News Archive for Apr 2010

නලලේ රතු පොට්ටුව දෙමළ බෙදුම් වාදයේ නව සංකේතය ද?
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
 1978 ට පසු ලංකාව බොහෝ සේ සංකර වීමට පෙර, ඒ කාලයේ අම්මලා කුඩා දරුවන්ගේ  නලලේ කළු තිලකයක් තිබ්බේය. ළමයාගේ මුහුණ දැක ළමයා ලස්සනය කියා කීමෙන් එන ඇස්වහ කටවහ වෙනුවට ළමයාගේ තිලකය දැකීමෙන් එය වළකිනවා කියා ඔවුන් සිතුවේය. ඉන්දියාවේ ගැහැණුන් හා ලංකාවේ දෙමළ ගැහැණුන් නලලට පොට්ටුවක් තබන්නේ අලංකාරය සඳහාද නැත්නම් රතු පොට්ටුවේ අරමුණ ඔවුන් තවම කසාඳ බැඳ නැති බව පෙන්වීමටද? ඇඟිල්ලේ මුද්ද වගේ පොට්ටුව ද මෙවැනි සේවයක් ද කරණ බව මම අසා ඇත්තෙමි. නමුත් මා දැන් කියන්නට යන්නේ රතු පොට්ටුව, නීලන් තිරුචෙල්වම් හා ප්‍රභාකරන් හරහා දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදයේ සංකේතයක් වුනාද යන කතාවය. ඒ කතාව මතු වූයේ රධිකා කුමාරස්වාමි මෙනෙවියගේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

නව අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිතුමා හා රටේ අනගතය.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මේ වනවිට නව රජයේ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය ස්ථාපිත කොට ඇත. මේ ඇමතිවරු අතරින් වාසනාවන්තම අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පත්වී සිටී. ඔහු මෙරට අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිවරයායි. ඒ සමගම ඔහු  40 ලක්ෂයක දූ දරුවන්ට පීතෘවරයකු බවටද පත්ව සිටී. මේ ගෞරවණීය තත්වය මනාව වටහා ගැනීමේ මනසක් එතුමා තුල ස්ථාපිතව ඇතැයි අප සිතමු. ඒ හරහා ඔහුගේ දූ දරුවන්ගේ මූලික අධ්‍යාපනයේ සිට උසස් අධ්‍යාපනය යන සීමාවන් දක්වා වූ සියලූම කාර්යයන් නිසි ලෙස කිරීමේ වගකීම ඔහු උරමතට නොබියව පටවා ගනු ඇත. අපි එතුමාට ශුභ පතමු. එමෙන්ම එතුමා තමන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපන පීතෘත්වයට පත්කරගත් දූ දරුවන්ටද ශූභ පතමු. මේ රට ඒකීය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවක්ය. නමින් ඒකීය වූවද... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

The concept of Nirvana from a psychological point of view
Dr. Ruwan M. Jayatunge  
The concept of Nirvana is more than 2500 years old. Throughout the centuries various scholars and philosophers tried to explain this concept using their limited knowledge.  In fact the concept of Nirvana is much more wide and difficult to explain in mundane terms. The Nirvana concept is often misunderstood and sometimes misused (eg - Nirvana Rock Band, Nirvana Night Club) in the Western world. Some Western scholars have tried to interpret it as a sensational feeling or like orgasm which was incorrect.  The concept of Nirvana was originally explained by the Lord Buddha (566-486... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

ICC T20 Opener Loss May Be A Pointer To What's Lacking In The Lankan Game!
Top Spin By Suni For LankaWeb 30th April 2010
It's only the first game with more to play, but having gone into the competition as strong contenders for the championship at the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup in the Carribean, Sri Lanka have been beaten narrowly by New Zealand when they should have come out on top with all guns blazing! and  while saying this regretfully, the guns weren't blazing today and the goods undelivered as there seemd to be a circumspect air about the Lankan batting which could only muster a meagre 136 where victory might have been assured with a score or... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

MADHOORI-THE NEW HEROINE OF THE OLD STORY
ALI SUKHANVER
When the organizers of the SAARC conference in Bhutan were anxiously engaged in arrangements for their worthy guests from all over the world, all of a sudden, Madhoori Gupta, the Indian diplomat, became the focus of the ever eager and ever inquisitive world-media. She was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan's spy agency ISI during her stay in Pakistan. She was summoned to Delhi on the pretext of consultations regarding the 16th SAARC Summit in Bhutan and was handed over to the investigation agencies. According to the statement given to the media by Indian Intelligence sources... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

HEAD OF AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMA'AT RETURNS TO LONDON AFTER FOUR WEEK TOUR OF EUROPE
By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, Ahmadiya Muslim Jama'at, Sri Lanka.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Head of the World-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, returned to London recently  after a four week tour of Europe. During the tour, His Holiness visited France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The weekly Friday Sermons were broadcast live worldwide on MTA International throughout the tour as well as the concluding address delivered by His Holiness at the Jamaat’s Annual Convention in Spain.  On both the 2nd and 9th of April 2010 the Friday Sermons were delivered from the Basharat Mosque in Pedro Abad, Spain. His... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/10)

Radhika’s R2P plot to save Prabhakaran sinks in Nanthikadal
H. L. D. Mahindapala
After accusing Rajiva Wijesinghe, the former head of the Peace Secretariat, viciously, branding him as a “near-racist ….ranting and raving about ICES” and constructing “fiction” and “a narrative for Sinhala consumption”  Radhika Coomaraswamy, Under-Secretary General for Children at War, now pretends as if there was no intention on the part of ICES, her  main political base, to initiate international intervention, using the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), to save the fascist LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was on the phone to K. Pathmanathan (“KP”), urging him to mobilize the international community to save him.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/10)

Sonali kneels down at the Washington National Press Club for “refugee" status
Ajit Randeniya
The National Press Club in Washington (NPC) is an awe inspiring place with a long history of over 100 years, albeit a racist one. This writer had the first opportunity to enter the hallowed rooms of the NPC, back in 2002, June 17 to be exact, after being signed in by a friend who worked for the Washington Post. It was a warm Monday morning and the occasion, starting at 10 am, in the Lisagor Room, was a ‘Newsmaker’ News Conference: ‘Watergate: 30 Years Later’. The speaker was none other than Bob Woodward himself, who had become... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/10)

‘Sovereignty’-- why do they allergic to third world sovereignty? -Part 7
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony
“Metaphysics- the white mythology which reassembles and reflects the culture of the west; the white man takes his own mythology, Indo-European mythology, his own logos, that is, the mythos of his idiom, for the universal form of that he must still wish to call ‘Reason” (Derrida)  The question of the day is, whether national sovereignty is an obsolete concept or a necessary tool for our survival? However weak it may be, however even waning that could be, sovereignty still provides the only safety-net for the third world countries... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/10)

Lib Dems Target the Suicide Bomber Vote
Michael Sierra London, UK
If you are a Tamil living in Lewisham East, Peter Pattison prospective LibDem parliamentary candidate, wants your vote. He assumes that you support the racist LTTE and its failed dream of creating an ethnically pure, Tamil-only state in Sri Lanka.In two election leaflets produced by the LibDems, Pattisson proudly lists his activities on behalf of LTTE front organizations.... -Full Story- (my.telegraph.co.uk - 29/04/10)

Radhika complains to UN about comments on her “pottu”
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Radhika Coomaraswamy’s irate and feisty attack on Rajiva Wijesinghe, former head of the Peace Secretariat, for scrutinizing the role of (1) International Center for Ethnic Studies (ICES), her primary political base, (2) Ms. Rama Mani, her handpicked minder to run her political base in her absence, and (3) herself (The Island – April 26, 2010) showed another side of her personality which was not known to me in my brief encounters with her. I must confess that I don’t know her as well as, say, late Neelan Tiruchelvam, her suave guru and patron, with... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/04/10)

UTHURATE KIRI- DAKUNETA KEKIRI
Malin Abeyatunge
President Rajapaksa brought freedom to a devastated nation . He united the country. His leadership brought UPFA into power with an overwhelming majority in the Parliament albeit just short of six to make it one third. At the presidential election, it was the votes of the rural folks that  gave him without any hesitation the second term to run the country. At the General Election, the same trend was seen and the votes from the remotest villages brought UPFA into power again. Now the cabinet has been decided and no time should be wasted and commence business... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/04/10)

Supporting Tamil is habouring terrorist
Asoka Weerasinghe  Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
April 28, 2010 Dr. Rachel Joyce   Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Harrow West Middlesex, UK Dear Rachel Joyce: I have just read your statement, ‘British candidate calls Tamils victims of genocide”,  pronounced in the heart of Harrow West.  And you are a Conservative, and Enoch Powell must be turning in his grave and laughing at you saying, “I knew that my Conservative colleagues 42-years down the road will be kissing brown Tamil butts to get elected to parliament.”   I don’t think Powell would have expected this to happen in the Conservative... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/04/10)

පිටසක්වල ජීවින්
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
2010 අප්‍රෙල් මස 27 වෙනි දින දිවයින පත්‍රයේ මුල් පිටුවේ පලවූ පුවතක මෙසේ සදහන් විය. පිටසක්වල ජීවීන් කියා කොටසක් ඉන්නවා- භෞතික විද්‍යාඥ ස්ටෙපාන් හෝකින්. පිටසක්වල ජීවින් කියා කොටසක් සිටින බවත්, මනුෂ්‍යයන් ඔවුන් හා ගැටීමෙන් වැළකී සිටිය යුතු බවත් ලොව ප්‍රමුඛතම භෞතික විද්‍යාඥයකු වන ස්ටෙපාන් හෝකින් පවසයි. මෙම පිටසක්වල ජීවීන් විශ්වයේ බොහෝ පෙදෙස් වල සිටිය හැකි අතර ග්‍රහලෝක වල පමණක් නොව තාරකා මධ්‍යයේ හෝ අන්තර් අභ්‍යවකාශයේ පවා එවැනි ජීවිත පැවතිය හැකි බව ඔහු කියයි. හෝකින්ට අනුව විශ්වය චක්‍රාවාට බිලියන 100කින් සමන්විත වන අතර එක් චක්‍රාවාටයක් තාරකා මිලියන ගනනකින් යුක්තවේ. මෙපමණ විශාල ප්‍රදේහයක් පැවතීම නිසා පෘතුවිය මිනිස් ජීවීන්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/04/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—24-CALIFORNIA EXPLOITS: ETCHING CARMEL IN MONTEREY
Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
My mother, 70, arrived in Los Angeles on 4 Dec. 1983 after a stay with my youngest sister Nayana in London to supervise the closure of our year in Fullerton and to help out my wife Yoke-Sim, who was in the last month or two of her pregnancy. Junius, Yoke-Sim and I were at the L.A. International Airport to welcome her. Mother brought gifts for each of us. We brought her home (Larry Taylor’s condo in Wellesley Court, Fullerton, that we were occupying during the exchange year) about 9.30 p.m. Mother recovered from her... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

The Black July 1983 that Created a Collective Trauma
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
“With Black July, dawned the era of gun culture, disappearances, child soldiers, collapse of rule of law and erosion of democracy. Within the first ten years of UNP rule from 1977, the draconian Constitution was further strengthened with 16 further constitutional amendments - with the two notorious 4th and 6th.” Dew Gunasekara- General Secretary Communist Party of Sri Lanka Overview Race riot is a form of collective violence caused by hatred for one another of members of different races in the same community.  In the 20th Centaury alone there had been over 300 racial riots... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

I was Proud to be a Doctor from the Colombo Medical Faculty
Dr Lalith Perera
This is neither a confession nor redemption. But at least telling the truth that was suppressed in my mind for a long time might put me at ease. I don’t know how to begin this article. Anyhow, I try to follow my memory lane. By writing this letter, I know my colleagues would hate me and denounce me as a traitor. I will be subjected to a long witch hunt.  But I hope one day they would understand me and realize the point that I tried to highlight in here.  I was astonished when I... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

GL and the Package
GEETHANJANA KUDALIGAMAGE

... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

President Rajapaksa holds talks with Bhutan Prime Minister
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is currently in Bhutan to attend 16th SAARC Summit has held bilateral talks with Bhutan Prime Minister Mr.Jigmi Y.Thinley at the Sri Lanka House in the SAARC Village. The Prime Minister conveyed on behalf of His Majesty the King and the people of Bhutan a warm welcome to President Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan delegation on their visit to Bhutan. Foreign Minister Prof.G.L.Peiris, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Foreign Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe, President’s Co-ordinating Secretary Sajin Vas Gunawardena MP, Namal Rajapaksa MP and Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

Tamil Tigers arrested in Netherlands
Dutch to English translation By: Michael Walter:
The national search on Monday arrested seven Tamil Tigers in the Netherlands. They are suspected of involvement in a criminal and terrorist organization and fundraising for the organization in Sri Lanka fighting for a separate state. Among the suspects are the leaders of five Tamil organizations in the Netherlands. A 45-year-old man from The Hague is seen as the leader of the Tamil Tigers in the Netherlands. The six other suspects were arrested in Schagen (2), Breda, Zeist, Raalte and Ammerzoden. According to the OM, the defendants do not themselves been involved... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/10)

Over 200,000 leave Lanka Tamil camps: UNHCR
More than 200,000 of some 280,000 mainly Tamil people displaced after the civil war in northern Sri Lanka have left their camps since last August, the UN refugee agency said yesterday. A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the government allowed returns to resume last week following a three week pause due to the country’s elections, leading to the departure of 7,000 internally displaced people since then. “Some 207,000 IDPs have left the camps in the north and east of the country since the organised return process began in August last year,” the spokesman, Andrej Mahecic, told... -Full Story- (Gulf Times - 27/04/10)

The Rajapaksa Clout!
Prof. Hudson McLean
Two notable appointees into Cabinet Portfolios highlight the Presidential ambitions. Although Rohitha Bogollagama was by-passed after suffering an electorial defeat, the appointment of Prof. G.L.Peries as the Foreign Secretary is a good choice. Rohitha as the Foreign Secretary brought character and personality, and changed the Sri Lanka the substance of the image on the international stage. Perhaps President Rajapaksa has a different mandate for Rohitha in the future. Prof. G.L Peries will bring-in an academic and the intelligentsia look, to match with the likes of Hillary Clinton, and the Russian Sergei Lavrov, the Sinhala speaking friend.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Deconstructing the myth of Dharmeratnam Sivaram -Part II
Ajit Randeniya
 What was remarkable about the Sivaram phenomenon was that the state media and the media consuming general public always suspected that there was more to ‘Taraki’ than his ‘commentary’ they came across in the morning newspaper.  Raising such concerns by the state media in 2001 led to the New York based CIA front ‘The Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) to write to President Chandrika Kumarantunga, ‘condemning’ such accusations. The CPJ complained that the accusations were published without any ‘substantive evidence’, seriously endangering Sivaram and his family.  Such ‘lack of evidence’ was also the basis of protestations made... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Psychoanalytical Notion of Aksharaya
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
The feeling that they are more important to mother than father makes them feel that they are wonderful, and since they are already grown up and need not do anything to establish their greatness because - and as long as - mother loves them ... Erich Fromm– Asoka Handagama's controversial movie Aksharaya discusses one of the bitter and hidden issues of the society which is generally termed as incest. Although the movie received a major criticism and viewed via Sinhala Buddhist and Victorian moral spectacles the incestuous relations were discussed in the Jathaka Stories as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Tragedy at Kalutara - Need to get organized and campaign for Human rights for all
Ben Silva
It was a shocking story of a young mother allegedly trying to kill her son of two and a half years by throwing him into a river, as she could not support the boy. This shows the level of poverty in Sri Lanka and the inability of some citizens to cope with a free market economy. The Tamils have NGO’s, Indians,  rich relatives and GOSL helping them. At least they have refugee camps, where they are provided with food, water and shelter. I myself have seen old and disabled people begging in the streets of Colombo and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Tamils have no voice in Sri Lanka
Vajeera Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne,
Referring to the Sydney Morning Herald News Item on Monday, 26 April 2010, under the above heading I wish to posit my response. The success of referendum by Australian Tamil Diaspora or Tamil Diaspora elsewhere in the Globe, almost unanimous or even totally unanimous, has no relevance back in Sri Lanka, as it’s administration led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa has rightfully articulated that the country has no different ethnicities now, except those who love the country and those who don’t.  NGO’s on the pay packet of the anti Sri Lankan countries and the Traitors who betray... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

President Rajapaksa arrives Bhutan to attend 16th SAARC Summit
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived at the Paro International Airport in Bhutan this morning on 26th April to attend the 16th SAARC Summit which will be held in Thimpu on 28 and 29th of this month. He was warmly received by the Prime Minister of Bhutan Mr.Jigmi Y.Thinley at the airport. On his arrival Sri Lankan President was accorded an impressive Guard of Honour by the Bhutanese Military. He was accompanied by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, External Affairs Minister Prof.G.L.Peiris, Secretary to the President Mr Lalith Weeratunga, Sajin De Vas Gunawardena MP and Attorney General Mohan Peiris.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Prominent Sri Lankan -Canadian Cricketer Malsiri Kurukulasuriya Passes Away.
Top Spin By Suni For LankaWeb 25th April 2010
Malsiri Kurukulasuriya who passed away in Sri Lanka yesterday is probably an unsung Sri Lankan cricketing academic whose life was lived to the fullest where he combined the joys of his cricketing career with the academics he pursued diligently which took him from Trinity College to the University of Ceylon and eventually to Oxford University, the last venue of his education where he did not make the Oxford cricket team  despite being called up for trials although completing with accomplishment the academics he pursued.   Malsiri's cricket was nurtured at his beloved Trinity College Kandy where he blossomed into one of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Former UNP MP indicted
Hiran H. Senewiratne Courtesy Daily News
The Attorney General has indicted former UNP MP Myown Mustapha before the Colombo High Court for offering a bribe to former JNP MP Mohomed Muzzamil to obtain his support and to ensure General Sarath Fonseka's victory during the Presidential Election, which held on January 26. The Attorney General's Department has filed the case in the High Court.of Colombo and has obtained the approval from the High Court Judge Deepani Wijesundera to fix a date for a trial on a future date. According to the case, Mustapha offered Rs 4.2 million to Muzzamil to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/10)

Will respect sentiments of all: Amitabh on Tamil protests
NEW DELHI: Amitabh Bachchan on Monday said he would make sure everyone's sentiments were respected, a day after protests from a Tamil group urging the megastar not to host the India International Films Awards (IIFA) function in Sri Lanka. "A Tamil group picketed my houses, asking me to not conduct IIFA in Sri Lanka. I beckoned personnel from Wiz (Wizcraft) who own and conduct IIFA, to come and meet me to discuss this matter and give it due importance," Amitabh, who is the brand ambassador of IIFA, posted on his blog.... -Full Story- (Times of India - 26/04/10)

Dutch police arrest seven for alleged Tamil Tiger links
Police arrested seven men in the Netherlands on Monday who are suspected of raising funds for Sri Lankan separatist group the Tamil Tigers, a statement said. "They are suspected of raising funds for the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) through collections, fundraisers, the sale of DVDs and calendars and illegal lotteries," said a statement from the national police. Investigators searched 16 homes and businesses in different towns and seized computers, telephones, photos, DVDs and a cash sum of more than 40,000 euros (53,000 dollars).... -Full Story- (sify.com - 26/04/10)

Deconstructing the myth of Dharmeratnam Sivaram
Ajit Randeniya
April 28 marks the fifth anniversary of the abduction and murder of Dharmeratnam ‘Taraki’ Sivaram. The death of Sivaram in April 2005 elicited an inordinately high level of mourning from amongst the English speaking urbanites of Sri Lanka, foreign meddlers with vested interests led by a group of American Anthropologists, and the LTTE. The foreigners and the LTTE, especially the semiliterate Prabhakaran appeared to show a suspicious level of intimacy with Sivaram’s ‘work’. The purpose of this article is to report the result of a detailed investigation in to what Sivaram represented, by undertaking a ‘forensic analysis’... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/10)

"ඒකීය ලංකාවක්" යන වචන දෙක පෙඩරල් සර්පයා සඟවන ඇස් බැන්දුමක්ද?
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
"13-ඒ සංශොධනය තිබෙන තාක් ඒකීය ලංකාවක් තිබිය නොහැකිය.      13-ඒ මඟින් දෙමළ නිජ භූමි නමැති මිථ්‍යාව නීති (ව්‍යවස්ථා) ගත කර දී ඇත."                නොයෙක් වචන යොදා ගෙන සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයා රැවටීම ක්‍රිස්තියානි-දෙමළ පෙඩරල් කාරයින්ගේ ද, මාක්ස්වාදීන්ගේ ද, කොළඹ-සිංහල ක්‍රිස්තියානි පාලක පවුල් වල ද සෙල්ලම විය. මීට අළුතින්ම එකතුව ඉන්නා දෙන්නා ජී. එල්. පීරිස් හා ඩග්ලස් අලහප්පෙරුම නොවේ විය කියා මම සිතමි. ලංකාව දෙකට බෙදීමේ පැලෑනේ දී චෙල්වනායගම් දකුණේ අයට පෙඩරල් වචනයද උතුරේ අයට දෙමළ රටක් යන වචනයද භාවිතා කලේය. මාක්ස්වාදී කළු සුද්දන් (ගෝල්පේස් හෝටයේ සිට වයින් හා විස්කි බිබී, ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් ඇල්ශේෂන් බල්ලන් හුරතල් කල අය) මේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/10)

False and Naïve Expectations Can Ruin Hard Won Peace
Kumar Moshe
Peace has dawned upon Sri Lanka. For the first time in 27 years Traditional New Year celebrations took place in an atmosphere of peace. First peaceful Independence Day, first peaceful Christmas and the first peaceful election were other firsts lately. Will peace last?  Answers depend on the sentiments in formerly war-torn areas. After the wipe out of the LTTE, violence is not a yardstick to measure the level of peace. But the voting pattern is. Has anything changed in the voting pattern of North-East Tamils in 2010? The answer is not much. Even the small change... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/10)

VOICE OF SRI LANKA
BY Dr M D P DISSANAYAKE
Sri Lankans have once again strengthened the hands of HE President Mahinda Rajapakse  in an unprecedented manner. The Provincial, Presidential and General Elections were won  mainly due to the positive image of the President amongst the voters. The voters have found a unique person lead them and advance Sri Lanka to economic prosperity. Sri Lanka has abundance of economic resources which are still not exploited, it has  well educated brand of work force with bilingual skills. The President is a living God for many Sri Lankans and expect the utmost during his tenure... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/10)

LTTE terror within 21st century international politics -Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony-Part 6
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
“They make slaughter and they call it peace” (Tacitus) Today, I would like to submit the thesis of “western ‘peace’ debacle in Sri Lanka as a failure of their conceptual blunder of promoting ‘partition as the prerequisite to Sri Lanka’s progress.” As the result, the west lost their credibility both as redeemer of peace and deliverer of the development. Summarizing the sentiment of dismay and the lost faith of the nation of Sri Lanka toward west, Dr. Dayan Jayathilake said in UNO, “I won’t buy a used car from these people Mr. President, let along the allegations of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/10)

PRESS RELEASE -By P.Thigambaram M.P.,UNP- Nuwara Eliya Leader : National Workers Front
P.Thigambaram M.P.,
In furtherance to my Statement in Parliament that I would not be supporting the UNP as the present Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe did not honour his word by appointing one of my nominees on the National List and that I would continue to be in the opposition but would support the Government on issues relating to the best interests of the country and the people of Nuwara Eliya.  I wish to state that during the Presidential elections I was able to secure more votes for the UNP than Mr.Arumugam Thondaman and that Mr.Thondaman was able to secure more... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/10)

අළුත් විදියකට සිතන සමාජයක් කරා පා නගමු !
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මෙලොව එලිය දකින බිලිදා අපට යලි කිසිදා දක්නට නොලැබේ. ඒ නිසා අප එම බිලිදාගේ කුඩා කල ඡායාරූප ලබාගෙන මතක සටහනක් වශයෙන් ඇල්බමයක දමාගෙන තබා ගන්නෙමු. මේ උපත ලද බිලිදා ගේ ශරීරය පුරා පැවති සියලුම සෛල අභාවයට යමින් නව සෛල වැඩෙමින් ඉදිරියට ගොස් එක අවස්ථාවකදී ඔහු ඉපදෙන විට ඔහු තුල වූ එකද සෛලයක්වත්  නැති අවස්ථාවකට පත්වේ. ඉපදෙන විට ඔහු තුල වූ කිසිදු දෙයක් මේ වනවිට ඔහු තුල නොවූවද, අප ඔහුව ඉපදෙන අවස්ථාවේ සිටි පුද්ගලයා වශයෙන්ම දකිමු. . පුද්ගලයාගේ රූප කායට වඩා වෙනත් අගයක් ඔහුගේ මනසට ඇත. මිනිහාට සියලු ගුණාංග ගොනු කරන මනෝකායද ජීවිත ගමනේදී අති විශාල කාර්ය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/10)

මහළු වයසේදී නිහාල් ජයවික්‍රම මහතාට පරමාධිපත්‍යය එපා වීම
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
තරුණ වයසේදී පරමාධිපත්‍යය යන සංකල්පය ඉතාමත් කැත අන්දමට "දූෂණය" කල නිහාල් ජයවික්‍රම මහතා දැන් මහළු වයසේ දී පිටරටක වසමින් ලංකාණ්ඩුවට පරමාධිපත්‍යය ගැන කියා දීමට ඉදිරිපත් වී ඇත. තරුණ වයසේදී ලංකාව විනාශ කල බොහෝ සිංහල කළු සුද්දන් දැන් ගමෙන් ආ මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපතිට නොයෙක් කැණහිලි කම් කරමින් සිටී. නිහාල් නොබෝදා ඉංග්‍රීසි පත්තර වලට ලියූ පරමාධිපත්‍ය ලියුම මා දකින්නේ එවැනි ක්‍රියාවක් ලෙසය. කෙසේ හෝ මහින්ද චින්තනයට ගැරහීම, හානි කිරීම මේ අයගේ යටි අරමුණය.  නිහාල් ගේ ලියුමට දයාන් ජයතිලකත්, හමීඩ් විදේශ ඇමතිට පාඩම් කියා දෙන්නට ගොස් අතරමංවූ ඉෂාත් හුසේන් වැනි තව අයත් අඩ තබා ඇත. වාසනාවකට ලංකාවේ ගම් බද ජනයා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/10)

USAID helps generate employment in former war zones
In order to prop up new businesses in the former war zone, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has joined forces with Sri Lanka’s private sector, informed the aid agency. Around 5,000 full-time jobs are likely to be generated, in the former conflict zones, through the USAID Public-Private Partnerships for Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka Program. USAID Mission Director, Ms. Rebecca Cohn said that the agency is committed to bring conflict-affected communities back to normal by elevating job and business opportunities. The aid agency is teaming up with five domestic businesses in the sectors such as, apparel manufacturing, aquaculture,... -Full Story- (fibre2fashion.com - 24/04/10)

Buddha relics to be placed at upcoming park
PATNA: Holy relics of Lord Buddha from Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Dharamsala (HP) would be placed at the upcoming `Buddha Smriti Park’ here next month. The park, a dream project of chief minister Nitish Kumar, is to be located on the demolished Bankipore jail premises, spread over an area of 22 acres. The To cost approximately Rs 125 crore, it is likely to be inaugurated by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti in May.... -Full Story- (Times of India - 24/04/10)

Angry Kuwaitis disrupt Sri Lankan celebrations
A massive Sri Lankan celebration was interrupted after angry Kuwaitis claimed it violated Islamic rulesKuwait: A massive Sri Lankan celebration was interrupted after angry Kuwaitis claimed it violated Islamic rules. More than 5,000 Sri Lankans, including K.S.C. Dissanayake, Sri Lankan ambassador to Kuwait, had to leave the Jahra stadium after Kuwaiti Islamists invaded the field and pressed organisers to suspend the celebration and threatened to escalate the tense situation. Negotiations between the event organisers, the police and the angry Kuwaitis failed to reach a compromise.... -Full Story- (gulfnews.com - 24/04/10)

Portrait of a pundit pontificating to the people
H. L. D. Mahindapala
For the benefit of the readers who have not been following the exchange of letters between Izzeth Hussain and me published in The Island (March 30/April 9 and April 12)  let me state briefly how it all began. It began with him saying that “Sinhala triumphalism” after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers would have been neutralized if President Mahinda Rajapakse, when he descended from the plane, did not “make obeisance to the tarmac.” (Quote –unquote). Watching President Rajapakse on TV which sane viewer would conclude that President Rajapakse “(made) obeisance TO the tarmac”? Did... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—23 -A NOSTALGIC TOUR OF THE OREGON COAST
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
Friday (5 Aug 1983) morning, we—Junius, Yoke-Sim and I—left the Mill Creek campground of Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park for our Oregon excursion. We headed nine miles (14 km) northwest to Crescent City (pop. 7,300), the last California city before crossing the border to Oregon. On the way, we stopped at the Rellim Demonstration Forest, where we walked along a nature trail to learn about plants—an activity that Junius appeared to enjoy.  We learnt that Lost Monarch, the largest known Coastal redwood by volume, thrives in “The Grove of the Giants” in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

'Guerrillero Heroico': Fifty years since“Che" Guevera was immortalised
Ajit Randeniya
It is easy to miss important anniversaries because every day of the year marks one or another. For example, the 50th anniversary of the snapping, by Fidel Castro’s personal photographer Alberto Díaz ‘Korda’ Gutiérrez (1928-2001), of ‘that’ photograph of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevera that fell on 4 March failed to register a blimp in the collective consciousness of the world. The story of Korda’s photograph of Che Guevera, including the circumstances that gave Korda the opportunity, his ‘reading’ of the intensity of Guevera’s facial expression, and the subsequent exploitation of the photograph by capitalists makes fascinating reading. Surprisingly,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

දයාන් ජයතිලක මහතාගේ අණ්ඩර දෙමළ
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
ගෝන ගලට රැළ ගසනවා වගේ මොනතරම් කාරණා ඉදිරිපත් කලත් දයාන් ඔහුගේ ලංකාව දෙකට බෙදීමේ පැලෑන වෙනස් නොකරයි. ඔහුට වාසි වන කාරණා කීපයක් පුන පුනා කියමින්, අප පෙන්වා දෙන කාරණා වලට පිලිතුරු නොදීම දයාන් ගේ උපක්‍රමය බව පෙනේ. මේ නිසා මේ ලිපිය ඔහුට ලියන අවසාන ලිපියයි. මෙය ඔහුගේ අළුත් සිංගප්පූරු යුනිවර්සිටියේ ඊ-මේල් ලිපිනයට [isasmdds
nus.edu.sg] ද යවමි. දයාන් ට පමණක් නොව, ඔහුගේ මිතුරි තිසරණී, ජෙහාන් පෙරේරා, පාකියසෝති, කුමාර් ඩේවිඩ්, රාජන් පිලිප්ස්, නේසයියා දේවනසන්, ඉෂාත් හුසේන් යන අයටද මේ පිලිතුරෙන් මම අභියෝග කරමි.             දයාන් ඩේලි මිරර් පත්‍රයට අප්‍රියෙල් 21 දින ලියූ ලිපියක ඔහුගේ පරණ සින්දුවම ගයා ඇත. ඉන්දියාව තරහ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

Another error in the American strategy in South Asia
by Dimuth Gunewardena
The current LTTE terrorist leader Rudrakumaran’s friend in Washington, Robert Blake has one again commented on something he knows very little about. From time to time these American State Dept. Officials have called a wide spectrum of our body politic - Sinhalese nationalists, chauvinist, etc depending on the need of their hour. “I think one of the noteworthy things about the recent elections was that hard line Sinhalese nationalists’ parties took a severe beating in these elections” - Robert Blake - US Asst. Secretary of State for South Asia This ranges from the UPFA led... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

The Theory of Deconstruction and Munidasa Cumaratunga
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge  
The French philosopher Jacques Derrida questioned the fundamental conceptual distinctions of our understanding of the World through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts.  Derrida laboriously worked to formulate an exceptional theory of deconstruction since early Sixties. Deconstruction sees all writing as a complex historical, cultural process rooted in the relations of texts to each other. Deconstruction clarifies the instability created by the metaphorical, meanings of words. It discloses the metaphysical contradictions of philosophical writings. It’s a surprise to know that Munidasa Cumaratunga (1887 – 1944)  a Sri... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

Cabinet Ministers & Deputy Cabinet Ministers
Cabinet Ministers
Maithripala Sirisena - Health Minister G.L. Peiris - Foreign Minister Susil Premajayantha - Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister. Dinesh Gunawardena - Water supply and drainage Rishath Batiudeen - Industrial Development Minister A.L.M. Athaulla - Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Champika Ranaka - Power and Energy Minister Wimal Weerawansa - Housing, Construction and Public Utilities Minister Sumedha Jayasena - Parliamentary Affairs. Minister Kumara Welgama - Transport Minister while Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena - Agriculture Minister. C.B. Rathnayaka - Sports Minister. Janaka Bandara Tennakoon is the Land and Land Development Minister. Felix Perera - Social Services and Social Welfare... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/10)

Sri Lanka: Lessons to be learnt by Canada
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
April 22, 2010 Rt. Hon Stephen Harper, Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party Canada  Hon. Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada    Hon. Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada   Hon. Gilles Duceppe Leader of the Bloc Quebecois of Canada House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario Honourable Gentlemen: Re: Sri Lanka: Lessons to be learnt With all your parties showing concern about Sri Lanka going way back to 1983, permit me to elaborate on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/10)

My visits and experiences in Jaffna
by Lt Col (Retd) Anil Amarasekera
My first ever visit to Jaffna when I was just a kid was way back in the early fifties.  My uncle Mr. Tissa Ratnatunga was an important government official in Jaffna. He had a large bungalow within the Jaffna Fort and our family spent a holiday with my uncle and his family in this bungalow.  The only memories I have of that visit over five and a half decades ago was this majestic Old Dutch Bungalow and the small but beautiful Jaffna Fort with its impressive entrance across an equally enchanting moat and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/10)

නව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවේ මන්ත්‍රී ධූරය සම්බන්ධ අර්බූදය සම්බන්ධවයි.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ගරු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා, 22 අප්‍රේල් මස 2010. ගරු මහත්මණෙනි, නව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවේ මන්ත්‍රී ධූරය සම්බන්ධ අර්බූදය සම්බන්ධවයි. වර්තමාන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මෙවන් ආකාරයේ අර්බූද නිර්මාණය වන බව මම කල් තියාම දුටුවෙමි. ඒ හේතුවෙන්ම ඒ සම්බන්ධව අනතුරු හැගවීමේ පියවරක්  වශයෙන් "රට ඉදිරියට මෙහෙය වන සෙන්පතිවරු " යනුවෙන් ලිපියක් ලියා ලංකා වෙබ් අඩවියේ මෑතකදී පල කරන ලදී. මා සිතූ ආකාරයටම ප්‍රතිගාමීන් මී මැස්සන් රෑනක් සේ සිය කටයුතු ආරම්භ කර, ඔබතුමාව හා ඔබ දේශපාලන පක්ෂය මෙබිමෙන්, අතුගා දැමීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය වහා වහා ආරම්භ කර ඇත.බටහිර බලවේග ගියවර ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ ඉලක්ක කර කල මෙහෙයුම මෙවර ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/10)

Money corruption – what is money’s worth?
Chinthana Helagama.
Breaking the queue to get a job done in an office by knowing some official personally has become a norm and this may gratify one’s ego in doing so too. This is to show not only monetary realm is limited to corruption. For hospital appointment, find a job, get child into a school are citizen’s rights but personal influence or bribing an official to obtain these has become a standard custom. One who does not know an official in person or cannot afford to offer a bribe can cause a helpless citizen to fail in gaining admission... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/10)

Moves to revive separatist sentiments
S. Akurugoda
Responding to a query, as reported in the last weekend issue of The Island, the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said that Opposition political parties or constituent partners of the ruling coalition should not be allowed to engage in divisive politics. Suppressing the separatist movement and tackling its propaganda apparatus should be a major part of Sri Lanka’s strategy against the LTTE, he said. The new government should go all out against any local element promoting separatist sentiments regardless of political consequences. The government should be prepared to thwart a fresh attempt by separatists operating abroad to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/10)

Bachan announces IIFA Awards in Colombo
Bollywood icon, Amitab Bachchan arrived in Colombo today to announce that the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards will be held in Sri Lanka, from June 3- 5.... -Full Story- (video.dailymirror.lk - 22/04/10)

Gautama Buddha the Unique Psychotherapist
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge   
Many people interpreting Buddhism see it as one of the numerous philosophies and religions known from antiquity. Certainly Buddhism is a practical philosophy in the sense that prevails today. This philosophy sets up a system of vast psychotherapy. In that context the Lord Buddha was a unique psychotherapist. In general Psychotherapy means a treatment of emotional, behavioral, personality disorders based primarily upon verbal ornonverbal communication. The Buddha who was an inimitable healer helped a large number of people to overcome stress, emotional problems, and relationship problems through friendly mediation. Dr Sigmund Freud introduced the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

Understanding autism
By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge MD
The word autism was coined by the Swiss Psychiatrist Eugine Bleuler in 1910. In 1938, Hans Asperger of the Vienna University Hospital adopted Bleuler’s terminology and in 1981 the Clinical Community widely recognized Autism as a separate diagnosis. Autism is classified as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder affecting young children and adults in which impaired development in communication, social interaction and behaviour are more pronounced. The degree of autism can range from mild to severe. According to the DSM4 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) the essential features of Autistic Disorder are the... -Full Story- (The Island - 21/04/10)

The President and the UPFA won the respective elections each with an overwhelming majority- The Tamils have to refresh their thinking.
By Charles.S.Perera
When the UPFA won the general elections with an overwhelming majority, the UNP  and the JVP were looking for fig leaves to hide their political nudity.  They  claimed a smaller voter turn out as a refusal of the people to endorse a victory for the government, and that was the reason  for their failure to obtain a respectable voter acceptance.  In order to upgrade their importance as popular political parties when they have actually been dumped by the voters into the political wilderness, both UNP and JVP play all the tricks they could muster to downplay the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

Arjuna Ranatunga's Comments About The Government, Indiscretionary !
Insight By Sunil Kumar  April 21st, 2010
" He once held the Nation in awe with his stoic sense of judgement and cool on the cricket field but now seems to have run himself out!"  In a highly controversial manner, totally lacking in decorum and in very poor taste, former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunge the DNA candidate who successfully contested the last General Elections has said that " only the drug peddlers, rapists, bookmakers and tavern owners make up the UPFA Govt. and that genuine Sri Lankans have been pushed out, whereby the party is being destroyed."... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

DM is new PM
By Janaka Alahapperuma
Mr D.M.Jayaratne, senior member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was sworn in before the President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the 14th Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka at Temple Trees this afternoon on 21 April. Disanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne (79 years) the former parliamentarian from Gampola electorate in the Kandy district was appointed through the National list for the newly elected United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government before he was sworn in as the Premier. Mr Jayaratne entered to the parliament in 1970 and is recognized as a very loyal MP to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

Watch USAID!Its Activities are no different from those of Extremist/Fundamentalist American Missionaries of Yesteryear – Create Division & Animosity
by hela puwath
The American Embassy’s activities in the East and North of Sri Lanka are moving in a dizzying momentum – see the list below.  Recently another writer, Ajith Randeniya, fired off a timely warning “Is Anyone Watching USAID?” He wrote, “They also appear to, almost always, bypass the Colombo government and are done through deals at ‘mayor’ level”. Is anyone in Sri Lanka government heeding these warnings?  Have we already forgotten what the NGOs, the Extremist Evangelists, and certain Western embassies were up to? (don’t forget the ICRC;  like  USAID, ICRC’s projects serve a dual purpose!).   These... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

BOGOLLAGAMA OVERLOOKED- DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY SCHOCKED !
By  L.R.Kingsbury Foreign Correspondent
The integrity of Sri Lanka came under scrutiny when Bogollagama was overlooked for the National List. Bogollagama’s contribution to Sri Lanka to convince the international community and his verbal war  of advocacy against global terrorism was wiped off with absolute disregard by narrow party bickering amidst accusations of the counting of preferential votes.  I met Bogollagama this evening at his residence. He was jubilant and was trying hard to hide his feelings. Several Foreign Ministers from various countries called and conveyed their shock and dismay and stated that it was sad that his contribution and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

Bhutan ready to host green summit
Nava Thakuria
Tiny Himalayan country, Bhutan will host the next South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in its capital Thimphu. The two day meeting, starting on April 28 next, will witness the participation of the ‘heads of state or government’ of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives with the host Bhutan. The SAARC) is regional forum launched in 1985 with eight countries in South Asian region. The forum, which represents over 150 Crore people, has the mandate to work for some important areas like agriculture, rural development, health, transport, science and technology, telecommunications, meteorology, sports,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/10)

United People's Freedom Alliance-144 Seats, United National Party-60
Parliamentary General Election – 2010
Parliamentary General Election – 2010 PARTY NAME DISTRICT BASIS SEATS NATIONAL BASIS SEATS TOTAL United People's Freedom Alliance 127 17 144 United National Party 51 9 60 Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi 13 1 14 Democratic National Alliance 5 2 7 Final District Result -Kandy District PARTY NAME VOTES OBTAINED PERCENTAGE SEATS United People's Freedom Alliance 339,819 60.77% 8 United National Party 192,798 34.48% 4 Democratic National Alliance 23,728 4.24%... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/10)

Simon and Garfunkel -Beyond Music and Rhythm
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Facts can be turned into art if one is artful enough. -Paul Simon Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are a folk singing duo who made  songs with unique harmonies that filled with meaningful lyrics.  They made most memorable music of all time. Although Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel  were influenced by the Everly Brothers and Bob Dylan within a short period they made  an exclusive identity of their own, hence creating a new identity.  They were the pioneers of the 60s folk movement that influenced people hugely. Their music carried synchronization of voices melodies... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/10)

PAKISTAN ARMY-DETRMINATION AGAINST TERRORISM
ALI SUKHANVER
 We were in a state of war. All around blazing particles of sand and pinching dust, unkind gushes of fire-like wind, no water, no trees; with a group of journalists I was in Khairpur Tamewali , the part of the Cholistan  desert , about 70 kilometers  from Bahawalpur , the great historical city of Pakistan. We were invited there by the Directorate of Inter Services Public Relations; a department of the Pakistan Army. The purpose behind this visit was to observe the military-exercise going on in this area for the last many weeks.  18th of April, 2010... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/10)

Shell Shock to Palaly Syndrome
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
 In war, there are no unwounded soldiers -Jose Narosky Palaly is a well-known area in Jaffna and it is famous for the Palaly Air Base. Most of the soldiers go to the Northern Peninsula via Palaly airbase.  Therefore, Palaly is a part of them. Palaly is in their memories, sometimes in their intrusions. Palaly syndrome describes various clinical and psychosocial ailments experienced by the Sri Lankan combatants and in the final scores how it affects the society at large.      Shell shock to Palaly Syndrome was a long way for the soldiers.   In the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

Nelli Kaley
GEETHANJANA KUDALIGAMAGE... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

Glorious past is not just a bedtime story; it is our own school of thinking toward our progress!-Part 5
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony
In the part 4 of this article, this writer mentioned that something extraordinary is happening in the belly of the Indian Ocean. Some of the historical evidences of the glorious past of the region, some related to legends, chronicles and even numerous epic sagas of  Asia, from unknown to known times, that have been berried and hidden among the warm currents and under the ocean bed of this old world of Indian Ocean are gradually emerging to the surface. Ocean is hiding some vital elements of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

The Kankesanthurai Cement Factory; monument to Joseph Jayamanne
Mario Perera, Kadawata
The following information in InfoLanka caught my eye.  (Colombo Lankapuvath April 19) The Cement Factory in Kannkasanthurai (KKS) may probably begin within next few months. The factory was closed for the last 30 years due to terrorist activities in the area. Preliminary steps have been completed under the directive of the pioneer of the Uthuru Vasanthaya program on the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to recommence the factory and that renovation work has commenced said Jaffna Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe. Jobs to around 3,000 persons would be provided with its... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

All night Pirith Chanting at parliament to invoke blessings on the country
By Janaka Alahapperuma
Pix by: Chandana Perera All night Pirith Chanting ceremony was held at the Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte Parliamentary Complex last night on 18th April to invoke blessings on the country and the people before the convening of the maiden session of the seventh parliament on Thursday. At the inauguration of the religious ceremony, Venerable Velamitiyawe Kusaladhamma Nayaka Thero said that the President is aiming to make Sri Lanka a leading country in Asia. He has already eliminated the brutal terrorism which crippled the country’s developments for three decades and safeguards the unitary nature. Therefore it is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

Repay duty by people, President Rajapaksa tells UPFA MPs
By Janaka Alahapperuma
Pix by: Sudath Silva President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed the newly elected parliamentarians from the ruling party UPFA at the Presidential Secretariat on 18th April and said that in the future journey of the motherland pledged by the ‘Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma- A Brighter Future’ their only aim should be the development of the country. He further stated “Sri Lankan people did their duty by the country now the time has come for them to repay that duty by the people”. President Rajapaksa made these comments at the special workshop which was held at the Presidential... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

President Rajapaksa declares open a new building at ITN
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open a new building and A.P. Samarakoon Studio at Independent Television Network (ITN) at Wickramasinghepure, Battaramulla on 19th April. ITN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and the President visited the premises to mark the occasion. His visit is significant because this is the first time a head of the state visited ITN since it was established. Secretary to the Ministry of Media Mr. W. B. Ganegala, ITN Chairman Mr. Anura Siriwardena, former ITN News Director Sudarman Radaliyagoda and Mr. J. R. P. Sooriyapperuma were also present at the occasion. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/10)

Paba-Chanchala is a global phenomenon
Ajit Randeniya
One of the oddities observed during the lead up the presidential election, as well as the general election, was the appearance on the opposition platform of Upeksha Swarnamali, a young teledrama actress, a.k.a Paba and Chanchala; she is a young damsel who seems to have become a legend in her own bath time in Sri Lanka, thanks to the role of Paba she played in an ITN run teledrama series.  Paba was hard to miss, not only because she happened to be the only ‘artist’ on Fonseka’s side, and then on the UNP side. Now, she is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

Who Should be The PM? What a lovely Debate?
Prof. Hudson McLean
Thank you Lankaweb for giving the opportunity to create a Forum and Dialogue, to so many to express their opinion. The civilized way the contributors are behaving, in "Leave a Reply" at the bottom of the article, with a touch of humour, is excellent. Now that the selection of PM is almost done, with the question marks on a string of Vice Presidents still awaiting a final accord, I would suggest that we turn our attention to a critical endemic, "A Cancer beneath the Skin", which has been spreading in Sri Lanka for Donkey's Years. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

PTSD Sri Lankan Experience
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Just as the body goes into shock after a physical trauma, so does the human psyche go into shock after the impact of a major loss. -Anne Grant PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a cluster of psychological Symptoms that can follow a psychologically distressing event. The typical symptoms of PTSD occur after recognizable stress or traumatic event that involved intense fear and horror. PTSD denotes an intense prolonged and sometimes delayed reaction to an extremely stressful event.  The Columbia University Encyclopedia describes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a mental disorder that follows an occurrence of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

Article titled ‘Archaeology sparks new conflict between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese’ by Jeremy Page, published on April 6, 2010
Mahinda Gunasekera Tambrook Drive Agincourt, OntarioCanada M1W 3L9
Editor in Chief Times Online London, UK  Dear Editor, Article titled ‘Archaeology sparks new conflict between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese’ by Jeremy Page, published on April 6, 2010  I came across the article written by Jeremy Page, your South Asia Correspondent,  published in your edition of April 6, 2010, and write to clarify some of the issues mischievously raised by him with the apparent intent of creating bitterness and controversies between the Sinhalese and Tamil inhabitants of Sri Lanka on the subject of archaeology.  The Sinhalese who have lived throughout... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

Cartoon: “UN Screwed”
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

රට ඉදිරියට මෙහෙය වන සෙන්පතිවරු
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
වර්ෂ 1970 දීද මෙරට තුල මෙවැනිම වූ තත්වයක් උදාව පැවතින. 2/3 ක පාර්ලිමේන්තු බලයක් සහිත්ව ප්‍රතාපවත් නායකත්වයකින් යුතුව රජයක් බිහිවිණ. එම රජයේ ලාබාලම මන්ත්‍රීවරයා වූ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හරියටම අවුරුදු 40කට පසුව එවැනිම වූ රජයක් නැවත පිහිටුවාගෙන තිබේ. එදා එම රජය ආරම්භයේ පටන්ම ඒ රජය තුල සිටි ප්‍රතිගාමී ප්‍රබලයින් එම රජය අගාධය කරා මෙහෙයවූවේ ඉතා සියුම්ව යා උපක්‍රමශීලීවය. බටහිර ප්‍රතිගාමී පිල්ලි රට පුරාමද, මෙරට සියලූම දේශපාලන පක්ෂ පුරාමද ඉතා සංවිධානාත්මකව ජීවත්වේ. එදා එම රජයට විශාල බලයක් වූ වාමාංශික බලමුලු සුන්නද් දූවිලි කර දැමීමට ප්‍රතමව ආරම්භ කර සම සමාජ පක්ෂය කඩා දමා නව සම සමාජයක් බිහිකරවන ලදී.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—22-WEST COAST TRIP: FROM HEARST CASTLE TO REDWOOD FORESTS
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
Our Yosemite escapades and Eastern Sierra-foothill exploits constituted the tail end of our 22-day second trip that began on 30 July 1983. This travelogue focuses on our camping adventures and explorations on the West Coast from San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Corvallis, Ore., during the two weeks before entering Yosemite on 12 Aug. On Day 1 (Saturday, 30 July), my wife Yoke-Sim and I, together with our 3-year-old son Junius, drove from Fullerton to San Simeon, a distance of 277 miles (445 km) heading northwest, to spend the night at San Simeon State... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/10)

Psychological Reflections of Vincent Van Gogh’s Art
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
I know for sure that I have an instinct for colour, and that it will come to me more and more, that painting is in the very marrow of my bones." - Vincent Van Gogh Vincent William van Gough a famous Dutch artist whose work often associated with Post-Impressionism and later transformed in to Expressionism. Vincent Van Gogh, was one of the most important predecessors of modern painting. He was an outstanding mostly self taught artist who used color for its “symbolic and expressive values” rather than to reproduce light and literal surroundings. Vincent van... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/10)

Ban ki Moon – A puppet ?
Ben Silva 
There is ample evidence that neo colonial countries invaded Iraq, under the false pretext of WMD, when it is suspected by many, including Alan Greenspan (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2461214.ece) , that the invasion was to get control of Iraqi oil assets. The coalition forces bombed Iraq with massive fire power to ‘awe’ the Iraqis and produced orphans and disabled persons with a death toll over one million civilians. The violence has not stopped, but as reported in the media, killing of innocent civilians is taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan on a regular basis (“Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq”)... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/10)

‘Third Harvest’ Press Release
Third Anniversary of Yathra Sinhala Newspaper & Book launching by Chandrarathna Bandara
 Yathra – Sinhala newspaper based on Canada (www.yathranews.com) Len Dora Pipunu Premaya – Collection of short stories, 2nd edition Undercurrents – English translation of ‘Len Dora Pipunu Premaya’ Keta Kirilli – Collection of poems Author: Chandrarathna Bandara (www.chandrarathnabamdara.com) Publisher: Godage Publications Venue: Mumbai Banquet Hall, Toronto, April 24 The Third Harvest – Sri Lankan cultural event to commemorate the three years of successful publication of ‘Yathra’ Sinhala newspaper originated from Canada and also three books launching by a reputed Sri Lankan writer Chandrarathna Bandara – will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/10)

Prabakaran's mother's name was on ‘Warning Circular' list
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: The immigration authorities at the Chennai airport were surprised to see Parvathi, mother of slain LTTE leader Prabakaran, when she landed from Malaysia with a valid medical visa at the airport here on Friday night. The reason: her name was on the ‘Warning Circular' list of the Union government. Whenever a person's name finds a place in the list, the visa issuing authorities must obtain the approval of, or consult, officials of the Home Ministry before issuing him or her a visa. Though Ms. Parvathi's name was on the list, she got a medical visa.... -Full Story- (The Hindu - 17/04/10)

The Tamil boat mystery
By Jane Armstrong and Colin Freeze
The Canadian navy plane circled above the mysterious cargo ship, a rusted, 100-metre-long vessel steaming at a steady 10 knots per hour toward Vancouver Island. Below, dozens of Tamil passengers who had been at sea for weeks changed into their best clothes and poured onto the upper deck. One of them, a 39-year-old man who goes by the fictitious name of Selva, squinted skyward and, he now recalls, thought, “I've been saved.” The tumultuous, confusing ordeal that followed left him thinking otherwise. Like his fellow 75 former passengers, he was detained in a British... -Full Story- (theglobeandmail.com - 17/04/10)

Prabhakaran's mother arrives in Chennai, immediately deported to Malaysia
Press Trust Of India
Slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's ailing mother, Vallipuram Parvati, who arrived in Chennai on Friday from Malaysia was deported immediately as the Central government did not give permission for her stay in India, police said. Parvati, who was to be admitted to a hospital in Chennai for treatment, arrived from Kuala Lumpur but policemen did not permit her to leave the aircraft, officials said. Elaborate security arrangements were made and suburban police commissioner, Jangid, was present to oversee matters as there was a crowd of over 150 persons at the airport, including Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 17/04/10)

Wilting tulips in Kyrgyztan; another problem for the empire
Ajit Randeniya
While the Sri Lankans were defying US pressure, propaganda and other conspiracies to elect a new independent, non-aligned, national government on 8 April, the US empire received another blow with the violent throw out of a corrupt US puppet government in the central Asian country of Kyrgyztan.  Kyrgyztan was an important early success of the early 20th century US neocon project aimed at implementing ‘regime change’, using billions of dollars of US tax payer money, in countries that are strategically important to achieving their global aims, but were being ruled by independent minded, non-compliant leaders.  Things were... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

Who Should be the PM?
Prof. Hudson McLean
Many cooks are trying to boil the pot to appoint the PM in the newest Sri Lankan political firmament. Actually, it is the President Mahinda Rajapaksa who will decide on this appointment.  The PM is not elected. He is appointed.  It is usually a faithful, loyal, trusted Party member, not necessarily the man with the highest number of votes at the Parliamentary Elections. What many readers of Lankaweb as well as foreign "advisers" have not grasped, is the fact, that they are trying teach His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa to "suck eggs". Not just trying to suggest, ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

Boris Pasternak -the Man who saw the other side of the Bolshevik Revolution
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it. Boris Pasternak The Nobel Prize-winning Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak became world famous for his controversial novel Doctor Zhivago which underscores the plight of the Russian upper middle class during the Bolshevik Revolution. Pasternak was a great composer of images. His grand novel is full of humanism and Pasternak presents the character formation in a poetic vision. He saw the gigantic social changes of 1917 in a human kaleidoscope.     Although the novel was written... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

Patriotism has won again!
By Hasaka Ratnamalala
Finally the Election is over. Peoples’ verdict is similar to the presidential election. Results are being evaluated in different angles based on the political view of the individual; but there is a truth hidden in it. Whether you like it or not once again patriotism has won the day. If it is so, now is the time to deliver what has promised. Otherwise today winners would be losers of tomorrow.  It doesn’t mean opposition politicians are immune from this verdict. They also have to bow the verdict of the people; if not forces of nature will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

Wise King Solomon’s judgement to split the baby, and the Tamil peoples’ patriotism- if they have any.
By Charles S.Perera
The Tamils in Australia have announced  a weekend referendum  in support of the Vaddukodai Resolution  which is for a separate Eelam State in Sri Lanka.   Do these Tamils hold an allegiance to the land in which they were born  ?  Certainly not if they have, they will make the end of terrorism to help  Sri Lanka, and their Tamil compatriots who suffered for nearly thirty years under  ruthless terrorism.  The cause that led to that suffering of the Tamils living in Sri Lanka was the idiosyncrasy of a mad man a terrorist to separate a part... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

තිසරණී ගුණසේකර මෙනෙවියගේ කිඹුල් කඳුලු
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම
ද අයිලන්ඩ් හා ඩේලි මිරර් පත්තර වල පලනොවන ලියුම් තිසරණී දැන් යවන්නේ "හිමාල් සවුත් ඒසියන්" නම් වෙබ් අඩවිය කටය. ඊයේ පෙරේදා දවසක "හිමාල්" ට ලියූ ලිපියක ඇය ලංකාවේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට, උතුරේ දෙමල ජනයාට, 17 වෙනි සංශොධනයට හා පලාත් සභා වලට රාජපක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් විය හැකි හානි ගැන මහත් වික්‍ෂොපයෙන් කඳුළු සැලුවේය. මේ තිසරණීට ලංකාව ගැන ඇති වයිරය-ක්‍රොධය ඇගේ ඕනෑම ලියුමක් කියවන ව්ට ඇගේ වචන වලින් නලිය නලියා එලියට පනී. ඇගේ නම දකින විට මට මතක් වන්නේ කෝට්ටේ මා දැන සිටි පාන් බේකරියක් අයිතිව සිටි අයෙක් ආනන්ද තිස්ස ද අල්විස් මහතාට දුන් චන්දය ගැන පසුව ව්ක්‍ෂොප වුන ආකාරය ය. ද... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

Most doctors are unsuitable to the profession in Sri Lanka
Chinthana Helagama, England.
Medical service, Education and Transport should be non profit based services in a country. Profiteering in all services brought about by the Western governance concept is truly inhuman and inferior. Heladiva (SL) as a country which has given   priority to humanity is exceptionally noble in the world. Although, we too were caught up in the Western degradation; the noble Hela concept is not fully disappeared.  To write about doctors cropped up due to the very sad loss of my brother in law’s life by money grabbing parasites masquerading as doctors and who will continue their barbaric... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/10)

A Reply to Mr Robert Blake, US Secretary for Asia
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University
Mr Robert Blake has stated that Sri Lanka should now concentrate on a political solution for the minority Tamils. He urges power sharing with the Tamils whom he says were suppressed. If at all they have been suppressed it was by the LTTE who held them in bondage. They have now been liberated from that bondage by no other than President Rajapaksa. The simple answer to the likes of Robert Blake, has been already voiced by Minister Dulles Alahapperuma- that the international community need not interfere with our domestic affairs. Once President... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

War Trauma Experienced by the Sri Lankan Combatants
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
Death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it Erich Mariya Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front In the Sri Lankan conflict, the impact of war and extreme stress on civilian population has been highlighted over the years. However, war traumas experienced by the combatants were not adequately shown. Over the past few decades, some extreme reports had dehumanized the images of the combatants and publicized combatants as perpetrators of violence. But a very few realize that the war trauma affected the soldiers in tremendous proportions. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

Mahinda Chintanaya and Downsizing of the Cabinet!
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya Melbourne, Australia
  This is a much talked topic that, the cabinet of that last Government as superfluous! Even here in Melbourne, some who talk on community radio networks and coin the proud title "Journalists" too condemn the last Cabinet! They honestly regret the inability for a “Talented” leader like Ranil Wickramasinghe being unable to contribute further for the development and the progress of the country. My foot! Probably for that to happen, I am now referring to the main topic, there would have been justifiable reasons, but now it’s use by day may have been exhausted.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

Statement on Sri Lankan Election April 13,2010
Ira de Silva Ontario, Canada
Mr. Robert O. Blake Assistant Secretary for South & Central Asia State Department Washington D.C., U.S.A.    Dear Sir:   Reference your opinions on the just concluded parliamentary election in Sri Lanka I am sure that President Rajapakse must be heartened at your pronouncement that his party will probably get a two-third majority. However, based on your track record of support to the LTTE terrorists, your opposition to his government and efforts at regime change with the remnants of the LTTE, I feel sure that President Rajapakse will temper his happiness and the importance of your views knowing... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

Dawn of a New Era - No Blackmail from EU & USA
Prof. Hudson McLean
The Country has spoken! Not Once but Twice! Loud & Clear. A clear mandate is given to the incumbent President, H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa to lead the country which HE salvaged from the thirty year old terrorist war. With Peace returning to Sri Lanka, new ground is being created for inward investment, tourism and redevelopment. The EU should reconsider its stance on GSP for Sri Lankan products.  With already a close association with the Chinese, Iran, and other countries looking seriously at the strategic environment of the Island, do EU & USA still wish to push Sri... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

BLAKE OH! BLAKE WHY DONT YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?
  RANJIT WICKREMERATNE 
Mr.Blake why do you want to visit my country when we are about to start our long journey with our President to take our beloved country to the 21st century. When our citizens enjoy our freedom and peace in the country dont come and spoil it Mr.Blake for God sake. You are not welcome here beacuse you are one of the Tamil Tiger sympathizers and we dont want to listen to your repeated tapes. Dont think that my homeland is Kyrgyztan or Pakistan but a free and sovereign nation after we eliminate your terrorists friends from our soil. You... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/10)

Robert O Blake wanting to guide the Sri Lankans destiny
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent ., Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
13 April 2010 Ambassador Robert O Blake Assistant State Secretary of State,  South and Central  Asia US State Department , Washington DC, US      Dear Bob: I have just read the Colombopage news item which says “Sri Lanka election results open way for President to unify the country, U.S. official says”.  The U.S. official happens to be you as the former Ambassador to Colombo who happened to say that “Sri Lankan Government now has an important opportunity to make progress on the issues of reconciliation, power sharing,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/10)

Freddie Mercury – The Dostoyevsky of Rock Music
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.  Freddie Mercury  Freddie Mercury emerged as a popular singer when Elvis, Mick Jagger, Ian Gillan, John Lennon, Barry Gibb, Mike Love etc dominated the music world. When he entered the Rock Music Industry, it was not multicultural and the Anglo American media giants predominantly controlled it.  During that era,   a non-WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants)   had no chance to become a rock star.  Although prolonged and laborious work of black American musicians like Chuck Barry, Little Richards, Ray Charles, and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/10)

It is time for Ranil to step down
By Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha Reffai Dehiwela.
It is amazing how Ranil keeps on going from failure to failure and still keeps on holding on to the opposition leadership, probably hoping for a place in Guinness book for the highest number of failures. The commonest excuses blurted out by Ranil and his die hard supporters are 1. What is the alternative? That there are no other possible leaders. That is not for him/ them to decide. If he is a true leader, Ranil should step down from the leadership but be there to guide the new leader – one... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/10)

President Rajapaksa and his family celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year at Carlton House
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil New year rituals at Carlton Residence in Tangalle, Hambantota. First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa conducted all rituals at the auspicious time with the President Rajapaksa. President Rajapaksa's elder son Namal Rajapaksa, newly elected MP for Hambantota district and the Defence secretary and his brother Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa also participated the celebrations.  They all are seen here in the pictures with locals and President’s close supporters enjoying Sinhala Avurudu traditional foods at Carlton House. Meanwhile in his message for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year issued by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/10)

Life before and after April 8
H. L. D. Mahindapala
The results of April 8 parliamentary election is a defining moment that clears and settles most of the controversies, doubts and speculation that clouded the pre-poll political landscape. Even though the final count of the April 8 parliamentary elections is yet to be completed the known results are sufficient to give the broad outline of the shape of things to come. It defines very clearly the power relations between the political forces competing for dominance. It reveals unambiguously who’s in and who’s out. Above all it has blown to bits the myths propagandized by national... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Only a Popularly Elected person should be appointed as the Prime Minister. A Point of view.
Dr Sudath Gunasekara President Senior Citizens Movement Mahanuwara
14. 4. 2010 Now the elections are over the appointment of the Prime Minister appears to have come to the forefront of the political stage. The President by now might have already made his choice. In that case this note will be utterly irrelevant. Nevertheless assuming that it has not been finalized as yet the following ideas may provide some food for thought. Although the post of the Prime Minister is only a glass bead under the present constitution still it seems to be an ornament on the head of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Robert Blake Has Crapped All Over the US Human Rights Report to Render it Useless
Dilrook Kannangara
Recently the UN revised it’s assessment of human rights in Sri Lanka. Following on from this revised assessment, Australia stopped entertaining people smugglers who smuggle paid potential immigrants from Sri Lanka and elsewhere to Australia. However, the US human rights report doesn’t take into account this new assessment. As long as Robert Blake – a hated individual in Sri Lanka – heads the South Asian division of the State Department, Sri Lanka cannot expect anything positive from him and from the entirety he unfortunately has control of or influence over. In this context his request to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

HOLY PEDOPHILES OR THE PEDIGREE OF Fr. S.J.Emmanuel!!!
Mahinda Weerasinghe Author of ‘Mission to Oslo’ & ‘The Origin of Species According To the Buddha’.
There is something balmy with 'the elite' inhabitants of ‘Helle Diva’ (Lanka). It is as if they were living on a planet of it’s on. Crucial treatises appearing in the web, written by hawk-eyed and worldly Sri Lankan analysts are hardly exposed in the Lankan news media. What is the reason for this strange conduct? Is there a concerted effort to expunge vital and crucial information from reaching the native’s attention, thus holding them uninformed and dim-witted? Catholic Church is currently imploding. Cover... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

අලුත් අවුරුද්දට අලුත් විදියකට සිතන සමාජයක් කරා................!
චන්‍ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
අප සිතන විදිය හා පතන විදිය, බලපාන්නේ අපට පමණක්ම නොවේ. අප මිනිස් සමාජයේ ඒකකයක් බැවින් එය පොදුවේ සමස්ත සමාජයටම විශාල බලපෑමක් සිදු කරන කරුණක් බවට පත්වෙනවා. මේ වනවිට මේ රට, ඉන්දියන් සාගර කලාපය තුල නවතම ආකාරයේ ගමනකට සූදානම් වෙමින් සිටින බැවින්, මේ විෂය සම්බන්ධව පුලුල්ව කථා කරන්න අප සැමට සිදුව තිබෙනවා. මෙම සමාජයේ, අපේ ජීවිත පවත්වා ගෙන යාමේදී විවිධ පලපෑම් වලට යටත්ව කටයුතු කිරීමට සිදුවන අවස්ථා ගනනාවක් ඇත. එම බලපෑම් විටෙක සංස්කෘතික වශයෙනුත්, තවත් විටෙක නීතිමය වශයෙනුත් තවත් විටෙක සදාචාරය වශයෙනුත් අප ඉදිරියේ පෙල ගැහෙනවා. මේ කිසිදු එකද බාධකයක්වත් නැතිව ජීවත් විය හැකි සමාජයක්ද අපට උරුමව... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

May The Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Insight By Sunil Kumar April 12th 2010
This Year interestingly the  Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festivities have coincided with the political victories of the People's Party  of President Mahinda Rajapaksha, victories which have also paved the way for the Nation of Sri lanka to celebrate the more significant victory over terrorism as all peace loving Sri Lankans rejoice over the calm, tranquility and peace which has pervaded the land where her terrorist enemies have been  significantly vanquished  and it is a time for all Lankans to put away their differences and unite to consolidate the victories won never forgetting the price paid by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Children Affected by the Eelam War
Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.   
The mental health of children is severely compromised by war and consequent displacement. Nations have a duty under various UN agreements to alleviate the effects of war on children’s mental health. Professor William Yule UNICEF recently estimated that over 80% of the victims of today’s Warfare is women and children. Children who are a vulnerable group have suffered severe traumatic events during the Eelam War. Children of the North as well as of the South have experienced many anxiety related conditions as a result of the 25 year armed conflict in Sr Lanka.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Golden Key Card
orpheus perera
Dear Editor, The “Golden” Key Card With reference to the collapse of Golden Key card of Seylan bank, I just read an article in  the Sunday Times , 4th of January 2009 edition, written by Natasha Gunarathne. “Some economists feel the situation at Seylan Bank, precipitated by the unfolding drama with the Golden Key Credit Card Company, has nothing to do with the global financial crisis. Instead, it is about the mismanagement of the financial market in Sri Lanka in which the Central Bank (CB) should take responsibility for, according to senior lecturer and head of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Time to challenge Mahinda
Sunil Vijayapala, Oxley, Australia
Mahinda had a good run especially this year and now its time he comes out clean as people have reasonable doubts of his administration although his party was given a clear mandate by the people of Sri Lanka.  With absolute power comes absolute responsibility and its time we challenge him on the following; To dare him to eliminate poverty in Sri Lanka before the end of his term and to once and for all put an end to exploitation of the peasants and the poor by the rich in agrarian, industrial and fisheries sectors.  To... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

Sri Lanka: What right does U.S. media have to pass judgment on Sri Lanka?
By:Rosie Stembo
A misguided attack by the American forces on a mistaken target. Another apology by an American commander for the misdeed; the buck stops passing at this point except of a promise of an inquiry and a report that never corrects the error. It is habitual and is often not revealed for convenience. It is only when the media reaches the story the apology is tendered. The Americans have a reputation of striking wrong targets notwithstanding the sophisticated equipment at their disposal. The NATO forces during the Serbian war hit a passing train with passengers on it and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/10)

BONNIE AND CLIDE OF UN
Mahinda Weerasinghe Author of: Mission to Oslo
On August 20th 2009, Mona Juul, The Norway’s deputy ambassador to UN, fired the first salvo to dismantle Ban Ki-moon’s reputation.  Juul described Ban — the South Korean foreign minister elected secretary-general in 2007 – as a “spineless,” “charmless,” and helplessly, “incapable” of setting an agenda.’ Going by Mona’s diatribe, one is bound to assume that, she owns all such leadership attributes, which Ban evidently lacked. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/21/the_mona_juul_memo We were oriented of such handicaps, through a ‘supposedly’ leak of a confidential memo, Juul has ‘authored’ to her bosses in the foreign office. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/10)

VICTORY FOR OUR NATION TIME FOR ENEMIES TO SHUT UP!
RANJIT WICKREMERATNE
Young and old the citizens of Motherlanka overwhelmingly approved the President's vision for the country.so now keep aside all the differences and join hands with the President to move forward and to build our homeland to all of us to live happily and peacefully with our children. No more violence at any sort and those who incite violence how much powerful they maybe or close to the bigwigs in the Government should be severly dealt with an iron fist. Our beloved country suffered so long with violence and now is the time to put a full stop. Unneccessary protests... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/10)

The Stolen Generation: Most blemished chapter in Australian history
Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge
My dad taught me from my youngest childhood memories through these connections with Aboriginal and tribal people that you must always protect people's sacred status, regardless of the pest. Steve Irwin The Stolen Generation is a term used to describe those children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian government under Parliamentary Act in 1869. The forcible removals occurred from 1869 to 1970 that given the catastrophic population decline of Aboriginal people and disintegration of their cultural roots leading to numerous psycho-social problems. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/10)

SINHALA AVURUDDHA CELEBRATIONS IN MALAYSIA
Premaseri
23rd March 2010 Grand Puja Assembly of Filial Piety for Transference of Merit to 7.30pm the Departed Loved OVenue Venue: Buddhist Maha Vihara Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur Buddhist Maha Vihara Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur  4th April 2010 Maha Sanghika Dana in memory of Departed Loved Ones 12 noon Venue: Buddhist Maha Vihara Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple Sentul, Kuala Lumpur  4th April 2010 Annual Merit Offering Ceremony for Departed Loved Ones 5.00pm Venue: Sinhala Buddhist Cemetery, Loke Yew Road, Kuala Lumpur  14th April 2010 Sinhala Avuruddha Buddha Puja 7.30am Avuruddha Hil Dana Paying Homage to the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/10)

Election victory marks a fresh beginning for Sri Lanka
Ajit Randeniya
As almost every political commentator that matters has noted, the final result of the 2010 general election did not contain many surprises. An observer without much familiarity with the majority of the personalities who contested, this writer was awaiting the results to witness further proof of the totally unshakable faith the Sri Lankan people have placed on President Mahinda Rajapakse as their leader, and their faith on his economic and foreign policies.  President Rajapaksa’s pledge to use the historically important ‘judgement’ of the people to usher in economic prosperity showed his own deep, reciprocal commitment to their... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/10)

Onward March towards a Prosperous Sri Lanka
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne, Australia
The President dissolved the last government democratically at the end of it’s full term. Thus he presented to the people of the country the opportunity to use their franchise wisely to select a suitable team to govern the country. There had been numerous allegations levelled against the administration of the day, so the people had an excellent opportunity to discard the undesirables and bring in a trustworthy decent team. As the saying goes “You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink”.  However their choice has been limited to those who... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/10)

ASEAN insists on free election in Burma
Nava Thakuria
The influential leaders of Southeast Asian nations had finally asked its member country Burma to ensure a free and inclusive poll, as it proposes for a general election in the country some time later this year. The government heads under the banner of Association of South East Asian Nations, for the first time, went ahead with this kind of call to one of its member. Attending the 16th ASEAN summit in Hanoi of Vietnam on the second week of April, the leaders expressed their desire to witness a free and fair election with the participation of all... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/10)

Sri Lanka’s General Election & its aftermath
Shenali Waduge
General elections held throughout the island for the first time devoid of LTTE presence has concluded. With 20 of the 22 district results out, the ruling UPFA has bagged 19 districts with clear margins & 60% (over 47 lakhs) of voter confidence. The main opposition for the first time securing less than 30% (21 lakhs) of the vote.  From the 20 districts the UPFA has so far secured 117 seats while the UNP has merely won 46 seats. The remaining two district results will be announced once re-election is held in several polling centers. Kandy district will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

Post Election Reflections And Some Important Realities!
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial April 10th 2010
Yes its happening again!! The Mahinda Rajapaksha led UPFA are winning the General Election resoundingly and mowing down all opposition and easily confirming that the UPFA with its leadership is indeed regarded by a majority of voters as the one they see fit to guide the Nation towards all the aspirations and hopes they have previously pinned on him and his team and this time around perhaps with a more powerful mandate! Once more as is the tradition in this Resplendent Isle of ours the firecrackers are exploding, the temple bells are pealing as though in joyful jubilation and the cries... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

ALUTH AVURUDDA ARRIVES IN SRI LANKA A DAY AFTER IT DOES IN U.S.
By Shelton Gunaratne © 2010
  In Sri Lanka, the Aluth Avurudda arrives Wednesday (14 April) exactly at 6.58 a.m., according to astrologers.  Sri Lanka is in the same time zone as India, where different ethnic groups are already celebrating the same New Year under different names. Converting to Central Daylight Time, the Aluth Avurudda in the Midwest arrives Tuesday (13 April) at 8.28 p.m.  Going eastwards, the New Year would arrive later depending on the longitudinal position of a country: at 7.58 a.m. in Myanmar, at 8.28 a.m. in Thailand, western Indonesia, and Vietnam; 9.28 a.m. in Malaysia and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

MINNESOTA BUDDHIST VIHARA- ORGANIZES NEW YEAR FEST FOR SIXTH SUCESSIVE YEAR
The Minnesota Buddhist Vihara
For the sixth successive year, the Minnesota Buddhist Vihara in Minneapolis has organized a post New Year celebration (Bak Maha Ulela) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 17.  The event will take place at the City View School Auditorium, across the Buddhist Vihara (3350, N. Fourth St., Minneapolis). Activities include observing traditional New Year customs, taking part in traditional games and activities, and participating in a potluck New Year meal. A special feature of the celebrations is the children’s singing and dancing program scheduled at 1.45 p.m. Witiyala Seewalie Thera, the abbot of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—21-CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES: WILD WEST BEYOND GREAT DIVIDE
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
 We—Yoke-Sim, Junius and I—enjoyed the night of camping at Lake Lundy in the idyllic foothills of the Great Divide that we decided to hang around the vicinity of the lake area for the next couple of days. Having a campfire chat while drinking hot tea with a father-and-son team of campers, whom we had never met, with the noise of the roaring creek and the sound of raindrops literally falling on our heads creating a sort of eerie lull within us, gave us spontaneous joy. We were camping directly east of Tioga Pass... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

Cannabis addiction: A Colossal Mental Health Problem in the Community
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
"I will not be a slave of any appetite."   Lord Byron  Cannabis is an illicit and also a dangerous drug.  According to Police reports cannabis usage in Sri Lanka is increasing. A large number of people use cannabis day today basis in rural and urban areas. Many consider cannabis is a harmless also an Aurvedic preparation which cause no harm to the human body. This is totally a misconception. The empirical findings indicate that cannabis abuse can cause severe psychological as well as sociological ill effects despite this misconception. Drug awareness as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

President Rajapaksa inspects the proposed International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa along with his elder son and the Chairman of the Tharunyata Hetak movement Mr Namal Rajapaksa inspected the construction of the proposed International Cricket Stadium in Sooriyawewa at Hambantota district in the early hours of 09th  April.   The President is back on duty the day after the General Election and was seen talking to people in Hambantota yesterday. After casting his vote at the D.A. Rajapaksa Maha Vidyalaya in Medamulana, Weeraketiya, Hambantota, the President requested voters to give him a clear mandate and a solid majority in parliament, which is absolutely crucial for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

“Have you voted for my party?” President Rajapaksa asks his countrymen
By Janaka Alahapperuma
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is seen here having casual chats at many informal stops in towns of Kirama, Katuwana, Walasmulla, Modarawana, Beliatte, Galagama and Ranna in the Hambantota district Southern Province of Sri Lanka. He visited those towns, some are still rural villages after casting his vote at D.A.Rajapaksa Maha Vidyalaya poling station in Medamulana, his home town yesterday afternoon on 8th April 2010. President Rajapaksa talked to his countrymen, most of them are his party supporters and requested that they cast their vote to give him a clear mandate and a solid majority in parliament... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/10)

Robert O’Blake - bereft of intelligent thinking, and the Western Media in an all out effort to cause a fear psychosis against a Rajapakse Dynasty, just to please their friends, the pro-terrorist Tamil Diaspora.
By Charles S.Perera
Jeremy Page for the Times on Line, Charles Haviland for the BBC, Bryson Hull for the Reuters, Lydia Polgreen for the New York Times, among other “ enlightened” anti Sri Lanka foreign media stalwarts have come out in force to raise a fear psychosis around the creation of a Rajapakse family dynasty. The Rajapakses for them are a greater menace to Sri Lankan Democracy than the late Prabhakaran the hero they “worshipped” , for some unknown reason.  The ordinary Sri Lankans who matter, other than those who have been brain washed by the political enemies of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/10)

ජයග්‍රහණය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මේ රට කාලාන්තරයක් මුලුල්ලේ මේ රටට සැබෑ ලෙස ආදරය කරන නායකත්වයක් ඉල්ලා සිටියාය. ඒ පරංගීන් මේ රටට සැපත් වූ වකවානුවේ සිටය. විවිධ වකවානුවලදී මේ රටට සැබෑ ලෙසම ආදරය කරන නායකයින් මේ භූමිය තුල පහල වූවාය. නමුත් ඒ දිනවලදී මේ රට ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මේ රටට ආදරය කරන මිනිස්  පරපුරක අවශ්‍යතාවයයි. අවුරුදු හය සියයකට ආසන්න කාලයක් මුලුල්ලේ මේ දෙකම එකට සම්පාත වූ යුගයක් අප ඉතිහාසය තුල හමු නොවීය. 1977 ජූලි මස සිට 2005 නොවැම්බර් 18 වෙනිදා දක්වා වූ කාලය තුල වූ අධිරාජ්‍ය ගැති පාලනයන්ගෙන් හෙම්බත්ව සිටි මෙරට ජනතාව, කාලාන්තර‍යක් මුලුල්ලේ විවිධ අත්හදා බලමින් දේශපාලන තලයේ ගෙනගිය අරගලයේ අවසාන... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/10)

Ban ki-Moon: What about the video on the Iraqi killings by the US?
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1. Canada
9 April 2010 Mr. Ban ki Moon Secretary-General of the United Nations New York, US cc. Ms. Navi  Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights  Geneva, Switzerland Dear Ban ki-Moon Four days have gone by since the revelation of the shocking video showing US aircraft firing indiscriminately at civilians in Iraq, killing at least 25 of them, and I have been waiting for a reaction of anger from you and chest-thumping agonizing cries of  “I will get you American bastards”  from your side-kick Navi Pillay from Geneva. I have... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/10)

$ 30,000 and Two Sheep: The Offering for a War Crime
by Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara
The following news item from The Times On Line tells of one atrocity done by the US Forces in Afghanistan.It is representative of the atrocities that are happening everyday in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Very few of these instances come to light and this is one of them. From The Times April 9, 2010 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7092604.ece US army chief begs Afghans to forgive
Vice-Admiral William McRaven and Afghan officers with Haji Sharabuddin Jerome Starkey, Khataba, Gardez 47 COMMENTS RECOMMEND? (41) A top US special forces commander visited a family in rural... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/10)

Government seems to be achieving the impossible target of two thirds majority. Parliamentary General Election – 2010
The United Peoples' Freedom Alliance created history by winning a huge majority close to almost two-thirds in the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka at the General election held Thursday. Under the proportional representation system combined with preferential voting and a system of bonus seats for the winner at district level the two-thirds barrier was conceived to be insurmountable by its crafty architect former President J R Jayewardene. In planting their imprint on the political map of Sri Lanka the people have in the process also relegated the Grand Old Party into oblivion and administered a death blow on the JVP... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/10)

Posttraumatic Reactions Following Tsunami Disaster in Sri Lanka
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
The massive earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia on December 26, 2004, registered a magnitude of nine on the Richter scale. The effect of this earthquake made massive tidal waves that destroyed the costal belt of the northern and southern Sri Lanka. Perhaps this must have been the most catastrophic natural disaster ever experienced by Sri Lankans in their recent history.  The damage was colossal. Tsunami had killed over 50000 people in Sri Lanka.  A number of villages have been wiped off and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed.  The tsunami had damaged... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/10)

ජනාධිපතිවරයකු හා සිය කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය මහා මුහුදේ ගිල්ලවූ ගෝලීය උෂ්ණත්ව මිත්‍යාව
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ත්‍රස්තවාදය යන වචනය තුල ගැබ්ව ඇති සැබෑ අරුත, බියගැන්වීම, බියවැද්දීම හරහා සිදු කරගෙන යනු ලබන කාර්ය භාරය යන්නයි. තම අභිමතාර්තයන් මුදුන් පත් කර ගැනීම සදහා ජන සමාජය බිය ගැන්නීමේදී විවිධ ක්‍රම වේදයන් යෙදීමට මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමයට බද්ධ වූවන්ට සිදුවේ.කරුණාවෙන් ආරම්භ කර, තර්ජනය, පහරදීම වැනි ක්‍රියාවන්ගෙන් පසුව ඝාතනයන් සිදු කිරීම දක්වා වූ මහා කාර්යය භාරයක් මෙම යාන්ත්‍රණය තුල අනුගතව ඇත. අප දැනුවත්ව හා නොදැනුවත්ව දිනපතාම ත්‍රස්තවාදය අපව පෙලන අතර, බොහෝමයක් දෙනා මෙය ත්‍රස්තවාදයදැයි නොහදුනන තරමටම මෙය සමාජය තුල එදිනෙදා කටයුතු හා බද්ධව පවතී. මෙම ත්‍රස්තවාදය වෙළද සමාගම්, බහුල වශයෙන් තම භාණඩ අලෙවි කර ගැනීම සදහා යොදවන උපක්‍රමයක් බවට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/10)

Predicting Sri Lanka general election outcome
Shenali Waduge
While the winner of Sri Lanka’s General Election is a foregone conclusion, the task at hand is to predict the number of seats the ruling UPFA Government is likely to achieve. The objective is clearly to win an outright clear majority to enable & facilitate decision making & as promised to reduce ministerial portfolios to a bear minimum.  Ironically, the man chosen & believed to be “the” person to challenge Mahinda Rajapakse in January’s Presidential Election as the “Common Candidate” three months later has only the JVP to support him. Everyone seems to have deserted him except... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

LETS BUILD OUR HOMELAND TOGETHER FOR ALL COMMUNITIES TO LIVE IN PEACE
ranjit wickremeratne
How much we suffered mentally for the past thirty years due to terrorism? How much valuable lives were lost during that bloody period? How much money we lost and how many of our citizens left our country? So now what we need is to come together as one family and to build our beloved nation. Why we want to get divided into parties and colors why not follow the man who liberated our soil from terrorist monsters of L.T.T.E.  War is over,Prabakaran is dead and gone, L.T.T.E. eliminated,Traitors were put behind bars for treason, whole country enjoy... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

Fifty reasons why RanilW led UNP would be trounced at this election.
Herold Leelawardena
1)     RanilW does not value that over seventy percent of the electorate is Sinhala Buddhist. 2)     RanilW does not know when to support the government and when to oppose it. 3)     RanilW does not know that the tactics of coming to power with minority votes as the deciding factor are gone for good. 4)     RanilW does not know how to address to the mind-set of Sinhala Buddhists. 5)     RanilW does not understand history of Sri Lanka and that of the Sinhala Buddhists. 6)     RanilW alienates Sinhala Buddhists by deliberately degrading prominent Buddhist monks. 7)     Sinhala Buddhists... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

Open letter to my dear Mr. Sampanthan and other Tamil leaders.
From Lt Commander (retired) PBS Hemachandra. M.Com, Post Grad Dip in Bus, MACS
I have read with great sadness your comments about Singhalese colonisation of Tamil traditional homeland, mainly to support your political agendas without any respect for basic historical facts. I was also deeply saddened about your decision to contest forthcoming general elections under Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi Party, which means Ceylon Tamil Kingdom Party. This is a clear indication that some of you are still promoting your separatist agenda. Therefore I thought of writing to you with some basic historical facts because what we require today is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

An election supplement to “Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony. Part 4
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Sri Lanka, an oceanic nation inherently suffering from Aqua-Phobia. Failure of Seetawaka Rajasinghe is a monumental historic lesson for President Rajapakse to think anew about our destiny in the Indian Ocean;  Throughout the history, the nation of Sri Lanka has ignored something very fundamental to its origin; it is none other than its oceanic character, so fundamental to its ecological background and its geographical setting. Despite its origin and surrounding, it has abandoned its most vital frontier, the ocean, and left it vulnerable to outside. Throughout the history, none of its leaders identified this failure, and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

Reuters Journalistsm Civilians and Children killed by the US Military
Warna Hettiarachchi Toronto, Canada
Mr. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN Ms. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State – United States of America Mr. David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Mr. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK  April 6th 2010  Mr. Moon, Ms. Clinton, Mr. Miliband and Mr. Brown,  You are all aware of what I am about to discuss here. No need to elaborate – All links to “western media-credible” links about how US Military gunned down innocent journalists, civilians and children from vantage point of a helicopter gunship, in an UNPROVOKED... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

LOVE NOTES OF AN ISLANDER-For Dr. Peter Hayes with concern and affection
Malinda Seneviratne
Preamble I address this short note to a person by the name of Dr. Peter Hayes.  He’s the British High Commissioner in Colombo.  I write to him because he’s the representative in Colombo of the British Foreign Office. I write to him in the hope that he will convey to his top man in London, an individual by the name of David Miliband, some observations of a Sri Lankan citizen who is as concerned about decency, democracy, human rights and other things that this gentleman speaks of.  Here goes.  Dear Dr. Hayes,  Pardon me for taking your... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

Australia becoming 'breeding ground' for Tamil rebels
By South Asia correspondent Sally Sara
The Sri Lankan government says Australia could become a breeding ground for Tamil separatism if more Tamil asylum seekers are allowed into the country. Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister Rohitha Bogollagama says Tamil separatists have no need to leave Sri Lanka and will "spoil" Australian soil. He says the asylum seekers could turn Australia into a breeding ground for separatism. "This is a breeding ground if you are providing the passage through asylum-seeking avenues," he said.... -Full Story- (abc.net.au - 07/04/10)

SRI LANKA: Small steps to recovery
MURUGANDI, 7 April 2010 (IRIN) - Residents in conflict-affected northern Sri Lanka, still reeling from the effects of more than 25 years of war, are taking small but significant steps on the country’s long road to recovery. In Murugandi, a village straddling the A9 highway, the 321km artery linking the former conflict areas with the rest of the island, Anton Gunadayalan, 33, a local official, typifies the mood.... -Full Story- (irinnews.org - 07/04/10)

Ajith Nivard Cabraal
By Michelle Price
Having emerged from years of civil war, Sri Lanka is in a position to address its long-term economic development and infrastructural regeneration. The country's central bank governor discusses his monetary policy for 2010 and explains how it will work alongside the government's reform plans. Writer Michelle Price The central bank governor of Sri Lanka, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, recently visited London at a seminal moment in his country's modern history: following last year's defeat of Sri Lanka's ethnic minority separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the country is enjoying peace after some 26 years of... -Full Story- (thebanker.com - 07/04/10)

Corrupt, incompetent and racist UN officials exposed
Ben Silva
Introduction What is the most morally corrupt international organization in the world? Without argument, the UN has degenerated into what esteemed journalist Claudia Rosett [10]  refers to as an institution mired in corruption, secrecy, venality and total lack of accountability ref: The UN: Corruption Junction, http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=12430  The best service any Government could have done for the people of Sri Lanka was to eliminate brutal racist terrorism decisively, that plagued Sri Lanka for over 30 years, ruining the country. This task was achieved, perhaps with the intention of reducing future deaths, with far less casualties than that caused... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

FULL RESPONSE TO MICHAEL JEH COMMENTS IN THE GOLD COAST TIMES ON SRI LANKA’S BID FOR THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Shan Weereratne
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/04/03/204395_gold-coast-news.html The focal point of this article should not be human rights. The topic of HR violations can be debated at another forum.  Does the SL govt intend busting up billions of dollars for an event which simply glorifies the ugly side of the white man and his past antics. Australia, do not get carried away cos your descendents too were treated with disdain by the Brits. Responding to the perennial criticism on Sri Lanka’s conduct on the final phase of the war, the SL Army did not kill 40,000 people as Jeh claims. Why not... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

New Zealand's decision to accept Tamil asylum seekers
Roshan Mendis Wellington  New Zealand
New Zealand’s decision to accept several Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers may be well intentioned but is seriously misguided. The asylum seekers in question, currently in Indonesia, have blackmailed authorities into bypassing normal procedures for processing such claims. In doing so, they have pushed aside more deserving claimants with lesser means of influencing Western public opinion. In short, they are queue jumpers. Their impeccable English (epitomised by their smooth talking self-appointed spokesman, Alex, now AWOL), rotund physique and media savviness suggests they did not spend the last few months struggling for survival in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

Collateral Damage In Iraq, The Never Ending Finality Of It
Earlier today we reported on bombings in Baghdad which killed many people there. Along with that report we mentioned a US Military video which had been leaked showing the gunning down of supposed Iraqi civilians by an Apache crew there. As if turns out now, two of the people machine gunned to death were Reuters reporters on the ground. With AP apparently copying their data from databases, and Reuters people being in harms way getting breaking stuff, it seems the world is turned upside down.... -Full Story- (pamil-visions.net - 07/04/10)

ASHOK MEHTA’S ‘POLITICAL WILL’ - March 31,2010
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Editor, Lanka Guardian.   Dear Sir:   Re: Political Will Required - A. Mehta - March 31,2010   In this article Mehta continues to try to impress the world of his knowledge of Sri Lankan politics. However anyone who reads the news from Sri Lanka regarding the politics of the country will recognize that his thinking seems to be "old", his judgements influenced by  experiences in Sri Lanka over twenty years ago when the IPKF was deployed and that he has overtones of Indian thinking then and now that they have the blueprint for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

An Open Letter to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara District.
Your decision to appoint a panel of experts to advise you on accountability and human rights issues in the last stages of defeating the LTTE, has met with ample criticism. The Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr Bogollegama has questioned as to why this hurry to castigate Sri Lanka when it took nine years for the United Nations to set up a probe commission to investigate Britain’s involvement in Iraq.(DailyMirror2/4/2010) The timing of your statement in the face of the Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election on April 8 th 2010 is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/10)

A Vote Too Precious to Waste
Dilrook Kannangara
Whatever said and done Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is Asia’s oldest democracy. Elections are held on time, if not earlier. People are politically matured. A very large number of political parties and news media are available to the people to help make decisions. Although killings, abductions, intimidations and threats did affect a small number of journalists in the recent past, the vast majority of journalists are still free to write anything within the law. Reading most newspapers or watching news on most TV channels or listening to news on most radio channels would convince anyone that media... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/10)

A Response to Ashok Mehta's 'Political Will'
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
6 April 2010 AN OPEN LETTER A RESPONSE TO ASHOK  K. MEHTA’S  ‘POLITICAL WILL’ Dear Ashok Mehta: Your thesis on “Sri Lanka becoming another Singapore is possible if there is a genuine reconciliation and power-sharing with Tamils, including winning over the Tamil Diaspora”, is a bit dishonest, a bit naive and is a bit simplistic, and it bothers me. What your thesis has ignored is that the majority of the Sri Lankans are the Sinhalese who are 74% of the population who have absolutely no... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/10)

INNOCENT ALLEGATIONS
ALI SUKHANVER
After going through different Indian newspapers and pondering over the statements of the Indian politicians and after analyzing the findings of Indian army and the Indian intelligence agencies, it seems that the ISI is going to take the charge of India very soon.. From Ajmal Kassab to David Hadley and from the separatist movements in the North-eastern states of India to the horrible Mumbai attacks, ISI is always there. Thank God that ISI has not yet been blamed for the deafness of the former Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapur .One is compelled to think what are... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/10)

Sri Lankan war zone doctor stands for election
By Charles Haviland
A doctor who worked in Sri Lanka's war zone during last year's civil war is standing for a pro-government party in parliamentary elections. Dr V Shanmugarajah gave high casualty figures to aid agencies and the media from within the combat zone.... -Full Story- (BBC - 06/04/10)

UNP “thinker” is the best joker in town
H. L. D. Mahindapala
If you are keen on having a few good laughs today listen to Ranil Wickremesinghe's TV (Young Asia TV) interview with Sanjana Hattotuwa, the man who sings for his supper at the Centre for Policy Alternative. Hattotuwa bowled full tosses for Wickremesinghe to bat on the pitch of his INTERVIEW programme. And Wickremesinghe, as usual, thattufied, and let the ball dribble without scoring runs. All in all, last night’s show was hilarious  Joke 1: Talking about the leadership crisis in the UNP Wickremesinghe says: "I'm better at getting people together than anyone else.....I am about... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

Politics in the South after April 8 -Part II.
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Last night (Saturday) I felt sorry for Ranil Wickremesinghe as he was coming under pressure with each question put to him on Swarnavahini TV. In his evasive answers he was skimming the surface without addressing the underlying issues of each question. Predictably, he was trying to make out that the nation was better off when he was Prime Minister and he had the answers to all the post-war problems. He even claimed that the country was overflowing with chillies, kurrakan and rice and went on to boast that the good works of Mahinda Rajapakse like... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

National sovereignty needs to be protected at all costs
Ajit Randeniya
The matters relating to the concept of national sovereignty raised by Dr Nihal Jayawickrama in a recent Sunday newspaper article deserve comment and response due to the sacrosanct nature sovereignty to Sri Lanka, and to the developing countries of the world in general. The fundamental issue Dr Jayawickrama raises is that Sri Lanka’s claim that attempts by Western nations to meddle in its internal affairs violate its national sovereignty is based on a ‘constitutional myth’. He asserts that the doctrine of sovereignty has ‘long been eroded’ by international treaties such as those on slave trading, the Geneva... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

Has The Concept Of A Legal Appeal Been Misrepresented By The Court Of Appeal And Misconstrued By The DNA?
In retrospect By Sarath Kumara Apr.5th 2010
On the issue of filing an appeal by the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) against legal proceedings does not seem to fit into the legislative infrastructure of Sri Lanka's Justice System unless there is a proviso for extraneous sources like the DNA to file an appeal against proceedings initiated by the Government against an ex army officer who has breached his code of conduct and has acted in a manner contravening the Penal Code where the Government with all the tangible evidence towards its case has every right to the proceedings and the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

MAHINDA CHINTANA - SILENT BUT SALIENT FEATURES
By Dr.T.Jayasinghe
Mahinda Chintana document drafted and launched in 2005 to be presented to general public in the form of a manifesto in connection with the then Presidential election has become something more than an election manifesto that normally gathers dust or end up in the WPB after the election.It was heartening to note that President Mahinda Rajapaksa while successfully fighting terrorism in the country saw to it that development plans set out in the 2005 Mahinda Chintana document are implemented. For him war was never considered an excuse to curtail any development activity. He took great pains to get... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

Camouflaging revenge
Editorial -Island News Paper of Sri Lanka
 In this era of neo-colonialism, invaders do not land brandishing blood stained sabres and dreadful muskets. They approach their targets, flashing saccharin smiles and flaunting cheque books. Musketeers and swordsmen have given way to Economic Hit Men who facilitate the use of aid as an effective weapon. In the days of colonialism, courageous nations that rebelled against colonial plunderers were put to the sword straight away but today the countries that antagonise neo-colonial forces are put to a slow death through a process of economic strangulation.Sri Lanka's experience with the western powers... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

DAMMING INDIA DAMNING NEPAL
BY: PREM RAJ 
INTRODUCTION Nepal is the second richest in water resources in the world which covers 45% total quantity of water of the river Ganges and 70 % of the total quantity of static water of India. Nepal has the capacity of producing 85,000 MW of electricity as an alternative source to fossil energy. But due to the sabotage acts of India through agreements, treaties and MOU’s when the weak government prevails, has compelled Nepal to long for water & electricity both for her inhabitants & the soil to remain arid. India has ventured the scheme of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

Sri Lanka rejects Ban ki-Moon's UN experts panel
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent. Gloucester . Ontario. K1J 6G1 . Canada
April 3, 2010 Mr. Ban ki-Moon Secretary-General of the United Nations United Nations New York,US US Dear Ban ki-Moon: I take it that you as a habit take your night ear plugs off before you get to office.  If you did, I am sure you may have heard what Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama had to say. The Foreign Minister says, ‘Bully to you Ban ki-Moon, our country has rejected out right the panel of experts that is being formed by the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon to advice... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/10)

1971 හා 2010 අප්‍රේල් අරගලය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
 නිදහස් රටක ඉදිරි ගමන පවතින්නේ එහි ජනතාව අභීතව තම රටේ උන්නතිය උදෙසා ගන්නාවූ ක්‍රියා මාර්ග මතය. මේ ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගැනීම හෝ ඒ සදහා පෙල ගැසීම රදා පවතින්නේ සමාජය තුල සිදුවෙන ක්‍රියාකාර කම් වල බලපෑම් මතය. සමාජය නිදහස් නිවහල් ධර්මිෂ්ඨ සමාජයක් නම් ඊට බද්ධවූ සිතුවිලි පරම්පරාවක් සමාජය පුරා පැතිර යන අතර දුෂ්ඨ කුහක සිදුවීම් ගලා යන සමාජයක් නම් එයින් පීඩාව ලබන ජන මනස තුල ඊට එරෙහිව නැගී එන සිතුවිලි පරම්පරාවන් හටගන්නේය. 1971 අප්‍රේල් සිදුවීමේ බීජයන් ඇරඹෙන්නේ 1965 වකවානුවෙදීය. 1965දී මෙරට සුන්දර යෞවනයේ සමනල ජීවිත ගතකල තරුණයින් කණ්ඩායමක් එකතුව, තමන්ගේ තාරුණ්‍යයම දුෂ්කර කටුක මාවතක් දිගේ ඇදගෙන යාමට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/10)

JVP Engaged in Gutter Politics and Ultra Racism
Dilrook Kannangara
JVP’s politics is described by the JVP itself as “national-socialist”. Another famous world leader adopted the same “national-socialist” policies in the 1930s in Germany. JVP staged two bloody insurgencies and violence was second nature to the JVP. JR Jayawardena lifted the ban on the JVP in 1977. However, following the 1983 race riots he reimposed the ban on the JVP. Since the Truth Commission didn’t get into study what really happened, nothing more can be said about it. However, faced with a massive defeat, JVP is now engaged in ultra racist politics. JVP’s mouthpiece - "Lankatruth" -... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/10)

Proportional Representation System that killed Democracy in Sri Lanka
Dr Sudath Gunasekara. President, Mahanuwara Senior Citizens Movement. 4.4.2010
Proportional Representation system that has messed up and ruined the entire election system was introduced to Sri Lanka by the 1978 Constitution. Prior to that, representatives to the Parliament were elected on a simple electoral basis where one voter had one vote. Under that system elections were held by electorates and voters cast their vote to the candidate of the party of their choice. The candidate who got the highest number of votes was declared elected and he/she represented the people of that electorate directly in Parliament. He was also... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/10)

An answer to Foreign Secretary David Miliband
Garvin Karunaratne, Phd. Michigan State University, M.Phil Edinburgh, M.Ed Manchester Former Government Agent, MataraDistrict
You have voiced yourself to castigate the Government of President Rajapaksa in the face  of the Parliamentary Election which is due to be held in a few days on April 8th, 2010. Evidently you are interested in the opposition winning the election in Sri Lanka.  You must remember that you are the Foreign Minister of Britain, a foreign country  and as President Rajapaksa had to tell you on your last visit to Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is no longer a colony of Britain. It is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/10)

Politics in the South after April 8 -Part I
H. L. D. Mahindapala
All the major political battles will be over by April 8. President Mahinda Rajapakse will be sitting at the peak of his power with no formidable rivals to challenge him. He will be shifting his focus from politics to the new frontier of developing the economic and social infrastructure of the nation. This will be facilitated by the new parliament which for the first time will give him powers to govern on his own without depending on allied partners. Another major aspect of re-building the nation will be the healing of the wounds of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/10)

VICTORY FOR THOSE WHO FUND TERRORISM
Malin Abeyatunge
The Australian print and electronic media reported that three Tamil Tiger supporters who were charged for having supported LTTE terrorist group were allowed  to walk free by  judge Paul Coghlan on  good behaviour bonds. The decision is appalling and a victory for those who fund terrorist outfits operating from Australian soil. Victorian Supreme court Decision by Justice Coghlan to free three Tamil Tiger supporters with  good behavior bonds is a victory for those who covertly support and fund the various terror groups operating from Australian soil. The irony of the decision is that they were let out... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/10)

කේතුමතියේ සංචාරය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
අහස ඉතා පැහැදිලියි. නිල් අහස, කොලපාට භූමියට ප්‍රාණවත් බාවයක් එකතු කරල. ජ්‍යමිතිකව සකස් කල භූමියක් පහතින් දිස්වෙනවා. සරල රේඛීය අදිවේගී මර්ග පෙන්නුම් කරනුයේ ජනතාව කාලයට දක්වන සැලකිල්ලයි. ඉහල අහසේ සිට මේ දකින්නේ සැබෑ ලෙසම සිත්තරෙකුගේ සිතුවමක් නම් නොවේ. රටට ඔබින ගුවන් තොටුපල; කඩිසර දෑත්, කාරැණික මුහුණු කියා පෑවේ රටේ තත්වයයි. ගුවන් තොටුපලේදී මා අතට පත්වූ පෝරමය පිරවූ මා එහි වූ විශේෂිත කවුන්ටරයක් වෙත යොමු කරන ලදී. " ආයුබෝවන්! " " ආයුබෝවන්! " යයි ආශිර්වාද කල  මා එහි වූ නිලධාරියා වෙත පිරවූ පෝරමය හා එහි සදහන්ව තිබූ උපදෙස් පරිදි පාස්පෝට් එක හා එම රටට රැගෙන ආ මුදල්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/10)

Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony -Part 3
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
“The future is that which-tomorrow, latter, next century, will be…which is predictable, programmed, scheduled, foreseeable. But there is a future, l’avenir (to come) which refers to someone who comes, whose arrival is totally unexpected. For me, that is the real future. That which is totally unpredictable. The ‘Other’ who comes without my being able to anticipate their arrival. So if there is a real future beyond this other known, it is l’avenir, in that, it is the coming of the ‘Other’ when I am completely unable to foresee their arrival” (Jacques Derrida, Movie introduction) It is this... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/10)

Australia's Melbourne Supreme Court let go Tamil Tigers
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
April Fool’s Day SENT BY FAX The Rt. Hon Kevin Rudd Prime Minister of  Australia Parliament House  Canberra, Australia. Dear Kevin Rudd: I know it is April Fool’s Day, but what’s going on in your country m’son.  It sounds all Funny Ha! Ha!!  Is it really true that you Down-Unders have let go three Tamil Tiger terrorists with a court order by your Justice Paul Coghlan of the Melbourne Supreme Court?    Tell me, I don’t know as I live so far away, is this Justice Coghlan a Tamil or married... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/10)

TO HELL WITH OUR ENEMIES
ranjit wickremeratne
My Dear countrymen our greatest President ended thirty years of bloody war with the help of our great fearless worriors in the Armed Forces and the help of our great citizens rich and poor young and old. Lord Buddha who visited our beloved country three times always protected our homeland from evil invaders. Our gallant Sinhalese forces always stood tall and chased out the invaders of portugues,Dutch,English and Tamils every time they try to take over my beloved land. The enemies were trying to get hold of our gem of a country from long long time but our country... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/10)

Australia Releases Terrorist Financiers – What If They Were JI Freedom Fighters?
Dilrook Kannangara
JI or Jamah Islamia is an Indonesia based freedom fighters. They carried out the Bali bombings in 2002 killing a few hundreds. Compared to the acts of Tamil Tigers, JI violence is next to nothing. Tamil Tigers have carried out more than 100 bomb attacks not just one. Then why did Australia released Tamil Tiger financiers? This is a question that puzzles many terrorism watchers. If this selective application of the law continues against terrorism, there will never be a day when terrorism will be wiped out from the world. What would be the decision had... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/10)

Myth of State Sovereignty – The Uncomfortable Truth and the Way Out
Kumar Moshe
In a widely discussed article, legal and constitutional law expert Nihal Jayawickrama pointed out the waning importance of State Sovereignty. He correctly identified the futile attempts by the government to seek refuge behind the veil of state sovereignty every time an international body tries to intervene in Sri Lanka. State Sovereignty was an all dominant force a few decades ago. At that time it found its way into the Sri Lankan Constitution too in 1972 and 1987. But now things have changed. What I like to call as Peoples’ Sovereignty (PS) is gaining power and State... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/10)

The Travels of a Journalist—20-EXPLORING YOSEMITE AND GETTING JITTERS AT HETCH HETCHY
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2010
 Late afternoon on Friday 12 Aug. 1983, we—my wife Yoke-Sim, 3-year-old son Junius and I—entered the Yosemite National Park in the Sierra through the northwest “Big Oak Flat” gateway designated SR120. From Moccasin, Calif. (which we passed by on 19 July on our way north from Sequoia along the eastern edge of the Central Valley), we drove 54 miles east to reach the Upper Pines Campground of the Yosemite Valley, where we set up our tent. (Now, we were on the last leg of our second long trip of the West Coast that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

US Neocons are deceiving the world on Iran
Ajit Randeniya
According to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the US Centre for Public Integrity, George W. Bush and the neocons Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz ‘unequivocally’ stated on at least 935 separate occasions between September 11, 20001 and March 19, 2003 Iraqi invasion, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated.  Just as the world has gone past the seventh inglorious anniversary of the Iraqi invasion on false pretences, they have intensified their campaign... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

THIS IS YOUR TIME " DO IT MR.PRESIDENT"
RANJIT WICKREMERATNE 
Dear Mr.President I am not an advisor to advise you but a simple citizen from the same land as yours called SRI LANKA. We elected you to be the President of Sri Lanka in 2005 because you were the only person who said that the bloody war can be won not by peace talks but by war itself. When you came to power you selected the best except few to work with you as a team to bring peace to our land.To face the enemy you prepared the ground step by step. First you appointed your brother... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

Comments by the Non Aligned Movement & Navi Pillai of the UNHRC
S de Silva
Rt Hon David Miliband, MP for South Shields & Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.  Dear Mr Miliband  I am writing to protest on your recent support  at the Global Tamil Forum which is a front for the banned terrorist organisation, LTTE, of Sri Lanka. Their agenda remains the same – a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka which I believe you are fully aware.   How would you like if a Sri Lankan Foreign Minister came over to the UK and addressed the IRA or even the SNP with supportive words ?... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

Eliminate Divide & Rule Policy – Part 2
Wijayasiri Kulatunga  B.Sc. M. Phil.
In first part of “ Eliminate Divide & Rule Policy” article, massive destruction caused by that policy in different communities in Asia region is discussed. In this part of the article, reasons that support to unify different communities not only in Sri Lanka but also in Asia region are explained. People traveled in Asia region may have observed evidences for the relationship they have with other communities. However some information noted by me is included in next few paragraphs for the reader’s benefit.  While working with international company I had an opportunity to visit... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

Australian Judge's Decision Could Not Only Imperil Australia But The World.
Insight By Sunil Kuma  March 31st, 2010
 "Once A Blinkered Justice Sat Beside Some Tigers... Under The Shade Of A Coconut Tree.....And He Sang In response To.. What The Tigers Offered Him... I'll Come A Waltzing Old Tigers With Ye!  Australia is reputed for nondescripts in many forms apart from its indigenous aboriginals, swaggies, sheilahs and jumpbucks but to hear of a Judge who despite blatant admissions of guilt, choosing to release three dangerous terrorists supporters into society surely deserves a boomerang round his neck as the fallout from his contentious decision will reverberate around the anti terrorist supportive... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/10)

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