VANQUISHING BIN LADEN AND PRABAHAKARAN

Victor Ivan

At last the USA has been able to assassinate Bin Laden, America’s No. 1 enemy, the terrorist who terrified the whole of America. Some time earlier, the American intelligence sources were able to track down that Bin Laden was hiding in a mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan. When the findings were confirmed, the operation to kill Bin Laden was launched whilst the President of the  USA and his senior aides were watching the video screens of the operation taking place on the other side of the world.

A PEACE OF LOST OPPORTUNITIES

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“….this way leads us nowhere …..to continue so has no glory”.

Neruda (The People)

Jayalalitha Jeyaram, Manmohan Singh, Mahinda Rajapaksa and G.L Peiris

The second anniversary of defeating the LTTE is being celebrated with quintessentially Rajapaksa pomp and pageantry.
Peace has been good to the Ruling Family. It has won all elections, obtained a two-third majority in parliament, removed presidential term-limits, enhanced presidential powers, stymied the opposition and discouraged dissent. Post-war, the Rajapaksas rule continues untrammelled (with sons and nephews being groomed to takeover from the fathers and uncles, someday).

HOW SRI LANKA DEFEATED TERRORISM, DEFENSE SEMINAR; OBSERVATIONS FROM A PARTICIPANT

 Shakya Lahiru Pathmalal

Participants listen intently at the Defense Seminar

From the 31st of April to the 2nd of May I attended the Defense Seminar organised by the Sri Lankan Army.
I wish to draw on what I saw as some of the positive and negative points of the conference. I will also comment on some of the many ‘highlights’ that occurred during the conference and perhaps give a different narrative of these from the ones I have read so far. What can be said from the outset is the fact that the seminar was not the resounding success that it was portrayed to be by some parties, nor was it a dismal failure. The seminar was a mixed bag.

KILLING FIELD AND SRI LANKA

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

SUNDAY LEADER

“We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare; More substance in our enmities Than in our love….”
Yeats (The Stare’s Nest)
On 22nd October 2007, a group of Black Tigers launched a devastating attack on the Saliyapura air force camp. Prior to setting off on their fatal mission, the attackers participated in the usual Black Tiger rituals with Vellupillai Pirapaharan. The pictures of young men and women, destined for death, being blessed by the stolidly middle-aged Tiger Supremo were publicised by the LTTE, even before the attack was over. That act of ruthless premeditation was a chilling reminder that Mr. Pirapaharan’s claim to greatness rested on human sacrifices and the Tiger prospered by devouring its own young.

Senior Minister lauds UNOPS’ contribution towards community development

W. G. S. S. Ranatunga

 June 18, 2011,

Senior Minister for Food and Nutrition, P. Dayaratne undertook an inspection tour of development projects in Dehiattakandiya, recently. Peter Smith, Senior Projects Manager, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) briefed the Minister on the development initiatives launched to improve the living standards of the people of the region.

Rajapaksa regime subjecting Sri Lanka to global ridicule

 Mangala Samaraweera
  June 18, 2011,

The ineptitude of the present regime in the face of intensifying and relentless international pressure is driving Sri Lanka further and further into isolation and is likely to have devastating effects for this country’s prospects for rebuilding and reconciliation in the post-conflict phase.

Shootings, beatings and ‘pinkam’ wars

 June 18, 2011,

A  major topic of conversation last week was the Channel 4 documentary aired last Tuesday. Channel 4 is a small British TV Channel but the documentary it aired got more publicity in this country than a similar documentary on Sri Lanka aired on the international TV channel Al Jazeera several weeks ago. To make that documentary, an Al Jazeera team had visited Sri Lanka and was taken around to see the conflict zone.