In Retrospect By Sarath Kumara

May 26th 2012

Days after his release from prison which was a magnanimous act by the President of Sri Lanka, former commander of the Armed Forces, General Sarath Fonseka has taken the liberty to dabble in foreign policy matters which only the President is privy to where he seems to have opened a whole new can of worms against his name and intentions towards the well being of Sri Lanka  somewhat injudiciously. This at a time when he preaches patriotism and his good intentions towards Sri Lanka which now have a hollow ring to them where many ask the question “can the man be trusted and is it any wonder the Administration has viewed him with skepticism all along?

Rather than lie low prudently, view and gague his surroundings towards a sense of self preservation in thankfulness that he is now a free man, he goes about shooting his mouth in an officious as well as contentious manner as though it is his bounden duty to get mixed up in a political scenario to which he has neither the entitlement nor liberty and a poor showing in the face of all the circumstances which led to his incarceration in the first place which now seems to have been a necessary evil !

His statement, which was lapped up by the media where most of the news in Sri Lanka during the past few day has been about the Former General, seems to have irked the wrath of many who are perplexed that the man has chosen to be high handed verbally without any justification for it nor any firm ground to stand upon in view of his rather shaky circumstances despite his release where his actions merely lend sufficient cause for his critics who deemed him unreliable and irresponsible, so much so that it now prompts them  to   state their case towards justification and demand that he be either taken to task or rehabilitated!

Fonseka is purported to have made a statement to a Tamil Daily that “ the Sri Lanka Army is interfering in the civil administration in the North and Army camps and should be dismantled from the Northern province.”

Officially Gen Fonseka’s latest rhetoric has also been responded to strongly  by cabinet Minister Keheliya Rambukwela who has just returned from Australia from medical treatment where he has said unequivocally at a press conference that “If anyone tries to take undue advantage of a pardon granted to him it will a be a very lowly and unbecoming act on his part. The time has now come for all to unite and work together as Sri Lankans and  making such a statement to the international media can never be condoned.” He was  responding to  journalists at a recent press conference  and his first press briefing since his return from Australia following treatment for a leg injury” as quoted from a press release.

The Ministerial response to Fonseka’s  statement to a local Tamil daily, accuses him of trying to create unnecessary problems in the North when all communities are living in peace after the end of the conflict. It also entailed the all important reality that terrorism was wiped out from the country due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s dynamic leadership and very negative on his part if he  Sarath Fonseka has made such a statement to the international media.

It brings to bear an all important issue that although Sri Lanka achieved freedom in overwhelming terrorism and  countering the  insurgent conflict succesfully it has not  really  acheived freedom from her international critics who are egged on by the Tamil Diaspora taking up the cause of the LTTE rump as described by some analysts and  the bold statements Fonseka has been irresponsible enough to make at the present time in the present political climate will only induce foreign countries to intervene in Sri Lanka’s domestic matters as they attempted to do at the UNHRC summit at Geneva and will continue to do so.

Minister Rambukwella has also pointed out  that he believed Australia supported the US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva because it had no proper awareness about conditions in Sri Lanka. where Australia  has changed its stand after getting to know the truth.
Very appropriately he has also pointed out that Sarath Fonseka is neither the Defence Minister nor Defence Secretary to recommend the removal of Security Forces camps in the North where The Government has no need to implement a proposal made by such a person who in reality disentitled  himself to any official status he might have had in the early aftermath of the end of the Insurgent conflict by throwing in his lot with the adversaries of the Government in a failed bid to grab power.

It also need to be emphasized that  Gen.Sarath Fonseka’s statement could easily affect the present tranquility in the North and East of Sri Lanka which will hopefully be long standing and enduring, where he thinks that foreign intervention is required to settle internal matters in the country. In the opinion of Minister Rambukwella however, it is  irresponsible and uncalled for and becomes plainly visible that the overall intent of the Former General has always been to secure a means to regain power in Sri Lanka for his opposition allies despite having failed in his previous attempt unless he has a means to counter this accusation!
However the question even hypothetically being , “is he equipped for and equitable to the task to initiate any better changes in Sri Lanka that the present administration already has not, beyond rhetoric and metaphors?
A matter for conjecture perhaps and none other!

The Sunday Observer

Sarath Fonseka has again attempted to undermine the supreme sacrifices made by soldiers of the same Army he once commanded. Exploiting the special Presidential pardon that enabled him to leave prison with more than three years of his full five-and-a-half-year jail term left, Fonseka is now attempting to play the role of a traitor, political analysts said yesterday.

It is no secret how the retired Army Commander undermined the great feats of his soldiers in his lust for power and made sweeping statements during his unsuccessful Presidential Election campaign in 2010.

He continues to play double games for which he is notorious and betrays the country by dancing to the tune of the West. While saying something different to the Sinhala media, he sang a different melody to win the hearts of extremist Tamils by declaring that the military camps in the North should be moved out. He made this disgraceful statement in a recent interview with a widely-read Tamil newspaper in Jaffna.

By J.B. Müller

The Sri Lankan Diaspora overseas (mainly in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) eagerly and indiscriminately absorbs everything appearing about their Motherland in the international print and electronic media.  All what is done is done in the naïve belief that there isn’t a spin on the news and that it is completely unbiased and objective.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Of course, expatriates would like to believe that the BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle, CNN, Al Jazeera and others are feeding their hungry and even curious minds with the unadulterated truth.

 It might be useful for those in the Diaspora to know, understand and acknowledge that Sri Lankans are no longer Eurocentric Anglophiles having at long last seen through the various Anglo-Saxon-Celtic ploys to continue their domination and exploitation by other, indirect means.  No longer are Sri Lankans willing to regard their erstwhile masters as ‘superior’ beings with a ‘higher’ civilization to which they should slavishly defer.  Those ‘good old days’ are gone and good riddance!

Sri Lanka is a very old country with a long history of civilization and a matured polity unlike some ‘Johnny-come-lately’ countries with hardly 500 years of history.  The latter period of its history was marred by 443 years of European exploitation, each European power building on its predecessors to refine its instruments of exploitation.  The British were the worst and the bloodiest when it came to merciless brutality as is evidenced by the manner in which it quelled the uprising of the Kandyans between 1818 and 1822.  It committed genocide before that word was coined by slaughtering every man, woman, and child (including babes suckling at the breast!) in the Uva Province.  That province comprised of the present Badulla and Moneragala Districts is yet to recover and is just now being developed by government.  The Colonial Office 54 series of documents available at the Public Records Office in London holds all the General Orders issued by Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Brownrigg, governor and c-in-c, to Maj. General Hay McDowall and the correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Bathurst. (The Great Rebellion of 1818 by Prof. Tennekoon Vimalananda, Five Volumes, Gunasena Historical Series, Colombo, 1970)

In 1823 the British began selling Crown Land at two shillings an acre to British entrepreneurs—first, to cultivate cinchona [from which quinine is obtained], then coffee, then tea and rubber—from which they made huge profits for 149 years—and Mincing Lane and the members of the London Stock Exchange prospered beyond the dreams of avarice. (Land Reform Commission Report by Colvin R. de Silva, tabled in Parliament)

They created a huge ethnic and social problem by transporting indentured labour from the Ramnad district of Madras Presidency (present day Tamil Nadu).  These helpless people were auctioned off at Matale like the African slaves at Charleston, SC, and families were cruelly torn apart.  They reached Matale walking over 100 miles from Talaimannar along a route that came to be known as the ‘Skeleton Road’ because of the numbers that had perished by the wayside from hunger, thirst, snakebite, attack by wild beasts, cholera, dysentery, and what-have-you.  Their tragedy has been carefully documented by Donovan Moldrich in his ‘Bitter Berry Bondage’—the story of the 19^th century coffee workers in Sri Lanka.  Another Burgher author, Lorna Ruth Wright, OAM, wrote “Just another shade of Brown” which graphically details the sexual exploitation of the women plantation workers and the creation of the Eurasian Community (disowned by their very prim and proper British fathers!)   Many authors domestic and foreign have written about what colonialism did to Sri Lanka (Ceylon up to 1972) and it is a wonder that the people of this country tolerated what was done to them for so long, so patiently. (‘Bitter Berry Bondage’ by Donovan R. Moldrich and ‘Just another shade of brown’ by Lorna R. Wright)

Father Paul Caspersz, SJ, head of Satyodaya, Kandy, has been labouring amongst the Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin for decades and has written extensively about how these human beings have been mercilessly exploited.  They have lived in sub-human conditions for over one hundred years and their emancipation has been a long and hard struggle to restore to them their intric dignity as human beings. (Satyodaya Centre, Kandy, sri Lanka)

When I was working at the then Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation as a Relief Announcer on the Commercial Service I distinctly remember reading a sign affixed to the gate of a British Club facing the Dutch Burgher Union headquarters which said: “Natives and dogs NOT allowed.”  This was in 1969!  I phoned friends working on the ‘Ceylon Daily News’ and they sent a photographer round to snap a picture.  It was published and shortly thereafter the Government ordered the Club to take down the offending notice.  Do any self-respecting people endowed with inherent dignity have to tolerate such barefaced arrogance?

Britain was one of the most ‘successful’ imperial powers on earth and they created a worldwide empire (on which the sun never set because it was everywhere on the globe) and bled its colonies.  London is such a magnificent city despite its foul weather because it has risen, literally, on the blood, sweat and tears of countless millions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Australia.  In their imperial schema of things Australia produced the wool, New Zealand the milk, Malaya the rubber, Ceylon the tea, Rhodesia the tobacco, South Africa the diamonds and gold, Mauritius the sugar, West Africa the cocoa and so on—to the great delight of those who sat in London and counted their pounds, shillings and pence.  They didn’t mind exploiting their own in the textile mills of Lancashire and the coal mines of Scotland. [Charles Dickens]. The exported their poor Scots, Irish, and Welsh to all these colonies to supervise the black, brown and yellow natives [and the ‘half-caste’ Eurasian offspring known as Burghers, Anglos and even bastards].  The slightest rumble from their workers and the Redcoats (now Khakied) were there to shoot their b***s off!

Look at the Burghers.  The British looked down on them with great disdain classifying them as ‘half-castes’ and included them amongst the indigenous population.  In 1796 they issued the Burghers an ultimatum—learn English or leave.  Many who had the means went to Batavia (modern Jakarta).  The others stayed and learned the new tongue.  Very soon, these Burghers knew better English than the British themselves and were therefore enlisted in that great corps of clerks that they employed.  These Burghers also learned how to play cricket and challenged the British to a one-day on Galle Face Green.  They were superciliously asked what the name of their ‘club’ was to which a Burgher sharply retorted:  “Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sir!”  The name stuck.  The club still exists (from 1889).  So do the ‘nondescript’ Burghers. The entire British establishment including the ‘shoppies’ turned out one fine Sunday morning to watch these half-caste upstarts being licked.  The imperial governor himself came and occupied the clubhouse that now stands before the Taj Samudra Hotel.  Well, to cut a long story short, the Burgher ‘nondescripts’ beat the British who were ‘hoist with their own petard!’  They were learning, ever so painfully, that other people were not only their equals but could also better them in many spheres and they learned this lesson on this Island.(People Inbetween by Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheem, Percy Colin-Thômé, Sarvodaya, Ratmalana, 1989).

There is no land on the globe that the British touched that has not been left with a wholly untenable legacy of problems:  India with Pakistan have Kashmir; the Holy land has Jewish Israel contending with Arab Palestine; the Cypriots are divided between the Greeks and the Turks; Africa is an indescribable mess.  Glaring problems were created on the North American continent with the marginalization of the native Amerindian and Inuit peoples not to mention the stand-off between Blacks and Whites.  In Australia the original inhabitants, the aborigines were decimated and then marginalized whilst their land was robbed from them by white colonists.  It is a despicable record of man’s inhumanity to man carried forward on the specious premise that ‘White is Right’ and because they had a head-start in the practice of barbarism!  What is even more despicable is that their so-called ‘Christianity’ condoned their barefaced discrimination and unfettered brutality.

Today, these Anglo-Saxon-Celts pontificate o the whole world about human rights—yes, fundamental human rights which they denied millions from the 16^th to the 20^th centuries of the Common Era.  They sanctimoniously presume to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that attempt to stand-up to their bullying (amply exposed by Wiki-Leaks).  The ongoing bloodletting in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate their manifest hypocrisy.

They left behind what were basically alien concepts, structures, systems, and constitutions that have confused and confuted the peoples they formerly ruled.  They uprooted and deliberately destroyed indigenous systems that had endured for millennia and which the indigenous people were comfortable with.  Today, the peoples of these lands are divided into innumerable factions and cliques contending bloodily for command and control in the name of the ‘democracy’ they left behind.  They are happy with what they see because it is a continuation of their ‘divide et imperia’ or ‘divide and rule’ policy.  It is easy to manipulate and exploit those who are divided!

Sri Lanka’s problems which some expatriates gleefully point out (as a justification for their living overseas) is a damaging inheritance bequeathed by the departing British to a class of indigenous people brainwashed and nurtured by them in their own image:  the English-speaking Middle Classes represented by several leading families of Low-country upstarts and Up-country traitors.  These families have lick-spittle hangers-on who have attained some upward social mobility and the privileges that go with that mobility and occupy the second and third tiers of governance.  Whether they inhabit the governing party or the Opposition or their sundry and various coalition cohorts they have become the ‘corrupt of the earth.’

The decent and law-abiding majority are a patient, tolerant and hospitable people (sometimes referred to as the ‘broad masses’) who have taken much abuse. If you believe the many travellers who passed through, they are a giving and forgiving people.  If we are to trust the historical record, these gentle, hard-working people have been driven to and fro by the Pandyans, Cholas, Cheras, Pallavas and Javakas; then, by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British—each, in turn, more subtly brutal than the previous.  Ever since 1186, when the indigenous polity began disintegrating with the breakdown of central authority [and fissiparous tendencies manifested themselves], there has been a traumatic crisis that is yet to come to a conclusion.  We know that history works in cycles and that that conclusion will come, perhaps unobtrusively or dramatically to sweep away the detritus of several centuries.

True civilization does not consist of the worship of science & technology or the tinsel and glitter of modernity or of roads, railways, harbours, airports, and the frenzied rush one might be bemused by.  It consists of the maturity and wisdom gained through the practice of virtue, the development of good moral character, to decent family life and values, the unswerving commitment to social justice and equity.  This also means and implies the practice and active pursuit of harmlessness and a belief in the sacredness of all life—all mankind is of one blood.  The serene tranquility of spirit thus attained is a universal norm that needs no sectarian labels.  This is the civilization that grew and was nurtured on this Island for centuries until rudely and repeatedly disturbed.  It is yet the goal of those who appreciate the intrinsic beauty of Nature rather than that of soulless concrete, glass and steel.

Let’s discuss this further if you are minded to,

jb.muller@gmail.com

by Manjula FERNANDO Courtesy Sunday Observer

If military camps are dismantled in the North and the East, extremism and terrorism will return, international anti-terrorism expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratna warned yesterday.

Responding to comments by Sarath Fonseka on military camps in the North and the East should be reduced, Prof. Gunaratna said the threat of terrorism being revived is very real because supportive political elements and LTTE proxies are still active in Sri Lanka, India and in a few other countries.

“They have not abandoned the Tiger flag, Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s image or the separatist goal,” said Prof. Gunaratna, who heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore.He said, “Due to the weak law and order situation, enforcement and intelligence, ideological extremism and terrorism grew in Jaffna and spread islandwide starting with Prabhakaran killing the Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in 1975. Most Sri Lankans including Tamils do not want the military to withdraw for two reasons.

First, security. Ninety percent of the LTTE’s victims were Tamils until 1983. Since then Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese suffered gravely and Sri Lanka went back a quarter century. Although the LTTE has been dismantled in Sri Lanka, the LTTE maintains a significant presence in Tamil Nadu. LTTE ideologues and leaders who support terrorism including S.J. Emmanuel, V. Rudrakumaran and Nediywan are radicalising and militarising a new generation of Tamils. Through front, cover and sympathetic organisations, the LTTE is operating out of New York as TGTE, London as TGTE and In Norway as TCC.Second, the military has provided sustained support to the civilian population: building roads, refurbishing hospitals, renovating schools, improving livelihoods through farming fishery and agriculture assistance and donating blood.”In the next decade, the greatest challenge facing Sri Lanka would be communal extremism propagated by LTTE remnants and their proxies, he said.

“The Government must continue to engage the Tamils and build a strong friendship with all communities especially in the North and the East. Military and intelligence must recruit more Tamils and learning Tamil must be made mandatory. The police have set an example by recruiting and deploying Tamils in the North and the East.”

Earlier, British High Commissioner Rankin in a video posted on the High Commission website said, “We hope the military presence in the North and the East can resemble the level of the military presence in other parts of the country, rather than the very large military presence we continue to have at present.”

A spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said they were studying his comments.

The former Army Commander Fonseka too had voiced similar sentiments in an interview with a Tamil newspaper after his release. President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the nation on the third anniversary of the defeat of terrorism, that the military camps in the North and the East would not be removed as long as security considerations remain, in the backdrop of LTTE diaspora activity.

Shenali Waduge

Throughout almost 60 years, the US has been involved in covert operations that have overthrown over 50 democratically elected popular foreign leaders and placed dictators and tyrants as US puppets. How can Africa and Asia or Latin America produce good leaders committed to the welfare of the masses when the US ends up gunning these leaders down and installing local agents who are ever ready to allow the West to pilfer the nation while they too do the same? The story of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba is one such assassination wherein several western nations conspired to kill Congo’s first independent Prime Minister simply because he was a nationalist.

 The killing exposed not only the savagery and hypocrisy of US imperialism, it illustrated the hollowness of so-called independence for the African nations, whose absurd boundaries have created unprecedented strife.

 Does the American Congress and the American people know an iota of what its intelligence agency is upto overseas? Do Americans not wonder about the legality and morality of unmanned drones that fire missiles upon wedding parties, funerals and can these citizens accept the US Government’s excuse that they have killed “terrorists”. Are these unnecessary killings not making people hate America and Americans?

 Africa has been subject to numerous assassinations over the years. In Algeria sixteen assassinations have taken place. Angola, Namibia and Murkina Faso accounts for two assassination while Burundi accounts for the assassinations of 5 of its Prime Ministers. Cameron, Gambia, Guinea and Chad had their leaders gunned down. Comoros also saw three of its heads killed. Fifteen leaders of Egypt including President Anwar Sadat. Four leaders of Guinea Bissau. Seven leaders of Kenya. Two presidents of Liberia. The King of Madagascar and its President. Mozambique leader allegedly killed by Portuguese branch of Gladio. In 1999 President of Niger was ambushed and killed  while Nigeria lost nine leaders including a Prime Minister. Rwanda saw the deaths of four leaders including that of Habyarimana whose plane was shot down triggering the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Senegal lost a minister/mayor in 1967 while Somalia lost 5 leaders including its interior minister Hassan Farah in 2011. South Africa has lost eight leaders since 1828 (King of Zulu). Sudan has had three assassinations including that of Jimmy Lemi Milla in 2011 South Sudan Government Minister. In 2008 Swaziland lost its opposition leader Gabriel Mkhumane. Tanzania lost its first vice President and Togo lost its first President of independent Togo in 1963. Tunisia saw two assassinations while in Uganda the Chief Justice and Archbishop was killed and in Zimbabwe the left-wing Malawian politician was killed. The latest killing has been that of Libya’s President Gaddafi. In all these murders the West had a hand.

 Let us look at just one leader – Patrice Lumumba Congo’s first Prime Minister after Congo gained independence (1959) and shot dead after being tortured for days on 17^th January 1961. He was just 35 when he died.

 Why would the West who favors democracy want to get rid of a man loved by the masses? While Lumumba was loved by the masses he was also a nationalist who opposed the West’s plan to transform Congo from a colony (white rule and military occupation) into a neo-colony (black rule according to white interests). Both Lumumba and the Congolese people were aware that the West were walking away with Congo’s rich natural resources – coltan, diamonds, copper, zinc and cobalt. Moreover, Belgium troops had killed over 10million Congolese over 20 years for failing to meet rubber collection quotas.

 As with all colonial countries there came a time when citizens were becoming fed of being second class citizens in their own country. Sadly in the case of most African nations the white oppressors were replaced with black oppressors. However, Lumumba was different and his charisma annoyed the West so much that two interrelated plots by the US/UK and Belgium was planned to kill Lumumba.

 Documents reveal how US President Eisenhower gave orders to the CIA to assassinate Lumumba (1960 August National Security Council meeting minutes). British Foreign Office notes reveal how the UK too wanted Lumumba killed because of their interests in neighboring Rhodesia. The plot to kill Lumumba was called “Operation Barracuda” and Colonel Louis Maliere bought millions of francs. Unknown to Lumumba, his secretary and Army Commander Mbotu was turned into an agent of the West. Mobutu became the West’s main Cold War ally in Africa. He was a close ally of Jacques Chirac, he sat next to the Queen, was close friends with George Bush Snr and was a close friend of the Belgian King. Mbotu was to rename Congo as Zaire and ruled it until removed by Rwandan and Ugandan forces in 1997.

 True to form as seen even in the present the Western media was quick to declare targeted leaders as “dictators” “tyrants” “despots”….these being to prepare the public for the real plan that is to follow. We all know the scenario in the present context.

 Lumumba, close associates Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okite were taken by plane to Katanga province where they were shot by a firing squad commanded by Belgian officers. Belgian commander of the Katanga police force, Gerard Soete were tasked with destroying the bodies which were chopped up and dissolved in acid and kept Lumumba’s teeth as souvenirs. Soete had said “We did things an animal wouldn’t do.” This is just an example of how the West, the supposed champions of human rights had treated fellow humans. 

 The mystery of Lumumba’s murder lives on despite a Belgium parliamentary investigation in 2001 falling short of admitting responsibility for his murder. Despite evidence of US involvement, the US too has never made any attempt to officially acknowledge its accountability. Whatsmore the UN is also accused of watching Lumumba beaten and paraded through the streets. The guilt of the UN is established in the Belgian sociologist Ludo de Witte who has uncovered proof of the Belgian Government’s and the UN’s complicity in the killing of Lumumba having analyzed 8000 telegrams exchanged between Congo and New York UN diplomats.

 The last letter addressed by Lumumba to his wife is poignant:

 My dear companion,

I write you these words without knowing if they will reach you, when they will reach you, or if I will still be living when you read them. All during the length of my fight for the independence of my country, I have never doubted for a single instant the final triumph of the sacred cause to which my companions and myself have consecrated our lives. But what we wish for our country, its right to an honorable life, to a spotless dignity, to an independence without restrictions, Belgian colonialism and its Western allies-who have found direct and indirect support, deliberate and not deliberate among certain high officials of the United Nations, this organization in which we placed all our confidence when we called for their assistance-have not wished it.

 They have corrupted certain of our fellow countrymen, they have contributed to distorting the truth and our enemies, that they will rise up like a single person to say no to a degrading and shameful colonialism and to reassume their dignity under a pure sun.

 We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese. They will not abandon the light until the day comes when there are no more colonizers and their mercenaries in our country. To my children whom I leave and whom perhaps I will see no more, I wish that they be told that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that it expects for each Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of reconstruction of our independence and our sovereignty; for without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.

 No brutality, mistreatment, or torture has ever forced me to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my faith steadfast, and my confidence profound in the destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.

Do not weep for me, my dear companion. I know that my country, which suffers so much, will know how to defend its independence and its liberty. Long live the Congo! Long live Africa!

Patrice

 Malcolm X, speaking at a rally of the Organisation of Afro-American Unity in 1964, described Patrice Emery Lumumba as “the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent. He didn’t fear anybody. He had those people [the colonialists] so scared they had to kill him. They couldn’t buy him, they couldn’t frighten him, they couldn’t reach him.”

 We are being repeatedly preached by these same Governments who are committing grave crimes across the world. These incidents should give us the smaller nations the strength to finally demand that they stop this charade of pretending to be human rights saviors when we know too well that they have been and continue to commit crimes against humanity each day.

 Shenali Waduge

Janaka Yagirala

To: John Rankin
The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka

 Dear High Commissioner,

On The Sri Lankan Military Presence In The North and Eastern Provinces

 As a citizen of Sri Lanka please allow me to express my utmost disapproval of your statement expecting the Sri Lankan military presence in the North and Eastern Provinces to resemble other parts of Sri Lanka. First of all, being a sovereign nation Sri Lanka has every right to safeguard her national security. Secondly, Britain has absolutely no right to advice or meddle in the internal affairs of another sovereign nation.

 I would also like to inquire if Britain has any intention of reducing its military presence in the following foreign or occupied regions?

1. Northern Ireland
2. The Falkland Islands
3. Akrotiri and Dhekelia of Cyprus
4. The RAF base at Ascension Island
5. The Chagos Archipelago from which nearly 2000 native islanders where forcibly evicted from Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos and Salomon in 1971 to make way for a joint US-British military base

 Furthermore if you intend to make use of your post as HC to Sri Lanka, may I suggest holding an inquiry into the numerous past British atrocities committed in Sri Lanka starting from the Uva-Wellassa Genocide of 1818, the Matale Genocide of 1848 and the eviction of innocent Sinhalese people from their land under the guise of the Barren Land Ordinance of 1834 to make way for cash crops (for the profit of the British of course!). The monumental task of calculating the hefty compensation owed by Britain to Sri Lanka for stealing our resources during the colonial occupation from 1815-1948 would be another worthwhile exercise to undertake during your tenure. If Britain can afford to pay it (with a national debt of GBP 1 trillion), then it is most welcome!

 Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Janaka Yagirala

By Shamindra Ferdinando  Courtesy The Island

May 25, 2012, 9:49 pm

Many an eyebrow has been raised over contradiction by British High Commissioner John Rankin of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s claim of scaling down of the military presence and the non-involvment of the military in civil administration in the Northern Province since the conclusion of the conflict.

In his video, ‘Ask the High Commissioner’, Rankin challenged a claim by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on May 19, on the third anniversary of Sri Lanka’s war victory over the LTTE.

Rankin discussed the human rights situation in Sri Lanka with reference to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report as well as the recently launched UK Human Rights Report. Categorizing Sri Lanka as one of the 28 countries accused of major human rights violations, Rankin stressed the need for freedom of expression, minority rights, women rights while condemning the country for continuing abductions and disappearances.

Commenting on President’s assertion that the armed forces couldn’t be moved out of the Northern and Eastern Province due to the continued anti-Sri Lanka operations undertaken by the Tamil Diaspora and the LTTE rump abroad, Rankin said that the LTTE was no longer engaged in terrorist activity. He described the absence of terrorism as a good thing, while reminding the GoSL that the LTTE remained a proscribed organization in many parts of the world, including in the UK.

HC Rankin said that President Rajapaksa had, in his Victory Day speech, declared that the military was no longer involved in civil administration in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. Recognizing Sri Lanka’s right to maintain normal military bases throughout the country, like in the UK, he alleged that the military deployment in the Northern and Eastern Province was very much different than that in other parts of the country. Rankin alleged that the government was maintaining a very heavy military presence in the Northern Region.

President Rajapaksa said: We are aware that the armed forces do not participate in the administration of the North or East. These regions are administered by the public service and the police. Despite this, there are many who shout that the security forces’ camps in these areas should be removed. They ask us why they are not removed. But no one asks whether those who make such demands are not seeking to achieve what Prabhakaran failed to obtain through the use of shiploads of arms, aerial attacks, sea tiger and human suicide bomb attacks through 30 years of war of terror. Are they now not asking this through different means?”

Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe yesterday told The Island that since the conclusion of the conflict there had been a steady reduction of military presence in the Jaffna peninsula. He revealed that at the time he took over the peninsula on Dec. 7, 2009, there had been 27,000 troops, though today there were only 15, 600. “There are three Divisions deployed across the peninsula and Jaffna islands. The 51 Div is deployed in Jaffna sector, 52 Div in Vadamaratchchy and 55 Div at Elephant Pass. Don’t forget at the time eelam war IV erupted the Jaffna peninsula had the largest single concentration of armed forces and police numbering close to 50,000.”

Samanmalie PRIYASHANTHI Courtesy The Daily News

All must work together as Sri Lankans’

Govt has no need to implement such a proposal’

‘President courageously faced Geneva issue’

If Sarath Fonseka calls for the withdrawal of Security Forces camps from the North he is indirectly inviting foreign countries to meddle in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs, said Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

If anyone tried to take undue advantage of a pardon granted to him it will a be a very lowly and unbecoming act on his part the minister added.

“The time has now come for all to unite and work together as Sri Lankans and as such making such a statement to the international media can never be condoned, Minister Rambukwella said.

Minister Rambukwella expressed these sentiments responding to a question raised by a journalist at a press conference at his residence yesterday. This was the first press briefing by the minister since his return from Australia following treatment for a leg injury.

Minister Rambukwella said it is not a positive development if Sarath Fonseka has made such a statement to the international media.

Minister Rambukwella said although Sri Lanka achieved freedom in the context of the war it has not gained freedom in the international context and such statements of this nature attributed to Fonseka will only induce foreign countries to intervene in Sri Lanka’s domestic matters.

The minister said that he believed Australia supported the US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva because it had no proper awareness about conditions in Sri Lanka.

He said Australia changed its stand after getting to know the truth.

He said Sarath Fonseka is neither the Defence Minister nor Defence Secretary to recommend the removal of Security Forces camps in the North. The government has no need to implement a proposal made by such a person.

Since President Mahinda Rajapaksa had promised to look after the Geneva issue the Cabinet had no doubt about it.

The President who ended a 30 year war had the courage to face the Geneva issue. He said the government had still not abandoned its battle at the UNHRC.

Minister Rambukwella said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had paid special attention to him and inquired about his progress and welfare continuously from the day he suffered the accident and he wished to thank him for all the personal attention given.

He also thanked Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene for ably looking after his ministerial duties during his absence. He also thanked all his well – wishers and supporters who took a keen interest about his progress and welfare. He said he suffered the accident due to the insecurity and inadequate facilities at the hotel he booked in and he hoped to institute legal action against the hotel.

Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday said Fonseka has started misusing the President’s magnanimity and kindness.

He said the President showed kindness in granting pardon to Fonseka.

Responding to Fonseka’s statement to a Tamil daily, the minister said Fonseka is trying to create unnecessary problems in the North when all communities are living in peace after the end of the conflict. The minister said terrorism was wiped out from the country due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s dynamic leadership.

Fonseka had made a statement to a Tamil daily that the Sri Lanka Army is interfering in the civil administration in the North and Army camps should be dismantled from the Northern province.

The minister said Fonseka had made this statement to the media as a free man because President Rajapaksa pardoned him and released him. Minister Rambukwella also thanked the President and Cabinet colleagues for helping him after he met with an accident in Australia.

The minister said he would have to receive physiotherapy treatment for another four weeks. Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said this type of irresponsible statement by Fonseka will create problems in the North.

“This statement will affect the peaceful condition in the North. Fonseka thinks that foreign intervention is required to settle internal matters in the country,” he said.

Arcadius

Grandfather was fuming in a fit of ill temper. The top drawer of his escritoire was missing together with all its contents. Probably, it was the work of a clever burglar. A huge footprint was clearly imprinted on the wall of the front room where the escritoire stood.

Grandfather had good reason to be so furious. He had won big at playing Blackjack the previous night, and upon returning home, stuffed all his booty in the top drawer, now missing. The famous black jacket that he always put on to signify his status as the Ralahamy, and the hefty umbrella that he carried to serve as a walking stick were also missing.

Apparently, the thief had executed this misdeed under the very nose of Loku Maama, who had been sleeping in the same room. Loku Maama himself expressed surprise as to how the wily burglar could have done the job so neatly without making the slightest noise that would have awakened him.

Presumably, Grandfather had an aversion for round numbers and a disposition toward exaggeration, particularly when he talked of matters involving money. He maintained that the total monetary loss was Rs. 299, thus providing an opportunity for others to make their own calculations either by means of division or subtraction.

The attempt to trace the footprints of the burglar failed. Grandfather deemed it advisable not to report the matter to the police probably because he thought that it would contribute in no way to the reputation he had for maintaining law and order.

That night Loku Maama was seen perched on a branch of the Suriya tree, which had grown alongside the crumbling wall of our front yard, armed with a loaded gun. When Grandfather was informed of the new arboreal habitat of his older son, he promptly ordered him down and curtly made him understand that no thief would think of sneaking into the same place twice that soon, and that he (Loku Maama) would do much better in the world if he could realize that in the matter of intelligence any thief would be far superior to him.

It might be that Loku Maama did not feel disparaged by his father’s observation that he was no match for the cerebral community comprising thieves. That negative observation did not dampen Loku Maama’s ardor. The following morning he brought the exciting news that he had found the lost property—the coat, the umbrella, the drawer and all that it contained except, understandably, the money—discarded by the clever sneaker in the lantana cluster near the ironwood tree on the plot of land belonging to Myna.

I put together this narrative from conversations I had with Loku Maama after his adventures with the “Desert Rats” in North Africa. For it relates to Loku Maama’s exploits as a schoolboy, before my birth.

 In his junior school days, Loku Maama had knocked down a boy from Kapparatota for being rude. The assaulted boy had complained to his elders, who had turned up at the school premises the following morning in platoon strength, buzzing out invectives. This platoon had more women than men – and all of them fisher folk.

The boy’s older brother had got hold of Loku Maama and delivered a blow with his umbrella, whereupon Loku Maama’s pals, Sandy and Kakkuwa, who were students in the senior form, had immediately come to Loku Maama’s rescue and unnerved the assailant by grabbing the umbrella and treating him adequately with the same until it broke down to pieces. More excitement was added to this drama by screaming schoolgirls scurrying like chickens and the invading fisher folk shouting at the top of their voices.

Meanwhile, the principal had sent word for the police thereby preventing a major incident. The boy’s older brother was taken to the hospital while the other participants were taken to the Weligama Police Station for interrogation. A case was filed for legal action. But before the case was taken up in the Matara District Court, better counsel prevailed and the participants agreed to apologize at a public meeting held in the school. Thus, the case was amicably settled and the case withdrawn.

Loku Maama never forgot the bravery of his two pals. He felt highly indebted to them for helping him to preserve his dignity and honor even at the risk of their school career. His conscience might have bothered him to pay some sort of compensation for the risk they took.

A few weeks after the loss and recovery of the assorted articles excluding money, Loku Maama made arrangements to leave for Colombo in the company of his two friends. On the eve of their departure, the Three Musketeers instructed the driver of the Magnet bus, which was scheduled to leave for Colombo the following morning, to pick them at a particular point in the town.

Those were the days when the buses were run according to the convenience of the passengers! The driver would keep the bus halted sometimes for close to one hour to accommodate a long-distance traveler! The conductor would carry the baggage of the passengers! And the bus-fare from Weligama to Colombo was only 60 cents.

The Three Musketeers, whose knowledge of the City was extremely limited, had repaired directly to the most familiar place they could think of: a firewood shop in Panchikawatte belonging to one Seedin. Staying at this place for a number of days, they had enjoyed their time by going for regular Tarzan shows at Tower Hall and other theatres.

Having had a whale of a time in the City at a cost of nearly Rs.40, the three buddies had returned home with memories of an unforgettable spree.

Loku Maama and Kukkuwa wanted to enjoy more. A few days later, they decided to go to Matara for the second lap of their merry frolic.

Because they had planned to go for a movie that night, they booked a room at Aleviya Hotel, overlooking the Nilwala Ganga (River), to stay the night inasmuch as there were no buses to return home in the evening those days.

Then they had gone to a tailor and given orders for two khaki trousers for each of them with strict instructions that they should take the form of cowboy breeches, the fashion of the time.

The twosome had become more adventurous thereafter. They had walked into a foreign liquor bar in the vicinity and ordered a pint of Hennessey’s brandy at a cost of Rs. 2.50. The poor fellows, who had never tasted brandy in their life, had guzzled down the liquor neat in their ignorance. The barkeeper had not been able to believe his eyes! It had not taken much time for both of them to “see double.”

Kukkuwa had started a lively conversation with the barkeeper supplementing words with action asserting all the while that he was not in a delirium tremens. Loku Maama had deemed it better to do a jig realizing that he was too top-heavy to remain steady. Then the two partners had hugged each other most affectionately and walked away to their diggings on the upper floor of Aleviya Hotel in very high spirits.

In their room, the two affectionate friends had started disgorging not only the liquor they had swigged but also other bits and pieces that were in the process of being dissolved in the system. This had been done apparently on a competitive basis, when a waiter had made an unexpected appearance and solicited them to leave the place if they were unable to stop feeding the boiler below with undigested material of the human body. 

They, however, had not been in the mood to understand that what they were disgorging was falling right on to the boiler of the hotel through the holes in the wooden floor of their room!

Because their enjoyment had taken an unexpected form, they had completely forgotten their plan to go for a movie that night.

After a restless night, the twosome, feeling much better, had left the hotel at dawn.

Then it had occurred to Kukkuwa that two days’ growth of stubble on his face should be immediately shaved for good looks. So they had repaired to a small barbershop on the wayside and ordered the barber, a barrelly Tamil man in a verti (a variation of the sarong family), to start the day’s business right away.

The barber, who was whetting the razor, had suddenly felt a physical need to scratch the privy regions of his body.  Whereupon, oblivious to the fact that two customers were present, he had sent his hand through the verti and started scratching mercilessly.

Having scratched to his gratification, he had dipped the self-same hand in a basin of water and applied it on the bristling face of Kukkuwa, who was snugly seated in a chair facing a mirror ready for the shave. Kukkuwa had not been able to bear the smell! So he had started disgorging another round of undigested material providing much amusement to Loku Maama.

They had forgone the shave and started for home.

That was how Loku Maama paid compensation to his bosom buddies for the risk they took in school to preserve his dignity and honor. For all the expenses during this period of unlimited fun and frolic were borne by Loku Maama.

Subsequently, it became known that the clever sneaker who had removed the top drawer of the escritoire and assorted articles was Loku Maama himself. Years later, he confessed that the drawer contained only Rs. 100 and not the figure announced by grandfather.

Whether Grandfather withdrew his earlier observation and promoted his son to the cerebral community he had in mind, could be anyone’s guess.

[Note: The original version of this Village Sketch by Arcadius appeared in the CDN Saturday Magazine on 23 Oct. 1965. Arcadius revised it in 2012.  All 28 articles in this series will be released this year in a book titled VILLAGE LIFE IN THE ‘FORTIES: MEMORIES OF A LANKAN EXPATRIATE (Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse).]

By Walter Jayawardhana

The ancient Buddhist learning center of higher education Taxila, situated in modern Pakistan has been declared one of the most endangered historical sites in Asia by the Global Heritage Fund which promotes the preservation of historic architectural sites around the world.

It is one of the finalized  list of the top 10 most endangered sites in Asia.

Taxila is  in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan, and an important archaeological site.

The city dates back to the Gandhara period and contains the ruins of the Gandharan city of Takshasila, which was an important Hindu and Buddhist centre, and is still considered a place of religious and historical sanctity in those traditions.

In 1980, Taxila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was ranked as the top tourist destination in Pakistan by The Guardian newspaper in 2006.

Besides Taxila, nine other endangered sites include Ayutthaya in Thailand, a former Siamese capital known as the “Venice of the East”, Fort Santiago and Intramuros in the Philippines, Kashgar, one of the last preserved Silk Road cities in China, Mahasthangarh, in Bangladesh, Mes Aynak, an Afghan Buddhist monastery complex on the Silk Road, Myauk-U, capital of the first Arakenese kingdom in Myanmar, Plain of Jars, a mysterious megalithic site in Laos, Preah Vihear, a Khmer architectural masterpiece in Cambodia, and Rakhigari, one of the biggest, ancient Indus sites in India.

A complex of caves, monasteries, and mosques, the city of Taxila in Pakistan was a crossroads of industry in the ancient Middle East. Four distinct settlement sites—each belonging to different time periods—show the evolution of urban development over the course of five centuries, beginning in the sixth century B.C., according to the Global Heritage Fund.

Today the ruins and nearby Taxila Museum suffer from insufficient management—some areas of the site serve as garbage dumps, for example. Other threats include looting, the toll of regional war, and uncontrolled mine blasts that shake excavated artifacts from museum shelves.

References in texts

“In the Mahābhārata, the Kuru heir Parikṣit was enthroned at Takṣaśilā. Traditionally, it is believed that the Mahabharata was first recited at Takṣaśilā by Vaishampayana, a disciple of Vyasa at the behest of the seer Vyasa himself, at the Sarpa Satra Yajna (Snake Sacrifice) of Parikṣit‘s son Janamejaya.^[10]

“Takshashila is also described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century. The Chinese monk Faxian (also called Fa-Hien) writing of his visit to Taxila in 405 CE, mentions the kingdom of Takshasila (or Chu-cha-shi-lo) Xuanzang (also called Hieun Tsang), another Chinese monk, visited Taxila in 630 and in 643, and he called the city as Ta-Cha-Shi-Lo. The city appears to have already been in ruins by his time. Taxila is called Taxiala in Ptolemy’s Geography. In the Historia Trium Regum (History of the Three Kings) composed by John of Hildesheim around 1375, the city is called Egrisilla.

Ancient centre of learning

“Takshashila became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BCE, and continued to attract students from around the old world until the destruction of the city in the 5th century. At its height, it has been suggested that Takshashila exerted a sort of “intellectual suzerainty” over other centres of learning in India., and its primary concern was not with elementary, but higher education. Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The Vedas and the Eighteen Silpas or Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant lore, were taught, in addition to its law school, medical school, and school of military science. Students came to Takshashila from far-off places such as Kashi, Kosala and Magadha, in spite of the long and arduous journey they had to undergo, on account of the excellence of the learned teachers there, all recognized as authorities on their respective subjects.

Famous students and teachers

“Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association with Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, the strategist who guided Chandragupta Maurya and assisted in the founding of the Mauryan empire. The Arthashastra (Sanskrit for The knowledge of Economics) of Chanakya, is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself.The Ayurvedic healer Charaka also studied at Taxila.He also started teaching at Taxila in the later period. The ancient grammarian Panini, who codified the rules that would define Classical Sanskrit, has also been part of the community at Takshashila.

“The institution is very significant in Buddhist tradition since it is believed that the Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism took shape there. Jivaka, the court physician of the Magadha emperor Bimbisara who once cured the Buddha, and the enlightened ruler of Kosala, Prasenajit, are some important personalities mentioned in Pali texts who studied at Takshashila”

By Walter Jayawardhana

Blaming that those who negotiated General Fonseka’s release from the jail with the President are responsible for the freedom without civic rights he received  Ranil Wickramasinghe said Tiran Alles being a member of parliament should tell the nation the circumstances under which such a sorry state came into being.

UNP and Opposition leader Wickramasinghe was addressing a press conference at the party headquarters Siri Kotha at Kotte.

Tiran Alles, a member of the Democratic National Alliance is the parliamentarian who negotiated the release of General Fonseka from the jail.

Quoting the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. news broadcasts of the Sirasa Television on May 20 2012  Wickramasinghe said Tiran Alles  had said the President had agreed to almost everything they have requested. What has been granted is the cancellation of the jail term into the future. The question arises, Wickramasinghe, said why did not they request that past conviction also be declared null and void so that his civic rights could come intact.

The nation has been hoodwinked , since the people had been given the impression that General Fonseka would get his full freedom Wickramesinghe said.

Ranil Wickramesinghe said all proceedings against General Fonseka should be declared null and void . Since last December not only the state media but also the privately held media said that Fonseka is going to be freed. He said while the state media or the Dinamina publicly and obviously dancing to the tune of the government the Lankadeepa is dancing to the tune of the government wearing an iPod. He said there is no media freedom in the country today.

Prof. Hudson McLean

“Great Minds Think Alike”

It is pure coincidence that a couple of scribes mentioned the “slimy actions” of Fonzy, were published by both scribes simultaneously. That goes to show that Fonzy as the General of Army misused his status, dragged the reputation of the Sri Lanka Army down the drain, for his personal gain.

At no point during the past decade or even longer, any person from Sri Lanka or indeed from LankaWeb has colluded with me to prompt subjects into my “two-cents” worth of thinking!

Although corruption has been rife in Sri Lanka in every sector of life, especially the  Sri Lanka traffic Police, Government Ministries, crawling upto Presidential & Prime Ministerial chambers, Sri Lankan Army has been relatively clean, except at the highest levels such as General Ratwatte (relative of Mrs Bandaranaike-Kumaratunge).

Politics is a Dirty Game.

When cricket gets involved in crime, there is no clean sport!

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” – Marc Antony. Julius Caeser by William Shakespeare: Act 3. Scene 11.

“Et tu Fonzy” said Noble Mahinda, when Gotha pulled the knife out of Mahinda’s back, as Fonzy moved to a side, with blood-soaked hand!

And Clinton clapped in glee!

This reminds me of a true  story……….A famous British politician, nearing his death, called his Personal Assistant and commanded him, “On my tombstone, inscribe the following”
- Here Lies An Honest Politician!.

The obedient servant nodded his head in the affirmative and asked the reason for not engraving his real name. The answer shot back, “Any one reading that will think for a second and will retort, “That’s Strange!”, was Ernest Strange’s comment.

Politics has always been a Dirty Game. And it will always be.

Those who have come and gone, some to their grave, with numbers in ashes, Dust to Dust, such as Gamini Dissanayake, Ranasinghe Premadasa, CBK (not yet), et al.

Politics practice the worst “Law of the Jungle”.

It is the survival of the Fattest, until one gets Voted Out, with a sackful of Moolah, driving the Rolls Royce or the Maserati into gates of a villa in USA or UK.

Fonzy’s Army

Actually, the Real Leadership came from Gothabhaya Rajapaksa, not the elder brothers, who tacitly approved the strategic mind-set of the Colonel. However, without the Power of the President, Fonzy could not have taken two steps forward.

Agreed, Fonzy did provide a strong leadership to his cadres, even from “between the sheets” whilst enjoying his carnal pleasures or counting Dollars in commissions from China.

Fonzy was an “Officer but No Gentleman”, when he spat on Gotha, who recommended the promotion to General, and stabbed Mahinda who elevated him to Four Star.

If I was in his shoes, as a decorated General, I would have been happy to accept an invitation as a Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa cabinet, or seek an appointment in General Re-habilitation of the soldiers, and the victims of war, or join the Foreign Ministry (with his limited intelligence) job in UN or such-like.  Fonzy would have been an Untouchable God-like President-in-waiting with time to learn in his slow-learning-curve.

Fonzy has limited grey-matter which is not working at full strength, went for a head-butt against President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who by this time was consolidating his power-base for himself and the Rajapaksa Dynasty, by placing his brothers in key-positions and, grooming his son into the power-base.

A military Coup-d’ Etat is out at the moment in Sri Lanka. The door to the High Political office is under Lock & Key. A place in the Opposition is possible in the short-term, but sooner Fonzy settles down, the Cat n Dog fight will start, Sri Lankan style.

Money Talks – Bull Sh*t Walks.

The rumours of Tsunami Funds subsided with the salty waves back into the Indian Ocean. Those who might have vital information or be a threat to links in the Dirty Money Trail, were bought-off or silenced in many other ways.

This is where the son-in-law of Fonzy comes in or is kept under wrap.  If the SLG can find some of the richest funders of Terror and fund-managers of LTTE, why cant the sleuths of the SLG Police sniff into the hide-out of the son-in-law?

This little twerp is no Osama bin Laden, but a petty thief, living in Thailand or the Congo where he can mingle with the locals, and blend into the countryside.

Most likely the boy made under 20 million bucks. That’s bird-feed in whats being swept under the mattresses of King-sized Four Poster beds.

Let Fonzy Go Free

Right now Fonzy is like a “Puppet-on-a-String”, let out but not let loose.
As we all know, military men make useless political leaders, especially in the days of the Internet.

Even long standing, stable, powerful leaders were toppled and throttled, or painfully castrated, buried in water or desert, within weeks.

President Rajapaksa should make a unilateral decision to grant a Full Presidential Pardon to Fonzy, without any strings attached.  That will take the wind-out-of Clinton, useless UN, USA, UK, UNP et al.

“Let the man go Free and give him enough rope to hang himself!”

Let him invite his son-in-law to face the music, and allow all his illegitimate (if any) sons & daughters to come forth and be counted.

Make Sri Lanka Truly the Pearl of the Asian Continent!

PS: Since there is no potential leader in the horizon of Sri Lanka political scene, let us enjoy “The Devil We Know”!

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri Lanka’s Housing Minister and leader of the National Freedom Front, a constituent party of the governing coalition,Wimal Weerawansa criticized forrmer Army Commander Sarath Fonseka for saying Sri Lanka must cooperate with  any international inquiry into war crimes they allege since we did not do such crimes.

Weerawansa appealed to Fonseka not to dig out the trump cards of the US imperialists to trap “Sri Lanka”.

Wimal Weerawansa argued after going to an inquiry Fonseka could always say during the last few days of the war he was out in China negotiating for arms and those who were present only were in the know passing the ball to the others. Weerawansa was responding to a statement made by Fonseka during a BBC interview in Colombo recently.

In that interview with Charles Haviland Sri Lanka Army’s former commander  Fonseka rejected accusations that thousands of civilians had been killed in the closing phase of the army’s offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“The large figures of 30,000, 40,000, [who are said to have] died – it was not practicable. The way we conducted the war, the type of weapons systems we used, the manuals we made, we were always concerned about the security of the civilians,” Mr Fonseka said.

Sri Lanka must cooperate with any international inquiry into these war crimes they allege, Sarath Fonseka said, a day after his release after spending 30 months in jail.

Fonseka said Sri Lanka must cooperate with any international inquiry into alleged war crimes

He said some Sri Lankan leaders were “hiding their faces “ as if they were guilty over how Sri Lanka conducted their war.

Sri Lanka must co-operate with any international investigation into alleged war crimes, ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka  told the BBC, a day after his release from jail.

He said  as if they were guilty some Sri Lankan leaders were “hiding their faces” over the conduct of the war.

But Mr Fonseka, who led the army to its 2009 victory over Tamil rebels, denied thousands of civilians had been killed.

Insight By Sunil Kumar

May 23rd 2012

It needs to be emphasized that categorically and definitively the TNA are a political non- entity in Sri Lanka at the present time based on the following realities which disentitle them to any claims they continue to persist in making in their multi faceted attempts to discredit the Government of Sri Lanka.

It may also suprise many that they have not been accepted as a politically registered or nominated political party rowards their continuity in Sri Lanka according to reliable reports and are in danger of being made redundant and blown away from Sri Lanka’s political scene. Secondly despite the apparently confused or perhaps even blinkered view of many western powers who percieve them as the true representatives of Sri lankan Tamils, they have been found supportive of the deposed and dismantled terrorist entity whom they championed throughout the near nation destructive terrorist campaign by way of internal armed insurrection which lasted almost three decades. Based on these realities and much more the TNA are in no position to make demands to the Government of Sri Lanka and have no jurisdiction nor entitlements to the privilege! which are somewhat high handed.

They not only continue to do so with all their manoeuverings relative to their rhetoric and body language but also have the audacity to call themselves the representatives of all Sri Lankan Tamils which appears to be more of a fallacy and are becoming more of a joke in Sri Lanka today as they are none but a bunch of rabble rousers representing the disgruntled Tamil Diaspora where by some stroke of luck they secured a few seats in Parliament  and contine to vow they will acheive their spurned idealogies in Sri Lanka while in all probabilities the entourage of messers Karuna, Pillayan and Devananda watch on in veiled amusement!.
Many of the statements in the following item will attest to this if scrutinised carefully and objectively and they have no real bargaining tools whatsoever to make the audacious demands and indulge in the rhetoric with which they attempt to hoodwink not only certain gullibles within Sri lanka but also many of similar ilk around the world today while also attempting to intimidate the GOSL which is further cause for amusement where in the overall picture it is no laughing matter.

In all probabilities they need to be advised about their shortcomings as they continue to be a consternation to the progress of post insurgent Sri Lanka and asked to take their harranguing perhaps to Tamil Nadu where the likes of messers Vaiko, Jayalalitha et al in a long list of supportives will certainly provide a happy hunting grounds for their bifurcated idealogies mostly in favour of disrupting the smooth progress of Sri Lanka and seem intolerable although the Sri Lankan hierarchy has been lenient towards them, all things considered.

Therefore it seems somewhat incongruous that when the Tamil National Alliance  has demanded in Parliament  that the Government releases all Tamil political prisoners, currently engaged in a fast unto death campaign in the Colombo, Vavuniya and Kalutara prisons as reported in the media as being addresed byTNA leader, Trincomalee District MP, R. Sampanthan it makes little sense relative to the legalities under which they were imprisoned in the first place. Their death fast is of no consequence beyond their own responsibility where in all likelihood they could be eating and drinking on the sly and on the cover of darkness as is common in such cases where an unusual show of robust strength seems to be showing in a group of prisoners said to be dying without food and drink!.

In making what was termed ’a special statement’ in Parliament saying “We call upon the Government to take immediate steps to release all the Tamil political prisoners since three years have lapsed after the armed conflict ended. We also request that proper responsible assurances be given to the fasting prisoners in this regard forthwith so that they may decide to suspend their hunger-strike.” it seems to be nothing but opportunistic rhetoric.There seems to be nothing special in his statement which not only appears laced in bias but also appears to be a attempt to take advantage of the recent release from custody of Fmr. Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka which in reality bears little or no relevance to the Sampanthan demands and perhaps a fortuitous one for Sri Lanka. Sampanthan seems to have forgotten the overall concept of these prisoners posing a threat to society and their need to be rehabilitated prior to release which was never the case with Fmr Army Chief who was mainly responsible for their imprisonement but fell out of grace sadly through his own bad jugements  which need to be deemed needless had he been more supportive of the Government where hopefully atonements will be made in the best interests of Sri Lanka now that he is a free man whose sense of patriotism and love of Motherland can neither be denied nor overlooked  and needs just rewards despite certain fallibilities for which he has paid a price whether justifiably or not.

Sampan to the contrary has conitinued his hallmark tirade of levelling his usual accusations at the GOSL in typical TNA fashion fogetting what the TNA are guilty of towards their supportive role of the LTTE and the link between the LTTE and the prisoners who are fasting where he would be better off attempting to dissuade his fasting compatriots from continuing their worthless actions if true while reminding them why they are behind bars in the first place! It is not as though the GOSL is treating them inhumanely or not tending to their immediate needs but appears to be a mere tool on the part of the TNA towards further agitating the Government. A TNA action which is probably backed by the Tamil Diaspora and serves then well towards their worthless objectives.

Mr.Sampanthan has further  accused the military intelligence of assaulting the Jaffna University Students’ Union president Paramalingam Dharshanath, on May 8 in Jaffna.  where he says “This attack, like the previous one on the Chairman of the Students’ Union will only serve to alienate the Tamils further” quite forgetting that these could be deliberately orchestrated scenarios which are  provocations by those attempting to discredit the Government. To those making the accusations in collaboration with Sampanthan  they need to be made aware that  the agitations in the seats of higher learning in the North and East of Sri Lanka inasmuch as those in other parts of the country are commonplace and  known  to be instigated by the enemies of the State and a build up towards a darker objective which needs to be quelled post haste!
The heavy military presence in Jaffna therefore is of great importance towards this given the capacity of past insurgent activities which were due mainly to Governmental indifference at the inception  and grew to be a monster of near nation destructive proportions which was mercifully destroyed. Hence the tolerance of the TNA in this respect could post a threat to national security as it could open the door to a resurgence of what was the scourge of the LTTE or something comparable in a worst case scenario!

In suggesting that “ This attack is suspected to be the work of the military intelligence as the assailants” in this instance, Sampanthan has no privilege to the conjecture beyond his own misguided rationales  as well as those of his allies who merely rabbble rouse and foment disunity between the Tamils and other ethnicities predominantly the Sinhalese and needs to be cautioned about making such accusations in the face of the favourable changes in the related regions where a handful of fasting prisoners will surely make no difference. They would be well advised to respond to the Government while desisting their theatrics orchestrated by the likes of the TNA and Tamil Diaspora which not only compound their existences and well being but also those of all the citizens of Sri Lanka !

In the wake of the diabolical sounding accusations the TNA has levelled at the Government on related issues they need to be confronted and taken to task as there seems to be no justification for them beyond being another wasted effort to discredit the Government. It however needs to be emphasized  that very negative fallout as well as related harmfull effects could surface in how certain powers that be, ever in pursuit of incarcerating Sri Lanka towards their own agendas could interpret them wrongfully and throw further irons in the wheels of progress that Sri Lanka is surely enjoying today.

මාධ්‍ය අංශය විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති අමාත්‍යාංශය The Media Team  Ministry of Power & Energy

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරමාණූ ශක්ති අධිකාරිය විසින් විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය භාවිතයේදී විකිරණ ආකර්ශණය, අපද්‍රව්‍ය කළමනාකරණය හා විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය ප්‍රවාහනය යන මැයෙන් එක් දින සම්මන්ත්‍රණයක් පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතයි. එය ලබන ජූනි මස 01 වන දින එම අධිකාරියේ ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැත්වේ. මෙම සම්මන්ත්‍රණයේ අරමුණ වන්නේ අයනීකරණ විකිරණ භාවිතකරන ආයතන සහ එමඟින් මහජනතාවට සේවා සපයන ආයතන, විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය ප්‍රවාහනය කරන සමාගම්, විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය අපහරණය කරන සමාගම් (රෝහල්, විද්‍යාගාර, විකිරණශීලී අපද්‍රව්‍ය හා සම්බන්ධ ආයතන, රක්ෂණ ආයතන) යනාදිය දැනුවත් කිරීමයි. 

 අයනීකරණ විකිරණ භාවිතයෙන් මහජනතාවට සේවය සපයන්නන් හට මෙම සම්මන්ත්‍රණය වැදගත් වේ. මෙහිදී විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය යොදාගැනීමෙන් විය හැකි අනතුරු හා එම අනතුරු මඟහරවාගත හැකි ආකාරය මෙන්ම එම ද්‍රව්‍ය වල ප්‍රවාහනය හා ඒවා ආරක්ෂිත ආකාරයට තැන්පත් කර තැබීම පිළිබඳව සම්මන්ත්‍රණයට සහභාගී වන්නන් දැනුවත් කිරීමට පරමාණු ශක්ති අධිකාරිය බලාපොරොත්තු වේ. 

 මෙම වැඩසටහන මඟින් විකිරණ පිළිබඳව මූලිකව දැනුවත් කිරීම හා විකිරණ වල බලපෑම් පිළිබඳවද අවධානයට යොමුකෙරේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනනය වන විකිරණශීලී අපද්‍රව්‍ය හා ඒවා අපහරණය කරන මූලධර්ම, විකිරණ මඟින් ආරක්ෂා වීමේ ක්‍රමෝපායයන් විකිරණශීලී ද්‍රව්‍ය ආනයනය. අපනයනය හා ප්‍රවාහනය කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයන් විකිරණ ආරක්ෂණ මූලධර්ම පිළිබඳව දැනුවත් කිරීම යන කාරණා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදාල සේවා සපයන්නන් ආයතන හා සමාගම් දැනුවත් කිරීමට මෙහිදී අපේක්ෂා කරයි.

The Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) will conduct one day seminar titled “Radiation Safety in Handling Radioactive Sources, Waste Management and Transport of Radiation sources” at the AEA auditorium on 1^st June 2012. The aim of this seminar is to educate those who use Ionizing Radiation and provide services to the public. The participant are Importers and Transporters of radioactive materials and waste disposal companies such as hospitals, laboratories, waste handling Institutions, Insurance companies etc.,

This program will be beneficial for the above category of service providers to the public to make them aware on potential risk issues related to radioactive materials.

The seminar will also propose action to eliminate risk in transportation as well as continued storage.

Areas to be covered will include, Basic knowledge on Radiation and Radiation effects, radioactive waste generated in Sri Lanka and principles of waste management, Basic methods for protection from Radiation, Requirements for import Export and Transport of Radioactive Sources and Demonstration on Radiation safety principles.

Claude Fernando ,Brampton Canada.

No wonder, It was the happiest  and exhilarated  day for Most Rev, Pannasara  thera ,  chief  Buddhist prelate in Canada and Head  priest of Brampton Buddhist Mission centre, to celebrate Vesak  festival in Brampton  on May 19^th ,20^th and 21^st .with illuminated Vesak  pandal  (about 35 feet in  height )which had been erected first time in Canada.

Rev .Sarada thera  who  is assisting  to Rev Pannasara for religious affairs in Buddhist centre, is the brainchild of this magnificent creation.

The Vesak pandal was put up in front of the Lion’s club hall in Avandale road,Brampton. Story displayed in the pandal was “sama jathakaya(  peace) and  It’s being told  to the viewers from the  loud speakers  fixed at  the sides of the pandals.  Gouthama Lord Buddha’s  holy picture was drawn  top of the pandal. No words to say It was very admirable and spiritual  moment  for devotees.

Vesak flags lines were  shown around the pandal . Absolutely phenomenal seen .

Big crowd gathered  to view pandal not only  the devotees living in  Brampton  but also huge crowd from  surrounding areas such as Toronto,Mississauga,Hamilton,Burlington,Malton ,Caldon etc.
The Members of dayaka sabawa (committee)  Susantha Rajapaksha,Praneeth Rajapaksha,Ajantha Dias,Bandula Marasinghe,Edward Karunathialka  and all others  were  seen busy to  get organized the place to pave  the way for participants  to get  an opportunity to approach the place. As a participant  I noticed Rev.Pannasara thera  was cordially meeting with most devotees  on that great  Vesak commemorating  day..

Last day(May 21^st) was dedicated for alms giving, observing sil,blessings  and other main religious events. Famous vocalist Kithsiri Jayasekra who recently migrated to Canada joined the ceremony  and performed a kind of mediation programme called “relaxation” for mental recovery for the gathering.

Religious songs were sung by famous key board player/singer ,Kapila Samarasinghe(“adwan woo denathin galena”-song of Amaradewa).and Gamini Abeysekara(“meth mal pibidewa”- song of Morris Dahanayaka)).
 Sri Lanka consulate  General  Karu Paranawithana  was the chief guest on last day of festival. He made a speech and thanked Rev Panasara  thera ,Rev.Sarada thera and Buddhist devotees to engage in such a spiritual Vesak celebration. On behalf of  dayaka sabhawa ,Secretary ,Bandula Marasinghe thanked  and expressed his gratitude everyone who contributed their kindness for this tremendous task.

It was actually  very significant  and extraordinary day  for Buddhist community as well as Sri lankan Catholic Community living in this area for having celebrated such a religious event.

By A. Abdul Aziz,Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Sri Lanka.

(Given below is an excerpt the Friday Sermon of Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Supreme Head of the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam, delivered   on 18^th May 2012 from Nunspeet, Holland at the occasion of Annual Convention (Jalsa Salana) of the Dutch Jama’at, gave a discourse on Salat (Prayer) and Good-Conscience).

 Ahmadiyya Khalifa  said it was God’s grace that he was being enabled to once again participate in the Dutch Convention (Jalsa). The Convention was scheduled to take place a week later but in light of the itinerary of Ahmadiyya Khalifa and the wish of the Dutch Jama’at for him to grace the event, the Dutch Jama’at brought the Jalsa forward at very short notice. Although it is a small Jama’at and information can be easily circulated, yet the change of plan has been carried out readily. The larger venue was not available on these dates and the site where the Jalsa is being held is confined but good arrangements have been put together. Any practical difficulties ensuing from this should be put up with. Of course it is hoped that the organisers will make every effort to provide comfort to the guests. Whether it is a large Jama’at or a small Jama’at, all over the world teams of selfless workers are now trained to organise Jalsa and large Ijtimas. These teams happily serve the guests; indeed, they serve the guests most selflessly who come to events initiated by the Promised Messiah,May God always enable all workers to serve selflessly and grant them the best reward. May He cover any shortcomings. The guests too should try and keep the real objective of coming to Jalsa in view rather than carry out any undue fault-finding.

The objective of coming to this Convention (Jalsa), as expounded by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – Promised Messiah, peace be on him, is the same as the objective of the Bai’at (initiation). Man loses sight of the real objective, which is why God has enjoined to repeatedly exhort as exhortation impacts those who have faith. It is stated in the Qur’an: ‘…for verily, exhortation benefits those who would believe.’ (51:56) Jalsa is also held for this reason, as a reminder of fulfilling the pledge of Bai’at. If due to worldly engagements one becomes weak in religious terms, by listening to exhortations at Jalsa, one is to draw attention back to one’s religious condition. By being together with others one is to absorb each other’s piety and shun what is bad. It should be remembered not to focus on personal matter during Jalsa. During the proceedings and later on as well, effort should be made to spend most of the time in prayer and remembrance of God. Jalsa should be attended with the idea that by spending two to three days in a spiritual atmosphere one is renewing one’s pledge of Bai’at so that one may develop in Taqwa (righteousness).

The Promised Messiah (a.s.) said that the objective of Bai’at was to cool off the love of the world and to inculcate the love of God and His Prophet ^{(peace and blessings of Allah be on him)} and to espouse such a condition that the journey to the Hereafter is not unpleasant. Love of God and His Prophet (PBUH) overrides all other loves when one is aware of what God and His Prophet (PBUH) want. Mere knowledge of this is not enough one should also put these matters in practice and should constantly endeavour to attain this objective. Then alone the journey to the Hereafter will not be unpleasant. One day or the other everyone has to leave this world. Fortunate are those who leave with God’s love and pleasure. The thought to adopt piety and abandon evil becomes intense when one is certain that one day or the other one is going to appear before God and will be answerable for one’s deeds. The Qur’an states: ‘O ye who believe! fear Allah; and let every soul look to what it sends forth for the morrow. And fear Allah; verily Allah is Well-Aware of what you do.’ (59:19) Thus, God has clearly stated that one’s faith is perfected when one becomes purely His.

Man tries in every way to excel in the world, in terms of employment, trade, acquiring property, worldly education of children etc. Those who believe in God also pray to some extent for achieving these worldly objectives or ask others to pray. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih receives letters every day asking for prayers for worldly matters. Some people are so involved in worldliness that they do not even offer five daily Prayers or if they do, they offer them in a knock about manner. But when they write in asking for prayers they do so in a most painful manner. Thus man does a lot for worldly matters. The claim of Ahmadis is that we have accepted the Imam of the age, but the effort to attain that level of Taqwa which behoves an Ahmadi may be missing. God states what have we sent forth for the morrow? The earnings of this world, the bank balance, children, relatives everything will be left here. What will be asked of us will be how much we practiced the good deeds that were enjoined. All our deeds will be there before God. Therefore, it should always be remembered that whatever we do we should keep in view to pay the dues of God or pay the dues of mankind/creation, such deeds alone will gain acceptance with God. Indeed, God is aware of the intention behind every deed of ours and He is aware of every deed of ours. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that deeds are but by intentions.

Among the dues of God, the most important is Salat. After belief in Him, God has ordained that the second significance is that of Salat. However, there is also a warning for some worshippers: ‘So woe to those who pray,’ (107:5) That is, those worshippers who offer their Salat devoid of Taqwa. God is Knower of the unseen, He is All-Knowing and All-Aware and knows full well with what state one offers one’s Salat. He rebounds that Salat which is devoid of Taqwa. We should offer our Salat with fear of God for it is the very objective of our creation as it is stated in the Qur’an: ‘And I have not created the Jinn and the men but that they may worship Me.’ (51:56) And the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that Salat (Prayer) is the core/essence of worship.

A worldly person is much concerned about worldly matters and at times ruins his health in the process. When they do not get their desired results, depression overtakes some people. All this goes on for the worldly life in which one remains active for sixty to seventy years and afterwards is dependent on his children or others. Here [in the West] the elderly end up in old people’s homes and families visit them once a week. In old age man becomes concerned about the next life but a true believer is one who is concerned for a good ending and pays the dues of worship long before this state sets in. The razzle dazzle of this world should not make him negligent of worship. It is a favour of God on Ahmadi homes that if either the husband or the wife is not attentive towards Salat, the other is. People write in for prayers in this regard, generally it is the wife who is inclined to Prayer. While it is pleasing that women are more inclined to offer Salat and it is hoped that this would inculcate the habit in children as well, it is of concern that men who are named Qawwam (guardian) are indolent about Salat. They are the head of household and it is their responsibility to be a model for the family, if they are not making an effort in this regard what sort of model will the children become. When boys reach adolescence and the father does not offer Salat, they too do not offer it in spite of the mother’s efforts. The custom is that if the mosque or Salat centre is at a distance then congregational Salat should be offered at homes. This fills homes with blessings. Men are particularly enjoined to observe Salat and ‘observance of Salat’ means, except in exceptional situation, to offer it in congregation. Congregational Salat is offered during Jalsa. In order to attain the objective of attending Jalsa this should be made a regular feature of life.

The Promised Messiah ^{(on whom be peace)} said that the significance of Jalsa was that firstly people become totally inclined towards the Hereafter. They should inculcate fear of God and become exemplary for each other in terms of worship, temperance and mutual love. They should develop truthfulness and generate fervour for religious activities. Mutual love and brotherhood would have an impact on the society leading people to say, yes, these are Ahmadis who are different from the others. The model of paying the dues of God and paying the dues of mankind should be evident in Ahmadis. Religious activities entail financial giving for the publication of religion, attention towards building mosques, planning Tabligh (preaching) and to give one’s time for this cause. When we listen to speeches at Jalsa and our attention is drawn towards attaining our objective, we should make it a permanent part of our lives. Attendance of Jalsa should help us improve our standard of worship as well as pay the dues of others and to remove mutual misunderstandings.

We live in a society where a large number of people deny the existence of God and this world is considered everything. To stay firm on religion and to be ready to make sacrifices for religion is a big task in this society. Many people are lost in the razzle dazzle of this world. The ways of most of the people here are satanic and they become a source interest for those who come here. They think that perhaps their progress is in leaving religion and giving preference to the world. On the contrary there is destruction in this. God states: ‘… So fear Allah, O men of understanding, that you may prosper.’ (5: 101) Here, people who are called prosperous are those who not only fear God, but are also people of understanding; who have not considered temporary wishes the be all and end all and have thus not destroyed their everlasting life. One cannot call those who destroy their everlasting life as people of understanding. Indeed, it is sensible to sacrifice this world to attain the pleasure of God and this is what a believer should make the objective of life, and the way to do this is thus explained: ‘And this is a Book which We have sent down; it is full of blessings. So follow it, and guard against sin that you may be shown mercy;’ (6:156)

If we wish to be recipients of God’s grace we have to follow the Qur’an and this obeisance signifies Taqwa and it draws God’s grace. The [Arabic] word ‘mubarakun’ in the aforementioned verse signifies that not only everything good comes from God but also it is ever-increasing. Those who abide by Taqwa enjoy limitless fruits of their efforts.

The Promised Messiah^, peace be on him, said that man’s spiritual beauty is in adopting the delicate, fine ways of Taqwa. He said that all the limbs should take one towards piety and all the hidden capabilities should be used for the sake of God. One should try to protect oneself from Satan and be conscious of paying the dues of mankind. And this leads one to spiritual beauty.

The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, also said: ‘To become truly righteous it is necessary that a person abandoning utterly such outstanding vices as adultery, theft, trespass, hypocrisy, self-esteem, scorn of fellow beings, miserliness, should eschew all low morals and should make progress in high moral values. He should behave towards his fellow beings with politeness, courtesy and sympathy and should cultivate true fidelity and sincerity towards God Almighty. He should constantly seek occasions of beneficent service. He who combines all these qualities in himself is alone righteous. The possession of any one of these qualities would not entitle a person to be accounted righteous unless he possesses collectively all of them. It is only these concerning whom it is said:’…on them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve.’ (7:36) What more would they need? God Almighty becomes their guardian as it is said: ‘…And He protects the righteous.’ (7:197)

In another Hadith (Sayings of Prophet) it is stated that God Almighty becomes their hands with which they grasp, and becomes their eyes with which they see, and becomes their ears with which they hear and becomes their feet with which they walk. In another Hadith it is stated that God has proclaimed that he who bears enmity towards a friend of Mine should become ready to contend with Me. Still another Hadith declares that when anyone attacks a friend of God, He pounces upon him with the fierceness with which a tigress pounces upon one who seeks to deprive it of its young.’ (Essence of Islam, Vol. II, pp. 351, 352 – Malfuzat, vol. IV, pp. 400-401)

This is the level of Taqwa (righteousness) which should be endeavoured to attain. The majority of the people attending the Jalsa are those who have migrated from Pakistan because let alone do Tabligh, they were not even allowed to practice their religion there. The prohibition on religious practices for Ahmadis in Pakistan aside, every now and then the authorities erase the Kalima (basic tenet of islam) from our mosques. Nowadays they are eyeing our mosques in main cities as well. It is due to the religious persecution that a large number of Ahmadis have migrated. Recently, many Pakistani Ahmadi families have arrived in Holland from Thailand, some of whom were directly targeted in Pakistan. Here, [in the West] we have freedom. Prayers should be made for the Pakistani Ahmadis that may God make events take a favourable turn for them and they have religious freedom. Another big responsibility on the Pakistani Ahmadis abroad is to come forward for religious activities. Holland is a small country and here a politician has made a lot of effort to bring Islam in disrepute. Had Ahmadis carried out a sustained and extensive campaign of Tabligh here they could have refuted the negative view of Islam to a great extent. In fact it could have also provided a chance to highlight the excellences of Islam.

A huge objective of the advent of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, is to propagate that Shariah which the Holy Prophet (PBUH) brought. It is our task to take it to the world. People from all over the world live here, there is a need to intensify our activities. Wherever in the world the Jama’at has undertaken such activities and has carried out Tabligh, with the grace of God not only has the Jama’at been introduced there but pure-natured people are drawn to it. Some say people here are not interested in religion. But this is across the board, in the Christian countries as well as among the Muslims. If they are not interested in religion and do not believe in God, it our task to inspire belief in God among them. God will change the status quo if we follow the perfect Book in all our actions, and embody the definition of the righteous as stated by the Promised Messiah, peace be on him. We need to remember the promise we make after taking the Bai’at of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, to make pure changes in ourselves.

Self-reflection should be done in the three days of Jalsa and promise should be made that from now on full effort will be made to discharge the right of God, the right of brother, the right of society and the right of this country which has given freedom. This can be done by propagating the beautiful teaching of Islam and by removing the misconceptions about Islam. Men, women, the young and the elderly, everyone should take part in this. Prayers should be made for this, when prayers are made God shows signs. May God enable everyone to do this, may all the attendees of Jalsa spend the three days in prayers and everyone be enabled to bring about pure changes in them.

Prof. Hudson McLean

This is history repeating itself, now in Sri Lanka.

The story is not new. Similar events have occurred in every Continent in these two centuries.

Will Sarath Fonseka become the Pervez Musharaff of Sri Lanka?

Oh! Fonzy cannot be compared with other political leaders who did spend sometime eating “cold rice”!

If the ex-General desires a clean start, he should clarify all the claims against him at personal level, as well as his skeletons in his political cupboards. However Musharaff, for all intensive purposes, kept his uniform clean, unlike Fonzy.

Moreover, Sarath Fonseka should clean-up his Act, starting from his own family.

Get the absconding son-in-law to face justice. Or is he waiting to become the President so that he can grant a Presidential pardon to his son-in-law?

If, during his tenure as the Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Fonzy misused his Authority & Trust, used his son-in-law, as the “bag-man” to collect Sales Commissions, what might he get up to if & when he becomes the Commander-in-Chief.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is No Fool.

Got the Monkey Fonzy out of jail,  but on-a-string, to appease Clinton, but shall keep him in check.

Checks & Balances

However, the Re-Emergence of citizen Sarath Fonseka, might create enough “storms” in “many tea-cups” which might keep the Rajapaksa Clan in-Check, since the corruption, according to various sources, has simply escalated in every Ministry within the government. And Rajapaksa as Nero is playing is “organ” with his erstwhile Foreign Secretary is displaying the subservience to the Western leaders.

One thing Fonzy can do is to yell like hell when he thinks that his ex-boss and the R-clan are doing the double-dip!  Neither Ranil nor Sajith has the fire-power to stand-up and be counted!

UNP Leadership – Sajith’s Appeal for Help

The limping Ranil was a “God-send” to President Rajapaksa.  For all intensive purposes, the Sri Lanka democracy simply staggered-on, with a powerful government and a lame-duck Opposition. The hapless Ranil Wickramasinghe provided a cosmetic opposition with a few potential leaders staggering around without a back-bone.

Now the Leader-in-Waiting, Sajith Premadasa announces that Sarath Fonseka might be that “White-Knight” to save the “virgin-bride” from the moustachioed Mahinda, Pepsodent-smile, galavanting in his dyed-wig & moustache.  This should have been an opportunity to demonstrate his Leadership, by acting more like a budding-Statesman, not like a a shoe-polisher of citizen Fonzy.

In a way, this is good news for Sajith. He might be able to “have his cake and eat it” meaning, put a shine-on Fonzy, but due the Rajapaksa-string attached to the prison-release, both can have a long engagement to be engaged, without thinking of getting married.

Incidentally, why has Dr. Telli gone out of Vision?

The Sri Lanka saga could be another Shakespearean play!

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Warnakulasuriya 

Is Sarath Fonseka the war hero some like to him to be or is he a fake? Where does his loyalities are? To Sri Lanka or to the foreign powers who sponsor him?

Sarath Fonseka claims full credit for defeting the LTTE terrorist scum. To do that he must have been in total control of the army, the navy, the air force and the special task force. If he was in complete control of the armed forces, then he must be responsible for if there were any war crimes. How can he say the defence secretary ordered Gen Shavendra Silva to kill those who were carrying white flags? If that allegation was true then he was not in control of the army. The defence secretsry was running the show and should take the full credit.

How can he claim that he defeted the LTTE when he was overseas on the 19th of May 2009? Obviously it was the defence secretary and the front line offices who planed the final assault.

I make the following observations when I examine these facts.

1. Sarath Fonseka had no intention of finishing the war in May 2009.That was why he was overseas negotiating for more arms purchases during that time.Was he  planning to drag on the war so that his son-in law can make more commissions?

2. Sarath Fonseka wanted to increase the strength of the army after the conclusion of the war.Was it again to buy more arms and equipment for his son-in law’s benefit or was it because he wanted more soldiers loyal to him?

3. When he did not have his way he suddenly turned against the Rajapaksas and pledge his loyality to the Americans and betrayed the army and the nation. Do I really think he gives a crap about a bunch of  dead LTTE muderers even if they were carrying white flags when he was allengedly responsible for cold blooded killing JVP youths in 1989?

I honestly think some people want Sarath Fonseka to lead the country not because they think he will be a good political leader. It is only because they hate the Rajapakses so much. It is very irresponsible for Sarath and the opposition leaders  to blame the Rajapaksa brothers for corruption and not expose these allagations if they want to be the future leaders of the country.

The reasons I admire the president are because he  stood up to the western bullies,totally eliminated the terrorist LTTE and bought peace to the country and I  can see the on going development in the country.Of course he has his faults, Hambantota air port and the cricket stadium are the most obvious.

Shenali Waduge

Too often political parties and politicians have made a mockery of democracy by forwarding attractive manifestos promising the people they have the answers to all the ills that prevails but no sooner they are elected the promises are broken leaving voters with no means to challenge these parties.

A solution to ensuring that the power of politics and democracy prevails as it should in the hands of the people, is to make sure that party manifestos are made legally binding so that any breach of a commitment made to the voter can be challenged.

By legalizing political manifestos, it would mean political parties would be careful in what they promise and moreover they would be forced to think and plan what is best for the country and its people without taking the public for granted.

In the developing world this would be a perfect check and balance system. This would apply to opposition parties as well and would put an end to the gallery type of politics that has become the norm today. In the event of a coalition government the agreed upon conditions must be made public so that these too can be legally binding and allow the public to take action against Parliamentarians hoodwinking the masses.

If we are to see proper governance taking place at this critical chapter in our history – both politicians and public need to play a role together and politicians in particular must be made accountable to the people.

Asada M Erpinni

A media report on 22 May mentions the leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) as saying that the military presence in the North should be reduced. Apparently it is his response to President Mahinda Rajapakse’s announcement at the May 19 Anniversary Celebrations of the victory over the LTTE.

The TNA leader should not treat the rest of Sri Lanka as fools. All non-LTTE Sri Lankans know and accept that the North of Sri Lanka was the birthplace of terrorism that devastated the country for almost three decades. Buttressed by the Vadukkodai Resolution of 1976 that was hatched by the forefathers of the terrorists, a gang of street thugs metamorphosed into the most feared terrorist group in the world. The money to buy the arsenal to fight the legally constituted armed forces of the sovereign nation of Sri Lanka was provided by the Tamils who emigrated to the affluent countries – not to Tamil Nadu, a mere 20 miles across the ocean where over 60 million of their brethren lived – using all ruses available.

It was only two days ago that the UK-based Global Tamil Forum and the so-called Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam led by a person who claims to be a member of the clergy and Rudrakumaran respectively announced that they will go on fighting for Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. The President of Sri Lanka has quite correctly said that there was no case of reducing the military from the North as long as the threat from overseas Tamils exists, and those who have been following the events that have been going on in the rich West since the annihilation of the armed wing of the LTTE know quite well that, instead of the clamour for the mono-ethnic Eelam dying a natural and the logical death, the LTTE activists and its financial backers are more aggressive and vociferous today than ever before.

The decision on the location of armed personnel and the strengths of the various troop deployments is a matter for the President of Sri Lanka, the Secretary Defence and the military chiefs. If the TNA leader wishes to have the army presence in the North reduced, the only option available to him is to go full steam ahead to change the mindset of his colleagues and the LTTE backers abroad to take concrete measures to ensure that the political and military leadership of Sri Lanka become convinced that no Tamils living in the North or anywhere else desire to revert to armed confrontation with the Sri Lanka government in pursuit of their mythical homeland.

S.Senanayake

The Controller of Department of Immigration and Emigration, Mr Chulananda Perera has to be commended for bringing to public notice the problem of Indians masquerading as tourists and engaging in employment locally. Though belated one wonders why such eventuality was not for seen by the authorities when tourism was opened up in mass scale.

No wonder Indians make the highest arrivals if they embark on with such ulterior motives. Some Indian company owners are conniving with these individuals for cheap labour bypassing local market.Though the recent death of an Indian with a tourist visa opened the eyes of the Immigration department,the public would want to know what additional measures the department would put in place now before dangerous proposition sets in.

I can recall an encounter that happened in a Food City store at Union Place during my holidays a couple of years ago when a young bloke approached me coyly from the interior of the store and asked me in broken English which part of India I was coming from;he admitted that he was an Indian and needed help and when declared who I was he was shaken and quietly crept back inside the stores.This is a popular country wide chain of shops and it was clear that he had been employed there as a shop hand by the employers.

What is more important than deporting the culprit is to impose harsh penalties including cancellation of licences on errant employers who violate visa rules and only such stringent rules and penalties could deter the menace.

As the influx of tourists going to rise further it is pertinent to look at measures other countries have imposed to curb the threat such as strict restriction of visa to any working individual to one year or maximum two years with the onus on the employer to replace the individual at the end with a new employee.There have to be surprise raids on Indian companies regularly by flying squads who should have authority to work without fear or favour.

The minister seems to be contented with the fact that the EPF and ETF have been paid by the company overlooking the fact it is for an illegal worker necessitating the loopholes in the system to be tightened.

Hot spots such as Kotuwa,Pitakotuwa,Kotahena,Wellawatta,the North and East should be severely scrutinised.

Education of the public is the key factor bringing the issue to public attention constantly and gaining their willing cooperation as well as a legal requirement for the coworkers and the close associates to inform the authorities with penalties when failing to notify.

Not only a telephone hot line for the public is maintained,the public with genuine information should be paid handsome incentives to run a robust system.

Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka (RASSL) Lecture

“Out of Africa and the Significance of the South Asian Archaeological Record”

By Prof. Michael D. Petraglia
Professor of Human Evolution and Prehistory, University of Oxford

                      on Thursday 24^th May  2012 at 5.00 p.m.       

at the

Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium,

No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo  07

ALL ARE WELCOME

This lecture refers to work done over the last several years through genetics (mitochondria and Y-chromosome) describing how humans migrated from Africa outwards including in this case to South Asia covering Sri Lanka. Prof Petraglia is the Professor of Human Evolution and Prehistory at the University of Oxford. His biographical details can be got from clicking the links below:

http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/MP1.html

http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/hop-team/michael-petraglia

To get at discussions on the out of Africa hypothesis and its repercussions on South Asia, click below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_and_archaeogenetics_of_South_Asia#cite_note-nature.com-37

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri Lanka’s main opposition the United National Party has appointed a committee chaired by Wijedasa Rajapaksa to draft a private member’s bill to win back the civic rights  of the former Commander of army Sarath Fonseka , said the party’s General Secretary, Tissa Attanayaka.

The private member’s bill will seek to win back the Commander’s military title, General and demand the government to return all his medals he had won through a hard military career  Attanayaka said.

The party secretary said the UNP is glad he is out of jail and his party had always felt that arrest of General Fonseka and the incaseration was against natural  justice and the civil and political  convention signed on June 11 1980 by Sri Lanka.

He was of the opinion that robbing a man of his pension hard earned until his retirement for the reason he contested the President is barbaric and the private members bill would seek to rectify it. All his civic and political rights  should be reverted back to him.

He said 210 soldiers have been expelled from the army for associating with their commander with another 20 soldiers who were providing security for him. All those should be taken back to the army.

The other members of the committee  are Laxman Kiriella and Ajith Perera.

Island Editorial-Courtesy The Island

The euphoria generated by Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s release from prison has been somewhat tempered. It was thought initially that the presidential pardon had removed his civic disabilities, but he has admitted his freedom is limited; he cannot exercise his franchise and contest elections, though he can take part in politics. The UNP has called for the restoration of all his civic rights. Many, no doubt, will endorse the UNP’s call, but its admission that Gen. Fonseka’s release is conditional runs counter to the Opposition’s argument that the government pardoned him under international pressure.

If President Mahinda Rajapaksa had buckled under foreign pressure, as claimed, he would have had to go the whole hog and release the former army chief with civic rights intact. Or, is it that the foreign power/s that intervened to secure Gen. Fonseka’s release did not ‘decree’ that his civic rights be restored?

It is a supreme irony that the UNP which once abused a huge parliamentary majority and flew in the face of the judiciary to deprive the world’s first woman Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, of her civic rights on some flimsy grounds has taken up the cudgels for Gen. Fonseka. The SLFP that vehemently condemned the UNP’s dastardly action at that time stands accused of having done something similar––mutatis mutandis.

Is the UNP genuinely desirous of having Gen. Fonseka’s civic rights restored? It says it is. But, what will happen to it if he regains his right to vote and contest? It will have its vote bank severely eroded because the emergence of the DNA as a strong political entity under Gen. Fonseka’s leadership will eat into its vote bank besides causing splits in the Opposition’s vote at crucial elections. The UNP rebels are undoubtedly well disposed towards Gen. Fonseka and earnestly expect him to act as the de facto Opposition leader, dwarfing their hate figure cum party chief, Ranil Wickremesinghe, but it is doubtful whether the UNP proper feels the same way. Chief Opposition Whip and UNPstalwart John Amaratunge has flayed the Sajith group for rushing to welcome Gen. Fonseka near the Welikada prison on Monday.

Gen. Fonseka has spelt out his priorities in an interview with The Hindu newspaper: “Irrespective of the party politics, and the colour and the party name, first we have to work towards a common opposition to ensure that there is a strong opposition against the government. And then, after that, who will lead it and all that, people will have to decide.” (Emphasis added) Will the UNP want to keep that slot open? The UNP leader, by virtue of being at the helm of the single largest party in the country, has the privilege of leading joint anti-government protests and, therefore, the UNP may not want anyone other than Ranil Wickremesinghe to lead the Opposition which Gen. Fonseka is planning to strengthen. It may be recalled that a similar need for reinvigorating the Opposition to take on the Premadasa government was felt in the early 1990s after the SLFP bigwigs had lost political traction. Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike moved in to fill the vacuum. But, she had to give up her own party and rejoin the SLFP for that purpose.

The UNP will have to field a candidate at the next presidential election without taking cover behind a common candidate. But, who will have the courage to enter the fray? Ranil got beaten twice and chickened out once. Therefore, he may not want to face the incumbent President again in an electoral contest. Nor will his deputy Sajith want to take that risk at least in the next few years? However, it is rather unlikely that they will opt out of the contest to back an outsider like Gen. Fonseka in race again, even if he regains his right to contest elections.

The immediate challenge before Gen. Fonseka is to dovetail his political plans with those of the UNP without being perceived as an intruder. However, with or without the UNP’s support, he will certainly eclipse the key Opposition figures. This is a worrisome proposition to the UNP leadership.

by Samantha illeperuma Courtesy The Island

Former Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva yesterday observed that President Rajapaksa had not granted a full pardon to Gen. Sarath Fonseka.

The presidential pardon had not been backdated to the beginning of his sentence passed by the second military court martial, therefore he had lost his civic rights for seven years, the former Chief Justice said.

Making further observations on the pardon, Silva said when the President exercised his powers to grant a pardon to any prisoner it should not be done as a political act, but done as an act of a State leader.

Sarath Fonseka needed to be pardoned in two cases. They were the High Court conviction in the White Flag case and the second conviction by a military court. He had been fully pardoned from the High Court conviction, but he had not been pardoned from the part of the sentence already served from the second court martial conviction. What he had been pardoned from was the remaining part of the sentence, the ex-CJ said.

As he had not been pardoned from the portion of the sentence he had already served, he was liable to lose his civic rights for the next seven years. Gen. Fonseka had been made a prisoner in the open, he said.

By Walter Jayawardhana

Although President Rajapaksa has released him from incarceration with a ban on elections for the next seven years Sri Lanka’s ex- Army Chief Sarath Fonseka is to work hard to build a stronger opposition in the country , he said in his first interview out of jail.

In his first interview with India’s Hindu newspaper he said, “The need of the hour for the country is to ensure that there is a strong opposition.”

Fonseka told the newspaper that he is preparing to launch a countrywide campaign and gain more support for the opposition.

The following is the full text of the story:

“Having watched the opposition parties lie in disarray from the confines of the prison here for over two years, the former Army chief, Sarath Fonseka was clear what the first step needs to be: “The need of the hour for the country is to ensure that there is a strong opposition.”

In his first interview after emerging from prison, he told The Hindu: “Irrespective of the party politics, and the colour and the party name, first we have to work towards a common opposition to ensure that there is a strong opposition against the government. And then, after that, who will lead it and all that, people will have to decide.” He is also preparing to launch a countrywide campaign and gain more support for the opposition.

An unusually subdued Mr. Fonseka, who met this correspondent at a house on the outskirts which was offered for his stay by Sanjeeva Ranatunga, brother of former cricketer and DNA politician Arjuna Ranatunga, admitted that during the 2010 presidential election, he had limited political experience. “But as I have seen people, I have come to know the politicians of this country and I have learnt more about the aspirations of the people…I have been watching what has been going on in the country and now I have a very good idea about the new direction that we should go,” he said.

Asked about the details of his pardon, he said he was not sure. “I don’t know. I have not seen it yet. And we have to still find out. There are no conditions…But the imprisonment… I have spent about two years in the prison. If there is no remission on that part, there will a problem. Because if you have been in prison for more than six months, you can’t contest or you can’t vote. So if they have not remitted that part, then, that will be another struggle for us — the way we came out from the prison,” he said. Tiren Alles, the MP from his party, said it was a conditional pardon and Mr. Fonseka indeed would not be able to vote or contest an election for the next seven years.

Fonseka dismissed talks about a deal between him and the President that resulted in the pardon. “Absolutely no deal. Deals will never take place. If I were that type, then I could have done that long ago after a couple of days after I was taken in.”

Asked why, in his opinion, the President had pardoned him now, he said: “Most probably it’s the people. Because they realise that the people are not appreciating this [the incarceration]. The people don’t agree with this. So any politician with little bit of commonsense should know that sentiments of the people can’t be totally ignored.”

Asked what his game plan was given that the elections were so far away, he said he was not in a hurry to go to Parliament, or win an election. “There is a huge task in hand for us. You have to first ensure that people start thinking on the right lines,” he said.

Getting his honour restored as the first four-star general was not very high on the list of his priorities. “I am not in a hurry to get it from the same people who tried to degrade that and insult that. I will get it one day definitely. The big hurry is not to get what I lost, the decorations or the promotions… If I was worried about those things, I could have continued with them same position with the same glamour. I was not greedy for those things anymore. Now I have a different target, a different objective,” he said.

Asked about his health, he retorted: “How do I look?” He added that the bronchial condition was due to excessive dust in the prison. With treatment, he said, he was about 80 per cent well.

He thanked the international community for supporting him. “They never accepted the treatment meted out to me. I must thank all of them…The international community, including your country [India] will have to ensure that the people of this country enjoy the fruits of democracy,” he added.

‘I will be there for you’

Sarath Fonseka’s first words after he got out of prison were: “I will sacrifice my life for you who stood by me and supported at all times. I will always be there for you.”

His wife, Anoma, who was leading the struggle for his release, said: “I am so happy. Finally Finally all the effort bore fruit.”

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Hindu newspaper said the Presidential release granted to his incarcerated rival General Sarath Fonseka is a conditional one and he cannot contest an election for the next seven years.

“The presidential pardon is conditional. He cannot vote or contest election for the next seven years,” the newspaper said in an item filed from Colombo.

When reporters asked Tiran Alles, the parliamentarian who negotiated the release with President Mahinda Rajapaksa  on the issue,  whether the release of Fonseka comes with  restrictions Alles replied he hopes it is unconditional but if it is not they will have to fight for it.”

The Deputy Leader of the UNP. Sajith Premadasa said he hoped the freedom of General Sarath Fonseka comes without any resreictions or limitations .

The following is the report the Hindu published:

“The former Sri Lankan Army chief, Sarath Fonseka, walked out of the high-security Welikada prison on Monday into a crowd of supporters and cadre from the United National Party and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna.

The presidential pardon is conditional. He cannot vote or contest election for the next seven years

Thousands of ardent supporters had gathered right from the morning on the approaches leading to the prison, even as police kept a close watch. Mr. Fonseka, treatment at a private hospital here, was discharged in the morning after doctors declared him fit. His next stop was the Supreme Court, where he had filed appeals against his convictions. His counsel, Nalin Ladduwahetty, told The Hindu that the appeals had to be withdrawn for the pardon to become operational as only a convict can be pardoned.

Once this was done, the Justice Ministry was informed of the completion of the process. It processed the papers for the release of the former General. As news of the quick work on the government side flashed across the media, people began gathering in front of the prison.

As a measure of caution, prison officials blocked off visual access to the prison gates. Mr. Fonseka’s supporters claimed this was done to prevent photographers from getting a good shot of the former General walking out of the imposing doors.

The release was expected around 4.30 p.m. and as the crowd grew restless, a few began to lead them in slogan shouting. “Senpathi [General], senpathi senpathi” one supporter shouted over the megaphone. The other honorific that the crowd gave him included sinhaya [Lion] and janathipathi [president].

He emerged just before five p.m. and was seen waving to the crowd, beaming. He threw his fisted hands in the air repeatedly even as he accepted a few garlands. A short while later, he climbed on to an open jeep and made his way though the crowd. In a short speech in Sinhala, he said he would always be at the service of the people.

Though the way out of Welikeda lay through Temple Trees (the official residence of the President), Mr. Fonseka had steadfastly refused to seek a presidential pardon. He was arrested on February 8, 2010 on unspecified charges by the military police, cashiered, charged with wrongdoing in procurement, and awarded a 30-month sentence by a court martial. He completed this term on April 25 this year. In a second case, relating to defaming the Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he was awarded a three-year prison term.

He was hospitalised recently following serious respiratory problems. He also has health issues following an LTTE assassination attempt.”

Asada M Erpini

A report in Daily Mirror on 20 May states, “The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has softened its stance on its long standing demand for the re-merger of the northern and eastern provinces”. But, it goes on to add, “Modalities for such a merged unit could be discussed subject to the interests of the Muslim community”.

There are two glaring absurdities of the whole story: firstly, that Sri Lanka should revert to a merger of the Northern Province and the Eastern Province – one of the so called solutions to the ethnic problem, which was thrown out as unconstitutional by the judiciary – and that Muslims in the East in collaboration with the TNA should decide on the future of the Eastern province.

What happened to the Sinhalese people who constitute a third of the population of the Eastern Province? Did they vanish into thin air after the TNA waved its magic wand? Do not the monuments and places of worship such as Somawathiya built by Prince Giri-aba in 2nd century BC and Dighawapi by Prince Saddhatissa, the younger son of King Kavantissa of Ruhuna in 3rd BC come into the scene at all in the ‘solution’ being hatched by the TNA? These constructions by the Sinhalese have existed for thousands of years, and it is just stupid if the TNA thinks that it can brush them off from the map with such nonchalance? Have the TNA bigwigs ever read the history of Sri Lanka, to know that the Muslims were settled in the East by King Senarath, the Kandyan king, when the Portuguese led by Captain de Saa expelled them from the Western coast in 1626?

The voters that the TNA may claim to represent do not total even 4% of the population of Sri Lanka. To project to the gullible West that it fights for the rights of a substantial proportion of the people living in Sri Lanka, the TNA and its supporters had coined a new-fangled phrase – Tamil speaking people. This label that now continues to be used by the anti-Sri Lankan groups to attack the Sinhalese and tarnish the image of Sri Lanka is a misnomer and a non-entity for all practical purposes: the Moors in Sri Lanka practice a religion different from that of the Tamils and have cultural and societal values an habits far different from those who voted the TNA into power.

It is time that the TNA showed that it is genuinely concerned about Sri Lanka. TNA should abandon the divisive policies and contribute in whatever manner to the reconstruction and rebuilding of the country that has just come out of the curse of terrorism. In the alternative, TNA is free to go on with the demand for a merger of the North and East. Sri Lanka and its sane people, on their part, are not ready to entertain such frivolous and non-tenable demands after the country has been unified at great cost.

Shenali Waduge

We have come to a stage in history that we need to put things in its perspective by not shying away from demanding actions on two key areas that now needs to be investigated. It is only by investigating who the LTTE was, what LTTE was involved in, the players who sponsored and supported the LTTE over the years, LTTE war crimes over 3 decades, victims of LTTE terror (civil and military) as well as investigating the war crimes, rape, looting and indiscriminate firing upon innocent Tamil civilians by the Indian Peace Keeping Force sent by India following India’s intervention in Sri Lanka forcing the signing of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord that we can derive a plausible conclusion to enable the citizens of Sri Lanka to finally get on with their lives.

Incidentally, it is the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, killed in Tamil Nadu on 21 May 1991 by the LTTE….and it becomes a perfect day to examine India’s and in particular Tamil Nadu politicians role in Sri Lanka and reason why all of India’s neighbors should despise India including Sri Lanka.

These 2 investigations are important for several reasons for it explains the reasons why Sri Lanka was forced to shoulder a conflict which went sour in the manner India’s peace keepers began raping and killing Sri Lankan Tamils – a true killing field ignored internationally. The manner in which in an unprecedented move resulted in the LTTE tie up with the Sri Lankan Government to fight the IPKF and demand it to leave Sri Lanka carries a clear message that Sri Lanka cannot be disintegrated like other nations – African or Middle Eastern.

1)    Investigate War Crimes of LTTE

An investigation into LTTE war crimes will bring to light atrocities that forced 32 nations to declare it a terrorist organization and will record how over three decades the LTTE carried out over 200 suicide attacks killing innocent men, women, children and clergy. It will also enable the world to bury the myth that LTTE was a liberation movement when they realize that the LTTE killed practically all of the moderate Tamil politicians and Tamil intellectuals. All these people deserve justice for their untimely deaths.

It is easy to say that the LTTE is now no more. That may be true but we know very well that Sri Lanka’s Tamil political parties especially the TNA has been over the years the open mouthpiece of the LTTE and they are in parliament primarily on the strength of the LTTE’s open support of them even carrying out their election campaigns. There are enough evidence of TNA members with links to LTTE speaking atop LTTE stages even overseas. These TNA members have given political leadership and guidance to the LTTE over the year which has enabled them to entice the Tamil civilians towards the separatist cause.

LTTE’s foreign campaign is very much in full swing and are accountable for influencing the calls for war crimes against Sri Lanka’s troops on their ability to buy over foreign MPs on the bargaining tool of giving them enough votes to come into power. We are not interested in the morality of these foreign parliamentarians but what we insist on is that for far too long LTTE has been riding a white horse claiming itself the aggrieved party when they should have been as a declared terrorist entity found guilty of war crimes.

For a single act that has not even been proved the UN set up the UN Counter Terrorism Center immediately after the 9/11, what stopped the UN taking action against the LTTE when it has enough dossiers on the LTTE for recruiting child combatants, forcefully kidnapping them from their homes and running false orphanages which are actually LTTE training camps? What did the Tamil politicians do about Tamil children been taken and turned into child combatants – did they even plead for these innocent children to be released?

An investigation on how the LTTE and other Tamil terrorist groups started attacking Sri Lanka’s Government would take investigators to India where training camps were set up by retired RAW and army personnel. Investigations would unearth how the Indian Government provided logistical and financial support to these terrorist groups and how they manipulated one against the other.

The world would finally come to know how LTTE “liberation movement” was in fact an outsourced terrorist movement spearheaded by Indian intelligence primarily to delay an Eelaam and deny Sri Lanka any form of stability in economy or development. We need the world to finally know the truth and the world owes it to the public of Sri Lanka to open an investigation to bring out these dark home truths.

2)    Investigate War Crimes of India’s IPKF

The Indian Peace Keeping Force landed in Sri Lanka the day after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord on 30^th July 1987. This accord was thrust upon Sri Lanka by India with Sri Lanka having no say in its contents and it not only amended Sri Lanka’s constitution but it also introduced a provincial council system and merged the provinces of the North and the East. It is obvious that India chose to go ahead with the accord as it came to realize that the Sri Lankan armed forces were within a short distance of capturing Prabakaran just a month before the accord was pushed for signature. India demanded Sri Lankan troops stop advancing to capture Prabakaran and he was whisked off to India and made a promise by India to be given 5million monthly for his agreeing to the Accord.

We are not concerned about what type of agreement India had with Prabakaran or the LTTE. What we are concerned is that Sri Lanka lost thousands of people unnecessarily and for no reason simply because India did not want its Tamil Nadu to continue its calls to separate from India. By fooling the Tamil Nadu people into watching a supposed Eelaam take shape in Sri Lanka, India has been guilty of crimes against humanity.

From the circumstances that prevailed in sending Indian troops who had not been briefed about what they were supposed to do and clueless about their role it was no surprise when just after two months in October, orders were given to eliminate the LTTE and capture Prabakaran which clearly indicated India’s arrival was far more than India was revealing with 100,000 IPKF soldiers stationed in North Sri Lanka. The deaths to Tamil civilians by the IPKF is said to range from 6000 deaths to 10,000 deaths – we need all these deaths to be investigated before investigating anything else.

When the IPKF did capture Jaffna there were thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils who were displaced. Did the Indians or Tamil Nadu or for that matter any in the TNA or the foreign embassies and humanitarian groups cry foul and demand answers from India?

The IPKF was soon to earn the acronym – Innocent People Killing Force and a series of encounters will remind Jaffna Tamils how wonderful India had treated the Tamil people.  Indian reply by Brig Kahlon for rape charges were “the Indian army are not angels….rape happens even in the West”. These are just a few of the examples of IPKF’s war crimes in Sri Lanka against the Tamil people India is now so concerned about.

• 12 October 1987 – IPKF attacks village of Kokuvil killing over 40 civilians’ in retaliation for loosing 29 Indian commandoes at the Jaffna University raid.
• 21 October 1987 – Deepavali, 68 innocent Tamils shot and killed by IPKF inside Jaffna Hospital including hospital doctors, nurses, staff and patients. Dr. Sivapathasuntharan who entered the hospital the next day was also killed by the IPKF.
• 21 November 1987 – Trincomalee, a IPKF soldier kills 7 civilians and injures 4 by indiscriminate firing.
• August 1989 – Velvettiturai, 64 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians killed by the IPKF.
• More than a 100 Tamil civilian bodies were found in Chunnakam, Mallakam, Uduvil, Manipay, Maruthanamadam and Inuvil – all deaths attributed to the IPKF.
  Amnesty International Report 1988 (Jan-Dec 1987) quotes local magistrate in North Sri Lanka finding seven cases of rape by IPKF.
• http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA37/030/1990/en/1520f8d1-17d4-4b3b-b4d1-f948631bb10b/asa370301990en.pdf
• A book on India’s war crimes against Tamil civilians was released in April 2011 in New Delhi titled “In the Name of Peace : IPKF Massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka” documented by the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) and published by the Delhi Tamil Students Union. The book covers 12 massacres committed by the IPKF.

For further reading :

• Memorial for IPKF – Innocent People Killing Force
  By Dr. T. Somasekaram Retd. Surveyor General http://www.tchr.net/reports_commission_IPKF.htm
• Those Who Cannot Remember the Past are Condemned to Repeat It http://www.sangam.org/2011/08/IPKF_Repeat.php?uid=4436

We do not deny the cultural affinities shared between India and Sri Lanka, we do not deny the close ties that have existed over centuries but inspite of such ties India has gone on to commit the unthinkable upon a nation that has done India no harm.

Knowing India’s own guilt at sponsoring terrorist groups and openly claiming to train them on Indian soil not feeling embarrassed of its guilt, India went on to vote against Sri Lanka in Geneva.

We are not concerned about why India did what India did for its actions speaks louder than words and foretells us that we can never expect sincerity in dealings with India ever. What we are now concerned more than ever is that the world should know the truth about the LTTE and we now demand war crimes investigations be opened against the LTTE being a terrorist organization and India for its crimes committed against our people by the IPKF. The Indian Penal Code does provide for extradition and Sri Lanka can open trial according to Sri Lanka’s laws.

Everyone can have their day in court – justice needs to start now.

For planning and sponsoring a terrorist organization, India does not deserve a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

Sri Lanka should now be proactive and not defensive and be firm about what needs to be said to the world.