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News Archive for Mar 2010

The Psychological Impact of Political Violence in Sri Lanka
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Of all the tasks of government, the most basic is to protect its citizens from violence.-John Foster Dulles Commonly violence is defined as  the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi & Lozano, 2002).   Political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the political objectives. Violence is a common means used by people and governments around... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 31/03/10)

Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony -Part 2
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
“Eastern Nightmare” a hysterical anxiety, and the inherent historical fear of the west toward the east. The pre-modern Silk Road, the red line depicts the land route and the blue line depicts the sea route. Europe locates in the periphery, to the far west of the Asian center. Post LTTE political developments in the region Few crucial developments have been progressively unfolding within the sphere of Sri Lankan current politics, namely… 1.  Rajapakse administration has demonstrated its determination to demarcate its policies clearly in the direction of liberating from “Eurocentric Developmentalism.”  2.  It is foreseeable a... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 31/03/10)

Tamil Tiger supporters provided finance and equipment from Australia
TAMIL Tiger terrorist group supporters in Australia were secretly taped praising the use of suicide squads and child soldiers. One of them also allegedly provided the Sri Lankan terrorist group with enough electronic equipment to help make and remotely explode more than 500 bombs. A two-year joint Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police investigation was able to positively link an electronic device sent by Melbourne man Aruran Vinayagamoorthy to a claymore mine later used in a Tamil Tiger terrorist attack in Sri Lanka.... -Full Story- (heraldsun.com.au - 31/03/10)

මහා සිකුරාදා, ඔබට, මට අප සැමට කියන මහා කථාන්තරය.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ලෝකයේ මහා ඛේදවාචකයන් ගනනාවක් සිදුව ඇත. සමහර ඛෙදවාචකයන් ඓතිහාසිකව සටහන්ව ඇති අතර, සමහරක්වා කිසිදු සටහනක් නැතිව ඉතිහාසය සමගම වැලලී ගොස් ඇත. පවතින සමාජ කඩතුරාවන් ඉරා නව ලොවක් සොයා බලන හැමටම උරුම දඩුවම මරණයයි. එම සමාජ කඩතුරාව ඉරා දමන පුද්ගලයා කවරෙකු වුවද කම්නැත. ඔහුට උරුමව ඇත්තේදැඩි දඩුවම් සහිත මරණයකි. මරණය දඩුවමක් සේ දකින්නේ ඝාතකයායි. ඝාතකයා සතුටුවන්නේ තමන්ගේ සතුරාට වද දෙමින් ලබා දෙන මරණයටයි. මෙවන්වූ සහසික ඝාතනයක් මීට වසර 1977කට පමණ පෙර කාලයක් තුලදී මේ පෘතුවිය මත සිදුවිය. එම ඝාතනය පිලිකුලින් හෙලා දැකීමේ හා ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ සිහිකිරීමේ අරමුණු සහිතව අපි මහ සිකුරාදා සමරමු. මෙම ඝාතනය... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 31/03/10)

Twin Head Anaconda is surrounding Canadian Tamil’s neck
By: Walter Michael – Toronto
God Siva’s picture always with snack around his neck, which have a different religious stories to tell why he is having snack around his neck but Canadian Tamil Community neck also surrounding by a Twin Head Snake which is the so called Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC). This snake is not a charm one like around God Siva and it is Anaconda which will sallow the entire community. This twin head anaconda doesn’t know what one head is doing to another head, they ultimate goal to sallow big chunk of meat to its belly. Like... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 31/03/10)

How to annoy, threaten and still win friends in Washington; the AIPAC method
Ajit Randeniya
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), with a budget of $65 million and over 100,000 members, is the main Zionist lobby group in America that influences the US-Israel relationship. Though described as a lobby group, AIPAC often goes beyond simple lobbying, and with the assistance of a large network of White House, Pentagon, State Department and other bureaucracies, they orchestrate conspiracies designed, among other things, to bring down non compliant politicians. The Monica Lewinsky scandal that nearly led to Bill Clinton's impeachment was one such set up.  AIPAC also trains US journalists and other Zionist volunteers... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

BASIL RAJAPAKSA - THE FOUNDATION OF SRI LANKA’S SUCCESS
By Dr.Levins T C Rajaratnam
Who is Basil Rajapaksa? Basil Rajapaksa’s  official Facebook states “Basil Rohana Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician currently the Senior Adviser to President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on all matters pertaining to the affairs of the State and Government. He is also a former National List member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.   He hails from a well known political family from the South of Sri Lanka. His father, D. A. Rajapaksa, was a prominent politician, independence agitator, Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

UNP Leader Wickremasinghe And Associates Continue Their Bold Unchecked Rhetoric Against The Rajapaksha Administration Before The General Election!
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial March30th 2010
 The state of affairs the UNP has mired itself into through the actions and posturings of its shallow minded totallly inefficient leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was portrayed by a previous item under the same caption and today related unfolding of events continue in similar fashion with the soap box orators of the Wickremasinghe entourage bragging about many issues which they don't seem to have a lid over beyond the fantasy world they live in.  Throw into this the mindsets of a few runaway former JVP deserters and the rest of the breakaway stragglers who have... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Eliminate divide & rule policy – Part 1
Wijayasiri Kulatunga  B.Sc. M. Phil.
On 26th January 2010, Sri Lanka population have used the opportunity to select an efficient and reliable leader as the president of the country to improve the coexistence of Sinhala, Dravida, Malay Burger people and Buddhist, Christian, Catholic and Muslim religious people who live in this country. Now the Sri Lanka communities have another challenge to select reliable political leaders to use their abilities to improve the living standards of the people live in this country. Prior to the voting it is important to help different communities in the country to understand how some... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Legitimate grievances and national problem of the Hela/Sinhela people
Anura Seneviratna, Dr. MB.Ranatunga, Sumith de Silva, Ira Mediwake, Asanka Haradasa, Sapumal Watteaarachchige, Ranjith Wijetunge, Ranjith Wijetunge, Dhanapala Godagangdeni, Sam Samararatne (for expat Hela team).
The endless rhetoric of alleged legitimate grievances and national problem pertaining to the non indigenous Tamil minority in Heladiva (SL) is rampant. But if looked at impartially with justice and truth at the core, it is a self-evident fact that the legitimate grievances and national problem in the Island Country is wholly of its pre-historically ancient indigenous Hela people and NOT of the non indigenous Tamil ethnic minority of Tamil Nadu (Tamil Country) origin,... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Milinda continues his “Strange Campaign”
Gamini Sarath Godakanda
Leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress and UPFA candidate for the Colombo District, Milinda Moragoda made a visit to Spencer Denim Industries (Pvt.) Ltd. In Padukka last week to meet with the factory workers and management to discuss his ideas and policies as outlined in the SLNC  “Agenda for Influencing the Government”. Among the issues discussed were the status of the GSP+ facility and the future of the garment industry in Sri Lanka. During the discussion Moragoda stated that ‘’there is a golden opportunity before us at the end of the over three decade long... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Reconciliaton or Triumphalism ?
P.A.Samaraweera, Australia.
Izeth Hussain in an article to an English Daily of 26th March on 'Reconciliation and Triumphalism'  refers to one of the greatest moments in ancient history and says, "...I was reminded of it when after the May 18th victory, I saw on TV President Rajapakse descend from the plane and make obeisance to the tarmac..."   In fact this occurred a couple of weeks before the victory on his return from an overseas conference and definitely not after the 18th of May.  Izeth comments that the President was paying homage to the tarmac, a product of western technology and not the sacred soil of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Thank you for helping us understand the sensitivity around the use of Buddha’s image
Gerry Nott Editor in Chief Ottawa Citizen
To: Asoka Weerasinghe Director of Outreach Affairs Hilda Jayewardenaramaya From: Gerry Nott Editor in Chief, Ottawa Citizen Dear Asoka: Your letter concerning your displeasure with the cover of Style magazine, which was inserted into Saturday’s paper, has been brought to my attention. I appreciate you taking the time to write and making us aware of your feelings, and those of your community. Let me assure you that no insult, disrespect or slight was intended by our use of the Lord Buddha sculpture in the cover photo. If you, or any of your... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Guilty by suspicion
Island Editorial Courtesy The Island  30-03-2010
America's stand on Sri Lanka's terrorism remains a riddle inside an enigma. The US used to denounce LTTE terror seemingly at every turn and to claim that it stood by this country. Strongly worded statements that Washington issued condemning the LTTE would warm the cockles of many hearts but strangely the moment the writing appeared on the wall for the LTTE, the US policy underwent a sudden change. Washington made a U-turn and went to the extent of trying to throw a lifeline to the beleaguered Tigers crying out for help. It advocated negotiations... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 30/03/10)

Sri Lankan Economy Accelerates at Fastest Pace in Five Quarters
By Anusha Ondaatjie
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in five quarters as the government stepped up spending on new roads and ports after the end of a quarter- century of civil war in the country. Gross domestic product rose 6.2 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier after gaining 4.2 percent in the previous quarter, the statistics department said in a statement in Colombo today.... -Full Story-
(Bloomberg - 30/03/10)

UN to shut Pakistan offices over Bhutto report
Agence France-Presse
All UN offices in Pakistan will close for three days from Wednesday as a security precaution with the world body set to release a report on the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto. A United Nations panel, which began its investigations last July, was due to submit its findings to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on March 31. Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 30/03/10)

The Proven Sri Lankan Solution to the spiraling Cost of Living- the malady of UNP policies
By Garvin Karunaratne, BA,M.A.(Cey), MA(Mich) M.Phil.(Edin) Ph.D(MSU, US).former Government Agent, Matara District
Introduction Sky rocketing consumer goods is a concern for everybody. The Rajapakse Government has declared that it will win this economic war too, now that the separatist terrorist outfit of Prabakaran which was threatening the very existence of this country has been annihilated. I would like to share my personal experience of the strategies used by the past Governments through the Marketing Department and the CWE mechanisms to control the spiraling costs of consumer goods, which worked extremely well until the system was disjointed and dismantled and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony-Part I
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Sri Lanka is in historical crossroads; and has reached to a critical juncture in her entire history of two and a half millennium. Opening up a new politico-economical and a military chapter, radically severing the dependency on the west, Sri Lanka has taken a far-reaching twist in the course of its history toward a new destiny. Sri Lanka had no alternatives or no return; she was cornered to the wall by merciless adversaries. But she struck back from dustbin of the history to the center page.  However, let the history decide of many things we witness today.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

The Similarities and Differences between the Vietnam War and the Eelam War
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 
Nations customarily measure the 'costs of war' in dollars, lost production, or the number of soldiers killed or wounded." But, "rarely do military establishments attempt to measure the costs of war in terms of individual suffering-Richard Gabriel Vietnam War and the  Elam War had many similarities and many differences. But both represent the horrors of war trauma in the 20th Century. Vietnam War was America’s longest war, spanning the twelve-year period from 1963 to 1975. Of the estimated 2.5 million individuals who served in Vietnam, some 58,000 Americans lost their lives. Another 300,000 were... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

Tamil Diaspora’s New Umbrella – The Global Tamil Forum (GTF)-Fails to Hide the Tigers’ Stripes
Mahinda Gunasekera  March 28, 2010
The Tamil Diaspora which funded the brutal terrorist movement called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also known as the Tamil Tigers, has regularly changed its disguise through a simple metamorphosis involving a name change and re-arranging the deck with new faces to hide their links to the designated terror group.  After the military action taken by the Sri Lankan forces ended in May 2009 with the killing of the Tiger Supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran and his lieutenants on the banks of the Nanthikadal Lagoon on the northeast coast, the carefully laid out plans... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

Style: You have insulted us Buddhists
Asoka Weerasinghe Director of Outreach Affairs Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Ottawa
Hilda Jayewardenaramaya THERAVADA BUDDHIST TEMPLE 1481 Heron Road Ottawa, Ontario   27 March 2010   The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN   Sir:   Re: style cover photo - Spring 2010   As a Buddhist I have taken great exception to the cover photograph in the Spring Edition of style which was delivered  to me this morning with The Ottawa Citizen.   The photograph depicts  model Lee-Ann Lacroix photographed by Brigitte Bouvier with a sculpted portrait of Lord Buddha between her squatting thighs, almost a phallic symbol, a portrait that we Buddhists would normally... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

PARTNERSHIP AND PRIORITY
ALI SUKHANVER
The Pak-US strategic dialogues held in the last week of March, 2010 could have been more fruitful if the  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had not bestowed upon  Pakistan the status of being a ‘priority’ in US strategic plan. In her preface to the dialogues she lauded the role of Pakistan towards establishment of peace in South Asia and termed the security and stability of Pakistan as a ‘top priority’. The Pak-US strategic dialogues were supposed to shorten the widening distances between the two countries but apparently the only thing Pakistan could get out of these... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 29/03/10)

Brigadier had role in Editor's murder, court told
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Attorney-General has informed a local court that a senior former military officer and close associate of the former Army Chief, Sarath Fonseka, is involved in the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, founder Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Leader. Wickrematunge was killed in January last in broad day light. The case has been cited by critics of the government as a perfect example of culture of impunity. According to BBC Sinhala service, the Attorney-General in his written submission has said Brigadier Duminda Keppetiwalana was involved in the murder and the attempt on another senior journalist, Upali... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 29/03/10)

Tourists flock to 'Jesus's tomb' in Kashmir
By Sam Miller Srinagar
A belief that Jesus survived the crucifixion and spent his remaining years in Kashmir has led to a run-down shrine in Srinagar making it firmly onto the must-visit-in India tourist trail. In the backstreets of downtown Srinagar is an old building known as the Rozabal shrine. It's in a part of the city where the Indian security forces are on regular patrol, or peering out from behind check-posts made of sandbags.... -Full Story-
(BBC - 29/03/10)

Karzai's China-Iran dalliance riles Obama
By M K Bhadrakumar
Great moments in diplomatic timing are hard to distinguish when the practitioners are inscrutable entities. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visits to China and Iran within the week rang alarm bells in Washington which were heard in the Oval Office of the White House. Karzai's two days of talks in Beijing last week were scheduled exactly at the same time as the high-profile strategic dialogue taking place between the United States and Pakistan in Washington. Karzai has coolly defied the President Barack Obama's do-or-die diplomatic campaign to "isolate" Iran in the region - not... -Full Story-
(atimes.com - 29/03/10)

Constitutional reforms pledged in Sri Lankan elections
Reforming Sri Lanka's constitution in a fresh parliament is being discussed in the platform leading to the April 8 parliamentary election, a senior government minister said on Sunday. Champika Ranawaka, the minister of Environment told reporters that the ruling coalition would bring in amendments to make the executive presidency accountable to parliament and judiciary. "We will bring in amendments to the existing constitution," said Ranawaka, but he stressed that there is no way to bring in a new constitution.... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 29/03/10)

‘Asian diplomat funded Sarath Fonseka’s poll’
P K Balachandran
COLOMBO: Detained former Sri Lanka Army Commander Sarath Fonseka received thousands of dollars for his presidential election campaign from a diplomat of another Asian country, Lakbimanews reported on Sunday. The paper said that the diplomat, along with an intelligence official, had arrived in the country days before the January 26 election. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that found US $527,000; £100 sterling; and Sri Lankan Rupees (SLRs) 15 million in the bank lockers of Asoka Tillekaratne, mother of Fonseka’s son-in-law Danuna Tillekaratne, was trying to find out if these funds were given by the foreign diplomat.... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 29/03/10)

BPO Puts Sri Lanka on the Global Sourcing Map Analyst Opinion
Sri Lanka's newly-created outsourcing trade association is aiming to establish the country as a trusted global sourcing location. Scope of this research Sri Lanka's outsourcing trade association believes the country can become a leading delivery hub for BPO services; The country has learnt much from the success of India; Sri Lanka is focusing on key outsourcing areas such as finance and accounting BPO; Issues around infrastructure and security will retard the country's development as a sourcing center.... -Full Story- (m2m.tmcnet.com - 29/03/10)

SRI LANKA NOW HAVE A GOOD FRIEND FROM “GREAT WHITE NORTH”
By Hasaka Ratnamalala
After many years of following the agenda of different foreign elements, finally Sri Lanka is in a transitional period to follow her own agenda. In a time like this, Sri Lanka needed to have a friendly diplomatic community which could help the country to move forward from where it was, than dragging it down. The new Canadian High commissioner His Excellency Bruce Levy is one such person who likes to help Sri Lanka but does not like to dictate things to the host country as most western diplomats are fond of doing today.   I was... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 28/03/10)

America engineers another regime change in Iraq, this time through rigged elections
Ajit Randeniya
The primary technique through which America maintains its shaky neo-colonialist influence on the developing world is by affecting ‘regime change’ at the slightest sign of challenge to the system, usually through subservient or corrupt local collaborators (think Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sarath Fonseka).  When the stakes are higher however, if a strong Arab leader appears on the radar for example, posing a serious challenge to Israel, the Zionist machine resorts to more extreme measures and elaborate conspiracies to achieve regime change.  The Iraqi invasion of 2003 was one such case where the primary objective was to achieve regime change... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 28/03/10)

Women help to defuse Sri Lanka’s killing fields
Ranjitha Gunasekaran
CHENNAI: One bunch of retired officers from the Indian Army has learnt to balance their innate sense of chivalry with their aim of promoting the empowerment of women. Horizon — The Demining People, led by Major General (Retd) Shashikant Pitre says it is the first company to employ women from the local Tamil community in northern Sri Lanka to help clear the minefields left over from the civil war. “Well, our key funders, the Norwegian People’s Aid, include a component of women’s empowerment in our funding agreement. So we decided to employ women from the local community in... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 28/03/10)

Cement makers tap Sri Lankan infra biz
CHENNAI: Stung by massive capacity expansion and poor utilisation of their plants, cement companies are looking at the war-ravaged Sri Lanka, which is rebuilding its infrastructure. Industry sources said that Madras Cements is shipping cement to Sri Lanka, while India Cements and Dalmia Cement have got the approvals from the island nation’s quality certification body — which is a precursor for shipping cement.... -Full Story- (Times of India - 28/03/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—19-CROSSING THE SIERRA PASSES TO LAKE TAHOE AND RENO
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
We left the Lodgepole Campground of Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park Tuesday (19 July 1983) morning at 6.30 through the northern gate heading west to Fresno. Our destination was D. L. Bliss State Park in Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, on the Great Basin east of the Sierra—some 342 miles from Lodgepole. This trip enabled us to get acquainted with the eastern bounds of California’s Central Valley, which roughly stretches some 500 miles from Bakersfield in the south to Redding in the north. The lower half is better known as the St. Joaquin Valley and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 27/03/10)

ගෞරවණීය ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාව හා අප
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මා දැක ඇති ඉතාම හිත හොද, මානුෂීය ගුණාංග වලින් හෙබි ජන කොට්ඨාශය කවුරුන්දැයි; යමෙක් මගෙන් විමසුවොත්, මා සෘජුවම දෙන පිලිතුර වන්නේ, දකුණු අප්‍රිකාවේ වාසය කරන ද්‍රවිඩ සම්භවයක් ඇති ප්‍රජාව යනුවෙනි. ඒ මට සීමාවූ පටු ලෝකය තුල මා දුටු හොදම මිනිස් පරපුරයි. මේ මිනිසුන් දකුණු අප්‍රිකාව තුලදී තමනට මුණ ගැසෙන දකුණු ආසියාතිකයින්ට සලකනුයේ තමන්ගේම වූ ඥාතී කොට්ඨාශයකට මෙනි. අහම්බෙන් මුණ ගැහුණද ඒ මුණ ගැසී ඇත්තේ අපේම වූ ඥාතීන්බව තේරුම් ගැනීමට අපට ගතවන්නේ ඉතාම කෙටි කාල පාරාසයකි. සැබවින්ම ඒ අපේම ඥාති ප්‍රජාවයි. ක්‍රිකට් තරගයක් දකුණු අප්‍රිකාවේ තණ නිල්ලේ තරග වදින විට, ඒ තරග වදින්නේ දකුණු ආසියාතික රාජ්‍යයක කණ්ඩායමක්... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 27/03/10)

Ultra Racists Tamil National Alliance shall be banned
Ananda De Costa
Sri Lanka should implement ONE NATION, ONE PEOPLE, ONE SRI LANKA policy. This may sound a bit Lee Kuan Yew like or a little like Pauline Hanson but more than anything else it is the Mahinda Chintanaya. There may be people who do not love the country, but we should not allow them the freedom of “subversive public speech”. Public speech includes speaking to journalists. Vicious, Subversive and racists ideas cannot be allowed to flow freely, destabilizing the country. If someone is inviting a foreign country to interfere in sovereign Sri Lanka, he should be immediately... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 27/03/10)

'I was sexually assaulted by policemen'
C Shivakumar
CHENNAI: A mystery shrouds the cause of attempted suicide by a Sri Lankan refugee deepened, with contradictory statements from the police and the victim, three dying declarations and an FIR which mentions she took the extreme step as she was unable to bear her ‘stomach pain’. While the case is meandering its way through several twists, the victim, Padma, who set herself ablaze after being allegedly sexually assaulted by police personnel, is battling for her life at the Karur General Hospital after suffering 75 per cent burns.... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 27/03/10)

Sri Lanka’s Muslims facing leadership vacuum
Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir)
, With the bloody demise of the LTTE the Muslim community in Sri Lanka has reached political crossroads. In fact, even when the LTTE was at its summit of military might and political clout the Muslim community confronted two crucial questions: One, what would be the fate of the community in the unlikely event of a divided Sri Lanka between a Tamil Eelam, which would include one third of the Muslims, and a Sinhala Lanka with the rest two-thirds? And two, what would be the fate of the community's so called 'politics of pragmatism' once... -Full Story-
(abna.ir - 27/03/10)

S.Lanka president offers healing help to Beckham
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's president has offered the services of his spiritual healer and personal physician to help injured footballer David Beckham get back on the field within three days. Eliyantha Lindsay White, 37, President Mahinda Rajapakse's personal physician, told AFP that the former England captain had been invited for treatment involving "faith and ayurveda." An official at the president's office said it had sent an invitation to Beckham to visit the island for traditional treatment after a string of Indian sports stars claimed they were helped by White. "I am ready to treat him," White said. "His condition... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 27/03/10)

LTTE airstrip to be converted into aviation complex
T V Sriram, Press Trust Of India
The airstrip at Iranamadu in North Sri Lanka, earlier used by LTTE to launch attacks, will be soon converted to an aviation complex as a part of development plans for the region that was once a stronghold of LTTE. The makeshift airstrip, built by LTTE in the jungles of the north Sri Lanka, will be renovated as an aviation complex under government's post-war reconstruction plans, the official website said today. L H Indrasiri, the Director of Geographical Information Systems of the Urban Development Authority, said at a seminar organised by the Sri Lanka... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 27/03/10)

100 arrested in Sri Lanka violence
More than 100 people have been arrested in Sri lanka following violence in the run up to parliamentary elections April 8, Xinhua reported Saturday. 'We have arrested 102 people and 234 more are to be arrested,' Gamini Navaratne, the deputy inspector general of police, told reporters Saturday. Navaratne said party supporters were being misled by candidates to indulge in violence. Election monitors said intra-party clashes rather than inter-party rivalry had led to the growing number of violent incidents.... -Full Story- (story.irishsun.com - 27/03/10)

Author arrested for "offensive" books against Buddhism
Human rights activists have urged Sri Lankan authorities to free Sarah Malanie Perera who was arrested under the country’s stringent emergency laws last week for writing two books allegedly offensive to Buddhism. Perera, a Sinhalese who converted from Buddhism to Islam more than 10 years ago, is a resident of Bahrain. She was on her way back to Bahrain from Colombo last week after spending three months here when she was arrested. She compiled the two books written in Sinhalese while in Colombo and had got it printed here. According to reports, Perera was sending some copies through freight when... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 27/03/10)

Tamil National Alliance: concerned about Sinhalese influx to North Sri Lanka-OPEN LETTER
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
OPEN LETTER Members of Tamil National Alliance (TNA)  Jaffna, Sri Lanka Dear Members of the TNA: Re: TNA HIGHLIGHTS Sinhalese influx into North Lanka I was livid to read what P.K. Balachandra had reported of your concerns about the “Sinhalese influx into North Lanka”.  Let’s get this crystal clear to all you shadows of the late Velupillai Prabhakaran, NORTH LANKA IS NOT A NO-MAN’S LAND FOR US SINHALESE.  It is our land as much as yours. What is indeed your problem TNA?  What is it... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 26/03/10)

UN used as a terror weapon by a Tamil racist UN Official-Open Letter to Ban Ki-moon
Ben Silva
Open Letter Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon UN Dear Sir, UN used as a terror weapon by a Tamil racist UN Official  It is well known that Western Imperialist countries, USA and UK invaded Iraq to capture Iraqi oil assets, under the false pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a threat to their respective countries. Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil. Timesonline, Ref: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2461214.ece Greenspan admits Iraq invasion was about oil, as deaths put at 1.2m, Guardian UK Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/16/iraq.iraqtimeline As reported in the media, the death toll in Iraq has exceeded one million, and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 26/03/10)

8th APRIL 2010 YOU DECIDE AND MAKE A HISTORIC DAY FOR ALL SRI LANKANS
RANJIT WICKREMERATNE
After 30 years all Sri Lankans from south to north east to west get the opportunity to cast their vote freely and peacefully. We need to thank from the bottom of our hearts to the President of Sri Lanka and his Govermnet for creating this peacefull enviroment all over the country to enable each and everyone who is eligable to go and cast his or her vote as they wish. President as the Commandering Chief of the Armed Forces and his brother as the Defence secretary together they build a strong Armed Forces who is capable to... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 26/03/10)

Former CJ Sarath N Silva and DGC Sarath Jayathilake paves way for revenue loss in billions
slcustoms whistleblower
In the ‘landmark’ judgement [SC Appeal 49/2008] pronounced by the former CJ Sarath N Silva it was held that the seizure of goods under the Customs Ordinance after goods have been delivered upon payment of duties, is manifestly illegal and the correct procedure would be to recover the element of revenue defrauded by the importer if any as ‘additional duties’ and release the goods. It was further held in this judgment that application of Section 125 of the Customs law against the fraudster and forfeiture of goods is inconsistent with the ‘scheme and structure of the Customs... -Full Story-
(presidentialelections2010.blogspot.com - 26/03/10)

Whither Inalienable Sovereignty?
Elmore Perera, Past President OPA Founder and Vice-President, CIMOGG
Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. But, can we as a nation flourish, if we all choose to remain in a fools’ paradise?  I, for one, do not think so. But what about other Sri Lankans? Responding to an article re “Machiavellian techniques employed to increase the UPFA’s parliamentary majority” a Sri Lankan responded by asserting that “Any Sri Lankan, even with an iota of feeling for the country and its people, would ever be grateful to President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the so-called ‘Machiavellian techniques’ that... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 26/03/10)

INAUGURAL AHMADIYYA MUSLIM PEACE PRIZE AWARDED TO LORD ERIC AVEBURY
AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMAAT PEACE SYMPOSIUM 2010 – REPORT
By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Sri Lanka.  The Head of the World-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, spoke at length about how to achieve global peace whilst delivering the keynote address at the seventh Annual Peace Conference hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at UK at the Bait-ul-Futuh Mosque in Morden, held recently. The event was attended by over 550 non-Ahmadi guests, including a number of Parliamentarians. During the event Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad presented Lord Eric Avebury with the inaugural Ahmadiyya Peace Prize in recognition... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 26/03/10)

International Conspiracy-now led by Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the United Nations
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara
  Sri Lanka today is in the throes of an International Conspiracy aimed at throwing out President Rajapaksa, balkanizing Sri Lanka and destabilizing our motherland. It is sad that very few of us realize what is happening. The International Community is the key player through their NGO, with support from the Tamil Diaspora, and Sri Lanka’s Opposition led by the United National Party(UNP). In my Paper " The International Conspiracy" (Lanka Web, 18/12/2009) ….. I laid bare facts to prove how the USA has handled its foreign affairs to ensure that... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

FELICITATING PROJECT PEACE
Lankaweb News
The Sri Lankan community in Ottawa honoured the founders of Project Peace for a United Sri Lanka (‘Project Peace’) at a sold-out function the night of March 20th. Asoka Weerasinghe, Asoka Yapa, and Harrison Perera were cited for their extraordinary 27-year battle to protect the name and reputation of Sri Lanka from the depredations of the well-financed and vigorous LTTE lobby in Canada. Along with the Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) in Toronto, the High Commission in Ottawa and, of recent, the Consulate General in Toronto, Project Peace was a bulwark against a sustained and sophisticated... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

KANGAROO COURT of DR BAN KI MOON
By DR M D P DISSANAYAKE
Sri Lankans inherit tolerance from Buddhist philosophy.  At times the tolerance is interpreted as a sign of weakness.  When President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed the presidency, his objective was  to bring about a negotiated settlement with Prabhakaran. During 2004 Presidential Elections, Prabha prevented tamils in  north and east of participating in the elections.  As Prabha has already made  a deal with Ranil Wickremasinghe by signing a Cease Fire Agreement, Prabha  preferred MR to be the President than RW, thinking MR is a weak leader whereby he could achieve his ultimate aim of setting up... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

Ban Ki Moon Humanitarian Visionary Or Persistent Ignoramus Needing To Be Sent Packing?
Lankaweb Midweek Editorial  March 27th 2010
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's persistence about establishing what he terms "a panel of experts  into investigating human rights violations in Sri Lanka" is multi facetedly incongruous as well as being biased ignorance! He has many wondering if he is truly a humanitarian visionary or a persistent ignoramus against whom the deck is stacked  on this issue as he has no real mandate into what he is attemptingto accomplish and the sooner he changes his direction as well as rhetoric the better it would be for his image as well as that of the UN which Moon seems... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

Ranil is No More Than a Crooked Loser, Traitor and Certainly No Gentleman
Dilrook Kannangara
I read with interest what Dr LTC Rajaratnam had to say about Ranil. However, his assertions don’t add up with the ground reality. In reality Ranil is hardly a gentleman. Elevating him to the level of a gentleman is something even Ranil would not accept. Take a good hard look at this man who with his twisted logic brought about misery to a nation, a party and a people. He has shown a chronic lack of commonsense in everything he does. However, he doesn’t hesitate to do whatever that boosts his image among his sponsors no matter... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

IS THERE A NEW SECRET PACT WITH TNA SEPARATISTS?
A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.
The United National Party Government toppled a government of common people by the power of money, by thuggery, and through conspiracies.  It is important to find out what they did and what they did not do.  Ranil Wickremasinghe forgot all election promises he made before coming to power.  He rightly fulfilled the promise given to Prabhakaran to hand over the powers in the North and East.  Just think whether there was any benefit to Matara during the last two years.  Was there is anything done to Matara for which you can at least be happy?  During... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

Maxine Mckew MP's speech on Sri Lanka on the 25th March
Vajeera Warnakulasuriya Melbourne,
Referring to your speech on the 25th March in the Federal Parliament I wish to post the following sentiments. Being a member representing both Sinhala and Tamil and the rest of the community in the electorate of Benelong you have taken a diplomatic view on Sri Lankan affairs with a tinge of aggression. It is strange western Governments do not consider LTTE mob as a terrorist group merely because they are not a threat to the West. This attitude of the West including Australia helped LTTE sympathisers to mingle with them portraying as innocent victims of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

Music and Mission – Bob Dylan to Nanda Malani
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Music is a social force and unquestionably a powerful form of expression. Many elements of human existence are touched by music. Song has accompanied social movements, social justice and human freedom. Music can deeply affect the way that people think. Therefore, musicians can direct society with their musical ability, passion and sincerity.  Among the singers with a genuine passion for positive social stream, Bob Dylan plays a major role. American singer-songwriter and musician Bob Dylan made a deep impact in 1960 s and his songs became the anthems for the civil right and anti Vietnam... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

TNA MANIFESTO IS A CRY FOR EELAM AGAIN.
Malin Abeyatunge
Tamil National Alliance- (TNA) LTTE proxy is back with their old tricks. In its latest election manifesto, they demand  Federal structure, Self Governing authority in the North and East, Remerge of North & East, all Foreign aids to come to them direct, sole authority on land matters, police and fiscal matters. This is simply asking  for a separate State.  They are coming back to the infamous ISGA (Interim Self Governing Authority) and P-TOMS (Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure) which they were trying to gain control over the Tsunami funds to legitimize Eelam.  Both these proposals were... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

Merit Order from the Australian Government to a Sri Lankan Lady
Jay Ediriwira
This is a very rare honour and probably only a few Sri Lankans may be the proud recipients of this recognition bestowed to Mrs Leelamani Guneratnam of Darwin Australia on the Australia day 26th January 2010 Honours List.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

PRESS RELEASE
The Consortium of Sri Lankan Expatriates, Sumith DeSilva Member Representative, New York and New Jersey
The Consortium of Sri Lankan Expatriates, a well known patriotic organization that has been organizing successful protest campaigns against the ruthless LTTE for many years, along with other patriotic activists, takes the responsibility of organizing and participating in the event that took place in front of the United Nations on March 12th 2010. Protest was a great success considering the freezing temperature, rainy, windy weather and it being a working day in United States. The protest was attended by over hundred patriots despite the... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 25/03/10)

The Mental Health Issues of the Sri Lankan War Widows
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
If men were the principle casualties of the War, these widows represent its collateral damage.  Ed Payne: “Collateral Damage" One harsh reality of the war is that the every soldier killed in war leaves behind grieving relatives.  It has been a reality since the Trojan War.  The women who were left widows as a result of the Sri Lankan conflict are facing radically altered circumstances. There are estimated thousands of War widows and war-affected family members from the Tri Forces who still experience grief reactions. Many widows are in the 22 to 35 age... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

"PODA RANIL PODA " THAT'S THE VERDICT FOR YOU ON APRIL 8TH MR.DUMBER
Ranjit Wickremeratne 
 Your election manifesto says that if you or your party comes to power you will release Sarath Fonseka immediately from prison. So that's what you think and dreaming isnt it? Did you know why that traitor is there in the first place? Are you dumb not to understand what he did to our Motherland by giving false statements to the world regarding our war heros? Didnt he tell the world that our defence secretary and his own Army colleagues killed L.T.T.E.terrorists in cold blood when they came to surrender with white flags? First of all tell me Mr.Dumber... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

පංචායුධය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
වර්ෂ 1977දී මෙරට ජනතාව මහා විනාශයක් මෙරටට කැදවා ගත්හ. ප්‍රතිගාමී රජයක් 5/6 බලහක් සහිතව පත්කර ගැනීම හරහා, රටක පැවතිය හැති ප්‍රතිගාමීත්වගේ උපරිම අංග ලක්ෂණ දුටුවා පමණක් නොව, හොදට විදවා ගත්හ. අවුරුදු 17ක ඒ පාලනය මෙරටට මොනවාද නොකලේ, යන්න ජනතාව ඉතා හොදින් දනී. සමහරු 1977තේ ඒ ජයග්‍රහණය දුටුවේ, එදා විජය කුමරුවා පරාජය කල යක්ෂ ගෝත්‍රය යලි මෙරට බලය අල්ලා ගත් යුගයක් සේය. ලේ ලේ ලේ ඇති තරම් රටපුරා ලේ තිබිණ. මස් මස් මස් ඇති තරම් මිනීමස් රටපුරා තිබිණ. මීනී මස් ඕනෑම ආකාරයකට තිබිණ. කොතරම් බලවත් ලෙස රට පාලනය කලද, "විජය " යන නමට සැබෑ ලෙසම මේ පාලකයින්... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

අනෝමා අක්කාගේ ආඩම්බර ජේ.වී.පී. ලියුම
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
මෙවැනි ලිපි ලිවීමට මගේ ආසාවක් නැත. ඊට එක හේතුවක් නම් ලියනවා නම් ඇත්ත ඇති සැටියෙන්ම ලිවිය යුතු වීමය. එසේ ලියන විට කාගේ හෝ හිත් රිදවී යෑම වැලැක්විය නොහැකිය. අනෝමා අක්කා ජනාධිපතිතුමාට යැවූ ලිපිය ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ලෝකය පුරාම පැතිර ගියේය. මේ ලියුම් ලියන්නේ ඇය නොව ඇගේ සාරි පොටේ එල්ලී ඉන්නා ජේ.වී.පී. කාරයින් ය. ඔවුන් ඇයට දේශපාලන පන්ති පහ (1971) කියා දෙනවා විය යුතුය. ඇගේ ලියුම අවංක නොවන ලියුමක් නිසා එය ගැන නොලියා සිටිය නොහැකිය. ඔක්ලහෝමා වල සිට ගොස් රොබර්ට් බ්ලේක් ලා ගේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයෙන් ලංකාව බේරා දුන් වීරයාවන උපුල් ඉලංගමගේ මට කිවූ පරිදි සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ට ජනාධිපති විය හැකිය යන... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

Danuna’s arrest: Rs 1M reward for correct information
The Police Department assures the confidentiality of the information.
Police Department seeks public assistance to trace the whereabouts of Danuna Thilakaratne of No. 2/12, Mangala Road, Manning Town Flats, Colombo 8. Thilakaratne is a suspect in a case being heard in the Fort Magistrate Court. He was issued an arrest warrant by the Colombo Fort Magistrate. A reward of one million rupees is offered to anyone giving information of his whereabouts. The Police Department says giving protection to him is a punishable offence under the Penal Code. Any information pertaining to his whereabouts can be intimated to the Deputy... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

David Miliband's criminal denial of Human Rights to Chagossians
Ajit Randeniya
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is ‘outstanding’ in a number of ways: he is noted for his impetuous personality; idiotic utterances about his ‘concern for Human Rights globally’; and his unrealistic (though not improbable!) ambition to become next Prime Minister of Britain.  What is less well known perhaps is that he, similar to Jack Straw, Peter Mandehlson and Tony Blair, is one of the most committed Zionists among British politicians. Miliband's forceful interventionist stance on international affairs is more to do with the global Zionist agenda, than to do with his duties as British Foreign Secretary.  The... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 24/03/10)

The Joke that is Representative Democracy in Sri Lanka
Sudath Gunasekara. President Senior Citizens Movement Mahanuwara  12.3.2010
Why does a political cartoonist call the MP Magodistuma. Is it the best word that describes the character of a present day politician in this country?  The idea of representative democracy had its origin in early Greece and Rome. They evolved it as the numbers involved in governing increased and became un-manoeureble. So they selected few suitable men to govern the others. Developed over a period of time the political party system emerged in medieval Europe as an instrument of giving effect to a choice of governments periodically when one in... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

In a way of linking the missing sentence.
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
I had missed a sentence in my previous article published in Lanka Web, http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/02/28/ranil-the-boy-in-the-barbershop/ for which I owe an apology mainly, to Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe and the Lanka Web readers. No doubt, it might have caused enormous mental pain for Mr. Wickramasinghe for not recognizing his merits in performing arts. Although as a Buddhist I don’t believe in god, still I swear to god, I regret of it every day and night. Despite the fact that this error was done about a month ago, I felt that I must redress it at least now clearing my conscience.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

Letter to the UN - Ban Ki Moon
Warna Hettiarachchi Ontario, Canada
Mr. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General United Nations March 22nd 2010  Honourable Secretary General of the UN,  The underscored ulterior motifs of your attempts to appoint a panel of “international experts” to investigate and report to you on accountability issues during the winning phase of Sri Lankan Government’s war against terror are well discerned and identifiable. Here are the reasons why:  (1)     Since annihilating LTTE terrorists in May 2009, Sri Lankan citizens did not see or hear even a single bullet fired. People are NOW safe, than being blown to bits and pieces by a... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

They have no " Ethics" or "Business"
orpheus perera
A fortnight ago, I was directed to the following website by  Ada Derana. I did want to write a long comment to them, but after second thought I decided to not to say anything that would have portrait me as an arrogant “Singhalese” by the Ethical Corporation of London. http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6796 EU, finally did it. I still wander what does EU want at this moment? Do they want voters to vote for UNP? Do they want  the government to hunt for and hand over the war criminals to EU?(even UN general secretary dropped that idea).Are they going... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

AN OPEN APPRECIATION TO THE PRESIDENT
By Ruwani Lakmali Karunadasa B.Sc(Agri.Peradeniya)
Your Excellency I thank you for giving instructions to stop a sex maniac and demon from entering the shores of Sri Lanka. Your Excellency is truly a Protector of Buddhism. I also do hope with the same vein your Excellency will distance those terrorists who attacked Buddhist Priests and the Dalada Maligawa. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. The Buddha’s choice of this country was for divine reasons. Therefore protect it from all evil. Akon was sponsored by some vested interests to undermine and exploit our youth, our culture and to create demonic unrest.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

දේවනේශන් නේසයියා ගේ කුහක හැසිරීම
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
දේවනේශන් නේසයියා කියන්නේ දැන් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ජීවත්වන, ඊට කලින් ලංකාවේ සිවිල් සේවකයෙකුව සිටි කෙනෙකි (යාපනය පැත්තේ දිසාපති වරයෙකු ලෙස). නාග දීපය හා යාපනය බැලීමට යන සිංහල ජනයා ගැන ඔහු කැත ලියුමක් "ද අයිලන්ඩ්" පත්තරයට ලිව්වේය. මීට පිලිතුරු වශයෙන් තවත් යාපනයේ දිසාපති කෙනෙක් ව සිටි තිස්ස දේවෙන්ද්‍ර ත් ගුනපාල ගුනධීර ත් ලියුම් ලිව් අතර, නේසයියාගේ ඊලම් පාක්‍ෂික බව පෙනෙන ලියුම් ගැන ජොලි සෝම සුන්දරම් නමැත්තෙක්ද අයිලන්ඩ් පත්තරයට ලියා ඇත. සෝම සුන්දරම් සිතන්නේ නේසයියා ඇඟපුරා අශූචි තවරා ගත් ඌරෙකු වැනිය කියාය.  සිංහයෙක් කෙසේ වත් එවැනි ඌරෙකු සමඟ සටනට නොයන බව සෝමසුන්දරම් පෙන්වා දේ. ලංකාව විනාශ කලේ නේසයියා වැනි පුද්ගලයින් ය.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

Four baby elephant to release Lunugamwehera National park
Ministry of Environment & Natural Resoures
Four young elephants who form the ninth batch of elephants to be released from Udawalawa Elephant Transit home were set free to PAAYUU WEWA  in Lunugamwehera National Park by Hon. Minister of Environment and Natural resources Patali Champika Ranawaka today. Ven. Wewaldoowe Gnanaprabha Thero blessed the baby elephants with Pirith Pan while they were being released to the new home. Pic by - Neelaka Abeyratne The released group of elephants included one female Rani (6 yrs) which was found from war-hit Thirukkovil and three males Olee (5yrs) from Kahambiliwela, Piccaso (5yrs) from Angammadilla , Polonnaruwa... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

RAW VERSUS SHAH
BY: PREM RAJ
The broad day-light gruesome killing of Jamim Shah is not a mystery any more. One can correctly read on the wall written the names of his assailants who are not other than the coward agents of the ‘RAW’. Yes, his crime was that he loved Nepal and brought his country to stand shoulder to shoulder with the modern world by putting up a Nepali cable and a satellite TV channel. His crime was to see this nation expressing their views freely, their sentiments independently and eloquent feelings passed without any fear or dictum. Shah’s dead body... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 23/03/10)

Akon Insulting Buddhism Indirectly
Sri Lanka rejects visa for Akon
Akon, born Aliaune Thiam on October 14, 1981, is a Senegalese-American hip hop and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Akon rose to fame in 2004 following the release of his single “Locked Up” from his debut album Trouble. In the early years of his life, Akon was sent to jail for three years for a car-theft charge. This however, wasn’t the first time he was sent to jail. In April 2007, Akon drew criticism for an onstage act which included simulated sex with Danah (Deena) Alleyne, a preacher’s daughter aged 15 at... -Full Story-
(blog.dzoneonline.com - 23/03/10)

High Commissioner lauds demining work
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha visited Vavuniya and Mullaithivu districts in Sri Lanka on Monday for an assessment of the work of Indian NGOs engaged in the de-mining process. The Indian mission here said he was accompanied by Atula Jayawardena, Special Forces commander (Mullaithivu) and visited the Field Camp of an Indian demining team at Oddusuddan and Kathaliyarsamalankulam Grama Niladhari Divisions. The camp is run by Sarvatra Technical Consultants, which along with another Indian organisation, Horizon Assignments, runs seven demining teams. All the teams are funded by India and have been deployed... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 23/03/10)

Sri Lanka refuses singer Akon visa after protests
By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka said on Tuesday it would deny a visa to the Senegalese-American R&B singer and rapper Akon, whose plan to hold a concert there in April infuriated Buddhists offended by one of his videos. On Monday, hundreds of people stormed the head offices of the Maharaja Broadcasting and Television (MBC/MTV) Network, the media sponsor of the concert. Four employees were injured and windows and parked cars were smashed. Akon's video for the song "Sexy Bitch" features scantily clad women dancing in front of a statue of the Buddha. Sri Lanka's ethnic majority... -Full Story-
(in.reuters.com - 23/03/10)

What A State Of Affairs The UNP Has Mired Itself Into With Its Present Leader!
Insight By Sunil Kumar March 23rd 2010
There was speculation sometime back that the UNP per se was in impasse and was heading, if not for a complete nose dive and disintegration, at least for a leadership review where its obstreperous leader Ranil Wickremasinghe would be ignominiously dumped as he was hurting the party more than sustaining it. Most unfortunately for the party as well as the Nation perhaps this did not happen and the man is still holding sway as leader of his once popular party which was embellished by giants of statesmen and born leaders upholding the integrity and valuse... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 22/03/10)

Ban ki-Moon: Your persistence to appoint a specialist panel to advice you on Sri Lanka
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
March 21, 2010 (PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UN) Mr. Ban ki-Moon   Secretary-General of the United Nations     New York, US Dear Ban ki-Moon: The latest reports coming out from your office of your insistence to appoint a panel of specialists to advice you on Sri Lanka's "accountability issues" reminds me of the Nursery Rhyme about the Moon that you and I learnt when we were kids which I thought would be better recited like this  - “Boys and girls don’t come out... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 22/03/10)

මෝඩ සරත්ලා දෙන්නෙක් ලංකාවේ නටන නාඩගම
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මෝඩයෙක් යැයි වෙන කවුරුවත් නොව රටේ ජනාධිපතිම දැන් පවසා ඇත. සරත් ෆොන්සේකා පමනක් නොව සරත් සිල්වාද මෝඩයෙක් බව පෙන්නා දීමට මීට පෙර මම තැත් කලෙමි. නොදන්නා දේශපාලනයකට අතගසා මේ දෙන්නාම අද ගලේ පැහැරූ බලලුන්ගේ ගනයට වැටී ඇත. දේශපාලනයට ආවිට තමන් ඇඳුම් ගලවා වීදුරු ගෙයකට දමා සිටින කෙනෙකුගේ ගනයට වැටෙන බව සරත්ලා ට නොතේරුනේ මන්ද? විශේෂයෙන්ම නොසන්ඩාල ලෙස ලිංගික ක්‍රියාවල යෙදී අසුවී ඇති සරත් ලාම දෙන්නෙක් රටට යහපාලනය ගෙන ඒමට කතා කිරීම අද නාඩගමක් බවට පෙරලී ඇත. දේශපාලන වේදිකාවට ඒම නොව පත්තරයකට හෝ වෙබ් අඩවියකට තබා ඊමේල් කට්ටියකට ඊමේල් එකකින් රටේ පොදු ප්‍රශ්න පිලිඹඳව අදහසක් ලිවූ... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 22/03/10)

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
Ruwani Lakmali Karunadasa
Your Excellency AKON  HUMILIATED LORD BUDDHA & THE BUDDHISTS: DON’T LET THIS VULGAR PERFORMER STEP INTO SRI LANKA  Akon has to be stopped at any cost. He should not set foot on this soil. This is a predominantly Buddhist country. Why are we losing our balance? What kind of Tourism Promotion is this?  A browse through the internet would prove Akon’s vulgar music videos, with explicit sex material, sensual and seductive women dancing around him almost naked. Akon frequently uses Buddha’s statues for reasons best known to him. He is a convict.  People are... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 22/03/10)

Akon video angers Buddhist protesters
About 200 protesters in Sri Lanka threw stones at the headquarters of a TV and radio company over a video by R&B singer Akon, which they say defames the Buddha. The Maharaja Organization, which owns three TV stations and four radio channels, is the sponsor of an April 24 concert in the country by the singer. His video for Sexy Bitch shows bikini-clad women at a pool party dancing with a clearly visible Buddha statue in the background. About 200 protesters showed up at the organization's headquarter in Colombo with placards reading "Stop Akon's show." The majority Sinhalese population are... -Full Story- (cbc.ca - 22/03/10)

P.M. Entertainment Links: Sri Lankan protesters against Akon throw stones
Protesters who are offended with R&B singer Akon's video hurled stones at a Sri Lankan broadcaster's headquarters and injured four workers Monday. Majaraja Organization, the broadcaster, is sponsoring Akon's concert scheduled for April. [AP]... -Full Story- (blog.syracuse.com - 22/03/10)

Russia to explore oil in Sri Lanka
12-02-10 Russia has agreed to start oil and gas exploration in the seas off Mannar after President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the Russian Gas and Oil company Gazprom, Moscow. The President held talks with the Chief Executive of the company Alexei B. Miller at their head office in Moscow. The Russian company also agreed to give Sri Lanka concessions in the purchase of refined and crude oil. At present an Indian based British oil exploration company is engaged in oil exploration in one of identified eight blocks. President Rajapaksa invited Gazprom to explore oil and gas in the other blocks at... -Full Story- (gasandoil.com - 22/03/10)

JVP Subversives Must be Stopped from Further Ruining the Economy
Dilrook Kannangara
First they ran with Molotov Cocktails, then locally made handguns (‘galkatas’), then with a bell and now with a spittoon (‘padikkama’). Whatever symbol they identify with, their old habits of disruption, destruction, subversion and extremism have not changed. During 2004-2005 a section of the JVP identified with the popular nationalist cause. This gave them an unprecedented 39 seats at the expense of useful politicians. Even with 39 seats JVP didn’t do anything productive for the nation and it’s people. JVP MPs and their family members drew salaries as MPs and assistants to MPs for full six... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 21/03/10)

Eye-opener for all: Tragedy at Kalutara
by Shanika SRIYANANDA  courtesy Sunday Observer
The entire nation weeps, their minds focused on a single prayer - "breathe boy ... breathe". Lying like a vegetable, the frail, bony little boy is fighting for life. (Amila died yesterday at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo) One would think that people are immune to shocks after all these years. But not to heartless acts like these! It was a shocking story of a young mother allegedly trying to kill her son of two and a half years by throwing him into a river. This is a story that unearthed... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 21/03/10)

Ranil Wichremasinham exposed
Ben Silva
Ranil Wickremasinham looks more like a Tamil Christian disguised as a Sinhala Buddhist. The statements he has made are simply unbelievable .He does not have to do more work to bring the downfall of the UNP. To win, the ruling party can merely publish this gona’s statements. RW started his campaign from Jaffna. This alone is a message to the Sinhalese voters. When the Tamils ethnically cleansed the Sinhalese from their own homeland, and destroyed Sri Lanka and killed many Sinhalese, including women, children and babies, this fool wants the Sinhalese to apologize. From where did this... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 21/03/10)

Prabhakaran returns to Jaffna: he’s not dead!
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Who said that Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead? According to a report in TamilNet (Friday 19, March) his voice is still alive and screaming. In fact, his voice was heard again by a small gathering assembled at Veerasingham Hall on Friday. The message in the voice was so familiar they must have been wondering whether Prabhakaran went down in Nandikadal at all.. Leaving no ambiguity in the minds of the Jaffnaites the voice said: 1.      I will scrap all the military camps in Jaffna peninsula 2.      I will also scrap the High Security Zones 3.     ... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

Tony Blair gets paid for his role in the Zionist conspiracy
Ajit Randeniya
Any Sri Lankan preoccupied with implementing Zionist agendas such as instituting ‘accountability mechanisms’ to work out ‘who shot whom’ at Nandikathal lagoon, and restoring the special ‘Human Rights’ of Sarath Fonseka to air conditioned accommodation and mobile phones need to stop for a moment, please.  It came to light last week that since leaving Downing Street back in 2007, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been paid more than £20million by the London and Wall Street Zionist money bags, under various bogus service contracts involving after-dinner speaking, consultancies with merchant banks, hedge funds and foreign... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

Ranil's apology to the Tamil people.
Henry Jayaweera
Ranil's statement about our debt of apology to the Tamil people.   Ranil's latest statement about how we owe an apology to the Tamil people smacks of his latest attempt to hoodwink somebody, this time the Tamil voters into supporting him at the general election.   Sorry, Ranil. It is not the Sinhala people who have to apologize. The Sinhala people have been very accommodating as far as the Tamils are concerned, as will be confirmed by all those Tamils I personally have associated with these last decades including the thousands of students I have had the... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—18 -CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES: MINGLING WITH GIANT SEQUOIAS
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
(Background: I was an exchange instructor at Fullerton College in 1983 occupying the residence of my exchange partner, Larry Taylor, at 2903 Wellesley Court, Fullerton, a suburb of Los Angeles. I arrived with my family in California on 2 Feb. 1983, and we decided to make use of our weekends and the summer break to explore the West Coast to the fullest.) Exploring the outstanding geographical features of the Sierra Nevada (“Snowy Mountain Range”), which stretches 400 miles (650 km) from Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south, became our... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

සෝමවංහ අමරසිංහ මහතා සමග මනෝ දේශපාලන සාකච්ඡාව
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
අද අප හා  මනෝ දේශපාලන සාකච්ඡාවට එක්වෙන්නේ වර්තමාන ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ නායක සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ මහතායි. ආයුබෝවන් අපි ඔබතුමාව ඉතා සාදරයෙන් පිලිගන්නවා! ආයුබෝවන්!  මේ වනවිට ඔබතුමාගේ, දේශපාලන ජීවිත කාලය අවුරුදු කීයක් පමණ වෙනවාද? සමාවන්න! මට පලමුව මගේ මව් බිම වෙනුවෙන් ජීවිත පූජා කල දේශප්‍රේමීන්ව ගෞරවයෙන් සිහිපත් කරන්න විනාඩි තුනක කාලයන් ලබා දෙන්න. (නිහඩ කාලයක් ගලායයි.) ඔබතුමාගේ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ‍ය පිහිටුවා ගැනීමේ අරමුණ, රාජ්‍ය බලය ලබා ගැනීමයි කීවොත් නීවැරදි යයි සිතනවා; ඒක එහෙමද? ඔව් සැබෑ ලෙසම මෙරට රාජ්‍ය බලය ලබා ගැනීම අප පක්ෂයේ ඒකායන අරමුණයි.. හොදයි මෙවර ඔබගේ දේශපාලන පක්ෂය සන්ධානයක් වශයෙන්, මැතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වෙලා තියෙනවා; මෙවරවත් ඔබ... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

Bring resolutions to oust Banki Moon from UN
Dharma W - Auckland New Zealand
Is this man still deserved to hold this sacred position? Doesn’t he have a moral obligation to listen to majority of membership? How ethical his biased decision to go against its own members nation? He must remember power of the truth which went against him once may go against him again ! Against the stiff resistance and opposition of 64% of the UN membership, that is from 124 (non aligned) countries out of 192 UN membership he is taking measures to appoint phony panel of judges to enquire human right violations in Sri... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

Re-birth or New Birth?
Sunil Vijayapala Oxley, Australia
As with most doctrines with the passage of time some important concepts in Buddhism too have been distorted and one of the most significant ones is the concept of Re-birth. According to Dhamma, everything of mind and matter of an Arahant or an ordinary human (Puthajjana) ceases to exist at the time of death. However in the case of a puthajjana, the cravings and clinging due to kamma of the past take a foothold in the new substratum in the form of a consciousness called pati sandhi consciousness, popularly known as re-birth linking consciousness. Conversely,... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

Challenge for Sarath & Sarath et al - Time for all Patriots to wake up
Ananda De Costa
Time for all patriots to wake up and unite setting aside differences has come. These are the times bipartisan agreement is easily reached in Australia, Britain and other western democracies. Are we second to any of these countries? At the times of great concern over national sovereignty, politicians of even these countries get together as one. This is not about fighting for protection of Rajapakse Brothers who, together with soldiers form poorest villages restored national pride of all Sri Lankans. It is about respecting the great sacrifices those innocent poor mothers and fathers did. It... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 20/03/10)

SL elections: Federalism is a taboo topic
P K Balachandran
COLOMBO: In the run up to the April 8 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, no national political party has promised a federal system, a demand Tamils have been struggling for since Independence in 1948. Strangely, Gen Sarath Fonseka, who got most of the Tamil votes in the last Presidential election, has explicitly rejected federalism. His outfit, the Democratic National Alliance’s manifesto said, it would defeat attempts to impose federalism on Lanka. It promised to do everything in its power to maintain the unitary character of the Sri Lankan constitution. One of the important constituents of the DNA... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 20/03/10)

Police probing inputs on LTTE cadre entering State
S. Vijay Kumar
CHENNAI: Even as investigation is on to ascertain the source of maps seized by Customs authorities in a consignment booked to the U.S. by a retired Army officer, police are verifying inputs from Central and State intelligence agencies that some key cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had “sneaked” into Tamil Nadu. According to highly placed police sources, hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Chennai to inaugurate the new Assembly and Secretariat complex on March 13, the Intelligence Bureau alerted the Tamil Nadu police that six LTTE cadre had entered the city... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 20/03/10)

The Ever Increasing Cost of Living. Is there a Solution?
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara District
 The current Government of President Rajapaksa is blamed for increases in prices of essential commodities. It is true that prices are exorbitant today. I am told that a kilo of beans at Narahenpita Wholesale Market was as high as Rs. 90. I was in Sri Lanka in February and did travel to Kataragama and also to Mahiyangana via Randenigala.The prices in the remote rural areas are very low while in the cities the prices are very high. On the way to Mahiyangana I spotted a lorry being loaded with crates... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

Happiness and Peace
orpheus perera
Happiness and peace. Those are really the prime issues in human existence. That is what all of us are seeking. This often is a bit hard to see because we cover up those basic goals with layers of surface objectives. We want food, we want money, we want sex, possessions and respect. We even say to ourselves that the idea of 'happiness' is too abstract: "Look, I am practical. Just give me enough money and I will buy all the happiness I need". Unfortunately, this is an attitude that does not work. Examine each of these... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

“We all have to beg the forgiveness of the Tamil people for all the pain we had inflicted on them, We will appoint a commission of Inquiry for the persons gone missing ( War Crime Invstigation)” Ranil Wickremasinghe in Jaffna on Friday 19th March 2010
Sri Lanka News
Ranil Wickremasinghe, addressing a UNP election campaign meeting held in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall Friday,  said that all the military camps in Nothern peninsula will be scrapped except Palaali Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, which will be converted into an international airport. “High Security Zones are no longer necessary in the peninsula and the people evacuated from these places will be immediately resettled in their own properties if UNP becomes the ruling party in the general election,” he further said. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has also pledged to set up an effective resettlement program in the... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

LEAVE US ALONE YOU PARASITES
Ranjit Wickremeratne
My Motherland is just a tear drop in the vast ocean of ours with around 20 million inhabitants. We Sinhalese were living with other races for many many years. This is our country. A Sinhala nation with 75% Sinhalese and 25% other races living side by side as citizens of Motherland Sri Lanka. We were invaded by Potuguese in 1505 then by dutch in 1602 and then by one of the evil empires English in 1803. Before and after we sinhalese battled with all our enemies in the battle field and won and the last one was... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

President Rajapaksa inaugurates the construction work on the Norochcholaya Power Plant Phase II
By Janaka Alahapperuma
The construction work on the Norochcholaya Coal Power Plant Phase II in the Puttalama District was inaugurated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 18th March. The contract was awarded to the China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation (CMEC), a Chinese Government owned company.  The total capacity of the power plant (Phase I, II & III) will be 900 Mega Watts and each phase will generate 300 MW of electricity. Phase I of the project is scheduled to be completed by November this year and it will add 300MW to the national grid and also... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

First commercial wind-energy plant to start this month
Sri Lanka News
Sri Lanka’s first commercial wind energy plant owned by Senok Wind Power is scheduled to start operating this month. The 10 Mega Watt plant is located in the North Western coast of the isalnd in the Kalpitiya area of the Puttalam district. The plant which is run by a private enterprise is located on a five kilometre long strip of land. Its width is one kilometre. The company has installed eight wind turbine generators bought from India. Officials say the plant is estimated to generate 28 million Kilo Watt hours of energy annually. This particular... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 19/03/10)

Fonseka spoke of India threat: Rajapaksa
Express News Service
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an interview said that post-LTTE defeat, Army Commander Sarath Fonseka had asked army strength to be increased by three lakh on plea that the island nation faced military threat from India. “Do you know he (Fonseka) wanted to increase the size of the army to 450,000?” the President said in an interview to the Straight Times of Singapore on Thursday. “He said there are external threats. So I asked, who he was talking about? And he said, ‘India’. So what can 450,000 do against 2.5 million (India’s armed forces strength)?... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 19/03/10)

Ex-LTTE cadre marries lover in Colombo jail
Colombo, Mar 19, PTI
It was celebration time at the country’s maximum security prison here, as 28-year-old Madvan Ranjani tied the nuptial knot with her former LTTE cadre heart-throb who is serving a 15-year sentence there. Apparently a determined Ranjani decided to wait long enough to marry her schooldays’ boyfriend. The 38-year-old former Tiger combatant, Ramiah Ravindran, who married Ranjani on Thursday at the Welikada Prison near Colombo, had been sentenced to life imprisonment 10 years ago for his activities. However, the sentence was subsequently reduced to 15 years. The long-haired Ravindran in a white attire and Ranjani in blue... -Full Story-
(Deccan Herald - 19/03/10)

Ranil – the incurable sleep-walker
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s entire political career is comparable to that of a man who takes a strong dose of laxative after dinner and then takes a sleeping pill before going to bed. Needless to say, the mixture of the two ill-conceived and contradictory prescriptions invariably ends in total disaster.  For instance, he agrees to take a dose of peace by swallowing the Norwegian laxative packaged in the CFA and then he takes the worst kind of sleeping pill of lulling himself and the nation into a false sense security before going to bed with the sworn... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

JVP & LTTE THE TWIN MENACE THAT DESTROYED THIS NATION Let’s now free the Nation from JVP menace.
A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.
The anarchist JVP failing twice to capture power through despicable revolts staged against the elected governments of Sri Lanka, and prematurely entombing thousands of our youth, made another frantic effort through the last Presidential Election by bringing forth a power hungry egoist as a candidate, indisputably with a hidden agenda of achieving their fundamental objective of what they call "establishing a Marxist Socialist Regime" in Sri Lanka, which they stupidly claim would be the panacea to all problems in Sri Lanka. The greedy UNP leadership swallowed their bait and the political desperados nourished by the International... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

Sri Lanka Ranked 2nd Among National Geographic’s “25 Best New Trips for 2010″
Sri Lanka News
Sri Lanka has received another nod as a top travel destination. National Geographic has listed Sri Lanka 2nd in its “25 Best New Trips for 2010.” Ranked 20 in the list, Sri Lanka was one of only three other South Asian nations to make the list. Bhutan clinched the number one spot while Nepal was ranked 15. In January, The New York Times chose Sri Lanka as its top pick in its list of “31 Places to Go in 2010.” The article itself attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Topping the list of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

Tamil Tigress in UN exposed
Ben Silva
Introduction  The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navaneetham Pillay has been infiltrated and influenced by the LTTE operating under the guise of Tamil human rights activists. To sustain its anti-Sri Lanka government campaign globally, the LTTE has also obtained the services of Mr  Bruce Fein, a US lawyer, Bruce Haigh, a former Australian diplomat, and other foreign nationals. Although terrorists are the worst human rights violators,  Ms. Pillay, an ethnic Tamil, has whitewashed the LTTE of its brutal atrocities.  Brief outline of LTTE   and its activities  When Prabhakaran  started off as the head of a  small group  in the 1970s, no one could... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

On Sri Lanka 17th March in Federal Parliament
Vajeera Warnakulasuriya
Hon.Mr.Stephen Smith, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Federal Government of Australia Canberra Dear Sir, Ministerial Statement on the 17th March in Federal Parliament It was encouraging to see that the foreign minister of Australia reading a balanced report on Sri Lanka at the recent Parliamentary sitting. All over the Globe we hear, read, biased reports “prepared by anti Sri Lankan agents” being articulated or printed by the influential leaders of Governments. Sri Lanka is a developing country that needs every encouragement, guidance and financial support. The country after recovering from three decades of destruction both materially and economically... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

Muslim Affairs Circle of the Sri Lanka National Congress launches Kharithathu Ththareeq Road Map
Press Release   Media Secretary- 18/03/2010
Kharithathu Ththareeq, a Road Map to address issues affecting the Muslim community in Sri Lanka was presented to the President of the All Ceylon Jammayathul Ulama, AlHaj M.I.M. Rizwe Mufthi, by Minister Milinda Moragoda, Leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress (SLNC) amidst a large gathering of Muslim community leaders at Marine Grand hotel, Marine Drive, Wellawatte. This roadmap was developed by the Muslim Affairs Circle of the SLNC. Alhaj Rizwe Mufthi speaking on the occasion, praised Mr. Moragoda for the support he has extended to the Muslim community in strengthening social and educational institutions.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 18/03/10)

Fonseka’s court martial set to undergo a revamp
Express News Service
COLOMBO: The second court martial to try former Sri Lankan Army Commander Sarath Fonseka for alleged violation of procurement procedures, held its first hearing here on Wednesday. But the court adjourned indefinitely, after unanimously deciding to refer the composition of the tribunal to the convening authorities. “The tribunal, considering submissions, maintained that although the provisions in the Army Act empower same members of one court martial to sit for another tribunal for the same accused, provided alleged prosecuting charges are of different nature, it prefers to be reconvened for the sake of maintaining high degree of transparency... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 18/03/10)

Lanka Prez lauds India's development work in North
Keen to forge all-weather ties with India, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has lauded the developmental work undertaken by the country in the war-ravaged northern region and vowed not to allow his nation's soil to be used against it. "India is our neighbour. We must have good relations whether in war or in peace," Rajapaksa said in an interview to Singapore's New Straits Times. Referring to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India, he said the businessmen should decide on it and also find out how it would benefit them. "If you try to introduce it the way that... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 18/03/10)

No early pardon for 'fool' Fonseka: Rajapaksa
KUALA LUMPUR: Dubbing ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka as a "fool", Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out an early pardon for the General, who is being court-martialled on charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and defence procurement irregularities. "He is a fool. On 16th November (2009) he was sitting right here (President's office in Colombo) and I asked him if he was interested in contesting (the presidential election) and he said, No, sir... I haven't made up my mind. Even on the day of his last visit he didn't tell me," Rajapaksa said in an interview to... -Full Story- (ExpressBuzz - 18/03/10)

Sri Lanka sells $92 mln dollar bonds-cenbank
COLOMBO, March 18 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka issued $92 million in dollar-denominated development bonds, the central bank said on Thursday, to finance its interim budget over the first four months of 2009. The bank had hoped to raise $100 million. Its public debt department accepted $37 million worth of bids for two-year bonds with a yield of six-month LIBOR plus 3.80 percent and $55 million worth of bids for three-year bonds with a yield of six-month LIBOR plus 3.95 percent, the central bank said. The bank received total bids of $134 million, having expected to raise $50 million from each... -Full Story- (in.reuters.com - 18/03/10)

It’s inch-by-inch for Indian deminers in Sri Lanka
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
There is a saying among deminers,’’ the Indian official said. “It takes $3 to plant a mine and $300 to clear it.’’ Money is just a part of it; deminers have to have more than their share of patience. The Indians working for Sarvatra, a New Delhi-based NGO that has been carrying out demining projects in parts of Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged north, should know about it. The 100-odd Indians, mostly former army personnel, have been working here since 2003 — along with another Indian demining NGO, Horizon — and painstakingly clearing mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 18/03/10)

Why Ban Ki Moon's Persistence About An Investigative Panel for Sri Lanka Should Be Viewed With Contempt And Trashed!!
Lankaweb Editorial March 17th 2010
In the turn of recent events transpiring in Sri Lanka a few plain truths are becoming more and more painfully obvious about the difficulties being encountered by the Rajapaksha Administration towards motivating the best interests of the Island Nation and guiding it in the right direction towards prosperity and development as it is being constantly interfered with by individuals who take it upon themselves to be officiously judgemental over issues they seem to know little or nothing about beyond hearsay and even if they did, have no right to the privilege of summary execution withi Sri Lanka.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 17/03/10)

Some thoughts on - "Missing the wood from the trees"
P.A.Samaraweera, Australia
Dushy Ranetunge's (DR) in an article 'Missing the wood from the trees' to an English Daily  of 14th March, supports an investigation for war crimes and bring about accountability and says, "...All that the western powers and the UN are demanding is consistency on our part in investigating war crime allegations..."   We have no qualms about DR's comment that, "...It was the US which first listed the LTTE as a terrrorist organisation..." But it was only on paper and that was also after immense pressure brought by Sri Lanka that the LTTE as a terrorist outfit is worse than the Al Qaeda against... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 17/03/10)

Agitating While In Custody With The Language and Attitude He Has Chosen Only Seems To Compound Gen.Fonseka's Chagrin Pointing To Culpability.
Insight By Sunil Kumar 16th March 2010
There appears to be curious similarities between a combined Police ~ Military Coup d' Etat  in the mid 1960s and Fmr. General Sarath Fonseka's current incarceration by the Sri Lankan Authorities as the charges in both cases appear to be a misinterpretation of assigned power and the arrogant beleif that the power vested in them whether previously or subsequently relative to term of office  gave them carte blanche to go against the Legal Justice System on the instigation of opposition politicians eager to topple the incumbent Administration and in both cases the end result... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 17/03/10)

Ban goes ahead with Sri Lanka panel
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is going ahead with his proposal for a panel of experts on Sri Lanka despite objections from Colombo that the panel would infringe on the country's sovereignty. The U.N. News Centre website quoted Mr. Ban as saying the panel was in line with a joint statement he issued with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his visit to the country in May 2009, days after the military defeat of the LTTE. “This joint statement contained a commitment related to ensuring an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 17/03/10)

When the law is an ass why is ex-CJ following it?
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Among other things the former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva told the media on Monday at the Galadari Hotel that Sri Lanka is not a democracy. Coming from the ex-CJ, this should be stunning news to those who are concerned about Sri Lanka. But this also raises some relevant questions: When did he discover this? Was it when he was on the bench? Or was it after he joined the losers in the JVP-Fonseka gang hoping to be the next Prime Minster if Fonseka won, undercutting Ranil Wickremesinghe? Considering the fact that there is hardly... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 16/03/10)

Death of Mossad itself: David Kimche, “the sophisticated" spy (1928-2010)
Ajit Randeniya
The death last week of David Kimche, one of Mossad’s more celebrated spies fortuitously attracts the limelight to the dirty and unethical foundation on which its largely undeserved reputation as an invincible spy organisation with a legendary record of almost super-human, and at times thrilling, achievements is built on.  The botched murder of Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January and the 1997 debacle in Jordan, of the attempted murder of Khaled Mashaal by injecting a poison in to his ear, ending in the capture of its agents by a civilian, started a process of world... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 16/03/10)

Deepak Obhrai:The Tamils still want their separate state, Eelam
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1
March 15, 2010 Hon. Deepak Obhrai, MP   Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of  Foreign Affairs Government of Canada    House of Commons, Ottawa    Dear Deepak: This is a continuation of my letter to you of March 13, 2010, on ‘Canada asks Sri Lanka to start talks with Tamil Groups’  when you had requested Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Chitranganee Wagiswara – “Canada has asked Sri Lanka start talks and the reconciliation process with the Tamil groups, saying such a step is crucial for lasting peace in the country.” And I asked... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 16/03/10)

THE WAR AGAINST PASHTUNS
ALI SUKHANVER
It is not the gun but the gunner that hits the target. A very sophisticated weapon becomes useless when it comes to unskilled and inexperienced hands. Skill and experience joined together with wisdom can do miracles. Wisdom is the only element which is always important from beginning till the end, in all problematic matters of life. In spite of having a lot of strength and a lot of resources, the USA is still not even near the brink of success in Afghanistan; the only reason behind is the lack of wisdom. The situation is going to get... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 16/03/10)

Sri Lankan police nab hotel bombing suspect after 13 years
Sri Lankan police said on Tuesday that a Tamil Tiger rebel wanted for the suicide bombing of a 5- star-hotel in Colombo has been arrested. The 72-year-old suspect was arrested in the eastern Batticaloa district's Eravur area for the 1997 bombing of the Hotel Galadari in the business district of Fort. The October 1997 suicide bomb attack in the hotel's car park killed 18 people and injured over 100 including foreign tourists. The suspect was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intelligence wing, police said.... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 16/03/10)

Jaffna Road 4: A Highway with a history and promise of a future
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Both sides of the A9 highway are studded with remains of war. Bombed out houses with bullet marks, scorched trees, bunkers and danger signs in red plastic straps warning 'mines: do not cross'. Along the way, there are many army posts and two checkpoints where vehicles are searched and identities confirmed. As dusk falls, army personnel with rifles slung over their shoulders begin short patrols on the highway. Outside empty towns herds of abandoned cattle aimlessly roam. These aimless cows are possibly the biggest danger to the hundreds of buses, vans and trucks that now ply... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 16/03/10)

Lanka’s human rights panel may be delayed
The United Nation’s proposal to form a panel on human right violations in Sri Lanka may be delayed as the world body chief is still considering its terms of references. “He (Ban) hasn’t yet appointed a panel of experts...he is still considering such a panel’s terms of reference and he is contact with his advisers including the high commissioner of human rights (Navi Pillay),” UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, told journalists at UN headquarters in New York.... -Full Story- (Gulf Times - 16/03/10)

Justice Is Very Much Alive, The Nation Is Doing More Than Surviving But To Her Enemies A Warning Needs To be Sent Out!
LankaWeb Weekly EditorialMarch 16th, 2010
"When justice is dead can the nation survive?" asks a features item in a fairly popular news site  seemingly popular with its supportive myopics rather than the more intuitive and perceptive populace of the Nation which more often than not tends to show bias against the Government of Sri Lanka perhaps by virtue of the anti government lackeys who fund it and support it in more ways than one and a very idiosyncratic trait in Sri Lanka.   However for the sake of proper perspective needing to be outlined the question probably needs to be re-phrased... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

US Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka is actually about the USA!
Dilrook Kannangara
Seven years after being abducted from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by the CIA and shipped to the U.S. air base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Haji Pacha Wazir was hoping he would finally be free. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/08/afghanistan-.html) CIA- the notorious secret service - the modern day equivalent of Schutzstaffel or SS has abducted practitioners of Islam around the world in what it calls ‘war on terror’. Victims, mostly innocent family men practicing the Islam faith, are abducted and taken to torture chambers around the world onboard C-130 Hercules planes. This happened even today and there is no end in... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

OPEN LETTER TO DIRECTOR GENERAL IMMIGRATION & EMIGRATION-P.B.ABEYKONE -PLEASE IVESTIGATE
By Stanley Perera
My dear Mr. Abeykone, A Sri Lankan living in Italy in the past 25 years arrived at Katunayake Air Port by UL563 on 06.03.2007 at 0500. W.M.Luxman Cyril Wickremaratne was the first passenger to arrive at the immigration counter. The immigration officer at the first glance at the passport said that there is no departure stamp and needs to be referred to the CID. Mr. Wickremaratne replied and said that the seal is there and asked for the passport back to show the departure stamp that was with the date 15-Oct-2007 with the seal number 200.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

Moon barking up the wrong tree
 Island Editorial -Courtesy The Island  
 The UN is behaving like a jackal at the beck and call of the West bent on removing from its path strong leaders of the global south, who refuse to fall in line. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon seems to be having sleepless nights trying to figure out how to fix Sri Lanka's political and military top brass, who crushed the LTTE's military muscle once and for all, for having committed the crime of ruffling the feathers of the US and its allies, which made an abortive attempt to save Prabhakaran and his... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

Ship-bound Tamil refugees need help...?
Nihal Perera Toronto, Canada
Attention: Mr. Joe Fiorito-- The Toronto Star One Young Street Toronto, ON M5E 1E6  Dear Mr. Fiorito,  I am amazed at the degree of gullibility and naivety you have shown in the following article..... As a Toronto Star Columnist, you seem to have been taken for a ride by the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) supporters in Canada, to publish a well-orchestrated story in order to garner sympathy for the bogus Tamil refugees, whose entry has been denied by many Asian countries - rightly so.  First, almost all these so-called Tamil refugees are not real refugees -... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

Milinda makes donation to Hindu College, Bambalapitiya -Rejects campaign extravagance.
Gamini Sarath Godakanda
As part of his no-frills campaign to put the focus of the elections back on the community, the Leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress (SLNC), Milinda Moragoda today presented a donation to the Hindu College, Bambalapitiya. The donation, which will be used towards the restoration and extension of the roof of the 76 kovil, was handed over to the the Principal of the College, Mr. T. Muthukumarasamy and Deputy Principal, T. Vijayaratnam by SLNC General Secretary R. A. D. Sirisena. President of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC), T. Neelakandan, speaking on the occasion, praised... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 15/03/10)

U.S. report vague, says Colombo
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has dubbed the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report vague, non-specific and unverifiable information. In a statement here, the Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management said the State Department report appeared to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professed to uphold. Colombo and Washington have been involved in war of words for several months now over the alleged violation of human rights in the course of the 34-month-long Eelam War IV. Last year, the U.S. State Department, in a report to the Congress, had listed several allegations and... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 15/03/10)

China to build new international airport in Sri Lanka
China is to lend Sri Lanka US$200 million to build a second international airport in the south of the island. The new airport will be near a vast seaport at Hambantota, which is also being largely funded with Chinese money from the government’s lending arm, the Export-Import Bank. Last week the Sri Lankan government said that China was supplying more than half of all the construction and development loans it was receiving. Work has already started on the airport. Both projects have the same Chinese state-owned company as contractor and use large numbers of Chinese workers.... -Full Story- (passengerterminaltoday.com - 15/03/10)

Sri Lanka to issue $100 mln bonds to fund interim budget
Article layout: raw
COLOMBO, March 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka plans to raise $100 million through the sale of dollar-denominated development bonds to finance its interim budget, the central bank said on Monday. Sri Lankan government had announced an interim plan for the first four months of 2010 with expenditure set at 361 billion rupees ($3.1 billion) as it delayed the full-year budget ahead of parliamentary polls in April. "There is excess liquidity in the foreign exchange market. So we thought we would collect that money by issuing new Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDB)," C.J.P. Siriwardena, superintendent of the... -Full Story-
(iii.co.uk - 15/03/10)

Sri Lanka to request IMF waiver on deficit-cbank
Editing by Kim Coghill
COLOMBO, March 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will seek a waiver from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after failing to meet its 2009 budget deficit target as agreed for a $2.6 billion loan, the central bank said on Monday. Authorities hope a waiver would allow payments from the loan to resume, K.D. Ranasinghe, the chief economist at the central bank, told Reuters in an interview. The IMF said late last month that it was delaying the third tranche of the loan after the government missed its 2009 targets. Sri Lanka also hoped to renegotiate the IMF... -Full Story-
(in.reuters.com - 15/03/10)

Lankan army to help promote tourism in Jaffna
Press Trust Of India
Nearly a year after the Wanni region was liberated from the LTTE, tourists have started arriving in Sri Lanka's north and the tourism ministry in collaboration with the army has set up a tourist information centre in Jaffna to boost tourism in the peninsula. The Wanni, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts were liberated from the LTTE during the last phase of the 30-year-old civil war in May, 2009. The tourist information centre will offer help and facilitate those visiting the area. After the opening of the vital A-9 Road linking Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 15/03/10)

Sri Lanka: LTTE forcibly threw children into Vanni battle - Survey
Source: Government of Sri Lanka
Date: 15 Mar 2010 Several thousands of children were forcibly recruited by the LTTE and thrown into battle in the last two years of the war, a survey conducted by the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation found. Interviews conducted with over 11,000 detainees on a Justice and Law Reforms Ministry directive have indicated that children were deployed on the Vanni front without proper training. Among them were some of the LTTE's best fighters, including men and women of frontline formations, such as the Charles Anthony Brigade. Among 4,580 cadres aged between 19-24 and 4,220... -Full Story-
(Relief Web - 15/03/10)

We are firm on demand, says TNA
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Contrary to claims by a section of the media that the Sri Lanka's pro-LTTE political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has given up its stance on Eelam, the alliance has reiterated the demand on the right to self-determination of Tamils. In its manifesto for the April 8 general election, the TNA has sought federal solution based on shared sovereignty while reiterating its position on the right to self-determination. The stated position of the TNA on Eelam has been that it has never articulated the demand. Under the amended Constitution of the nation, any party... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 14/03/10)

Lakbima should not be sacrificed through mental subservience
Ajit Randeniya
Ashis Nandy, the Bengali social theorist who gave up medical training to study social sciences and psychology, and was named amongst the top 100 public intellectuals of the world by the ‘Foreign Policy’ magazine in 2008, has written extensively on a variety of topics including public conscience and dialogues between civilisations.  In the 1983 book, ‘The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism’, Nandy argues that the fundamental character of colonialism is not so much economic or technological domination, but the cultural arrogance of the colonisers and the cultural subservience it creates in the minds... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 14/03/10)

International Conference on Multiculturalism and Global Community
Tehran, Iran
Culture: Diversity or Integrity Multiculturalism and Global Peace Asia: Diversity or Unity in Cultures Intercultural Dialogue: Approaches and Outcomes Media, Communication and Common Good Globalization, Religion and Common Good Islam: New Challenges, New Perspectives Islam and the Crisis of Modern Man Islam and Other Faiths: Truth or Salvation Islam and Woman: Rights and Commitments Islam: Traditionalism or Modernism Islam and Revivalism: Needs and Necessities Islam: Spirituality, Morality and Jurisprudence Iran: Realities and Appearances Iran, Religious State and International Challenges Iran... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 14/03/10)

Energy saving cooking technique demonstrated.
Dr Hector Perera
I am delighted to say that I had a successful live demonstration of these scientific cooking thanks for ITN channel in Sri Lanka. It was broadcasted live on Sunday the 1st of November 2009 around 7.00 am to 7.30 am. During the interview, I mentioned that rice will be cooked in a given time then while rice is being cooked, I managed to cook fish and a vegetable dish as well, both the fish and vegetable dish were cooked in side by side with no an extra time. The reason I wanted to cook fish and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 14/03/10)

Ban Ki Moon is moonlighting
by Gomin Dayasri -Courtesy Daily News
No doubt, human rights are high on the international agenda and a matter not to be treated flippantly. Sri Lanka’s record must be looked at from the point of combating and defeating a most dangerous terrorist outfit that concentrated its attacks primarily on the civilian population-its defeat brought peace and democracy to the areas which were under its control Suddenly Ban Ki Moon without any representation from any country disclosed to subject Sri Lanka for inquiry has on his own decided to appoint a panel to inquire into human rights violations in... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 14/03/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—17-TIKI TOURING NORTH ISLAND: A PEEP INTO THE FAR NORTH
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
The final leg of our Tiki Tour focused on the Northland Region, more commonly known as the Far North or less commonly as the Winterless North (because of its mild climate). Comprising a land area of 13,789 square km, it arrogates 80 percent of the 285-km-long North Auckland Peninsula. The region has three administrative districts: Far North, Kalpara and Whangarei. Ivan Brown, our coach captain, welcomed 14 new people to our tour group, as he departed Auckland in the morning after Christmas on the 325-km trip north to Kaitaia, a town of 5,200... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 13/03/10)

සූර්ය ශක්තිය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ස්වීඩනයේ උප්සලා නම්වූ නගරයේ පැරණි සුසාන භූමයක් ඇත.මෙහි මිහිදන් කර ඇත්තේ, විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල මහාචාර්යවරු, ආගමික බිෂොප්වරු, වංශවත් කුලීන රදලවරු හා සුප්‍රකට පුද්ගලයින්ය. මෙහි ඇති එක්තරා සුසාන ස්ථම්භයක. "Dag Hammarskjold" යන වචනය සටහන් කර ඇත. ඔහු අන් කවරෙක්වත් නොව වර්ෂ 1953-1961 දක්වා  එක්සත් ජාතින්ගේ මහා මණ්ඩලයේ ලේඛම් වශයෙක් කටයුතු කල කුප්‍රකට ලේඛම්වරයාගේ සොහොනයි. ඔහුගේ මරණය අභිරහස් ගුවන් අනතුරකින් එවකට රොඩේෂියාවේදී,1961 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 18 වෙනිදා සිදුවිය. ඒ හරියටම කොංගෝවේ පලමු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය පැට්රිස් ලුමුම්බා මහතාව කොටුකිරීම කිරීම සදහා අවශ්‍ය එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මර උගුල අටවා ඝාතනය කර හරියටම මාස අටකට පසුවය. ඔහු එදා පැට්රිස් ලුමුම්බා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාට එරෙහිව කල ඒ කාර්යය... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 13/03/10)

Canada asks Sri Lanka to start talks with Tamil Groups
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 (Member of the Conservative Party of Canada & Sustaining Donor)
March 13, 2010 Hon. Deepak Obhrai, MP   Parliamentary Secretary for the  Minister of Foreign Affairs   Government of  Canada  House of Commons, Ottawa Dear Deepak: Wo…wo….wo… Deepak, just hold your horse.   You seem to be galloping willy-nilly not knowing where the heck you are heading to when you get Canada involved in Sri Lankan politics.  You recognized the difficulty that Sri Lanka is facing when you requested Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Chitranganee Wagiswara – “Canada has asked Sri... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 13/03/10)

JVP says, "Navy Commander a mental patient" !
P.A.Samaraweera Australia
JVP spokesman, Anura Dissanayake at a media interview on 10th March had said that it is necessary to find out the mental state of the Navy Commander to live in a quarter given to Sarath Fonseka. He had also said that, "...None of us know the real condition of the place where Sarath Fonseka is kept. Only Mrs. Anoma Fonseka has been to this place... According to her he is kept in a room with planks nailed to windows without any sunlight falling into the room..." But the government had made it clear that he had been allocated... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 13/03/10)

Islam’s Response to the Global Economic Crisis
Dr. Ifthikhar Ahmad Ayaz, OBE
1.(Officer of the Excellent Order of the British Empire) 2. Consul General of Tuvalu Island in the United Kingdom 3. Senator World Nations Congress 4. Ambassador of Peace appointed Universal Peace Foundation 5. Recipient of International Peace Prize 6. Member UN Human Rights Council Committee in the Rights of     Minorities – Rights of Woman / Rights of Children 7. Member World Poverty Alleviation Forum 8. Honored as the 2010 Man of the Year in Human Rights. 9.  An eminent member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam.  It is a great privilege and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 13/03/10)

Sri Lanka garners support against U.N. probe
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11, 2010 (IPS) - Sri Lanka, which won a grueling decades-long battle against one of the world’s most ferocious terrorist organizations last May, has scored a diplomatic victory in its ongoing war of words with the United Nations. The largest single political coalition has, in a rare rebuke, lambasted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his decision to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on "accountability issues" relating to post-conflict Sri Lanka, where the country’s military has been accused of human rights violations and alleged war crimes. The 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), currently... -Full Story-
(The Island - 13/03/10)

Sri Lankan Tamils drop separatist demand
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's main ethnic Tamil party says it is ready to accept regional self-rule instead of total independence which it previously demanded, AP reported. The Tamil National Alliance, which backed the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, says in its platform for April 8 parliamentary elections that it is ready to accept a ''federal structure'' in the north and east provinces with key powers including over land, law and order, and finance. The platform was released Friday. Since its inception in 2001, the alliance has acted as a proxy for the separatist Tamil Tigers until their military defeat by government forces... -Full Story- (dawn.com - 13/03/10)

Sri Lanka Tamil party drops statehood demand
By Charles Haviland BBC
The Sri Lankan political party closest to the defeated Tamil Tiger rebel movement has dropped a demand for a separate Tamil homeland. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is the biggest political grouping representing the ethnic minority, said it instead wanted a "federal" solution.... -Full Story-
( - 13/03/10)

Tourism takes toll on Prabhakaran's home, army steps in to guard it
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
What Vellupillai Prabhakaran, founder-chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), could not achieve in peace, he seems to have attained in death – a twisted popularity among some in the majority Sinhala community. And ironically, it’s up to the Sri Lankan army now to protect the remains of Prabhakaran’s ancestral home in Valvettithuria, about 30 km north of Jaffna town, from being taken apart by a surge of `trophy tourism’. Prabhakaran’s death and the end of the war against LTTE in May 2009 meant a gradual easing of tension in conflict zones and opening... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 13/03/10)

Lanka Tamils drop separatist demand
Colombo, March 13 (AP): Sri Lanka’s main ethnic Tamil party today dropped its demand for an independent state and said it is ready to accept regional self-rule, following the defeat of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in a 25-year civil war. The Tamil National Alliance, which backed the rebels, said in its platform for April 8 parliamentary elections that it would accept a “federal structure” in the north and east provinces with power over land, finance, and law and order. The platform was released yesterday. Since its inception in 2001, the alliance has acted as a proxy for the Tamil Tigers... -Full Story- (telegraphindia.com - 13/03/10)

Sri Lanka: Checkpoints in Paradise
By LIONEL BEEHNER
EVERYBODY out, the military officer ordered us, as we pulled off the bumpy road linking the Tamil-dominated eastern province to Sri Lanka’s hill country. My driver motioned to the back seat, where a police officer we picked up a few miles back was sitting. His presence lent an air of authority, and we were promptly waved through. But the busload of European shutterbugs in front of us — unloading their suitcases and filing out in a single column — was not so lucky.... -Full Story-
(travel.nytimes.com - 13/03/10)

Panel to study cause of conflict in Sri Lanka
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to appoint a “committee” to study the root cause of the ethnic conflict, lessons learnt since sections of Tamils took to militancy to gain their rights in the mid-seventies and challenges faced since the military defeat of the LTTE in May last year, said Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe here on Friday. Asked if the committee would cover the circumstances leading to the deployment of the IPKF and the 1989 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) second insurgency, the Minister said: “Yes, it would be a... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 13/03/10)

Thanks For Your Concerns Canada But Sri Lanka Is A Sovereignity With Compassionate Intelligent Administrators!
Insight By Sunil Kumar 12th March 2010
Well Well Well! Is this another surge of concern and sympathy by the Canadian Administration about Sri Lankan Tamils and their needs, lending credence to behind the scene lobbying by the Tamil separatist idealogists amongst others? one might ask! It was assumed to a greater part that the Harper Administration would not be misled by the Tamil Lobby in Canada and hopefully it isnt!  Does Canada not give any credibility to what the world is seeing visibly as a genuine effort by the Rajapaksha Administration to attend to the needs of Sri... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 12/03/10)

S S D O U B L E ' O ZERO
RANJIT WICKREMERATNE
This is a story of two similar individuals starting by the name Sarath. One was a retired army officer and the the other one was a retired chief justice. Both were heros once a upon a times when they were living like lords of the jungle. They were both greedy for power and wealth. They both misused their power while they were on duty. Army guy was using the deserters in his Army to do his dirty work while the other used to have underworld king pins to do his dirty works. These double O'Zero's was living... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 12/03/10)

NAM strongly condemns UN Chief
Nadira GUNATILLEKE -courtesy Daily News
The NAM has very strongly condemned the announced intention of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to advise on accountability issues relating to Sri Lanka, said Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe. Speaking at a press conference at the Government Information Department yesterday, Samarasinghe said the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) has a membership of 124 countries. All NAM members are also members of the United Nations. The UN has 194 member states. Minister Samarasinghe further said that nearly two thirds of both the NAM and UN... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 12/03/10)

Tamil Tigress in UN
Ben Silva
Open Letter Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon UN Tamil Tigress in UN
Ms Navi Pillai has been  anti Sri Lanka  and pro LTTE for a long time. Even when UN member states voted in favour of Sri Lanka, she continued her anti Sri Lankan stand. She did nothing to eliminate  Tamil terrorism  and empire building, which was the main cause of human rights abuse in Sri Lanka, but she did every thing in her power to act against GOSL which eliminated terrorism. It has to be investigated, if her reluctance to act against Tamil racism is due to... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 12/03/10)

BBC need not concern itself about Chinese aid to Sri Lanka
Ajit Randeniya
Sri Lanka is currently a hotbed of espionage; the place is teeming with US, British, Australian and Israeli spies operating, almost at will, under cover as journalists, aid workers, tourists and people with various business interests.  Those with an interest in this area and monitor events have always known that the man named Charles Haviland who purports to be a BBC reporter and journalist is in fact, an MI6 agent who is closely monitoring China’s economic, and what they think is political, involvement in Sri Lanka. Haviland’s mission is to collect and disseminate information designed to poison Sri Lanka-India-China relations... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

Fr. S.J.Emmanuel of the Global Tamil Forum
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester. Ontario . K1J 6G1. Canada
March 11, 2010 OPEN LETTER  to Rev. Fr. S.J. Emmanuel    Leader, Global Tamil Forum (GTF)  Germany. Dear S.J. Emmanuel: You Tamil Roman Catholics wearing God’s black cloth with white collars starched towards heaven have confused me immensely.  Then, I am a Buddhist and have difficulty to understand you guys anyway who believed that the Tamils in Sri Lanka, especially in the North and East are the only children of God and the rest could be spared and blown to smithereens for the Tamils to live and enjoy... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

IS BLIND LEADING THE BLIND?
Mahinda Weerasinghe -Author of: -The Origin of Species According to the Buddha & Mission to Oslo
The fact that a Catholic priest, one Fr. S.J.Emmanuel, is going to lead the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) did not surprise us the least. (GTF) being an extension of the terror organization LTTE, which the fascist Prabakran led until May 2009. Now the world at large is enlightened as to the fact that LTTE is none other than a child of the Holy Catholic Church. Now that the true mother of LTTE has stepped out of the woodwork, how are Lankans to respond... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

HUMAN CONFLICT IN SRILANKA WITH RELATION TO LAND ACQUISITION .
by Lt Col.(Retd.) Anil Amarasekera
Considering the history of warfare be it a war between two nations, or an internal civil war within a nation, ninety percent of all such wars have been fought for the acquisition of land. Here in Sri Lanka too the separatist war that ended on 19th of May 2009 with the annihilation of the military leadership of the LTTE at the Nandhikadal lagoon, centered on the acquisition of land to establish a mythical homeland for the Tamils called Eelam, in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Origin of this conflict could be... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

Post Sri Lanka with the Eradication of World's most brutal Terrorist movement!
Vajeera Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne, Australia
International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431, USA The Director,   Dear Sir,  Post Sri Lanka with the Eradication of World's most brutal Terrorist movement!   Sri Lanka, which should be an insignificant tiny country for the powerful Western countries, has been interfered in their internal matters, just to satisfy a disgruntled block merely to grab the vote to be in power. This country has purged the most brutal Terrorist group as defined even by the FBI. It was a task that, the very same powerful nations who professed an impossible task to... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

Not so "PERFECT A BLUNDER ?"
By Gamini Gunawardne Retd. Snr. DIG Courtesy The Island 
 This is in connection with the article by Dr. Dayan Jayatillke in " The Island" of 15th Feb, titled "The Fonseka affair: A perfect blunder?"The purpose of my exercise here is not really to contradict or confirm the views expressed therein by Dr. Jayatilleke, but with a view to provide some, may be relevant or may be even considered irrelevant, different dimensions to look at some of his contentions. Not being a political scientist by any means, I would look at some of the issues from the point of view... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

Mattie and Bruce Fein and Foreign Terrorist Organizations
John MacKinnon
Your story 'Republican Mattie Fein makes run aganst Harman official' is nice but need a bit of depth. http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13757189  As you all know, the Tamil Tiger terrorist are great at setting up front organizations here in America. These orgs are directly paying Bruce Fein of the Lichfield Group and Fein & Fein, LLC. Now they are funding Mattie Fein's campaign. That is why Mattie Fein said she intends to raise $2 million to $3 million for the campaign - enough to mount a credible challenge. We need to remind Mattie and Bruce Fein that it's illegal... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 11/03/10)

Rajapaksa appoints Courts Martial to try Fonseka
PK Balachandran
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, on Thursday appointed two Courts Martial to try the former Army Commander, Gen.Sarath Fonseka, on two separate sets of charges under the Army Act. One Court Martial will try him on three charges relating to participation in politics - while being in service. The other Court Martial will try him on four charges - relating to violation of laid down procedures for the purchase of military hardware, according to Army spokesman, Maj.Gen.Prasad Samarasinghe.... -Full Story-
(ExpressBuzz - 11/03/10)

U.S. human rights report hits China, Iran
By Arshad Mohammed
Reuters Thursday, March 11, 2010; 2:00 PM WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China and Iran have stepped up their abuses of human rights, targeting both anti-government activists and the free flow of information over the Internet, the State Department said on Thursday. In its annual survey of human rights in 194 countries, the State Department also criticized Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Russia, which it faulted for killings of activists and journalists. While it noted the end of Sri Lanka's 33-year civil war in May, the report found that both the government and the defeated rebel Tamil Tigers... -Full Story-
(washingtonpost.com - 11/03/10)

Fonseka to be tried next week
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's common opposition presidential candidate, General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, would be tried on five different counts by two separate courts martial on March 16 and 17 at the Navy Headquarters. Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe told journalists here on Thursday that President Mahinda Rajapaksa on recommendation made by the Army Chief Jagath Jayasuriya, has named the two courts martial. He said the courts martial would bring charges against the commander-turned-politician under two major categories.... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 11/03/10)

Egotistical party politics threatens our National Sovereignty
Anura Seneviratna, Dr MB Ranatunga, Sumith de Silva, Asanka Haradasa, Sapumal Watteaarachchige, Ira Mediwake, Ranjith Wijetunge, Dhanapala Godagangdeni, Sam Samararatne (for expat Hela team). 
Graceless reduction to egotistical psyche from wholesome and potent national cohesion is indeed a tragedy. But we cannot be blamed for it if causality is thoroughly examined, which is mainly the sinister impact of systematic de-nationalization campaign in the past, conspired by the pretenders to our national politics in pseudo-national garb.  The impact is: as a nation of people, we were transformed into destructive  individuals, unaware of the meaning of national sovereignty and the inviolable... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 10/03/10)

“Mahatma Gandhi: from lawyer to national liberator”
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya,Melbourne, Australia
To the Attention of Damien Carrick, Law Report, ABC Australia  This is to correct an erroneous presentation of a Bodhisattva story by you during the discussion you had with Charles DiSalvo, under the topic “Mahatma Gandhi: from lawyer to national liberator” on the 9th of March, ABC Excerpt from the discussion  Damien Carrick*: Charles, I know that Gandhi was a Hindu and not a Buddhist, but Ahimsa is a philosophy with deep roots in both traditions, *and there's an ancient Buddhist story of a bodhisattva, and that's a person or a saint who has attained... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 10/03/10)

India Gets Tough - 'The Leader'
Herold Leelawardena
It’s been more than nine months since LTTE, Piripaharan and all its key leaders have been wiped out. But Tamils do not sound or look as if they have forsaken any of LTTE ideals. One could see that trend from their fall to TNA, the LTTE proxy. If not, why did they vote for Fonseka? Did they not expect to accomplish their aspirations through him? Everyone knew that UNP, JVP and TNA policies are poles apart. Needless to mention Fonseka had his own vicious plan. How could a bunch like that work together for the benefit of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 10/03/10)

BUDDHISM TODAY AND AESTHETIC CREATIVITY – A MISCELLANY OF RECENT ARTICLES, ESSAYS AND SPEECHES
Ananda w. P. Guruge
BUDDHISM TODAY AND AESTHETIC CREATIVITY – A MISCELLANY OF RECENT ARTICLES, ESSAYS AND SPEECHES covers many areas of my personal interests in the field of Buddhist studies and action. I have shared these views, opinions, observations and concerns with many audiences in all parts of the world over the last decade. The decision to compile them into a single volume is in response to many requests I receive for copies. These articles, essays and speeches portray a range of subjects on which most Buddhists and friends of Buddhism seek information, clarification, explanation and solution. I... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 10/03/10)

India, Sri Lanka sign $67.4 m Line of Credit
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday signed a Line of Credit agreement for $67.4 million to fund the second phase of upgradation of the Southern Railway Line from Colombo to Matara. A statement by the Indian mission here said that the agreement was signed by P. B. Jayasundera, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning, and Prabhakar Dalal, Executive Director, Export-Import Bank of India, in the presence of Ashok K. Kantha, the High Commissioner of India in Colombo.... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 10/03/10)

China to loan Sri Lanka $290 mln for airport, railways
COLOMBO (Reuters) - China has agreed to lend $290 million to Sri Lanka to build a new airport and revive its railway network, the island nation's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. China will provide a $190 million loan through its funding arm, Exim Bank, to construct the island's second airport and $100 million to boost the capacity of the Sri Lankan railway, the ministry said in a statement. China was the largest foreign funding source for Sri Lanka in 2009 with $1.2 billion followed by the Asian Development Bank with $424 million.... -Full Story- (in.reuters.com - 10/03/10)

Refugee was Tigers `agent'
A SRI Lankan refugee being held on Christmas Island with her two young children after ASIO declared her to be a security threat worked for the legal system run by the Tamil Tigers. The Australian has learned that the woman, who was rescued by the Customs vessel Oceanic Viking in October, lived and worked in the Vanni district in Sri Lanka's north, which was controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Speaking from Indonesia, the woman's brother said his sister had been employed in the de facto justice system set up by the LTTE, which was described by the... -Full Story- (theaustralian.com.au - 10/03/10)

Letter sent to Mr. Peter Arndt from CJPC in respond to his article published on their website on 02/03/2010:
By James Jayalath from Melbourne
http://cjpcbrisbane.wordpress.com Dear Mr. Arndt, I have read your article published in Catholic Justice and Peace Commission website on 02/03/10 and the Catholic Leader on 07/03/10. As a Catholic I am ashamed to read articles like this because you attract an audience on the Internet to read utter rubbish, and you want people to believe you and take against our Government. Looks like your wish to see our country fail miserably in economic front but I can tell you one thing, people like you are absolute disgrace to the Catholic community because you are trying... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

The Threatening Dangers
Reflections by comrade Fidel
It is not an ideological issue related to the definitive hope that a better world is, and should be, possible. It is a known fact that the homo sapiens has existed for about 200 thousand years, which is no more than a tiny span of the time passed since the emergence of the first basic forms of life on our planet approximately three billion years ago. The answers to the unfathomable mysteries of life and nature have fundamentally been religious. It would be senseless to pretend otherwise and I am convinced that it will forever... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu: Malice in Wonderland
By Malinda Seneviratne
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu has advocated, alternatively, and how! This was in a piece published in a daily newspaper (‘Rajapaksa regime in grip of “missing enemy” syndrome’). He has for a long time operated like an authority of international relations, advocating an alarmist don’t-upset-the-West line (in June, 2009 he wrote: ‘Sri Lanka’s foreign policy: missing the wood for the trees’, in www.groundviews.org). Punditry on foreign policy Now the piece in the daily newspaper is basically an old script which goes like this: Sara and Co quote some dubious and unverified (deliberately) source and howl; the howl is echoed... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

India should attend to resettlement of the thousands of poverty stricken slums in Mumbai, Calcutta and others.
L Peiris
Sri Lanka does not care damn if India does or does not welcome the restrictions that had been imposed on the displaced Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. Certain restrictions had to be imposed on Sri Lankans of Tamil origin as they were rescued from LTTE terrorist lairs and until circumstances are conducive to resettle them in their original places of habitation. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is not a new kid on the block when it comes to Sri lanka. She can convey her sentiments to President Mahinda Rajapaksa however he should take it with a... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Indian consulate in Jaffna!
Lanka peiris
India wants to set up a Consul-General's office in Jaffna to create further mischief for the Sri  Lanbkan people and restore connectivity of separatist ideology and Indian Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao is not a babe in the woods in these activities. Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata are  the capitals of separate states and each of these states are  larger in area an population than Sri Lanka.  All the other countries have one Office in Sri Lanka and it should be the same for India.  Why should there be a special objective to cater to the needs of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Burma on radar as New Delhi prepares for talks with ULFA
Nava Thakuria
The military ruled Burma (Myanmar) emerges as an important actor on the projected peace talks between the Union government of India and the banned militant group, United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). An active and influential underground outfit of Northeast India, the ULFA is fighting New Delhi for its core demand of sovereignty for Assam (out of India). The three decades old armed outfit is understood to be responsible for the killing of thousands of people in the State. The militant outfit reportedly runs few training camps inside the jungles of northern Burma. The cadres of ULFA... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Navaneetham Pillay: Fairplay
by DEMOS, Courtesy The Island 
Navaneetham Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, has started her all too familiar, ‘War Crimes Investigation’ refrain once again, to coincide this time, quite ‘accidentally’, with the upcoming parliamentary election. She has been going for Sri Lanka’s jagular ever since the Government crushed her fond band of LTTE terrorists.It has almost become a blood feud that can be satiated only by arraigning Sri Lanka before the UN for ‘war crimes’ aka the crushing of LTTE terrorism! She is of course egged on by notoriously pathological LTTE sympathizers like Miliband (religiously committed mouthpiece of the... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Understanding the calls for accountability
by Kath Noble , Courtesy The Island 
Nearly a year after the Security Forces killed Prabhakaran and finished the decades long conflict, the Government continues to be haunted by allegations of war crimes. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called for an international investigation on many occasions. Last week, as she repeated this message on presenting her annual report in Geneva, she was joined by a rather more influential figure – the UN Secretary General. Ban Ki-moon has now appointed an expert panel to advise him on ‘accountability issues’ in Sri Lanka.This is one of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 09/03/10)

Alchemy yoga retreat in stunning Sri Lanka!
by Clare
Super cool yoga centre Alchemy is branching out and taking yoga practice to the next level by holding a yoga retreat in sunny Sri Lanka. But this is more than your average yoga retreat. It’s been called the Spiritual Warrior Kundalini Yoga Retreat, so not only is it unusual in that it is based on Kundalini yoga, but the aim of the retreat is to find the ‘spiritual warrior’ in you, in order to help you get the most out of your life. The Spiritual Warrior Training is a method of interactive self-inquiry which utilizes the powerful techniques... -Full Story-
(lifescapemag.com - 09/03/10)

Opinion: A conscious travel guide to Sri Lanka
By Thanu Yakupitiyage — Special to GlobalPost
In fact, Sri Lanka made the top of the Times' list of travel destinations for the year. Why go? For Daily Candy, the reason is that “The civil war is mostly over, and Sri Lanka is now stable and safe — and as beautiful, tropical, and friendly as ever.” For the Times, Sri Lanka is a natural escape, a place where “elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing from trees. And then there’s the pristine coastline.” Both paint a picture of a hip and upcoming travel destination. This... -Full Story-
(globalpost.com - 09/03/10)

Former rebels, paramilitary troops get aid in Sri Lanka
Irish Sun
Former Tamil rebels and ex-paramilitary troops were given fishing gear, carpentry tools and agricultural equipment as part of a rehabilitation programme, officials said Tuesday. Some 500 ex-combatants received the aid in the eastern Batticaloa district under a programme funded by the US Agency for International Development with the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), the officials said. The programme plans to reintegrate up to 1,000 former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and a paramilitary group known as the TMVP, which was made up of a breakaway faction of the rebels.... -Full Story-
(story.irishsun.com - 09/03/10)

Sri Lankan Parliament reconvenes to extend emergency
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Parliament, which had been dissolved, was reconvened for a short while on Tuesday to extend emergency laws by another month. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had earlier signed a proclamation extending the emergency. The validity of the emergency regulations extended by Parliament, which was dissolved on February 10 in the run up to the general election scheduled on April 8, expired on March 1. Emergency laws can be passed only by Parliament and are valid only for one month. Any presidential proclamation extending emergency laws is subject to approval by Parliament. Sri Lankan Parliament... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 09/03/10)

Diyawanna Oya drama
The following is an extract from the book 'An Unfinished Struggle' by Victor Ivan which caused a stir in civil society, given the nature of characters embroiled in it. A bit of news that showed the evil nature of the style of living of the Chief Justice was heard in the early hours of July 7. This was first heard as a rumour. All mass media, in addition to Ravaya, had heard it. On the previous night, the police, inspecting a motor car parked at a lonely spot by the Diyawanna Oya, found a half naked couple in the car.... -Full Story- (Daily News - 09/03/10)

Sri Lanka: Ha! Bank ki-Moon wants to appoint a panel of experts
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
March 7, 2010 Mr. Ban Ki-Moon    Secretary General  of the United Nations  New York, US Dear Secretary General: The word that has hit the print media the past 48 hours is that you had announced your intention to appoint a panel of experts to advice the UN chief (you) on accountability issues related to Sri Lanka. Umm…….You know what Ban?  The pressures from the western nations to bring Sri Lanka, that puny little island stuck somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean that defied calls from... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

How to Put the UN Back Where it Should Be
Dilrook Kannangara
The UN spirit of the 1940s is long dead. UN was born out of respect for all member states, big or small. However, since then mighty nations have dominated the UN and even bypassed the UN. Smaller nations can only lament over gross unfairness and rampant hypocrisy. Today there is a dangerous tussle between the superpowers within and outside the UN. It is inevitable the UN’s relevance is diminishing by the year as a result. Exploiting this weakness, certain breakaway groups of banned terrorist groups, have assumed a pseudo UN presence which they could not achieve... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

Women are in the ‘basement’ of politics in Sri Lanka
Gamini Godakanda
In the case of political representation in Sri Lanka, we cannot even refer to a ‘glass-ceiling’ – as women have been kept in the ‘basement’ of politics. This was one of the opinions stated by Leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress, Milinda Moragoda at a meeting held on Saturday in Maradana, which included grassroots women activists.  He added that while Sri Lanka has an excellent record on women’s health, education, and life expectancy, it is worst in the region when it comes to participation of women in politics. Moragoda stated that with the advent... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

Catholic Justice Commission of Brisbane Archdioce's
Sarath W
The recent article by Peter Arndt on Sri Lanka is just another attempt by some ignorent Australian playing god just because he works for the Catholic Justice Commission. It is strange to hear a Australian talking about human rights. One has to  only look to the Australian abroginies to see what human rights they have. It seems to me many Australians including the Catholic church here believe they are not human and therefore have no human rights.   Before commenting on Sri Lanka and suggesting the Australian government should work with the other western governments to impose... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

GTF’s ATTEMPT TO ACHIEVE EELAM THRO A “PROVISIONAL TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM IS A DAY DREAM
Malin Abeyatunge
LTTE apologists and activists of the Tamil Diaspora have still not given up the Eelam Cry. The newest entity formed called “Global Tamil Forum” (GTF) branching off from now banned British Tamil Association(BTA) has now started their campaign for a “Provisional Trans-national Government of Tamil Eelam” (PTG of TE)’ by getting the LTTE apologist countries like UK, USA, Norway and some EU countries to lobby for their cause for Eelam. This in other words another  attempt and strategy for a separate Tamil State in Sri Lanka. Latest lobbying  in UK was the addressing of  GTF by none... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

India worked against SLanka president: min
India's external intelligence agency tried to undermine Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at polls in January and wanted him defeated, a minister said in an interview published on Monday. Nandana Goonathilake, minister of postal services, said the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's foreign intelligence service, had worked against Rajapakse at the January 26 vote even though the Indian government publicly supported him. "How the RAW operates and the way that the government of India operates are sometimes very different," Goonathilake told the Daily Mirror newspaper in an interview. "This is why I said though the Indian government was for... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 08/03/10)

ISI AND TALIBAN
ALI SUKHANVER-The writer is a Pakistan based bilingual analyst on national and international strategic and defense affairs.
According to all dictionaries of English language, ‘raw ‘means crude and coarse, unprocessed and untreated ; these meanings  seem very much close to reality  when we look at the working of the world famous  intelligence agency RAW. The name coined for it very truly matches the accurate meanings of the word. Raw has very surprisingly succeeded in getting the record of the telephonic conversation between the ISI chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha and President Karzai of Afghanistan. During this telephonic conversation, General... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

India worked against Rajapakse
COLOMBO -
INDIA'S external intelligence agency tried to undermine Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at polls in January and wanted him defeated, a minister said in an interview published on Monday. Nandana Goonathilake, minister of postal services, said the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's foreign intelligence service, had worked against Rajapakse at the January 26 vote even though the Indian government publicly supported him. 'How the RAW operates and the way that the government of India operates are sometimes very different,' Mr Goonathilake told the Daily Mirror newspaper in an interview. 'This is why I said though the... -Full Story-
(straitstimes.com - 08/03/10)

Sri Lanka to Seek Tenants for $550 Million Tax-Free Port Zone
By Anusha Ondaatjie
March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka plans to invite overseas and local companies this month to set up operations in a new $550 million tax-free port zone as the end of the island’s civil war boosts trade and investment. Companies from Australia, India, China, Russia and Dubai have expressed interest in opening shipbuilding, ship-repair and warehousing facilities at the port in Hambantota, southern Sri Lanka, said Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama. The zone, partially funded by a $370 million Chinese loan, should be completed by November, he said. Sri Lanka will also push ahead... -Full Story-
(Bloomberg - 08/03/10)

Foreign exchange transactions relaxed
Sri Lanka news
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka yesterday announced further relaxation of foreign exchange transactions with the following measures to be implemented with effect from March 11 in relation to foreign exchange transactions. A Sri Lankan resident who is earning foreign exchange from investments abroad as approved by the Central Bank, engaged in providing international professional services in Sri Lanka or abroad, engaged in any occupation abroad or who have proceeded outside Sri Lanka for education and/or for medical treatment and exporters of goods will be permitted to open and maintain bank accounts abroad, the bank said.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

UPDATE 1-Sri Lanka central bank says eases forex controls
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, March 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will relax its controls on foreign exchange with effect from March 11, aiming to improve investor confidence, the central bank said on Monday. The measures were announced after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month delayed its third tranche of a $2.6 billion loan, citing concerns over a budget deficit that hit an eight-year high of 9.7 percent last year -- well above the Fund's 7 percent target., "The move will boost investor confidence with foreign investors can now enter and take out their money without much restrictions," K.D.... -Full Story-
(iii.co.uk - 08/03/10)

S.Lanka shares at record high on tourism boom hopes
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, March 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares hit a record high on Monday led by local buying in hotel and travel shares on hopes of post-war boom in the tourism industry as bookings have started to peak this year, brokers said. The All-Share Price Index of the Colombo Stock Exchange rose 0.66 percent to a new record high of 3,849.23 points in the early trade, surpassing its previous all-time high hit on Wednesday. It closed 0.28 percent up at 3,835.06, extending its rise in the previous two sessions. "Tourism shares boosted the market," said Prashan... -Full Story-
(iii.co.uk - 08/03/10)

UN will not cause impact on Lanka - Minister
Nadira Gunatilleke -Daily News Sri Lanka
The United Nations (UN) will not be able to cause any impact on Sri Lanka, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said. No resolution will be passed against Sri Lanka in the Security Council or in the Human Rights Commission, he said. “Only two or three Western and European countries and two or three foreign `politicians’ work against Sri Lanka. All other countries, especially newly empowered countries are with Sri Lanka,” Minister Ranawaka said. Addressing the weekly UPFA press briefing at the Mahaweli Centre, Colombo yesterday, Minister Ranawaka said Sri Lanka... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 08/03/10)

India to set up consulate in Jaffna
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: India plans to set up a Consul-General's office in Jaffna to help the people of the peninsula and fully restore connectivity to south India. Sri Lanka has agreed to the proposal. The visiting Indian Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao, told Indian mediapersons during an informal interaction here on Monday that during her nearly two-hour meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday she had conveyed India's intention to open the consulate. While Sri Lanka has three consulates in India — in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata — India has only one, in Kandy. A few weeks ago, Foreign... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 08/03/10)

India urges quick resettlement of IDPs
B. Muralidhar Reddy COLOMBO: India has welcomed the relaxation of movement restrictions that had been imposed on the displaced Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. It has also expressed the hope that the resettlement process could be expedited, especially in Killinochchi and Mullaithivu, so that the Internally Displaced Persons could resume normal lives in their original places of habitation. A press statement issued by the Indian High Commission here at the end of Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's visit to Sri Lanka said that during her interaction with President Mahinda Rajapaksa she conveyed these sentiments to him.... -Full Story- (The Hindu - 08/03/10)

We don't need US agent Valerie Fowler's lessons on journalism
Ajit Randeniya
The intensification of subterranean activities of the US embassy in Colombo and USAID in the north and east of Sri Lanka, especially following the defeat of their ‘trump card’, Sarath Fonseka, is such that the Sri Lankan government needs to declare it a spectator sport and collect some additional taxes!  The latest news of a speech given by a woman by the name Valerie Fowler from the US embassy at the graduation day of the ‘College of Journalism’ is particularly revealing in terms of the extent to which they are engaging in undermining the stability and future... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

Upcoming General Elections in Sri Lanka:What It May or May Not Achieve
By Darmitha
On January 26th 2010 gave President Mahinda Rajapakse another term of office as The Executive President of Sri Lanka. It is envisaged, that all economic and social ills which were sidelined during the previous term which had a major objective of eliminating the country of terrorism which he did, much to the consternation & dismay of worldwide pro-LTTE supporters but the military but humanitarian victory brought the much needed psychological relief to all those who live in the North and East (who suffered silently for 30 years for fear of death and torture) as well as the... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

බෑන්, චූන් වීම නොහොත් ලංකාව බෙල්ලේ එල්ලා ගත් ජගත් මහ ලේකම්-ජගත් සංවිධානය නමැති හොර බලලා ගේ බෙල්ලේ සීනුවක් බැන්ඳ යුතු කාලය
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
යූ.එන්.ඕ. මහලේකම් බෑන් ඔහුගේ තනි මොළයට කරගත නොහැකි නිසා ඊට තව මොළ කීපයක් ඈඳා ගැනීමට ලංකාව ගැන උපදේශක මන්ඩලයක් පත් කර ගන්නට තිරණය කලාලු.  යුනෙස්කෝ, ලෝක සවුක්‍ය සංවිධානය, ලෝක කම්කරු සංවිධානය වැනි කීපයකින් කල සේවාවට අමතරව මේ යූ.එන්.ඕ. කියන්නේ බටහිර රටවල් තවදුරටත් පරන යටත් විජිත පාලනය කරගෙන් යෑමට අටවා ගත් උපක්‍රමයයි.     මෙම ආයතනය කෙතරම් සවුත්තු තැනක් ද යත් එය ඈතුලේ සිට ටෙලිෆෝන් කෝල් එකක් වත් ගන්නේ නැත. ඊට හේතුව එය බග් කර තිබීමය. මේ ආයාතනයේ මහ ලේකම් කියන්නේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම අදහන සුදු ගැත්තෙකුට දෙන රක්‍ෂාවටය. තායිලන්තයෙන් යූ තාන්ට් හා ඊජිප්තුවෙන් බුට්‍රොස් බුට්‍රොස් ඝාලි ද මේ තනතුරට... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

අනේ ඔබ කවදාක බිහි වෙයිද මේ රටේ?
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ආයුබෝවන් අපි ඔබතුමාට පලමුව ස්තුථිවන්ත වෙනවා අපට මේ අවස්ථාව ලබාදීම සම්බන්ධව. මේ වනවිට ඔබ නවක තරුණ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු බවට පත්වී හමාරයි. මේ ජයග්‍රහණය ඔබ දකින්නේ මොනවිදියකටද? ඕනෑම මනුෂ්‍යයකු තරගයකදී බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ ජයග්‍රහණයයි. මේ වනවිට මම ඒ ජයග්‍රහණය ලබාගෙන සිටිනවා; මේ ජයග්‍රහණය මගේ ජීවිතයේ එක්තරා කඩඉමක් පමණයි. තව දිනා ගැනීමට කරුණු කාරනා රාශියක් තියෙනවා. ඔබ තරුණ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් වශයෙන් ඔබගේ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සිටින තරුණ තරුණීයන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්න වලට මුල් තැනක් දෙන්න සිදුවේවි ඒ සදහා ඔබතුල ඇති සැලස්ම කුමක්ද? ඔබ කිව් ලෙසම මම තරුණ මන්ත්‍රී වරයෙක්. නමුත් මම මේ දිස්ත්‍රික්යේ සිටින තරුණ තරුණීයන්ගේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා නොවෙයි. සන්ධානයේ ජයග්‍රහණය උදෙසා චන්දය දුන් සියලු... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

"හාමුදුරුවනේ අපිත් හෙළ උරුමයේ තමයි"- සුසිල් ප්‍රේම්ජයන්ත් ඈමතිතුමා
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
දැන් හැමෝම, රටම, හෙළ උරුමයේ ය කියමින් උද්දාම විය හැකිද යන්න හොඳින් ව්මසා බැලිය යුතුව. මීට හේතුව මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුවට එකතු වී සිටින කොටස් අතරේ පෙඩරල් වාදයට පක්‍ෂව ක්‍රියා කල බොහෝ අය සිටින නිසාය. මේ නිසා 13-ඒ කාරයන් හා පෙඩරල් කාරයින් පරදා, පලාත් සභා නමැති සුදු අලියා එලවා දමා දෙමළ නිජබිම් මිථ්‍යාව නීතියෙන්ද ඉවත් කරන තෙක් අපට උද්දාම වීමට නොහැකියැයි මම සිතමි. දෙමළ, සිංහල හා මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට සාධාරණය ඉටු කිරීමට 13-ඒ අවශ්‍ය නැත. දෙමළ ජනයා ඉල්ලන්නේ වතුර, පාරවල්, ඈලවල්, ගෙවල්, රක්‍ෂාවල් මිස ඊලම් හෝ පෙඩරල් හෝ නොවේ. ඊලම් ඉල්ලන්නේ මිලිබෑන්ඩ් හා රොබට් බ්ලේක් ය.       පෙඩරල් වාදී... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

Sri Lanka says no military officer quizzed over editor's murder
The Sri Lankan government has denied reports that the former head of the military intelligence was to be questioned over the assassination of a top newspaper editor. "There is no plan to question military intelligence over the incident," Lakshman Hulugalle, the director general of the Media Centre for National Security said on Saturday. He dismissed the story as a malicious attempt to discredit the government. Lasantha Wickrematunga, the editor of the pro-opposition " Sunday Leader" was murdered on a highway in January 2009. The police investigation on the murder has made slow progress. No accused had yet been nabbed by... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 07/03/10)

Fonseka begins hunger strike
General Sarath Fonseka, a former commander of the Sri Lankan army and a defeated presidential candidate, has begun a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention by military forces. Fonseka began the strike on Sunday after authorities barred him from using a telephone, members of his political party said in a statement. The statement said a court had permitted Fonseka to use phones provided by his wife. But during her last visit on Saturday, the army told her that the right had been withdrawn.... -Full Story- (english.aljazeera.net - 07/03/10)

“India's help to Sri Lanka on resettlement of IDPs will continue”
COLOMBO: Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa here on Sunday and exchanged views on a whole range of issues of mutual interest to both the countries in general and the ongoing rehabilitation of war-displaced Tamil civilians in particular. Ms. Rao is here on a three-day visit on the invitation of the Sri Lankan government to the island nation. Her visit comes a few days after the External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha in a written answer that the war in the island nation was over but the search for a political... -Full Story- (The Hindu - 07/03/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—16-TIKI-TOURING NORTH ISLAND: FROM CAPITAL CITY TO BIG CITY
By Shelton A. Gunaratne 2010
On arrival in Wellington (current population 386,000), the capital and the third largest city in New Zealand, Monday (21 Dec. 1981) evening, we—my almost 2-year-old son Junius, wife Yoke-Sim and I—checked into the now defunct Waterloo Hotel. After dinner, I went for a stroll from Boulcott Street, down Willis Street, to Vivian Street. Wellington is approximately 400 km northeast of Christchurch on the South Island, which we toured since 12 Dec. Now the contrasts between the two islands were gradually becoming clear to us. The South Island is dominated by the mighty Southern Alps... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

UN Secretary General Apparently Wallowing In Muddied Bias In Requesting Accountability From The President Of Sri Lanka
Insight By Sunil Kumar March 7th 2010
Quite within reason and well within the independent jurisdiction and jurisprudence of Sovereign Sri Lanka,  President Mahinda Rajapaksa has objected to the intention of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to appoint a panel of experts to advise him (Mr. Ban) on Sri Lanka and has said the move was totally uncalled for.  While the President's response that Moon's request is not only uncalled for, given the facts available indicating many conflicts of interest surrounding the ever bungling Ban Ki Moon and his forays into what he mistakenly beleives is within his jurisdiction he also seems to be... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

Sri Lanka: a fresh call to investigate alleged war crimes
Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
March 6, 2010 Ms. Navanetham Pillay United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais Wilson 52 rue des Paquis; CH1201 Geneva, Switzerland Dear Ms. Navi Pillay: You sure haven’t given up wanting to nag, bully and beat-up Sri Lanka with a fresh call to investigate the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka during the latter stages of the Eelam War IV before the Tamil Tigers were annihilated on 18 May last year after ruling their de-facto Eelam for 30 years. Your insistence is certainly getting... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

UN PANEL OF EXPERTS
Janaki Chandraratna – Perth, Australia
Un Secretary General has informed the Sri Lankan Govt. of his intention to set up a panel of experts to advise him on the way forward on the accountabilities of Sri Lankan issues.  It is pretty obvious that the Presidential elections had confirmed to the main players of the West (US, Britain and the European Union) that Sri Lankans were overwhelmingly supportive of the war against terrorism. They also believe the parliamentary elections would validate the anti terrorist support, despite the offer of higher wages and promises to cut down the cost of living... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

මනමාලියට මඟුල් ගෙදරදීම බබෙක් ලැබීම
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
    ඊයේ ටෙලිවිෂන් එකෙන් මා දුටු වේ අපූරු කථාවකි. මනමාලියක් වේල් එක දමා ගෙන හිට ගෙන නෑ මිත්‍රයින් ඉදිරිපිට මංගල උත්සවය කරගෙන යද්දී විලි රුදාව ඈතිවී දරුවෙක් ලැබීමට ඉස්පිරිතාලයට ගෙන ගිය බවය. මංගල කේක් එක කැපීමට නොලැබීම ගැන ඈය පසුව කණගාටු වූවාය. ඒ ඈරුනු විට ඈයත්, මනමාලයාත්, ටෙලිවිෂන් එකේ කාන්තාවත් මේ උදාර  වැඩේ ගැන සන්තෝෂය ප්‍රකාශ කලේය. මේවා මේ අබුද්ධස්ස කාලයේ හැටිය. සුද්දන්ට, රොබට් බ්ලේක්ලාට, මිලිබෑන්ඩ්ලාට ආවඩන කොළඹ කළු සුද්දන් ද මේ කතාව ඈසුනොත් උදාර වැඩක් කියා කියනවා නිසැකය.     ඊට දවසකට පමණ කලින් මා දුටුවේ ස්විස්ටර්ලන්තයේ උපත් පාලනය (බර්ත් කන්ට්‍රෝල්) කාර්‍යක්‍ෂම කිරීම සඳහා ගත් තීරණයක් ගැනය.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

Ref: Responding on comments on What Mahinda Should Be Doing
Sunil Vijayapala Oxley, Australia
Dear Sir,   I sincerely feel I should respond to some of the comments made by Lanka Peiris, in your prestigious journal (Oh what an outlet for desperados like us) on my article on What Mahinda Should Be Doing.   I truly respect the views of Lanka and observations made by him/her (I am confused of the gender).  However I need to clarify a single point as I take Anglo Saxons as a whole be it the American, English, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand variety, although I targeted and focused in this instance the English specifically along with... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 07/03/10)

UN Chief’s move on Lanka rejected
Daily News
President Mahinda Rajapaksa informed the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Friday the move to appoint an expert panel to advise him on Sri Lanka was ‘totally uncalled for and unwarranted.’ In a telephone conversation with the UN Chief the President has emphasized, in the backdrop where there is no such action against countries with continuing armed conflicts, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and mass scale civilian deaths, the UNSG’s action was unprecedented. He has also stressed that ‘Sri Lanka looked forward to treatment as per the United Nations Charter that provides for equal treatment to... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 06/03/10)

Germans arrest 6 suspected of rebel Tamil support
BERLIN
German police have arrested six people suspected of membership in the local wing of the banned Tamil Tiger rebel organization. Federal prosecutors said in a statement Friday that the three German citizens and three Sri Lankan nationals were accused of serving in the leadership of the "Tamil Coordination Committee" in western Germany. The committee is a wing of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were defeated in 2009 after 25 years of civil war in Sri Lanka. The Tigers are listed as terrorists by the European Union. Prosecutors allege that the six were forcing Tamils living in Germany to... -Full Story-
(businessweek.com - 06/03/10)

Arrested Maoist's links with LTTE, ULFA under probe
Indrani Dutta KOLKATA: The West Bengal police will probe the links of arrested Maoist leader Venkatesh Reddy with the LTTE, the ULFA and Kashmiri militants. “There were inputs from the central Intelligence Bureau on this and we will probe his connections with such terrorist groups during our interrogation,” Director-General of Police Bhupinder Singh told The Hindu. Reddy, also known as Deepak, was nabbed here on March 2 and had been in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department since then. An IB team and a police team from Andhra Pradesh were also interrogating Deepak, wanted in several cases in the... -Full Story- (The Hindu - 06/03/10)

India envoy in Colombo to push for Tamil plan
India’s foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with Sri Lanka’s president on resolving the grievances of the island’s Tamil minority this weekend, an official source said yesterday. New Delhi has been pushing for political power-sharing between Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese and the Tamils since Sri Lankan troops crushed Tamil Tiger rebels last May, ending a nearly four-decade-long civil war. India, with its large Tamil population in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, shares close cultural and religious links with Sri Lanka.... -Full Story- (Gulf Times - 06/03/10)

Sri Lankan Leader Rejects U.N. Plan to Study Abuses
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president has rejected a United Nations plan to appoint a panel of experts to look into allegations of human rights abuses in the nation’s civil war, a statement from the president’s office said Saturday. In a phone conversation on Friday evening, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that such a step was “totally uncalled for and unwarranted,” the statement said. In New York, Mr. Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, confirmed that the secretary general had told Mr. Rajapaksa he intended to form a panel to “advise him on the... -Full Story- (nytimes.com - 06/03/10)

"Mercenary shot Hammarskjold
OsloNew data now sheds further light on the theory that the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld not killed in air crash in 1961 in Northern Rhodesia but was murdered by a soldier after the accident. Print Text Size 0 comments 1 Blogs 0Recommendations Share with others:DN Themes in this articleRed Cross Hammarskjöld's many enemiesSwede Dag Hammarskjöld, who was the second United Nations Secretary General, had many enemies. Above all, it was the major powers, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union, which during the 50th century became increasingly dissatisfied with Hammarskjold. He had been elected in 1953 to... -Full Story- (dn.se - 06/03/10)

බෙල්ජියමය ලුමුම්බා ඝාතනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධව සමාව අයදී.Belgium apologized for the killing of Lumumba
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
වර්තමානයේදී ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී කොන්ගෝ ජනරජය නමින් හදුන්වන රාජ්‍යයේ ප්‍රථම අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වූ පැට්රිස් ලුමුම්බා මහතාව 1961දී ඝාතනය කිරීමට දායක වීම සම්බන්ධව තමන්ගේ බලවත් කණගාටුව බෙල්ජියම් රජය පලකර සිටී. තම රජයේ බලවත් කණගාටුව, පැට්රිස් ලුමුම්බා මහතාගේ පවුලේ උදවියට හා මෙම ක්‍රියාව හේතුවෙන් පීඩාවිදි කොංගෝ ජනතාවට පුදකල යුතු බවට තම රජය විශ්වාස කරන බවට, බෙල්ජියම් විදේශ ඇමති ලුවිස් මයිකල් මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කලේය.පැට්රික් ලුමුම්බාගේ පුත් ෆ්‍රැන්කොයිස් මහතා(වම් පස) බෙල්ජියම් විදේශ ඇමතිවරයාගේ නිල සමාව අයදීමට සවන් දුන් අවස්ථාව.  Son of Patrice Lumumba, Francois (left) listened to an official apology from Louis Michel (right) මයිකල් මහතා මෙම ප්‍රකාශය නිකුත් කරන ලද්දේ, බෙල්ජියම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

ඌරාගේ මාළු උගේම ඈඟ උඩ තබා කැපීමට කදිම අවස්ථාවක්
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
ලංකාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පා-රිලා මේන්තුවක් වුනා යැයි දැනට අවුරුදු 23 කට පෙර ලියූ සටහනක් චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසින් ලංකාවෙබ් අඩවියට එවා තිබුනි.  ජේ.ආර්.ජේ. විසින් මන්ත්‍රීන්ලාගෙන් දින රහිත ඉල්ලා අස්වීමේ ලිපි අත්සන් කර ගැනීම අහිකුංන්ඨකයා රිලව් නටවනවා වගේ වැඩක් යැයි ඔහු සිතුවේය. 1978 ට පසු ලංකාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව බල්ලට ගියා කියා ද කිව හැකිය. උත්තරීතර ආයතනයක් හොරුන්ගෙන්, දාමරිකයින්ගෙන් හා පගා මරුවන්ගෙන් පිරුනු තැනක් ලෙස විනාශයට දම්මේ ජේ. ආර් ජේ. ය.     ඉන්දියාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මිනීමරුවන්ද සිටි බව පසු ගිය කාලයේ වාර්තා විය. එංගලන්ත පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීන් හැම දෙනාම වාගේ රජයේ මුදල් වංචා ලෙස ගෙන මේ නොබෝ දා එලිවිය. ඈමෙරිකාවේ සෙනෙට් සභිකයින් හා කොන්ග්‍රස්... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

බලු (නොවන) තීන්දු හා හිටපු අග විනිසුරු සරත් සිල්වා
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
    බොහෝ කාලයකට පෙර මගේ යාළුවෙක් බද්දේගම ඒ.ජී.ඒ. ව සිටියේය. හොර දැව ජාවාරමක් ඈල්ලීමට ක්‍රියා කිරීමේදී ඔහුට පෙනීගියේ ඒ පැත්තේ ලොකුම පොලිස් නිලධාරියාම ඒ ජාවාරමට හවුල් බවය. තුවක්කුවක් ඈඳ ලඟ තබාගෙන නිදා ගැනීමට ඔහුට සිදු විය (මරන භය). ඔහු මට කිව් තවත් කතාවක් නම් බද්දේගම මහේස්ත්‍රාත් උසාවිය ගැනය. නඩු කාරයාටත්, විත්තිකාරයින්ටත් යාමට තිබුනේ එකම චූ කරන එකට (යුරිනල්) බවත්, ඒ සඳහා සමහර විට පෝලිමේ  සිටීමට සිදුවන බවත් ඔහු කිව්වේය. නඩු කාරයාත්, විත්තිකාරයාත් දෙන්නාටම ඈත්තේ එකම  ආකාරයේ ශරීර ය. නමුත් මේ කථාව මට අදහා ගත නොහැකි දෙයක් විය. නඩු කාරයා කලු ලෝගුවක් දා ගෙන ඉන්නේ, හිස වසා ගෙන... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

උණ පුරුකේ දැමූ බලු වලිගයක් වැනි වූ දෙමළ දේශපාලක ආනන්ද සංගාරී
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
ආනන්ද සංගාරී ඔහුගේ ටී. යූ. එල්. එෆ්. චන්ද ප්‍රකාශනය දොරට වඩම්මා ඈත. ඔහු වයසට ගියේ බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලනයත් සමඟමය. ඔහු නොනැටූ නැටුමක් නැත. නොගැසූ පදයක් ද නැත. සිංහල ආණ්ඩුවේ මිලිටරි ටැන්කි නිසා නොවේ නම් ඔහු අමිර්තලිංගම් ගිය දිව්‍ය ලෝකයට ගොස් බොහෝ කල් වීමට තිබුණි. ඔහුටත්, ඩග්ලස් දේවනන්දටත් ආණ්ඩුව සරණං ගච්චාමි ම විය. අඩු ගනනේ ඔහුට යාපනයට නෑදෑ ගමනක් වත් යෑමට ඉඩක් නොතිබුනි. මේ නිසා ආනන්ද සංගාරී ජීවිතයෙන් පාඩම් ඉගෙන ගත්තාය කියා අපි සිතු වෙමු. බලාපොරොත්තු වුනෙමු.     නමුත් ඔහුගේ චන්ද ප්‍රකාශනයෙන් පෙනෙන්නේ ඔහු උණ පුරුකේ දැමූ බලු වලිගයක් වගේ බවය. දෙමළ ජනයාටත්, ඔහුව රැක දුන් සිංහල ජනයාටත්... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

Piyal Parakrama
Sri Lankanews
Sri Lanka Leading Environmentalist , Mr Piyal Parakrama was passed away  3rd March after a sudden illness. He was one of leading figures behind the three decades of contemporary Environmental protection struggle/ movement in Sri Lanka. His Funeral procession will be held on Tomorrow ; Saturday 6th march 2010 in Borella public cemetery..time 16:30 hrs For further information please check http://perambara.org/featured/2010/03/piyal (special appreciation to Ms Anupa for writing this blog) What a enormous  loss for the nation..... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

BLAKE,MILIBAN,SOLHIEM HOW MUCH YOU HAVE BEEN PAID TO HARASS MY MOTHERLAND.
Ranjit Wickremeratne 
From the day our current President became the President of my motherland you guys are harassing our Government and the people in various forms WHY? There should be a reason which I cannot understand. President Bush told many times that any country harbours and supports terrorists or terrorism were guilty as the terrorists. We never supported any terrorism in any form anywhere in the world and faced terrorism for more than thirty years in our lives.Thanks to our President and to our war heros for freeing our motherland from terror.So now you three stupids what else you want from us? After... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

Petition to Promote Access to Vote for Sri Lankan’s Abroad
Press Release Media Secretary
Mr. Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Justice and Law Reform, and the leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress (SLNC), a constituent party of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has launched a website www.slnc.org dedicated to ‘Promoting Access to Vote for Sri Lankan’s Abroad.’ recently. At the launch SLNC stated that “The Vote” is a universal human right. In a democracy there is nothing more fundamental than having the right to vote. However, millions of individuals in our country are unable to exercise this right simply because they are not physically present in Sri... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

CORRUPT UNO FAILED TO INVESTIGATE - CORRUPT UP TO THE EYE BALL
By Stanley Perera
There has been worldwide outcry accusing UNO ambassadors of corruption and calling for an independent inquiry. UNO does not seem to be much perturbed and not interested in the world opinion. Until an independent inquiry into the allegations of corruptions by the UNO’s ambassadors is completed those corrupt men and women must be removed from their posts. That is the proper procedure to be implemented. UNO is guilty in not investigating into the allegations brought against its corrupt officers. At least UNO made no attempt to discipline the said officers. Perhaps UNO is lacking of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 05/03/10)

EXERCISE YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY TO THE NATION Help Establish a Stable Government with 2/3 majority.
A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.
The people of the country gave a mammoth victory to President Mahinda Rajapakse in the recent Presidential Election defeating the conspiratorial anti-national elements brought together by the persuasion and financing of the international and Tamil diaspora rogues, expressing their gratitude for eradicating the terrorist menace from this country and articulating their trust that President Rajapakse is the only person who could develop this nation and re-establish the pristine glory of this country destroyed and lost following the invasion of western imperialists, and erroneous policies of the imperialist stooges who ruled the country in the past.   The... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 04/03/10)

“Preserving and lifting the Image of a Nation”
Sarath Wijesinghe Senior Solicitor Senior Attorney –at- law - Former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority –

Image building
 Image building of Nationhood is paramount to a “Nation” in the world family which needs respect and recognition of the colleges of the group of Nations. Nation is a territory or country as a political entity or a grouping of people who share real or imaginary common history culture language or ethnic origin often seeking or possessing its own government” There is no dispute that we are rich in culture, values, warmth with full of smiles, peaceful peace... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 04/03/10)

Tamil self-determination? Destination Tamil Nadu (Tamil Country)
Anura Seneviratna, Janaka Alahapperuma, Dr MB Ranatunga, Sumith de Silva, Asanka Haradasa, Ira Mediwake, Sapumal Watteaarachchige, Ranjith Wijetunge,  Sam Samararatne (for expat Hela team).
Supposedly, terror was swept away recently in Heladiva (Sri Lanka) but it was worse than terror, an attempted undercover invasion of the Sovereign Island to form a second Tamil Nadu and the extinction of the Hela/Sinhela Nation. Sri Lanka is a misnomer, Heladiva (island of Helas/Sinhelas) is the authentic name as a country’s name must be the nation’s name to identify its national sovereign ownership, which is inviolable as the basic human... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 04/03/10)

Parliamentary Elections 2010: A Turnaround Challenge for NE Tamils? An Interesting Viewpoint
By Jolly Somasundram former Civil Servant.
"The time has come the Walrus said to talk of many things -of sailing ships and sealing wax and ---whether pigs have wings."  Lewis Carroll, Walrus and the Carpenter.    So with the Tamil Leaders! After years of politically representing and leading the NE Tamils, with the external assistance of the Diaspora, the Tamil Leaders have now led the marginalized NE Tamils to an arid future. In the 2010 Presidential Elections, NE Tamil leaders- betting with an unerring certainty on the wrong horse- converted an already dispirited people into an irrelevancy.   It... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 04/03/10)

Sri Lanka’s NORTH & EAST are not the PANAMA CANAL ZONE,Madam Ambassador
by hela puwath
WHY IS US EMBASSY (USAID ) BUTTING-IN  TO TAMIL LAND OWNERSHIP ISSUES?  Rebecca Cohn, and Ambassador Butenis, why is the US Embassy (USAID) involved in Tamil land ownership issues?  What business has the US in Sri Lanka’s Land issues?  And why is the Sri Lanka government allowing the US to interfere in the internal affairs of our country? Isn’t Sri Lanka a sovereign nation?  U.S. IS NOT SURE ABOUT OUR AUTHORITY & ABILITY TO SOLVE LAND ISSUES  –  “occupation of land by non-original owners”  The Us embassy says, “This study tour will focus on land tenure... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 03/03/10)

Sri Lanka needs to consider enforcing a cricketing boycott against Australia’s Apartheid
Ajit Randeniya
The decision by the European Union (EU) to send an ambassador named ‘Savage’ to Sri Lanka appears deliberate, and in recognition of the fact that the former colonisers’ are in fact a group of barbarians yet to learn the ways of civilised human interaction.  The savage who is representing EU in Sri Lanka has now announced that he hopes to initiate ‘high level dialogue’ with the Sri Lankan government, after the General Elections, on working towards ‘retaining the GSP plus trade concessions’: the EU now wants to ‘move towards revising the recommendations of the European Commission’ which... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 03/03/10)

පරසතුරු බෙල්ජියම් උගුලට අසු නොවෙමු.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
රජයට අලුත්ම යෝජනාවක් බෙල්ජියම් රජයෙන් ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇති බවක් අසන්නට ලැබේ. "කපිතාන් ෂාන් සිල්වා බෙල්ජියානු අධිකරණයට අවශ්‍ය අයකු බැවින් ඔහු වහාම බ්‍රසල්ස් නුවරට පිටුවහල් කරන්නැයි බෙල්ජියානු ජාත්‍යන්තර පොලිස්‌ ශාඛාව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසියෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත." පෙනෙන විදියට මොහුව බෙල්ජියමට බාරදුන්නොත්, මිනිහගෙ කෑලිවත් ඉතුරු කරන්නෙ නැති ගානයි. තවද එම ප්‍රකාශයට අනුව මොහුට වසර දෙකක සිර දඩුවම් නියමව තිබියදී ඔහු පැනගොස් තිබේ. පුවතේ දැක්වෙන හැටියට අපට සිතන්නට වන එක් කරුණක් වන්නේ, මොහු බෙල්ජියම් හිරගෙදරිනුත් පැන, එම රටෙනුත් පැන ගොස් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණ ඇති බවයි. එය එසේ සිදුවීනම්, එම ක්‍රියාදාමයම බෙල්ජියම වැනි අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී, පලමුවන ලෝකයේ රටකට වී ඇති මදි පුංචි කමකි.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 03/03/10)

රටම රැවටූ උඩරට ගිවිසුම ජාතික ලේඛනාගාරයේ ඇති උඩරට ගිවිසුමේ මුල් පිටපත......
ලලිත් ගුණවර්ධන ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්‌ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සහකාර අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ
1796 දී මෙරට මුහුදුබඩ පළාත් ලන්දේසීන්ගෙන් අල්ලාගත් ඉංග්‍රීසිහු උඩරටට ඇතුළුව 1815 පෙබරවාරි 18 වැනි දින ශ්‍රී වික්‍රම රාජසිංහ රජු අල්ලා ගැනීමත් සමග සමස්‌ත දිවයිනේම ස්‌වාමීත්වයට පත්වූහ. 1796 සිට 1815 දක්‌වා ලංකාවේ මුහුදුබඩ පළාත් පාලනයට ඔවුන්ට ගිවිසුම් හෝ සම්මුතීන් අවශ්‍ය නොවූවත් 1815 දී උඩරට යටත් කිරීමත් සමග මෙවැනි ගිවිසුමක්‌ අවශ්‍ය වූයේ එවකට බලවත්ව සිටි උඩරට සිංහල ප්‍රධානීන් අවනතව තබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය වූ හෙයිනි. සිංහල ප්‍රධානීන් වටා ජනතාවද, ආගමද, සිංහල සිරිත් විරිත්ද, සම්ප්‍රදායන්ද ඇඳී බැඳී තිබුණ හෙයින් දෙපාර්ශ්වීය ගිවිසුමක අවශ්‍යතාව ඉංග්‍රීසිහු වටහාගෙන සිටියහ. ශ්‍රී වික්‍රම රාජසිංහ රජු අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන සති දෙකක්‌ යැමට පෙර උඩරට... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 03/03/10)

Admiral Sarath Weerasekera contesting for the parliament seat from Digamadulla district
Sri Lanka news
Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, after successful completion of his duties as the Director General of the Sri Lanka Civil Defence Force has decided to enter politics and will contest for the parliament seat from Digamadulla district. Admiral Weerasekera served our country for 35 years as a Naval officer and acted as the chief of staff before retiring from the navy. Rear Admiral Weerasekera effected many changes in the Civil Defence Force (CDF) after he was appointed as the Director General of the Civil Defence Force by defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse. He took the challenge of... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 03/03/10)

Fonseka to be tried in military court
Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka, who has been arrested on conspiracy charges, will face a court martial, the military has announced and said that over 25 people have already given evidence against the General. 59-year-old Fonseka will be tried in a military court, military spokesman Maj Gen Prasad Samarasinghe said.The summary of evidence is now being prepared in the case, he told a TV channel. Samarasinghe said the General, who retired in November last year, was taken into custody as per military laws for an offence committed while he was in service, the government's website reported. The court... -Full Story- (Deccan Herald - 03/03/10)

China emerges as Sri Lanka's top lender in 2009
COLOMBO (AFP) – China has emerged as Sri Lanka's biggest single lender in 2009, overtaking the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the treasury said Wednesday. China lent 1.2 billion dollars to build roads, a coal power project and a port in the island's south last year, more than half the total of 2.2 billion dollars in foreign aid in 2009. Project loans accounted for 1.9 billion dollars of the total, with another 279.6 million dollars in grants, the treasury said ahead of the 2010 budget. Western donors have curbed aid to Sri Lanka over human rights issues and... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 03/03/10)

Former Lankan cricket captain detained, questioned, house searched
Former Sri Lankan cricket captain and opposition member Hashan Tillakaratne was questioned by the police and his house searched in connection with investigations against former army chief Sarath Fonseka on Wednesday. Fonseka was arrested on February 8 for conspiracy and treason and is in military custody. A top officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told HT that they had information that Tillakaratne was harbouring Fonseka’s son-in-law, Danuna Tillekeratne, who is on the run from the police for several days now. "We had information that Hashan was harbouring Danuna in a house in Peliyandala (a Colombo suburb). We didn’t need... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 03/03/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—15-TIKI-TOURING NEW ZEALAND: EXPLORING THE EAST OF SOUTH ISLAND
By Shelton A. Gunaratne c 2010
In New Zealand, the West (in the sense of Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young man”) refers to the West Coast of the South Island—the area to the west of the Alpine range that you can penetrate through the Haast Pass on Highway 6, Arthur’s Pass on Highway 73, or Lewis Pass on Highway 7. The 600 km coastal strip between Kahurangi Point in the north and Awarua Point in the south encompassing an area of 23,336 square km is called the West Coast. With only 32,800 people, it is the most sparsely populated... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

පා-රිලාමේන්තුව
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි
මෙම කෙටි සටහන මා ලේඛණ ගත කලේ මීට වසර 32 කට පෙරය. එනම් ජේ. ආර් ජයවර්ධන මහතා 1977 දී බලය ලබාගෙන, සෑම පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයකුගෙන්ම දිනයක් නොදැමූ අත්සන් කල මන්ත්‍රී කමෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීමේ ලිපියක් ලබා ගැනීම හේතුවෙණි. මේ වනවිට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාද එවැනිම ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් අනුගමනය කර ඇතැයි පැවසේ, එදා මා ලේඛණගත කල ලිපිය මෙදා පෙරට ආවේ එම හේතුවෙණි. ඒ මෙසේය. අහිකුණ්ඨකයාගේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සිගා කෑමය. හිගා කෑමට අමතරව නයෙක් හෝ රිලවෙක් නටවා කීයක් හරි හම්භ කර ගැනීමද කරයි. නයාව පං කූඩයේ දමාගෙන ගියද, රිලවා කුඩා ලණුවකින් හෝ දම්වැලකින් ගැටගසාගෙන යාම අහිකුණ්ඨක සංස්කෘතියයි. අහිකුණඨකයාට රිලවා මහා අනර්ග වස්තුවකි.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

US Ambassador Teaching Lanka how to become an EAST TIMOR
by hela puwath
U.S. Government takes Sri Lankan officials on land study tour to Timor-Leste    http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/pr-25feb10.html    Feb 26, Colombo: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is taking 13 government officials from central and provincial ministries on a 7-day study tour to learn how land ownership issues are being resolved in Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor), a country recovering from conflict. USAID, the development agency of the U.S. Embassy, supports efforts to address land ownership issues in areas of Sri Lanka affected by the conflict. Why don’t Madam Ambassador Butenis and USAID send these Tamil... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

What Mahinda should be doing
Sunil Vijayapala Oxley, Australia
1.         Create a separate Ministry for Development of North and East to show his commitment and seriousness to Tamils and Muslims.  Appoint joint Ministers from minorities to head a team of experts from all fields.   2.         Our greatest enemy for the last two hundred years was Britain.  Sever all diplomatic connections with this country and close down the British High Commission.  This will once and for all settle the issue of English myth propagated by them and by the seeds they sew in Sri Lanka, the Christians and to a certain degree the Catholics and... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

LOOKING TOWARDS OBAMA
ALI SUKHANVER
The war against Pakistan’s nuclear program seems more vibrant and more violent and certainly more popular than the international war against terrorism. These two wars are being headed by two different countries separately; one is the super power of today and the other is aspiring to be the super power of tomorrow. The most interesting fact is that both these countries, the USA and India are apparently fighting on different fronts but inwardly they have the same target; same aim and the same object; the one and the only Pakistan.  It is a very common feeling in... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

Fresh attack on Indian, Sri Lankan in Australia
Melbourne, Mar 2, (PTI):
In a fresh incident of violence against Asians in Australia, a Sri Lankan man and his Indian wife were attacked and racially abused by a group of drunken men at their home here. A group of 25 drunken thugs bashed up 60-year-old Ranjit Sahasranaman, who is married to Indian-origin Agalya Sahasranaman, outside his own home in Carrams Down suburb on Sunday morning. Sahasranaman, a Sri Lankan national, revealed his over two-and-a-half hour ordeal of how he fought back with the thugs till police arrived and dispersed them, the Herald Sun reported today.... -Full Story-
(Deccan Herald - 02/03/10)

Minister of Justice Milinda Moragoda meets with Jaffna Bar Association Members
Press Release Media Secretary
Lawyers from the Jaffna Bar Association met with Justice and Law Reform Minister Milinda Moragoda on Monday to discuss issues connected with the implementation of justice in Jaffna. This dialogue was part of the Northern Justice Initiative launched by the Ministry to address issues connected to the justice system in the post-conflict period. The initiative is supervised by a committee chaired by Supreme Court Justice K. Sirpavan and supported by the UNDP.  The Asian Development Bank has also extended a sum of US$7 million (rs 800 million) to build new courthouses in the Jaffna peninsula.... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 02/03/10)

S.Lanka probe army officers over editor's murder
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lankan police are to question dozens of military intelligence officers in connection with the internationally condemned assassination of a senior editor, a spokesman said Tuesday. Investigations into the January 2009 slaying of Lasantha Wickrematunga, chief editor of the anti-establishment Sunday Leader, had led them to military personnel, said police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody. Sri Lanka's opposition and rights groups had blamed the government for the killing of Wickrematunga, a staunch critic of the military campaign that eventually led to the crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year. President Mahinda Rajapakse has denied that his administration was... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 02/03/10)

Fresh attack on Indian, Sri Lankan in Oz
Natasha Chaku, Press Trust Of India
Natasha Chaku, Press Trust Of India... -Full Story-
(Hindustan Times - 02/03/10)

Emergency extended in Sri Lanka
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has extended emergency laws by another month invoking powers conferred on him under the Executive Presidency. The validity of the emergency regulations extended by Parliament, which was dissolved on February 10 in the run up to the general election scheduled on April 8, expired on the mid-night of March 1. Under the Constitution, emergency laws can be passed only by Parliament and they are valid for a period of one month. The latest extension of the emergency laws would have to be endorsed by Parliament within a period of one month.... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 02/03/10)

Sri Lanka to call back parliament to extend emergency
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa will reconvene the island nation's dissolved parliament on March 9 to extend an emergency law by another month ahead of parliamentary polls in April, officials said on Tuesday. The government has yet to lift the powerful wartime emergency regulations that give it wide powers of arrest and detention without trial despite an end to the 25-year war against Tamil Tiger rebels last May. Opposition parties have complained the government is using the emergency law to suppress them politically, but the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa says it is needed to mop up... -Full Story- (in.reuters.com - 02/03/10)

War-Stories on Sri Lanka
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne, 98088763
 Dateline To the Attention of George Negus  This refers to the War Stories on Sri Lanka on the attach link http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/600331/n/War-Stories And Afghanistan’s Bagram’s Creature Comforts video clips of 28/02/10. http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/600341/n/Bagram-s-Creature-Comforts  I believe Jinny Stien was sent to Sri Lanka, after Mr.George Negus inquired late last year from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Mr.Welgampaya in Canberra, whether visa could be obtained  If so, one would assume that the report would be on post War Sri Lanka. Lo and behold, it was a rerun of archived footage of the War with a note that, images may... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 01/03/10)

Milinda says change the political culture by getting more women in politics
Press Release - Media Sec. for Minister Milinda Moragoda
Women could play a vital role in bringing about a positive change in the political culture which prevails in Sri Lanka. However, unfortunately the number of women entering politics remains abysmally low. This was one of the views expressed by Leader of the Sri Lanka National Congress and UPFA candidate for Colombo Distract, Milinda Moragoda, at a neighborhood meeting with a group of residents from Kirulapona recently.  He emphasised that in order to get more women involved in the political process, special legislative measures should be put into place as... -Full Story-
(LankaWeb - 01/03/10)

Protest outside British embassy in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO (AFP) – Hundreds of Sri Lankan ruling party activists demonstrated outside the British High Commission in Colombo on Monday, denouncing what they called London's support for Tamil separatists abroad. The protestors handed in a petition protesting against British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's attendance last week at a meeting of expatriate Tamils whom Colombo accuses of being Tiger rebel sympathisers. Sri Lanka says the Global Tamil Forum, which was addressed by Miliband, is an umbrella organisation of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who were crushed in May last year.... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 01/03/10)

Lankan protests outside British mission in Colombo
PTI
Colombo: Scores of activists from Sri Lanka's ruling party on Monday staged a protest outside the British High Commission here against the presence of Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr David Miliband, at a conference which they claimed was organised by a pro-LTTE group. Holding placards titled 'puppet Tigers', 'No bullying please', 'down with global Tamil forum and 'hands off Sri Lanka', the protesters denounced Miliband's decision to address a meeting of Tamil expatriates in London last week. Sri Lankan government has described the Forum as sympathisers of LTTE that was defeated last May following the killing of its leader... -Full Story-
(deccanchronicle.com - 01/03/10)

Coconut water improves HDL level - Indian Journal
Shirley Wijesinghe
The Indian Coconut Journal revealed that drinking tender coconut water has a certain effect in improving “good cholesterol” HDL in the human body and is also a good source of electrolytes. It is rich in Chlorides, Potassium and Magnesium and has moderate amounts of sugar sodium and proteins. Good for you... -Full Story-
(Daily News - 01/03/10)

China elevates Panchen Lama to political body
Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: The Chinese government has appointed the 11th Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, to the country’s top legislative advisory body. His appointment comes amid Beijing’s efforts to further legitimise its contested selection of the monk, who analysts say may have a crucial role to play in the appointment of the current Dalai Lama’s successor. The 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, is a controversial figure. The 20-year-old monk was appointed by Beijing in place of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who was chosen as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama in 1995. Nyima disappeared... -Full Story-
(The Hindu - 01/03/10)


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