These candidates are largely to blame for destroying our people – Suren Surendiran

As far as we Tamils are concerned, this is not the right time for any sort of election, regardless of who the candidates are.  Those in the traditional homeland are still recovering from the woes of the war; there has been no time for proper healing, rehabilitation or reconstruction. Most do not know where their loved ones are and whether they are still living or dead. They live in fear under a heavy military presence, with restricted freedom of movement…………  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/suren-surendiran-these-candidates-are-largely-to-blame-for-destroying-our-people-1859873.html

First Anniversary Remembrance of Lasantha Wickrematunga and Press Freedom in Sri Lanka 
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Date: Friday, January 08, 2010

Time : 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Location: YMCA,  41 Fitzroy Square,  London, W1T 6AQ

Speakers:  Baroness Helena Kennedy QC  (Human Rights Lawyer), Gareth Thomas MP (International Development Minister),  Frances Harrison (Former BBC correspondent for Sri lanka), Ed Davey MP (Shadow Foreign Secretary, Liberal Democrats), Uvindu Kurukulasuriya   (Journalist and former Convenor Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri lanka), Alex Wilks (Programme Lawyer, Human Rights Institute-International Bar Association Human Rights Institute),  Speaker from Reporters without Borders (RSF). Message  from Journalists for Democracy in Sri lanka (JDS).

This event is being organized by Friends of Lasantha and Tamil Legal Advocacy Project (TLAP)

UN expert cites video in call for Sri Lankan probe

UNITED NATIONS – A U.N. human rights investigator said Thursday that a videotape of an apparent execution of blindfolded and naked Tamils by Sri Lankan soldiers probably is authentic and called for a war crimes investigation. Philip Alston did not specify who should undertake his recommended investigation into war crimes and other grave violations of human rights allegedly committed in Sri Lanka. The government’s 25-year war against Tamil Tiger rebels ended in May, with U.N. reports saying more than 7,000 civilians were killed in the final spasm of fighting as government forces closed in………….. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_re_us/un_un_sri_lanka_1

Alston’s conduct breach of diplomatic procedures

The Sri Lankan government has slammed the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Prof. Philip Alston for making public findings of a 3 member panel probing the controversial Channel 4 video even before Sri Lanka could respond to the revelations.  

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama responding to the statement made by the Special Rapporteur said that the conduct of Mr. Alston was a breach of diplomatic procedures.  “My Ministry has communicated in this regard both to the Special Rapporteur as well as to the UN Secretariat in New York that the Public Statement in New York is a violation of all the accepted procedures of the United Nations and the norms of justice and fair play, Bogollagama told Daily Mirror online……………  http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=72958

RAW’s unabated shenanigans

RAW’s shenanigans against it neighbours continues unabated. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and of course its arch rival Pakistan. It is quite obvious that India was not very happy with Sri Lanka’s unprecedented victory that could lead to peace and domestic stability; thus denying India’s leverage in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. India was also displeased with Sri Lankan leadership for the killing of large number of Tamils during the war and for not fully implementing 13fh amendment that meant autonomy to Tamils in the North and East, It seems a well thought-out strategy that was carefully hatched by RA W in Colombo and New Delhi to steal away the rejoicing of Sri Lankan nation in the aftermath of a grand victory against LTTE.

Pakistani supplied Al-Khalid – the main battle tank, its fighter pilots flying air strike mission on LTTE bases and positioning of some of its highly trained army officers in Colombo played a key role in the Sri Lankan forces rout of Tamil Tigers, Pakistani media has claimed. “It was the Pakistani defense cooperation with Sri Lanka as the largest suppliers of high-tech military equipment that played a major role in the ultimate defeat of the LTTE at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.” The newspaper said the defense cooperation between Sri Lanka and Pakistan had grown significantly in recent years as Islamabad, unlike New Delhi, had no problems supplying the state-of-the-art weaponry to Lankan army to accelerate its counter-insurgency operations against the LTTE …………………  (continue reading…)

India’s help to Kill the Tamils during and after Eelam war IV.

• Indian government morally and politically helped us to win the war against the Tamils – Sarath Fonseka.
• Sri Lanka is a Sinhala nation where there are ethnic minorities, who should not place undue demands – Sarath Fonseka.
• Sri Lankan navy had received crucial assistance including two warships on lease from the Indian government.
• President Rajapaksa promised to go beyond 13A (13A plus), This promise has now been put on the back burner and will never be implemented.
• “Neither Rajapaksa nor Fonseka has any blueprint to solve the Tamils question, the cause of the debilitating 30-year war.
• Rajapaksa nor Fonseka are not even prepared to meet the Tamils’ basic demand, to implement the devolution package enshrined in the constitution.
• The LTTE may be gone but the ethnic divide has not been bridged.
• The pressure brought in to abrogate the 1957 Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam (B-C) pact is only one of many cases where promises and pacts meant nothing. The latest disenchantment is the political solution promised since 2006

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivering the Olcott Oration at Ananda College, Colombo on 14 November is reported to have said: “The relationship developed over the past four years where our closest ally, India, helping us with our war against terrorism. Having their support helped reduce the pressure by other nations and thus we were able to proceed with our ‘humanitarian operations’ (Killing more than 120,000 Tamils). It is important that we strengthen this relationship further in the years to come.” He also said that “it was important to develop good relations with India to defeat the (Tamils) LTTE politically in the international arena and prevent its revival”………… (continue reading…)

“This report is an incredibly shoddy, ill-informed piece of work that grossly overstates the strategic importance of Sri Lanka to the United States and woefully understates the degree of abuses carried out by the government there,” said Robert Templer, director of the Asia programme at the Brussels- based International Crisis Group (ICG).

“Maybe the people who wrote the report don’t know anything about Sri Lanka or maybe they’re of the school that says that everything on the planet is strategic,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch……….

(continue reading…)

‘Fonseka is the much needed catalyst to change people’s despair into hope’ – Ranil Wickremesinghe

Addressing the UNP special convention at Welisara on Saturday (5) , Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe reputed for his straight deals and honest undertakings sans hypocrisies ,  rare traits among politicians  said , he is not a leader who seeks hypocritical methods of talking in Tamil with a prompter and shedding crocodile tears for the Tamils ………. http://www.unp.lk/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3588&Itemid=1 Are presidential campaign meetings only for Mahajara Rajapakse? – Tense situation at Savsiripaya A tense situation sprang up when permission to hold the meeting between common candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka and people’s representatives of the JVP to be held at the auditorium of Savsiripaya was cancelled.   The people’s representatives of the JVP carried out an agitation against the move to cancel permission for the meeting. According to the media unit of the JVP the organizers of the event had reserved the auditorium several days ago. However, authorities had informed the organizers today afternoon that the auditorium could not be made available “due to an unavoidable reason.”       Permission for the rally the JVP was to hold at Nugegoda on the 30th November too was cancelled by the government giving a false excuse.  The organizers, however, had made arrangements to hold today’s meeting at New Town Hall and at the moment this is keyed the meeting is being held.   I will not be a ceremonious President – General Fonseka    Speaking at a JVP meeting today about his role in the government after abolishing the executive presidency, if he is elected President next year, General Sarath Fonseka said that he will not be a ceremonious president like William Gopallawa but will enjoy some powers……………….

Burning Memories : Director: Someetharan | Genre: Documentary | Produced In: 2008

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1613/Burning-Memorie

Synopsis: One of the most traumatic events of the early stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka that has been raging for more than 25 years is the burning of Jaffna Public Library, which housed more than 97,000 books and irreplaceable palm leaf manuscripts, the wanton burning of the most important library of the Tamils was a major loss to the cultural heritage. This documentary attempts to document war scarred life of the Library and the socio-political violence connected with it.

The Jaffna Public Library was the major repository of literary source materials of the Tamil people and Tamil language. By 1981, it had over 97,000 books and rare, old manuscripts and papers.. It was a place of historic and symbolic importance to the local minority Sri Lankan Tamil people. In 1981, when, Sinhalese policemen and government sponsored thugs set fire to the Jaffna Public Library thus destroying it completely. The film narrates the entire history of the library since its inception in 1933 by juxtaposing voiceover and interviews of the former employees of the library. The interviews of the people who had benefited from the library are heart-rending. Mr Sabaratnam, who had been the member of the library since 1948.The archival video footage (1981) of the interview of Mr Rasa Viswanathan, the then Mayor of Jaffna, recollects the entire incident including the involvement of armed constabulary in the devastation. This documentary film focus the cultural tragedy during the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.

A top French envoy Saturday asked Sri Lanka to end its state of emergency and probe war crimes ahead of a key European Union ruling on trade concessions to the troubled island. Ambassador for Human Rights, Francois Zimeray, said he hoped Colombo will signal the ending of its war with Tamil rebels in May by withdrawing emergency laws which allowed the detention of suspects for long periods without trial……….

http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2009_11_08_002.html