Balless Buddhist racist Stinkala army prevents Hindu Tamils from exercising their religious freedom...

Exposing SLA temple sanctions to BBC brings in attack on house in Jaffna

Attackers believed to be from the Sri Lanka Army opened fire and lobbed grenade and petrol bomb on the house of the head of the civic council (Piratheasa Chapai) of Kaarainakar, Mr Anaimukan Velayutham, a TNA member and a leading trader in Jaffna in the early hours of Saturday, causing minor injuries to his aged mother. The attack comes hours after an interview by Mr. Anaimukan to BBC Tamil, Friday evening, in which he exposed that the occupying SLA had instructed temples in his civic division not to toll bells, not to light torches and to cease any use of loudspeakers during the Heroes Day observation week. His house situated in Thirunelveali in Jaffna was attacked by 1:30 a.m., Saturday. Mr. Anaimukan when contacted by journalists in Jaffna on Saturday condemned the attack and said whoever the attackers were, he was not going to allow himself to get threatened by such acts.

In the Interview to BBC, Friday evening, Mr. Anaimukan said that he had personally witnessed seeing the worshipers at Kaarainakar Ma'natkaadu Kumpanaayaki Muththumaari Amman temple in a disturbed situation while attending the prayers these days. The occupying SLA at Aaladi had given the instructions to the priest of that temple, he confirmed to the BBC.

Mr. Anaimukan also told the BBC that he objected to military threat against religious freedom and said such threats had come even when the temple or community leaders like himself were not involved in observing Heroes Day at the temple.

When asked by the BBC whether any political action on the military threat had been taken up by him through his party (TNA), he replied in negative citing the non availability of TNA leaders in Jaffna. Mr. Mavai Senathirajah had gone to India, he said, adding further on the futility of taking up any complaints against the SL military.

Earlier, speaking to media, the commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe, had denied military ordering any sanctions against temples during the week.

Tamils in the island increasingly feel that their postwar subjugation through occupying Sinhala military, aimed at making them accept structural genocide and any nondescript political solution, is a joint agenda of Colombo as well as the powers that give tacit support to it.

The SL Army established camps in Kaarainakar since last December, while the old base of the SL Navy also continues.

According to legends and old records, Ma'natkaadu Maariyamman temple was the only temple in Kaarainakar that was not touched by the Portuguese who destroyed all the other temples in the islet, after the conquest of the Kingdom of Jaffna in the early 17th century. Legends say that the Portuguese, who were then suffering from the epidemic of Small Pox, spared the temple fearing the fury of the deity.

Sinhala lanka, THE Miracle of Asia became Laughing Stock of Asia...

Sri Lanka stx down 2.8 pct to 14-mo low

Sri Lanka's stock market closed down 1.04 percent on Friday, bouncing back after an erroneously entered trade triggered a panic selloff that forced a 30-minute trading halt when the sensitive Milanka Price Index dropped more than 5 percent.

Investors dumped shares amid fears of higher inflation and interest rates after this week's currency devaluation, and an erroneous trade in Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC triggered panic.

The plantation sector index fell 2.53 percent on Friday, extending its weekly fall to 13.24 percent in reaction to a budget proposal to redistribute 37,000 acres of unused state planting land to small farmers.

The bourse has fallen 14.4 percent since Oct. 1 and it is Asia's 11th-best performer with a year-to-date loss of 12.5 percent.

The bourse saw a net foreign inflow of 18.2 million rupees on Friday ending six straight outflow sessions, but thus far in 2011, offshore investors have sold 17.3 billion, and a record 26.4 billion in 2010.

Two currency dealers Reuters spoke to said the central bank had sold at least $120 million since the devaluation to defend the currency at the new level amid depreciation pressure.

Stinkies can run, but not hide from war crime charges...

Sri Lanka said on Thursday it was counting on its own how many civilians were slain at the end of its bloody civil war to counter claims that tens of thousands were killed and fend off international calls for a war crimes probe.

Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also acknowledged for the first time that soldiers may have committed unspecified 'crimes'. He promised to investigate and punish them.

Both the count of the killed and the admission of misconduct were a major shift for a government that had sworn its soldiers were beyond reproach and insisted for more than two years that not a single civilian was killed by its forces during the final stages of the war.

Rajapaksa's speech to a conference on postwar ethnic reconciliation was the government's latest attempt to show it was taking action on its own and blunt the calls for outside investigations into the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels

Rajapaksa said the census department's count, which is near completion and will be released soon, shows a very small number of civilians died because of military action. He said deaths due to natural causes, accidents, those who fled the country illegally, died fighting for the rebels or were killed by the rebels were also counted in order to reconcile the number of people unaccounted for.

"It has been possible to identify by name all such persons (dead or missing)," Rajapaksa said.
"As a result of the census we already know that the real number of the dead and missing is far too small to provide any substance to absurd allegations of genocide and war crimes that have been made."

A U.N. report released in April said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed in the last months of the decades-long war that a final government offensive ended in May 2009.

The government had insisted there were 'zero civilian casualties' in that fighting, conceding only in August that civilian deaths did occur but they were unavoidable.
The U.N. report said most of the casualties came from government shelling and called for an independent international investigation into what it called credible allegations against the government and the Tamil Tigers, who fought for more than 25 years to carve out a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils.
The government has also dismissed as fabrications video footage apparently showing soldiers shooting bound, blindfolded prisoners. Christof Heyns, the U.N.'s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings, said the video was authentic and provided enough evidence to open a war crimes case. Human rights groups have also called for a war crimes probe.
The government appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission last year, which submitted its report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier this week. The government has said it will submit that report to Parliament before making it public.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said while Sri Lankan soldiers in general act professionally, there could have been bad elements.
"It needs to be understood during the three and a half years of humanitarian operation, the Sri Lankan military had to be expanded at a rapid pace. In the circumstances, it is possible that a few individuals who lack the capacity to withstand the pressures of the warfare with the required composure may have been recruited," he said.
He said the government would carry out any recommendations by the Lessons Learnt commission to investigate military abuses and steps for ethnic reconciliation but ruled out any international involvement.

TNA decides to Boycott participating in time delaying tactics of Sinhala lanka...

Sri Lanka parliament on Wednesday passed a motion to set up a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to formulate a political solution to the country's ethnic issue.

The parliament announced that a motion to appoint a Select Committee of Parliament to recommend and report on political and constitutional measures to empower the people of Sri Lanka to live as one nation was passed by the House.

The political parties of the country are requested to name their representatives to the PSC.

The committee is expected to suggest steps to enhance the unity of people in the country and empower them and the country to promote socio-economic, political and cultural development.

Under the motion approved today, the PSC, which will have quasi-judicial powers, is to comprise 19 governing party members and 12 opposition members.

The 16 political parties in the ruling alliance each will have a one representative and the largest constituent, Sri Lanka Freedom Party will have altogether four representatives in the PSC.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is engaged in a dialogue with the government, has earlier said the party would also participate in the PSC.

However, a TNA legislator Suresh Premachandran has told the AP news service that the Tamil party would not participate in the PSC as it would be another "time-buying tactic" of the government.

The PSC is to recommend constitutional measures that need to address the grievances of the minorities and provide solutions for all people that will "preserve and promote their respective identities and live with dignity and security as one nation,� within six months.

The PSC is expected to work a solution within the time frame with the input from all the political parties while the government continues to hold discussions with the Tamil National Alliance.

The government proposed the formation of the PSC stating that a unique opportunity has arisen for the people to unite and work together as one nation towards the economic, social and political development of the nation and its citizens.

The government says it is possible to find a solution by safeguarding the identities of all ethnic groups and preserving the territorial integrity through the initiatives of a parliamentary select committee.

UK warns Sinhala lanka to walk the talk about reconciliation with tamils....

The United Kingdom has urged Sri Lanka to publish the report handed over to the president by the government appointed war panel.
British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has called upon Sri Lanka to "seize the opportunity" to demonstrate that the country is committed to reconciliation by making the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) public.
“Many hope this report will mark a significant milestone in Sri Lanka’s recovery from conflict, and I call on the Government of Sri Lanka to seize this important opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to national reconciliation and accountability,” he said.
The report was handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the head of LLRC, CR de Silva, on Sunday.

'Prima facie evidence'

The United Kingdom said releasing the report as soon as possible is vital in demonstrating its commitment.
President Rajapaksa’s spokesman, Bandula Jayasekara, told BBC Sandeshaya on Sunday that the president will take the necessary action after studying the report.
“The president told the media that the report will be handed over to the parliament after studying it,” he said.
The LLRC appointed by the president in May 2010 has received 1000 oral testimonies since it began sessions in August.
More than 5000 written statements were also handed over to the panel.
LLRC spokesman Lakshman Wickremasinghe earlier told BBC Sandeshaya that the commission has forwarded some selected cases to the police “with good intentions” on what he called “prima facie” evidence.

King MADAPAKSHE Personal Political agenda Screwed up Silly lankans dreams...

Following the Mumbai debacle, the captain, the vice captain and select committee resigned. Bayliss made a startling revelation that cricketers had to put up with things that had nothing to do with cricket. What are these things that got nothing to do with cricket? These are known, at least to friends and family of cricketers. Cricketers have a very large number of friends! Soon these will be well known and people will debate over it. Whatever the denials are, there was political involvement in selection, unfortunately. But it had nothing to do with UNP/SLFP/JVP party politics. It was different kind of politics.

He instructed Sri Lanka Cricket to take into account the need to use cricket world cup to the maximum for reconciliation. In turn the Interim Committee instructed the select committee and players what they should do to achieve maximum reconciliation impact. They were told how multiethnic the Indian team was.

Meanwhile the only non-Sinhalese players in the team, namely, Mutiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews were injured and were in doubt for the final. However, that would mean playing a “Sinhala only” team according to influential sections and they instructed to somehow include Muralitharan in the team and they insisted that there is no way a team without either Muralitharan and Mathews could play. Reluctantly Murali agreed. He made his decision clear early, days before the final.

At the same time influential sections were complaining about the inclusion of Ajantha Mendis saying that he is still a serving officer of the army. He playing in the final would “hurt” the reconciliation process because Tamils around the world protested his inclusion in previous matches. For the sake of “reconciliation” he was left out!

This was how the two disastrous decisions were made. Murali was included despite his injuries while Mendis was not included because his involvement may not be acceptable to some Tamils as he is serving in the army. Angered by the stupid decision, a section of the team was furious but had to put these at the back of their minds and continue. Anything that showed disunity in the team at this stage would have been disastrous for the team’s prospects. Some argue that the captain had already given up a day before the final due to these political interferences.

Ultimately the substandard team that played in the final lost mainly due to weak bowling. Mendis was out and Murali was not up to his hundred percent. Early breakthroughs could not be used to build on. Another unfortunate event happened in Hatton after the match. Two groups of people belonging to two ethnic groups clashed over the final match resulting in damages to property. The disastrous outcome at the final caused by a foolish attempt at Personal Political Agenda of reconciliation ended with worse consequences.

For India, Interests of Tamilnadu is more important than interests of Sri Lanka....

Three days after the World Cup final, officials from Sri Lanka are not happy with the level of courtesy extended to their President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his trip to Mumbai to watch the final.

Though no official complaint has been lodged with the Indian government, they have informally conveyed their displeasure at limited tickets made available to Rajapaksa’s entourage, and at the refusal let him meet the teams before the start of the match.

“The tickets for the Sri Lankan president were being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). We would have been more happy if we had more tickets for the entourage,” the Sri Lankan Consul-General in Mumbai, Upekkha Samaratunga, told Mumbai Mirror.

Rajapaksa had decided to come to India for the final after Sri Lanka’s semi-final victory over New Zealand in Colombo

A request for 40 tickets was made to the BCCI through the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka.Around the same time, the cricket board got another request for 36 passes from Rashtrapati Bhawan for Indian President Pratibha Patil and her group.

“Since it was not possible for us to accommodate everybody at such short notice, we made 10 passes available to both the leaders in President’s Box at the stadium,” BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said.

“Since the Indian President is from Mumbai, we made another 20 passes available to her at the Garware pavilion. As for the Sri Lankan President, we could offer him only 10 additional passes in the Garware stand.”

Board officials said that since they were aware that Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister CB Rathnayake had purchased 40 tickets for the Garware stand a few weeks ago, they advised the Presidential entourage to use some of the seats blocked by him.

“In addition to that, I believe the Sri Lankan board president bought 10-15 more seats in the Vithal Divecha stand. But there was no problem,” Shetty said.

A senior official of the Maharashtra government said the Lankans were also upset because Rajapaksa’s request to meet the Sri Lankan players before the start of the match was denied at the last minute.

In the India vs Pakistan semi-final in Mohali, both Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian PM Manmohan Singh had the teams before the match began.

Consul-General Samaratunga said that a meeting with the players was scheduled in the President’s programme, but was later changed by Indian authorities.

Further, Rajapaksa was not allowed a picture opportunity with the winning Indian after the final.

When contacted, an MEA official in New Delhi said that Rajapaksa had not been invited by India, he had himself asked to come over.

In Mohali, Gilani was our guest. That’s why he was taken on the field to meet the players. “If there was no on-the-field interaction in Mumbai, it could be because of protocol issues.”

When contacted, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, confirmed that no complaint had been lodged with the Indian government on the issue, the Mumbai Mirror reports.