Norway attempted to DIVIDE Sri Lanka in pursuit of its Geopolitical, Economic and Christian Missionary agendas ... supporting the LTTE with diplomatic cover, Norwegian government funds, military equipment, and a secure base in Norway.
Yet, Norway FAILED MISERABLY to create an CLIENT EELAM STATE in Sri Lanka, because a PATRIOTIC Sri Lankan Government backed by the VAST MAJORITY OF Sri Lanka's PATRIOTIC PEOPLE, mindful of their history and their roots, arose to confound their "Grand Design".
Other countries of the world beset by similar terrorism, supported and orchestrated by foreign Neo-Colonialist forces that attempt to destabilize and undermine them for their own gain, have RECOGNIZED what the patriotic indigenous forces of Sri Lanka accomplished in ridding itself of BOTH terrorism and foreign domination. They are now emulating Sri Lanka by following suit to secure the integrity and sovereignty of their own countries.
We say ... MORE POWER TO THEM! Long live the indigenous native peoples of the world! May they succeed in securing THEIR PLACE UNDER THE SUN independently, through their own efforts, and not accept domination as abject minions of advanced foreign countries preaching HYPOCRITICAL SERMONS which they themselves never practice when their own interests are at stake!
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ColomboPage.com, Sri Lanka.
Nov 11, Oslo: Norway, the facilitator of the failed peace process in Sri Lanka conflict blames Sri Lanka's political structure and the Tamil Tiger rebels' hardline stand for the failure of Norway's efforts to bring a peaceful solution to the island nation.
A report titled "Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009" released in Oslo on Friday, says the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is from "outside the metropolitan English-speaking dynasties" combined with the Sri Lanka Marxist party, JVP's electoral come-back and emergence of Buddhist monk party, JHU, marked an important change in Sri Lanka's political structure.
The report on evaluation of Norway's involvement in Sri Lanka's peace process has been prepared by the Evaluation Department (EVAL) of the Norwegian government development agency NORAD. The evaluation has been carried out by Chr. Michelsen Institute together with the School of Oriental and African Studies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Norway was a main stakeholder in it.
According to the terms of reference of commissioning an independent panel to report, the purpose and objectives of the evaluation and the intended use of the report were to "learn from the unique Norwegian experience as a facilitator in the peace process in Sri Lanka."
The Intended users of the evaluation are Policy-makers in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the general public.
The 208-page report attributes the failure of the peace process also to the political rivalry between the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka during height of the peace process (2001-2003) Ranil Wickremasinghe and the then President Chandrika Kumaranatunga.
"At no point did Chandrika and Ranil's relationship with each other become less important than their relationship with Prabhakaran," a member of the Norwegian team has noted.
The efforts by the United National Front government that was in power during those years to limit the President's involvement in the peace process were short sighted and destabilizing, the report concluded.
Changes in the military power balance between the government and LTTE in part account for the emergence of the Ceasefire Agreement, the subsequent stalling of talks and the re-escalation of war as the LTTE believed it had reached a position of military parity, the report said.
However, the increasing number of countries blacklisting the LTTE, due to its hardline position and ceasefire violations during the peace negotiations left the rebels isolated and the military power shifted in favor of the government over the years ultimately leading to the defeat of the movement.
Once President Rajapaksa came to power, the new administration drew the military and diplomatic support from non- Western states including India, China and Pakistan, which had very different views about sovereignty, human rights and conflict resolution, the report noted.
With the support from the East, the government changed the initiative to end the conflict peacefully and opted for all-out war against the terrorists, the Norwegian evaluation observed.
"Rajapaksa diluted the influence and pressure of Western actors and created space to pursue the war in spite of the humanitarian costs," the report noted.
In conclusion, the report determines the SLFP government aligned itself with India, China and other Asian powers while also drawing on a mixture of humanitarian and counter-terrorism doctrines to generate the policy space and diplomatic cover to pursue a military solution to the conflict. Many other governments with their own insurgency problems have looked at what they regard as Sri Lanka's successful diplomatic and military campaign, with a view to replicating many of its features.
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Friday, November 11, 2011
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Sri Lanka has achieved an impressive level of Literacy and Education.
Yet, that achievement itself creates a PROBLEM ... of increased EXPECTATIONS by the educated Sri Lankans seeking secure rewarding jobs.
That is why, the ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM of the Government is so critical in jump starting ECONOMIC GROWTH.
As long as ECONOMIC GROWTH does not provide the necessary jobs, no amount of humanitarian gains and social equity in other areas can preserve peace and amity.
We must use the POWER of GOVERNMENT to GROW THE ECONOMY & CREATE JOBS ... not by increasing non-productive PUBLIC DOMAIN employment that creates a larger tax burden, but by ENABLING increased productivity and business activity in the PRIVATE DOMAIN.
GIVE a man a Fish and Feed him for ONE DAY,
TEACH a man to Fish and Feed him his ENTIRE LIFE!
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Sri Lanka's unemployed undergraduates agitate for jobs in public sector
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 11, Colombo: The unemployed graduates of Sri Lanka are to commence a fresh spate of agitations from tomorrow.
Media Spokesman for the Combined Union of Unemployed Graduates Dhammika Munasinghe told the media that initial protests would be held in Matara and Galle.
Two seminars are to be held in parallel to the protest in Matara YMBA hall and Galu Urumaya Hall in Galle at 2:00 p.m., the union says.
More protests are to be held in Eastern Province town of Batticaloa on Sunday with a seminar at Batticaloa Town Hall.
Around 40,000 graduates are awaiting jobs while more than 19,000 vacancies exist in the public sector, the union says.
The Union notes that the government has not made provisions in its Appropriation Bill for 2012 to grant employment to the unemployed graduates.
Hidden rebel-JVP Politibureau member Premakumar Gunaratnam used four Sinhala aliases!
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Sri Lanka's elusive Marxist leader's false identities revealed
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 13, Colombo: A Sinhala language Sunday newspaper of Sri Lanka quoting intelligence sources reported that the elusive leader of the dissident faction of the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had used four different names instead of his real name Premakumar Gunaratnam.
The Rivira newspaper said the intelligence sources had verified that Gunaratnam had used four identity cards and three passports.
Two of the names he had used according to the newspaper are Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Dayalal and Wanninayakalage Daskon. He had also used the name Karunanayake.
The 46-year-old dissident leader, an ethnic Tamil who is not fluent in Tamil language, was a former engineering student of Peradeniya University. He is believed to be a hidden senior polite bureau member of the JVP.
GREAT!
The USA can and should play a constructive positive role in Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean.
The main requirement is that US Policy towards the nations in the region ... mostly developing countries ... should be BENIGN, and not designed to undermine and destabilize them to engineer REGIME CHANGES for its own gain.
Non-Interference in the INTERNAL POLITICS of those countries is ESSENTIAL!
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U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense to speak at Sri Lanka's Maritime Security Conference
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 13, Colombo: A high ranking defence official of the Department of Defense will represent the United States at Sri Lanka's International Maritime Security Conference that is to be commenced in the southern port city of Galle tomorrow.
The two-day international conference is held at the Lighthouse Hotel, Galle for the second consecutive year by the Sri Lanka Navy under the aegis of Ministry of Defence.
Local and foreign scholars and experts in maritime and naval affairs are expected to share their views at this two-day dialogue, held under the theme, "Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns".
The U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Robert Scher will speak at the "Galle Dialogue 2011" on Monday (November 14) to present U.S. perspectives on security in the Indian Ocean, the U. S. Embassy in Colombo said in a statement.
Scher will speak on "Importance of Common Strategies for Global and Regional Maritime Security" at the conference.
Secretary to Ministry of Defence & Urban Development of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will deliver the key note address at the inaugural session.
The high ranking U.S. defense official is expected to highlight the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, discuss opportunities for defense cooperation in the areas of demining, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response and reiterate the U.S. Government's commitment to upholding international human rights standards for all countries.
While in Galle, Scher will meet with Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and other government officials, the Embassy said.
The Embassy statement said the U.S. has a longstanding history of being forward deployed around the globe, and remains committed to the region.
According to the official statement, the U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Indian Ocean, conducting maritime security operations, and being poised to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
"The U.S. recognizes the importance of multilateral approaches to promoting security in the Indian Ocean and aims to expand cooperation with regional partners," the statement noted.
The Dialogue this year is aimed at continuing the discussion with experiences of events over the past 15 months. Participants from over 20 countries are expected to discuss on a broad spectrum of maritime issues.
The Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA CONTINUE their TREASON, plotting and planning with IMPUNITY with Foreign Powers to destabilize, undermine and divide Sri Lanka in TWO.
The purveyors of LTTE terror of the past, NOW POSE as Defenders of Human Rights and the Sole Representatives of the Tamils!
They were and are the Sole Oppressors of the Tamils and other communities of Sri Lanka. They are trying to revive the divisions and terror of the recent past.
TRAITORS ... PURE & SIMPLE!
PROSECUTE them for their TREACHERY over the last 30 years,
CONVICT them, and
PUNISH them by SENTENCING them to HARD LABOR for Life!
The USA would NOT TOLERATE such TREACHERY by US Citizens,
Neither should Sri Lanka!
TREASON UNPUNISHED is
TREASON ENCOURAGED!
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TNA’s US visit a flop: Govt.
Quite the contrary: TNA
by Ravi Ladduwahetty
Island.lk
November 12, 2011
The government claimed yesterday that the visit of the Tamil National Alliance delegation to the United States to air their grievances was totally unsuccessful in the light of the inability to meeet with those who mattered such as the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the White House authorities but the one of the TNA delegates dismissed the government’s claims.
"As far as I know, the TNA has not been unable to lobby the right people such as the United Nations Secretary General and the White House Authorities. This is a clear reflection of the of the non- acceptance of their grievances and theories,’’ Government spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the Sunday Island yesterday.
We still maintain that the TNA was not the sole representative of the Tamil people in the north. The TNA could air all their grievances to the Parliamentary Select Committee and they also could use the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the minister said.TNA National List MP M.A. Sumanthiran said that their visit, on the invitation of the US government, was highly successful with meetings Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Assistant Secretary Robert. O Blake and the Ambassador-at- Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp.
He said that despite the inability of the delegation to meet Secretary General Ban Ki-moon despite a prior appointment, they had met United Nations Under Secretary General Lynn Pascoe along with the Deputy to the Advisor to the US President on Human Rights Samantha Powell.
Sumanthiran said that the delegation was asked by the US authorities whether the reconciliation issues which the government had claimed to have implemented were in place. The delegation had said that the efforts were not genuine.
"These efforts were not genuine and what we told the US authorities was the same thing that we told in Parliament as well,’’ he said.
Responding to the government spokesman’s proposal that the TNA could air all their grievances to the Parliamentary Select Committee which, he said, was broadbased, Sumanthiran was skeptical.
He said there were 12 rounds of meetings between the government and the TNA to find a solution to issues that the people in the North and the East faced but nothing tangible had come out off it. The last meeting was held in March, but the government had not responded since August.
The TNA refused to meet the government at the end of the 12th round but there will be two rounds before the end of the year, he said, adding that the TNA was willing to go to any distance to find a durable solution to the issues.
He said that they were willing to sit in the Parliamentary Select Committee only if a viable solution was found through the devolution of power.
He also said that he would officially comment on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report once it is released.
INCURABLY RACIST ... the TNA wants every Government Post in the North & East to be held by a TAMIL ... dividing country along COMMUNAL lines.
In non-Tamil areas of Sri Lanka they want Govt Policy to be "IMPARTIAL" and BLIND TO ETHNICITY.
But, in the so called "Tamil Areas" they want Govt Policy to be solely "Pro-Tamil".
WHAT DOUBLE STANDARDS, WHAT HYPOCRISY!
There should be only ONE POLICY for GOVERNANCE througout Sri Lanka that is BLIND to COMMUNAL differences of its people.
COMMUNAL attributes of Race, Religion, Sex, Caste, or Language should not be CRITERIA for appointing Government Officials.
Only Skill, Knowledge and Ability are RELEVANT. We are trying to build a DEMOCRATIC MERITOCRACY in Mother Lanka, but these INCURABLE RACISTS keep trying to HOIST COMMUNAL CONSIDERATIONS on the nation, in their INCURABLE PERMANENT QUEST to create a Tamil-Only Apartheid Racist Separatist State of Eelam in Sri Lanka.
NEVER will we allow such COMMUNAL DISEASES to INFECT and SICKEN the Motherland.
NEVER!
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TNA wants Tamil DS for Mannar
By S. Selvakumar
Nation.lk
November 1, 2011
The Tamil National Alliance has protested the appointment of a Sinhala officer as Mannar District Secretary.
The TNA has said Mannar which has an almost 100 per cent Tamil population needs a Tamil speaking person as District Secretary and only such person could understand the aspirations of the Tamil speaking people. It said by appointing a non Tamil officer the shortcomings in the district and the aspirations of its population could not reach the Government directly.
The Public Administration Ministry last week appointed two new District Secretaries to Mannar and Mullaitivu. A TNA spokesman said it had always opposed to the appointment of non Tamil speaking officials as District Secretaries in the Northern Province and time and again it had raised this matter in Parliament too. As a result, the Government had earlier stopped the appointment of non Tamil speaking officials as District Secretaries in the North.
Sarath Ravindra from the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption was recently appointed District Secretary, Mannar.
Meanwhile Jaffna District UNP parliamentarian Vijayakala Maheswari also expressed the same sentiments on this appointment. Former Mannar District Secretary N. Vethanayagam has been transferred to Mullaitivu and Mullativu District Secretary Pathinathan has been transferred to Monaragala.
Maheswari has protested in writing to Public Administration Minister John Seneviratne and to the President. Minister Seneviratne has informed Maheswari that the transfers were routine and has also said that a Tamil speaking official could be appointed as Deputy District Secretary in Mannar. Mrs. Mahewari has also said Tamils were appointed District Secretaries in the North during the past three decades and by appointing a non Tamil speaking official rural people in the district could not directly convey any issue to the District Secretary.
Secretaries in eight districts have been transferred recently.
Former Kalutara DS Kamal Pathmasiri has been transferred to Colombo, former Additional Secretary of Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage Wimalasiri Perera as DS to Kalutara, former Ampara DS Sunil Kannangara to Ratnapura and former North Central Provincial Secretary Neil Alwis as DS to Ampara have also been transferred.
Every Day, in Every Way, the PLOT to DISMEMBER Sri Lanka into PIECES through the "PEACE" Process is REVEALED and Laid Bare.
We Sri Lankan PATRIOTS always knew this INSTINCTIVELY as the Norwegians came bearing poison pills for Sri Lanka to swallow and commit suicide. Norway was never an HONEST BROKER but a BIASED PROPONENT of Tamil EELAM.
We Sri Lankans should NEVER FORGET the MORTAL DANGER from which the Patriotic Rajapaksa Government, and the Heroic Armed Forces of Sri Lanka, delivered the nation, to AGAIN stand on its own two feet REUNIFIED as a PROUD SOVEREIGN NATION poised to become the next WONDER of ASIA!
We Sri Lankans should NEVER FORGET who our friends and enemies were at the PERILOUS HOUR THREATENING THE VERY SURVIVAL of the Motherland.
The Assault on Sri Lanka by its Foreign and Internal Enemies CONTINUES off the battlefield of yesterday with frequent probing of our Nation's Defences.
We PATRIOTIC Sons and Daughters of Mother Lanka must REMAIN ETERNALLY VIGILANT guarding the passes to keep the enemies of the Motherland at bay.
Jayawewa, Sri Lanka
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‘India, LTTE met secretly before Sri Lanka truce’
ZeeNews.com
November 13, 2011
Oslo: Indian officials met in "secret" with the LTTE ahead of Sri Lanka's 2002 truce although New Delhi considered the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group, Norwegian cabinet minister Erik Solheim has revealed.
The former envoy to Sri Lanka also said - confirming for the first time ever report of 2008 - that India played a covert role in events that led to the Tamil Tigers and Colombo signing a ceasefire agreement (CFA) nine years ago.
The repository of tremendous information related to the Tamil Tigers, Solheim spoke at length at his office here after addressing a meeting over the weekend where a report was released on Norway's role in Sri Lanka's peace process.
‘India, LTTE met secretly before Sri Lanka truce’
According to Solheim, the minister for environment and international development, Indian officials held a "secret meeting" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before the CFA was signed in February 2002.
Solheim declined to say where the meeting took place or who participated in the meeting from the two sides.
If true, this would be the first known meeting between Indian officials and the LTTE since New Delhi banned it in 1992 for assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi a year earlier.
Solheim also added that contrary to public knowledge, the Indian government, then led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), played a key behind-the-scenes role in the framing of the Norwegian-sponsored CFA.
He said he himself held several meetings with India's national security adviser and officials of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as Colombo and the LTTE inched towards the CFA.
‘India, LTTE met secretly before Sri Lanka truce’
He said some meetings with RAW officials took place at the New Delhi airport.
It was reported the Indian covert role but without naming RAW due to a request from sources who gave details of the intelligence agency's involvement in the CFA - which until then was seen as an exclusive Norwegian baby.
The CFA ushered in months of peace in Sri Lanka before falling apart. The LTTE and the Sri Lankan regime went to war again in 2006, leading to the decimation of the Tigers in May 2009.
Solheim said that as Sri Lanka's and LTTE leaders quietly discussed the CFA in 2001-02, New Delhi was kept informed of each and every development. India, he said, gave "sound advice" and "constantly good and refreshing inputs".
He said India did not want any "major international player" to get involved in the peace process and even suggested which countries should be part of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), a Nordic body meant to oversee the CFA.
‘India, LTTE met secretly before Sri Lanka truce’
....continued .....
Indian officials made it clear to Solheim, he said, that they were bitterly opposed to any break up of Sri Lanka and that "Tamil Eelam would never be acceptable". Solheim added that LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham, who died of cancer in 2006, understood India's importance in the region and maintained that "nothing done contrary to Indian interests will ever work".
But LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who met Solheim about 10 times in all, starting in 2001, was an "absolute amateur" in international politics even though he was a "military genius", the minister said.
Balasingham also complained to Solheim that both Prabhakaran and LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman insisted for months that their group had no role to play in Rajiv Gandhi's killing.
"They tried to convince Balasingham that they had nothing to do with it," Solheim recalled. He quoted Balasingham as saying: "I did not believe the story, and they eventually stopped lying to me."
Sri Lanka forum focuses on maritime security in Indian Ocean
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 14, Galle: The lack of a coordinated international effort to uphold maritime security not only affects oceangoing vessels, but also the national security of coastal nations, and therefore cooperation among countries with interests in the Indian Ocean is essential to effectively fight piracy and trafficking of humans and narcotics, a Sri Lanka defence official said today.
Delivering the keynote address at the Galle Dialogue 2011, Sri Lanka's International Maritime Security Conference, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the Indian Ocean's importance in the global context is very great and the stability and maritime security of Indian Ocean is vulnerable to external threat.
The two-day international conference is held at the Lighthouse Hotel, Galle for the second consecutive year by the Sri Lanka Navy under the aegis of Ministry of Defence. This year's theme is "Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns".
Speaking of the threat from Somali pirates to the merchant ships sailing in the region, Rajapaksa said existing international maritime laws and practices have proven ineffective in combatting the activities of the Somali pirates and the multilateral efforts undertaken through International Task Forces to contain Somali piracy are, though laudable, not enough.
Somali piracy is one of the maritime security threats in the Indian Ocean, he said pointing out that Sri Lanka's own terrorist group LTTE smuggled in a formidable arsenal of weapons through the sea and coastal nations are at greater risk of terrorist exploitations.
He said the best solution to combat such threats is the greater cooperation between the maritime powers.
"Combating this problem requires greater information sharing, better screening practices and better coordination among nations," he noted in his speech.
The Defence Secretary called for maritime powers to cooperate by sharing intelligence, and enhance maritime domain awareness through joint and coordinated patrols as well as exercises to enhance interoperability.
Providing assistance to improve the resources and capabilities of less advanced naval powers will also enhance overall maritime security, he added.
The conference with participation of local and foreign defence experts from over 20 countries will continue tomorrow.
THE GOAL of Economic Development in Sri Lanka SHOULD BE to ELIMINATE THE NEED of its Citizens to seek EMPLOYMENT ABROAD.
For every Sri Lankan Citizen, living in Sri Lanka MUST BE MADE MORE ATTRACTIVE than living ABROAD.
That will be the ULTIMATE GOAL of Sri Lanka's Transformation into the Wonder of Asia in the next Decade.
I have NO DOUBT that we will achieve that goal to allow all of Sri Lanka's PATRIOTIC Sons and Daughters to Live at Home and SERVE their Motherland all of their days!
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Alive or Beheaded this Maid is a Heroine
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 14 (IPS) SHAFINAGAR, Sri Lanka- Will Rizana Fathima Nafeek return to this poverty-ridden coastal village in Sri Lanka alive and in one piece? Or will the beheading sentence passed on her by a Saudi Arabian court in 2007 be finally carried out?
Either way Rizana is a heroine. She is one of many young women who risk abuse and torture to work as domestic help in the Middle East and send in the remittances that support their families, and also keep the Sri Lankan economy going.
Senior minister Sarath Amunugama believes that if Sri Lanka doubles the number of people working overseas to around three million, it could quickly decrease national poverty levels in this island nation with an economy recovering from decades of ethnic conflict.
"One of the shortest ways to grow and to get out of poverty is to encourage migration from 1.6 million now to three million," said Amunugama at the launch of the U.N. Population Fund's annual report on Oct. 31.
Economists estimate that domestic workers contribute at least 30 percent of the over four billion dollars repatriated annually to this country and provide a vital lifeline to the economy.
There is, however, a price to be paid. Many of the women are known to suffer severe abuse at the hands of their employers � two of them returned to the island from the Middle East last year with nails hammered into their bodies.
According to Sri Lanka�s foreign employment bureau, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait account for 75 percent of the 12,000-odd complaints of abuse that it receives annually.
A good many of those complaints come from domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, young women from impoverished villages like Shafinagar, a coastal hamlet 330 km from the capital of Colombo.
It was grinding poverty that compelled Mohamed Nafeek and his wife Ranzeena to send their schoolgirl daughter, Rizana, to work as a domestic maid in Saudi Arabia in mid-2005.
But, a little more than a fortnight after landing in the kingdom, Rizana was in jail, facing charges of infanticide - the boy she was bottle-feeding had accidently choked to death.
Hooray! Gas found in second exploratory well 38 km from the first gas bearing well.
Three more exploratory wells to be drilled to delineate field offshore Mannar.
These are resources the Norwegians hoped to EXPLOIT FOR THEIR PROFIT under an "EELAM" government. The best laid plans of mice and men do often go astray!
Norway, Norway! How does your EELAM GARDEN GROW?
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Cairn finds gas deposits in second Sri Lanka well
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 14, Colombo: Cairn Lanka, a subsidiary of Cairn India Ltd., exploring Sri Lanka's seas off northwest coast for oil since August, has announced that it has found a gas deposit with some hydrocarbon liquid in the second exploratory well in Mannar basin.
According to Cairn, the gas bearing reservoirs with some liquid potential were found at three zones between 4,067 m and 4,206 meters in a well at a depth of 4,741 m intersecting a 24 meters of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone.
The discovery has been made in the in the CLPL-Barracuda-1G/1 well in the SL 2007-01-001 block in the Mannar basin, the company has notified Sri Lankan authorities.
The second well is located 38 kilometers west of the first well and 68 kilometers off the coast.
Cairn will soon evaluate the commercial value of the discovery once its oil exploration vessel reaches the area.
Cairn Lanka, which began oil drilling operations in the Mannar basin in August, found gas deposits in its first well CLPL-Dorado-91H/1z last month.
According to the company, it has struck a gas deposit of a gross 25 meters hydrocarbon column with some additional liquid hydrocarbon potential in a sandstone between the depths of 3,043.8 to 3,068.7 meters.
Cairn hopes to drill three more wells under its exploration program, which is expected to be completed in early 2012.
Cairn has said earlier If Sri Lanka's drilling program is successful then commercial oil production can be expected by 2014 with a billion barrels.
The Block SL 2007-01-001 was awarded to Cairn in the 2008 Sri Lanka bid round.
Lessons unlearnt
Island.lk Editorial
November 13, 2011
Norway seems to have sought to counter a perceived attempt by Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt Commission (LLRC) to blame Oslo for the collapse of the disastrous ‘peace’ deal (2002-2009). Ahead of the submission of the LLRC report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Norway has released the findings by its version of a lessons learnt commission in a report titled, Pawns of peace-Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009. (The executive summary of the Norwegian report refers to ‘some broader lessons for peace-building elsewhere’––emphasis added.)
The Norwegian report indited in INGO lingo is full of bauble or gewgaws, which glitter without illuminating; it sheds no light on anything. Full of words, it lacks substance. It only recycles and regurgitates what is already known to us about Sri Lanka’s failed peace process and obfuscates the main issues that led to the failure thereof.
There are several reasons why Sri Lanka’s ‘peace’ process failed. One was Norway’s partiality to the LTTE, which made it anathema to the majority of Sri Lankans abhorring terrorism. It crafted the now infamous ceasefire agreement in such a way that the LTTE could gain parity of status vis-Ã -vis the Sri Lankan state and a great deal of international legitimacy for its cause; consolidate its power in the entire North and East without firing a single shot on the pretext of doing political work and infiltrate other parts of the country with ease. The LTTE’s strategy was to take advantage of the CFA to retrain, regroup, rearm and, above all, to move its big guns into positions close to Trincomalee and Palali. It was planning to pound and disable those nerve centres simultaneously, sever the sea and air supply routes to the North, trap the troops in that part of the country and force the government to concede defeat. In fact, the LTTE implemented that plan albeit with delay; shells fell on the Trincomalee harbour and the Palali airfield following the resumption of hostilities, but the military had taken precautions by that time thanks to the naval intelligence which had alerted the government to the impending danger. It was the LTTE’s military preparations that led to pressure being ratcheted up by the security forces and anti-terror activists on President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who finally sacked the UNF government in 2004 and recaptured power in Parliament electorally, an event which would mark the beginning of the end of the ‘peace process’ and the LTTE.
That the CFA was heavily weighted in favour of the LTTE was obvious even to the UNP-led UNF government (2001-2004). The then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, it may be recalled, refrained from shaking hands with Norwegian Ambassador at that time, Jon Westborg, after the signing of the CFA in 2002.
Lessons Unlearnt
......continued.....
The CFA had all the trappings of the Machakos Protocol (MP) signed in Kenya in 2002 between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army with the US, the UK and Italy as observers. That protocol set in motion a process which paved the way for a UN-backed international intervention that led to the division of Sudan.
If Prabhakaran had adhered to the Norwegian-crafted CFA without carrying out mine attacks on the security forces personnel and plunging feet first into Mavil Aru, as it were, thereby forcing the government to respond militarily, the stage would have been set for a UN involvement in Sri Lanka as in Sudan and the ‘peace process’ would have yielded the intended results.
Norway laments that its ‘peace’ mission in Sri Lanka did not have enough backing from the world powers. But, it had the unstinted support of the US, the EU and Japan. And they (including Norway) banded together as the Tokyo Co-chairs and tied aid to Sri Lanka to progress to be made in talks with the LTTE thus putting the UNF government in a straitjacket and forcing it to subjugate the country’s sovereignty to the whims and fancies of the Tokyo Co-chairs and appease the LTTE at any cost for fear of losing much needed aid. That aid pledge was never honoured and that was the reason why Sri Lanka had to look elsewhere for financial assistance and was finally in a position to take on the LTTE militarily.
Norway’s special peace envoy Eric Solheim and the truce monitors backed the LTTE to the hilt compelling the Sri Lankans abhorring terrorism to elect a regime capable of standing up to the LTTE. The blame for the failure of the ‘peace’ process should be apportioned to Solheim and other Tiger backers.
The LTTE became a puppet in the hands of some western powers and India did not want a terrorist outfit which was at the beck and call of the West to carve out a separate state in its backyard. It was not devolution that the LTTE sought through the ‘peace’ process; it wanted a halfway house between federalism and secession. Hence, its demand for an interim self-governing authority (ISGA) and subsequent unilateral withdrawal from talks! Even Deputy Secretary of State at that time Richard Armitage as well as Chris Pattern happened to remark, “The ISGA far exceeds the Oslo Accord and does not resemble any kind of known federalism.” Therefore, it was only natural that India had to help Sri Lanka neutralise the LTTE.
The discerning people of this country cannot be duped into believing that Norway’s ‘peace’ effort stemmed from altruism and it came a cropper due to circumstances beyond that country’s control. Norway went all out to help the LTTE with its separatist project but Prabhakaran made a string of huge military miscalculations and cooked his goose in style.
Norway cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for the LTTE’s crimes which it aided and abetted. Nor can the other members of the Tokyo Co-chairs! They treated the LTTE with indulgence in spite of its 3,000 odd CFA violations including the assassination of Sri Lanka’s illustrious Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Had they given the LTTE a choice between settling for a peaceful solution acceptable to all stake holders and being made to pay for its terrorism, Prabhakaran would have been left with no alternative but to fall in line. They did not do so because they used the LTTE as a cat’s paw and the ‘peace’ process as a Trojan horse to further their geopolitical interests, unwittingly forcing, in the process, Sri Lanka to react the way it did. That was the main reason why their ‘peace’ bid failed.
Blow by Blow Retort To Channel 4: A candid and spirited response by Sri Lankan Ambassador in Germany
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