The funeral of former President D.B. Wijetunga will be held today at 3.00 p.m. at the Kandy Municipal Grounds in Getambe under State patronage.
The remains will be taken to the Parliament Complex from his residence in Pilimatalawa and will lie in- state there from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The funeral and religious rites will be conducted under State patronage.
Liquor outlets and meat stalls in the Udunuwara, Gangawata Koralaya and Yatinuwara Divisional Secretariat Divisions will be closed today.
In all State institutions the national flag should be flown at half mast as a mark of respect for President Wijetunga.
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
President first world leader to address UN in Tamil
President Mahinda Rajapaksa created history yesterday at the United Nations by addressing the General Assembly briefly in Tamil. This is the first time that any world leader has spoken to the world body in Tamil.
Last year, he became the first Sri Lankan leader to address the UN General Assembly in Sinhala. This year, he addressed the forum in both Sinhala and Tamil.
“While my mother tongue is Sinhala, let me elaborate a few thoughts in Tamil. Sinhala and Tamil are the two languages of the people of Sri Lanka. Both these have been used through the centuries, are rich in literature, and are widely used in my country, with recognition as Official Languages. We will march towards a richer freedom and lasting unity that await us as a nation,” were the sentiments he expressed in Tamil.
Last year, he became the first Sri Lankan leader to address the UN General Assembly in Sinhala. This year, he addressed the forum in both Sinhala and Tamil.
“While my mother tongue is Sinhala, let me elaborate a few thoughts in Tamil. Sinhala and Tamil are the two languages of the people of Sri Lanka. Both these have been used through the centuries, are rich in literature, and are widely used in my country, with recognition as Official Languages. We will march towards a richer freedom and lasting unity that await us as a nation,” were the sentiments he expressed in Tamil.
Talks only when Tigers give up arms- President
President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly today said that the government would only be ready to talk to the LTTE when it is ready to commit itself to decommissioning of its illicit weapons and dismantling of its military capacity, and return to the democratic fold.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Terror groups learning from LTTE - Defence Spokesman
The latest devastating suicide bombing in Pakistan shows that Al-Qaida has learnt bomb making from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), says a visiting Sri Lankan minister.
"The Pakistani bomb is very similar in style to Colombo's Central Bank truck bomb (of 1996)," said Foreign Employment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also Sri Lanka's defence spokesperson.
Rambukwella told a press conference that the massive bomb that killed 53 people at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday showed Al-Qaida learnt the technology from the LTTE.
Both the bombs - the one in Marriott and the other in Colombo's Central Bank - were powerful and laden in trucks driven by suicide bombers. The Colombo attack killed 91 people.
Rambukwella said terrorist groups constantly exchange technologies and he quoted anti-terror experts as saying that "suicide jackets" used by Al-Qaida may have been developed by the LTTE.
The Sri Lankan minister also made the claim that some Western politicians were on the "payroll of the LTTE". "One reason for the support of terrorism of the LTTE is the large number of Tamil voters available in certain Western world electorates that arouse political aspirations for politicians.
"The other reason is some Western world politicians are corrupted and are on the payroll of the LTTE," he said.
The press spokesperson for the Sri Lankan High Commission said Rambukwella made his comments in the context of "certain pro-LTTE elements" bringing "anti-Sri Lanka propaganda to the Labour Party convention in Manchester".
Courtesy : IANS
"The Pakistani bomb is very similar in style to Colombo's Central Bank truck bomb (of 1996)," said Foreign Employment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also Sri Lanka's defence spokesperson.
Rambukwella told a press conference that the massive bomb that killed 53 people at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday showed Al-Qaida learnt the technology from the LTTE.
Both the bombs - the one in Marriott and the other in Colombo's Central Bank - were powerful and laden in trucks driven by suicide bombers. The Colombo attack killed 91 people.
Rambukwella said terrorist groups constantly exchange technologies and he quoted anti-terror experts as saying that "suicide jackets" used by Al-Qaida may have been developed by the LTTE.
The Sri Lankan minister also made the claim that some Western politicians were on the "payroll of the LTTE". "One reason for the support of terrorism of the LTTE is the large number of Tamil voters available in certain Western world electorates that arouse political aspirations for politicians.
"The other reason is some Western world politicians are corrupted and are on the payroll of the LTTE," he said.
The press spokesperson for the Sri Lankan High Commission said Rambukwella made his comments in the context of "certain pro-LTTE elements" bringing "anti-Sri Lanka propaganda to the Labour Party convention in Manchester".
Courtesy : IANS
Army Hands over 13 LTTE bodies to ICRC
Sri Lanka Army officials handed over 13 bodies of slain LTTE cadres to the ICRC officials at the Omanthai entry/exit point yesterday (Sept 23). The bodies included 4 female and 9 male corpses.
According to the military sources, troops had found these bodies following recent clashes in the Mallavi and Akkarayankulam areas in the Kilinochchi battlefront.
According to the military sources, troops had found these bodies following recent clashes in the Mallavi and Akkarayankulam areas in the Kilinochchi battlefront.
Stop funding Tiger terror
TMVP Leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan (Karuna) and his deputy, Eastern Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan yesterday appealed to Tamil expatriates in Canada and elsewhere to stop funding the Tiger war machine.
In separate exclusive interviews with Stewart Bell of the National Post of Canada, the duo said the funds remitted by expatriates are used for Tiger military procurements, not humanitarian assistance.
Muralitharan said money sent from abroad to help civilians in uncleared areas was routinely used to buy arms.
He called Canada the number one source of external income for the LTTE, followed by Switzerland. He said while Canadians might believe the money they send to uncleared areas is being used for humanitarian aid, Prabhakaran uses it all to buy military hardware instead.
“They use all the money for the war,” he said. “They didn’t give anything to the people.”
The money from overseas feeds not civilians but a procurement network that buys weapons and ships them to the island, he said.
“They have a lot of money. They bought many ships for smuggling arms,” he said. “Diaspora people, they don’t understand what is happening in Sri Lanka.”
In an interview at his ultra-secure headquarters on Trincomalee harbour, Chief Minister Chandrakanthan echoed his leader’s views. He said Tigers supporters in such countries as Canada are misguided and should stop sending money to the LTTE.
“A lot of these people who keep shouting, ‘We want a separate state’ are not aware of what the conditions are here,” said Chandrakanthan. Muralitharan, who spent 22 years in the Tigers, said he broke with Prabhakaran in a dispute over Norwegian-brokered peace talks. He thought there was a good deal on the table but Prabhakaran wanted to restart the war, he said.
“He got angry with me, but he’s a very angry person,” he said. “I told him, ‘I don’t want to fight with you. We are brothers and sisters.”
“Prabhakaran had no political vision,” Chandrakanthan said in an interview. “If the Sri Lankan Army hits, he wants to hit back. He really relished hitting back, fighting, rather than thinking politically, where do we go from here?”
He believes if he can succeed in the East, the Tigers will realize there is a better way, but he holds out no hope that Prabhakaran will surrender his dream of a Tamil homeland called Tamil Eelam.
“Prabhakaran will not give up his thought of a Tamil Eelam. So long as Prabhakaran is there, he will always want people to believe that he can deliver Tamil Eelam, and Tamil Eelam in his vision includes the east as well.” But he believes the Tigers are almost finished, bottled up in the north, having lost 60% of their territory and running out of fighting men and women.
“He can’t go on like this because there is a limit to the manpower that he commands,” Chandrakanthan said. “Just by shortage of manpower he will lose.”
In separate exclusive interviews with Stewart Bell of the National Post of Canada, the duo said the funds remitted by expatriates are used for Tiger military procurements, not humanitarian assistance.
Muralitharan said money sent from abroad to help civilians in uncleared areas was routinely used to buy arms.
He called Canada the number one source of external income for the LTTE, followed by Switzerland. He said while Canadians might believe the money they send to uncleared areas is being used for humanitarian aid, Prabhakaran uses it all to buy military hardware instead.
“They use all the money for the war,” he said. “They didn’t give anything to the people.”
The money from overseas feeds not civilians but a procurement network that buys weapons and ships them to the island, he said.
“They have a lot of money. They bought many ships for smuggling arms,” he said. “Diaspora people, they don’t understand what is happening in Sri Lanka.”
In an interview at his ultra-secure headquarters on Trincomalee harbour, Chief Minister Chandrakanthan echoed his leader’s views. He said Tigers supporters in such countries as Canada are misguided and should stop sending money to the LTTE.
“A lot of these people who keep shouting, ‘We want a separate state’ are not aware of what the conditions are here,” said Chandrakanthan. Muralitharan, who spent 22 years in the Tigers, said he broke with Prabhakaran in a dispute over Norwegian-brokered peace talks. He thought there was a good deal on the table but Prabhakaran wanted to restart the war, he said.
“He got angry with me, but he’s a very angry person,” he said. “I told him, ‘I don’t want to fight with you. We are brothers and sisters.”
“Prabhakaran had no political vision,” Chandrakanthan said in an interview. “If the Sri Lankan Army hits, he wants to hit back. He really relished hitting back, fighting, rather than thinking politically, where do we go from here?”
He believes if he can succeed in the East, the Tigers will realize there is a better way, but he holds out no hope that Prabhakaran will surrender his dream of a Tamil homeland called Tamil Eelam.
“Prabhakaran will not give up his thought of a Tamil Eelam. So long as Prabhakaran is there, he will always want people to believe that he can deliver Tamil Eelam, and Tamil Eelam in his vision includes the east as well.” But he believes the Tigers are almost finished, bottled up in the north, having lost 60% of their territory and running out of fighting men and women.
“He can’t go on like this because there is a limit to the manpower that he commands,” Chandrakanthan said. “Just by shortage of manpower he will lose.”
Looted items returned- UN
The UN says that the equipment and supplies looted from its Kilinochchi offices last week have been returned at the behest of the LTTE. Last week the UN reiterated the importance of protecting humanitarian staff and assets, as one of the principles of International Humanitarian Law.
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