Sri Lanka Navy commemorates its 57th anniversary today

Sri Lanka Navy, which emerged victorious in the last year as never before in the battle against the terrorism, commemorates its 57th anniversary today, heralding its past achievements and progress, giving more weigh up to the religious rituals of all the faiths, in order to invoke blessings to those who made the supreme sacrifice; and those who sacrificed their limbs and liberty in the battle for the sake of the nation and for the honour of the navy.

The customary naval parades and inspection of the parades by the senior most officers present is of no change this time as well followed by all ranks and rates dinner traditionally known as Barakana.

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http://www.navy.lk/index.php?id=580

MPs in row over pro-LTTE rally

The Sri Lankan High Commission here has strongly protested over the presence of three Labour MPs, including Keith Vaz , the high-profile Asian MP from Leicester, and Virendra Sharma from Ealing Southall, at a rally in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) although the organisation is banned under Britain’s terror laws.

Joan Ryan, the third Labour MP present at the event, is ironically an outspoken supporter of the government’s controversial anti-terrorism policy. Mr Vaz, on the other hand, has often criticised the government for overlooking human rights considerations in the name of fighting terror.

The rally, organised by the Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, to pay homage to LTTE activists killed in clashes with Sri Lankan security forces, also received messages of “support” from London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, according to TamilNet, the worldwide pro-LTTE website.

The rally’s highpoint was a “live” televised “Heroes’ Day” address by the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabakaran, who urged “the entire Tamil-speaking world” to rise up.

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http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/09/stories/2007120953881200.htm

Radhika & Jayantha promotes the anti-Sri Lankan R2P

After plugging Jaffna-centric politics from its inception, after mobilizing the international network of NGOs to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to bow down to the will of the mono-ethnic extremism of the North, after reinforcing ethnic prejudices and exacerbating the ethnic enmities through imported ideological concepts of the West, the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) is now focusing aggressively on its new agenda of pushing the controversial Right to Protect (R2P). This new campaign began with ICES inviting Gareth Evans, head of the International Crisis Centre, to deliver a craftily calculated lecture on R2P.

It is not a coincidence that Gareth Evans, a close ally of Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the former head of ICES, came at a time when the Sri Lankan security forces were advancing towards the heart of the Tiger Terroristan in the east and the north.

Evans' lecture was politically angled to threaten Sri Lanka to halt the current offensive against the Tigers. In short, Evans was brought by ICES to tell the Government of Sri Lanka that there are provisions in international law (example: R2P)to intervene if the Security Forces advanced too close to crush the Tigers.

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http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/12/09/fea03.asp