By Sanjaya Arachchige
November 17, 2012
The mechanism that UN has put in place to “leak” information that is intended to be leaked is admirable. The second report that it leaked about Sri Lanka few days ago has served its purpose like the first one. Since the report has been officially released, it is appropriate for us- ordinary Sri Lankans to express our views on the UN’s “Failure” and its “Leaking” strategy regarding Sri Lanka.
Ever since this “Leak”, the Western media has been firing volleys of news alerts, using this piece of information as their latest propaganda weapon against our country. It has reinvigorated the misinformation campaign against Sri Lanka orchestrated by Amnesty, HRW and Crisis group along with their Tamil Tiger backers in the Western world. Yet, none of these intended outcomes of the “Leak” seems sufficient to cover up the UN’s “grave failure” in Sri Lanka. The true “system breakdown” as the UN chief calls it, is clear even in usually distorted news reports on the BBC on this issue.
Since the UN in its report categorically refers the “failure” to the final stage of the conflict, we can assume that UN had been successful in Sri Lanka for the rest of the 26 years that the conflict sustained. On that point, anyone familiar with Sri Lanka would agree that Sri Lanka had been a remarkably successful story not only for the UN but also for the Amnesty and other Human Rights worthies now critical of Sri Lanka. In fact, we never heard of such leaking reports from UN during that period when terrorism walked freely in our country.
Sri Lanka was the home to the Asia’s longest running internal war is a fact known to many. However, few know what compelled Sri Lanka to live with it for 26 years. That is where this success story matters.
The story begins with the notorious anti-Tamil riots in 1983 that no one cared to demand “independent investigations” of any sort to find out the culprits. In a matter of years, a gang of cutthroats became the deadliest terrorist outfit known to the humankind. The outfit’s contributions to the domain of terrorism include; invention of suicide terrorism, horrendous orgies of violence called “village massacres” to be used for ethnic cleansing, disgraceful “Baby Brigade” of child soldiers to lead the attack fronts and above all, the sophisticated propaganda mechanism that works hand in hand with certain organizations profit from human sufferings.
Therefore, the UN is not without souvenirs to prove its effectiveness during its successful years in Sri Lanka. It has ample bomb blasts killing civilians, village massacres, suicide blasts, assassinations and yearly major terror attack at country’s economic nerve centers – perhaps , sufficient enough to leak another report on “past success” in future .
During this time, the UN had been extremely successful in issuing elegantly drafted messages of its “concerns” and frequent “urges” for “both parties” to settle the matters peacefully.
The true success perhaps lies in something else. That is in making it impossible for the successive governments of Sri Lanka to sustain any meaningful campaign to fight terrorism. The conflict not only bled Sri Lanka but also kept the region unstable for about 26 years. When one understands the value of the success then it becomes clear why the UN laments so much on its failure.
Now let’s look at the possible damage that the UN’s failure has caused. No lives are lost in Sri Lanka due to terrorism . The country is rapidly developing and becoming increasingly stable. The very stability has become a headache for the UN’s masters as it has attracted investors from the emerging world superpowers like China, India and Russia. The country has not only become a model for hapless nations fighting terrorism but also become the pillar of regional stability. The war that was so vital to keep the pivotal region unstable to check the ongoing change in the world order has been lost! The losses incurred by Human Rights worthies who made fortunes out of this war should be added to the damage.
Finally, let us envisage the situation had the UN been still successful in Sri Lanka today. There would be one more bleeding country like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. and one less middle-income country in the world . Sri Lanka would have retained its prominent position in the UN’s list of shame for child soldiers. Tamil Tiger would have retained its title as the deadliest and richest terrorist organization with its own Navy and Air Force. The region would have remained unstable with no headache from China and India gaining control over the resources. There would be sufficient human sufferings for the western media and human rights worthies to cash in.
Thus , the UN did have a complete system breakdown that led to a grave failure in Sri Lanka as the report suggests. This is true if the organization has been tasked to ensure continued conflicts and turmoil in the third world countries. In that case, the report should have recognized the efforts of Ms. Navi Pillay and Mr. Vijay Nambiar to rescue the terrorist outfit even at the last moment of the battle.
However, the world has no right to fuss too much over the UN’s lackluster performance in Sri Lanka. The organization has been exceedingly successful with Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Palestine.
Maybe for the UN, what has happened has happened with Sri Lanka. If there is anything left to do, that is to prevent Sri Lanka from achieving lasting peace. As long as there is no proper reconciliation, there is always the opportunity to reignite the flames of destruction. Perhaps these leaking reports, the war crimes ballyhoo, and anti-Sri Lankan propaganda would achieve their purpose eventually.
Perhaps they wouldn’t if our nation stands resolute for peace and stability.
(The views expressed are the author’s own.)
The mechanism that UN has put in place to “leak” information that is intended to be leaked is admirable. The second report that it leaked about Sri Lanka few days ago has served its purpose like the first one. Since the report has been officially released, it is appropriate for us- ordinary Sri Lankans to express our views on the UN’s “Failure” and its “Leaking” strategy regarding Sri Lanka.
Ever since this “Leak”, the Western media has been firing volleys of news alerts, using this piece of information as their latest propaganda weapon against our country. It has reinvigorated the misinformation campaign against Sri Lanka orchestrated by Amnesty, HRW and Crisis group along with their Tamil Tiger backers in the Western world. Yet, none of these intended outcomes of the “Leak” seems sufficient to cover up the UN’s “grave failure” in Sri Lanka. The true “system breakdown” as the UN chief calls it, is clear even in usually distorted news reports on the BBC on this issue.
Since the UN in its report categorically refers the “failure” to the final stage of the conflict, we can assume that UN had been successful in Sri Lanka for the rest of the 26 years that the conflict sustained. On that point, anyone familiar with Sri Lanka would agree that Sri Lanka had been a remarkably successful story not only for the UN but also for the Amnesty and other Human Rights worthies now critical of Sri Lanka. In fact, we never heard of such leaking reports from UN during that period when terrorism walked freely in our country.
Sri Lanka was the home to the Asia’s longest running internal war is a fact known to many. However, few know what compelled Sri Lanka to live with it for 26 years. That is where this success story matters.
The story begins with the notorious anti-Tamil riots in 1983 that no one cared to demand “independent investigations” of any sort to find out the culprits. In a matter of years, a gang of cutthroats became the deadliest terrorist outfit known to the humankind. The outfit’s contributions to the domain of terrorism include; invention of suicide terrorism, horrendous orgies of violence called “village massacres” to be used for ethnic cleansing, disgraceful “Baby Brigade” of child soldiers to lead the attack fronts and above all, the sophisticated propaganda mechanism that works hand in hand with certain organizations profit from human sufferings.
Therefore, the UN is not without souvenirs to prove its effectiveness during its successful years in Sri Lanka. It has ample bomb blasts killing civilians, village massacres, suicide blasts, assassinations and yearly major terror attack at country’s economic nerve centers – perhaps , sufficient enough to leak another report on “past success” in future .
During this time, the UN had been extremely successful in issuing elegantly drafted messages of its “concerns” and frequent “urges” for “both parties” to settle the matters peacefully.
The true success perhaps lies in something else. That is in making it impossible for the successive governments of Sri Lanka to sustain any meaningful campaign to fight terrorism. The conflict not only bled Sri Lanka but also kept the region unstable for about 26 years. When one understands the value of the success then it becomes clear why the UN laments so much on its failure.
Now let’s look at the possible damage that the UN’s failure has caused. No lives are lost in Sri Lanka due to terrorism . The country is rapidly developing and becoming increasingly stable. The very stability has become a headache for the UN’s masters as it has attracted investors from the emerging world superpowers like China, India and Russia. The country has not only become a model for hapless nations fighting terrorism but also become the pillar of regional stability. The war that was so vital to keep the pivotal region unstable to check the ongoing change in the world order has been lost! The losses incurred by Human Rights worthies who made fortunes out of this war should be added to the damage.
Finally, let us envisage the situation had the UN been still successful in Sri Lanka today. There would be one more bleeding country like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. and one less middle-income country in the world . Sri Lanka would have retained its prominent position in the UN’s list of shame for child soldiers. Tamil Tiger would have retained its title as the deadliest and richest terrorist organization with its own Navy and Air Force. The region would have remained unstable with no headache from China and India gaining control over the resources. There would be sufficient human sufferings for the western media and human rights worthies to cash in.
Thus , the UN did have a complete system breakdown that led to a grave failure in Sri Lanka as the report suggests. This is true if the organization has been tasked to ensure continued conflicts and turmoil in the third world countries. In that case, the report should have recognized the efforts of Ms. Navi Pillay and Mr. Vijay Nambiar to rescue the terrorist outfit even at the last moment of the battle.
However, the world has no right to fuss too much over the UN’s lackluster performance in Sri Lanka. The organization has been exceedingly successful with Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Palestine.
Maybe for the UN, what has happened has happened with Sri Lanka. If there is anything left to do, that is to prevent Sri Lanka from achieving lasting peace. As long as there is no proper reconciliation, there is always the opportunity to reignite the flames of destruction. Perhaps these leaking reports, the war crimes ballyhoo, and anti-Sri Lankan propaganda would achieve their purpose eventually.
Perhaps they wouldn’t if our nation stands resolute for peace and stability.
(The views expressed are the author’s own.)
18 comments:
YES, INDEED!
The UN FAILED Sri Lanka during 30 YEARS of UNREMITTING TERRORISM by preaching sanctimoniously from the sidelines in favor of murderers seeking to dismember Sri Lanka, while its defenceless people died by the tens of thousands.
The UN did all it could to prevent Sri Lanka from defending itself, and its people. The UN watched while Sri Lankan citizens were sliced and diced, ethnically cleansed, blown to bits, and converted to canon fodder by terrorists. The LTTE played upon the balleyhooed principles of the United Nations like a Nero playing upon his harp while Rome burned in the fires he himself had set.
Now that the People of Sri Lanka have rallied behind an ABLE & PATRIOTIC Government committed to defending and protecting their lives and reunifying their sovereign nation, the United Nations comes forth to again SANCTIMONIOUSLY PREACH "Human Rights and Democracy" that it failed to uphold against foreign inspired and supported terrorists for 30 long years.
The United Nations is a BLIND PUPPET in a macabre puppet show orchestrated by self serving Western Nations plying their Global Agenda. Hundreds of Thousands of people are killed all over the world by these self-appointed MYOPIC BUNGLING defenders of democracy with impunity. NO ONE holds them accountable for their GLOBAL CRIMES!
The UN is nothing more than a FIG LEAF designed to confuse the people of the world and hide the NAKEDNESS of the PUPPETEERS orchestrating its macabre dance!
Sumanthiran’s ‘useless’ description of 13-A rocks country
By Chamikara Weerasinghe and - Priyanka Kurugala
DailyNews.lk
November 19, 2012
TNA MP M A Sumanthiran’s description of the 13th Amendment “as meaningless and something which had been continuously rejected by his party,” has taken the country by storm. “The 13th Amendment to the Constitution is something that we had rejected right through as being meaningless,” he told Parliament during the recent Budget debate.
The words are reverberating in the civil society and political space as indicative of the TNA’s doublespeak.
Economic Development Deputy Minister Lashman Yapa Abeywardena for instance, also recalled how present TNA leader R Sampanthan wanted the 13th Amendment “thrown in the dustbin.”
“Now they are using the 13th Amendment to attack the government,” he said. The deputy minister said although the 13th Amendment was approved by a two thirds majority in Parliament, it failed as a solution to the national problem and neither did it address the problems of the Tamil people.
He said if the 13th Amendment is to be repealed, an appropriate mechanism should be put in place that addresses the grievances of the Tamils. “The government is ready to decentralize power. It has to be done with the approval of all political parties,” the deputy minister said.
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians have rejected the 13th Amendment to the constitution as “meaningless” and “useless” because they persist in pursuing a policy of separation, as against a policy of devolution. Amaraweera said that TNA MP M A Sumanthiran’s apparent rejection of the 13th Amendment was based on the views of LTTE sympathizers and the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora.
“This is the result of a sinister agenda to divide the country,” the minister said.
“If we are to replace the 13th Amendment, there should be a new mechanism for devolution of power,” Minister Amaraweera said.
“President Mahinda Rajapaksa once said a scheme of power devolution may be given to the public, and not to terrorists and nor to those who try to separate the country under the banner of ‘people’s aspirations,” he said.
“If power should be devolved, it should be done in a manner that would empower the grassroots.
Devolution of power should take place to build a truly integrated country which is devoid of any communal or religious hatred,” he said.
DO NOT DEVOLVE POWER to the Provinces, or to any SUB-NATIONAL regional administrative unit of Sri Lanka.
DEVOLUTION of POWER to regions dominated by Ethno-Religious groups is a PRESCRIPTION for NATIONAL SUICIDE!
ONE VOTE for EACH CITIZEN to elect a representative to the National Parliament is SUFFICIENT FRANCHISE for any Law-Abiding citizen.
Only Separatists-in-Waiting seek to divide the nation into a PATCHWORK of Racist Intolerant Aparthied Bantustans perpetually at war with one-another, and incapable of defending itself.
REPEAL the FOREIGN-IMPOSED 13-th Amendment; DISSOLVE the Provincial Council System, BAN ALL Communal Political Parties.
ENFORCE EQUAL RIGHTS for ALL citizens IRRESPECTIVE of Communal Differences!
BANISH Communal Diversity from the PUBLIC SPHERE of Governance to the Private Sphere of Peoples Private Lives, and make Governance BLIND to Communal Differences.
ENFORCE EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES due to the nation and its people FROM ALL Citizens!
These DUTIES include the duty to abide by the laws of the land, the duty to abstain from TREASONOUS activities, and the duty to SERVE in the DEFENCE of the nation.
EQUAL RIGHTS should go hand-in-hand with EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
NO Citizen who SHIRKS the EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES towards the nation should be granted the right to ENJOY the EQUAL RIGHTS & BENEFITS due from Citizens to the NATION.
The Patriot Act of the United States was enacted after the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center to strengthen the laws against TREASON to protect the United States. Many US citizens have been prosecuted and imprisoned for anti-national activities under the Patriot Act.
Let us remember that the terrorist attack on the first World Trade Center took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka; not in New York, United States.
It is HIGH TIME that the GOSL passed a PATRIOT ACT and took action against Sri Lankan citizens engaged in TREASONOUS activities against the Nation, in the PAST, the PRESENT. and the FUTURE.
Sri Lanka’s need to PROTECT itself is NO DIFFERENT from the need of the United States to defend itself. Sri Lanka’s citizens are just as human as the citizens of the United States, and their blood is just as red.
What is good for the goose, should be good for the gander !
Let Sovereign Sri Lanka ACT NOW to DEFEND itself BETTER!
Here is the TRUTH .... as it should be told!
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Sri Lanka Army Joins People in Rebuilding Activity
By Kalinga Seneviratne
November 2012
SINGAPORE (IDN) - Amid reports that an internal document, made public on November 14 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, has triggered soul-searching in the world organisation on its failure to protect non-combatants in Sri Lanka's civil war, a visit to the country shows that the army and the people in the Northern Province are busy rebuilding the infrastructure destroyed by 30 years of a gruesome conflict.
During a recent visit to Jaffna, this writer noticed a marked improvement in the relationship between the army – which was once seen as the “enemy” by the Tamils – and the local population. Even one Tamil fisherman referred to the Sri Lankan Navy as “our Navy” which is trying to help them to drive away the Tamil Nadu fisherman poaching on Sri Lankan waters.
The desire to reconcile is apparent on both sides. Increasingly finding common ground, the people of the north and the south are now beginning to interact. There is increased tourism from the south of the country to Jaffna, especially Sinhalese Buddhist pilgrims who visit the sacred Nagadvipa shrine in Nainativu Island off Jaffna. This shrine was closed to Buddhist pilgrims for almost 30 years and it has been newly renovated with the help of army personnel.
At the army checkpoint before entering the northern zone at Kilinochchi every Sinhalese traveller is given a one-page sheet of paper in Sinhalese signed by Northern Division Police chief Gamini de Silva. In it he points out that in the Jaffna area there are a number of sacred Hindu temples and asks the people to dress properly in its vicinity, not to be intoxicated, respect their culture and treat all Tamil people during their visit with utmost courtesy and friendship.
Tamils themselves seem to be returning this courtesy as I found out during my 3-day stay in Jaffna. Since I don’t speak Tamil and if they don’t speak English, they tried to communicate with me in Sinhalese, something unimaginable a few years ago.
“Damage done in 30 years can’t be cured in 3 years.” argues Ishwara Sarma, a 82 year old Hindu philosopher and teacher who has lived in Jaffna throughout the conflict. “We need to forget the past and build a future together. This country is too small to be divided.”
Travelling on the road between Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu is reflective of what many people in the Indian Ocean Island hopes is the building of a new Sri Lanka. This is the route where fierce battles took place in the early parts of 2009 between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leading to the annihilation of the LTTE on banks of the Mullaitivu lagoon in May 2009.
These are the battles the BBC and some other western news agencies prefer to harp on as “war crimes”. But, the people there seem to want to forget the past and build a new future of peace and co-existence.
On either side of the road you still see the bullet-hole ridden walls of houses without roofs and unoccupied, even burned out mangled wreckages of buses, jeeps, vans and cars belonging to both the LTTE and the army. Yet, the roads are being built at a hectic pace with new asphalt carpeting with the predominantly Sinhalese army personnel mostly in civilian clothes working with the local Tamil people.
Continued 1...
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Hand in hand with the army
According to the Jaffna District Government Agent’s office, over USD 230 million has been spent up to May 2012 on road construction projects in the north through funds allocated from the Ministry of Economic Development, Governments of China and Sweden, and the Asian Development Bank. The A9 highway which was heavily mined during the war and closed for over two-decades is now open with newly-laid asphalt coating that makes travel to Jaffna as smooth as never before.
Though the highway is dotted with a number of army camps that has raised the ire of some human rights activists overseas, what impresses many visitors is the cordial rapport the army seems to have established with the local people since the hostilities ended. When working on road construction or driving tractor-driven trucks on the road, the soldiers are not even carrying guns. Three years ago they were shooting at each other or the local people were held as human shields against an advancing army firing mortar shells.
“(After the war ended) we understood that we needed to change the soldier from a fighting force to protector of the people,” Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Security Forces Commander in Jaffna said in an interview with this writer at the Palali camp. “We now use our resources to uplift the peoples’ lives and help them to create wealth,” he added.
The government has taken the stance that the priority for the people is to uplift their living standards rather than indulge in divisive debates about political reforms. Thus, the army is utilized to speed up the development activities and rebuild infrastructure destroyed by 30 years of war.
Economic strides
“Those days (during the war) life used to stop at 6 pm because there were curfews, now it’s like in Colombo, but there are now problems like robberies (due to the extra freedoms),” said school teacher Gopalakrishnan Gopikrishna. He also pointed out that with electricity now available the young people are finding life better with television and Internet at their disposal, but, they are using it for entertainment rather than for education, even accessing pornography. “Youngsters were unable to move during war time, now they are flashing out and us teachers are finding it difficult to cope with them.”
According to Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna, S. Arumainayagam, the local economy has made great strides in the past 3 years. He said that the development model for the north based on improving infrastructure and building industries and tourism is based on the Korean and Singapore development models. He said that the government has already invested Rs 200 million (USD 1.6 million) to start an industrial zone in Jaffna.
[Nagadvipa - the restored Buddhist stupa at Nagadvipa | Credit: The writer]
Arumainayagam pointed out that over the past 3 years more than 250 km of roads have been improved; paddy harvest has increased by over 100 percent, red onion (a specialty of the Jaffna region) has seen its harvest increase from 23,000 metric tons in 2008 to more than 63,000 metric tons this year. Production of chilies - another specialty of the region - has increased by 120 percent.
During an interview at his office, the GA claimed that the most remarkable increase has been in the fisheries sector. “In 2008 we only got 2,600 tons a year and in 2011 it has increased to 25,000 tons. This is due to a number of factors. During that time there were restrictions imposed on fishing by the government, but, today the government has distributed boats to fishermen, provided a fuel subsidy and established sales centres (for their catch),” he explained.
During the hostilities because the LTTE used to transport supplies by sea to their bases in the north-east, the Navy restricted fishing in the area.
Continued 2 .....
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Fisheries
Sinnaiya Thavaratnam, President of the Northern Provinces Fisheries Alliance does not agree with the GA’s assessment. “Last 25 years Sri Lankan waters have been disturbed by Indian fishermen. They are fishing in trawlers with big nets. So our catch is badly effected,” he complained.
[New Homes being built in Jaffna | Credit: The writer] The Jaffna-based fisherman claims that in 1985 nearly 50,000 tons of fish were caught by their fishermen, but now it dwindled to below 20,000 tons. “We need to stop Indian trawlers fishing in our seas – once that happens it will take 3 to 4 years to restore the fish resources for us to catch,” he estimates.
Though the Sri Lanka government has banned them coming in, the Indians still fish in Sri Lankan waters and the Navy has been unable to stop this incursion. “I think the government is not that interested, because of certain pressures. Navy is trying to protect our resources but the Sri Lanka government is not giving them enough support,” he lamented.
Indian trawlers
In September this year, India’s Hindu newspaper said that records obtained from the Indian government indicated that between January and June 2012, Indian trawlers crossing into Sri Lanka numbered 20,662. Fishermen from Jaffna have been urging their Navy to chase the Indians out and in one incident in February 2011, Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen resorted to direct action, rounding up more than 100 Indian fishermen, and handed them over to their Navy.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha, who has in recent years tried to champion Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka, claims that the Sri Lankan Navy is harassing Indian fishermen and according to the Hindu has written some 12 letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticizing him for being soft on Sri Lanka.
She is another of those vocal Tamils overseas who want to stand up for Tamil’s political rights in Sri Lanka. She has refused to accept an invitation for the Sri Lankan government to visit Jaffna to find out for herself what the Tamil people on the ground needs at the moment. A number of Tamils in Jaffna told me that Tamil politicians want to create division and not reconcile.
“There is no question about it that the absence of war, absence of destruction, the ability of transact business and the ability to travel freely is being appreciated,” says Jeevan Thiagarajah, Executive Director of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies. “Something we need to ask is in the process of rebuilding what is the role of the government and at what point market forces take over. This question is not being asked yet.”
[IDN-InDepthNews – November 19, 2012]
At first sight, a Cable Car Service to the top of Sri Pada seems like a GREAT idea, but is it really?
The ALLURE of Sri Pada to pilgrims and other enthusiasts was always the SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT of making difficult climb up there, wishing "battery bahapu oya nadeta, Saman deviyan ge' pihitai"!
Will it remain the same when MASSIVE THRONGS of the LAZY join the INFIRM to take the QUICK SHORT CUT to the top?
Would making the CLIMB more navigable on foot, with clean rest areas and vista points along the way, be a better idea?
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Cable car service to Sri Lanka's sacred mountain Sri Pada
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 20, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of State Administration John Seneviratne who represents Ratnapura district has said that a cable car service to the famous pilgrim destination Sri Pada will be launched from next year.
He has said that a cable car service will be established to connect Erathna town in Kuruwita to the top of the Samanala mountain range where a venerated ancient foot mark is believed to be located.
Hundreds of thousands of local and foreign devotees belonged to many religions trek to the summit of the sacred mountain each year during the season which is normally between the full moon days of December and May months
The cable car service is expected to promote tourism in the picturesque vicinity and also to ease the climb of several kilometers for the weak.
The Minister has said that he had discussed the cable car service with the Ambassador of Nepal where such services are common and he would visit Nepal next year to study the possibilities in this regard.
We have detected many Jewish Zealots commenting on Sri Lankan blogs advocating common remedies for both Israel and Sri Lanka.
Are these Jewish Zealots employees of the Israeli National Propaganda Organization identified in the following article?
Food for thought, because Sri Lanka's interests do not coincide with those of ANY OTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY in ALL AREAS at ALL TIMES!
..................
Israel’s social media war run by 26-year-old
By Claudine Zap
Yahoo.com
November 22, 2012
Lieutenant Sacha Dratwa (photo)
(Facebook)Social media have become tools for popular movements like the Occupy Wall Street protest and the Arab spring. But Israel may be the first country to launch a propaganda war using Facebook and Twitter.
And the lieutenant running this virtual smackdown is a 26-year-old snowboarder named Sacha Dratwa, a Belgian immigrant who leads a team of social media soldiers.
According to Tablet magazine, for the past two years Dratwa has been in charge of the Israeli Defense Forces' "YouTube and Facebook presence and turned it into the most globally visible arm of the Israeli military."
Facebook, the magazine reports, only became available to Israel around 2008-2009, and it was considered a kids' toy. (Remember those days?)
But that was then. Now, Dratwa tells Tablet, "We believe people understand the language of Facebook, the language of Twitter." His team tweeted, for example, about an Israeli girl injured by a Hamas rocket, after a photo of a baby killed by an Israeli missile was posted on Twitter. The IDF commissioned a Foursquare-style game for frequent visitors to its blog, and it posts YouTube videos of drone strikes and assassinations.
Want to know more about Dratwa? Just head over to his mostly public Facebook profile. As Gizmodo points out, the guy running the cyberwar is also just a guy, doing "guy stuff" like drinking with his buddies, hitting the slopes and "commanding a cyber propaganda squad."
Sri Lanka to confine wild elephants in a kraal in North Central Province
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 15, Colombo: In a measure to minimize human-elephant conflict, the Sri Lankan government plans to establish a Wild Elephant Confinement Centre in the North Central Province.
The Cabinet of Ministers, acting on a proposal submitted by the Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S.M. Chandrasena, has approved the establishment of the center.
A land area of 1,582 hectares in extent belonging to the Department of Forest Conservation in Horowpothana covering the Northern and North Western regions has been allocated for the center, acting cabinet spokesman and Minister of Media and Information Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said Thursday.
The wild life officials are to capture and kraal the wild elephants roaming and harming the people and their crops.
The government says the population growth coupled with development projects caused the decrease in the forest cover, resulting in a change in the migratory patterns of elephants and aggravating the human-elephant conflict.
According to statistics, 60-70 people and 200-220 elephants get killed every year. Physical injuries and damage to property and cultivation arising from the human-elephant conflict are immense.
Sri Lanka WITHOUT Elephants is UNTHINKABLE!
Protection of these Animal CITIZENS of Sri Lanka is a SACRED TRUST handed down to us by our forefathers. We MUST HONOR it.
Unlike Humans, Elephants CANNOT ADAPT to confined restricted spaces, and the STEADY ENCROACHMENT and ISOLATING the remaining jungles by humans requires a better solution.
Just as we build PROTECTED HIGHWAYS FOR HUMANS, we must bear the burden of building PROTECTED HIGHWAYS FOR ELEPHANTS to migrate between isolated sanctuaries spread throughout the island.
Elephants of Lanka are not a mere curiosity, nor a lucrative tourist attraction, but a SYMBOL of our Buddhist tradition of caring for ALL FORMS OF LIFE in our Resplendent Motherland.
These honored Citizens of Sri Lanka have a right to life equal to that of our human citizens; let us PROTECT & CARE for them to the best of our ability.
Without our Aliyas, Sri Lanka would be a much poorer place.
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Four more elephant sanctuaries to be set up in Sri Lanka next year
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 23, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has taken measures to set up four more elephant sanctuaries in the country by next year, Deputy Minister of Wildlife and Agrarian Services S.M. Chandrasena has said.
The four sanctuaries are to be set up in Horowpathana, Lunugavehera, Maduru Oya and Galgamuwa.
The wild life officials will capture and kraal the wild elephants entering into villages and harming the people and their crops in these sanctuaries.
The Minister says this move would help to minimize the human-elephant conflict and protect the elephants.
He has said that 75 percent of the sanctuary in Horowpathana in a land extent of 3,000 acres has been completed and that Rs.225 million has been allocated for the project.
Sri Lanka's wild elephant population has dwindled in the recent years and an elephant census conducted by the Wildlife Department in August 2011 found that 5,879 elephants were roaming Sri Lanka's jungles.
The BEST LAID PLANS of MICE and MEN often GO ASTRAY!
The late unlamented SunGod was a murderous dictatorial madman who deceived himself. The more absolute power over his vassals that he gained, the more he thought of himself as DIVINE; OMNISCIENT. Why is it that he is now being spoken of as a mere babe-in-the-woods deceived by that unrepentant demagogue Vaiko and other Racist politicians of Tamil Nadu?
The SunGod reigned as an absolute dictator only as long as the GOSL deluded itself into playing footsie with its Foreign Critic and did not marshal its human and military resources to the fullest. Once that illusive veil of friendship with Western Neo-Colonialists and India plying their Global Agenda was lifted from their eyes, the long-suffering people of Sri Lanka elected a PATRIOTIC Government with the WILL & DETERMINATION to fight the war to a FINISH as it should have been fought from the very beginning. Then the LTTE STOOD NO CHANCE OF SURVIVING; All that Sri Lankan Patriots yearned for was a leadership willing to FIGHT to the END.
For 30 long years the Sinhala people deceived themselves listening to self-serving foreigners who gave no military assistance but criticized us at every turn. That SELF-DELUSION is NO MORE .... as Sri Lanka's future enemies will learn to their acute discomfort.
Over 150,000 Sri Lankans died at the hands of Eelamist Terrorists and their Foreign Backers. This ACID has AGAIN ETCHED into our MINDS of the LESSONS to be gleaned from the PATRIOTIC RESISTANCE of our forefathers against successive waves of foreign invaders: Sri Lanka ... whenits patriotic sons and daughters gird their lions in unison ... is UNCONQUERABLE!
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Vaiko misled Prabhakaran: KP
By P K Balachandran - COLOMBO
25th November 2012 08:45 AM
Even three days before his death and the decimation of LTTE, Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was counting on a favourable result in the 2009 elections to the Lok Sabha in Tamil Nadu to save him from the ignominy of surrender to the Sri Lankan army and an involuntary asylum in a foreign land.
Revealing this in an interview to Daily Mirror on Saturday, the then head of the International Secretariat of the LTTE, Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), said: “Tamil Nadu fellows like Vaiko and Nedumaran had given false hopes of a change in the situation (in India) after elections in mid-May, saying that the BJP will win overall and Jayalalithaa in TN.” Prabhakaran pinned his faith on Tamil Nadu and India because he did not trust the West, including the official peace broker, Norway, KP recalled in the interview.
He said that over the end of 2008 and early 2009, the international community and the co-chairs of the Tokyo peace conference, had devised a plan whereby the LTTE would lay down arms, hand over armouries to UN and negotiate a peace settlement with Colombo.
As part of the deal, Colombo would allow the top rung of the LTTE to be shifted to an Asian or African country; try the middle rung leaders but award them light sentences; and give amnesty to ordinary LTTE cadre. The US was ready to send a fleet to evacuate Prabhakaran and his colleagues. In the bargain, 3,00,000 Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire would also be saved.
But Prabhakaran, who did not want to go down in history as having compromised and surrendered, sent word to KP that if any foreign ship appeared on the Mullaitivu coast for rescuing him, it would be fired at.
INDIA continues to STUMBLE practicing caste-religion-region based recruitment to its Army, even as it advocates various communal remedies as "political solutions" to problems they manufacture in Sri Lanka.
This SC case may indicate that a glimmer of understanding is finally beginning to penetrate the fog in their dull minds; that communal solutions to governance are extremely divisive and destructive to national health.
India should not foolishly ape the divide and conquer methods of the British which pit Indians against Indians to secure their grasp on Colonial India!
Indian Leaders are still sleeping at the wheel, me thinks!
..............
SC to examine 'caste/region-based' recruitment in Army
NewIndianExpress.com
December 10, 2012
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea for its direction to abolish India Army's recruitment criteria for its duty soldiers, allegedly based on caste, region and religion.
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra asked the petitioner, a doctor of Rewari in Haryana, to supply the copy of the petition to the Solicitor General who will assist the court.
The petitioner I S Yadav submitted in his plea that unlike Air Force and Navy, there is "discriminatory classification" for recruitment on caste/religion/region basis and submitted that a national policy of recruitment be formed in the Army.
"At recruitment stage there cannot be caste-cum-religion-cum-region based classification. There cannot be specific recruitment on the basis of caste, region and religion to various regiments like Maratha Regiment, Rajasthan Rifles, Dogra Regiment, Jat Regiment, etc. This classification of the army is a British legacy and is not sanctioned by any law made by Parliament," the petitioner said.
"In Indian Air Force and in Indian Navy there is no such discriminatory classification of Squadrons/Fleets based on caste/religion/region and hence recruitment in Indian Air Force and Indian Navy is on all-India, all-class basis. Yet in Army alone there are caste/religion/region based regiments," the petitioner said.
Clearly MORE SKULDUGGERY to stack the Legal Profession with MORE Eelamist Lawyers to cause problems for Sri Lanka!
Hah!
...............
Calls to probe Sri Lanka's Law Entrance Exam results
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 29, Colombo: Results of this year's Law Entrance Exam Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny after the results appeared to be favoring a particular ethnic group.
Opposition political parties and lawyers' groups called for the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct a probe on the exam results.
The Young Lawyers' Association of Sri Lanka, which has called for a probe, has pointed out that out of 705 Tamil medium students who took the law exam 133 students have received entry while only 154 students have been selected from a total of 6,295 who took the exam in the Sinhala medium.
Sri Lanka's main opposition United National party (UNP) expressing doubts over this year's results say a powerful political hand is behind the skewed results.
UNP parliamentarian and Attorney Ajith P. Perera told reporters that the party suspects a fraud in the exam since the results seem to be unusually partial although the matter should not be looked as a racial issue.
The Young Lawyers' Association has said that all the Tamil medium students have reportedly studied at the same institute and taught by the same teacher.
"This is not a coincidence, but clearly a fraud that needs a top level investigation," the Association said calling for the CID to investigate.
UNP MP Perera has said that the skewed results could be due to the actions of some elements working for their personal gain.
Meanwhile, the Law Entrance Students' Union has made a complaint to President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday about the alleged manipulation of the 2012 Law Entrance exam result.
President's coordinating secretary has promised the student union a meeting with the respective authorities to probe the matter.
ABSOLUTELY ... Without a Doubt!
Sri Lanka's Foreign Enemies and the Eelamist Diaspora are behind this PLOT .... to TOPPLE this PATRIOTIC GOVERNMENT that has REUNIFIED the nation, and set Mother Lanka on the path to becoming the New Wonder of Asia .... invulnerable to foreign blackmail!
They are DESPERATELY SCHEMING before they miss the BUS completely!
...............
Sri Lanka Defence Secretary says Judiciary is being used to destabilize country and topple government
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 29, Colombo: Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says certain foreign and local elements were trying to use the judiciary to destabilize the country and topple the government.
Addressing the Wayamba Krushi Asiriya 2012, Rajapaksa has said that peace and stability are vital for the country to develop and to attract tourists and investors, but there are attempts to destabilize the country.
He has observed that there's a conspiracy by foreign elements to topple the Rajapaksa government.
"Foreign elements attempted to pose a challenge to the government through the university teachers and the students, but failed. Now they are attempting to gain their end through the judiciary," Rajapaksa has said. He has explained that the country was facing challenges similar to those faced during the military conflict.
According to Rajapaksa, LTTE activists in other countries were attempting to regroup and create chaos in Sri Lanka.
He has observed that the President has many challenges from many fronts, but the troublemakers were unable to achieve their goals due to the confidence people had in the President.
NOW these student agitators have been WARNED .... LET THEM HEED THAT WARNING.
Any further disruptions .... they should be treated as terrorists and prosecuted and convicted as such under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
If caught committing any acts of violence with LETHAL WEAPONS ... they shout be shot on the spot without further ADO.
That is what even the POLICE in the United States do to ARMED CRIMINALS!
What is Good for the US Gander should be Good for the Sri Lankan Goose, as well!
.............
Jaffna students deny “supporting the cause”
DailyMirror.lk
December 29, 2012
A special meeting will be held between Faculty Deans and Jaffna University Lecturers, sequent to a meeting with the four students detained at the Welikanda rehabilitation camp before deciding on the future course of action.
The Jaffna University has come to a standstill after the students began boycotting lectures urging that the four students still under detention since the time they were arrested after the alleged ‘heroes’ day’ celebration held at the University on November 27.
Earlier Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had met the Faculty Deans and requested them to find a way out of the impasse and ensure that the students attended the lectures.
Meanwhile the students had denied making any statements to the Army to the effect that they would “continue to fight for the cause”.
The Deans met the students still in custody after they were requested by the Jaffna Security Forces Commander Mahinda Hathurusinghe to advise the students to disengage from activities relating to the LTTE.
The security forces commander is reported to have told the Deans and the parents that the students had been campaigning for the LTTE and that they had reiterated their determination to “fight for the cause”.
A source said the students were being detained in an isolated place away from other inmates.
“It must be because they are students but they have been kept away from the other detainees and spend time reading books. They have not been asked to engage in any sort of training or other activity” the source said.
He said the Camp OIC had been advising the students about their duty towards their parents and the need to educate them before engaging in politics.
“They are being told about the value of education and have always been advised to stay away from politics,” the source said. (Menaka Mookandi)
Bravo!
Let us get the necessary EVIDENCE to PROSECUTE those seeking to ressurrect the Eelamist movement by inciting terrorist violence.
Then, prosecute, convict and PUNISH them under the POTA and laws against TREASON in Sri Lanka.
Don't let these BED BUGS hide!
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Sri Lankan Tamil politician summoned by the TID to record statement on Jaffna University students
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 29, Colombo: A Tamil politician in Sri Lanka has been summoned by the Terrorism Investigations Department (TID) to record a statement on the recent incidents that have taken place in Jaffna.
Head of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has reportedly summoned by the TID to record a statement from him today.
Ponnambalam has been asked to be present at the TID office in Colombo.
The local media quoting reports from Jaffna has said that the Tamil politician, who is the son of late Kumar Ponnambalam, is to be questioned over some of the recent incidents in Jaffna involving Jaffna University students.
Students from the Jaffna University were arrested by the TID last month following a clash between students and security forces personnel at the former Tamil Tiger terrorist group's Heroes Day commemoration at the university premises.
Seven out of the 11 students arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were released, but four students have been transferred by the TID to the Welikanda Army camp for rehabilitation.
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