By Ananda-USA
June 11, 2011
I applaud the Government of Sri Lanka for refusing to grant police and land powers to the Provincial Councils of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, despite pressure applied by Tamil Separatists at home and abroad, and by the Indian Government pandering to its own Tamil citizens at Sri Lanka's expense.
Provincial Councils should not be accorded police and land powers in any part of Sri Lanka, for that is a prescription for the creation of communal fiefdoms in the country that will deny all citizens of the country an equal right to settle in, and enjoy all resources, in all parts of their motherland. It will also immeasurably weaken the authority of the central government to defend the integrity of the nation and the lives of her people, and utilize its resources for the common good of all of her citizens. Without a doubt, devolution of Police and Land powers to the provinces is a perfect recipe for the eventual disintegration of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka recently emerged from a devastating ethnic conflict waged by Tamil separatists who sought to create a separate state for the exclusive use of their own community. They ethnically cleansed all other communities from the Northern and Eastern provinces which they claimed solely for themselves, even as the great majority of Tamils lived among the Sinhala majority in the rest of the country secure from the murder and mayhem inflicted upon them by their self-proclaimed saviours. The loss of power to police the Northern and Eastern provinces during LTTE control, made it impossible for the Government to protect its Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim citizens of those provinces. The first duty of a government is to ensure the safety of its people. That duty must never be abandoned again.
Over a period spanning nearly 30 years, the LTTE separatists had de-facto control of police and land powers in the Northern and Eastern provinces. They exercised arbitrary dictatorial power over the population, most of whom either fled their grasp to live in the South in security among the demonized Sinhala majority, or were manipulated into becoming refugees and were illegally transported to other countries to form a tax base for funding their terrorism in Sri Lanka. Those illegal refugees, who now form the bulk of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, are still dominated and controlled by the global LTTE terrorist mafia network which wages a global propaganda war to undermine Sri Lanka.
If police and land powers are granted to the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the Tamil majority Provincial Governments of those provinces, controlled by the Tamil National Alliance that was the political arm of the now defunct LTTE military, will enact racist discriminatory policies to further solidify the results of the ethnic cleansing operations of the LTTE that eradicated the Sinhala and Moslem communities in those areas. They will implement policies ... both overt and covert ... to prevent the emergence of a truly multi-ethnic society as in the rest of the country. Furthermore, with police power in their hands, the extensive coastal border of the North and the East will again revert to the large scale illegal smuggling of arms, drugs, people and terrorists, as when the LTTE had controlled it, posing a grave threat to the national security of Sri Lanka. We recall that it was with great sacrifice of lives and treasure, that Sri Lanka developed the naval capability and the skills to defeat the Sea Tiger naval force of the LTTE. Sri Lanka must never lose control of its coastal border again to its enemies.
Given these undeniable facts, it would be completely unreasonable and foolish, for Sri Lanka to accede to these demands for police and land powers, by the very same separatists who yearn to win in peace the separatist goals they failed win by 30 years of unremitting terrorism, and open warfare.
India, attempting to placate its incurably racist and communal Tamil citizens at Sri Lanka's expense, continues along the same foolish path they pursued in the past, promoting Police and Land powers for the North and the East of Sri Lanka. The old objective of the LTTE to gain unfettered access to Tamil Nadu, and foreign supplies of weapons and recruits across an unguarded coast, would be attained by granting these powers. The historical separatist tendencies in Tamil Nadu coupled to the palpable animosity of Indian Tamils towards the non-Tamil Indians of North India, will guarantee the growth of a violent separatist movement in Tamil Nadu if a militant Tamil mini-state wedded to a Pan-Tamil agenda is again resurrected in Sri Lanka's North and East as a consequence of devolving police and land powers. Therefore, the Indian Government would be very shortsighted if it advocates the devolution of police and pand powers that would weaken the control of the lawful Government of Sri Lanka over its provinces: it is inimical to the integrity and national security of India itself.
The 13th Amendment in the Sri Lanka's Constitution, was ILLEGALLY forced upon Sri Lanka by India after it invaded and occupied parts of Sri Lanka. Under national and international law, agreements imposed by force upon victims are INVALID; they are declared null and void as soon as conditions permit it. For example, all international agreements imposed by Hitler's Nazi Germany upon neighboring nations under the threat of war, were repudiated upon the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The 13th Amendment imposed upon sovereign Sri Lanka by India is no different from the infamous Munich Agreement that delivered Czechoslovakia bound hand and foot to Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II; it should be repudiated and expunged in its entirety from Sri Lanka's Constitution as fundamentally inimical to the integrity and long term survival of Sri Lanka. Instead, India should offer Sri Lanka an abject apology for this criminal act against an innocent sovereign nation. This is not the way for India to win friends among neighboring countries; peaceful co-existence with neighboring nations requires non-interference in their internal affairs. India should control and discipline of India's own citizens and groups who attempt to undermine and spawn terrorism in Sri Lanka. Just as India deplores terrorism by Pakistani groups within India, Sri Lanka deplores interference by Indian groups, and the Indian Government, in Sri Lanka's internal matters.
National Integration of all people of Sri Lanka, without regard to race, religion, language, sex, caste or wealth into ONE PEOPLE of ONE NATION with ONE DESTINY should be the path foward for Sri Lanka.
National Disintegration into a collection of ethnic bantustans that separate people from each other, and wall them off in non-viable communal mini-states, will only guarantee economic stagnation, multiplication of bureaucracies, internecine competition for limited resources, and continued strife between communities.
One vote for each person to elect his/her representative to the national parliament is sufficient franchise for all citizens; no administrative units or individual rights that are based on communal attributes should be allowed in the name of ensuring a FALSE community "diversity". Diversity will thrive in the private sphere within families and community organizations where it rightfully belongs under in our democratic system of government. Communal labels should have no place in the public sphere, or for granting special privileges to some citizens that are unavailable to others. Let us INTEGRATE our people into ONE SRI LANKAN PEOPLE without differentiating between them in law, or in governance, by community.
The Sovereign People of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka are completely capable of deciding what serves their own interests, and of formulating their own policies and laws to govern themselves. Foreign nations should not arrogate to themselves that inalienable right of our sovereign people.
REPEAL the 13th AMENDMENT that India imposed by force upon Sri Lanka, NOW!
DISSOLVE and ELIMINATE Provincial Councils as Unnecessary Bureaucracies that SEPARATES the people from their National Government, NOW!
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No police, land powers to PCs
President conveys decision to Indian officials, collision course feared
By Our Diplomatic Editor
SundayTimes.lk
June 11, 2011
President Mahinda Rajapaksa told a high-powered Indian delegation yesterday his government was not able to concede land and police powers to provincial councils in accordance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The move, the Sunday Times learns, follows strong opposition from constituent partners of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). On Friday, President Rajapaksa drove to the parliamentary complex in Sri Jayawardhanapura-Kotte for a meeting with the leaders of political parties that constitute the UPFA. They are said to have expressed strong objections.
One of the primary purposes of the visit to Colombo by a three-member Indian delegation was to urge the government to fully enforce the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The fact that India urged that such a step be taken by the government was reported exclusively in the Sunday Times of May 15.
The Indian delegation comprised National Security Advisor Shiv Shanker Menon, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar. India’s High Commissioner Ashok Kanth was also associated with yesterday’s talks.
The government’s tough stance in not giving land and police powers to provincial councils is expected to pitch Colombo and New Delhi on a collision course diplomatically. This is particularly in the light of talks in the Indian capital between Indian External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna and his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris when he visited India.
Dr. Peiris had agreed that a “devolution package, building upon the 13th Amendment, would contribute towards creating the necessary conditions for such reconciliation”. The move, Indian officials argue, was the latest commitment given by a Sri Lanka Minister and was thus incorporated in an official joint statement.
However, President Rajapaksa is learnt to have told the Indian delegation that his government would concede many other subjects that are incorporated in the Concurrent List that accompanies the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. He has also told the Indian delegation that his government will withdraw Emergency Regulations with regard to terrorist activities in the North and East since there was no more war in these two regions.
The issue of both Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen poaching in each other's waters also figured extensively during yesterday's talks.
With regard to actions against fishermen who poached within Sri Lanka's territorial waters, the government side explained that they were enforcing the law without the use of any undue force on Indian fishermen.
The Indian side was to point out that poaching by Sri Lankan fishermen in Indian waters did not cover only their southern seas. They claimed there were instances where Sri Lankan fishermen were found poaching in the waters off the states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Tensions in the high seas between both sides have eased in the past weeks due to the spawning season. However, this season ended last week and fishermen were due to resume fishing activity.
Meanwhile the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is expected to issue a statement saying it is not happy with the progress made in the dialogue with the Government on how to address grievances of the Tamil people.
Mr. Menon told Colombo-based Indian journalists yesterday that India had conveyed to Sri Lanka that it was left to Sri Lanka’s government to change the 13th Amendment to bring in a suitable political resolution that would enable all communities in the country to live together.
“If they think, they want to do better than the 13th Amendment as many of them do including the government (which) also speaks of 13th Amendment-plus …they want to do different…whatever…that’s for them but they all must feel comfortable,’’ Mr. Menon said.He said the goal was a political arrangement under which all communities in Sri Lanka would be comfortable. “We naturally feel (that) the quicker they themselves come to a political arrangement within which all communities are comfortable, works for all of them, the better. We will do whatever we can to help,’’ he said.
Mr. Menon said that the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 had provided an enabling environment for the Amendment. “It was their amendment, not our amendment by the way,” he said.
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Russia is a true friend of Sri Lanka" - Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 12, Colombo: Throughout the country's recent history, Russia stood by Sri Lanka as a true friend and respected Sri Lanka's sovereignty, A Sri Lankan Minister has said.
Issuing a message for the Russia Day, national day of Russian Federation, Sri Lanka's Minister of Petroleum Industries, Susil Premajayantha has said that Buddhist teachings preach of two types of friends - an active friend and a friend who stands by in sorrow and happiness- and Russian Federation has stood by Sri Lanka throughout the history as a true friend.
"The People and the Russian Federation stood by us and as a true friend has respected the sovereignty of Sri Lanka at a time when some segments of the International Community showed signs of tilting against the Sri Lankan State," the Minister has said in his message.
Minister Premajayantha is the President of the Sri Lanka-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Association established in March this year to foster inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
The Minister in his statement has appreciated the great services rendered by the Russian government for ushering sustainable peace in Sri Lanka and giving its fullest cooperation to develop the country.
The National day of Russian Federation is celebrated on June 12th since 1994.
Diplomatic relations between Russia's predecessor, Soviet Union, and Sri Lanka were established on February 19, 1957.
Russia has constantly supported Sri Lanka in all United Nations for a and recently at the Human Rights Council expressed its support welcoming the steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to address war crime allegations.
Top Tamil Nadu politicians say: Resolution against SL inappropriate
DailyNews.lk
June 13, 2011
‘Age-old tactic to mislead people’
Two leading South Indian politicians have condemned the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution against Sri Lanka describing it as misleading and highly inappropriate.
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Saturday described as “not only ridiculous but also highly damaging for India’s national interest,” the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution asking the Centre to impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka, the Hindu reported.
Meanwhile, DMK President M Karunanidhi has termed the resolution against Sri Lanka by the chief minister, as an age-old tactic adopted to mislead the people, according to the Express News Service.
According to the news report, Swamy has said that the resolution had failed to mention the human rights violations done by the LTTE.
“Jayalalitha should concentrate on providing electricity and restoring law and order in the State. Her election victory was solely due to the Tamil people’s anger over the 2G spectrum scam.
“She must use the mandate for the benefit of the people of India and not the LTTE,” the Hindu quoting Swamy said.
Incidentally, the Tamil Nadu State Assembly resolution was adopted on the eve of the visit by a high powered three member Indian delegation to Sri Lanka.
The Indian delegation, led by Indian National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and comprising Foreign Ministry Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar concluded their visit on Saturday.
They met President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several other senior officials and had held discussions on bilateral issues important to both nations.
Sri Lankan President to leave for Russia on Tuesday
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 12, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to leave for Russia on Tuesday (14) to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and meet with Russian leaders in Moscow.
The local media has reported that during his meeting with the political leaders, the President would seek Moscow's support for Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa is scheduled to have one-on-one talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, where the President would thank the Russian President for the support extended by Russia following the release of the UN Experts Panel report, Sunday Times reported.
External Affairs Ministry sources have said Rajapaksa would brief President Medvedev on matters arising from the UN Advisory Panel report.
The President is expected to hold talks with other world leaders during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"Reconciliation" with the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA by granting the basis for resuming their separatist struggle is a "Reconciliation" that Sri Lanka does not want.
Displaced Tamil people of the North & East have largely been resettled.
The ethnically cleansed Sinhala & Muslim people have not yet been resettled.
No religious sites of Tamils are inacessible to them; that is a lie.
Granting of Police and Land powers the TNA demands is not for "reconcialiation" but a means to the separatist Eelam them fought for as the political arm of the now defunct terrorist movement the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The TNA is CRAZY if they think we are FOOLISH ENOUGH TO ALLOW them to achieve through POLITICAL SUBTERFUGE in PEACE the EELAM they FAILED TO WIN THROUGH WAR!
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Sri Lankan Tamil party talks reconciliation with India
Nation.com.pk
June 12, 2011
Sri Lanka's main Tamil minority party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said here Sunday that issues concerning Tamil minority were raised with the visiting Indian team of high officials. The TNA had met with India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defense Secretary Pradeep Kumar who arrived on Friday for bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan leadership. "We made our representations based on three points, resettlement of the displaced, return of lands to Tamil people such as religious sites and an acceptable lasting political solution," said Suresh Premachandran, a senior TNA legislator. He said the Indian officials were told that if the government addressed the above concerns reconciliation could be easily achieved.
C4 documentary:Conservatives, Labour sponsor LTTE motion
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
June 12, 2011
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) has used an influential section of British parliamentarians and defeated MPs in its campaign to throw their weight behind its war crimes campaign against Sri Lanka.
Two of the MPs, Siobhain McDonagh (Labour) and Lee Scott (Conservative), who were at the launch of the GTF at the House of Commons on Feb. 24, last year sponsored a motion calling for an independent, international investigation into war crime allegations in Sri Lanka.
Both McDonagh and Scott addressed the House of Commons gathering at the launch of GTF, led Fr. S.J. Emmanuel, which now spearheads the anti-Sri Lanka campaign.
The action by the Conservative and Labour MPs followed the GTF launching a mega campaign to involve British parliamentarians in its anti-Sri Lanka campaign. Sources said that the government had received a soft copy of ‘lobbying tool-kit to raise awareness of Parliamentarians on war crimes in Sri Lanka’ prepared by a British national, Stuart Drakes, on behalf of the GTF.
The GTF’s ‘lobbying tool kit’ has cited a recent statement attributed to UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, Christof Heyns (dean of the law faculty at the University of Pretoria in South Africa) that video footage provided to his office by Channel 4 News in the UK revealed war crimes in Sri Lanka. The GTF urged the LTTEsupporters in the UK to engage their MPs ahead of tomorrow’s airing of the one-hour long Channel 4 documentary, ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’
The joint Conservative and Labour motion follows the GTF’s latest intervention.
The following is the text of motion: "That this House notes Channel 4’s documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, broadcast on 14 June 2011, which features devastating new video evidence of war crimes during Sri Lanka’s civil war; further notes that certain footage has been authenticated by the UN and has been declared as evidence of definitive war crimes by the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings; condemns strongly the Sri Lankan government for dismissing outright the analysis of the UN Special Rapporteur and its unwillingness to engage in a proper accountability process; urges all hon. Members to view the Channel 4 documentary; supports the Government’s policy of an independent investigation into these allegations; and calls on the UN to establish an independent, international mechanism to ensure truth, accountability and justice in Sri Lanka."
C4 documentary:Conservatives, Labour sponsor LTTE motion
.......continued......
The GTF hired Joan Ryan (former Home Minister/Labour) as its Chief Executive after she lost her seat at the last parliamentary polls. According to the GTF, among the dignitaries, who addressed the launch of the organization at the House of Commons were Joan Ryan, Keith Vaz MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Simon Hughes MP, Andrew Dismore MP, Andrew Pelling MP, Susan Kramer MP, former MEP Robert Evans, Virendra Sharma MP, Dawn Butler MP, Siobhain McDonagh MP, David Burrows MP, Lee Scott MP, Stephen Pound MP and Andrew Pelling MP.
The GTF’s hold on Labour activist Ms Ryan came to light when she filed an application on behalf of the LTTE front in the City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Dec. 3 seeking a warrant for the arrest of Maj. Gen. Chagi Gallage, one of the key strategists in Sri Lanka’s military victory over the LTTE. Ms. Ryan’s application alleged that Gallage had committed "war crimes. Manjit Gill, Queen’s Counsel, represented the GTF. Maj. Gen. Gallage was accompanying President Mahinda Rajapaksa visiting the UK in Dec last year had left for Sri Lanka by the time the arrest warrant was sought.
The External Affairs Ministry said that the LTTE supporters active overseas were continued fund raising operations, though the war ended in May two years ago. Sources said that as funds weren’t needed to procure arms, ammunition and equipment, they were being spent on anti-Sri Lanka propaganda.
Gamesa signs agreement to supply wind turbines in Sri Lanka
IBNLive.com
Mumbai, Jun 15 (PTI) Gamesa's Indian subsidiary Gamesa Wind Turbines Pvt Ltd has signed a new agreement to supply wind turbines to a wind farm project in Sri Lanka.
The company, which is a leader in design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of wind turbines, will supply the wind turbines for the project of Pawan Danavi Private Limited, a subsidiary of LTL Holding, one of the largest utility companies in the country.
This new wind farm project, with 10.2 MW installed capacity, will have 12 Gamesa's G58-850 kW Class III turbines.The turbines are expected to be delivered by Q3 2011, a company statement said here.
"I strongly believe that wind power is one of the viable and sustainable options to meet the growing energy demands.For us this partnership with Pawan Danavi aims at facilitating Sri Lanka's wind market growth in a significant way. Gamesa is glad to bring-in to Sri Lanka our vast experience in the wind energy sector and thus playing a major role in facilitating the country's wind market growth," said Ramesh Kymal, Chairman & Managing Director of Gamesa in India.
"Sri Lanka has huge potential for generating power from wind energy. We are committed to becoming a major player in the power generation space in the country and it is important for us that our partner matches our ambition with capability and expertise," Pawan Danavi Chairman & CEO, U D Jayawardena said.
Sri Lanka should:
1. Not support Ban Ki Moon's re-election to UN General Secretary post.
2. Terminate all of its support to UN peacekeping operations, until the UN stops victimizing Sri Lanka at the behest of the LTTE Tamil Diaspora and the CABAL of Western Powers who PREACH democracy & human rights while VIOLATING them at will when their own interests are at stake, WORLDWIDE.
The UN is now a MERE PUPPET carrying out the dictates of this CABAL and whitewashing their crimes against people of developing nations, such as Iraq and Libya.
The UN no longer acts in the interests of DEVELOPING Nations.
Let Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia spearhead the creation of an Alternative UNION OF NATIONS to replace the current United Nations!
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UN may not be able to accept Sri Lanka's offer of combat aircraft for peacekeeping
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 16, Colombo: With the human rights record of the Sri Lanka under cloud the United Nations may not be able to accept an offer from Sri Lanka of much-needed combat equipment for its peace keeping operations, an American magazine on global policy says.
According to the Foreign Policy magazine, UN officials have told Turtle Bay, a news service inside the UN, that Sri Lanka has offered to supply the UN with three Mi-24 attack helicopters and a pair of fix wing aircraft to aid the peace keeping operations in conflict-affected countries like Congo and Sudan.
However, since an expert panel appointed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has alleged Sri Lanka of war crimes and violations of human rights, the UN has faced a quandary, as accepting the offer would create a controversy, the Foreign Policy points out.
Even more problematic is the possibility that accepting the offer would initiate a human rights review of Sri Lanka by the United States under the Leahy Law, according to the Foreign Policy.
Under the law, the State Department is required to vet the human rights records of foreign military contingents serving in U.N. peacekeeping missions, if there is reason to believe they may have been engaged in atrocities, the magazine says.
Foreign Policy citing unnamed UN officials say the offer seems to be a calculated move by Sri Lanka to improve the relationship with the UN at a time the pressure is mounting from the UN to hold an investigation on alleged war crimes.
Sri Lanka has participated in UN peacekeeping operations for more than 50 years, and it currently has more than 1,200 troops serving in UN missions.
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sri Lankan government in order to "speed up the provision of resources to the UN when necessary."
UK Channel 4 paid BLOOD MONEY by the LTTE to broadcast LTTE propaganda!
But is Channel 4 acting with UK Govt support?
If so, why?
Are these Fake Accusations against Sri Lanka RED HERRINGS to DIVERT ATTENTION from the CRIMES the CABAL of Western Powers is now orchestrating Worldwide, while the Puppet UN looks aside?
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Sri Lankan Defence Secretary says pro-LTTE elements have used Channel 4 to tarnish the country's image
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 16, Colombo: Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said that some pro-LTTE elements have used the Channel 4 news agency to tarnish the image of both the Sri Lankan government as well as the Army.
Rajapaksa has reportedly said that the government has received information that a fake video had been created by Channel 4 news after obtaining money from pro-LTTE elements.
"Once again some pro-LTTE elements have used the Channel4 news agency after giving money to them (Channel 4) in order to tarnish the image of both the Sri Lankan government as well as the Army," Rajapaksa has said.
The local media has quoted the Defence Secretary as saying that during the war, the army was always committed to save the lives of innocent civilians and never harmed their lives.
Rajapaksa has explained that the lives of civilians as well as the families of the LTTE leaders, such as widows of LTTE Sea Tiger Leader Soosai and the LTTE Political Chief Thamilchelvan, who were stranded due to the war, were protected by the armed forces during and after the war.
Meanwhile, the government said it would carefully review the gruesome video aired by the Channel 4 on Tuesday night.
Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has told the Daily Mirror yesterday that the government will take a close look at the documentary and have its own forensic experts and foreign experts to look at the footage and respond accordingly.
Mark my words:
The Dutch Govt will do nothing about terrorist networks gathering funds in the Netherlands to destabilize developing nations.
These officials will merely whitewash and protect the Dutch establishment that turned a blind eye to their operatio, and help the Govt learn to BETTER HIDE their favorite "human rights" tools in the future!
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Dutch Investigators arrive in Sri Lanka to probe overseas LTTE financial network
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 15, Colombo: A team of Dutch officials investigating the financial network of the Tamil Tiger leaders in the Netherlands has arrived in Sri Lanka to interrogate former and current LTTE leaders in the country.
According to Dutch media reports the team is in Sri Lanka to investigate funding activities and weapons procurement by Tamil leaders based in the Netherlands during the conflict.
Spokesman of the team Jaco Beerends has said they are investigating funding activities and weapons procurement by Tamil leaders based in the Netherlands during the conflict, which lasted from 1983 to 2009.
Last month Dutch authorities initiated negotiations with Sri Lankan Attorney General Mohan Peiris seeking permission to interrogate 13 witnesses in Sri Lanka including former and current LTTE leaders.
The team plans to interrogate the LTTE's chief arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) who is in the custody of Sri Lankan authorities.
Sri Lanka defense sources said the government has granted permission to the Netherlands investigators to record statements from KP.
The Dutch authorities have launched a complex and elaborate investigation called 'Operation Koninck' to uncover the prominent role Tamil Tiger leaders in the Netherlands played in financing the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Well said, "World Citizen"
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International Groups Examine Allegations of "Summay Executions" in Sri Lanka
World Citizen 7 hours ago
PBS did not get it right, I am sorry to say.
Why not prosecute US, UK and host of other countries that waged unnecessary wars in other countries or internally in their own countries with well known and documented transgressions (crimes against humanity) they have had? Is it because UNSG and others have no voice against the powerful veto holders?
Prosecution of Sri Lanka for war crimes is politically motivated by US and British politicians who have received campaign contributions from the LTTE. UNSG (controlled by the veto holders in the UN) used Sri Lanka for his political advantage to seek a second term in office.
Sometime ago, it was reported in the news media, how UN employed LTTE carders /sympathizers used UN vehicles to transport LTTE bombs to Colombo from Jaffna to kill and maim innocent Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and other citizens of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Let it be known that Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and other ethnicities live very peacefully except when the LTTE instigated commotions (riots) take place in Colombo.
Sad to say but it is true that LTTE stooges (like Navi Pillay) who have infiltrated UN and other human rights organizations and they are trying to establish (objective) the Tamil Elam that blood thirsty, eccentric and megalomaniac Prabhakaran could not do by merciless slaughtering of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims for 26 years in the south, north and east of Sri Lanka.
If the so called LTTE whistle blowers of atrocities by Sri Lankan army have evidence of Sri Lankan army slaughtering (targeted extermination) 40,000 civilian Tamils and extra judicial killings, they should surely know where the bodies are buried (unmarked mass graves?) or how they were disposed (gas chambers?).
LTTE accusers of Sri Lankan armed forces slaughtering innocent northern Tamils in Sri Lanka must tell the world where the bodies are buried or how they were disposed. In the past, LTTE is known for killing Sri Lankan forces by donning their own uniforms and creating videos to propagate and seek support for their war against Sri Lankans and its government.
PBS, please find those videos in some library in Sri Lanka and give it equal airtime if you would like to be impartial. In the digital age, it is much easier to create a piece of junk video to discredit the good name of Sri Lankans, its government and armed forces.
Finally, it would be a difficult task to verify that LTTE artillery did not hit either by design or by error any of the Tamil civilians who were used by the LTTE as human shield against their will and those who were tortured and shot for trying to escape their plight by the LTTE.
International Groups Examine Allegations of "Summay Executions" in Sri Lanka
My Comment (June 16, 2011):
The very same organizations that aided and abetted the Tamil Tigers, the most vicious terrorist movement of the last 30 years, to kill 150,000 Sri Lankan citizens, and enslave, torture and maim innumerable other innocents in Sri Lanka, now come forward as "human rights" advocates to allege that Sri Lanka committed war crimes.
Utter nonsense. The whole world watched and pontificated while a whole nation was victimized and terrorized for 30 long years, without any pity for the victims of Tamil Tiger terrorism, until a courageous Sri Lankan government arose to protect them and restore security and hope to their lives. Where was the concern for our collective human rights then? There is concern for the rights of undeserving terrorists but none for their victims!
What we see here is pure HYPOCRISY of a vast network of professional "human rights" and "democracy" industry that has arisen over the years to support terrorists and undermine socities in developing countries, while working in collusion with advanced Western Powers, who fund and protect them, in exchange for providing the necessary "cover" to hide their transgressions when they go to war against terrorists.
Sri Lanka did not go to war against terrorism in foreign countries. Sri Lanka did not cook up false accusations to launch invasions of other nations. Sri Lanka did not initiate fake democracy movements to undermine sovereign nations and create pretexts for military actions and regime changes.
No, Sri Lanka girded her national loins and fought back against a murderous racist terrorist organzation that sought to terrorize and enslave her people and destroy her territorial integrity. She rescued the entire Tamil population of the orth & East of Sri Lanka that was herded by the retreating Tamil Tigers ahead of them to create a human shield. They had done that before and survived because of Indian intervention. But this time, India understood the tactic, having experienced it themselves at the hands of the LTTE. The Tigers expected their vast network of foreign supporters to rescue them again; but that failed because of the steadfastness of the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan people understand that very well, and the machiavellian tactics of the international LTTE Tamil diaspora and Western Powers arrayed against them. That is why the great majority of Sri Lankans have support ed the Government of Sri Lanka with landslide victories in successive national elections. They .. the PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA ... will never allow any foreign enemies to dismantle their Government, criminalize and hound their heroic leaders, and return them to the despair and hopelessness of the past three decades. NEVER!
International Groups Examine Allegations of "Summary Executions" in Sri Lanka
My Comment #4 in response to Maggie's characterization of Sri Lanka as a FAILED state:
Indeed! Neither do those who supported murder and mayhem of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, subverting the immigration laws of Western democracies into illegally acquring refugee status, exploiting their welfare systems, terrorizing the Tamil diaspora to exact blood money, and engaging every kind of illegal skullduggery, come forward to admit their own criminality.
Sri Lanka is one of the only two true democracies of South Asia, India being the other. While Sri Lanka has shaken itself free of terrorism, it is now India's turn to suffer: 850 million people of India, across a broad swathe of India's territory are subject to Maoist/Naxalite terror.
Even though Sri Lanka was wracked by a terrorist conflict for over three decades, it preserved universal franchise for all of its citizens, raised its literacy level to over 95% .. a level unmatched by any other nation in South Asia, provided universal healthcare through Govt hospitals, reduced infant mortality rates to those found in developed nations, created an affordable rail and bus public transportation system, largely eliminated landlessness, extended electrification to the smallest villages, enacted a system of labor laws acknowledged by the ILO to be a model for the developing world, and all but eliminated discrimination based on sex and caste within Sri Lankan society.
Since the end of the war in 2009, Sri Lanka's economy has surged ahead. Its stock market was the highest performing in the world last year, and the national economy grew at 8.5% while Western economies languished in recession. Vast new investments in public infrastructure .. roads, bridges, ports, airports, railway lines, power plants, hospitals, schools etc have been made while spending hundreds of millions of dollars to resettle and reconstruct the war ravaged North & East, and rehabilitate captured Tamil Tiger terrorists.
A series of national elections at national and local government levels have beeen held to allow the People of Sri Lanka to determine the political direction of their country. At these elections, the government has received a mandate for their program of national reunification and national economic development, and increased social justice through landslide electoral victories.
Are these the signs of FAILED state that you claim Sri Lanka to be?
I think NOT! They are the signs of a resurgent Sri Lanka, never a failed state but one that struggled to set itself free of terrorism, finally marching forward as a unified democratic nation towards becoming the NEW WONDER of ASIA!
While Resplendent Lanka's patriotic sons and daughters join hands to work with a will towards attaining that shining goal, those who do not love Lanka and attempted to destroy it, nowl weep and wail inconsolably.
Make no mistake: they will only waste their lives and treasure fiollowing in the footsteps of their late unlamented Sun God, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Hate reduced to ashes, violence reduced to dust.
China stands by Sri Lanka to safeguard its independence and sovereignty
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 17, St. Petersburg: Chinese President Hu Jintao and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met today and discussed ways to expand the already strong bilateral ties between the two countries in all directions.
The two leaders held discussions Friday at the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, currently being held in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Observing that the two countries are trustworthy friends President Jintao has said that China is ready to join hands with Sri Lanka to lift the all-round cooperative partnership between the two countries to a new height.
Hu has noted that in recent years Sri Lanka-China relations have grown healthier and suggested to increase high-level contact, expand intergovernmental exchanges between government departments, political parties, and local governments, and boost personnel exchanges at all levels.
Hu has assured that China will always support Sri Lanka to safeguard the country's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and maintain the coordination and cooperation with Sri Lanka on regional and international affairs.
The Chinese President has highlighted the development taking place in Sri Lanka with the Chinese support and encouraged the Chinese businesses to invest and set up businesses in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan President has appreciated all the long-term support China has given during the years to develop the country socially and economically.
Rajapaksa, observing that Sri Lanka's relations with China are based on mutual respect, mutual trust, and friendship, has said that Sri Lanka is always ready to stand by China to advance their traditional friendship, expand pragmatic cooperation, and strengthen cooperation on regional and international issues and will continue to support China's drive to safeguard its own core interests.
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
Russia expresses support to Sri Lanka in all its efforts
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 17, St. Petersburg: Russia has assured Sri Lanka that it will stand by Sri Lanka in all its efforts to rebuild the country emerging from the three-decade long battle against Tamil Tiger terrorism.
Russia's assurance was given when the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev today at Lenexpo Hall in Vasilevsky Island, St. Petersburg on the sidelines of the 15th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
A delegation led by President Rajapaksa is in Russia to represent Sri Lanka as an observer at the SPIEF.
Russian President Medvedev has said that both Russia and Sri Lanka have equally suffered from terrorism and aware of the pain and destruction caused by it.
The Sri Lankan government said the two leaders have discussed ways and means of improving trade and investment between the two countries.
Sri Lankan President has invited Russian investors to take advantage of the opportunity for investments the country presents in the region.
President Rajapaksa has appreciated Russia's continuing assistance for sustainable peace in Sri Lanka and unstinted cooperation to develop the country.
President Medvedev has said that he looks forward to visit Sri Lanka with his Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov who is very fluent in Sinhala.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris, Senior Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga were also present during the discussion, the government said.
Obama Administration's ILLEGAL WAR against Libya, under the cover of UN and NATO Puppets, challenged by both Republicans & Democrats in US Congress.
Lawsuit challenging the war against Libya is in the offing!
A "Litte bit of Bombing" ofd a sovereign nation does not constitute "war" proclaims the Obama Administration.
Did the US then really overreact when it declared war against Japan after the attack on Peral Harbour on the "day of infamy"?
Different Strokes for Different Folks, I guesss!
HYPOCRITES!
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Obama report on Libya fails to appease lawmakers
ExpressBuzz.com
June 11, 2011
WASHINGTON: The White House is vigorously defending President Barack Obama's right to keep the U.S. military engaged in Libya without congressional approval, but its arguments aren't soothing the anger among Republican lawmakers and anti-war Democrats.
In a report sent to Congress on Wednesday, administration officials said that because the U.S. is in a supporting role in the NATO-led bombing mission, American forces are not facing the "hostilities" that would require the president to seek congressional approval under the War Powers Resolution. That 1973 law prohibits the military from being involved in actions for more than 60 days without congressional authorization, plus a 30-day extension. The Libya campaign has gone on for nearly three months.
The report, which put the cost of U.S. military operations at about $715 million as of June 3, with the total increasing to $1.1 billion by early September, did little to appease lawmakers who have been critical of Obama's dealings with Congress throughout the Libya campaign.
"I'm sure Sen. Barack Obama would have disagreed if he were serving at this time," said Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Obama was a senator before he was president.
Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican, said he was amazed that the administration did not believe U.S. forces were facing "hostilities" in Libya, saying generals have told lawmakers otherwise in classified briefings.
"The way the administration handled this entire affair left people on both sides of the aisle very perplexed," said Corker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Adding to the congressional pressure on Obama, a bipartisan group of 10 lawmakers on Wednesday sued the president for taking military action against Libya without war authorization from Congress. The lawmakers said Obama violated the Constitution in bypassing Congress and using international organizations like the United Nations and NATO to authorize military force.
The White House sent Congress the 32-page report in response to a nonbinding House resolution passed this month that chastised Obama for failing to provide a "compelling rationale" for U.S. involvement in Libya.
The resolution gave the administration until Friday to respond to a series of questions on the mission, including the scope of U.S. military activity, the cost of the mission and its impact on other U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Obama did not seek congressional consent before ordering U.S. airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi's forces nearly three months ago, the White House maintained that the president is not in violation of the War Powers Resolution. House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, warned Obama this week that the 90-day window runs out Sunday.
Previous presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have largely ignored the law, which was created as a check on their power to authorize military force.
Obama Report on Libya Fails to Appease Lawmakers
.......continued.......
While the U.S. led the initial airstrikes on Libya, NATO forces have since taken over the mission. The U.S still plays a significant support role that includes aerial refueling of warplanes and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work. Obama has ruled out sending U.S. ground forces to Libya.
"U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve the presence of U.S. ground troops, U.S. casualties or a serious threat thereof, or any significant chance of escalation into a conflict characterized by those factors," the report said.
The president has said the U.S. joined the international effort in Libya to prevent the slaughter of civilians at the hands of Gadhafi's forces, a development Obama said could have shaken the stability of the entire region.
Though Obama emphasized that U.S. involvement would be limited in time and scope, the mission already has dragged on longer than many expected. The bombing campaign has halted some of Gadhafi's advances on rebel forces and there are increasing calls from world leaders for him to leave power, but the administration is still struggling to define an exit strategy for U.S. forces.
The report released Wednesday said that if the U.S. were to end its participation in the NATO operation, it would "seriously degrade the coalition's ability to execute and sustain its operations to protect Libyan civilians."
The White House also said in the report that the U.S. is working with Libya's main opposition group, the Transitional National Council, on plans for a political transition if Gadhafi leaves power. Despite initial questions about the council's composition, the White House said in the report that the U.S. is not aware of any ties the group has with any terrorist organization, including al-Qaida and Hezbollah.
The White House and Congress have been at odds throughout much of the campaign over whether the administration has fully consulted lawmakers on the mission. Congressional leaders and key committee members were only summoned to the White House the day before Obama ordered airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces. Several lawmakers attended in person, others by phone as Congress had just begun a weeklong break.
Obama aides insist they have briefed Congress extensively throughout, citing more than 30 briefings with lawmakers and their staffs, and 10 hearings where administration officials have testified on Libya.
The White House has called the House resolution chiding Obama, as well as a similar resolution in the Senate, unhelpful and unnecessary. The administration much prefers a resolution sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, a Democrat, and John McCain, a Republican, that would signal support for the Libya operation.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that the president expects Congress to support the Libya campaign as it continues. With Gadhafi under pressure to leave power, he said now is not the time to send "mixed messages" about U.S. commitment to the campaign.
‘Defeat elements trying to revive LTTE remnants’
Hemanthi GURUGE
DailyNews.lk
June 18, 2011
The government yesterday called on all communities to stand up against unscrupulous elements trying to revive LTTE remnants who are bent on undermining the Security Forces’ victory over terrorism.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa requested the people to stand up against these vicious elements attempting to revive the LTTE rump which is involved in tarnishing the country’s image in the aftermath of the government’s victory over terrorism. The Defence Secretary was speaking at a special ceremony organized by Western Provincial Minister Udaya Gammanpila to bestow merit on members of the Security Forces who laid down their lives in the exercise of freeing the country from terrorism. An alms giving to members of the Maha Sangha and a dansela were held at the Ananda Samarakoon Open Theatre yesterday.
The Defence Secretary added that Sri Lanka succeeded in eradicating the ruthless LTTE terrorist outfit from the country and he was confident that the conspiracies made by LTTE remnants through the international community can be defeated with the support of all Sri Lankans.
The Defence Secretary added that certain members of the international community are manoeuvring to carve out a separate state by hatching various conspiracies against the motherland. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that these members of the international community are pandering to the LTTE.
He was of the view that they act according to the whims and fancies of the LTTE remnants in foreign countries.
He said that the infamous Channel 4 video clip is an attempt to tarnish the image of the Security Forces who brought peace to the country after a lapse of 30 years.
The Defence Secretary added that the LTTE was responsible for the killings of thousands of innocent people in Sri Lanka.
Over 600 Police officers who surrendered to the terrorists were brutally killed by them contravening all international norms and practices.
“An incident which took place in Jaffna on Thursday was reported to the US Embassy even before it was reported to the Police,” the Defence Secretary said.
He said the German Ambassador inquired him about the Katunayake incident.
The US forces killed Osama bin Laden and wife but no one raised any questions against the Americans so far.
I have long argued that Provincial Councils should be eliminated because they will lead to turf battles between the Central Government and the Provincial Councils ... and create barriers to national development while wasting taxpayer funds to maintain unnecessary bureaucracies.
This news article PROVES MY POINT.
PCs represent barriers to national development initiatives of the National Government.
Dissolve the Provincial Governments and send all of these Useless Windbags Home to plant Onions in their backyards.
That will do more good than they do now wasting time, space and money as Provincial Councillors!
Chase the Buggers Out!
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Provincial Councilors accuse Sri Lankan government of violating Constitution
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 18, Colombo: Provincial Councilors in Sri Lanka have accused the government of violating the Constitution by interfering in the administration of the provinces that is under the purview of the respective provincial councils.
The Inter Provincial Council Federation has said that the government was managing the divisional secretariats and Grama Niladharis who should be under the control of the provincial councils.
Secretary of the Federation and opposition United National Party Central Provincial Councilor Sanjeewa Kaviratne has told the media that the government through its various developments projects has directly interfered with the powers vested with the provincial councils.
He has added that the central government had also taken steps to take control of hospitals and schools that were under the control of the provincial councils.
According to Kaviratne, the government has violated the 13th Amendment through these actions.
Bravo, GOSL!
As the LTTE Diaspora network metamorphs into quasi-legal undercover operations worldwide as the mafia did in the United States and in Europe, and attempt to buy into the Sri Lankan economy with whitewashed LTTE funds, to destabilize Sri Lanka from within, the laws of Sri Lanka and its enforcement agencies must adapt to confront them and develop the necessary legal tools.
Bravo!
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Govt. to seize LTTE finances
May amend Financial Transaction, Money Laundering and the Terrorism Financing Acts
By Kelum Bandara
DailyMirror.lk
June 20, 2011
As part of plans to seize the LTTE’s overseas assets and cripple its fund raising activities, the government had decided to strengthen the legal framework by amending the Financial Transaction Act, the Money Laundering Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Financing Act. A top official of the Central Bank told Daily Mirror on condition of anonymity that the amended versions of these pieces of legislations were still pending approval by the Attorney General’s Department.
Once approval was given, he said, the bill would be presented in Parliament to be debated and enacted by the political parties.
“When these Acts were introduced a few years ago, the situation was different.
Now, we have to do a lot more activities in dealing with suspicious transactions, mostly by terrorist groups. Therefore, these Acts have to be amended. The Central Bank has done the needful. We are awaiting approval by the Legal Draftsman’s Department,” he said. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which is an international organization promoting policies for the combating of money laundering and terrorist financing, has assisted the Central Bank in this regard after a review of the situation.
The FATF is a "policy-making body" which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
According its website, the FATF monitors members' progress in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In performing these activities, the FATF collaborates with other international bodies involved in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The FATF does not have a tightly defined constitution or an unlimited life span. The Task Force reviews its mission every five years. The FATF has been in existence since 1989. In 2004, Ministry representatives from the 35 FATF members agreed to extend the mandate of the Task Force until 2012.
Also, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with 12 countries to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.
Asylum seekers are involved, but the plot against Sri Lanka is MUCH DEEPER than that.
That plot has the political and strategic objective of resurrecting the Eelam struggle for a RACIST APARTHEID TAMILS-ONLY SEPARATIST STATE in Sri Lanka, and ultimately integrating that state into a Tamil Nadu/Dravida Nadu Independent of India!
That has ALWAYS BEEN, and ALWAYS WILL BE, the RACIST Tamil Nationalist Objective.
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‘Channel 4 video, the work of asylum seekers’ - Army spokesperson
By Chamikara Weerasinghe
DailyNews.lk
June 20, 2011
The Sri Lanka Army yesterday said the video of alleged extra judicial killings telecast by Channel 4 on British television is doctored and that its footage may have been invented by some self-exiled Tamil citizens seeking asylum in the UK.
Army spokesperson Major General Ubhaya Medawala yesterday said the supposed self-exiled group must have made some of these video clips to get the sympathy of UK immigration authorities to get refugee status in the UK.
”Their ambition is to become UK residents,”said Major General Ubhaya Medawala.
He said that seeking refugee status at the expense of the Sri Lankan government and the Army has been the practice of most Tamil civilians who have settled in the UK and other European countries.
Although they call themselves the Tamil Diaspora, they did not scatter to other countries on account of being dispelled by the Sri Lankan Army or the government, he explained.
”They leave the country for UK or Norway in most cases for the love of creature comforts in their settings and for this they have made it a habit of criticizing the Sri Lankan government and its security forces,” he said.
Asked if the Sri Lankan Army is under pressure from various quarters to conduct investigations into Channel 4 clips, Medawala said the Army is not and will not be pressurized by any such calls, but is prepared to conduct an inquiry into such allegations provided that there is legitimacy and authenticity in the material provided to them to preceed with an investigation. ”The authenticity of Channel 4 video has not been established,” he said.
”Sri Lanka Army can conduct an inquiry but we need material whose authenticity could be established without personal evidence as to its ownership. We need an original copy of the file and the camera or the mobile phones that were used as a means to film them,” he said. ”If there was an original tape of the clips concerned , the owner of these could hand them over to us through a foreign embassy, or they can directly come to us,” he said.
”Then we will be able to determine how they came to have been filmed , whether the footage of the video is genuine, and the case worth taking for investigation, said Major General Medawala.
Referring to the telecast of the video by Channel 4, he said Channel 4 is a private media channel and anyone can buy air time for a program after paying that channel.
”Besides,a paying party can obtain their service for a price,” he explained.
”But we need material of proof and authentication to commence any inquiry,” he added.
A PEACE dividend that would not have been permitted two years ago due to security reasons!
I also had proposed this idea several years ago, and I am glad to see that it is being implemented for the benefit of the Sri Lankan people!
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Air taxi in Sri Lanka
June 20, 2011
Foreign passengers disembark from a SriLankan Airlines float plane after it landed on the Kelaniya river on the outskirts of Colombo yesterday. The national carrier’s twin-otter turbo prop air taxi service from the capital to Dikwella, some 120km south-east, draws a stream of regular passengers. Sri Lanka greeted 48,000 tourists in May 2011, 39 percent more than a year earlier, mainly driven by visitors from India and East Asia.
War crimes: UK playing politics at SL's expense
News.lk
June 19, 2011
Following June 14, telecast of 'Sri Lanka's killing fields' the UK said that it would support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan government to fulfill its obligation with regard to the 'Darusman Report' commissioned by UNSG Ban Ki-moon.
The UK warned that Sri Lanka should be prepared to face the consequences unless the Rajapaksa government too tangible measure to have the war crime allegation probed by the end of this year.
The ultimatum war given by foreign office Minister for south Asia, conservative MP Alistair Burt who voted strongly for the invasion of Iraq.
The British threat would have delighted the UK based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and various other LTTE fronts operating in various part of the world, hell-bent on avenging the defeat of the LTTE in may 2009.
Burt's statement didn't surprise anyone in the wake of conservative and the Labour MPs recently moving a motion in parliament targeting Sri Lanka on the basis controversial 'Darusman Report.'
In fact, the joint operation launched by the GTF-led Tamil Diaspora and a section of UK MPs could be considered their most important mission in the post-war era. Channel 4, which telecast " Sri Lanka killing Field" and those involved in the production for ITN are now and integral part of the LTTE media blitz.
Did Tuesday's statement attributed to Burt mean that those countries, Which invaded Iraq in 2003 on the basis of 'sexed up' Western intelligence analysis go to the extent targeting Sri Lanka?
Against the backdrop of the UK throwing its full might behind the LTTE rump, it would be pertinent to discuss the circumstances under which Libya secured the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset AI Megrahi, convicted of killing 270 civilians in an attack on AM flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. In spite of the US and families of Lockerbie victims, particularly the British, strongly opposing the move allegedly taken to facilitate trade ties between the UK and Libya, the UK when ahead with the deal.
Today the British are leading the large scale military campaign targeting the Libyan regime after having the an extremely close relationship with the incumbent Libyan Leadership. The GTF appeared have to won over major political parties in the UK by contributing towards their campaign funds and voting for selected MPs. Although their relationship is known for some time , Wiki Leaks revelation regarding the then British foreign secretary David Miliband's political strategy surprised many. Miliband championed the Eelam cause.
British official Tim Waite was quoted in a leaked Us Embassy cable explaining why the then foreign Secretary was lavishing so much attention on Sri Lanka.
"Waite said that much of ( the government ) and ministerial attention to Sri Lanka is Due to the 'very vocal' Tamil Diaspora in the UK, numbering over 300,00 who have been protesting in front of Parliament since 6 April 2009."wrote Richard Mills, a political officers at the US Embassy in London.
"He said that with UK election on the horizon and many Tamils living in Labour constituencies with slim majorities, the government is paying particular attention to Sri Lanka, with Miliband recently remarking to Waite that he was spending 60 per cent of his time at the moment on Sri Lanka." Mills sent the cable to Washington in may 2009.
War crimes: UK playing politics at SL's expense
.........continued 1..........
On April 29, a few days before cable was sent, the foreign secretary visited Sri Lanka with his French opposite number, Bernard Kouchner. Sri Lanka ignored the joint British and French intervention.
Due to negligence on part of officialdom, the country had failed pathetically ti highlight British duplicity. Those in charge of countering LTTE propaganda should take the responsibility for this situation, particularly having outsourced responsibilities of the External Affairs ministry foreign PR firms, including one in the UK. Sri Lanka failure had been LTTE's gain. Even after the conclusion of the war, the LTTE was prosecuting anti-Sri Lanka campaign through other means.
The bottom line is that Diaspora seems to be confident that eelam could be achieved even though they no longer had military capability. Instead of throwing its weight behind the ongoing rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement projects in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, The Diaspora group are working overtime to undermine post-war stability.
The Tamil Diaspora can play a pivotal role in rehabilitating ex-LTTE cadres if they aren't interested in facilitating the ongoing resettlement project for the IDPs.
Unfortunately, the Diaspora seemed uninterested in throwing their weight behind any of the projects, though they spend lavishly on an ongoing destabilization project backed by a section of the International community. Since the conclusion of the war in may 2009, the UK had become the nerve centre of LTTE operations directed against Sri Lanka, thereby marking the proscription of the LTTE in UK nothing but a farce.
The Channel 4 documentary captioned ' Sri Lanka's killing Fields' telecast on Tuesday would have cost the Diaspora operatives a lot of money. In fact, it was one of the principal propaganda operations mounted by UK based GTF to haul up Sri Lanka's political and military leadership before an international war crimes tribunal in the wake of the "Darusman Report' commissioned by the UNSG Ban ki-moon.
The GTF established soon after the LTTE collapsed on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon two years ago having the support of all major British political parties is a foregone conclusion with parliamentary members of both Conservative and the Labour targeting the government of Sri Lank at the behest of the LTTE front. The GTF is flexing its muscles and expanding its sphere of operations with the backing of the UK.
The sordid operation surrounding the C-4 documentary meant that the Tamil Diaspora is not interested in post-war national reconciliation but a regime change to average the debilitating defeat suffered by the separatist movement. In spite of losing their military clout, the eelamists are now seeking to achieved their goal on the diplomatic front by isolating Sri Lanka.
War crimes: UK playing politics at SL's expense
.........continued 2..........
Soon after the Channel 4 telecast ' Sri Lanka's Killing Field.' The UK warned Sri Lanka to investigate the alleged war crimes before end of this year or face the consequences. Had the UK been genuinely concerned about the Tamil speaking people here, it would have intervened year ago to thwart LTTE declaring war on the Sri Lankan state in mid 2006. The British, like many of those who now shed crocodile tears for Tamil civilians didn't utter a word as long as they felt the LTTE could achieve military superiority over the government in a conventional war.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Tamil Diaspora could have supported the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate ex-LTTE cadres. The Diaspora could have easily provided the financial backing for the international Organization for Migration (IOM), which is now involved project to help ex-combatants too reintegrate into civilian life. In fact, those British politicians and officials working with the GTF should advice the group to donate some funds for the IOM to speed up the process. The GTF wouldn't be interested in funding any development projects, though the same couldn't be said about a programme to help those who once waged war against the Sri Lanka state. The Diaspora shouldn't turn its back on ex-LTTE fighting cadres, including suicide cadres who now have a chance to begin a new life. What they now need is assistance to launch a small business of their own, fishing, agriculture or some other livelihood. But regrettably, the Diaspora and their European master are working overtime to discredit the government of Sri Lanka, which had no option but to fight back fr the very survival of the island state.
The LTTE spearheaded its international operation from London. Former British High Commission employee Anton Balasigham with his Australian born wife led the LTTE operations with the blessing of the British fir years. In fact, the LTTE announced its terrorist operations from the UK, where the group maintained a so-called International Secretariat to coordinate and executive terror attacks against a Commonwealth country..
The Government of Sri Lanka should prepare a comprehensive strategy to counter the growing threat.(Courtesy:defence.lk)
Right! Let us resurrect Veluupillai Prabhakaran as a Sun God too!
This is what happens when SERIAL TRAITORS who were the political arm of the LTTE are allowed to function as politicians without answering to the law for their TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES of the past.
These Buggers, including Sivajilingam who was in Channai pleading agitating and plotting to get India re-invade Sri Lanka, got away scot free!
GOSL, Can we have some ACCOUNTABILITY and PROSECUTE THESE TRAITORS and uphold the laws against TREASON in Sri Lanka?
The Northern & Eastern Provinces will be merged ONLY WHEN HELL BOILS OVER!
In fact, ALL PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ADMINISTRATIONS should be DISSOLVED, and the 13th Amendment REPEALED!
No sub-national Administrative/Government unit larger than a District should be allowed. Local governments should be kept LOCAL, and MUCH SMALLER than the National Government to prevent separatism from taking root and threatening national integrity again.
Let us not create overlapping layers of government bureaucracies that increase the tax burden of citizens, create unnecessary bureaucratic barriers, weaken national government authority and control, and inhibit development of national resources across provincial boundaries for the general good of all of Sri Lanka's citizens.
Let us not allow ethnic fiefdoms to rise again in Sri Lanka!
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TNA wants to re-merge N&E
By Kelum Bandara
June 20, 2011
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had renewed its call for the re-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces as a single political administrative unit, former MP M.K. Sivajilingam said yesterday.
Mr. Sivajilingam, TNA candidate of the July 23 election to the Velvetithurai Urban Council, told Daily Mirror that the party would once again ask for a mandate from people to evolve a negotiated political solution with the right to self determination. The former MP noted that the North and the East should be converted to a single political administrative unit. “We will campaign for such demands. We try to get the powers devolved to this unit as far as possible,” he said.
He said that the TNA demanded for the early establishment of civil administration in the North, the dismantling of the military camps, the completion of the resettlement of displaced persons and the release of detainees.
The TNA had a meeting for the candidates contesting the election to some local bodies in the North yesterday.
TNA spokesman MP Suresh Premachandran said that the re-merger of the North and the East had been their demand right from the beginning.
Asked whether it was mentioned in the political proposals handed over to the government recently, he said that the TNA informed its stand in this regard to the ruling party at the very beginning of the series of talks.
GR alleges TNA split over Sampanthan’s reconciliation move
‘TNA pressured US State Dept. several diplomatic missions to take up Alavedi issue’
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
June 19, 2011
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa alleges that a section of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is all out to sabotage an effort by TNA leader MP R. Sampanthan to normalise relations between his party and the government.
The Defence Secretary Rajapaksa, yesterday, in an interview with The Island, said that he had received a letter from MP Sampanthan seeking assistance for his party to engage in political activity in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The TNA leader had gone to the extent of expressing his willingness to work with the army, the Defence Secretary said adding that the government appreciated the veteran politician’s effort.
Asked whether he had the opportunity to discuss the matter with the TNA leader personally, the Defence Secretary said that he had met the TNAleader in the presence of Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha at India House on June 8. The meeting had taken pace at the invitation of the Indian High Commissioner, the official said.
The Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said: "I have no option but to disclose the meet with MP Sampanthan due to last Thursday’s incident at Alaveddi in the Jaffna peninsula. A section of the TNA is obviously against Sampanthan’s move and is working overtime to derail national reconciliation process. Anyone who doubts my account of the circumstances leading to Thursday’s incident could contact MP Sampanthan, who is now in India, Rajapaksa said.
According to the Defence Minister, R. Sampanthan had sought to work out a very early mutually convenient date to launch his party’s programme. "After writing to me, MP Sampanthan left for India for medical treatment. I was ready to make the necessary arrangements. Unfortunately, before arrangements could be worked out, a group of TNA MPs sought to undermine the TNA leader’s agreement with the government by having an unauthorised meeting in Jaffna," the Defence Secretary said.
MP Sampanthan had also called for a mechanism to allow family members of those detained under emergency regulations and undergoing rehabilitation to secure information regarding their loved ones.
The TNA on Friday alleged that the army had launched an indiscriminate attack on TNA MPs and a group of about 30 party activists at Alaveddi in Waligamam west. The TNA also accused the army of causing damage to their vehicles.
Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that he had personally investigated the incident immediately after hearing of it. "A group of soldiers under the command of an officer visited the community hall, where the TNA was having a public meeting. Of course, there had been an argument between the army and a section of the gathering, including MPs and some Ministerial Security Division personnel. The argument led to one of the MSD personnel being slapped, but troops didn’t attack the MPs and other participants. There is absolutely no truth in allegations that their vehicles were smashed."
GR alleges TNA split over Sampanthan’s reconciliation move
......continued......
The Defence Secretary said: "In fact TNA MPs drove in their luxury vehicles to meet Jaffna Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurisinghe on Saturday."
During the meeting at the Jaffna Civil Affairs Office the TNA had acknowledged that a section of the media exaggerated the Alaveddi incident. The TNA had conveniently forgotten that the media reported what was said by the TNA, the Defence Secretary said lashing out at the TNA for exploiting the incident to cause an international furore. "The US State Department contacted Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington Jaliya Wickremasuriya over the Alaveddi incident. Several other Colombo-based diplomats, too, contacted Foreign Secretary Karunathilake Amunugama over the incident," the Defence Secretary said. He regretted the foreign governments raising issues without verifying facts. "The recent missive from German Ambassador in Colombo Plottner is evidence of hasty action on the part of the international community," he said. "The German Ambassador went to the extent of warning me over the recent Katunayake incident. Plottner cautioned me over the possibility of the Katunayake incident having a detrimental impact on German investment here," he said.
The Defence Secretary said that those who went running to the international community today never called for their intervention when the LTTE was forcibly recruiting children in the immediate aftermath of the Norway arranged Ceasefire Agreement in Feb. 2002. The TNA hadn’t changed in spite of the LTTE losing its military muscle, he said. The LTTE, which the TNA had recognised as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people in the run-up to April 2004 parliamentary polls, had caused death and destruction with the blessings of its political god fathers, the Defence Secretary said.
The country hadn’t forgotten how the TNA launched ‘Pongu Thamil’ in the immediate aftermath of the CFA, which ultimately led to violent protests outside army bases and police stations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, he said.
The Defence Secretary urged the international community to advise the TNA to reach an understanding with the government of Sri Lanka. "Whatever they do, they couldn’t resurrect Velupillai Prabhakaran and his fighting cadre," the Defence Secretary said strongly criticising those who took up issues with the government without verifying facts.
The Defence Secretary said that the TNA, which issued a spate of statements to both print and electronic media didn’t bother to reveal its leader having had a meeting with him at Indian High Commissioner’s invitation.
If 64.9% of Indian Tamils say "the only permanent solution to the Lankan civil conflict was the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam." they are living in a dreamworld.
Sri Lanka future is beyond the POWER of Tamil Nadu politicians to mould.
The ONLY REAL SOLUTION is for Indian Tamil politicians is to stop focusing on Sri Lanka, and to attend to uplifting their OWN PEOPLE instead of trying to divert attention away from their own deficiencies.
They should focus on breaking down caste barriers, on educating their illiterate people, on eliminating corruption, and on economic development that benefits all of its people irrespective of community.
Forget about SRI LANKA .. it is beyond your grasp ... we PATRIOTS OF LANKA will see to that .. come HELL or HIGH WATER!
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Lankan Tamil issue in TN has changed little over time - Survey report
Island.lk
June 21, 2011
CHENNAI: The AIADMK government has met with a favourable reception among the people for its performance during the honeymoon period, an opinion poll has found. The survey indicated that the view of the people on the Lankan Tamil issue had changed little over time.
A whopping 64.9 per cent said the only permanent solution to the Lankan civil conflict was the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam. Further, 69.8 per cent demanded that the Centre designate Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa a war criminal, through a resolution of Parliament.
While some of the government’s measures have been met with overwhelming support, the people have also expressed concern that the government would be able to address major issues only partially.
The opinion poll, conducted by the People Studies group of the School of Media Studies, Loyola College, showed that a considerable number of people expressed concern over the government’s intention to undo most of the moves of the previous regime. The poll was conducted among 3,123 people across all age groups, from all districts.
Only 54.5 per cent of those surveyed believed the government would be able to keep its promise of fulfilling all poll promises in 18 months. That too, only if Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa committed herself to it.
Even all the schemes and measures of the government may not be enough to combat the major problems that face the State, 40.8 per cent of those surveyed opined.
Power cuts, price rise, corruption, lack of employment opportunities and law & order were the burning issues, in order of importance, according to the results of the survey.
Schemes such as the pension for senior citizens, free laptops, gold for weddings of girls, cable TV nationalisation, free rice scheme and the shifting of the Secretariat were among the government measures that found overwhelming support among those interviewed.
The postponement of the Universal School Education (Samacheer Kalvi) scheme, cancellation of the free TV scheme and increase in sales hours of TASMAC were issues on which the people strongly opposed the government.
The survey also indicated that the view of the people on the Lankan Tamil issue had changed little over time. A whopping 64.9 per cent said the only permanent solution to the Lankan civil conflict was the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam. Further, 69.8 per cent demanded that the Centre designate Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa a war criminal, through a resolution of Parliament.
(Indian Express)
Bravo .. Ministry of Defence for exposing in detail the machiavellian lies disseminated by the LTTE's terrorist network to somehow resurrect their RACIST APARTHEID EELAM State in Sri Lanka by demonizing the defenders & protectors of Sri Lanka!
When the LTTE was ascendant, and killing people in Sri Lanka without pity, they gushed praise and adulation on the LTTE and cheered every act of murder and mayhem.
Now that the LTTE has been wiped out as a military force in Sri Lanka ... they pose as HELPLESS INNOCENT VICTIMS pleading for global sympathy!
My God how these people change their colors like chameleons in heat!
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'CHANNEL-4, FACEOFF' - Exposing the appalling truth
US President John.F. Kennedy once said "For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Mythology distracts us everywhere."
We consider it our duty to expose the true motives behind all propaganda attempts supportive of the LTTE terrorists. Propaganda or psychological operations when it comes to the strict military terms, is a part and parcel of military strategy. Professional journalism however should be free from such propaganda elements and stick to the details without being biased or trying to hide information from the public.
Hence, following is a detailed report for discerning public and concerned authorities on the fallacy of Channel-4 'investigative reporting'. Also, an attempt at providing a holistic view on the sate of affairs and identify the challenges that a country has to face when fighting terrorism and conspiracy against Sri Lankan people, plotted by anti Sri Lankan coalitions.
'Channel-4, Faceoff', is a detailed account exposing the appalling truth, hidden motives of the controversial broadcast outlet and the 'innocence' of witnesses.
Read the Details and View all of the supporting Videos
HOGWASH!
Clearly. the Communist Party of India (CPI) does not know that allocating political power on communal bases is not Sri Lanka's policy of governance.
Also, the CPI is ignorant of the fact that such policies have brought home the threat of disintegration to India itself which is best with MANY separatist (Kashmir, Punjab, Assam, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, etc) and terrorist (Maoist/Naxalites affecting a broad swathe of territory from Mumbai to Calcutta home to 850 million people) movements.
India assigns regional political power, and government benefits, on the basis of race, and caste (Scheduled, Other Disadvantaged castes etc). As one Indian Supreme Court judge quipped "I know of no other country in which people rush so enthusiastically to degrade themselves socially as a lower caste in order to gain government benefits." These practices have led to internecine conflicts between communities, and to regional politics in which each state aspires to a separate destiny separate from the shared common destiny of a United India.
We in Sri Lanka have just emerged from a 30 year conflict waged to decide whether Sri Lanka shall remain one nation or two - or more nations - precisely because India initiated an ethnic separatist war in Sri Lanka, intervened to impose it, and retreated to India when the cost became too high in lives and treasure. In the process, India learned that the Eelam Tamils they came to protect had turned upon them, were incurably racist and were a greater threat to the integrity of India than a united Sri Lanka.
In Sri Lanka we have learned that pandering to a false "diversity" that pits communities against one another is not the way to build a united nation, or the way to ensure peace and security for the people.
Instead, Sri Lanka's policy of governance is not to recognize any communal basis for the devolution of power, including race, religion, language, sex, caste or wealth, and to declare that equal citizenship irrespective of community is the sole basis for political rights and government benefits in Sri Lanka.
India is welcome to pursue its flawed policies of governance by community IN INDIA .. and try to survive as a nation. But, NOT in Sri Lanka.
But, Sri Lanka will pursue a different path .. the path of democracy and free enterprise without regard to any communal basis for allocating government benefits or political power.
NO! Sri Lanka will not grant special political power to some of its citizens because they are Tamils, nor will it allow the creation of a separate region exclusively for Tamils.
Sri Lanka will grant an equal right to its Tamil citizens, as to its other citizens, to elect their representatives to parliament on the basis of one-person one-vote. All political power will come from participation in the Parliament. No special privileges will be granted to any sub-national community. There will be NO APARTHEID, nor separate ethnic bantustans, in Sri Lanka.
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India must ask Lanka for more powers to Tamils: CPI
New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Apprehending orchestrated demographic changes in Sri Lanka''s Tamil majority areas, the CPI today asked the Indian government to press the Rajapakse dispensation for a time-bound devolution of powers to the Tamils.
India must ask Lanka for more powers to Tamils: CPI
.....continued....
It also demanded a peaceful political settlement to the ethnic conflict in the island nation and passed a resolution to observe All India Solidarity with Sri Lankan Tamils Day on July 8, 2011.
"There is a threat of demographic changes in Sri Lanka which is against the interest of Sri Lankan Tamils. It is an issue which concerns India, we have lots of Sri Lankan refugees living in India," CPI leader D Raja said here today.
He was interacting with reporters after meeting External Affairs Minister S M Krishna here .
The party has also demanded an open trial of war crimes in Lanka. A party delegation will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue.
"India has ethical and moral responsibility to speak out for the interest of Sri Lankan Tamils and urge upon the Rajapakse government to come forward with a time bound program for devolution of powers and find a political solution for the Sri Lankan Tamils," Raja said.
Raja said the UN Secretary General''s expert committee has come out with a credible report on war crimes in Lanka against the Tamils.
Sri Lanka says Channel 4 documentary is a vicious campaign against the country
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 21, Colombo: The documentary on Sri Lanka's war aired by Britain's Channel 4 television station on June 14 is a part of vicious politically motivated campaign against Sri Lanka, the External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris has said.
Addressing the media Tuesday at the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo, Prof. Peiris has said the country is seeing an onslaught on economic progress and the action has shifted from the battlefields to the field of diplomacy and international relations.
"The merchants of terror who wanted to destroy this country, its territorial integrity were defeated. They are now doing everything they possibly can to scuttle the efforts that Sri Lanka is making under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to put the country on the fast track to economic and social development," Prof. Peiris has added.
The Minister's comments come a day after the former foreign ministers of Britain and France called for the international community to act on the United Nation Secretary-General's Expert Panel report.
Referring to the call by David Miliband of Britain and Bernard Kouchner of France, the Minister has said the two were acting on biased and erroneous information.
The Minister has told the media that the Defence Ministry and Sri Lanka's own investigative body, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission are investigating the Channel 4 video footage independently.
"It is well within their scope to find the appropriate mechanism to best conduct their investigations," the Minister has added.
Prof. Peiris, addressing the issue of summoning of the President by a US Federal Court on a civil suit, has said there is a concerted attempt by certain elements overseas to prevent President traveling and addressing the world to present the real situation in Sri Lanka.
"A court in a country cannot summons a President who is elected by citizens twice in a sovereign country," he has said.
President Rajapaksa will not be deterred by these attempts, and he will travel whenever and wherever it is necessary to represent the country, Prof. Peiris said.
Prof. Peiris has added that Sri Lanka maintains the warmest possible relations with every country and appreciated the strong support Sri Lanka received from Russia, China, and Spain at the recently concluded International economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
British MPs are bought and sold by the LTTE Tamil Diaspora in UK for pennies on the pound like cattle on auction!
British Parliament has descended into the gutter!
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Another round of SL bashing in UK Parliament today
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
June 21, 2011
A section of British politicians, heavily dependent on the pro-LTTE elements for re-election, is throwing its full weight behind war crime charges targeting Sri Lanka, with yet another panel discussion now scheduled to take place today (22) at the Inter-Parliamentary Union room in the House of Commons.
Government sources told The Island that the UK-based LTTE rump had urged Tamil voters to pressure their MPs to participate in Sri Lanka bashing.
Sri Lankan government sources said that the Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and the London-headquartered Amnesty International would endorse ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ telecast by Channel 4 on June 14, at today’s meeting. The panel will include, Ann Clwyd, MP, Chairperson of PHRG, Alistair Burt, Foreign Office Minister and Yolanda Foster, Sri Lanka Researcher, Amnesty International.
Alistair Burt is expected to reiterate his recent threat to the effect that Sri Lanka should be ready to face the consequences unless it responded positively to the war crimes allegations before the end of this year.
Today’s discussion will be chaired by Jonathan Miller, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Channel 4 News, which produced ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’, while the producer Callum Macrae will be among the panelists.
External Affairs Ministry sources said that the former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Bernard Kouchner, too, have pledged their support for a war crimes probe. They have issued a statement in the US calling for action against Sri Lanka.
Sources said that Miliband and Kouchner (2007 – 2010), in late April 2009, made an abortive bid to force President Mahinda Rajapaksa to call off the offensive. Sources said that Sri Lanka should be grateful to WikiLeaks for leaking a US diplomatic missive (originating from London) which revealed the then Foreign Secretary Miliband playing politics with the Sri Lankan issue to win over the Tamil Diaspora electorate.
Once again the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka is FAILING THE NATION by presenting FALSE ANALOGIES & SITTING ON THE WRONG FENCE!
The ISSUE is not whether one is Christian/Sinhala/Tamil FIRST, but whether or not one is a PATRIOTIC Sri Lankan citizen FIRST, irrespective of religion or race.
Patriotism and allegiance to the motherland should come before religion and race considerations.
Those who sit on the fence hemming and hawing, trying to please both law abiders and law breakers equally, and pontificating about religion while the nation is buned by terrorists, are unpatriotic people.
In this regard, the record of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka leaves much to be desired.
It is HIGH TIME the Catholic Church CHANGED ITS POLICIES unabashedly in favour of PATRIOTISM, and disciplined Church Members who forgot that their FIRST DUTY is to the Motherland ... and to NOTHING ELSE!
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Faith can build bridges across the vast divide
CatholicLeader.com
June 26, 2011
SRI LANKA (ACN News): The leader of Catholics in Sri Lanka has said the Church has a crucial role to play in helping to bring healing after the country's bloody civil war.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo said that, although Catholics were only a minority on the island, they were in a unique position to help promote reconciliation between Sri Lanka's two ethnic groups.
Speaking just over two years after the war ended, Cardinal Ranjith stressed how the Church can help to restore trust between Sinhalese and Tamils because there are significant numbers of Catholics in both
communities.
"We must never say we are Sinhalese first and then Christian, we must say we are Christian first and then Sinhalese," he said.
"The same applies to the Tamils also. They must first be Christians, because as Christians we have certain principles that we have got to follow.
"If we do that sincerely, without taking a kind of partisan attitude to our language, then we can build bridges across the divide."
By the time the Colombo-based government's forces secured victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) in May 2009, up to 100,000 people had died in the 25-year civil war.
Amid continued tension between the two ethnic groups, the cardinal described how religious initiatives could help unify Sri Lankans and gave the example of how both Sinhalese and Tamil pilgrims visit the shrine of Our Lady of Madhu.
He said such activities can act "as a catalyst, as an example (that) people can live together in our faith".
"We have to be a witness, not so much through words but through actions - the way we live with one another," he said.
"So, since we are Christians, even though we may be Sinhalese and Tamils, it is essential that ... we try to build fraternity as much as possible - and understanding - and then this is the way we would tell others (that) Christians have no problems with race and language.
"We can unite, so you can also unite with each other."
Faith can build bridges across the vast divide
.....continued......
In a total population of 20 million, Christians in Sri Lanka are eight per cent and are spread across both Tamil and Sinhalese-dominated areas of the country.
Cardinal Ranjith said that, before the war, seminary studies helped to break down the divide as students from both ethnic groups learnt together.
"We had very good friendships across the border," he said.
"Some of us who studied together still know each other and this is not a problem for us because it is our faith that unites us together."
But the cardinal said he regretted that Tamil and Sinhalese seminarians no longer trained together as much as before.
"Unfortunately due to this war the northern diocese had to erect a new seminary for their own students, which was unfortunate because what is necessary is that we unite together," he said.
However, he said he has collaborated with Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jafna diocese, where the northern seminary is based, and is sending seminarians from the Archdiocese of Colombo to study philosophy there.
"These students are Sinhalese, (but) they are in the north, they are studying Tamil. I want them to study both languages (so that they are fluent in both of them)," Cardinal Ranjith said.
"When they come down to Colombo they can be agents of reconciliation and peace among our people."
Weapons cache found
By Supun Dias
DailyMirror.lk
June 22, 2010
A large stock of arms and ammunition including 25 kilograms of C-4 explosives and 35 kilograms of Trinitrotoluene (TNT) were detected by the security forces during search operations at Vannivilankulam, Monarawewa, Chawa and Mullaitivu.
Six-anti personal mines, three-anti tank mines, 15-Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), one-81 mm mortar bomb, 10 kilograms of cordite rods, 21-122 mm artillery rounds, two claymore mines, two-60 mm mortar bombs, 10 electric detonators, 10 electric mines and 21 hand grenades were also detected on Sunday.
During search operations in the East, security forces detected 11-anti personal mines, one hand grenade, two-40 mm grenade launchers, one RPG, two-60 mm mortar bombs, 19 rounds of Multi Purpose Machine Gun (MPMG) ammunition, 53-12 bore empty shot gun cartridges, 76 lead balls and one shot gun from Thirukkovil, Thampiddi, Karawegalla, Kiran, Meeraodei and Panichayadi.
Meanwhile, de-mining groups recovered 326 anti personal mines and 13 electric mines from Mahilankulam, Puliyadimuruppu, Palamoddei, Marathamadu and Kokkutoduval areas.
Five lorries with explosives seized
By Suraj A Bandara
DailyNews.lk
June 22, 2011
Vavuniya Police arrested eight men along with five lorries loaded with high explosives being transported with iron rods.
The lorries with the explosives were checked by the police while they were being transported from Jaffna to Colombo.
According to police, the iron rods belonged to government buildings and they were transported without any authority. The lorry operators did not possess any legal document or licence to transport the iron debris.
“The main suspect among those arrested is wanted in connection with illegally transporting explosive materials on many other instances,” Police said.
Wonderful! Vietnam would be a great oil exploration & production partner for Sri Lanka!
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Vietnam interested in oil exploration in Sri Lanka's Mannar Basin
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 22, Colombo: The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, trading as PetroVietnam has expressed interest in exploring oil in the Mannar Basin off the northwest coast of Sri Lanka.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Colombo, Tong Sin Thanh has said that the company which is wholly owned by the Vietnamese central government and has operations in 18 countries is prepared to join in oil exploration in Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador has also said that his country is ready to enhance bilateral relations not only in the oil and gas sector but also in the aviation and tourism fields.
Petrovietnam has been successful in oil and gas exploration and production overseas. At present, the company is investing in 23 oil and gas exploration and production projects all over the world.
Meanwhile, the Russian oil giant Gazprom has also shown interest in investing in the oil exploration in the Mannar Basin. Gazprom is to send a team of experts to Sri Lanka soon to further explore the possibility.
Mannar basin has eight oil and gas exploration blocks and two of them have been granted to China and India.
Sri Lanka has already allowed Cairn Lanka, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian oil giant Cairn India to commence drilling for oil in the Mannar Basin in August 2011.
The Response Should UNAMBIGOUSLY be:
1. No Power will be devolved to any community or any region on a COMMUNAL BASIS. That is a Prescription for Communal Strife and National Disintegration.
2. No Police and Land Powers will be devolved to Provincial Councils.
3. Provincial Councils will be dissolved as administrative entities that are too large relastive to the national government. Large sub-national administrative units that can challege the authority of the national government are inimical to the INTEGRTITY OF THE NATION. Such large administrative entities present barriers to the exercise central Government authority in protecting the nation and developing the national economy without regional barriers.
No sub-national administrative entities larger than Districts and Cities should be allowed.
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Crucial round of talks on Sri Lanka's ethnic issue tomorrow
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 22, Colombo: Another round of talks between the Sri Lankan government and the major Tamil constituent, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is scheduled to be held tomorrow at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
The sources close to TNA say that the round of talks will be crucial and the party expects the government response to power devolution as a solution for the ethnic issue.
Meanwhile, the local English newspaper Daily Mirror said the TNA has threatened to pull out of the talks with the government if it went ahead with appointing a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to find a solution to the North-East conflict.
TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran has told the newspaper that his party rejects the idea put forward by the government as it does not serve any purpose.
He has complained that the party has handed over several proposals such as the release of some 850 long-time political prisoners, providing facilities to IDPs and framing charges or releasing those who are detained, to the government but the government has not taken action on any of those proposals.
The government is represented by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Prof. G.L. Peiris, Rajive Wijesinghe and Sajin Vaas Gunawardhana. MPs R. Sampanthan, the leader of TNA, Suresh Premachandran, Mavai Senathirajah, and A. Sumanthiran represent the TNA.
Apey Dilisena Janma Bhumiyata, Jayawewa!
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Sri Lanka partners with Russia, China
By R. K. Radhakrishnan
TheHindu.com
June 22, 2011
Sri Lanka has invited Russia and China to partner in a slew of new development projects, as it seeks to transform itself into an economic powerhouse over the next decade.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited one of the largest energy companies in the world, the Russia-based Gazprom, to partner in achieving self-sufficiency in petroleum products. Gazprom was very positive. They will be here soon for discussions, said Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga.
Gazprom's major businesses include exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons, and, generation and marketing of heat and electric power. Sri Lanka wants Gazprom (2010 revenue: US $ 117.2 billion) to prospect in the Gulf of Mannar, sell LNG to Sri Lanka and set up a refinery so that Sri Lanka can conserve precious foreign exchange.
Mr. Weeratunga said there was no decision yet on which blocks would be allotted to Gazprom and these would be discussed once the team from the Russian oil major came to the negotiating table. Indian oil giants ONGC and Cairn India have already been allowed to prospect the Gulf of Mannar for oil. Petronas, the Malaysia-based oil major, has also expressed interest, officials here said.
Russia and Sri Lanka have also decided to establish direct flights. From September 15, Sri Lankan will fly directly to Moscow and Aeroflot will follow suit soon.
Tea is Sri Lanka's largest export to the CIS countries. Mr. Rajapaksa impressed upon the Russian and Kazakhstan delegation, when he met them on the sidelines of the St. Petersberg Economic Forum, to rationalise tax structures so that Sri Lankan tea would be cheaper in these markets.
Both countries assured they would hold discussions with other member states and decide on the issue.
China will begin work on the second phase of the Hambantota Port soon. China is working on many infrastructure projects, including roads, railways and ports. China would also take up work on the nearly 130-km southern railway track from Matara to the pilgrimage town of Katargama. Work on the first phase of the project would begin soon, said Mr. Weeratunga.
Sri Lanka to establish an Atomic Energy Regulatory Council
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 23, Colombo: Sri Lanka is planning to amend its Atomic Energy Act of 1969 to include a provision to establish an Atomic Energy Regulatory Council.
The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved a proposal submitted by the Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a Bill to establish the proposed Atomic Energy Regulatory Council.
According to the government, the current act enacted in 1969 needs to be amended to address the introduction of nuclear power generation technology in the country and also to address the security concerns over radioactive sources and to deal with radiation emergencies.
The government last September approved the Atomic Energy Authority to conduct a pre-feasibility study of using nuclear energy as a viable option for power generation beyond 2020 with technical corporation of the Agency.
The government says with the close proximity of the country to the nuclear power stations in South India, Sri Lanka needs to establish an independent nuclear regulatory arm in keeping with advice from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Minister Ranawaka told the 54th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held in Vienna last year that the government is upgrading the Atomic Energy Authority Act No. 19 to meet the present and future requirements in the fields of nuclear power generation, nuclear terrorism, environmental protection and nuclear safety and security.
US$ 1.5 billion financial assistance from China for Sri Lanka's infrastructure projects
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 23, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government announced Thursday that China has agreed to provide financial assistance of US$1.5 billion for the country's major infrastructure projects in the next three years.
A government press release said "China Development Bank Corporation has agreed to provide financial assistance in a sum of US$ 1.5 billion within 03 years for the construction of roads, bridges, water supply schemes and also for irrigation and power."
The Cabinet has approved a proposal submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa allowing the Ministry of Finance and Planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the purpose with the China Development Bank Corporation.
However, the government did not announce the loan conditions.
China has been the largest donor to Sri Lanka even surpassing the Asian development bank (ADB) and World Bank with providing aids for the major infrastructure projects in the country including the Norochcholai coal power plant, Southern port, and second airport in Hambanthota.
Gold is available freely for purchase, particularly in Persian Gulf countries.
Therefore, why was it necessary to smuggle gold via Sri Lanka into India, other than to avoid information transmittal to security agencies.
Is this linked to Moslem terrorism against India?
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Four Sri Lankan nationals arrested; gold seized
TheHindu.com
June 24, 2011
Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday seized 1,867.5 grams of gold biscuits and jewellery worth Rs.42.4 lakh. Four Sri Lankan nationals were arrested in this regard.
C. Rajan, Additional Director General, DRI, Chennai, said the arrests followed specific information that Sri Lankan nationals arrived in Chennai with smuggled gold from Colombo to Thiruvananthapuram. From there they came to Chennai by road and checked in a hotel in Mannady. The officials entered the room in which they were staying. They were identified as Mohammed Susan Akbar, Faseel Mohammed, Faisal Mohammed and Mohammed Fasran.
When the authorities conducted a search, they found a black coloured insulation wrapped packets kept concealed in socks of Faisal Mohammed from where they seized six foreign marked gold biscuits, weighing 600 grams.
The officials seized another packet from Faseel Mohammed, which was found to contain a gold biscuit, a white-coated gold bracelet and a white-coated gold chain, totally weighing 342 grams.
From Fasran, the authorities seized three gold biscuits with foreign markings, a white-coated gold ring totally weighing 346 grams. From Akbar the authorities seized six gold bangles, white-coated crude gold bracelet, two white-coated gold rings totally weighing 579.05 grams, he said.
The four Sri Lankan nationals admitted to the DRI authorities that they concealed the gold in their body and managed to give a slip to the Customs authorities at the Thiruvananthapuram airport and reached Chennai.
Shavendra Nullifies Channel-4 in New York.
Translated from Sinhalese from an article that appeared in the Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina’s online edition of June 23, 2011, by Keerthi Warnakulasuriya.
Attempts to portray the Sri Lankan Army as “war criminals” by groups with vested interests, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a group called Crime Group Society at a meeting at the Church Center of the United Nations in New York had been effectively nullified by Major Genral Shavendra Silva, who had exposed the fabrications that the tailor-made video (for the Tamil refugee lobby), and brought it into real perspective.
During the question and answer session that followed the screening of the Channel-4 video to Diplomats, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Palitha Kohona had introduced Maj. General Silva, as the most suitable person to address the audience. Observers note that the Director of the purported ‘documentary’ Mr. Callum McCrae, had become visibly uncomfortable with the appearance of Maj. General Silva.
“Channel-4’s video shows the Sri Lankan Air Force bombing a forest region where terrorists were hiding. But the subsequent ‘casualties’ that were shown in the video are shown in a vast open area. Channel-4’s narrator claims that these pictures were obtained through the United Nations satellites. But, at the end of the video, the narrator contradicts himself and says that the scenes depicted were obtained from the Sri Lankan Air Force”, the General has said. “This are serious distortion of real facts by Channel-4” the General has added.
“Also, the ‘innocent journalist’ Damilvani, portrayed by Channel-4 as killed by the army, was actually a terrorist cadre” said the General. “Damilvani had used several different aliases. We have a recorded statement from Damilvani’s sister who has said that after her divorce, Damilvani had “disappeared” from England without a trace.” Further, he added “Investigations have shown that she came to Sri Lanka on a six-month visa, and had received ‘training’ as a terror-cadre and was sent to the front lines.” Subsequently, the General said that “the Army is in the possession of videos showing a seriously-injured Damilvani being treated in a makeshift terrorist hospital.” “She was a terrorist, and she was injured and killed in a battle with the Sri Lankan armed forces.”
A visibly-rattled McCrae had then asked the General “why didn’t you tell about the lessons you learnt to the Presidential commission, the LLRC?”, to which the General has said “I gave evidence to the LLRC, twice! – they are all in the internet.” “It is not my fault that you are completely ignorant of the facts, and this indicates that you have not researched facts properly before rushing to air your ‘documentary’,” added the General.
“Channel-4, while preaching media fairness, has been a victim of anti-Sri Lanka movements (of the Tamil terror-supporting refugee diaspora), and has rushed to air a ‘documentary’ they had obtained from illicit sources without properly researching and verifying facts”, the General had added. This statement had received thunderous applause from the foreign Diplomats who had been present for the airing of the documentary.
Mr. McCrae had been rendered speechless.
Translators note: A further detailed description of this dialog is also available at the Asian Tribune:
In New York – Dirty intentions of Channel 4 video documentary exposed : http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/06/23/new-york-dirty-intentions-channel-4-video-documentary-exposed
One Million March for Gaddafi: Where is this story?
June 23, 2011
One Million March for Gaddafi: Where is this story?. 44719.jpegLast Friday one million Libyans took to the streets of Tripoli to march in favour of their Brother Leader Muammar al-Qathafi and against the criminal precision-terrorism wrought on Libya's population by NATO and the terrorist elements they are protecting. Yet where is this story?
In her interview with Press TV*, the journalist Lizzie Phelan spoke about what she saw on her travels around Libya. What she tells is not propaganda, it is first-hand evidence of the truth inside the country which Muammar al-Qathafi inherited as the poorest nation on Earth, and transformed it into the richest in Africa. Have his enemies done anything of the sort?
In this amazing interview, Lizzie Phelan backs up online reports from Pravda.Ru sources inside Libya that on Friday a mass demonstration in support of Muammar al-Qathafi took place in Tripoli. One million Libyans out of a total population of six million came out into the streets in support of their government and against the counter-revolutionary reactionary Islamist terrorists that NATO is supporting.
This would be the equivalent of a demonstration of ten million people in Britain or France or 50 million people in the USA. Would Cameron, Sarkozy or Obama draw such crowds of supporters? If they got ten times less they'd be letting off fireworks. It shows the measure of these, er...men, beside Colonel Gaddafi.
One Million March for Gaddafi: Where is this story?
.......continued......
She referred to the revolt and disgust felt by ordinary Libyans, something communicated to us by our contacts, namely against the sheer evil of Cameron and Sarkozy and underlined the determination received by Pravda.Ru from sources that in future no contracts should be signed with British or French companies after this terrorist outrage.
"This apology by NATO is an absolute joke. It's the first apology we've had from them in the three months despite the fact that civilians have been dying at the hands of NATO air strikes everyday in the past three months there have been thousands of strikes on the country so they made the apology yesterday on Sunday," she stated, adding that "But again at 2am in the morning there was another attack on the city of Sorman, 130km west of Tripoli where a further fifteen civilians were killed and a further three children were killed."
"In previous weeks we have seen the bombing of al-Nasr university in Tripoli in the daytime where civilians were killed and so these are the military targets that we're seeing them bomb - we're seeing them bomb universities; we're seeing them bomb Friday market street in Tripoli where there is no military site in the area. Friday market street - I've been there - it begins with a GPO post office and ends with a primary school and they bombed four buildings and killed nine civilians including a toddler of four months old."
Phelan also highlighted another point, entirely missed by western media which have treated the Libya story with a disgraceful degree of mismanaged facts, poor journalism and bias, namely the harassment, persecution and slaughter of black Libyans by the Benghazi terrorists and the lies spread by Al Jazeera and others that these were mercenaries. They were not.
Furthermore she spoke of the "unspeakable atrocities" she had witnessed, the tremendous support for the Gaddafi government: "In terms of the tribes in Libya - from my sources I have information that 90% of the tribes in Libya are supportive of the government including the largest tribe in Libya" and the fact that Gaddafi "bent backwards to accommodate opposition forces within the government".
Read this in-depth UN report on Muammar al-Qathafi's humanitarian record:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/16session/A-HRC-16-15.pdf
Photo: Unarmed innocent civilians waving feather dusters and saying "Oh my goodness! Why are they attacking us?"
Interview with Lizzie Phelan, journalist and political activist, London.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185602.html
in
http://www.mathaba.net/news/libya
NATO (Neo-colonialist Alliance of Transnational Oppressors) now Unwilling and the Unable to achieve it's goal of REGIME CHANGE in ILLEGAL WAR AGAINST Libya ... while that "great humanitarian" Puppet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon remains totally silent while Libya is Raped in Public View!
We need an Alternative to the United Nations that is not controlled by this CABAL of Neocolonialist Western Powers!
................
NATO in Libya: Confused Coalition of the Unwilling and Unable
June 23, 2011
Since its air war began in March against Col. Muammar Gaddafi, NATO has flown over 12,000 missions over Libya including 4,000 strike sorties by attack helicopters, missile firing drones, and jet fighters -- most of which against Gaddafi's military redoubts in Tripoli, which have been obliterated and reduced to rubble.
The air armada includes joint NATO operational support from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the U.S. (the latter providing reconnaissance, refueling and missile firing drones consistent with President Obama's decision to play a backseat role in the campaign).
Sounds formidable, but the results have yielded insufficient progress except for a growing battlefield impasse and troublesome divisions within the NATO alliance.
NATO spokesmen boldly declare that Gaddafi's fighting ability has been degraded 50%. And that is likely accurate. There are severe shortages of food, gasoline, and Gadaffi faces defections from his coterie of cronies that are leaving him increasingly isolated.
However, the punishing barrage has failed, so far, to dislodge Gaddafi from his lair, and but for a lucky missile strike there is no sign that Gaddafi is packing his bags.
Why not?
Now in its 14th week, why hasn't this formidable NATO air armada accomplished whatever mission it secretly conceived (which still remains a murky mystery to the rest of us) that originally was supposed to last only a few weeks against the likes of an isolated, degraded and demoralized regime?
Deconstructing the causes for NATO's Libyan travails does not require resort to rocket science.
NATO in Libya: Confused Coalition of the Unwilling and Unable
.......continued 1.......
First, the most formidable military alliance in history faces severe internal divisions and a shortage of will and power over Libya. On June 8, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reproached NATO's major military alliance holdouts -- Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Poland and Germany for failing to pony up and join the rest of the NATO alliance in active air combat operations over Libya. Almost two weeks later after this Brussels summit, the finger pointing is growing as the culprit countries collectively remain AWOL -- hemming and hawing while the rest of the Alliance's reputation on which their own defense depends takes an undeserved body blow.
And then just a few days ago, Britain's air chief went uncharacteristically public expressing fear that the Britain's own defense face "serious consequences" if the air campaign were to continue. He was unceremoniously rebuked by Prime Minister Cameron, who declared that Britain was fully committed to the Libyan mission "...as long as is necessary and that time is on our side, not Gaddafi's."
Just today, Italy called for a suspension of the air campaign to permit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Libya's civilians who confront an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.
How ironic, since UN Resolution 1973 authorized the use of all means necessary to protect Libya's civilians, and lo and behold, the over-extended and over-timed NATO offensive appears to be having the unintended consequence of exacerbating the very humanitarian crisis it was intended to relieve if the Italian foreign minister's assertion is accurate.
Second, the White House is dithering and has largely abandoned its misdirected initial enthusiasm for the project, and just does not want to step up the level of its military involvement as the Administration entraps itself in a domestic Congressional vs. Executive branch quarrel over war powers. The Pentagon brass have made it clear they have no stomach for the Libyan enterprise, much less to step in refill a NATO vacuum when NATO is not uppermost in the minds of military commanders dealing with Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, etc.
The few NATO European combatants involved assert that without increased American air power support and command coordination the air campaign cannot force a dramatic shift in the order of battle. But with increasing Congressional criticism now checkmating any inclination by the White House to get off the dime, it is unlikely that the U.S. will do more than it is doing now -- half in/half out.
Third, other than bombing Gadaffi's redoubts hoping for that lucky strike, there is simply no NATO/Arab League military strategy consistent with the UN mandate in place to enable the Libyan rebels to propel their way to Tripoli anytime soon to do the job that NATO should not be doing itself (i.e., taking the regime down).
Without more training, support, supply and actual NATO boots on the ground (mainly French and Egyptian and certainly not American) the rebels just do not have the military wherewithal to confront Gadaffi's decaying military. They have proven unable to effectively leverage their battleground gains.
NATO in Libya: Confused Coalition of the Unwilling and Unable
.......continued 2.....
Fourth, the most gung ho European combatant -- France -- has provided inadequate leadership to the entire affair. While France has been one of the most active participants in the air campaign, the French have utterly failed to convince their key European NATO allies to do any heavy lifting, and the French government has been quietly retreating from its Libyan brash bravado as erroneous air strikes claim civilian casualties. Sarkozy, not Obama, really owns this war... he is just renting it.
Fifth, Gadaffi has money... lots of cash on hand to continue to buy allegiances, particularly tribal allegiances and mercenary support that is sustaining his fight. NATO gravely underestimated how many billions of dollars Gadaffi had stashed away from which to sustain a long, drawn out military operation.
I have long argued that Gaddafi and his fate is a foolish strategic distraction for the U.S. and that we have no business risking American lives or treasure in Libya since the future of Gaddafi's regime is largely a European and Arab world matter.
But now that the very reputation of NATO's military acuity is on the line, not least because of a lack of a clear strategy, well-defined goals, intractable European divisions, and American hesitation, NATO faces a growing crisis of confidence. These divisions do not augur well for NATO's future, and they surely will have far more consequences than Gadaffi's longevity if the spectacle of disunity becomes the hallmark of the Libyan campaign .
And yet, the U.S. -- the most important anchor tenant in the alliance -- has developed a remarkable lack of enthusiasm to find a better strategy to shelter NATO from the public spectacle of Gaddafi defiantly playing chess to adoring television cameras. American reproaches to European NATO fence-squatters for failing to ante up are not going to preserve the Alliance's integrity.
President Obama recently tried to convince German Chancellor Merkle to ante up...but she balked.
No one would have predicted that NATO's own status as a unified alliance lies in the balance because of the half-hearted American and European commitments.
The operational inadequacy over Libya's skies highlights the limits of NATO's military capacity when the Yanks are in the bleachers.
All of this is to say that as much as I disagree with the entire enterprise, France, the UK and the more enthusiastic Arab participants in the operation, such as Egypt, the UAE and Qatar are going to have to come up with a better strategy to finish the job they were determined to start.
It is quite clear that air power alone may not break the stalemate since the U.S. is not going to step back in and ratchet up its role unless President Obama reverses course.
Perhaps the still allusive negotiated settlement between Gadaffi and his antagonists is yet possible, and there have been many failed attempts so far to reach one. But as long as the rebel leadership insists that Gadaffi must leave the country and Gadaffi refuses to do so, the negotiations will remain, like the military campaign, at a stalemate.
If no negotiation will yield a settlement and the impasse continues, a new, more capable "coalition of the willing" will have to be reconstructed possibly with European and Arab boots on the ground to back up a rebel advance on Tripoli.
Better that than abiding by the rebels' decaying under Gadaffi's cunning relentless will to survive and all of the dangers that poses to the rebels, their families, and those who failed to finish the job they were so anxious to start. If Gadaffi is not gone by mid-summer, this may be the only remedy left to fend off an inglorious NATO and UN defeat.
SL Diaspora in Italy requests UNSG: ‘Ignore fake Darusman Report’
DailyNews.lk
June 24, 2011
Sri Lanka Freedom Party president in Italy D G Kumarasinghe, Sri Lanka Association president Ananda Seneviratne and SLFP Women’s Front president Visaka Rajasingha, who are members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora in Italy in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon state:
“Your Excellency,
We, the members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora living in Italy, comprising Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, together with Italians are submitting a special appeal to Your Excellency requesting that you not take any further action on the Darusman Report. We also wish to mention that as signatories to the petition, we support, wholeheartedly, your re-election bid to continue your work for another term as the Secretary General of the august body. We believe our Government in Sri Lanka and all other Governments, who are friends of Sri Lanka, would support your candidature to ensure your re-election.
We, the Sri Lankan Diaspora, resident in Italy, are pacifist. We believe that all war is evil, whether it is endorsed by convention or moral obligation or by pseudo ratification from anybody as it entails human suffering and civilian casualties.
History is replete with such atrocities suffered by human beings and civilians due to wars, whether they were the Great Punic wars between Rome and Carthage or the recent drone attacks in Libya, where in the capital, Tripoli, several children, women and civilians were killed, or whether in the name of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction invading a sovereign state of Iraq even without the sanction of your Security Council which resulted in the death of from 101,360 -111,720 civilians. Your esteemed predecessor Kofi Annan unequivocally stated and admitted that invasion of Iraq by US and UK forces was illegal. Similarly, in Afghanistan, after the invasion, the civilian casualties have been rising and this has caused many children and women to die in attacks carried out by aircraft, perceived to be targeting terrorists groups. Your Excellency, most wars are wars of invasion. The recent civilian uprisings in the Middle East are against dictatorships where people are yearning for democracy.
The Sri Lankan ethnic conflict was not an invasion, neither was it a war nor was it an offensive directed at removing a megalomaniacal dictator, who had caused nearly 100,000 people to die due to his acts of terrorism. We have enjoyed independence and democracy for the last 63 years. Our nation is one of the longest surviving democracies in Asia. We have enjoyed universal franchise for more than 100 years. This peaceful environment and democratic traditions that have lasted for nearly hundred years and ethnic harmony which lasted for centuries were shattered by a megalomaniac terrorist who ruled the North and the East and his terrorist outfit was described by the Central Intelligence Agency in America as the most ruthless and most powerful terrorist organization in the world. This terrorist introduced the concept of the suicide bombers and perfected the suicide kit. His knowledge and expertise in terrorism was exported to other major terrorist groups in the world including Al-Qaida and Taliban. After the introduction of the suicide bomber, world peace had been shattered. It has engulfed the Middle East and other parts of the civilized world. The world is without a strategic answer to the concept of human beings willing to kill themselves for a cause and the whole strategy of winning a war by killing the enemy without killing yourself has been rejected by this ingenious method of terror introduced by this terrorist and the civilians had been the main target of these suicide missions.
SL Diaspora in Italy requests UNSG: ‘Ignore fake Darusman Report’
.....continued 1....
We Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those living in Palermo, Reggio Emila and Lecce, have come to Italy as refugees to escape the terror unleashed by the megalomaniacal terrorist Velupillai Prabhakaran, who killed anyone who refused to obey his orders. Our children were taken as soldiers. Together, with our Sri Lankan Sinhalese brethren, we suffered 30 years in a veritable hell hole with human bombs, car bombs and landmines killing and maiming more than 100,000 Sri Lankans, irrespective of their ethnicity. No Government, International Agency or NGO would dare to identify and point the finger at Velupillai Prabhakaran and make an appeal to the UN or any other body to arrest and bring him to justice for the crimes against humanity or war crimes. Instead, many of these agencies purportedly and covertly supported the organization though it was prohibited as an illegal outfit and the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. Those who are trying to accuse the Sri Lankan Government today are the very people who supported the terrorists killing civilians with impunity, killing women and children only made headlines in Sri Lanka and did not make any impact the world over. All Presidents of our country, out of desperation to end this conflict and bring peace and happiness to the citizens of our country, strived to engage in political dialogue with the terrorist. The result was that they were killed or maimed along with other political leaders who believed in settling the dispute by discussion. The killing of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did not warrant these organizations to call for an international inquiry or frame charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity. Instead, the Western media refused to call V. Prabhakaran or his gang as terrorists.
Excellency, for thirty years we have suffered in silence. Our mothers, sisters and children died due to terrorism, our political leaders were assassinated. The only path left for some of us was to become refugees in another country. Thousands left for India. Thousands migrated to other countries expecting liberation from terrorism. Today we have been liberated. Our citizens in the North and East have been moved out from Camps and they are breathing a sigh of relief as their children are safe from being conscripted as child soldiers. Everyone is cherishing the democratic ideals and is in pursuit of happiness. Most Sri Lankans in Italy are making arrangements to return to Sri Lanka and enjoy the newly found freedom. Today, there is unbelievable racial harmony, camaraderie and fellowship amongst the Sinhalese, Tamils and the Muslims. Sri Lankans have forgotten the deep scars and wounds inflicted during the ethnic conflict. Even those who suffered during the last stages of the war found new found happiness in democracy where racial tension and hatred have healed and are being healed. Ethnic violence has been relegated to history and we are living as brethren as one great family.
SL Diaspora in Italy requests UNSG: ‘Ignore fake Darusman Report’
.......continued 2.....
Therefore, any attempt by any group to dig into the past and open the wounds that have been healing would create suspicion amongst the various ethnic groups and would only result in bringing back the demons of the past, founded upon ethnic diversity, racial hatred and terrorism. Therefore, as a man of great learning and a man who has been elevated to one of the most important positions in the World and further being an Asian, we are assured you would not consider creating divisions among the peaceful environment that exists in Sri Lanka. We believe in the remarks you have made that you have no power or any authority to take any further action on a report by an advisory committee appointed by you. We also take this opportunity to thank the Rome-based UN Agencies such as FAO and IFAD who had helped during this conflict and other UN Agencies (UNHCR) for the assistance to refugees. Sri Lanka, as the first and the only country in the world which has defeated terrorism, has to be supported in its endeavour to bring back civilian administration to the fore.
We expect Your Excellency to support the initiative of the Government to rehabilitate the hardcore terrorists and resettle the displaced people in their homes and help the Government to expedite the demining process. This would be the greatest contribution made by you as a Secretary General to ensure long lasting peace, brotherhood, and equanimity prevails amongst the various ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.
Assuring you of our highest consideration.”
Negotiation with the TNA regarding "Tamil Rights" leads to demands for Negotiations with the SLMC regarding "Muslim Rights".
The SLMC feels compelled to make these demands, because it fears that the Tamils will get special rights they will not have! That illustrates the danger of granting special privileges not available to all to some people only on communal bases!
Tomorrow, Sinhala parties will want to join the Negotiations for "Sinhala Rights".
"Religious Rights" and "Language Rights" by community and by region next perhaps?
And so, we slide down the slippery slope of devolution of power on communal bases .. on towards destruction of Sri Lanka as a ONE UNITED NATION. Once you accept in principle the idea of devolution of power on communal bases .. there will be no end to it!
THIS IS NOT THE WAY!
There should be NO NEGOTIATIONS with COMMUNAL GROUPS regarding devolution of political power in Sri Lanka. Power should be devolved only at the BROADEST LEVEL ... the national level ... including ALL CITIZENS!
Power should not be devolved to any ethnic community, but to the Sri Lankan people as a whole ... as a SINGLE NATION. That national level of power sharing is already in force under a national government that is ELECTED TO POWER by ALL PEOPLE of the country.
GOSL, just TELL the TNA, the SLMC, and all other COMMUNAL groups that demand power that Sri Lanka's POLICY OF GOVERNANCE is not to devolve power to ethnic, liguistic, religious communities separately from the power citizens have as Sri Lankan citizens, and END these "Negotiations"!
Tell them that ALL POWER is won through elections to Parliament and sub-national entities will not be granted Police and Land powers to set themselves up as independent entities within Sri Lanka.
FINAL! PERIOD!
...................
SLMC pushes for tripartite devolution talks with UPFA & TNA
By Shamindra Ferdinando
June 24, 2011
The SLMC is pushing for immediate expansion of post-war bilateral talks between the SLFP-led government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on devolution of powers.
The SLMC says the Muslims should be represented at the talks and the failure on the part of the government to accommodate the party wouldn’t help ongoing national reconciliation efforts.
An aide to Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem told The Island that the SLMC leader had discussed the issue with Japanese Ambassador in Colombo Kunio Takahashi at the minister’s residence this week. The official quoted Hakeem as having told Kunio that it would be President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s prerogative to address the issue.
SLMC pushes for tripartite devolution talks with UPFA & TNA
.....continued .....
Minister Hakeem said that the Muslim factor couldn’t be ignored. The Kandy District MP was responding to a query by Ambassador Kunio. The SLMC contested the last parliamentary polls on the UNP ticket but switched its allegiance to President Rajapaksa over a year to support the controversial 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which did away with the time-limit on the presidency.
Hakeem said that there was a friendly exchange of ideas between his party and the TNA.
Minister Hakeem and Ambassador Kunio discussed the forthcoming Asian African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) meet in Colombo.The five-day meet will begin on Monday (June 27). The Justice Minister said that the government of Sri Lanka appreciated a decision by Japanese national Justice Hisashi Owada, President of the International Court of Justice to attend the Colombo meet.
Minister Hakeem and Ambassador Kunio the role played by the Government of Japan during the previous UNP-led UNF administration, through Japanese Special Peace Envoy Yashushi Akashi.
Minister Hakeem on behalf of the government thanked Japan for continuing assistance to Sri Lanka in spite of recent tsunami tragedy, which caused massive economic losses on the Japanese economy. The Minister appreciated Japanese support for ongoing post-war recovery project, particularly restoration of the government hospital at Kilinochchi.
Bloggers,
A new article has been posted. PLease shift over to it. Thx.
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