Mawbima Sri Lanka: 2008-11-09

Friday, November 14, 2008

Sri Lanka ruling party dissident states that government's claims on Eastern Province is a sham

Many parliamentarians in Sri Lanka say Samaraweera speaks for the LTTE and wants to divide Sri Lanka.

Nov 14, ColomboPage: Thirty eight persons were killed while 28 individuals disappeared and 23 were injured in October alone in Sri Lanka, says Sri Lanka Freedom Party - People’s Wing (SLFP-PW) leader Mangala Samaraweera.

Holding the second media conference of Defense Watch, Samaraweera said that the government claims of democracy in Eastern Province were hollow.

Samaraweera slammed the Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister S. Chandrakanthan and new national list MP V. Muralitharan branding them as persons with black marked history who are still continuing the same acts.

Criticizing the recent statement of Minister Champika Ranawaka against Muslims, SLFP-PW leader said that seeds of terrorism rooted here as a result of narrow patriotism of certain elements.

Many parliamentarians in Sri Lanka say Samaraweera speaks for the LTTE and wants to divide Sri Lanka. JVP MP Lal Kantha recently accused Samaraweera of appearing on behalf of the UNP, the TNA and Prabhakaran.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sri Lankan artists hold a silent vigil in Colombo

(REUTERS) Sri Lankan artists hold lamps during a silent vigil in Colombo November 13, 2008. The artists staged the peaceful demonstration in response to South Indian artists who were protesting against military operations in northern Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan artists also signed a letter to the Indian government, explaining that the military operations targeted rebels, not ethnic Tamils.

Donation of Foot Spray/Foot Powder for Sri Lankan Security Forces

(Request from Ministry of Defence & Consulate General Office in Los Angeles. If you live outside USA, please contact your Sri Lankan Consulate or Embassy)

Dear All,

The Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka has made a request through the Foreign Ministry, to all Missions abroad, to supply a medicine required to control foot infections caused by fungi and bacteria to overcome foot infections.

The product should ideally contain a potent anti-fungal/anti-bacterial compound, the main ingredient of which contains 1% Triclosan. The Defence Ministry has indicated that the current product used by them is under the trade name Irgasan DP - 300. The trade name is indicated here for purpose of information only and these products by any other trade name is also in order. If you are unable to find the above product in USA, please try Clotrimazole 1% under the brand name LOTRIMIN

We are kindly requesting you to contact all concerned Sri Lankans to assist our forces in their time of need.

All donations could either be delivered to the Consulate Office or to the nearest temple in your locality. If you wish to contribute money all cheques should be drawn in favour of the 'Consulate General of Sri Lanka' for which a receipt will be issued by the Consulate.

Your generous contributions towards this noble task is greatly appreciated.

With kind regards

Ananda Wickramasinghe
Consul General
Consulate General for Sri Lanka - Los Angeles
3250 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1405
Los Angeles, CA 90010, USA

Phone: 213 387 0213
Fax: 213 387 0216

Website: http://www.srilankaconsulatela.com/

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Mangala’s firing draws crossfire in P’ment

SLFP-M Leader Mangala Samaraweera said in Parliament yesterday that the government wanted to create a Zimbabwe-style Police State for the benefit of the Rajapaksa family regime. He added that, there is a systematic campaign to establish a countrywide network of spies to gather information on opposition politicians.

“When the Defense Secretary visited China, he paid much attention to how the Chinese government has created Intelligence Units in each village,” he said. “Now, under the guise of ‘restructuring Intelligence Units’, the government is creating a network of spies to gather information on its political opponents,” he added.

Samaraweera also criticised the Defense Secretary and the Army Commander for misleading the public on the casualties of war. “Only Prabhakaran and the Rajapaksa brothers want a war,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UPFA, the JVP and the NFF MPs criticised the SLFP-M leader for his statement. They claim that, Samaraweera is now playing the lead role of an agenda to demoralise the military forces.

“Terrorism has to be defeated, the whole world accepts it,” said Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa. “Samaraweera was once the government’s media spokesman and back then, he was a critic of the LTTE. I don’t know what made him change his mind to this extent,” he added.

JVP, MP, K.D. Lal Kantha claimed that, Samaraweera has become a spokesman for an imperialist campaign to demoralise and divide the military. “He is trying to create tension between soldiers and their superiors”, he said. When the LTTE is in dire straits, the UNP, the TNA and Tamil Nadu want to help them, now Samaraweera has joined these forces,” he added.

By Rathindra Kuruwita, The Bottom Line

Monday, November 10, 2008

Cartoon - Shall we play a game...on Budget?

Courtesy: Lakbima

Gota reiterates call to surrender arms first

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that a ceasefire would solely depend on the LTTE’s readiness to lay down arms. He said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had repeatedly emphasised that fresh negotiations

wouldn’t take place as long as the LTTE remained armed. "There’ll be no change in our position," he told The Island yesterday.

He said that the LTTE political wing leader Nadesan had conveniently forgotten the LTTE quitting talks in April 2003.

"We abrogated the ceasefire years later," he said adding that the ground offensive was on track with the army making steady progress.

by Norman Palihawadana, Island