Mahinda Rajapakse – the liberator of Jaffna
Posted on October 2nd, 2013
H. L. D. Mahindapala
The meaning and the significance of September 21, 2013 -” a unique day in the calendar of Jaffna -” can be grasped only if it is placed in its proper historical context.‚ It is a red letter day that goes beyond the rhetoric of Tamil triumphalism. After the defeat of the violent Tamil terrorists in Nandikadal, 21/9/13 is projected as the non-violent electoral victory of the Tamils over the Sinhalese. That is the least important aspect of‚ 21/9/13. Tamils have voted on similar lines before. And no one expected the results of 21/9/13 to be different from previous elections. So the ethnic slant given to the interpretation of the results is really shallow. Besides, an electoral victory within an undivided, unitary state is not the same as‚ sealing a victory in a separatist battlefield where the dividing territorial boundaries are demarcated with a degree of finality.
The voting, of course, gives the TNA the foremost place among its rivals. But how long will that last? Will their performance in office enable them to retain the same strength further down the track? The TNA is also a loose coalition of contradictory forces. Can TNA-â„¢s centre hold the competing and the ideologically diverse forces together? Though the voting on 21/9/13 was predictable their future is not. In any case it is rather superficial to read the voting results as a victory of the Tamils over the Sinhalese. What is significant is the victory of the Tamil people over the fascist tyranny that dominated their entire political history. Never ever in its history -” from Sankili who massacred 600 Catholics for owing allegiance to the Pope and the King of Portugal to Velupillai Prabhakaran — were the people of north given a free choice to elect their representatives to run the north as a separate administrative unit. From Sankili to Prabhakaran the northerners were kept under the jackboot of ruthless Tamil leaders, including the Vellahlas sub-rulers, who controlled Jaffna with a casteist iron fist.‚
It is against this unrepresentative, undemocratic background that 21/9/13 assumes its great significance. On this date Tamils of the northern territory were given the first opportunity to exercise their political will freely and elect their‚ chosen candidates to act on their behalf without the overwhelming impact of the casteist/fascist culture that denied the Tamil people their elementary right to be human. Sir. Ponnambalam Ramanathan and the Vellahla elite who opposed the Donoughmore reforms of granting universal franchise in 1930 were finally defeated on 21/9/13. ‚ The pendulum that swung from the extreme of Vellahla caste fascism to Prabhakaran-â„¢s political fascism has finally come to rest in the democratic middle of the Provincial Council. This also marks the entry of Jaffna into the 21st century, after meandering its way traumatically and violently through feudal casteism and Tamil Pol Potism of Prabhakaran.
The revolution that took place on 21/9/13 was to institutionalize democratic structures to end the ingrained fascist culture of Jaffna. The new democratic political culture, introduced on a firm footing for the first time on 21/9/13, will test the ability of the Tamils to govern themselves on democratic principles. The TNA consists of inexperienced novices who had never touched the levers of power on such a grand scale. The TNA leaders have been mere -yes-men- collaborating willingly with the fascist culture that ruled the north under the jackboot of Prabhakaran. They were pliant tools of Tamil fascism, not leaders of democracy. Like their political ancestors who ruled Jaffna during feudal, colonial and post-independent periods with a fascist whip,‚ suppressing their own people under casteist and Prabhakaranist tyrannies, they have shown no capacity, nor tendency to abide by democratic norms. This is the first time the Tamils of the north were liberated and given a domain to run‚ their own administration on democratic principles. The democratization of the Northern Province ultimately was enabled by President Mahinda Rajapakse. First he laid the foundation for a democratic future when the Tamil tyrant Prabhakaran was eliminated from‚ the political equation on May 18, 2009. The second time was on September 21, 2013 when he empowered the Tamil people by giving them the free choice to elect their first ever administration in the north.
They, of course, did have the freedom in the post-independent era to elect representatives from pocket-size electorates, some of whom shared power in the successive Cabinets of -Sinhala governments- as equals. For a brief while they even had an Indian puppet, Varadaraja Perumal, to run the north and east jointly. They also exercised limited powers in municipal and other local bodies through their elected representatives who were invariably the English-educated Vellahla elite who ran local administrations focused mainly on imposing and perpetuating the fascist casteist culture -” a political reality exposed by Jane Russell in her masterly study of communalism from 1931 -” 1947. As highlighted in Yalpana Vaipava Malai, the most revealing historical sketch of Jaffna written in the Dutch period, Jaffna was ruled by the -insane fury- of its cruel rulers who denied human dignity to anyone living in the north, be they Muslims, Sinhalese, Catholics or their own Tamil people.
In the very first days of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) one can only hope that 21/9/13 will liberalize Jaffna and open a new democratic space in its oppressive, anti-democratic and mono-ethnic‚ history. This liberation of the Tamils from the grip of customary fascist leadership is the greatest gift given by President Mahinda Rajapakse to the Tamils. The two stages must be reiterated for emphasis: First President Rajapaksa ‚ physically liberated the Tamils from tyrannical fascism of Prabhakaran. Second, he empowered them with the power to elect democratically their own leaders to govern them. The second is a consequence of the first. For the first time in the history of Jaffna the Tamil people gained the constitutional guarantees to share power with the center like the rest of the nation in the other eight provincial councils. Consolidating peace and introducing the democratic institutions to an ingrained fascist culture is no mean task. It is a task that America, the mightiest power on earth, could not achieve in Iraq even after investing 60 billion during its ten-year occupation of Iraq in the name of restoring democracy. Bombs are still going off in Iraq with no end in sight.
More importantly, President Rajapakse has handed over to the TNA leadership a revitalized Jaffna ready to take off from the current rehabilitated stage he has put in place. Will the TNA throw away the last chance for peace by reverting to the failed politics of the past? In the usual litany of complaints of the Jaffna Tamil leadership consistently blamed the Sinhala outsider. But no outsider‚ has killed more Tamils than the Tamil leaders. No outsider has suppressed and oppressed the Tamils as the Tamil leaders. No outsider had ever denied the Tamil people the right to walk in daylight just to keep the purity of the sight of the casteist supremacists. No outsider has forcibly prevented the oppressed Tamil outcasts from entering their sacred places of worship. No outsider had plucked Tamil children from their parents and thrown them into a futile war of a -liberator- with the wiling collaboration of the TNA and its leaders. No outsider had denied the right to dissent the way the Tamil fascists decimated the entire leadership of the Tamils who did not submit to the ruthless tyranny of Prabhakaran. The list of crimes committed by the Tamil leaders against their own people‚ throughout their history is longer than the‚ entire coastline‚ of the northern province.
Now the ball is in the court of the Jaffna leadership to make their first elected administration work and deliver to their people a civilized form of governance which would restore dignity and liberty denied to them by their ancestors. If they go back to the perennial -insane fury- derived from hate politics -” one of the dominant forces peninsular politics that ruled Jaffna — then there is no one to blame except themselves. They have the first ever opportunity to break away from the fascist past and prove that they too can work within a democratic framework, like in the south, however defective it may have been. The responsibilities placed on the elected councilors-â„¢ shoulders will test their ability to work within a non-violent framework seeking pragmatic solutions jointly with the rest of the nation. In the post-independent period in particular they have been obsessed and driven by extremist hate politics. The choice before them in the post-Nandikadal period‚ is between their failed politics of the past and economic prosperity of the future.
The immediate need of the northerners at the end of a 33-year-old war is jobs, houses, education, health and other essential needs for the growth of the individuals to regain their dignity suppressed by their traditional leaders. Prabhakaran-â„¢s -liberators- siphoned off the medicine and the food sent by -the Sinhala Government- to feed their cadres denying the Tamil civilians in need. -Paki- Saravanamuttu and Jehan (Pacha) Perera joined Prabhakaran in blaming the -Sinhala Government- for not sending sufficient essential provisions even though the UN said that the GOSL was the‚ only government that provided essentials to civilians in a rebel-held territory. Will Wigneswaram go down the same path to blame the -Sinhala Government- for their failures to deliver services to the north?
There is, of course, the discontent about the quantum of powers they wish to possess. Their pre- and- post-independent cry has been to demand more political power to serve their people. There was no nationalism but only a demand for bigger share of power, starting from 50-50 to 12% of the population. If political power is a sine qua non for economic, cultural and personal growth why didn-â„¢t the north blossom under Prabhakaran -” the Tamil Pol Pot who wielded the maximum power in the history of the north across a large swathe of territory?
The ghost of Prabhakaran is still haunting the -new- leaders who have begun on the wrong foot. Hailing Prabhakaran as the hero of the Tamils is an ominous sign. It is not a sanguine symbol for democracy and individual liberty. It portends the revival of a trend that goes back to a failed past. This is similar to reviving Neo-Nazism which is banned in Germany. Besides, there is no future in this failed past. This throw-back to Prabhakaranism is a malaise wrapped in jaundiced Jaffna jingoism -” an extremist expression of ethnic perversions marketed by the Vellahla elite and their allied political pundits as -Tamil separatism/nationalism-.‚ Prabhakaranism‚ was like the cyanide pills handed to the Tamil youth — a suicidal ideology for the Tamils. What did the Tamils gain by following Prabhakaran-â„¢s suicidal pills? And what can they gain by reviving the ghost of Prabhakaran? When, for instance, Wigneswaran raises the ghost of Prabhakaran he is not only insulting‚ his own intelligence but also attempting to turn the wheels of history back to square one. He is attempting‚ to revive the Pied Pipers of Vadukoddai who led them to Nandikadal.
I won-â„¢t be surprised if the NPC passes a resolution to erect a statue for Prabhakaran in the heart of Jaffna. Considering the hero-worshipping cult initiated by the Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneswaram, the‚ possibility of erecting a statute for the biggest killer of Tamils is very much on the cards. Such a move will not only expose the bogus commitment of Wigneswaram and his fellows-councilors to human dignity and democracy but also add to the pain of millions who suffered under the Tamil Pol Pot. Ms. Navi Pillay is reported to have questioned why the statue of D. S. Senanayake is standing at the Independence Square. What will she have to say when a statue is erected for Prabhakaran in Jaffna? Or will she turn a blind eye? When the statues of Stalin, Hitler, and Saddam Hussein are brought down ignominiously by the people who suffered under these inhuman tyrants the erection of a statue for Prabhakaran will be an insult to all the people who were persecuted, tortured and murdered by the brutal Tamil Pol Pot.
In all probability -Paki- Saravanamuttu and Jehan (Pacha) Perera will raise Cain crying that this is another instance of the -Sinhala Government- suppressing the democratic rights of the Tamil people. They would probably insist that they have the democratic right to erect a statue even to Hitler -” a figure banned in civilized world. Wigneswaram-â„¢s descent to the low depths of hero worshipping a Tamil who had killed more Tamils than all the others put together is a despicable act, unworthy of a man who sat in the‚ highest court of the nation. He is now the Chief Minister and he is signaling that there is nothing wrong in embracing and reviving Prabhakaran -” the man who symbolizes the -insane fury- of the Tamil political culture that went berserk targeting‚ their own children.
Predictably, -Paki- Saravanamuttu and Jehan (Pacha) Perera are screaming their heads off criticizing the presence of the military in the north. But they have not uttered one word to condemn the militarism embedded in‚ the Vadukoddai Resolution and its personification in Prabhakaran revived by Wigneswaram. This is a serious threat to the newly installed democratic institutions‚ in the north. This should be a warning signal for‚ the Sri Lankan state not to demilitarize the north when its -new- leaders are raising neo-Tamil Pol Potism embedded in the Vadukoddai Resolution. As long as there‚ is the move to raise Prabhakaran from‚ his grave -” and that too by the -new- Tamil leaders -” there is no reason for the Sri Lankan forces to be withdrawn from the north.
It is the people of Sri Lanka who have to pay with their lives for any fascist militarism coming from either the north or south. The state has the right to maintain security forces in whatever part of‚ the island that is threatened with the rise of fascist militarism. Tamil fascist militarism, as spelt out in the Vadukoddai Resolution, was the most devastating violent cult that ruined lives in all communities.. The state has introduced democracy for the first time in the north and any‚ ideological, political or social threats moving in the direction of Prabhakaran must be nipped in the bud.‚ All leaders -” from Obama to Manmohan Singh -” have argued in the current session of the UN that they have the right to protect their national interests against external or internal threats. Sri Lanka too has the same right on the same principles and strategies (including the equivalent of drone strikes etc.,) pursued by these big powers.
The mandate given to the new Tamil leadership is not to breathe new life into Prabhakaran. It is a mandate to take the north away from the fascist violence of Prabhakaran. If Wigneswaram and his‚ cohorts decides to step out of line then they must be brought back into line before they pose a threat to the nation. President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not sacrifice the lives of his people to let another gang of Tamil fascists destroy the democratic institutions he has put in place to liberate the Tamils.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:48 pm
During and since the end of the civil war the Sri Lankan Tamils have come under the sway of the neighboring Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The TNA goes to India to solve issues related to Sri Lanka and Jayalalithaa to Karunanidhi have become the voice of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Given that the issue of a “Democracy” functioning under the Caste system will only be reinforced by the DMK and the AIDMK of Tamil Nadu. Throughout the war Tamil Nadu played a crucial role in supporting LITE and now after the war their political parties along with TNA have become the political voice of LITE. Both Jayalalithaa and the TNA join in a chorus for devolution of central powers, of the demilitarization of the Northern and Eastern provinces and the drum beat of damning the Rajapakse government.
One could come to some conclusion that even after the victory of Colombo over LITE the Tamil dominated areas of Sri Lanka now take their que from Chennai and not Colombo or Jaffna. In my personal opinion unless the TNA is disbanded or accused of treasonous acts, unless the 13th amendment is nullified and unless there is a significant number of Sinhalese Buddhists who call these provinces their home Tamil Nadu and not Jaffna will keep pushing for the creation of Eelam whether President Rajapakse is in power or not.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:05 pm
Our war strategy was WRONG.
Where did the most brutal war take place? Vanni and Batticaloa.
But where did the war start and MOST Tamil racists reside? In Jaffna and Colombo.
The war should have been dragged to Jaffna and Colombo city killing the REAL terrorists hiding in the safety of Sinhalese and the Sinhala army.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Submerged in UNRELENTING terrorist violence, Pakistani gaze in wonder at Sri Lanka’s achievement in rescuing itself from the same fate.
That is the Crowning Glory of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces under President Mahinda Rajapaksa sure hand as Commander-in-Chief!
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Learning lessons from Sri Lankan victory over rebel Tamil Tigers
By Sabir Shah
TheNews.com.pk
October 02, 2013
LAHORE: While Pakistan continues to be hit on regular basis by terrorism after 9/11, it needs to gain some inspiration from a much smaller and poorer Sri Lanka, which is literally rising from ashes after having fought with the rebel Tamil Tigers for nearly 27 long years and ultimately defeating the insurgents on May 29, 2009.
Sri Lanka was left with a daunting post-war task to ensure the welfare of nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who were held as a human shield and a bargaining chip by the rebel Tamil Tigers.
Under its well-planned reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation programmes after the war, the Sri Lankan government had helped the besieged Tamil civilians restart their lives.
Research tells us that the Sri Lankan Government had declared “No Fire Zones” for the safety of the civilians who were used as “battlefields” by the terrorists—- unlike what is happening in the troubled Pakistani areas where American drone attacks have seemingly made the matters worse.
Equipped with heavy artillery and mortars, the raging Tamil Tigers had disregarded humanity by killing the fleeing civilians and also by carrying out suicide attacks on those who would attempt to escape from their camps during the war.
These suicide attacks on civilians were in addition to the ones that had regularly targeted the country’s Army personnel and sensitive installations.
What is more enviable is the fact that Sri Lanka had only spent $5.5 billion between 2006 and 2009 to banish the Tamil Tigers. This figure was made public in June 2011 by the then Sri Lankan Central Bank Governor, Dr Ajith Nivard Cabraal.
This amount of $5.5 billion is far less than what the powerful countries normally spend on training their military personnel every year. Remember, the United States spends in excess of $40 billion every year to train its Army.
The intermittent insurgency by the defiant Tamil Tigers against successive Sri Lankan governments had resulted between 80,000 and 100,000 deaths, according to the United Nations.
According to the May 30, 2009 edition of the “Sydney Morning Herald,” the deaths included at least 27,639 Tamil Tigers or the LTTE fighters, not fewer than 23,790 Sri Lankan soldiers and policemen, some 1,155 Indian soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
The 2010 Sri Lankan “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” had estimated that from August 2006 to May 2009, 5,556 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed, 28,414 were wounded and 169 were missing in action.
During the same period, the Tamil Tigers had lost 22,247 men, of which 11,812 had been identified by name.
On May 21, 2009, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had carried an AFP report that had stated: “The UN’s humanitarian co-ordination office says 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in the war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka’s President formally declared victory over the Tigers yesterday (May 20, 2009), after the government troops had captured the last sliver of rebel territory.”
However, a US State Department report had suggested that the actual casualty figures were probably much higher than the United Nations’ estimates and that significant numbers of casualties were not recorded.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:13 pm
War veterans lash out at attempts to discredit war heroes
By Disna Mudalige
DailyNews.lk
October 2, 2013
The War Veterans’ Association of Sri Lanka which has among it chief aims the defence of the country’s war hereos and countering of false war crime allegations against them, yesterday hit out at the Association of War Affected Women’s Chairperson Visaka Dharmadsa for discrediting the motherland before the international community. Particularly singled out in their criticism were the comments she made to UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillai which the Association Vice President Major (Rtd) Jagath Weeratunga described as a premeditated effort to discredit the country in the international arena.
Association President Lt. Colonel (Rtd) Lakshman Karavitage said the newly formed Association hopes to directly intervene in the problems and issues related to war heroes.
He made an open invitation to all retired tri-service and Police personnel to join the Association.
He said the Association has 350 members, adding that they hope to expand it as a national level Association.
Vice President Major (Rtd) Jagath Weeratunga said that some Associations formed recently are trying to cash in on the name of war heroes, adding they are in the process of gathering information on such Associations to take suitable action against them.
He said before making requests from international bodies, the reaction of the government to their demands should have been awaited. He said the newly formed Association hopes to counter this type of false allegations. Among the other objectives of the newly formed War Veteran’s Association are providing welfare measures for retired and disabled soldiers and intervening in their difficulties.
Association Secretary Sri Lanka Army Warrant Officer (Rtd) A. Gunathilake and Treasurer Sri Lanka Army Warrant Officer (Rtd) R. M. A. S. Rajakaruna and Consultant Major (Rtd) Chamil Wijesinghe also participated.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Sri Lanka defends conduct in war
JapanTimes.co.jp
October 1, 2013
NEW YORK – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said his government has no case to answer over the reported deaths of thousands of civilians at the end of its civil war, even as pressure grows for an international inquiry to account for the dead.
The U.N.’s top human rights official said last week that Sri Lanka needs to show progress by next March or the international community should establish its own inquiry into allegations of civilian casualties and summary executions in the final months of the quarter-century conflict that ended in 2009, when government forces crushed ethnic Tamil rebels.
On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris on Monday defended the government’s efforts in probing reported abuses by security forces, and said a commission of inquiry appointed by Sri Lanka’s president in August to investigate disappearances would report back after six months.
“Sri Lanka is not stalling,” Peiris said.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:21 pm
REVOKE the 13th Amendment & DISSOLVE the Provincial Councils!
We will RUE THE DAY when Sri Lanka empowered UNREPENTANT SEPARATISTS to STEAL IN PEACE what they FAILED TO WIN in MURDEROUS WAR!
From this point on … their SEPARATIST DEMANDS for greater powers leading to a De-Facto Sovereign State …will NEVER CEASE!
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Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Governor appoints new Chief Minister
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 01, Jaffna: The Governor of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province G. A. Chandrasiri today handed over the letter of appointment for the Chief Minister post to the former Supreme Court Judge and the Chief Minister candidate of the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA), C.V. Vigneswaran today at Governor Secretariat in Jaffna.
Vigneswaran has been selected as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province following the landslide victory of the Tamil party at the elections held on September 21 for the Province. He obtained a total of 132,255 preferential votes topping the preferential vote list in Jaffna District.
Governor of Northern Province GA Chandrasiri issued the appointment letter for Vigneswaran at the Governor’s office.
TNA Parliamentarian A. Sumanthiran and Chief Secretary of Northern Province Mrs. R. Wijialudchumi and Secretary to the Governor L. Ilaangovan were also present at the event.
Vigneswaran met the Governor at his official residence in Jaffna on Monday along with MP Sumanthiran and held discussions on setting up of the Provincial Council and the swearing-in, among other things.
The Governor has said that at the meeting Vigneswaran agreed to accept the Letter of Appointment from the Governor after he explained that he will be only fulfilling the constitutional duties expected of him as a Governor of the province representing the President of the country.
Vigneswaran said the party has still not decided on how the Chief Minister and the other councilors will swear in.
Media reports said yesterday that the Tamil party has agreed to swear in before President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Jaffna and the party is to invite the President to come to Jaffna when he returns from the US.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:30 pm
What does this mean?
Is the GOSL resurrecting the District System as an Alternative to Provincial Councils, if and when the PCs are DISSOLVED?
I FERVENTLY hope so! I have always advocated the Districts administered by the equivalent of a Government Agent as an alternative to the Provincial Council System.
The Provinces are TOO LARGE and pose a threat to National Stability & Integrity in the hands of Anti-National Elements. DISTRICTS …. on the other hand…. are small enough to not pose a threat to the rule of the National Government, and diminishes the ability of Sri Lanka’s enemies from posing a credible threat to the GOSL and to National Unity.
This could presage the future direction of local governance in Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka to appoint District Ministers soon
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 01, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government will soon appoint a district minister to each of the 25 districts in the nine provinces of the country to oversee the development in the districts, sources said.
According to sources, government MPs elected from each district with highest preferential votes and not received any cabinet portfolios will be appointed as District Ministers.
The government has come to this decision to deal with the powers of the Northern Provincial Council under the administration of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which is in opposition to the government, sources said.
The government expects to appoint five of its MPs to the five districts of the Northern Province. These Ministers are expected to be vested with wide powers.
Sri Lanka appointed District Ministers in early 1980s during the reign of President J.R. Jayawardana but the positions were abolished later after the introduction of the Provincial Council system in the late 1980s.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:46 pm
If the TNA Election Manifesto is found to violate Sri Lanka’s Constitution, then THREE things must be done:
1. Declare NULL & VOID the results of the PC Election & the election of all TNA members to office, for they will have been elected under ILLEGAL representations to the public.
2. ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT and PUNISH at Hard Labor in Prison, for that violation amounted to TREASON against the nation.
3. Use the THREAT POSED BY THAT TREASON as the basis for a National Referendum to REVOKE the 13th Amendment … forced by India down Sri Lanka’s unwilling throat … and DISSOLVE the Provincial Council System of local governance.
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Supreme Court of Sri Lanka hears petitions against Tamil party’s election manifesto
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 02, Colombo: The examination of five petitions against the election manifesto of the major Tamil constituent Tamil National Alliance (TNA) commenced today at the Supreme Court.
The petitions have been filed by Sinhala Buddhist nationalist activists including Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera and Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka Thero.
The petitioners claim that the TNA manifesto violates the sixth amendment of Sri Lanka’s Constitution which says that no political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.
They say the TNA manifesto will pave way for setting up of a separate state in Sri Lanka.
President’s Counsel K. Kanageswaran stated that his client was compiling the objections. The Supreme Court informed him to submit the objections in writing.
The hearing was postponed to October 23.
The petition was taken up by a three member panel of judges comprising Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, and justices Chandra Ekanayake and Rohini Marasinghe.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:55 pm
Remember those “Ruling Party Seats” won by the “UPFA” in the Northern Province PC Election?
Well, here is that “UPFA Ally” … the EPDP … ALSO DEMANDING that the “Rightful Powers” be assigned to the Northern PC.
We know what those “Rightful Powers” demanded are …. don’t we?
In Short … the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party … the EPDP … is jumping into bed with the TNA … demanding those powers that will ultimately lead to the EELAM!
Why do we still remain fooled by all of these separatists posing under the EELAM Label?
BAN ALL PARTIES with Communal and Separatist Labels their Party Names, Party Constitutions and Election Manifestoes … NOW!
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Tamil coalition partner asks Sri Lankan government to allocate powers meant for the Northern PC
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 02, Colombo: A Tamil ally of Sri Lanka’s governing party has called on the government to allocate powers meant for the Northern Provincial Council.
Member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) has said the government should assign powers meant for the Northern Provincial Council without heeding to racial and religious extremists.
EPDP organizer for Vadamarachchi, A. Sri Rangeswaran has warned that the people in the North would commence a protest campaign if the government fails to vest the rightful powers of the Northern Provincial Council with the Council.
He has said at a public event in Vadamarachchi that there have been many sacrifices and losses on the part of the people in the North to finally achieve the power in the Northern Provincial Council.
According to Rangeswaran, separatists in the South are propagating communal and religious disharmony through various forms of propaganda to achieve their political agenda.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:01 pm
FOUR KALLATHONIS caught by the Navy.
Are these militants, criminals or economic refugees? Who is aiding and abetting them once they enter Sri Lanka?
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Sri Lanka Navy arrests four illegal immigrants attempted to enter the country from sea
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 01, Thalaimannar: Sri Lanka Navy has arrested four individuals who had reached the northwestern shores in an attempt to enter the country illegally from the seas.
Naval troops attached to SLNS Thammanna of the North Central Naval Command arrested a group of four men in the 07th Sand Bank Area on Monday (September 30).
They were handed over to Thalaimannar Police for further investigations.
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:11 pm
“According to sources, government MPs elected from each district with highest preferential votes and not received any cabinet portfolios will be appointed as District Ministers.”
EXCELLENT MOVE!!
Douglas Devananda is the District Minister for Jaffna SUPERCEDING Vigneswaran who is only a PETTY officer!! Lovely.
Viki will have to go begging to Douglas to get any money.
Wimal Weerawansa will be Colombo district minister. Oh! Colombians will have to come to WW to for any development work.
Sarath Weerasinghe will be Ampara district minister.
Even better.
Aloocate NOTHING to the province. Channel ALL money through the DISTRICT MINISTER.
WOW!! Well done. Not the best but a nice whacking of TNA LOSERS FURTHER.
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Why does the supreme court always postpone important cases?
This is a DISGRACE.
October 3rd, 2013 at 6:02 am
Tamils have attacked a police officer with a bomb in Jaffna police station. He is in hospital.
Terrorist Tamils escaped after fighting with the police.
October 3rd, 2013 at 8:51 am
Here is a strange bit of news. There have been attempts to attack the Lord Ramanathaswamy temple, Madurai and Mayiladuthurai …. does anyone know why ?
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Lankan national sneaking into Rameswaram held
WEDNESDAY, 02 OCTOBER 2013 17:13

Despite the claim of tight vigil by naval and coast guard personnel following an alert about possible infiltration of terrorists through the sea, a Sri Lankan Tamil managed to sneak into the island by a high-speed boat early on Wednesday morning.
Police said they arrested Chellakrishnan of Pesalai in Sri Lanka following a tip-off by a local resident shortly after he was dropped at Arichalmunai by the boat, police said.
The boat which dropped him managed to go back. He had come in a high speed boat and that might be the reason why the coastal security police and coastguard and even Navy would have missed the craft, said an official.
Patrolling along the shores and in the sea has been strengthened since last month after an intelligence alert that terrorists might enter the country from Sri Lanka through the Palk Strait and attack the Lord Ramanathaswamy temple, Madurai and Mayiladuthurai.
During questioning, the Sri Lankan national claimed that he was staying in Tiruchirappalli and had left for Sri Lanka by a ferry some time ago and returned now. He had also said he used to undertake frequent trips to his country.
Police said investigations were on into his claims. (Source: The Hindu)”.
October 3rd, 2013 at 11:46 am
Lorenzo,
Here is another strange news report: Illegal Africans overstaying visas and engaging in criminal activities!
Why do I get the vague feeling that SECURITY lapses are INCREASING?
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Police on lookout for Africans
By Supun Dias
DailyMirror.lk
October 03, 2013
Police are on the lookout for a large number of Africans alleged to be overstaying in Sri Lanka, following arrests made in the Katunayake, Negombo and Seeduwa areas recently.
Many Malians, Cameroonians and Nigerians are believed to be overstaying with invalid, outdated visas.
Police noted that these operations were vital to minimise the rising number of crimes committed by Africans as reported in recent times.
Some had been arrested for allegedly cheating local businessmen of millions of rupees on vague promises.
Investigators have identified Negombo as an area where a large number of Africans were staying, where there is also a training centre which provided language and vocational training for them.
Police further stated that African nationals currently in custody had engaged in money-laundering, printing of counterfeit notes, swindling businessmen by telling them they had won lotteries and promising that they could double their money.
In the meantime steps have been taken to deport them back to their countries; currently the Africans in custody are at the detention camp for illegal immigrants at Mirihana.(Supun Dias)
October 3rd, 2013 at 12:25 pm
My Comments and Rebuttals at Economist.com article: “Harder Lines”
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Ananda-Sinha Sep 27th, 20:11
The writer is biased against the Government and Majority people … the Sinhalese … of Sri Lanka … as is often the case in articles on Sri Lanka that appear in the Economist. To expose that bias, let me ask a few questions.
What did the victorious Allies do in Germany to the Nazi party, its leaders, and its supporters after WWII? The leaders were punished, many with execution, others with imprisonment; the Nazi Party was banned … still is today … and Nazi leaders were prevented from participation in politics and in government. Even today, the USA will not accept Nazi’s as immigrants. We applaud the Allies for preserving the peace; we wish the formers Allies would applaud little Sri Lanka that has rescued itself at the cost of immense blood and treasure.
Was not Velupillai Prabhakaran made in the image of Adolf Hitler, attempting to create a racist, apartheid state for only Tamils? Didn’t the Allies station their combined forces in Germany for nearly 50 years to prevent a resurrection of the aggressive and murderous Nazi party and its warlike policies? Well, the Eeelamist Holocaust was Sri Lanka’s WWII, and Eelamists of all hues are the Nazis of Sri Lanka, and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was the PROXY of the LTTE of yesterday. Most recently, it issued a Provincial Election Manifesto equivalent to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, outlining their continuing vision of a Racist Tamils Only State. If Allies stationed tens of thousands of agents in Germany to gather intelligence of Nazi activities, is not sensible for the GOSL to do the same against the Eelamists?
When the UK and US are threatened by fanatical terrorists, they immediately destroy them and station their forces even in foreign countries to preserve their security. We applaud them, but please allow Sri Lanka to do the same. What is good for the Western goose should be equally good for the Sri Lankan gander. Please spare us the Hypocrisy and the Double Standards.
Having lost much to the Eelamist war of 30 years, Sri Lanka cannot and will not enable former Murderous Separatists to repeat their performance. Even the authors at the Economist must be able to understand that.
Unqualified Critic in reply to Ananda-Sinha Oct 1st, 21:10
The Sinhalese are not the US, and the Tamils are definately not NAZIs. The NAZI comparison is cliche and overworked. You’re only serving to discredit yourself when you post rants like these. Find a better analogy, and leave WWII to the professional real nations of the world. Talk about narsicism.
Ananda-Sinha in reply to Unqualified Criticreplied:
Unqualified Critic,
You live up to your name …. you seem to be indeed unqualified in that you make assertions without a basis and unable to present a cohesive rebuttal.
First, you are comparing a community (Sinhalese) against a country (US) … these are apples and oranges, and Eelamist Tamils in Sri Lanka are DEFINITELY Nazis in that they are trying to create a Tamils-only racially-pure State of Eelam in Sri Lanka just like the Nazis did in trying to remake Europe only for the benefit of Germanic peoples. To that end, the Nazis killed off Jews, Poles, Slavs, Romani/Gypsies, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Who knows who would have survived that genocide in the longer term had the Nazis triumphed. The Eelamist Tamils killed off and ethnically cleansed the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka of Sinhala and Muslim people just like the Nazis. These are UNDENIABLE FACTS on Record … and since the cap fits, they must wear it.
Your comment about “professional countries” is a curious for distinguishing countries like Sri Lanka from the US! These are old discredited colonial attitudes that hide past achievements of peoples around the world under a carpet, and trumpet the current “achievements” of Neocolonialists plying their global agenda today. However, no one can deny that the world’s largest massacres of innocents through overt and covert systematic warfare, weapons of mass destruction, had been perpetrated by these so-called “professional and civilized” wolves hiding under “human rights” and “democratic” sheepskins today. Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Coventry and Dresden, Aushwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Fallujah and Abu Gharib, drones and collateral damage, and perhaps a glimmering of understanding that the “professionalism” you worship is not all that it is made out to be, will dawn on you.
And all that you can say to contest my post are vague lablels like cliche’, overworked, and a poor analogy amounting to a rant?
Come on, if the cap fits … wear it!
October 3rd, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Economist hard liners know that appeasement of Fascism is not unknown to major powers, if one looks at the record of some countries at the UN, in the inter war period.
Few major powers defended the right of Japan to expand into China knowing well the germ warfare experiments were going on in a large scale in Manchuria.
October 3rd, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Maybe Sri Lanka should follow suit and pull out of the British Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth is mostly a means of interfering in, and criticizing and destabilizing, developing nations. The CHOGM, for example, that Sri Lanka valued hosting more than REVOKING the 13th Amendment, has already generated a LITANY of criticisms of Sri Lanka. Who needs this crap?
The ONLY thing I can recall that has been of any benefit to Sri Lankans are the Commonwealth Scholarships for studying in Britain.
Bilateral and Regional relationships, and joining World Organizations, is of much greater benefit to developing nations than membership in these menageries to curry favor of the former Colonial Masters.
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Gambia pulls out of ‘neo-colonial’ Commonwealth
Reuters.com
BANJUL, October v2, 2013
(Reuters) – Gambia has withdrawn from the Commonwealth, the 54-member grouping including Britain and most of its former colonies, branding it a “neo-colonial institution,” according to a statement released by the West African nation on Wednesday.
“The government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism,” read a statement broadcast on state television.
No further reason for the decision was given.
Gambia joined the commonwealth in 1965. A sliver of a country surrounded by Senegal, Gambia is a popular destination for European sun-seekers, many of them British, with its tropical climate and white beaches.
There is a history of bad blood between President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, and the country’s former colonial master.
Jammeh accused Britain of backing Gambia’s political opposition ahead of 2011 elections, while Britain has criticized the Gambian government for its poor human rights record, including a series of executions carried out last year.
Jammeh’s government has been accused by human rights groups of persecuting its political opponents and homosexuals.
In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly last week, Jammeh called homosexuality a threat to human existence and criticized other countries for regarding it as a human right.
(Reporting By Pap Saine; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Daniel Flynn and David Brunnstrom)
October 3rd, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Ananda,
Absolutely! Security lapses ARE increasing.
We need a special army/navy unit to DEPORT (or otherwise handle) illegal immigrants and visa overstayers.
Kidney heist is one way to MAKE GOOD USE of illegal immigrants.
October 6th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
My latest broadside in the debate with the Unqualified Critic at Economist.com article “Harder Lines”:
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Unqualified Critic in reply to Ananda-Sinha Oct 4th, 18:14
If I’m just unqualified, what does that amount your false logic to? Also, if the Tamils are NAZI’s (to which I stick to my guns in that that analogy is about as tired as your logic must be in coming up with random nouns for a “comparison”), then the Sinhalese aren’t exactly exuding themselves as much better. Unfortunately, in the context of history, people are not judged by their ancestor’s full resume, but rather what they last did. Example being Germany.
For history will judge the Sri Lanken Sinhalese not by their victory, but by how they treated the Tamils afterwards.
The cap is decent, but personally I always preferred; if the shoe fits, wear it.
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Ananda-Sinha in reply to Unqualified Critic
Unqualified Critic,
You still have not logically explained where my logic is false; Just repeating the assertion does not make it so.
The Sinhalese have acquitted themselves very well in the Eelam war. Even the 1983 riots for which the Eelamists pillory the Sinhalese came after years of hit-and-run attacks against the Sinhala community and was triggered when the bodies of 13 soldiers killed by the LTTE Eelamists was brought from Jaffna to Colombo. Since then, there has not been ONE riot against the Tamils in Sri Lanka despite 30 years of murder and mayhem inflicted by the Tamil Eelamists after that 1983 riot.
During those 30 years, buses and trains were bombed blasting hundreds at a time to shreds; entire villages of people were sliced and diced in the dark of the night to inflict maximum terror in their ethnic cleansing program; the World Trade Center was bombed in Colombo killing and maiming hundreds of people … well before the terror of 9/11 in New York; the Central Bank was truck-bombed killing and maiming thousands as in the the Oklahoma City bombing; Mumbai style attacks were launched against places of religious worship to kill as many people as possible, including Buddhist priests; political leaders … moderate Tamils and Sinhalese … were assassinated routinely to terrorize the political leadership of Sri Lanka into impotence; car bombs became commonplace until the citizens of Sri Lanka could not expect to return home on any given day; and blood ran in the streets until over 150,000 of Sri Lanka’s innocent citizens were sacrificed on the altar of the Racist Apartheid Tamil Eelam. But yet, the Sinhala people gritted their teeth, abided by the law and did not attack Tamil citizens.
Furthermore, when the LTTE terrorist army was skilfully cornered after a sustained 3 year military offensive and decisively crushed by leaf, branch, trunk and root along the banks of the Nanthikandal lagoon in May, 2009, the human shield of 300,000 Tamil captives they sought to hide behind were skillfully rescued by the Sri Lanka Army in the worlds largest hostage rescue operation. These people were housed, fed, medically treated, their children educated, given funds to rebuild the houses the LTTE destroyed, and were restored to their livelihoods by the Sinhala-majority Govt of Sri Lanka at largely Sinhala taxpayer expense. No other rehabilitation program in the world comes close to the rapidity of execution, and quality of care, and level of the rehabilitation of these war affected Tamil people of Sri Lanka.
These then, are some the reasons why your left-handed swipe at the Sinhala people of Sri Lanka smacks of ignorance and bias. It is that display of ignorance that makes you truly “unqualified”. Sticking to your guns on indefensible ignorant and false statements neither excuses you, nor redeems you.
The people of Sri Lanka are committed to equal rights for all of its citizens, but will not give additional benefits to any community that is unavailable other communities in Sri Lanka in the name of “diversity” that will ultimately pit its citizens against each other, as in India. Sri Lanka … which remained only one of two real democracies committed to equal rights for all citizens through 30 years of unremitting terrorist conflict … does not need the self-serving advice of foreign nations and Eelamist surrogates still plying their time honored agenda of divide-and-rule. Sri Lanka is committed to achieving its own native vision as ONE Indivisible Nation, of ONE Inseparable people, sharing ONE National Destiny on its way to transforming itself into the next Wonder of Asia.