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One Nation, One People, One Destiny
In UNITY Lies STRENGTH
Independent Views and Analyses of Defence, Politics and National Development in Sri Lanka! Moderated to Exclude Disruptive Commentators.
One Nation, One People, One Destiny
BE THOU FOREVER, MOTHER LANKA!
Patriots Young,
Patriots Old,
Patriots Staunch and True,
Rally around the Lion Flag,
The Red, and the Gold, in Hue!
Adapted from
S.Thomas College Song
Patriots Young,
Patriots Old,
Patriots Staunch and True,
Rally around the Lion Flag,
The Red, and the Gold, in Hue!
To Your Mother Lanka Sing,
Patriots Near and Far!
Loudly Let the Echoes Ring,
For All We Have, and Are!
Esto Perpetua!
Esto Perpetua!
Esto Perpetua!
The Red and Gold Lion Flag, Forever!
Adapted from
S.Thomas College Song
Rana Viru Monument in PTK
In UNITY Lies STRENGTH
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27 comments:
Colombo to Galle Expressway in 2011,
Islandwide Express Beltway by 2016!
Jayawewa ... Sri Lanka!
................
New laser camera system installed on Sri Lanka's first expressway to prevent speeding
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka police spokesman Superintendent of Police Ajith Rohana said that a new laser camera system has been installed on the Southern expressway and it is functioning since Sunday.
The camera system can capture the vehicle number and the driver's image of speeding vehicles. Earlier cameras used by Sri Lanka police could only record the speed.
Around 100 accidents have taken place in the expressway since its opening on November 27 and the major reason for the accidents has been identified as exceeding the speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour.
Around 7,000 to 11,000 vehicles travel on the expressway each day and the number increases during weekends, says the police spokesman.
The Sinhala people will NEVER SUPPORT the devolution of political power on communal bases, especially to former murderous separatists, or the creation of racist aparthied Bantustans in Sri Lanka.
If that is what Tamils want ... they will never get it.
To these hidden EELAMISTS we say
"Disce' aut Discede'"!!
ALL of Sri Lanka is the Motherland of ALL its people to be shared, loved, and protected equally; not part-by-part by as a single whole.
Equal citizenship for all irrespective of race, language, religion, caste, sex or wealth will be the permanent inheritance of all Sri Lankanss.
ONE Nation, of ONE People, sharing ONE Destiny!
NO OTHER "Political Solutions" will EVER be contemplated in this Resplendent Glittering Land!
.............
Tamil rebels recruited children for last stand against Sri Lankan army
By Andrew Buncombe
Independent.co.uk
December 12, 2011
Tamil rebels holed up in ever-diminishing territory in northern Sri Lanka forcibly recruited children to take part in final defences against government troops, according to a former senior official. Some of the youngsters were sent to fight with just one day's basic training. A number of civilians who tried to escape to the government side were shot.
The official, who held a non-military position with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said that in the spring of 2009, the rebels found themselves in an ever-worsening situation that led them to step up their forced recruitment of civilians between the age of 14 and 55. He said more than 300,000 civilians had intentionally been held to provide cover for the LTTE fighters.
"There was no age discrimination. One day's training and then [they would] get sent to the war front," said the former official, who said his own child had been forcibly recruited, but that he was able to escape towards government troops. Asked if he believed the rebels committed war crimes, the former official said: "There were many war crimes during that last time. The civilians knew [what was happening]. They could not move out of LTTE control. Some people who tried to leave were shot."
The testimony from the official, who asked that neither his identity nor the location of the interview be revealed, provides an important insight about the final stages of the war, which resulted in the crushing of the LTTE and the killing of most of its leaders. Earlier this year, a report by the UN said there were "credible allegations" that both the government troops and the LTTE committed war crimes in those last weeks and days. It said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed. The Sri Lankan government has denied the allegations and repeatedly rejected calls for an independent investigation.
Tamil rebels recruited children for last stand against Sri Lankan army
...........
The official also provided an insight into how the LTTE's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, seized on the ambitions of Tamil nationalists, including those who were opposed to violence. "He was a good leader. In all things he was adamant, he was focused. There is no chance for another uprising now. There is no leadership," he said. "The Tamil diaspora can provide some political pressure, but anything else is not possible."
Yet the official conceded that Prabhakaran's unquestioning self-belief had also led to several tactical errors, including his insistence that Tamils boycott the 2005 election. This move indirectly led to victory narrowly being secured by Mahinda Rajapaksa, who within a year would decide to launch military operations to crush the LTTE.
Asked about the later tactic of the LTTE to target civilians and even schoolchildren, the official said not everyone within the movement supported the move and were aware of the international backlash it would bring. "That was why they denied it," said the official. As to why the tactic was adopted, he said: "They wanted to create a panic among the Sinhala people."
The official, who said his involvement with the LTTE dated from 1995, a date when the organisation lost control of the city of Jaffna and moved its headquarters to Kilinochi, claimed that since the end of the war, the government had done little in terms of promoting reconciliation.
In two local elections held in the north since the conclusion of the war in May 2009, Tamil parties easily defeated the coalition of the government.
"The main thing is to find a political solution," said the official, who is due before a court next year to face charges relating to his role with the LTTE. "The war is over, the LTTE is defeated. So far there has been no signal about a political solution. They say they are having negotiations, but people are not satisfied."
He added: "We need a political solution, but without the support of the Sinhala people, the Tamil people cannot get a political solution."
Website for the 'Lotus Pond' international Art Theater in Sri Lanka launched
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 12, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today at Temple Trees launched the website for the Lotus Pond (Nelum Pokuna) Mahinda Rajapaksa Performance Arts Theatre.
The President will declare open the newly constructed Lotus Pond Mahinda Rajapaksa Performance Arts Theatre in the old Colombo Municipal Council grounds at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha in Colombo on Thursday (15).
The 'Lotus Pond Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre' built on a model similar to the Lotus Pond (Nelum Pokuna) of Polonnaruwa, was constructed with the expertise from China at a cost of Rs. 3.08 billion. China has financed a grant to cover 60 percent of the expenditure of the project, and agreed to bear the remaining 40 percent of the cost.
The Deputy Prime Minister of China will attend the opening function as the chief guest. The road from the Horton Place Junction to the Public Library will be named as the Lotus Pond Mahinda Rajapaksa Mawatha and the performance theatre area will be named as the Lotus Pond Mahinda Rajapaksa Square.
The local and foreign artists can obtain information about the arts theatre through the website of the theater at www.lotuspond.lk .
Speaking at the function today Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga said Sri Lanka had a dream of getting an international arts theatre and the President has been able to make this dream realized.
He said that this theatre will help the present as well as the future artistes to improve their performance talents.
Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, Dullas Alahapperuma and Secretary to the Ministry of Media and Information, W. D. Ganegala were present at the occasion.
The Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA continue their drive for a separate TAMIL state now by trying to differentiate Buddhists according to their RACE.
After DEMONIZING the "Chavinistic Sinhala Buddhist" for many decades they are now trying to capture a part of the Buddhist heritage of Sri Lanka to support their continuing drive for EELAM.
Oh My God, these LIARS are as bad as they ever were in the LTTE SunGod's reign ... REWRITING HISTORY to fit their GREEDY POLITICAL GOALS!
SLASH & BURN, SLASH & BURN the social fabric of Sri Lanka! Who the hell cares how, we get there somehow, eh?
Bloody UNREPENTANT RACISTS!
..............
Archaeological evidence to prove ‘Tamil Buddhists’
By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera
DailyMirror.lk
December 12, 2011
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said in Parliament today that there is archaeological evidence to prove that ‘Tamil Buddhists’ lived in certain areas of the northern province.
TNA MP S.Sritharan said that Buddhist archaeological sites had been discovered in the North after archaeological excavations.
“Some elements try to prove that these were the settlements of Sinhala Buddhists in history. Actually, they were the settlements of Tamil Buddhists,” Mr. Sritharan said.
The TNA MP emphasised the need to preserve Hindu religious sites in the North instead of trying to impose the hegemony of one cultural group on another.
He charged that the statue of God Shiva had been removed from a Hindu temple in the North recently.
“We do not accept attempts to establish cultural dominance,” he said.
Write off 50,000 deserters from the record as "they had done nothing wrong"?
OMG, here I was laboring under the brilliant illusion that desertion from the Armed Forces was a CAPITAL CRIME punishable by death in times of war ... which Sri Lanka has been in for 30 years.
Forgiving these deserters on compassionate grounds on a promise of good future conduct is one thing, but saying "they had done nothing wrong" and wiping the record clean is a downright misrepresentation of the facts, which will only UNDERMINE MILITARY DISCIPLINE so essential to maintaining the nation's security!
..............
All-out effort to catch most wanted army deserters
Police, Navy, Air Force also involved
Island.lk
December 11, 2011
Security forces and police are searching for about 25 hardcore military deserters wanted for grave crimes. Army spokesman Brig. Nihal Hapuarachchi said yesterday that it was not only the army and the police who were looking for them, but even the navy and air force were keeping a vigilant eye.
He said there were about 475 other deserters wanted for minor offences like chain snatching or assault.
Out of about 55,000 deserters in the army record books since 1982, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya early this year decided to de-list 50,000 and write them off from the record as deserters as they had not committed anything wrong.
Brig. Hapuarachchi said that there were about 4,500 other deserters who needed either to pay back the army certain sums of money or to return some items.
He said if the army had known the whereabouts of the most wanted deserters, they would have been caught already. He requested the public to furnish information about them.
Former Chief Justice Ashoka de Silva's observation that "the per capita income stated by the government in the budget is earned only by about 4 percent of the country's population while the rest of the people only earn around US$ 5 or 6 per day" is horrifying and deserves the immediate attention of the government.
This indicates that wealth in Sri Lanka is being concentrated in the hands of a few, and there is severe polarization of people in the nation by income: A few HAVES and a multitude of HAVE NOTS!
If steps are not taken to correct this polarization of income, be prepared for yet another violent revolution in Sri Lanka.
Is the Government of Sri Lanka LISTENING to these warning signals?
................
Sri Lanka's development affected by corruption, a former Chief Justice says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 12, Colombo: Former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and Presidential Advisor Ashoka de Silva says that the country's development rate has dropped by 2 percent due to the increase in corruption.
De Silva has said that corruption costs Rs. 100 billion to the country, which in turn affects the poverty levels.
He has made these observations at a ceremony held to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec 9th.
The former Chief Justice has noted that the country has however managed to come down in the list of corrupt countries in the world. Sri Lanka is currently listed at 86th place, he has said.
He has added that the per capita income stated by the government in the budget is earned only by about 4 percent of the country's population while the rest of the people only earn around US$ 5 or 6 per day.
The former Chief Justice has noted that corruption was a key element in the country that needs to be addressed.
"The government cannot earn good revenue if corruption was rampant in the state institutions," he has said.
China’s Seychelles facility not a military base: Chinese analysts
FirstPost.com
December 13, 2011
Beijing: China’s plan to establish a supply and recuperation facility in the strategically-located Indian Ocean island of Seychelles hardly amounts to setting up a military base, Chinese military analysts claimed.
The Chinese defence ministry said yesterday that its naval fleet may seek supplies or recuperate at appropriate harbours in Seychelles as needed during escort missions, a development widely reported in India.
“The navy is considering taking on supplies in the Seychelles while conducting escort missions to tackle piracy. Military experts stressed that the move did not equate to establishing military base”, state-run China Daily said referring to reports in Indian and US media in this regard.
Speculation of a military base was rife following comments by Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam that his country has invited China to set up a military presence in his country. AFP Photo
As per the statement, Chinese naval fleets have re-supply facilities in Djibouti, Oman and Yemen since the country sent its first convoy to the Gulf of Aden in 2008 for anti-piracy operation.
Speculation of a military base was rife following comments by Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam that his country has invited China to set up a military presence in his country. ”We have invited the Chinese government to set up military presence on Mahe to fight pirate attacks that the Seychelles face on a regular basis.”
“For the time being, China is studying this possibility because she has economic interests in the region and Beijing is also involved in the fight against piracy,” Adam said during the recent visit of Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie.
The China Daily said besides the Indian media, sections of the US media also expressed concern “such a military base” in the Seychelles will lead to Chinese influence surpassing that of US in Africa.
“As China will not send troops to protect the supply stop in the Seychelles, by no means can it be called an overseas military base”, the daily quoted Li Jie, a professor at the Naval Military Studies Research Institute as saying.
Beijing has repeatedly confirmed that its policy of not stationing troops abroad will not be altered. It stands alone among the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council in not having overseas bases, the daily said.
Due to anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia, it is only natural for Beijing to ensure naval supplies, Li said. Peng Guangqian, a Beijing-based military strategist, told the daily that the facilities allowing ships to take on supplies cannot be called military bases because “China respects the host’s sovereignty and internal politics, and no political conditions are attached”.
“Besides, it will be solely used for logistics and supplies,” he added.
Li Qinggong, deputy secretary of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, said that any arrangements over the use of facilities will be mutually beneficial with jobs provided for people in the Seychelles and the navy better
able to protect China’s growing overseas interests.
He also said reports about the Chinese military had been misinterpreted recently and referred to a report that quoted President Hu Jintao as telling a meeting of military officers last week that the navy should “make extended preparations for warfare”. However, “to strengthen and modernise the defence forces and ensure military preparation are major concerns for the Chinese military”, Li said.”Hu has reiterated the importance of these two tasks at almost all major military conferences, so there is no change in policy”.
As in Sri Lanka, the Catholic Church in Spain DENIES ALL COMPLICITY in illegal baby trafficking!
The deaf, the dumb and the blind who don't believe Sri Lankan media ... can now believe their media pet ... the BBC!
...............
Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie
By Katya Adler
BBC News, Spain
October 18, 2011
Spanish society has been shaken by allegations of the theft and trafficking of thousands of babies by nuns, priests and doctors, which started under Franco and continued up to the 1990s.
I first met Manoli Pagador in Getafe, in a working-class suburb of Madrid. She was attending a meeting for people affected by the scandal Spaniards call "ninos robados" - stolen children.
She has three daughters and lots of grandchildren, but she has never got over the loss of her first-born - a son - nearly 40 years ago.
She had come to think she was crazy for believing he was alive, instead of dead and buried as hospital doctors had told her.
"Now," she said, gripping my hand tightly. "Look around the room at the other women here. All like me. The same background. The same experience. I'm not mad and my family finally believes me."
Continue reading the main story
Spain's stolen babies
* How many? More than 900 cases are being investigated, but new cases are still coming to light - lawyers say the total could reach 300,000
* How long? Over a period of 40-50 years, beginning under Franco, up to the 1990s
* Who benefited? Initially the Fascists by bringing up the children of their enemies - later children were taken from parents judged to be morally or economically deficient and placed with approved Catholic, often childless, families
* Why did it take so long to expose? The Church and medical profession are highly respected, and Spanish law does not require the biological mother's name on the birth certificate
In 1971 Manoli, who was 23 at the time and not long married, gave birth to what she was told was a healthy baby boy, but he was immediately taken away for what were called routine tests.
Nine interminable hours passed. "Then, a nun, who was also a nurse, coldly informed me that my baby had died," she says.
They would not let her have her son's body, nor would they tell her when the funeral would be.
Did she not think to question the hospital staff?
"Doctors, nuns?" she says, almost in horror. "I couldn't accuse them of lying. This was Franco's Spain. A dictatorship. Even now we Spaniards tend not to question authority."
The scale of the baby trafficking was unknown until this year, when two men - Antonio Barroso and Juan Luis Moreno, childhood friends from a seaside town near Barcelona - discovered that they had been bought from a nun. Their parents weren't their real parents, and their life had been built on a lie.
Juan Luis Moreno discovered the truth when the man he had been brought to call "father" was on his deathbed.
Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie
....continued 1.....
Antonio Barroso and Juan Luis Moreno Antonio Barroso and Juan Luis Moreno took their story to the papers - and opened the floodgates
"He said, 'I bought you from a priest in Zaragoza'. He said that Antonio had been bought as well."
The pair were hurt and angry. They say they felt like two dogs that had been bought at a pet shop. An adoption lawyer they turned to for advice said he came across cases like theirs all the time.
The pair went to the press and suddenly the story was everywhere. Mothers began to come forward across Spain with disturbingly similar stories.
'Approved families'
After months of requests from the BBC, the Spanish government finally put forward Angel Nunez from the justice ministry to talk to me about Spain's stolen children.
Asked if babies were stolen, Mr Nunez replied: "Without a doubt".
"How many?" I asked.
"I don't dare to come up with figures," he answered carefully. "But from the volume of official investigations I dare to say there were many."
Lawyers believe that up to 300,000 babies were taken.
The practice of removing children from parents deemed "undesirable" and placing them with "approved" families, began in the 1930s under the dictator General Francisco Franco.
At that time, the motivation may have been ideological. But years later, it seemed to change - babies began to be taken from parents considered morally - or economically - deficient. It became a money-spinner, too.
The scandal is closely linked to the Catholic Church, which under Franco assumed a prominent role in Spain's social services including hospitals, schools and children's homes.
Nuns and priests compiled waiting lists of would-be adoptive parents, while doctors were said to have lied to mothers about the fate of their children.
The name of one doctor, Dr Eduardo Vela, has come up in a number of victim investigations.
Dr Vela is confronted with the allegations
In 1981, Civil Registry sources indicate that 70% of births at Dr Vela's San Ramon clinic in Madrid were registered as "mother unknown".
This was legal under Spanish law, and was meant to protect the anonymity of unmarried mothers. It is alleged that this was also widely used to cover up baby theft and trafficking.
Dr Vela stands accused of telling women their babies had died when they had not and handing over those newborn children to other couples for cash.
A Spanish magazine published photographs of a dead baby kept in a freezer at the San Ramon clinic, supposedly to show mothers that their child had died.
He refused to give the BBC an interview. But, by coincidence, I had recently given birth at a clinic he founded, so I was able to book an appointment with him.
We met at his private practice in his home in Madrid. The man painted as a monster in the Spanish media was old and smiley, but his smile soon disappeared when I confessed to being a journalist.
Dr Vela grabbed a metal crucifix which had been standing on his desk. He moved towards me brandishing it in my face. "Do you know what this is, Katya?" he said. "I have always acted in his name. Always for the good of the children and to protect the mothers. Enough."
Dr Vela insists he always acted within the law.
Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie
.....continued 2.....
Empty graves
After Franco's death in 1975, the major political parties agreed an amnesty to help smooth the transition to democracy.
But this amnesty law has never been repealed, so attempts to investigate Spain's baby trafficking as a national crime against humanity have been rejected by the country's judiciary and resisted by its politicians.
"Thirty-five years have passed since the death of the dictator… Evidently, we still have problems from the past. Social problems and personal or even cultural problems and the policy of this government has been trying to solve them," says the justice ministry's Angel Nunez.
The Spanish government's refusal to set up a national inquiry into the scandal has frustrated affected families, who in many cases are carrying out their own investigations, as best they can.
Babies' graves have been dug up across the country for DNA-testing. Some have revealed nothing but a pile of stones, while others have contained adult remains.
Spaniards have flocked to clinics to take DNA tests in the hope of reuniting their families.
The first few matches have now been made between so-called stolen children and their biological mothers. But there could potentially have already been so many more. Data protection laws prohibit DNA banks from sharing or cross-referencing data and the Spanish government has yet to fulfil its promise to set up a national DNA database.
Manoli Pagador is still tortured by the events of 40 years ago. She told me she has been taking medication ever since.
"You can't just say to yourself, I have to forget it and that's it.
"It's not something you forget, it's with you for the rest of your life."
Katya Adler investigates in This World: Spain's Stolen Babies on BBC Two at 2100BST on Tuesday 18 October and on Assignment on BBC World Service Radio on 3rd November. Watch (UK only) or listen online afterwards at the above links.
Whoever commits a crime, a Catholic priest or nun, a Buddhist monk, a Hindu priest or a Moslem imam, must be punished for their crimes without exception.
Despite the good Cardinal's knee-jerk expostulations denying all guilt, baby trafficking has taken place in Spain, and sexual abuse of children and women in the USA and all over the world by the clergy of the Catholic Church.
No Church or religion is immune ... that is our shared human condition. But to forestall justice and condone these practices by Church Leaders is UNPARDONABLE; that is the GREATER CRIME!
Let the law take its course, and the truth prevail in court.
We are grateful to the guardians of the nation's people for enforcing the laws of the land and doing their patriotic duty.
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Catholic Church is linked to baby trafficking in Spain as well as Sri Lanka
Herold Leelawardena
LankaWeb.com
December 12, 2011
Spain is reeling from an avalanche of allegations of baby theft and baby trafficking says BBC.
According to a BBC report, by Katya Adler, date line 18th October 2011, people are queuing up across Spain to take a DNA test and thousands of Spaniards are asking ‘Who am I?’ Exhumations of the supposed graves of babies and positive DNA tests are proof that as many as 300,000 or about 15 percent of the total adoptions that took place in Spain between 1960 and 1990 were scandals centres on baby-trafficking by Nuns, priests and doctors over several decades.
As of now, more than 900 such cases are being investigated by regional prosecutors across Spain right now but the numbers are escalating every month. Evidently, Catholic Church is closely linked to the scandal.
When the Spanish Confederation of Religious Orders, a prominent Catholic organization was asked about it, they have declined to comment citing the ongoing investigations.
However, when Adler of BBC confronted a catholic a doctor named Dr Vella, she says; ‘he grabbed a metal crucifix standing on his desk. He moved towards me, branding it in my face. ‘Do you know what this is?’ he said, brandishing it in my face. ‘I have always acted in his name, always for the good of the children and to protect the mothers. Enough!’
Dr Vella who is accused for baby-trafficking reportedly said, Doctors and nuns told mothers that their babies had been born dead, or they had died shortly after birth when in reality newborns had been handed to would-be adoptive parents of a waiting list compiled by Nuns and priests for cash. If mothers request to see their dead children after being told their newborns were dead, doctors and midwives would somehow deter them.
Perhaps for the reason that Catholic Church is involved, attempts to investigate Spain’s baby trafficking as a national crime against humanity have been rejected by the country’s judiciary and resisted by its politicians. However prosecutors are proceeding with their investigations.
If Sri Lanka’s, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had been in charge of the Catholic Church in Spain by any chance, he would have first denied immoral acts such as baby trafficking can ever take place in a Catholic institution. Ranjith would have compelled the investigators to believe that all Catholic Nun’s are saints and role models like mother Theresa, and selflessly work for the benefit of the destitute therefore free of vice. Malcolm Ranjith would have not just vindicated all suspects but given a clean certificate for the clinic as well. Not just that, Ranjith would have capped it with a veiled threat to government that he will not participate at official functions unless investigations are withdrawn forthwith. And the entire investigation would have been swept under the carpet and investigators themselves would have been put under investigation for abuse of power.
Catholic Church is linked to baby trafficking in Spain as well as Sri Lanka
.....continued ....
Last week, ‘Prem Nivasa’ at Rawathawatta, Moratuwa was raided by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) on a tip off that an immoral baby-trafficking is taking place there. An aspiring adaptor, apparently a foreign white couple is said to have been caught at ‘Prem Nivasa’ with a large sum of money who had admitted the money is to pay for a baby.
We’ve heard Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith arguing that the money that the couple had with them is not to pay for the unscrupulous baby sellers but to be deposited on behalf of the baby for his future. Why they carried such a large sum of money to ‘Prem Nivasa’ and not to the Bank was never explained. No doubt, Ranjith will come out with hundred and one answers if more questions were asked. Devout Catholics of Sri Lanka who believe they are God fearing, Law abiding and Moral readily accept the absurd idea that Ranjith visualizes.
Like their Cardinal, Catholics extremists are reluctant to believe NCPA had acted impartially. Some of them go so far as to accuse NPCA head Anoma Dissanyake is a publicity seeking hound who sensationalises everything to get limelight.
A friend in NEED,
Is a friend INDEED!
The assistance of China in our hour of greatest need ... to preserve the integrity of Sri Lanka against all odds ... is indelibly etched in the minds of all Sri Lankan patriots.
We will always remember with great gratitude and love for the People of China
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Lanka thanks China for its support during war with LTTE
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 13 (PTI) Colombo- Sri Lankan army chief today profusely thanked China for its liberal military assistance during the war with LTTE, saying that Colombo viewed Beijing as its "true friend" with a deep sense of pride.
Welcoming a high-level military delegation led by Gen Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of People's Liberation Army, Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya lauded Beijing for its support being extended uninterruptedly to his forces by way of accommodating his officers in military training institutes in China.
The two military commanders discussed a wide range of matters of interest including core Chinese training modules that could be shared with the Sri Lanka Army.
Gen Ma was keen to receive details on the conduct of the Sri Lanka Army's successful military campaign against the LTTE, the army said on its website in a statement. Lt Gen Jayasuriya "also did not mince words to recall with gratitude the quantum of military assistance, provided to the country by the PLA as terrorism was at its peak, undermining Sri Lanka's territorial integrity," it said.
He told Chinese officials "how the nation, as the war was on, looked at the true friends of Sri Lanka with a deep sense of pride and appreciation", the statement said.
China was a key supplier of arms and aircraft during Sri Lanka's conflict with the LTTE rebels.
An interesting FACT about Phosphate Ores:
Phosphate ores usually contain significant amounts of associated URANIUM minerals that can be separated from the ground ore by simple sedimentation and clarification of aqueous ore slurries.
While the separated Uranium ore primarily contains the STABLE isotope U-238, they also contain small amounts of the chemically identical but FISSILE U-235 isotope. The latter can be separated from the stable isotope by various physical methods.
The fissile U-235 isotope is a key fissile nuclear material, used in low concentrations of less than 5% by mass, to fuel uranium-based nuclear power plants, and in much higher concentrations to build nuclear weapons.
Therefore, large scale phosphate mining for fertilizer production provides an avenue for production of significant quantities of FISSILE U-235.
For this reason, large scale phosphate mining and processing usually attracts the attention of international agencies concerned about preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
This information is widely known, and is available in the open literature.
............
Lanka Phosphate to commence production of fertilizer
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 12, Colombo: Lanka Phosphate Limited is to commence fertilizer production which would be launched simultaneously with the Deyata Kirula programme in Anuradhapura next year.
Chairman of Lanka Phosphate Limited, Daya Sandagiri has said the company could now increase its annual phosphate manufacturing capacity from 46,000 metric tons to 72,000 metric tons.
The company currently has the capacity of manufacturing over 6,000 metric tons of phosphate every month, he has said.
Sandagiri has noted that 38,000 metric tons had been ground by the company in the last six months alone.
According to the Chairman, the company is also to commence selling the phosphate mixture to the market directly, which is currently being carried out by private traders.
Lanka Phosphate is managed under the State Resources and Enterprise Development Ministry.
Bravo, GL! ... that's telling them like it should be told!
No Foreign Interference allowed in Sri Lanka's Domestic Affairs!
Shame on Ranil Wickremasinghe for CONTINUING his anti-national activities offering POISON PILLS to the nation, now supporting the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA to REVIVE the INTERFERENCE of Foreign Powers & Foreign NGOs in Sri Lanka's sovereignty.
OH NO! NEVER AGAIN!
.............
Sri Lanka will not allow foreign interferences to solve country's problems
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka as a sovereign state will not allow any international mechanisms to interfere in the country's internal issues and cannot be pressured to bow down to any foreign interventions, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris said.
Addressing the committee stage budget debate on his Ministry in the parliament Wednesday, Prof. Peiris said Sri Lanka does not need foreign interference for solving the problems in the country.
He was responding to the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe's statement that criticized the government's decision to oppose the appointment of a Human Rights Commissioner for the Commonwealth, a proposal that got defeated by the member states during the Commonwealth summit in October.
The Minister opposing the suggestion by the Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), to have an international mechanism to probe human rights issues said Sri Lanka will not allow such external interventions.
He told the parliament that the foreign policy of the country has been formulated based on economic stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity and Sri Lanka has received the support from all countries in the world due to the right foreign policy being followed by the government.
Prof. Peiris said that the foreign assistance the country is receiving for huge development projects is a testimony to the validity of the country's foreign policy.
Responding to the comments made by TNA Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan on the United Nations panel appointed by the UN Secretary-General to probe the war, the Minister said the government has totally rejected the panel's report as the panel failed to investigate the credibility of evidences presented to them and such a system cannot be accepted.
Whenever an IMPROVEMENT of a current practice is proposed in Sri Lanka, all marginalized politicians try to make a political issue of it, without regard to its impact on the nation, joining hands with those who want to preserve the status quo for purely pecuniary reasons.
The UNP and the JVP are DESPERATE for SOME POLITICAL LEVERAGE, but they are WRONG in their thinking. They only end up demonstrating to ordinary patriotic citizens their divisive, destructive, anti-national self-serving character, and dig their own graves deeper.
They have NO CONSTRUCTIVE IDEAS OF THEIR OWN; yet they want to OPPOSE EVERY PROGRESSIVE thing their political opponents want to do. Why not assess each plan on its own merits and provide support for worthy ideas?
Why, Oh Why, do the Hatharawaran Deviyo permit such pestilential gadflies to afflict Sri Lanka?
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Sri Lankan government to shift wholesale vegetable market out from city center
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Cooperatives and Internal Trade Johnston Fernando said that government had decided to shift the wholesale vegetable market, the Manning Market of Colombo from Pettah to Narahenpita Economic Center.
The Minister said that the shift would be made urgent if the vendors in Manning Market continue their protest suspending bringing vegetables from outstations.
The Minister said that the lorries of the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment have been deployed to transport vegetables. He said that the number of lorries would be increased to 200 and the Army lorries would also be deployed for the purpose.
He accused that opposition United National Party, People's Liberation Front and the suppliers of gunny bags were behind the massive agitations that held island wide yesterday against the government decision to make the use of plastic crates compulsory in transporting vegetables.
Thousands of farmers and produce transporters yesterday protested the government's decision creating chaos and paralyzing the fruit and vegetable market.
The Ministry says over 40 percent of the fruits and vegetable are being wasted due to improper packing methods used in transportation and the country loses over Rs 15 to 20 billion annually.
Each Fishery Harbor should be equipped with refrigeration, storage and waste disposal facilities, a fish market and access to banking and transportation facilities.
A train station at which trains with refrigerated rail cars arrive on a regular schedule would be an added benefit to fishermen, and help create an efficient islandwide wholesale fish trade.
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Sri Lanka to build three new fishery harbors
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 14, Colombo: Fisheries Minister of Sri Lanka Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says that three new fishery harbors are to be built as part of to improving the maritime economy in the country.
Dr. Senaratne said the new harbors would be built in Gandara in Matara district, Gurunagar in Jaffna district and Silavathura in Mannar district.
He added that the Ministry has also planned to develop seven existing fishery harbors in the country. The seven harbors are at Kudawella, Puranawella, Mirissa, Hikkaduwa, Beruwela, Dikowita and Kalametiya.
The Minister noted that the development would commence soon after receiving approval from the planning department. The Cabinet approved the proposal to develop the three harbors in September 2010.
According to Dr. Senaratne, the development work in the fisheries sector would help increase the job opportunities in the industry.
According to official data, Sri Lanka's fishing fleet is over 43,000 and the fishing population exceeds 171,470.
Highway Access: Sri Lanka upgrades expressway access roads
LankaBusinessOnline.com
Dec 14, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka has got Asian Development Bank aid to upgrade six access roads linking the newly opened southern expressway with the rest of the island's road network, an ADB statement said.
The ADB will give a loan of 85 million US dollars (about 9,347 million rupees) for the project to rehabilitate access roads to the Southern Expressway with the government providing 20.6 million dollars.
"These rehabilitation works are crucial to improve the connectivity of roads and to realize the full potential benefits from the southern expressway," the ADB said.
"These selected six road sections usually experience high traffic volume. Therefore, the rehabilitation of these road sections will facilitate easier access to the new expressway while improving the transport efficiency of the national highways network."
Rehabilitation work of the road sections will be carried out under the second phase of the ongoing National Highway Sector Project which commenced in 2007.
It aims rehabilitate 270 kilometers of national highways and improve the transport sector regulatory framework.
The six roads are Matara – Akuressa, Hikkaduwa – Baddegama, Horana – Aguluwatota – Aluthgama, Katukurunda – Naboda, Kirulapona – Godagama and Colombo – Horana.
The project is expected to be completed by June 2016.
Plastic crates will protect perishable produce. They are durable, resuseable, and stackable preventing crushing of the fruits and vegetables. Ultimately this will yield cost reductions for everyone ... farmers, traders and consumers.
This is a good idea that should be implemented, notwithstanding gunny bag producers opposition, and politically marginalized UNP and JVP orchestrated demonstrations.
The only valid argument against it is the initial extra cost that must be borne by farmers and traders. Let the Government provide relief through bulk buying of crates and selling them at discount to the users. Give the farmers and traders a FINANCIAL INCENTIVE to adopt this better approach. Help the gunny bag producers distribute and sell the plastic crates.
Let progress take root in Sri Lanka without regard to divisive, destructive partisan politics without holding good ideas hostage.
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Shortage experienced in many parts of the country
By Sandun A. Jayasekera and Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa
DailyMirror.lk
December 15, 2011
Amid protests in Colombo and the suburbs intensifying yesterday over the use of plastic crates to transport vegetables and fruits, a compromise was reached at the Dambulla Economic Centre among the security forces, traders and farmers to continue with the customary form of packaging. The three-day crisis has caused a severe countrywide shortage of fruits and vegetables with prices of such items sky rocketing.
However, Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando vowed to stick to his decision to make it compulsory to transport fruits and vegetables in plastic crates for the greater good of the consumer.
Protest marches in Colombo Fort turned violent with the protesters nearly clashing with the police. Protests were held in Tambuttegama, Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura and Bandarawela.
Meanwhile, Internal Trade Ministry Secretary Sunil Sirisena said plastic crates to transport vegetables and fruits were introduced following a recommendation by the Food Security Committee and the Post-Harvest Technology Institute after analysing the huge losses on vegetables and fruits during transport.
He rejected allegations that plastic crates were introduced to allow someone connected to the ministry to make money.
The ONLY DEMOCRACY in recent times to have defeated a murderous racist terrorist movement ALL BY ITSELF without foreign troops is CONTINUALLY PILLORIED for having the audacity to succeed without Western help!
The ABSOLUTE HYPOCRISY of Neocolonialist Western nations waging war by all means irrespective of civilian casualties and the sovereignty of states that they would defend if they are attacked is MIND BOGGLING!
Sri Lanka did not wage AGGRESSIVE WAR on foreign soil.
Sri Lanka ONLY DEFENDED all of its citizens on its OWN SOIL.
The DO NOTHING United Nations is NOTHING BUT A PUPPET of the Western Colonialists: The UN is BLIND, DEAF & DUMB to the depradations of the Western Neo-Colonialist Powers!
As these Western Neocolonialists DEMONIZE Sri Lanka in cahoots with the LTTE terrorist Diaspora, Sri Lanka will continue to thrive with the HELP of the VAST MAJORITY of Nations that SEE & CONDEMN these DOUBLE STANDARDS & TOTAL HYPOCRISY!
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Q+A: The report of Sri Lanka's civil war inquiry
By C. Bryson Hull
Reuters
December 16, 2011
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Friday made public a report by the presidentially-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), providing a set of recommendations and findings on the end of the island nation's three-decade civil war.
The nearly 400-page report is Sri Lanka's answer to a U.N.-appointed panel's finding of "credible allegations" that both the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists may have committed war crimes in the war's final months. The war ended in May 2009.
Following are some questions and answers about the report.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS REPORT FROM THE UN ONE?
Like nearly everything in the course of the Sri Lankan civil war, there are two vastly different sides to the story.
Sri Lanka's government did not allow the U.N. panel to come to the island when it was preparing its report, so its findings largely reflect submissions given by rights activists who have been critical of the government and pro-LTTE groups who live in Western nations.
The LLRC took testimony from Sri Lankans -- soldiers, civil servants, civilians and LTTE fighters -- while also referencing the U.N. report and a host of news items about the war.
So it is a fully home-grown report, with a cross-section of views, even if it was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa -- the most adamant defender of the government's wartime conduct.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The United States, other western nations and even Sri Lanka ally India have said that a credible LLRC report, coupled with strong follow-up including a political settlement with the island's Tamil minority, will obviate the need for an external war crimes probe.
Since the end of the war, there has been a persistent call by rights activists, pro-LTTE groups, some Western governments and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to look into the allegations of atrocities.
Sri Lanka has so far avoided that. It argues that it must be allowed, like any other sovereign nation, the first opportunity to investigate and address any misconduct.
Q+A: The report of Sri Lanka's civil war inquiry
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WILL IT ACT?
That remains to be seen. Rajapaksa's government has definitely dragged its feet on reconciliation, but has taken many steps to resettle people, rebuild the war zone and give former LTTE combatants vocational training.
It has also said it will investigate and prosecute any cases of military misconduct -- something it had heretofore said was unnecessary.
So the ball is still in Sri Lanka's court.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Sri Lanka's most persistent critics, namely the pro-LTTE lobby and human rights groups, will likely reject the LLRC panel as not credible and renew calls for a probe.
The more important sign will be diplomatic reaction from the United States in particular and other nations in the West. That will be the best bellwether of whether an external probe will surface.
Washington has been at the fore of urging Sri Lanka to address the allegations in a credible fashion, while giving the government room to decide how it will do that.
(Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)
Absolutely, no pedestrians should be allowed on the expressway.
But sometimes, motorists become pdestrians ... when their vehicles breakdown ... and they get out to repaior them or walk to an emergency phone.
Are Phones for Emergency Calls provided along the Expressway ... even though cell phones are commonplace?
Finally, local people often have a legitimate need to cross the Expressway to attend to their affairs. Therefore, walkways should be constructed either as bridges over the Expressway or as tunnels under the Expressway every kilometer or so.
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Sri Lanka police to take stern legal action against pedestrians on expressway
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka police arrested a man who attempted to cross the recently opened Southern expressway and initiated legal action for the first time.
Police announced that the drivers of the expressway would not be penalized for causing harm to the pedestrians on the expressway.
Police media spokesman Superintendent of Police Ajith Rohana said that the rules similar to what applied to the persons walking on the railway tracks would apply to the persons walking on the expressway.
The expressway, although fenced along the whole 95 kilometers, is accessible to people and animals at a number of places. There were media reports that over hundred stray dogs wandering onto the expressway have been killed since its opening on November 27.
Meanwhile, the Police have taken measures to institute stern legal action against the high speeding motorists as well.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed in Tripoli, Libya that the US policy is that "Gaddafi must be killed".
The very next day he was killed.
"Will no one get rid of this pestiferous priest" cried the king; the next day the Archbishop of Canterbury was killed.
Who is more guilty ... the killer or the one who orders the killing ... directly or indirectly?
History repeats ... especially when ones own minions have been secretly inserted on the ground to wage the "Facebook democracy war" while death rains down from NATO warbirds flying above ... to "protect civilians" of course!
As Islamists gain ground and takeover governance in the "Arab Spring" countries, who will be held responsible in the culpable Western countries for engineering that fiasco?
The best laid plans of MICE & MEN often go ASTRAY!
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ICC prosecutor: Gadhafi’s death may be war crime
By Laura Rozen
December 16, 2011
The murky circumstances surrounding Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's death in October may amount to a war crime, the top international war crimes prosecutor said Thursday.
"I think the way in which Mr. Gadhafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," the International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters Thursday, Reuters reported..
"I think that's a very important issue," he continued. "We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."
The announcement marked a stark turnaround in Moreno-Ocampo's formerly close relations with Libya's interim rulers, the National Transition Council. Moreno-Ocampo had previously stated as fact anti-Gadhafi forces's claims to have captured Gadhafi's son and former heir-apparent Saif al-Islam Gadhafi back in August. Saif later convincingly disproved those claims by appearing at the Tripoli hotel where most foreign journalists were working--thereby forcing the ICC prosecutor to acknowledge that his confirmation of Saif's capture had been based on rebels' mistaken claims.
Saif al-Islam was later captured alive by anti-Gadhafi forces last month in Libya's southern desert en route to Niger, where one of his brothers has taken refuge. Other Gadhafi children have decamped for Algeria.
Libya's interim rulers have resisted pressure to extradite Saif al-Islam to the Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges, saying they prefer to conduct the trial at home in Libya.
The international war crimes court issued arrest warrants in March for Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.
The National Transition Council said in October that it would investigate the circumstances under which Moammar Gadhafi and his son Mo'tassim died after their initial capture near Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte in October. But no findings from that inquiry have yet surfaced.
"Mobile phone footage showed both alive after their capture," the Reuters report said. "The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials said was crossfire."
My Comment at LankaWeb: Copy of the Letter sent to Ranil by Mahanayaka theros
The choice between Ranil Wickramasinghe and Karu Jayasuriya is a Hobson's choice ...the choice between the devil or the deep blue sea.
Both of these politicians presided over dividing the nation in two and handing over the North & East to a murderous racist terrorist organization, happily colluding with Western Powers and NGOs to make a mockery of Sri Lanka's sovereignty.
A pox on both their houses, I say. My long departed father's party of patriots ... the UNP ... that restored to Sri Lanka its hallowed crown ... is NO MORE. The UNP today is a party dominated by anti-national elements unrepentantly conniving with foreign powers, NGOs and the Tamil Diaspora to undermine and destabilize Sri Lanka. Even when Sri Lanka was at death's door they could not summon the will to form a National Salvation Government to save their motherland from looming disintegration.
I say to the large numbers of patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka who still support the UNP as an inherited habit ... JUDGE the leaders of the UNP on the basis of their PATRIOTISM, DITCH all those who continue to undermine the motherland, and RESCUE this grand old party from oblivion. Create a new UNP of PATRIOTS!
The Sri Lankan people of today have seen how effective a PATRIOTIC GOVERNMENT, that holds the National Interest paramount, can be in defending and protecting Sri Lanka, and in ushering in the Dawn of a New Age to become the New Wonder of Asia. We YEARN as people, long humiliated for our poverty of treasure and unity, to achieve that goal ... together as ONE people.
The vast majority of ordinary Sri Lankans will no longer support a party wedded to divisive, obstructionist, anti-national policies.
The LLRC report apparently recommends "Devolution of Power at All Levels", but doing that blindly without appreciating the disruptive forces at work in Sri Lanka to undermine its cohesion, would be DISASTROUS!
DEVOLUTION of Political Power to entities on Communal bases of race, language, or religion would be an unmitigated DISASTER for Sri Lanka that just survived a hoorific war against racist separatist terrorists.
Those who advocate such DEVOLUTION ... even before the embers of the recent war of national liberation have cooled ... have no notion of what it takes to ensure that it will not happen again.
When the Confederate forces in the USA were defeated, there was no DEVOLUTION OF POWER to the defeated to revive the Confederacy again. On the CONTRARY, military occupation by the Union Forces continued for a century. Despite that, for the next half century, the defeated confederates continued their quest for racial domination and the restoration of Slavery.
The racist Tamil Tiger idealogy still echoes in the minds of an entire Tamil generation ... brainwashed by their racist violent idealogy over three long decades ... into demonizing the other communities of the country. Give them political power, and they will resurrect EELAM.
It is to prevent the resurrection of such EVIL REGIMES that Allied Forces were stationed for many decades in the defeated Axis nations of World War II, and some remain even today. There was no question of DEVOLVING POWER to the Axis then ... the RISK WAS TOO GREAT. Sri Lanka's security concerns are no different.
There should be NO DEVOLUTION of power beyond the right of each citizen to freely vote for candidates to the National Parliament and Local governments.
Provincial Councils should be dissolved as entities that are too large ... in view of the unrepentant separatist attitudes of the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA. PCs are too large and could form a threat to the national government.
Furthermore, future PEACE & AMITY among communities in the country depends on the ability of citizens to settle where ever they please in the country, integrating the ethnic communities towards an ethnically homogeneous population to form ONE Sri Lankan citizenry.
To that end, we must PREVENT THE RISE of communal regions which deny entrance to minority communities as the LTTE did in the North & East through its ethnic cleansing of Sinhala and Muslim people. The Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA, the Political Arm of the Now defunct LTTE ... continues to nurse such ambitions.
The LLRC ... as an investigative body free of the responsibility for the security of the nation and the lives of its people ... may offer various palliative solutions. But those who fought the recent War of Liberation and paid the price for it, and are endowed the authority to Preserve and Protect the lives of citizens must act MORE CAUTIOUSLY and MORE WISELY.
They must look to instituting LONG-TERM polices of Ethnic Integration geared to ensuring the peace and prosperity of ALL Sri Lankans, for ALL TIME ignoring the Siren songs of the separatists and their foreign allies.
Restoring Communal Power to Avowed Separatists is NOT THE WAY ... whatever the LLRC report recommends.
The GOSL should implement the recommendations of the LLRC report selectively, giving the HIGHEST PRIORITY to needs of National Defence and National Integration.
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People made helpless, powerless by political culture – LLRC
By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera
DailyMirror.lk
December 17, 2011
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report states that the political culture of the country has made the people powerless and helpless to a point they had become dependent on politicians to obtain many of the services and amenities they are entitled to.
People made helpless, powerless by political culture – LLRC
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The report which was tabled in parliament today recommends that an independent institution be established to address the grievances of all citizens and in particular the minority community grievances that arise from abuse by public officials and others involved in governance of the country.
While recommending a political solution, the Commission observes that devolution should promote greater harmony and unity among the people of this country. The promotion of oneness and a common identity should be the principal aim of any form of devolution while protecting and appreciating the rich diversity.
In this endeavour, the LLRC states that the focus should be to ensure that the people belonging to all the communities are empowered at every level.
“Devolution of power should not be discriminatory or seen to be discriminatory,” the report says.
It recommends that the Police Department be de-linked from the institutions dealing with the armed forces, which are responsible for the security of the state.
The Commission states that the Police Department is a civilian institution to be entrusted with the maintenance of law and order and that an independent permanent police commission is a pre-requisite to guarantee the effective functioning of the police service and as a means of enhancing public confidence.
“This mechanism should be vested with a strong investigative arm to enable it to effectively discharge its functions,” the report states.
Referring to allegations about the activities of certain illegal armed groups, the report calls for a full investigation into complaints against the EPDP, as otherwise, it may create a sense of impunity. The LLRC has received complaints about the activities of an illegal armed group led by a Major Seelan and this group is alleged to have carried out abductions, robberies and extortions are the offences allegedly committed by this gang using the security forces as a cover.
The LLRC has alleged that principal offender still remained at large though the matter was brought to the notice of the police in the area. Only an accomplice of Major Seelan has been arrested. The Commissioner regrets that full effect has not been given to its interim recommendations.
The report states that police officers serving in the provinces do not have adequate access to legal expertise, and therefore proposed the setting up of the units of Attorney General’s Department in each of these areas. The LLRC states it regrets the failure on the part of the authorities concerned to take action against a person called Bhareti who had allegedly committed crimes of abductions, extortions and robbery.
The LLRC states that an investigation should be carried out into the incident in which 600 police officers were killed during the conflict after they were ordered to lay down arms and surrender and had strongly recommended the need to address the issues of Muslims who were evicted and the Sinhalese families affected by the war.
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