Lankaweb.com
May 02, 2011
When President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, it twas reported that, the « The news touched off an extraordinary outpouring of emotion as crowds gathered outside the White House, in Times Square and at the Ground Zero site, waving American flags, cheering, shouting, laughing and chanting, “U.S.A., U.S.A.!” In New York City, crowds sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Throughout downtown Washington, drivers honked horns deep into the night.”
We Sri Lankans can understand it but when our people in Sri Lanka broke out into similar “outpouring of emotions” the Western media called it triumphalism. It is strange how the reaction of the people of two worlds on similar issues could be seen differently one as an out pouring of emotions , and the other as rude triumphalism.
It is good to be a rich powerful country to rid of terrorists and be happy that there would be no one to “question how ? ” nothing but peace and happiness thereafter. But regrettably a developing country which gets rid of terrorism is not allowed to enjoy that peace after terrorism, without quickly being accused for war crimes.
In Sri Lanka we suffered 30 years of ruthless terror our innocent villagers were massacred, our Security Officers, innocent men, women and children were killed by suicide bomb blasts and snipers, our Ministers, Parliamentarians and Presidents were killed or disabled for life, our children were massacred in trains, innocent travelers in buses were bombed, a bus load of our Buddhist priests were butchered inside the bus, our airports were bombed and terrorism restricted our daily existence.
But yet when we finally eliminated terrorism and saved the suffering of the people and loss of our valued leaders and heroes, the very same America that rejoices today the death of a terrorist who was the prime mover for the massacre of innocent Americans, “ just on one day ” through utter terror, accuses Sri Lanka Government and Armed Forces for war crimes and violation of human rights, for eliminating that group of terrorists who practically every day for thirty years killed and massacred over 70 000 of our people in side our own country.
Where is justice, and why is it that suffering through terrorism is understood only when it happens to the big and powerful, and not when the sufferer is not oneself but others poorer and less powerful.
It was 10 years ago in a September that the American people were attacked , and the American Government sent its Army to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in search of the perpetrator and finally he was hunted and killed. But in Sri Lank the attacks were a daily happening and the perpetrator was helped by the West and the Tamil diaspora living in America and other foreign countries collected funds to allow the terrorist in Sri Lanka to keep killing the innocent people.
When Sri Lanka finally caught the perpetrator in his den and killed and removed terrorism from the country, and the Government started a massive rehabilitation project and cleared the areas held by the terrorists and removed the mines and re-settled the displaced Tamil people back in their villagers, the West comes round along with the Human Rights activists, Amnesty International, UN and Ban Ki Moon, Navi Pillai, investigation Panels, Robert Blake , and American State Department to pontificate to us how we should have carried out the elimination of terrorists, and accuses the Government and the Army for war crimes.
No one can assert that there was no Zero civilian loss in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan through out the hunt for Osama Bin Laden during the past 10 years. Will the American State Department advise Ban Ki Moon to appoint a panel of investigators to look into any violation of human rights in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan through intense bombardments and drone attacks in the hunt for Osama bin Laden ?
We agree with the President Barrack Obama when he says , “And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts. “
Yes that was 3000 citizens lost to a country and fathers mothers and children lost to families. We suffered these losses more frequently for 30 years and in all it was more than 70 000 of our citizens, and fathers, mothers, children, and some time the only “bread earner” to the families. May be in the rescue operations and the elimination of terrorism some of our citizens may have died in that effort but those civilians who also died in the hunt for Osama bin Laden may be countless though they are from families poorer than those in America and whose loss are not felt by any one in far away America.
It was worst for us in Sri Lanka because it was not hunting and eliminating terrorists in a foreign land, but our soldiers had to rescue the innocent civilians (our own people) that were herded by the terrorists to be their human shield and that was the most difficult task that fell on the shoulders of the poor soldiers to avoid being killed , not kill civilians and kill the terrorists, what happens in such an effort only a soldiers in the midst of it would know.
That onerous task cannot be understood by Ban ki Moon or his advisory panel, Robert Blake, David Milliband, Hillary Clinton, Amnesty International, human rights activists , UK Channel 4 or numerous critics of Sri Lanka, it has to be one inside doing the difficult task of a soldier, who would know what it was like, it could be explained by this one sentence of the President Barrack Obama, “And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. “
It was the same with our President Mahinda Rajapakse when he announced the death of the terrorists leader Prabhakaran, it marked the “ most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat terrorism in Sri Lanka”.
As much as the President Barack Obama asserted to his people:
“As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not — and never will be — at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al-Qaida has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”
our President Mahinda Rajapakse also said very clearly that his Government and the Armed Forces were not and never will be at war with the Tamil people… that the war was not against Tamils and that Prabhakatran was not a leader of the Tamil people, he was a mass murderer of his own people and the rest of the communities of Sri Lanka. His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
We appeal to the President Barrack Obama to understand, that as he said , no country “……..will ever tolerate its security being threatened, nor stand idly by when its people have been killed. All countries will be relentless in defense of its citizens and friends and allies.” ,and request his State Department, and other countries sympathetic to terrorist front Organizations of the Sri Lanka Tamil Diaspora, and Ban Ki Moon of UN to get off the “back “ of Sri Lanka and stop threatening to take Sri Lanka before a war tribunal for the elimination of its terrorist under very difficult conditions, and “ understand the cost of war.”
82 comments:
Yea! Charles Perera .. you have spoken for me too!
Hooray, Osama Bin Laden bites the DUST!
Today, President Barack Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by Navy Seals in an attack on a guarded compound 60km NorthWest of Islamabad in Pakistan!
Congratulations to the United States for a Job Well Done!
Now, if only the US would stop shedding crocodile tears about Sri Lanka's Osama bin Laden .. Velupillai Prabhakaran that is .. and his murderous followers.
Let the US help Sri Lanka instead of trying to DEMONIZE and level fake "war crimes charges" against our Patriotic Courageous Leaders who nailed the putative Sun God along the banks of the Nanthikandal Lagoon, after 30 years of Mass Murder and Mayhem by them in Sri Lanka.
Let us not have Different Strokes for Different Folks!
The Blood of Sri Lankan citizens is as Precious as that of American citizens!
Congratulations USA! Another Bloody Mass Murderer has received his DESERVED DUE.
JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED .. Finally!
But, let the people of Sri Lanka enjoy FREEDOM FROM TERROR and JUSTICE too!
Let us be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR:
1. The United States was ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in KILLING Osama bin Laden instead of capturing and bringing him to trial. That would have let him dance on the world stage to martyerdom!
2. Pakistan should not claim injury to its "sovereignity", for it failed to exercise that sovereignity to arrest and/or kill bin Laden, an acknowledged mass murder hiding in their midst, a stone's throw away from a prestigious National Military Academy!
It matter not, whether it was through COMPLICITY or INCOMPETENCE! Either way, the Pakistanis FAILED to discharge their responsibility, and ABDICATED that authority to the United States.
3. The United States that
A. Criticized the Govt of Sri Lanka for unwillingness to let the arch LTTE terrorist Velupillai Prabhakaran escape from the "Mullaitivu Pocket" he was trapped in, and volunteered to spirit him out of Sri Lanka to continue his terrorism from abroad, should now UNDERSTAND & APPRECIATE Sri Lanka's dilemma better.
When the lives of your long suffering citizens are at stake from an acknowleged elusive terrorist mastermind .. guilty beyond debate .. you must act decisively and alone. President Obama did that NOW, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa did THEN! Both of them had NO CHOICE but to discharge their duty to their country and their people.
B. In view of these events, at least now the United States should CEASE & DESIST from making hypocritical statements about RECONCILIATION in Sri Lanka with the supporters of Tamil terrorists .. pushing Sri Lanka toward greater insecurity.
Just as the confrontation between the US and Al-Quaida continues despite the death of Osama bin Laden, Sri Lanka's struggle against the LTTE terrorist network among the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora CONTINUES.
In this respect Sri Lanka is NO DIFFERENT from the United States .. they are two nations whose citizens are threatened by networks of international terrorists.
Therefore, the United States should not UNDERMINE Sri Lanka's national security, AVOID adopting hypocritical double standards, and join Sri Lanka in common cause.
Let us remember that Sri Lanka, however imperfect it may be, is one of the ONLY TWO FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACIES of South Asia.
Give Sri Lanka BREAK!
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After the raid: mining the haul, debating photos
By KIMBERLY DOZIER and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
May 04, 2011
WASHINGTON – With Osama bin Laden dead and buried, U.S. officials are starting to explore the computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that U.S. commandos hauled out of his Pakistani compound hideaway, hopeful that the intelligence trove will yield insights that point the way to other al-Qaida leaders.
The Navy SEALS who staged the daring raid on bin Laden's compound, now resting at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, also confiscated phone numbers from bin Laden's body that could provide new leads for investigators.
After the raid: mining the haul, debating photos
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The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., took note Wednesday of the small snippets of information that eventually paved a pathway to bin Laden, and expressed similar hopes for this new trove.
"Small pieces of information can be critically important," Rogers said on ABC's "Good Morning America. But he added: "I would be very cautious until we actually know what we have." Rogers said it would be a big task to go through the cache, which includes encrypted materials and writings in Arabic.
The CIA has set up a task force to review the material from the highest level of al-Qaida's leadership, providing a rare opportunity for U.S. intelligence. When a midlevel terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans. When the boss is taken, everything might be compromised but nobody knows for sure.
A key issue for President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is whether to release graphic images of bin Laden's corpse. Doing so could dispel doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead. The worry, though, is that it would feed anti-U.S. sentiment.
CIA Director Leon Panetta said at least one photo is likely to be released. Rogers, for his part, said he was concerned that the photo could be seen as a "trophy" that inflames U.S. critics and makes it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their job.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., among the lawmakers who had the images described to them, played down concerns. "They're not going to scare people off," he said. "Nothing more than you'd expect with a person with a bullet in his head."
Bin Laden's hideout was in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, the same city where Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek was arrested in January.
Indonesian officials said Patek, who is suspected in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was in Pakistan to meet with bin Laden when he was arrested. But a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday that Patek's visit to Abbottabad appeared to be coincidental, and there was no indication the two men met.
The White House on Tuesday gave a more complete picture of the assault — and corrected some key details from earlier official accounts.
White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a weapon and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. The corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him.
Panetta told "PBS NewsHour" that bin Laden "made some threatening moves" that "represented a clear threat to our guys" but was not more specific about what the unarmed terrorist did as the commandos engaged others at the compound in a firefight and burst into their prey's room.
"I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything," Panetta said. "It was a firefight going up that compound. ... This was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs."
Panetta underscored that Obama had given permission to kill the terrorist leader: "The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."
The revised account of bin Laden's final moments was one of many official details that have changed since he was killed in the nighttime raid early Monday morning. Officials also incorrectly said bin Laden's wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That actually was the wife of a bin Laden aide, and she was just caught in crossfire, the White House said Tuesday.
After the raid: mining the haul, debating photos
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney attributed those discrepancies to the fog of war, saying the information was coming in bit by bit and was still being reviewed. Nevertheless, the contradictory statements may raise suspicions about the White House's version of events, given that no independent account from another source is likely to emerge. The only non-U.S. witnesses to survive the raid are in Pakistani custody.
Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: bin Laden; his son; his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. The latest White House account leaves open the question of whether there was any gunfire from bin Laden's defenders in his room before the commandos shot him.
Obama prepared to visit New York City's ground zero on Thursday to mark the end to one of history's most intense manhunts and to remember anew the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the hands of bin Laden's al-Qaida organization. He invited former President George W. Bush, who once famously said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," to join him, but the former president declined.
In Washington, questions flew about whether Pakistan was complicit in protecting the mastermind of those attacks. Several Republicans and Democrats in Congress have raised the possibility of cutting off U.S. aid to Pakistan. The Pakistani government has denied suggestions that its security forces knew anything about bin Laden's hideout or failed to spot suspicious signs in a city with a heavy military presence.
In a closed-door briefing for lawmakers Tuesday, Panetta said, "Pakistan was involved or incompetent," a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Pakistan on Tuesday criticized the American raid in its sovereign territory as "unauthorized unilateral action."
That was a sharp contrast to the initial reaction from Pakistani officials: A US official said Wednesday the first reaction from the Pakistanis was to congratulate the United States for the Sunday operation. The sentiment came from Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kayani, when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen called him to inform him about the completed operation.
After the raid: mining the haul, debating photos
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While tensions grew, efforts also were apparent to contain the damage in an important if checkered relationship. The Obama administration pushed back against the talk of punishing Pakistan. So did Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who said, "Having a robust partnership with Pakistan is critical to breaking the back of al-Qaida and the rest of them."
And Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that despite difficult relations with Pakistan, "They have allowed us to pursue our drone program. We've taken out over 16 of the top 20 al-Qaida leaders because of that. That's cooperation."
Rogers called the failure to find bin Laden an embarrassment for Pakistan, but warned against cutting off aid, saying: "They need us and we need them. Frustrating? Absolutely. Are they going to be the best partners we've ever had? No."
For the long-term legacy of the most successful counterterrorism operation in U.S. history, the fact that bin Laden was unarmed is unlikely to matter much to the Americans he declared war against. The CIA's top counterterrorism official once promised to bring bin Laden's head back on a stake.
Yet just 24 hours before the White House acknowledged that bin Laden had been unarmed, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said, "If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that."
Will it matter around the world? Some may try to make much of it in Pakistan and elsewhere.
"This country has gone through a lot of trauma in terms of violence, and whether or not he was armed is not going to make a difference to people who were happy to see the back of him," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst and columnist in Pakistan. Yet, he said, "The majority have a mistrust of America, and this will reinforce their mistrust of America."
Here is Navi Pillai .. going through theoretical human rights arguments defending the "rights" of a terrorist mass murderer!
Where was she, and the UN, when 3500 people were killed by the Al-Quaida in the Twin Towers, and over 150,000 people by the brutal LTTE in Sri Lanka?
Do those VICTIMS have any rights? Any at all?
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U.N. rights boss asks U.S. for facts on bin Laden killing
May 3, 2011
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations' top human rights official called on the United States Tuesday to give the U.N. details about Osama bin Laden's killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.
But Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the al Qaeda leader, killed in a U.S. operation in Pakistan, had committed crimes against humanity as self-confessed mastermind of "the most appalling acts of terrorism," including the September 11, 2001 attacks on America.
It was always clear that taking bin Laden alive was likely to be difficult, she said, noting that U.S. authorities had stated that they intended to arrest him if possible.
"This was a complex operation and it would be helpful if we knew the precise facts surrounding his killing. The United Nations has consistently emphasized that all counter-terrorism acts must respect international law," Pillay said in a statement issued in response to a Reuters request.
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended as lawful Tuesday the U.S. operation to go into Pakistan that resulted in the death of bin Laden and the taking of his body.
"If he was captured and brought before a court, I have no doubt he would have been charged with the most serious crimes, including the mass murder of civilians that took place on 9/11, which were planned and systematic and in my view amounted to crime against humanity," said Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge.
Killing of Osama bin Laden is LAWFUL says the US Govt.
Oh! Not a war crime?
The Sri Lankan Govt will be happy to hear that!
Now, can we have some CONSISTENCY in APPLYING this STANDARD to the US and to Sri Lanka?
Pretty Please?
Or, will it be Different Strokes for Different Folks ... ALL OVER AGAIN?
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U.S. says bin Laden was lawful military target
By Kamran Haider and Matt Spetalnick
May 04, 2011
ABBOTTABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Wednesday that killing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was an act of national self-defense, countering allegations the raid by U.S. commandos on his Pakistani hide-out was illegal.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said bin Laden was a legitimate military target and he had made no attempt to surrender to the American forces that stormed his fortified compound near Islamabad on Monday, and shot him in the head.
"It was justified as an act of national self-defense," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing bin Laden's admission of being involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
It was lawful to target bin Laden because he was the enemy commander in the field and the operation was conducted in a way that was consistent with U.S. laws and values, he said, adding that it was a "kill or capture mission."
"If he had surrendered, attempted to surrender, I think we should obviously have accepted that, but there was no indication that he wanted to do that and therefore his killing was appropriate," he said.
U.S. acknowledgment on Tuesday that bin Laden was unarmed when shot dead had raised accusations Washington had violated international law. Exact circumstances of his death remained unclear and could yet fuel controversy, especially in the Muslim world.
As the U.S. government debated whether to release photos it had taken of bin Laden's body to the public, one Senator said she had seen one picture showing his face.
"I have seen one of them," Republican senator Kelly Ayotte said, adding she believed it confirmed his identity.
Pakistan faced national embarrassment, a leading Islamabad newspaper said, in explaining how the world's most-wanted man was able to live for years in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, just north of the capital.
Pakistan blamed worldwide intelligence lapses for a failure to detect bin Laden, while Washington worked to establish whether its ally had sheltered the al Qaeda leader, which Islamabad vehemently denies.
"There is an intelligence failure of the whole world, not just Pakistan alone," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters in Paris. "(If there are) ... lapses from the Pakistan side, that means there are lapses from the whole world.
The revelation that bin Laden was unarmed contradicted an earlier U.S. account that he had participated in a firefight with the helicopter-borne American commandos. Al Arabiya television went further, suggesting the architect of the 9/11 attacks was first taken prisoner and then shot.
"A security source in the Pakistani security quoted the daughter of Osama bin Laden that the leader of al Qaeda was not killed inside his house, but had been arrested and was killed later," the Arabic television station said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday cited the "fog of war" -- a phrase suggested by a reporter -- as a reason for the initial misinformation.
U.S. says bin Laden was lawful military target
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Washington was weighing sensitivities in the Muslim world before deciding whether to release to the media photographs of bin Laden's body which could provide proof for skeptics of his death.
"It's fair to say that it's a gruesome photograph," Carney said. "I'll be candid. There are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs."
There has been little questioning of the operation in the United States, where bin Laden's killing was greeted with street celebrations. A New York Times/CBS News poll showed President Barack Obama's approval jumped 11 points to 57 percent after the operation, though Americans feared revenge attacks by militants.
Pakistan has welcomed bin Laden's death, but its Foreign Ministry expressed deep concerns about the raid, which it called an "unauthorized unilateral action."
The CIA said it kept Pakistan out of the loop because it feared bin Laden would be tipped off, highlighting the depth of mistrust between the two supposed allies.
U.S. helicopters carrying the commandos used radar "blind spots" in the hilly terrain along the Afghan border to enter Pakistani airspace undetected in the early hours of Monday.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn compared the latest humiliation with the admission in 2004 that one of the country's top scientists had sold its nuclear secrets. "Not since Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to transferring nuclear technology to Iran and Libya has Pakistan suffered such an embarrassment," it said.
The streets around bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad remained sealed off on Wednesday, with police and soldiers allowing only residents to pass through.
"It's a crime but what choice are you left with if I'm not handing over your enemy who is hiding in my house?" said Hussain Khan, a retired government official living nearby, when asked about the apparent violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. "Obviously you will go and get him yourself."
UNARMED RESISTANCE
Carney insisted bin Laden resisted when U.S. forces stormed his compound in the 40-minute operation. He would not say how.
"There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and, indeed, he resisted," Carney said. "A woman... bin Laden's wife, rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed."
Bin Laden's killing and the swift burial of his body at sea have produced some criticism in the Muslim world and accusations Washington acted outside international law.
"The Americans behaved in the same way as bin Laden: with treachery and baseness," Husayn al-Sawaf, 25, a playwright, said in Cairo. "They should've tried him in a court. As for his burial, that's not Islamic. He should've been buried in soil."
But there has been no sign of mass protests or violent reaction on the streets in south Asia or the Middle East, where Islamist militancy appears to have been eclipsed by pro-democracy movements sweeping the region.
U.S. says bin Laden was lawful military target
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The strike team opened fire in response to "threatening moves" as they reached the third-floor room where they found bin Laden, CIA Director Leon Panetta told PBS television.
"The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."
Geoffrey Robertson, a prominent London-based human rights lawyer, said the killing "may well have been a cold-blooded assassination" that risked making bin Laden a martyr.
Pakistan has come under intense international scrutiny since bin Laden's death, with questions on whether its security agencies were too incompetent to catch him or knew all along where he was hiding, and even whether they were complicit.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban, who harbored bin Laden until they were overthrown in late 2001, challenged the truth of his death, saying Washington had not provided "acceptable evidence to back up their claim" that he had been killed.
Pakistan, its radar systems jammed by the US, was clueless about the raid until Obama called Ali Zardari ... after the fact!
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The bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Feels the Heat of U.S. Mistrust
By OMAR WARAICH / ISLAMABAD Omar Waraich / Islamabad
May 3, 2011
When President Asif Ali Zardari's phone rang at 1.15 a.m. on Monday, it was President Barack Obama on the line, with news that a U.S. operation to eliminate Osama bin Laden and retrieve his body had been successful. That phone call, Pakistani officials tell TIME, was the first that their government heard about a U.S. military operation conducted just three hours' drive from Islamabad. There was no mistaking the obvious mistrust from Washington in the timing: Pakistan's military establishment only learned of the raid when it was too late, according to government and military officials. U.S. helicopters were able to swoop in from Afghanistan undetected, as Pakistani radars had been jammed. The Pakistan government, in a statement, tried to explain this away by saying, the choppers took advantage of "blind spots in the radar coverage due to hilly terrain." By the time Pakistani fighter jets set off to pursue them, it was too late.
The discovery and death of bin Laden on Pakistani soil has been a source of great embarrassment here. Throughout Monday, both the government and the military struggle to form a response. Some officials made clumsy attempts to suggest that there had been some form of cooperation, but a government statement on Tuesday conceded that Pakistan had been kept out of the loop. A senior Pakistani military tells TIME that they did not know of the raid, but calls attention to remarks by Obama and by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, insisting that it had been Pakistani intelligence cooperation that first put the U.S. on the trail that enabled them to locate bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. (See pictures of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout.)
Still, Pakistani officials believe the U.S. decision to leave them in the dark was based on deep mistrust. "Such actions undermine cooperation and may also sometimes constitute [a] threat to international peace and security," the Pakistan government statement added. The Pakistani military official would not comment on whether the army or its intelligence service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had been aware of the compound or of bin Laden's presence there. The ISI had raided the same compound in 2003, in pursuit of al-Qaeda leader Faraj al-Libi. That raid, they insist, was crucial to his arrest the following year. Since then, their sights had drifted from the area, but officials insist that the ISI had as recently as last month furnished the CIA with intelligence about the presence of foreigners there. U.S. officials, however, appear to believe that at least some in the Pakistani security establishment had knowledge of bin Laden's presence. And the Pakistanis believe that staging a raid of this type deep inside Pakistani territory without first clearing the operation with Pakistani authorities was "meant to teach a lesson," says a senior Pakistani official.
The bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Feels the Heat of U.S. Mistrust
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Despite the mistrust between them, however, the U.S. and Pakistan have no choice but to continue their fractious relationship. Marc Grossman, President Obama's Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived for talks with senior Pakistani officials on Tuesday. His message, paraphrased by a cynical Pakistani official, was that Washington is prepared to work with Pakistan if they behave like "good boys". Grossman's visit came in the course of a prescheduled visit to meet with top Pakistani and Afghan officials. But the bin Laden raid loomed large in his meetings with the Pakistanis. (Watch President Obama's announcement of Osama bin Laden's death.)
Relations between the two sides had reached a low point in the weeks before the bin Laden raid. Following the six-week standoff over the fate of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who had killed two Pakistani men in an incident in Lahore in February, there were fierce disagreements over the use of CIA drone strikes targeting suspected militants in the tribal areas.
Pakistani officials expect Washington to use their embarrassment over bin Laden to leverage more cooperation from them. One consequence is expected to be a renewed escalation of the drone strikes - there have been just two since March 17. There may also be more pressure on Pakistan to help the U.S. in Afghanistan. Washington is deeply concerned about links between the ISI and the Haqqani network based in North Waziristan, whose fighters are among the most ferocious facing NATO in Afghanistan. Pakistan has long resisted against Taliban groups that confine their activities to fighting Western forces across the border. The Pakistan Army typically fobs off U.S. pressure with a plea that it too overstretched to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan, and that other challenges take priority. Now, it may find itself pressed into launching the campaign the U.S. has long demanded. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban.)
Greater cooperation with the U.S. on Afghanistan would limit Pakistan's ability to shape the Afghanistan endgame to its own interests, which include cementing a key role for its pro-Taliban allies in post-U.S. Where the Pakistani side had used the showdown over Davis to push back against the U.S., the bin Laden raid puts them back on the defensive.
Besides rising pressure from the U.S., Pakistan's security establishment also faces a challenge from within. The realization that it was either unable to find bin Laden in its own back yard, or else was hiding him, has further eroded public confidence. "They've been caught with their pants down," says a senior opposition politician, asking to remain unnamed. Notably, there has been little public outrage at the raid, which will come to the combined relief of U.S. and Pakistani officials. While militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba condemned the killing and offered funeral prayers in his honor, there has been no great show of rage on the streets. But the Pakistani Taliban have made their intent plain. Regardless of the facts, they are convinced that the Pakistanis helped get bin Laden - and they have vowed to exact revenge in Pakistan's cities.
Ask Robert Blake when he is going to investigate the killing of Osama Bin Laden as a "war crime"! LoL!
Sri Lanka would be happy to lend its assistance in that investigation!
Should Sri Lanka's position be that the US should engage in more RECONCILIATION with Moslems extremists?
RECONCILIATION has another meaning: the balancing of the two sides of a ledger. In this sense, RECONCILIATION requires the KILLING of all Al-Quaida leader to settle the score for the 9/11 attack.
Therefore, US efforts at RECONCILIATION will CONTINUE! We ain't done yet! Ayman, Ayman Zawahiri .. do you hear?
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Meet with Blake positive – Gota
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
May 05, 2011
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said, in an exclusive interview with The Island on Thursday (5), that Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake hadn’t come across any Tamil speaking civilians wanting to have Sri Lanka investigated for war crimes during his visit to former LTTE strongholds at Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi on May 3.
Assistant Secretary Blake, in the company of his successor Patricia Butenis met the Defence Secretary on the following day at the Ministry of Defence.
The former war displaced had primarily expressed concern over lack of employment opportunities when they met the visiting dignitary, the Defence Secretary said.
The Gajaba veteran said the bottom line was that war crimes and so-called accountability hadn’t been an issue for civilians.
The Defence Secretary termed his meeting with Assistant Secretary Blake ‘encouraging’, while expressing confidence the Governments of Sri Lanka and the United States could work together in the post-war era. The US delegation flew in an SLAF helicopter and had received briefings by Security Forces Commanders in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
"I also received an assurance that the US had nothing to do with an alleged attempt at regime change," the Defence Secretary said. Rajapaksa quoted Blake as having said that Sri Lanka was very important and strategically important to the US, including in the field of maritime security.
The Defence Secretary said: "Assistant Secretary Blake raised several contentious issues, including the alleged presence of armed groups in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in spite of the conclusion of the war. I explained the action taken to disarm armed groups irrespective of their political affiliations and security provided to those who needed protection. "
"I assured Assistant Secretary Blake of immediate action if information on those armed groups can be made available," he said.
Meet with Blake positive – Gota
.....continued 1....
Responding to a query by The Island, the Defence Secretary said that every effort would be made to ensure that only security forces would carry weapons. Since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, the government had strived to help war-affected communities in spite of severe constraints, the Defence Secretary said.
Asked whether the crisis caused by the Somali pirates had been mentioned by Assistant Secretary Blake in the context of maritime security, the Defence Secretary replied: "No," and went on to stress the pivotal importance of co-operation among countries at the highest level to tackle terrorism.
"The US also raised the delay on the part of the government to issue death certificates to those killed during the conflict et al," the Defence Secretary said. "I explained the situation during the conflict. For years, there hadn’t been a census or update of electoral register due to parts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces being under LTTE control. Since the war, the government is in the process of carrying out a census and also collecting data with regard to loss of life among the Tamil speaking people."
The Defence Secretary, during the meeting, while welcoming the ongoing talks between the government and the TNA had emphasized the importance of the Tamil political party changing its attitude. Nothing could be as important as realizing the ground reality on the part of the TNA in having a permanent solution to the national question.
The Defence Secretary said that the government was ready to engage the TNA and the Tamil Diaspora to work out a durable solution. But it would be necessary on their part to be realistic if the ongoing talks were to be successful.
Addressing the media at the USIS at the end of his visit on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Blake said that the government and TNA had conducted several rounds of talks with another round scheduled for May 12. Blake expressed hope that those talks would result in a comprehensive agreement that could help Sri Lanka heal the wounds of war and ensure that all Sri Lankans enjoy equal rights and a future of hope and opportunity.
Lankan posing as Keralite arrested at Delhi airport
DailyNews.lk
May 07, 2011
A Sri Lankan national, against whom a look-out-circular has been issued, was arrested at the airport while he was allegedly trying to fly to Moscow posing as a Keralite, Delhi police said yesterday.
N Suresh Kumar was intercepted at the immigration counter of the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday when he was going to board an Air Astana flight to Moscow. He claimed he was a resident of Sangaramangalam village in Palakad district of Kerala and his passport showed that he got it issued from Malappuram in November last year.
"The police personnel at the counter found that a look-out-circular (LoC) has been issued against him by Chennai FRRO," Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) R A Sanjeev, said.
The text of LoC against Kumar dated September 15, 2009 read, "prevent subject from entering India and inform originator (FRRO Chennai)". - Sify
ABSOLUTELY!
Uncle Sam protects its own interests and national security, but denies the same rights to Sri Lanka!
Uncle Sam AGAIN CAUGHT with its Striped PANTS DOWN below his knees!
Sam Ole' Boy, What is good for the GOOSE must be GOOD for the GANDER as well!
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Uncle Sam hoisted on his own petard
Editorial Desk
The Island
AsiaNewsNet.net
May 06, 2011
Double standards and duplicity are luxuries that only the powerful countries can afford but they entail a heavy price as could be seen from the predicament of mighty America in the wake of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. When the US took the lead in initiating a war crimes witch-hunt against Sri Lanka questioning the circumstances under which the latter's terrorists had been killed, the Obama administration may not have thought that its stratagem would boomerang so soon.
Former US president George W. Bush invented a bogus casus belli to justify his invasion of Iraq. He claimed Saddam Hussein had WMDs. But, now we know that his claim was nothing but a barefaced lie. His excuse for wreaking havoc on Afghanistan was America's need to hunt down bin Laden responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Following the killing of that terrorist deep inside Pakistan, the world is now aware that both Bush and his successor President Barack Obama, who continues his predecessor's policy, have lied to the world.
President Bill Clinton was caught with his pants down after turning the Oval Office into a gymnasium of sex, ably assisted by Monica Lewinsky. He committed perjury but was lucky enough to get away without being impeached. President Obama, too, lied through his teeth having turned the Situation Room at the White House into a command centre for the operation that took bin Laden last Sunday (May 1). First, he said bin Laden had been shot dead in a firefight. (We pointed out the absurdity of this claim as none of the US troops who took part in the raid had suffered any injury.) But, now the White House has admitted that bin Laden was unarmed at the time of his death!
Killing unarmed terrorists, however dangerous they may be, is a war crime according to UN pundits and the whole caboodle of human rights groups that US itself funds. So, if one goes by their criteria, one will see that President Obama, his security advisors, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the US military are responsible for a serious war crime - the killing of unarmed bin Laden and his son. President Obama cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for that 'war crime' as he has claimed that the hit team acted on his direct orders. That he directed operations and was privy to what was happening in bin Laden's hideout is evident from a picture released by the While House with him watching the execution of bin Laden live, in the company of Vice President, Secretary of State et al.
The UN Human Rights Commission and the international human rights watchdogs baying for the blood of lesser persons now have prima facie evidence of a serious 'war crime' committed by the US. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon does not have to appoint an advisory panel on the US. The White House has confirmed bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot; President Obama has said he ordered the killing and an official picture of President Obama and others watching the operation live is available. What is called for is action!
Uncle Sam hoisted on his own petard
.....continued 1....
US assistant secretary of state Robert Blake claimed before the release of the Moon Panel report that Sri Lanka could be hauled up before a war crimes tribunal. But, when he was asked by this newspaper on Wednesday at a press conference in Colombo to comment on the UNHRC's demand that the White House make public 'precise facts surrounding his (bin Laden) killing ', he claimed he was not aware of that development back at home as he had been away in Sri Lanka for a few days! The Island wanted to question him further but the journalists were allowed to ask only one question each. Anyway, we would like to pose this query to him wherever he may be today: Mr. Blake, don't you think that President Obama could be hauled up before a war crimes tribunal since there is damning evidence that he ordered the killing of an unarmed terrorist?
We suggest that US ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis call a meeting of diplomats and NGOs to discuss the killing of bin Laden in the context of the White House statement and picture at issue.
Uncle Sam has got caught in the trap Blake set for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan University Student bodies are known to be usually DISRUPTIVE pursuing political aims on campus.
But, this request for English and IT training is a reasonable request that would ultimately benefit the students and the nation. It is entirely consistent with the mission of universities to educate the people.
The GOSL should GRAB this opportunity to GRANT this constructive STUDENT INITIATED REQUEST.
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University students ask Sri Lankan government to provide English and IT training
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 06, Colombo: Sri Lankan university students have said that they needed training in English and information technology (IT) instead of leadership skills training.
The Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated Inter University Student's Federation (IUSF) has pointed out that the government without addressing the real needs of the university students was trying to give them leadership training in military institutions.
IUSF Convener, Sanjeewa Bandara has told the media that most university students lacked a good knowledge in English and IT.
He has called on the government to make the necessary arrangements to give proper English and IT training to all university students as a matter of priority.
Bravo! The Israelis are the best in making deserts bloom .. let us work together!
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SL and Israel sign MOU for Agricultural Development
May 07, 2011
A Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation has been signed between Sri Lanka and Israel. This MOU was signed in Colombo on Thursday by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and the visiting Agriculture Minister of Israel Mrs Orit Nokade.
A special Israel delegation of agriculturists is presently in Sri Lanka, looking into the agricultural development potentials in the country. The MOU signed focused on providing Israeli technology and know-how for development of export agriculture.
The MOU covers matters relating to harvesting technology, milk based products, water management, and potato cultivation. It also includes provisions for getting down Israeli investors to Sri Lanka.
Minister Mahinda Yapa speaking at the function held in Colombo for signing the MOU said that our farmers will be able to get the developed agricultural technology of Israel in the future, as a result of the MOU signed.(niz)
It is good to see the Sri Lanka Bar Association taking a Patriotic Step instead of continually playing into the hands of Sri Lanka's enemies!
Jayawewa!
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Sri Lanka Bar Association passes resolution against 'Darusman Report'
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 07, Colombo: The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has today unanimously passed a resolution against the report by the Panel of Experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sri Lanka.
The BASL passed the resolution at a special meeting convened today.
The BASL has told the media that preparing the Darusman Report was in breach of the country's Constitution and the United Nations Charter.
Secretary of the BASL Mahinda Lokuge told a press conference that copies of the passed resolution will be forwarded to the UN Secretary-General, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and all political party leaders.
The Sri Lankan government last month rejected the report saying that it is "fundamentally flawed in many respects".
"Among other deficiencies, the report is based on patently biased material which is presented without any verification," the government charged.
Double Standards INDEED!
When the US metes out DESERVED JUSTICE to Mass Muderers ... thousands of miles awat from home .. it is a "Lawful Act." We don't see any moves to "Reconcile" with these extremist terrorists EITHER!
Yet, when Sri Lanka metes out the same DESERVED JUSTICE to Mass Muderers who killed not just 3,500 civilians, but 150,000 innocents in innumerable attacks ... the US calls for "War Crimes" investigations and "Reconciliation" with murderous terrorists!
Different Strokes for Different Folks ... me thinks!
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Sri Lankan minister accuses international organizations of double standards
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 07, Colombo: Leader of Sri Lanka's National Freedom Front (NFF) and Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa has accused the international community of double standards.
The Minister made this comment during a public meeting in Ulapane. He has said the approach of the international organizations towards the assassination of Osama bin Laden was in total contradiction to their response to Sri Lanka's war against terrorism.
However, he has observed that the government was successful in defeating terrorism in the country.
According to Weerawansa, the UN Secretary-General, and his Panel of Experts were on witch hunt against the current administration.
Sri Lanka issues special postal stamp on 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 07, Colombo: The 150th Birth Anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was celebrated in Sri Lanka at the British School Auditorium in Colombo under the patronage of India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha.
Marking the event, Secretary of Sri Lanka Postal Services Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando released a special postal stamp in the denomination of Rupees 5 and a First Day Cover commemorating Rabindranath Tagore.
Wimal Rubasinghe, Secretary, Ministry for Cultural Affairs and Arts of the Government of Sri Lanka released a commemorative volume "Remembering Rabindranath Tagore", containing a compilation of articles in English, Sinhala and Tamil, which highlight the poetic, philosophical and cultural expressions of Tagore and their relevance in the contemporary world. The volume was published by University of Colombo with the support of India-Sri Lanka Foundation.
Addressing the event, the Indian High Commissioner said the releasing a special postal stamp on this occasion was a "befitting homage to a towering personality who straddled the world of literature, art, music, and intellectual discourse and contributed in a very meaningful manner to the cultural renaissance of India, Sri Lanka and other countries of Asia."
Observing Tagore's strong association with Sri Lanka shown by his three visits in 1922, 1928 and 1934, the High Commissioner noted Tagore's association with the Sri Palee campus at Horana, whose foundation stone Tagore had laid at the invitation of Wilmut Perera.
A press release issued by the High Commission of India said a play staged by Tagore during his 1934 visit, "Shap Mochan", will be re-staged in Sri Lanka in November this year by famous Manipuri dancer Bimbavati Devi and her 21 member troupe sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
The High Commissioner has also announced that to re-kindle the old linkages and associations, exchange of visits between Sri Palee and Santiniketan will be facilitated by the High Commission during the year.
An exhibition of Tagore's paintings will also be organized in Sri Lanka later this year along with a photo exhibition on the life and travels of Tagore.
The High Commissioner was the Chief Guest yesterday at an event organized by Sri Palee campus at the Faculty of Graduate Studies auditorium, University of Colombo to pay homage to Tagore which included screening of documentaries on Tagore made by the students of Sri Palee and talks on Tagore by Prof. Walter Marasinghe and Dr. Premadasa Mudunkotuwa.
Other events planned during the year to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Tagore in Sri Lanka include a festival of films based on the novels and stories of Tagore such as 'Agantuk', 'Pather Panchali', 'Charulatha', 'Ghare Baire' and 'Teen Kanya' and an essay competition in Sinhala, English and Tamil on Tagore for undergraduate students in the universities in Sri Lanka.
The High Commission of India and Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Arts have also agreed to organize later this year research by scholars on the three visits of Tagore to Sri Lanka in 1922, 1928 and 1934 and the impact of Tagore's visit in the cultural renaissance within Sri Lanka.
The special event was concluded with a musical tribute toTagore in form of beautiful rendition of Rabindra Sangeet by Amar-Daya Foundation.
Sri Lanka to install 654MW of Wind Power!
Jayawewa!
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Sri Lankan government to formulate energy policy by August, says Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 07, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has decided to formulate an energy policy by August this year in a bid to address the future challenges in the country's energy sector.
Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has informed parliament that the government was looking at alternative energy sources according to the global scenario in the future.
Ranawaka has said the government is looking at producing 654 megawatts of wind power.
Meanwhile, the Minister has also asserted to make the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) a vibrant profit making enterprise.
According to Ranawaka, the CEB has been able to pay its dues to the CPC in the recent past and would continue to do so.
INDEED, The UN "Darusman Report" is UNHELPFUL by DESIGN!
It is a wooden club clumsily weilded by the WESTERN CABAL that CONTROLS the UN by dominating the UN Security Council, like a Puppet on a string, to further their own hegomonistic agenda in the world.
While they commit awful humanitarian crimes all over the world, violating sovereign nations like Libya with IMPUNITY to preserve their economic advantages, bombing civilians with gay abandon, they point to other nations struggling against terrorism within their own territories as having committed "war crimes" as a RED HERRING to divert attention away from their own crimes.
The UN was setup to preserve international peace; not as a weapon to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations without any request for assistance from the legally instituted governments of those nations.
What gives this Western Cabal this right to use the UN as its PUPPET to engage in AGGRESSION against other nations?
NONE AT ALL my friends, NONE AT ALL ... except that MIGHT makes that WRONG a RIGHT!
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UN’s Sri Lankan war crimes report “singularly counterproductive”: Foreign Minister
By JJ Robinson
May 07, 2011
Maldives Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem has told journalists in Colombo that the UN report into human rights abuses in the closing days of the country’s civil war is “singularly counterproductive.”
The report was leaked to the Sri Lankan media several weeks ago and contains allegations that the army shelled hospitals, UN facilities and aid workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the final days of the civil war between the army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The report also accuses the Sri Lankan government of intimidating and in some cases abducting journalists “in white vans”. The LTTE was criticised for allegedly using civilians as human shields.
A former UN spokesperson based in Sri Lanka told media after the report was leaked that it “damns the government of Sri Lanka’s so-called war on terror, which incidentally killed many thousands of civilians. The Tamil Tigers were equally rotten in their disdain for life.”
“The focus should now be on how the country can move forward,” Naseem said, during a press conference at the Galle Face Hotel.
“As a responsible member of the Human Rights Council, the Maldives believes it is imperative that the international community closely examine all aspects of the report before taking any further action.”
The UK’s television network Channel 4 has meanwhile said it will air what it claims is “probably the most horrific” footage the station has ever shown, after obtaining “trophy” videos of what it claims are Sri Lankan war crimes.
UN’s Sri Lankan war crimes report “singularly counterproductive”: Foreign Minister
.....continued 1.....
According to the network, footage obtained by the station includes “extrajudicial executions filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers as war trophies on their phones; the aftermath of shelling in civilian camps and hospitals alleged to have been deliberately targeted by Sri Lankan government forces; dead female Tamil fighters who appear to have been systematically raped; and pictures which document Tamil fighters alive in the custody of Sri Lankan government forces and then later dead, apparently having been executed.”
The Sri Lankan media has overwhelming supported the government against the UN report, contrasting war crime accusations from the West with the triumphalism displayed following the death of Osama Bin Laden.
“We suffered 30 years of ruthless terror, our innocent villagers were massacred, our security officers, innocent men, women and children were killed by suicide bomb blasts and snipers, our ministers, parliamentarians and presidents were killed or disabled for life, our children were massacred in trains, innocent travelers in buses were bombed, a bus load of our Buddhist priests were butchered,, our airports were bombed and terrorism restricted our daily existence,” wrote one commentator on the Lankaweb social media website.
Under the UN’s own regulations a formal war crimes investigation can only be launched on the invitation of the host country, or through a mandate voted by a body such as the UN Human Rights Council.
The Maldives has been a vocal member of the latter, and was quick to sever diplomatic ties with the Libyan government following “clear evidence that the Gaddafi regime is guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
“I’m concerned the UN report is a bit belated. Why say it now? Why not when the war was going on?” asked President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, speaking to Minivan News recently.
“My point is that this report only appeared after the war was over. We support the Sri Lankan government’s desire for peace and harmony, and any government that brought about that peace should be held in high honour,” Zuhair said.
If an investigation was to take place, Zuhair suggested, “it should happen in an independent manner, with reconciliation on both sides.”
As long as the sponsors who fund the local NGOs have their multivarious political and religious conversion anti-national agendas, we do not believe that their local NGO branches can adopt a pro-national posture.
They will always dance to the tune played by their sponsors .. or the funding will be cut off.
Therefore, this move is just a ploy to blow smoke in the eyes of the Patriots and the Govt of Sri Lanka to let down their guard against foreign-sponsored enemies of the nation and allow them to pursue their activities unhindered.
These Leopards will not change their spots! TAR them, FEATHER them, SHUT them down and THROW them outof the country!
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Local NGOs throw their lot with Govt
By Wilson Gnanadass
Locally based Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for the first time have come out in unison to express their solidarity with the government.
The NGO consortium that met in Colombo yesterday has called on all the scattered local NGOs to forge ahead in order to work with one goal to help whatever party in power in the future.
The NGOs collectively resolved to work along with the private sector in the sustainable development of Sri Lanka.
The meeting was organized by the NGO Action Front at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) where nearly 65 representatives from various locally based NGOs participated.
The meeting also coincided with the 12th anniversary of the NGO Management Centre.
It was resolved unanimously to work towards changing the common notion prevalent in the country that NGOs were ‘anti government’ and ‘anti social elements’.
The special guest speakers at the function were S. Amarasekara, secretary to the Prime Minister and Prof. Sudath Ranasinghe from the Open University.
The NGO representatives who were present following a time of self reflection came to the conclusion that they should work for the sustainable development of the country and not be branded as ‘anti government’.
It was decided to take an independent stand at a global context but to work with the government to enhance and expedite some of the programmes not being able to handle by the government.
It was also resolved not to become a threat to the government but to play a more proactive, positive and an effective role in the development of the country, representatives who were present said.
When "Moslems for Obama" join a Osama Bin Laden commeration at the UN the TRUTH WILL PAINFULLY HIT HOME:
Terrorist's Supporters New Strategy is to HIJACK & EXPLOIT Democratic Freedoms to UNDERMINE Democracies that DARE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES!
Sri Lanka is targeted NOW,
United States TOMORROW!
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‘Tamils for Obama’ join P’karan commemoration at UN
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
May 10 ,2011
LTTE activists are planning to hold a major rally and protest next Wednesday (18) at the United Nations, New York, to coincide with the defeat of the LTTE on May 18 two years ago. Sri Lankan officials say the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), headed by a former LTTE lawyer has organised the event. Among the groups involved in the protest are United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT), Ilankai Tamil Sangam (ITS), Naam Thamilar - North America, World Thamil Organization (WTO), Tamils for Obama and Tamils Against Genocide (TAG).
The events in New York including a vigil, would be held to commemorate those who died fighting for the LTTE, especially its leader Velupllai Prabhakaran.
Responding to a query by The Island, intelligence sources said that United States Tamil Political Action Council, involved in the New York campaign, had facilitated a meeting between Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake and the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) led by S.J. Emmanuel on March 28 at the State Department. The GTF delegation comprised Emmanuel, Dr. Elias Jeyarajah (President USTPAC), Grace Pusparani Williams (US) and Suren Surendiran (UK). Surendiran also met UNSG Ban ki-Moon on behalf of the GTF.
Sources said that ‘Tamils for Obama’, engaged in the May 18 campaign, had backed Obama at the last presidential election and was engaged in a dialogue with the current administration. Sources said that the group had been pushing the US to adopt a Sudan style solution to Sri Lanka’s problem.
Sources said that the Tamil Diaspora of North America would use the rally to pressure UNSG Ban ki-Moon to order an independent, international investigation against Sri Lanka.
Citing announcements made by the pro-LTTE groups over the past few days, sources said that the New York gathering would allege the extensive use of banned chemical weapons, killing of 40,000 civilians in three days, torturing of civilians and ex-LTTE cadres, gang rape of civilians and ex-LTTE cadres and extrajudicial killings.
In Search of the Greater Tamil Nadu incorporating an Eelam, the RACISTS of Tamil Nadu are at it again ... stoking the fire of the COMMUNAL BREW!
Pon Radhakrishnan of the BJP now joins the awful clan of infighting demagogues, led by Vaiko, Ramadoss, Tirumavalavan, Jayalalitha, and Karunanidi!
Amazing how Election Politics unite these buggers against Sri Lanka which does not have any votes to count in TN!
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Tamil Nadu party to demonstrate if India supports Sri Lankan President
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 11, Coimbatore: The Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit today promised to stage demonstrations across the state if the central Indian government supports Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on his criticism against the United Nations Expert Panel report on Sri Lanka's alleged war crimes.
The BJP unit has said that India should not repeat the "mistake" of supporting Sri Lankan President, whose government is facing charges "war crimes" according to a press report by Indian news agency PTI.
State party president Pon Radhakrishnan has alleged that the Central Government of India and the Tamil Nadu Government had made a "mistake by helping Sri Lanka in killing thousands of innocent Tamils, in the pretext of eliminating LTTE."
He was responding to Sri Lankan President's statement that India should come forward and help Sri Lanka to defend against the allegations made by the UN Expert Panel.
The President has said that India's support was important to counteract the allegations made in the report.
"India has always acted with co-operation with Sri Lanka. Our relations have been good at all times," President Rajapaksa has said.
Hooray! Another supporter of the LTTE and "Tamils for Clinton" BITES THE DUST!
ONE by ONE these CROOKS will be exposed! You can RUN but You CAN'T HIDE forever!
Raj Rajaratnam has yet to be held accountable for his activities Supporting for Terrorism in Sri Lanka!
He brought his venerable Alma Mater ... S. Thomas College .. into disrepute with his crooked deals!
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Raj Rajaratnam found guilty of insider trading
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 11, New York: A New York City jury today has found the Sri Lankan-born Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam guilty on all counts in the high-profile insider trading trial.
The verdict was announced Wednesday morning in New York. The jury had been deliberating for about a week before delivering the verdict today.
Rajaratnam, 53, who managed the $7 billion Galleon Group hedge fund was accused of 14 counts of security fraud and conspiracy and was on trial in Manhattan federal court. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
Rajaratnam is alleged of generating 45 million dollars in profits from the inside trading. The illegal trading activities go as far back as 2003 involving multiple schemes to trade stocks in companies including Hilton Hotels, Google, AMD, Akamai, IBM, and Sun Microsystems.
His defense team argued that he relied on public information and complex analysis for his decisions. He is expected to appeal the verdict.
The verdict on the government case that was built on the wire-tap evidence could encourage the authorities to use such aggressive tactics to prosecute future errant investment figures.
Rajaratnam, a Sri Lankan Tamil immigrated to the US in 1981. He was an old boy of St. Thomas College in Mount Lavinia. He founded the Galleon hedge fund group in 1997.
His Galleon Fund was one of Sri Lanka's largest foreign investment funds and had large stakes in blue-chip companies. He was the single largest shareholder of conglomerate John Keells Holdings with 52.4 million shares.
Dr. Palitha Kohona ASSERTS something we PATRIOTS have often repeated: A Govt's duty to protect its citizens TRUMPS the rights of terrorist organizations holding citizens captive, and terrorizing all citizens at will.
That is the LEGAL BASIS of Sri Lanka's fight against separatist terrorists.
It is also the LEGAL BASIS of the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden by the United States .. its right to protect its people by destroying those who threaten them from anywhere in the world. The USA requested Pakistan to take responsibility for terrorists residing on its territory .. Pakistan didn't .. so the US ACTED .. just as Sri Lanka did!
DUTY to PROTECT citizens DEMANDS IT!
Bravo, Dr. Kohona!
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Sri Lanka's representative tells UN Security Council to recognize state's role in civilian protection
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 11, New York: The United Nations and the humanitarian agencies need to recognize the fundamental role of a government in the protection of its own citizens and must support and assist governments while being sensitive to ground realities and respecting the sovereignty of states, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN said.
Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona said that the external elements cannot readily take the State's role for civilian protection in armed conflicts against terrorism as terrorists do not distinguish between military and humanitarian personnel.
"Access for humanitarian personnel must be respected but one cannot disregard the State's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel," he said adding that "The assumption that civilians can best be protected and cared for only by civilian humanitarian workers from outside the country and specific INGOs which originate from particular regions of the world contradicts the fundamental contemporary norm of respecting the sovereign equality of States."
Kohona explained that the challenges posed by terrorism have pointed to the need to reevaluate military strategies when dealing with terrorists as they conducting asymmetric warfare clearly disregard the conventional rules and principals of war.
The envoy requested the authoritative bodies to consider the practical realities based on the experiences of member states instead of a theoretical application of one size fits all humanitarian framework.
"One size does not fit all, and the complex Sri Lankan experience seems to demonstrate that reality," he said.
Protection of Civilians
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 15:51
Statement by H.E. Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations
UN Security Council Open Debate
10th May, 2011, New York
Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
“While the protection of civilians caught in conflict situations is critical, the unfortunate politicization and selectivity that characterizes this discussion has affected its credibility. The willingness to adopt wild and unsubstantiated allegations made in the media, even those disowned by senior officials of the UN, is regrettable. Such an inconsistent approach and the unambiguous tendency to target the small and the weak for the rigorous application of principle also affect post-conflict reconciliation in complex country situations. Difficult reconciliation processes that are successfully moving ahead are disrupted by insensitive external interventions.”
Mr. President,
Let me join the previous speakers in thanking France for convening this open debate under your Presidency. I note the presentations made by the Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Under- Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and the Assistant Secretary- General for Human Rights.
Protection of Civilians
.....continued 1.....
Mr. President,
We have followed carefully, the issues highlighted at the last Security Council debate in November 2010. As a country that faced a brutal terrorist threat for over two and a half decades, and as a country whose civilians were a constant target of this threat, until the very end, we see an overarching need to achieve more tangible differences, especially in enhancing protection on the ground, for the communities most affected by conflicts. We also emphasize that this protection task cannot be understood and addressed solely within the traditional framework, as today’s threats require us to be conscious of a multiplicity of different factors ranging from changing political realities, socio-economic factors, basic rights of individuals, the proliferation of small arms, asymmetric warfare, the sophistication of terrorists, to the complexities of disarmament. We must pay special attention to vulnerable categories such as women and children who are increasingly exploited by terrorist groups. A realistic and honest appraisal of protection issues will help us to identify gaps in the existing protection policy frameworks and guide our collective efforts at effectively addressing them in a pragmatic manner.
It must be stated categorically that Sri Lanka respects the principles underlined in the Council’s thematic resolutions since 1999. Its commitment is demonstrated in the manner in which Sri Lanka addressed civilian protection issues during the conflict with the terrorist LTTE and the speed and efficacy with which it is now addressing, post conflict issues such as IDP resettlement, rehabilitation, post-conflict reconstruction and development, and accountability and reconciliation issues.
During almost three decades of combating terrorism in our country, we took utmost care to draw a clear distinction between civilians and terrorists. Those who are intent on dismissing this effort will continue to do so. But, successive Governments had ensured a continuous supply of essential goods and services such as food, free health services and education to the Tamil civilians in the North and the East of the country over the twenty seven years of the conflict despite the control that the terrorists had over them. While allegations of infractions have emerged after the end of the conflict, these allegations were not heard until the end became abundantly clear to the terrorist LTTE. Once the end of the terrorists became obvious, a well oiled propaganda machine began to churn out reams of allegations to set the stage to continue the conflict by other means. During the conflict, Sri Lanka also engaged closely with the international community and related human rights and humanitarian mechanisms, the UN Agencies, the ICRC and local and international NGOs to facilitate the provision of the needs of civilians in terrorist controlled areas, despite the constraints imposed by logistical and security needs. This close cooperation has extended to the aftermath of the conflict, in providing for the needs of the displaced population, in their resettlement and reintegration and the reconstruction of their homes.
Mr. President,
The nature of contemporary conflicts has posed new challenges to the approach to protect civilians in conflict situations.
Protection of Civilians
.....continued 2.....
Many of today’s conflicts take place within States, and involve non - State armed groups. Sri Lanka’s experience relates, in particular, to the challenges we faced in protecting civilians in the context of an internal conflict, a challenge to the State itself, involving a ruthless terrorist group, the LTTE. In Sri Lanka, the LTTE terrorist group made the Tamil civilian population a part of their military strategy. The terrorists’ brutal strategy was to create a situation inviting civilian casualties by forcing civilians to be trained in weapons and take up arms, recruiting children for combat duties, and herding thousands of civilians to form human shields and holding them hostage and by placing heavy guns in their midst, attracting retaliatory fire. Some of the children were under 12 years of age. UNICEF recorded over 5700 cases of child recruitment. They withheld food supplies sent by the Government and diverted these supplies for use by their armed cadres. The civilians being used as a human shield by the terrorist group were our own people. This strategy of the LTTE posed extraordinary operational challenges to our security forces engaged in combating this group while ensuring the protection of civilians. The Government, for its part, adopted a zero civilian casualty policy. Our troops endeavoured to distinguish between combatants and civilians and the protection and liberation of the civilians from the clutches of the terrorist group was their highest priority. Over 280,000 civilians were eventually freed.
In this context, the challenges posed by terrorism in many parts of the world today may necessitate a re-evaluation of the rules of military engagement. Much of the rules of war are based on the presumption that the parties to a conflict are conventional armies of responsible states engaging other state parties. But terrorists disregard these laws and principles as they wage asymmetric warfare. They mingle with and use civilians to achieve their goals. Whether it is one human being that is held as a human shield or many, the fact remains that theirs is an inhumane strategy that existing International Humanitarian Law has not adequately factored in. Once again, the practical realities based on the experiences of Member States must be seriously looked at instead of a theoretical application of one size fits all humanitarian framework. One size does not fit all, and the complex Sri Lankan experience seems to demonstrate that reality.
There is a need to recognize the fundamental role of the State in civilian protection. In the first instance, the role of Governments in civilian protection should be respected as it is their primary responsibility to protect their own citizens. The UN and the humanitarian agencies must support and assist Governments and in doing so be sensitive to ground realities, including respect for the sovereignty of States. External elements cannot be readily substituted for the State. This is consistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Access for humanitarian personnel must be respected but one cannot disregard the State’s responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel. Terrorists do not distinguish between military and humanitarian personnel. The assumption that civilians can best be protected and cared for only by civilian humanitarian workers from outside the country and specific INGOs which originate from particular regions of the world contradicts the fundamental contemporary norm of respecting the sovereign equality of States.
Protection of Civilians
.....continued 3.....
While the protection of civilians caught in conflict situations is critical, the unfortunate politicization and selectivity that characterizes this discussion has affected its credibility. The willingness to adopt wild and unsubstantiated allegations made in the media, even those disowned by senior officials of the UN, is regrettable. Such an inconsistent approach and the unambiguous tendency to target the small and the weak for the rigorous application of principle also affect post-conflict reconciliation in complex country situations. Difficult reconciliation processes that are successfully moving ahead are disrupted by insensitive external interventions.
Mr. President,
An inevitable consequence of armed conflict is internal displacement. Internal displacement globally is on the rise. There are over 27 Million IDP’s worldwide according to UN reports. The State has the primary responsibility not only to provide for the welfare of displaced civilians in terms of food, clothing, medical care and shelter, but also to ensure their safety, in keeping with the provisions of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Sri Lanka has succeeded in returning over 95% of the internally displaced to their villages and towns in a short period of under eighteen months, a success that is hard to match elsewhere. Psycho-social counselling is being provided. Elections have been held at the national and local levels to return democratic governance to all parts of the country.
Sri Lanka has adopted a human rights based approach to recovery from the conflict and the strengthening of democratic governance. We have within a space of two years, massively scaled down the provisions of the Emergency Regulations, over 80% of the emergency regulations having been repealed.
The biggest constraint to a faster resettlement has been the clearance of uncharted mine fields laid by the terrorist group in civilian areas, farmlands and roads. It is estimated that the terrorist group laid around 1.5 million landmines. We continue to rebuild basic infrastructure in the former conflict-affected areas, including hundreds of schools, roads, irrigation canals, clinics and houses. The needs of over 80,000 war widows are being addressed, and Sri Lanka has successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated over 6500 former combatants, including 667 former LTTE child combatants, treating them as victims rather than as criminals, over 17,000 persons have been reunited with their families, and vastly improved the security and mobility of people across the length and breadth of the country. This, Mr. President, is by any standard, a success story for any post-conflict country.
In keeping with the recognition that it is first and foremost the responsibility of States to address infractions of the law, and with a view to initiating a long term healing process, the Government has established a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to address reconciliation and confidence building issues, including accountability.
Mr. President,
My delegation hopes that the Council discussion on the protection of civilians will facilitate practical outcomes based on ground realities. It is for this reason that my delegation has sought to share our experience, and for all of us to invest greater efforts in preventing conflicts and their recurrence and to respond practically and proportionately to situations affecting civilian populations. It is also our view that punishing the past does not ensure a guilt free future.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Sivajilingam, a Tiger Nominated Agent of the TNA, is guilty of much more than this. For example, during the final phase of the Eelam War, this SOB was in Tamil Nadu organizing demonstrations and political support for Indian Military Intervention to stop the war and save LTTE supremo Velupillai Prbhakaran.
Inciting foreign invention in Sri Lanka is HIGH TREASON.
Sivajilingam has never been held accountablr for his TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES during LTTE's terrorism in Sri Lanka.
Can we arrest, prosecute and imprison Sivajilingam at least now? Letting these TRAITORS go scot free without due punishment only encourages them to engage in treasonous activities in the future as well.
No other country .. including the US .. would let traitors escape punishment upto and including the death penalty.
No wonder these TRAITORS work with NGOs, international organizations and countries to undermine Sri Lanka ... they are never held accountable or PUNISHED for their TREASON!
................
Sri Lanka Army questions former Tamil National Alliance MP
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka Army had questioned the former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam, the Sinhala daily The Divaina reported today.
The Army has reportedly questioned Sivajilingam on his attempt to mobilize people to urge the Army to withdraw the Army camp established in Velvetithurai village.
Valvettithurai, popularly known as VVT, is the birthplace of slain leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Sivajilingam is a close relative of Prabhakaran. He undertook the funerals of the Tiger leader's parents when their other remaining children did not participate.
The newspaper said that former MP Sivajilingam who contested the general election in 2010 in an alliance with the Left Front led by Dr. Wickramabahu Karunarathne had the demand to withdraw the VVT Army camp in his election manifesto as well.
The NORWEGIAN Parasites are at it AGAIN ... undermining Sri Lanka from within!
This is SUFFICIENT REASON to declare Nowegians persona-non-grata in Sri Lanka and sever Diplomatic Relations with Norway.
These guys are basically a FIFTH COLUMN undermining Sri Lanka at EVERY TURN!
Guardians of "Human Rights" my Bloody Foot!
...........
Norway secretly aids LTTE members to flee Sri Lanka - report
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 13, Colombo: Norway has helped dozens of suspected Tamil Tiger cadres to flee Sri Lanka and given them asylum in Norway, a Norwegian newspaper reported today.
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten says the staff at the Norwegian Embassy in Sri Lankan capital Colombo so far has helped around 12 people come to Norway, with help from the Norwegian authorities and about twice as many standing in line to get similar help.
Afttenposten says that in some cases, the employees at the Norwegian Embassy personally have bought tickets, taken people to the airport, and smuggled then them out of the country "right under the nose of the Sri Lankan authorities."
The Embassy has issued visas on short notice both for emigrants and those who had already escaped from Sri Lanka, Aftenposten alleges.
Erik Solheim, Norway's International Development Minister and one-time peace broker between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger terrorist group LTTE, has defended the practice.
"Norway has a long tradition of helping people who are in danger. Sometimes we go a little longer. In this case we have had a role as facilitators in the peace process, and we therefore believe that we have a humanitarian obligation to help out," Solheim was quoted as saying.
Solheim has accused Sri Lanka of persecuting the people who have helped Norway saying that they are in in real danger.
"Sri Lanka is clearly a place where people are exposed to various forms of persecution. We know one thing, that probably took liquidations during the last phase of the civil war," he has told Aftenposten.
A doctor who was in the war zone during the last phase of the war has said that he fled to Bangkok by bribing the Sri Lankan authorities and with the help of Norwegian embassy in Bangkok he has come to Norway.
The doctor has alleged that the Sri Lankan government used cluster bombs and shelled civilian locations.
Aftenposten says Norwegian authorities have taken into consideration that the doctor could be an important witness to alleged war crimes when they decided to help him.
Norwegian Opposition politicians calling their government's move "quite unusual" and �bordering on activism�, have feared that it will damage international relations between the two countries.
Ine Marie Eriksen S�reide, head of Parliament's Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, has expressed surprise and said that she was not aware of the practice.
"It is quite unusual to do such a thing. This means a bigger risk when it comes to relations with Sri Lanka. It's almost an activist action of Norway," she has said.
Head of research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Iver B. Neumann, believes the case is problematic.
"This is a violation of sovereignty dimensions. It is a violation of the basic principle of international politics. It also undermines Norwegian interests, because a small country like Norway is served by the things happening across the table, not in the way it's been done here," Neumann was quoted by the Aftenposten.
Afttenposten says the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo has not responded yet to an inquiry by the newspaper.
During the conflict Sri Lanka has accused Norway of using its aids outlets to arm the terrorist group LTTE and training LTTE cadres in underwater warfare.
Jayalalitha, DEMAGOGUE par EXCELLENCE, rides to victory on Anti-Sti Lanka platform pandering to Communal Passions!
On LTTE's DEATH LIST and IN HIDING while the LTTE held sway in Sri Lanka, she is a DEFENDER OF THE LTTE now that it is SAFE TO DO SO!
Anything for another VOTE! Chief Minister of Bust ... We get there SOMEHOW, who the hell cares HOW?
HYPOCRITE INCARNATE!
............
Next Tamil Nadu chief minister wants to declare Sri Lankan President a "war criminal"
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 13, Chennai: AIADMK chief Jayaram Jayalalitha, elected to be chief minister of the Tamil Nadu state of India for a third time, said today the central government should declare Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa a "war criminal" for the "genocide" of Tamils.
The Indian government should impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka to force the Sri Lankan government to take steps to alleviate the sufferings of Tamils in the country to provide them "an honourable and decent life", Jayalalitha has told Jaya TV of India.
"The State Government's role on Sri Lankan Tamils' issue was limited and it was for the Centre to do something for the betterment of the Tamils," she has said.
After successive defeats in elections since 2004, Jayalalitha stormed into victory in Tamil Nadu in today's assembly polls although the ruling Congress Party got a boost from three out of the five state elections held.
Jayalalitha's foe, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party led by the former chief minister Karunanidhi, a Congress Party ally, suffered a huge defeat in Tamil Nadu.
WOW!
.............
Laptops and internet services at lower rates to Sri Lankan students
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Cooperatives and Internal Trade announced that steps are being initiated to provide the students with laptops and internet connection at cheaper rates.
The Ministry signed MOUs in this regard yesterday with the Ministry of Education and Etisalat, the Emirates-based telecommunications company.
The Secretary of the Ministry Sunil Sirisena said that the students would be able to buy laptops from the State Trading Corporation at a price 25% lower than elsewhere.
Etisalat agreed to provide internet services to the school students and teachers at concessionary rates up to a bandwidth of 3.75 gigabytes. The service will permit entry to websites only useful for students in education purposes, a spokesman of the Ministry said.
Encouraged by the "war crimes" accusations of Western Powers, and Jayalalitha's election in Tamil Nadu, the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA believe Sri Lanka Govt is on the "defensive" .. so they are resurrecting their demand for what is in essence A DE-FACTO EELAM.
We have always said that the objective of these incurable SEPARATISTS is to OBTAIN by STEALTH in PEACE, what they could not WREST through VIOLENCE in War.
The GOSL should NEVER accede to the demand for Devolution of Land and Police Powers to these defeated terrorists to enable them to resume their march towards a separate Tamils-Only State in Sri Lanka, aided by Foreign Powers whose leaders are bribed by the Tamil Diaspora.
Over 150,000 Sri Lankan citizens .. soldiers, sailors, airmen, policemen, government officers, buddhist priests, and ordinary civilians did not offer up their lives for these traitors to be granted the opportunity to divide Sri Lanka on Communal Bases AGAIN!
We demand
One Nation,
One People,
One Destiny
as our common shared inheritance in Sri Lanka, with one vote for each person to freely elect candidates to parliament as the necessary and sufficient franchise for each citizen irrespective of community, and the right to settle and live anywhere in Sri Lanka as we please, withoutcommunal barriers to freedom of movement.
The Tamil people enjoy these rights already .. for the majority of Tamils moved to the South and sought refuge from the LTTE among the Sinhala people, while the latter were ethnically cleansed from the North & East by the LTTE.
Now Tamils demand a separate region for Tamils only, whereas no such power has ever been devolved to the Sinhala people anywhere in Sri Lanka.
We demand these same rights the Tamils currently enjoy throughout Sri Lanka be EXTENDED IN PRACTICE to, and be PERMANENTLY PRESERVED for, all communities of Sri Lanka ..not only the Tamil people.
There should be No Devolution of Power on Communal Bases like Ethnicity, Religion, Language, Caste, Sex or Wealth.
NEVER GRANT or DEVOLVE POWER to Communal Groups ... EVER AGAIN!
No Foreign Power has the right to impose such conditions on Sri Lanka; it is Sri Lankan citizens who have paid the price for their mistakes in blood who have that right, not foreigners. The 13th Amendment was imposed on Sri Lanka at the Point of a Gun levelled at Sri Lanka's head ... such conditions imposed with blackmail are invalid in law. THe 13th Amendment should be jettisoned as an illegal imposition on Sri Lanka by India.
Let this FUNDAMENTALLY RACIST NOTION of devolution of power on ethnic communal bases be completely ERADICATED & BANISHED FOREVER from Sri Lanka!
..................
TNA sticks to its demands
By Wilson Gnanadass
Nation.lk
May 15, 2011
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), both with ideological differences have expressed two different opinions on the government’s latest move to establish a Senate.
The government last week placed before both parties the proposal for the establishment of a Senate as a part of a power devolution arrangement.
While the TNA categorically rejected government’s offer saying the party has been clamouring for a decent and a proper devolution of powers to the provinces, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, has welcomed it saying; ‘we could work out modalities to see how best minority interests could be achieved through this system’.
TNA spokesman and parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran yesterday lashing out at the government said while the government has still not considered implementing some of the salient features of the 13th Amendment, it was disappointing to know that the government is talking about a Senate.
“This means nothing to the minority,” he said.
TNA sticks to its demands
......continued......
Premachandran said that the TNA as a matter of policy is not even willing to talk to the government about the 13th amendment due to its inadequacy.
He said the land powers, the police powers and many other powers have not been implemented though they are all enshrined in the 13th amendment to the constitution.
His contention was that if the government could not find ways to implement the 13th amendment, how the Tamil minority could have confidence in the government.
He said the TNA is now asking for something more than the 13th amendment. “What we want is a proper power sharing. A proper devolution to the periphery. We are not interested in the second chamber. The so called second chamber cannot be a substitute for devolution of powers to the provinces,” the irate parliamentarian said.
Meanwhile, Devananda who has been advocating the implementation of the 13th amendment for the past 20 years said there could be possibilities for the safeguard of minority if the modalities could be worked out to set up the second chamber
However he said the government must first implement the 13th amendment in full.
Explaining his view on the ‘13th amendment plus plus’ he pointed out that in addition to implementing the 13th amendment, the government should revoke the concurrent list and then introduce the second chamber.
Having Failed to CARVE OUT a Tamils-only state in Sri Lanka, the LTTE now focuses on SEPARATING Tamil Nadu from India.
Victory of LTTE supporters in India brings a NEW DANGERS to Sri Lanka.
1. India will take an INCREASINGLY pro-Sri Lankan Tamil stand, and will pressure Sri Lanka to DIVIDE its territory along ethnic lines.
2. Western Powers, primarily the US, will pressure Sri Lanka to do the same, because they view India as a COUNTERWEIGHT to the RISING POWER of CHINA and want to keep India whole AT ANY COST .. including the division of Sri Lanka.
3. If the LTTE creates mayhem in Tamil Nadu and Tamil Nadu secedes from India ... as we had long predicted is the LTTE's ULTIMATE GOAL ... Sri Lanka will someday have to MILITARILY DEFEND ITSELF against an independent Tamil Nadu, or even a Greater Dravida Nadu.
All of this UNDERSCORES the need for Sri Lanka to FURTHER STRENGTHEN its ARMED FORCES and PREPARE TO DEFEND THE NATION against FOREIGN ARMIES:
1. Increase the Sri Lanka Defence Forces to 500,000 full time regulars.
2. Introduce COMPULSORY military training for all all ADULTS capable of bearing arms from 16 to 60 years of age and induct them into a PERMANENT NATIONAL GUARD of at least 3,000,000 people.
3. Launch a Permanent Defence Education Program in the media, in schools, and in universities to educate the citizenry on the NEED for this UNIVERSAL PEOPLE'S DEFENCE Posture. Dedicate Public TV channels every Saturday AM to National Defence Education.
4. Develop a local Weapons R&D and Manufacturing capability ... taking Israel as the role model for structuring and funding it.
4. Develop a vast, hidden, underground network of weapons and food storage facilities, living quarters for military personnel, and defensive positions including manual/automated gun/missile emplacements.
Think ahead, PREPARE FOR THE WORST, HOPE FOR THE BEST, but NEVER SURRENDER to the Nation's Enemies.
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Round-II between Congress and LTTE in TN
Radhika Giri
TheStatesman.net
CHENNAI, 14 MAY: A day after the shocking wipe out of the DMK-Congress alliance in election in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, Mr KV Thangkabalu, who has been facing stiff opposition from his partymen has sent in his resignation to the Congress chief Mrs Sonia Gandhi accepting responsibility for the poll debacle.
It was the Congress’s worst ever performance since Independence in the state. The Congress won just five seats out of the 63 it had bargained hard for from the DMK even if the DMK’s tally was a dismal 23, not even qualifying it to play the role of Opposition leader. Congress general secretary Mr Rahul Gandhi himself bit the dust with all his nominees at the state election defeated. Mr Gandhi had travelled to Puducherry and Tamil Nadu to campaign exclusively for his Youth Congress candidates alone. Not one survived.
Meanwhile the defeat of the Congress has the Sri Lankan Tamil sympathizers in the state and elsewhere raising a toast. For the Congress and also the DMK, this was the first electoral test after the end of war in Sri Lanka. Knowing its import both the AIADMK and the DMK made customary references to the issue in the run-up to the Assembly poll. Significantly, film director and activist, Mr Seeman who runs a NAAM TAMILAR outfit met the AIADMK chief Miss J Jayalalitha before the polls and offered his support to defeat the DMK-Congress alliance. The DMK government had come down heavily on Mr Seeman and arrested him under NSA, in an apparent bid not to rub up the Congress the wrong way, even as Mr Karunanidhi himself never approved of the LTTE.
Round-II between Congress and LTTE in TN
.....continue....
A powerful orator, Mr Seeman was drawing huge crowds from the day he addressed his first meeting on the Lankan Tamil plight just as the war began to escalate in Sri Lanka towards the end of 2008. In order not to have him challenge his hold on power, the DMK government had him arrested a few times and then under the NSA. As the election campaign drew to a close, the DMK chief gained an image as a friend of the Sri Lankan president, Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa.
After offering support to the AIADMK, Mr Seeman’s outfit got down to the job of exclusively targeting the Congress constituencies and campaigned widely in those constituencies. Elsewhere, the Lankan Tamil issue and Karunanidhi’s duplicity along with the “heartless” stand of the Congress was taken up by every Opposition party from the AIADMK to the BJP and even the BSP and independents.
The result has come as a sweet surprise to pro-LTTE parties in and outside India. MDMK’s Vaiko, Tamil Nationalist movement leader, Mr P Nedumaran, and even DMK allies, Mr Thol Thirumavalavan and PMK leader, Dr S Ramadoss, have welcomed the result. The AIADMK front itself has pro-LTTE Dalit leader, Dr K Krishnasamy and the DMDK of Mr Vijaykanth. Mr Seeman in his reaction to the result said that their objective of decimating the Congress has been successful in this election. In her first exclusive interview to the press done for her party channel, Jaya TV on Friday, the AIADMK chief made strong references to the Lankan Tamil issue to the extent of seeking war crime punishment for Mr Rajapaksa. It is the beginning of round II between the LTTE and the Congress, but this time in Tamil Nadu.
And ALL LTTE Cadre are, naturally, welcome "refugees" to Norway.
Bloody Devious Liars!
Kick them out of Sri Lanka!
............
Norwegian Embassy says it assists Sri Lankan refugees, not LTTE cadres
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 15, Colombo: The Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, which has come under the scanner of Sri Lankan government following a report in a Norwegian newspaper that it assisted Tamil Tiger rebels to seek refuge in Norway, denied that it has been secretly helping the LTTE members to flee the country.
The Norwegian Embassy issuing a statement today said the local media have mistranslated the Norwegian newspaper article and represented the refugees as members of the annihilated terror outfit LTTE.
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten in a May 12, 2011 article titled "Norway to help refugees from Sri Lanka" reported that the Norwegian authorities secretly have purchased tickets and obtained political asylum to persons who are deemed to be at risk in Sri Lanka.
The report clarified that a large number of people who live in hiding because of the roles they had during the civil war had been recently helped by giving them tickets, and political asylum in Norway.
The statement said the Embassy has noted that several news media in Sri Lanka carried the Aftenposten story and the translation and representation of the article in local media contain some inaccuracies, such as referring to the refugees as members of the LTTE.
"It is not correct that the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo has secretly been helping 12 LTTE cadres out of the country, as reported by Sri Lankan media," the Embassy said.
The Norwegian Embassy said it is not at liberty to discuss individual cases but clarified its policy regarding asylum for refugees.
The applications for asylum in Norway are subject to strict rules and the cases are carefully examined to see if they qualify under the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the statement said.
"What is correct is that the Norwegian Embassy has assisted a limited number of people by processing their applications for asylum or other grounds for residency in Norway. This was done in accordance with international and Norwegian law, as well as with specific regulations from the Norwegian Ministry of Justice for such involvement of embassies on an exceptional basis," the Embassy emphasized.
Norwegian authorities in Colombo vehemently denied that the Embassy helped any LTTE cadres personally to migrate to Norway.
The Aftenposten report said in some cases, the employees at the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo personally have brought people to the airport and helped them out of the country - right under the nose of the Sri Lankan authorities and some others came out of the country on their own before they got the tickets and visas to Norway on short notice.
"For this group of people, the embassy has not purchased tickets, nor has diplomatic staff escorted them to the airport. To the best of our knowledge, the embassy did not assist any LTTE-cadres," the Embassy stressed.
According to the Aftenposten, so far around 12 people have come to Norway with the help from the Norwegian authorities. About twice as many are standing in line to get similar help, it informed.
The Sri Lankan government meanwhile has asked its mission in Oslo to verify the Aftenposten report. Also the External Affairs Ministry has called the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Ms. Hilde Haraldstad to the Ministry.
Norway was a leading player in securing the abrogated ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2002 when Ranil Wickremasinghe was Prime Minister under Chandrika Kumaratunga's presidency.
This is a GOOD START, but we need to implement it on a much larger scale encompassing the ENTIRE ADULT POPULATION of Sri Lanka.
The GOAL should be to create a 3,000,000 strong National Guard to defend the country in CONCERT with the REGULAR ARMED FORCES.
It is TOO LATE to do this only after the NEED FOR IT becomes URGENT.
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Leadership training for Sri Lankan university students next Monday
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Higher Education Ministry has said that leadership training for students who have qualified to enter the universities will commence next Monday (23).
The Higher Education Ministry has said that at least 10,000 students would participate in the programme.
Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne has told the media that the 10,000 students who had obtained the highest marks at this year's GCE Advanced Level examination have been called for the leadership programme.
The programme is to be held at 28 army camps around the country. The training programme would be conducted by the military under the supervision of university authorities.
According to Dr. Navaratne, 10,000 more students would join the programme once the university cut-off marks are released.
AS USUAL, the JVP fears EDUCATED and AWARE leaders emerging in the population and the GENERAL PUBLIC.
They speak from both corners of their mouths .. what is good for them is not good for others!
HYPOCRITES!
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Sri Lanka university students group to take legal action against leadership training programme
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 16, Colombo: A university students' group in Sri Lanka has decided to file a petition before the Supreme Court against the government's decision to provide leadership training to new entrants to universities at military camps.
The Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) has said the group would institute legal action this week against the programme to be launched by the Higher Education Ministry on the 23rd.
IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara has said there was no need for the government to conduct a compulsory leadership training programme to university students in military camps.
The IUSF has planned a series of protests to be held island wide against the government's proposed leadership training programme.
The Higher Education Ministry has said the leadership training programme would be provided to 20,000 new entrants to the Sri Lankan universities.
Sri Lankans Tamils currently enjoy all the rights of equal citizens; that will CONTINUE UNABATED in the FUTURE.
NO LESS, NO MORE.
It is up to Sri Lankan Tamils to MOVE ON by abandoning all SEPARATIST DREAMS and Dreams of Devolution of Power on Communal Bases.
Sri Lanka has NO ROOM for Communal RACIST separatism any more ... foreign Western powers and the LTTE Diaspora notwithstanding.
Let the Tamil People join hands with the Sinhala and Muslim communities and FORGE AHEAD as equal citizens without making RACIST demands.
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Lankan Government unfazed by Jaya’s return
P K Balachandran
Expressbuzz.com
May 16, 2011
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government and the majority Sinhalese are unfazed by J Jayalalithaa’s coming back to power in Tamil Nadu. But the minority Tamils are somewhat divided, with one section being happy to see the DMK-Congress combine suffering a crushing defeat, and another feeling that the change of guard will not make any difference to New Delhi’s policy on the Lankan Tamil issue.
Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that statements made by TN politicians on the Lankan issue were of little or no importance for Sri Lanka. As a country, Lanka dealt with the Indian government in New Delhi and not with any constituent Indian State. And relations between Colombo and New Delhi were very cordial, he pointed out.
No Change Expected
The cabinet spokesman seemed to reflect the general mood in south Sri Lanka, home to the majority Sinhalese. There was only one comment on the Tamil Nadu election results in Colombo’s English language papers, and that too said that the change of guard would not mean any change in New Delhi’s Lanka policy.
“The bottom line is, for all the factoring-in of the Tamil Nadu factor, Delhi does what Delhi thinks is best for Delhi when it comes to Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu will continue to be Delhi’s distant and poor cousin, good for crumbs, nothing more,” Malinda Seneviratne wrote in The Nation newspaper.
Prabath Sahabandu, editor of The Island, told Express that once in power, Jayalalithaa would became realistic and sober down.
“She will probably be battling her more radical allies on the Lankan issue, rather than taking on the Centre,” he predicted.
Tamils Encouraged
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said that it was “encouraged” by the statement Jayalalithaa had made on the Lankan Tamils shortly after the announcement of the results.
“Saddled with 80,000 war widows and thousands of others rendered destitute by the war, we are looking to you for support,” the TNA said in a statement.
Virakesari Weekly said in an edit that the election results showed the anger of the people of Tamil Nadu against the Congress-DMK combine’s policy on Sri Lanka.
“Lankan Tamils may be indifferent to the election in Tamil Nadu, but the people of Tamil Nadu are not indifferent to the plight of the Lankan Tamils,” it said.
“The DMK’s defeat is divine retribution for not doing any thing meaningful to stop the war in May 2009 and prevent the killing of 40,000 innocent civilians,” commented J Sekaram, a leading businessman in Jaffna.
M K Sivajilingam, general secretary of the Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLA) and a former MP, said that the slaughter at Mullivaikkal in the last phase of the war in May 2009 could have been prevented if only the people of Tamil Nadu had given the present verdict in the May 13 Lok Sabha elections.
Lankan Government unfazed by Jaya’s return
.......continued.....
Dissenting Tamil Voices
However, Thinakkural urged Lankan Tamils not to be too swayed by Jayalalithaa’s rheroric. Casting doubt on the theory that the Lankan Tamil issue had been a decisive one in the Assembly elections, the paper said that if this were the case then Jayalalithaa would not have jettisoned staunch Eelam Tamil supporter, Vaiko, from her poll alliance.
Like the Sinhalese intelligentsia, a section of the Tamil intelligentsia also feels that nothing will change.
“The feeling at the Jaffna university is that New Delhi will listen to Tamil Nadu only when it suits its interests. Moreover, the Tamils in India are only a small minority, just 6 per cent of the population,” said Prem, a post-graduate.
UN Security Council CANNOT be reformed ... because the Western Powers ... now dominating it .. will prevent it.
It is a FOOL'S ERRAND even to attempt it.
Instead, what should be done is to create an ALTERNATIVE Union of Nations with a better, more balanced consitution, that would PROTECT Developing Nations and prevent thier being ABUSED by the developed world.
We don't want a FAKE WORLD GOVERNMENT Controlled by a CABAL that tries to control the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of sovereign developing nations .. we only want a world body that can maintain PEACE BETWEEN NATIONS.
Russia, China, India and Brazil should take the Lead in Creating such a Union of Nations.
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Sri Lanka, India agree UN Security Council need reforms
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 17, Colombo: Both Sri Lanka and India have agreed that the United Nations Security Council need reforms, a joint statement by the two countries said today.
"Both countries agreed on the need for reform of the UN Security Council," a joint statement issued Tuesday following a meeting between the External Affairs Ministers of India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi said.
During the talks Sri Lanka has reiterated its support to India for a permanent membership in an expanded UN Security Council.
"Sri Lanka reiterated its strong support for India's legitimate claim for permanent membership in an expanded UN Security Council," the joint statement said.
A global ministerial conference in Rome on Monday also called for reforms at the UN Security Council to expand the organization to include developing countries reflecting the shifting global power balance.
This is not a threat to Sri Lanka .. these books are designed to promote the STRUGGLE IN CANADA for a Tamil Homeland in Canada.
Non-Tamils are EXCLUDED from citizenship in this EXCLUSIVE Tamils-only Homeland!
Canadian Diversity will live only until these Bozos develop a critical mass!
LoL!
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Sri Lanka intercepts Canada-bound LTTE propaganda material
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 17, Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities have discovered Tamil Tiger propaganda material inside a cargo container bound for Canada from the Tamil Nadu port of Chennai through Colombo.
The authorities on Tuesday have asked the police to investigate the shipment from Chennai and detained the Canada-bound container with a consignment of promotional material for the terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"There were 45 cartons of LTTE books to an address in Canada," an AFP report quoting a police official said.
Sri Lankan security forces vanquished the LTTE organization within the island two years ago but the rebels are active and continuing their struggle for a separate homeland overseas among the Tamil diaspora and in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu which is home to 80 million Tamils.
The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly warned that although the rebels are no longer a threat in the country they are secretly trying to re-group and operating camps in Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne has said that the Tamil Tiger leaders in the United States and Norway are trying to review the separatist movement again.
This long-awaited CENSUS will reveal the terrible impact of the SunGod's LTTE creation on his own Tamil community.
Keep worshipping the SunGod .. my dear cyanide pill-pushers!
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Sri Lanka's first national census after 30 years to be issued step by step from August
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 17, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Census and Statistics Department has said the results of the census that is currently being carried out will be issued step by step from August this year.
According to the Department, this is the first national census to be taken island wide after almost three decades.
Since 1871, Sri Lanka has conducted censuses, usually in every 10 years with certain exceptions. The last island wide census was carried out in 1981. The census which was scheduled to be conducted in 1991 could not be implemented due to the conflict in northern and eastern parts of the country.
The census which is to be carried out in July 2011 will be the 14th scientific census of the country.
Director in charge of the national census, H.R. Gunasekara has told the media that once the census is completed, it will be used as the official data on demographic, social and population and the living patterns of Sri Lankans for the next decade.
He has said that the census will be taken in three stages; mapping, the listing of buildings and enumeration of the population.
The Department has completed that first stage and is in the process of carrying out the second stage. The third to be completed in July will include counting both the usual residents and homeless.
Yes, Sri Lanka will not permit any attacks against another country from Sri Lankan soil.
That was what the defeat of the LTTE and Sri Lanka's war against terrorists was all about: To regain governmental control over all of its territory, so it can prevent sub-national groups from carrying out such attacks.
But, WE EXPECT & DEMAND RECIPROCITY from INDIA. For many decades, India trained, delivered, funded, and supported Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka and PREVENTED Sri Lanka from eradicating those terrorists during Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi's days at the helm of India.
When it became clear to India that the LTTE and Tamil chauvinism presented a bigger threat to India that a stable Sri Lanka under its sovereign Govt, India REVERSED its policy. But, Tamil terrorism was INITIATED by India in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, WE DEMAND RECIPROCITY from India for our good neighborliness in the future.
Without a doubt, Sri Lanka is the BEST FRIEND India has among its neighbors. Therefore, India should make it possible for us Sri Lan kans to preserve, and grow, our love for Mother India.
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Won't allow anti-India activity by China: Sri Lanka
New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) Conscious of India's concerns over China's forays into the Indian Ocean region, Sri Lanka Tuesday assured New Delhi that it would not allow any country to use its soil to launch hostile action against any other country.
Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, who concluded his three-day visit to India Tuesday, told reporters here that there was no scope for any confrontation between its close friends on its soil and said both China and India were helping the island nation in its development.
'We would certainly not allow one country to use sri lanka as a launching pad for hostile action against any other country. That is the universal principle and we accept that. There is no way that we will allow any country to use Sri Lankan soil or waters to take hostile action against any other country,' Peiris said.
He noted that both China and India were carrying out port, airport and road construction for Sri Lanka, apart from being involved in the power and energy sector.
'So there is no hostility or competition. Both are our friends. There is no reason for fears or suspicions. These are commercial relations,' he said, adding that there was 'no question of China encircling' India by developing the Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka.
Peiris said during his 'brief but productive' visit to India, he had met with the top Indian leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to discuss issues relating to the region and the international community.
'We have always had the support of India, consistently. The relation remains as strong as ever. It is a special, unique relationship. The discussions reflected the empathy of India for Sri Lanka's challenges and there is reservoir of goodwill between the two countries,' he said.
Won't allow anti-India activity by China: Sri Lanka
.....continued.....
Peiris also expressed appreciation of India's humanitarian and other assistance including de-mining and livelihood support measures for early relief and resettlement of internally displaced persons and other infrastructure projects.
India is carry out reconstruction of the Kankesanthurai port, Palaly airport, repair of hospitals, schools, roads and railway lines. These apart, India is on the verge of concluding agreements for a joint venture power projects with Sri Lanka in Sampur, Tricomalee; a deal on reconstruction of a railway line between Palaly and Kankesanthurai; and a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.
Sri Lanka, apart from agreeing to the need for reform in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), also strongly supported India's legitimate claim for permanent membership in an expanded UNSC.
The TNA Haughtily Dictates the agenda for talks with the Sri Lanka Government ... The Message is: Devolution Now, Our Way!
Thereshould be No Devolution of Power on Ethnic Basis in Sri Lanka, and No Land or Police Powers should be Devolved to Sub-National Entities ... EVER!
This is what happens when Tiger Nominated Agents (TNA) are allowed to get away with their TREASONOUS activities of aiding and abetting the LTTE & other Tamil terrorists for 30 years.
They think they can still dance the Same Racist Jig to Separatist Tunes!
The GOSL must RADICALLY change their GAME PLAN, first by prosecuting them for their treasonous activities.
Investigate them, prosecute them and hold them ACCOUNTABLE to determine whether they are QUALIFIED to participate in Political Discussions on behalf of the Tamil people they helped persecute, and the people of Sri Lanka they helped terrorize!
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Sri Lanka Tamil party says next round of talks focus on power devolution, not the senate
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has said that the focus of the next round of talks is devolution of power.
The Tamil legislator has told a local Sinhala daily Divaina today that the government proposal on setting up of a second chamber of the parliament would be considered only after an agreement is reached regarding the power devolution.
MP Sumanthiran, a lawyer by profession, who represents the TNA negotiating team with the government, says that the two parties have agreed to the measure.
Accordingly, the next round of talks is to focus on the power devolution, he said.
The parliamentarian further has said that the talks were postponed until May 23 since the government wanted to discuss with the coalition parties about the power devolution.
The TNA meanwhile has welcomed the government's commitment for an expeditious and concrete progress in the ongoing dialogue between the two sides as affirmed by the External Affair Minister to the Indian government.
Commenting on the joint statement issued by the two countries Tuesday, the TNA has expressed contentment that both Sri Lanka and India had agreed that the end of the conflict has created a historic opportunity to work towards a genuine national reconciliation.
Sri Lankan government has agreed that a devolution package, building upon the 13th Amendment, would contribute towards creating the necessary conditions for such reconciliation.
Tigers forced Dutch Tamils pay war tax
May 18, 2011
Tamils in the Netherlands have been forced to donate money to the LTTE, to pay for its war against Sri Lanka’s government. Dutch court authorities say the Tigers held those people in ‘a stranglehold’, forcing them to pay a ‘war tax’.
The investigation has been going on for two years. Several people have been arrested, including the alleged leader of the Dutch branch of the Tigers.
Court documents, published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, say that the Tamil Tigers systematically extorted large sums of money from Dutch Tamils. If they refused, they were threatened with reprisals.
Tens of thousands of Tamils live in the Netherlands. The majority came to the country after the
Tamil separatist war broke out in the mid-1980’s. The Tamil Tigers have been listed as a terrorist organisation in EU-countries such as the Netherlands since 2006.
The Netherlands is not the first European country where Tamils have been arrested for money laundering and extortion. Last year, Tamils in Switzerland and the UK were arrested for the same reason. While the Dutch Tamils are still awaiting trial, in the UK and Switzerland several people have already been convicted. (DutchNews.nl)
The GOSL should PIN the Norwegians to wall on this, and EXPOSE their DOUBLE TALK.
These Hypocrites preach to everyone while they undermine other sovereign nations to preserve their economic interests. Norway is a key player of the Western CABAL attempting to impose their hegomony on developing nations.
Kick these Terrorist Loving RATS out of Sri Lanka.
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Helping 12 persons out of SL: Govt. summons Norwegian envoy
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
May 19, 2011
In spite of Norway’s denial of a direct role in 12 LTTE personnel leaving Sri Lanka via the Bandaranaike International Airport, the government of Sri Lanka summoned Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Hilde Haraldstad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Foreign Secretary Karunathilake Amunugama raised the issue.
Authoritative sources say Amunugama had expressed concern over the alleged involvement of Colombo-based Norwegian diplomatic staff in the clandestine operation. Ambassador Haraldstad was told that a statement attributed to former Norwegian peace envoy, Minister Erik Solheim, which endorsed the actions of the embassy staff wasn’t acceptable. Minister Solheim went to the extent of accusing the government of Sri Lanka of ex-judicial actions, including killings during the last phase of the conflict.
Denying any wrongdoing on its part, the Norwegian embassy said it was not at liberty to discuss individual cases but clarified its policy regarding asylum for refugees.
The Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, in a May 12, 2011 news item captioned, Norway to help refugees from Sri Lanka, reported that the Norwegian authorities had secretly purchased tickets and obtained political asylum for persons deemed to be at risk in Sri Lanka.
The External Affairs Ministry said that further investigations would shed light on the Norwegian operation. The Norwegian Opposition and Norway-based experts have been critical of their operation here. Ambassador Haraldstad told Amunugama that she couldn’t confirm the figure given by Aftenposten with regard to the number of Sri Lankans given asylum in Norway. The Foreign Secretary met Ambassador Haraldstad in the absence of External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, who was in New Delhi to reach consensus on a range of issues.
A senior government source alleged that the latest incident would be detrimental to an ongoing initiative to enhance bilateral relations.
Responding to a query, sources said that the two governments had explored the possibility of a meeting between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who is also the leader of the Norwegian Labour Party on the sidelines of the forthcoming UN summit in New York. They said that the Norwegian leader had been at the helm during 2000-2001 and since October 2005 during Solheim’s peace efforts in Sri Lanka.
Come to MAMA in Tamil Nadu!
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the No. #1 Sri Lankan Traitor and Principal Opposition Rat, CRAWLS on his KNEES to Jayalalitha to beg for assistance in undermining Sri Lanka so he can return to Power.
Lacking PUBLIC support in Sri Lanka, this TRAITOR turns to Foreigners for help!
Is there NOTHING this man will not STOOP TO?
SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!
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Sri Lanka Opposition Leader to visit Tamil Nadu on an invitation of the new Chief Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 20, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major opposition United National Party (UNP) sources say that the newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha has invited the UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe for a tour in her state.
The invitation has been extended as the Chief Minister Jayalalitha telephoned Wickremasinghe to thank for the congratulations rendered by the latter, UNP sources say.
The duo has had a lengthy telephone dialogue, according to a party spokesman. They have discussed the situation in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka and the need for an amicable political solution with the agreement of all sections.
The spokesman further said that the Opposition Leader would soon visit Tamil Nadu on the invitation of the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister after her political victory called for the central government to declare Sri Lankan President a war criminal and impose economic sanctions against the Sri Lankan government.
India-Sri Lanka relations Incremental progress
By M K Bhadrakumar
DeccanHerald.com
May 20, 2011
Delhi would have advised Sri Lanka that the best means of responding to the UN report would be to expedite the national reconciliation.
If the expectation in Delhi was that assisting Colombo to win the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) two years ago would augment India’s wherewithal to push for a just settlement of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem, it was never quite realistic. The leadership of president Mahinda Rajapaksa chose to build on the nationalistic fervour following the defeat of the LTTE to consolidate his political power.
Nothing wrong here — Rajapaksa won’t be the last politician, either, to use the nationalistic card to boost democratic power. In the Sri Lankan socio-cultural milieu, the danger lies in Rajapaksa’s political indebtedness to the nationalist sentiments from which he derives mandate. Anyway, things were going splendidly well for Rajapaksa when there has been a sudden reversal of fortunes.
The report by an ‘expert panel’ appointed by the United Nations Security Council on the alleged excesses of the Sri Lankan army in the concluding phase of the war holds unpleasant downstream consequences. Colombo’s initial reaction was of indignation and anger — not unjustified, by any means — that it was being singled out in the global war on terrorism.
The rhetorical posturing helped the Sri Lankan leadership to rally domestic opinion, but Colombo seems to have since switched to the diplomatic track to try and finesse the situation to its advantage by constructively engaging the world powers who are influential.
Why not? Sri Lanka is a gifted country which has an extraordinary grasp of the seamless mysteries of international diplomacy. In its soft-spoken, scholarly foreign minister G L Peiris, Colombo also holds a trump card. (Despite AIDMK leader Jayalalitha’s demand that Rajapaksa should be tried for war crimes, Peiris wrote a decent letter to her, congratulating her on her magnificent election and seeking to ‘work with her’ for the welfare of the people.)
Significantly, Peiris started his odyssey with Delhi from where he has proceeded to Beijing. This isn’t surprising. From Colombo’s perspective, India’s stance is going to be very crucial, while China’s can be helpful. Indeed, China’s stance would also be influenced by the stance India takes.
India-Sri Lanka relations Incremental progress
......continued.......
Quite obviously, Peiris arrived in Delhi last week when the India-Sri Lanka relationship was somewhat piquantly poised. Colombo is keenly hoping that Delhi would take a stance that puts paid to the scandalous UN expert report. So far, Delhi has been sitting on the fence, literally dangling its feet, lost in thoughts. Indications are that Peiris who knows that politics is the art of the possible, succeeded under the circumstances in getting the Indian leadership to begin talking. And the conversation turned out to be engrossing, too.
Empathy and understanding
The fact that a joint statement has been issued after the visit clarifies that a broad convergence may have emerged. Peiris told the media that Delhi showed ‘empathy’ and ‘understanding.’ It may be short of outright support he expected over the UN report, but it is incremental progress. The joint statement underscores that the Indian leadership sought to broaden the discourse to cover the range of issues in the bilateral relationship and to set a new sense of direction in the ties within which the ruckus over the UN report can be tackled.
Colombo appears receptive — for the present, at least — to the Indian counselling more than at any time in the past two-year period since the war was won, about the imperative of a genuine national reconciliation in a spirit of give-and-take and with a long-term vision that would settle the Tamil problem. The joint statement reflects the Indian thinking and it is significant that Colombo concurs. Specifically, it must be noted that the joint statement singled out that “A devolution package, building upon the 13th Amendment, would contribute towards creating the necessary conditions for such reconciliation”.
The joint statement suggests that Delhi would have advised Peiris that the best means of responding to the UN report would be to expedite national reconciliation and to conclude a credible inquiry of its own into war excesses. However, the two countries are not holding their broader relationship hostage to the entanglement over the UN report. Which is a good thing.
The strategic ties are being enhanced, including in energy and defence. Most certainly, it is only within the matrix of deep engagement that Delhi can hope to influence Colombo optimally, in a climate of trust and confidence, to accelerate a fair settlement to the Tamil problem.
India should not be party to any big power pressure tactic toward Sri Lanka. The fact is that Delhi actively assisted — rightly or wrongly — Colombo to win the war. And Delhi couldn’t have been unaware of the brutalities of the Lankan war. India has fought more counterinsurgency wars than any other country in modern history and would know such wars are invariably very brutal. In this particular case, there is also a moral dimension insofar as Indian policies toward the LTTE were never really consistent — and, indeed, Delhi’s attitudes toward Colombo also took tragic twists and turns in the period since 1983.
At the end of the day, national reconciliation in Sri Lanka remains a very complicated process. The underlying paradox is that Sri Lanka is a genuinely functioning democracy. Rajapaksa cannot be compared to Slobodan Milosovich. Nor is the injection of geopolitics or the superimposition of the ‘new great game’ into the Sri Lankan situation desirable. India’s priority lies in ensuring regional stability.
(The writer is a former diplomat)
Sethurapan "had enough" and "reported" the LTTE shakedown "to the police" ... after over a decade of financing terror in Sri Lanka?
Sethurapan proably decided it was a "bad investment" or had an internal falling out on how to divide the pie no longer supervised by the Sun God!
LoL!
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LTTE leader Nediyawan arrested in Oslo for terror financing
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 20, Colombo: A Norway-based LTTE leader Perinpanayagam Sivaparan alias Nediyawan has been arrested and was produced in an Oslo court yesterday, Norwegian TV2 news Nyhetene reported.
According to the Norwegian media report Dutch authorities believe the suspect has a prominent role in the terrorist outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is banned in 33 countries including the USA, UK, Australia, and European Union but not in Norway.
The Dutch police had reportedly taken a court order to search Nediyawan's house and the material discovered had linked him to terror financing. The Dutch investigators believe he has contributed millions to the LTTE.
The LTTE has been on EU�s terrorist list since 2006, and financial support to the organization is considered a criminal offence in the Netherlands.
A Dutch judge and five Dutch Defence Attorneys are in Norway to interrogate the LTTE leader who has lived in Norway since 2005, the report further said.
The Police Security Service (PST) did not want to make a comment on the secret case, but has confirmed to TV 2 that they assisted Dutch police with the interrogation in the District Court.
A Tamil living in Norway, Nadarajah Sethurapan has told the TV2 that Tamil Tigers are engaged in racketeering in Norway to continue the struggle in Sri Lanka. He has told the TV2 that he has paid over 33,000 Krones (about 6,000 USD).
According to Sethurapan he paid money to the Tamil Tigers from 2002 to 2009. Finally he had enough and reported the matter to police, he told the TV2.
Norwegian police and prosecutors are following the terror financing case closely Secretary of State Paul L�nseth has told the TV 2.
Norwegian Ambassador summoned
By R.K. Radhakrishnan
TheHindu.com
May 20, 2011
The Sri Lankan foreign office summoned the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo early this week, and expressed concern over the conduct of some diplomats of the mission during the end-stages of the war with the LTTE.
“We can confirm that a meeting took place May 16th between [Foreign] Secretary [Karunathilake] Amunugama and Ambassador [Hilde] Haraldstad,” said Jon Brødholt, Deputy Chief of Mission, Norwegian Embassy, Colombo, in response to an e-mail enquiry from The Hindu.
“In the meeting, the Secretary expressed concern over a story originating in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten where it was stated that Norway had accepted refugees from Sri Lanka. The Norwegian Ambassador used the meeting to elaborate on Norway’s humanitarian tradition and Norwegian refugee policy. The Ambassador explained that all applications for asylum in Norway are processed in accordance with the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,” he added.
The Island newspaper, quoting “authoritative sources” on Friday, said that “Amunugama had expressed concern over the alleged involvement of Colombo-based Norwegian diplomatic staff in the clandestine operation. Ambassador Haraldstad was told that a statement attributed to former Norwegian peace envoy, Minister Erik Solheim, which endorsed the actions of the embassy staff wasn’t acceptable.”
The newspaper added: “The External Affairs Ministry said that further investigations would shed light on the Norwegian operation… A senior government source alleged that the latest incident would be detrimental to an ongoing initiative to enhance bilateral relations.”
The Norwegian Embassy had earlier denied that it was involved in any illegal or clandestine activity. “The Norwegian embassy notes that the translation and representation of the article [in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten] in local media contain some inaccuracies, such as referring to the refugees as members of the LTTE… It is not correct that the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo has secretly been helping 12 LTTE cadres out of the country…To the best of our knowledge, the embassy did not assist any LTTE-cadres.”
Norwegian Ambassador summoned
By R.K. Radhakrishnan
TheHindu.com
May 20, 2011
The Sri Lankan foreign office summoned the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo early this week, and expressed concern over the conduct of some diplomats of the mission during the end-stages of the war with the LTTE.
“We can confirm that a meeting took place May 16th between [Foreign] Secretary [Karunathilake] Amunugama and Ambassador [Hilde] Haraldstad,” said Jon Brødholt, Deputy Chief of Mission, Norwegian Embassy, Colombo, in response to an e-mail enquiry from The Hindu.
“In the meeting, the Secretary expressed concern over a story originating in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten where it was stated that Norway had accepted refugees from Sri Lanka. The Norwegian Ambassador used the meeting to elaborate on Norway’s humanitarian tradition and Norwegian refugee policy. The Ambassador explained that all applications for asylum in Norway are processed in accordance with the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,” he added.
The Island newspaper, quoting “authoritative sources” on Friday, said that “Amunugama had expressed concern over the alleged involvement of Colombo-based Norwegian diplomatic staff in the clandestine operation. Ambassador Haraldstad was told that a statement attributed to former Norwegian peace envoy, Minister Erik Solheim, which endorsed the actions of the embassy staff wasn’t acceptable.”
The newspaper added: “The External Affairs Ministry said that further investigations would shed light on the Norwegian operation… A senior government source alleged that the latest incident would be detrimental to an ongoing initiative to enhance bilateral relations.”
The Norwegian Embassy had earlier denied that it was involved in any illegal or clandestine activity. “The Norwegian embassy notes that the translation and representation of the article [in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten] in local media contain some inaccuracies, such as referring to the refugees as members of the LTTE… It is not correct that the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo has secretly been helping 12 LTTE cadres out of the country…To the best of our knowledge, the embassy did not assist any LTTE-cadres.”
With Kanrunanidhi OUT, and Jayalalitha IN, Karunanidhi's minions have lost their protection, and the knives are at work.
Are we witnessing revenge being exacted now for past misdeeds ... Indian Style?
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Indian MP Kanimozhi arrested in telecoms scandal
May 20, 2011
BBC.co.uk
Ms Kanimozhi is an MP from the DMK party, a key federal government ally
She denies conspiracy and accepting bribes in the alleged mis-selling of telecoms licences, which auditors say cost the country about $40bn (£24.5bn).
A judge in the capital, Delhi, rejected her application for bail and she is due to be produced in court on Saturday.
Ms Kanimozhi, 43, is the daughter of M Karunanidhi, an important ally of the Congress-led federal government.
Her party colleague, former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, is already in jail in connection with the scandal.
He is accused of selling mobile telephony spectrum to firms at a fraction of their real value in exchange for bribes in 2008. He too denies all wrongdoing.
Along with Ms Kanimozhi, the court also rejected the bail application of a senior television executive.
"The bail applications are dismissed. Both the accused be taken into custody forthwith," news agency Press Trust of India quoted Judge OP Saini as saying.
Ms Kanimozhi's lawyer Ram Jethmalani said they would appeal in a higher court. Ms Kanimozhi has been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Prosecutors say she took a bribe of $47.6m (£29.3m) through Kalaignar TV - a channel run by the DMK party in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The issue of corruption has become a major talking point in India.
Mr Raja is on trial along with eight others, including two former civil servants. Several top company executives have also been arrested in connection with the so-called 2G case.
The telecoms scandal has badly damaged the reputation of the government, which has been hit by a series of corruption scandals.
India has the world's fastest growing mobile phone market, with about half a billion subscribers.
A small CABAL of Western Powers, illegally bombing Libya into the stone age under the guise of "defending democracy" to establish their neo-colonialist REGIME CHANGE goals,and killing HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS in Afghanistan and Pakistan with Predator "drone" missile attacks, boycott Sri Lanka's seminar on Defeating Terrorism within its own territory, to show their displeasure at a SMALL UPSTART DEVELOPING NATION that DARES TO SUCCEED in EWRADICATING TERRORISM without their military assistance!
This CABAL of Western Nations .. that commits war crimes daily in foreign countries thousands of miles away from their own nations ... dares to accuse Sri Lanka that suffered over 150,000 killed over 30 years, for ridding itself of terrorism ORCHESTRATED and FUNDED by Tamil Terrorist residing in their countries and protected by them.
What HYPOCRISY!
What DOUBLE TALK!
What CHUTZPAH!
These HYPOCRITES will be Hoisted on their Own Petard some day, when the vast majority of nations of this world silently witnessing these awful crimes and travesty of justice hold them accountable.
...............
Sri Lanka defence seminar on defeating terrorism commences
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 31, Colombo: A seminar organized by the Sri Lanka Army to share its experience on defeating the three decades long terrorism in the country opened today with the participation of 45 countries.
The three-day seminar on "Defeating Terrorism - Sri Lankan Experience" commenced this morning at Galadari Hotel in Colombo with an address by the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya.
The Army Commander addressing the gathering said Sri Lanka's victory came with many sacrifices and the experience need to be shared with the world. He called for a global alliance to defeat terrorism as only such an alliance can face the challenges posed by the terrorism.
The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa delivering the key note address said Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa briefed India on every development during the military operation to avoid misrepresentation of facts and confusion.
India has sent three Colonels to take part in the seminar while a Major General has led the Pakistan delegation. A Lieutenant General is leading the Bangladesh delegation. The Russian Federation has sent six delegates.
China, the emerging global power have two of its defence companies Chinese Poly technologies and China Electrical and Technologies Corporation displaying their products at the three-day event.
The United States, Britain, France, Australia, and Japan have declined the invitations to attend the seminar.
Ground Commanders who fought the battle against LTTE terrorists rescuing over 300,000 civilians from the clutches of the LTTE are expected to share their own experiences at the conference.
Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris, Plantation Minister and Special Human Right Envoy Mahinda Samarasinghe, Secretary to the Sri Lankan President Lalith Weeratunga, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and global terrorism expert, Dr. Rohan Guneratne are among the speakers to address the seminar.
Western Hypocrites .. who bomb foreign countries to impose their will and maintain economic advantages, and protect their own nations security while denying that right to others ... criticize Sri Lanka, while emerging economic powers and developing nations who have experienced this hypocrisy themselves and recognize it instinctively ... support Sri Lanka.
Mercifully, World Domination by these Hypocrites, will end, and a more balanced world will emerge, in the next two decades.
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Russia, China supports Sri Lanka at HR Council, US deeply concerned
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 30, Geneva: During the general debate of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva today, the two global powerhouses China and Russia expressed their support to Sri Lanka while the United States expressed deep concern on the findings in the Expert Panel report.
During the opening of its seventeenth regular session the HRC heard the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navi Pillay's call for establishing an internal mechanism to monitor Sri Lanka's national investigations into the alleged violations of international humanitarian law.
Responding to Ms. Pillay's call Xia Jingge, of China said it believed that the Sri Lankan Government and its people had the ability to deal with their internal affairs and the international community must support the government in its efforts to reconcile the country and should provide helpful assistance in this regard.
The representative said the group of experts sent by the UN Secretary-General was to advise the Secretary-General only and asked the Human Rights Council to adopt a prudent approach to the country.
Representative from Russian Federation, Konstantin Dolgov welcomed the steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to address the allegations.
Dolgov said the Russian Federation believes that the approach to this issue must be independent and impartial, as experience showed that all parties to a conflict committed violations.
The United States said it was deeply concerned by the findings of the panel of experts on the violations of international law and international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka and insisted that reconciliation in this country must be built on accountability.
"It was a responsibility of the Government of Sri Lanka to respond to the findings of the panel and to ensure the future for the people of Sri Lanka," Eileen Chamberlain, the US representative said.
Zamir Akram, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to UN in Geneva speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the Organization of the Islamic Conference was of the opinion that the report concerning the events of Sri Lanka was an internal document of the Secretary-General, included information never verified, and that the ongoing efforts in Sri Lanka for peace and reconciliation should be supported by the international community.
Pakistani diplomat Mariam Aftab highlighting the HRC11/1 report on official development assistance to help Sri Lanka fight poverty noted that the international community owed it to Sri Lanka to assist it and to rid the country of the scourge of terrorism.
Russia, China supports Sri Lanka at HR Council, US deeply concerned
......continued......
Norwegian represntativw Bente Angell-Hansen noted the intent of Sri Lanka to address the residual issues after the conflict in an inclusive and just manner.
"Norway remained committed to supporting the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka in ensuring rights, development and prosperity of all its citizens," she said.
Andras Dekany, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN in Geneva speaking on behalf of the European Union reiterated the EU's view than an independent process to address extremely serious allegations should contribute to strengthening the process of reconciliation and ensuring lasting peace and security in Sri Lanka.
France said it supported the UN Panel report, emphasized its legitimacy, and called for justice in relation to violations of human rights there while Belgium noted that the recommendation to establish an independent commission of inquiry on Sri Lanka should be taken seriously.
Dante Martinelli, Representative of Switzerland agreed that it was crucial for Sri Lanka to follow up on the recommendations of the panel.
Jayalalitha's posture on Sri Lankan Tamils COMPELS Sri Lanka to maintain a STRONG MILITARY and phalanx of POWERFUL ALLIES.
Jayalalitha .. in her self-induced myopia .. conveniently forgets to mention that it was India that initiated Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, trained those terrorists in Tamil Nadu, transported them into Sri Lanka, funded them, and invaded Sri Lanka under the guise of protecting the "rights of Sri Lankan Tamils" when they were about to be defeated by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
To its chagrin, India then found that the Tamil terrorists it had given birth to, and nurtured in its bosom, had transformed into a RACIST venomous snake intent on using Sri Lanka as the platform to break India apart, and create an independent state in Tamil Nadu.
This agenda of Tamil Nationalists .. in Sri Lanka as well as India was OBVIOUS to all in Sri Lanka. Yet, Indian politicians blinded by their hubris and visions of overwhelming power had failed to recognize the mortal danger it posed to India. The Indian invasion of Sri Lanka, designed to carve out a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka, boomeranged when their creation turned on them. The Indian force advanced to the rear back to India licking its wounds after losing several thousand troops killed by the terorists they had come to "protect". If Jayalalitha keeps feeding Tamil Racism, she will bring destruction upon the heads of the people of Tamil Nadu, just as Velupillai Prabhakaran destroyed the Sri Lankan Tamil community.
Now, Jayalalitha ... another Tamil demagogue trying to use the Sri Lankan Tamil issue to cement her hold on power in Tamil Nadu ... threatens to reignite the Tamil Nationalist struggle for an independent Tamil state in India ... that the LTTE's SunGod Vellupillai Prabhakaran failed to spark. Jayalalitha may think that she can control the tiger she is now riding, but events will soon overtake her and she will join the jetsam and flotsam of Tamil Nadu's history ... completely unable to cope with the violence she will unwittingly help unleash.
Many Indian politicians are also riding terrorist riders in India across a broad swathe of its territory. Despite claims of economic resurgence of India, today India is writhing in pain in the grasp of many terrorist movements tormenting the lives of over 850 million of its 1,200 million people. Economic progress cannot be sustained if law and order cannot be sustained, and terrorists rule by night wehere government rules by day.
People who live in glass houses should learn not to throw stones at others.
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Jaya & India’s Lanka Policy
By V Suryanarayan
ExpressBuzz.com
May 30, 2011
In her first interaction with the media, soon after unprecedented electoral victory, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa assured the people that she will exercise pressure on the central government to revise its Sri Lanka policy not only to expose the heinous crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government during the last stages of the fourth Eelam War and bring the guilty to book, but also to ensure that justice is done to the Tamils in the island nation. Jayalalithaa’s timely appeal in support of the Sri Lankan Tamil cause has been welcomed by Tamils across the world. However, it raises one important question — what is the role of federal units in the making of Indian foreign policy?
Jaya & India’s Lanka Policy
......continued 1.....
In a large country like India foreign policy towards neighbouring countries will have its immediate fallout on contiguous Indian states. India-Pakistan relations will have its fallout on Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat; policy towards China will affect Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir; policy towards Nepal will have profound consequences on Bihar, Sikkim, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh; India-Bhutan relations will have its effect on West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim; equations with Myanmar will affect Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur, India-Bangladesh relations will impinge upon West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam and the policy towards Sri Lanka will have its consequences on Tamil Nadu.
Under the Indian Constitution the formulation and implementation of foreign policy comes under the exclusive jurisdiction of the central government. In actual practice, on several occasions, New Delhi has sacrificed the interests of the contiguous Indian states. Such a policy has also created frictions between the central government and the federal units. The problem is not peculiar to India; it is common to many countries like the United States, China and former Soviet Union. In Yugoslavia, before its disintegration, the federal units had their departments of foreign affairs. Lest I be misunderstood, I am not advocating that the federal units should administer foreign policy; what I am pleading for is a mechanism by which the interests of contiguous Indian states are fostered and protected by the central government. What is good for the people of Tamil Nadu need not necessarily be bad for the government of India. To put it differently the federal units must make their benign inputs into the making of India’s neighbourhood policy.
A few illustrations are given below to drive home the point how the conduct of India’s Sri Lanka policy has adversely affected the interests of Tamil Nadu. The Sirimavo-Shastri Pact, 1964 by which New Delhi decided to confer Indian citizenship on large sections of Indian-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka was not only a reversal of the time-tested policy of Jawaharlal Nehru, it was also concluded without taking into consideration the wishes of the affected people in Sri Lanka. All important leaders in Tamil Nadu — Kamaraj Nadar, V K Krishna Menon, C N Annadurai and P Ramamurthy — expressed their opposition and indignation. However, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, advised by the then Commonwealth secretary C S Jha, was more interested in befriending the Sri Lankan government than in protecting the interests of the people of Indian origin.
Jaya & India’s Lanka Policy
.....continued 2......
The second example is the conclusion of the maritime boundary agreements between India and Sri Lanka in 1974 and 1976. As a result of these agreements not only the island of Kachchatheevu, which belonged to the Zamindari of Raja Ramnad, was ceded to Sri Lanka, the traditional fishing rights enjoyed by Indian fishermen were also given up. Faced with a similar situation in the 1950s when the central government decided to transfer Beru Bari to East Pakistan, B C Roy, then West Bengal chief minister, took the issue to the Supreme Court, won the case and prevented the ceding of Indian territory. No satisfactory explanation has been given as to why a judicial remedy was not resorted to by the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu in 1974 to prevent the transfer of Indian territory of Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka. The tragic fallout is that the rich fishing grounds on the Sri Lankan side of the Palk Bay has become a bone of contention between Tamil Nadu fishermen and the Sri Lankan Navy, leading to the death of several Indian fishermen.
It is not proposed to analyse the sharp twists and turns in India’s Sri Lanka policy during recent years, but one fact must be underlined. There are obvious limitations as to what India can do to influence the domestic developments in a neighbouring country, but Sri Lanka, as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told the Lok Sabha in 1983, is not “just another country”, India has vital stakes not only in its stability, but also in the dignity and welfare of the Tamils. Based on this premise, New Delhi not only helped the Tamils to internationalise the gross human rights violations, but also made it clear to Colombo that it will not remain a silent spectator if a military solution to the problem was pursued. So effective was India’s policy that when Indian planes air dropped food and medicines in Jaffna in May 1987, not even one country raised its finger against India. But much water has flowed through the Palk Strait since 1987. More tragic, India’s Sri Lanka policy changed for the worse. When the war against the LTTE degenerated into a war against Tamil civilians during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War and when nearly 40,000 innocent Tamils were massacred, India remained a silent spectator. Adding to this India also bailed out Sri Lanka in the United Nations. To our shame, in the United Nations we were in the company of China and Russia.
Given this, Jayalalithaa’s welcome statement holds out the promise that Tamil Nadu will not remain a mute witness if distortions take place in India’s Sri Lanka policy.
V Suryanarayan is senior research fellow, Center for Asia Studies. E-mail:
suryageeth@sify.com
What?
Is Canada turning away a worthy refugee from the Sri Lankan Tamil community because he may be an LTTE terrorist? One of the few, the bravest of the brave and most productive of potential Canadian citizens?
Or, are they finally getting worried that these professional con artistes and killers are creating a criminal national mafia that will soon strangle Canada from within?
Wonders will never cease!
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Tamil migrant ordered deported over Tigers' video
By Douglas Quan,
May 30, 2011
Hundreds of passengers crowd the deck of Motor Vessel (MV) Sun Sea after spotting the arrival of HMCS Winnipeg seen in this August 2010 file photo.Photograph by: MCpl Angela Abbey, Canadian Forces Combat CameraVANCOUVER — The Immigration and Refugee Board on Monday ordered the deportation of another Tamil migrant from the MV Sun Sea, after finding that his activities in Sri Lanka — including an appearance in a Tamil Tiger propaganda video — constituted membership in a terrorist organization.
This is the fourth migrant from the Sun Sea to be ordered deported on such grounds since the ship carrying almost 500 asylum-seekers arrived on the West Coast last August.
In a written decision, IRB adjudicator Geoff Rempel acknowledged that the migrant was never a formal member of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and never participated directly in the group's armed struggle.
However, Rempel found that the man was "more than a mere sympathizer and that his contributions to the LTTE were much more than minimal or marginal."
He cited the man's participation in a fictional movie portraying an attack on Sri Lankan army forces. The movie also showed LTTE fighters training and engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
The migrant's lawyer, Shepherd Moss, had argued that the movie could have been mere entertainment, perhaps even a spoof.
Rempel disagreed.
"I have been presented with no evidence that the movie was made to generate box office profits, unlike the Hollywood films of John Wayne and Tom Cruise," he wrote. "I accept the minister (of public safety's) view that the movie was LTTE propaganda, made to support their war aims."
The LTTE engaged in a lengthy struggle for independence against the Sri Lankan forces. The civil war ended in 2009 with the Tigers' defeat.
In his decision, Rempel found that the man's work as a karate instructor provided further support to the LTTE's war effort.
"His high-profile involvement with the LTTE went far beyond the civilian-LTTE interactions that may have been unavoidable in LTTE-controlled territories," Rempel concluded.
The migrant, who is not currently in custody, did not show any emotion when informed of the decision Monday.
Anyone who is ordered deported has options to appeal, including applying to the Federal Court for a judicial review of the decision, said IRB spokeswoman Melissa Anderson.
A publication ban prevents the media from identifying the migrant.
The IRB adjudicator redacted portions of his written decision because he felt that some details might serve to identify the migrant.
Fifteen migrants from the Sun Sea remain in detention.
Over 1m landmines yet to be cleared
By Dinidu de Alwis
Nation.lk
Nuje 05, 2011
More than one million landmines are yet to be cleared from an area of approximately 400 square kilometres in the conflict affected areas, a government official said last week.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Ministry of Defence, Brig. K. M. U. Wijeratne said, “according to an estimate, 1.6 million landmines have been laid in Sri Lanka, of which 366,870 have been cleared. This leaves the country with an estimated number of 1.23 million landmines still to be cleared”.
He said that demining operation had been in place in Sri Lanka since 2003 with the assistance of a US-backed organisation, following the Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement of 2002. Wijeratne added that the Sri Lanka Army, the only state-actor in the demining process, used mechanical, manual, and mine-detection dogs in their operations.
According to Wijeratne, the process is meticulous and tedious, as manual de-miners, who engage in an extremely risky process, are only able to clear 10 square meters a day.
He added however, that dogs can detect mines in an area of 700 square meters a day – less than one-hundredth of an average cricket ground.
THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK!!
While Western "neo-colonialist" military adventurers engage in ILLEGAL CRIMES all over the world ... for example, the bombing of Libya to subjugate and convert Libya into a docile OIL RESOURCE for the West in the name of supporting "democracy" ... Hilary Clinton points to CHINA as a neo-colonialist power infiltrating Africa!
HOGWASH!
NOTHING could be further from the TRUTH.
China generously helps developing countries with technology & funds they cannot get from the West. China helps them develop indigenous manufacturing industries & infrastructure that the West does not want to transfer to these nations fearing competition .. just as Imperial Britain with-held manufacturing technologies from its former colonies.
The West gives only "cultural" grants garbed in liberal advice on how to create "democracies" while the crying need is for export industries that create jobs.
Clinton's bufoonery just another manifestation of the fear of the West that too many developing countries may move beyond their exploitative grasp with China's help!
So, they try to UNDERMINE China!
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Clinton warns against "new colonialism" in Africa
June 11, 2011
LUSAKA (Reuters) – Africa must beware of "new colonialism" as China expands ties there and focus instead on partners able to help build productive capacity on the continent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton, asked in a television interview in Zambia on Saturday about China's rising influence on the continent, said Africans should be wary of friends who only deal with elites.
"We don't want to see a new colonialism in Africa," Clinton said in a television interview in Lusaka, the first stop on a five-day Africa tour.
"When people come to Africa to make investments, we want them to do well but also want them to do good," she said. "We don't want them to undermine good governance in Africa."
China pumped almost $10 billion in investment into Africa in 2009 and trade has taken off as Beijing buys oil and other raw materials to fuel its booming economy.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
Clinton, appearing on the "Africa 360" program, called for long term "sustainable" investment that would benefit Africa.
"We saw that during colonial times it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave," she said.
Clinton pointed to U.S. efforts to improve political and economic governance in countries like Zambia as an example of a different approach.
"The United States is investing in the people of Zambia, not just the elites, and we are investing for the long run."
African states, she said, could learn much from Asia on how governments can help support economic growth but said she did not see Beijing as a political role model.
"We are beginning to see a lot of problems" in China that will intensify over the next 10 years, she said, pointing to friction over Chinese efforts to control the Internet as one example. "There are more lessons to learn from the United States and democracies," Clinton said.
Her trip, which also takes her to Tanzania and Ethiopia, is meant to highlight the Obama administration's drive to help African countries meet challenges ranging from HIV/AIDS to food security and speed up often impressive economic growth.
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Has any country in the world Rehabilitated captured terrorists so Humanely as Sri Lanka has?
NONE that I know of!
How were the captured Al Quaida terrorists in Guantanamo Bay prison treated? Remember waterboarding ... anyone? Hello?
Hah! Perhaps waterboarding and dog attacks on naked men is the Western Equivalent of Cricket!
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Rehabilitation process ending
By Jayantha Samarakone
More than 3500 former LTTE cadres who are now in rehabilitation camps are to be released before the end of this year, Rehabilitation Commissioner General Major Sudantha Ranasingha said. With the release of 3572 members, the rehabilitation process of all LTTE members who surrendered and arrested during the Vanni Humanitarian Operation will come to an end, said the Commissioner.
11, 664 people were handed over for rehabilitation to the Bureau by the Defence Ministry. Rehabilitation activities started in August 2009 in 12 camps in the North and East and 7343 have been already released.
They have been provided with vocational training while 594 ex-child soldiers have been provided with opportunities for education.
Ex-LTTEers reintegrated
DailyNews.lk
June 11, 2011
Ex-LTTE combatants who had undergone a rehabilitation process were reunited with their families at a ceremony in Vavuniya.
Three hundred and twenty seven ex-cadres were reintegrated into civilian life as the first batch of the total 866 who were rehabilitated.
A cricket match, a tug-of-war competition and a musical show were held as part of the ceremony under the theme 'We who come from the North and South are united'. This ceremony was jointly organized by the Youth Affairs and Skills Development, and the Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Ministries.
The cricket match was held at the Vavuniya Municipal Council ground between the amalgamated team of the two ministries and the amalgamated team of rehabilitated ex-cadres and youth clubs which was enthusiastically viewed by all including the families of the ex-cadres.
Today MK sings this tune, tomorrow it will be another.
The ONLY CONSTANT is the Indelible Racism of Tamil Nadu leaders .. be it Jaya;lalitha, MK, Vaiko, Ramadoss, Thirumavalavan .. the whole bandwagon.
Their GOAL is to create a Greater Tamil Nadu .. including parts of Sri Lanka .. that is INDEPENDENT of India.
Until them, they will bite each other to pieces in their unending quest for personal political advancement .. so the going is rather slow.
Bloody Demagogues ... ALL OF THEM!
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Jaya trying to mislead people on Eelam: MK
IBNLive.in.com
June 11, 2011
CHENNAI: DMK president M Karunanidhi has termed the resolution passed by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the Assembly urging the Centre to impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka as an age-old tactic adopted to mislead the people.
A DMK high level executive committee meeting passed a resolution on Friday condemning Jayalalithaa for making a speech filled with enmity attacking the DMK and its leader Karunanidhi, despite the DMK’s willingness to support the resolution passed by the AIADMK on Eelam Tamils in Assembly on Thursday.
The resolution said that in the previous AIADMK regime, the party’s general secretary Jayalalithaa never supported the Eelam cause.
Pointing out an incident in 2002, the resolution said the AIADMK had passed a resolution urging the then Central Government to push the Sri Lankan government to arrest LTTE chief Prabhakaran and hand him over to India. The party had also passed a resolution to not allow any LTTE member inside India.
The resolution also condemned Jayalalithaa for her remark that, “it was not the intention of the Sri Lankan army to kill the Tamils. However, it was war and innocents were bound to be killed.” The resolution stated that she had supported the Sri Lankan Government’s war against the LTTE and had condemned the LTTE for using the Eelam Tamils as shield against the Sri Lankan Army.
On the Katchatheevu issue, the DMK stated that since 1974 the party had urged the Centre to reconsider its agreement with Sri Lanka ceding Katchatheevu to them.
When Karunanidhi was chief minister in 1974, he passed a resolution in the Assembly urging the Centre to reconsider its decision. The party had also held a protest across TN condemning the 1974 agreement.
The DMK resolution pointed out that the party had addressed the Katchatheevu issue in its 2011 election manifesto, where it had urged the Centre to retrieve the island.
DMK Condemns Abolition of Council
The DMK’s executive committee passed nine resolutions on Friday including one condemning the AIADMK’s move to abolish the Legislative Council and postpone implementation of USE. Other resolutions concerned the Lankan Tamils issue and Katchatheevu, the shifting of the Secretariat and merging of the Anna University branches among things. A resolution was also passed thanking the voters for re-electing the party to Assembly.
Ridiculous or not, Indians continue to play football with Sri Lanka for their own political purposes in India.
Sri Lanka must look towards strong international alliances, and towards its own internal strength to develop a PERMANENTLY strong Sri Lanka Defence Force including every citizen of the nation that will give pause to the mightiest of enemies, a vibrant diversified economy with a highly skilled work force, self-sufficieny in food and energy, and a spirit of undying patriotism to keep this hallowed land proudly sovereign FOREVER.
Jayawewa, Sri Lanka!
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Resolution seeking sanctions on Lanka ''ridiculous'': Swamy
PTI
June 11, 2011
Chennai, Jun 11 (PTI) Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today described as "ridiculous" the resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly seeking economic sanctions on Sri Lanka by India and some other countries, saying it would be "highly damaging" for India''s national interest.
"The resolution asking the Centre (for economic sanctions on Sri Lanka) is not only ridiculous but highly damaging for India''s national interest," he said in a statement here.
Swamy claimed that while the resolution was adopted based on a UN report on alleged human rights violations by Lankan armed forces during the conflict with the LTTE, "the said UN report also blames the LTTE for provoking and committing human rights violations in equal measure."
"The Assembly makes no mention of that, showing it to be a highly partisan and narrow-minded resolution," he charged.
Asking Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to focus on providing electricity and restoring law and order in the state, he said AIADMK''s victory in the April 13 polls was due to peoples'' anger at DMK''s alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam case, in which she "played no role except issue statements."
"Hence she must use this mandate received due to my efforts in exposing the 2G spectrum scam case, for the benefit of the people and not for the LTTE in Sri Lanka, for most of them are dead or gone anyway," he said.
Further, Swamy also requested Ramdev, who is on an indefinite fast on the issues of corruption and black money, to withdraw his fast.
This was the most horrific and undeniable WAR CRIME perpetrated by the Tamil LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka.
Instead of hiding the INNUMERABLE War Crimes of the LTTE for the sake of "reconciliation" even as they demonize Sri Lanka all over the world, Sri Lanka should document each of these events in detail .. in word, pictures, music and videos, create case studies of each crime, and hurl them in the faces of the Tamil LTTE diaspora, the hypocritical Western "human rights" critics, and Ban Ki Moon of the puppet United Nations.
The true victims of Sri Lanka were its innocent citizens blown to bits in offices, buses, trains and roads, hacked to pieces in the dead of the night, ethnically cleansed from their homes, hung from lamp posts, terrorized and economically deprived for over 30 years by the LTTE.
Let us not concentrate on the rights of terrorists who finally received their deserved due along the Banks of the Nanthikandal Lagoon, but remember the lost rights of their innocent victims instead.
Let us HONOR those VICTIMS of TERRORISM instead.
No one else will honor our valiant dead, so we must.
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Sri Lanka police commemorate killing of 600 surrendered police officers by LTTE
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 11, Colombo: Sri Lanka police will commemorate the 21st anniversary of the killing of 600 surrendered police officers by Tamil Tiger rebel organizations Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The main commemoration ceremony will take place at the Police heroes' memorial situated in the Police Field Force Headquarters in Colombo.
Acting Inspector General of Police N.K. Ilangakoon will be the chief guest of the ceremony.
Six hundred police officers served in Batticaloa and Ampara police divisions in the Eastern Province surrendered to the LTTE under the orders of the then President R. Premadasa who had agreed to a ceasefire with the rebels. Shortly afterwards their surrender on June 11, 1990 the LTTE executed all 600 of them.
Some Innovative Economic Ideas that Sri Lanka should also consider.
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Fixing America's Economy: 9 Ideas From Around the World
By Peter Coy
Bloomberg
June 10, 2011
Countries as diverse as Germany, Brazil, Singapore, and Thailand can offer ways for the U.S. to shore up its economy.
Democrats and Republicans are dug in like soldiers at Verdun over what to do about the sputtering U.S. economy. Exhausted by the political stalemate, they've been reduced to magical thinking, hoping that things will eventually get better by themselves. But time isn't on America's side. The country is suffering its highest average duration of unemployment since at least 1948. "The longer this goes on, the greater the danger that the cyclical downturn becomes structural. People and things that lie idle start to lose their productive value. Then you're into all sorts of troubles," says Karen Ward, senior global economist at HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC - News) in London.
It may finally be time for Americans to consider ideas from a place that they don't usually look to for inspiration: the rest of the planet. The U.S.'s economic predicament does present some unique dilemmas. The Obama Administration has already pushed hard on the levers that countries usually use to get out of a slump, to little discernible effect. Short-term interest rates are near zero and fiscal stimulus is aggressive, judging from a budget deficit of about 10 percent of gross domestic product. David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates, a Toronto-based wealth-management firm, says of the U.S.: "We're basically in uncharted territory."
Maybe so. But there are guideposts that can help point the way out. The U.S., after all, is not the first country to wrestle with how to restart growth despite budget deficits that constrain big-spending solutions. The challenge is how to apply lessons from other countries to shore up American weaknesses, without sacrificing the strengths that make the U.S., for all its troubles, the world's biggest economy.
To prod the conversation forward, Bloomberg Businessweek scanned the world and found innovative economic ideas in countries as diverse as Germany, Brazil, Singapore, and Thailand that are applicable to America's mess. The focus was on short-term solutions, but since there aren't a whole lot of miracle fixes to be had, we also considered some longer-term reforms that create a better environment for years of sustainable growth.
Fixing America's Economy: 9 Ideas From Around the World
.....continued 1....
There's no guarantee that all of these ideas would work in an American context. But it's clear that some fresh, non-ideological thinking is needed. Says Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW - News) Chief Executive Officer Andrew N. Liveris, a Greek-Australian-American and author of the book Make It in America: The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy: "People in the U.S. confuse big government and small government as the only two models. What we need is smart government." By that he means government that puts business objectives ahead of politics. "Countries are competing like companies more and more," says Liveris. "In the U.S., we haven't caught up." Here are nine ideas from the rest of the world to get America back in the race:
From: Germany
Idea: Minimize mortgages
Germany has one of the lowest homeownership rates among wealthy nations -- around 46 percent, vs. two-thirds in the U.S. -- and also one of the most stable housing markets. Prices of owner-occupied housing in Germany are up 9 percent since 2003, according to the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks.
What's the German formula? Housing is less vulnerable to booms and busts because only highly qualified buyers can get a mortgage. Down payments are usually at least 20 percent, often 40 percent. Mortgage interest is not tax-deductible, as it is in the U.S., which also discourages excessive leverage. Germans are justly proud of their Pfandbrief, an ultrasafe bond whose collateral is a set of standardized mortgages whose loan-to-value ratio can't exceed 60 percent. The bank that sells a mortgage-backed Pfandbrief to investors retains all the risk of default, giving it the incentive to underwrite cautiously.
The lesson for the U.S.? Tougher lending rules would help lower the risk of another housing crash. And in the long run, Americans may have to accept a lower homeownership rate to pay for taking the boom and bust out of the market.
From: Brazil
Idea: Pay the poor
On June 2, President Dilma Rousseff announced a plan called Brasil Sem Miseria (Brazil Without Poverty) that aims to lift 16 million people out of extreme poverty, defined as household income of $45 or less per month. The plan calls for providing the poor with job training, legal documentation, electricity, literacy, medical treatment, day care, and sanitation. Even garbage pickers are covered: The program aims to integrate them into municipalities' recyclable collection.
America's poor are rich compared with Brazil's, but growing income inequality poses dangers to the U.S.'s economic health. "Some poor people are so far behind that they can't open the doors" to opportunity, says Brazilian Executive Secretary for Social Development Romulo Paes, a physician with a Ph.D. in epidemiology. Improving coordination of anti-poverty policies would help more low-income Americans get back on their feet and give a boost to the recovery.
Fixing America's Economy: 9 Ideas From Around the World
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From: Turkey
Idea: Open the doors
Is America still a land of opportunity for foreign investors? By some measures, yes. Foreign direct investment in U.S. companies, factories, mines, and land was nearly $200 billion in 2010, above its average for the preceding decade. Yet compared with Turkey, the U.S. looks unwelcoming. Turkey's Investment Support and Promotion Agency serves as a single point of contact for all permits, licenses, and land acquisition. It coordinates specialized training for the workers that multinational companies need and arranges for upfront tax breaks. Its staff can communicate in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, as well as Turkish.
Dow Chemical CEO Liveris calls the agency a role model. "Today the U.S. is perceived as a risky place to do business by foreign companies," he says. Dow recently announced a joint venture with a Turkish company to make carbon fiber and derivatives for use in wind turbines and the like. A Turkey-style mix of tax incentives, language and job-training services, and legal assistance might persuade more foreign firms to invest in the U.S., creating jobs.
From: Canada
Idea: A worthwhile tax
With the 2012 Presidential election looming, the idea of springing any new taxes on the American public verges on heresy. But digging out of our fiscal hole will require the government to find ways to increase tax revenues one way or the other. For a start, look north. Unlike the U.S., Canada has a national sales tax -- the Goods and Services Tax, currently levied at 5 percent. Consumption taxes such as these are less harmful than a tax on wages and salaries (which discourages work) or a tax on investment (which discourages saving). Livio Di Matteo, an economist at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., believes the U.S. could go a long way toward solving its budget problems with a national sales tax and a fatter gasoline tax. "The U.S. is a rich country," he says, "and its deficit situation is more a political rather than economic problem." Consumption taxes might be one "worthwhile Canadian initiative" that's worth a closer look.
From: China
Idea: Go green
Looking to China for economic lessons is a fraught proposition. China's authoritarian system allows the central government to play a role unimaginable in the U.S. Borrowing selectively from Beijing's playbook, however, can help revitalize American industry. China's 12th Five-Year Plan commits the country to world leadership in seven leading-edge industries, many of them connected to clean energy and the environment. An article released by the government's Xinhua News Agency cited unnamed analysts' estimates that investment in environmental protection alone will exceed 3 trillion yuan -- about half a trillion dollars -- from 2011 to 2015. By contrast, government-funded research and development in the U.S. is heavily tilted toward the National Institutes of Health. Innovations in the health sector may extend lives, but they could, perversely, increase health-care costs by producing costly new drugs and devices -- while delivering a smaller commercial payoff than the green industries on which China is focusing.
Fixing America's Economy: 9 Ideas From Around the World
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From: Australia
Idea: Give the kids a break
Beginning July 1, Australian pensioners will get improved "work bonuses" to find part-time jobs or stay longer in the workforce. Matthew Weinzierl, an economist at Harvard Business School, likes Australia's idea of varying tax rates by age, but he'd do it differently: Have tax rates rise steadily from age 25 to age 55. By paying lower taxes when they're young and more when they reach middle age, Americans would essentially borrow from their older, richer selves. Weinzierl didn't focus on the older workers targeted by Australia because he didn't want to complicate the analysis with retirement decisions.
The HBS economist estimates that varying income tax rates by age would generate social-welfare gains equaling 0.6 percent to 1.5 percent of annual U.S. consumption. That's in the range of $100 billion a year. A more efficient tax code would also encourage people to work more, generating wealth. But Weinzierl cautions that age-based tax rates won't end the slump: The big problem now is there's not enough work to be done.
From: Thailand
Idea: Cheap rooms!
To get its economy going again in 2009, Thailand doubled the tax deduction for domestic hotel stays as a way to encourage people to get out and spend money. It was only a small part of Thailand's recovery package, but it caught people's attention. In an e-mail, Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij says, "These measures helped with morale and 'bought time' for us to do 2 things: 1) employ the main stimulus measures which were investment-based and, 2) wait for export demand to pick up thru global recovery, which they did." The U.S. has already resorted to similar gimmicks to goose demand: The 2009 stimulus package included, among other things, tax breaks for purchases of RVs. But the slow recovery suggests that American consumers need more incentives to spend.
Fixing America's Economy: 9 Ideas From Around the World
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From: Singapore
Idea: Keep workers working
The famously efficient city-state was uniquely vulnerable to the worldwide economic downturn because it depends on global trade, which dropped off sharply. Yet Singapore's unemployment rate topped out in 2009 at just 3.3 percent. One factor was the Jobs Credit program, which pays employers to keep people on the payroll until demand revives. Other countries with similar programs include Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Japan.
That's not all Singapore does. Its SPUR (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) pays companies to train workers while they are idle instead of laying them off. Some workers are trained for jobs in fields their employer isn't even in. The government guides entire industries toward the future it envisions for them, says G. Jayakrishnan, Americas group director in New York for International Enterprise Singapore, a trade promotion agency.
Such a paternalistic government role would be tough for American companies to stomach. Yet in Singapore, says Jayakrishnan, "It really puts the country and the economy on the right side of things when the economy begins to pick up."
From: Israel
Idea: Swords into software
The U.S. is by far the world's largest spender on the military and intelligence. But the Pentagon could learn something from Israel about how to convert defense dollars into commercial products that can benefit the broader economy. Veterans of a single unit of the Israeli Defense Forces' Intelligence Corps have launched such successful ventures as Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP - News), the network security software company; ICQ, the pioneer of instant messaging; and NICE Systems, which detects fraud. The secretive operation, called Unit 8200, serves as the corps's technology intelligence unit. Ido Aharoni, Israel's consul general in New York, says the closest thing America has is DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But no one in the Pentagon is responsible for getting commercial bang for military bucks. That makes it fertile ground for improvement.
Bloggers,
I have posted a new article on MR's decision to deny Police & Land powers to Provincial Councils.
Please shift over to that article.
Thanks!
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