{"id":102504,"date":"2020-05-18T16:44:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T23:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=102504"},"modified":"2020-05-18T16:44:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T23:44:23","slug":"ranaviru-commomeration-19-5-20-internet-live-streaming-6-30pm-nz-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/18\/ranaviru-commomeration-19-5-20-internet-live-streaming-6-30pm-nz-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranaviru Commomeration 19\/5\/20 Internet Live Streaming 6.30pm NZ Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Spokesperson USLA.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/srilankans.nz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the 11th\u00a0 consecutive year, our deep debt of gratitude to the Ranaviru for having liberated Sri Lanka from three decades of Tiger terror and even more for the life and limb that some lost in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly for five years from 2015, the sanctity , might and majesty of\nthese achievements and sacrifices had been tarnished by an UNHCR resolution\nthat implied acceptance of the baseless allegation initiated by the Tiger Diaspora\nthat this liberation was achieved at a cost of an unacceptably high loss of\ncivilian lives , anything from 40 to 100 thousand despite the overwhelming\nevidence to the contrary. This they claimed tantamounted to war crimes and\ndemanded international investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the greatest scandal  was that this resolution was\nco-sponsored in 2015 by Sri Lanka\u2019s very own government of the day . This cloud\nhung over the achievements and sacrifices of the Ranaviru  for five years,\ndespite the mounting evidence exposing the fallacy of the premise of this\nresolution. This evidence included the UN resident representative in Colombo in\nMay 2009 at the end of the war, estimating a casualty figure of around six to\nseven thousand. This figure has since been corroborated by the Tamil University\nTeacher\u2019s census, the Paranagama Commission\u2019s findings & Wikileaks revealed\ncables from  both US & UK embassies in Colombo. In 2017 , Lord Naseby\ntabled many of the originals of these documents in the House of Lords in London\nafter a hard fought battle with authorities to access them.Besides no traces\nhave been found of graves of the claimed 40 to 100 thousand killed or the two\nto thee times more that should have been injured, the well established ratio of\ninjured vs killed in warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these , the administration that cosponsored this scandalous\nresolution continued to annually reaffirm it  at the UNHCR  sessions\nin Geneva each March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, at these very same sessions  in March 2020, the newly\nelected administration of President Gotabaya Rajapakse, himself a Ranaviru who\nensured the coordination of the tri forces war effort, that played a pivotal\nrole in Sri Lanka\u2019s liberation from Tiger Terror, forthwith withdrew\nsponsorship of this resolution , so putting to an end a most shameful phase in\nSri Lanka\u2019s over two thousand five hundred year proud history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was despite considerable pressure being brought on him not to do so\nparticularly by the US, the other cosponsor of this resolution and the UK, both\nof whom were probably  driven by political expediency. However, leaders of\nboth of these countries have stated publicly that they will never allow their\nsoldiers to be hauled before war crimes tribunals, despite much more\nstrong  evidence of these in Afganistan and Iraq respectively . One rule\nfor them and another for little Sri Lanka!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That President Gotabaya withstood these pressures and did what he did\nwill go down as another Golden Moment in  Sri Lanka\u2019s history, like the\nmoment when his brother President Mahinda withstood similar pressure from the\nforeign ministers of UK and France who had travelled to Sri Lanka in April\n2009, to force him to withdraw the Ranaviru war effort, reminding them that\nSri Lanka was no longer their colony\u201d.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the glory and sanctity of the Ranaviru achievements and sacrifices\nnow restored, we can once again pay homage to these with dignity , reminding\nour selves that it is because of these achievements and sacrifices that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      People of all ethnicitie, Tamils Sinhalese, Muslims & Burghers\n can now live in Sri Lanka in peace and travel to and around Sri\nLanka  without fear of a Tiger attack destroying or maiming them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That Mothers and Fathers and families of all ethnicities in SL can\ntravel together in the same bus or train without the fear of  them all\nbeing wiped out by one bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That children of all ethnicities can go to school without similar\nfears  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That SL was able to replace their pot whole ridden road network with\nwell surfaced roads and expressways without fear of being destroyed by Tiger\nbombs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That SL  has been able to build new ports, airports, a port city in\nColombo without fear of Tiger generated destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That SL was able to beautify Colombo and make it a worthy travel\ndestination  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That SL has been able to provide electricity to every corner of SL, an unparalleled\nachievement in South Asia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That the per capita income doubled and trebled in the first five years\npost liberation , though stagnant since 2015,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7      That SL was named the top travel destination, twice by lonely planet and\nonce by CNN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is for all of these and many other reasons that we reaffirm our\ngratitude to the Ranaviru ,   the unsung heroes and unnamed privates\nand corprals coming from heart land Sri lanka , whose mothers , fathers\nbrothers, sisters, and even children released their young men to go to war to\nliberate SL, & even more to the 25000 that never returned home and even\nmany more that were left maimed <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall remember them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The many decorated Generals and other ranked security forces leaders who\nplanned and led the campaigns,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall remember them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The many war administrators and political leaders who gave leadership\nand support to the war effort,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall remember them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The many civilian victims of Tiger carnage , drawn from all communities,\nTamil, Sinhalese, Muslims and Burghers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall remember them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The many great and successful campaigns of the war , the not so\nsuccessful campaigns of the war,  to the final campaign of liberation on\nthe lagoons and shores of Nandikadal,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall remember them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flame of gratitude and remembrance will never cease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the blessings of the Triple Gem protect the Ranaviru and  us\nall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr.Chula Rajapakse MZM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokesperson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USLA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19.5.20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Spokesperson USLA. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/srilankans.nz Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the 11th\u00a0 consecutive year, our deep debt of gratitude to the Ranaviru for having liberated Sri Lanka from three decades of Tiger terror and even more for the life and limb that some lost in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}