Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sri Lanka Local Government Authorities Election 23.07.2011 Results

Department of Elections, Sri Lanka
SLelections.gov.lk

COMPLETE FINAL RESULTS
Sri Lanka Time, 7.30AM, Sunday, 24.07.2011


Ampara DISTRICT
Karaitivu Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     4,284     52.71%     4
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     2,364     29.08%     1
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,134     13.95%     --
Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal     152     1.87%     --
Independent Group 2     143     1.76%     --
United National Party     50     0.62%     --
Independent Group 1     1     0.01%     --

Thirukkovil Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     6,865     72.87%     07
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,249     13.26%     01
United National Party     810     8.60%     01
Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal     497     5.28%     --


Anuradhapura DISTRICT
Nuwaragam Palatha Central Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     24,473     79.39%     12
United National Party     5,713     18.53%     02
People's Liberation Front     640     2.08%     --

Rajanganaya Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     13,947     77.85%     08
United National Party     3,344     18.67%     01
People's Liberation Front     410     2.29%     --
Patriotic National Front     214     1.19%     --

Galnewa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     16,350     79.17%     8
United National Party     3,061     14.82%     1
Independent Group     705     3.41%     --
People's Liberation Front     536     2.60%     --


Colombo DISTRICT 
Kaduwela Municipal Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     59,987     66.8%     20
United National Party     24,897     27.72%     7
People's Liberation Front     3,709     4.13%     1
Jana Setha Peramuna     1,142     1.27%     --
Independent Group     68     0.08%     --

Kesbewa Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     38,112     53.74%     10
United National Party     29,652     41.81%     6
People's Liberation Front     2,926     4.13%     1
Independent Group     183     0.26%     --
Jana Setha Peramuna     23     0.03%     --
Patriotic National Front     23     0.03%     --

Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     62,332     78.55%     19
People's Liberation Front     10,135     12.77%     3
Independent Group 2     4,127     5.20%     1
Independent Group 5     1,343     1.69%     --
Independent Group 3     1,064     1.34%     --
Jana Setha Peramuna     211     0.27%     --
Independent Group 1     100     0.13%     --
Independent Group 4     41     0.05%     --

Galle DISTRICT
Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     19,954     58.54%     10
United National Party     10,427     30.59%     4
Independent Group     2,539     7.45%     1
People's Liberation Front     1,100     3.23%     --
Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputhra Pakshaya     56     0.16%     --
Ruhunu Janatha Party     10     0.03%     --

Baddegama Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     19,954     58.54%     10
United National Party     10,427     30.59%     4
Independent Group     2,539     7.45%     1
People's Liberation Front     1,100     3.23%     --
Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputhra Pakshaya     56     0.16%     --
Ruhunu Janatha Party     10     0.03%     --

Akmeemana Pradeshiya Sabha 
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     22,743     70.80%     10
United National Party     7,814     24.32%     3
People's Liberation Front     1,567     4.88%     1


Gampaha DISTRICT
Minuwangoda Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     3,162     63.8%     08
United National Party     1,523     31.52%     03
People's Liberation Front     95     1.97%     --
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     48     0.99%     --
Independent Group     02     0.04%     --
United Democratic Front     02     0.04%     --

Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     54,363     72.34%     17
United National Party     18,124     24.12%     05
People's Liberation Front     2,493     3.32%     1
Jana Setha Peramuna     107     0.14%     --
United Democratic Front     62     0.08%     --


Jaffna DISTRICT
Valvetithurai Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     2,416     76.36%     07
United People's Freedom Alliance     653     20.64%     02
United National Party     93     2.94%     --
Independent Group     02     0.06%     --

Point Pedro Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     3,263     72.62%     7
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,107     24.64%     2
United National Party     115     2.56%     --
Independent Group     7     0.16%     --
People's Liberation Front     1     0.02%     --

Chavakachcheri Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     4,307     76.84%     9
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,232     21.98%     2
United Socialist Party     38     0.68%     --
United National Party     28     0.5%     --

Karainagar Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     1,781     40.74%     3
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,667     38.13%     1
United National Party     921     21.07%     1
People's Liberation Front     3     0.07%     --

Kayts Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     2,833     77.45%     4
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     805     22.01%     1
United National Party     20     0.55%     --

Delft Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,609     84.33%     08
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     216     11.32%     01
United National Party     83     4.35%     --

Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     3,973     63.74%     8
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     2,221     35.63%     3
United National Party     39     0.63%     --

Valikamam West Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     12,117     77.78%     11
United People's Freedom Alliance     3,041     19.52%     3
United National Party     420     2.70%     --

Valikamam North Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     12,065     70.71%     15
United People's Freedom Alliance     4,919     28.83%     6
United National Party     78     0.46%     --

Valikamam South West Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     11,954     72.02%     12
United People's Freedom Alliance     4,428     26.68%     4
United National Party     216     1.30%     --

Valikamam South Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     12,895     74.29%     13
United People's Freedom Alliance     4,027     23.20%     3
United National Party     435     2.51%     --

Valikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     16,763     71.22%     16
United People's Freedom Alliance     6,635     28.19%     5
United National Party     113     0.48%     --
People's Liberation Front     27     0.11%     --

Vadamaradchi South West Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     12,454     81.46%     15
United People's Freedom Alliance     2,522     16.50%     3
United National Party     290     1.90%     --
Independent Group     22     0.14%     --

Point Pedro Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     3,263     72.62%     7
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,107     24.64%     2
United National Party     115     2.56%     --
Independent Group     7     0.16%     --
People's Liberation Front     1     0.02%     --

Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     12,565     75.07%     12
United People's Freedom Alliance     3,161     18.89%     2
United National Party     667     3.98%     1
Independent Group 1     246     1.47%     --
Independent Group 2     97     0.58%     --
People's Liberation Front     2     0.01%     --

Nallur Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     10,207     81.33%     10
United People's Freedom Alliance     2,238     17.83%     2
United National Party     105     0.84%     --


Kaluthara DISTRICT
Agalawatta Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     14,122     72.38%     09
United National Party     5,038     25.82%     02
People's Liberation Front     332     1.7%     --
Independent Group     8     0.04%     --
United Democratic Front     7     0.04%     --
Patriotic National Front     3     0.02%     --


Kandy DISTRICT
Harispattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     19,967     53.89%     11
United National Party     13,892     37.5%     06
Independent Group 3     1,553     4.19%     01
People's Liberation Front     822     2.22%     01
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     644     1.74%     --
United Socialist Party     135     0.36%     --
Independent Group 2     22     0.06%     --
Independent Group 1     15     0.04%     --

Akurana Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     12,763     43.74%     7
United National Party     10,026     34.36%     4
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     6,175     21.16%     3
People's Liberation Front     169     0.58%     --
Independent Group 3     16     0.05%     --
Independent Group 1     11     0.04%     --
Independent Group 2     8     0.03%     --
Independent Group 5     6     0.02%     --
Independent Group 4     5     0.02%     --

Yatinuwara Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     27,921     65.92%     15
United National Party     12,347     29.15%     06
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     1,310     3.09%     01
People's Liberation Front     747     1.76%     --
Independent Group     30     0.07%     --


Kegalle DISTRICT
Kegalle Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     5,845     68.92%     8
United National Party     2,378     28.04%     3
People's Liberation Front     249     2.94%     --
Independent Group     9     0.11%     --
Jana Setha Peramuna     0     0%     --

Warakapola Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     38,302     71.19%     16
United National Party     13,182     24.50%     5
People's Liberation Front     1,393     2.59%     1
Independent Group     925     1.72%     --

Ruwanwella Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     20,734     71.11%     11
United National Party     7,728     26.50%     4
People's Liberation Front     680     2.33%     --
Independent Group     17     0.06%     --

Kilinochchi DISTRICT
Pachchilaipalli Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Tamil United Liberation Front     1,650     55.89%     6
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,184     40.11%     3
United National Party     114     3.86%     --
People's Liberation Front     4     0.14%     --

Karachchi Pradeshiya Sabha
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     18,609     74.80%     15
United People's Freedom Alliance     6,097     24.51%     4
United National Party     133     0.53%     --
People's Liberation Front     39     0.16%     --

Poonakary Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Tamil United Liberation Front     3,827     49.90%     6
United People's Freedom Alliance     3,689     48.10%     4
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     154     2.01%     --


Kurunegala DISTRICT
Giribawa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     11,099     71.75%     7
United National Party     3,745     24.21%     2
People's Liberation Front     620     4.01%     --
Independent Group     4     0.03%     --

Kuliyapitiya Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     34,077     59.85%     14
United National Party     18,816     33.05%     7
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     1,678     2.95%     1
Independent Group 2     1,219     2.14%     --
People's Liberation Front     1,103     1.94%     --
Ekasath Lanka Maha Sabha     16     0.03%     --
Independent Group 3     16     0.03%     --
Independent Group 1     10     0.02%     --

Polgahawela Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     29,238     69.20%     15
United National Party     11,165     26.42%     5
People's Liberation Front     1,797     4.25%     1
Independent Group 1     25     0.06%     --
Eksath Lanka Maha Sabha     17     0.04%     --
Independent Group 2     11     0.03%     --

Mawathagama Pradeshiya Sabha 
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     19,100     64.13%     9
United National Party     9,535     32.01%     4
People's Liberation Front     488     1.64%     --
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     383     1.29%     --
Independent Group 1     179     0.60%     --
The Liberal Party     68     0.23%     --
Independent Group 2     16     0.05%     --
Eksath Lanka Maha Sabha     10     0.03%     --
Jana Setha Peramuna     6     0.02%     --

Matale DISTRICT
Wilgamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     5,792     40.94%     5
Independent Group     4,616     32.62%     2
United National Party     3,741     26.44%     2

Ukuwela Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Aliance     16,390     56.56%     9
United National Party     9,928     34.26%     4
Independent Group 4     1,712     5.91%     1
People's Liberation Front     515     1.78%     --
Independent Group 2     306     1.06%     --
Independent Group 1     109     0.38%     --
Independent Group 3     19     0.07%     --


Matara DISTRICT
Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     19,566     73.41%     09
United National Party     5,018     18.83%     02
People's Liberation Front     1,407     5.28%     01
Independent Group 2     635     2.29%     --
Independent Group 1     17     0.06%     --
The Liberal Party     09     0.03%     --


Moneragala DISTRICT
Siyambalanduwa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     16,193     71.78%     9
United National Party     5,970     26.46%     2
People's Liberation Front     378     1.68%     --
Independent Group     19     0.08%     --

Moneragala Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     16,932     80.92%     08
United National Party     3,115     14.89%     1
Up-Country People's Front     483     2.31%     --
People's Liberation Front     348     1.66%     --
United Socialist Party     40     0.19%     --
Independent Group     6     0.03%     --


Mullaitivu DISTRICT
Thunukkai Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     2,198     71.69%     07
Puravesi Peramuna     847     27.63%     02
United National Party     21     0.68%     --


Nuwara Eliya DISTRICT
Talawakele - Lindula Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     1,988     64.73%     07
United National Party     1,002     32.63%     02
Democratic People's Front     75     2.44%     --
People's Liberation Front     06     0.2%     --


Polonnaruwa DISTRICT
Elehera Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     17,869     81.70%     8
United National Party     2,950     13.49%     1
People's Liberation Front     494     2.26%     --
Independent Group 2     369     1.69%     --
Patriotic National Front     176     0.80%     --
Independent Group 1     13     0.06%     --

Hingurakgoda Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     23,481     77.36%     14
United National Party     5,553     18.30%     3
People's Liberation Front     1,318     4.34%     1

Welikanda Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     12,961     88.22%     8
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress     1,356     9.23%     1
People's Liberation Front     375     2.55%     -- 


Puttalam DISTRICT
Chilaw Urban Council
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     7,298     68.59%     8
United National Party     3,265     30.69%     3
People's Liberation Front     72     0.68%     --
Independent Group     5     0.05%     --

Navagattegama Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     6,567     78.99%     8
United National Party     1,237     14.88%     1
Independent Group     388     4.67%     --
People's Liberation Front     122     1.47%     --

Chilaw Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     23,607     68.37%     12
United National Party     10,532     30.50%     5
People's Liberation Front     390     1.13%     --

Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     35,083     67.77%     16
United National Party     15,936     30.79%     6
People's Liberation Front     700     1.35%     --
Independent Group 5     14     0.03%     --
Independent Group 1     13     0.03%     --
Independent Group 3     11     0.02%     --
Independent Group 2     4     0.01%     --
Independent Group 4     4     0.01%     --


Ratnapura DISTRICT
Embilipitiya Urban Council
 PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     9,497     58.01%     5
United National Party     6,274     38,32%     2
People's Liberation Front     577     3.52%     --
Independent Group 1     10     0.06%     --
Patriotic National Front     5     0.03%     --
Independent Group 3     4     0.03%     --
Independent Group 2     4     0.03%     --

Ratnapura Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     23,399     68.91%     16
United National Party     9,827     28.94%     6
Nawa Sama Samaja Party     420     1.24%     --
People's Liberation Front     299     0.88%     --
Independent Group     12     0.04%     --

Balangoda Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     20,304     69.78%     14
United National Party     8,457     29.07%     5
People's Liberation Front     335     1.15%     --

Weligepola Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     20,593     88.14%     8
Independent Group 1     2,027     8.68%     1
People's Liberation Front     690     2.95%     --
Independent Group 2     55     0.24%     --


Trincomalee DISTRICT
Seruvila Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     4,471     67.83%     7
United National Party     728     11.05%     1
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     649     9.85%     1
Independent Group     623     9.45%     --
People's Liberation Front     120     1.82%     --

Kantale Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     14,270     65.21%     08
United National Party     5,820     26.60%     03
People's Liberation Front     796     3.64%     --
Independent Group 2     693     3.17%     --
Independent Group 1     303     1.38%     --

Trincomalee Town & Gravets Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     8,986     47.96%     5
United People's Freedom Alliance     6,353     33.91%     3
United National Party     2,869     15.31%     1
The Liberal Party     347     1.85%     --
People's Liberation Front     169     0.90%     --
Independent Group     11     0.06%     --

Kuchchaweli Pradeshiya Sabha
PARTY NAME     VOTES OBTAINED     PERCENTAGE     SEATS
United People's Freedom Alliance     8,451     64.70%     6
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi     2,961     22.67%     2
United National Party     1,639     12.55%     1
People's Liberation Front     8     0.06%     --
Independent Group     2     0.02%     --

23 comments:

Ananda-USA said...

Nationwide, the Local Government Elections results,, so far, presage a SWEEP by the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

The Tiger Nominated Agents (TNA or ITAK) party are holding onto most of their seats in the North, although they are losing a considerable number to UPFA candidates.

The sweep by UPFA candidates of the Deft LG in the POPULOUS sJaffna district is exceptional .. will it continue in the rest of Jaffna LGs?

If it does, the TNA will have lost its grip on the MAJORITY of the Tamil people of the North!

In the Mullaitivu District, a small new party called the Puravesi Peramuna has won 2 seats.

Clearly this is Tamil dominated party, but their choice of a non-commmunal Sinhala party name sets a NEW precedent for the Tamil community.

May that trend towards non-communal party names in the Tamil Community PROSPER & GROW ... for it augurs a good future free of communal discord for Sri Lanka.

ONE NATION of ONE PEOPLE sharing ONE DESTINY is our vision for Sri Lanka!

Jayawewa!

Ananda-USA said...

STF unearths weapons

By Supun Dias
DailyMirror.lk
July 23, 2011<a href

The Special Task Force (STF) unearthed a large number of weapons including 56 magazines used for T56 assault rifles and 17 hand grenades during a search operation in the Iranapalai area in Kilinochchi.

Three 81mm mortar shells, six 60 mm mortar shells, 26 rounds of ammunition used for 12.7 mm machine guns, nine T56 pistol grips, eleven mills hand grenades, two LTTE uniforms, two Argus hand grenades and seven T56 gas tubes were recovered during the search operation. The search operation was conducted by a team attached to the Kilinochchi STF camp after receiving information from STF intelligence.

Ananda-USA said...

Shameless Traitor Ranil Wickramasinghe Exposed!

............
Cheerleading for the TNA

Editorial
Island.lk
July 23, 2011, 7.13pm

By the time this column is read, the results of the LG elections would be out for the most part. But even before the election was held, the leader of the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe had given a clear indication of the result expected. Last Thursday, he made a special statement in parliament not on the elections in the south but on the north. In his statement, the leader of the opposition made the following assertions.

a) The polls in the north will have an impact on the whole country and finding a political solution to the national problem will depend on what happens at the local authority elections in the north.

b) The success or failure of the ongoing political processes depends on the manner in which the election is conducted.

c) In 2009, immediately after the war ended and normalcy had not yet been restored, elections to some local bodies in the north were held under conditions which were far from satisfactory. Armed groups roamed openly and the police did not entertain complaints made by opposition. The administration became a part of the campaign.

d) The present election is being held under conditions of normalcy. However, election laws are observed in the breach. There are complaints of intimidation, violence and the misuse of government machinery.

e) Government officials have become a part of the election campaign in the north and tractors, water pumps, agricultural equipment, sewing machines and fishing nets are being distributed in serious breach of the law.

f) The army has got involved in the election campaign and are harassing opposition political candidates and supporters. Security forces personnel were removing posters of opposition party candidates and pasting posters of UPFA candidates. The incident where a dog was killed and its head stuck on the gate of an opposition candidate could not have been done by a Hindu because the God Vairavar used a vehicle drawn by a dog.

While the leader of the opposition expressed much concern over the conduct of the elections in the north, he did not seem as concerned about the elections in the south. Of the 64 local government institutions that went to the polls yesterday, only 23 were in the Tamil majority areas of the north and east. The UNP had absolutely no chance of winning any of those LG institutions. In fact, their horizons in the north and the east would be limited to perhaps winning just one seat each in certain LG institutions, and that too was uncertain.

Ananda-USA said...

Cheerleading for the TNA

.....continued 1.....
It would be a major step forward if the UNP manages to get ten representatives elected in the 23 Tamil majority LG institutions (broken down as follows: 16 in the Jaffna district, three in Kilinochchi, two in Ampara and two in Trincomalee.) Even though the UNP has only a slim chance of getting even a look into the Tamil LG institutions in the north and east, the other 41 institutions however are within the UNP’s ambit. But the UNP leader’s concentration on the north with not a word said about the 41 institutions in the south, the indication was that he was not expecting to win a single institution in the south.

And that is very probably the result that has come in this morning. There were two or three UNP controlled LG institutions among the 64 that went to the polls yesterday, but it is unlikely that the UNP would be able to retain any of them. The Homagama PS will go to the UPFA, the Kuchchaveli PS to the ITAK and the Minuwangoda UC which the UNP does have a chance of retaining, will also most probably have fallen to the UPFA. The last time elections were held for the Minuwangoda UC was in 2006 when the gap between the UNP and the government was much narrower. In subsequent years, the gap widened into a chasm and it will be a very great achievement if they manage to retain control of the Minuwangoda UC.

This was an election held in a limited number of LG institutions and the UNP could, if they really wanted to, have concentrated their forces in a few institutions that they had a chance of winning. For example, the Ukuwela PS and the Wilgamuwa PS in the Matale district would have been prime areas for a concentration of UNP forces. The UNP had a slim chance of winning in the Ukuwela PS. The Wilgamuwa PS would have been impossible for them to win in normal circumstances, but with the rejection of the UPFA list and the reduction of the governing party to supporting an independent list, there would have been no harm in the UNP giving it a go. But by not minding their own business and insisting on minding the TNA’s business the UNP probably dropped the catch in Ukuwela and Wilgamuwa as well. While it is true that the leader of the opposition should speak up in parliament for other opposition parties as well, in the real world, no opposition leader would do that to the exclusion of the interests of his own party.

TNA’s proxies in the south

What becomes clear from RW’s special statement in parliament last Thursday is that he expects the TNA to be the standard bearer of the opposition. As the main opposition party has proved to be incapable of making any headway against the government, and the TNA has a good chance of winning at least 20 of the 23 Tamil LG institutions in the north and east, RW probably thought it is the TNA that has to be given pride of place at this round of elections. There was also the general expectation that with the release of the Chanel 4 video and the UN Secretary General’s expert panel report, the Tamil voter had become overwhelmingly pro TNA and anti-UPFA. So the expectation was of a landslide for the TNA, to a much greater extent than at the previous elections held in the Tamil areas of the north and east since the end of the war.

Ananda-USA said...

Cheerleading for the TNA

.....continued 2.....
After the end of the war, elections were held for the Jaffna MC and the Vavuniya UC, and the people of the north and east voted at the presidential and parliamentary elections and at all these elections, a sharp reduction in the vote of the TNA became manifest. They had 22 MPs in the last parliament but only 12 in the present one. Now with the Channel 4 video and the UNSG’s expert panel report, there is the expectation that the TNA will bounce back to the predominant position they held when the LTTE ruled the roost. RW was obviously trying to help in this process by making that special statement in parliament. Last week, we pointed out that even the JVP’s main interest was not in the south, but in the north and they too were cheering for the TNA. Both the UNP and the JVP have become so marginalized in the southern polity that politics to them has become a spectator sport where they have been reduced to cheering the TNA from the sidelines.

It is quite remarkable that the UNP has not learnt anything from the mistakes of the past. Any gains that the TNA makes in the north will not translate into a victory for either the UNP or the JVP in the south. Quite the opposite may be true in fact. At the presidential elections of 2010, Sarath Fonseka’s defeat was clinched by the TNA’s open support for him. While claiming on the one hand that it was he, and he alone who was responsible for the defeat of the LTTE, Fonseka had as his principle political backers, he who said that he was not fit to command even the Salvation army, he who said that Thoppigala was just a patch of jungle, he who said that the army was claiming to go to Alimankada but in reality only going only up to Pamankada and he who said that any bovine can wage war! R.Sambandan’s presence in the line up completed the bizarre ensemble that had gathered behind Fonseka. The latter was new to politics and did not realize what an odd sight he presented to the public, with such a crew as his principal supporters.

The UNP leader’s claim that the army was engaged in political activities on behalf of the government is obviously an exaggeration. The present government knows better than anyone else that once this contagion of political partisanship is brought into the army, the entire system will be placed in jeopardy. At any election, there will be a few untoward incidents, that is as true of the north as well as the south, of Sri Lanka as well as India, of Tamil Nadu as well as Jaffna. As for handing out goodies during election time, that is something that every government including the UNP government of 1977-94 has done and is one of the givens that one has to take for granted in South Asian politics.

This headlong attempt to embarrass the government wherever it can, regardless of the cost to the country is not going to do the UNP any good. The more they act as a mouthpiece of the TNA in public, the more ground they will lose in the south. There have been incidents in the north no doubt, but none of them are of a magnitude to alter the result of the election. And the incidents are not one sided either. The incidents seem to be evenly matched. The TNA, being once associated with the world’s deadliest terrorist organization, too has been using thuggery. At the time of going to press, the most serious incident reported by the elections monitoring outfit CAFFE in the north was the burning down of a tution class building of a TNA supporter in Kilinochchi. But in the meantime TNA supporters also invaded a farm in Kilinochchi, threatened the manager with death if he goes to vote, damaged his vehicle and farm property and left. Another group of TNA goons had threatened another person in his house in a similar manner the idea being to prevent these people from voting.

Ananda-USA said...

Cheerleading for the TNA

.....continued 3.....
There will be a few incidents like this at every election. But it will be nonsensical to say that they will materially alter the results of an election. For the result of an election to be altered, one has to have elections like the ones held during the Chandrika Kumaratunga era – the Wayamba election of 1999, the presidential election of 1999, the parliamentary elections of 2000 and even 2001 being examples of this. But such elections are no longer held and a few isolated incidents are not going to change the result of an election. There has been a lot of hype about the north mainly because opposition political parties that don’t have a leg to stand on in the south have been trying to score vicarious victories in the north.

Attention deficient opposition

The present columnist has on previous occasions drawn attention to the UNP’s tendency to thrash about in an anti-government frenzy even when there isn’t the slightest hope of a regime change. Unlike any other opposition that the present writer can remember, over the past four decades the present opposition has a tendency run behind an issue with their tails high in the air, only to see the issue fizzling out after a short period of time. Then the public sees them running again with their tails high in the air behind yet another issue only to give that up as well after a while. RW now attends UNP gatherings with a bottle of contaminated petrol he has borrowed from Tissa Attanayake. For how long will he have that bottle in his hand? Just weeks ago, he was talking mainly about ‘pathola’ and coconuts.

There could be two reasons for this behaviour. One reason of course is that the UNP leader himself is under pressure to resign and he hangs on to his position by shouting from the rooftops about every minor issue to give the impression that the government is going to fall at any moment. He needs to keep hopes up to retain his own position. Another reason could be the proliferation of TV stations and the creation of a situation where things have to be said for the cameras on a daily basis and it is not possible to maintain ‘radio silence’ now as opposition parties in the past could do. So perhaps when we switch on the TV nowadays, we see opposition politicians running with their tails in the air behind one issue and two days later we see the same persons running behind a completely different issue.

In the past, when opposition parties latched on to an issue, it had substance and was long lasting and the government could not get over it easily. We saw this pattern between 1970-77 and again during the last phase of the UNP between 1990 and 1994. But today, we see the opposition thrashing about, grabbing at straws which they soon lose only to grab at more straws. The latest straw they have grabbed at is this cheerleading for the TNA. Ironically, while not having any abiding, long lasting issues to corner the government with, the opposition is giving the government a long lasting and abiding issue to keep itself cornered by the government. Mistrust of the TNA runs deep in the south and by cheerleading for the TNA the UNP is not doing anything to enhance their standing in the south. Thus the UNP which does not have votes in the north are ensuring that they lose ground in the south as well. Losing at both ends seems to be the forte of the UNP.

Ananda-USA said...

Cheerleading for the TNA

......continued 4....
The Friday before last, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe met his kitchen cabinet - Karu Jayasuriya, Tissa Attanayake, Joseph Michael Perera, Ravi Karunanayake and Dayasiiri Jayasekera to discuss the implementation of a propaganda campaign against the government with the telling title ‘Satakaye Sapaya’. The most significant thing about this meeting was the inclusion of Dayasiri Jayasekera in RW’s inner circle. Jayasekera was until recently, regarded a reformist. It was decided at this meeting to take up several issues the foremost of which would be the hedging deal. A decision was made to hold a march from Panduwasnuwara in the Kurunegala district to the Munneswaram Kovil in Chilaw on August 6 to protest against the hedging deal.

On Monday, the Elections Commissioner met secretaries of political parties with Maithripala Sirisena, Tissa Attanayake, Tilvin Silva and other party secretaries were present. One of the issues taken up by the opposition parties was that the government was using intimidation to win the elections in the north. The Elections Commissioner assured the party secretaries that he would take steps to declare null and void the results of polling booths where incidents of intimidation are reported. He had also said that he will be taking steps to deploy the police instead of the army in the north on election day.

The situation in the Kaduwela electorate had also been discussed and it was pointed out by Tilvin Silva that the HQIs of the three police stations in the electorate were not doing what they should be doing in terms of the elections law. The DIG who was representing the IGP at that meeting said that steps have been taken to place these three police stations under three SSPs on the day of the election.

On Wednesday, when the UNP parliamentary group met, RW explained to Rosy Senanayake that they had not been planning to present a no confidence motion against Susil Premajayantha over the contaminated patrol issue because the government would defeat it with their two thirds majority. Instead the UNP’s strategy was to request the setting up of a parliamentary select committee on the matter. This once again, is an example of the UNP’s unnecessary thrashing about, and counterproductive collusion with the TNA. They want a parliamentary select committee on Sri Lanka cricket, another one for the hedging deal, and yet another for the contaminated patrol, but none for the ethnic issue because the TNA wants it that way. The TNA and its precursors have been a problem for every government since 1956, the UNP not excepted. Since they hope to govern this country one day, it is in the interests of the UNP as well to find a final solution to the TNA problem and instead of encouraging TNA intransigence, they should be impressing upon them the need to end this never ending issue.

Norway’s baptism of fire

The events in Oslo, Norway after the bomb blast that rocked the nerve centre of that country and the shootings elsewhere which left scores of people dead will be watched with great interest by many Sri Lankans here and abroad. Whatever caused the blast in central Oslo appears to have packed a bigger punch than the Central Bank bomb in Colombo, given the fact that it had affected a much larger and wide open area. The Central Bank bomb in Sri Lanka was in contrast on a narrow street thus enhancing the effect of the blast. There was a time when Sri Lanka was at the receiving end of very similar terrorist attacks and at that time Norway was trying to negotiate peace in Sri Lanka. But there are many Sri Lankans who feel that they were promoting terrorism in Sri Lanka by always taking the side of the LTTE.

Ananda-USA said...

Cheerleading for the TNA

......continued 5....
This was noticed even by observers from outside. Phillip Alston, the then UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings visited Sri Lanka at the end of November 2005, and he was scathing in his criticism of the way Norway was handling the LTTE’s deliberate and provocative ceasefire violations at that time. In Alston’s view, there was a conflict of interest in the dual role that Norway played in Sri Lanka, being on the one hand, the mediator in the peace process and also the leader of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) which monitored the ceasefire agreement. He thought the Norwegians were ignoring or glossing over the ceasefire violations of the LTTE because of their fear of jeopardizing the wider peace process. Alston wanted a tougher, more proactive ceasefire monitoring mechanism to put a halt to the LTTE’s outrages.

What was seen as a conflict of interest, naivety or plain incompetence on the part of the Norwegians, by Alston however would be seen differently by most Sri Lankans. People here know that Norway was actively defending and promoting the interests of the LTTE while the LTTE was doing to this country what someone has just done to Norway. Even when the EU was contemplating banning the LTTE in 2006, Norway opposed it. Fortunately for this country, Norway was not a member of the EU; otherwise the unanimity needed for the ban could never have been achieved. It was with help from the Americans that the then foreign minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, had been able to lobby for unanimity within the EU on this matter.

The difference in approach was that the Americans had first hand experience of terrorism and the Norwegians did not. The Norwegians had seen death and destruction only happening to others and other people’s fear and suffering is not quite as educative as your own. While saying this, we of course have to condemn this wanton killing of ordinary Norwegians who have no idea where Sri Lanka is located and are completely unaware of what their government was doing in this small island nation. As in most developed countries, ordinary Norwegians are largely indifferent to politics. The Norwegian government must at this time of stress abide by the principles they have been promoting overseas and they should firstly refrain from banning whatever organization has perpetrated these bombings and shootings. They should immediately start negotiating with these obviously disgruntled elements with a view to arriving at a political solution to the problem - whatever it is.

Ananda-USA said...

Sri Lanka's ruling alliance wins at local government polls

ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

July 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling party United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) secured a comfortable victory at the election held Saturday for 65 Local Government bodies.

With the 45 local bodies won by the ruling UPFA in Saturday election, the government has the control of 250 local bodies out of the total 335 in the country.

In the Northern Province out of the 20 local bodies the ruling UPFA won only the Kayts, Velanai and Delft Pradeshiya Sabhas in Jaffna district and the Illankai Thamil Arusu Katchchi (ITAK), a constituent party of Tamil national Alliance (TNA) won the rest.

The other Tamil party, TULF has won two bodies, Pachchilaippalli PS and Poonakari PS in the Kilinochchi district.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP), Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the government ally Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) failed to secure victory in any local bodies.

Ananda-USA said...

LG Polls 2011 - UPFA wins again

Island.lk
July 24, 2011, 11:26 am

The SLFP-led UPFA secured a comfortable victory at Saturday’s LG polls by securing 45 local bodies, while the TNA and TULF shared the remaining 20 local authorities in the electoral districts of Jaffna (16), Kilinochchi (3) and Mullaitivu (1).

The main Opposition UNP, the JVP and the SLMC, which contested some LG authorities on its own failed to win at least a single body. UPFA constituent SLMC also placed some of its candidates on the UPFA lists in line with an understanding reached with the SLFP.

UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayantha told The Island that the Opposition never posed a real threat in spite of making bombastic statements in the run-up to the second phase of the LG polls 2011.

In the first phase held on March 17, 2011, the UPFA obtained 205 out of 234 LG bodies. The TNA secured 12, UNP 9, SLMC 4, National Congress 2, Upcountry People’s Front 1 and Independent Group 1.

Minister Premjayantha said that the people had reiterated their faith in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s policies, though a section of the Opposition depicted a bleak picture on the economic front. The minister pointed out that the TNA (18) and TULF (2) had shared the 20 LG bodies in the Northern Provinces, though some bankrupt politicians and various other interested parties alleged the Army would intervene on behalf of the ruling coalition.

Police headquarters spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody told The Island that there hadn’t been a single serious incident in the Northern Province or other districts.

Ananda-USA said...

NGOs funded by foreign governments to destabilize and undermine Sri Lanka EXPOSED!

...............
Govt. asks critics to look at themselves in the mirror

By Shamindra Ferdinando
July 23, 2011

The government alleges Sri Lanka is being targeted over alleged ‘accountability issues’ by those under heavy flak themselves for ‘war crimes’ in their so-called global fight against terrorism.

Authoritative government sources alleged that a section of the international community seemed to be taking pleasure in Sri Lanka bashing on the basis of ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ produced for global telecast by UK’s Channel 4 News at the behest of the LTTE.

The government was responding to US House Foreign Affairs Committee decision to ban aid to Sri Lanka unless the government showed ‘accountability’ over final phase of military operations directed at the LTTE.

The announcement was made as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded a visit to India in the backdrop of US and its allies pushing Sri Lanka on the diplomatic front.

Referring to recent statement issued by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) sources said unlike the unsubstantiated 50-minute documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’, the US administration had been accused of authorizing war crimes in post-9/11 Al Qaeda attacks.

The HRW said it believed there was sufficient basis for the US government to order a "broad criminal investigation" into alleged crimes committed in connection with the torture and ill-treatment of detainees, the CIA secret detention and torture programme.

Such an investigation, the HRW said would necessarily focus on alleged criminal conduct by former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet.

UN Human Rights Commission has called for an explanation over the execution of an unarmed Osama bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan by US personel.

Sources said that the US, while denying assistance to the government of Sri Lanka had assured its commitment to humanitarian aid, de-mining activities and ongoing projects to promote democracy and good governance.

Sources alleged that both during and after the war, the US and several other countries and organizations continued to promote democracy and good governance, which basically meant providing financial support for those issuing statements critical of the government and armed forces.

The government said that those embassies which recommend funds for local NGOs should investigate how the money was spent. Sources emphasized the importance of investigating foreign cash flow as the US was now probing Pakistan for financing an US-based organization allegedly engaged in a programme to influence decision makers.

Ananda-USA said...

Govt. asks critics to look at themselves in the mirror

......continued......
According to state banking sources, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, National Peace Council and Transparency International Sri Lanka during 2008 to 2010 had received a staggering amount of money.

They said the CPA has received Rs. 272.31 million during the three-year period. The NPC and TI have received Rs. 171.23 million and 174.79 million, respectively.

The funding sources included Meyers Norris Penny Ltd RM (Canada), Canadian International Development Agency, Berghof Foundation (Germany), Facilitating Local Initiatives for Conflict Transformation (Germany), Stichting Cordaid (The Netherlands), Norwegian Embassy, Commission Des Communautes (Norway), ICT for Peace Foundation (Switzerland), Dep. F. Auswaert, Angelegenheiten (Switzerland), Swedish Embassy, Swedish International Development Agency, Goldman Sachs Grant (UK), Minority Rights GRP Ltd BCA (UK), European Commission, Transparency International Division (UK), Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (UK), European Union, Diakonia (US), Forum of Federations/Forum Des (US), International Media Support (US), the Ford Foundation (US), Fredskorpset Bergen (US), National Endowment for Democracy (US), Partnership for Transparency Fund (US) and Academy for Educational Development (US).

Of Rs. 618.33 million received by the CPA, NPC and TI during the three-year period, Rs. 111.48 million had been donated by various other sources.

Ananda-USA said...

ITAK sent armed goons around to threaten voters ... it is about time they are disciplined!

...................
Sri Lanka election monitoring group wants the result of Karachchi Pradeshiya Sabha cancelled

ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

July 24, Colombo: Intellectuals for Human Rights of Sri Lanka, an election monitoring group, requests from the Elections Commissioner to nullify the result of the election to the Karachchi Pradeshiya Sabha of Kilinochchi district.

Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi won the election with 15 seats defeating the closest contender ruling United People's Freedom Alliance that captured 4 seats.

Intellectuals for Human Rights, issuing a communique', said it had reports that armed groups broke into houses in the night before the election day and robbed ballot papers and identity cards. Voters were also threatened and influenced to vote to a certain party, the monitors said.

The situation denied the opportunity of holding a fair and free election and it was a plunder of the voting rights of people who had been denied the right to vote for more than three decades, said the communique'.

Ananda-USA said...

More than anything Norway needs to re-examine its HOLIER THAN THOU stance towards separatist/ terrorist movement in the developing world.

Norway AIDED & ABETTED the MURDER & MAYHEM by LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka funding, training, arming and giving diplomatic "humanitarian" cover to the LTTE.

Norway ENABLED the LTTE in its murderous rampage that killed over 150,000 citizens of Sri Lanka.

Norway needs to support the forces of LAW & ORDER, not insurgents who kill and maim.

Norway needs to recognize the FOLLY of its INTERNATIONAl POLICIES and AGENDAS.

HEAL THYSELF by REFORMING THYSELF FIRST, Norway!


...............
Norway mourns victims of anti-Islam "Crusader"
Reuters


By Victoria Klesty and Gwladys Fouche

SUNDVOLLEN, Norway (Reuters) - Norway mourned on Sunday 93 people killed in a shooting spree and car bombing by a Norwegian who saw his attacks as "atrocious, but necessary" to defeat liberal immigration policies and the spread of Islam.

In his first comment via a lawyer since his arrest, Anders Behring Breivik, 32, said he wanted to explain himself at a court hearing on Monday about extending his custody.

"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," Geir Lippestad said.

The lawyer said Breivik had admitted to Friday's shootings at a Labour party youth camp and the bombing that killed seven people in Oslo's government district a few hours earlier.

However, "he feels that what he has done does not deserve punishment," Lippestad told NRK public television.

"What he has said is that he wants a change in society and in his understanding, in his head, there must be a revolution."

Oslo's acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim confirmed to reporters that Breivik would be able to speak to the court. It was not clear whether the hearing would be closed or in public.

"He has admitted to the facts of both the bombing and the shooting, although he's not admitting criminal guilt," Sponheim said, adding that Breivik had said he acted alone.

Police were checking this because some witness statements from the island spoke of more than one gunman, Sponheim said.

NATIONAL TRAGEDY

The violence, Norway's worst since World War Two, has profoundly shocked the usually peaceful nation of 4.8 million.

King Harald and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg were among mourners at a service in Oslo cathedral, where the premier spoke emotionally about the victims, some of whom he knew.

"This represents a national tragedy," he declared.

Tearful people placed flowers and candles outside the cathedral. Soldiers with guns and wearing bullet-proof vests blocked streets leading to the government district.

Police said Breivik surrendered when they arrived on the small island of Utoeya in a lake northwest of Oslo after he had shot dead at least 85 people, mostly young people attending a summer camp of the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party.

About 650 people were on the island when Breivik, wearing a police uniform, opened fire. Police said it took them an hour from when they were first alerted to stop the massacre, the worst by a single gunman in modern times.

An inadequate boat and a decision to await a special armed unit from Oslo, 45 km (28 miles) away, delayed the response.

"When so many people and equipment were put into it, the boat started to take on water, so that the motor stopped," said Erik Berga, police operations chief in Buskerud County.

A person wounded in the shooting died in hospital, raising the death toll to 93, Norway's NRK television said. Police say some people remain missing. Ninety-seven people were wounded.

Ananda-USA said...

Norway mourns victims of anti-Islam "Crusader"

....continued 1....
ANTI-ISLAM MANIFESTO

Breivik posted a 1,500-page anti-Islamic manifesto, written in English, on Friday, describing his violent philosophy and how he planned his onslaught and made explosives.

The killings would draw attention to the manifesto entitled "2083-A European Declaration of Independence," Breivik wrote.

"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," he added.

The manifesto posted by Breivik, a self-styled founder member of a modern Knights Templar organization, hints at a wider conspiracy of self-appointed crusaders and shows a mind influenced by the fantasy imagery of online gaming.

"The order is to serve as an armed Indigenous Rights Organization and as a Crusader Movement (anti-Jihad movement)," he writes in the document, chunks of which are cut and pasted from other far-right, anti-Islam documents on the Internet.

Breivik says he is not against immigrants who integrate and reserves a lot of his fury for a liberal European political establishment he views as promoting Europe's destruction.

He hints at a wider conspiracy in the document, saying that the Knights Templar, a medieval order of crusading warrior monks, had been reconstituted in London in 2002.

Breivik attacks the "Islamic colonisation and Islamisation of Western Europe" and the "rise of cultural Marxism/multiculturalism."

A video posted on YouTube called "Knights Templar 2083" showed pictures of Breivik, including one of him in a scuba diving outfit pointing an automatic weapon.

Parliament, in recess until October, is to be recalled for a memorial service. Party leaders will discuss how the attacks would affect campaigning for local elections in September.

"We will have an election, we will have a political debate," said Stoltenberg, premier and Labour Party leader.

"But I believe everyone understands that we have to discuss the form of the debate...to avoid a conflict between the political debate and the need to show dignity and compassion."

Erna Solberg, head of the main opposition Conservative Party, said: "We have to agree the rules of the game."

Ananda-USA said...

Norway mourns victims of anti-Islam "Crusader"

....continued 2....
IMMIGRATION

Norway has long been open to immigration, which has been criticised by the populist Progress Party, to which Breivik once belonged. Labour, whose youth camp he attacked, backs multi-culturalism to accommodate different ethnic communities.

"Norway will keep going. But there will be a Norway before and after the dramatic attacks on Friday," Stoltenberg said.

"But I am quite sure that you will also recognize Norway afterwards -- it will be an open Norway, a democratic Norway and a Norway where we take care of each other."

The attacks have prompted soul-searching in Norway.

At Oslo cathedral, Britt Aanes, a priest aged 42 said the fact that Breivik was Norwegian had affected people deeply.

"In one way, I think it was good that it was not a Muslim terrorist group behind this," she said. It pointed up the complexity of immigration and inter-religious issues for Norwegians, "a small and privileged people," she said.

"We must open our eyes and not simply think that we can keep all this wealth to ourselves."

Some analysts questioned whether Norway, focused on al Qaeda-type militancy, had overlooked domestic threats.

"While the main terrorist threat to democratic societies around the world still comes from Islamist extremists, the horrific events in Norway are a reminder that white far-right extremism is also a major and possibly growing threat," said James Brandon, research head at London's Quilliam think-tank.

Home-grown anti-government figures have struck elsewhere, notably in the United States, where Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a truck bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Grief was still raw for survivors and relatives clustered at a hotel in Sundvollen near Utoeya island. They huddled together, many with bloodshot eyes, at terrace tables.

Inside, a board gave contact details for priests and imams. Pinned to the board was a poem that begins: "Today, today it's not the same. Our shining lights snuffed in out in shame."

Ananda-USA said...

Govt. asks critics to look at themselves in the mirror

By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
July 23, 2011

The government alleges Sri Lanka is being targeted over alleged ‘accountability issues’ by those under heavy flak themselves for ‘war crimes’ in their so-called global fight against terrorism.

Authoritative government sources alleged that a section of the international community seemed to be taking pleasure in Sri Lanka bashing on the basis of ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ produced for global telecast by UK’s Channel 4 News at the behest of the LTTE.

The government was responding to US House Foreign Affairs Committee decision to ban aid to Sri Lanka unless the government showed ‘accountability’ over final phase of military operations directed at the LTTE.

The announcement was made as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded a visit to India in the backdrop of US and its allies pushing Sri Lanka on the diplomatic front.

Referring to recent statement issued by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) sources said unlike the unsubstantiated 50-minute documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’, the US administration had been accused of authorizing war crimes in post-9/11 Al Qaeda attacks.

The HRW said it believed there was sufficient basis for the US government to order a "broad criminal investigation" into alleged crimes committed in connection with the torture and ill-treatment of detainees, the CIA secret detention and torture programme.

Such an investigation, the HRW said would necessarily focus on alleged criminal conduct by former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet.

UN Human Rights Commission has called for an explanation over the execution of an unarmed Osama bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan by US personel.

Sources said that the US, while denying assistance to the government of Sri Lanka had assured its commitment to humanitarian aid, de-mining activities and ongoing projects to promote democracy and good governance.

Sources alleged that both during and after the war, the US and several other countries and organizations continued to promote democracy and good governance, which basically meant providing financial support for those issuing statements critical of the government and armed forces.

The government said that those embassies which recommend funds for local NGOs should investigate how the money was spent. Sources emphasized the importance of investigating foreign cash flow as the US was now probing Pakistan for financing an US-based organization allegedly engaged in a programme to influence decision makers.

According to state banking sources, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, National Peace Council and Transparency International Sri Lanka during 2008 to 2010 had received a staggering amount of money.

They said the CPA has received Rs. 272.31 million during the three-year period. The NPC and TI have received Rs. 171.23 million and 174.79 million, respectively.

Ananda-USA said...

Govt. asks critics to look at themselves in the mirror

.......continued......
The funding sources included Meyers Norris Penny Ltd RM (Canada), Canadian International Development Agency, Berghof Foundation (Germany), Facilitating Local Initiatives for Conflict Transformation (Germany), Stichting Cordaid (The Netherlands), Norwegian Embassy, Commission Des Communautes (Norway), ICT for Peace Foundation (Switzerland), Dep. F. Auswaert, Angelegenheiten (Switzerland), Swedish Embassy, Swedish International Development Agency, Goldman Sachs Grant (UK), Minority Rights GRP Ltd BCA (UK), European Commission, Transparency International Division (UK), Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (UK), European Union, Diakonia (US), Forum of Federations/Forum Des (US), International Media Support (US), the Ford Foundation (US), Fredskorpset Bergen (US), National Endowment for Democracy (US), Partnership for Transparency Fund (US) and Academy for Educational Development (US).

Of Rs. 618.33 million received by the CPA, NPC and TI during the three-year period, Rs. 111.48 million had been donated by various other sources.

Ananda-USA said...

Leaders of countries (eg. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy) that accuse Sri Lanka of human rights violations, and go on war-path to force democracy on other nations, want to dial-back multiculturalism now.

What is GOOD for the GOOSE is NOT GOOD for the GANDER?

We ALWAYS KNEW they were UNABASHED HYPOCRITES!

...............
Analysis: Norway massacre exposes incendiary immigration issue

By Mohammed Abbas
July 24, 2011

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik said he killed 93 people to spark a "revolution" against the multiculturalism he believed was sapping Europe's heritage, and experts say a frank debate about immigration may be the best way to prevent similar explosions of violence.

In some Nordic countries, and elsewhere in Europe, political parties have fed on rising public concern over immigration as economic conditions worsen and a drip-feed of Islamist attacks stokes fear and suspicion of new arrivals.

But experts argue overly aggressive political rhetoric and scare tactics have inflamed passions rather than address the many complex, underlying problems.

Conflicting messages and political squeamishness in tackling immigration and multiculturalism have frustrated the public and given space for hardline ideologues, they say.

"If the twin attacks in Norway fail to trigger an honest discussion of the issue, exposing often scare-mongering arguments used by the extreme right, this may marginalize the radical groups and worsen the situation, which in turn could bring more similar attacks in the future," said Lilit Gevorgyan, Europe analyst at the IHS Global Insight think-tank.

"This is not just an issue in Norway. Across Scandinavia and also in Western and Eastern Europe, you have a lot of people who are very frustrated by the lack of open debate," she added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy have all declared in recent months that multiculturalism has failed, in speeches that were otherwise careful to highlight the contribution of immigrants.

But critics say such statements at best do little to offer solutions to tackle the economic and societal pressures that stem from increasing immigration and globalization, and do even less to harness the benefits of a multi-ethnic society.

At worst, they say such comments risk victimizing often vulnerable immigrant communities and souring race relations.

"What has clearly emerged from recent speeches and ensuing public national debates on multiculturalism is a sense of confusion, malaise and often contradictory messages," said Sara Silvestri, lecturer in religion and international politics at London's City University, in an article dated June 8.

"So we look for easy answers presented as simple choices e.g., moderate vs. radical Islam, multiculturalism vs. assimilation ... Yet such simplistic naming and categorizing further divides people and provokes animosities," she added.

FUEL ON THE FIRE

A number of Scandinavian political parties have tackled immigration head on, but the inflammatory tone used by some politicians may have fueled Breivik's anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic hatred.

Many far-right European groups have shifted away from overtly racist rhetoric and have instead focused their argument on stressing what they see as the incompatibility of Islam and European values.

In a 1,500-page violent manifesto published by Breivik, the 32-year-old expressed his admiration for Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, and the tome included reported anti-Islamic comments Wilders made to the Dutch parliament. However, Wilders at the weekend denounced Breivik's actions.

Ananda-USA said...

Analysis: Norway massacre exposes incendiary immigration issue

.....continued.....
Anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic parties have gained traction in Nordic and Scandinavian countries in recent years, tapping public anxiety over the relatively recent phenomenon of mass migration, particularly of Muslims, to their region.

The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats were last year elected to the Swedish parliament for the first time, despite the party having roots in neo-Nazi movements of the 1980s and 1990s. The party has criticized Muslims and Islam as being un-Swedish.

Swedish anti-fascism magazine Expo, where the late best-selling novelist Steig Larsson was highly active, says while there may be no direct link between violence and comments by politicians, the rhetoric creates a fertile environment for ethnically motivated attacks.

"It is very aggressive ideology that the Swedish Democrats are pushing toward Muslims ... it has become a more and more accepted way to speak about Muslims this way," said Expo reporter Johannes Jakobsson.

"Of course if you are in the Swedish parliament and point fingers at Muslims and say these people are dangerous, of course this is going to influence people to become more hostile toward them," he added.


"ATROCIOUS, BUT NECESSARY"

Harald Stanghelle, political editor of Norway's Aftenposten conservative newspaper, said it was unfair to accuse Norway's anti-immigrant Progress Party of inflaming the passions of individuals such as Breivik, who was once a member.

Stanghelle says Breivik left the party because it did not go far enough in representing his views, highlighting a dilemma for those who say parties that drive away those with fringe views on immigration risk creating militant underground groups.

"It's totally wrong to hold the Progress Party responsible for extremists like this. A few smaller, anti-immigration groups, anti-multicultural groups, have broken from the party because they believe it is too polite, too mainstream," Stanghelle said.

Stanghelle was careful to paint Breivik as a lone extremist with little link to the wider discourse on immigration in Norway. After years on the fringes, Breivik's views are now likely to echo loudest at his first court hearing on Monday.

Breivik has described his bombing of an Oslo government building and his shooting spree at a youth camp run by Norway's Labor Party as "atrocious" but "necessary" in his crusade against liberal immigration policies and the spread of Islam.

"He now wants to meet in court for the first time, and wants an open court meeting, and why? Most criminals fight for a closed court meeting, but he sees himself as a crusader," Stanghelle said.

Ananda-USA said...

Ananda-USA Says at LankaWeb.com

July 24th, 2011 at 11:19 pm

Bravo, Charles!

Tongue in Cheek at its best!

Your explanation of who is a “freedom fighter” and who is a “terrorist” to a Western mind is crystalline in its clarity:

Those who cause terror in their own non-Western countries are “ freedom fighters”, while those who cause terror inside Western countries are “terrorists”.

I hail this novel discovery as “The Western Theory of Relative Terrorism”.

As required by Einstein’s celebrated Theory of Relativity, it is indeed relative to the observer!

I think you hit the proverbial nail on its veritable head!

Ananda-USA said...

Emboldened by the recent Local Government Election success, the unpunished and unrepentant Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA now take the first post-war step to WINNING the through ARTIFICE in PEACE, the Eelam state they FAILED TO WIN in WAR by demanding Police & Land Powers that are not devolved to ANY PROVINCIAL COUNCIL in Sri Lanka!

The GOSL now REAPS the penalty of not prosecuting these TRAITORS for their TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES during 30 years of terrorism, and attempting "Reconciliation" with them.

What the GOSL does not realize is that these RACISTS can NEVER be APPEASED as long as Sri Lanka remain separated from Tamil Nadu by only a narrow channel. They MUST BE held ACCOUNTABLE for ALL THEIR CRIMES.

Ethnic Integration with the goal of demographically homogenizing of the nation MUST BE PURSUED WITHOUT DELAY ... or the Sri Lankan people will never have any stability and peace in their lives!


.................
TNA insists on police, land powers

By Sandun A. Jayasekera
DailyMirror.lk
July 26, 2011

The Tamil National Alliance(TNA) which swept the board in Saturday’s local council elections in the North said yesterday it would be impossible to reach a political solution and bring about lasting peace, justice and democracy in the North without the devolution of police and land powers.

Jaffna district parliamentarian and TNA spokesman Suresh Premachandra told Daily Mirror the TNA which won 18 of the 23 local councils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces was in a stronger position to negotiate with the government at the ongoing talks following the overwhelming mandate it received from the Tamil-speaking people.

“It’s unfortunate that the government has failed to understand fully and correctly the real problems facing the Tamil community and their aspirations. I wonder whether the government even realises the impact of the TNA’s electoral victory,” Mr. Premachandra said.

With regard to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s stance that police and land powers are non-negotiable, Mr. Premachandra said these two subjects were extremely necessary for lasting peace, justice, democracy and northern development.

“If the government continues to be adamant on police and land powers I do not see the need to continue the current dialogue,” Mr. Premchandra said. “The TNA is ready to accept a dignified solution to the ethnic problem within a united Sri Lanka. We need a serious dialogue with the government and the sad part of this is that the government has not understood this properly. I do not know how we could convince the government.”

With regard to allegations of war crimes during the last stages of the war, Mr. Premchandra said the government must heed the requests of the United Nations, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and the international community by setting up a credible local mechanism to investigate these allegations.

“If this is not done, no one can prevent Sri Lanka being called a ‘Pariah State’ in the eyes of the international community and organizations,” Mr. Premachandra said.

He emphasised the futility of appointing a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to work out proposals to resolve the national question apart from it being a time-wasting exercise.

“Arriving at an acceptable solution will be impossible with Sinhalese extremists like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in parliament,” he said.

PeacefulHumanRace said...

Another heart warming song from LA

One Land for All-Sri Lanka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5iWxbhD5KU&feature=related