There was a news item published in both Indian and Sri Lankan media that
Menon was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka sometime soon to convey India’s
displeasure about Sri Lanka’s decision to unilaterally amend the
13th Amendment (13A) to the Constitution, which gave birth to the
Provincial Councils. Minister Basil Rajapaksa has meanwhile paid a
visit to India to brief the Indian Government about the proposed changes
to the amendment.
India directly and indirectly has warned Sri Lanka not to violate the Indo-Lanka Accord signed in 1987. Most of the provisions in the 13A are a direct result of the Indo Lanka Accord. Hence, it is pertinent to look at the so-called bilateral agreement though in my view, there is no such valid Accord between the two nations.
Duress Factor
According
to the principles of Contract Law and International Law, accords signed
under duress are voidable. President Jayewardene was of course under
duress to sign the accord. India covertly trained and armed the
separatist terrorists in Sri Lanka. This was later exposed by Western
intelligence units. India openly defended the terrorists, attacked Sri
Lanka in international forums and finally, invaded Sri Lankan airspace
to coerce Sri Lanka to sign the Accord.
In his biography, written by K.M. De Silva and W.H.Wriggins,President Jayewardene has explained in detail the trauma he underwent. India invaded Pakistan in 1971 and created a new country called “Bangladesh”. India invaded Sikkim in 1975 and annexed it to India as its latest State and these memories must have been foremost in President Jayewardene’s mind when he chose the best out of the two options available and signed the Accord.
True results of the Accord
India’s influence with the separatist terrorists was reflected in its undertaking to disarm all terrorists within 120 hours. However, the LTTE launched its fight against the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) on October 8, 1987, thus putting an end to a very short honeymoon. Although India undertook to disarm the terrorists, it failed to fulfil its obligation with respect of the LTTE, which came to be known as one of the strongest terrorist outfits. Some people boast that 37 other terrorist groups surrendered their weapons as a result of the Accord. It is of course true but it was counter-productive from a military perspective. Before the Accord, the 38 terrorist groups were involved in fighting each other for supremacy rather than fighting the Sri Lankan forces. After the Accord, there was no intergroup rivalry to weaken each other, and this resulted in the LTTE gradually increasing its attacks on the Government forces. Moreover, the LTTE was transformed into a professional military force from an amateur hit-and-run terrorist group thanks to the Rs.50 million received from India for the rehabilitation of its cadres. In the light of the above, and as a result of the Indo-Lanka Accord, Sri Lanka had to pay a huge price in terms of human and material resources to defeat the LTTE.
Indian violations of the Accord
Let us assume for a moment there was a valid accord between the two nations. However, Sri Lanka has now been relieved of its obligations as India failed to fulfil its obligations. According to Paragraph 2.16 of the Indo–Lanka Accord, Sri Lanka’s obligations as mentioned in the Accord were conditional to India taking five steps in the event military groups refused to surrender their weapons. Since the LTTE neither ceased hostilities nor surrendered their weapons, India was duty bound to perform those five tasks.
The first was to ensure that Indian territory was not used for activities prejudicial to the unity and security of Sri Lanka. But Tamil Nadu State politicians used its territory in supporting the LTTE with the tacit approval of the Central Government of India. All successive Central Governments of India after 1996 tolerated the anti-Sri Lankan activities of Tamil Nadu politicians including the Central government as it survived on the support extended by the Tamil Nadu political parties. India never made any serious attempt to eliminate or at least curtail such activities. Hence, India has violated the first condition.
The second was that the Indian navy was obliged to co-operate with its Sri Lankan counterpart to prevent Tamil militant activities. The Indian Navy did not do so to prevent such activities after the departure of the IPKF from Sri Lanka. The LTTE freely transported weapons and other supplies from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. Similarly, when the top terrorists were injured in the battle, they were transported to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment without any resistance from the Indian Navy. The inactivity of the Indian Navy broke the second condition.
The third was that India agreed to provide military assistance to implement the Accord as and when requested. As the clause clearly says, such assistance should be provided as requested by Sri Lanka. However, the IPKF did not conduct operations as requested by Sri Lanka. Instead, they acted as they wished. As a result, President Premadasa was reluctantly compelled to request the IPKF to withdraw from Sri Lanka. They did not honour this request. They came out with their own plan for the departure, rejecting the deadline set by President Premadasa. In this backdrop, India has not honoured the third condition either.
Repatriation of Indians
The fourth was that India agreed to expedite the repatriation of Indian citizens who were residing in Sri Lanka to India. This is in fact an obligation overdue for a long time. It was estimated that there were 975,000 people of Indian origin residing in Sri Lanka as at October 30, 1964. They were not recognised as citizens of India or of Sri Lanka and came to be know as ‘stateless’. Under the Sirima-Shastri Pact signed on October 30, 1964, India agreed to grant citizenship to 525,000 of them while Sri Lanka agreed to grant citizenship to 300,000. The balance 150,000 people were equally distributed between the two nations in another agreement signed on January 27, 1974.
Although India should grant citizenships to 600,000 as stated in the above agreements, only 506,000 applied for Indian citizenship. Sri Lanka did not want to force Indians to leave the country. Hence, Sri Lanka brought a special parliamentary Act in 1986 to grant citizenship to balance 94,000 and their descendants. However, India failed to grant citizenship to the people who applied for Indian citizenship and thus did not even honour the above agreements. India kept using the Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu as the excuse for its failure. That is why there was an obligation as per the Indo–Lanka Accord of 1987 for India to expedite the repatriation. India is yet to honour this obligation although Sri Lanka has granted citizenship to all Indians residing in Sri Lanka and had also started bringing back the refugees in Tamil Nadu.
IPKF killing Sinhalese
The fifth was that India undertkes to ensure physical security and safety of all communities living in the Northern and Eastern provinces. India grossly violated this clause when the IPKF with the support of the LTTE began killing the Sinhalese living in Trincomalee District in September 1987. The IPKF was so brutal that even the Chief Monk of China Bay Temple was shot dead by the IPKF because of his resistance to the slaughter of the Sinhalese. In the aftermath, tens of thousands of helpless Sinhalese fearing for their lives flocked to Kantale and Habarana looking for safety there.
Because India has failed to fulfill any of its obligations, it goes without saying that Sri Lanka has no obligation whatsoever to carry out its undertakings such as the introduction of the provincial councils and establishment of one council for Northern and Eastern Provinces (popularly known as the merger). Hence, Sri Lanka is free to amend the provisions in respect of provincial councils without consulting India or worrying about the Indo-Lanka Accord.
This Accord is not a landmark in Indian-Sri Lankan diplomatic relations, which have spread over several millennia but a scar continues to remain from a shameful past. It only confirms how India has deviated from “a Non Interfering Pancha Seela Policy in its relations with its neighbours,” introduced by Sri Nehru. Since the Indo–Lanka Accord reminds the world of India’s shameful past, India should attempt to do its best to avoid discussions with regard to the Accord. If India insists on the Accord, Sri Lanka will be reluctantly compelled to remind India of the reasons for Sri Lanka to have signed the Accord, which it did under duress and also how India had failed to honour any of its obligations.
73 comments:
JAYAWEWA!
Perhaps the VOCIFEROUS PERSISTENT ARGUMENTS of PATRIOTS against ILLEGALITY of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, and its inbred offspring, the 13th Amendment, are FINALLY GETTING THROUGH to the Mass Media in Sri Lanka!
Let the Mass Media in Sri Lanka play a LEADING Role in DISMANTLING the 13th Amendment ... in the National Interest ... and wrest back Sri Lanka's Sovereign CROWN from India, the would be regional bully!
India, STILL COMMITTED to solving its own problems at Sri Lanka’s expense, is trying to DIVIDE Sri Lanka into autonomous states and devolve power; a step that is INEXORABLY pushing India itself towards DISINTEGRATION.
India STILL DOES NOT REALIZE that it has committed CRIMINAL ACTS against Sri Lanka that it at the ROOT of ALL OUR ILLS, and takes a “Holier than Thou” stance towards Sri Lanka.
The FAULT is OURS: the GOSL has not CLEARLY told India in BLACK & WHITE its CRIMES & DEMANDED that India BUTT OUT of Sri Lanka’s INTERNAL AFFAIRS!
UNTIL THAT IS DONE REPEATEDLY… EVERYTIME we Meet Indian Officials …. the INDIAN TUNE will not change.
We HAVE TO PUSH India into an Ethical, Moral and Legal Defensive Posture.
Axe Murderers should be TREATED as Axe Murderers without Fig Leaves to hide their Nakedness!
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India emphasizes on a political settlement in Sri Lanka beyond the 13th Amendment.
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 09, Colombo: Shivshankar Menon, the National Security Adviser of India has conveyed to the Sri Lankan leadership that his government expects Sri Lanka to adhere to the commitments made by the Sri Lankan government to India and the International Community on a political settlement in Sri Lanka that would go beyond the 13th Amendment.
Menon, who visited Colombo on 8-9 July 2013 to participate in the 2nd NSA-Level Meeting on Trilateral Cooperation on Maritime Security between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, has called for an early political settlement and national reconciliation through the meaningful devolution of power.
so to ensure that all citizens of Sri Lanka, including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, would lead a life marked by equality, justice, dignity and self-respect.
Conveying India’s views on the recent political developments to Sri Lankan leaders, Menon has emphasized the need for Sri Lanka to fulfill the commitments it made on a meaningful devolution of power to ensure that all citizens of Sri Lanka, including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, would lead a “life marked by equality, justice, dignity and self-respect.”
India emphasizes on a political settlement in Sri Lanka beyond the 13th Amendment.
....Continued 1....
He also expressed the hope that elections to the Northern Provincial Council would be held in a free, fair and credible manner.
During his visit, Menon participated in the trilateral discussions with the officials of the Sri Lankan and Maldivian governments to address the common maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean region.
Following the meeting on 8 July, the three countries agreed on a roadmap for future cooperation in maritime security and signed an Outcome Document outlining further collaborative measures in the areas of inter alia Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), strengthening coordination of maritime Search and Rescue (SAR), promoting marine oil pollution response cooperation, expanding ‘DOSTI’ (friendship) exercises and sharing of information on illegal maritime activities and piracy.
It was agreed that the next NSA-Level Meeting on Trilateral Cooperation on Maritime Security between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives will take place in New Delhi at a mutually convenient time.
The National Security Adviser also called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today and also held bilateral meetings with Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
In these meetings, both sides have reviewed the progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on areas of common concern.
Both sides were satisfied onthe progress in implementation of the Indian-assisted projects for relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of IDPs in the North, including the Housing Project, as well as projects relating to the development of railway infrastructure in the Northern and Southern Provinces.
The two sides also discussed the fishermen issue and agreed on the need to deal with it in a humane manner without resorting to violence under any circumstances. They agreed that fishermen’s associations on both sides, which had met in the past and reached some understandings, needed to meet again to work on developing this further. This could then serve as the basis for finding a solution to this humanitarian issue.
Menon has also met with other political leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Minister of Justice Rauff Hakeem, and a delegation of Tamil National Alliance led by R. Sampanthan.
NO, Mr. President! A Nationwide Referendum to REPEAL the 13th Amendment is the BEST PLACE to address this issue.
NO DEAL that YOU BROKER in SECRET behind CLOSED DOORS will be ACCEPTABLE to the TENS OF MILLIONS of your countrymen who love their Motherland!
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Sri Lanka President stresses on PSC as the best forum for revisions to 13th Amendment
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 09, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during a meeting with the visiting India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon today has stressed that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) is the best forum to reach a consensus on the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
When Menon called on the President this morning at the President's House in Colombo, the President explained to the Indian official the problems that exist with devolving land and police powers to the provinces of a small country such as Sri Lanka and stressed that the structure that is implemented should apply and be acceptable to all parts of the country.
The President, agreeing with Mr. Menon that the participation of the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the PSC is important, said it is a top priority of the government to reach a consensus on the 13th Amendment.
The President also urged India to encourage the TNA to participate in the PSC, which has been appointed to resolve the issues relating to constitutional reform, and said the government is committed to taking the process forward despite any obstacles.
Prior to Menon's visit to Sri Lanka, Economic Development Minister and senior adviser to the President Basil Rajapaksa visited India and met with India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
During the meeting Khurshid has emphasized that the 13th Amendment should not be diluted and Sri Lanka should go beyond the amendment to ensure meaningful devolution of powers.
Khurshid has also stressed the importance of all political parties in Sri Lanka being represented in the PSC, and expressed hope that all parties would join the process.
Earlier Khurshid has conveyed Indian government's view on the 13th Amendment to his Sri Lankan counterpart Minister G.L. Peiris stressing the need to keep the amendment unchanged.
Director of the Indian Prime Minister's Office Manu Mahavar, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha and the Deputy High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka P. Kumaran accompanied Menon.
Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris, Basil Rajapaksa, and Douglas Devananda, Monitoring Member of Parliament of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Prasad Kariyawasam also participated in the discussion.
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
Little by Little, the INDIANIZATION of Sri Lanka PROCEEDS AT A FURIOUS PACE!
Now State Governments of India are getting into the ACT ALSO, even as the Indian Federal Government imposes its Devolution Strategy to Slice & Dice Sri Lanka into a motley collection of warring autonomous Provinces!
Why is the GOSL turning a BLIND EYE to ALL THIS activities by Foreigners in our country?
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Design set for Sita temple in Sri Lanka
By A. Srivathsan
TheHindu.com
Madhya Pradesh government’s initiative near Nuwara-Eliya; estimated to cost Rs. 2 crore
The Madhya Pradesh government is all set to start building a Sita temple, designed in the South Indian architectural style, at Divurumpola in Sri Lanka. Sita is believed to have undergone her agni pareeksha (test by fire) at this spot. The design has been finalised.
Divurumpola is near Nuwara-Eliya, in the central part of the country.
The State government has been pursuing the proposal with Sri Lanka since 2012. Early this year, it commissioned a Bangalore-based firm of architects to do the design, and assigned the State Tourism Department to coordinate the project.
The architects concerned, who did not want to be identified, told The Hindu they had chosen the Vijayanagara style. The proposed complex would comprise three shrines, a tank and an ornate pillared hall.
Madhya Pradesh Tourism officials said the estimated cost is about Rs. 2 crore. Tenders would be invited shortly.
Since 2007, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has been promoting sites associated with the Ramayana. It had identified about 50 such sites and proposed plans to develop them to attract Indian tourists.
However, a few Sri Lankan historians had objected to this project because they thought it distorted archaeological evidence and alleged that these sites were mere inventions.
The Sri Lankan press had earlier reported that Ravana Balaya, a Sinhalese Buddhist organisation, had demanded that a statue for Ravana, the mythical Lankan king associated with the Ramayana tale, should be built before constructing a Sita temple.
They explained that they are not opposed to the construction the temple, but wanted the government to honour Ravana first.
Keywords: Madhya Pradesh government, Sita temple, Sita temple design, Divurumpola, M.P. tourism officials
When THIEVES FALL OUT ..... it becomes a CIRCUS ... just sit back and ENJOY the SHOW!
The GOSL should DO NOT HELP Norway DODGE its DAY IN COURT and have its DIRTY LINEN of SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM EXPOSED for all the world to see by its formerly willing puppet Kumar Rupasinghe.
Let Kumar Rupasinghe file his suit to recover the money Norway promised him to UNDERMINE & DESTABILIZE Sri Lanka in collusion with the Norwegian surrogates in the Sri Lankan Tamil Separatist movement. Let more EVIDENCE of Norway's role SPILL OUT in the TESTIMONY.
Even NOW, Norway collaborates in ORCHESTRATING Sri Lanka's agony on fabricated "War Crimes" charges on the global stage. Let us return that favor now and let Norway dangle enmeshed in thecoils of its own Machiavellian tentacles.
It is truly AMAZING how Sri Lanka's Foreign Tormentors are brought down, one by one, by their own terrorist surrogates: India and Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE and Vellupillai Prabhakaran, and now Norway by Kumar Rupasinghe!
Lovely! Who denies the existence of the Hatarawaran Deviyo protecting our Ratna Dvipaya? Who?
Rs. 98 mn NGO law suit: Norway seeks immunity
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
July 9, 2013
Norway has told Sri Lanka to prevent several senior Norwegian government representatives from being hauled up before the Colombo District Court in a case filed by NGO activist Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe or face the consequences.
Well informed sources told The Island that Norway had told the government to take tangible action in this regard before the case resumed on August 2 at the District Court of Colombo.
The case was last heard on April 30 before Additional District Judge Mrs. Amali Ranaweera.
Responding to a query, sources said that one-time Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka Tore Hattram, also cited as a respondent, inquired about the government’s position vis-a-vis the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. Hattram had sent a missive to the External Affairs Ministry through the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo close after Dr. Rupesinghe had moved Court demanding compensation to the tune of Rs. 98 million from Norway.
Dr. Rupesinghe has, on behalf of the Foundation for Co – Existence, alleged that Norway terminated a three-year contract for a special project aimed at improving relations among communities living in the Eastern Province. The project covered the period from 2008-2011.
Although the British government, too, was a party to the agreement finalised at the height of the conflict, Dr. Rupesinghe opted to move Court against Norway on the basis the British had fulfilled its financial obligations in terms of the tripartite agreement.
A veteran diplomat yesterday told The Island that there hadn’t been a similar case involving Norway or any other country since Independence.
Asked whether former Ambassador Tore Hattram had written to the External Affairs Ministry regarding the ongoing Court case, a Norwegian Embassy spokesperson said: "Norway’s position has always been that we do expect Sri Lanka to comply with well-established international rules on immunity, including those contained in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations to which Sri Lanka is a party. Diplomats and state officials from Sri Lanka are enjoying the same privileges overseas when serving their government."
The spokesperson emphasized that Norwegian position had been communicated to the Sri Lankan government.
Let me SAY IT AGAIN: When THIEVES FALL OUT ….. it becomes a CIRCUS … just sit back and ENJOY the SHOW!
It is truly AMAZING how Sri Lanka’s Foreign Tormentors are brought down, one by one, by their own terrorist surrogates: India and Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE and Vellupillai Prabhakaran, and now Norway by Kumar Rupasinghe, and NOW the PARENTS of 16,000 Tamil Children being converted to Evangelical Christians by the Governmen of Norway .... which likes to preen itself as the "The Champion of Global Human Rights"!
Lovely! Who denies the existence of the Hatarawaran Deviyo protecting our Ratna Dvipaya? ... Not ME!
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Norway is illegally holding Sri Lankan Tamil children - report
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 11, Colombo: A group of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans living in Norway has accused Norway for illegally holding Sri Lankan children.
The group has requested the Sri Lankan government intervention to secure the release of their children held illegally and against the consent of their parents at children's homes run by the Norwegian government, a local media report said.
These Sri Lankans living in Norway held a protest near the Parliament at Sri Jayewardenepura yesterday.
A spokesperson for the group said that there were about 16,000 such children, including those of Sri Lankan origin held in Norwegian state custody against the wishes of their parents.
The spokesperson accused the Norwegian government of turning a blind eye to the affected families' call for the release of their children.
Aloy & Lorenzo,
As both of you imply, the taking of 16,000 children into Norwegian Govt custody, may not be all bad.
Actually, I think that the Norwegian Govt may have taken the 16,000 children into its custody to protect them from Tamil Nationalist brainwashing and other abuse.
But, the net long-term result of being taken into Govt custody will be to wean these children away from their parents, the Tamil community and Hindus away from their religion. This kind of “abduction” and forced integration of children has happened before in many other countries, notably the USA (Native American), Australia (Aborogine) and New Zealand (Maori).
I fully agree with Lorenzo that the GOSL should NOT GET INVOLVED in this matter on behalf of all of these MOSTLY EELAMIST Tamils who fled to Norway as fake refugees demonizing Sri Lanka. Now that they are having a problem with their former benefactors in the Norwegian Govt, they want to use the GOSL, that they DEMONIZE even NOW, as a cat’s paw to pull their hot coals out of the fire. As Lorenzo says, the GOSL should DO NOTHING to help them.
Little by little, the Eelamists in Norway will lose control of their children, and they will be FORCED TO INTEGRATE into Norwegian society; something they are RESISTING TOOTH-AND-NAIL in Sri Lanka.
It is only the presence of 60 Million Tamils across the Palk Strait, and RACIST views that flood into Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu, that prevents Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka from INTEGRATING into one non-communal Sri Lankan society that is already distinct from, and much more tolerant and progressive than, that of Tamil Nadu.
Again as Lorenzo says, in Sri Lanka we have to make it AS DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE for Communities to EXIST SEPARATELY and PURSUE SEPARATE DESTINIES, without INTEGRATION into the overall Sri Lankan society.
Getting RID of the 13th Amendment and the Provincial Councils that sustains and promotes those Communal Fiefdoms is ESSENTIAL as the FIRST STEP in that direction.
No matter what the reasons are, it is LOVELY to see the Eelamists and Norwegians fighting each other for a change. The GOSL should sit back and enjoy the SHOW, between these Machiavellian DISCIPLES and MASTERS!
Here's a REVELATION for India demanding "equality, justice, dignity and self respect" for Sri Lankan Tamils.
They ALREADY HAVE THEM, in that Sri Lanka accords EVERY CITIZEN Equal Rights, irrespective of community.There are No Scheduled Castes to divide and pit Sri Lankan citizens against each other as in India.
However, Equal Rights for all citizens also requires that no group of citizens have SPECIAL RIGHTS. Not ONE IOTA MORE, NOT ONE IOTA LESS, even if it means that they will be INCURABLY UNHAPPY!
India should BUTT OUT of Sri Lanka's INTERNAL MATTERS and attend to uplifting the millions of its poverty stricken helpless people in dire need of food, education, employment and security. India has NO VALID EXPERIENCE or WISDOM in GOVERNANCE to offer Sri Lanka.
Why is this OUTRIGHT MURDER not SHOW CASED as a WAR CRIME by the GOSL?
Forget RECONCILIATION with Murderers; Start PROSECUTING THESE MURDERERS & DISH OUT RETRIBUTION!
Why is Sri Lanka playing DEFENCE with those who cry "war crimes" at the UN?
USE THESE CASES ... and the wholesale SLAUGHTER of 1000 policemen and army soldiers after the fall of Mullaitivu ... to INDELIBLY TAR & FEATHER these MONSTERS in the eyes of the world!
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Two Tamil Tiger cadres charged for killing 26 Sri Lankan military personnel
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 15, Colombo: Sri Lanka judiciary will indict two cadres of the intelligence unit of the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) today at Vavuniya High Court for the killing of 26 personnel of state military, burning and burying their bodies.
The two LTTE cadres identified as Madaarayan Sulakshan and Ganeshan Darshan are accused of executing the 26 military personnel who were captured and detained at the LTTE torture camp in the LTTE's Victor 1 camp in Puthukudiyiruppu.
As the Sri Lankan military advanced into the Tiger territory in 2009 the two cadres, who were fighting at the front lines and injured, have been assigned to torture and interrogate the military personnel.
Although the torture camp was protected by mines and claymores, as the Sri Lankan troops approached the senior cadre in charge of the camp named Ratnam Master has ordered the two suspects to kill all the captured soldiers, douse their bodies with diesel and burn.
Following the orders the suspects on January 15, 2009 have built a 5 feet high and 10 feet long pyre and lined up the blindfolded soldiers against the pyre and shot them. Darshan has shot 3 of the soldiers and Sulakshan has shot the other 23.
The Terrorism Investigation Division has arrested Arumugam Jogadeesan, another LTTE cadre connected to the incident while in a refugee camp after the war ended and he has provided this information to the authorities during interrogation.
The 26 military personnel included 18 Sri Lanka Navy and eight Army personnel.
The two suspects will be charged when they are produced today before the Vavuniya High Court Magistrate Ms. C. N. Bandumathi.
JAYAWEWA!
Sri Lanka Rises from the Ashes of the 30-year Eelamist War
Every Day, in Every Way, We are Forging Ahead to becoming the New Wonder of Asia!
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Expressway from Sri Lanka's Katunayake airport to capital to be opened in September
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 16, Colombo: The new expressway linking Sri Lanka's main international airport in Katunayake to Colombo will be ready to open in September, the Economic Development Ministry said Monday.
The Ministry said arrangements are being made to open the 26 kilometer-long Katunayake - Kelaniya Expressway built at a cost of US$ 291 million in September.
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa inspected the expressway Sunday and instructed the relevant officials to plant trees native to Sri Lanka on either side of the road after conserving the marshy lands on either side of the expressway and cleaning the Dutch Canal.
According to the Ministry, the highway is planned to have three lanes each way from Colombo to Peliyagoda and two lanes each way, from Peliyagoda to Katunayake with the width ranging from 26 to 34 meters.
Speed limit will be 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph) for the first eight kilometers (5.0 mi) and 110 km/h (68 mph) for the rest of the road.
The expressway, built under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is part of the highway network connecting the already functioning Southern Expressway, proposed Northern Expressway and the Colombo Outer Circular Highway that is under construction.
Once completed the road network will provide fast and easy access to the country's north and south and will avoid traffic when reaching the capital Colombo.
STOP the PC Elections NOW: Census 2012 Data Shows Massive ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION of Indian Tamils into Sri Lanka during LTTE control of the North & East in the last 30 years!
By Ananda-USA
July 18, 2013
The 2012 Census indicates NO REDUCTION in the Tamil Population of Sri Lanka, after allowing for the net natural population increase due to greater births than deaths.
If 1.5 million Sri Lankan Tamils EMIGRATED, legally and illegally, to foreign countries, over the last 30 years, and hold Sri Lankan passports, why is the EXPECTED REDUCTION in Sri Lankan Tamil population not reflected in the 2012 Census figures?
The only explanation is that during the Eelam War years about 1.6 MILLION Indian Tamils illegally entered Sri Lanka with the connivance of the LTTE and Tamil Nadu.
Were the 300,000 Tamils herded by the LTTE as a "human shield" actually some of the ILLEGAL Indian Tamil Immigrants brought into Sri Lanka who would be DEPORTED back to India if the SECRET of their ILLEGAL Immigration status was revealed? Were they WILLING participants in the human shield for that reason?
The article below by IRIN bemoans the difficulties faced by "war returnees" due to the lack of National ID cards, The reason why they don't have Sri Lankan National ID cards may be because many of them are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who were never citizens of Sri Lanka, and NEVER HAD Sri Lankan National ID cards issued to them.
This should be INVESTIGATED IMMEDIATELY by the Government of Sri Lanka to IDENTIFY and DEPORT these 1.6 Million ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS from Sri Lanka, as soon as possible!
Now it becomes clear why the TNA, the Tamil Nadu Politicians, and the Government of India are in SUCH A HURRY to hold Provincial Councils Elections and install the TNA in the Provincial Government, and Devolve Police and Land powers to them. If the TNA is endowed with Police & Land Powers, they can easily FALSIFY REGISTRATION RECORDS, issue documents certifying Sri Lankan citizenship to these ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, and COVER UP the MASSIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION that has taken place!
If this MASSIVE Immigration SCAM is allowed to take effect, the DEMOGRAPHICS of Sri Lanka would change INSTANTLY to favor the Tamil Community, with the induction of 1.6 MILLION new citizens!
Until this ISSUE IS RESOLVED, NO PC ELECTIONS should be held, and NO POWER should be DEVOLVED to these CROOKS! There is NO ISSUE OF GREATER IMPORTANCE to Sri Lanka's National Security than the protection of the legal status of native Sri Lankans by keeping illegal immigrants out of Sri Lanka.
STOP THE PC ELECTIONS ... NOW!
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No ID, no security, the dilemma of Sri Lanka's returnees
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 17 (IRIN) COLOMBO- Close to 100,000 returnees in Sri Lanka's north lack national identity cards (NICs), more than four years after the end of the country.s decades-long civil war.
"Many people cannot resume their lives as NICs are the passport to accessing multiple services and were made mandatory for voting in 2006," Suresh Premachandran, a member of parliament (MP) with the Tamil National Alliance, one of the largest national parties representing minority Tamils from the north, told IRIN.
According to the United Nations, more than 460,000 displaced persons have returned to Northern Province - which is home to more than 1 million inhabitants - since government forces declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland since 1983.
No ID, no security, the dilemma of Sri Lanka's returnees
.....Continued 1.....
In Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts alone, an estimated quarter of the districts' 200,000-plus inhabitants are without national IDs.
Without such documentation, many residents struggle to access public services such as health and education, and well as government assistance programmes.
They also face the risk of questioning and delays by police and security officials.
Not a priority
Under the law, NICs are compulsory for all Sri Lankans 16 years or older, and authorities may detain suspicious individuals who fail to show any form of legal identification - a legacy of the war.
"Without an NIC, you are always at risk," said Shereen Xavier, a north-based lawyer and executive director of the Home for Human Rights (HHR). "Without it, the impediments can be many."
Even to enter many government buildings, one must produce an NIC, people complain.
But moving ahead on this issue is proving a challenge.
Despite the identity cards' importance, the government has yet to prioritize the issue, with much of its effort focused instead on large-scale infrastructure and development projects in the north.
Many returnees do not have the required documentation to apply for an NIC, and with no local offices for issuing NICs, applications can take several months to process.
"The processing of papers can prove time-consuming," Shanthi Sachithanandan, chairperson of Viluthu, an organization promoting good governance in the north, explained.
No ID, no security, the dilemma of Sri Lanka's returnees
......Continued 2....
Temporary IDs
After the war, the government was keen to have its voter lists updated.
When these lists were updated ahead of presidential and local polls in 2010 and 2012, temporary IDs were issued to over 40,000 people to allow them to vote, a process that continues today.
At that time, around 90,000 people from the north failed to indicate their NIC number, Deputy Elections Commissioner M.M. Mohammad confirmed.
"Temporary IDs were issued to many, especially to facilitate their participation in the presidential and local government elections that were held," he said.
But many returnees say such IDs are looked down upon. Those holding temporary ID have difficulty accessing government services and are sometimes treated with suspicion by officials, they say.
Now, with the first provincial council election in Sri Lanka's former war zone scheduled for September, returnees and politicians alike are again urging the government to improve the issuing of NICs.
"The government has started issuing temporary IDs, which is a time-consuming process. People have to contact the local government officials and process papers, which is not easy for returnees," MP Premachandran said.
But according to the department responsible for issuing NICs, given the amount of time and documentation it takes to process such applications outside Colombo - and specifically in the former war zone - temporary IDs may still be the best option available at this point.
"This is the best solution to the present problem," maintained M.S. Sarath Kumara, commissioner general of the registration of persons, noting that temporary IDs issued to facilitate voting could also prove useful to people without any other form of identification.
"A temporary ID is a practical idea, and it can be revalidated through reapplication," agreed Rohana Hettiarachchi, executive director of People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, an election monitoring body that has been helping eligible voters to obtain national identity cards through a mobile clinic effort.
But for those returnees without an NIC, still struggling to establish some semblance of normalcy in their lives after years of conflict and displacement, the idea of anything temporary offers little solace.
"A temporary ID is useful for those who wish to cast their vote at the forthcoming northern provincial election. [However,] for us former IDPs [internally displaced persons], returning home after being displaced for a decade, there are much bigger issues than getting involved in a political battle," explained Muttuvel Kadirmani, a 46-year-old father of three from Mullaitivu. He urged the government to issue NICs instead of temporary forms of identification.
"It will be useful in every aspect of life and provide us with a sense of security," he said.
Read More:: IRIN (Source)
Strict new procedures for obtaining Sri Lanka dual citizenship
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 06, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government prepares to resume granting of dual citizenships from this month with a tougher screening procedure.
According to local media reports applicants for dual citizenship will face a tough screening procedure including a one-to-one interview with a panel.
The interview panel is to be headed by Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and would include External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama and Public Administration Secretary P.B. Abeykoon.
Amunugama has explained that the interview panel will look into the applicant's professional qualifications, investment capacity and the need to obtain dual citizenship.
He has observed that close attention would be paid for the reason for applying for dual citizenship since most applicants have left the country in their youth.
Reportedly some 2,000 applications for dual citizenship are pending before the Immigration and Emigration Department.
Processing dual citizenship applications was suspended in early 2011 in order to draft the new stringent criteria.
The dual citizenship scheme was introduced in 1987 and over 4,000 persons have been granted the facility.
Drafting new legislation for granting dual citizenship to expatriate Sri Lankans completed
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 20, Colombo: Authorities in Sri Lanka have completed the drafting of new legislation to grant dual citizenship to Sri Lankans residing overseas.
An official from the Legal Draftsman's Department has been quoted in the local media saying that the drafting process has been completed.
The spokesperson said the draft legislation has already been submitted to the Attorney General's Department for review.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the amendment would be tabled in Parliament, once it is approved by the Attorney General.
Immigration and Emigration Controller, Chulananda Perera said those who have already applied for dual citizenship would have to re-apply once the new legislation is enacted.
Obama nominates Indian-American to head South Asian Affairs at State Department
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 20, Washington, DC: President of the United States Barack Obama on Thursday nominated an Indian-American administrator to head the South Asia bureau in the US State Department.
President Obama announced his intent to nominate Ms. Nisha Desai Biswal for Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs, in the Department of State. The post is currently held by Robert Orris Blake, Jr., the former ambassador to Sri Lanka.
When confirmed by the Senate, Desai will head the South Asian bureau, which oversees US foreign policy and relations with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan.
Currently, Ms. Biswal is the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a position she has held since September 2010.
According to the White House announcement, from 2005 to 2010, Ms. Biswal was the Majority Clerk for the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 2002 to 2005, she served as the Policy and Advocacy Director at InterAction. Previously, she served on the professional staff of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee from 1999 to 2002. She served at USAID from 1995 to 1999 in a number of capacities including: Special Assistant to the Administrator, Chief of Staff in the Management Bureau, and in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Office of Transition Initiatives. Ms. Biswal worked at the American Red Cross from 1993 to 1995 in the Washington D.C. headquarters and as an overseas delegate in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. She is also a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China since March 2011. Ms. Biswal received a B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Every Day, in Every Way the dastardly deeds of these mass murderers are EXPOSED!
Bravo, GOSL! This is the way to PUSH BACK against the PERMANENT VICTIMS of the Eelamist Tamil Diaspora!
We need MORE SUCH INVESTIGATIONS to weed out the separatist muderers hiding under sheepskins!
Don't forget to TAR & FEATHER the ARCH-TRAITORS of the TNA Tiger Nominated Agents.
Bravo!
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Ex-combatant reveals massacres committed by Sri Lanka's terrorist organization
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 04, Colombo: A former cadre of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger terrorist organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has provided the police shocking information on massacres committed by the LTTE during their reign in the North and East.
The former rebel, who is in police custody, has revealed information on detention and execution of over 80 captives including a Tamil inspector of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of police and an army captain.
The suspect has told the police how the LTTE held the captives in illegal prisons named 'Alpha-05' and 'Alpha-02' in Vallipuram, Pudukuduirippu before they were executed and has also revealed the location where the victims were burnt after they were killed.
His account of the executions has been confirmed by three other ex-combatants in custody currently.
According to the information uncovered from the suspect, Police Intelligence Specialist, Inspector P. Jeyaratnam attached to the Mount Lavinia Division Terrorism Investigation Unit was among the tortured and executed in 2006.
Inspector Jeyaratnam, an ethnic Tamil from Jaffna enlisted in police for 15 years, was abducted by LTTE from the Mt. Lavinia Hotel on April 20, 2005 since he was a crucial source on intelligence against LTTE.
At the time the International Red Cross (ICRC) had asked the LTTE Deputy Leader and Political Wing Leader S.P. Thamilselvan to release the hostage without any harm.
According to the former rebel, Jeyaratnam was abducted in a white van and later taken to Kilinochchi where several other captives including the army captain, and Tamil civilians and LTTE cadres who were suspected of betraying the terror group were detained.
The suspect has told police that about 30 of the captives were taken blindfolded to Oddusuddan jungle in May 2006 and executed. Another group of about 50 prisoners were executed in the same location two months later in July 2006. Bodies of all victims were burned.
According to the information provided by the suspect, Inspector Jeyaratnam was executed in September 2006 in a jungle in Vallipuram, Pudukuduirippu and the Army Captain who had been detained at a camp in Thottiadi, Vishvamadu was executed in 2009.
The police said that a magisterial inquiry will be conducted on the victims and the location where the bodies were believed to have been burnt. Three more suspects have been arrested over the massacres and further investigations are continuing, the police said.
TRANSLATION: Get CONTROL of the North & East PCs NOW, demand Land & Police Powers LATER on the way to a FULL Eelam.
It sickens me to see these Tiger Nominated Agents being permitted to assume politiccal power without being ARRESTED, PROSECUTED, CONVICTED and IMPRISONED at Hard Labor for the rest of their murderous lives for te MURDER and MAYHEM they inflicted upon the citizens of Sri Lanka.
Sad to say ... but it appears that OUR LEADERS NEVER LEARN! Their hands will be stained by the BLOOD that will surely be shed in Sri Lanka in the future as the Eelam war is resurrected ... this time with ACTIVE Tamil Nadu participation.
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Sri Lanka Tamil party disappointed with President's stance on land and police powers to provinces
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has expressed disappointment over President's stance on land and police powers to provinces.
Leader of the TNA, R. Sampanthan speaking to media has said that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa changes his stance on devolving police and land powers from time to time.
President Rajapaksa addressing a meeting with the heads of electronic and print media last week said that his stance on the issue of distribution of police and land powers to provincial councils has not changed and reiterated that the powers will remain with the government.
Sampanthan has said that the Tamil party would respond to the President's statement at the right time.
"He (the President) does not seem to have any steady decision. The TNA is observing his comments and at the right time the Alliance will come out with the response to the President," Sampanthan has told the media.
The President said police and land powers were not implemented since the introduction of the Provincial Council system to the country and he doesn't consider that the issue should be given special attention now ahead of the first ever provincial council election to the Northern Province.
Why DENY the troop level of 150,000 claimed by the TNA?
Accept as God's Truth and INCREASE the troopp level from the actual 13,150 up to 150,000 on the way to a final contingent of 200,000 in the EYE OF THE TIGER!
What is NECESSARY for National Defense is for the GOSL to decide, not for the ARCH-TRAITORS and Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA who are part and parcel of the vanquished separatists of the LTTE!
Don't DENY, DONT OFFER EXPLANATIONS; just AGREE and INCREASE the troop strength to 150,000!
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Jaffna Commander rejects Sri Lanka Tamil party's claim of troop strength in North
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 04, Colombo: Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Security Forces Commander of Jaffna in Northern Province of Sri Lanka has flatly rejected a claim made by the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on the troop strength in the peninsula.
Major General Hathurusinghe responding to the allegation by the TNA Spokesperson and Jaffna District Parliamentarian, Suresh Premachandran that 150,000 security forces personnel are present in Jaffna, said even during the peak time of the war in 2008, there were only 43,000 security personnel in Jaffna.
The troops have been gradually transferred out from Jaffna and at present there are only 13,150 security service personnel in Jaffna, the Commander has said.
He has charged that certain Tamil politicians make this issue a scapegoat for their election propaganda in the forthcoming provincial council election in Northern Province.
"Jaffna is only a part of the entire Northern Province, where one million people live. However, there are 150,000 Security Forces personnel present in Jaffna. But, the government says there are only 13,000 troops stationed in Jaffna," Premachandran has said.
Major General Hathurusinghe has told the national radio that not only the security personnel have been transferred out from Jaffna but even the properties in the high security zone have been handed over to their original owners.
According to the Jaffna Commander, 77 houses and 20 blocks of land have been given back to their original owners through the Jaffna District Secretary Office.
He has said that steps have been taken to hand over 90 percent of the private lands and houses occupied by the security forces in Jaffna to their legitimate owners.
The Commander has said that some owners living overseas have requested the Army not to vacate their properties while others have indicated that the security provided by the Army is needed to maintain peace.
He has accused pro-Eelam Tamil politicians for spreading rumors to mislead the general public for their own gains.
TNA MP Premachandran meanwhile said the Northern Provincial Council polls would not be credible without restricting the troops in the North to barracks as the security forces personnel are likely to disrupt polls-related activities.
A GOOD STARTING POINT for India would be to BUTT OUT OF Sri Lanka's Internal Matters and attend first to DEVOLVING POWER to the Muslim Separatists in Kashmir. After all, they are "Freedom Fighters" fighting for their INALIENABLE DEMOCRATIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ... are they not?
After that is done, India can devolve power to ALL other communities of India who want to SECEDE ... including the incurable RACISTS of Tamil Nadu leading the Tamil National Army.
When all that has been "ACCOMPLISHED" for the "BENEFIT" of the People of India .... come back and tell us how satisfied and secure the people of India feel.
UNTIL then, BUTT OUT of our business!
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No starting point to resolution
Aug 03 (Hindu) The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election in Sri Lanka is expected to take place later this year. Colombo is entertaining hopes that holding the elections will help win India's support in multilateral venues.
New Delhi has made the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution - a by-product of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord - the centerpiece of a political solution. The Indo-Lanka Accord purportedly addresses the Tamil issue but most importantly for India, also contains important provisions on security-related matters between the two states. Safeguarding the 13th amendment in some form is important to keep the Indo-Lanka Accord alive. The Sri Lankan government has been playing the "China card" to lessen pressure from India. New Delhi returned the favour by its qualified support to the two U.S.-sponsored resolutions on Sri Lanka at the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2012 and March 2013.
Show of nationalism
President Mahinda Rajapaksa would have liked to amend the 13th amendment before the NPC election, but has no option but to leave it untouched, thanks to pressure exerted by India. Nonetheless, India's breathing down Colombo's neck is allowing for a more strident expression of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism to take hold. The pioneers of this increasingly brazen show of nationalism, led by the Defence Secretary and Rajapaksa's brother, Gotabhaya, as well as ministers within the ruling coalition, are calling for the 13th amendment to be repealed or amended into nothing. As such calls grow, President Rajapaksa's stance appears increasingly duplicitous - silently encouraging the anti-13th amendment hysteria, while distancing himself from it to appear presentable to India and the West. For now, he seems to have shelved plans to dilute the 13th amendment. Nevertheless, as Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa's recent interview to The Hindu("Cannot risk a parallel army in North: Basil," July 19, 2013) confirms, Colombo has not given up totally on this goal presumably, the 13th amendment will be watered down after the NPC election. Given the state of the judiciary in Sri Lanka, following the impeachment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in January 2013, as well as the two-thirds majority Rajapaksa enjoys in Parliament, there seems to be no significant challenge to passing these amendments postelections. While some left leaning parties in Rajapaksa's coalition and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress have asserted that they will not support any such move, these critics have previously proved themselves to be politically amenable. For India, the NPC election being held without any amendments to the 13 amendment will suffice.
The Tamil people have been reduced to mere spectators in this powwow between the two governments. No one has asked the Tamil people what they stand to gain by holding the Northern Provincial Council election or more widely, with the 13th amendment.
....Continued 1....
Tamil concerns
The 13th amendment is no starting point to a political solution. It sits within a highly inflexible unitary state framework. The Governor of the Province, a Presidential appointee, must consent to any bill that has financial consequences and can delay legislation brought before the provincial council under the pretext of unconstitutionality. He/she has plenary powers (appointment, dismissal and transfer powers) over the Provincial Public Service. State land alienation, prime among Tamil concerns, continues to be vested almost exclusively with the President. Most policing powers remain retained for the National Police. Meanwhile, appointments to the Provincial Police Service will be strictly controlled by the Central government.
Even the appointment of the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Province in the eventuality that the Chief Minister and the IGP fail to reach a consensus becomes a matter for the President. Crucially, issues relating to the developmental and livelihood needs of the Tamil people are not "devolved" to the provincial councils. For example, "planning" is mentioned in the provincial council list but is also a subject in the concurrent list. The concurrent list incorporates all that is crucial for the immediate reconstruction of the livelihood of the war-affected population, including fisheries, agriculture, social services, and employment planning at the provincial level. On top of all this, there is the unconstitutional, illegal Presidential Task Force, which has to approve every single developmental programme carried out in the North. As it is, the 13th amendment has been further weakened by successive governments through unilateral Central government legislation and executive fiat.
.....Continued 2.....
Conflict years
Up to the end of the armed conflict, Tamils have consistently rejected the 13th amendment not only the LTTE, but also the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) which had initially been engaged in a dialogue with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi regarding its contents. Poignantly, at that time, the TULF asserted that Sri Lanka did not show the final version of the 13th amendment to India before it was presented to Parliament.
The current leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sambanthan was part of the trio who represented the TULF, in the TULF-Rajiv Gandhi talks.
The TNA is under pressure from India to accept a solution based on the 13th amendment, and does not want to be seen as rejecting something that President Rajapaksa is reluctant to offer. As a result, Tamil representatives are engaged in a futile battle with those who call for it to be repealed, to save whatever little is left in the 13th amendment. It is a wholly nonsensical debate: those who want to repeal the 13th amendment argue, quite misleadingly, that it significantly devolves land and police powers to the provinces. They also call for Parliament to be stripped of its powers to enable a merger of the North and Eastern provinces when even the main opposition party (the United National Party) is against such a move. Just as misleading are attempts by those campaigning for the 13th amendment, including India and the TNA, to convey to the Tamil people that it is a good starting point to a political solution.
What then is the future of the 13th amendment? The more prudent sections of the Sri Lankan government are likely to prevail and the amendment, in some form or the other, will be retained. However, it is probable that the Government after the Northern Provincial Council election may try to remove the symbolic references in the 13th amendment that create the impression of granting land and police powers to the province; and make a merger of the North and East a legal impossibility. India may object to such measures: but in the midst of all this hysteria, any attempt towards finding a genuine political solution will be lost.
Read More:: Hindu (Source)
When that self-proclaimed bastion of Democracy, the cradle of Paliamentary Rule, actively INVESTIGATES, ARRESTS and DEPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, can Sri Lanka DO ANY LESS?
There are as many as 1.6 MILLION Illegal Immigrants from TAmil Nadu living NOW in Sri Lanka, as confirmed by the 2012 Population Census, conspiring to be declared Sri Lankan citizens when the TNA comes to power in the upcoming PC Elections.
What is the GOSL going to do about it? Turn a BLIND EYE and EMPOWER the SEPARATISTS who aided and abetted this IMMIGRATION SCAM during the heyday of the now defunct SunGod?
Our Leaders NEVER LEARN, too busy counting the shekels in the dark to protect the native citizens of Sri Lanka!
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UK encourages voluntary return of illegal migrants
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 05, London: The UK government has launched a pilot scheme in London to encourage illegal migrants to leave the UK voluntarily, the British High Commission in Colombo said today.
Vans displaying large ads, as well as leaflets, posters and messages in local newspapers will be used to highlight the advantages of returning home voluntarily, while making clear that enforcement action will be taken if they do not.
According to the High Commission, the two vans are driving around different parts of London this week, showing residents how many illegal migrants have recently been arrested in their area.
The areas of Hounslow, Barking and Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge have been chosen because they have either significantly higher or below average numbers of voluntary returns.
They also publicize a hotline number that the migrants can call to arrange their return.
"We are making it more difficult for people to live and work in the UK illegally. Every single day our enforcement officers are arresting, detaining and removing people with no right to be in the UK. But there is an alternative to being led away in handcuffs. Help and advice can be provided to those who co-operate and return to their homes voluntarily," the Immigration Minister Mark Harper said.
Voluntary returns are the most cost-effective way of removing illegal immigrants and saving the taxpayer money for the UK government. The pilot program builds on the government's current work on voluntary returns, which saw 3,699 voluntary departures last year.
Every Day, in Every Way, More & More of the Monstrous Atrocities committed by the Tamil Tigers with the support of the Eelamist Diaspora and the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA are EXPOSED!
Most of the Military Leaders of the LTTE and their late unlamented SunGod have paid with their lives for these atrocities.
But WHEN ... OH WHEN, I ask... are those in hiding abroad in the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, and in Sri Lanka posing as PERMANENT VICTIMS agitating for POLITICAL POWER to be DEVOLVED to them, are going to be held ACCOUNTABLE for their roles in the MURDER & MAYHEM they inflicted on the innocent citizens of Sri Lanka?
Is the GOSL going to DEVOLVE POWER to these murderers via PC Elections so they can do it again?
WHY ... OH, WHY... are they not being HARRIED FROM PILLAR TO POST, INVESTIGATED, ARRESTED, PROSECUTED, CONVICTED and PUNISHED to the MAXIMUM for their AWFUL CRIMES and TREASON against their country?
Is it NOT OBVIOUS that TERRORISTS UNPUNISHED are SEPARATISTS ENCOURAGED!
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Dark deeds of Tamil Tigers come to light after 4 years
Qadijah Irshad /
KhaleejTimes.com
August 8, 2013
Four years after the end of the war, the Sri Lankan police have arrested a man who revealed the gruesome torture and murder of over 85 prisoners, most of them Tamils, by the Tamil Tiger terrorist group.
Last Saturday the police nabbed a Tiger suspect evading arrest, who provided detailed accounts of massacres of prisoners of war and renegade Tiger combatants, committed by the Tamil Tigers. Three other former Tiger cadres currently in custody corroborated the story, police officials said. According to a statement given by the former rebel to the police, most of the 85 prisoners were ethnic Tamils made up of rebels, some Tamil civilians, an army captain and a high profile Tamil intelligence officer attached to the Sri Lankan police.
Dark deeds of Tamil Tigers come to light after 4 years
.....Continued 1....
The death of Jeyaratnam
Of the prisoners held captive and subsequently shot and burnt in a pyre, was the intelligence officer attached to the Sri Lankan police, T. Jeyaratnam, said the rebel.
Jeyaratnam, an ethnic Tamil from Northern Jaffna was serving in the Sri Lankan police special intelligence unit. Known as “Scotland” Jeyaratnam, he was a key investigator of the activities of the Tamil Tigers with an extensive knowledge of the rebels and their operational methods.
With a knack for tracking down terrorist operatives, he had cracked open cases relating to assassinations and bombings and was instrumental in arresting key Tiger cadres and unearthing explosives caches in Colombo. A top target on the terrorist hit list, Jeyaratnam disappeared from Colombo in 2005, suspected to have been abducted by the Tamil Tigers.
According to the captured rebel, Jeyaratnam was abducted and taken to Kilinochchi, the former terrorist capital in the North, and was executed a year later in a jungle in Vallipuram, Pudukuduirippu. “Several other captives including an army captain, Tamil civilians and Tiger cadres who were suspected of betraying the Tamil Tigers were detained in the Vishwamadu prison compound,” said the former Tiger in his statement.
“In May 2006, 30 of the captives were taken blindfolded to the Oddusuddan jungle and were shot dead. Another group of about 50 prisoners were executed in the same location two months later. Bodies of all the victims were piled together and burned,” he said.
The former rebel confirmed that the army captain who had been imprisoned in a sprawling prison camp in Thottiadi, Vishvamadu, was also executed in 2009, just before the end of the war.
Secret prisons and assassinations
During the three decade conflict, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tiger leader ran an entire government in the North. The Tamil Tigers operated their own legal system, parliament, police and security forces, sang their own national anthem and operated vast secret prisons the existence of which no civilian knew of. A visit to one of the secret prisons run by the Tamil Tigers in Vishwamadu, Kilinochchi, where some of the 85 victims were incarcerated reveals the fate of the prisoners. The drawings and graffiti on the walls of families, a woman carrying an infant, a beautiful damsel, churches, verses from the Bible and words of hope and prayer tell their own story. The names and dates of suicide bombing missions inscribed on many of the walls can mean only one thing. The prisoners were trained suicide Tigers who refused to go on a mission.
According to former cadres, in 2009, as the Tamil Tigers anticipated defeat, most of the prisoners in the six single prison cells and 20 group cells which could house 68 prisoners in Vishwamadu, were shot dead, and their bodies burnt.
And it was not an isolated incident. Last month a Northern court in Vavuniya indicted two Tiger intelligence officers for the ruthless killing of 26 Sri Lankan military men during the final phase of the war.
Eighteen Sri Lankan navy and eight army soldiers were held captive at a Tamil Tiger torture camp in Puthukudiyiruppu. The two Tiger cadres had been assigned to capture, torture and interrogate injured soldiers who had penetrated into Tiger territory during the final battle in 2009.
Although the torture camp was protected by mines and claymores, on orders from their chiefs, the two Tiger cadres built a five foot high, 10 foot long pyre, lined up the blindfolded soldiers against it and shot them.
Engaged in a 'Jackfruit Mission' among the youth in Sri Lanka
NewIndianExpress.com
August 8, 2013
There’s an old saying in Sri Lanka - that Sri Lankans will never starve. What encourages the average islander to brag thus is a fruit both Lankans and Indians love; the ubiquitous jackfruit. But in a changing world, the popularity of ‘Kose’ - as the fruit is called in Sinhalese - is taking a beating in the small island nation. That’s where Mahinda Karunaratne comes in.
For the past one year, the 80-year-old has been on a mission promoting jackfruit among his nation’s younger generation. ‘’For ages, it has been a staple diet in Sri Lanka. In fact, in Sinhalese it is described as ‘Bath Gasa’ - rice tree. It is equal to rice in our diet,’’ says Karunaratne, who chairs the Karuna Trust and is in Kerala to take back tips on his ‘pet fruit.’ ‘’We have taken our projects to government-run schools in rural Sri Lanka like Anuradhapura and Ratnapura. Students are given two seedlings each and are encouraged to plant them in his or her home garden. They have to plant it, and look after it,’’ he said.
What prompted him to champion the cause of jackfruit is its dwindling popularity among the younger generation, especially in urban Sri Lanka. The situation is more or less similar to Kerala, where ‘chakka’, while sought after for its divine sweetness, is never quite accorded the same status as, say, the mango or the banana.
Karunaratne says Lankans and Indians can learn from each other when it comes to jackfruit. Over the centuries, Lankans have perfected techniques for preserving the flesh of the fruit as well as its seed. ‘’We have a variety of dishes, you know, curries included. Tender jackfruit is also used as a substitute for rice, and you have it with fish curry, for example. Right through the year, we have jackfruit on our menu,’’ he said, adding that his aim was create a jackfruit promotion council on the lines of the one in Kerala.
Karunaratne is an interesting character in himself. Half-a-century ago, he started off as a printer, founding the Karunaratne and Sons (Pvt) Ltd. When he turned 70, the slightly built, soft-spoken businessman handed over the firm to his children, on a condition; one per cent of the profits should go to Karuna Trust, which focuses on children’s education.
His passion for the jackfruit has found him friends across the Palk Straits. Says journalist and rainwater harvesting expert Sri Padre: ‘’We have a lot to learn from Sri Lanka when it comes to jackfruit. They export jackfruit products to 15 countries. Even the jackfruit seeds are brined and exported. It is high time we exchanged teams of jackfruit lovers.’’
Karunaratne will attend a workshop on jackfruit organised by the Jackfruit Promotion Council in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
While Tamil Nadu politicians PUBLICLY SUPPORT the Creation of a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, WHY DOES THE GOSL hold PC Elections in Sri Lanka to DEVOLVE POWER to the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA who work HAND-IN-GLOVE with the TESO to DIVIDE Sri Lanka?
WHY?
Incurable STUPIDITY ... That is Why!
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Boycott Commonwealth Summitt: TESO
TheHindu.com
Aug 08 (PTI) Raising the pitch on the Lankan Tamils issue and attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen, the DMK chief M. Karunanidhi-led Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation on Thursday staged protests across Tamil Nadu demanding that the Centre boycott the Commonwealth meeting slated to be held in Colombo this November.
Criticising the Centre for being 'silent' , the DMK chief, whose party pulled out of the UPA in March last on the Lankan Tamils issue, said it should not dismiss the protests as 'mere gatherings' in various places and "those in power should know that there is a limit to patience."
"Centre should not take this lightly as mere gatherings in Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Salem. Sri Lanka, too, which is hoping for Centre's support, should not think that way..." Mr. Karunanidhi said addressing a gathering in Chennai.
The DMK patriarch alleged that everyday fishermen from the state were being shot, killed and abducted and their catch seized and boats damaged.
"For how many days will the Centre remain silent? For how long do we have to tolerate this? Those in power should know that there is a limit to patience."
The organisation, revived by Mr. Karunanidhi last year, had resolved to press the Centre to boycott the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in view of the alleged war crimes against Tamils in Sri Lanka in 2009.
It had also called for action from the Centre to take steps to protect Indian fishermen from "being attacked and abducted by the Lankan armed forces." "If even for this the Centre remains silent, who do we turn to for support and help?" Mr. Karunanidhi asked.
He urged the Centre to come forward to protect Tamils, their arts, their culture and fishermen.
The TESO had insisted that India take the responsibility in ensuring that the island government did not dilute the 13th Amendment on devolution of powers, which was part of the 1987 Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardhane accord.
Saudi Arabia is behind many of the “Arab Uprisings”.
But that is not the WHOLE STORY: there are other Arab collaborators …. notably the Quataris, who are getting to be VERY AGGRESSIVE peeping out from under the protection of the US Navy military umbrella based in Quatar.
The US believes that these two countries are US allies and serve US interests as puppets on a string whenever the US wants to destabilize and implement a regime change in the Arab world.
BOTH the US and its medieval Arab allies are WRONG. Here is why:
Saudi Arabia and Quatar are hotbeds of SUNNI Wahhabi religious activism which coexists with their Royal Families in a uneasy TEMPORARY truce. Their war is mainly directed against the INFIDEL Shia Moslem countries and movements. For now, they have forgotten their ancient enemy Israel against whom they were actively waging war only a decade ago, but Israel has forgotten NOTHING as it pursues its own national agenda with single-minded determination. The fallacy of their current position is two fold:
A. The SUNNI religious extremists … who are aligned with Al-Quaida… have the toppling of the Arab monarchies as their next important goal. They believe that the Royals are DECADENT and not sufficiently PURITANICAL in their pursuit of the SUNNI Jihad against ALL infidels.
The Islamic constitution of the now deposed Morsi government of Egypt augurs the future of all Arab monarchies. The Muslim Brotherhood is now deposed but they will be back with a vengeance in the future! Years of funding of the Wahhabi zealots by the Arab Royals desperately hoping to co-opt the Jihadist monster has spawned entrenched madrasas and jihadist movements worldwide that cannot be easily eradicated. The Royalists will ultimately be consumed by the Jihadist holocaust and will rue the day when they slept with these intolerant fanatics. However, do not be deceived: the hands that toppled the Morsi government of Egypt speaks English with American and Israeli accents.
B. US policy in the Middle East is largely driven by the US Jewish Lobby/Jewish Diaspora to ensure the protection and continued economic and territorial growth of Israel. Everything the US does in the Middle East, from Iraq to Afghanistan, to the Arab Spring revolutions, and now the looming military strikes against Syria, are orchestrated by this movement. The US government has no will of its own that is independent of the Israeli Government in Jerusalem. Therefore, the gullible Arab Royals have in fact allied themselves with the PUPPET of their ancient Jewish enemy to consecutively destroy each Moslem nation-state.
As the Arab enemies of Israel are brought down, ONE BY ONE, under various seemingly unrelated pretexts (nuclear non-proliferation, terrrorism, democracy, human rights, war crimes), their people are divided into warring camps destroying national cohesion and national will, their national infrastructure and defense organizations are reduced to rubble, and Arab nation-states are reduced to hapless entities totally incapable of confronting the Israeli juggernaut, and become ever more dependent on the US for their security and existence.
....Continued 1.....
A clear example of the all-encompassing Jewish influence on US Policy, is the Obama Administration’s current move to strike militarily at Syria BASED UPON UNVERIFIED EVIDENCE SUPPLIED BY ISRAEL of “Toxic Chemical Attacks by the Syrian Government”! This is the SAME APPROACH, in search of non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) based on unverified false information presumably supplied by Ahmed Chalabi, that led to the destruction and internal disintegration of Iraq. Who really manipulated Ahmed Chalabi and the US intelligence services to destroy Iraq … we will never know.
Throughout history, ORGANIZATION into national structures is what gives ordinary people the power to collectively defend themselves. When those national organizations are disrupted by whatever overt or covert strategy of enemies, external and internal, the people are reduced to defenceless rabble.
We Sri Lankans KNOW THIS WELL. We experienced this during the last 30 years fighting the Eelam wars, allowing various foreigners and NGOs to preach double standards, and brainwash and dictate to us how we should defend ourselves by kowtowing to the terrorist Eelamists.
May the Noble Triple Gem Bless and Protect the current Patriotic UPFA Government of Sri Lanka that decisively rejected abject capitulation to the enemy, and rescued Sri Lanka’s sceptered crown from the gutter.
>Obama set for holy Tomahawk war
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
August 28, 2013
The ''responsibility to protect'' (R2P) doctrine invoked to legitimize the 2011 war on Libya has just transmogrified into ''responsibility to attack'' (R2A) Syria. Just because the Obama administration says so.
On Sunday, the White House said it had ''very little doubt'' that the Bashar al-Assad government used chemical weapons against its own citizens. On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry ramped it up to ''undeniable'' - and accused Assad of ''moral obscenity''.
So when the US bombed Fallujah with white phosphorus in late 2004 it was just taking the moral high ground. And when the US helped Saddam Hussein to gas Iranians in 1988 it was also taking the moral high ground.
The Obama administration has ruled that Assad allowed UN chemical weapons inspectors into Syria, and to celebrate their arrival unleashed a chemical weapons attack mostly against women and children only 15 kilometers away from the inspectors' hotel. If you don't believe it, you subscribe to a conspiracy theory.
Evidence? Who cares about evidence? Assad's offer of access for the inspectors came ''too late''. Anyway, the UN team is only mandated to determine whether chemical weapons were deployed - but not by who, according to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's spokesman.
As far as the Obama administration and UK Prime Minister David ''of Arabia'' Cameron are concerned - supported by a barrage of corporate media missiles - that's irrelevant; Obama's ''red line'' has been crossed by Assad, period. Washington and London are in no-holds-barred mode to dismiss any facts contradicting the decision. Newspeak - of the R2A kind - rules. If this all looks like Iraq 2.0 that's because it is. Time to fix the facts around the policy - all over again. Time for weapons of mass deception - all over again.
The Saudi-Israeli axis of fun
The window of opportunity for war is now. Assad's forces were winning from Qusayr to Homs; pounding ''rebel'' remnants out of the periphery of Damascus; deploying around Der'ah to counterpunch CIA-trained ''rebels'' with advanced weapons crossing the Syrian-Jordanian border; and organizing a push to expel ''rebels'' and jihadis from suburbs of Aleppo.
Now, Israel and Saudi Arabia are oh so excited because they are getting exactly what they dream just by good ol' Wag the Dog methods. Tel Aviv has even telegraphed how it wants it: this Monday, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper headlined with ''On the Way to Attack'' and even printed the ideal Order of Battle. (see photo)
....Continued 1....
Months ago, even AMAN, the Intelligence Directorate of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) concluded that Assad was not a fool to cross Obama's chemical weapon ''red line''. So they came up with the concept of ''two entwined red lines'', the second line being the Syrian government ''losing control of its chemical weapons depots and production sites''. AMAN then proposed different strategies to Washington, from a no-fly zone to actually seizing the weapons (implying a ground attack).
It's now back to the number one option - air strikes on the chemical weapons depots. As if the US - and Israel - had up-to-the-minute intelligence on exactly where they are.
The House of Saud had also telegraphed its wishes - after Prince Bandar bin Sultan, aka Bandar Bush, was appointed by King Abdullah as head of Saudi General Intelligence. Abdullah's hard on is explained by his mother and two of his wives coming from an influential, ultra-conservative Sunni tribe in Syria. As for Bandar Bush, he has more longevity than Rambo or the Terminator; he's back in the same role he played in the 1980s Afghan jihad, when he was the go-to guy helping the CIA to weaponize president president Ronald Reagan's ''freedom fighters''.
Jordan - a fiction of a country totally dependent on the Saudis - was easily manipulated into becoming a ''secret'' war operation center. And who's in charge? No less than Bandar's younger half-brother, and deputy national security adviser, Salman bin Sultan, also known as ''mini-Bandar''. Talk about an Arab version of Dr Evil and Mini Me.
Still, there are more CIA assets than Saudis in the Jordanian front.
The importance of this report cannot be overstated enough. It was initially leaked to Lebanon's Al-Safir newspaper. Here's Bandar's whole strategy, unveiled in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, already reported by Asia Times Online. After trying - for four hours - to convince Putin to drop Syria, Bandar is adamant: ''There is no escape from the military option.''
Mix Kosovo with Libya and voila!
Former president Bill Clinton resurfaced with perfect timing to compare Obama's options in Syria to Reagan's jihad in Afghanistan. Bubba was right in terms of positioning Bandar's role. But he must have inhaled something if he was thinking in terms of consequences - which include everything from the Taliban to that mythical entity, ''al-Qaeda''. Well, at least al-Qaeda is already active in Syria; they don't need to invent it.
As for that bunch of amateurs surrounding Obama - including R2P groupies such as Susan Rice and new Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, all of them liberal hawks - they are all suckers for Kosovo. Kosovo - with a Libya add-on - is being spun as the ideal model for Syria; R2P via (illegal) air strikes. Right on cue, the New York Times is already frantically parroting the idea.
Facts are, of course, absent from the narrative - including the blowing up of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade (a remix in Syria with the Russian embassy?) and getting to the brink of a war with Russia.
.....Continued 2....
Syria has nothing to do with the Balkans. This is a civil war. Arguably the bulk of the Syrian urban population, not the country bumpkins, support Damascus - based on despicable ''rebel'' behavior in places they control; and the absolute majority wants a political solution, as in the now near-totally torpedoed Geneva II conference.
The Jordanian scheme - inundating southern Syria with heavily weaponized mercenaries - is a remix of what the CIA and the Saudis did to AfPak; and the only winner will be Jabhat al-Nusra jihadis. As for the Israeli solution for Obama - indiscriminate bombing of chemical weapons depots - it will certainly result in horrendous collateral damage, as in R2A killing even more civilians.
The prospects remain grim. Damn another coalition of the willing; Washington already has the British and French poodles in the bag, and full support - in air-con safety - from the democratic Gulf Cooperation Council petro-monarchies, minion Jordan and nuclear power Israel. This is what passes for ''international community'' in the newspeak age.
The Brits are already heavily spinning that no UN Security Council resolution is needed; who cares if we do Iraq 2.0? For the War Party, the fact that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said Syrian ''rebels'' could not promote US interests seems to be irrelevant.
Washington already has what it takes for the Holy Tomahawks to start flying; 384 of them are already positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean. B-1 bombers can be deployed from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. And bunker-busting bombs will certainly be part of the picture.
What happens next requires concentric crystal balls - from Tomahawks to a barrage of air strikes to Special Ops commandos on the ground to a sustained air campaign lasting months. In his long interview to Izvestia, Assad gives the impression he thinks Obama is bluffing.
What's certain is that Syria won't be a ''piece of cake'' like Libya; even depleted on all fronts, Gaddafi resisted for eight long months after NATO started its humanitarian bombing. Syria has a weary but still strong army of 200,000; loads of Soviet and Russian weapons; very good antiaircraft systems; and full support from asymmetrical warfare experts Iran and Hezbollah. Not to mention Russia, which just needs to forward a few S-300 air defense batteries and relay solid intelligence.
So get used to how international relations work in the age of newspeak. General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's army in Egypt can kill hundreds of his own people who were protesting against a military coup. Washington couldn't care less - as in the coup that is not a coup and the bloodbath that is not a bloodbath.
No one knows for sure what exactly happened in the chemical weapons saga near Damascus. But that's the pretext for yet another American war - just a few days before a Group of 20 summit hosted by Putin in St Petersburg. Holy Tomahawk! R2A, here we go.
Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge (Nimble Books, 2007), and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).
Like the proverbial monkeys, Navi Pillay Sees No Atrocities by the LTTE, Hears No Atrocities by the LTTE, Investigates No Atrocities by the LTTE but demonizes Sri Lanka in cahoots with the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA now posing and wailing as the ONLY Permanent Victims of Sri Lanka.
The TNA Eelamists reminds me of the Man who Axed his parents to Death, and pleaded for clemency from the judge … because he is now a HELPLESS ORPHAN!!
Expecting Navi Pillay to investigate Eelamist war crimes is like asking the Fox to Mind the Hen House!
A Bloody Farce from beginning to end!
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Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front tells UN: Investigate LTTE atrocities first
By Sandasen Marasinghe
DAilyNews.lk
August 31, 2013
Representatives of the Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front, whose near and dear had been abducted or killed by the LTTE terrorists, speaking at a press conference at Nippon Hotel yesterday. Picture by Rasika Kotudarage
The United Nations Human Rights Council has to study the atrocities perpetrated by the LTTE on the Tamil people during the entire three decades that they operated with impunity, and not just the last few months of conflict when efforts were made to eradicate terrorism from the country to guarantee human rights of all Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people, Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front representatives said.
....Continued 1....
They also stated that if they are able to forget the atrocities committed by the LTTE during the last 30 years,
they have to forget the last few months and let the country move forward smoothly as it is happening today, after the eradication of terrorism since the people are living peacefully while their lives have returned to normal.
Representatives of thousands of members of the Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front, whose close relatives had been abducted or killed by the LTTE terrorists, made these observations at a press conference at Nippon Hotel yesterday.
The representatives said these measures are being taken against Sri Lanka based on the requests of the Diaspora and the UN has to bring LTTEers including leaders Nediayawan and Rudrakumaran who are among the diaspora before a forum and question them on the atrocities and war crimes committed by the LTTE against civilians including the Tamil people violating their Human Rights.
They added that influenced by the diaspora, a biased investigation is being carried out ignoring the voice of the battered people.
The representatives added that they are planning a documentary on LTTE atrocities committed on the Tamil community and civilians based on the facts unlike the Channel Four footage and to hand it over to the Heads of States at the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting. They added they are equipped with solid facts and the Human Rights activists should meet them if they need to find out the real situation.
They added that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was not paying attention to the sufferings of the Tamils. The have forgotten the fact that 900 Tamil civilians were abducted and killed by the LTTE during 2001 to 2005 only. The number of the Tamils that the LTTE abducted and killed during the 30 years is enormous. More than 3,200 security personnel are still missing and the LTTE is responsible for their disappearances.
They want the LTTEers in the diaspora to be questioned by the Human Rights activists.
They also said the people have no problems but the TNA was attempting to create problems again.
A. S. Sahida, 14, of Puttur, Jaffna said her mother A. S. Rajini Devi was killed on November 4, 2006 in front of her on the bed by the LTTE by a gun shot in the head because she took an allowance from the EPDP office. She said it was given to them as her father who worked at the office died in 2003. She is looked after by her aunt.
Ponnichami Pogiyawadei of Batticaloa said her two children were killed in front of the house for refusing to join the LTTE .
The two boys were aged 17 and 16 when they were killed, she said.
Santhirasegaram Kalpana, the leader of the Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front in the North and East said her brother Santhirasegaram Sendur was killed at the age of 27 in 2006 in her presence. She said he was a student of the Art Faculty of the Jaffna University. Kalpana said she knows more than 300 such cases. She added that he was killed as he refused to join the LTTE in accordance with the LTTE rule that forced one member from each family to join the LTTE. Kalpana said there are teachers among TNA MPs who saw with their own eyes schoolchildren being trained under LTTE before they left for school in the morning. She questioned as to why they maintain silence about the truth. She said that in line with the LTTE law, not a single child of R. Sampanthan, Sritharan or Sumanthiran were recruited to the LTTE.
.....Continued 2.....
Madiyamudan Sugandani, 40, of Uur Kokuvil, Jaffna said her husband was killed in 2001. His father and mother were Principals of schools in Colombo. He studied in the Sinhala medium and returned to Jaffna in 1995.
“As my husband knew Sinhala well, he was suspected by the LTTE and LTTE leader Illamparadi asked my husband to meet him. My husband went to meet him at Kondavil Junction with our two-year-old daughter on a motorcycle. Without a word, Illamapardi shot my husband dead and left the child near the body. Until she was five, the girl was mentally traumatised,” Sugandani said.
Eravur Urban Council former deputy chairman and Eravur Kali Kovil priest Nagarajah Sri Skandarajah said his aunt was killed in 1986 for selling meals to Forces’ personnel.
“There are a large number of such cases in the area which Human Rights activists do not pay attention to. The people are living peacefully without any problem,” he said.
Dead and Missing Persons’ Parents’ Front convenor and secretary Ananda Jayamanna and H. K. D. Chandrasoma were also present.
Here is something VERY IMPORTANT.
As we are aware, in response to international pressure, the SL Govt is gradually caving in and is moving towards investigating possible human rights violations by the armed forces at the end of Eelam War IV to placate those who want to crucify the heroes who foiled their separatist terrorist plot.
The TNA, obviously, expects RETALIATION IN KIND in the form of war crimes charges brought against all those still in Srii Lanka who collaborated and participated in the atrocities committed by the Eelamist terrorists. We have noticed that such arrests and prosecutions, that I have often called for, have recently increased in number.
It just occurred to me that the continuing stream of boats carrying Sri Lankan Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka as fake refugees in the dead of the night could be an ORGANIZED EFFORT BY THE TNA and other Eelamists TO GET THESE LTTE WAR CRIMINALS STILL LIVING out of Sri Lanka before they are arrested, prosecuted and used by the GOSL to deflect TNA's effort to DEMONIZE the GOSL.
Sri Lanka is currently interdicting illegal immigrants heading for Australia by boat ... as a favor to the Australians. If it was not for the security implications, I would be very happy for all those who don't love Sri Lanka to leave anyway they can. But, tightening the security forces net and arresting those illegal immigrants before they flee now becomes VERY IMPORTANT NOW because many of them may be fleeing because they are war criminals fearing arrest and prosecution in the near future, as TNA's separatist agenda to demonize the GOSL shifts into high gear.
The GOSL should INCREASE this effort to arrest all those fleeing surreptiously and thoroughly examine all detained illegal immigrants, because THEY ARE NEEDED for Sri Lanka's defense against war crimes charges being levelled at our security forces.
DO UNTO AS BEING DONE UNTO, I say! ONE BLOW should EARN TEN BLOWS IN RETURN ... that is the only way to deal with these buggers!
What an ABSOLUTE MUTT this Navi Plillay is!
She does not realize that some dead are to be HONORED, others are to be VILIFIED, each according to his/her actions while living.
Would she advocate HONORING the memory of Hitler, of Pol Pot, and of the murderous Velupillai Prabakaran?
Would she HONOR Mahatma Gandhi and Hitler ... side by side .... merely because BOTH are DEAD?
God Help Us .... when the UN appoints officials to UN Human Rights Commissions who see no difference between these dead !!!???
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Nandikadal: Govt. blocks Pillay’s move
SundayTimes.lk
September 01, 2013
There was panic in the corridors of power that Navi Pillay, the UN Human Commissioner for Human Rights, was going to scatter flowers on the Nandikadal lagoon in memory of those who had lost their lives in the last stages of the war against the LTTE.
The reports were to cause a flurry of activity, both at the External Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Defence. Officials sought clarification from the UN office in Colombo. They denied any knowledge. Later, senior officials of Ms. Pillay’s entourage were advised that such an action would be considered extremely offensive and could have serious consequences.
Questioned about this at her news conference yesterday, Ms. Pillay was clear that her gesture would have been in honour of the dead.
“About flowers, when I go to any country, I like to honour the victims, all victims, victims of LTTE, soldiers, families,” she said. “I have done this, for instance, in Moscow, done this in Guatemala where they are still doing forensic investigations of bones to establish the identity of the people who were killed by the military.”
“So this is something I like to do and I thought that I could do it here, but were still considering the thing and didn’t finalise it,” she said. Ms. Pillay’s office gave up its efforts after the Government made it clear that the entire Mullaitivu segment of her visit would be cancelled if the request was pursued.
My Comment at Yahoo.com:
Many countries, including the US (Kennedy, Bush), India (Nehru/Gandhi, Karunanidhi), Pakistan (Bhutto) have had families playing leading roles in both in the struggle for independence and governance. In Sri Lanka too there have been many family hierarchies (Senanayake, Bandaranayake) who have served with distinction. So, why is there this animosity and opposition to the Rajapakse family who have, more than any other, EARNED the love and respect people accord them today, when most leaders of Sri Lana ABJECTLY FAILED to rescue the nation from terrorists and separatists, and rapidly develop the nation towards becoming the New Wonder of Asia. The EVIDENCE is UNDENIABLE: Sri Lanka is free of terrorism after 30 years and 150,000 deaths, and everywhere there is infrastructure development and economic resurgence taking place, and a new confidence among the people that we will attain our place in sun and a good life for ALL of ourselves and our children. Begone pessimists and naysayers .... I say!
TN sari sellers may be spies: Sri Lankan army
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 03 (NIE) The Sri Lankan army is getting suspicious about the real vocation of the itinerant sari traders from Tamil Nadu who roam the towns and villages of Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces selling their wares in unconventional ways. According to the military, at any point of time, there may be 10 to 15 such traders in the North.
Maj Gen Boniface Perera, Security Forces (SF) Commander (Wanni), told newsmen late last week that the sari traders could well be spies in disguise.
When Express asked Gen Perera on what basis he was saying so, he said that traders did not seem to be making much money, and yet, they kept coming. Some of them had been caught and deported for misuse of the tourist visa or for overstaying. The other thing which intrigued him was the acceptance of payment on a liberal installment basis. It is said that payment is accepted in 12 monthly installments. However, no itinerant TN trader had been held or detained for suspected espionage, Gen Perera confirmed.
Asked for his assessment, Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe, SF commander (Jaffna) said: "I do not know whether they are spying or not, but their practices and persistence have created doubts in the minds of others. The most affected is the Jaffna trading community, which has a grouse that these traders, who pay no taxes, are doing brisk business, under-cutting local traders. They even take houses on rent if they come on three months' tourist visas."
R Jayasekaran, president of the Jaffna Chamber of Commerce, said, "Saris come in containers from Chennai. Local agents distribute them among itinerant traders who go about in bicycles. If there is a direct shipping service between Chennai and Kankesanthurai, or an air service between Chennai and Palaly, Jaffna traders can also bring saris and other wares in bulk. Presently, Colombo is the only point of entry, which makes importation and transportation more costly for us," he said.
The TNA asks "How can there be Reconciliation, if the GOSL does not admit to crimes!"
This is a PREPOSTEROUS QUESTION coming from a TREASONOUS SEPARATISTS who supported the LTTE to commit murder and mayhem in EVERY WAY IMAGINABLE.
The Serial Murderers are now confidently Judging the Victims!
The ANSWER of course is that there can NEVER BE RECONCILIATION with TRAITORS, TERRORISTS, SEPARATISTS and MURDERERS at any time.
The GOSL rescued the citizens of the nation from the cluthches of these TERRORIST MASS MURDERERS and NEVER INTENDS to Apologize for EXECUTING its DUTY to PROTECT the lives of its citizens.
Instead, the GOSL should realize that its FAILURE to hold the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA ACCOUNTABLE for their ACTIONS of the PAST and the PRESENT by ARRESTING, PROSECUTING, CONVICTING and SEVERELY PUNISHING these people ENCOURAGES continued TREACHERY by them against the People of Sri Lanka.
I urge the GOSL to DO SO at least NOW, before these people of the TNA acquire power and BECOME IMMUNE to RETRIBUTION for their AWFUL CRIMES!
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Sri Lanka Tamil party says government must apologize for mistakes made
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 02, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says the government must apologize for mistakes made and ensure such mistakes would not happen again if it needs true reconciliation in the country.
TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said the government should either apologize to the families of missing persons or accept that such crimes have happened and ensure that will not happen again in future.
He said the Tamil party is continuing to push for an international investigation on accountability and war crimes.
"If the government is adamant that what they did was correct and is not willing to accept their mistakes, how can there be reconciliation in this country?" Premachandran asked.
He explained that there are thousands of people still missing or killed and there could not be reconciliation without the truth being asserted.
"I am not saying that anyone should cow down to the Tamil people, but the truth must be asserted in a proper way, and the government is not in favor of that. That is why I feel that an independent international investigation is vital. You cannot expect any independent investigation from this government," Premachandran said.
Referring to the recent visit of UN High Commissioner for Human rights Navi Pillay, the TNA MP said the main purpose of her visit was to see if the recommendations specified in the LLRC report have been implemented.
Immediately after the LTTE was defeated, President Mahinda Rajapaksa proclaimed that there are only TWO kinds of Sri Lankans: Those who LOVE Sri Lanka and those who DON’T.
That is still holds true today; there is no better definition of what separates a citizen who deserves an equal share of the bounty and benefits of citizenship in our beloved Motherland, and those who don’t.
In the PUBLIC SPHERE we care not what your race, religion, language, caste, sex or wealth is; We care only that you are a PATRIOTIC LAW-ABIDING citizen of Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, if you undermine or commit TREASON against Sri Lanka, identifying with foreign communities of whatever origin, you will be tarred, feathered and punished till the cows come home …. irrespective of your community affiliation. There is no refuge for TRAITORS in Sri Lanka: Disce’ Aut Discede’!
Therefore, we say to all potential miscreants: Spare yourself and JOIN THE PATRIOTS embracing ALL of your fellow citizens who love Mother Lanka as your very own … irrespective of community. Otherwise, depart for whatever part of the world will treat your better … with our heartfelt blessings and fervent relief!
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Sri Lanka Defence Secretary warns about increasing communalism among ethnic groups
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 03, Colombo: The increasing insularity amongst minority ethnic groups in Sri Lanka is leading to the emergence of hard line groups within the majority community which is causing further tension among other communities, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapaksa warned today.
Addressing the third annual Defence Seminar at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo, the Defence Secretary said tensions within communities lead to fragmentation of the Sri Lankan identity and it is a critical challenge that the entire nation faces today.
He said the indication of increasing communalism amongst ethnic groups is cause for concern as the fragmentation of the Sri Lankan identity into ethno-religious identification is not only unfortunate in itself, but it can also lead to other problems in the long term.
He cited the allegiance of some in the Tamil community who identify more with the Tamil community of Tamil Nadu than with their fellow Sri Lankans and similarly, Sri Lankan Muslims identifying themselves more with the global Muslim community and reducing their integration with the rest of the population.
The Defence Secretary pointed out that law enforcement agencies and security forces in the country are concerned about the communalism and the possibility that extremist elements may try to promote Muslim extremism in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern.
Much remains to be done to ensure national reconciliation in Sri Lanka - Defence Secretary
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 03, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said today that speedy national reconciliation in Sri Lanka is not easy since for a very long period of time, most of the people in the North and parts of the East of the country lived under the total dominance of the Tamil Tiger terrorist group LTTE.
"Despite the success of the Welfare camps, despite the speed of resettlement, and despite the far-reaching nature of the rehabilitation and reintegration programme, it is not easy to ensure speedy reconciliation," the Defence Secretary said.
Delivering the Keynote Address Today (03) as Guest of Honour at the third annual Defence Seminar 2013 organized by the Sri Lanka Army, Rajapaksa said at the same time, it has to be acknowledged that much remains to be done by all parties, including the Government, to ensure that national reconciliation is achieved.
Over 300 participants, comprising 66 foreign delegates, ambassadors and defence attachés participated in the Defence Seminar - 2013 themed 'Post Conflict Sri Lanka; Challenges and Regional Stability' Tuesday (3) at Colombo Galadari Hotel.
The top defence official of the government pointed out that the most essential task of the government in this regard is to ensure that all Sri Lankans have the same opportunities and unobstructed access to state services, and that they are empowered to seek better futures for themselves in a peaceful, stable and rapidly developing democracy.
He said that one of the most crucial steps towards the restoration of normalcy in the North and East was the revival of the democratic process through the restoration of elections and the return of political plurality.
Pointing out that the government is holding provincial council elections in the Northern Province later this month, the Defence Secretary said that the opposition parties including the main opposition UNP, Tamil party TNA and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, as well as ruling party SLFP are all freely contesting in this election shows that political plurality is firmly established in this region.
Speaking of post-war challenges the country is facing after the democracy have been accomplished, the defence official said Sri Lanka must swiftly move forward.
"We must evolve from being locked in a post-conflict mentality, and look to the future instead of forever grappling with the issues of the past. We must be willing to move forward as a nation, united by what we have in common instead of being divided by the differences we have between us," Rajapaksa said.
....Continued 1....
He asked the main political parties in Sri Lanka to stop the politicization of divisive issues for their petty political gain since the main issues the nation is faced with cannot be solved overnight and will require time.
"In reality, these problems are fundamentally economic, and affect Sri Lankans in every part of the country irrespective of their race or religion. They are national issues that need to be faced together as a nation, rather than treated as divisive ethnic or religious issues confined to a region or a section of the community," he said.
Rajapaksa stressed that the biggest challenge the country has is economic development, especially, unequal development between the cities and the rural areas.
He warned that if the problem of rural underdevelopment is not holistically addressed, it is conceivable that similar problems to what the country experienced in the past will once again arise.
The Defence Secretary, outlining the measures needed to meet the challenges of achieving national unity and meaningful economic development, said preventing the re-emergence of terrorism is essential.
Other measures include establishing effective methods to project Sri Lanka to the international community, suppressing the emergence of other extremist groups, preventing further ethnic divisions and communal violence, ensuring maritime security and border control, curtailing the growth of organized crime and addressing the new challenges in safeguarding a just and wholesome democracy.
Beyond the local challenges, there are significant international challenges Sri Lanka faces due to its strategic geographic position within the South Asian region, Rajapaksa noted.
As a result there are some "inter-linking of domestic issues" between Sri Lanka and India, he observed.
India is very sensitive to events in Sri Lanka because of the large Tamil population in its influential southern state of Tamil Nadu and therefore particularly during elections, Sri Lanka figures large in Indian power politics, he explained.
Also, Sri Lanka's cordial relationship with China has sometimes become an issue for other countries because of misperceptions about the nature of China's influence, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said adding that the power politics between key countries in the region, such as India and China, or India and Pakistan, are also important issues for Sri Lanka because of its relationships with these nations.
"Sri Lanka's journey during the four years since the dawn of peace has seen the country transform itself from a nation at war to one of the most peaceful, stable and secure democracies in the world. How well the country navigates its present issues, including national security challenges and broader geo-political issues arising from its geographical position, will determine its destiny," the Defence Secretary said concluding his speech.
Here it comes .... the RE-MERGER of the North and East on the eve of the TNA seizng control of their Provincial Governments.
The call is for "Shared Sovereignty" .... on the way to Eelam!
All of our WARNINGS and PLEAS to the GOSL have fallen on DEAF YEARS. Even as Navi Pillai comes and offers UN support to encourage the Separatists towards a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in the future.
The FUTURE PATH of the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA is CRYSTAL CLEAR .... ACT NOW to STOP THEM from dividing and destroying our Motherland!
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Sri Lanka Tamil party calls for a merged North and East in a federal structure
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka's main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a manifesto released for the upcoming Northern Provincial Council election has called for power devolution in a merged North and East under a federal structure.
In its election manifesto, the TNA, once considered as a proxy for the terrorist group LTTE during the war, has called for devolution of power on the basis of shared sovereignty over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers.
"Power sharing arrangements must be established in a unit of a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure, in a manner also acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people," the manifesto said.
The southern polity of the country says the demand to re-merge the two provinces is an LTTE separatist agenda and the Tamil party's call for re-merger is aimed at establishing an Eelam state in the region.
In July 1987, the two provinces were merged as part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord after the Indian government intervened to bring about a negotiated end to the island's armed separatist conflict. The Supreme Court on October 2006 ruled that the 1987 order by the then President of Sri Lanka merging the two provinces was not in keeping with the country's Constitution.
The TNA also sought to enforce the recommendations made by the Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General and the Resolutions adopted at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2012 and March 2013.
The manifesto called for a meaningful demilitarization to return the north-east region to pre-war state existed before 1983.
The alliance reiterated its call for an international investigation into the allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws made against both the government and the LTTE during the last stages of the war to ascertain the truth and ensure justice and reparation to the victims.
The manifesto claimed that present constitutional arrangements for power sharing with the provinces are unsatisfactory since the government has overriding powers through the provincial governor.
"The TNA firmly believes that sovereignty lies with the People and not with the State. It is not the government in Colombo that holds the right to govern the Tamil People, but the People themselves," the party said.
Addresing the land and police powers, the party said it believes that the most effective police force for the North-East would be those directed by the Provincial Council as currently there is no trust between the people and Police service in the Northern Province.
The statement stressed that no democratic government has the right to seize land without due process and therefore, the government will have to respect the rights of private property owners and restore such lands to the rightful owners.
Sri Lanka to build a medical city in Hambantota
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 03, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government plans to build a medical city in the southern port town of Hambantota to provide world class medical services to both Sri Lankans and foreigners.
According to a report by the Government Information Department, the medical complex will be established in the vicinity of the proposed state-of-the-art 650-bed general hospital that is currently being built at a cost of Rs. 7 billion.
The government has earmarked 100 acres of land for the medical city project and already two private hospitals in the country have expressed interest, the government said.
The Government of The Netherlands has pledged concessionary financial assistance of Euro 86.49 million to build the general hospital.
An official from the Hambantota District Development Committee has told the state-run Daily News that they hope to get leading global hospital chains to set up hospitals in the medical city with the initiative to attract foreign patients seeking medical treatment.
The government expects to intensively market the project globally once the infrastructure is in place and to offer attractive Board of Investment tax concessions for the investors.
According to the official, attention will be focused on attracting patients who need long term medical treatment requiring lengthy hospital stays and the proposed complex will also offer facilities for the family members to stay as well.
The Hambantota District Development Committee official has also pointed out that currently 11 star class hotels including a Shangri-La are being built and these facilities can accommodate the families and friends of patients, international doctors and staff providing treatment and services in the proposed medical city.
With a new airport, an international harbor, a highly developed road network and other infrastructure facilities the Hospital City will become more attractive for long term patients, the official has noted. It has been pointed out that similar facilities in other countries such as in Singapore bring additional revenues to the country.
TNA attempt to blame army for rape incident backfires
DailyNews.lk
September 5, 2013
An attempt by the TNA and the Tamil Diaspora to place the blame on the army for the alleged rape of a 47 year old Tamil woman on the eve of the arrival in the country of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay came a cropper.
Iit has now transpired that the alleged rapist was in fact an ex-LTTEer who was involved in the recruitment of child soldiers.
This strategy by the TNA coupled with their irresponsible remarks hurling baseless accusations against the army was a means of countering the party’s rapidly waning popularity in the Pooneryn area while at the same time driving a wedge between the Army and villagers who have been enjoying a cordial relationship.
This false allegation and misleading malicious media campaign to tarnish the image of the Army was led by TNA Parliamentarian Sridharan at political rallies. Later TNA Chief Ministerial Candidate C. V. Wigneswaran also joined in the campaign against the SL Army and even had a secret meeting with a top official of the Canadian Embassy and another person to apportion blame on the military.
However, the incident leading to this crime took a new turn with the discharge of victim Mrs. Thevarasa Punidarani from Kilinochchi Hospital on 30 August 2013. On her return she has revealed the details of the perpetrators identity.
She has revealed the details of the crime in front of her elder brother, and other officials and stated that a person known to her by the name of Kandasami Tharanigaran from Kowdarmunei and another person around 25 years of age who is unknown to her raped her.
When asked from her why she didn’t reveal these details earlier; her explanation was she was confused and under extreme mental agony that she couldn’t believe what happened to her. In addition she has revealed that Kandasami Tharanigaran came to see her twice to Kilinochchi Hospital and threaten her not to reveal his identity.
Kandasami Tharanigaran was a person who happened to be a fisherman, and his two siblings joined the LTTE and died during the fighting. Further he( Tharanigaran) was a person who used to have strong links with regional LTTE political leaders thus actively engaged in forcibly recruiting and kidnapping youngsters and others for the LTTE.
At present there are some persons living in Poonaryn who happened to be his victims during the LTTE occupation period. The villagers held Kandasami Tharanigaran in contempt due to his adverse track record and criminal behaviour.
There are justifiable reasons to believe that this was a staged crime to frame Army Troops and discredit the government. The involvement of TNA Politicians, their irresponsible remarks and baseless accusations proves the motive for the incident.
In a background where TNA is highly unpopular in Pooneryn this was an incident created to cause dissent among the civil population thus antagonising them away from the Sri Lanka Army personnel who maintain a cordial relationship with all the villagers.
Some reasonable doubts were also raised since this incident took place prior to the arrival of UN high Commissioner for Human Rights Navaneethan Pillay suggesting that there is a conspiracy behind the incident with the intention of accusing the troops.
May the Peoples Republic of China, committed to Peaceful Co-Existence, go from Strength to Strength.
I applaud the Underlying Principle of Nonaggression of China: “WILL NOT attack unless attacked; CERTAIN TO attack if attacked.”
This is in STARK CONTRAST to the “Only Superpower” in the world today, that fabricates pretexts to attack Sovereign nations to extend its hegemony, and remake the world in its own image.
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China tells South Asian neighbors not to worry about its rise in Asia
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 05, Colombo: Despite the fears of a certain ‘China Threat’ theory appearing in international politics due to the country’s rise in Asia and its increasing international influence, China has not invaded any neighboring country yet, a senior Chinese military official said today.
Addressing the Sri Lankan Army-organized ‘Defence Seminar – 2013 in Colombo today, Senior Colonel Xu Hui, Director of the Teaching and Research Department at the College of Defence Studies at the National Defence University (NDU) in Beijing said China has seen the historical rise of Asia in the past three decades and the region is still far from destabilized by an ‘aggressive’ China as imagined by some people.
Speaking under the theme “A stable Sri Lanka and China’s rise in Asia; Regional Security Concerns”, Senior Colonel Xu said a certain ‘China Threat’ theory appeared in international politics still continues to go on enabling birth of many predictions about China.
“So far none of them has ever materialized and China’s political system still works, its economy is still growing and no neighboring country has been invaded by China,” he said.
Recognizing that the growth of China’s economy and its military strength have become a source of concern for some scholars, statesmen and media, the Chinese military official said China’s gradual move towards great power status and its increasing international influence have caused anxiety in some countries to the extent that ‘How to deal with a rising China’ has become the puzzle of the 21st century.
However, contrary to these expectations, China has always contributed to the regional development, stability and peace through its policies for a friendly, secure, and co-prosperous neighborhood, Senior Colonel Xu noted.
While maintaining stability within China, it has followed the five principles of peaceful co-existence and respect ‘Asian Way’ through which economic cooperation with all countrie
s is prioritized while contributing to regional peace, the Chinese military official assured.
“With our active defence policy, the Chinese way of deterrence is applied, that is ‘We are not going to attack unless we are attacked; we are certainly to counter-attack if we were attacked as Chairman Mao once said,” Senior Colonel Xu Hui said.
Speaking of historical relations with Sri Lanka, the Chinese official said the two countries have so many things in common – values of peaceful coexistence, opposing colonialism, hegemonies, foreign interference, and terrorism, etc.
He said the two countries can learn from each other as Sri Lanka keeps the momentum of comprehensive approach of reconciliation, reconstruction and rebuilding.
China is a steadfast supporter of Sri Lanka, always providing political as well as financial support and the ties between the two nations continue to grow stronger.
The three-day seminar ended today and 112 defence representatives from about 46 countries participated in the event.
India's Janatha Party leader says Sri Lanka correctly addressed the problem of terrorism
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 05, Colombo: India's Janatha Party leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy said today member states in South Asian region should be grateful to Sri Lanka for eliminating terrorism as Sri Lanka has correctly addressed the problem of terrorism which affects many countries in the region.
He expressed these views while addressing the third annual Defence Seminar 2013 in Colombo organized by the Sri Lanka Army.
Dr. Swamy, President of the Janatha Party which recently merged with India's opposition Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), also called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning at the President's Office.
President Rajapaksa and Dr. Swamy spoke about a number of issues, including the political climates of both countries and the issues faced by fishermen. President Rajapaksa said it is unfortunate that poorer fisher folk often have to face the consequences of plans that are put in place by their employers, owners of the boats that illegally cross territorial waters.
Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris and Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Karunatilaka Amunugama were also present during the discussion.
MOST Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are Accomplished LIARS ... NOTHING they say is TRUE!
It is VERY LIKELY that Ranjini is a WAR CRIMINAL who has murdered innocents at will in Sri Lanka as a committed and dedicated follower of the SunGod Velu Pillai Prabhakaran!
Little by Little Australia is paying the price of its uncritical GULLIBILITY!
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Tamil refugee was child soldier trainer
TheAge.com
September 6, 2013
Tamil refugee Ranjini admitted to having trained child soldiers during Sri Lanka's bloody civil war in a secret ASIO report used to justify her indefinite detention in Australia.
She also told immigration officials she rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the separatist Tamil Tigers and fought two battles in the late 1990s against Sri Lankan forces.
But the mother of three who arrived by boat in 2010 has never been charged with a crime and in the High Court she has challenged her incarceration without prospect of release.
ASIO also concedes it never sought answers about training children as fighters before making its assessment, despite interviewing her after she was judged to have legitimate claim as a refugee.
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Ranjini has since insisted that after running away from home to join the Tigers as an 11-year-old she only led girls the same age as her.
The stunning claims - the first detail of why Ranjini has been judged a threat to Australian national security - emerged in court documents presented on Wednesday to the High Court.
Ranjini, 34, has no right to challenge the ASIO finding that she would continue to support the Tamil Tigers from Australia, even though in 2009 the militant group was crushed.
Lawyer David Manne said the High Court has been asked to rule whether the government's decision to hold her in detention ''possibly forever'' was lawful.
''She has never been charged, tried or convicted,'' he said.
Ranjini is the most well-known of a group of 47 refugees held in immigration detention but not permitted a visa to live in Australia.
Ranjini insists she has given up the cause of Tamil independence in Sri Lanka and wants to focus on raising her children - including a boy born in January while in detention.
But a review of the case by retired federal court judge Margaret Stone, delivered in July but not made public until now, was scathing, finding Ranjini's claims ''self-serving and implausible''.
The ASIO assessment of Ranjini's honesty is completely redacted in the Stone report.
Ranjini did not seek to hide her Tigers' membership from Australian immigration officials after fleeing Sri Lanka, where she feared persecution and possible rape.
She told officials her then husband - known as ''Akbar'', killed in a 2006 battle - was a bodyguard for feared Tigers commander Prabhakaran and led fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.
She admitted to using machineguns and AK-47s, being trained in karate, but not in the use of bombs or explosives.
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An extensive investigation of her refugee claims found she was ''heavily indoctrinated'' into the Tigers and while her story included some discrepancies - such as initially claiming she fought in 2007-08 - she was ''forthright'' and ''a generally credible witness''.
The Stone review also includes a similar mistake, stating Ranjini finished school in 2007. Asked on Thursday, Ms Stone's office said 1997 was the correct date.
Ranjini was found to be a refugee as a ''widowed single mother … at risk of continued violence'' and released in 2011, living in Melbourne where she married and became pregnant before being whisked back into detention in Sydney in April last year when ASIO made its finding.
A heavily censored copy of Ms Stone's report said in a December 2011 interview that Ranjini gave ASIO officers ''a significant amount of information'' about her 17 years with the Tigers.
ASIO officers assured Ranjini this would not affect her status as a refugee.
But the disclosures have counted against her prospect of living in Australia, with ASIO later deciding she ''remains strongly ideologically supportive'' of the Tigers' violent cause and ''likely to engage in acts prejudicial to Australia's security''.
It is a MISTAKE for Sri Lanka to buy ANY military equipment from India.
When we need them urgently, Sri Lanka will be denied the parts to maintain such equipment, because of Tamil Nadu protests.
Don't send our valuable money to unreliable allies/future enemies! Build them in Sri Lanka, or buy them from China and other RELIABLE suppliers! DIVERSIFY our supplier base!
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India to supply two naval warships to Sri Lanka
By PTI
September 5, 2013
India is planning to supply two naval warships to Sri Lanka to strengthen its capabilities to guard its maritime boundaries.India is planning to supply two naval warships to Sri Lanka to strengthen its capabilities to guard its maritime boundaries.
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NEW DELHI: India is planning to supply two naval warships to Sri Lanka to strengthen its capabilities to guard its maritime boundaries.
The two Offshore Patrol Vessels would be built by the Goa-based defence PSU Goa Shipyard Limited and they are expected to be delivered to the Island nation by 2017-18 timeframe, sources said here.
The development comes at a time when political parties in Tamil Nadu have been demanding ceasing of defence ties with that country.
Centre has been very sympathetic towards the demands made by them and have shifted the Sri Lankan defence personnel from training institutions in that state and also decided to hold exercises with them away from four south Indian states.
Defence Minister A K Antony has directed military and civilian officials to be sensitive towards these sentiments and emotions mostly flamed after the frequent alleged incidents of arrest of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy.
However, despite the objections from these political parties, the Government of India at the highest level has decided to continue close ties with the Sri Lankan armed forces.
NOTE that Vaiko OPPOSES the building of a Dam across the Cauvery River because it adversely affects Tamil Nadu. With Vaiko, it is ALWAYS what benefits Tamils ... to hell with ALL other people!
More importantly, State Powers in India limit National Development Projects that cut across State borders.
This will happen CONTINUOUSLY in Sri Lanka, once the TNA assumes control of the Northern and Eastern Provincial Councils. The TNA will OPPOSE every National Project that will benefit non-Tamils living in bordering Provinces.
Still think the PCs should have LAND Powers?
The People of Sri Lanka will RUE THE DAY when UNREPENTANT SEPARATISTS were allowed to ATTAIN in PEACE the RACIST GOALS they failed to WIN by an UNREMITTING RACIST WAR lasting 30 years!
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Oust Lanka from commonwealth, says Vaiko
By Express News Service - VELLORE
September 5, 2013
Sri Lanka should be removed from the Commonwealth for its anti-Tamil activities, said Vaiko, president of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (MDMK) here on Wednesday. He was here in Vellore to participate in the preparatory meeting for the party’s 105th birth anniversary conference of Aringnar Anna, at Virudhunagar on September 15,
Vaiko said the Congress has betrayed the interests of people of TN and Tamils in Lanka. “Sri Lanka should be removed from the Commonwealth and the meet should not be held at Sri Lanka,” he said, adding, “I do not want India to boycott the meet; by doing so, the Congress would take advantage politically.” He said,“People had lost faith in the Congress-led UPA due to the bad economic policies leading to an economic disaster.”
On a dam across the Cauvery at Meghadathu, Vaiko said the project should be stopped as it was against the interest of people of TN.
Yahoo! Another Eelamist Murderer Bites the Dust!
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Ex-LTTE key man Balraj’s brother dies
DailyMirror.lk
September 6, 2013
Mahaguruge Nelson Francis (38) a brother of former senior LTTE cadre, Balraj died in the Welikada prison due to a cardiac arrest on September 02.
The victim died after he was admitted to the hospital. He had been arrested between in 2007 in the Puttalam area for carrying two Claymore mines, and was imprisoned since December 07, 2011.
A magical hideaway deep in Sri Lanka
By Dilshan Senaratne
September 6, 2013
Ruskin Island is possibly one of Sri Lanka’s best kept secrets, hidden away in plain sight, bordered by the sedentary waters of the Bolgoda Lake. Crossing the lake which happens to be the largest of its kind in the country is the only mode of access to the island, granting much to its tranquil atmosphere. A short ferry ride off Panadura is the most popular route to the island, trailing off into a beaten track of emerald tapestry and clay soil.
Ruskin Island, Bolgoda LakeThe island itself is largely unchartered contrary to the properties scattered throughout the vicinity and very little human presence is felt even during the light of day. By night the island is an affair of solitude and pitch darkness where silence is the only notation in concert. The trail winds relentlessly, clearing when come upon a villa, resort or bungalow, and embracing the forestry again immediately past one.
The Stuff of Legends
Prince Reevidev who resided in the Bolgoda area during the reign of King Parakramabahu II is said to have been a voyeur who spied on the women bathing in the lake. The granite bench which offered him vantage is remnant to this day and surfaces when the water level of the lake is low.
Prince Reevidv’s legend is only one in many, including the Angulu Eliya Devale which never goes under the water even when the lake brims at its peak and the rumored sighting of a large rainbow-finned fish said to be dwelling in the lake.
Ruskin Island, Bolgoda LakeVilla 14 is come upon at the heart of the island in an isolated clearing, a lake-front property with a solid granite exterior giving the structure the look and feel of a fort. The architectural feat achieved by Villa 14 merges nature with the sophistication of a contemporary boutique accommodation unit. An open-house minimalistic design opens the property to the lake on one end and a cozy courtyard on the other, contrasting the granite finish with the soft greenery of the backyard and lake-front.
At first glance the most impressive quality of the property is the clear view happened upon from the lobby area which doubles up as a dining room. From any of the couch seats or dining tables; swimming pool, backyard and lake with the forest beyond fall in one line of sight, creating a hypnotic scene which begs to be breathed in.
Two splendid lake-view double bedrooms rival each other to no avail with an unobstructed vantage point of the lake and forestry. A special highlight is the placement of the bed to present the same view, truly a lulling sedative for mind and spirit.
The service as in the case of many boutique properties is personalized to a highly impressive level with food served according to the guest’s preference completely. The extent to which a tailored dining system operates at Villa 14 is made clear when the chef announces that nothing in the way of a menu exists and anything will be prepared as required, given reasonable notice.
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Written in History
Bolgoda Lake was the preferred route of transport for people and commodities from Kalu Ganga during Dutch rule. Logs from Sinharaja Forest were also transported along this route to the wood mills in Moratuwa. Consequently the island was a popular resting ground for ferrymen.
The British were probably the first to recognize the potential held by the island with its rich diversity of fauna, having used the island as a prime bird hunting ground. Ruskin Island also doubled up as a recreational spot for British officers and adventurers stationed in Colombo.
The simple structures and open spaces place much emphasis on the natural charms of the property, bringing to light the many enthralling sceneries on offer at the location. Favourites among places in the villa to catch sight of the lake and its many endearments include the comfort of the bedrooms as well as a pier which leads to a small deck on the lake.
A rich diversity of birds visit the backyard of the property and a mongoose along with an iguana are also frequent visitors. Many aquatic sports are facilitated in the lake and include jet-skiing, angling and rowing. Early mornings are bustling with activity when the birds herald the visit of flower pluckers in their boats.
Villa 14 offers much in the way of luxury accommodation and friendly service, positioning the property as a top holiday destination as well as the perfect getaway from the bustles of daily life. Given that only two entry points to the island exist, privacy is a guarantee more than a promise and relaxation is assured.
Ruskin Island, Bolgoda Lake ferryRuskin Island
The fabled Ruskin Island is a rich experience of solitude and oneness with nature and serenity. From the ferry ride upon arrival till the conclusion of your visit, Ruskin Island provides refuge to those who seek tranquility and privacy. An ideal destination, a paradise within paradise.
The Defence Secretary is RIGHT ON TARGET when he warns of growing Muslim extremism in Sri Lanka.
Instead of PROTESTING their DEEP DISTURBANCE at his comment, the SLMC and the ACMC Muslim Parties should HEED the ADVICE and WARNING of Gotabaya Rajapakse, and take IMMEDIATE ACTION to PREVENT the growth of extremism in their community and IMPROVE ITS INTEGRATION into the Greater Sri Lankan society.
It is the ISOLATION and BRAINWASHING of Tamils in the Eelamist controlled territories over 30 years that FED & SUSTAINED the Eelam Insurgency, which destroyed and impoverished the Tamil Community of Sri Lanka. The Muslims should have pity for their community and learn from that tragic lesson.
They should bind themselves to a single identity as Sri Lankan citizens following a MODERATE brand of Islam that has held sway in Sri Lanka for centuries and allowed them to remain a model minority. They should REJECT ALL Militant and Intolerant forms of Islam .... imported to Sri Lanka from Wahhabi dominated Muslim states ... that will surely lead only to the destruction and impoverishment of their community.
In the words of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, there are only TWO TYPES of People in Sri Lanka that we recognize: Those who LOVE Sri Lanka and those who DON'T.
Loving Sri Lanka is the same as establishing common cause with ALL Sri Lankan CITIZENS irrespective of community, and rejecting allegiances to Foreign Ethnic and Religious Communities, and to Intolerant Dogmas alien to Sri lankan society, and holding supreme their identity as Sri Lankan citizens.
Therefore, we say to our dear Fellow Muslim Sri Lankans, LOVE Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka ALONE, EMBRACE without Reservation ALL of its People irrespective of community as your very own, and REJECT Intolerant Dogmas imported from abroad, no matter how alluring their siren song woos your ears!
Bravo, Mr. President ... you say it like it is, but pray are you not playing into hands by enabling the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA to assume control of the Northern and Eastern Provincil Councils in the upcoming Provincial Councils Elections? How do you propose to contain their TREASONOUS activities then?
"Arab Spring" was a Western inspired move to undermine and destabilize every stable country in the Moslem world. But yet, the "Human Rights" and "Democracy" propaganda used for destabilization misfired BIGTIME ... with every country in which the Arab Spring took hold moving away from increased democracy to Islamic fundamentalism.
Along the way, except for oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Qatar ... fearful of their monarchies being overturned .... who have sought refuge in the embrace of the Western Neocolonialists they had previously denigrated as Evil Incarnate, the people of the Arab Spring nations have turned away from those who staged the puppet show.
Margaret Warner of the respected PBSNewshour show reported yesterday from Cairo, Egypt that the people of Egypt OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSE the looming military attack on Syria .... simply because they don't TRUST THE MOTIVES of the Western countries eagerly jockeying into position to attack Syria. This view, Margret said, is UNIVERSAL among the Moslem and Christian peoples of the Middle East, including the Christians of Syria.
And so, ONCE AGAIN, the best laid plans of the master manipulators of Western Neocolonialism ... has gone astray ... BIG TIME, and their dynamite has blown up in their own hands!
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Sri Lankan President warns of foreign attempts to destabilize the country
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 07, Kandy: Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa today warned that foreign forces are plotting various ways to destabilize the country and urged the ethnic Tamil and Muslim communities not to be misled by false propaganda campaigns that attempt to create rifts among the communities.
Speaking at an election rally held at the Edward Sports Grounds in Matale to support the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) at the upcoming Central Provincial Council elections, the President said four years after the victory over the Tamil Tiger terrorism, external forces are attempting to create a situation similar to the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East to change the regime.
The President explained that uprisings in Libya and Egypt created by street protests and by electronic and social media resulted in overthrowing the regimes but those countries are still in chaos and plagued with problems.
Anti-national groups, on the order of foreign forces are making similar attempts in Sri Lanka by creating racial and religious tension between the ethnic communities, the President pointed out.
He asked the people to be cautious and not to be misled by the propaganda against the country, and act intelligently to save the freedom the country earned after defeating the terrorism.
"We cannot develop a country without the cooperation of all communities, all the religions," the President said.
He said our responsibility is to build a country for the child to be born tomorrow and not just for the present.
Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, W.D.J. Seneviratne, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Wimal Weerawansa, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Vijith Vijithamuni de Soysa, Rohana Kumara Dissanayake, Nandimithra Ekanayake and several parliamentarians participated in today's rally.
....Continued 1....
The President also addressed a public rally yesterday at the Kolonnawatte Pradeshiya Sabha grounds at Kengalla in Kandy.
Addressing the massive crowd gathered, despite the adverse weather, the President said the government is making decisions for the long-term benefit of the people and the country with a clear awareness of the posterity and the future generation and not the shortsighted decisions the opposition United National Party take.
Speaking of the elections for the Northern Provincial Council the President said holding elections in the war-torn province for the first time is a victory for democracy and he will not let anyone to divide the country as long as he is in power.
"I will not let anyone achieve what Prabhakaran (the terrorist LTTE leader) could not achieve," he said.
Bravo, Mr. Defence Secretary …. Don’t budge ONE INCH from the TRUTH of what you said!
INTOLERANT Religious ideologues of various hues (Islamic Fundamentalists and Born-Again Evangelical Christians among them), are seeking today to brainwash and convert people to their faiths, targeting Buddhist and Hindu countries, pitting their converts against people of other faiths, destabilizing and undermining national governments in the process, in a vast INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY of Rich Muslim, and Neocolonialist Western, Nations.
Keep them, their money, and their activists … religious and non-religious …. out of Sri Lanka by Whatever Means Necessary!
Sri Lanka for Sri Lankans ONLY …. not for Foreigners to practice their WATUSI dances …. meddling where they don’t belong …. to transform and remake our moderate Sri Lankan society in their own image of vicious fanatical discriminatory beliefs.
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Gotabhaya reiterates concern over extremism
By Shamindra Ferdinandoa
Island.lk
September 6, 2013
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday reiterated that extremism posed a severe threat not only to post-war Sri Lanka but many countries in the region as well as the industrialised world.
The war veteran was responding to a statement issued by Justice Minister Hakeem, who is also the SLMC leader, in the wake of Rajapaksa’s address to the Defence Seminar in Colombo early this week. Minister Hakeem was obviously blind to the ground situation, he said, adding that the world was in turmoil today partly due to extremism.
The Defence Secretary said: “We are working closely with many countries to tackle extremist acts. In fact, it is an ongoing process involving intelligence services and other relevant agencies. Due to vigilance on the part of those fighting extremism and terrorism we were able to thwart plans to cause mayhem.”
The Defence Secretary said Minister Hakeem shouldn’t have dragged Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia into the debate as he never mentioned those countries. “The SLMC failed to comprehend what I have said”, he said.
Extremism fueled by a few threatened all countries including the Muslim world, Rajapaksa said. “Minister Hakeem’s reference to Muslim countries backing Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council is irrelevant. At the recent Defence seminar, I discussed the threat posed by Muslim extremists as well as Sinhala hardliners.
There is absolutely no suggestion that Muslim countries are in anyway responsible for the situation. Regrettably Minister Hakeem had misinterpreted facts.”
The Defence Secretary said that the government had cooperated with many governments in the region as well as the US during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the Premier. “Sri Lanka handed over an extremist wanted by the US intelligence during the UNP-led administration in which Minister Hakeem was a senior member. The present administration too acted on information furnished by foreign intelligence services to intercept wanted extremists.”
Responding to a query by The Island, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that Minister Hakeem had misconstrued his assertion that there were some foreign groups bent on encouraging misguided local Muslims to identify themselves more with the extremist global Muslim community, thereby reducing the community’s integration with the rest of the population.
The Defence Secretary said: “It is a known fact that Muslim fundamentalism is spreading all over the world and in this region. This is a situation that our law enforcement agencies and security forces are concerned about, particularly as there have been instances where extremist elements have been in transit in Sri Lanka prior to arrest and handing over to appropriate authorities. The possibility that such extremist elements may try to promote Muslim extremism in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern.”
Briefing. Chemical weapons 101: Six facts about sarin and Syria’s stockpile
Accusations that Syria used chemical weapons on rebel strongholds outside Damascus draw renewed attention to the banned nerve agent sarin – the weapon that medical personnel on the scene suspect was used and the agent US intelligence officials believe was used by government forces on at least two earlier occasions in the country’s civil war.
It was the earlier suspected uses of sarin in Syria that led President Obama to find in April that the regime of Bashar Assad had almost certainly crossed a “red line” in its 2-1/2-year battle with rebels seeking his ouster.
Perhaps the best-known recent use of sarin previously was in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack – known in Japan as the Subway Sarin Incident – in which members of a domestic cult-turned-terrorist group punctured bags of liquid sarin with sharpened umbrella tips in subway cars.
At least 13 people died in the attack and some 1,000 were injured.
But sarin’s legacy is about to get an update. With casualty reports suggesting the attacks near Damascus are the deadliest since Saddam Hussein gassed the Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988 – sarin seems likely to be associated with Syria and Mr. Assad.
[Updated Aug. 21, 2013]
1. What is sarin?
Sarin is a nerve agent first developed by German researchers in the late 1930s. Up to 500 times more toxic than cyanide, it is a colorless and odorless liquid that causes severe muscle spasms, vision loss, and asphyxia, and which can kill within a minute of contact in extreme cases.
Sarin was classified as a “weapon of mass destruction” and banned in the United Nations’ Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. Syria is one of six countries that have not signed the convention.
2. How is sarin delivered?
Sarin can be deployed as a liquid (as in the Tokyo subway) but it can also be loaded onto missiles and mortars. In warheads it can be loaded with other chemicals or precursors that can convert the sarin to a nerve gas. Sarin-filled canisters can also be fired from anti-tank guns and shoulder-mounted launchers.
3. What is known about Mr. Assad’s sarin stockpile?
Syria’s Assad regime, under Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad, is believed to have first stockpiled mustard gas in the 1970s, but in the 1980s it began converting pesticide plants to the production of sarin.
The Assad regime now stockpiles tons of the nerve agent in up to 50 locations. But so far the regime is believed by outside authorities (including the Israelis, who are most concerned about a transfer of chemical weapons to Assad’s non-state allies, such as Hezbollah) to have kept control of its stockpiles of chemical weapons including sarin, mustard gas, and perhaps the even more toxic gas VX that the CIA believes the Syrian government has tried to develope.
4. When has sarin been used as a chemical weapon?
A decade before Tokyo’s Subway Sarin Incident, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein used sarin against Iranian forces in the Iran-Iraq war – and in 1988 as part of the cocktail of chemical weapons he unleashed against the Kurdish population of Halabja in northern Iraq. About 5,000 people were killed.
In 2004, Iraqi insurgents fired a shell containing precursors for sarin against a US military convoy. Two US soldiers were treated for symptoms of sarin exposure, but the exploded shell released only a small amount of sarin, perhaps because the chemicals were old or simply because the chemicals failed to mix inside the spinning shell as intended.
....Continued 1.....
5. Why have the US and others had so much trouble proving Assad used sarin?
Syrian opposition forces said that up to 30 people died in attacks in March, and most of the photo evidence showed survivors exhibiting signs of what could be sarin exposure, such as foaming at the mouth and constricted pupils. In the much deadlier August attacks – some opposition sources claimed the death toll was as high as 1,300 – survivors showed the same telltale signs of possible sarin exposure.
Evidence of the use of sarin in Syria is coming in the form of photos, videos, soil samples, and blood samples – the latter being the most conclusive form of evidence, according to military experts. But the blood samples from the earlier attacks were provided by Syrian opposition forces, according to US officials speaking on the condition of anonymity – a fact that reduced the “degree of confidence” that US intelligence agencies had in them because they could have been tainted to provide a particular conclusion.
This is why the US and other countries, including Britain and France, pressed so hard for a UN chemical weapons investigation team to gain access to Syria. That team finally arrived in mid-August – just days before the most recent attacks and only after months of high-stakes diplomatic wrangling.
Assad was originally supportive of a UN team investigating one reported March 19 attack – but when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the team to look into all reported incidents of chemical weapons use, Assad balked.
Siding with Assad, Russia said a broadened investigation risked turning into a repeat of the UN’s investigation of Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” – weapons that as it turned out did not exist, but which nevertheless served as the pretext for the US invasion.
6. Hasn’t Assad said he would never use chemical weapons against his own people?
Last September, the Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, declared the regime would only use chemical weapons in the case of an “external aggression.” (Since then Mr. Makdissi has fled the country). The declaration was noteworthy because it was the regime’s first acknowledgment that it possesses chemical weapons stockpiles – but also because it offered some reassurance that Assad had his own “red line” about using his stockpiled sarin and mustard gas against Syrians.
But some skeptics of the regime’s intentions say it’s worth keeping in mind that Assad, who seems to have had no qualms about raining down Scud missiles and explosives from helicopters and bombers onto Syrian neighborhoods, has also made a point of describing the rebels fighting him as “terrorists,” and in some cases as terrorists who have come from outside Syria to fight.
As evidence of the August attacks spread around the world, Syrian officials followed the regime’s established pattern: It was “illogical” to think the government would attack the Damascus suburbs with chemical weapons, they said, but they also repeated the regime’s characterization of its opponents as “terrorists.”
George Lopez, a former UN sanctions expert now at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., says that not only does Assad insist that the uprising is coming from “foreign terrorists,” but US and other experts now agree that foreign extremists are increasingly involved in the fighting.
Put those factors together, he says, and one can see how Assad’s “sick logic” would “excuse and explain” the use of chemical weapons.
After the March attacks Professor Lopez echoed those who said Assad might have launched a small-scale chemical weapons attack as a test for something bigger, adding, “We should be very, very worried.” The August attacks might be the kind of thing he was warning about.
Minister Basil Rajapaksa said "people in the North have a choice whether they want the freedom, happiness and development with the self-rule of the province by their own representatives or they want to go back to a dark era under a party with the claim for self-rule but without any resources to improve their lives"
BUT, what happens in the North is of FUNDAMENTAL CONCERN to ALL Sri Lankans ... not just the current Tamil majority of the North.
ALL Sri Lankans have a right to settle and live ANYWHERE in the country, including the North, and BOTH the development status of the North, and the freedom to settle there, are strong determinants of whether they will be able to do so.
In addition, the TNA election manifesto called for not only "power devolution and a merged north and east" as Basil points out, but also EQUAL Sovereignty to Sri Lanka residing ONLY in the people of the North.
Every Day, in Every Way, the TNA declares in a "Mein Kampf" of what it has in store for Sri Lanka, and the MUTTS Leading our country BELIEVE in them and kowtow down to the Indians and Western Neocolonialists.
Who will pay the PRICE when the RACIST VISION DEFINED in this Election manifesto Mein Kampf of the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA comes to fruition? ALL People of Sri Lanka WILL ... in Blood & Treasure .... ALL OVER AGAIN!
Sri Lankan minister says Tamil Party trying to mislead people in the North
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 08, Jaffna: Economic Development Minister of Sri Lanka Basil Rajapaksa says the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is trying to mislead the people in the Northern Province.
Addressing a rally in Jaffna, Rajapaksa noted that the TNA election manifesto does not support any development in the North.
Instead of focusing on improving the infrastructure such as schools, electricity, hospitals, roads, universities and other livelihood assistance to the people in the North, the party manifesto has called for power devolution and a merged north and east, the Minister pointed out.
He said the TNA has prepared a manifesto to satisfy the expectations of the Diaspora to pave a path for another chaotic situation in the country.
Speaking of military in the North, Minister Rajapaksa said that it is the President who holds the power to reduce the presence of security forces in the North. He observed that the Chief Minister of the Northern Province does not wield such an authority as the TNA has claimed.
The Minister further said that he will step down from the Northern Spring development program once the administration of the Northern Provincial Council established after the election and hand over the program to the Council.
He said the people in the North have a choice whether they want the freedom, happiness and development with the self-rule of the province by their own representatives or they want to go back to a dark era under a party with the claim for self-rule but without any resources to improve their lives.
In defense of Iran
Regarding Iran's "vow to erase Israel" ... every other Moslem nation ... Sunni and Shia ... has said that SOMETIME in the past as their ANGER at Israeli activities, including wars, invasions across borders, bombings, settlement of Palestinian land, and development successes, spills over the brim.
Today, militarily, economically and diplomatically, Israel enjoys an unassailable position, is largely IMMUNE to military threats, able to dictate terms to the Moslems in general, and Palestinians in particular. The sole remaining exception to that rule is Iran, as populous as Egypt, far wealthier than Egypt, geographically removed from Israel and difficult to attack by land, but controlling proxies in Lebanon and Gaza that annoy Israel continually.
Every other Sunni Moslem enemy has been systematically destroyed one by one since the 1973 war, by overt and covert means, directly or indirectly, through 9/11 related anti-terrorism, WMD-related invasions, and Arab Spring-related strategies.
Israelis seize upon the statements by that STUPID man Ahmadinejad as a convenient lever to influence and grow Western opinion against Iran because they CORRECTLY perceive Iran as the last remaining Moslem power capable of posing a significant threat to Israel's overwhelming dominance over its Moslem neighbors and its expansionist agenda.
There is NO THREAT from Iran ... nuclear or non-nuclear ... that Israel cannot handle ... so Israel should STOP TRYING to use the United States as a cat's paw to trun over the hot coals in its conflict with neighboring countries. In conventional military terms Iran cannot deploy its own land armies against Israel, and in nuclear terms Iran would be utterly stupid to attack Israel which has the world's 5th largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. No, self-interest in survival based on the MAD doctrine will prevent that.
Then, why would Iran want to develop nuclear fuel facilities? Let us assume first that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. Why ... when this is a weapon it can never use without being destroyed itself. Simply because it prevents other countries from attacking it ... and invading its territory ... as in Iraq. Everyone in the world now realizes that nuclear weapons provide an effective DETERRENCE against all out attack by enemies. We saw that in the US Vs Soviet Union Cold War confrontation, we see it today in the India Vs Pakistan theater, North Korea survives primarily because of its few nuclear weapons.
On the other hand, Iraq and Libya did not have nuclear weapons ... they were invaded and destroyed. Pakistan would have been invaded and occupied by the US post 9/11 and India before that, if Pakistan did not have nuclear weapons. Therefore, we conclude, nuclear weapons provide an EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE to all-out attack by enemy countries both large and small. That is what Iran would want ... not an offensive weapon ... but a defensive weapon that would give it immunity from enemies .... Muslim, Western and Jewish .... surrounding it on all sides. No other country, I know, can make a better case for developing nuclear weapons for that DEFENSIVE purpose.
....Continued 1....
Secondly, Iran's population and internal petroleum consumption is growing rapidly, while its petroleum reserves are dwindling rapidly. An MIT study of Iran's self-sufficiency in petroleum concluded that within 20 years, Iran will become a net petroleum importing country. Therefore, contrary to the queries of its enemies as to why a country floating on oil would want to develop nuclear fuel facilities and nuclear power plants, the thoughtful leaders of Iran, who know the true state of their oil reserves, are moving to develop plentiful supplies of nuclear energy for people. The difficulties they have faced in doing so, especially in getting fuel-rods for their Russian-built nuclear power plant, has convinced then that they cannot rely on foreign sources of nuclear fuels. Therefore, it is QUITE REASONABLE for the Iranians to develop nuclear fuel facilities as is their Sovereign National right to do.
Let me address another point. Iran is being DEMONIZED as a militarily aggressive and terrorism sponsoring nation. It is DEFINITELY not MILITARILY AGGRESSIVE against other countries ... that is the sole preserve of Western Neocolonialists, and arguably, Israel.
In the last century ... or more.... Iran has NEVER OFFENSIVELY ATTACKED any other nation, unlike its major critics. The Iraq-Iran war was the only instance of Iran fighting a major war with a neighboring country. In that war, Saddam Hussein .... sensing weakness within Iran during the political and military turmoil that followed the ouster of the Shah of Iran and the rise of Khomeini ... decided to grab an important part of Iran ... which he repeated later against Kuwait later. To Saddam's dismay, Iran proved to be a very tough enemy capable of fighting on despite all the solely military advantages Saddam enjoyed ... especially the conventional and Chemical weapons that the US ENTHUSIASTICALLY provided to inflict huge losses in soldiers on Iran, in retaliation for the ouster of the Shah and for embarrassing the US in the Embassy Hostage taking in Teheran.
Beyond that, despite being a theocracy, the Iranian political system is far more democratic, and allows Iranian people the freedom of choice, than the surrounding Moslem countries the United States has allied it self with. The Iranian system of democracy is not created in the Western image, but why should it?
As the leading Shia nation, and the protector of Shia communities worldwide, Iran does militarily support Shia communities threatened not only by Israel (in Lebanon and Syria), but also by Sunni Muslims ... who demonize the Shia as "apostate" and seem to hate them more than even the Israelis!! On the other hand, observing both Sunni and Shia Muslims, it seems to me that Shia Muslims are more moderate and reasonable than their Sunni counterparts, once again indicating that Iranian Moslems, on the whole, are more emotionally stable and reasonable than the Sunni Moslems. Therefore, it may be time to stop DEMONIZING Iran and Shia Muslims, just because Israel and the Jewish Lobby wants us to do so, and to recognize that Iran and Iranians as reliable and stable partners for world peace.
In fact, I believe, that it would be in the interest of both Israel and the United States to completely abandon their wrong attitudes of the past against Iran, and to reach out to Iran to create an enduring and stable relationship based on shared values. After all, the majority of the ordinary People of Iran that Americans loved so well during the reign of the Shah of Iran, did not change overnight into fanatical demons. But time is of the essence, for as Iranians are demonized, and pain and suffering is inflicted upon them, their attitudes towards their tormentors will also change for the worse, brainwashing and transforming the Iranian people as a whole from friend into enemy.
Even as Congress Party Ministers openly support an Eelam in Sri Lanka, specifically referring to the PC Elections as the First Step of "Capturing" the land of Eelam ..... OUR IDIOT Govt is Enabling that Process through Provincial Council Elections.
The GOSL did not even INVESTIGATE IN DEPTH our REQUEST to CHECK THE IMMIGRATION/CITIZENSHIP status of OVER 1 million ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS imported into Sri Lanka by the LTTE. Instead, they are being allowed to .... to vote in the PC Elections .... and given "Temporary ID Cards" to vote for TNA candidates who will make certain that they are PERMANENTLY ESTABLISHED as Sri Lankan citizens!
IGNORANCE is EXCUSABLE, but STUPIDITY is UNPARDONABLE!
Yes indeed, given IDIOTS like this at the HELM of Sri Lanka, the Confidence of INdian Union Minister E M Sudarsana Natchiappan on the imminent "RE-CAPTURE" of the land of the putative Eelam in Sri Lanka is VERY WELL FOUNDED!
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Minister openly supports ‘Eelam'
Express News Service - CHENNAI
September 10, 2013
Last Updated: 10th September 2013 11:34 AM
Union Minister E M Sudarsana Natchiappan’s remark that Tamils should first “capture” the land that belonged to them in Sri Lanka if the Eelam dream is to materialise is perhaps the first time a senior Congress leader from TN has openly acknowledged the idea of an Eelam for Tamils in Lanka. “Like Israel and Palestine, we must also capture the land of Tamils in Sri Lanka. We should struggle with this aim. Sri Lanka belongs to Tamils,” said the minister.
Significantly, he’s the first from the Congress ranks drawing a parallel with Israel in the issue.
Natchiappan’s party, the Congress, has consistently opposed the idea of a separate nation for Tamils and has reiterated that any solution to the ethnic problem in the island nation has to be found within the framework of a unified Lanka.
Giving a call to the Tamil diaspora to return to Lanka, Natchiappan said working against Sri Lanka from abroad would be detrimental to the aim of Eelam. “If you leave this (Lanka) sacred land and do anything against it (from outside), tomorrow Eelam will fade away as a dream,” he said. However, speaking to Express later in the day, Natchiappan clarified that by Eelam he meant entire Sri Lanka and that it was not a call to divide the nation.
Natchiappan said the view he wanted to convey was that the diaspora should desist from causing apprehensions among the Tamil population regarding the upcoming elections.
“They should aid the process of devolution by supporting the democratic process. The political parties in Tamil Nadu hould also provide moral support to the people there for the elections,” he pointed out.
Simple Translation of TNA stand is: "We will take whatever you fools give us NOW, and CONTINUE to fight for a for a separate Sovereign Eelam LATER"!
This stand ... spelled out in BLACK & WHITE in the TNA manifesto to attract Separatist Support to the TNA while it poses pro-forma as law-abiding party accepting the Unitary Status of Sri Lanka to gain legal status in the PC Elections .... is NOTHING SHORT OF OUTRIGHT DUPLICITY and A PUBLIC DECLARATION OF TREASON.
It should be treated as such, and the TNA candidacy in the PC Elections should be REJECTED as that of a TREASONOUS PARTY that has given every intention of VIOLATING the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
No Legal Political Organization of Sri Lanka standing for Elections should be allowed to AGREE TO ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION in one document and then make DECLARATIONS TO THE CONTRARY in another legal document ... its ELECTION MANIFESTO! That is tantamount to not only MISLEADING THE VOTING PUBLIC as to the POLICIES IT WILL PURSUE ONCE IT IS ELECTED, but also VIOLATES the CONSITUTION, the Supreme Law of Land.
In issuing this MANIFESTO, the TNA has given INCONTROVERTIBLE EVIDENCE OF TREACHERY. The GOSL should USE it NOW to the Fullest Extent of the Law to punish these TRAITORS!
The TNA Leaders should now be ARRESTED, PROSECUTED, CONVICTED and PUNISHED for TREASON against the Nation.
Failure to HOLD ACCOUNTABLE the TNA Leaders for TREASON, will ENCOURAGE the TNA, and ALL OTHER POTENTIAL HIDDEN TRAITORS to VIOLATE the Laws of Land with IMPUNITY, with NO FEAR OF RETRIBUTION!
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NPC polls: ‘Seventh Schedule negates core of TNA manifesto’
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
September 10, 2013
The TNA’s controversial manifesto calling for self-governance in a re-merged North-Eastern Province was just propaganda meant to draw voters as all those contesting the first Northern PC polls, on the TNA ticket, had furnished a letter each to the Elections Secretariat reiterating their commitment to the unitary status of the country in accordance with the ‘Seventh Schedule’ of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, Election Department sources said.
The then President J. R. Jayewardene introduced the Sixth Amendment on August 8, 1983 in the wake of the outbreak of Eelam War I.
Elections Department officials said that the ‘Seventh Schedule’ was applicable to all elections, including the presidential.
Each contestant had to reaffirm that he/she will uphold and defend the Constitution and won’t directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate state within the territory of Sri Lanka.
Responding to a query by The Island, sources pointed out that the TNA had, like any other political party in the fray, furnished letters guaranteeing their allegiance to the Constitution. Against that background, the much publicised TNA’s manifesto became irrelevant. Those who had voiced grave concern over the TNA manifesto had conveniently forgotten that whatever MP R. Sampanthan’s party propagated, it too, was committed to unitary status.
The TNA’s commitment to the Sixth Amendment had made the manifesto irrelevant, sources said.
The Elections Secretariat recently rejected nominations of seven candidates of an Independent group, contesting from the Kilinochchi District, on the basis that the document bearing the ‘Seventh Schedule of the Constitution had not been properly signed by one candidate who had lost his index finger due to the war.
Three disabled war victims and four others who had their nominations to contest the Northern Provincial Council polls rejected, have complained to the Court of Appeal that the aforesaid rejection by the Returning Officer for Kilinochchi was mala fide and arbitrary.
....Continued 1....
The petitioners are K. Dharmalingam and six others from Kilinochchi District.
Additional Elections Commissioner U. Amaradasa told The Island that whatever the circumstances, all candidates would have to fulfil the obligations in accordance with the ‘Seventh Schedule.’
Calling for the re-merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province, the TNA declared that the devolution of power should be on the basis of shared sovereignty, necessarily over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers
The TNA said: "To achieve the above including self-reliance it is imperative that we need self-government. We have set out a two-stage constitutional process to secure this. Whilst we do our utmost to play a positive role in promoting self-government for the Tamil-speaking people in the North-East, we will carry on with our political negotiations for meaningful sharing of powers of governance. We cannot emphasise more the immediate necessity for a democratically elected body with legislative, executive and fiscal powers — to take over those functions of governance rightly belonging to us."
Responding to a query by The Island, Elections Chief Mahinda Deshapriya said that all political parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had to accept the ‘Seventh Schedule.’ Although the Northerners would be voting at provincial council polls for the first time on September 21, the ‘Seventh Schedule’ had applied to all elections for over two decades, Deshapriya said.
BAH! My Assessment: Absolutely NOTHING will come out this Lawyers Guild case, just as the JHU moves to remove the 13th Amendment was a MONUMENTAL flop! All smoke and no fire!
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Nationalist organization in Sri Lanka to take legal action against Tamil party election manifesto
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 10, Colombo: A nationalist organization in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Lawyers' Guild said that they will file a case in the Supreme Court against the election manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
Kapila Gamage, the convener of the Sri Lanka Lawyers' Guild, a lesser known lawyers' organization linked to the Nationalist Organizations Collective said the TNA manifesto was against the Constitution of the country.
He said that the proclamation of self-rule in the manifesto is a violation of the Sri Lanka Constitution. He reminded that it is compulsory for any elected member of an election to any institution to take oaths confirming that he or she will safeguard the constitution of the country.
The Sinhala nationalist organizations pointed out that the TNA has announced the election victory would be manipulated as a mandate to lobby for a self-rule and re-unification of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Gamage said that the legal action would be initiated before the election.
Veteran nationalists Gunadasa Amarasekara, Bengamuwe Nalaka Thero and several others participated in the press conference held to protest the TNA manifesto yesterday.
Meanwhile, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said that the manifesto presented by the Tamil National Alliance for the Northern Provincial election has distorted the fight against terrorism.
He said that it presents a wrong picture about Sri Lanka to the international community and depicted the LTTE as an innocent heroic organization.
What does "GOSL will not Accept TNA PC Election Manifesto" MEAN?
Only "REGRET" ... My God such PUSILLANIMITY in the face of TREASON against the Nation.
Will the GOSL 1. declare TNA Candidacy in the Election to be NULL & VOID, 2. ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT and PUNISH the TNA Leaders for TREASON?, and 3. PROSCRIBE the TNA (and the ITAK, and the constituent parties of the ITAK) as an Organization allowed to engage in POLITICS in Sri Lanka?
Or is this ALL SMOKE and NO FIRE to fool the voters of Sri Lanka AGAIN?
The GOSL should ACT NOW and ACT DECISIVELY to PUNISH TRAITORS and ERADICATE TREASON!
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Sri Lankan government not to accept the Tamil party election manifesto
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 12, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government says it cannot accept the election manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for the Northern Provincial Council.
Cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference that the government regrets the contents of the TNA election manifesto.
He said that the government could not accept the manifesto as it contravenes the Constitution of the country.
In its election manifesto, the TNA, once considered as a proxy for the terrorist group LTTE during the war, has called for establishing power sharing arrangements in a unit of a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure.
According to Rambukwella, there are attempts by some groups to initiate legal action against the TNA manifesto to get a restraining order against it before the Northern Provincial Council election this month.
Sri Lanka Lawyers' Guild said they will file a case in the Supreme Court against the TNA's election manifesto as it was against the Constitution of the country since the proclamation of self-rule in the manifesto is a violation of the Sri Lanka Constitution.
The TNA says the manifesto emphasizes the political aspirations of the Tamils, while upholding the integrity of the country.
TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said the party's election manifesto while being prepared to uphold the right of self-determination of the Tamils would also preserve the integrity of the country.
I spoke of “Foreign Enemies” of Sri Lanka … well here is a manifestation of that enmity driven by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora and by the global agendas of the Foreign Powers themselves.
The TOTAL DEFEAT of the LTTE on the battlefield would not have possible if the GOSL had followed the advice of these Foreign Powers reeking with double-standards in their solving theier own problems in their own interest.
LIKEWISE, SECURING TOTAL PEACE & PROSPERITY for Sri Lanka and its People in the LONG TERM will not be possible by empowering Separatists to create Communal Fiefdoms in Sri Lanka just to placate these Foreign Powers.
As in the conduct of Eelam War IV, the GOSL must use the CLEAR EVIDENCE of TREASON & SEPARATIST INTENTIONS now available in the RUNUP to the PC Elections, and REVOKE the 13th Amendment, DISMANTLE the Provincial Council System, and BAN all Communal Parties … before Sri Lanka unravels again.
Following the advice of Foreign Powers piously pontificating on negotiations, and asking for their help to combat terrorism which never came, over 30 long years, left Sri Lanka in ruins, our citizens destitute and victimized by terror. Instead, we must CONTINUE to use OUR OWN WIT to SOLVE OUR OWN PROBLEMS and REJECT THE ADVICE of Foreign Powers seeking to placate their local political constituencies and plying their own global agendas.
These Comments are being made now because they fear that the GOSL might respond to the recent Separatist Actions of the TNA by REVOKING the 13th Amendment.
PUT THESE JAUNDICED FOREIGNERS OUT OF THEIR MISERY by REVOKING the 13th Amendment, DISMANTLING the Provincial Council System, and BANNING all COMMUNAL PARTIES!
If BANNING the Nazi Party serves the Western Powers WELL in preserving their future SECURITY, Sri Lanka would be JUST AS WELL served by BANNING the TNA to PROTECT itself.
If DISMANTLING the Berlin Wall and the Post-War division of Germany into two nations serves Germany WELL, then DISMANTLING the Provincial Council System imposed by India upon SRi Lanka by FORCE OF ARMS, would serve Sri Lanka JUST AS WELL.
Let us FIRMLY REJECT DOUBLE-STANDARDS & ASSERT Sri Lanka’s SOVEREIGNTY to Govern Itself: What is good for the fat Western GOOSE must be GOOD for the under-fed Sri Lankan GANDER as well!
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Sri Lanka lashes out at Germany and U.S. for undermining Northern PC elections
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 19, Geneva: Sri Lanka today expressed dismay at the concerns expressed by the United States, Germany and Ireland at the General Debate of the 24th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva and asked the detractors at HRC not to discredit the Northern PC election process or prejudge its outcome.
In a Right of Reply with regard to references made to Sri Lanka by Germany, the U.S. and Ireland under the General Debate at the ongoing session, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Manisha Gunasekera on Thursday said, it is ironic that Germany chose to discredit the election process for the Northern Provincial Council and prejudge its outcome and impact when Sri Lanka is holding the first ever election to the Council since the introduction of the Provincial Council system in 1987.
Delivering a statement at the General Debate on “Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention” on Tuesday, German Ambassador Hanns Schumacher said the upcoming elections in the Northern Province could help to reconcile and enfranchise the Tamil population, but only if they are free and fair and if the 13th amendment is not revoked.
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Sri Lanka pointed out that commitment of the Sri Lankan government to ensure the transparent and free and fair conduct of the election not only to the Northern Provincial Council, but also to the Central and North Western Provincial Councils which go to polls this Saturday is clearly demonstrated by the presence of 24 election observers from the South Asian region as well as from Commonwealth countries, on the invitation of the Elections Commissioner.
Sri Lanka further noted that there has been no practice in the country for external monitors to observe provincial council elections but the Election Commissioner invited the foreign observers as confidence building measure and to assure transparency.
Sri Lankan delegation lashed out at Germany for lack of objectivity displayed by ignoring the steps taken by the government to achieve comprehensive reconciliation as recommended by the LLRC and to investigate alleged atrocities during the final phase of the war.
Sri Lanka said it is surprised that the U.S. should declare that ‘Sri Lanka should set visit dates and provide access for relevant special rapporteurs’ when the UNHRC has been updated twice in the current session of the government’s proactive engagement with special procedures mandate holders and the invitations it has extended in this regard.
The U.S. said at the General Debate that Sri Lanka should set dates for Special Rapporteurs to visit and provide relevant access.
The Sri Lankan government will decide the schedule for such visits according to the requirement of the country and appropriate timing, the delegation said.
Responding to the concerns expressed by Ireland on the treatment of the prisoners incarcerated in connection with the conflict, enforced disappearances, torture and human rights violations, Sri Lanka denied that there were human rights violations against the prisoners detained in connection with terrorist activities.
The legal legal representatives and family members, as well as the National Human Rights Commission and the ICRC have free access to all those in custody, the delegation told the Council.
The envoy told the Council that instances of reported cases of torture have diminished considerably throughout the last five years and the government has recently appointed a Commission to investigate allegations of disappearances, which will complement ongoing action.
The Sri Lankan delegation said it is disconcerting to keep noting the same allegations, particularly when the Council has been continuously sensitized to the action taken on the very same issues.
“We can only keep hoping for an objective and constructive approach from the HRC,” the envoy said.
TNA manifesto worse than Vaddukodai resolution - KP
DailyNews.lk
September 19, 2013
Vavuniya Group Corr
Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP castigated the TNA saying that the election manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance was a more serious demand than the Vadukkoddai document which called for a separate state.
K Pathmanathan
Addressing a media conference at the Sencholai Child Development Centre in Kilinochchi yesterday, Kumaran Pathmanathan, formerly with the LTTE, said that the TNA manifesto was more serious than Vadukkoddai agreement and the LTTE Oslo Pact. "Certain words have been included in the manifesto to cover up its seriousness."
He said that holding of the Northern polls was democratically a significant opportunity gained by the Northerners, adding that people living in the North would gain many benefits through this provincial council. "I call upon the Tamils to rally round President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as there is no hope for them by voting for an unstable political party. It is high time that they make the best use of this golden opportunity and vote the UPFA into power and live in freedom, peace and harmony."
He further told the media that it was only now that people who underwent hardships were gaining benefits. "In such a situation, TNA is trying to return to that era. Northern Tamils had to face enormous difficulties in the past. TNA is trying to unleash hardships on their people again.
KP said: "The TNA is misleading innocent and poor Tamils. It is a sin to hoodwink the public in this manner.
The TNA is misleading the public saying their needs would not be met through this PC. They claim there should be struggles to win their privileges." KP emphasized that the TNA wanted to begin this struggle after winning the polls.
They also claim that youth in the province are geared for the struggle.
Making reference to Vartharaja Perumal, he claimed that Perumal misused powers of the first PC established in the North. " TNA is now planning to do the same thing citing Eelam. Their aim is to achieve their objectives, but not serve the public by winning the poll.
They intend to secure positions and meet their ends," Pathmanathan added.
He also blamed the TNA for not accepting that they were at fault. Instead of accepting their fault, they point their finger at others.
The TNA Chief Ministerial candidate Vigneshwaran, was very hard on the LTTE when he was sitting in judgment while a member of the judiciary and today he is praising the LTTE as heroes merely to win their votes.
He pointed out that there was no unity among the members of the TNA and they have hardly cared to get the organization registered as a recognized political party.
How can such a party run the province? "I call upon the Tamils to rally round President Mahinda Rajapaksa as there is no hope for them by voting to an unstable political party. It is high time that they make the best use of this golden opportunity by voting the UPFA into power and live in freedom, peace and harmony," he said.
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