‘Indo-Lanka ties cordial despite Indian shift over resolution’-Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
Posted on March 22nd, 2012
Published: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 21:51 IST | Updated: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 22:40 IST Place: COLOMBO | Agency: PTI
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka’s ties with India remains cordial as they have been at all times, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said here on Wednesdau, as he pointed to “domestic political compulsions” for New Delhi’s change of stance on a US-sponsored resolution on alleged rights abuses.
Rajapaksa, the powerful younger brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was responding to India’s change of stance regarding the resolution sponsored by the US to censure Colombo for alleged human rights violations at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva.
Rajapaksa, who steered the government’s victorious military campaign against the LTTE, said Sri Lanka had noted the change of Indian stance from opposing country specific resolutions to a stance of supporting the US move.
“We have to understand the domestic political compulsions for the Indian government,” he said referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement in Lok Sabha that India was “inclined” to support the resolution.
The Congress-led UPA government is under huge pressure from its ally, the DMK, which has warned that it could withdraw its ministers from the cabinet if India either abstained or supported Sri Lanka during the vote on the US-sponsored resolution.
The resolution, which could be considered as early as Wednesday afternoon, has been dismissed by Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa said a visit to Tamil Nadu by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last year was a precursor to the American resolution against Sri Lanka.
He denied the accusations that government troops had deliberately targeted Tamil civilians in the no fire zones (NFZ) during the final stages of the ethnic conflict with the LTTE.
Western countries and international human rights groups have accused the Sri Lankan military of large-scale human rights violations during the war against the LTTE which ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.
International rights groups have alleged that up to 40,000 civilians died in the final months of Sri Lanka’s military campaign to crush the Tamil Tigers, who waged a bloody decades-long campaign for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
“We did not create our own NFZs. We declared areas where civilians concentrated as NFZs. Because we knew that the LTTE would not allow civilians whom they used as human shields to arrive into areas defined by us as NFZs,” Rajapaksa said.
He said the government had provided humanitarian assistance based on the information provided by the World Food Programme and other NGOs.
March 22nd, 2012 at 3:45 pm
L.J Says
What is insulting to every one of us who have self respect and are proud citizens of Sri Lanka is why our government has been and is and will be so subservient to India that treats us like dirt and whose aim is to annex our country. You say we might even agree to less than 20% return. I will not be surprised if our government agrees to 10% return to the master whose feet we have licked far too long. Have we forgotten the fact that it was India who created the LTTE to invade, occupy and annex our country? It was Prabakaran that restored our self respect when he kicked them out.
How many times have our ministers gone to India to pay their poojas? Our ministers are available for them to be summoned at any time. We are at their beck and call. Have we no shame? Have we no self respect? Just where do we stand in the international community of nations? Just one last comment. When Rahul Gandhi started his campaign which failed he did so with a statement something to the effect that he will put Sri Lanka in its proper place. The exact wording is available in the media.
Our people are intelligent. When they discover this subservient attitude what the future has in store for us will be quite uncertain.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:18 pm
We knew India was going to vote against us even before Tamil Nadu antics. I wrote and article to Lankaweb.
We must maintain good relations with India, USA and EU no matter what. However, we should not hesitate to do what needs to be done. That is the sticking point.
If they fall out with us over what we genuinely do for our own good, that is unfortunate of them.
Gotabhaya is the second to say this after Dinesh Gunawardena just hours after the resolution.
One major benefit of this resolution is it now closes the episode of Indian and US dictates of political solutions using a resolution as a stick. If UNHRC meets once a year there are 3 years (22nd session) to report back on the progress of the 3 points of the resolution. Sri Lanka should opt not to do any. UNHRC have to seek Security Council support to take any remedial action which obviously fails. That is where we should push this.
In the meantime, there are many avenues to disrupt or clawback what LLRC recommendations offer. The government should take from the right hand what it gives from the left to the Tamil community as it is highly discriminatory to benefit only one community at the expense of others.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:18 pm
LJ if you are serious, then start a grass roots movement to boycott INDIAN GOODS! It is simple distribute a leaflet in Sinhala Tamil and English; to the general public NOT TO BUY INDIAN GOODS. We can buy them from Pakistan. It is so much the administration can do, now the people must mobilize.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Running with it, Indians have killed the hare with the hounds and no point they are console Sri Lanka afterward. Indians have lost their clout in Sri Lanka for good.
I say, India may have forgotten but we remember very well that it is Tamils who tried to divide India long before Jinnah and still are lurking in the shade for an opportunity to finish the job. Pity, India does not know that it has lost a true relation for good.
India may have forgotten but we cannot forget that it is India that had raised a few rag tag Tamil thugs to be a world class terrorist organisation. India may have forgotten but we cannot forget that it is India that had invaded our air space and dropped lentils to bring fear upon JRJ and saved your terrorist creation Pira-pakaran as a part of your dirty game. India may have forgotten but we cannot forget that it is India that saved would be killers of Prime Minister Rajiv, President Premadasa, opposition leader Amirthalingam and tens thousands of innocent civilians in Sri Lanka. India may have forgotten but we cannot forget that it is India that had rammed India-Sri Lanka agreement and thereby the white elephant 13A down our throat that had vasted billions of rupees. India may have forgotten but we cannot forget that it is India that brought all these problems upon us to keep Sri Lanka as your vassal state.
Though Pira-pakaran had blasted their ex-PM Rajiv to pieces mighty as they portray though, India couldn’t touch even ass of that murderer. We Sri Lankans had to kill the killers for them. And this is how they pay back; ungrateful bastards. I propose we send them a ship load of cesspits for they have no toilets in Tamil Nadu.
Leela
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:48 pm
CORDIAL ties with the USA & India to remain INTACT?
You have GOT TO BE KIDDING! The USA is reigniting terrorism in Sri Lanka by giving oxygen to the separatists, and India, which initiated, funded and fostered Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, just STABBED US IN THE BACK … AGAIN … in Geneva!
And we are to “maintain cordial ties” as if nothing happened? BLOODY NONSENSE!
Instead, Sri Lanka should batten down the hatches, man the guns on the ramparts, gird up our loins, and prepare to OVERCOME TOUGH TIMES AHEAD without handing over our sovereignty to the VERY PEOPLE who are the source of our difficulties.
If we do that, the next steps taken by these VERY SAME ENEMIES will create SEVERE ECONOMIC HARDSHIP for Sri Lanka. We must prepare to face that just as our ancestors faced 400 years of European Colonialists. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO PROTECT & PRESERVE our FREEDOM and the INTEGRITY of our Motherland.
Here are a few things we should do in the years ahead:
1. REDUCE interactions and ties to the USA, including limiting DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION to only the US Embassy in Colombo, and the USEF. Reject USAID, and SHUT DOWN all Peace corps, “democracy building” and “human rights” assistance staffed by US and Local personnel. ALL of these latter activities are used to undermine and destabilize the nation. We no longer trust them.
2. REDUCE Indian DIPLOMATIC PRESENCE to the Indian Embassy in Colombo. Reject Indian assistance for Rehabilitation & Reconstruction of the North & East. Discourage Indian companies from doing business in Sri Lanka, and prohibit businesses incorporated in TamilNadu from doing ANY business in Sri Lanka. Redirect all purchases of Indian goods towards purchases from other nations that supported Sri Lanka at the UN.
3. Examine the activities of all international and local NGOs for destabilizing activities inimical to the preservation of peace and national security in Sri Lanka, including fake democracy building and fake human rights activities, missionary religious conversions, underhand promotion of separatism, and aid and assistance to specific communities based on communal considerations such as ethnicity, religion, language, and caste. Kick them all out of Sri Lanka!
4. Delete the 13th Amendment from Sri Lanka’s CONSTITUTION. That was ILLEGALLY imposed on Sri Lanka by India, under the threat of FORCE. Instead adopt a policy of Ethnic Integration as the central aspect of a broader policy of National Integration, passing the necessary laws to HOMOGENIZE the DEMOGRAPHY of Sri Lanka to ELIMINATE ETHNIC CONCENTRATIONS within Sri Lanka. Declare that Sri Lanka’s policy is NOT TO DEVOLVE ANY POWER on the basis of COMMUNAL ATTRIBUTES (race, religion, language, caste, sex) to ANY COMMUNITY that is not available EQUALLY tp ALL CITIZENS.
5. Dissolve Provincial Councils as a burdensome layer of unnecessary bureaucracy that creates sub-national regional entities that weaken the central government, threaten its control over national security, and raise barriers to national infrastructure development for the benefit of all citizens of Sri Lanka. Adopt DISTRICTS as the largest administrative units, and place them under direct control of the central government. Empower Members of Parliament, reporting to the central government, to represent local interests and to secure government assistance for their constituencies. Currently, MPs are underutilized but useless elected officials paid by the governments but having few responsibilities or adequate authority to work for the benefit of their constituents. Let us make better use of these people ELECTED by the people.
6. Increase DIPLOMATIC representation and commerce with other non-Western nations of the world, to develop symbiotic relationships to exchange resources, share technologies, help each other in security matters, and prevent victimization by Neocolonialists powers manipulating the United Nations.
7. Sri Lanka should examine its resource needs, and move to become self-sufficient in as many areas as possible. Let us strive to become self-sufficient in food, medicines, clothing, building materials, and energy. Energy for electricity generation and transportation, in particular, should be given special attention … for the price of oil and gas is likely to sky rocket in the future due to rising demand from developing economies, and wars created by Neocolonialists to capture these resources for their exclusive use. Import taxes should be ELIMINATED on ALL-ELECTRIC and HYBRID PLUG-IN ELECTRIC cars to drive Sri Lanka car and truck fleets away from imported fossil fuel use. Massive subsidies and low cost loans should be given for renewable electricity generation with Photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, for residential and commercial installations. Homeowners should be encouraged to not only generate electricity to meet their own needs with roof-top solar panels, but also to cover every inch of their roofs with additional PV-panels to sell to the CEB at the average price they would pay the CEB for electricity. The latter alone has the potential to make Sri Lanka independent in energy for both residential use and automobile transportation. To meet the needs of the local market, Sri Lanka should develop solar panel manufacturing and small-wind turbine manufacturing facilities with the help of the Chinese Government. This will jump start a flowering of technology that help meet Sri Lanka’s needs as well as contribute to exports to foreign markets.
8. Under no circumstances should Sri Lanka allow foreign powers to dictate what it should do to Rehabilitate and reconstruct war affected zones of Sri Lanka, or to allow them access on the ground ton any part of Sri Lanka to “supervise” or “direct” any of these activities. They have CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED their ILL-WILL TOWARDS our Motherland, despite all that we have done to uplift ALL of our people, endure as Asia’s oldest functioning democracy with universal franchise, and rescue our people from the jaws of death by defeating a murderous terrorist movement that survived through the support it received from these same foreign powers.
GIVE NO ACCESS TO THESE FOREIGN ENEMIES WITHIN Sri Lanka …. NONE WHATEVER! Our Survival Depends Upon It!
March 22nd, 2012 at 8:33 pm
“Import taxes should be ELIMINATED on ALL-ELECTRIC and HYBRID PLUG-IN ELECTRIC cars to drive Sri Lanka car and truck fleets away from imported fossil fuel use.”
Boss,
How to charge the batteries ?
I think first thing to do is abolish all taxes to Chinese electric cars. Negotiate a price with China and send Bajaaj and Nanao’s home.
March 22nd, 2012 at 8:59 pm
“Rajapaksa said a visit to Tamil Nadu by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last year was a precursor to the American resolution against Sri Lanka.”
Aha!
Now you are talking.
Then what did you do when TNA clowns went to USA and met them?
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Dham,
The short answer is that you charge the batteries using the rooftop Photo voltaic solar panel generated electricity.
Here is how it works. The PV-panels generate electricity from the incident solar radiation. The generated electricity can be used to charge a bank of batteries inside the building using a battery charger, and the stored DC electricity can be converted to AC using a stand-alone non-grid-tied inverter. But, such battery banks are expensive. A much cheaper and convenient method is to convert the generated electricity from DC to AC using a “Grid-Tied” inverter and to feed the AC electricity directly to the CEB AC grid (at 230VAC, 50Hz in Sri Lanka and 240VAC, 60Hz in the USA), in-effect using using CEB grid as a VIRTUAL ELECTRICITY STORAGE BATTERY
This connection to the grid is made at the CEB-installed “utility service panel” available in each house. That utility service panel has an electricity KWh energy meter. If that energy meter is a “Net Energy Metering” meter, it can measure energy flow in both directions: from the electricity grid to the building and from the building to the grid. The Net energy meter measures the difference between the energy the building consumes from the grid, and the energy the PV systems generates and feeds to the grid. If the meter is not a Net Energy Meter, CEB will swap what you have for a net energy meter. At the end of every month, you will receive a bill from the CEB asking you to pay for any net energy consumed. If you have installed a large PV-array that produces more energy than you consume, then you will be credited with that amount of energy, and will be paid money by the CEB according to some Rs/kWh rate set by the CEB. A middle-class home in Sri Lanka will only need about 2kW of solar panels to zero-out its electricity bill. That is, you will need to install about eight 240Watt PV-panels on your roof, a DC to AC “grid-tie” inverter, a PV-fuse box, and an AC disconnect switch.
I am not just talking through my hat: I have over 3 decades of experience in energy systems and defense R&D, and in particular, Renewable Energy. Perhaps more relevantly, I have made a very large investment in a rooftop PV installation on my own home, designing, permitting, purchasing, installing, and wiring it … all by myself … from scratch. I am now not only energy self-sufficient, but I am earning an income from my rooftop! Let me explain further, for the benefit of all Sri Lankan patriots.
After waiting for many years until PV-panel prices came down, I finally plunged-in with both feet and installed 12kW of PV-panels on the roof of my home. This is about 3 or 4 times the amount of PV capacity I need to meet the electricity consumption of my home, which I had reduced to a bare minimum with various energy efficiency strategies for lighting, heating, air-conditioning, cooking and heating bath water.
One-third (1/3) of my PV array now produces sufficient energy to meet all the needs of my residence. This year, I plan to sell my two Toyota SUVs and buy one all-electric Nissan Leaf car with an all electric range of 125 miles, and a hybrid plug-in Chevrolet Volt with an all-electric range of 35 miles and a gasoline range of an additional 250 miles. I will be able to charge BOTH vehicles using an additional 1/3 of my PV-array capacity. I have already installed a 240VAC GE Wattstation EV charger in my garage to do this. The energy generated by the last 1/3 of the PV-array will be sold Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which is my electricity company, for about one half the minimum rate I pay for the electricity I buy from PG&E. Because I did all of the installation work myself, bought the best performing equipment at the best price, and did not charge myself a profit (!), my cost was 1/3 of the cost quoted by several reputable vendors. As a result, the payoff period of this investment, accounting for the electricity cost savings and tax benefits, was reduced from about 10 years to about 3 1/2 years. The rate of return on my investment over the 30-year lifetime of the array is about 15%/year excluding accelerated inflation of energy prices.
The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is now negotiating with PG&E to increase the rate they pay to homeowners. PG&E has to pay a penalty for particulate gas emissions into the air in their natural-gas fired power plants, and has an incentive to reduce that penalty by utilizing PV-electricity fed into the grid by homeowners. Also, California law requires 30% of PG&E’s (and of other power producers) energy to be from non-polluting renewable energy sources by 2025; but currently only 5% is from renewable sources. Therefore, PG&E is in the difficult position of not being able to satisfy the law and avoid expensive financial penalties. I fully expect the PUC to increase the payments PG&E must make to homeowners to a much higher rate to jump start PV-installations. If that happens, there will be sufficient incentive (in addition to the current 30% federal tax credit, and $0.35/Watt CA state tax rebate incentives) for homeowners to invest in rooftop solar. If the payment rate increases, and gasoline prices continue to zoom upwards, I expect rooftop PV-arrays to become the norm in the US.
Sri Lanka should adopt EVEN MORE AGGRESSIVE strategies than the US to become independent of fossil fuels by replacing them with renewable energies, given that we lack the financial strength to enter into large long-term oil purchase contracts like the US from countries (like Saudi Arabia) that rely on the US for their defence, and because the Western Powers are making it difficult for small nations like Sri Lanka to continue to buy oil at a discount from friendly nations like Iran.
WE MUST MOVE TOWARDS PRODUCING ENERGY FROM INDIGENOUS RENEWABLE SOURCES; it is NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE for Sri Lanka.
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:35 am
Leela
Ref:ungrateful bastards.
Leela it is you , I can not beleive , you are very upset !
March 23rd, 2012 at 4:09 pm
REPARATIONS AGAINST BRITAIN
A global movement to seek compensation for centuries of land theft, genocide and cultural imperialism by Britain against former colonies such as Sri Lanka. No point just getting angry. Time for ACTION. Might be worth checking this out.
http://www.britishreparations.org/
March 23rd, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Dham,
A few more comments in reply to your question about how to charge batteries in electric vehicles:
As all of us have come to realize, there are very few advantages in being a very small country in this world, but among them is that the distances that we need to travel in our daily lives are much smaller in Sri Lanka than, for example, the United States.
The current Nissan Leaf all electric car with a battery powered range of 125 miles causes “range anxiety” among potential buyers in the US who fear being stranded with a run down battery. But, in Sri Lanka, 125 miles is perfectly adequate for most people to get to their destination that has a power outlet to recharge the car. The Nissan Leaf has a 24 kWh battery that needs 8hrs to charge at a 240 VAC outlet. It consumes 32 kWh costing about $3.76 to travel 100 miles for an electrical gas consumption equivalent mpg-e of 106 at an assumed US electricity cost of $0.11/kWh.
If PV-electricity from one’s own rooftop is used, the cost of recharging is essentially the cost of the PV-installation expressed in Rs/KWh. If however, one does not have one’s own rooftop PV-system, the cost is the Rs/Kwh rate set by the CEB, which I believe is about 18 Rs/kWh … higher than my minimum rate, but less than my average cost of electricity in California. PV-electricity is very much cheaper than the electricity I can buy from PG&E.
For those people, for whom a range of 125 miles between recharges is insufficient to quell their fear of being stranded on the road there is the Chevrolet Volt with 35 miles battery-powered all-electric range (at 93 mpg-e) and 250 miles gasoline powered range at 37 mpg. It has a 16kWh battery limited to 10.4 kWh of maximum drawdown before it switches over to electricity generated by the gasoline engine genset. The Volt would cost $3.96 to travel 100 miles if you used only battery power (recharging at least 3 times along the way) and cost $10.88 if you used only the gasoline engine to cover those 100 miles.
In comparison, the technologically fabulous Toyota Prius gasoline-electric non-plug-in hybrid (with a battery capacity of about 1.8kWh of which only about 50% is used) has an overall mpg of 50 and costs $7.76 to travel the same distance of 100 miles at an assumed US premium gasoline cost of $4.01/gal. Note that on an energy content basis 1 gallon of premium gasoline is equivalent to 33.7 kWh of electric energy. The latest 2012 Plug-in version of the Toyota Prius is now available in California. It is reputed to have a 5.2kWh battery delivering an all-electric range of only 12.5 miles before it switches over to operation as a standard gas-electric hybrid.
For many people making mostly short commutes, like me, the 35 miles range of the Volt will eliminate 85-90% of my gasoline purchases, while allowing use of the same vehicle for longer trips without any limit on the travel distance, because you can refuel at a gas station. You can also recharge your battery if there is a power outlet at some point along the way.
In California, electric vehicle charging stations, some free and others with ATMs allowing payment by credit card, are being installed by local governments, by gas stations, and by private companies for use by their employees. Unless these are very high voltage (440+ volts) chargers, most chargers that operate at 240VAC require at least 2-4 hours, perhaps more, to charge an electric car. That excessive charging time imposes an unacceptable limitation on commuters who are used to a 10 minute fill up at a gas station. However, it is a practical option for those who can leave the car on charge while they work, or are doing something else like eating at a restaurant. For most people, overnight charging at home using low-cost overnight rate electricity is the best cost-effective solution.
There are, however, new developments in battery technology that promise to deliver both higher energy densities (read much smaller batteries) and much faster charging times allowing rapid turn around time. These innovations will completely transform the EV scene within the next five years!
Sri Lanka can leverage these developments in electric vehicles, rooftop solar systems, and charging stations installed at businesses and highways to free the country from the scourge of unmanageable increases in imported fuel costs. It only requires the WILL & the VISION to transfer money otherwise wasted on recurring fuel imports into an enduring solution based on indigeously produced renewable energy. TECHNOLOGY is not a BARRIER; it is ALREADY HERE!
March 23rd, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Feel your backside and see whether you have a backbone Gota. May be you dont have one. Next time they will come and shit on your head, as most of them dont have a place to do that.
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:27 pm
India is a powerful country now. Thanks to the Indian colonial parasites and other Indians overseas, especially in the West. As Mr Gotabhaya says there is no point at this juncture to take on India.
If people like us tell the world what India is up to then the world will follow us.
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Those who live in the West can do a lot to help Sri lanka.
DO NOT BUY ANY INDIAN GOODS AND FOOD. BUY PAKISTANI BASMATHI. DO NOT EAT INDIAN LENTIS; DHAL.
DO NOT WATCH INDIAN FILMS AND DO NOT PATRONIZE INDIAN BUSINESSES 9INDIAN INCLUDE TAMILS WHEN I REFER TO INDIANS)
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Those who live in the West can do a lot to help Sri lanka.
DO NOT BUY ANY INDIAN GOODS AND FOOD. BUY PAKISTANI BASMATHI. DO NOT EAT INDIAN LENTIS; DHAL.
DO NOT WATCH INDIAN FILMS AND DO NOT PATRONIZE INDIAN BUSINESSES 9INDIAN INCLUDE TAMILS WHEN I REFER TO INDIANS)