”
Nonetheless, if any writer is entitled to an opinion on the war in Afghanistan, it is Woodward.
He has just resurfaced from two years’ immersion in the subject, having interviewed 100 officials past and present, major White House players – many several times over – as well as the president himself during top level deliberations on the conflict’s future course.
The resulting book, Obama’s Wars, is, as usual, an instant bestseller and an instant headline-grabber, chiefly because of the verbal fireworks and fractious policy debate among the protagonists in the US administration.
The book - his sixteenth - is impeccably unbiased but the author now seems ready for candour.
“The will to win is the X factor in lot of things - politics, war and journalism,” he says. "It can mean a lot, just because in any contest, the psychological dimension is important – it’s the ‘yes we can’,” he says, citing Obama’s vitalising slogan from 2008.
Asked directly if Obama has that “X factor”, he checks himself and responds: “It’s not clear.”
“The troops feel it, the generals feel it. I think he is sincere and genuine but he keeps a distance, he keeps a distance from people,” he frowns.
“He realises how dreary it [the war] is, and he realises he’s been dealt a bad hand, but he can’t walk away, and so he’s committed but it’s not the George [W] Bush kind of ‘bring it on’ commitment.”
In Afghanistan the correct solution, he says, would begin with a much stronger mission statement.
“It would help the military and it would help the country. I get emails from soldiers over there and morale is high, they are focused on their [immediate] missions, but it’s not clear to some of them where they fit into the bigger picture.”
A former naval officer, he feels the troops have been let down. “We owe those people everything as US citizens, and it’s not clear we are giving them everything we could and that includes the definition of the mission.”
If a failed-terrorist bomber deserves a LIFE TERM in the USA, what sentence do the thousands of murderous LTTE terrorists NOW IN CUSTODY in Sri Lanka deserve?
A LIFE TERM at Hard Labor ... shall we say?
................
Life term for Times Square bomber
Arun Kumar
October 05, 2010
NEW YORK: Pakistan-born American Faisal Shahzad, who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York's Times Square at the behest of the Taliban in Pakistan, has been sentenced to life in prison.
A judge in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday gave a mandatory life prison term to Shahzad, 31, who was arrested two days after his May 1 attempted bombing with an improvised bomb packed into the back of an SUV.
"The defeat of the US is imminent," said a defiant Shahzad who had pleaded guilty in June to 10 counts including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy and attempt to commit international terrorism.
"The past nine years, the war with Muslims has achieved nothing for the US except it has awakened Muslims," said Shahzad, a former budget analyst from Connecticut.
Asked by US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum Tuesday if he hadn't taken an oath to the US in becoming a citizen, Shahzad answered: "I did swear, but I did not mean it."
Prosecutors argued Shahzad deserved a life prison term because his crime was premeditated and because he exploited the benefits of his citizenship to join a foreign terrorist organization intent on attacking the US.
According to prosecution documents filed in federal court last Wednesday Shahzad carefully selected his location as a highly populated target and intended to strike again if he wasn't caught the first time.
The bomb failed to detonate and he was arrested two days later while trying to leave the country on a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Pakistan.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors painted a picture of a young man determined to target Americans on a large scale, saying, Shahzad used webcams accessible on the internet "as part of his effort to maximize the deadly effect of his bomb".
The memo says Shahzad found webcams online and studied the real-time video feeds of different areas in Times Square to determine when and where he could inflict the most damage.
Prosecutors said Shahzad "wanted to select the busiest time for pedestrian traffic in Times Square because pedestrians walking on the streets would be easier to kill and to injure than people driving in cars".
Federal prosecutors also contended in the sentencing memo that Shahzad believed the bomb would kill about 40 people and that he "was prepared to conduct additional attacks until he was captured or killed".
Prosecutors said Shahzad spent 40 days, beginning in December 2009, in the tribal region that straddles Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he lived with members of the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP.
According to the court documents, he worked with an experienced bomb trainer affiliated with the TTP for five days. In addition, Shahzad was given $5,000 to help fund the mission and agreed to appear in a TTP video glorifying the planned attack.
The roughly 40-minute video, according to its description in the memo, features Shahzad quoting from the Quran while the other side of the screen is filled with images of Times Square after the botched bombing.
Toward the end of the video, the memo quotes Shahzad as saying: "I have been trying to join my brothers in jihad every day since 9/11 happened. I am planning to wage an attack inside America."
Impleading Terrorist Symathisers imploding themselves: Lack of focus undermines their locus standi!
...............
Tribunal shuts out LTTE sympathisers
Gokul Vannan
October 07, 2010
CHENNAI: Justice Vikramajit Sen of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, who is examining the validity of the Centre’s ban on LTTE, dismissed the plea of LTTE sympathisers to hear their opinions against the ban on Wednesday, saying that they have no locus standi.
The Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) and the Tamil Nadu People’s Right Forum (TNPRF) had, on Tuesday, filed a petition before the tribunal to implead themselves in the proceeding and hear their opinion against the ban.
The advocate representing the TNPRF argued before the tribunal that it should hear the views of sympathisers in the absence of any LTTE member or office-bearer in TN.
Justice Sen, in his order, disallowed the petitioners from impleading themselves, but said the sympathisers could submit their views and documents before the tribunal to help it study the core issue.
“Locus standi so far as the tribunal is concerned is restricted to the concerned association, namely the LTTE, or is office bearers or members, none of whom is before the Tribunal,” he said.
Earlier, during his examination as a witness, Q-branch SP Ashok Kumar submitted records of LTTE cadre being arrested in TN. But the counsel for Tamil Nationalist Movement, besides MDMK founder Vaiko, said those cases were foisted on Sri Lankan Tamils, who visited Tamil Nadu as refugees were booked as LTTE cadre. Both of them told the tribunal that the argument of the police would not hold water unless the necessary documents for cross-examination were presented. The final public hearing would be held in Ooty on October 20.
Imprisoned lawmaker loses his seat in Sri Lanka parliament
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 07, Colombo: Sri Lanka's former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader Sarath Fonseka who is serving a 30-month jail term has lost his seat in the parliament.
The acting Secretary General of Sri Lanka parliament Dhammika Kitulgoda, has informed the Elections Commissioner in a letter that under the Constitution Sarath Fonseka has lost his parliamentary seat due to his imprisonment.
Fonseka, who was found guilty by a court martial of violating military procurement procedures during his tenure as Army Commander, is currently serving a 30-month long jail term at the Welikada prison.
The Parliamentary Secretary General has requested the Election Commissioner to name Fonseka's replacement to fill the vacancy.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe questioned the validity of the letter sent to the Elections Commissioner during the parliamentary session today. The deputy Speaker has asserted that the letter is in Accordance with the constitution.
Malidives seeks India's assistance to patrol its seas.
.............
Maldives favours security pact with India
Priyanka Tikoo/Ajay Kaul
October 07, 2010
NEW DELHI: Viewing Indian Ocean as India's "soft belly", Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed has said it is posing increasingly "serious" concern as highlighted by the Mumbai attacks and favoured a framework agreement with India to take care of security and other issues.
He sought to allay concerns here that Maldives could be used as a route to attack India although he acknowledged that some nationals of his country were getting terror training in Pakistan and some other countries.
"Terrorism issue is apolitical. We have to get a good grip on it," Nasheed told PTI in an interview while talking about the menace which is a cause of concern for the region and beyond.
"Security issues in Indian Ocean have lately been getting more and more serious...I mean we see the Mumbai attack also as an Indian ocean issue," he said.
Noting that "India's soft belly is through Indian Ocean" and no government in Delhi would be comfortable with it being exposed, he said Maldives and India are undertaking coordinated patrolling of the maritime areas.
"We have an understanding with India in patrolling...it is happening," he said, adding India had also lent a helicopter for aerial surveillance of the Indian Ocean region.
Nasheed, who was here on a three-day visit during which he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, favoured a framework agreement with India to take care of all issues encompassing relations between the two countries.
"Maldives and India have several agreements but it would be better if the two countries can have one comprehensive pact to deal with all security and other issues," the 43-year-old President said in the interview parts of which were issued earlier this week. .
India to get 250-300 advanced Fifth Generation Fighter Jets, developed jointly with Russia.
.........
India to get 250-300 jets developed with Russia
October 07, 2010
NEW DELHI: India and Russia will soon sign a multi-billion dollar agreement to co-develop an advanced stealth fighter of which the India Air Force (IAF) will get about 250-300, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said here Thursday after talks with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov.
Antony, at a joint press conference with Serdyukov, said the two countries agreed that the India would get the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and 45 transport planes, also to be developed jointly with Russia.
"India will receive 250-300 most advanced FGFAs," Antony said.
"These two projects are the major achievements of this year, and for the next 10 years these two projects, MTA (medium transport aircraft) and FGFA, will be a shining example of India and Russian defence cooperation."
Antony said the proposal for the final agreements to be signed "within a few months" was pending with the government of India "for some technical formalities".
"All the issues have (been) discussed and solved between the two countries… Now it is in the final stages of the Indian government (because of some) some technical formalities… I am sure we will be able to complete them," he said.
An official who did not want to be named said the preliminary design contract for the FGFA was likely to be inked during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposed visit to India in December.
The 30-tonne stealth aircraft -- each priced at around $100 million -- will have very advanced avionics, stealth to increase survivability and enhanced lethality, according to IAF officials.
Sedyukov said the FGFA and MTA project would be completed as per jointly agreed "time frame and final proposal will be signed soon".
On the MTA project, Antony said the two countries have already signed a shareholding agreement between Russian aircraft major Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The twin-engine MTA, fitted with modern avionics, is a 15-20 tonne payload capacity aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of up to 65 tonnes and a cruise speed of 800 kmph. The total development cost is estimated at over $600 million, to be equally shared by both sides.
India to get 250-300 jets developed with Russia
.....continued....
India and Russia share a long standing defence and strategic partnership that goes back to the Cold War era.
"In the area of defence, Russia is our trusted partner for a long time and will remain so in the future also," Antony said after his talks with Serdyukov.
About the delays in acquiring military hardware from Russia, including the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, Antony said all these issues "were discussed threadbare and most of the issues we have arrived at satisfactory solutions".
"In the remaining issues, the Russian defence minister has personally assured me that he will take personal interest to find satisfactory solutions at the earliest. I am happy about the outcome of the discussions," he said.
Serdyukov said India and Russia have a "great volume of military and technical projects".
"It is quite natural to have some delays. But I will underscore that there are no critical delays in our projects. I have also raised a number of issues today with my Indian colleague, he promised to scrutinize and I will do the same on my side in order to tackle the problems mentioned by India."
Serdyukov arrived in India Wednesday for the 10th annual meeting the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.
The focus of the meeting, jointly chaired by Antony and Serdyukov, was on extending beyond 2020 the existing bilateral agreement on military-technical cooperation.
Serdyukov is be accompanied by a delegation of Russian defence ministry and industry representatives.
The commission's sessions are held annually and alternate between New Delhi and Moscow.
MENTAL ILLNESS is ONE PRICE Sri Lankans have PAID for 30 years of terrorism induced trauma.
We will need a DECADE of TRANQUILITY & PEACE for these ILLNESSES to SUBSIDE.
Are the INCURABLY ILL among the POLITICIANS of Sri Lanka LISTENING?
Please give your own PEOPLE a BREAK and work in HARMONY for NATIONAL PROGRESS without STRIKES and CIVIL STRIFE!
..................
25 per cent of Lankans mentally ill
By Melanie Bamunusinghe
DailyMirror.lk
October 08, 2010
One in four Sri Lankans suffer from various kinds of mental illnesses, the National Council for Mental Health (NCMH) said yesterday.
NCMH -- Sahanaya -- Director Dr. Niroshan Mendis told a gathering at the Exhibition held to commemorate
tomorrow’s World Mental Health Day, that mental illnesses like other illnesses were common among people.
“About 90 per cent of Sri Lankans who commit suicide are mentally ill,” he said.
Dr. Mendis said the cause of mental illnesses was stress, alcohol, drugs, smoking, diabetes, heart ailments and an unhealthy lifestyle.
“Those suffering from diabetes or have had a heart attack are more vulnerable to mental health issues,” Dr. Mendis said.
Sahanaya Chairman Dr. Nalaka Mendis said those showing symptoms of a mental illness should be treated immediately otherwise the disease would worsen and would be difficult to cure.
He regretted that world wide only one in three people with mental illnesses sought medical or psychiatric treatment. Dr. Mendis said this was because of the possible stigma attached to psychiatric treatment.
Western Province Health Services Director Dr. Amal Harsha De Silva said the publicity given by the Ministry of Health on mental health issues had increased considerably.
“We are opening mental health wards in all government hospitals and training the staff and intend sending psychiatrists to rural areas as well,” he said.Sahanya has organized a series of events to commemorate the occasion, with an exhibition on Health, Arts and Handicrafts produced by patients housed at its resource centres in Borella and Gorakana.
These are no MERE CANADIAN Tamils, but the SAME OLD Tamil Eelamists grasping an opportunity to DESTABILIZE Sri Lanka with BOTH HANDS!
What they did YESTERDAY, they still do TODAY!
GIVE IT UP .. IT WON'T WORK in today's Sri Lanka .. there are JUST TOO MANY PATRIOTS.
WE KNOW who serves our ESSENTIAL interests NOW!
Begone DEVILS .. WE, the People of Lanka, KNOW THEE WELL!
.................
Canadian Tamils support former Sri Lankan army chief
By Gurmukh Singh, Toronto
NewKerala.com
October 08, 2010
Throwing their support behind their former tormentor and army chief Sarath Fonseka, who was sentenced to 30 months in jail last week, the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Canada Thursday condemned the Rajapaksa government for its treatment of the former military boss.
"We had problems with Fonseka as a military general, but we have no differences with him as a politician. He has been treated unjustly and jailed by a kangaroo court at the direction of (President) Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family clique which is running the country,'' Canadian Tamil Congress national spokesman David Poopalapillai told IANS.
He said, "The treatment of the former military chief shows how cruelly this dictator government has treated its opponents, including Tamils. We in the Tamil diaspora will fight for the release of not only of thousands of Tamils but also Fonseka.''
Poopalapillai said the Tamil diaspora was taking this case to the international bodies to demand tough measures against Colombo.
"Sri Lanka has sunk into a medieval monarchy under the Rajapaksa clan. Unless the southern people who voted this regime into power wake up, Sri Lanka is gone for ever,'' the Tamil Canadian leader said.
By jailing Fonseka, he added, the Sri Lankan government has insulted the four million people who voted for him in the presidential elections in January.
"This show that this regime has no regard for human rights or respect for democracy. Sri Lanka is in the grip of a dictatorship that has defied international opinion.''
Fonseka, who led the Sri Lankan forces in wiping out the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, fell out with President Rajapaksa soon after the conflict ended and contested the January presidential elections. But soon after his defeat in the elections, he was arrested and stripped of his rank and pension benefits last month by a military court which also convicted him to three years in jail.
However, Rajapaksa has reduced the jail term to 30 months.
ARRESTED!
Is this Repeat Refugee Tamil Tiger man from the MV Sun Sea organizing another Refugee Ship to Canada?
.............
Alleged Tamil Tiger redetained
By Marten Youssef
TheGlobeandMail.com
Saturday 08, 2010
Maple Ridge, B.C: An alleged member of the Tamil Tigers, whom Canadian officials say travelled between Sri Lanka and Hong Kong on fraudulent passports, was ordered detained for the fourth time Friday as authorities attempt to verify his true identity.
The man, who can not be identified because of a publication ban, came to Canada in August aboard the MV Sun Sea with 491 other Tamil migrants including his wife. His is the second case in which the Canada Border Services Agency has raised security concerns.
He is being detained because his identity cannot yet be confirmed. However, the man’s counsel, Larry Smeets, said the CBSA is alleging that his client is a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a banned terrorist organization in Canada. Mr. Smeets declined to comment further on the allegations.
During the migrant's hearing Friday at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge, the CBSA said the man had withheld information about his travels to Hong Kong but later admitted to travelling from Hong Kong to Sri Lanka on a fake passport after he was ordered deported. He returned 10 days later to Hong Kong with a fake passport, the CBSA said. Reasons for his deportation or presence in Hong Kong were not divulged at the hearings.
“As a result, it appears he is proficient in obtaining fraudulent identity documents,” CBSA counsel Jennifer Friberg said, adding that the migrant hid information about his relatives in Canada.
She said that in earlier questioning the man said he had no relatives in Canada, but his wife contradicted him and said they did have family in the country. His wife then said she had no contact information for those relatives. However, Mr. Smeets provided those numbers during the hearing.
The IRB adjudicator, Rolland Ladouceur, pointed to those contradictions as he ordered the man’s continued detention. “A reasonable person might come to the conclusion that you are hiding something,” he said. The man is due to have another hearing in 30 days.
Meanwhile, lawyers for some of the migrants say their clients are being questioned by CBSA investigators about a possible additional vessel bringing more Tamil migrants to Canada.
Reports of an additional vessel have not been independently confirmed and CBSA declined to answer questions on their investigations.
O Canada .. Thou art TRULY IMPOTENT!
Thy borders are VIOLATED, Thy laws are FLOUTED with IMPUNITY!
"...first smuggling trip is financing the second one..."
.............
Canada searching evidence for a second Sri Lankan Tamil migrant ship
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 09, Colombo: Canadian authorities are searching for evidence of a possible second ship suspected of smuggling Sri Lankan Tamil migrants to Canada, a report said.
Canada's public safety officers are using satellites and hi-tech eavesdropping equipment to locate and pick up signals from the suspected vessel to determine whether the ship is smuggling migrants from Sri Lanka, the Toronto Sun newspaper reported.
Canadian Authorities say any vessel trying to reach Canada has to arrive by November to avoid adverse winter weather conditions.
An investigative report by Globe and Mail in August revealed that an alleged Tamil Tiger human-smuggling ring is preparing to smuggle another shipload of Tamils who have left Sri Lanka to be sent to Canada.
The first ship MV Sun Sea, a Thai cargo ship modified to accommodate people reached Vancouver in August with 492 Tamil asylum seekers on board.
The Canadian police source has told the Toronto Sun that the first smuggling trip is financing the second one.
Canada's Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has said that the organizers of the voyage of the MV Sun Sea charged up to $50,000 a passenger for a potential total haul of more than $20 million.
All migrants on the MV Sun Sea have filed refugee claims.
Sri Lankan authorities say the Tamil migrants are economic refugees who are taking advantage of Canada's relaxed immigration laws.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said that his government will bring comprehensive legislation designed to deter immigrants arriving in Canada.
The SPOTTED Tamil Cousins in Tamil Nadu help STRIPED Sri Lankan Tamils SMUGGLE "Refugees" abroad!
Birds of a FEATHER, Flock TOGETHER!
...............
India arrests local councillor for trafficking Sri Lankan refugees
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 08, Puducherry: India's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has arrested a DMK party councillor of a local commune panchayat and three others for allegedly attempting to send some Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to a foreign country.
Addressing the media, the Senior Superintendent of Police V J Chandran has said the CID police acting on a tip arrested the DMK councillor of Ariyankuppam commune panchayat Sakthivel and three others.
The refugees are suspected to be from camps in Tamil Nadu as there are no refugee camps in the area.
The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were being carried in a boat, allegedly owned by the councilor, from Thengaithittu fishing harbor on October 04, Indian media reported.
According to preliminary investigations by the police Ramu a Sri Lankan Tamil in Chennai, contacted the DMK councillor to purchase a boat to send Tamils illegally. The councilor has offered his boat through his accomplices Logu Ayappan of Ariyankuppam, Jeeva of Vaithikuppam and Kannan of Veerampattinam in Puducherry who have loaded the boat with fuel and kept ready.
According to the police, the refugees were sought to be transported to Australia. A detailed investigation would be carried out and all the four suspects would be remanded to custody, SP Chandran has said.
Vietnam and Sri Lanka tipped as next EM hotspots
By Atholl Simpson
Octoboer 08, 2010
Emerging market specialist Simon Godfrey of BNP Paribas believes Vietnam and Sri Lanka could be the next promising investment opportunities within the frontier markets as cheap labour offers industrial groups enticing options.
Welfare programmes aimed at benefiting Chinese workers could cause a production shift, with frontier markets in line to reap the benefits, according to Godfrey.
‘The wage increase in China means that the take up in production lines could go to countries like Vietnam and Sri Lanka,' said Godfrey, who tipped the countries as two of the most promising frontier markets.
Indeed, the Hong Kong-based specialist believes the key to emerging market investing is to focus on countries rather than on specific sectors. The correlation between many of the powerful emerging markets has increased and as they are becoming more integrated the search for 'non-standard opportunities' becomes more important.
‘The rise of intra regional demand has been especially strong in China and Russia,’ said Godfrey, ‘and they are becoming much more integrated between themselves.’
Local knowledge is essential to pick out these potential future players outside of the EM powerhouses and the lesser known countries and stocks could lead to higher rewards, but also higher risks.
However, Godfrey is keenly aware of the importance the Chinese powerhouse has on the whole region. ‘When China sneezes the rest of the emerging markets tends to catch a cold,' said Godfrey.
The rise in labour costs in China is not damaging news for EM investors, according to Godfrey, as this will in turn lead to Chinese workers purchasing power increasing and allow them to acquire more consumer goods.
‘The drivers of the EM will not be the same going forward. Consumption and demand will be the dominant sectors and the sources of growth will be elsewhere but more sustainable. They will move away from resources.’
He also said that currently US pension funds are starting to recommend a 5-7% exposure to emerging market debt and believes that the current ‘risk premiums for investing in emerging markets are becoming less and less justified’.
‘Today we have inflation in some countries simply because of a high rate of growth. It has been reduced quite a lot in some emerging markets and in major countries their debt has been lower than expected.’
This a minute FIRST STEP, but if Sri Lanka is to REMAIN PERMANENTLY FREE OF SEPARATISM, ETHNIC INTEGRATION towards a UNIFORM DEMOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION of its communities must be ACCELERATED under GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP.
Let us GET MOVING FAST, shall we?
................
Sri Lanka government resettling Sinhala people displaced from Northern Province
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 10, Colombo: The Ministry of Resettlement says the resettlement of Sinhala families who previously resided in the Northern Province will be carried out in due cause.
The Ministry says 80 such families who had to leave due to the war have been resettled in Mannar district.
Minister of Resettlement Milroy Fernando says if there are more Sinhala families who were residing in the Northern Province before the war and wanting to be resettled in the native lands can provide their information to the Ministry or the Governor's Office of the Northern Province.
Around 100 families that lived in Jaffna prior to the start of the war have returned to Jaffna seeking resettlement there, sources from the Northern Province said.
The families belong to the major Sinhalese ethnic community, lived in Jaffna, and mainly engaged in businesses. They have left the area 30 years ago with the commencement of LTTE hostilities.
Expecting they will be redressed, these families have taken shelter in Jaffna railway station.
Yes, Indeed!
The path to High Morals, Patriotism, Generosity and Nobility of Character must be TAUGHT and INCULCATED in the PEOPLE by the Buddhist CLERGY in Buddhist Majority Sri Lanka.
ALREADY, that message of BUDDHISM has had a SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.
It propelled impoverished Sri Lanka to the 8-th place in the World, and 1-st place among Asian Nations, in the World Charity Index rankings, on par with the United Kingdom, ahead of all other richer, bigger and more powerful nations!
This did not happen by CHANCE, but through the lessons in Morality and Compassion towards others we IMBIBED at the feet of our Parents and our Clergy, ALL OF OUR LIVES.
While others Laugh at and Mock the Buddhist way, as ineffective in fostering national development, we have quietly moved forward as an ISLAND in a BARREN DESERT, to BOTH build our nation and preserve our inner-selves.
As we hurl ourselves at the goal of becoming the NEW WONDER OF ASIA through DEVELOPMENT, let us also remember to FURTHER REFINE our inner-selves, our hearts and our minds, to become the FIRST NATION in the World Charity Index.
Jayawewa, Sri Lanka Maniyeni!
Obe' Thurulle' Epidunu Api Ediriyatama Yamu!
............
Sri Lanka President says responsibility for a moral society lies with the country's Buddhist clergy
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 10, Panadura: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Sunday that the responsibility of creating a moral society when the country is experiencing steady development lies with the Maha Sangha and called upon them to offer the advice and guidance to the people.
Attending a function to mark the 200th anniversary of the Panadura Rankoth Viharaya, the President said the Maha Sangha should influence the way people are thinking and prepare the children and the country to handle any future challenges in the world.
The President also laid the foundation stone for a three-storied building for the pirivena and Sri Shasanaratha Daham Pasala and presented a First Day cover and a stamp issued to mark the anniversary to the Chief Incumbent of the temple Ambalangoda Sri Sumangala Nayaka Thera. The Anu Natyaka, Prof. Ven. Kahapola Sugatharatana thera, Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris and Wimal Weeravansa, MP Reginald Cooray and distinguish invitees were present.
Sri Lanka President orders to re-survey all state land
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 11, Madampe: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today instructed the Surveyor Department to re-survey all state land.
The President issued these directions to the development committee of the Northwestern Province at the progress review meeting of the Province held today in Madampe.
The President's orders came as it was revealed that certain state-owned lands had been acquired by squatters. The President directed the officials of the Surveyor Department to hire private surveyors if the cadre is insufficient to conduct the surveys.
The President also asked the officials to submit a report on the progress of the survey of state land as soon as possible.
President Rajapaksa also inaugurated the computerizing of information and data of the Provincial Education Department's staff during the progress review meeting.
During his visit to the Province, President Rajapaksa also visited the Senanayake Vidyalaya in Madampe to participate in the opening of the new sports stadium at the school.
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
Sri Lanka being re-mapped
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 11, Colombo: Sri Lanka Surveyor Department has taken measures to re-map the land of Sri Lanka.
Aerial photographs of the country are being taken now and the recent development projects are captured via satellite imagery in the process of preparation of the new map of Sri Lanka.
Recent development projects such as the harbor built at Hambanthota by digging the land have changed the map of Sri Lanka. Reservoirs highways and other constructions have created new land marks.
The Surveyor General Mahesh Fernando told media that the new map would be available for the public from next year.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=8755
This is an article from our sworn enemy Jehan Perera.
Ananda, what do you think of the change of tone?
May be it is so difficult to pretend to be blinded the change happenning.
Freedi, Freedi, Quite Contreery
How does your Story Grow?
In ONE WORD ... Boloney!
PROSECUTE Fredrica Jansz for broadcasting False ANTI-NATIONAL Propaganda, and CONVICT Sarath Fonseka for TREASON.
Hand-in-Glove Anti-National Collaborators Now Falling Out to AVOID LEGAL REPURCUSSIONS of their CONNIVING!
Let these Birds of a FEATHER, Flock TOGETHER in PRISON!
................
White flag issue: Fonseka never denied my story - Fredrica Jansz
By Sarath MALALASEKERA
DailyNews.lk
October 12, 2010
Sunday Leader Chief Editor Fredrica Jansz giving evidence before the Trial-at-Bar consisting of three High Court Judges, examined by Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Navaratne Bandara yesterday said that Sarath Fonseka never denied her lead story in the Sunday Leader of December 12, 2009 about the white flag issue.
Sarath Fonseka on a subsequent date after having lengthy discussions with several of his friends including Mangala Samaraweera and several others asked her to carry a clarification in the Sunday Leader on December 20, 2009 stating that LTTE leaders were killed not while they were carrying white flags but during the war.
The three Judges are Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundera (President), Colombo High Court Judge W T M B P Warawewa and Colombo High Court Judge M Z Razeen. Examined at length by Deputy Solicitor General Navaratna Bandara, Jansz said that she could not contact Sarath Fonseka after publishing the clarification in the newspapers.
But the JVPers carried a massive campaign against her and attempted to tarnish her character.
Jansz said that in respect of her article about the white flag issue over 1,000 people had commented about the story and the BBC also contacted her. Later Sarath Fonseka made a public announcement about the issue.
She did not attend any press conference about the white flag issue but she spoke once to Sarath Fonseka after the story appeared in the paper. Questioned about a news item which appeared in the Sunday Leader newspaper "Her Story" on January 3, 2010, the witness said that she wrote that story because the JVP conducted a protest campaign against her.
After "Her Story" appeared in the newspaper, Sarath Fonseka did not contact her. Many people told her to deny the story. Sarath Fonseka never said that he would sue her for the story which appeared in the Sunday Leader about the white flag issue.
Jansz said that she made a statement to the CID about her story. Cross-examined by Senior Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty, Jansz said she was charged for contempt of Court for not complying with a Court order.
Earlier she was told by the Mount Lavinia Court not to publish any defamatory articles against Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the Sunday Leader newspaper.
Answering the Senior Defence Counsel, Jansz said that she apologised to the Supreme Court in a separate case earlier.
Sarath Fonseka pleaded not guilty to the three charges preferred against him for making a false statement to The Sunday Leader Senior Journalist Fredrica Jansz that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had told Brigadier Shavendra Silva to eliminate LTTE cadres who come with white flags to surrender during the war.
The witness said that she was attached to the Sunday Times in 1991 joined the Sunday Leader newspaper in 1995.
Sarath Fonseka is charged on three counts under the Criminal Procedure Code and under the Emergency Regulations Sections 28 and 29. Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Nawaratna Bandara with State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama, State Counsel Yohan Liyanage and State Counsel L Ratnayake appeared for the Attorney General.
Senior Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetty with Attorneys Nilanthi Peiris, Ajith Pathirana, U L G Bandara, Mervyn de Silva, Namal Rajapaksa and Swarna Bandara appeared for Sarath Fonseka.
Attorney-at-Law N M Shahied watched the interests of Fredrica Jansz. The case will be called again today at 10.30 am.
Canada will continue to be EXPLOITED until Canada's Immigration Laws are changed to impose STIFF PENALTIES on BOGUS REFUGEE illegal immigrants.
But, can Canada summon the WILL to do that, given that many of its lawmakers are in the pay of the LTTE Eelamist Tamil Diaspora?
I DOUBT IT.
Canada will DANCE ANY JIG the LTTE Fiddles!
O Canada ... Thou Art ROUTINELY RAVISHED and TRULY IMPOTENT!
....................
Canada 'aware' of Thai arrests targeting alleged Tamil smugglers
NationalPost.com
Oct0ber 12, 2010
Canadian authorities may have played a quiet role in the arrest of 155 Sri Lankan migrants who were living illegally in Thailand waiting for a ship that would transport them to Canada.
Rohan Gunaratna, who has consulted for the Canadian government and is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Canadian and Australian authorities have been working with the Thai government to prevent illegal asylum seekers from reaching the two countries.
According to a report by the National News Bureau of Thailand, immigration officials and commandos raided apartments in 17 locations in Bangkok after receiving a tip that Sri Lankan immigrants had been sneaking into the country.
The report indicated a number of rebel group members were among the immigrants and that many had no travel documents or had overstayed their visas.
The pre-emptive strike against Tamil smugglers started after the MV Sun Sea arrived in Vancouver in August with 492 Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka, he said.
It was the second time a ship full of Tamils sought refuge in Canada.
A year ago, the Ocean Lady docked in Victoria with 76 Tamil men aboard.
While the Canadian government refused to comment on “operational issues,” the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed Canada is aware of the Thai arrests and that it’s working with several “source and transit countries” to combat migrant smuggling.
“It appears that Canada doesn’t wish to be taken for a ride and they have become more decisive in their response,” Mr. Gunaratna told Postmedia News on Tuesday.
Mr. Gunaratna’s impartiality has been called into question in the past. Detention hearings held last year for the Ocean Lady migrants heard that the professor had close ties with the Sri Lankan government and that he had even helped the president write his memoirs.
The people aboard the vessels that came to Canada are ethnic Tamils seeking refugee status.
Some believe the Tamil Tigers are behind the smuggling operation and that the vessels were once used for gun running.
The group is considered a terrorist organization by Canada and its members are barred from entering the country.
QUESTION to the SANE:
In which Country Does Rigorous Imprisonment at Hard Labor REQUIRE a TV?
How about a Couch for this Couch Potato with a 30-month Warranty?
...............
Sri Lankan court orders former Army Commander be provided with a TV in jail
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 12, Colombo: A Sri Lankan court Tuesday ordered that former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka, who is currently serving a 30-month jail term, be provided with a television.
The Colombo High Court had ordered prison officials to provide Fonseka with facilities to watch television.
Fonseka's lawyer told court in a previous occasion that Fonseka was not granted the privilege of watching television, which has been granted to other inmates at the Welikada Prison.
Court issued the order when the controversial 'white flag' case was called for hearing.
The local media reported that the judges of the trial-at-bar in the white flag case have observed that the loose pages of the notebook of the editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper Frederica Janzs, which contained vital notes on the alleged statements made by Fonseka, are different in colour and weight to the other pages of the same notebook.
Swarnajith Udana,
I doubt that this Leopard has changed its spots permanently.
I have the following 3 comments on Jehan Perera's article:
1. He has now decided to kiss the hand that he cannot cut .. for a while at least ... until another opportunity arises. Life in the political wilderness is hard indeed!
2. He is paving the way for the iNGOs and NGOs to DANCE THEIR JIG in Sri Lanka AGAIN, trying to create and show a need for their "services" .. as evidenced by the following excerpt from that article:
"An area in which the government can improve the services rendered to the people who have been displaced is to tap the development assistance provided by civic groups and by NGOs. Today a considerable amount of development assistance is channeled internationally through civic groups and NGOs, not only to Sri Lanka but also to other parts of the world. Most often these are relatively small in size and also operate on a small scale in relation to the government, which operates on a large scale.
3. He trying to connect the lack of adequate foreign funds for development in the North to the GOSL's "failure" tio maintain good relations with the traditional Western donor countries.
Donors indeed .. all they tried to do was to destabilize and partition Sri Lanka from within.
Never again should iNGOs be allowed direct on-the-ground access to Sri Lanka. If they want, they can give the funds to the GOSL to deploy for specific purposes .. or they can keep their money.
The problems they SPAWN in Sri Lanka costs much more to solve and eradicate than the money they give us!
NEVER AGAIN!
Can Sri Lanka, which CONSISTENTLY SCORES HIGH in the Global Gender Gap Index [2010(16),2009(16) 2008(12),2007(15),2006(13)]
in how it TREATS ITS WOMEN be discriminating against ANY MINORITY on ANY BASIS?
The Answer is an EMPHATIC NO!
The Global Gender Gap Index, compiled by the Switzerland based World Economic Forum, gives LIE to the oft repeated denunciations by the Eelamist Tamil Diaspora and their self-serving backers of Global Terrorism.
JAYAWEWA, Sri Lanka Maniyeni!
Ratna Deepa, Janma Bhumi,
Lanka Deepa, Vijaya Bhumi,
Mey Apey Udarawa Wu,
Mathru Bhumi-yayi!
Mathru Bhumi-yayi!
Deshapremini!
Ediriyata Gath Piyawara
Passata Nothabawu!
...........
SL excels in women empowerment
DailyMirror.lk
October 10, 2010
Sri Lanka has been placed at 16 in the global gender equality ranking this year, a study by the World Economic Forum reveals. The country held the same position last time as well.
The Forum, a group based in Switzerland has ranked 134 countries to know how far they have closed gender gaps over the year in the areas of economic participation, education, political empowerment and health. Sri Lanka is ahead of countries such as the United States and Canada as well.
According to its report released Tuesday, Iceland, Norway and Finland consecutively hold the first three positions.
The Global Gender Gap Index 2010 rankings
Country/Rank/Score
Iceland 1 0.8496
Norway 2 0.8404
Finland 3 0.8260
Sweden 4 0.8024
New Zealand 5 0.7808
Ireland 6 0.7773
Denmark 7 0.7719
Lesotho 8 0.7678
Philippines 9 0.7654
Switzerland 10 0.7562
Spain 11 0.7554
South Africa 12 0.7535
Germany 13 0.7530
Belgium 14 0.7509
United Kingdom 15 0.7460
Sri Lanka 16 0.7458
Netherlands 17 0.7444
Latvia 18 0.7429
United States 19 0.7411
Canada 20 0.7372
Trinidad and Tobago 21 0.7353
Mozambique 22 0.7329
Australia 23 0.7271
Cuba 24 0.7253
Namibia 25 0.7238
Luxembourg 26 0.7231
Mongolia 27 0.7194
Costa Rica 28 0.7194
Argentina 29 0.7187
Nicaragua 30 0.7176
Barbados 31 0.7176
Portugal 32 0.7171
Uganda 33 0.7169
Moldova 34 0.7160
Lithuania 35 0.7132
Bahamas 36 0.7128
Austria 37 0.7091
Guyana 38 0.7090
Panama 39 0.7072
Ecuador 40 0.7072
Kazakhstan 41 0.7055
Slovenia 42 0.7047
Poland 43 0.7037
Jamaica 44 0.7037
Russian Federation 45 0.7036
France 46 0.7025
Estonia 47 0.7018
Chile 48 0.7013
Macedonia, FYR 49 0.6996
Bulgaria 50 0.6983
Kyrgyz Republic 51 0.6973
Israel 52 0.6957
Croatia 53 0.6939
Honduras 54 0.6927
Colombia 55 0.6927
Singapore 56 0.6914
Thailand 57 0.6910
Greece 58 0.6908
Uruguay 59 0.6897
Peru 60 0.6895
China 61 0.6881
Botswana 62 0.6876
Ukraine 63 0.6869
Venezuela 64 0.6863
Czech Republic 65 0.6850
Tanzania 66 0.6829
Romania 67 0.6826
Malawi 68 0.6824
Paraguay 69 0.6804
Ghana 70 0.6782
Slovak Republic 71 0.6778
Vietnam 72 0.6776
Dominican Republic 73 0.6774
Italy 74 0.6765
Gambia, The 75 0.6762
Bolivia 76 0.6751
Brunei Darussalam 77 0.6748
Albania 78 0.6726
Hungary 79 0.6720
Madagascar 80 0.6713
Angola 81 0.6712
Bangladesh 82 0.6702
Malta 83 0.6695
Armenia 84 0.6669
Brazil 85 0.6655
Cyprus 86 0.6642
Indonesia 87 0.6615
Georgia 88 0.6598
Tajikistan 89 0.6598
El Salvador 90 0.6596
Mexico 91 0.6577
Zimbabwe 92 0.6574
Belize 93 0.6536
Japan 94 0.6524
Mauritius 95 0.6520
Kenya 96 0.6499
Cambodia 97 0.6482
Malaysia 98 0.6479
Maldives 99 0.6452
Azerbaijan 100 0.6446
Senegal 101 0.6414
Suriname 102 0.6407
United Arab Emirates 103 0.6397
Korea, Rep. 104 0.6342
Kuwait 105 0.6318
Zambia 106 0.6293
Tunisia 107 0.6266
Fiji 108 0.6256
Guatemala 109 0.6238
Bahrain 110 0.6217
Burkina Faso 111 0.6162
India 112 0.6155
Mauritania 113 0.6152
Cameroon 114 0.6110
Nepal 115 0.6084
Lebanon* 116 0.6084
Qatar 117 0.6059
Nigeria 118 0.6055
Algeria 119 0.6052
Jordan 120 0.6048
Ethiopia 121 0.6019
Oman 122 0.5950 121
Iran, Islamic Rep. 123 0.5933
Syria 124 0.5926
Egypt 125 0.5899
Turkey 126 0.5876
Morocco 127 0.5767
Benin 128 0.5719
Saudi Arabia 129 0.5713
Côte d’Ivoire* 130 0.5691
Mali 131 0.5680
Pakistan 132 0.5465
Chad 133 0.5330
Yemen 134 0.4603
.............
India should be a PERMANENT MEMBER of the UN Security Council; not just a TEMPORARY member!
..............
India elected to UN Security Council
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 13, New York: The United Nations General Assembly Tuesday elected India along with four other countries for a two-year term in the 15-member Security Council. Columbia, Portugal, South Africa, and Germany were the other four countries.
The five new countries will replace Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda whose two-year term expires at the end of 2010.
According to the UN, the contesting countries need a two-third majority of the 192 member states in the Assembly. The selections are based on the geographical groupings.
India has run unopposed and was elected with 187 votes to represent the South Asian region in the first round of balloting.
The five new countries will join Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, and Nigeria, whose terms on the Council end on 31 December 2011 and the five permanent members China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
IS CANADA FINALLY WAKING UP to prevent its refugee policies being ABUSED by terrorists and human smugglers?
Wonders will never cease!
...............
Canadian Tamils fear Ottawa had a hand in Thai raids
By Sunny Dhillon
TheStar.com
October 12, 2010
VANCOUVER—The Canadian Tamil Congress says it’s extremely concerned by reports 155 Sri Lankan migrants have been arrested in Thailand and that Ottawa may have played a role in the crackdown to prevent the migrants from setting sail for Canada.
Congress spokesman David Poopalapillai said his organization has spoken with a relative of one of the Tamils arrested this past weekend in a raid of 17 Bangkok locations.
Poopalapillai said while details are still sketchy, some of those arrested appear to have been properly registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In response to reports that Ottawa may have had a hand in the arrests, Poopalapillai said Canada cannot interchange genuine refugees with human smugglers. The Canadian government has vowed to crack down on migrants since the vessel MV Sun Sea arrived in British Columbia in August carrying 492 people.
“Canada cannot negate its international obligations and have countries such as Thailand do its dirty work,” Poopalapillai said Tuesday.
A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the minister cannot confirm or deny operational matters.
The federal government will not sit back while Canada becomes a target for criminal operations that try to take advantage of the country’s generosity, the spokesman added.
Cherdchai Chaivaivid, counsellor and head of chancery at the Royal Thai Embassy in Ottawa, said there had been meetings between Canada and Thailand to coordinate efforts.
“This is an ongoing process,” he said. “We have had very good co-operation and understanding with the Canadian government, in particular since the Sun Sea, the vessel issue a couple of months ago.”
Chaivaivid, however, had no specific information about possible Canadian involvement in the arrests.
The Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa did not return a call seeking comment.
Ottawa has taken steps to create a new class of asylum seeker — the “mass arrival” — with tougher detention rules for human smugglers.
Migrants who arrive in large groups would have to wait two weeks for their first detention hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. The first detention review is currently held within 48 hours.
The changes, expected to be tabled soon by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, would also broaden the offence of human smuggling to target ring leaders who induce or aid someone coming to Canada.
Lisa Monette, a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, provided few details Tuesday on the government’s role in the Thailand arrests.
“We are aware of the operation conducted by Thai authorities,” she said.
“Canada is engaged with a number of countries in the region on issues regarding migrant smuggling, including pursuing co-operation with source and transit countries. We will not comment on operational issues that may compromise any ongoing or future efforts.”
The National News Bureau of Thailand, a government public relations department, said the migrants were arrested while waiting to seek asylum to a third country.
The bureau said most of the arrested had either no travel documents or had overstayed their visas.
Poopalapillai said his organization has contacted various humanitarian agencies to try and ensure those arrested in Thailand are treated fairly.
An Immigration and Refugee Board spokeswoman said of the 443 adults who were detained after entering Canada on the MV Sun Sea, 45 have been ordered released.
The remaining 49 passengers on the freighter were minors.
The Ocean Lady docked in B.C. last year carrying 76 Tamils. All have since been released from custody.
Who could have shot Duraiappah at Varadaraja Perumal temple, Ponnalai?
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
October 12, 2010
Over three decades after the assassination of the then Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah, allegedly by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been told that the assassin could have been TULF stalwart A. Amirthalingam’s eldest son, Kandeepan, now living in Europe.
The LLRC, headed by former Attorney General C. R. de Silva, is investigating the collapse of the Norwegian-led peace process and the circumstances leading to the Eelam War IV.
K. T. Rajasingham, Editor of the Asian Tribune, has told the LLRC that the assassin was not Prabhakaran as claimed, but Kandeepan, who shot dead Duraiappah for being critical of his mother, Mangayarkkarasi. Duraiappah was killed on July 27, 1975, at Varadaraja Perumal temple located at Ponnalai, in the Jaffna district.
The LTTE assassinated Amirthalingam at his Colombo residence in the presence of his wife on July 13, 1989. All three members of the LTTE hit squad were shot dead by Amirthalingam’s police bodyguard, T. A. Nissanka. The 76-year-old Mrs. Amirthalingam, accompanied by her youngest son, Dr. Bahirathan visited Nissanka at his home at Ambanpitiya, Kegalle on May 29, 2009, ten days after the army killed Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.
Responding to a query by The Island, ex-DIG Ram Sundaralingam, who had been in Jaffna at the time of the Duraiappah assassination, said that among the youth investigated by CID Inspector Bastianpillai, in connection with the killing, was Amirthalingam’s eldest son, though the investigators didn’t take him in probably due to absence of any evidence.
The LTTE killed Bastianpillai and two other policemen involved in anti-terrorist investigations and buried them along with their vehicle at the Murugan farm early April 1978.
Sundaralingam, now serving the Interpol, had been SP Colombo Crimes and was visiting Jaffna in connection with a bribery case involving a police officer heard at the District Court of Colombo.
Sundaralingam told The Island: Duraiappah’s mother-in-law, Mrs Coomaraswamy over the phone informed him of the attack and the victim being admitted to the Jaffna Hospital. I rushed to the hospital, but Duraiappah had been dead on admission. I also visited Duraiappah’s residence and was told Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was coming for the funeral. IGP Senanayake who spoke to me indicated the PM wanted me to remain in Jaffna until the end of the funeral."
Sundaralingam said that Premier Bandaranaike had been concerned about infighting in the SLFP in Jaffna and inquired from him whether the assassination was in anyway linked to that. The Chennai-based Sundaralingam said that he had told Premier Bandaranaike that an armed group operating in the north was responsible for the assassination. "I told her on my own and the police that was the ‘work’ of one of the Tamil youth groups operating in the north, though I never mentioned any names of any suspects, as it was too premature to identify the actual gunmen. The inquiry was conducted by Inspector Bastiampillai, who was reporting to the IGP/DIG CID."
The respected police veteran said that no case was filed in Jaffna Courts regarding the assassination.
A former Counsel for several terrorist suspects, arrested by the police in the ‘70s, told The Island yesterday that nothing had transpired at that time to indicate the identity of the persons involved in the assassination. According to him, Tamil youth had been angry with the Jaffna based politicians for letting them down, though they supported their political campaigns. The veteran lawyer said that terrorists had first targeted Duraiappah’s driver before they zeroed-in on the political stalwart.
Yes Indeed!
Effective Organization, Work Force and Political Discipline, and Patriotic Motivation are the three ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS for National Progress!
...........
Sri Lanka President to focus on country's development in his second term of office
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa says his second term in office will be a decisive period that will bring development to the country, ravaged by an ethnic war for three decades.
Addressing trade union leaders at Temple Trees today, the President said the war is over now and the next step will be to develop the country.
A new government will be formed once he swears in for the second term, the President said, adding that the budget will be presented after that.
The President will be taking oaths on November 19 for a second term. The budget for 2011 is scheduled to be tabled in the parliament on November 22.
President Rajapaksa said discipline is a compulsory factor to build a developed country and urged the union leaders and the working class to support his goals for the country.
He told the union representatives that the government cannot plan short term for one or two years but need to have a clear long-term plan leading towards development and the government needs the cooperation of the unions for a successful outcome.
The government has already drawn plans to accomplish the future development targets and the trade unions should extend their utmost support to strengthen the public service, the President said.
Praising the working people for their service for the country with proper understanding of the present situation, the President said the government is committed to share the benefits of development equally among the public.
Jayawewa, Sri Lanka!
............
Sri Lanka gets first boxing gold in 72 years
LankaBusinessOnline.com
October 13, 2010
NEW DELHI, October 13, 2010 (AFP) - Manju Wanniarachchi on Wednesday won Sri Lanka's first gold medal in boxing in 72 years after beating Wales' Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight division.
The 30-year-old from Kandy won a points decision 16-14 to beat the 18-year-old, who caused an upset in the semi-finals by beating the Olympic bronze medallist and the beaten finalist from Melbourne, Louis Julie.
Bronze medallists were Tirafalo Seoko of Botswana and Julie of Mauritius.
Wanniarachchi, who works for a company that makes was awarded the fight after the boxers were level at 7-7 after the final round.
His manager Dian Gomes told AFP: "It's a great victory for us after 72 years. It means so much for boxing in Sri Lanka. This is one of the greatest victories of all time.
"It's as good as winning the cricket World Cup."
Wanniarachchi is a product of the Slimline Boxing Club that is part of MAS Holdings, which makes lingerie for a number of leading brands around the world. The boxer also works in the knicker factory.
He became the island nation's first boxing medal winner since the Auckland Games in 1950 by winning his quarter-final match on Sunday, guaranteeing him at least a bronze.
Sri Lanka's last gold was won by Ansdale "Barney" Henricus in Sydney in 1938.
McGoldrick said he was disappointed with the way he fought but had no complaints about the result.
"He was a solid puncher," he told reporters. "It's been a difficult week and I was a little bit flat and not as sharp as I could have been."
Had he won, McGoldrick would only have been the fourth boxing gold medal winner for Wales. His teammates Jermaine Asare (light heavyweight) and Keiron Harding (middleweight) won bronze following their defeats in the last four.
Tamil refugees got the Canada goose that laid golden egg
The Ottawa Citizen
October 13, 2010
Re: They will keep coming, Oct. 11.
Martin Collacott, a former Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, understands the Tamil illegal refugee scam. He wrote, "There are good reasons to believe that many Tamil migrants are taking advantage of Canada's flawed refugee process."
It is easy to figure out why the Tamils bypass Tamil Nadu in India, their motherland, where 61 million Tamils live and many other countries in between Sri Lanka and Canada and land on our shores. It is our lucrative welfare system.
They know that Canada is the goose that keeps laying golden eggs -- a country that pays welfare cheques starting at $585 a month -- when converted to Sri Lankan rupees is 58,000, which is a fortune in Sri Lankan terms. To sweeten their attraction to Canada, they are offered welfare housing, medical services, and a free legal aid system to fight their cases in court, and their children will receive free post-secondary school education.
They are smart to know that couples with children under six years of age could also apply for the universal child care benefit each month for each child. They are also eligible for a federal child tax benefit and the national child benefit supplement, which they could not get in Sri Lanka.
So who wouldn't want to come to Canada and be with Canada's nice people?
They know that a couple with one child can get $327.66 per month as child care benefits on top of $1,058 under the Ontario welfare system and that Scarborough and Markham, where they will eventually will end up, are indeed cities in Ontario.
These Tamils also know that, once they receive their Canadian passport, they can get on the first flight out of Canada with no questions asked by the Canadian authorities to return to Sri Lanka for holidays and visit relatives, the country that they ran away from, saying that they were persecuted.
With peace in Sri Lanka, there is no need for these Tamils to say that they are being persecuted as thousands of refugees from the camps in India are returning home, according to the reports by the UNHRC.
Asoka Weerasinghe,
Gloucester
The GOSL should underwrite Bank Loans to Small Businesses through a Small Business Administration set up as in the United States.
This should ease the small business credit crunch due to tight-fisted banks unwilling to assume the risk of default.
Interest rate should not be raised unduly to offset the perceived business risk.
................
Now or never!
By Devan Daniel
Washington D.C.
October 12, 2010
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes Sri Lanka has the potential to maintain sustainable growth and become an emerging market of tomorrow, but there is a lot that needs to be done.
Sri Lanka was averaging 6 percent GDP growth each year prior to the global economic crisis where growth contracted to 3.5 percent in 2009. But there was strong growth during the first and second quarters of this year, at 7.1 percent and 8 percent respectively. The Central Bank’s projection for economic growth was revised last month to near 8 percent. The IMF’s latest projection is 7 percent.
"Our latest projection (of 7 percent growth for 2010) came before the second quarter data and we would reevaluate our projections this November of December when the mission next visits Sri Lanka," Brian Aitken, IMF Mission Chief for Sri Lanka told The Island Financial Review.
"The second quarter growth was very positive and higher than what we expected," Aitken said.
However, maintaining this momentum in the medium term would be crucial and in order to sustain growth, fiscal policies would have to be aligned with growth expectations. While the government develops infrastructure, maintain welfare (which has to be better targeted) and revives the economies of the North and East, steps must be taken to contain high budget deficits, attract private sector investment.
Sri Lanka’s budget deficit ballooned to 9.9 percent of GDP last year from a target of 7 percent and is expected to bring it down to 8 percent this year. The government envisages to double per capita income by 2016, but this would require an increase in private sector investment, and as such, bank credit to the private sector must double from the existing Rs. 1.1 trillion levels. In the past, high government deficit financing and overreliance on the domestic sector has crowded out credit to the private sector. This was why Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal earlier this year warned that reckless spending on the government’s part could threaten private sector credit growth, the low interest rate regime and low inflation.
But the banking sector is holding excess liquidity positions for the past few months. They argue that there is no demand for credit, or that there are no viable project proposals being shown to them. But businesses argue that banks are being too tight fisted.
"Now is the time for the government to formulate its fiscal policy and give a signal of how it would approach the post war economy. This is why we would look closely at the next budget (which would be presented to parliament in November). If Sri Lanka is going to move up to the next level, it is going to need a lot more investment, mainly private sector investment," Aitken said.
"The private sector would be able to invest, and would be willing, if there was a sustainable fiscal policy which would facilitate a sound macroeconomic environment.
Now or never!
......continued..........
Tax reforms…
Aitken said Sri Lanka would have to reform its tax system in order to make it business friendly.
"Sri Lanka would have to make the tax system efficient, bring down rates and broaden the tax base so that it becomes business friendly. This must be done in such a way that tax revenues improved," he said.
Reforming the BOI…
Aitken also said the Board of Investment (BOI)no longer needed to grant tax exemptions to attract foreign investment.
"There was an overreliance on tax exemptions given by the BOI to attract investment and this is no longer needed. Investments do not require tax exemptions; they would flow in if there was macroeconomic stability and a business-friendly environment. So reforms to the BOI must happen," Aitken said.
I welcome this development; one that I have long advocated for beautifying ALL cities and towns in Sri Lanka.
REGULATORY SUPPORT: It should begin with the passing of regulatory standards for public, business and residential buildings and roadways, including standards for their maintenance, appearance and cleanliness.
MOTIVATION: Both the CARROT and the STICK should be used. THe carrot can be in the form of awards for exceptional service to individuals, and to structures and roadways, posted prominently for public's viewing. Civic organizations and businesses should be encouraged to ADOPT roadways for maintaining those standards through Sramadana programs.
PUBLIC MINI-PARKS: The GOSL should encourage the development of well-maintained Mini-Parks in every residential and business neighborhood, with trees, park benches, water fountains, and decorative fences around them. The extend of land used for these Mini-Parks need be no more than 100 ft x 100 ft. Setting up businesses by vendors/hawkers within or adjacent to these Mini-Parks should be strictly prohibited and enforced by the police. As in the case of roadways, maintenance of these Mini-Parks should be assigned to neighborhood civic groups.
These are some of the ways in which the NATION can be beautified to become a lovely place for all to live, and the PEOPLE are taught to assume direct responsibility for it, instead of placing the burden always on the government.
Local responsibility to beautify local neighborhoods, under national standards, should be the way forward.
................
CMC commences programme to redesign and beautify Sri Lanka capital city
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 12, Colombo: The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) has commenced a programme to redesign and beautify the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
The programme to give a facelift to the city of Colombo first commenced during the IIFA awards held in Sri Lanka in June this year.
According to CMC Chief City Administrator Omar Kamil among the projects to be undertaken are the allocation of more parking facilities in the city and construction of special foot paths on the Galle Road for the pedestrians.
He has said local media that the redesigning and restoration process of the Galle road from Bambalapitiya junction to Kollupitiya junction is currently in progress.
Under the programme, the road is to be widened into a five-lane stretch to ease the traffic congestion.
Who needs the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA to "discuss" IDP resettlement?
Not WE the PEOPLE, not the GOSL!
That resttlement job is already nearly complete without the TNA, IN SPITE of their campaign of caterwauling about "Imprisonment and Torture" of "Our Tamil People" in "Concentration Camps" that they vociferously waged in the recent past.
Their Lies, Racism and Terrorist Nexus has been EXPOSED NOW to the WHOLE WORLD which has now seen REALITY of the Compassionate Caring Resettlement of the IDPs in step with DEMINING of the land.
WHO Needs the TNA? NOT US!
We don't need these Incurable Racists AT ALL!
BEGONE Tiger Nominated Agents!
............
Sri Lanka's Tamil alliance to discuss resettlement of displaced civilians with the government
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said that it is considering meeting with the government to discuss the resettlement of displaced civilians.
The TNA has said it would seek an appointment with Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa for the purpose.
The discussions would be based on the proposed mechanism to monitor and carry out the resettlement of the displaced in the North.
TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has been quoted in the local media saying that his party had nominated members to this mechanism, but there has not been any progress.
He has said that the resettlement is carried out at a very slow pace.
"We want to raise our concerns with the Minister and President Mahinda Rajapaksa. First, we will meet the Minister and discuss the matter," he has said.
The government had proposed to establish a mechanism to look into resettlement issues to expedite the process and the TNA was asked to nominate some members which they have complied.
All power to Manju, I am sure millions of Sri Lankans sang along in front of their tv sets..
Sri Lanka matha plays at Delhi 2010
"India should be a PERMANENT MEMBER of the UN Security Council; not just a TEMPORARY member"
Not only India but Brazil and Germany too..But China (India), USA (Brazil) and the Russia (Germany) will never allow it..
The UN is a dinosaur..A new organization should be formed in the coming decades to reflect present day realities..
Electricity for all by 2012
By Dinesh DE ALWIS
DailyNews.lk
October 14, 2010
The Power and Energy Ministry will accomplish the task of providing 100 percent electricity by 2012. The Ministry has provided electricity for 87 percent of the population. Under the Vidulamu Lanka program Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranwaka has ensured that every Sri Lankan will have access to Electricity.
Under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and according to the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma, the Ministry has launched a special program to supply electricity for those who don't have electricity in Colombo, Gampaha and Hambantota districts by the end of this year.
The Ministry will extend electricity for nine areas in the Colombo district and 12 areas in the Gampaha district spending Rs 180 million.
Nearly 95 percent of the Viduliyana program in the Hambantota district has been completed and the rest will be completed before the end of this year.
Meanwhile, electricity projects in Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts will be completed by 2011.
The Ministry will complete electricity projects in Puttalama, Kurunagala, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara-Eliya, Badulla, Moneragala, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya by 2012.
White Flag Story: How media moguls tell lies and sell the nation for money
.............
UNP-Sunday Leader deal:
Frederica’s reply to Defence Counsel expunged
By Shamindra Ferdinando and Jayantha de Silva
Island.lk
October 13, 2010
Publisher of The Sunday Leader Lal Wickrematunge and its editor Frederica Jansz at the Colombo HC on Wednesday. (Photo Nimal Dayaratne)
Editor of The Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz says she didn’t object to an agreement between the management of her newspaper as well as the Sinhala weekly, Irudina with the UNP as they needed funds to obtain additional newsprint to increase the print order.
She said the main Opposition party, the UNP, had wanted the agreement in the run-up to the Jan. 26 presidential election and it was necessary.
She was responding to Defence Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetti in the ‘White Flag’ case before the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar comprising Justices Mrs. Deepali Wijesundera, W. M. P. B. Warawewa and M. Z. Razeen.
Following objections raised by prosecutor Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Nawaratna Bandara, the judges ordered her response to a question by the Defence Counsel expunged.
The Defence Counsel Ladduwahetti asked Jansz whether she had warned that she would quit over the agreement between her management and the UNP. At this point, Bandara and Ladduwahetti exchanged words with the latter insisting his question shouldn’t be expunged.
The Court advised the witness not to bring up issues not irrelevant to questions raised by the Defence Counsel.
Nalin Ladduwahetti (NL): When you did the interview with General Sarath Fonseka (SF), which appeared in the December 13, 2009, issue of The Sunday Leader, were you aware that the former Army Commander was repeating what was told to him by third party?
Frederica Jansz (FJ): Yes.
NL: When Did SF tell you about his receiving information from a third party?
FJ: I did the interview on December 8, 2009, though I heard about SF receiving information from a third party only on December 12, 2009, when I managed to contact him over the phone.
NL: That means you knew that information provided by a third party had been the basis for SF’s statement?
FJ: Yes.
NL: Then why didn’t you mention that fact?
FJ: I referred to that in the last paragraph of the said article.
Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Nawaratna Bandara interrupted at that moment.
NL: There had been absolutely no indication except in the last paragraph that SF was quoting a journalist.
FJ: Yes.
NL: Didn’t it occur to you that the public should have been told that SF was repeating what he had been told by a journalist?
FJ: I contacted Gen. Fonseka on December 12 and was told that he had received that information from a journalist.
NL: By the time you contacted SF on December 12, you had done the write-up.
FJ: yes.
She emphasised that she wouldn’t have carried the article on Dec. 13, 2009, if she couldn’t get in touch with SF. She went on to say that she would have held back the story for the following week’s issue (Dec. 20, 2009) pending a clarification from SF.
NL: You are telling us that you would not have published the article headlined, Gota Ordered them shot on Dec. 13, but would have delayed the publication by a week.
FJ: yes.
UNP-Sunday Leader deal:
Frederica’s reply to Defence Counsel expunged
......continued....
NL: Aren’t you telling us a lie? Although you assured us that you wouldn’t have carried the article without a clarification from SF, the City Edition of The Sunday Leader published the interview without any reference to a journalist being the source. You lied when you told us that The Sunday Leader wouldn’t have published the article unless you had obtained a clarification from SF.
FJ: I told the editorial staff to hold the City Edition until I obtained a comment from SF. In fact, I had a second lead story ready, though they went ahead with the printing regardless of my instructions. There had been a serious mess-up and as a result I was able to carry the clarification only in the Late City Edition.
NL: Did you remember your lapse only when you were confronted with both editions of your December 13, 2009 issue?
FJ: I instructed them not to print, but they did. There was a serious mess up.
NL: Whatever you told the Court, weren’t you as a responsible editor aware that an issue couldn’t be printed without his or her approval?
Acknowledging that an editor should have the final authority, FJ said that it wasn’t the first time the management had gone ahead without her consent. She described it as a messy situation.
NL: Your mess caused chaos in the country. You tried to hide facts and admitted the lapse only when you were confronted with different editions of the December 13 issue of The Sunday Leader. Did you tell anyone about this mess up?
FJ: Had you asked me, I would have told you.
Referring to an article headlined, Her Story, published subsequent to the Dec. 13, 2009 interview, Counsel Ladduwahetti said Janz had rejected JVP allegations that she did the original interview at the behest of an interested party. He said that she had said she wouldn’t even think of such a thing due to the assassination of her predecessor Lasantha Wickrematunga.
NL: But regardless of Wickremetunga’s assassination, you received money from both the UNP and the government.
FJ: Printing of Mahinda Chintanaya was nothing but a business transaction. It was a sub contract received by the management and The Sunday Leader editorial had nothing to do with it.
NL: Did you sell your editorial policy for Rs. 1 million per week?
FJ: Funds were needed to obtain additional newsprint. No one advised me on the editorial content.
Referring to her association with Counterpoint and Montage, Defence Counsel Ladduwahetti asked the witness whether she had heard of any previous instance of any newspaper receiving money from a political party? Was it an ordinary or extraordinary situation?
FJ: Unusual.
NL: Did you try to stop this arrangement?
FJ: I didn’t have the power to interfere.
NL: Weren’t your employees paid for past three months.
FJ: They were paid.
But when pressed on by the Defence Counsel, Janz admitted that there had been on and off delays in the payment of monthly salaries, though the editorial staff received their payment on due dates.
The Court adjourned till 10.30 a.m. today (Oct. 14).
‘White Flag’ Trial-at-Bar
"We believe there is widespread abuse of our asylum system.”... says Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney!
NO KIDDING! Has he been living on MARS until now?
.............
Sri Lankan minister says Tamils seek money not safe haven
By Rick Westhead, South Asia Bureau
TheStar.com
October 13, 2010
COLOMBO—"Send them back."
That’s what a senior Sri Lankan government official says Canada should do with more than 500 Sri Lankan Tamils who have arrived in the last year on Canada’s west coast requesting asylum.
The aspiring refugees are being dishonest when they tell Canadian officials they fear for their personal safety in Sri Lanka, says Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris. And a recent internal study by the Canadian High Commission in Colombo seems to give the minister’s claim some credence.
A year after the end of a civil war with the Tamil Tigers a fragile peace has returned to the country of 18 million.
Even so, Tamils continue to flee Sri Lanka. In August, 490 passengers arrived in Vancouver aboard a rusty cargo ship, the MV Sun Sea. That came after another ship with 76 Sri Lankans was intercepted in Canadian waters last October. It has been reported that other ships full of Tamils — who have made their way to Thailand, where they board ocean-going vessels — are preparing to make the dangerous journey across the Pacific.
Peiris says the asylum seekers are economic migrants, not fearful refugees.
“There is no legitimate basis for an application of refugee status at all,” Peiris said in an interview with the Star in his Colombo office.
“The changes which have come about in this country in recent months remove any fear on the part of a community of people, groups of people, or individuals of systematic persecution.
“The people who are now asking for refugee status are doing so for economic reasons, not because they fear for their lives. Okay, that is part of human nature. Everybody wants to improve their lot in life.
“They want to see greener pastures. That is fine. But to ascribe that to atrocities that are alleged to be taking place in this country, or to hide behind a smokescreen of imagined delinquencies or wrongdoings is, to say the least, disingenuous and it also does harm to the country.”
The Canadian High Commission in Colombo recently conducted an internal study and examined a limited number of case files of Sri Lankan Tamils who have been granted asylum in Canada since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in May 2009. In more than half of the cases, the refugees had later returned to Sri Lanka after receiving Canadian citizenship and passports.
“It certainly raised some eyebrows,” Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said recently in an interview with the Star in New Delhi.
“It’s a limited sample size but we do have a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest there’s a lot of people who gain protected status and return to their original country. We believe there is widespread abuse of our asylum system.”
To help stem the flow, the RCMP is set to open its first office in Colombo, officials said, part of a new effort to prevent migrants from setting out for Canada. Earlier this week, 155 Tamils were arrested in Bangkok. Reports suggest Canadian officials may have had a hand in tipping off Thai officials about the group.
Peiris also pointed out that Australia has suspended its processing of refugee applications from Sri Lankans.
“They said, ‘We are satisfied with the progress Sri Lanka has been making.’ That was a clear acknowledgement of the fact that we are moving in the right direction.”
The eFac at the University of Sri Lanka at Perdeniya has been shut down for non-attendance of striking students.
When I was a student there, the opportunity to live on campus, study, and learn at eFac was a treasured, much sought after, valued privilege we would have never given up. The drive to excel was palpable. Many decades later, my time at the dreamland Peradeniya campus still remains a beautiful vision, and a highly productive learning experience, that is deeply embedded in my consciousness.
I use today, the engineering tools that I acquired at Peradeniya so long ago, and my eyes brim with tears of gratitude to the nation that made that superb free education possible.
We felt then, that it was our PATRIOTIC DUTY to do our best in our studies, to graduate fast, and help build the nation.
Yet, today's UNIVERSITY STUDENTS seem to forget that it is STILL a privilege to attend University in Sri Lanka .. and engage in partisan national politics on campus, instead of devoting themselves to their studies, throwing the nation's gift to them to the four winds. What ingratitude!
If Sri Lanka is to achieve it's NATIONAL GOALS, we as a PEOPLE must acquire the HABIT OF DISCIPLINE.
That DISCIPLINE is particularly lacking among the Nation's University students, its future anointed. These Universities are maintained at great cost to the public by a poor country for the Nation's benefit, not to serve as a political platform to for stooges manipulated to serve political purposes.
We must ENFORCE DISCIPLINE in the Nation's Universities .. Let it BEGIN AT PERADENIYA!
Throw the Ring Leaders OUT, and bring DISCIPLINE to the STUDENT BODY! Let EDUCATION be the SOLE PURPOSE of Universities, NOT POLITICS! ENFORCE DISCIPLINE NOW!
Disce' Aut Discede', I say!
....................
Sri Lanka's Peradeniya University decides to close its engineering faculty indefinitely
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 14, Colombo: The Engineering Faculty of Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya has reportedly been closed indefinitely until further notice as students were not attending lectures.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. S.B.S. Abayakoon has been quoted in the local media saying that the attendance requirement for students was not being met.
The University authorities have decided to close the faculty since the students who do not meet the relevant attendance criteria cannot sit for the exams.
According to the Vice Chancellor, students in the relevant university hostels have also being asked to leave the premises.
Many students in the Peradeniya University are currently boycotting classes demanding the release of four university students from police custody.
The students were arrested by the police for allegedly hooting at Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake when he visited the university recently.
Hooray for Thailand!
THROW the SCAMMERS OUT!
...............
Sri Lankans Detained in Thailand Face Deportation
By Ron Corben, Bankok
VOANews.com
October 14, 2010
Thai authorities have arrested more than 100 Sri Lankan Tamils this week because of fears they might be taken illegally to destinations such as Canada and Australia. Those arrested are being held in an immigration detention center and face court proceedings for immigration violations.
South Asian diplomatic sources say Thai authorities made the arrests because of a growing number of Sri Lankan Tamils arriving on tourist visas. Of the 130 arrested this week, more than 60 are women and children and many have lived in Thailand up to three years.
Human rights groups many have applied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for asylum.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi says the arrests were part of normal efforts to enforce immigration laws and prevent people smuggling.
"As you know the Thai authorities have been working closely with the authorities of other friendly countries on the issue of human trafficking and the arrests made were a law enforcement effort to address this issue," Thani said. "So everything was carried out with a view to enforce immigration laws."
Thani says each detainee's visa status will be assessed following their court appearances. Most face charges of overstaying their visas.
Human rights groups criticized the Thai government and UNHCR over the arrests. Sunai Pasuk, a representative for Human Rights Watch in Thailand, says the Tamils should not be deported back to Sri Lanka.
"The Thai government shows no respect in their international commitment to protect asylum seekers. So this may end up being another sad case of people who deserve to be put under international protection but end up being deported by the Thai state to the place where they will be in danger," says Sunai Pusak.
Benjamin Zawacki, a researcher with Amnesty International, called on the UNHCR to show its support for detainees who have applied for asylum.
"The Thais have given no indication that these people have definitely been involved with the LTTE [the Sri Lankan rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] or smuggling or trafficking," Zawacki said. "So it's clear at this point that UNHCR needs to support its own protection mandate in voicing support for these people."
In August, Canadian authorities detained a Thai-registered ship with almost 500 Tamil asylum seekers on board. Officials in Canada were concerned that some on board had links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which many countries consider a terrorist group. The Sri Lankan army crushed the Tamil Tiger forces last year after several decades of fighting for independence.
Australia also has seen a rising number of Tamil asylum seekers trying to arrive by boat.
South Asian diplomatic sources say those detained could not afford the thousands of dollars that smugglers charge to take them to Canada or Australia.
Wives of LTTE leaders seek husbands' details
P K Balachandran
October 12, 2010
COLOMBO: The wives of two top LTTE leaders have sought the help of the Sri Lankan President’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to find out the whereabouts of their husbands who, they claim, were arrested by the army on May 17, 2009, two days before the end of Eelam War IV.
Punitharuban Vanitha, wife of the LTTE’s military spokesman, Rasaiah Ilantherian alias Marshal, said that when the army took him away, she was told that he would be treated for some minor injuries and returned. But he never returned. Her attempts to find out about his whereabouts were futile, she said.
Bobitha Prabhakaran, wife of “Prabha”, who headed the intelligence wing of the LTTE in Batticaloa district, also said that her husband was taken away by the army and there was no information as to where he was being kept.
Earlier in September, Ananthi Sasitharan, wife of Elilan, who headed the political wing of the LTTE in Trincomalee district, had complained to the LLRC about her husband’s disappearance after arrest.
She told the BBC Tamil service that Elilan, along with other senior Tiger leaders such as Yogaratnam Yogi; Lawrence Thilakar; political wing deputy chief, Thangan; former Jaffna political head, Ilamparithi; head of the administrative unit, Poovannan; Piriyan; and Theepan had surrendered to the Lankan forces at the instance of a Catholic priest at Vadduvaakal in Mullaithivu district on May 18, 2009, in front of her eyes. But their whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
A mother of an LTTE cadre who testified in the northern province said that she saw Yogi and the Tiger poet laureate, Puthuvai Ratnathurai, among a whole of lot of arrested LTTE cadre being put on 16 buses and driven towards Mullaitivu. Their surrender had been arranged by two Catholic priests, she said.
The POT calling the KETTLE black!
..............
Pakistan nuclear arms push angers US
S Rajagopalan
October 12, 2010
WASHINGTON: Examining newly-obtained satellite imagery, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has concluded that Pakistan has quickened the pace of construction of the third heavy water reactor at its Khushab nuclear site.
“Construction of the third reactor has progressed more quickly than the second reactor,” ISIS said, noting the imagery indicates that the work on a row of mechanical draft cooling towers has finished. From the imagery, it has also concluded that the second reactor is “at some stage of initial operation”.
The ISIS analysis comes in the wake of recent reports that Pakistan is trying to acquire as much fissile material as possible ahead of the international efforts to hammer out a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT). The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists recently estimated that Pakistan has assembled 70 to 90 nuclear warheads. Pakistan is thought to have enough fissile material to make another 90 warheads.
“Pakistan announced the operation of its first heavy water reactor at Khushab in 1998. Pakistan began building the second heavy water reactor at Khushab between 2000 and 2002. It began building the third reactor during 2006. These reactors support Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program,” the ISIS said.
The US has been irked by Pakistan’s action of blocking resumption of negotiations on FMCT at the Conference on Disarmament.
Voicing the US’s disappointment at the Pakistani stance, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Rose Gottemoeller put it to Islamabad last week that “our patience will not last for ever”. Gottemoeller made the point after a UN meeting failed to make progress towards an agenda for disarmament talks, including a proposed FMCT. “We will do everything so that we can have talks go forward — there is no reason to stand still,” she told reporters at the UN.
In their report, Nuclear Notebook: Pakistani nuclear forces, 2009, US scientists Robert S Norris and Hans M Kristensen pointed to Islamabad developing and deploying new nuclear-capable missiles and expanding its capacity to produce fissile materials for use in weapons.
New Indian Navy Fast Attack Craft is last in a batch of 10.
Too large for effective action against fast suicide craft though!
................
INS Kalpeni joins Indian Navy
October 14, 2010
KOCHI: The indigenously built INS Kalpeni, the latest fast attack craft, was on Thursday commissioned into the Indian Navy by Kerala High Court Chief Justice J Chelameswar.
The ship propelled by three powerful water jets can achieve speed in excess of 35 knots.
INS Kalpeni will operate under the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command and would be based at Kochi, a Naval press release said.
The ship would bolster the capabilities of Southern Naval Command in coastal surveillance and search and destruction of fast moving targets.
The Ship commanded by Lieutenant Commander Subhal Nathan has a crew of 3 officers and 38 sailors onboard.
The formal and solemn ceremony commenced with the Inspection of a Guard of Honour by the Chief Justice.
The Commanding Officer of INS Kalpeni then introduced the Crew of the Ship to the Chief Guest.
The Commissioning Warrant signed by the Chief of Naval Staff was then read out by the Commanding Officer.
The Naval Ensign and the National Flag was hoisted onboard the Ship for the first time along with the traditional breaking of the Commissioning Pennant.
This ceremony was carried out with the Parading of the Colour Guard and to the accompaniment of the National Anthem. Later, the Justice Chelameswar unveiled the ship's plaque.
Justice Chelameswar said the even peace loving nations have to negotiate the terms of peace from a position of strength.
Rear Admiral KC Shekar, chairman and managing director of Garden Reach Shipyard said the ship with nearly 95 per cent indigenous content was completed in 24 months.
Vice Admiral KN Sushil, Flag officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Naval Command complemented the Shipbuilder in the construction of the ship. The Admiral also dwelt upon the clear and present challenges to the security environment in the area and expressed optimism that the ship would rise up to the challenges.
INS Kalpeni, an improved version of the Bangaram Class Fast Attack Craft is conceived, designed and built indigenously.
The commissioning of the ship is another milestone in the continuing saga of indigenisation in the field of warship design and construction.
Kalpeni is the seventh of a batch of 10 ships being built at Garden Reach Shipyard Kolkota.
The main armament of the ship is 30mm CRN 91 gun with an Optronic Pedestal Sight as its director. In addition the ship has been fitted with 11 machine guns of various types and shoulder launched IGLA surface to air missiles to neutralise aerial threats.
Here it comes!
India to develop a nuclear reactor specifically to produce hydrogen gas by electrolysis of water to fuel hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicles!
This is a great step forward ... that Sri Lanka should EMULATE and incorporate in its future plans for power generation and restructuring its road transportation systems.
................
‘India working on Hydrogen reactor’
C Shivakumar
October 14, 2010
CHENNAI: India will have hydrogen-fuelled cars in near future as the country’s scientists are working on a fourth generation Very High-Powered Temperature Reactor, according to Atomic Energy Commission Chairman S Banerji.
Speaking to Express, Banerji said the reactor would produce hydrogen for fuel using high-temperature steam electrolysis, which breaks apart the bonds of water molecules. According to sources, the reactor is in the design stage and the process is more energy-efficient than the existing hydrogen production methods. “Under its high temperature reactor programme, India is presently developing a Compact High Temperature Reactor (CHTR) as a technology demonstrator for associated technologies. In addition, several design options for a 600 MW Innovative High Temperature Reactor for commercial hydrogen production are also being evaluated,” said Ratan Kumar Sinha, Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
“Initial studies indicate selection of pebble bed reactor core with either lead or molten salt-based coolant. It will be finalised after carrying out further studies. Many technologies developed for CHTR would be utilised for this reactor,” Sinha said in his paper ‘Advanced Nuclear Reactor Systems-An Indian Perspective’.
“There are plans to set up engineering laboratories for carrying out research and development related to reactor components, coolant technologies, reactor safety, fuel and material development and other aspects related to such high temperature reactors,” he added.
Scientists feel that nuclear energy assisted hydrogen production is expected to play a significant role and the development of technologies related to high temperature nuclear reactors is an important step in this direction.
Interestingly, this technology will boost India’s dreams of being a hydrogen economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. It will also solve some of the negative effects of using hydrocarbon fuels. According to a study, global demand for hydrogen is to expand 3.5 per cent per annum through 2013 to 478 billion cubic meters.
In value terms, this represents $29.3 billion in captive consumption and $20.8 billion in merchant gas. Growth in hydrogen demand will benefit from strong activity in the petroleum sector, where increasing demand for low sulphur fuels in response to stricter environmental regulations will increase the amount of hydrogen required to produce them.
Good Idea, but FERVENTLY I hope that the GOSL is contacting top-notch universities such as MIT, University of California, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, University of London, Sorbonne as well to develop capuses in collaboration with Sri Lankan Universities!
.............
Sri Lanka offers free land and tax concessions to attract top foreign universities
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 14, Colombo: Sri Lankan government is offering free land and tax concessions to encourage top ranking foreign universities to set up branches in the country.
The government announced that it is taking measures to attract higher education institutions ranked among the top 1,000 in the world to Sri Lanka.
The Ministry of Higher Education is currently holding discussions with 23 such institutions and 15 of them have shown a positive response, the Sri Lankan government media unit said today.
The government says it will give tax holidays under the Board of Investment law and free land, provided, that 20 percent students are admitted free and the government gets a stake in the venture.
The foreign universities can either lease or buy land and those that set up colleges outside the capital Colombo such as Jaffna, Galle and Kandy will get more generous tax holidays, the government said.
Australia's Monash University, China's Beijing State University, India's Bangalore-based Manifai Medical College and the London School of Fashion are some of the institutions currently in discussions with the Ministry.
The government plans set up a quality assurance and accreditation council to regulate foreign affiliated higher education institutes that are already established in the country.
The Higher Education Ministry said currently measures are underway to amend the University Grants Commission which oversees Sri Lanka's state universities and licenses new.
Sri Lanka's highly competitive national examinations only allow few students to enter the government universities and students who can afford the tuition of foreign universities leave the country taking the foreign exchange with them.
The government's measure to liaise with major universities overseas to set up private universities in Sri Lanka is aimed at retaining those students and curb the foreign exchange outflow.
Good Idea!
However, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that the GOSL contact top-notch universities such as MIT, the University of California, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, University of London, Sorbonne, University of Tokyo as well to develop campuses in collaboration with Sri Lankan Universities!
Reliance on second and third-tier universities alone SIMPLY WILL NOT DO!
There are Sri Lankan Faculty Members in important positions at each of these universities who can help!
GOSL, are you listening?
.............
Sri Lanka offers free land and tax concessions to attract top foreign universities
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 14, Colombo: Sri Lankan government is offering free land and tax concessions to encourage top ranking foreign universities to set up branches in the country.
The government announced that it is taking measures to attract higher education institutions ranked among the top 1,000 in the world to Sri Lanka.
The Ministry of Higher Education is currently holding discussions with 23 such institutions and 15 of them have shown a positive response, the Sri Lankan government media unit said today.
The government says it will give tax holidays under the Board of Investment law and free land, provided, that 20 percent students are admitted free and the government gets a stake in the venture.
The foreign universities can either lease or buy land and those that set up colleges outside the capital Colombo such as Jaffna, Galle and Kandy will get more generous tax holidays, the government said.
Australia's Monash University, China's Beijing State University, India's Bangalore-based Manifai Medical College and the London School of Fashion are some of the institutions currently in discussions with the Ministry.
The government plans set up a quality assurance and accreditation council to regulate foreign affiliated higher education institutes that are already established in the country.
The Higher Education Ministry said currently measures are underway to amend the University Grants Commission which oversees Sri Lanka's state universities and licenses new.
Sri Lanka's highly competitive national examinations only allow few students to enter the government universities and students who can afford the tuition of foreign universities leave the country taking the foreign exchange with them.
The government's measure to liaise with major universities overseas to set up private universities in Sri Lanka is aimed at retaining those students and curb the foreign exchange outflow.
The University should get the students to pledge a "No Disruptions Agreement" as a condition for being allowed to return to classes.
Those who do not sign should be barred from entering the campus, and after a specified period of absence from classes, be dismissed.
The Universities should be valued seats of learning, NOT campaign platforms for pursuing political agendas external to the University.
Let those who want to study and learn .. LEARN INSIDE the University,
Let those who want to play politics .. PLAY POLITICS OUTSIDE the University.
The University's work in educating the future work force and national leaders should CONTINUE, and not be held HOSTAGE to Politics!
................
Sri Lankan court orders arrested university students to be remanded for 14 days
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 15, Colombo: Colombo chief magistrate Rashmi Singappuli today remanded the 21 university students of Sri Lanka's Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna affiliated Inter University Student's Federation (IUSF), who were arrested by the Police yesterday, for 14 days till October 29.
The Court had charged the students of violating the Public Properties Act for storming into the University Grant Commission at the Higher Education Ministry premises on Thursday (14).
The police yesterday evening arrested the university students after over 2,000 students forcibly entered the Higher Education Ministry premises demanding the release of the students from the Peradeniya University who have been arrested by the police.
The ensued melee between the police and the students injured at least 29 people including 19 police officers.
IUSF Convener Udul Premaratne told the media today that they would continue the campaign to free all the detained students.
He added that the IUSF would once again organize protest march to the Higher Education Ministry on another day.
Bravo, Daughters of Lanka!
While your brothers play at politics, you are quietly pursuing learning that matters in the long run!
Please set your brothers straight while you are at it; you will need accomplished husbands too .. for the long run!
.............
Gender imbalance in Sri Lankan universities
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 15, Colombo: Sri Lankan men will soon have to fight for gender equality in universities, recent statistics form a study point out.
According to statistics from Kelaniya University, the percentage of women in almost all the universities of Sri Lanka has gone up rapidly.
The percentage of female university students island wide is about 80%. The female student percentage in Kelaniya University is 70%.
With this development, the university authorities are facing difficulties in providing hostel facilities to the female students.
Meanwhile, the statistics from mixed schools also point to an increase of girl students in Advanced Level classes.
Free to Murder Innocents In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers were FEARSOME INVINCIBLE WARRIORS,
Caught and Prosecuted abroad for their Crimes, they are all WAILING HELPLESS VICTIMS OF PERSECUTION!
Bloody Con Artists .. ALL OF THEM!
Give him the Maximum Sentence!
..................
Fundraiser seeks mercy in NY terror case as judge asks whether Tamil Tigers are threat to US
By Tom Hays
Associated Press Writer
October 15, 2010
NEW YORK (AP) — More than three years after federal agents locked up a Sri Lankan immigrant they say was the top U.S. representative of the Tamil Tigers, his fate may hinge on a complex question: Was the rebel group a terrorist threat to Americans?
Federal prosecutors who charged Karunakaran Kandasamy with supporting terrorism say the answer is yes. And they say he should get a stiff sentence approaching 20 years for raising money for the separatist group, which fought a 25-year war with the Sri Lankan government.
But a judge recently expressed his doubts.
The case against the jailed Kandasamy doesn't neatly fit the definition of "a more obvious or garden variety terrorism case, where ... our security interests are compromised and the safety of our citizenry is in jeopardy," U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said earlier this month at Kandasamy's scheduled sentencing, which was postponed.
"Do we simply wave the red flag of terrorism and impose the maximum sentence?"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Knox argued the Tamil Tigers had earned a State Department designation as a terrorist organization in part by putting U.S. citizens living in Sri Lanka in harm's way. He also said the group's supporters in the United States extorted cash from Sri Lankan immigrants.
The Tamil Tigers pioneered and perfected technology for suicide bombings, Knox said. That technology "was borrowed and copied and sold on some occasions to other terrorist organizations — organizations like al-Qaida, that directly target the United States, organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah and other in the region," he said.
Internal documents show the Tamil Tigers considered other terror groups as fellow freedom fighters, and had a policy of "sharing black market arms shipments and explosive shipments, the financial system, bank accounts," he said.
The judge put off sentencing after Kandasamy — who has battled a spinal problem and other serious ailments since his arrest — asked for mercy.
"I love this country and its soil," the 54-year-old former cab driver said through an interpreter. "I'm sick and I'm afraid I'll never live to be free with my family again."
No new sentencing date was set. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment on Friday.
Kandasamy's case has inched forward as events his native country took a historic turn.
Last year, the Tamil Tigers admitted defeat in their 25-year war with the Sri Lankan government. The clash killed more than 70,000 people, including reclusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The rebels, who once controlled a de facto state in the island nation's north, had been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils after decades of oppression by the Sinhalese majority. Responsible for hundreds of suicide attacks — including the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — the Tamil Tigers were shunned internationally and branded terrorists by the U.S., European Union and India.
Fundraiser seeks mercy in NY terror case as judge asks whether Tamil Tigers are threat to US
.....continued...
Federal authorities in New York had sought to cut off support for the group by arresting sympathizers in their East Coast immigrant communities in 2006 and 2007 on charges of conspiring to provide material aid to a terrorist organization.
Some were accused of helping to buy explosives, missiles, anti-aircraft guns and other weapons, and with trying to bribe U.S. officials to remove the group from the terrorism list. Others, including Kandasamy, were tied to a covert campaign to raise and launder millions of dollars through a charity front organization.
Kandasamy and other defendants have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, with some receiving sentences of 25 years.
Defense attorney Charles Ross has argued that his client's punishment should be less than five years. A 20-year term, he said, would be "an almost knee-jerk maximum sentence" that ignores the complexities of Sri Lanka's civil strife.
At the recent hearing, Kandasamy told the judge he fled Sri Lanka "because the Sinhalese were killing my people and I was afraid got my life and the lives of my family."
Once Kandasamy received political asylum, his lawyer said, his main goal was to make enough money to start bringing his loved ones to the United States. He also raised money for a Tamil charity, focusing on humanitarian causes.
"He was not primarily concerned with arming a terrorist organization," Ross said. "He was primarily concerned, your honor, with helping his people."
Prosecutors counter that Kandasamy and others were well aware that their fundraising was fueling violence. They say there's evidence that he helped raise millions of dollars for the Tamil Tigers, and that he went to Sri Lanka to meet with rebel commanders.
"There are two sides to this war, no question about it," Knox said. "But (Kandasamy) is not blameless."
DISCIPLINE is Key .. in EVERYTHING!
Direct funds to investments in infrastructure, training the workforce, and to business development!
Avoid additional spending on Consumption. Encourage saving and investment.
GIVE a man a fish, and feed him for A DAY,
TEACH a man to fish, and feed him for LIFE!
............
Fiscal DISCIPLINE needed!
Island.lk
October 14, 2010
Sri Lanka’s post conflict economy has recorded substantial gains resulting in the Central Bank revising upwards the growth rate for this year to nearly 8 percent, but a senior economist warned the spurt could not be sustained without policy reforms and better fiscal discipline, without which doubling per capita income to US$ 4,000 by 2015 would not be feasible.
Senior Economist Prof Sirimal Abeyratne, University of Colombo, said doubling per capita income by 2015 to US$ 4,000 would require sweeping policy reforms, especially those that would improve fiscal discipline.
"The government envisages to double per capita income by 2015. For this to happen, economic growth must be sustained at 8 to 10 percent levels and the investment ratio, which is around 25 percent of GDP, must increase to 40 percent," Prof Abeyratne said addressing a pre-budget seminar organised by the Pathfinder Foundation yesterday morning.
Sri Lanka’s economic growth rate fell to 3.5 percent in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, which officials said the country was immune to when the budget for 2009 was presented in end 2008. The year also saw the final push which defeated the LTTE outfit, the scourge of the country for over 30 years.
This year, Sri Lanka recorded a 7.1 percent growth rate during the first quarter, which picked up to 8.5 percent during the second quarter which prompted the Central Bank to revise upwards its growth forecast to nearly 8 percent for 2010.
"The post war growth spurt is without policy reforms. Whether economic growth would be faster or slower and whether it would be sustainable in the long term or short lived, would depend on the policy reforms the government comes up with," Prof. Abeyratne said.
He said the 2011 budget, which would be presented to parliament in November, would be crucial.
Sri Lanka has chronic fundamental budgetary problems, where revenue is not enough to finance recurrent expenditure, which means part of recurrent expenditure and the entire capital expenditure bill must be financed through borrowings.
"When revenue is not enough to finance recurrent expenditure, it is like having to borrow daily for our meals and this is not good for an individual and it is certainly not good for a government," Prof. Abeyratne said. He said sound fiscal policy was not only necessary to keep public debt at manageable levels, but also to maintain macroeconomic order, where inflation and interest rates were low and the exchange rate stable at a realistic rate.
The Central Bank and the think-tank Institute of Policy Studies have over the years constantly warned the government against its reckless and profligate spending, poor subsidy targeting and continued support of unviable public corporations, as it gave the government little room to focus on areas of importance. In fact the Central Bank, warned that unless the government curtailed its recklessness, low inflation and low interest rates could come under threat.
The budget deficit ballooned to 9.9 percent of GDP in 2009 and the government is hoping to contain the deficit to 8 percent this year, gradually lowering it to 5 percent of GDP by 2012 and this was submitted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the letter of intent for the US$ 2.6 billion standby facility. The government has constantly said this was of their own initiative and not imposed by the IMF, an indication that it knows there is a problem it must fix.
Over 4,000 ex-LTTE rebels rehabilitated in Lanka
October 16, 2010
COLOMBO: Over 4,000 former Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka have been rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society, officials said on Saturday.
"We have rehabilitated over 4,000 former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and sent them back to their families. Six thousand more are to be rehabilitated," Xinhua quoted commissioner general of Rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe as saying.
Sri Lanka detained thousands of ex-rebels from the former LTTE territory during the last days of the government troops' military operation in May last year.
The government has put them through rehabilitation since then. The latest batch of 498, more than a half of them women, were released in the northern town of Vavuniya on Friday.
The released former rebels have gone through vocational and English language training.
The private sector firms have shown interest to recruit them -- mostly in the apparel export sector.
What part of NO does India not understand?
There will be NO DEVOLUTION OF POWER in Sri Lanka on commmunal bases, particularly ethnicity.
If India wants to undermine itself practicing communal governance under rubric of FEDERALISM, slicing and dicing its communities by race, caste, religion and language .. that is India's option and India's folly.
But, leave us in Sri Lanka ALONE. We do not need your failed political solutions.
Your federalist "political solutions" have not stemmed terrorism and separatist violence that affects over 850 million Indians across broad swathes of your country, that is arresting India's progress bringing it to a standstill. Without SECURITY and COMMUNAL PEACE there can be NO PROGRESS.
In Sri Lanka, we REJECT DIVISIVE COMMUNAL POLICIES of governance and PROMOTE National Integration, particularly ETHNIC INTEGRATION, instead.
ONE Nation, ONE People, ONE Shared DESTINY, with EQUAL RIGHTS and EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES for ALL Sri Lankans.
We will NEVER DEVOLVE SPECIAL RIGHTS TO DIFFERENT REGIONS ON THE BASIS OF COMMUNAL ATTRIBUTES.
NEVER!
...................
India asks Lanka to focus on devolution
October 15, 2010
NEW DELHI: India Friday urged Sri Lanka to speed up the process of devolution of powers to Tamil-speaking minorities and offered to help in the development of the island nation.
"I did raise the issue of devolution of powers. Now that the parliamentary elections are over, it's time for the government of Sri Lanka to act decisively and win over the Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans so that their concerns and reservations are taken care of," Krishna told reporters here.
He was referring to his discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris Thursday that focused on the plight of Tamil civilians displaced by the war and steps taken by Colombo to expedite a political settlement of the ethnic issue.
"Once it's (devolution) is done, they can embark on development agenda. India will fully assist them in this process," said Krishna, adding that New Delhi hoped that integration will be worked out.
"They (Sri Lanka) agree with this argument. They say their efforts are directed towards it."
Krishna's comments came ahead of a luncheon meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa where these will issues will again figure.
Krishna said Peiris informed him that that only 20,000 out of nearly 300,000 people displaced by the war remained to be resettled.
Peiris also discussed the visit of Krishna to Sri Lanka towards the end of this month to see for himself the progress made in rehabilitating the displaced civilians.
Only 20,000 left to be resettled: Lanka
NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan has informed India that only 20,000 out of nearly 300,000 people displaced by the war remained to be resettled in the country, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Friday.
Briefing the media after holding talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris, Krishna said Colombo had also pledged to work towards devolving powers to the minorities in Sri Lanka.
"We discussed the rehabilitation of IDPs (internally displaced persons). He informed me that the number of IDPs has come down to 20,000," Krishna told journalists, alluding to his talks with Peiris.
Krishna said he raised the issue of devolution of powers. "They said their efforts are directed towards it," he said.
Peiris also discussed the forthcoming visit of Krishna to Sri Lanka towards the end of this month, probably from Oct 27 to 31.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians, overwhelmingly Tamil, were huddled into refugee camps after the Sri Lankan military crushed the Tamil Tigers last year, decimating the rebel leadership.
Since then, Sri Lankan authorities have allowed camp inmates to return home in batches.
How India can strive for corruption-free society
P Haridas
October 14, 2010
I must congratulate the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for involving the citizens of India to explore how to work for a corruption-free India. It is impossible to meet this challenge in a matter of a few years. Unfortunately our great country has been identified as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This was not so till the 1970s. All citizens of the country who are really dedicated to the nation are concerned about this malaise. Even when there is a common platform it has become the practice to invite someone big who is himself tainted. Therefore there is no gathering of like-minded people who are all committed to the welfare of the nation who can voice their views and take corrective steps.
Today it is widely accepted that there is a price tag for every office that is held mostly in the government sector and sometimes in the private sector. For a corruption-free society there are three important arms which should be totally filled with people with integrity, namely the judiciary, the army and the police.
I, as a student of history, personally feel that no system of government has survived for over hundred years. At one time the Chinese emperors were the world leaders, then the Czars of Russia, the Roman Empire, the Greek Empire and of course our own Bharat, thousands of years back. We have to first find out whether our system of governance is the right one. For a person to get elected he/she has to necessarily meet his/her electorate which runs into lakhs. How does one expect to meet so many people unless money is spent? This generates dishonesty among those who aspire to be representatives of the people. Thus, naturally his/her first goal would be to recover whatever money he/she has spent to get elected. This has a chain of reactions.
So the first suggestion is that only national parties should field candidates and they should spend money for electing their representatives. Thus, the party becomes stronger than the individual. Only at designated places the parties shall enumerate or display their candidates and display the parties’ programmes, projects and their missions.
Even though the high court and the Supreme Court are constitutional authorities, the manner of their appointment leaves much to be desired. Like the Election Commission there must be a high level judicial commission consisting of five persons of integrity who shall serve for a period of five years. It is this commission that should try to find out persons with integrity for various judicial posts. With every citizen getting a unique identification card (Aadhaar) and in addition the PAN card the details of every individual can be easily obtained through modern technologies. Similarly there must be a finance commission which shall have three to five members with top integrity which shall decide the financial policy of the country.
All the ministers who are elected can implement their decisions or promises to their constituencies as per the policies laid down by these experts. The sensitive issue of reservation is one more factor that leads to all manipulations for making the unworthy worthy. It may be a tall order to bring the policy of reservation to an end. Only merit and ability should be the consideration. All sections of people should have access to all posts only on the basis of their merits and abilities. Ambedkar himself had given a limit of 50 years for any such reservation.
How India can strive for corruption-free society
.....continued....
There must be a national development council whose sole object should be to develop and upgrade the infrastructure and the basic necessities to be provided to citizens. These are just a few stray thoughts that have occurred to me and I am sure that with many more inputs from like-minded patriotic citizens we can make our Bharat a corruption-free nation. There is no acid test to find out a person’s integrity, loyalty and honesty. The persons who are policy-makers should not have the authority to implement the policies they formulate.
The next question is how do we get such persons, when we have literate and illiterate people who are equally concerned with the progress and development of the nation. Each party should have a strict screening test to identify the honesty, integrity and commitment of the person whom they propose to nominate for election. The test need not be a written one. It could be done by exposing the candidate to public duties and assessing how he/she responds to it. The whole process will be overseen by a group which will impartially assess the candidate. Since such persons will be full time dedicated and involved in the building of the state, they must be kept above wants — this will help them in giving their full time and talent to the nation.
This is only a broad sketch which I agree cannot be put into practice within a particular time schedule but at least we as citizens of India should activate our thought processes so that one day we will have the Bharat which Lord Macaulay observed 175 years back when he saw the Bright India making development in all spheres and wondered how the British could make inroads to grab the sovereignty of the nation.
Our country is the only one proclaiming a value as a mission, namely Satyameva Jayate. Let truth be victorious. I am sure we can see a similar Bharat once again. Jai Bharat. Jai Hind!
(The writer is a senior advocate in Chennai)
AU CONTRAIRE, Prof. Peiris, WE Respectfully DISAGREE!
Power SHOULD NOT BE DEVOLVED on a Communal Basis to any Community in Sri Lanka, at ANY TIME!
Sri Lanka did not sacrifice the lives of its hundreds of thousands of its honoured dead citizens, soldiers, sailors, airmen, police and militia to Devolve Power to the Same Ethnic SEparatist Forces who attempted to carve out a separatist Tamil Only Aparthied State in Sri Lanka over 30 long years. No, Indeed!
Power SHOULD BE SHARED BY ALL PEOPLE of Sri Lanka ONLY through their NATIONAL VOTE, freely exercised!
No region of the country should be recognized as "belonging to" or "being the exclusive sphere of interest" of ANY ETHNIC COMMUNITY!
EVERY PART of Sri Lanka belongs to ALL of its People, irrespective of where they live now, and should be open to all citizens to move to and live in as they wish.
Policies of National Integration should be pursued with active GOSL guidance to drive Sri Lanka's demography towards a UNIFORM STATISTICAL AVERAGE throughout the country, PERMANENTLY demolishing and eliminating FOREVER the BASIS OF ANY and ALL claims by ANY and ALL COMMUNITIES to exclusive ownership of ANY PART of the Motherland.
Only in this way can we eradicate by LEAF, BRANCH, TRUNK and ROOT the evil of separatism PERMANENTLY from our ONLY MOTHERLAND.
NEVER DEVOLVE POWER on COMMUNAL BASES, be they ethnic, religious, linguistic, caste or wealth based!
NEVER SHOULD WE PANDER to Powerful Foreign Nations who are prescribing this poisonous potion to Sri Lanka to serve their own agendas, even as they struggle feverishly to cope with the civil unrest, widespread terrorism and socials ills spawned by devolving power on communal bases in their own lands!
Misery, it seems, Loves Company!
Let them wallow in their own Folly! Let us not hoist their Misery onto our Own bleeding heads!
NEVER DEVOLVE POWER TO ETHNIC REGIONS in Lanka!
..................
Sri Lanka actively considering power sharing with Tamils - GL Peiris:
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 17, Colombo: Sri Lanka says it is actively considering sharing power at the national level to ensure equity for all its citizens, particularly the Tamils, and other minorities in the country.
Delivering the second RK Mishra Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on Friday (15) Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G. L. Peiris has said that although the 13th Amendment was a significant achievement in power devolution, Sri Lanka needs a better power sharing mechanism to ensure equality for all communities.
The lecture organized by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was titled "Growth, Equity, and Security: Constitutional Imperatives for South Asia".
The Minister has said that Sri Lanka needs a viable power sharing mechanism at the national level and the government is seriously considering that option.
Sri Lanka actively considering power sharing with Tamils - GL Peiris:
.....continued....
Highlighting that not any particular governing mechanism is suited for every community, Prof. Peiris has told the audience that Sri Lanka needs its own mechanism to address the issues the country faces.
"We need a hybrid system that combines both first-past-the-post system and the proportional representation system. It will be the best answer to Sri Lanka's challenges," he had said.
However, the Minister had said that it was not possible to set a timeframe to implement the 13th Amendment and expedite a political solution for power devolution in the country.
He had told the audience that in the constitutional processes a clearly defined timeframe cannot be set. "We don't think that's the way to go about it."
"If you talk of a timeframe and then you are not able to complete the process, it is bound to be conjecture, speculative, then there is erosion of credibility," he had added.
The Sri Lankan Minister was visiting India to accompany President Mahinda Rajapaksa who attended the closing ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Thursday (14) as the chief guest.
During his stay in India, Minister Peiris held discussions with his counterpart S. M. Krishna and several other senior members of the Indian Cabinet on bilateral issues.
Resettled Terrorists Resume Their Treachery!
..............
Two propagandists of Tamil Tigers arrested at Kilinochchi
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 17, Colombo: Sri Lanka Police says that Kilinochchi police has arrested two persons that were engaged in propaganda of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The two suspects, a husband and wife, have sent short messages via mobile phones to friends urging them to commemorate the LTTE War Hero Memorial.
The suspects are the residents of Visuamadu in Kilinochchi. They are among the civilians that were resettled recently after they were displaced at the final stage of the war.
LTTE War Hero commemoration falls on November 27. LTTE commemorated its fallen cadres in grand scale at Kilinochchi and other strongholds of theirs before they were militarily defeated in May 2009.
DEPORT ALL ILLEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS in Sri Lanka .. if there are any as reported.
They consitute a LONG TERM THREAT to the Safety and Stability of Sri Lanka.
NO PERMANENT FOREIGN WORKERS, Legal or Illegal, should be allowed in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is among the most densely populated nations in the world! There is NO ROOM for any more!
The United States, with ENDEMIC ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS is spawning huge threat to its national integrity now; Let us not EMULATE the Folly of the United States on Immigration Policy .. it has NEITHER A SANE POLICY nor the WILL to DEFEND its BORDERS!
................
Sri Lanka may have 20,000 illegals mainly from Pakistan, India: report
Oct 17, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka may have about 20,000 guest workers, mainly from India and Pakistan working as labourers, domestic workers, cooks and waiters in restaurants in several towns without proper authority, a media report said.
Sri Lanka's The Sunday Times newspaper said the number was an 'official estimate' but the island's immigration chief had declined to give an actual number.
"We are carrying out certain checks on people illegally staying in the country," the newspaper quoted Immigration Controller Chulananda Perera as saying.
"I cannot elaborate on the action taken as it would make it difficult to crack down on them."
Sri Lanka has visa-on-arrival facility from 85 countries and some may be abusing the facility, the report said. However a foreign national who comes with a pre-approved visa can also overstay or work.
Fast growing countries like Singapore which are tourist and service hubs also have visa-on-arrival facilities and some people overstay their visas. Sri Lanka also has aspirations to becoming a hub for South Asia and also develop tourism to grow its economy fast.
Workers, whether legal or illegal, help create wealth when they enter into a mutually beneficial contract to offer services out of their free will.
Overstaying visas it is increasingly argued belongs to class of prohibitions known as 'victimless crimes', though labour unions fear loss of jobs. Free societies are trying to decriminalize victimless 'crimes'.
Many Sri Lankans work illegally in countries like Italy and remit large amounts of money. In the United States, illegal immigrants pay tax legally and work. It is not necessary to declare immigrant status to open a tax account.
In the US police are not expected to inquire in to the immigration status of law abiding persons. Work permits are a barrier to the free movement of labour.
From time to time Sri Lankan immigration authorities also crackdown on foreign commercial sex workers who arrive on tourist visas.
Knowledgeable sources say in Colombo's Pettah wholesale district some businesses employ foreign guest workers as they work hard, are dependable and are not absent due to alcoholism.
But countries in the Middle East, especially the United Arab Emirates have guest workers larger than their own population. More than a million Sri Lankans work legally abroad.
Sri Lanka is pushing up education levels and moving to industries higher up the value chain. Most of Sri Lanka's current inhabitants, except for the Veddah community of indigenous peoples have migrated from South Asia and further afield.
Terrorism is ONE CONSEQUENCE of Illegal Immigration and Uncontrolled Borders!
Let us ACT DECISIVELY!
..............
No terrorist training in Sri Lanka, Minister says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 17, New Delhi: Sri Lanka' External Affairs Minister Prof. G L Peiris has assured India that there is no terrorist training in Sri Lanka.
In an interview to Indian daily Times of India (TOI) on Saturday the Minister has said that despite a probe by its defence authorities, Sri Lanka has found no evidence to suggest that there is terrorist training in the country by the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Peiris has said that there is no merit in such claims.
Indian media reported last month that investigators probing the February blast of a German Bakery in Pune in India have found that the mastermind of the operation, 29-year-old Mirza Himayat Baig has received training in bomb-making in Colombo.
The investigators have said that Baig was given the training to assemble the bombs and trigger them in Colombo.
Sri Lanka Defence Ministry rejected the investigators' report saying that Sri Lanka is free from terrorists and there is no ground for terrorists to receive training.
"The matter was brought to our notice. It was examined by our defence authorities but we have not found anything to establish it," Minister Peiris had told TOI.
The Minister has stressed that India and Sri Lanka are involved in an intelligence sharing mechanism to prevent any such activity.
Addressing the concerns over the Sri Lanka's growing dependence on China, the Minister has told the newspaper that Colombo will continue to have a special relationship with India while advancing its economic cooperation with China. He has assured that Sri Lanka will not allow any country to use its territory against India.
Nuclear Power for Sri Lanka is an ABSOLUTE MUST!
Jayawewa!
.............
Sri Lanka to introduce nuclear energy
October 17, 2010
The Sri Lankan government is planning to establish a nuclear power plant here to meet the growing demand for power in the country, a government minister said on Saturday.
Champika Ranawaka, minister of Power and Energy said the government had already commenced prefeasibility study.
"We would express our proposal to France, Pakistan, India and Russia," Ranawaka said, adding that the International Atomic Energy Authority would be consulted for the project.
Sri Lanka depends on hydro power with some coal power plants yet to be completed.
Ranawaka said they are not enough to meet the country's electricity need.
Some environmentalists said establishing nuclear power plant cannot be afforded by this small island.
Hemantha Vithanage, executive director of the Center for Environmental Justice, said as a small island there is a high risk of introducing nuclear power to Sri Lanka.
Responding to environmentalists, Ranawaka said the government will not give in to protests by "bogus environmentalists" funded by foreign powers.
Source: Xinhua
25% Decline in number of Welfare recepients in 5 years Sri Lanka.
..........
Poverty concession recipients declined in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 17, Colombo: The Director General of Samurdhi, Sri Lanka's national poverty alleviation programme, Bandula Thilakasiri points out that the number of recipients of poverty alleviation concessions has decreased.
He says that the reason for the trend is the improvement in their income level.
The Samurdhi Director General pointed out that there were 1.9 million Samurdhi concession recipients in 2005. The number has declined to 1.5 million now, he said.
These facts were revealed when the Samurdhi Authority celebrated the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty observed Sunday, October 17.
The United Nations says Sri Lanka has achieved a substantial progress in poverty reduction, an item in the Millennium Development Goals. Sri Lanka's poverty level has been reduced to 15.2 percent, it says.
Merkel says German multicultural society has failed
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel: "lmmigrants should learn to speak German"
Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have "utterly failed", Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
She said the so-called "multikulti" concept - where people would "live side-by-side" happily - did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate - including learning German.
The comments come amid rising anti-immigration feeling in Germany.
A recent survey suggested more than 30% of people believed the country was "overrun by foreigners".
The study - by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank - also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany's immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for its social benefits.
Foreign workers
Mrs Merkel told a gathering of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday that at "the beginning of the 60s our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country."
She added: "We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone', but this isn't reality."
Angela Merkel took pains to say immigrants are welcome.
The words "utterly failed" are very strong, but there are also nuanced messages about the usefulness of immigrants in a country that needs skilled labour.
She is pitching it very carefully, with important elections coming up in the spring.
The tone is very important.
The chancellor is basically saying that Germany needs immigrants but immigrants need to do something to get into the society.
"And of course, the approach [to build] a multicultural [society] and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other... has failed, utterly failed."
In her speech in Potsdam, however, the chancellor made clear that immigrants were welcome in Germany.
She specifically referred to recent comments by German President Christian Wulff who said that Islam was "part of Germany", like Christianity and Judaism.
Mrs Merkel said: "We should not be a country either which gives the impression to the outside world that those who don't speak German immediately or who were not raised speaking German are not welcome here."
Mounting debate
There has been intense debate about multiculturalism in Germany in recent months.
Correspondents say Mrs Merkel faces pressure from within her CDU and its allies to take a tougher stance and require immigrants to do more to adapt to German society.
Earlier this week, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, said it was "obvious that immigrants from different cultures like Turkey and Arab countries, all in all, find it harder" to integrate.
"'Multikulti' is dead," Mr Seehofer said.
Earlier this month the chancellor held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two leaders pledged to do more to improve the often poor integration record of Germany's estimated 2.5 million-strong Turkish community.
The debate first heated up in August when Thilo Sarrazin, a senior official at Germany's central bank, said that "no immigrant group other than Muslims is so strongly connected with claims on the welfare state and crime". Mr Sarrazin has since resigned.
Such recent strong anti-immigration feelings from mainstream politicians come amid an anger in Germany about high unemployment, even if the economy is growing faster than those of its rivals, our correspondent says.
He adds that there also seems to be a new strident tone in the country, perhaps leading to less reticence about no-go-areas of the past.
ENFORCE Student DISCIPLINE; KICK POLITICS OUT of Universities!
.................
176 university students suspended; 27 arrested in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 18, Colombo: Sri Lanka Human Rights Center says that 176 university students have been suspended within the past two months in Sri Lanka.
The highest number of students has been suspended in Sri Jayewardenepura University, the Human Rights Center points out.
Meanwhile 27 more students are in police custody under suspicion of violence. Of them, 21 were arrested last week as the protesting students in a demonstration broke into the University Grants Commission premises causing damage to the property.
Student unrest in most universities is attributed to the politics of the Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) led Inter University Students Federation (IUSF).
Absolutely! Jayawewa!
...............
Intervene to free universities from politics, urges Patriotic Students Center affiliated to National Freedom Front of Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 18, Colombo: The Patriotic Students Center affiliated to National Freedom Front of Sri Lanka led by ex-Marxist Minister Wimal Weerawansa asked the Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) led Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) to stop the violence in universities.
Addressing media in Colombo today, the Chairman of the Patriotic Students' Center Sujith Muthukumarana said that the IUSF must stop the play with the life and future of the university students. He also urged the Minister of Higher Education and the President to intervene to free the students from political meddling that lead them for disaster.
He further urged to free the university students held under detention and also urged those subjected to suspension allowed to continue their studies. The government should not impose punishments on students but move them away from harmful forces, he said.
Patriotic Student Center says it has been formed with the objective of inheriting an enlightened generation of students to the nation.
Promoting the use of Sinhala, Tamil and English NATIONWIDE is RIGHT.
Associating a Language with a SPECIFIC REGION of Sri Lanka is WRONG!
What is meant by "Their" separate areas?
ALL LAND of Sri Lanka is the inalienable birthright of ALL Sri Lankans; not part-by-part but AS A WHOLE! ONE Nation, ONE People, Sharing a ONE COMMON DESTINY!
Do not Acknowledge any part odf Sri Lanka to belong to any linguistic community. This is an acknowledgment of the EELAM CLAIM of Tamil SEPARATISTS! Did we not just bring to an END a War fought against terrorist separatists to DECIDE THIS ISSUE? Did Our PEOPLE and Our brave WARRIORS die in VAIN?
Why should Sri Lanka adopt the DIVISIVE FAILED POLICIES of India that has led to violence and terrorism encompassing 850 million Indians? Who thinks India's Tri-Language Poliocy ios a SUCCESS, but incurable MUTTS!
DON't PANDER TO India and throw Sri Lanka IN HARMS WAY!
That only reinforces REGIONAL DIVISIONS, and promotes SEPARATISM, by YET ANOTHER MEANS!
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING from OUR OWN HISTORY of Language related Strife?
This Policy AS ENUNCIATED below SHOULD NOT BE IMPLEMENTED on a REGIONAL BASIS!
Is there NO END TO THE STUPIDITY of OUR LEADERS?
..............
Sri Lanka to implement a tri-language policy
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 18, Colombo: An official from India's Ministry of Human Resources Development is to visit Sri Lanka soon to share India's experience in tri-language education, Sri Lanka government said.
The visit is a result of a dialogue between Sri Lanka External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and Indian Minister of Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal.
The visiting official is expected to educate Sri Lankan officials on the implementation of the tri-language education policy of India.
Sri Lanka is also exploring the possibility of implementing the policy of educating public with their mother tongue, English, and a regional language spoken in their respective areas as in practice in India. Sri Lanka views this as a solution for the ethnic crisis.
This Tamil Tiger Lover has not changed his STRIPES, and should NOT BE WELCOMED, but declared PERSONA-non-GRATA in Sri Lanka.
Let Norway keep their RICHES, for there are STRINGS attached to their support and aid. They support TAMIL SEPARATIST AGENDAS and AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY proselytizing for converting non-Christian Sri Lankans.
SHUT THE DOOR in THEIR FACE; they will only bring PAIN to Sri Lanka!
...............
Norwegian Minister Solheim to visit Sri Lanka -- to mend fences
DeccanHerald.com
October 18, 2010
Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim plans to visit Colombo in a bid to mend troubled ties with Sri Lanka, where many had come to see him and his country as sympathisers of the Tamil Tigers.
Having rubbed the current Sri Lankan leadership the wrong way despite a tightrope walking at the height of the war against the Tigers, Solheim had a fruitful meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the UN recently.
As a follow-up, Solheim will travel to Sri Lanka early next year for meetings with President Rajapaksa and other senior figures in Colombo and perhaps go to other parts of the island, informed sources told IANS.
It would be Solheim's first visit to Sri Lanka when his discussions would not include the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was militarily crushed last year.
According to the sources, President Rajapaksa is keen to let bygones be bygones. He also wants to forge a new relationship with Norway, one of the richest countries in the world.
Solheim -- the minister of environment and international development - became a household name in Sri Lanka ever since he was named the Norwegian peace facilitator in the dragging ethnic conflict.
But in keeping with the country's ethnic divide, varying sections of the population came to see him differently.
He flew to Sri Lanka numerous times since his first visit a decade ago led him to the Tamil Tiger lair where he met LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in May 2009.
Solheim was widely credited for the path-breaking ceasefire agreement Colombo and the LTTE signed in February 2002, bringing the longest spell of peace in Sri Lanka since the ethnic conflict erupted in 1983.
But as fighting erupted from December 2005 and the war reached horrific proportions, Solheim became a hated figure in the eyes of Sinhalese nationalists who frequently vented their anger against him and Norway.
Even Tamils opposed to the Tigers were not enamoured of him, calling him biased.
And while the Tigers seemed to be pleased with Norway's role, that too changed as it became clear that Oslo had no intention of backing the LTTE demand for an independent Tamil Eelam state.
At one time, Sri Lanka's state-run media made personal attacks on the Norwegian minister. So did the LTTE's ex-regional commander V. Muralitharan alias Karuna after he teamed up with Colombo to wage war against the Tigers.Solheim also frequently travelled to India to consult officials in New Delhi about possible peace moves.
Those who interacted with him knew that the Norwegian minister, with a leftwing background, was a man of strong views but who knew where to draw the line vis-a-vis the LTTE.
But his numerous and extensive interactions with LTTE leaders -- he met the now dead London-based LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham over 100 times -- gave the impression that he was enamoured of the Tigers.It took a long time for many to realise that that was not the case.
Is Terrorism Preparing to Raise its UGLY HEAD AGAIN?
Strengthen Security, and SEVERELY PUNISH REPEAT OFFENDERS, especially LTTE cadre released after REHABILITATION!
Let a THREE STRIKES YOU ARE OUT Law with a MANDATORY LIFE IMPRISONMENT PENALTY be enacted!
...............
Explosives unearthed
By Cyril Wimalasruendre
Island.lk
October 17, 2010
KANDY – A cache of explosives and high power ammunition was unearthed from a shrub jungle at Great West plantation in Talawakelle on Thursday, the Terrorist Investigation Division of the Kandy DIG headquarters said.
Police suspect that the explosives were part of a cache stored to be used for some destructive activity in the plantation area.
Police have taken into custody three Tamil youth for questioning with regard to the find. Police believe that the trio had LTTE links.
Five hand grenades, two detonators and 4.5 kilograms of C4 were among the explosives recovered.
The operation was conducted by a team led by IP. Yatawara, on the instructions of Senior DIG Gamini Navaratne and DIG Central West Pujith Jayasundara.
U.S. Court convicts Singaporean for aiding Tamil Tiger terrorists
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 19, Baltimore, MD: A United States federal jury Monday convicted a 48-year-old Singapore national of conspiracy to provide material support to Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
In a press release, the United States Attorney's Office in District of Maryland announced Monday (18) that Balraj Naidu, a citizen of Singapore was guilty of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
The prosecutors say Naidu aided Tamil Tiger terrorists in an attempted purchase of grenade launchers, sniper rifles, machine guns, and other state of the art firearms.
Naidu was charged following an undercover operation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations jointly with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Baltimore Police.
The press release quoting Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore, William Winter, said the long-term undercover investigation kept sophisticated U.S. weaponry from the hands of terrorists.
According to evidence presented at his five day trial, beginning in February 2006, Naidu and his co-conspirators attempted to purchase state of the art weaponry from China, Thailand, North Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia for the LTTE, to be used to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.
Several arms merchants have refused to supply the Tamil Tigers with weaponry once the destination for the arms had been disclosed by Naidu and his associates.
According to the statement, in April 2006, Naidu's Indonesian sources for weapons have unwittingly introduced Naidu and his associates to an agent for an undercover business in Maryland that purported to sell military weapons.
Naidu's co-conspirators, Indonesian nationals Haji Subandi and Erick Wotulo and Sri Lankan Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa have pleaded guilty and been sentenced in 2008.
Varatharasa pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 57 months in prison for the conspiracy and attempted arms exportation while Wotulo, a retired Indonesian Marine Corps General, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison for the conspiracy and money laundering.
Subandi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, money laundering and attempted exportation of arms and munitions.
Another co-conspirator Haniffa Bin Osman, a 59-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to 37 months in prison for the attempted arms deal.
Naidu faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for charges against him and the U.S. District Judge has scheduled the sentencing for December 16, 2010.
NO MORAL AUTHORITY at all!
These are IMMORAL Self-Serving Self-Appointed iNGO's trying to secure their cushy do-nothing JOBS perpetuating colonial attitudes and the supremacy of the West!
BEGONE Amnesty International!
..............
Sri Lanka External Affairs Minister slams Amnesty International for having a political objective against the country
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
"What is your moral authority to dictate to us what we should do in our country?" - Peiris to AI
Oct 19, London: Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris slammed the right group Amnesty International (AI) saying that the organization has a political objective to hurt Sri Lanka, it economy and its people.
During the discussion following his Keynote Address of the 1st International institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)-Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry Dialogue on Tuesday, the Minister said the organization is not objective, not dispassionate but it has a political objective against Sri Lanka.
Referring to an AI release, a week before the European Union was to take a decision on the GSP+ tariff concession to Sri Lanka, the Minister asked why the AI chose that moment to highlight the alleged war crimes and other human right violations.
"Why the choice of that moment, was it not deliberate desir to hurt Sri Lanka, hurt our economy, to hurts thousands of people who are working in garment factories?" he asked.
The AI with it actions is not hurting the government of Sri Lanka with one bit but they are hurting thousands of poor people of the most vulnerable segments of the Sri Lankan community who are dependent on garment factories for their livelihood, the Minister pointed out.
"That is what Amnesty International is doing, it is not objective, it is not dispassionate, and it has a political objective," Prof. Peiris said.
He was responding to question posed by the AI on the progress of the witness protection bill in Sri Lanka saying that AI declined the invitation of Sri Lanka's Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) due to the concerns over the bill.
Minister Peiris in response said the witness protection bill is something that is desirable in the country, but Sri Lanka is certainly not going to accept the terms given by the organization.
"What is your moral authority to dictate to us what we should do in our country?" the Minister asked.
"These are the things that people in our country have to decide in accordance with their own priorities," Minister Peiris said adding that the bill was presented to the parliament and it was referred to a committee.
The External Affairs Minister said there are many complex provisions in the bill that require detailed examination.
"We are doing that in accordance with our own priorities and certainly not to any dictate by the Amnesty International or any body else," the Minister said.
Amnesty International likes only to Throw Stones from The Sidelines and EGG-ON the CROWD!
The Full Limelight of a National Commission could EXPOSE their Neo-COLONIAL agenda, and their role in Engineering Evidence and Manufacturing Unsubstantiated Accusations against Sri Lanka .. so they SHY AWAY!
Amnesty International, THY NAKEDNESS exposes THY IMPOTENCE!
.................
Attitude of rights groups "colonial", Sri Lankan Minister says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 20, London: Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris on Tuesday regretted the rejection by the right groups an invitation extended to them by the Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to provide their insight and knowledge to the Commission.
"It is profound regret that these organizations in a cavalier fashion have rejected the invitation on the ground, as they said, that the commission does not comply with minimum international Standards," Prof. Peiris said in his Keynote Address to the first International Institute of Strategic Studies-Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry Dialogue in London.
"It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronizing and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future and must do only at the dictums of others," he said.
The Minister stressed that the government of Sri Lanka is determined to pursue a political solution, but insisted that it must be a political solution decided by the people of the country.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa had a series of discussions in this regard with the legitimate Tamil leaders in the country, not the self-appointed guardians of Tamil people who live outside the country and pursuing their own agenda he said.
The Minister reached out to the Tamil diaspora and urged the expatriate Tamil groups understand the situation in the country and join the process of reconciliation.
Prof. Peiris pointed out that the LTTE killed more Tamil political leaders than Sinhala leaders and created a hiatus in Tamil political leadership and the government is in the process of giving space for Tamil people to select their own leaders.
The government is to repeat the democratic transformation that took place in the Eastern Province in the Northern Province with local elections, the Minister said.
Responding to a question, Prof. Peiris said although LTTE is not in a position to restart a war in Sri Lanka, groups in Western countries sympathetic to LTTE are breathing life into the movement with the vast pecuniary resources the LTTE amassed by gun running, and drug and human smuggling.
The LTTE was also in possession of a sophisticated communication network, which he said, is now used with vengeance by these groups against Sri Lanka.
He said Sri Lanka is doing its best to bring these movements to the attention of Western countries.
Prof Peiris was due to hold talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Defence Secretary Liam Fox, Secretary of State for Defence, among others.
Amnesty International actively aids Tamil Diaspora to DEMONIZE Sri Lanka by attempting to give CREDIBILITY to "Photos provided by a Former Tiger Intelligence Official" through the PLATFORM of their organization!
Many photos like this were created/enacted by the LTTE in the PAST in the Wanni GULAG .. as they will be at Foreign Locations in the FUTURE as WELL!
And we are supposed to BELIEVE EVIDENCE PROVIDED by ACKNOWLEDGED SERIAL KILLERS?
For CRYING OUT LOUD!
AI is AIDING Global Terrorism to DESTROY Developing Democratic Nations!
ONWARD .. Colonial Soldiers!
...........
Sri Lanka rejects 'atrocity' photos
BBC.com
October 19, 2010
Picture released by Global Tamil Forum apparently shows a Sri Lankan soldier next to bodies Some of the images apparently show the bodies of blindfolded and bound young people
Sri Lanka's foreign minister has cast doubt on newly released photos that are said to show a massacre of Tamils during the country's civil war.
On an official UK visit, GL Peiris said images published by the Global Tamil Forum were a bid by rebel sympathisers to tarnish Sri Lanka's image.
Some of the pictures apparently show the bloodstained bodies of bound and blindfolded young people.
Sri Lanka's long civil war ended in May 2009 with the Tamil Tigers' defeat.
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a group which includes former supporters of the separatist insurgents, released the images as the Sri Lankan foreign minister visited London.
Many of the photos, whose veracity cannot be verified, are too graphic to publish here.
One apparently shows a semi-naked young woman lying, with blood on her face and apparently dead, surrounded by the bodies of trussed-up and blindfolded young men.
Other photos appear to show dead young men, two of whom lie in pits.
The GTF said the images had been passed to them by a Tamil Tiger intelligence official, who said he had got them from within the Sri Lankan army.
The GTF accepted in a statement that the authenticity of the photos could not be vouched for, but said they showed "blatant disregard to humanity".
Calling for an independent inquiry, Father SJ Emmanuel, president of the GTF, said: "If government of Sri Lanka has nothing to hide, why wouldn't they at least now admit to allowing the UN to investigate?"
'Patronising, condescending'
Echoing that call, Amnesty International urged British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who meets Mr Peiris on Wednesday, to demand an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Pro-Tamil protester in London on 19 October 2010 Hundreds of pro-Tamil protesters gathered outside as the foreign minister spoke in London
However, Mr Peiris said during an address to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank, that similar pictures of unproven veracity had been published before by Tamil Tiger sympathisers.
Hundreds of Pro-Tamil protesters gathered outside the building in central London as the Sri Lankan foreign minister gave his speech.
He also labelled as "patronising, condescending and almost colonial" human rights groups who criticised a government-appointed inquiry into claims of war crimes.
Amnesty International was last week among three organisations which accused the panel of a cover-up and refused its offer to give evidence.
But the commission, appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, says it is a credible attempt at reconciliation.
It is not the first time that potential evidence of war crimes relating to Sri Lanka's civil war has emerged.
Video surfaced in August last year apparently showing extra-judicial killings by Sri Lankan troops.
The Sri Lankan government said the footage was fake, but a UN special rapporteur concluded it was genuine.
What is holding up the TRAIN, Minister Fernando?
Let us get these people RESETTLED immediately!
..............
Sri Lankan government to provide lands for Sinhala families originally lived in Jaffna
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 19, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has decided to provide the Sinhala families currently stranded in Jaffna with lands for settlement.
Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando has told the media that the Sinhala families temporarily taking shelter at the Jaffna Railway Station will be provided with land shortly.
More than 150 Sinhala families are reportedly stranded in the Alfred Duraiyappa Stadium and Railway Station in Jaffna, as they have not been allowed to settle in their lands.
The government has decided to release the original lands of these Sinhala families once the legal proceedings are concluded.
Fernando has said that legal proceedings were currently on going to separate the government lands and the private lands.
O Canada, join the human race!
You may step-off that holier-than-thou pedestal now!
..............
Canadian commander exposed as serial killer
Gurmukh Singh
October 19, 2010
TORONTO: A top Canadian commander, who headed the country's biggest military base at Trenton till his arrest in February, has been exposed as a serial killer with a fetish for lingerie he kept as trophies.
Col Russell Williams, 47, Monday pleaded guilty to raping and killing two women, sexually targeting teen girls and women in their 30s and indulging his fetish for lingerie by taking photographs of himself modelling in them and masturbating for the camera. So obsessed was he that he would break into homes to steal the lingerie to keep them as his trophies in his Ottawa home. He logged the stolen innerwear, with their date-stamped photos on hard drives recovered from the ceiling of his home.
If the pile of the loot became too big, the commander would burn some to make room for more, the court heard.
A rising military star who flew prime ministers and Queen Elizabeth II during her visit here, Williams was arrested Feb 4 at a roadside checkpoint in Ottawa just after Jessica Lloyd, 27, was killed.
Police detained him after his SUV's unusual tires matched the tread marks left at the crime scene.
A man in a stable marriage, Williams pleaded guilty to killing Jessica Lloyd, 27, in February and Corporal Marie Comeau, 38, his subordinate at the base, in November.
He videotaped the asphyxiation death of Comeau after breaking into her home Nov 24, 2009. And he made tapes of his sex assault of Lyold after kidnapping her, taking her to his cottage, and raping and then killing her January 28.
Apart from pleading guilty to killing two young women, including a subordinate, he admitted sexually assaulting two others as well as 82 counts of home break-ins to steal panties from women's bedrooms in Tweed - a small town northeast Toronto.
Another 21-year-old single mother told the court she was tied up, blindfolded, stripped and held captive for more than two hours while he forced her into sexual acts and photographed her.
The shocking double life of the once respected commander unfolded on court screens after his after his guilty plea Monday when the prosecution presented his pornographic images to show depths of his sexual perversion.
The courtroom was stunned when it saw the commander wearing a 12-year-old girl's cartoon-decorated panties. The court heard that Williams knew the parents of the 12-year-old girl and visited the girl's bedroom two more times to take photos of himself.
Reacting to the guilty plea by his former top commander, Canadian armed forces chief Walt Natynczyk said, "The tragic events surrounding Col. Russell Williams stunned all Canadians and none more so than the members of the Canadian Forces. Today's guilty plea is the first step in a healing process that will no doubt take many years."
Patriots,
If you find Kazuthai Mahvansa bashing on other forums hit them with the Mahabharat
Sinhala Kingdom of Lanka in Mahabharat
1. Kazuthai might back down for fear of antagonizing North Indians..
2. Our North Indian cousins may get the idea they have been backing the wrong horse all this time
The other incisive argument against Kazuthai in other forums is why was the TAMIL Jaffna Kingdom ceded to the PORTUGESE via a treaty written in SINHALA..This means either the kings and/or nobles in the court of Jaffna were Sinhalese or a substantial population in Jaffna was Sinhalese..
I reckon there are more proofs of Sinhalese presence in Jaffna hidden away in the Portugese and Dutch national archives.. It is upto to GOSL or some philanthropist to find and retrieve them
Patriots,
When you are in outside forums discussing matters related to N & E please refer to the towns/villages with their ancient Sinhala name alongside their present Tamilised name
e.g.- Mooladuva/ Mullaitheevu
Tamilised Sinhala place names in the North and East
Absolutely!
These "human rights groups" are aiding and abetting a neo-colonial agenda destabilizing emerging nations struggling to develop their economies using "human rights" as a weapon while IGNORING the MASSIVE HUMAN RIGHTS abuses by Western Powers!
............
Sri Lanka condemns the alleged hidden agenda of right groups
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 21, Colombo: Sri Lanka has accused the three major human rights groups of pursuing a 'broader targeted agenda' against the government by leveling unsubstantiated allegations on a range of issues.
Drawing attention to a letter addressed by the International Crisis Group (ICG), Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 14 October 2010, to the Secretary of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the External Affairs Ministry said the letter contains a series of unsubstantiated allegations against the government on a wide range of issues, including matters unrelated to the purview of the Commission.
The decision by the right groups to make the letter public is demonstrative of a broader targeted agenda against the government, the Ministry said in a statement released Wednesday (20).
The three organizations snubbed an invitation by the LLRC to share their insight at the Commission's hearings saying that the LLRC does not meet international standards and lack credibility.
Their main arguments were that its members were appointed by the government, has no real mandate to investigate war crimes in the last stages of the conflict, lacks any mechanism to protect witnesses and falls short of minimum international standards of a commission of inquiry.
The Ministry responding to the concerns said the LLRC has conducted its hearings in the former battlefields and civilians including displaced persons, widows and members of civil society have testified before the Commission.
"If there were any fear to testify, such a strong public participation in the work of the Commission, especially in the North and in the East of the country, would not have materialized," the Ministry statement said.
The right groups' concern that the state of emergency is still enforced in the country has no relevance to the Commission's work, the Ministry pointed out.
Regarding the members of the Commission, the Ministry said the three organizations have taken the unacceptable step of publicly discrediting them saying that they have been public officials.
The Ministry, noting that there are several examples of former officials served or are currently serving on various commissions from all over the world, condemned the right groups for personally targeting the Commission members.
"The comment that previous Commissions have not fulfilled expectations, is a claim best left to the people of Sri Lanka, to determine," the Ministry said pointing out that Sri Lankan people have the political maturity to apply their judgment.
Sri Lanka condemns the alleged hidden agenda of right groups
.......continued.....
The Ministry said the three organizations involved could have better contributed, by following the internationally recognized principle and practice of co-operating with national institutions and domestic mechanisms and processes, in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Underscoring the progress made in post-war Sri Lanka, the Ministry said the Sri Lankan government has been successful in resettling almost all of the internally displaced, providing schooling to all former child combatants and rehabilitating the ex-combatants to lead productive lives.
The Government, it said, plans to hold the local elections in the North soon to create the necessary space for the democratic Tamil political leadership in the region.
The Sri Lankan government has embarked on a programme aimed at reconstruction and rehabilitation of the conflict-affected areas, along with equitable long-term development in all parts of the country, the Ministry stated.
Considering the developments in the country, the Ministry concluded that the letter form the three rights groups ICG, AI and HRW allows room to believe that they would prefer to voice allegations from distant parts of the world, rather than jeopardize their claims of credibility by subjecting their assertions to scrutiny under the transparent and legally sound process afforded by the LLRC.
The Ministry said the three organizations involved could have better contributed, by following the internationally recognized principle and practice of co-operating with national institutions and domestic mechanisms and processes, in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Underscoring the progress made in post-war Sri Lanka, the Ministry said the Sri Lankan government has been successful in resettling almost all of the internally displaced, providing schooling to all former child combatants and rehabilitating the ex-combatants to lead productive lives.
The Government, it said, plans to hold the local elections in the North soon to create the necessary space for the democratic Tamil political leadership in the region.
The Sri Lankan government has embarked on a programme aimed at reconstruction and rehabilitation of the conflict-affected areas, along with equitable long-term development in all parts of the country, the Ministry stated.
Considering the developments in the country, the Ministry concluded that the letter form the three rights groups ICG, AI and HRW allows room to believe that they would prefer to voice allegations from distant parts of the world, rather than jeopardize their claims of credibility by subjecting their assertions to scrutiny under the transparent and legally sound process afforded by the LLRC.
Technically, coal power plants are also "Thermal Power Plants."
Therefore, the use of the term "thermal power plants" in the context of this story is very confusing! What do they really mean?
Is that term used to refer only to diesel and/or natural gas power generation plants operated by private companies, which are not coal power plants?
...............
Thermal power plants to be scrapped
By Ifham Nizam
Island.lk
October 21, 2010
On the instructions of Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka plans are afoot to shut down costly thermal power plants and stop purchase of power from private generator operators.
Minister Ranawaka says this will prevent the payment of capacity charges to the private sector where the CEB has to pay for contracted power supply whether the Ceylon Electricity Board purchases power or not. He says after 2016 all such projects would be abandoned.
He told The Island yesterday that eight agreements signed by the CEB with the Independent Power Generators were highly detrimental to both the consumers and the CEB.
The Minister said that the CEB spent Rs. 90 billion out of its total annual income of Rs. 120 billion to purchase power from PPPs. Rs. 15 billion out of Rs. 90 Billion was paid as Capacity Charges to PPPs whether the CEB purchased power or not.
Ranawaka also said the high generation cost was a big burden on the CEB. In 1980 it had cost only 18 cents to produce a unit of electricity and today its cost had risen to Rs. 18.
"We could have done better without thermal power if past regimes had commissioned power projects such as the Kerawalapitiya coal power plant, the Upper Kotmale and Kukuleganga hydropower projects, or the Trincomalee coal power plant on time," Minister Ranawaka added.
The Island learns that a new tariff system will also be in place by next year and a tariff committee is is preparing plans.
Sri Lanka has a huge potential to utilise renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power, mini hydropower, dendro power etc.
"We have a plan to give incentives to those who invest in alternative/renewable power projects," Ranawaka added.
He said that special incentives were on offer for mini hydropower schemes. Plans were also underway to produce solar power in bulk and add it to the national grid. The use of dendro as a renewable energy source too was to be popularised, the Minister said.
Poor CANADA can't fight its way out of a paper bag!
With WEAK immigration laws and easily BRIBED politicians, the LTTE Tamil Diaspora in Canada will run rings around the Canadian Government!
GIVE IT UP Canada, you don't have the STOMACH for this battle!
..............
Canada cracks down on human smugglers
By Gurmukh Singh, Toronto
October 22, 2010
Rattled by public outrage over smuggling of about 500 Sri Lankan Tamils into this country in August, Canada Thursday introduced a bill to tighten its asylum laws and impose tougher penalties on human smugglers.
With more than 80,000 refugee cases pending in the country, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney introduced the new Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act will to address the menace of human smuggling into Canada.
Since refugee cases take years and each refugee costs Canadian taxpayers about USD 30,000 a year, the public safety minister said, "Our government is taking action to prevent the abuse of Canada's immigration system by human smugglers.
"The legislation introduced today will send a clear message: Canada opens its doors to those who work hard and play by the rules while cracking down on those who seek to take advantage of our generosity and abuse our fair and welcoming immigration system.''
Because of its very lax laws, Canada has become a hunting ground for human smugglers as the latest case of 500 Tamils shows. Each Tamil reportedly paid USD 40,000 to USD 50,000 to the smuggling ship from Thailand.
Worse still, it is very difficult to deport people from Canada even when their cases are rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
According to the country's attorney general, 63,000 refugees ordered to be deported are still in the country and 41,000 have gone missing.
Under the new law, illegal smugglers will be detained up to one years to determine their true identity and not allowed to live freely in Canada as the case now.
The new law will ensure quick prosecution and tougher jail terms for human smugglers.
The law also makes provisions for re-assessment of cases of those who succeed in getting refugee status to determine whether they can be returned to their country of origin.
"This action will help to prevent the abuse of Canada's immigration system by human smugglers, while allowing us to continue offering protection to the world's most vulnerable,'' said immigration minister Kenney.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)
--IANS
Way to GO, Sri Lanka!
...............
Second Sri Lanka-built ship for India to flag off
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 22, Colombo: Colombo Dockyard PLC announces that the second passenger ship built by Sri Lanka would be handed over to India next week.
The chief of Colombo Dockyard marketing division Prince Lye told media that the ship built in Sri Lanka is worth over Rs. two billion.
Colombo Dockyard delivered MV Arabian Sea, the first of two passenger-cum-cargo vessels ordered by the Administration of Union Territories of Lakshadweep, India on the 15th of January 2010.
MV Arabian Sea is the first and the largest sea going 250-passenger ship constructed in Sri Lankan maritime industry for the international market that can also carry 100 tonnes of cargo.
These passenger-cum-cargo vessels will be in operation en-route from the Main Land (Cochin, India) to UTL Islands, as well as operating in the inter island routes.
LTTE leaders and those who committed horrendous crimes must be held accountable, and punished!
..............
'Lanka to indict 1,000 ex-LTTE cadres on charges of terrorism'
DeccanHerald.com
October 24, 2010
The government will indict some 1,000 former LTTE cadres in custody on charges of involvement in terrorism during the nearly three decades ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka that came to an end last May.
D.E.W. Gunasekara, Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister, said these former LTTE cadres are being held on charges of their involvement in terrorism.
According to the ColomboPage online, the government has decided to indict some 1,000 former LTTE cadres who are currently in custody and release 23 former women LTTE cadres on Monday.
Gunasekara said the government has so far rehabilitated and released some 4,460 former LTTE cadres including 304 females.
The Sri Lankan forces crushed the rebels in May 2009, ending three decades of civil war that killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people. The government continues to screen refugees in military-run camps for rebel fighters.
The defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels ended the group's quarter-century armed struggle for a separate state.
According to U.N. and rights watchdog reports, more than 7,000 civilians were killed in fighting between mid-January and May 2009, when the military routed the rebels.
Tamil union leader in custody
The trade union leader of a opposition Tamil political party in Sri Lanka has been arrested by the anti-terror unit, police said.
Police spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody told BBC Sandeshaya that Letchuman Bharatidasan of Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) was arrested by the unit in Kandy and currently detained under a Detention Order.
"He is facing many accusations including supporting and being involved in terrorism," Mr Jayakody said.
Pointing out that Bharatidasan has been involved with pro-government Tamil political parties, the DPF accuses authorities of political victimisation after he changed his political allegiances.
"The government is clearly employing police to seek political revenge," DPF leader Mano Ganesan told the BBC.
Before joining the DPF in February Mr Bharathidasan has been affiliated to Upcountry Peoples Front and Ceylon Workers Congress.
Both parties are aligned with the ruling coalition.
However, the police spokesman denied any political motive behind the arrest. SP Jayakody said three more people were arrested in connection to the charges.
Police did not reveal when the suspect is expected to be produced before the courts, stating that a detention order has been served.
Tamil Diaspora "Activating Local Terrorist Cells"!
Poor gullible Tamils in Sri Lanka are bought and driven to their deaths by rich LTTE expatriates.
The END RESULT will be the SAME AS BEFORE: Death for ALL TERRORISTS.
These stupid incurable racists and murderers will NEVER LEARN!
.................
Sri Lanka arrests five suspected Tamil rebel accomplices
NewKerala.com
October 24, 2010
Colombo:Sri Lankan police on Sunday revealed the arrest of five suspected accomplices of the former Tamil Tiger rebels.
Police spokesman and superintendent Prishantha Jayakodi told reporters here that three of them had been arrested in the central hill area of Talawakelle by the central provincial counter-terrorism unit.
The other two were arrested in Jaffna. All of the arrests took place on Saturday. They were possessing explosives used in mortar shells, the police said.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister DM Jayaratne told parliament last week that authorities are on alert for moves by Tamil Tiger diaspora to activate some of their local cells who had escaped the military operations.
The rebels' 30-year-old separatist campaign was crushed by the military in May last year.
Lanka’s port attracts Indian investment
SanaNews.net
October 23, 2010
COLOMBO: A new port being built in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota has drawn investment proposals from local and foreign businesses including the local Senok Combine and Micro Car for vehicle assembly, officials said.
Madras Cements, India’s fifth largest cement maker and part of Chennai-based Ramco Group, has also proposed investing in a cement terminal at the port, a greenfield site to be operated as a free port with no taxes.
A Sri Lanka Ports Authority statement said that 27 local and foreign companies among 63 that collected the request for investment proposals have submitted bids.
“The response shows investors are keen to invest in the new port,” said Agil Hewageegana, SLPA chief engineer in charge of the port project in Hambantota known as Magampura Port.
He said some of the local firms that sent proposals are in joint ventures with foreign partners.
The new deep water harbour close to the main shipping route across the Indian Ocean, to function initially as an industrial port, was built by Chinese firms and largely funded by Chinese loans.
The SLPA received six investment proposals for cement terminals in Hambanthota when bids closed last week, two for vehicle assembly, two each for liquid petroleum gas and petro-chemical complexes, and three for warehousing.
Investors have also bid to set up a sugar refinery and a fertilizer plant.
The two local firms interested in vehicle assembly are Senok Trade Combine, agents for vehicle manufacturers like Audi, Subaru and Skoda, Transmec Engineering, which assembles the ‘Micro Car’ in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan’s Jamshoro, based in Lahore, which had bid for part of the Shell Gas assets in that country has submitted a proposal for an LPG terminal.
Proposals petro-chemicals investments have come from a Singapore firm and Advance Surfactants Lanka, which makes industrial chemicals.
The SLPA said a total land area of 2,000 hectares belonging to the Magampura Port will be available for local and international entrepreneurs.
“Magampura Port is being developed as a multi-purpose, industrial and service port and aims to make the best of the expanding markets of the Indian sub-continent, with short transit times to India, Africa and the Gulf region,” it said.
The government plans to start phase two of the project during the last quarter of this year with the contract agreement recently signed between China Harbour Engineering Company and SLPA.
The financial assistance would be extended by the the People’s Republic of China on a concessionary basis, the statement said.
The second phase will expand and deepen the harbour, adding more berths and cranes to handle containers.
Pillayan .. a former SEPARATIST TERRORIST .. asks for MORE POWER to be DEVOLVED to Provincial Governments!
WE DISAGREE!
ON THE CONTRARY, Provincial Governments should be DISMANTLED as they are TOO LARGE and could become centers of SEPARATISM and THREATS to the Central Government of Sri Lanka that is the SOLE FORCE maintaining the UNITY OF THE NATION.
Regional Administrative Units should be NO LARGER than DISTRICTS. DISTRICT administrators, who should not be politicians but APPOINTED government servants, should report to the National Government Departments.
Political representation through the MEMBERS elected to the NATIONAL PARLIAMENT provide SUFFICIENT political representation for the people. They should be empowered more to be able to attract benefits to the people they represent from the central government.
In this way, we AVOID destabilizing and undermining the security of the nation through large political/administrative sub-units and we ELIMINATE Many UNNECESSARY layers of Government Bureaucracy supported by taxpayers and contributing NOTHING OF VALUE to the people, representing BARRIERS between the PEOPLE and the National Government.
Let us do away with UNNECESSARY ADMINISTRATIVE OVERHEAD that Provincial Governments represent.
The ONLY PEOPLE who benefit from these Provincial Governments are Politicians looking for ways to MILK money from the people's COW in CAPTIVE FIEFDOMS, and SEPARATISTS looking to revive their ethnically pure sovereign EELAMS!
Get RID of PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS NOW!
SOW the SEEDS of Regional Devolution NOW,
REAP the WHIRLWIND of National Disintegration LATER!
................
JR, Premadasa betrayed the country- Pillayan
SundayTimes.lk
October 24, 2010
Chief Minister- Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan better know as ‘Pillayan’, on Wednesday suggested that the powers of the provincial councils should be strengthened with more powers to the provinces.
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan addressing the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission
“Government should allow to fully exercise the powers vested in the provincial councils,” the Chief minister told the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission. “That is the only way we can win the hearts and minds of the people,” he said.
He said that, in the past, mistakes made by successive leaders had paved the way for the creation of armed groups. “This is an appropriate time for the government to take correct action to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, as the government currently has a two-thirds majority in Parliament,” he said.
“There are land issues in the Eastern Province. In the past, permits have been issued for lands in the Eastern Province, but due to the war situation, people fled the area. If those people return and demand their land, we will not be able to allocate the same land, as they have been already allocated to other persons.
“However, if persons in possession of the original deeds, return and demand their land, we can make arrangements to get back the land for them,” he said. “I am doing my best to solve the land issues in the area, and have visited some of the locations personally. I am working towards restoring ethnic harmony,” Mr. Chandrakanthan said.
JR, Premadasa betrayed the country- Pillayan
......continued........
Responding to a question about his reaction to Muslims chased away from the north, he said that Muslims were not chased from the east, but that he was willing to submit a full report on land issues to the commission.
“In Sampur, there are about 6,000 people living in camps. The coal power project backed by the Indians is coming up. We will benefit economically from the project, as the sea is deeper than in the Hambantota port area. But the people want to return to their original lands. I am trying to resettle them in other areas. However, if the people insist on returning to their old areas, it is only the President who can take a decision on the matter,” he said.
“In the 1990’s, the armed forces committed atrocities against the people. That made me join the LTTE. I have seen many bodies. In 1990, there was a group who killed people by slashing them with knives. Three of my classmates too were taken away. Some who worshipped seeking their release were shot. Therefore, the politicians who were responsible for these incidents should tender their apologies,” he added.
He was asked whether he shouldn’t tender an apology for the killing of 600 policemen in the east.
“As a former member of the LTTE, I can tender an apology. They were killed in June 1990, while I joined the LTTE in 1991. Therefore, it is not proper for me to tender an apology. The then leader Karuna (Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, currently a minister in the government) could tender his apology.
“Initially, S.J.V. Chelvanayagam formed the Thamil Arasu Katchchi, and signed a pact with former Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. But J.R. Jayewardene who was in the opposition opposed it.
He claimed the Tamils will have more rights and therefore, the pact was not implemented. Thereafter, former Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake and Chelavanayagam signed another agreement. That too did not work out. Later, the District Development Councils were formed, and that too failed. The Tamil people never asked for separation, but opposition politicians gave distorted versions of the Tamil demands. As a result, there were atrocities against the Tamils. When the Tamil parties failed to fulfill their aspirations, armed Tamil groups sprang up. There were differences among the groups, which resulted in rival killings. Finally, the LTTE became the recognized group to achieve the Eelam goal”.
He said that, after former president Jaywardene formed the government, the provincial council system was introduced with the assistance of the Indians.
“The person who opposed the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact, eventually went beyond that and entered into an agreement with India to set up the provincial council system,” he said.
“However, then President Ranasinghe Premadasa opposed the provincial council system, and captured power. He provided the LTTE with weapons and sabotaged the functioning of the provincial councils.
“I feel that former leaders Jayawardene and Premadasa betrayed the country,” he added.
RELEASING Gen. Sarath Fonseka will ENDANGER THE NATION and will SED THE WRONG MESSAGE to Sri Lanka's ENEMIES!
These "Clergymen" are PAWNS of the Anti-National Opposition.
The VAST MAJORITY of PATRIOTIC Sri Lankans want those who ENDANGER THE NATION to be PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW, and FIRMLY PUNISHED to DETER OTHERS.
That is the ONLY WAY TO PROTECT THE NATION.
SPARE the ROD, and SPOIL the CHILD!
FONSEKA has many more CRIMES to ANSWER FOR than the few he has been CONVICTED OF.
Let the LAW TAKE IT'S COURSE, and the GUILTY BE PUNISHED irrespective of POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED OPPOSITION!
................
Clergy calls on Sri Lankan President to release former Army Commander Fonseka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 24, Colombo: A group of religious leaders Sunday called on Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release the imprisoned former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka from prison.
Addressing a press conference the religious leaders of various faiths said there is a miscarriage of justice with regard to Fonseka's case and urged the President to correct it by releasing the military leader turned politician.
Ven. Kolamunne Sumanawansa Thero, Rev. Patrick Fernando, Moulavi Al Haj Hassan Cassim and Hindu priest Vigneswar Sharma addressed the media briefing.
The clergy have gathered under a banner claiming "Release General Fonseka immediately."
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa last month approved a prison sentence given by the second court martial against Sarath Fonseka after finding him guilty of four charges related to alleged irregularities in military procurements during his tenure as Army Chief.
The DNA MP Fonseka lost his parliamentary seat due to the 30-month prison term imposed on him.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has vowed to continue agitations for Fonseka's the freedom. The UNP has planned countrywide demonstrations on December 10 to coincide with the International Human Rights Day to urge the government to release Fonseka.
This Appears to be SABOTAGE!
How can a yet-to-be-operated, brand new chimmney be clogged? Soot can accumulate only after years of operation.
What clogged it? Combustibles shoved into the chimmney ON PURPOSE to CAUSE A FIRE?
..............
Minister orders a full report on fire at Sri Lanka power plant
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka has ordered an immediate report on the sudden fire broke out this morning at the Norochcholai coal Power Plant in Northwestern Province.
Minister Ranawaka has called for an immediate report on how the fire erupted and any damage caused.
According to Ceylon Electricity Board officials the fire erupted due to the clogging of a chimney that emits waste from the combustion of coal.
A fire brigade team form the nearby Kalpitiya Naval Base had assisted the local teams to douse the fire, media reports said. Officials say there were no personal injuries.
The Ministry said that construction work at the Thermal Power Plant was not interrupted.
The power plant is expected to be operational from the last week of November.
The first phase of the Norochcholai coal power plant is to inject 300 MW to the main grid by 2011 while the second phase is scheduled to be completed by 2013 and is expected to inject 600 MW to the national grid.
You Got it ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, Mr. Gothabhaya Rajapaksa!
PENALIZE the MISCREANTS by making them PAY for their University EDUCATION!
That will TEACH THEM to VALUE that PRIVILEGE they get as a FREE GIFT in Mother Lanka that few other countries grant to their citizens!
More importantly, the POTENTIAL LOSS OF THAT HUGE MONETARY BENEFIT (Currently $25,000 to $45,000/year at a US University) will END POLITICALLY MOTIVATED disruptions at Sri Lanka's Universities!
Do it NOW!
Bring DISCIPLINE to Higher Education in Sri Lanka! Ban NATIONAL POLITICS from the Nation's Universities!
Jayawewa!
................
"Vested interests trying to destabilize Lanka" says Secretary Defence
"Information has been received that certain vested interests are attempting to undermine Sri Lanka's hard gained stability by creating student unrest. The students should be aware of such evil forces", said Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Discipline has eroded among the students of schools and universities alike. It has fallen to such ebb that some have even resorted to assaulting Vice Chancellors like what happened at the Ruhuna University recently. This is not what parents expect from their children, said Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa while addressing the male and female school cadets at the National Cadet Corps Training Centre at Rantembe on Saturday (Oct 23).
"A sizable amount of tax payers' money is being invested in children's education, expecting them to become good and responsible citizens and contribute towards the development of this country," the Defence Secretary added.
"I served in an American university for about eight years. I never saw any ragging there. Ragging or 'navaka vadaya' is a 'vadaya' (cruelty). Likewise, I never saw students boycotting classes or lectures there. This is because they spend a large amount of money to enter those institutions," Mr. Rajapaksa reiterated.
Sri Lanka utilizes tax payers' money to provide free education to its children. Hence the students should strive to gain maximum advantage of this and should not become pawns of those hatching various conspiracies to destablise this country, said Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
"It is extremely important that students do not become willing or unwilling partners in these international conspiracies and bring to naught the ongoing and planned development of this country," warned the one time Sri Lanka Army Lt. Colonel and the current Defence Secretary, while also urging the parents to be extra vigilant of such moves.
"When they go out of their homes and families for the first time to obtain higher education, the students should remember that they also carry the expectations of their parents and loved ones on their young shoulders. They expect the children to become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of a better society," reminded Mr. Rajapaksa.
"We need to build a disciplined society. If you look closely at countries which have developed speedily, you will always notice that their society has been disciplined," added the Defence Secretary.
LTTE network STILL destabilizing India by supporting Maoist terrorists .. testifies India's Govt.
.............
LTTE supporting Maoist activities - Indian govt tells tribunal 'Pose danger to sovereignty and unity of India'
October 21, 2010
India's union government yesterday (20) told a tribunal examining the validity of the ban on LTTE, that the outfit was supporting Maoist activities and would pose a danger to the sovereignty and unity of the country if it was not proscribed.
Deposing before the 14-member Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal, headed by Justice Vikramjit Singh, at its public hearing in India, P K Mishra, Secretary, Internal Security, Ministry of Home Affairs, said LTTE's extension of support to Maoist activities in India would also prove dangerous to the security of the country, PTI reported yesterday (20).
Mishra said an LTTE sympathiser Manivannan alias Castro was held on charges of abduction and arms smuggling in India after 2008. The LTTE was first banned in India in 1992 under the Unlawful (Prevention) Activities Act. This has been renewed once in two years since then.
The militant group is responsible for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The latest notification extending the ban was issued in May last by the Indian Union Home Ministry which had said despite its decimation, LTTE was re-grouping in Tamil Nadu and remnants of its cadres could use India, especially Tamil Nadu, as a rear base for this purpose, the PTI further stated.
Home is where your heart is: Ex-combatants yearn for recognition
SundayObserver.lk
October 24, 2010
Can you remember the days when you refused to eat food and your mother made you scary saying that devils would come and swallow you?
Looking around with wide open eyes and without troubling your mum anymore, you meekly emptied the dish.
For more than two decades, the children of the North, were made scary when they did not eat food not by calling devils but telling them that Sinhalese soldiers would come and cut them into pieces.
Whenever they committed an innocent naughty act, their parents 'called' the soldiers. "We did not utter a word but ate dosai silently when my mother called the Sinhalese soldiers. From our small days, we saw posters where soldiers kill small children," Kaneshapillai Ranjith Kumar said.
Released from the rehabilitation centre at Vavuniya, Kumar who is disabled is waiting for a sponsorship for an artificial limb.
Northern children who were born two decades ago were continuously exposed to posters and propaganda campaigns by the LTTE to cultivate their animosity towards the Sinhalese and their soldiers.
The LTTE's long-term plan for the cause - to get the brain washed youth to fight - became successful to a greater extent and they made it easy to motivate the innocent youth die for their useless cause - Eelam.
oday thousands and thousands of Tamils who have seen the Sinhalese and their soldiers after the end of the war know the 'breed' that they were taught to be devils are humans that saved them from the real 'devils'.
Married to escape the forced conscription and hidden in a bunker with his newly married wife, Kumar who escaped terror filled Puthumathalan in 2009, a few days before the battle came to a complete end, is trying to become a popular garage owner in Mullaithivu.
Their hope is for a better future - Pix: Thilak Perera
Despite his disability, he repairs whatever vehicle that comes to his garage. Clad in a sarong and shirt with black grease patches he apologises for coming to meet us in dirty and smelly clothes.
He has put up a temporary garage at Thanniuththu with the material given to build a house in the resettled village.
"I can earn Rs. 1,000 to 1,500 daily", the 29-year-old, who had run a garage in the Mullaithivu town since 2006 said.
The LTTE police which was hunting civilians to strengthen the outfit ordered hundreds of people to get photos wearing LTTE uniforms and Kumar went to get a photo and never returned home. When he refused to join the LTTE threatened to recruit his brother.
He was trucked with over 250 civilians including underaged children to the Kokuthuduwai training camp for a half a month training and then deployed at the Forward Defence Lines in Tampanai, where he lost his left limb to an AP mine buried by the LTTE itself.
Treated for six months at the Mullaithivu hospital, Kumar was asked to work in a LTTE garage in Pokkanei.
"I could not work in that garage and I escaped. I came home and tried to surrender to the soldiers but the LTTE shot at us. My sister, aunt and her sister were killed by the LTTE while they were running. However we reached the huge earth bund at Ampalanpokkanei.
Over 45 people were shot dead. There were pregnant women, old people and children ", he said.
Kumar, his family and others thought the Army would kill them but tried to escape the LTTE terror. "LTTE sympathisers got the chance of escaping in boats but they herded us towards the fighting areas and asked us not to run. But the soldiers saved our lives", he recalled.
Home is where your heart is: Ex-combatants yearn for recognition
....continued 1....
New life
He is not alone. There are over 4,000 ex-LTTE cadres who have gone back home to start a new life free of violence. Having undergone a successful rehabilitation process where they were taught to brush up their hidden skills and the values of life, they are aspiring to lead a peaceful life to make a brighter future for them.
Talk to them... you will realise they don't harbour the LTTE's day dream - Eelam- anymore. They all want to be a part of the efforts to bring a new culture and a brighter future for Sri Lanka.
Exposed to terror since their birth, this segment of youth who were forcibly misled and lived with hatred against the Sinhalese, have learnt that there is no discrimination against them.
The artificially created 'ruse' by the LTTE and some interested segments are fading away in the horizon painting a new colourful picture from the far end of the North to the South bridging gaps that distanced historical ties.
Paskaran Selvakumari, another young female, is grateful to the Sinhalese soldiers who helped her to build the tiny house in her village. After return from the rehabilitation centre at Pompemadu, she has been reunited with her family of two daughters - Pathmakumari (7) and Banusha (6) and is trying hard to meet the day's expenses with the meagre earnings of her deaf husband who is doing odd jobs in the Mullaithivu town.
Unable to find a job with her poor educational qualifications, the young mother who studied only upto grade five, dreams of giving her two daughters a good education.
"The LTTE did not want us to study. I had to stop schooling due to LTTE threats. My poor parents did not have an option other than to give me to the LTTE to save the lives of my younger brother and sister. I was taken to Mullankavil training centre while my parents came behind the white van full of people who were dragged in", she recalled while taking a deep breath.
After a two-month training in Pooneryn with over 150 girls, she was recruited to the Malathi regiment and sent to Jaffna FDLs. She had to fight in Nagar Kovil, Palei FDLs but in 2000 she got injured at a clearing operation where over 30 terrorists died.
The bullet that ripped through her right ear came out from the right eye.
Admitted to the Kilinochchi Hospital she came home partially blind.
When they were planning to flee from Pokkanei, the military announced that LTTE cadres who were with the LTTE even for a day could surrender. As she wanted to save her children's lives she surrendered to the military with the family.
Suffering from frequent headaches, Selvakumari feared to undergo an eye operation. " I am scared that I will die and there would be no one for my two children", she said.
These youth, who were born and bred under LTTE terror, had been denied their rights as children and youth. Their parents had to pay taxes from each cent they earned.
When they defied LTTE orders they were harassed or killed. Though the LTTE boasted that the dead LTTE cadres were venerated and their families known as Mahaweera families looked after well, these ex-LTTE cadres claim those were only propaganda slogans to get more innocent victims to the outfit.
"When a boy or a girl died in battle, the LTTE gave a few thousands of rupees as compensation and the stay about looking after the family was a lie. The families of the senior LTTE cadres were looked after well and they had luxurious lives", they complained.
Slowly threading their lives with the new found peace, every ex-LTTE cadre who came back home after rehabilitation wants a better future.
Harbouring new hopes, they yearn for equal recognition from society to forget the bitter past."But still some of our own people look at us differently. They still see us as terrorists. We never wanted to fight but we were helpless.
Home is where your heart is: Ex-combatants yearn for recognition
....continued 2....
We joined the LTTE as we wanted our families to survive", Thambiraja (21) said.
At the moment over 4,000 ex-LTTE cadres are back in society and also another 4,000 are waiting to come back. The need of the hour is to change the mindset of society to welcome them warmly.
If we cast doubts on them, they would naturally be cornered with the same hatred nulifying all fruitful efforts to rehabilitate them.
Back home
The Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said society had a great responsibility to welcome them as normal youth.
"After rehabilitation, they go back to their homes as normal youth.The Government Agent, Grama sevaka and the Army Civil Affairs officers in each district are aware of the number of rehabilitated ex-cadres are in their respective areas. They monitor their movements in a way not disturbing their freedom", he said adding that the system was initiated to facilitate them in their day-to-day activities.
He said so far not a single incident of violence created by the rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres has been reported from the North.
"Instead, they coordinate with government officers now. They have been issued 'Released Certificates' which will facilitate them in travelling, banking and finding jobs", he said.
Brigadier Ranasinghe said there were no child soldiers under rehabilitation and they, who had gone home, were now continuing their education with the help of the UNICEF.
Meanwhile, religious dignitaries in the North got together last week to discuss the rehabilitation process of the ex-LTTE cadres.
Over 150 Buddhist, Hindu and Christian religious dignitaries took part in the discussions with government officials involved in the rehabilitation of these youth.
"The clergy in each religion can make a huge impact on the lives of these youth. Once they are released and go back to their villages they should be welcomed and given recognition as they have come back to society as new souls. This situation can be created through the clergy. They can contribute to a greater extent to make these youth feel comfortable in their own societies. They also can make a huge impact on these lives through getting them involved in their religious activities", he said.
Former UC Vice Chairman arrested
By Asela Kuruluwansa and Indika Polkotuwa
DailyNews.lk
October 25, 2010
The Central Province Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) has arrested a former Vice Chairman of the Talawakelle Urban Council allegedly for aiding and abetting LTTE terrorist activities. Police have received information that the suspect had taken estate youth for arms training in the North and has assisted the LTTE in transporting explosives to the estates.
A group of police officers led by Central Province TID officer-in-charge Inspector Saman Yatawara arrested the suspect on information received while interrogating a suspect arrested a fortnight ago with a cache of arms.
Eradicate National Politics from the Nation's Universities.
Expel the Ring Leaders! Penalize other Students who disrupt classes by levying fees for their tuition thereafter!
Disce Aut Discede', I say!
...............
President concerned over current unrest in Sri Lankan universities
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 25, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has focused his attention to the current student unrest in Sri Lankan universities.
The President met with the Vice Chancellors of all the universities at the Temple Trees today (25) to discuss the current situation in the universities and the necessary steps to be taken to prevent student clashes and restore normal functions.
Currently several faculties in Peradeniya University, Ruhuna University and Kelaniya University have been closed for students while a clash between administrators and monk students of Jayewardenepura University has been reported today.
Six students of Ruhuna University have been suspended for assaulting its Vice Chancellor Prof. Susirith Mendis while 21 students suspected of forcibly entering the Higher Education Ministry premises were arrested last week.
Higher Education Minister S.B Dissanayake and Secretary to the President Lalith Weerathunge were also present.
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
Jolly Good Article, Mr. Mahindapala!
.............
Are foreign and local plotters setting the stage for a coup in Sri Lanka?
H. L. D. Mahindapala
LankaWeb.com
October 24, 2010
All eyes continue to be on Sri Lanka, even though the 33-yeard old Vadukoddai War was concluded one-and-half years ago. The intensity of the anti-Sri Lankan campaign seems to be increasing and there are no signs of letting up. Amnesty International,(AI) International Crisis Group,(ICG) UN, Human Rights Watch, (HRW) Churches, NGOs, both local and abroad, Sri Lankan expatriates with an axe to grind, Western parliamentarians and academics are all in this business of scrutinizing Sri Lanka under the microscope.
As pointed out by the Foreign Minister, G. L. Peiris, in a brilliant exposition of the current situation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, these organizations strike collectively at the critical time – invariably on the eve of Western nations, or agencies like the IMF, gathering to decide on economic measures (e.g. GSP+) that could help the Sri Lankan economy. This “economic onslaught” (G. L. Peiris) is to influence the Western nations to deny the Sri Lankan economy of the foreign inputs it needs to develop at a rapid rate. The timing of the concerted actions taken by AI, ICG, HRW makes it apparent that there is a common political agenda behind their collective moves: primarily to use the economic leverage to twist the arm of Sri Lanka to bow down to their terms and conditions dictated by these neo-colonial agencies acting in the name of human rights.
Are foreign and local plotters setting the stage for a coup in Sri Lanka?
......continued 1.....
Take the case of the Tamil IDPs who were sheltered by the Sri Lankan government when they fled, under withering fire, from the grip of Velupillai Prabhakaran. UN figures reveal that there are 26 million IDPs living in dire conditions in various conflict zones of the world. But the unrelenting focus was only on the 300,000 Tamils who found shelter and safety in the camps set up for them by the government. So how come they focused only on the Sri Lankan IDPS – and even of that only the Tamils and not the 100,000 IDPs languishing in Puttalam since Prabhakaran ethnically cleansed Jaffna of Muslims and Sinhalese –and not on the other millions of IDPs? Who picked the Tamil IDPs out of the 26 million and made them the No:1 priority in the international agenda? Were these busybodies genuinely concerned about the Tamil IDPs or were they making use of the helpless victims of Tamil Tiger terrorism for their political ends, particularly to blacken the image of Sri Lanka?
Daya Master, who was once the spokesperson for the Tamil Tigers, told BBC that over 200 fleeing Tamil civilians were shot dead by Prabhakaran’s terrorists in the final days of the war. These Tamil victims of Prabhakaran had no water, food, medicine or shelter when they were forced to run with Prabhakaran. But the quality and the quantity of these amenities – not the lack of it – became a raging issue only when the Tamil civilians were given refuge by the Sri Lankan government. By any stretch of imagination the basic amenities and facilities given to the Tamil IDPs were better than anything they had under Prabhakaran’s regime. Or even better than the poor in Colombo slums or the villagers in remote corners of Sri Lanka. At least the Tamil IDPs had some peace and quiet, not to mention other basic amenities, in the Sri Lankan camps. But it was the Sri Lankan government that came under fire from the so-called guardians of human rights for giving them the facilities which they never had under Prabhakaran. .
With the best will in the world and with the best available resources no government could have coped with the avalanche of 300,000 that descended on the shoulders of the Sri Lankan government almost overnight. When hurricane Katrina hit the south of America President Bush failed to cope with it and he went out in disgrace. But the Sri Lankan government provided facilities which were far superior to those IDPs living in comparable circumstances in Pakistan, Sudan or any other part. They had banks, post offices, TVs, cricket and volley ball teams, schools with specialist teachers flown in from Royal and D. S. Senanayake colleges to train A Level candidates, Sathosa trading outlets where a day’s collection was around Rs. 2 million, two hospitals, one run by an Indian specialist team and one by the Sri Lankan government, both providing free medicine etc. .
I know it because I visited the Menik Farm just before the Editor of The Hindu, N. Ram, visited the place. He said that the conditions were far better than the conditions of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Indian camps. Even the Tamil Nadu MPs found to their surprise that the conditions were far different from the horror stories told to them by Tamil propagandists. But these camps were projected as “concentration camps” by the NGOs and foreign agencies.
Are foreign and local plotters setting the stage for a coup in Sri Lanka?
......continued 2.....
Predictably, the local NGOs and their counterparts in INGOs reacted negatively to every difficult task confronted by the Sri Lankan government in rehabilitating the Tamil IDPs because they saw in it opportunities to reap some benefits from the misery of the victims of Prabhakaran. These NGO parasites saw the possibility of filling their dwindling cofferes with dollars if they shed crocodile tears to impress their foreign donors. The main concern of these NGO opportunists was not so much to improve the conditions of the IDPs but to improve their expensive life style by selling sob stories about the IDPs. Make no mistake, “Paki” Saravanamuttu and Jehan Perera are two NGO hirelings singing basically for their supper and not for the rice and curry of the Tamil IDPs which is incidental. They know that their bread will be buttered only if they paint Sri Lanka in the darkest of colours. Denigration of Sri Lanka cuts both ways. First, their bad reports help the EU to cut GSP+ and US and UK to interfere in the domestic affairs of the nation. Second, the more they feed the foreign powers with anti-Sri Lankan propaganda the better the chances of increasing their foreign funding. They want to keep Sri Lanka down for them to thrive on the misery of the people. If, on the other hand, the conditions improve in Sri Lanka their chances of raking in money from foreign donors So they keep on cranking their propaganda machines to project Sri Lanka as the latest hell hole — they no longer call it “the failed state” — that needs foreign intervention.
Going along with them is Ranil Wickremesinghe, the man who is ever ready to sell Sri Lanka to the foreigners in the hope of mobilizing them to rescue him. Like “Paki” Saravanmuttu he goes from one Western capital to another running down Sri Lanka and urging the Western powers to put pressure on the Rajapakse regime to make things easy for him to capture power. In a lucid and incisive analysis of Wickremesinghe’s conduct abroad G. L. Peiris, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, ripped him apart speaking on the no-confidence motion raised in Parliament, pointing out instances where Wickremesinghe had criticized Sri Lanka to foreign audiences with the objective of instigating foreign interventions in the domestic affairs of the nation. This kind of conduct may impress his latest young “catcher”, Sagala Ratnaike, who accompanies him like his lap dog wherever he goes. But it has not cut any ice with the people of Sri Lanka who continue to reject him as their leader.
Wickremesinghe’s role abroad is open to suspicion, more so because he is a frequent traveller to the West and India – two of the important foreign bases for Sri Lanka. What is he up to? What has he achieved so far with his frequent flights to these countries? UNPers says that if he had spent half the time he had spent abroad at home the UNP has a chance –even though remote — of mending fences with the fragmented forces within the party. Of course, of late there is a need for him run away from home because his own party members are chasing him out of meetings. He gets a better reception abroad than at home.
Nevertheless, what has he got to tell UK and Norway –his current travel destinations—that he can’t tell the people of Sri Lanka? He is forever crying that there is no transparency in the government. How about the Leader of the Opposition setting the example and telling the nation the obscenities he whispers in the ears of William Hague, the UK Foreign Minister, and Erik Solheim, the other miserable failure in handling the national crisis? Wickremesinghe was caught red handed when he told the US Congress investigators that USA should put pressure on the Sri Lankan government. It is there in black and white in the Congressional records. Minister Peiris also cited the text in his attack on Wickremesinghe in Parliament.
Are foreign and local plotters setting the stage for a coup in Sri Lanka?
......continued 3.....
What is most noteworthy is that Wickremesinghe has never reported back to the people, or his party, the details of the discussions he has had with the foreign governments. The local media too has let him off the hook by not raising this issue with him. These are not private trips. He goes on official missions as the Leader of the Opposition to meet foreign dignitaries who are in influential positions to impact positively or negatively on Sri Lanka. This is not like his trip to Singapore to have breakfast with Capt. Charles Gnanakone, the LTTE shipping agent. The public has a right to know what steps he has taken abroad to help Sri Lanka. He also has a duty to tell the nation what gains he had notched up to serve the nation. He returns home from his frequent flights abroad without uttering a word about it obviously because he can’t reveal his underhand dealings abroad to undermine the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the nation.
It is hard to find another leader of the opposition in any other part of the world running abroad so frequently to meet foreign officials. Of course, he loves to go abroad and send pictures of him posing with foreign leaders to newspapers back home. The latest is his picture of chatting to William Hague. Well, having sent the picture to local newspapers will he tell the public, without being vague, what he discussed with Hague? He won’t. Why? Because he has been playing his usual game of “kuth-thu-fying”, running down the nation behind the nation’s back.
There is no doubt that his ultimate ambition is to oust President Mahinda Rajapakse. His future depends on the successes he gains either in weakening or ousting Mahinda Rajapakse. He is even capable of plotting or joining a coup against the Rajapakse regime. Wickremesinghe is now on the path of taking the first step needed to legitimize a coup in the eyes of the world. His current political objective of painting Sri Lanka as a nation heading towards a dictatorship can justify a right-wing coup, if the right-wing is willing to risk it. It is in pursuit of this objective that he repeats the constant theme of saving the nation from “a Rajapakse dictatorship”. He is presenting himself as the democratic alternative though his own party is rebelling against him as the dictator who has ruled the party for 16 years with an iron fist refusing to democratize his own party.
Besides, he knows that he can’t win through the front door so he is trying the backdoor – his only favourite game ! There are enough disgruntled ex-Army men waiting in the wings to exploit any situation for their own ends. Remember how Cyril Ranatunga and Hamilton Wanasinghe, two former Army Commanders, jumped on the stage of the Gen. Sarath Fonseka to rally the ex-Army forces behind him? Fonseka is the first Army Commander who took to politics challenging his Commander-in-Chief. And, not surprisingly, the government too discovered preparations made by the military agents allied to Fonseka to take command of the nation after the elections.
Wickremesinghe too was a key ally of Fonseka in the last presidential campaign, knowing that Fonseka’s victory would end in a militarized state. If Wickremesinghe’s candidate won the nation would have inevitably fallen into the hands of the fascist JVPers and the military cabal allied to Fonseka. Mercifully, the people saved the nation from the perilous dictatorship of a Sinhala Prabhakaran. It is also necessary to remind that the first major right-wing coup, linked to the UNP, came from Royce de Mel, the Navy Commander and Maurice de Mel, his brother, who was No: 2 in the Army. Furthermore, the jailing of Fonseka is a sensitive and emotive issue that can provoke a military backlash from quarters hoping to reap benefits from a Fonseka-Wickremesinghe combination.
Are foreign and local plotters setting the stage for a coup in Sri Lanka?
......continued 4.....
Under these circumstances, there are plenty of Ranatungas and Wanasinghes (not to mention Royce and Maurice de Mels) waiting for an opportunity to strike. Wickremesinghe wouldn’t be averse to a military coup if it would bring him into power. He would have to rely on the Security Forces (e.g., Fonseka) and the Western powers to stay in power. The Western powers wouldn’t mind turning a blind eye to sabotaging and perverting democracy as long as they could bring Sri Lanka back into their fold as a client state with Wickremesinghe as their willing stooge.
A coup at this stage may seem far-fetched. But Sri Lanka has always been a land of surprises. A coup is also not that impossible. Right now Wickremesinghe and his cronies are whipping up a scare-mongering campaign, both at home and broad, to justify a putsch, if they can. They will exploit every single issue that comes their way to overthrow President Mahinda Rajapakse, even a coup if it is possible. This casts a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse. He was the eyes, ears and the brain of the nation coordinating the biggest war faced by the nation in living memory. He can’t afford to rest on his laurels. Not now. Now he has to keep his senses open wider to protect the nation from the enemy within.
Hopefully, these Youth will also learn "How to Build a Nation" from Israel, and become a valuable asset to Sri Lanka, rather than adopting the "perpetual victim" mindset of Israel's local critics!
.................
Three hundred Sri Lankan youth are leaving for Israel for jobs
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 27, Colombo: Three hundred Sri Lankan youth are leaving the country for Israel for foreign employment.
The first batch of 100 who left the island yesterday is expected to arrive at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel today.
They will be employed to assist Israeli farmers for six months, during the seasonal peak.
Israel Interior Ministry said the Sri Lankans have been given temporary employment in the agriculture sector under a project launched by the Population, Immigration, and Borders Authority (PIBA).
The project is being coordinated between the government of Israel, the government of Sri Lanka and the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration.
Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau said the youth will be employed in various factories in Israel. Their initial contract is for six months with possible extension depending on the performances.
The youth were given training by the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. The salary paid for these youths by Israel is around Rs. 110,000, sources said.
Bravo, Sri Lanka!
MANY MORE LTTE Murderers remain to be Convicted and Punished under the Law for their AWFUL crimes!
Let us GET ON WITH IT!
................
LTTE cadre convicted for 30 years for attempted assassination of former Sri Lanka President
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 27, Colombo: The Colombo High Court today sentenced a rebel cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) who pleaded guilty for delivering a bomb to assassinate Sri Lanka's former President Chandrika Kumaranatunga to 30 years rigorous imprisonment.
The accused pleaded not guilty earlier but changed his plea to guilty later. Accordingly, he pleaded guilty for 28 counts.
Colombo High Court Judge W.T.M.P.D. Waraweva delivered the sentence today against the accused Sathyavel Ilangeshwaram who was 19 years old at the time of the bombing.
Ilangeshwaram and six others including a woman were accused on counts related to conspiring to assassinate the former President. Kumaranatunga who lost an eye due to the bomb attack that targeted her at the final propaganda rally of the 1999 presidential election.
Twenty six were killed and 80 were injured in the incident. The case was being heard since 2001.
Bravo, Mr. President!
EXPEL & IMPRISON the Ring Leaders, and Make other UNRULY STUDENTS pay for their own University Tuition!
Eliminate National Politics from the Universities!
.............
Universities are not exempt from law and unruly students will be dealt accordingly, Sri Lanka President says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that the universities are not exempt from the country's law and the government cannot allow a small group of disgruntled students to disrupt the education in the universities for the majority.
Addressing the university vice chancellors yesterday the President said about two thousand politically motivated students are attempting to upset the education of over 80,000 university students and those unruly students will be dealt with the law prevailing in the country.
Higher Educational Ministry Secretary Dr Sunil Nawaratna has told the government media that the President wants the Laws of the Land to be strictly adhered in all parts of the country.
"A very few students of universities in the country are of the view that the university premises are out bound to law enforcing authorities. There is no more validity for this kind of myths," he has said.
"If there is any place where the decree of the government is considered not valid the security forces will ensure that the decree of the government prevails there like what they did in Kilinochchi in the past by defeating terrorism," Nawaratna has commented.
Majority of students who silently abhor disruptive actions by s few politically motivated students want the government to take stern action against the disrupters, the official said.
The government blames the Marxist JVP backed student unions for attacks on the university administrators as well as on students and other unruly acts.
JVP's disruptive tactics at work in Universities .. MUST BE STOPPED!
Arrest the ring leaders, investigate the Political Connections and Links, and bring the non-University-student POLITICAL INSTIGATORS of the University Unrest to BOOK!
FAILURE to DISCIPLINE and HOLD ACCOUNTABLE those behind this student unrest will encourage other ENEMIES of Sri Lanka to destabilize Sri Lanka IN SIMILAR WAYS!
HALT THEIR Political Anti-National AGENDA NOW!
Impose CIVIL and CRIMINAL PENALTIES on the responsible POLITICAL PARTIES, as well!
.............
Five female students of Sri Lanka's Rajarata University assaulted by a group of students
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 26, Colombo: Clashes among students in Sri Lankan universities continue with the latest being reported from the Rajarata University in the Anuradhapura District of North Central Province.
Rajarata University Registrar A.G. Karunaratne has told the local media that five female students attached to the Management Faculty have been assaulted by another group of students Monday evening within the university premises.
The female students have been sitting for their exams when they were assaulted.
Karunaratne has said the attackers had also caused damages to the property and the exam hall.
The Mihintale police have also confirmed the attack in the Rajarata University and have said that a complaint had been lodged by five female students.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday met with the Vice Chancellors of all the universities to discuss the current chaotic situation in the universities and the necessary steps to be taken to prevent student clashes and restore normal functions.
Currently several faculties in Peradeniya University, Ruhuna University and Kelaniya University have been closed for students while a clash between administrators and monk students of Jayewardenepura University was reported yesterday.
The government blames the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated student unions for creating turmoil in the universities and disrupting education for other students.
Gusi Peace Prize awarded to Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe!
Jayawewa!
............
Sri Lanka's Jaffna Security Forces Commander awarded the prestigious Gusi Peace Prize
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has been awarded the prestigious Gusi Peace Prize for 2010.
The Philippines based award, recognizing individuals working toward the attainment of peace and respect for human life and dignity has named Major General Hathurusinghe as one of the nineteen 2010 laureates for his contribution to the peace process of Sri Lanka.
Major General Hathurusinghe, who joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1980 as a Cadet Officer, took the leadership as the Jaffna Security Forces Commander in February 2010.
As the Security Forces Commander in Jaffna, he takes leadership in many community development activities spearheading government policy in liaison with all other agencies including building houses and promoting livelihood programmes for the displaced.
In pursuit to higher education and professional development, Gen. Hathurusinghe earned his Master in Business Administration (MBA) in 2007 from Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. Further, he received Post Graduate qualification -Master in National Security Administration (MNSA) from the National Defense College of the Philippines during 2008-2009. Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe received the Gold Medal for the best dissertation in MNSA 44.
The annual Gusi Peace Prize Awards, given to several individuals each year by the Manila-based Gusi Peace Prize Foundation, recognize their exemplary contributions to peace and human rights, science, politics, arts and literature, medicine and variety of other fields.
Saudi Arabia, SPARE Rizana Nafeek, if the baby's death was ACCIDENTAL, and Nafeek was a 17-year old MINOR!
Execution as Punishment is TOO EXTREME in this case!
.............
President appeals for sympathy of Saudi government for Sri Lankan housemaid sentenced to death
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has requested the King of Saudi Arabia to relax the death sentence imposed on Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek on sympathy grounds, said presidential media sources.
The relevant request was officially forwarded to the Saudi Arabian government today, sources said.
The Supreme Court in Riyadh has endorsed the death sentence given to the Sri Lankan maid who allegedly murdered a Saudi infant in 2005.
A three-member panel of judges from the Dawadami High Court headed by Chief Justice Abdullah Al-Rosaimi found Rizana Nafeek guilty of murdering the four-month-old son of Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi and sentenced her to death on June 16, 2007.
The court heard that Nafeek killed the child after she was asked to bottle-feed him by the sponsor's wife. However, the girl claimed the death occurred due to respiration of milk.
Rizana had left for employment in Saudi Arabia while being a minor, producing false documents.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch today said King Abdullah and Interior Minister Prince Naif should halt the execution of Nafeek of killing the child in her care when she was 17.
"The Saudi government should not compound one tragedy with another. It's time for Saudi Arabia to end its outlier status as one of the very few countries still executing people for crimes they are accused of committing as children." Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Global Corruption Perception Index (0 to 10): Sri Lanka scores 3.2 and ranks 91st out of 178 countries!
US is 22nd; Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore with a score of 9.3 are at the TOP!
Sri Lanka has a LONG WAY TO GO to reduce corruption!
Apparently, increased WEALTH and HIGHER STANDARD OF LIVING correlates with REDUCED corruption.
Did Reduced Corruption spawn Economic Progress and Wealth in these countries, or did Increased Wealth Reduce the NEED for Corruption to make ends meet?
A Chicken-or-the-Egg Conundrum!
Let us PROPEL Sri Lanka towards Increased Well Being by RESOLVING TO EXCEL in Eradication of Corruption!
These two pursuits of ECONOMIC PROGRESS and ERADICATION OF CORRUPTION MUST GO HAND-IN-HAND if we are to uplift our WELL BEING as a People!
We can do it. Let us DO IT!
..............
Sri Lanka has marginally improved in tackling corruption
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka has shown improvement in reducing corruption according to the global Corruption Perceptions Index figures released today by the Transparency International (TI).
Sri Lanka was placed at 91st position among 178 countries surveyed in 2010 with a score of 3.2.
Last year Sri Lanka was at the 97th position with a score of 3.1 among 180 countries surveyed.
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries according to the perception of corruption in the public sector. It scores countries on a scale from 10 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). Nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index scored below five.
However, based on the criteria used by the TI Sri Lanka is not among the countries shown improvement from 2009 to 2010. A country to be listed as improved there should be a year-on-year change of at least 0.3 points in a country's CPI score.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore were at the top of the list with a score of 9.3, followed closely by Finland and Sweden at 9.2. At the bottom was Somalia with a score of 1.1, slightly trailing Myanmar and Afghanistan at 1.4 and Iraq at 1.5.
The report noted that in some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis corruption increased. The United States fell three notches down from the 19th position in 2009 to 22nd position this year while the United Kingdom fell from 17th position in 2009 to 20th this year.
Releasing the report, Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International said with the livelihoods of so many at stake, governments commitments to anti-corruption, transparency and accountability must speak through their actions.
In South Asian region only India ranked better than Sri Lanka at 87th while other neighboring countries fared worse with Bangladesh at 134th, Pakistan at 143rd and Nepal at 146th.
Give the JVP enough rope to hang itself, acquire EVIDENCE that the JVP is provoking the violence, and PROSECUTE THE LEADERS to the fullest extent of the law.
PROBLEM SOLVED!
...............
Minister vows to end campus violence
By Wellasse BANDARA
DailyNews.lk
October 28, 2010
Higher Education Minister S B Dissanayake yesterday said that the entire university system will be brought to normalcy within the next three months.
The Minister added that he will leave no room for violence or thuggery in the universities.
Minister Dissanayake at a special interview with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation said the students who incite violence in the university premises are the members of the Inter University Students Federation backed by the JVP.
The Minister added that these students sticked to the policies of JVP.
He stressed that the Inter University Student Federation should hold full responsibility for the assault of university students and various other violence that took place in the universities.
Minister Dissanayake pointed out that the JVP has provoked the students to an extent of assaulting their fellow students who come to sit for examinations.
He added that the JVP has provoked the university students to assault their own Lecturers and Vice Chancellors.
He stressed that ragging should be ended forthwith as it has become a menace.
The notion that JVP is seeking "PEACE" is laughable!
Historically, PEACE has never been a part of JVP's lexicon.
Destruction PIECE-by-PIECE everything the nation builds is more their time-honored tradition.
They inject National Politics into Universities making it impossible for serious legitimate students to study at, and faculty and administrators to operate, Universities.
Medical faculty cannot be attracted to universities that are in constant turmoil, and are shut down a part of every year due to strikes. Can we blame medical professors for not wanting to waste their time and their careers on such INGRATES and DISORGANIZED RABBLE masquerading as students?
If needed facilities are UNAVAILABLE, then student bodies should develop REASONABLE & ACHIEVABLE proposals and present them to administrators and the Ministry of Education.
Avoid using CONFRONTATION and VIOLENCE as your first and only weapon. Collaborate, Negotiate, Compromise to achieve your LEGITIMATE & REASONABLE goals .. in the students interest, and in the overall nation's interest, keeping in mind that Sri Lanka's resources are limited.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
Don't become PAWNS of National Political Parties ... National Politics has NO PLACE IN UNIVERSITIES. Political activists should shed your student masks, and take your politics outside the universities.
Sri Lanka cannot afford the luxury of allowing political-activists-in-student-clothing to gut the future of our best and brightest students, and our nation's future, in this way.
Learn or Depart!
Disce' Aut Discede'
............
JVP seeks peace in universities
By Dasun Edirisinghe
October 28, 2010
Denying its involvement in the current university disturbances, the JVP yesterday said it wanted to maintain peace in the universities for its own political advantage.
JVP Parliamentary Group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a press conference, held at the Pelawatte party head office, that the JVP had a students’ wing called the Socialist Students’ Union.
"Most political parties have student wings that engage in politics in universities but why is it that they are pointing the finger at us" Dissanayake asked.
He said the SLFP student wing, the Sri Lanka Nidahas Shishya Sangamaya functioned under President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Deputy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya. The UNP students’ wing was handled by its General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, he said.
"Those who participated in the protest by the so called parents on Wednesday are political henchmen of Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva," Dissanayake claimed. Among those present was one identified as Manju, a notorious extortionist operating at the Kiribathgoda market, another known as
Somananda, a money lender and Thilak Weerasinghe a member of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha. They were Mervyn Silva’s henchmen, he said.
JVP seeks peace in universities
.....continued...
Dissanayake said there were about be 50 students from the Kelaniya electorate studying in the Kelaniya University. Others came from far away places. Of the so-called parents who participated in the protest about 200 were drunk, he said.
"Students unrest could be attributed, among other things to several academic and welfare problems in universities," he said.
He said that there were 1,602 students in the Ruhuna Campus Arts Faculty, but there were only three lecture rooms sufficient for 492 students. There were 8,200 students in the Kelaniya University, but only 800 had hostel facilities. There were no professors for the Rajarata Medical Faculty final year students. There were 1,300 students in the Music Faculty of the University of Visual and Performing Arts, but there were only 5 flutes, 8 sitars and 6 violins, he said adding that there was no playground at the Sabaragamuwa University, which was the only institution offering degrees in sports in Sri Lanka.
"However, Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake purchased a vehicle at 22 million rupees with the funds allocated from the budget for universities while the university system is beset with innumerable problems," MP Dissanayake said.
Sri Lanka's tourist visas being exploited by foreigners for anti-national activities.
Damn their "tourist" money, and SHUT THE DOOR in their faces!
................
Sri Lanka may scrap visa-on-arrival scheme
P K Balachandran
October 26, 2010
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government is seriously mulling the withdrawal of the ‘visa-on-arrival’ facility given to tourists from 83 countries, following the discovery of large-scale misuse by non-government organisations (NGOs) and media persons, official sources told Express here on Monday.
During the 2006-2009 Eelam War IV, Colombo had clamped severe restrictions on western NGOs, as they were seen to be supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and generally spreading anti-government feelings among the minority Tamils in the north and east. The NGOs’ projects were scrutinised from various angles, including the staffing pattern.
But apparently, the non-governmental organisations beat the entry restrictions by getting their staff to come as ‘visitors’ or ‘tourists’, in which case they become eligible to get a visa on arrival for a month. Though the tourist visa bars the holder from working in the island, whether for payment or not, the ‘tourists’ would take up assignments with NGOs.
An official gave the case of a French national who was running an NGO for children in south Sri Lanka without a proper visa. His case came to light only because he was wanted in a case in France.
Many paedophiles from the West were also misusing the facility, official sources said. Mediapersons too come as ‘tourists’ and indulge in unauthorised reporting. They would not seek a journalists’ visa from the Lankan embassies in their countries, fearing that it would not be granted to them.
India factor
The Sunday Times recently claimed that there were about 20,000 foreigners overstaying in the country and that most of these were from India and Pakistan. While the Indians are believed to be working in restaurants serving Indian food, jewellers’ shops and even in agricultural farms, the Pakistanis come as refugees and asylum seekers or as illegal migrants en route to the West. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, over 200 Pakistanis have been given refugee status.
The government had earlier tried to abolish the visa-on-arrival system by September 30. It said it would give this facility only to countries which gave Lankans visa on arrival, namely, Singapore and the Maldives.
But it had to retract because of strong protests from the tourism industry, which was just beginning to recover from the war.
The tourism industry feared that arrivals from India, which was a huge number - 83,000 had come between January and September - would dwindle.
Despite the protests, the government is keen on abolishing the facility. It is working out a system whereby visa applications could be submitted online through the electronic travel authority (ETA) scheme, with only the stamping being done at the Colombo airport. Outsourcing visa operations has not been considered because of the high cost.
This is what I call good medicine for a bad disease!
...............
Sri Lanka police arrest rebel student union leader
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka police today arrested the Convener of the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated Inter University Students' Federation, Udul Premaratna.
The Police was looking for him to question over damaging the property in the University Grants Commission premises when students affiliated with the union stormed into the Higher Education Ministry earlier this month.
Twenty one more students were arrested over the incident and they have been helld without bail.
Premaratna was leaving the United National Party (UNP) headquarters following a discussion with UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, and youth wing leader Ruwan Wijewardhana when the arrest was made.
Several more representatives of the Inter University Students' Federation were also with Premaratna.
Premaratna, who was a dropped-out dental medical student of the Peradeniya University is reportedly the organizer of student protests at the universities.
The Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA will ALWAYS try to merge the North and East into an EELAM.
So, what is new?
Prosecute the TNA leaders for treason in the past, and throw them in PRISON forever!
...............
Forget the past for Sri Lanka's good, says MP
Sify.com
October 29, 2010
New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) Sri Lanka's well-wishers should offer holistic solutions to resolve its political ills instead of harping on the past, an MP from that country said here.
'I urge all those who have the interests of the Sri Lankan people at heart to think in terms of holistic solutions,' Rajiva Wijesinha told a gathering at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies here.
There was no point dwelling 'only on constructs that are based on ancient and no longer always relevant foundations', he said Thursday.
Wijesinha, a member of the Liberal Party that supports the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said there was no question of Colombo merging the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
This has been a long-standing demand of the Tamil community, which believes the vast region needs to be one administrative unit where Tamil language can reign supreme.
A merger of the Tamil-majority north and multi-racial east was ruled out because the idea 'was based on the concept of (an independent) homeland'.
He said with Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims falling out, it would be wrong to treat the unit as one.
He pointed out that the merger was an unnecessary flaw of the 1987 India-Sri Lanka accord, which sought to end Tamil separatism but failed.
'It was shown as totally unnecessary by the split within the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in 2004 when the Tamils of the east indicated they too had a distinct identity,' he said, referring to the 2004 split in the Tamil Tigers.
'It is sad therefore that there are still some politicians in Sri Lanka, and others still influenced by them abroad who hanker after the merger.
'Any efforts to resurrect that will rouse further suspicions about the rationale behind excessively strong and distinct units.'
An academic, Wijesinha was picked by President Rajapaksa as head of Sri Lanka's Peace Secretariat.
Wijesinha also hit out at the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil political party, for still harping on federalism, which he said was a negative concept as far as Colombo was concerned.
He said it was 'extremely sad' that the TNA 'engaged in adventurism' immediately after the Tamil Tigers were crushed militarily in May last year.
'Those who claim then that the government should take steps to win the confidence of this group should bear in mind the dogged destructiveness of their approach initially.'
Post a Comment