Editorial
SundayObserver.lk
September 16, 2012
The masses have taught a good lesson again to extremist Opposition politicians and those who exploit racist and religious sentiments to gain political mileage. The resounding victory of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) at the recent elections to the North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provincial Councils are also a singular victory for all loyal and patriotic citizens.
It is not only a victory for democracy which demonstrates the masses' gratitude for President Mahinda Rajapaksa for eradicating terrorism and taking the country towards new economic horizons, but also sends a clear signal to the international community.
Voters of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle and Ratnapura districts gave a convincing mandate to President Rajapaksa and his Government to continue the ongoing development work. The UPFA, having secured the top slot at the Eastern Provincial Council elections, has reiterated the fact that people in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts reject communal politics in toto.
It is an open secret how the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) conducted its election campaign in the East, in a desperate bid to advance the now defunct LTTE's previous claim as the sole representative of the Tamils. There had been an unprecedented cash flow to TNA coffers as the LTTE rump in the West worked overtime to realise Velupillai Prabhakaran's utopian separate state.
Nevertheless, the people in the East were far too intelligent and demonstrated in no uncertain terms that they were not ready to fall prey and return to those dark days again. The UPFA's victory at the Eastern Provincial Council polls was not only a great setback to the TNA, but also demonstrates to the international community that the majority Tamil community is firmly with the Government. It was a fresh endorsement by the Tamils and Muslims for the Government's efforts to develop the province after terrorism was eradicated.
The UPFA's landslide victories in Sabaragamuwa and the North Central Provincial Councils proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the masses support the President and the UPFA to the hilt. The UNP and JVP spewed fabricated stories on university admission, oil imports, child abuse, rape and even a diabolical lie on the year five scholarship examination in their election campaigns, in the hope that they could pull wool over the masses' eyes and secure more votes.
Here too, the masses repudiated these two parties outright. The JVP and the UNP polled a lesser number of votes compared to the 2008 Provincial Council elections. The UNP secured four seats less this time than what it held at the previous Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Councils. These four seats also went to the UPFA, which increased its majority further in the two Provincial Councils. The JVP, in a desperate bid to cover its political nudity, propounded a theory that the election results would not reflect the party's true position. All in all, the country emerged victorious at the elections.
The masses in the three provinces gave a fresh mandate again and endorsed the Mahinda Chinthana, which has been successfully implemented since President Rajapaksa took office in November 2005. Having eradicated terrorism in May 2009, the Government embarked on an ambitious reconciliation process while developing the North and the East.
It goes without saying that people in the North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provinces depend mainly on an agro-based economy. In this scenario, local farmers received more recognition and an added value to their produce under the Mahinda Chinthana while those in the Eastern Province are already reaping the dividends of peace. The growth rate in the province is 22 percent, compared to the country's eight percent overall growth rate.
On the President's instructions, the UPFA Government still abides by its 2005 election pledge by providing a massive fertiliser subsidy which is a boon to farmers. The subsidy which was initially provided for paddy cultivation alone has now been extended to all other major crops.
Local paddy and dairy farmers have been enjoying good returns as they now have a better market for rice and fresh milk. After the Eastern and Northern Provinces were liberated from the grip of LTTE terrorists, people in these areas are now contributing more to the national economy. The tremendous growth in the paddy, dairy and fishing industries in these provinces had resulted in a greater flow of cash into those areas. This in turn, has increased the people's purchasing power in those provinces. This is precisely why the people in the East eschewed petty communal differences and supported the UPFA.
The Government's efforts in strengthening the rural economy and eradicating terrorism earned the masses' encomiums in the three provinces. There is no doubt, whatsoever, that public opinion at the recently concluded Provincial Council elections reflects the general thinking of the entire country.
While the majority of people defeated the wily schemes of traitors against the country, the strength that the country and its Government would receive from the polls victory in facing the international challenges is immeasurable. President Rajapaksa and his Government have given people the foremost place in the country. The mandate given by the masses at the Provincial Council elections in the North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provinces are an added strength and courage for Sri Lanka to debunk the concocted stories and baseless allegations levelled by LTTE cohorts and some Western politicians who rely on the Tamil Diaspora votes for their political survival. President Rajapaksa's sincere wish since he became Head of State almost seven years ago is to build a country devoid of political, social or religious leanings.
As the President has repeatedly emphasised, the doors are still open for those who wish to join the patriotic forces in its victorious march towards new economic horizons after winning the battle against stark LTTE terrorism.
Though the UNP and the JVP had made several subtle attempts to cover their previous defeats by alleging election malpractices, they were obliged to acknowledge that the PC elections were free and fair. All major election monitors said that this was a free and fair poll.
People in these three provinces have steadfastly endorsed the Government's policies at this critical juncture as they were deeply cognizant that President Rajapaksa is the only leader who could provide the correct leadership to the country. The masses in the North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces by their verdict have ensured that no insidious elements here or abroad could thwart the Government's forward march by levelling war crimes allegations. The international community should at least now respect the masses' verdict. The election victory is a clear manifestation that the people who truly love the country are with the Government, despite the election gimmicks of the UNP, TNA and JVP. The people have also approved the Government's rural development drive despite various misconceptions propagated by political parties with vested interests.
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Sri Lanka always considers India as a friendly land and people - President Rajapaksa
Sat, Sep 22, 2012, 01:17 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 22, Sanchi:
India's federal structure and the emergence of states have not erased Sri Lanka's vision of India as a single land of friendship with the great bonds of history and Sri Lankan people have always considered India as a friendly land and people, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
"I believe this tradition of embracing all of India in friendship will continue to enrich our relations," President Rajapaksa said Friday addressing the ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the Sanchi University of Buddhist and Indic Studies in Madhya Pradesh of India.
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The President laid the foundation stone for the University of Buddhist and Indic Studies in the presence of dignitaries from Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Cambodia, Mongolia and Nepal.
President Rajapaksa together with Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Yoser Thinley planted a sapling of the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi Tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka which is believed to be a sapling of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya under which Buddha attained enlightenment.
Thanking for the opportunity to lay the foundation stone, the President said the Buddha's message of tolerance and understanding is of great relevance today, as the "tragic results of enmity and hatred towards other faiths leading to violence and destruction, and great loss to societies" are seen.
"It is of equal importance in the East and West alike," said the President adding that undoubtedly there is a need to go back to the roots of civilizations and search for the wisdom that prevailed in the ancient world.
"The Buddhist and Indic value systems that paved the way to modern concepts of human rights and fundamental freedoms need to be revived," he noted.
The President expressed the hope that the University of Buddhist and Indic Studies will grow strong and the graduates of the University will be inspired by the Buddha's teachings.
"The Government and people of Sri Lanka and I will continue to contribute towards the success of this University," he assured.
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Governor of Madhya Pradesh Ram Naresh Yadav, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardena, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Ashok K. Kantha and Sri Lankan High Commissioner in New Delhi Prasad Kariyawasam also participated in the ceremony.
70 comments:
Indeed, the landslide victory in Northern, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Elections is a clear manifestation that the people who truly love the country are with the Government.
Those members of the international community plying their global geo-political agendas should at least now respect the masses' verdict.
They should now and realize that there are no divisions within Sri Lanka they can exploit, no society they can destabilize, no "new democracy and human rights" wedges they can drive in, and above all, no government they can bring down, and no unprotected leaderless rabble among the people they can turn on each other!
These Machiavellian Devils should packup their bags of dirty tricks and GO HOME, there is NOTHING they can accomplish here in this Resplendent Motherland of Ours.
Robert O. Blake .... are you listening?
Keeping Tabs on Vaiko:
The premier Racist Demagogue of Tamil Nadu ... is desperately trying to sneak back into power on the back of Sri Lanka, in the upcoming elections.
He will NEVER SUCCEED because he has alienated every other politician in Tamil Nadu.
By the Way, the GOSL seems to be dragging its feet on sending an extradition request for Vaiko to the Government India, so he can be prosecuted and punished for violating Sri Lanka's Immigration Laws and the Prevention of Terrorism Act for his activities training LTTE cadre in the Wanni.
GOSL, can we have some action on this ... PLEASE?
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As usual, Vaiko spews anti-Lanka rhetoric
The Times of India
September 16, 2012
TRICHY: MDMK leader Vaiko on Saturday launched his "Mupperum Vizha" to celebrate the Dravidian movement's centennial, coupled with DMK founder C N Annadurai's 104th birth anniversary, in Trichy. He reiterated his resolve to mobilize international support to "punish Sri Lankan president Rajapakse" for the alleged war crimes against Tamils.
One of the resolutions adopted by the MDMK was protecting Tamil fishermen from atrocities of Sri Lankan Navy. Vaiko said 570 Tamil Nadu fishermen had so far been killed by the Lankan navy. He chose to join hands with PMK's Ramadoss in urging for the complete prohibition of liquor in the state. The Kudankulam issued figured in the fourth resolution and the party took a firm stand to do away with the nuclear project at any cost, and to express solidarity with the people of Indinthakarai.
Like the party's earlier annual conventions, this too was well attended. The meeting started with a musical concert by Nellai Abu Bhakkar that was chaired by party's Erode MP Ganesha Murthy. Various leaders unveiled the portraits of old Dravidian leaders. E V R's portrait was unveiled by professor Periyar Abdullah Dasan, C N Annadurai's portrait by poet Tamil Maran, Pitti Thyagarayar's portrait by MDMK's Coimbatore district secretary V Easwaran, Bharathidasan portrait by poet Komagan, and T M Nair's portrait by Dr Rohaiyah from Trichy. Portraits of the three martyrs - Nochipatti Dhandapani, Idimalai Uthayan, Thanjai Jakir Hussein - who immolated themselves when Vaiko was expelled from the DMK, were also unveiled at the meet.
Political analysts were quick to point out that Vaiko was pitching his battle from Karur this time as he was eyeing this constituency in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Dr Rohaiya, who contested the mayoral polls on an MDMK ticket and scored 37,618 votes, some 7,000 more than the DMDK's candidate M Chitra, was hailed by Vaiko himself as the new of face of the party in the region. Dr Rohaiya, who is a well known name in Trichy as she has conducted a large number of medical camps, surprised everyone in the Karur convention by presenting a five-sovereign gold chain to Vaiko.
Current stability largely due to 18th Amendment: GL
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
September 15, 2012
External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris in a recent conversation attributed the current political stability enjoyed by post-war Sri Lanka largely to the introduction of the hotly disputed 18th Amendment to the Constitution.
He emphasized that the success of ongoing rapid development program would depend on the SLFP-led UPFA’s political strength.
The minister was speaking to the Sunday Island at the conclusion of the 58th sessions of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held in Colombo.
"Look at the degree of political stability, though a section of the Opposition is trying to portray a bleak picture. The UPFA’s victory at PC polls in Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provinces is evidence of political stability. We are proud of our achievement," he said.
The minister said that the UPFA wouldn’t apologies for bringing in the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. In fact, he strongly defended the controversial piece of legislation during a CPA session last Wednesday at the Committee Room C, BMICH.
Responding to UNP National List MP Eran Wickremaratne, Prof. Peiris stressed that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution had served the country well.
He told The Sunday Island that that it would be a mistake on the part of the government to lose political stability in the wake of ongoing efforts to undermine the country. There was absolutely no basis for the Opposition’s concerns as regards the 18th Amendment.
The parliament on Sept 9, 2010 approved the 18th Amendment, with a majority of 144 votes. One hundred and sixty one MPs voted for the Bill, while 17 voted against it.
The minister said that the 18th Amendment didn’t extend the incumbent president’s tenure and the president was still required to be duly elected by the people. "This has removed the ‘two-term’ barrier and has thus enhanced the supremacy of the people. All those who favor people’s supremacy should support this."
Altogether nine MPs from the main opposition UNP, eight from SLMC and one from TNA voted for the Bill.
Except the nine dissident UNP MPs who voted in favor of it, other UNP members boycotted the debate calling it a fraud and engaged in a protest led by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
With the 18th amendment passed, the two-term limit on the executive presidency system is removed allowing an incumbent president to contest any number of times he desires.
The amendment also replaced the hitherto defunct Constitutional Council introduced under the 17th Amendment) with a consultation process referred to as the "Parliament Council", which however is not stated in the Bill.
Commenting on the just concluded CPA sessions, Peiris said that the weeklong gathering in Sri Lankan would never have been possible without eradication of the LTTE. Those delegates had an opportunity to see for themselves the ground situation in the northern region, including Jaffna and Kilinochchi, one-time LTTE strongholds.
Asked whether he was confident that visiting delegates would appreciate the post-war recovery process, Peiris emphasized that it would be hard for even the strongest critic of the GoSL not to be impressed by what we have achieved since the conclusion of the conflict.
Now that politicians and officials from many Commonwealth countries had the opportunity to see for themselves the actual situation in Colombo as well as the northern region, those propagating lies about the country would find it difficult to pursue their campaign, the minister said.
The Tamil diaspora, too, would be in trouble now that international delegations were in a position either to fly or travel overland to the Jaffna peninsula.
Current stability largely due to 18th Amendment: GL
Continued ....
Peiris said that the UPFA’s performance at the recently concluded elections, too, had helped to dispel various political theories propagated by various interested parties. There had never been an Opposition challenge in Sabaragamuwa and North Central provinces, though many felt the government would find it extremely difficult in the Eastern Province due to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) going it alone there.
Unlike the TNA and the SLMC, which almost totally depend on the vote of the Tamil speaking people, the UPFA had to fight for votes in the predominately Tamil speaking province. In spite of the Sinhalese being about 27 per cent of the total population in the province, the ruling coalition managed to poll the highest number of votes to secure 14 seats, including two bonus slots, the minister said.
Asked whether the government was comfortable with the situation in the East, the minister asserted that the EP poll result was evidence that a sizeable section of those living in the province opposed separatist sentiments.
A close examination of the result would help identify the gradual change of the mindset of the people living there since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has assured that Northern PC poll will be held in Sept 2013.
BRAVO, GOSL! for...implementing programs to restore democracy, economic stability and livelihood of the people .... and therefore, cannot and will not cow down to pressure from any quarters....
In particular, demands from those who did not help fight the terrorists when Sri Lanka's people were being murdered at will, and those who aided and abetted those THEN & NOW ... will not be HEEDED! PERIOD!
The CHUTZPAH of these people, disrupting the lives of miilions across the globe in pursuit of their own agendas, NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME!
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Envoys free to witness country’s development
by P. Krishnaswamy
SundayObserver
The Government maintains cordial relations with the US and other Western countries and welcomes visits of any of their envoys or representatives as observers of the development under way, but would not heed to pressure from any of them on what and how soon the Government should act on any of those issues, Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the Sunday Observer.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told international fora that everything is being done, to put things back in order. It is absurd for any of the visiting representatives to tell us, without knowing the actual ground situation, what we should do and how soon, Minister Rambukwella said.
The President has appointed a Special Task Force headed by his Secretary Lalith Weeratunga to implement the LLRC recommendations.
Almost 50 percent of the recommendations are being implemented although the Government does not give publicity to them.
Democracy has been restored in the Northern Province and all Local Government bodies are functioning with their elected representatives. Provincial Council polls will be held next year after completing the resettlement of all displaced families and the enumeration of their names in the voters’ list.
This process is now continuing.
The Government has made repeated requests to the TNA leaders to appoint their delegates to the PSC soon so that it could begin deliberations on working out a solution to the Tamils’ grievances, Minister Rambukwella said.
The Government has to carefully consider political, economic and social aspects and the ground situation in the national interest while implementing programs to restore democracy, economic stability and livelihood of the people and therefore, cannot and will not cow down to pressure from any quarters, the Minister said.
As one of the most densely populated countries in the world, development of omni-present public transportation systems should be the HIGHEST priority in the Transportation Sector.
But, let us adopt the best, environmentally benign, technologies sustainable far into the future.
Electric transportation systems, supported by an efficient electricity power plants that leverage renewable energy production and storage systems, are likely to meet that goal.
Development of energy storage systems based on Hydrogen generated by fluctuating renewable energy sources should be undertaken in Sri Lanka NOW to free the nation of energy imports and scarcities in the future.!
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Sri Lanka Railways develops ten stations to international standard
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka Railways Planning Director Wijaya Samarasinghe says that the Department of Railway has planned to develop ten railway stations of the island to international standards.
The railway stations selected for the project are the country's busiest stations.
Colombo Fort, Maradana, Ragama, Gampaha, Veyangoda, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Kandy and Galle will be equipped with the state of the art facilities under the plan.
Earlier, in February 2011, Ministry of Transport obtained cabinet approval for developing 11 railway stations as commercial centers. The railway stations selected were Colombo Fort, Slave Island, Colpetty, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatte, Dehiwala, Angulana, Ratmalana, Moratuwa, and Panadura.
Sri Lanka shares its poverty eradication experience at the 21st Session of the HRC
September 15th, 2012
THE PERMANENT MISSION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA TO THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE IN GENEVA
The Sri Lanka Delegation to the 21st Session of the Human Rights Council, intervening in the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on ‘Extreme Poverty’, has emphasized that States and economic actors must take concerted efforts to address extreme poverty and create an enabling environment for sustainable economic development, which is accessible to all. Noting that Sri Lanka considers the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights as a tool, which can lead to developing and shaping measures and activities needed to eradicate extreme poverty across the world, the delegation called for strong political will and a multi-pronged and multi-dimensional approach at all levels to make the eradication of extreme poverty a reality.
Noting that Sri Lanka has long recognised the importance of conducive policies towards poverty reduction and sustainable growth, the Sri Lanka Government’s current development framework – ‘Mahinda Chintana: The Way Forward’ – has developed a strategy to stimulate economic growth and ensure its even distribution. The Government anticipated that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in Sri Lanka will be achieved well ahead of 2015. The proportion of people living below the national poverty line has declined from 26.1% in 1990, to 15.2% in 2006/7, and to 8.9% in 2009/10.
Within the Mahinda Chintana, the ‘Divi Neguma’, the sustainable livelihood programme seeks to empower households through the establishment of one million domestic economic units. As a result, Sri Lanka has witnessed a marked improvement in nutritional levels of beneficiaries through food security, generation of additional income and economically empowered family units. The Government in 2011 spent approximately Rs 20 Billion on this programme. It is envisaged to expand this programme to target 2.1 million households in the next phase. This programme in turn has fed into the ‘Gama Neguma’, or the empowered villages programme, which targets on improving or provision of access to electricity, water, sanitation and other essential services, including health and education. Further. The ‘Pura Neguma’ programme clusters such empowered villages into developed townships, regional growth centres propelling Sri Lanka as an emerging economy focusing on environmentally friendly industry, private sector development and the development of tourism based economic activity.
Participating in the clustered interactive dialogues with independent experts on ‘international solidarity’ and ‘democratic and equitable international order’, the Sri Lanka delegation noted that in an era of globalization, international solidarity is fundamental to achieving a peaceful and secure future for all. Sri Lanka concurred with the view that effective international solidarity must be based on shared responsibility, mutual respect, cooperation and respect for national sovereignty and the principle of non-interference.
Sri Lanka shares its poverty eradication experience at the 21st Session of the HRC
Continued 1 .......
It was noted that following the onset of peace, the Sri Lankan government is determined to create a country of widespread prosperity which will be the bedrock of a lasting peace and that Sri Lanka’s sincere efforts at reconciliation based on a home-grown process can be further consolidated by the goodwill of the international community. Sri Lanka counted on international solidarity at this juncture to achieve the development targets it has set for itself with an in-depth vision and understanding of the priorities and the aspirations of its people.
Emphasizing that International solidarity cannot be confined to assistance or aid, but comprises a range of issues including sustainability in international relations, especially economic relations, peaceful coexistence, equal partnerships and the equitable sharing of benefit and burden, Sri Lanka concurred with the Independent Expert’s view that a democratic international order requires greater transparency and respect for the needs and aspirations of peoples in all regions of the world, regardless of economic power or geo-strategic imperatives. Coercive tactics exercised by more powerful sections of the international community on smaller and economically weaker states does not contribute to the consolidation of international solidarity nor would it foster a democratic and equitable international order.
Sri Lanka also underlined its concerns that the continued existence of nuclear weapons and of their possible use or threat of use, poses an overarching threat to humanity and for the establishment of a democratic and equitable international order. Sri Lanka joined the collective voice for the elimination of nuclear weapons from national arsenals, taking into account the security interests of all States and on the basis of the principle of undiminished security for all.
Avowed RACIST DEMAGOGUE Vaiko continues to push for a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.
Demonizing Sri Lanka to generate support for his political aspirations by exciting racist communal feelings among Tamils is his real agenda. His greed for power overwhelms God, Community and Country.
It is about time that the GOSL sent an extradition request to India, haul Vaiko into Sri Lanka, and prosecute and punish him for violating Sri Lanka's Immigration and Prevention of Terrorism laws during the Prabhakaran's tenure as the SunGod.
We have tons of evidence to support such a prosecution, including many LTTE VIDEOS.
Use them NOW, and PUNIH this RACIST DEMAGOGUE from doing Sri Lanka & India more harm!
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Vaiko rejects MP government plea
By Express News Service - TIRUCHY
Rejecting a plea by the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government to drop his plans to protest during the visit of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa to Sanchi, MDMK leader Vaiko said that his party’s protest would be held as planned on September 21.
Addressing the party’s state conference at Karur on Saturday, Vaiko said he received a letter from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan that his government could not desist from welcoming Rajapaksa and requested him to abandon the protest.
Chauhan’s letter to Vaiko, which was in response to a letter written by the MDMK chief to him with an appeal to withdraw the invitation to Rajapaksa, stated that the event was completely apolitical and was organised to promote peace and harmony among Asian countries. Rajapaksa was invited to lay the foundation stone for an International Buddhist University at Sanchi in the presence of dignitaries from Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Mongolia and Nepal, the letter mentioned.
Vaiko said he could not accede to the Chief Minister’s request and asserted that the protest would be held as planned in a peaceful democratic manner. His party would not tolerate the visit of Rajapaksa, who committed a genocide of the island Tamils, he said.
The MDMK leader said he had planned to write a series of articles on what happened during the final days of the Sri Lankan military offensive against the Tigers. He said his party would strive to mobilise international opinion for a referendum on independent Tamil Eelam.
Vowing to realise the ideals of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, he said his party would work to achieve the Tiger leader’s objective of an independent Tamil Eelam. He said the Kerala had allocated `50 crore for breaking the Mullaiperiyar Dam and constructing a new dam in its place. “If Kerala succeeded in breaking the dam, people of TN should fight united and stop sending essential commodities like rice, dal, vegetables, meat and milk to that state,” he said.
Sri Lankan President to leave for India on Wednesday
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 17, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will leave for India on Wednesday, September 19th as scheduled.
During his visit to India, the President is scheduled to lay a foundation stone for an International Buddhist University in Sanchi in the Madhya Pradesh on the 21st in the presence of dignitaries from Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Cambodia, Mongolia and Nepal.
The President is also scheduled to meet the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart President Pranab Mukherjee and conduct discussions.
The pro-LTTE Tamil party MDMK leader Vaiko has meanwhile, vowed to stage a black flag protest in Sanchi on September 21 to show opposition to President's visit.
However, the Indian government has assured that there will be no room for any action against the Sri Lankan President and special security programs will be in place in Sanchi and New Delhi.
Buddhism's Diamond Sutra: The Extraordinary Discovery Of The World's Oldest Book
By Joyce Morgan
HuffingtonPost.com
September 12, 2012
Ask people to name the world's oldest printed book and the common reply is Gutenberg's Bible. Few venture that the answer is a revered Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra, printed in 868 A.D. Or that by the time Gutenberg got ink on his fingers nearly 600 years later -- and his revolutionary technology helped usher in the Enlightenment -- this copy of the Diamond Sutra had been hidden for several centuries in a sacred cave on the edge of the Gobi Desert and would remain there for several more.
Its discovery is the result of a series of accidents and its significance realized belatedly. The book unwittingly came to light when a Chinese monk clearing sand from a Buddhist meditation cave in 1900 noticed a crack in a wall. It suggested the outline of a doorway. Plastered over and painted, the entrance had been deliberately concealed.
The monk, Abbot Wang Yuanlu, broke in and discovered a small chamber, about nine feet square and full from floor to ceiling with scrolls. They had been hidden and perfectly preserved in the dark, dry grotto for 1,000 years. Although he didn't know it, among the nearly 60,000 scrolls was the Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D., a woodblock printed scroll, more than 16 feet long, complete and dated, with an instruction that it be given away for free.
Ironically, this enduring scroll, with its illustrated frontispiece depicting the Buddha teaching his disciples, is about impermanence. The Diamond Sutra, for centuries a revered and popular scripture, distils Buddhism's central belief: that all is change.
Unable to interest authorities in his find, Abbot Wang was ordered to seal the chamber. But rumor of the discovery had reached the nearby oasis when Hungarian-British explorer Aurel Stein arrived in 1907.
Stein had heard of the Caves of Thousand Buddhas, a network of 500 sacred painted caves hand-carved into a cliff just outside Dunhuang in remote Gansu province. They were a reason he embarked on a dangerous and secret expedition that saw him travel overland from India, through Pakistan and Afghanistan and into western China.
He wanted to follow the route by which Buddhism migrated from its birthplace in the Himalayan foothills and into China. It traveled along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that conveyed not just goods but ideas. And none was more influential than Buddhism.
Stein wanted to follow the footsteps of his "patron saint," a seventh-century Buddhist monk named Xuanzang, who made an epic journey from China to India and back in search of Buddhist scrolls. Over centuries, his exploits have morphed into myth, including in the cult television series "Monkey." But Xuanzang penned a true account of his journey, one scholars still consult, and which Stein carried in his saddle bags.
When he went in search of the caves' guardian, Stein learned that Wang too revered the ancient Chinese pilgrim. Nonetheless, the abbot was reluctant to open the cave to Stein. But he did allow Stein a furtive look at a few scrolls overnight. Stein's Chinese translator realized that some were versions of Buddhist texts translated by the scholar-pilgrim Xuanzang.
Buddhism's Diamond Sutra: The Extraordinary Discovery Of The World's Oldest Book
Continued ....
It was an astonishing -- and convenient -- coincidence. Surely from beyond the grave Xuanzang wanted the cave opened to a disciple from distant India? Stein dropped the "quasi divine hint." Within hours, Stein stood within the cave in astonishment. "Heaped up in layers, but without any order, there appeared in the dim light of the priest's little lamp a solid mass of manuscript bundles rising to a height of nearly ten feet," he later wrote.
Most of the scrolls were Chinese Buddhists texts, but there were also Tibetan Buddhist documents. Others were Nestorian and Manichaean texts, and there was even a fragment in Hebrew. The range of documents suggest that this Silk Road oasis was once a great cultural and religious crossroads.
Stein had little idea of what was in the 5,000 scrolls he bought from Wang for £130. He had no time to examine the documents properly, nor did he understand Chinese. And Stein's Chinese translator knew little about Buddhism. The fact that the Diamond Sutra was somewhere among the many bundles was simply an accident.
Stein, born 150 years ago this year, took the Diamond Sutra and the other scrolls to India and on to London, where they are now in the British Library. But the significance of the Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D. took years to sink in. When the usually meticulous Stein first referred to it in his book about his expedition, published 1911, he recorded its date wrong. Stein's great rival, Frenchman Paul Pelliot, appears to have spotted its significance when he studied the scroll a few years later. The Diamond Sutra was displayed in the British Library at one stage near a Gutenberg Bible -- with the latter labeled as the world's earliest printed book.
The Diamond Sutra, now recognized as one of the world's great literary jewels, has recently undergone conservation. Too fragile to go on permanent display, it can be viewed online in greater detail than peering through a dark display case would allow. And there it can be viewed for free -- just as initially intended.
4 Secrets of the Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sutra distills Buddhism's central message that everything changes. It describes our fleeting world as a bubble in a stream. Jack Kerouac was so influenced by the Diamond Sutra that he studied it daily for years and attempted his own rendition. Brevity is one reason for the Diamond Sutra's popularity. It can be recited in 40 minutes. The Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D. is printed on paper, a material unknown in the West for another couple centuries.
Go to HuffingtonPost.com to see Photos of the Diamond Sutra Scrolls.
Buddhist Studies Varsity in Sanchi
by LALIT SHASTRI-Courtesy: Buddhist Channel
September 14, 2012
Sanchi, India — Sanchi University for Buddhist Studies is being set up at the initiative of the Madhya Pradesh government at Sanchi — the historic town near the state capital known for the world heritage Buddhist monuments dating back to the period of Ashoka in the third century BC.
Briefing mediapersons, MP culture minister Laxmikant Sharma said the Sanchi University for Buddhist Studies will be devoted to the study and research on Buddhist thought in all its dimensions. He announced that the university’s foundation stone would be laid on September 21. Coinciding with the foundation laying ceremony, Bhopal will be hosting the first ever international conference on “Dharma-Dhamma” (Dharma in Sanskrit means religion and Dhamma in Pali also means religion but is focused around Lord Buddha’s teachings) on September 22-23.
Mr Sharma said that the Bhopal conference is significant from the state’s point of view in several ways. “It will underscore the pre-eminence of Sanchi in Particular and Madhya Pradesh in general in the context of our spiritual heritage,” the minister observed.
The New Delhi-based India Foundation’s Centre for Study of Religion and Society, Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka and Madhya Pradesh culture department are jointly hosting the conference.
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has been invited to be the chief guest at the inaugural function on September 22. Ananda Guruge and David Frawley (both from USA), Ven. Banagala Upatissa Thero (Sri Lanka), Prakash Ambedkar, former Union ministers Arun Shourie and Murali Manohar Joshi will be among the main speakers. At the sideline of the conference, there will be a week-long artists’ workshop and an exhibition of Mandala and Thanka paintings.
This is a significant step in the right direction by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to develop and foster cordial relations with our Indian cousins in North India given the jaundiced attitude of most Tamils in Tamil Nadu, even as Racist Demagogues in Tamil Nadu threaten hell, fire and brimstone against President Rajapaksa.
Let us hope that the Hindu majority of India will not reject their hallowed heritage of Buddhism, just as we Buddhists of Sri Lanka do not reject our hallowed Hindu heritage.
Let us hope that the Hindus of India will revere their Golden Heritage of Buddhism unlike the narrow minded Taliban Muslims of Afghanistan who blew up the Bamiyan Buddha statues built by their own enlightened ancestors.
Blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas would be akin to modern Orthodox Christian Greeks blowing up the "Pagan" Parthenon ... a step the Greeks would not contemplate in their wildest dreams .... for Rationality remains an enduring characteristic of the Greek mind.
All Hail President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his wisdom and courage bearding the Lion in its den!
May the Noble Triple Gem Bless & Protect him ALWAYS!
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Sanchi Buddhist and Indian Knowledge Studies University
Courtesy: Buddhist Channel
September 14, 2012
Madhya Pradesh, India — The State Cabinet on Monday endorsed three ordinances, including the one on Sanchi Buddhist and Indian Knowledge Studies University. The Cabinet also endorsed amended ordinance regarding Techno-Global Private University in Vidisha district and Underground Pipeline, Cable and Duct (Acquisition of Powers for Land Use) Ordinance 2012.
The ordinance on Sanchi university includes six major provisions, including teaching of Dharma/ Dhamma in the context of varied knowledge traditions and contemporary context without negating the views and practices prevailing in other countries.
The ordinance provides for maximum interaction among Asian countries with forceful historic similarities in religion, philosophy and folk culture. There are also provisions for understanding mutual viewpoints on Asian cultures and civilizations and promoting world peace and harmony by understanding each other’s roles.
The ordinance also provides for ensuring participation of scholars and willing persons of Asia and the world for fulfilling the university’s objectives, contribution to reforms in Indian and Asian countries’ educational systems, making efforts for evolving a new viewpoint on alternative educational system, imparting teaching and training in various Asian arts, sculpture and skills.
Buddhist University will have five major departments on Buddhist philosophy, Sanatan Dharm and Indian Science Studies, international Buddhism studies, comparison of religions and department of linguistics, literature and arts.
Notably, the State government is scheduled to convene International Dharma-Dhamma Sammelan at Bhopal on September 22 and 23. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and scholars and philosophers from about 22 countries, including Britain, Netherlands, Vietnam, China, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, etc will participate in the religious congregation.
This function is being organised jointly by Madhya Pradesh Culture Department, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS), New Delhi and Mahabodhi Society, Sri Lanka.
The German Dharmaduta Society to celebrate 60th anniversary
By Janaka Perera
LankaWeb.com
September 17, 2012
The German Dharmaduta Society, Sri Lanka will mark its 60th Anniversary (1952-2012) with an alms giving to 60 Buddhist monks at the B.H. William Hall, All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, Colombo on Sunday September 23.
Among the highlights of the day’s proceedings will be the screening of a video documentary on the history of the GDS and a new website dedicated to its founder Asoka Weeraratne. The society was the first to send a Theravada Buddhist Mission to Germany in 1957 when it was known as the Lanka Dharmadutha Society. Weeraratne also founded the Berlin Buddhist Vihara and the Meethirigala Nissarana Vanaya (Mithirigala Forest Hermitage)
Much of the GDS work in the initial period was done in an upstairs back room of the now-defunct well-known business enterprise, Messrs. P.J. Weeraratna & Sons, 2nd Division, Maradana, where the office of the Society was first located. Ven. Nyanatiloka Maha Thera (the well respected German monk) was the first Patron of the Society.
In 1956 this Office was shifted to the newly built Headquarters and Monk’s Training Centre at 417, Bullers Road (Bauddhaloka Mawatha), Colombo 7, which was declared open by the then Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike on August 7, 1956. The Society’s name was changed to German Dharmaduta Society on May 8, 1957. The following month the GDS sponsored the first Buddhist Mission to Germany from Sri Lanka. It comprised Ven. Soma, Ven. Kheminde and Ven. Bope Vinitha, all recruited from the Vajiraramaya Temple, Bambalapitiya. They were later joined in Germany by Asoka Weeraratna, then Hony. Secretary of the society.
One of his most significant contributions to the spread of Buddhism in the Germany was the critical role that he played in the purchase of “Das Buddhistische Haus” which the German Buddhist Dr. Paul Dahlke had established in 1924 before his death four years later. Das Buddhistiche Haus, having an extent of nearly 6 acres, is located in the picturesque suburb of Frohnau in North Berlin, and was considered the Center of German Buddhism during Dr. Dahlke’s time.
Asoka Weeraratna personally negotiated with the nephew of the late Dr. Paul Dahlke and bought the property in December, 1957 on behalf of and in the names of the five Trustees of the German Dharmaduta Society (which comprised Dudley Senanayake (former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka) Henry Amarasuriya, Dr. P.B. Fernando, Nelson Soysa, Proctor, S.C., and Asoka Weeraratna). Today, it is the oldest Theravada Buddhist centre in Europe. It has been designated as a National Heritage site since 1995 by the German Local Government authorities and enjoys their protection.
The Ceylon Daily News (Dec. 21, 1957) reported the purchase of Das Buddhistische Haus, the title of which property was acquired by the Trustees of the GDS, on December 13, 1957 as follows:
“The acquisition of these premises last week is an epoch making event, not only because these premises, will be the first Vihara and permanent Buddhist settlement which a Buddhist Country of the East owns in Europe but also because it will be a step forward in the successful achievement of founding the Buddha Sasana in Germany and the other countries of the West”.
Since 1957, the German Dharmaduta Society has continued to sponsor monks from Sri Lanka to take up residence at the Berlin Vihara and played a key role in cementing religious and cultural relations between the two countries. Today, there are impressive Buddhist activities in Germany. Many German Buddhists regard Buddhism in Sri Lanka as their spiritual home. The name of Dr. Paul Dahlke is held in high regard in Germany. The GDS converted the Das Buddhistische Haus, into a Buddhist Vihara by stationing resident monks, is now an important centre in the dissemination of Theravada Buddhism in Europe.
‘SL has made vast developmemt strides under President’
Chaminda Perera
DailyNews.lk
September 18, 2012
China yesterday said that Sri Lanka has made tremendous progress in the field of development under the dynamic leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and expressed confidence that the country would continue making vast strides on the path to development.
Visiting chairman of Standing Committee of National People’s Congress of China Wu Bangguo said that Sino – Lanka ties have reached the optimum level and China considers its relations with Sri Lanka as extremely important.
Bangguo made these remarks when he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. He is on a three day official visit to Sri Lanka on the occasion of completing 55 years of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China.
President Rajapaksa received the Chinese delegation led by Bangguo on their arrival at the Presidential Secretariat.
The Chinese NPC chairman was of the view that the historical relations between Sri Lanka and China have become a major factor to build closer political relations.
Speaking on the occasion, President Rajapaksa said that China is a true friend of Sri Lanka . China has worked for the well being of Sri Lankans throughout the history, the President said.
President Rajapaksa stressed that honouring one China policy is an integral part of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy.
He reiterated that Sri Lanka will stand by China and extend its fullest cooperation in regional and multilateral issues that are relevant to China and helping the wellbeing of the Chinese people.
It was also stressed to have a viable mechanism involving the Foreign Ministers of two countries to monitor bilateral economic, and technological cooperation.
The President thanked the government of China for helping Sri Lanka in its endeavour to eradicate terrorism. President Rajapaksa thanked the Government of China for extending its support to Sri Lanka at the 19th session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He emphasized that the government of Sri Lanka will extend its fullest support to China’s candidature at the UN Human Rights Council for 2014 – 2016. President Rajapaksa said that the country is becoming a maritime, aviation, knowledge and commercial hub owing to the cooperation extended by China and a conducive environment is being created in Sri Lanka for the Chinese to make their investments.
“China has become the country top development partner by providing developmental assistance to the tune of over US$ 5 billion.
The visiting Chinese official drew attention to the trade deficit between the two countries and assured that he would encourage more and more Chinese companies to import Sri Lankan products to rectify this situation. He said tax concessions would also be introduced to Sri Lankan businessmen in China and Sri Lankan investors are also given opportunities to invest in China. Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris, Economic Development Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Kumar Welgama, T.B. Ekanayake, Parliamentarian Sajjin Vass Gunawardena, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Wu Jianghao Chinese envoy in Sri Lanka, were also present.
How Come Jayalalitha, Karunanidi, Vaiko and Ramdoss DID NOT PREVENT this Tamil Nadu Business Delegation from coming to Sri Lanka?
WE DON'T NEED their parippu, their onion, or their chilis ... we have our own. They should GO BACK to the Tamil-only Valhalla of Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka is NOT AN EXCLUSIVELY Tamil Nation but a nation of many ethnicities trying to live in harmony together as equal Sri Lankans.
These Tamil purists might might become CONTAMINATED & UNCLEAN interacting with Sinhala Barbarians in Sri Lanka!
Bloody HYPOCRITES .... when PROFITS are at stake, they RUN OVER to the DEN OF DEMONS in Sri Lanka ... ALL SMILES and GOODWILL ... when they are back in Tamil Nadu they DEMONIZE us!!
WE DON"T NEED THEIR BUSINESS!GO HOME to Tamil Nadu!!
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Tamil Nadu trade team to arrive in Sri Lanka Thursday
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 17, Colombo: A trade delegation from Tamil Nadu state of India is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Thursday for a four-day visit, according to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
The 45-member trade delegation consisting of the Executive members of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (TNCCI) in Madurai will be in the island to explore ways to improve trade relations between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.
The TNCCI delegation will arrive in Colombo on board the first international flight of the budget carrier Spice Jet that will start services between Madurai and Colombo on September 20.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has said that the visit is aimed at enhancing the bilateral trade relations between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.
The visit of the trade delegation take place despite the hostile sentiments of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and pro-LTTE Tamil parties in the state towards Sri Lanka and its people.
The Chief Minister, who was irate over the Indian government's refusal to send back the Sri Lankan defence personnel receiving training in the state, last month ordered to send back two Sri Lankan high school soccer teams who were in the Tamil Nadu state to play friendly matches.
Following on the heels of that incident, pro-LTTE Tamil party activists attacked a group of Sri Lankan pilgrims attending a Christian shrine in the state.
The attack prompted the Sri Lankan government to issue a travel warning for its citizens against travelling to the Indian state.
The TNCCI deplored the attack and appealed Sri Lanka to withdraw the travel advisory it has issued warning that business, trade and tourism between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu will suffer.
When SEPARATIST TERRORISTS trying to ENSLAVE a people and DIVIDE a nation BY FORCE are DEFEATED and ERADICATED, criminal RACIST DEMAGOGUES such as Vaiko HOWL in pain.
Let them HOWL, and let the vast majority of our Indian cousins SEE & CONDEMN the HYPROCRISY of these FRUSTRATED terrorists lest it comes to roost in India too!
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Vaiko to go ahead with stir against Lankan prez Rajapakse
September 17, 2012
Times of India
Rejecting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's appeal, MDMK leader Vaiko will go ahead with his planned black flag demonstration against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse during his proposed visit to Sanchi in that state. Vaiko, a strong critic of Rajapakse, holding him responsible for the killing of civilian Tamils in the war against LTTE in 2009, will leave for Sanchi on Monday (Sep 17), an MDMK spokesperson said.
Vaiko will be accompanied by around 1,000 supporters, he said, adding the leader would lead the protest against Rajapakse's participation in a Buddhist function at Sanchi on September 21.
Chouhan had yesterday written to the MDMK founder leader asking him to drop the protest move, insisting Rajapakse's visit was apolitical and that it should be seen as an endeavour to promote peace and harmony among Asian countries. Chouhan had also assured that he stood by Tamils on the issue of human rights.
Vaiko had recently written to the BJP leader requesting him to withdraw the invitation to Rajapakse, as people in Tamil Nadu blamed the Lankan President for alleged atrocities against Tamils in the island nation.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring union territory of Puducherry, a day-long bandh is being observed by actor-director Seeman led Naam Tamizhar Katchi protesting Rajapakse's visit. Private buses were off the roads while hotels, shops and other establishments downed their shutters. Private schools were off the roads while hotels, shops and other establishments downed their shutters. Private schools were also closed. Tight security arrangements have been made by police to avoid any untoward incident, police said.
India scouts for oil near borders
By Anupama Airy
HindustanTimes.com
September 18, 2012
India is making all out efforts to get a toehold in most oil and gas exploration blocks on borders with neighbours such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Given the strategic importance of these blocks, New Delhi has begun parleys with top officials of these countries to get allotment of
these blocks on nomination basis.
Under discussion are blocks close to the Indo-Myanmar border along Mizoram and Manipur, and offshore blocks in Sri Lanka's Mannar and Cauvery basins situated close to Indian shores.
Talks were also held with Thailand last week to speed up work on the proposed economic corridor that will link India with Thailand and Southeast Asia for better connectivity and infrastructure development.
"You would appreciate that this is a unique opportunity in our quest for energy security that needs to be leveraged," said a recent note from the ministry of external affairs to the petroleum ministry.
"While our companies are involved in oil exploration and exploitation in different parts of the world, it is in our immediate neighbourhood that the advantages we enjoy of proximity, security and leverage are the greatest."
In case of Sri Lanka, the note said efforts should be made to get blocks on nomination basis.
A senior petroleum ministry official said the ministry of external affairs and the ambassadors in these countries have been giving inputs on E&P blocks in neighbouring countries.
In Myanmar, about 23 blocks are likely to be on offer including nine that were open for bidding in the last round but did not find good takers.
The petroleum ministry has also been informed by MEA that there is a fair chance of discovery in these blocks, so it is important that India does not let these blocks fall to third country interests.
Myanmar is expected to call for bids for some offshore blocks sometime later this year. An internal MEA note said that given the rapidly changing political, social and economic environment in Myanmar, many international oil majors are expected to enter the fray.
"The new round of bidding provides a fresh opportunity for Indian companies to make deeper inroads into the oil and gas sector in Myanmar... especially for those (blocks) which are close to the Indian border and have good prospects of discovery," the note said.
ADB approves US$ 98 million for road projects in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 19, Colombo: The Asian Development Bank has approved additional funding of US$ 98 million to expand a road re-building programme in Sri Lanka, the government media said.
The additional financing will allow 230 kilometers of national and provincial roads in Northern and North Central provinces o be rehabilitated adding to an existing National Highways Sector Project involving rehabilitating 300 kilometers of roads.
The funds will be used to expand the output of the project by rehabilitating and upgrading an additional 62 kilometers of national highways, comprising six link roads that provide access to the new Southern Highway in Western and Southern provinces.
The road upgrades will give faster connectivity to the South, including the capital Colombo, cutting travel costs and opening up new economic and employment opportunities.
Around 1.86 million people living in the two provinces will benefit from the overall expanded project.
The objective of the project is to reduce travel time to the two provinces by an average of 20% from the 2010 level, the government said.
Learning from Sri Lanka
By Arie Kruglanski, Michele Gelfand
NationalInterest.org|
September 19, 2012
The world has a lot to learn from Sri Lanka. This island nation, south of India, was torn by a vicious civil war for twenty-six years, which ended in 2009 with a clear victory for government forces over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Since then, the ruling authorities have done a remarkable job forging reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation with the Tamil minority. This is truly an example of how military victory needs to be followed up by forgiveness and peacemaking.
Without a doubt, the LTTE has been one of the most vicious and dangerous terrorist organizations ever. It was formidable militarily, complete with a navy (the Sea Tigers), air force (the Air Tigers) and a highly developed intelligence capability. The last push against it was relentless and bloody, claiming significant casualties on both sides. When the war ended, nearly three hundred thousand displaced Tamil civilians were left in the government’s care. These were persons who the LTTE dislocated from their villages and whose land was strewn with hundreds of thousands of mines (across five thousand square kilometers of land), making their resettlement impossible. An immense demining effort took place; now, three years later, only 5,424 internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in a temporary welfare village awaiting their return home on completion of the demining process.
The Sri Lankan government proceeded to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure in the LTTE controlled areas of the island. It constructed a network of new roads, bridges, schools and hospitals and provided economic and vocational assistance to the returning IDP resulting in over 20 percent annual growth in the northeastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Particularly impressive was the government’s treatment of the nearly twelve thousand LTTE fighters who surrendered to the Sri Lankan Army. Given the bloodiness of the protracted fight, the heavy casualties suffered by the military and the murderous track record of the LTTE, the surrendees feared the worst (our interviews indicate). They were in for a shocking surprise. President Rajapaksa publically instructed the army "to treat them as your children." Rather than being imprisoned or punished, a vast majority of the LTTE cadres were put in rehabilitation centers where they were offered vocational education, artistic activities, psychological and spiritual counseling. The 549 LTTE child soldiers were put in a special program cosponsored with UNICEF and received psychological counseling and catch-up education.
Learning from Sri Lanka
Continued ....
Systematic empirical research we have carried out with thousands of detained LTTE fighters yielded encouraging results. Over time, Tamil attitudes toward the Sinhalese have significantly improved; this seems attributable to the rehabilitation programs rather than the mere time away from the “killing fields.” Of the twelve thousand initial inmates of the rehab centers, over ten thousand have been released to their villages, and efforts are being made to reintegrate them into their communities.
To be sure, the process wasn’t perfect. Unfortunately, as often happens, numerous civilians (used by the LTTE as human shields) perished in the final fight. At present, members of the international community, including the United States, are questioning the intensity of the army’s onslaught and accuse the Sri Lankan government of human-rights abuses. The Sri Lankans, for their part, feel disappointed by what they see as hypocrisy and betrayal by nations they had considered allies in the global war on terror.
As academics, we are unwilling to take sides in that debate. We would like to bear witness, however, to the remarkable reconciliation efforts by the Sri Lankan government that we saw on several recent visits to this country in our capacity as terrorism researchers. We held informal conversations with Tamils and Sinhalese, including members of the Tamil diaspora and of the Tamil Nadu community in Southern India. We interviewed commanders of the Sri Lankan Army and ministers in the Sri Lankan government. We talked with members of an international NGO assisting in the reconstruction efforts. Most importantly, we carried out empirical research with over nine thousand former LTTE members, visited their rehabilitation centers and interviewed senior former LTTE fighters released into their villages. All these studies add up to an impression that what has been happening in the post-2009 years in Sri Lanka is truly unique.
A great deal remains to be done, hopefully with the full participation of the international community. The tasks ahead are challenging, yet there are reasons for optimism. To quote Winston Churchill: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The world would do well to pay attention to the case of the Tamils and the Sinhalese. The United States urges the Pakistani and Afghan armies to crack down harder on Taliban and other extremists, but does anyone have a plan for what to do after the war on terror is won? Sri Lanka does.
Arie Kruglanski is a distinguished university professor and Michele Gelfand is a distinguished scholar reacher at the University of Maryland, College Park. Both are senior researchers at the National Center for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism.
It is not just the Developing World that sees the Double Standards of the US in its Arab Spring activities: Other Americans see it too!
Halleujah!
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Washington's Double Standard
Ted Galen Carpenter
|NationalInterest.org
September 18, 2012
Washington’s reaction to the surge of antiregime movements in North Africa and the Middle East has varied markedly. U.S. leaders did not hesitate to back so-called prodemocracy movements in countries that are adversaries of the United States. Both the Obama administration and Congress issued blistering condemnations of the dictatorial regimes in Iran, Libya and Syria for thwarting the democratic aspirations of their people and brutally suppressing peaceful (and many not-so-peaceful) demonstrations. In the case of Libya, the United States and its NATO allies went beyond verbal support for the insurgents to launch air strikes and provide other crucial assistance to help overthrow Muammar el-Qaddafi. A similar course is increasingly likely with respect to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
The U.S. response to movements that targeted dictatorships friendly to the United States has been quite different. Washington dithered about whether to withdraw its support from clients in such places as Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt. Similar reluctance is evident with respect to the simmering conflict in Bahrain. Charges of U.S. hypocrisy are mounting as the Sunni ruling family intensifies its repression of mostly Shia political opponents. The Bahraini government is fast becoming a major embarrassment and potential geopolitical headache for the United States. That is not a minor consideration, since Bahrain is the home port of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Bahrain is perfectly situated to be a pawn in the Sunni-Shia struggle for dominance in the Middle East. The Sunni monarchy of the small island nation in the Persian Gulf rules a population that is nearly 70 percent Shiites, and stark discrimination against the latter is evident in nearly every aspect of life. Tehran openly backs Shia factions in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia is Bahraini king Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s primary patron.
When massive antiregime demonstrations erupted in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, in early 2011, government security forces responded with volleys of live ammunition, killing several dozen demonstrators. Despite that crackdown, insurgents might well have toppled the monarchy if Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies had not intervened with two thousand troops in March 2011.
The Obama administration’s tepid response was in marked contrast to the vitriolic condemnation of similar crackdowns in Iran, Syria and Libya. The number of dead during the initial demonstrations in Bahrain and throughout the following months was relatively modest; estimates range from sixty to one hundred. But Bahrain’s population is very small—some 1,235,000 people. On a per capita basis, the fatalities were comparable to or greater than those in other Mideast countries. Moreover, the number of dead is not the only measure of the monarchy’s brutality. Bahrain’s security forces have jailed hundreds of regime opponents—including both domestic and foreign journalists who dared produce accounts critical of the government. Amnesty International and other human-rights organizations also have documented numerous instances of torture.
Washington's Double Standard
Continued 2....
Yet Washington’s response to the crackdown and even the Saudi-led intervention has been extremely mild. The administration’s official statement did not even specifically criticize Saudi Arabia for sending troops. Instead, the State Department criticized intervention by the kingdom’s “neighbors” (apparently meaning both Iran and Saudi Arabia) as “alarming” and cautioned all players in the region to keep “their own agendas” out of the struggle between the monarchy and its opponents. Such U.S. evenhandedness also applied to the domestic struggle itself. While cautioning the Bahraini monarchy that a security crackdown was not an answer to demands for political and economic reform, the State Department also admonished the opposition “you cannot use violence. You should return to the negotiating table.”
Such a posture of moral equivalence was strikingly different from the U.S. stance toward the turmoil in Iran, Syria and Libya. That double standard became even more apparent in May 2012, when despite continuing credible reports of arbitrary imprisonment and torture of regime opponents, Washington announced the resumption of arms sales to the Bahraini government. Michael Hayworth, a spokesman for Amnesty International, stated that “the suggestion by the U.S. that attempts at reform are happening is insulting to Bahraini activists who continue to call and bleed for human rights.”
Any hope that Obama administration officials might have had that the monarchy would become more restrained in its treatment of regime opponents soon proved unfounded. In September, a Bahraini court upheld jail terms for thirteen leading opposition leaders—including seven facing life in prison—sentences that a special, thoroughly biased tribunal had imposed in June 2011.
The Bahraini government’s continuing repression and brutality is putting Washington in a very awkward position. U.S. leaders clearly give the highest priority to preserving the Fifth Fleet’s main port. Congenitally hawkish analyst Michael Rubin concedes: “As the host of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Bahrain is the keystone in America’s regional strategy. The Obama administration is right to worry that the overthrow of the monarchy in Bahrain would lead to the eviction of U.S. interests in that tiny island nation.” Beyond that consideration, U.S. leaders are undoubtedly suspicious of Iran’s support for antiregime factions and worry that regime change in Bahrain would enhance Tehran’s power and influence.
Washington's Mideast Follies
By Doug Bandow
NationalInterest.org
September 19, 2012
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton honor the victims of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. An American ambassador murdered. A consulate ransacked. Multiple embassies under siege. A U.S. school looted. Protests in “liberated” Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans again wondering: Why do they hate us?
Yet some Washington policy makers never learn. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the latest attacks on Americans resulted from a lack of U.S. “leadership.” GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan blamed administration weakness and Pentagon spending cuts. The cause, according to the last Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, was President Obama’s “weakness” and “feckless foreign policy,” most notably Washington’s failure to impose its will on the Muslim world—by intervening in Syria, coercing Egypt, continuing to occupy Iraq and more.
Although the administration reacted more responsibly, it sent drones, ships and Marines to Libya in an attempt to track down the Benghazi killers. It’s a worthwhile objective, but striking back blindly would be worse than doing nothing. Extensive drone campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen have inflamed anti-American sentiments. In fact, the Benghazi airport was closed after hostile militias fired missiles at U.S. drones.
The GOP attack on the Obama administration’s foreign policy reeked of desperation. Republicans offered no plan of their own. Nevertheless, Romney aide Rich Williamson claimed: “There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation.” Yes, the situation likely would have been worse.
In practice, there is very little difference between the Bush and Obama administrations on foreign policy. Both engaged in routine political interference, promiscuous military intervention, and continuous warfare in the Middle East and around the world. And this policy has turned out badly irrespective of the party in control. The invasion of Iraq was merely the most spectacular recent failure in American foreign policy, highlighted by the death of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Moreover, despite the Sturm und Drang of the presidential campaign, there are few substantive differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The latter just promises more, and perhaps a lot more, of the same. In his opinion, Washington does not intervene enough. If only the United States—apparently an international shrinking violet in Romney’s view despite its ubiquitous presence around the globe—told Egyptians, Syrians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and everyone else what to do, abashed foreigners would instantly genuflect toward Washington. Evil would disappear from the earth, the lion would lie down with the lamb and world peace would blossom.
Washington's Mideast Follies
Continued 1 ....
In the Bush-Obama-Romney view, the president need merely pronounce his will to a waiting world. When that approach fails, it is deemed the fault of the administration, not the policy. It’s an appealing vision but one utterly at odds with reality. Even when Washington intervenes on the side of the good guys (sometimes, but not always), the result usually is counterproductive. Blowing up other societies typically results in unpredictable blowback.
Iraq was a painful lesson for many people. So should be the Afghan war, which continues in its eleventh year even though it no longer bears any connection to the initial triggering event of September 11. However, Barack Obama twice doubled down on the Bush policy. Romney talks of victory even as he refuses to take a clear position. And McCain complains that neither presidential contender will commit to keep American troops in Afghanistan forever.
The Obama administration’s “splendid little war” in Libya promoted regime change on the cheap in the name of humanitarianism. U.S. intervention was supposed to save Benghazi from the depredations of dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Yet residents of Benghazi showed their gratitude by storming the U.S. consulate and murdering the ambassador and three other Americans.
Of course, the mob may not reflect majority sentiments. And radical jihadists of one stripe or another may have taken advantage of popular anger. However, the details are irrelevant: it was Western intervention in Libya’s civil war which made this latest round of violence possible.
Another consequence of the conflict was widespread looting of the old regime’s military arsenals. One of the Americans killed in Libya was tasked with tracking down weapons that had fallen into the wrong hands.
As for the Arab Spring, Washington policy makers seem congenitally unable to admit that Tunisians, Libyans, Egyptians, Syrians and others have wills of their own. The readiness of some on the “Arab Street”—and many Muslims elsewhere—to resort to murderous violence in response to a perceived insult to Islam betrays a culture ill prepared for self-government.
Washington's Mideast Follies
Continued 2 ....
Indeed, protests such as those in Benghazi, Cairo and Sana actually do more than anything else to justify the most virulent critiques of Islam. Yet much more is at stake. For instance, the U.S. government spent four decades underwriting autocracy in Egypt in the name of stability. Americans held abstract discussions of policy in Washington while Egyptians suffered in Cairo under a dictator embraced by Washington. That record, along with the Obama administration’s very public reluctance to abandon Hosni Mubarak, tainted America in the eyes of even liberal-minded Egyptians. Today Washington can ill afford to array itself against democracy. The only thing worse than working with a president from the Muslim Brotherhood would be backing another military junta.
Anyway, the United States does not control events in Cairo or elsewhere in the region. Rather, Washington’s insistence on trying to micromanage the region has created its most serious problems today.
For example, fomenting a coup in Tehran in 1953 led to long-lasting Islamic rule, which today poses the most serious challenge to U.S. Mideast policy. Backing Saddam Hussein against Islamist Iran encouraged him to later invade Kuwait, pulling America into war. Later, Washington stationed troops in Saudi Arabia, which sparked the Khobar Towers attack and spurred Osama bin Laden’s efforts. Finally, Washington invaded Iraq to “drain the swamp” it had helped fill. That conflict sowed the wind throughout the region; now the whirlwind is being reaped.
U.S. policy makers should step back and shut up. Avidly blowing up countries with no idea what will follow—whether Iraq, Libya or Syria—is foolish. Moreover, “leadership” would best be exercised without publicly lecturing disdainful governments and peoples about Washington’s opinion on anything and everything. Better to talk privately on fewer issues.
Americans deserve a real debate on foreign policy. The latest tragedy in the Middle East highlights the virtues of humility and prudence. The U.S. government should never apologize for the liberties that undergird American society, though officials should sharply distinguish private opinion from public action. However, Washington should apologize for the genuine horrors that have resulted, even inadvertently, from its past policies and actions. And the next president should abandon Washington’s attempt to constantly reshape the world, a policy that has so dramatically failed at such high cost.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author of several books, including Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire.
Did Jesus have a wife?
NewYorkTimes.com
September 18, 2012
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’”
The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”
The finding is being made public in Rome on Tuesday at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by the historian Karen L. King, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.
The provenance of the papyrus fragment is a mystery, and its owner has asked to remain anonymous. Until Tuesday, King had shown the fragment to only a small circle of experts in papyrology and Coptic linguistics, who concluded that it is most likely not a forgery. But she and her collaborators say they are eager for more scholars to weigh in and perhaps upend their conclusions.
Even with many questions unsettled, the discovery could reignite the debate over whether Jesus was married, whether Mary Magdalene was his wife and whether he had a female disciple. These debates date to the early centuries of Christianity, scholars say. But they are relevant today, when global Christianity is roiling over the place of women in ministry and the boundaries of marriage.
The discussion is particularly animated in the Roman Catholic Church, where despite calls for change, the Vatican has reiterated the teaching that the priesthood cannot be opened to women and married men because of the model set by Jesus.
King gave an interview and showed the papyrus fragment, encased in glass, to reporters from The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Harvard Magazine in her garret office in the tower at Harvard Divinity School last Thursday. She left the next day for Rome to deliver her paper on the find on Tuesday at the International Congress of Coptic Studies.
She repeatedly cautioned that this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married. The text was probably written centuries after Jesus lived, and all other early, historically reliable Christian literature is silent on the question, she said.
But the discovery is exciting, King said, because it is the first known statement from antiquity that refers to Jesus speaking of a wife. It provides further evidence that there was an active discussion among early Christians about whether Jesus was celibate or married, and which path his followers should choose.
“This fragment suggests that some early Christians had a tradition that Jesus was married,” King said. “There was, we already know, a controversy in the second century over whether Jesus was married, caught up with a debate about whether Christians should marry and have sex.”
Bravo, President Rajapaksa .... security of the nation after a 30 year separatist war supported by foreigners is SRI LANKA's Business ... not of foreigners.
Perhaps India can tell us how the demilitarization of Kashmir is going?
Bloody Hypocrites!
................
No troop cuts in Tamil areas: Rajapaksa
By R.K. Radhakrishnan
TheHindu.com
May 19, 2012
Sri Lankan army soldiers on Thursday march during rehearsals in Colombo to commemorate the government's victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in an annual military parade scheduled for May 19.
AP Sri Lankan army soldiers on Thursday march during rehearsals in Colombo to commemorate the government's victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in an annual military parade scheduled for May 19.
Sri Lanka marks three years since end of war
Three years after the end of the war that obliterated the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka celebrated the victory with great pomp and show, emphasising its resolve to forge its own destiny, stationing troops where it chooses to, and blaming foreign countries of supporting Tiger fringe elements. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's message to the international community was clear: keep off; we are creating a new society on our terms.
“Armed services camps are not found in the North alone,” Mr. Rajapaksa said on the occasion of Victory Day at Galle Face Green, responding to requests by the United States, India and some other countries to reduce military presence in the North. “They [Armed Forces] are seen throughout the country. They are in Colombo and Giruvapattu in the South. These are found in our country. Not in any foreign country,” he said, making it clear that the army-to-civilian ratio in the North will not be altered. “We must ask if we are in a position to remove the armed forces camps in the North and reduce our attention national security. That is not possible,” he added.
Diplomats stationed in Colombo reckon that as much as 60 per cent of the Sri Lankan Army is deployed in the North. Another similar estimate puts the army-to-civilian ratio at 1:4.
‘No interference’
“We are aware that the armed forces do not participate in the administration of the North or East,” he said, though according to many prominent Tamils in the Northern province, the Armed Forces interfere in all functions in civil society. “These regions are administered by the public service and the police. Despite this there are many who shout that the security forces camps in these areas should be removed. They ask us why they are not removed,” he said.
Though the media reported on Friday that a student union leader was attacked by a person wearing a mask, and though there have been disappearances from the North, the President claimed that all armed groups and militias in the North and East have been disarmed.
“It is no secret that through 30 years there were armed groups and militias operating, especially in the North and East. All such groups have now been disarmed,” he said.
On the question of reconciliation, the President said the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was appointed “with great expectations of bringing about reconciliation among communities”. “We are already carrying out what we can agree to and can implement among the recommendations of the LLRC. This is not due to any pressure from anyone. We will not abandon our responsibilities,” he said.
My Comment at: Tavish Scott: Human rights are of secondary concern in Sri Lanka
New.Scotsman.com
September 20, 2012
The Tamil Tigers engineered communal strife in Sri Lanka to create a captive support base in their quest for an aparthied Tamils -only Eelam state in Sri Lanka. Indian Tamils led by the nose by Racist Demagogues jockeying for power aided and abetted them and are still doing so, The Indian Govt oblivious to the danger posed by separatists terrorists to the integrity of India itself, trained, supported and defended Tamil terrorists only to have them turn against the Indian Peace Keeing Force that arrived to partition Sri Lanka in their favour.
Today, the US, UK and other Western democracies are selectively undermining, destabilizing and overturning sovereign nations under the flag of "democracy" and "human rights" in collusion with virulently intolerant countries like Saudi Arabia and Quatar, and are being foiled and "surprised" everywhere by unanticipated blowback reactions.
During George Bush's time we had the born again Christians waging holy war. Now, under Obama and Hillary Clinton, disciples of national interest cloaked in democracy and human rights robes are doing the same thing. Hypocrites hoisting double standards on vulnerable nations and peoples to preserve their hegemony by whatever argument is convenient.
Sri Lanka is the oldest functioning democracy of South Asia, that suffered for 30 years at the hands of foreign supported terrorists trying to negotiate a peace. Finally, in desperation, it gave and fought the war the way it should have been fought in the first place. Today, our democratic bretheren in the West are trying to find fault with this courageous self-reliant nation attempting to build a peaceful and vibrant home for all of its people irrespective of community.
We will not partition our motherland into a patchwork of Bantustans to please the agenda of any foreigner. We will bind and heal the wounds of all of our people and let them enjoy the democracy and fruits of Sri Lankan citizenship guaranteed by law. We will not promote, acknowledge or embed divisions based upon race, religion, caste, sex or wealth and allocate privileges and benefits among our people in our Resplendent Motherland, come hell or high water.
There are NO LAND OR AREAS in Sri Lanka that belong EXCLUSIVELY to Tamil People.
ALL of Sri Lanka belongs EQUALLY to ALL of its people, irrespective of community.
As the Defence Secretary points out, the MAJORITY of Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the South among the Sinhalese.
Why then is the settling of Sinhala people in the North & East called "Colonization"? They are entitled as Sri Lankan citizens to settle and live ANYWHERE in Sri Lanka just as the Tamils settle and live in the South. We cannot have one set of rights for Tamils and another restricted set of rights for non-Tamils.
These DEMANDS REFLECT the Racist, Apartheid attitudes of Greedy Selfish Eelamists who want to have their Exclusive Cake in the North and EAT an EQUAL Share of Cake of the Sinhalese also.
Such Selfish Racist DEMANDS cannot be Accommodated in Sri Lanka, whatever the jaundiced "international community" may say! We will not ALLOW the creation of a patchwork of Apartheid Bantustans in Sri Lanka, come what may.
Tamils should adjust to living as EQUAL citizens of Sri Lanka without DEMANDING for SPECIAL RIGHTS UNAVAILABLE to OTHER Sri Lankan citizens.
The "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" should recognize the RACIST INTOLERANT UNDEMOCRATIC SEPARATIST character of Tamil Eelamist demands and NOT PANDER TO THEM!
......................
Defence Sec. dismisses TNA claims
By Shamindra Ferdinando
September 20, 2012
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said yesterday that Tamil speaking people living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces were free now.
Tamil people appreciated the ongoing accelerated development programme in war devastated districts. The international community was appreciative of the post-war recovery process, the Defence Secretary said, alleging that despite all that an attempt was still being made to portray a bleak picture.
The international community should realize that those making unsubstantiated allegations against the GoSL today remained silent to Tiger atrocities as long as they felt the LTTE could achieve its military objectives, he said. The government welcomed senior representatives of the international community seeing the ground situation and raising contentious issues with relevant authorities. "We don’t have anything to hide. In fact, those alleging state sponsored colonization in the Northern and Eastern Provinces are mum on people driven out of their villages during the war by the LTTE," the Defence Secretary said. They were also silent about large number of Tamils from a North and East freely settling down in a South, he said.
Rajapaksa recalled how the LTTE detained even local UN staff and prevented their families from seeking refuge during the Vanni offensive. The official expressed confidence that the international community would examine the post-war situation.
The Defence Secretary was responding to a spate of allegations made by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at a meeting it had with a visiting UN delegation.
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance met Hanny Megally, Chief, Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch, Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and his team of officials
at the office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations.
Defence Sec. dismisses TNA claims
Continued ...........
UN Resident Coordinator Subinay Nandy was also present. The TNA delegation comprised R Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikalanathan, P Selvarajah and M A Sumanthiran, Members of Parliament.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the TNA said: "Amongst the matters discussed were land issues relating to security zones, particularly Valikamam and Sampur where the displaced people have not been able to resettle, their lands being taken over for military purposes, lands being taken over ostensibly for development purposes and on which, persons of the majority community are being settled, cultural and religious places being denied to the Tamil people, issues relating to demilitarization, disappearances, detenues, changes in the demographic composition in the North and the East, accountability and the evolution of an acceptable political solution. The question of whether the Sri Lankan government is unequivocally committed to the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC and the resolution adopted by the UNHRC at its sessions in March 2012 were also discussed."
My Comment at LankaWeb.com on
Over 1000 US foreign military bases yet commotion over Sri Lanka’s internal military, By Shenali Waduge
September 21, 2012
..................
I don’t agree with jayt that Jews are responsible for NGOs activities in Sri Lanka, or even that they are trying to destroy the Sinhalese people and Buddhist culture. Where is the evidence for that?
Speaking as a Sinhalese Buddhist, I think I can speak impartially about Jews, and there seems to be a compelling need to set some facts straight.
Because of their Biblical history related to the role the Jewish religious leaders played in the execution of Jesus by the Romans, Jews were discriminated against and ostracized in Europe, ignoring the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew, falling under the jurisdiction of the Jewish leaders! A glaringly peculiar, inconsistent, and disturbing fact is that Christian Europeans readily worship Jesus the Jew, but have denigrated and ostracized his Jewish people. Only recently is that discrimination abating.
The expulsion of Jews from Palestine by the Romans after crushing their final rebellion created a Jewish diaspora outside Palestine in both the East and the West. In Christian Europe where they concentrated, they were denied ownership of land and subjected to periodic pogroms, whereas they were relatively secure in the East, especially in Muslim lands. As a result of this exclusion fromland ownership and farming, they were forced to enter financial, professional, administrative and trading occupations that did not require land. Ther lost access to land that was the primary source of wealth in the past enabled them … as an entire people … to focus on education, and the acquisition of professional skills that led to even greater wealth. In current parlance, we would say that they moved … as an entire people …. from the Agricultural Sector to te Service Sector.
Even in the past, they had valuable skills. For example, when the Moors were defeated and Spain was unified as a Christian nation by the Monarchs Isabella & Ferdinand, the Muslims and Jews were largely killed or ejected as a part of their religious cleansing of the population of Spain. The Jews, in particular, as non-combatants in that conflict, were loaded onto a fleet of ships that sailed from port to port in the Mediterranean begging for permission to land … to no avail. However, the Muslim Turkish Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, recognized them as accomplished and talented people, and invited them to settle in Turkey granting them religious freedom and lucrative employment. Except for a few isolated incidents going back to the struggles of Prophet Mohammed with his own tribe in Arabia, and the recent conflict in Palestine associated with the creation of modern Israel, historical records show that Jews were well treated in Moslem lands.
My Comment at LankaWeb.com on
Over 1000 US foreign military bases yet commotion over Sri Lanka’s internal military, By Shenali Waduge
Continued 1....
Continued 1 ....
The prolonged discrimination Jews experienced living among Christian communities in Europe compelled them to keep much of their their assets liquid, ready to flee for their lives at any moment. They rightfully acquired an abiding fear of other people, and a yearning for a secure homeland of their own where they would not be persecuted for their Biblical, in my view wrongfully interpreted, associations. In desperation, driven by the Jewish Holocaust in Europe, the Jewish people created Israel in 1948 … the same year that Sri Lanka reawakened as a sovereign nation … as a refuge for all Jews in their historical place of origin: Palestine.
Unfortunately, there were people already living there …. largely Muslim Palestinians although there was a small minority of Jews as well … who were wrongfully displaced in the process. Understandably, the native Moslem Palestinians did not want to lose their land to any other people, and fought back as they had during the Crusades. They were unsuccessful in their resistance to being ousted because of the support the Jews received from the Jewish diaspora, from Europeans feeling guilty about what they had collectively inflicted upon the Jews over centuries, and the Americans because of their guilty conscience about their failure to help the Jews who were being murdered wholesale by Hitler in concentration camps. The Muslims of the Middle East, themselves a Semitic people and close cousins of the Jews, had no part in this killing of Jews in Europe, but paid the price for the crimes of the Europeans against the Jews.
This solution, aided and abetted by the Myopic West plying their own agendas then as they do now, without regard to the long term consequences of their actions to others, reminds me of the story of mythical Sri Lankan King “Kakille’ Rajjuruwo” who ordered the fat Moslem neighbor of the skinny goldsmith to be executed by the Royal tusker by being gored to death. A bricklayer who built the Royal wall crooked said he was distracted by the comely damsel making repeated trips to and fro. The damsel blamed the goldsmith making a necklace for her for making repeated errors. The goldsmith pleaded that although he was indeed guilty and the penalty was just, executing him would fracture the Royal tusker’s tusks because they would easily go through his skinny torso and hit the ground, whereas there was a very fat nicely rotund Muslim next door who was a perfect candidate that could be gored by the tusker without any injury to the valuable Royal elephant. So, he was!
In the same way, the West assuaged its own guilt, not by granting the Jews a land of their own that was theirs to give, for example in Europe, but in Palestine without asking the inhabitants of that land. The British had offered Uganda to the Jews before that …. again without asking for permission from the natives of Uganda. I just happen to think that Wales in Britain, or the province of Alsace/Lorraine between France and Germany, would have been a perfect fit for compensating the Jews with land that actually belongs to people who tormented them. Don’t you?
My Comment at LankaWeb.com on
Over 1000 US foreign military bases yet commotion over Sri Lanka’s internal military, By Shenali Waduge
Continued 2....
Today, there are many Jews who are human rights advocates, who while supporting Israel also criticize the policies of Israel in the occupied lands of Palestine that prevent a peaceful settlement there. There are also Jews who are equally vociferous in their drive to permanently annex the West Bank of Palestine, and whatever other adjoining Arab lands they can conquer, for Jews only. In the middle between these two warring groups is a large mass of Jews, Israelis included, who fully cognizant of their people’s history as an insecure minority in other lands, want to preserve the majority status of Jews in a safe and secure Israel, and want to somehow come to a settlement with their non-Jewish neighbors without expanding the existing borders of Israel. I hope that that silent majority of Jews will ultimately prevail.
With regard to Sri Lanka, I see no evidence that Jews are attempting to undermine Sinhala Buddhists, but I do believe that various Christian missionary organizations including fanatical born-again Evangelical Christians on the one hand, and virulent Wahhabi Moslems on the other are both trying to change the religious demography of Sri Lanka. They should be stopped dead in their tracks by passing and enforcing laws against foreign missionary work in Sri Lanka, and the influx of foreign funds geared to that goal.
If anything, Israel has sold us military equipment that no other Western country was willing to sell us in our existential struggle to defeat the LTTE and unify our Motherland into a place where all can live and prosper irrespective of community. Today, Israel is also employing Sri Lankans, giving them valuable training in advanced methods of agriculture and manufacturing technologies, and is generally a valuable ally for Sri Lanka, that understands the existential threat of terrorism to national survival as Sri Lanka understands it.
It is true that Sri Lanka also has valuable allies in the Moslem world, among them countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Therefore, Sri Lanka will have to walk a fine line between both warring parties to avoid antagonizing either side. Sri Lanka should generally stay out of Middle East conflicts … because only the opposing parties can solve them … not Sri Lanka. At most, Sri Lanka should attempt to be an impartial friend by offering its good offices to defuse the conflict and bring peace and prosperity to both sides … but should take care not to violate the sensitivities of either side.
We have ENOUGH problems of our own without taking on the BURDENS of others. NON-INTERFERENCE, MUTUAL-RESPECT and FRIENDSHIP should define our goals.
India, as the nation that trained, delivered, funded and supported Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka, and bullied and invaded our Motherland with the IPKF to partition it in favor of Tamil separatists, has MUCH TO ATONE FOR to win Sri Lanka's traditional friendship and love for India.
Supporting UN War Crimes charges, and pressuring Sri Lanka to devolve power to ethnic minorities on racial, religious, caste, or sex communal bases is NOT THE WAY TO DO IT. All PATRIOTIC Sri Lankans RESENT those moves.
As a nation that injured Sri Lanka and initiated, aided and abetted, a 30-year conflict between communities in Sri Lanka, India has NO STANDING in Sri Lankan eyes to interfere in our INTERNAL MATTERS with proposals for devolution of power to Tamils designed to further EMBED and EXACERBATE communal divisions in our country.
We Sri Lankans INDEED oppose devolution of power on communal bases. So, BUTT OUT!
ALL of Sri Lanka, in its entirety, is the home of ALL Sri Lankans to be enjoyed EQUALLY EVERYWHERE, irrespective of communal differences. There are no Sinhala areas, Tamil Areas, or Muslim Areas in Sri Lanka. Any citizen can move to any place in Sri Lanka, but land and settle down, as the majority of Tamil people of Sri Lanka already do by living in the Sinhala majority areas.
We do not accept either India's or the United States, FEDERAL models as promoting social amity and national stability. In India that system has largely failed to preserve the peace and to uplift all Indians equally.
We in Sri Lanka have an enviable record social justice unmatched by India. Therefore, India, far behind Sri Lanka in assuring social justice and progress of its citizens, has NOTHING of VALUE to offer Sri Lanka.
Instead, India should follow Sri Lanka's example and uplift its people with equity in employment, education, healthcare, land ownership, etc without regard to communal attributes (eg. scheduled castes etc) on the basis of NEED ALONE, and India should CEASE & DESIST from PLACATING RACIST DEMAGOGUES in Tamil Nadu for political advantage at Sri Lanka's expense.
If India CONSISTENTLY does that, India will regain Sri Lanka as its most reliable and supportive ally.
It is up to India to WIN Sri Lankan HEARTS & MINDS with NON-INTERFERENCE in our internal matters and with increased assistance in infrastructure development, and in trade and cultural interactions.
...............
India-Sri Lanka: Change tack
By Ajay Vaishnav
September 21, 2012
As Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa begins his three-day visit to India, the challenge faced by the two countries is to restore a sense of urgency in bilateral ties.
The first positive sign has already come with New Delhi’s decision to accord summit-level status to Sri Lankan President’s visit to inaugurate a Buddhist university in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh at the invitation of the state government. The development augurs well for India-Sri Lanka ties which have cooled down a bit in the post-LTTE era.
The primary factor behind it has been Colombo evincing no interest in India’s repeated advice to devolve greater autonomy and power to ethnic Tamils in the island nation’s federal polity.
Gautam Sen at New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) commented: “India-Sri Lanka relations appear to be reaching a phase of stagnation. While bilateral relations at the political level are still cordial, Colombo does not seem to be interested in or solicitous of Indian advice and suggestions with regard to its constitutional experiments concerning devolution of administrative and financial powers to the provinces.”
India, as the nation that trained, delivered, funded and supported Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka, and bullied and invaded our Motherland with the IPKF to partition it in favor of Tamil separatists, has MUCH TO ATONE FOR to win Sri Lanka's traditional friendship and love for India.
Supporting UN War Crimes charges, and pressuring Sri Lanka to devolve power to ethnic minorities on racial, religious, caste, or sex communal bases is NOT THE WAY TO DO IT. All PATRIOTIC Sri Lankans RESENT those moves.
As a nation that injured Sri Lanka and initiated, aided and abetted, a 30-year conflict between communities in Sri Lanka, India has NO STANDING in Sri Lankan eyes to interfere in our INTERNAL MATTERS with proposals for devolution of power to Tamils designed to further EMBED and EXACERBATE communal divisions in our country.
We Sri Lankans INDEED oppose devolution of power on communal bases. So, BUTT OUT!
ALL of Sri Lanka, in its entirety, is the home of ALL Sri Lankans to be enjoyed EQUALLY EVERYWHERE, irrespective of communal differences. There are no Sinhala areas, Tamil Areas, or Muslim Areas in Sri Lanka. Any citizen can move to any place in Sri Lanka, but land and settle down, as the majority of Tamil people of Sri Lanka already do by living in the Sinhala majority areas.
We do not accept either India's or the United States, FEDERAL models as promoting social amity and national stability. In India that system has largely failed to preserve the peace and to uplift all Indians equally.
We in Sri Lanka have an enviable record social justice unmatched by India. Therefore, India, far behind Sri Lanka in assuring social justice and progress of its citizens, has NOTHING of VALUE to offer Sri Lanka.
Instead, India should follow Sri Lanka's example and uplift its people with equity in employment, education, healthcare, land ownership, etc without regard to communal attributes (eg. scheduled castes etc) on the basis of NEED ALONE, and India should CEASE & DESIST from PLACATING RACIST DEMAGOGUES in Tamil Nadu for political advantage at Sri Lanka's expense.
If India CONSISTENTLY does that, India will regain Sri Lanka as its most reliable and supportive ally.
It is up to India to WIN Sri Lankan HEARTS & MINDS with NON-INTERFERENCE in our internal matters and with increased assistance in infrastructure development, and in trade and cultural interactions.
...............
India-Sri Lanka: Change tack
By Ajay Vaishnav
September 21, 2012
As Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa begins his three-day visit to India, the challenge faced by the two countries is to restore a sense of urgency in bilateral ties.
The first positive sign has already come with New Delhi’s decision to accord summit-level status to Sri Lankan President’s visit to inaugurate a Buddhist university in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh at the invitation of the state government. The development augurs well for India-Sri Lanka ties which have cooled down a bit in the post-LTTE era.
The primary factor behind it has been Colombo evincing no interest in India’s repeated advice to devolve greater autonomy and power to ethnic Tamils in the island nation’s federal polity.
Gautam Sen at New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) commented: “India-Sri Lanka relations appear to be reaching a phase of stagnation. While bilateral relations at the political level are still cordial, Colombo does not seem to be interested in or solicitous of Indian advice and suggestions with regard to its constitutional experiments concerning devolution of administrative and financial powers to the provinces.”
India-Sri Lanka: Change tack
Continued ....
To drive home its point, India even voted in favour of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) resolution against Sri Lanka. The hardened stance of Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu hasn’t helped the two nation’s cause. In recent months, the two main parties in the state – the AIADMK and DMK – are vying with each other to harness pro-Tamil sentiments in the state. Whether it is Jayalalitha’s opposition to the visit of a junior football team from Sri Lanka to latest opposition to Rajapaksa visit, Dravidian parties have left no stone unturned to espouse Sri Lankan Tamils’ cause.
Rather than helping the cause of Tamils across the Palk Strait, such attitude has in turn produced negative consequences.
India’s vote against Lanka only soured bilateral ties and didn’t produce any intended impact on Tamil’s cause. “The UNHRC
Resolution has not had any perceptible impact on the Sri Lankan Government”, remarked Sen at IDSA. On the other hand, “President Rajapaksa, in fact, now feels more at ease and justified in cultivating China with a posture of even-handedness while dealing with New Delhi and Beijing”, he added.
India cannot ignore ‘the China factor’ and that a drift in India-Sri Lankan relations will serve Beijing’s interest in Colombo is increasingly being realised. N Sathiya Moorthy, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation commented, “the ‘China factor’ could become a reality if the anticipated drift in India-Sri Lanka relations reached a point of no-return, and the US emerges as the big bully in the immediate Indian Ocean neighbourhood in the Sri Lankan eyes with India seen as politically weak and militarily incapable of stalling the process.”
China, however, has already firmly entrenched itself all over the island nation and Colombo is actively soliciting Chinese aid and investment. As Daniel Wagner and Daniel Jackman commented in the Huffingtonpost.com, “China is now Sri Lanka’s number one aid donor (more than US$1 billion per year), main trading partner, and majority supplier of more than half the country’s construction and development loans.”
Moreover, growing Sino-Lankan cooperation has serious strategic implications for India. “The construction of the Hambantota Development Zone has been a particular source of concern. China is financing 85% of the zone, which will house an international container port, oil refinery and international airport, as well being used as a refuelling center for both countries’ navies”, stress Daniel Wagner and Daniel Jackman at Huffingtonpost.com.
Hambantota’s proximity to Kundakulam nuclear site and Indian satellite launch centers in Kerala will boost China’s intelligence-gathering capabilities even though both Sri Lanka and China maintain the zone as a purely commercial venture. Not only this, Colombo will be getting a wide variety of arms and ammunition under a $37.6 million deal signed with Beijing.
To counter growing Chinese influence, New Delhi must infuse new energy into its ties with Sri Lanka. It must leverage its strengths and adopt a strategy that engages rather than alienates Sri Lankan government. The approach should be similar to Myanmar.
As highlighted by Sen at IDSA “Pressurising the Sri Lankan government on devolution should be avoided beyond a point.” Simultaneously, New Delhi must maintain the flow of aid to the southern neighbour for rehabilitation of Tamils. A diversified approach that combines interaction between the two nations through different platforms including enhanced trade ties must be encouraged.
Why Colombo is the key to dominating the Indian Ocean
By Harsh V Pant
DNAIndia.com
September 22, 2012
Notwithstanding the headline grabbing news of MDMK protests and an unfortunate self-immolation, the three day visit of the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, should be a time to reassess the trajectory of India-Sri Lanka ties. The decision by the Indian government to accord summit level status to Rajapaksa’s visit for the inauguration of the University of Buddhist and Indic Studies in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh has already underlined a new seriousness on New Delhi’s part to impart a sense of dynamism to a very important relationship that seems to have become hostage to the domestic political dynamic in Tamil Nadu.
Many in India and especially in Tamil Nadu are rightfully concerned about the slow pace of the rehabilitation of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the disinclination of the Rajapaksa government to find a lasting solution to ethnic problems. The anger in Tamil Nadu at Rajapaksa’s government’s conduct during and after the war with the LTTE remains high.
The political parties in Tamil Nadu continue to exploit the Lankan Tamil card with an eye on the state electoral calculus, even though the issue had little resonance in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Why Colombo is the key to dominating the Indian Ocean
Continued 1...
New Delhi has repeatedly emphasised the need for urgent steps to resettle internally displaced persons and urged the government to undertake speedy rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.
New Delhi has underlined the need for a meaningful devolution package, building on the 13th amendment that would create the necessary conditions for a lasting political settlement. The Rajapaksa government remains largely non-committal on this. But the Tamils in Sri Lanka are not going to get a better deal by attacking Sri Lankan visitors in Tamil Nadu.
The Sri Lankan president is at the height of his power after having defeated the LTTE and winning an overwhelming mandate for himself and his party. Yet his government’s human rights record is under critical scrutiny in the West and stable ties with India help him in underlining India’s backing for his government to the world.
It is important to recognise that beyond that symbolic value, Sri Lanka is rapidly slipping out of India’s orbit. India failed to exert its leverage over the humanitarian troubles that Tamils trapped in the fighting were facing. New Delhi’s attempts to end the war and avert a humanitarian tragedy in North-East Sri Lanka proved utterly futile.
Colombo’s centrality between Aden and Singapore makes it extremely significant strategically for Indian power projection possibilities. After initially following India’s lead in international affairs, even demanding that the British leave from their naval base at Trincomalee and air base at Katunayake in 1957, Colombo gradually gravitated towards a more independent foreign policy posture. And it was India’s enthusiasm for China that made Sri Lanka take China seriously, but after the Chinese victory in its 1962 war with India, Colombo started courting Beijing much more seriously. And today China has displaced Japan as Sri Lanka’s major aid donor, with an annual aid package of more than $1 billion. China is the first foreign country to have an exclusive economic zone in Sri Lanka. China is financing more than 85% of the Hambantota Development Zone to be completed over the next decade. This will include an international container port, a bunkering system, an oil refinery, an international airport and other facilities.
Why Colombo is the key to dominating the Indian Ocean
Continued 2...
The port in Hambantota, deeper than the one at Colombo, is to be used as a refuelling and docking station for its navy. Though the two sides claim that this is merely a commercial venture, its future utility as a strategic asset for China remains a real possibility, to India’s consternation. China’s presence at Hambantota enhances its intelligence gathering capabilities vis-à-vis India. India has expressed its displeasure about growing Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka on a number of occasions. In 2007, India’s then national security adviser openly criticised Sri Lanka for attempting to purchase Chinese-built radar system on the grounds that it would ‘overreach’ into the Indian air space.
Yet Sri Lanka has emerged stronger and more stable after the military success in the Eelam war and two elections at the national level.
To counter Chinese influence, India has been forced to step up its diplomatic offensive and offer Colombo reconstruction aid. With the LTTE out of the picture, the Indian government had hoped it would have greater strategic space to manage bilateral ties. However, New Delhi’s diplomatic energies have been sapped trying to balance its domestic sensitivities and strategic interests.
Colombo matters because the Indian Ocean matters. The ‘great game’ of this century will be played on the waters of the Indian Ocean.
Though India’s location gives it great operational advantages in the Indian Ocean, it is by no means certain that New Delhi is in a position to hold on to its geographic advantages. China is rapidly catching up and its ties with Sri Lanka are aimed at expanding its profile in this crucial part of the world. Indian policy makers need to shape up soon or else they are in danger of losing this ‘game’ for good.
Until the GOSL BANS all communal parties, and prosecutes TNA leaders for their TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES during the reign of the SunGod, the TNA will not change its Tiger Stirpes or its CONSTANT AGITATION to GAIN in PEACE through SUBTERFUGE, what they FAILED TO GAIN in WAR through UNLAWFUL VIOLENCE.
As long as there is NO PENALTY and NO DISADVANTAGES in continued undermining of the nation, why should they discontinue their SEPARATIST activities?
The central presumption in Law Enforcement is that CRIMES SHOULD BEGET PUNISHMENT.
When that central premise is not ENFORCED in a TIMELY way, and criminals ESCAPE scot free, violation of laws becomes the new NORM, and law-abiding citizens lose their place in society.
The GOSL should BAN communal parties, and HOLD the TNA ACCOUNTABLE for its Treasonous Activities of the past. Forget about foreign naysayers and ENFORCE THE LAWS OF THE LAND …. the lives of ALL Sri Lankan citizens is at stake!
Sri Lankan government allocates supplementary funds to add new chapter to Mahavamsa
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Treasury has allocated supplementary funds to add a new chapter to the country's historic chronicle, the Mahavamsa.
The supplementary funds have been allocated to the Department of Culture and Arts.
The Cultural Ministry has informed parliament that the allocation has been made under the "Project of Accomplishment of the Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa."
The new chapter is to include details of the ethnic issue and the political developments during the period.
The extra chapter according to the Cultural Ministry would record important social, political, cultural, religious and other events between 1978 and 2010.
It is learnt that emphasis would be paid to the end of the war between the government forces and the LTTE in 2009.
I hope Sri Lanka Police, Coast Guard and the Defence Forces are EVEN MORE VIGILANT about illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and putative terrorists entering Sri Lanka by boat.
That is the GREATER problem from Sri Lanka's perspective.
..............
Sri Lankan citizen held under NSA
NewIndianExpress.com
RAMANATHAPURAM
September 24, 2012
Police arrested a Sri Lankan citizen, Suresh, under the National Security Act (NSA), for landing in the mainland without possessing proper documents here recently.
The public noticed a mysterious fibre boat on Kuravanthoppu area with the engine removed. The local people had also noticed some persons alighting from the boat on July 23. They informed the police, who launched a search operation to nab the strangers. However they were unable to trace the persons. Meanwhile, the Coastal Security Group (CSG) police detained Suresh of Thalaimannar when he had come to meet his relative at Mandapam refugee camp on August 1.
Based on his confession, police recovered diesel cans and a boat engine from a thorny bush.
I cannot recall ANY COUNTRY that has done a better, or faster, job of caring for and resettling such a great number (300,000) of war refugees than Sri Lanka.
It is SAD that Sri Lanka does not get the CREDIT DUE for doing it OUR Sri Lankan WAY without external compulsions.
Levelling FALSE CHARGES of war crimes and ethnic discrimination, the propaganda of the Jaundiced West continues to HIDE this signal humanitarian accomplishment from the world.
They have also hidden that Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world that DID NOT USE FOOD as a weapon of war against the the people of enemy occupied areas, feeding both the Tamil population and the LTTE terrorists at Sri Lankan taxpayer expense for three decades!
Let us gratefully remember the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Policemen, dead and living, and the Sri Lanka Government as a whole, that fashioned these policies and strived with every sinew to make that possible.
We echo the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg:
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”
…………………
No more IDPs in Sri Lanka from today, last group will leave camps
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 24, Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities say that there would not be any internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country from today.
Security Forces Commander, Major General Boniface Perera, who is the Competent Authority for IDPs in the Northern region, has told the media that the last group of over 300,000 displaced persons during the war in the North will return to their original hometowns in the Mullaitivu District today.
Accordingly 1,186 people belonged to 361 families will leave the Manik Farm IDP camp in Vavuniya today.
According to Major General Perera, the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters and the Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters had helped expedite the resettlement programme on a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
He has explained that the resettlement in certain areas in the North was delayed due to the de-mining.
He has added that the military would continue to assist the resettled people to build their houses and commence their livelihoods although the government has met their needs.
Sri Lanka MUST prosecute and punish ALL those who assisted the LTTE in killing hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan citizens.
Many of the LTTE's leaders have already paid the ultimate price for their crimes. The next rung of leaders to be targeted should be the LTTE proxy leaders of the TNA, Eelamist DIASPORA leaders who committed crimes in Sri Lanka and escaped abroad, and certain FOREIGNERS who played A LEADING ROLE in the brainwashing of LTTE cadre to kill other Sri Lankans.
Topping the LIST of these Foreign LTTE criminals are 1. Vaiko of Tamil Nadu who is on video giving motivational speeches in the Wanni to LTTE cadre, and 2. Adele Balasingham who is also on video handing out cyanide capsules to LTTE female cadre and urging them to sacrifice themselves for the "cause". There are MANY OTHERS who belong in this list of Foreign LTTE Criminals.
Let us PUSH BACK on INDIA, the UK and the UN, by DEMANDING extradition of these people to Sri Lanka for prosecution and punishment.
We have the necessary EVIDENCE by the CARTLOAD; let us USE it, without allowing these UNREPENTANT criminals to CONTINUE DEMONIZING Sri Lanka, UNFETTERED and UNPUNISHED!
Going after these criminals will SEND A CHILLING MESSAGE to all contemplating COMMITTING CRIMES against Sri Lanka that there is a SIGNIFICANT PENALTY they must bear; that they can HIDE but they CANNOT ESCAPE RETRIBUTION.
DETERRENCE is ESSENTIAL for National Defense!
India-Sri Lanka relations hostage to Tamil parties
By Shastri Ramachandaran
DNAIndia.com
September 25, 2012
India’s neighbours are not necessarily its friends. They can hardly be called India’s allies. In regional and international forums, more often than not, they are ranged against one another. History, geography, religion, geopolitics, uneven development, competing ambitions and much else account for this state of affairs.
As a result, bilateral relations have their ups and downs and can be warm or chilly, euphoric or troubling. Even so, over the decades, the South Asian countries have learned to live and let live, regardless of the problems at home and across their respective borders.
The striving is to maintain friendly relations, a climate conducive for talks on matters of mutual interest and to prevent any situation from reaching breaking point. However, Tamil Nadu’s political parties, despite being an integral part of coalition governments at the Centre for long years now, do not seem to have grasped this elementary aspect of diplomacy.
The Kazhagams – Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, Karunanidhi’s DMK and Vaiko’s MDMK – do their best to vitiate India’s relations with Sri Lanka. The sideshows staged by these parties against India-Sri Lanka cooperation and against dignitaries (and ordinary citizens) from the island republic would be handy to illustrate a tract on “How to lose friends and alienate people”.
It is bad enough that New Delhi is not good at making friends of India’s neighbours. It is worse when the DMK and AIADMK push their sectarian agenda in external affairs and foment hostility to cultivate ill will.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit last week was yet another occasion for the Kazhagams to put up their predictable tamasha of protests – in the name of championing the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The frontline performer this time was MDMK general secretary Vaiko.
President Rajapaksa, who laid the stone for a University of Buddhist and Indic Studies in Sanchi, held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi. Doubtless, devolution of powers to create conditions for Sri Lanka’s Tamils “to live with dignity and respect”, elections in the Tamil-dominated Northern Province and the political plight of Tamils after the LTTE’s defeat in May 2009 were discussed between Singh and Rajapaksa.
India-Sri Lanka relations hostage to Tamil parties
Continued ....
A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and Indian fishermen being attacked by Sri Lankan navy were among the items on the agenda of the two leaders, who also met without their aides.
The significance of the meeting goes beyond the issues discussed because, one, it was the first meeting between the two heads of government after India voted against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. Two, this was the first meeting to deal with a range of substantive issues after June 2010. Three, Sri Lanka’s human rights record comes up for review at the end of this year. Four, New Delhi is keen to address the unrest among Tamils by pressing for their political rights. (In contrast, the Kazhagams appear to be interested in whipping up sentiment solely for political mileage in Tamil Nadu).
New Delhi has to make amends for the blunder of voting with the US against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC. Whereas the DMK and AIADMK keep targeting Sri Lanka as part of their petty one-upmanship games against each other. Their posturing has provoked attacks on innocent Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting Tamil Nadu. AIADMK chief minister Jayalalithaa objected to Sri Lankan defence personnel being trained in military institutions in India. Karunanidhi sought to outdo Jayalalithaa by saying that Sri Lanka cannot be considered “friendly” – because it allows China to execute defence projects in Jaffna.
It may not occur to the DMK and AIADMK that their posturing may be driving Sri Lanka (away from India) into the arms of China. If these parties persist in their unfriendly campaign, Sri Lanka may be forced to not only hand over more projects to China, or even Pakistan, but even start sending their defence personnel to these countries for training. Then the fat would be truly in the fire.
Sri Lanka is in a zone of Indian influence and is of enormous strategic value. India is Sri Lanka’s preferred partner and the one country from which it would like all help. Instead of creating conditions that make Colombo approach Beijing or Islamabad, it is high time the national parties make the DMK and AIADMK see strategic sense
These two regional parties are not being just perverse. They are being irresponsible and hurting India’s strategic interests. One would have expected that with stints at the Centre, they would acquire an understanding of India’s larger national interest, strategic stakes and global role. Far from that, as their role and power expands at the Centre, the Kazhagams’ worldview seems to be shrinking into even narrower confines.
The author is an independent political and foreign affairs commentator
Sri Lanka's Northern peninsula electrified today after 25 years
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 25, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today connected the war-ravaged Northern Jaffna peninsula to the national electricity grid 25 years after Tamil Tiger terrorists destroyed the electricity network.
President Rajapaksa delcared open the high tension electricity transmission line that connects the Northern Province to the national grid at the newly built Kilinochchi grid station today.
The President is currently presiding over the progress evaluation meeting of the Kilinochchi and Mullativu districts to discuss the progress of development projects and to plan for new projects. More attention will be paid to the stalled development projects, President's media coordinating secretary Wijayananda Herath has said.
The LTTE terrorists destroyed the whole electricity network on 6th October 1987 when the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) launched operations against them. Since then the electricity supply to peninsula was not connected to the national grid.
The lack of connection from the national grid to power the war-torn region was an obstacle for setting up industries and with the connection it is expected to boost the economic development in the peninsula.
The power authority Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) completed the erection of the Kilinochchi high voltage transmission lines and constructed 238 transmission towers from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi within a period of 2 years at a cost of 3.2 billion rupees.
The government expects to provide electricity supplies to all households in the peninsula by the end of this year.
Meanwhile the government will soon launch the India-funded 500 MW Sampur coal power plant that is to be built jointly by the CEB and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India.
Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has told the state-run radio that there is only a technical problem relating to the launching of the Sampur power project and the Electricity Board is presently holding discussions to resolve this issue.
The Minister has also disclosed that another power plant will be established in the Colombo district.
My Comment at LankaWeb:
lingamAndy,
Let me get this straight: you believe in having different standards for different people in the world?
One set of standards and rules for the Western World, and
Another set of standards and rules for the Eastern World?
as if Westerners come from Mars, and Easterners come from Venus?
You have not only ADVOCATED the horrible DOUBLE STANDARD that we ACCUSE some Westerners of applying to Sri Lanka, but have also DENIED Westerners and Easterners a common humanity and shared feelings and aspirations as sentient beings!
In fact, by specifically identifying the list of matters/attributes you cite as “differences” between Sri Lankans and Westerners, you have PROVED MY POINT …. as they are ALL PRIVATE & PERSONAL private COMMUNAL matters which ought to be left to individuals to freely choose for themselves in their private lives, and should remain outside the control of government and the public at large.
They are not matters in the PUBLIC SPHERE (like Governance, Employment, Finances, Health, Land, Justice, Benefits etc) that should NOT BE BASED upon COMMUNAL considerations.
If COMMUNAL attributes were considered, then it is possible for marriages between Tamils and Sinhalese to be banned by law, Tamils to be prevented from living in “Sinhala majority areas” and Sinhalese to be prevented from living in “Tamil majority areas” effectively leading first to ethnic cleansing and racist separatism sanctioned by law, people to be to be denied jobs and/or healthcare in government hospitals according to their ethnicity, and so on, ad infintum, ad nauseam. These are many of the abhorrent things that the White Boers practiced against the native African majority in Apartheied South Africa. That is the LOGICAL OUTCOME, in time, of the form of “DIVERSITY” you advocate.
Wow! NO WONDER you are cheering “Nalai Pirakum Thamil Eelam!” because DOUBLE STANDARDS are what Eelamists want: A Tamil Eelam EXCLUSIVELY for Tamils only, and an EQUAL SHARE of the rest of Sri Lanka as Sri Lankan “citizens”! This is the ULTIMATE in DOUBLE STANDARDS & RACISM!
Not too long ago a Tamil writer Dr. Kanthar P. Balanathan posted an article at Lankaweb on the awful racist cast-ridden selfish attitudes that Eelamist Tamils hide under the cover of “ETHNIC DIVERSITY”.
It is NOT SUFFICIENT that ALL Tamils are endowed with Equal Rights and Responsibilities as Sri Lankan citizens, but they also want to have a SEPARATE EELAM where they can enjoy SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES unavailable to non-Eelam-Tamil Sri Lankan citizens, all cloaked in the name of “DIVERSITY” and preservation of “Ethnic Identity”! This mimics the laws of the Aparthied White South Africans at their VERY WORST.
No, my friend …. we PATRIOTS of Lanka will NEVER ALLOW such a RACIST EELAMIST ENTITY to raise its ugly head in our Motherland … NEVER!
I cannot recall ANY COUNTRY that has done a better, or faster, job of caring for and resettling such a great number (300,000) of war refugees in enemy territory, than Sri Lanka.
It is SAD that Sri Lanka does not get the CREDIT DUE for accomplishing this great task OUR Sri Lankan WAY without external compulsions, driven by our own compassion and an abiding sense of justice and fair play.
Levelling FALSE CHARGES of war crimes and ethnic discrimination, the propaganda of the Jaundiced West continues to HIDE this signal humanitarian accomplishment from the world. Indeed, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
They have also hidden that Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world that DID NOT USE FOOD as a weapon of war against the people of enemy occupied areas, feeding both the Tamil population and the LTTE terrorists at Sri Lankan taxpayer expense for over three decades of unremitting war!
As we celebrate this tremendous achievement, let us gratefully remember the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Policemen, dead and living, and the Sri Lanka Government as a whole that fashioned these policies, who strived with every sinew to make that possible.
We echo, with gratitude, the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg:
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”
First Dhamma School in Jaffna to foster harmony
By Priyanka KURUGALA
DailyNews.lk
September 27, 2012
* Measure to rekindle Buddhism in North
* Promoting religious harmony among all
The first Dhamma School in Jaffna will be opened on September 30 to revive Buddhism in the North which suffered neglect under three decades of LTTE terrorism.
Ravi Kumar
The Tamil Buddhist Association will conduct the Dhamma School programme in Jaffna. It is hoped the move will lay the foundation to promote religious harmony between all ethnic groups in the Northern Province, Tamil Buddhist Association president A Ravi Kumar said.
Jaffna Mayor Logeshwari Pathgunaraja and Divisional Secretary Sundaram Arumageinayagam will open the school. Ven Meegahajandure Siri Wimala Thera of the Jaffna Naga Vihara said due to the LTTE’s dominance during the past 30 years, around 15,000 Tamil Buddhists who had membership of the Tamil Buddhist Association, had given up participating in social activities since the terrorists banned events conducted under a Buddhist theme.
“Tamil Buddhists in the North were threatened by the LTTE and all their activities came to a standstill,” the Thera said.
“The LTTE inculcated the belief in the minds of the Tamils that the Buddha belongs solely to the Sinhalese. Even today, many Tamils in the North hold on to this misconception and they need to be corrected,” the Thera said.
He said the Tamil Buddhist Association works with the World Hindu-Buddhist Association to enhance the living standards of people suffering under many problems.
“Starting a Dhamma School in Jaffna will create the proper path to reawaken Buddhism in the North,” the Thera said.
The “We PATRIOTS of Lanka” include these “Tamil Buddhists” and “Hindu-Buddhists” who are REJECTING the Eelamist mindset that Buddhism belongs only to the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.
We hope & pray that this trend of UNDERSTANDING & AMITY between communities of Sri Lanka will continue to spring up from individual Sri Lankans, irrespective of community, to create only two kinds of people in Sri Lanka, those who LOVE Sri Lanka, and those who DON’T.
IRRESPECTIVE of what comes to PASS among "those who don't", “We PATRIOTS of Lanka” will hold the PASSES FOREVER in defence of our Resplendent Motherland!
JAYAWEWA, Sri Lanka!
Ratna Deepa, Janma Bhumi
Lanka Deepa, Vijaya Bhumi
Mey Apey Udaara Wuu
Mathru Bhumi-yayi
Mathru Bhumi-yayi!
"...Reports that pro-LTTE groups are getting the assistance of Maoist organizations in the country to revive the banned organization..." is only the Tip of the Iceberg!
It is not only from Maoist organizations that pro-LTTE groups ... such as Vaiko's MDMK ... are getting funds from. They are getting funds from the Eelamist Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
If MYOPIC Indian leaders think that Maoist Naxalites and Muslim Kashmiris are a VEXING problem, they have NO IDEA of what an UNSOLVABLE TROUBLE Tamil Racism CAN SPAWN.
South India is where India places most of its Military Installations, Missile Test Sites, Military R&D Centers, Large Nuclear Power plants, and Industrial High Tech Parks, in the fond belief that it is the safest location in India for them ... far away from those PESKY Maoists and Pakistan-funde4d terrorists. In fact, Dravidastan has become India's Jewel-in-the-Crown.
UNIMAGINABLE FRUSTRATION & CHAGRIN will haunt the minds of Indian leaders when Dravidastan led by Tamil Nadu and driven by Racism, Anger and Intolerance against Aryan North India .... pulls the greater portion of India's national infrastucture, technology, industry, and educational investments to date ... consituting the JEWEL in INDIA's CROWN ... out from under the Indian Union into a separate Dravidian Nation in South India!
This has been the Goal of the INCURABLY RACIST Tamil Separatists from the very dawn of Indian independence in 1947.
The Eelam project in Sri Lanka .... the result of an unhappy nexus between myopic Indira Gandhi Govt and the Tamil Nadu racists ... was designed in Indian Tamil minds to be the first phase of the Greater Tamil Nadu/Dravidastan project and to serve as a springboard for the larger latter project.
Now that the Eelam project in Sri Lanka has gone up in smoke because of those indefatigable unconquerable Sinhalese, they are trying to revive the main project: the breakaway of South India from those DAMNED ARYAN INVADERS in the North!
Driven by RACISM, underpinned by DEMAGOGERY, the Tamil Separatists will continue in their PERVERSE WAY to undermine and destabilize India in the foreseeable future.
For India this lesson in BOOMERANG aerodynamics is clear: those living in glass houses should not throw stones at neighbors ... for the stones come home to roost!
................
Sri Lanka's defeated terrorist group still a threat- India
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 29, Colombo: The government of India says the defeated Tamil Tiger terrorist group of Sri Lanka, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is continued to be a threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
The Director of the Internal Security of India's Union Home Ministry R. K Suman has told the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal in Chennai set up to evaluate the ban on the LTTE that the information the Central Government of India has indicate that the group continued to be a threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.
"Though the LTTE has been decimated, there are reports to indicate that remnant LTTE cadres/leaders [are trying to] regroup and revive the organization in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in India," Suman has said in an affidavit filed before the one-man tribunal chaired by Justice V.K. Jain.
Sri Lanka's defeated terrorist group still a threat- India
Continued .....
The official has pointed out that attempts are being made to revive the terrorist outfit using Tamil Nadu as a platform and several pro-LTTE political parties and organizations are receiving assistance for that purpose.
"The organization is capable of garnering local support in Tamil Nadu and several others parts in South India on account of linguistic, cultural and ethnic affinity. The LTTE continues to look at Tamil Nadu as a base for anti-India activities," Suman has said.
The Home Ministry official has told the tribunal that there were reports that pro-LTTE groups are getting the assistance of Maoist organizations in the country to revive the banned organization.
"The LTTE, even after its military defeat, has not abandoned its goal of achieving 'Tamil Eelam.' The remnants of the organization have been clandestinely working by reviving [activities] locally and internationally and continue to propagate its agenda through various means."
Meanwhile, at the tribunal yesterday the pro-LTTE Tamil Nadu political leader, the general secretary of the MDMK, V. Goplasamy aka Vaiko also presented his case calling to remove LTTE from the banned list of terrorist organizations in India.
The MDMK leader has told the tribunal that he wanted to know how many cases have been framed against the supporters of LTTE in the past 24 months and how many organizations have been branded as pro-LTTE organizations in Tamil Nadu.
The court has said that there were many cases but has not specified a number.
Vaiko is to place his arguments in the tribunal on Saturday for seeking revocation of the ban on LTTE.
The Indian government declared the LTTE a banned organization in 1994 after an LTTE suicide bomber assassinated former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
The central government of India extended the ban on LTTE in May 2012 for another two years saying that it is necessary to declare the group as an 'unlawful association' since it continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture and pose a grave threat to the security of its citizens.
** Related Story :: MDMK leader Vaiko wants to lift India\'s ban on Sri Lanka\'s terrorist group LTTE
Measured State Intervention for Economic Development — GL
Island.lk
September 28, 2012
For a country to enjoy the fruits of economic development to the fullest, there is a need for measured intervention by a Government to ensure that benefits are not restricted to urban areas but also reach the rural hinterland, said Professor Minister of External Affairs Professor G. L. Peiris.
Addressing the World Leadership Forum of the US Foreign Policy Association, a think tank established in 1918, in New York yesterday Professor Peiris, referring to Sri Lanka ’s economic achievements during the last three years after emerging from a protracted terrorist conflict, observed that it was clear that the country was now on the path to accelerated economic and social development, demonstrated by the significant growth of the economy, increase in per capita income and GDP, maternal health and infant mortality indicators.
He observed that Sri Lanka ’s economic growth of 8%, was an impressive figure, particularly in view of the challenging global economy. The Minister explained that in order to achieve such a level of economic development, the Government placed much emphasis on the development of infrastructure as it is a prime requisite to enhance connectivity, enable investment in remote areas and facilitate the transportation of produce.
He stressed that fiscal benefits need to be complemented by the construction of highways, ports and harbours in order to energise the economy. He pointed out that Sri Lanka is now in an era of economic renaissance
Minister Peiris pointed out that vibrant representative institutions and public opinion assume a vital role in reviving the economy and bringing about economic development and underscored the importance of the vigour and vitality of representation at the grass roots level. Elaborating further, the Minister noted that the beneficiaries of public projects should be the managers as when the funds are given to those who will benefit from the institution, there is direct interest and less wastage. The Minister emphasized that the singular success of moving the Sri Lankan economy forward within a limited time frame was due to this policy.
Minister Peiris emphasized the need to inculcate a rights oriented culture, utilizing an equitable system of affirmative action which has empowered the people and enhanced their dignity. He also stated that since no nation could work in isolation, there was also a role for the international community to contribute to the wellbeing of a country. He stressed however, that one prescription could not be used in overcoming challenges as each society is different and therefore the culture and value systems of the country need to be taken into account with respect for its specific identity. Such an approach would create a spirit of cooperation, he said. Other speakers at this event included Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, and Hoshyar Zebari, Foreign Minister of Iraq.
Let there be NO DOUBT that the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), like the TGTE and the TNA (in Sri Lanka) are Tamil Tiger FRONT organizations.
An Obama Victory is now looming as increasingly likely in the upcoming US Presidential elections.
As such, it seems likely that Hillary Clinton will continue as Secretary of State, and that there will be MORE PRESSURE on Sri Lanka, to assure future inflows of Tamil Tiger funds into Hillary's political campaign coffers for a Presidential bid in 2016.
An OBAMA victory may also precipitate IMMEDIATE US military involvement to topple Assad in Syria, preceding a blitzkrieg war against Iran in 2013. Hold on to your hats folks, this is going to get ugly ... again ... very fast, very soon.
All LESSONS LEARNED to date from the economic disasters precipitated by excessive spending on OPTIONAL UNNECESSARY Foreign Wars, and the ELECTION PROMISES MADE to the American Voters will EVAPORATE into thin air, as the the the newly re-elected Obama, the Casesar, seizes the opportunity to cement his Presidential Legacy as a Victor in war by hanging Iran's Scalp.
Every US President needs to LAUNCH and WIN a major WAR to join the pantheon of American Caesars... it seems. WOE & bSHAME to the LILY Livered Presidents who fail to wage and win in WAR!
May God Help the "true believers" .... the unemployed, the undernourished, the uneducated and the unsheltered US citizens ... who voted for Obama as their Saviour.
Where EGO REIGNS KING there is no room for COMMON SENSE. Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton will wage duplicitous war in the guise of preserving "human rights and democracy", to complete the economic destruction of the United States that George W. Bush initiated with his optional, unnecessary and unwinnable wars to "save the world from terrorism"!
Shortly thereafter, dear old Hillary Clinton will campaign as the "New Saviour" to rescue "Middle Class America" ... YET AGAIN... in her own bid for the Presidency. At that time, I hope the US voters will remember who brought them to their knees on the Altar of Personal Ego in the previous eight years.
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LTTE in fresh ‘offensive’ ahead of Geneva confab
Now, Syria accused of adopting ‘Sri Lanka model’ to deal with armed groups
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
September 28, 2012
A fresh LTTE initiative is underway ahead of Sri Lanka’s forthcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva to press for an international war crimes inquiry.
The UPR was created through the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006 by resolution 60/251, which established the UNHRC itself.
The UK headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF) is spearheading the campaign with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), too, pushing for an international inquiry in line with the recommendations made by a three-member UN panel. The grouping supported US resolution, which dealt with accountability issues in Sri Lanka at the 19th sessions of the UNHRC in Feb-March 2012.
The 20th sessions are scheduled for March 2013.
LTTE in fresh ‘offensive’ ahead of Geneva confab
Continued ...
In a related move, another arm of the LTTE, United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) likened the ongoing Syrian crackdown to the Sri Lankan offensive (2006-2009) which defeated the LTTE.
On the eve of his departure for the 67th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), External Affairs Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris told The Island that the LTTE and those still supportive of its macabre cause wanted to punish Sri Lankan leaders for restoring peace. Commenting on allegations that the Tamil speaking people were still being persecuted even three years after the conclusion of the conflict, Prof. Peiris said that interested parties propagated lies. Regardless of the LTTE propaganda blitz, the international community now realised that the Tamil speaking people now enjoyed freedom due to the eradication of terrorism.
Prof. Peiris is leading the GoSL delegation at the UNGA due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision to skip the confab.
GTF spokesman Suren Surendiran countered an attempt by the GoSL to portray the grouping as an LTTE front organisation. The GTF, established in 2009 following the conclusion of the conflict in Sri Lanka, comprised representatives from 15 countries.
UK based Surendiran said that GTF delegation led by Rev. Father S. J. Emmanuel made representations to officials from the Republic of South Africa and Switzerland on 23rd and 24th September 2012, respectively, as part of the on-going engagement with foreign governments to highlight the enduring persecution of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, USTPAC is closely working with a group of US lawmakers, sources alleged. Responding to a query, sources said that a group of 31 lawmakers had, at the behest of USTPAC, submitted a joint letter to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to implement the US resolution against Sri Lanka.
USTPAC made its move on the last day of congressional sessions before they went on recess for the November elections.
Proof of LTTE in Tamil Nadu submitted
By Express News Service - CHENNAI
September 30, 2012
The State Government on Saturday submitted before the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal an affidavit, and supporting documents, justifying the notification issued by the Union Home Ministry banning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the country.
The affidavit and supporting documents also contained information on banned groups, such as the Tamil National Retrieval Group, Tamil Nadu Liberation Front and Tamil Nadu Liberation army, all with alleged secessionist objectives, and their overt and covert activities. There was also evidence on cadre of some of these organisations who received their training from the LTTE in Sri Lanka and later sent back to TN.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko posed several questions through the judge to the officer, including if he knew about the dismantling of the PFLT, the political wing of the Tigers, as early as in 1991, when the LTTE was still a legal association in the country.
To this, the officer replied that the PFLT had not been officially dissolved and no communication to that effect had been made by leaders of the LTTE.
The officer also mentioned that one case has been filed under Section 10 (A) of the Unlawful Activities Act in Tiruchy since 2010. The next hearing of the tribunal has been posted to October 20 and 21 in Kodaikanal.
India trying to undermine post-war reconciliation says senior official
Media blitz influenced by decision makers
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
September 29, 2012
The Sri Lankan government yesterday alleged that an influential section of the Indian media at the behest of decision makers there was making an attempt to undermine post-war reconciliation process.
The GoSL asserted that the one-time LTTE mouthpiece, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi a.k.a Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which in late 2001 declared the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people was spearheading the campaign here, whereas the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) pursued an international campaign.
A senior GoSL official was responding to The Hindu editorial of Sept. 28 titled ‘Plain speaking to Colombo’ and GTF appreciating India emphasizing the urgency to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in achieving lasting political solution to the Tamil National question.
The GTF issued the statement on Sept. 27 following its leader Rev Father S. J. Emmanuel making representations to South Africa and Switzerland as regards an international war crimes inquiry in Sri Lanka.
Having claimed a critical Indian diplomatic role in Sri Lanka’s defeat of the LTTE, the Indian media had asserted that New Delhi felt betrayed by President Rajapaksa’s failure to settle the Tamil National Question due to what it called Sinhala triumphalism.
The TNA decision to boycott the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), too, was blamed on Sri Lanka citing the stopping of work undertaken by previous committees.
The GoSL said that it was unreasonable to compare President Rajapaksa’s initiative with any of the previous attempts. In fact it was not only unjust but foolish as all previous Sri Lankan and Indian governments had been forced to deal with the LTTE except at the onset of the negotiating process in the early 80s, when the TULF and several other Indian trained Tamil terrorist groups were involved.
Commenting on The Hindu assertion that the ITAK was skeptical about the PSC process, the official said that Trincomalee District MP R. Sampanthan’s party was in the limelight today thanks to the Sri Lankan military.
Recalling how the UK, France and India had intervened to stop the military offensive on the Vanni east front in early 2009, the official said that if LTTE leadership comprised Prabhakaran, Pottu Amman (intelligence chief) and Soosai (Sea Tiger leader) had survived, the international community wouldn’t have bothered with the ITAK/TNA.
The LTTE would have remained the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people, the official said. The formation of the GTF and the return of ITAK/TNA to active politics wouldn’t have been a reality without eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military power, the official said.
He reminded that the LTTE didn’t at least allow other Tamil political parties and groups, including the ITAK to freely engage in political activity even after the signing of the CFA under Norwegian auspices.
"Today two of the main beneficiaries of the LTTE’s destruction are demanding an international war crimes inquiry. On one hand, the GTF came into being due to eradication of the LTTE in May 2009. And on the other hand, the ITAK is free to take decisions on behalf of their people today. We challenge the ITAK to reveal just one decision it took without consulting the LTTE."
India trying to undermine post-war reconciliation says senior official
Continued 1....
"When the LTTE was running the show, the ITAK meekly accepted its orders. In the run-up to parliamentary polls in late 2001, MP Sampanthan called a media briefing in Colombo to declare the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamil speaking people. Then the ITAK had to allow the LTTE to decide on its nominees for the parliamentary polls.
``About a week ahead of the Nov 17, 2005 presidential poll, the ITAK called a media briefing in Kilinochchi on behalf of the LTTE to urge Tamil speaking people not to exercise their franchise.
``In May 2008, the ITAK didn’t contest the first Eastern Provincial Council election as it feared to earn the wrath of the LTTE. However, it contested the second election for the Eastern PC on Sept 8, 2012 due to absence of LTTE threat. Instead thanking the GoSL, the ITAK is today trying to play the LTTE role in a different way."
The GoSL insisted that it didn’t need the Indian media to advice as regards the first election for the Northern PC. President Rajapaksa has assured that Northern PC poll would be held in September next year, the GoSL said. As a public announcement, too, had been made, there was no need GoSL’s part to give additional assurance to those acting as if the LTTE never existed, the GoSL said.
Issuing a statement from London, the GTF emphasized that only an international, independent investigation could secure truth and accountability, as recommended by the UN Panel of Experts in their report, in order to lay the foundations for meaningful reconciliation between all communities in Sri Lanka. In this regard, GTF would continue to engage internationally until justice is served.
Reiterating its commitment for a negotiated political settlement for decades long Tamil national question through a process of dialogue and engagement, the GTF said: "In this respect we are encouraged that as reported in the media recently, the Indian Prime Minister has emphasized the urgency to President Rajapaksa in achieving lasting political solution to the Tamil national question."
Those who talk disparaging of Sri Lanka’s track record as regards the Tamil national question had conveniently forgotten how India created a monster in Sri Lanka in the 80s, the GoSL official said.
Responding to Tamil Nadu political parties’ position on the Tamil National issue and that of the center, the official said that India’s plight was obvious. Those leading protests against Sri Lanka had also interfered with the Indian judicial process as obviously revealed in the case of LTTE operatives found guilty for Rajiv Gandhi assassination not being executed.
Commenting on India throwing its weight behind the US-led resolution in Geneva at the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Feb-March 2012, the official pointed out that the UN had made a spate of allegations targeting India over accountability issues. Interesting the position on India was made known soon after vote on Sri Lanka.
The UK based Channel 4 which produced two unsubstantiated documentaries, ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ and ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War crimes unpunished’ had telecast a similar documentary on human rights violations by the Indian government.
The Indian media and ITAK were playing politics with many issues, the official said. "A case in point is poaching in northern Sri Lankan waters on a massive scale by the Tamil Nadu fishing fleet. ITAK politicians, who criticize the GoSL for not doing enough for post-war economic revival of the economy in the northern and eastern regions, are silent on destructive bottom trawling operations by the Tamil Nadu fishing fleet. In spite of a large section of Tamil speaking people here depending on fishing, the ITAK is yet to take up this issue."
Cabinet approves Sri Lanka's US $19 billion budget bill for 2013
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 27, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government is to present its US$ 19.5 billion budget for 2013 in parliament on November 8th this year.
The Cabinet has approved the Appropriation Bill 2013 at the Cabinet meeting held Wednesday, the Government Media Unit said today.
The President as Minister of Finance and planning has submitted the 2013 Appropriation Bill with the estimated government expenditure for 2013 of 2.52 trillion rupees to the Cabinet.
The first reading of the Appropriation Bill will take place on October 09 while the Budget proposal (second reading) will be presented in November 08, after publishing it in the government gazette.
The President and the General Treasury had consulted each line Ministry and other stakeholders in the preparation of the Appropriation Bill in order to formulate a realistic budget.
"Emphasis has been given for the priorities identified under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2013-2015 and for the completion of development activities which have already been commenced and are ongoing," the Government Media Unit said.
The government targets to maintain an economic growth rate of 7% while containing the annual inflation rate under 7%.
Sri Lankan government to spend more on education, defense and urban development in 2013
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 30, Colombo: The government of Sri Lanka has increased the funds allocated for the education and higher education sectors and defense and urban development in the 2013 budget.
The cabinet last week approved the 2013 Appropriation Bill with the estimated government expenditure for 2013 of 2.52 trillion rupees (US$ 19.5 billion).
According to government sources, allocations to the education and higher education sectors have been increased by nearly 14 percent in the budgetary estimates to be presented to the parliament on October 4th.
Allocations to the Education Ministry has been increased by Rs. 3.43 billion from last year to Rs. 37.9 billion while the Higher Education Ministry has been allocated Rs. 27.9 billion, which is an increase of Rs 4.1 billion from 2012.
However, the largest allocation in the 2013 budget is to the Defence and Urban Development Ministry with nearly Rs. 290 billion. The amount is an increase of nearly Rs. 60 billion from last year's allocations of Rs. 229.9 billion. The government has considerably increased spending on urban development which comes under the Defense Ministry.
The allocations made to the President's Office have also increased from around Rs. 6.1 billion in 2012 to over Rs 7.4 billion for next year.
Meanwhile, the President, who, in his capacity as the Finance Minister prepares the budget, will continue to receive suggestions and proposals from different sectors to prepare the 2013 budget.
He is expected to meet the representatives of the chambers of commerce on Thursday to discuss a wide array of proposals put forward by them to strengthen country's industries and businesses.
Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, Asoka Hettigoda has told the state-run radio SLBC that the proposals that have been already forwarded by the Chamber to the government will also be discussed on Thursday.
The President met with the women entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka's Small and Medium Enterprises sector last Friday in order to solicit their views and proposals for the 2013 budget preparations.
India has invited the TNA to discuss a "political solution".
India, as the country that SPAWNED Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, is STILL INTERFERING in Sri Lanka's internal politics and governance.
In RESPONSE, the GoSL should host two separate conferences in Sri Lanka with Muslim Separatists groups in Kashmir, and the Maoist Naxalites, to EXPLORE "pilitical solutions" to their grievances ... all with the INTENTION of "HELPING" India, of course.
We will then see how much India will like Sri Lanka's INTEFERENCE in India's intternal matters, then.
Idia just does not seem to UNDERSTAND the "PRINCIPLE of NON-INTERFERENCE" in other sovereign countries.
It appears that, the LESSON must be TAUGHT in SOME way.
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Sri Lanka Tamil party will participate in PSC for a political solution only if India can guarantee an outcome
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says the party would participate in the proposed parliamentary select committee (PSC) on finding a political settlement if the Indian government could guarantee that an agreement would be reached at the committee.
TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran has said the TNA has already explained the current situation to the Indian High Commission, the all-party parliamentary group from India that visited the country a few months back, and the Indian Foreign Minister.
He has stressed that there must be a guarantee of an agreement that could be reached at the end of the process if the Indian government wanted the TNA to take part in the PSC.
"What we say is that there needs to be a guarantee of an outcome. If the Indian government could convince the government (Sri Lankan) and the political parties to reach a political solution, the TNA could participate in talks," Premachandran has said.
He has explained that there have been many committee reports in the past years on proposals for a political solution that have been discarded without consideration.
The Indian government has invited the TNA for talks in New Delhi on October 9th to discuss the reconciliation process and a political solution to the ethnic issue.
What EXACTLY is the PURPOSE and Security Threats being addressed by this "Floating Armory"?
Are the threats related to:
1. Defensive small arms carried on board for law enforcement on board?
2. Defensive weapons carried on board for repelling pirates?
3. Weapons cargo in transit through Sri Lanka ports?
4. Illegal weapons being transported into Sri Lanka, or via Sri Lanka?
5. For resupply of munitions on Sri Lanka Navy ships during long-distance operations?
What EXACTLY is the purpose of this armory?
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Floating armoury off Galle from Oct. 15
Island.lk
September 29, 2012, 7:03 pm
A floating armoury on international waters off the coast of Galle will be commissioned on October 15 replacing the land based naval armouries at Colombo and Galle, Mr. D.M.S.D. Jayaratne, Additional Secretary (Police and Civil Security) of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development said.
He said that the responsibility for running this facility has been entrusted to a company called Avant Garde Maritime Private Limited and the decision to set it up has been taken in the context of national security concerns.
The Defence authorities have required all private maritime security companies to clear their weapons from the naval armouries before October 15 while vessels entering the Port of Colombo will retain weapons as bonded stores on board the ships.
Jayaratne said that the Defence Ministry will monitor all activities relating to the floating armoury while the Sri Lanka Navy will provide afloat security and also secure and supervise service boats during all weapon/sea marshal transfer operations.
He said that controlling the armoury on board the vessel and overall administration of the facility will be handled by Avant Garde.
This company and Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited, both legally incorporated companies, will jointly handle the operations.
The Ceylon Association of Ships’ Agents (CASA) in a letter to Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that members of the Association providing agency services by handling on board maritime security are disturbed by the changes that are being implemented and feel that their business is being exposed to unfair competition which may eventually lead to the loss of business.
CASA Chairman Ralph Anandappa has said that the expanded role of Rakna Arakshaka Lanka and Avant Garde as Rakna’s marketing arm would inhibit our members’ ability to continue to provide services to their principals in a competitive atmosphere and stifle growth of this segment of business among Ships’ Agents.
Jayaratne has responded that the main concern of Rakna Arakshaka Lanka is to ensure the safety and security of weapons through the new arrangement and this company has provided flexibility for the security companies to choose the best suited option for their operations.
He assured that commercial interest of the local ships’ agents will not be affected but on the contrary encouraged to flourish.
WTF! First our Maldivian Muslim cousins destroy Buddhist structures in the Maldives.
Now, our Bangladeshi Muslim cousins are destroying Buddhist temples in Bangladesh!
Don't these Crazy Wahhabi Muslim fanatics ever CALM DOWN & GET RATIONAL before they go on rampage?
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Bangladesh: Muslims torch Buddhist temples, homes
September 28, 2012, 13 hrs ago
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims angry over an alleged derogatory photo of the Islamic holy book Quran on Facebook set fires in at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes near the southern border with Myanmar, authorities said Sunday.
The violence began late Saturday and continued until early Sunday, said Nojibul Islam, a police chief in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar.
He said the situation was under control Sunday afternoon after extra security officials were deployed and the government banned public gatherings in the troubled area.
He said at least 20 people were injured in the attacks that followed the posting of a Facebook photo of a burned copy of the Quran. The rioters blamed the photo on a local Buddhist boy, though it was not immediately clear if the boy actually posted the photo.
Bangladesh's popular English-language Daily Star newspaper quoted the boy as saying that the photo was mistakenly tagged on his Facebook profile. The newspaper reported that soon after the violence broke out, the boy's Facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother to safety.
Joinul Bari, chief government administrator in Cox's Bazar district, said authorities detained the boy's parents and were investigating.
Buddhists make up less than 1 percent of Muslim-majority Bangladesh's 150 million people.
The Bangladeshi violence follows protests that erupted in Muslim countries over the past month after a low-budget film, "Innocence of Muslims," produced by a U.S. citizen denigrated the Prophet Muhammad by portraying Islam's holiest figure as a fraud, womanizer and child molester.
Some two dozen demonstrators were killed in protests that attacked symbols of U.S. and the West, including diplomatic compounds.
Muslims won’t accept TNA as their representative; Hakeem tells Blake.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
October 2, 2012
SLMC leader and Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem on Tuesday (2) said that the outcome of the recently concluded election to the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) highlighted the need to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The SLMC leader said that the people of the Eastern Province had strongly endorsed the empowering of Provincial Councils. The minister was speaking with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O’ Blake on the sidelines of the 67th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The SLMC recently earned the wrath of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the UNP for helping the SLFP-led UPFA to form the Eastern Provincial Council.
The SLMC secured seven seats in the EPC, whereas the UPFA obtained 14 seats, including two bonus slots.
Having had talks with both, the government and the TNA, in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 8 poll, the SLMC proposed the establishment of an all-party administration in the EPC, though none of them were agreeable to the arrangement, the minister told the former US Ambassador in Colombo.
Commenting on the ongoing efforts to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to settle the national issue, the Justice Minister emphasized the importance of the Muslim community being represented by a separate delegation at the forthcoming deliberations. He alleged that neither the LTTE nor the TNA ever revealed their position with regard to Muslims’ being represented by a separate delegation at talks aimed at resolving the national question.
Hakeem said that the Muslims wouldn’t accept the TNA’s assertion that it could represent both communities in talks with the government, whereas the SLMC could discuss whatever the issues were with the TNA. The SLMC leader said that the TNA couldn’t represent the interests of the Muslims.
Hakeem also briefed the US official as regards the assistance provided to IDPs resettled in their respective districts and measures taken by the government to expedite the cases against those held on terrorism charges.
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