July 26, 2011, Anuradhapura
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today declared open "Abimansala", a wellness resort in Anuradhapura for totally disabled war veterans.President Rajapaksa symbolically registered the entry of the first inmate to the resort, built near the Anuradhapura Weva, and interacted with the disabled soldiers.
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The resort, fully-equipped with a swimming pool was built by the engineering unit of the Sri Lanka army at a cost of 220 million rupees.
The project to build the resort was implemented under the Brave Heart project of the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Sri Lanka Army.
The resort provides facilities for 54 totally disabled soldiers in the North Central Province.
Governor of the North Central Province Karunaratne Divulgane, Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake, Ministers S.M. Chandrasena, Tissa Karalliyadda, Deputy Minister Duminda Dissanyake, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and commanders of the tri-forces were also present at the occasion.
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
19 comments:
ONE EXPRESSION our collective DUTY and GRATITUDE to Sri Lanka's brave warriors is through building and maintaining Rehabilitation Centers such as this for Soldiers Disabled in the Eelam War.
WE MUST TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN ... no matter what the cost ... for it is GRATITUDE that distinguishes us from animals.
The Lord Buddha's first act upon attaining Enlightenment(Nirvana) was to Express his Gratitude to the Bodhi-tree that sheltered him.
Our first act upon attaining the long elusive goal of a Reunified Motherland MUST BE to Express our Gratitude to those who made it possible.
Ratna Deepa, Janma Bhumi
Lanka Deepa, Vijaya Bhumi
Mey Apey, Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumiyayi!
Mathru Bhumiyayi!
Aadi Sinhaley
Ae Veera Memuthun Layin
Saara Wu, Udaara Wu
Mathru Bhumiyayi!
Mathru Bhumiyayi!
Little by little, every day in every way, it dawns upon the critics of Sri Lanka that Sri Lanka has made good progress in assuring peace, security and a fruitful life for ALL OF ITS PEOPLE ... irrespective of community ... the Sri Lankan way!
That is the NATURAL CONSEQUENCE of our collective Sri Lankan WIT, and the our Sri Lankan Buddhist HERITAGE of justice and compassion.
But, let that not be confused with any willingness to abandon our NATIVE WIT for the slavish adoption of flawed advice of hypocritical foreign powers, and international terrorist networks, serving themselves at Sri Lanka's expense.
To them we say: BUTT OUT!
We will not allow our motherland to be sliced and diced into racist aparthied Bantustans. We will fight ... just as President Abraham Lincoln did in the US civil war ... to preserve OUR nation whole for the benefit of OUR future generations yet unborn.
ALL of Sri Lanka is for ALL of its people, not part by part, but as a whole, to live and settle in wherever they please.
We will ASSURE Equal Rights to all citizens under ONE system of law, and DEMAND from each an equal responsibility to love, protect and defend this hallowed land.
ONE NATION, of ONE PEOPLE, sharing ONE NATIONAL DESTINY is our vision and our PERMANENT goal.
We will not be diverted, or swayed, from that shining path.
Sri Lanka's enemies have seized upon Tamil Communal Parties (TNA, TULF) winning 15 of 20 local government elections as a pivotal victory. NONSENSE, I say! What else do you expect in an election conducted in a captive population brainwashed over 30 years, liberated just 2 years ago, and still struggling to free itself from the local Ku Klux Klan?
Insufficient TIME has elapsed for the restoration of civil liberties, and the infrastructure development by the Government of Sri Lanka, to take root and filter down to all people and change their opinion!
This is still a befuddled brainwashed people with memories of war and LTTE's slavery and brutality imprinted deep within their minds ... just as the people of ruined Germany were at the end of World War II.
Recall that it took the Marshall Plan, billions of dollars pumped in, and over 40 years of stability assured by military occupation by Allied armies, for the Germans to recover.
Even then, only West Germany recovered, while East Germany languished under the jackboot of the Stalinist Soviet Union.
The reunification of Germany was ultimately successful only because the West Germans, who had imbibed notions of democracy, a freemarket economy, and peaceful co-existence over 30 years, were there to give a helping hand to rehabilitate and reintegrate East Germany.
Don't make hasty ... off the cuff ... judgments about Sri Lanka's North. It takes TIME to achieve the vision of ONE NATION, of ONE PEOPLE, sharing ONE NATIONAL DESTINY to take root, grow and thrive among the Tamils of the North & East of Sri Lanka after their basic and urgent material and emotional needs have been met.
Give us TIME to make it happen without getting ready to SLICE & DICE Sri Lanka all over again.
If Western powers have excess energy that needs to be dissipated, let them help SOMALIA now, instead of undermining and destabilizing Sri Lanka. Feed the starving Somalians, defeat the warlords, setup an effective central government, make the economy of the country stand on its own two feet again, and help it become a stable and vibrant democracy .. if you think you can!
In Sri Lanka, the Ballot Takes Over where the Bullet Ruled
.......continued 1......
Don't mess up Sri Lanka that is already a stable democracy, has achieved reunification through its OWN EFFORTS and the sacrifice of much blood and treasure, and is now well on its way to becoming the NEW WONDER of ASIA!
IN ONE WORD: BUTT OUT of Sri Lanka's Internal Matters!
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In Sri Lanka, the Ballot Takes Over where the Bullet Ruled
By Amantha Perera/Colombo
<a href="http://www.time.com>Time.com</a>
July 26, 2011
It was an election of little if any practical importance, but huge symbolic value. Twenty local administrative bodies in Sri Lanka's war-ravaged north went to polls over the weekend to elect members. Though power in the region is still in the hands of the central government, the elections in the northern districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mulaittivu were closely watched around the country as the first public referendum of post-war redevelopment and reconciliation efforts by the government of President Mahinda Rajapakasa.
When the results came out, the answer was clear: While Rajapaksa's immense popularity has not waned in the rest of the country, in the north, it is at a low. The opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a party closely linked with the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), won 15 of the 20 bodies; another Tamil party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), won two; and the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won three. On a national scale, the UPFA dominated the July 23 vote, winning 45 of the 65 bodies up for election. In the north, it barely registered. "It [was] the people's chance to speak," says Soosaipillai Keethaponcalan, the head of the department of political science at the University of Colombo. (Watch a video about the last days of the civil war.)
The three districts saw the worst of the fighting during the island's bloody 25-year civil war that ended in May 2009. The war's final phase saw the complete destruction of the separatist LTTE, a group that had demanded a separate state for the minority Tamils who make up for the bulk of the population in the north. Over 300,000 civilians caught in the fighting were left homeless; countless others were left injured, or dead. By late 2009, the government began resettling the war displaced; all but 10,000, who remain in camps, have now returned to their home villagers or live with relatives.
The government has launched major redevelopment works in the former northern war zone, popularly known as the Vanni. The A9 highway, that runs almost dead center through the region, has been repaved, and plans are afoot to expand it to six lanes. Power lines have been drawn, and over 80% of the rice paddies in the region are back in cultivation. According to the central bank, the government has dispersed $42 million in the north under various credit programs since the war's end. The bank also reports that the north had recorded the highest growth rates on the island in recent months.
But despite such development efforts, life in the Vanni is still a struggle. United Nations' reports say that over 63% of the returning people displaced in the fighting do not have a spending capacity of even $1 per day, and unemployment is thought to be above 20%. The large military presence in the region has also been seen as slowing down efforts to return to normalcy.
In Sri Lanka, the Ballot Takes Over where the Bullet Ruled
......continued 2.......
Those grievances finally got some air over the weekend. "The government campaign was based on the development work, the [northern] voters have however shown what is important to them," said Mavi Senathiraja, a TNA parliamentarian from Jaffna. He told TIME that the northern voters had endorsed the TNA's push for more authority being assigned to regional bodies. The party says that the shift is vital to address grievances of the Tamil minority that flared the bloody conflict and to achieve effective national reconciliation.
International powers like U.S. and the E.U. have also been calling for wider power devolution to Tamil areas — and a thorough investigation into the conduct of the last phase of the war in the face of allegations of war crimes. A report by an advisory panel to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released in March recommended an international investigation into what it said were credible allegations of war crimes during the last phase of the war. The Sri Lanka government has rejected the allegations. Had the government won the election in the north, it would have used the victory to deflect growing international pressure, says Keethaponcalan. Now, with the unpopularity of the government in the north on such clear display, it may have to do something to address these concerns.
Surprisingly, India, which stood by the Sri Lankan government during the war, has become one of the strongest proponents for power devolution of late. During a visit to Colombo in June, the powerful Indian troika of National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar pushed for reforms and said continuing discussions between the government and the TNA were vital. During the final phase of the war between 2006 and 2009, India, China and Russia had created a bulwark against growing international pressure on Sri Lanka. The latter two have not indicated any changes to their unstinted support to Sri Lanka. Russia, in fact, was one of the first nations to come to Sri Lanka's defense following the release of the U.N. report, and China has invested heavily post-war Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless, observers feel that Rajapakasa would be foolish to ignore the subtle changes taking place in the international community. "Collectively, these countries have the political and financial clout to make a positive difference in Sri Lanka," says Alan Keenan, a senior analyst and Sri Lanka Project Director at the International Crisis Group, speaking of the U.S., E.U., and now India. "Were these countries to make Sri Lanka a priority and take a more principled and collective stand, it is by no means certain that China and Russia would continue to stand in the way."
Last weekend's polls, too, are a sign that change has already arrived, says Keerthi Tennakoon, head of the election monitoring body Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE). Despite some irregularities and incidents of intimidations, Tennakoon says the election has strengthened the nascent civil administrative structure in the former conflict-zone — and residents' belief that they, too, can be part of Sri Lanka's democratic process. "The ballot is taking over where the bullet ruled," Tennakkon says.
The war-weary voters who cast those ballots agree. "For so long, we did not believe in democracy," says Velayuthan Ramanan, who lives in Kilinochchi. "Maybe now we do."
Norwegian BUNGLERS Exposed!
Keystone Kops of the Norwegian Police and the Security forces BUNGLED response to the terrorist attack.
TOTALLY UNPREPARED for terorist attacks, they HAD NO CLUE HOW to get there, much less WHAT to do when they got there.
Norway CLEARLY DOES NOT UNDERSTAND TERRORISM.
And these are the people who CLAIM TO UNDERSTAND humanitarian needs in terrorism ridden nations. They are NOT QUALIFIED TO PONTIFICATE ON ANYTHING in this area of human conflict.
They should CLOSE DOWN the Nobel Peace Prize shop, take their marbles and disappear in shame!
The totally CLULESS Norwegian Government that left Norway UNPREPARED to respond to a terrorist attack in this day and age should be TARRED, FEATHERED and KICKED out of office!
And these are the CLUELESS IDIOTS we allowed to intercede as "Peacemakers" in Sri Lanka?
No wonder they couldn't distinguish between "freedom fighters" and "murderous terrorists"!
Bloody BUFFOONS!
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Norway police slammed for slow response to rampage
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
OSLO, Norway (AP) — When homegrown terrorist Anders Behring Breivik launched his assault on the youth campers of Utoya Island, he expected Norway's special forces to swoop down and stop him any minute.
But Breivik was given time to kill.
The officers of Oslo's elite Delta Force drove because police don't own a transport helicopter, then were rescued by a civilian boat when their own broke down as it tried to navigate a 1-minute hop to the island. It took police more than 90 minutes to reach the gunman, who had mortally wounded 68 people. Breivik dropped his guns and surrendered, having exceeded his wildest murderous expectations.
As Oslo's police force sounded an increasingly defensive note, international experts said Tuesday that Norway's government and security forces must learn stark lessons from a massacre made worse by a lackadaisical approach to planning for terror.
"Children were being slaughtered for an hour and a half and the police should have stopped it much sooner. Even taking all the extenuating circumstances into account, it is unforgivable," said Mads Andenas, a law professor at the University of Oslo. He lost a student in the island attack while his 20-year-old niece, also at the camp, survived by hiding in bushes.
Those extenuating circumstances include the fact that Breivik preceded his one-man assault on the camp with a car bomb in the heart of Oslo's government center. Authorities were focused on helping survivors from that blast as the first frantic calls came in from campers hiding from the gunman on Utoya, northwest of Oslo.
Survivors said they struggled initially to get their panicked pleas heard and understood, because operators on emergency lines were rejecting calls not connected to the bomb. When police finally took note that a gunman was shooting teens and 20-somethings on the island retreat, Breivik had already been hunting them down for a half-hour.
In a final act of bungling, police on Monday revised the island death toll down to 68, after initially miscounting the corpses at 86.
Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said Tuesday his client was surprised that he was able even to reach the island without being stopped by police, much less be free to kill for 90 minutes or more with his assault rifle and handgun.
The island's only part-time private security guard was among the first people he killed. When officers did arrive, he immediately fell prone on the ground in surrender.
Police spokesman Johan Fredriksen rebuffed journalists' questions Tuesday about the planning and equipment failures that gave Breivik untold extra minutes to kill. He called the criticisms "unworthy."
"We can take a lot, we're professional, but we are also human beings," Fredriksen said.
Norway police slammed for slow response to rampage
.......continued 1.........
International experts said in coming months Norway must take a hard, cold look at a system premised on the assumption that the country didn't face a credible risk of terrorist attack, much less a back-to-back bombing and gun rampage.
That challenge could be particularly difficult in a country renowned for a culture of inspiring openness that also increases the risk of jaw-dropping security lapses.
Norway's most infamous crimes before Friday involved the 1994 and 2004 thefts of artworks by its best-known painter, Edvard Munch. In the first theft, the robbers left their ladder propped up against an unlocked National Gallery window — and replaced Munch's "The Scream" with a mocking note: "Thanks for the poor security."
Fernando Reinares, former senior anti-terrorism adviser to the Spanish government, said Norway has just suffered "an astonishing failure in police intelligence." He said Breivik should have been identified by a competent anti-terrorist agency because of his purchases of bomb-making ingredients and specialist weaponry.
"Norway is behind other Western European countries in adapting internal security structures and procedures to face terrorist challenges," he said. "But there was also an amazing failure in police preparedness and reaction, both in terms of human resources and technical capabilities."
Andrew Silke, director of terrorism studies at the University of East London, called the police response to the island attack "a bit Keystone Kops" because Norway's police were "just not used to dealing with something like this. The system was swamped."
Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, said Norway has just been victimized by the common experience of all countries caught off guard by terror.
"Their planners suffered a major failure of imagination, to foresee that the adversary could go that far," he said. "But this is exactly what every counter-terror policy must do to be effective: to plan and train for worst-case scenarios. Because if you haven't done that before the bomb goes off or the shooting starts, then you're just improvising, and that just increases the dangers."
In Norway's case, the Delta Force squad — whose formal Norwegian name of "Beredskapstroppen" means "emergency unit" — is equipped only to travel to crises on Norway's largely two-lane road network. It took about a half-hour to cover the roughly 40-kilometer (25-mile) journey.
Police spokesman Sturla Henriksbo said Norway — a land some 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) long with around 50,000 islands alone — has only one police helicopter, based at an airport north of Oslo. And that helicopter has only four seats: two for the pilots, one for an equipment manager.
Norway police slammed for slow response to rampage
.......continued 2.........
"That helicopter is never assigned for the transportation of anyone, never mind Delta Force," he said.
Finn Abrahamsen, a former Oslo policeman who directed the force's violent crimes unit, said Norway could have used that helicopter as a rapid-response platform for a police sniper.
It turns out they couldn't, not on Friday anyway. The police's qualified helicopter pilots were all away on summer holidays.
Delta Force could have used an army helicopter, but decided it would take too long to scramble one from the nearest base in Rygge, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) to the south.
So they drove, then waited for the tiny local police department to scramble its lone boat, a small rigid inflatable craft. All the while, shooting and screams could be heard from Utoya Island only 600 meters (yards) away.
Within seconds of scrambling on board, officers found themselves having to bail out the overloaded vessel. Then the engine became waterlogged and died.
Police say within 5 minutes of their reaching the island, Breivik was disarmed and in custody. The killer wrote beforehand that he always planned to surrender as soon as police arrived, so that he could publicize his extreme nationalist and anti-Muslim views in court and inspire copycat attacks elsewhere.
Andenas, the law professor, said he would have expected Norway's special forces to have trained to reach a nearby popular retreat like Utoya within 15 minutes, not an hour. He conceded that many countrymen felt the same but feared saying it out loud because emotions remain so raw.
"Many people feel this was a very difficult situation, that one should take account of that and not too be too critical of people who certainly tried to do their best," Andenas said.
"But it was just not good enough. The police action was too little and too slow," he said. "The cold truth is that many children who died out there should not have died."
"Too many policeman wanted to go too quickly to the island," explained Kgell Tvenge, commander of the police base in the nearby town of Honefoss where the boat is docked.
"But the boat didn't sink. They got a new boat from a tourist," he said.
The US Government is close to Defaulting on the National Debt because of Partisan Political Bickering, making US citizens doubt the effectiveness of their form of government.
I have suggested a simple solution of tying the salaries paid to the members of the three branches of the US Government to their performance in governance: Hope for debt deal, despite disputes, veto threat
My Comment:
The Federal Legislators and Administrators should be subjected to financial penalties through curtailment of salaries for non-performance at their primary job of EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE of the Nation.
California voters passed a Statewide Proposition that required the State Treasurer to stop paying the salaries of California Legislators if they do not pass a VALID BALANCED BUDGET,by the due date.
A similar, but more comprehensive, Federal Law should be passed by a national referendum to stop paying the salaries of all Congressional Legislators and Administrators of the Executive, if they fail to perform in certain key areas.
These performance measures should include, at a minimum, the passing of a VALID (ie, free of obvious gimmicks) BALANCED BUDGET and EXTENDING THE NATIONAL DEBT LIMIT to keep the national government functioning, and to maintain unsullied the credit rating of government debt. If the "credit rating" of US government debt falls below a certain minimum level, the salaries of the Legislators and Administrators should be REDUCED.
The threat of not being re-elected by the electorate, IS NOT ENOUGH to ensure good performance. As we see, it leads to partisan bickering and gridlock in governance.
It must be supplemented by a series of financial penalties tied to the combined performance of the Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches of government as a whole. Finger pointing and buck passing between the three branches of government would be reduced by placing the onus on all of them, simultaneously.
That may reduce partisan bickering now jeopardizing the nation as a whole ... AS IT DID in the State of California in the recent budget crisis.
A BAD PRECEDENT!
In the spirit of eradicating communal considerations from governance of the nation, this monk should be required to GIVE UP THe PRIESTHOOD if he wants to serve as the Chairman of the Urban Council.
He can either serve as a priest, or as the Chairman, but not both.
More generally, no priests of ANY RELIGION should be allowed to compete for, and/or hold, political office.
Otherwise, we will precipitate religious conflicts in the country, and make it difficult for laymen to freely criticize, and oppose if necessary, priests holding political office.
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Lanka gets its first monk mayor
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
JulY 28 (PTI) Colombo- For the first time ever in Sri Lanka, a Buddhist monk would become the city mayor after winning the highest number of preference votes in the polls.
Gnanaprabha, a Buddhist monk from the Sinhala nationalist party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) will take office as the Chairman of the Urban Council of Embilipitiya, a rural town in the south western Ratnapura district.
Gnanaprabha was made to earn his place after he had won the highest number of preference votes in the election of Embilipitiya Urban Council held on Saturday.
The government agreed to appoint him after he staged a protest opposing Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) man, likely to be chosen for the job.
"I am so glad that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to appoint me. I am giving up protest action", Gnanaprabha said today.
The JHU is a partner in the ruling United People''s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition.
The GOSL should reject this "demarche" from the US ... it is nothing more than UNDUE INTERFERENCE in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.
How would the US respond if Sri Lanka makes such demands everytime the US is accused of various human rights abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombing of civilians in Pakistan and Libya?
Bloody HYPOCRISY and Double Standards!
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US delivers demarche: Refer LLRC report to UNHRC
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 31 (ST) The United States has delivered a demarche to Sri Lanka that it wants the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) discussed at the 19th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March next year.
A demarche is a formal diplomatic stand of one government's official position, views and wishes on a particular subject. It was delivered by the US Embassy in Colombo to the External Affairs Ministry last month, but, Sri Lanka has not yet responded officially to the request.
An External Affairs Ministry source who spoke on grounds of anonymity said the government was most likely to reject the US request. "This is because we will be under the constant watch of the HRC if we agree to this move," the source said, sounding a warning that a rejection may also force US to resort to other measures against Sri Lanka.
Hisham: Two with LTTE links deported to Sri Lanka
KLUANG: Two people detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for links with terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LLTE) have been deported to Sri Lanka.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said details on the repatriation of the two would be revealed Monday.
He said the ministry might release Immigration Department officers detained under ISA for their involvement in human trafficking.
"We are considering releasing the officers as they may have repented and want to be with family members during Ramadan.
"The decision whether to release them or not is based on police information," he said after presenting aid for mosques and suraus in Sembrong parliamentary constituency in Nyior on Sunday.
The seven Immigration Department officers were arrested last year.
Hishammuddin said human trafficking syndicates profited a lot from such activities.
On the release of six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members from detention under the Emergency Ordinance, he said police are still investigating it.
"The Prime Minister has said action depends on directive from the Attoney-General's Chambers. I have to agree with A-G's decision." - Bernama
Sri Lanka Defence Ministry to release the report on war tomorrow
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 31, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has decided to publish the report compiled by the Defence Ministry analyzing the facts of the humanitarian operation against the Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in May 2009 with the victory of the government and the total annihilation of the rebels.
Accordingly, the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is to reveal the information regarding the report tomorrow, government sources say.
The sources further said that the government came to this decision due to the need of properly responding to the questioned raised by various sectors over the final stage of the war.
The 161-page report supposedly includes the experiences of the three armed forces during the war.
Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa handed over the report compiled by the Ministry of Defence on "Humanitarian Operations Factual Analysis" to the President on last Wednesday (27).
Eelam buses run in UK; registered as 'L77E'
In the wake of UK based Channel 4 telecasting 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields', British Tamils are stepping up their propaganda campaign targeting Sri Lanka. The campaign goes parallel to the UK-headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF) exploiting its contacts with the British Conservative and Labour parties to push for international war crimes probe.
A driver training school, set up by Tamil Diaspora in the UK, had recently launched 'eelam buses' to promote their macabre cause though the LTTE remained a proscribed organization in the UK. UK based sources told The Island that the project couldn't have been launched without the tacit understanding of British officials.
Sources said that Act First, a north west London based driver training school, had received bus registration L77E UK, which looked like LTTE UK. Sources said that it would be interesting to establish the identity of those employed by Act First as instructors as well as the sponsors.
Responding to a query by The Island, sources said that British authorities had allowed the LTTE to propagate a separate State in Sri Lanka, while pushing the government of Sri Lanka on the diplomatic front. Sources said that the failure on the part of Britain to put an end to LTTE operations was having a negative impact on Sri Lanka's efforts at national reconciliation.
Sources said that the LTTE's latest project in the UK would inspire similar operations where the group was trying to re-organize following the crushing battle field defeat suffered in the hands of the Sri Lankan military.
Courtesy: The Island
If such an "economic blockade" is imposed on Sri Lanka, the GOSL should return the favor by imposing a PERMANENT "economic blockade" against Tamil Nadu, but not the rest of India.
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Jayalalithaa reiterates demand for Lanka economic embargo
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 31 (ANI) Chennai- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has urged the Central Government to impose an economic embargo on Sri Lanka for alleged 'war crimes' and atrocities committed on the ethnic Tamil community by the Mahinda Rajapakse-led Government.
A recent UN report accused Colombo of targeting Tamil civilians during the army onslaught on the militant outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in 2008-2009.
The report specifically accused the Rajapaksa Government of widespread shelling, including targeting field hospitals, denial of humanitarian aid, and rights violations against people inside and outside the conflict zone on the northeastern coast of the island nation.
Demanding justice for the Sri Lankan Tamils in a resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly, Jayalalithaa had called for an economic blockade against neighbouring Sri Lanka in June.
Addressing a news conference in Chennai, she asserted that AIADMK lawmakers would be raising the issue before other parties during the Parliament's Monsoon Session beginning on August 1.
They were DUPED? No way! These people are full hand-in-glove collaborators in these illegal human smuggling schemes run by LTTE's global mafia!
See how they are TRAINED by the LTTE mafia to give the same excuses in ONE VOICE!
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Sri Lankan Tamils sent to Chennai
By B. V. S. Bhaskar
TheHindu.com
July 31, 2011
They said they were duped by agents who promised them jobs in Canada
As many as 147 Sri Lankan Tamils, who were in the custody of Tuni Rural Police for the past three days, were sent back to Chennai by the Criminal Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police on Saturday.
Their passports and identity cards issued by the refugee camps were verified. Superintendent of Police of East Godavari C. M. Trivikram Varma said all of them were sent by Circar Express to Chennai under police escort.
The Sri Lankans were taken into custody when they were moving suspiciously near the Talupulamma Lova shrine.
Police reported the matter to the CID, Hyderabad, who in turn informed Tamil Nadu police to check the antecedents of the Tamils.
The refugees told the police that they were duped by five agents who promised to take them to Canada and get jobs there.
The agents collected Rs.5, 000 each and left them in the Lova shrine promising to transport them to Visakhapatnam and, from there, to Canada by ship. This was 13 days ago and, in the meanwhile, the agents were nabbed by the local police.
“We have not booked any cases against the refugees, and [we] handed them over to [the] Chennai police. I think they will book cases against the agents who cheated the refugees,” Mr. Varma said.
Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary denies allegations of killing surrendering LTTE leaders during war
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 01, Colombo: Secretary of Sri Lanka Defence Ministry Gotabhaya Rajapaksa today denied the allegation that the Sri Lanka Army had killed LTTE cadres when they had tried to surrender.
Releasing the report titled "Humanitarian Operation Factual Analysis July 2006 - May 2009" on Monday at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo, Rajapaksa has said the government had no intention of killing LTTE leaders when they surrendered to the military since the government directly looked after families of LTTE leaders.
"Why should the government, which directly looked after the family of LTTE leaders, kill those who surrendered to the military," he asked.
He has said that nobody had contacted him for a surrender during the period of the war.
He has added that 11,000 former LTTE cadres have surrendered and 6,000 of them so far have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society. Another 595 child soldiers have been handed over to their parents, he said.
"The false claims and allegations made by the Tamil Diaspora together with the LTTE international network will be laid to rest with the launching of the report," Rajapaksa has said.
The 161-page report compiled by the Ministry of Defence on the Humanitarian Operation, according to the Defence Secretary, aims to provide the factual background and operational context of the war that ended the 30 years of Tamil Tiger terrorism by the LTTE in May 2009.
The report which begins with a detailed analysis of the terrorist outfit, its growth and the atrocities it committed describes the resumption of hostilities in 2006 during the ceasefire period. The final part of the report is a brief overview of the consequences of the Humanitarian Operation that eliminated the organization in Sri Lanka and brought peace to the island nation.
Commenting on the documentary aired by Britain's Channel 4, the Defence Secretary said the serial broadcasts of the British TV station is an attempt to tarnish the country's image and divide the people. "It is an attempt to set back the peace that has been won after three painful decades," Rajapaksa noted.
He hoped with the publication of this document, the false allegations "will be laid to rest once and for all, and that the world will see, beyond any doubt, that the Humanitarian Operation was just."
This is how LTTE infiltrated AI, HRW, other Human Rights Groups, UN and now US State Department.
If Sri Lankan Govt. does not take note of what is happening there is lot of trouble ahead for Sri Lanka including 194 State carved out of its territory as Hilary Clinton and USA has now taken over the job for LTTE.
Memoirs of an anti-LTTE undercover agent in London - PART II : Delicious Curry served with a Stark Warning!
http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=649
For Glen Genvey’s other Memoirs of an anti-LTTE undercover agent in London go to his Web
http://www.analyst-network.com/profile.php?user_id=84
Some very interesting Memoirs!
A worthy cause to improve villages in Sri Lanka if anyone is interested in getting involved
Kushil Gunasekera The Foundation of Goodness
http://foundationofgoodness.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE_LJ0MEr4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUZ5mjM9qiA&NR=1
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