The Indian Coconut Journal revealed that drinking tender coconut water has a certain effect in improving “good cholesterol” HDL in the human body, and is also a good source of electrolytes.  It is rich in chlorides, potassium, and magnesium, and has moderate amounts of sugar, sodium, and proteins.

It is also a good source of dietary fiber, manganese, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin C.

According to the journal, as a natural isotonic beverage, coconut water helps prevent dehydration and relieves exhaustion by replenishing natural salts lost by the body.  It is often recommended for people suffering from acidity and ulcers.

The Coconut Cultivation Board had planned to cultivate over 800 acres of land in 2009 afresh and rehabilitate over 1,600 acres of coconut lands.

A promotion campaign would be launched to popularize the drinking of tender coconut water among people to cover the excess coconut production in the future.

LTTE apologists and activists of the Tamil Diaspora have still not given up the Eelam cry.  The newest entity formed, called “Global Tamil Forum” (GTF), branching off from the now banned British Tamil Association (BTA), has now started their campaign for a “Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam” (PTG of TE) by getting the LTTE apologist countries like the UK, USA, Norway, and some EU countries to lobby for their cause for Eelam.

This, in other words, is another attempt and strategy for a separate Tamil State in Sri Lanka.  The latest lobbying in the UK was the addressing of GTF by none other than the British FM David Miliband (DM), Conservative Shadow FC William Hague, and Liberal shadow FC Ed Livey.

Let these Tamil groups, the Western politicians, and British FM (DM) et. al. who ardently support the Tamil cause for a separate State in Sri Lanka know that the present leadership under President Rajapaksa cannot be pressurized or influenced by any means or by any Western politicians.

British FM (DM) and his French counterpart, Kuchner, are still unable to digest the humiliating response they got from President Rajapaksa when both were trying their utmost best to stop the last stages of the war operation in Mulaithivu to save Prabhakran and the LTTE and advise him how to run the country.

It is appalling to see that the Conservative and Liberal Shadow Foreign Secretaries have joined the DM’s bandwagon.  It is obvious that because the General Election is nearing, all these stooges are eyeing 300,000 strong Tamil votes for their survival.

Whatever DM’s and other shadow ministers’ utterances at the GTF whether in support of it or against it is not the question.  Having attended a meeting propagating ‘separatism’ whilst the LTTE is a banned terrorist outfit in the UK alone is unacceptable and appalling, and is an attempt to give currency to a banned terrorist outfit on their soil.

Even though David Miliband et. al. are willing to join hands with the LTTE fronts like GTF, wine and dine with them, and are ready even to sleep with them, Sri Lanka will not bend down to satisfy the remnants of the bloodthirsty group, the LTTE terrorists and its Western political and media lobby.  Let the GTF form a “Provisional Transnational Government for Tamil Eelam” or any form of government in exile; Sri Lanka will not bow down for any external pressures to undermine the sovereignty of the country.

The Tamil Diaspora has been contributing to the LTTE war machine over the past 27 years, but has achieved nothing but a humiliating defeat at the hands of our Sri Lankan forces.  Now the GTF and other affiliated LTTE fronts worldwide may be collecting funds for their next strategy to form a “Transnational Tamil State.”  Yet again, mind my words, the Tamil Diaspora who will support this new strategy financially will be another disastrous investment, and the custodians of such funds will have a carnival with those funds collected.

The leadership under President Rajapaksa has committed to bring sustainable peace by uniting all ethnic groups under a Sri Lankan label, and it’s time that the moderate Tamil Diaspora rethink and act pragmatically without getting trapped to this “PTG of TE “ like the Eelam.  The pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora and its supporters have misled the ordinary Tamils living in Sri Lanka for 27 years and they still want to mislead them with this newest strategy, PTG of TE, for another couple of decades.

“The International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent non-governmental organization based in Brussels – with a branch in Colombo – in its latest report has strongly urged the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora to jettison once and for all the failed Tamil Eelam agenda of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and instead put their energies into the quest for a sustainable and just peace in a united Sri Lanka” (reported by The Hindu).  I hope the 29 page report of the ICS will open the eyes of the still misled Tamil Diaspora.

It is believed that there are around one million Sri Lankan Tamils spread around worldwide.  In family terms, there will be around 250,000 families (say a family of four) who live in affluent countries in luxury with their children being educated in the best of schools.  There are no qualms for that.  But let them think of the poor Tamil children who need help after going through a miserable 27 years under the jackboots of LTTE without a proper education or basic living conditions.

The Tamil Diaspora should not forget that they are also totally responsible for the plight of the poor Tamils.  Suffice to mention here that whatever the facilities, food, and healthcare provided by the successive governments have been robbed by the LTTE to feed their own fighting carders leaving the poor Tamils in the once LTTE controlled areas starving.  At least they are now enjoying three meals a day, education, healthcare, and other basic facilities.  There are hundreds of Tamil children in Sri Lanka, not only in the North and East, but other areas as well, who need extra support for their education.  There are hundreds of children who needs sponsorship from the rich Tamils living overseas.

I am personally aware that the Sinhala Diaspora worldwide are sponsoring around three to four thousand children of the soldiers who lost their lives, were crippled and/or disabled in the war.  Achieving Eelam through a so-called Provisional Transnational Government is a daydream.

The Tamil Diaspora should stop this nonsense of financing the” Transnational Government” and utilize those donations and contributions  to sponsor deserving Tamil children; help them in their education and give them a dignity of life.  The Tamil Diaspora should follow the Sinhala Diaspora to help these deserving poor Tamil children.

Originally published on March 8, 2010 on LankaWeb.

Click here to access the original article.

This petition, in the way of an Open Letter, would not have been necessary had the British Government acted with the political rectitude that it preaches to others and in compliance with the letter and spirit of the UN Charter that your country has undertaken to observe and respect.

We, the people of Sri Lanka, were surprised – nay, dismayed – to find that you, as Prime Minister, not only attended the recent Global Tamil Forum (GTF) held in London in February, but also that your Foreign Secretary addressed that gathering.

There are many people around the world who have come to believe that nothing the British Government does would surprise them.  That is your reputation.  You tried to stop the IMF loan to Sri Lanka and did canvass against GSP Plus.  But the British Government spoke vociferously against sanctions against the Apartheid government of South Africa which practiced a system that openly discriminated against the blacks.  Such has been your international conduct.

Your government invaded Iraq after lying to the British people about weapons of mass destruction.  Even the other day, Mr. Brown, you defended that invasion in violation of UN principles and international law before the Chilcot inquiry.  Your government pretended it would bring peace and democracy to Iraq.

All the world can see what you have brought to the Iraqi people.

We Sri Lankans however still clung onto the belief, much against our better judgment, that those who preach righteousness and humanitarianism must surely have some faith in what they preach, and like charity, would first practice it at home.

Alas, the more the people of Sri Lanka and indeed the world read and hear about the conduct of your government in undermining the high principles that you preach from the political pulpits in London, the more disillusioned they are by your constant homilies to the rest of the world.  Does it take that much intelligence to realize that you are no longer a major power?

Had you and your government set an example by your exemplary conduct in this regard, we would have felt humbled and taken your words with the seriousness that they deserve, though we suspect there is more cynicism in your advocacy than righteousness.

If we were to look only at recent history and the conduct of successive British Governments from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan and Iraq, leave alone your disgusting duplicity in evicting the people of Diego Garcia from their legitimate homes and lying to the United Nation about it, you should well understand the poor opinion that the world outside has of British politics and the deviousness of your foreign policy.

Even your own people have such a low opinion of British politics and politicians, as has been so clearly demonstrated in public opinion polls that it comes as no surprise to us that you should now rub shoulders with terrorists and those who have advocated terrorism.

Your presence in their company is testimony to the bankruptcy of your political agenda and it is such a disgrace that the once great Labour Party that produced memorable politicians that adorned the Mother of Parliaments has been irredeemably reduced to a rag tag of third raters that cannot even win the confidence of the native Britons, and has to crawl on hands and feet to solicit the votes of people who have no allegiance to the UK.

It must surely surprise the average Briton to see the ludicrousness of your stance in attending the GTF inaugural meeting.

What is the ultimate goal of the GTF and the fundamental position it enunciated?  The Tamil forum has as its goal the establishment of a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.  It means the division of Sri Lanka, and therefore the GTF is advocating secession.

By participating in the inaugural meeting, you, Mr. Brown and Mr. Miliband, you have endorsed this program though Mr. Foreign Secretary; you have tried to justify your position by saying that the Eelam is to be achieved by non-violent means.

Two questions arise from this.  Firstly you are supporting a group whose ultimate goal is to divide a sovereign state.  If division is a legitimate political practice, then why is it that your government as well as others suppressed the same aspirations of the Catholic people of Northern Ireland?

You used military force for years to suppress and crush the political aspirations of the people of Northern Ireland killing innocent protestors as you did on what has come to be known as the Bloody Sunday Massacre in June 1972.

Why was the use of military force by you to maintain the integrity of your country – though Northern Ireland is not on the same land mass just like the Falklands – correct and the use of military force by Sri Lanka repugnant to your thinking?

Is it because you failed to defeat the IRA and had to enter into political negotiations to end the conflict, whereas we succeeded in eliminating the LTTE despite all the expert prognostications by your political establishment and security experts?

Is that what is rankling in your minds as you lend support to secessionism which you did not and will not permit in your own country?

The second point is this: If the GTF wishes to push for a separate state in Sri Lanka, one would be fair in assuming that these great advocates of separation will go and live in their Eelam.  Unless, of course, they are of the same hypocritical bent as you!

Is it not strange then that you are shamelessly soliciting the vote of and keeping company with persons who wish to live in their Eelam and have no allegiance to the UK?

What kind of legitimacy do you think your government would have if, in its attempts at survival, it will even seek the votes of those who have no allegiance to your country?

There is little doubt in the minds of most people that in your desperation to return to power, you are seeking the votes of the Tamil community.

So your support for the GTF arises more from your instinct for political survival than any serious belief in the agenda of the GTF.

That only makes your conduct and actions in recent years against the Sri Lanka Government doubly hypocritical.

In your address to the GTF, you said that whenever a British minister proposes an inclusive political process as a solution to the Sri Lankan minority question they are accused of “trying to tell Sri Lanka how to govern or run its own affairs.”

“I want to refute that very, very clearly, because the shape of any future political settlement is for the Sri Lankan people… It is for them to determine.”

Seriously do you think we want a lesson on this from you – we, who know how Britain was aware of the CIA torturing a British national held as a terrorist suspect?  Do you think we are not aware, Mr. Miliband, of your retaining counsel to try and censor court papers so that the public will not know of your complicity and how you suffered a humiliating defeat when the court rejected your attempts?

People who have been complicit in violating the one article in international human law that is absolute – the freedom from torture – would be better advised to keep their own counsel.

Originally published on March 9, 2010 on Asian Tribune.

Click here to access the original article.

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General of the United Nations
New York, US

Dear Secretary General:

The word that has hit the print media is that you had announced your intention to appoint a panel of experts to advise the UN chief (you) on accountability issues related to Sri Lanka.

Um .. You know what, Ban?  The pressures from the Western nations to bring Sri Lanka, that puny little island stuck somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean that defied calls from the US, Britain, Norway, France, and the European Union to declare a “ceasefire” at the latter stages of the Eelam War so that they could rescue the Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran and his Tamil Tiger leaders and whisk them to safety, is what has smacked them like their parents pulling their pants down and smacking their bare bums for playing stupid until their bottoms turn red.  That is what the problem is Ban, didn’t you figure that one out?  I am surprised.  I thought you were smart!

It looks like your blood sugar count often gets pretty low with such Western nations’ pressures that you need a shot of insulin to clear your mind so that you could think properly.  Having wiped out the Tamil Tiger terrorist menace after 30 years, President Rajapaksa doesn’t need to be taught a regressive Moon-walk by you that goes backwards.  He is pushing the island progressively forward without the help of the West and that is the direction that he will be walking.

Let’s get this one right, Ban.  If the President is accountable to anyone, it is to his masses who had voted him into office to look after their business and them, and not to a man who calls himself the Secretary General of the United Nations who is pulling puppet strings sitting in an air-conditioned office somewhere in a high rise tower in New York.  And it was absolutely right for the President to tell you in a simple understandable language that such a stupid move by you was “totally uncalled for and unwarranted.”

Ban, I was in stitches when I read that you want to “appoint a panel of experts to advise you.”  What experts, Ban?  Did you know that there is a conspiracy within the UN to make you look a rookie on the job when you are advised to appoint certain questionable “experts” to deal with Sri Lanka?

Here is a couple from your galaxy of “experts.”  Navinathen Pillay, a South African Tamil, who is your United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has acted like a woman scorned by her lover.

She has refused to accept the decision by 29 nations of the UN Human Rights Council which represented 4 billion people against hauling the Sri Lankan Government in front of the International War Crimes Court for the alleged Human Rights violations during the last phase of the Tamil separatist war, while only 12 western nations representing 0.5 billion people voted for it.  She obviously acts like a “white man’s darling” still stalking Sri Lanka to bring her to the International War Crime Court.  Such arrogance is debilitating your command of the UN and showing you up as a weak CEO.  This is not good, Ban.  Be ruthless and kick her out.

Then you got this strange Professor Philip Alston, the Australian who is the UN’s Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.  He has performed like an absurd-minded, illogical professorial academic, who has difficulty comprehending between good analytical research and bad analytical research when it came to dealing with the Channel 4 video clip.  He has embarrassed all of us.  Kick out this ‘expert,’ Ban.  He is part of the conspiracy to make you look like a weak CEO.

The bottom line is that you are locking horns with Sri Lanka to satisfy the Western nations and Sri Lanka will take you on.  This is a proud nation with a proud and honest people, and what you do not want to do is interfere by investigating her internal affairs, which will compel the President to tell you to go home and jump into River Nakdong.

These are the people, who when the world  was sympathetic to the Tamil Tiger terrorists, including your people, were crying out  loud last March, April, and May saying that the Sri Lankan Government was committing “genocide” against the Tamils.  The Sri Lankan Government was preparing one million meals a day to feed 300,0000 Tamils  thrice a day, whom they rescued from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers who held them as a human shield.  By then, they had been herded  like cattle for almost two years bringing them from the West in Mannar to the East into Mullaitivu. That is a reality check for you, Ban.

That is how caring these proud Sri Lankans are.  It didn’t matter to them that these rescued 300,000 were Tamils.  They were all Sri Lankan brothers and sisters to the Sinhalese majority.  Feeding 300,000 Tamils three meals a day with a million meals was not easy, but they did it, when in places like Canada, thousands of poor kids go to school with an empty stomach, without breakfast.   That is a reality check for you, Ban, and stop trying to penalize this good and caring people for what comes naturally to them.

When Great Britain took almost 15 years to resettle their people in repaired and new houses who went homeless after World War II which lasted six years, it was asinine for them and you to expect Sri Lanka that came through a devastating 27-year war to resettle 300,000 Tamils whom they rescued within two months.  Yet, Sri Lanka has produced humanitarian miracles to resettle 220,000 Tamils within nine months in their own homes, having cleared the terrain of millions of landmines which were pocked like fields of mushrooms.  So stop being so uppity, Ban, trying to undermine this little island which is recovering well without the help from the West after a devastating separatist war with the most ruthless Tamil terrorists in the world.

So why all this silliness, Ban?  Why this nonsense wanting to appoint a panel of “experts” to advise you on accountability related to Sri Lanka?  President Mahinda Rajapaksa doesn’t have to be accountable to you, Ban, and you know it.

Just a note of caution, Ban.  Be careful not push your luck, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa might tell you to go and fly a kite from the window of your high towered office unless you  learn to respect the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of his sovereign country.  He is in no mood to entertain such arrogance from you or anyone else from the West – the Milibands, the Browns, the Clintons, the Blakes, the Kouchners, the Pillays, you name it.

Sincerely

Asoka Weerasinghe

Originally published on March 8, 2010 on LankaWeb.

Click here to access the original article.

The recent article by Peter Arndt on Sri Lanka is just another attempt by some ignorant Australian playing God just because he works for the Catholic Justice Commission.  It is strange to hear a Australian talking about human rights.  One has to only look to the Australian aborigines to see what human rights they have.  It seems to me many Australians, including the Catholic church here, believe they are not human and therefore have no human rights.

Before commenting on Sri Lanka and suggesting the Australian government should work with the other Western governments to impose trade sanctions against Sri Lanka, Peter Arndt should look into his own backyard and campaign against the Catholic church to work for human the rights for the aborigines.

Every Sri Lankan – Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, or other minorities suffered in many ways for over twenty years because of the LTTE scum, and the Sri Lankan government should make no apologies for wiping them out.  There may have been some human right abuses in achieving this outcome, but never forget that the army lost over six thousand men during the last few days by trying to save as many civilians as possible.

Tamils in Sri Lanka enjoy all the benefits as the other Sri Lankans do, definitely much more than the rural Sinhalese.  Can Peter say the same about the aborigines in Australia?  Tamils are only about 18% of the Sri Lankan population, but they are about 40% of the professionals like the engineers, doctors, teachers, etc.  There over twenty Tamils in the Sri Lankan parliament.  What is the literacy rate among the aborigines in Australia?  How many aborigines are in the parliament in Australia?  Peter should think and read about Sri Lanka before he talks.  He talks like any other on the Tamil diaspora payroll like Hilary Clinton, BBC, ABC, and UN organizations.

I’m am a Catholic and often ashamed to call myself a Catholic as it is obvious the Catholic Church in Australia is only interested in making money.  Perhaps the Peace Commission got a big donation from one of the LTTE fronts.  The Church is building more and more churches and schools in well to do communities so that it can make more money.  But what is the Catholic Church doing in those poor aborigine communities?  I bet not much, as it is bad for business.

Originally published on March 8, 2010 on LankaWeb.

Click here to access the original article.

Investigations into the January 2009 slaying of Lasantha Wickrematunga, chief editor of the anti-establishment Sunday Leader, had led them to military personnel, said police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody.

Sri Lanka’s opposition and rights groups had blamed the government for the killing of Wickrematunga, a staunch critic of the military campaign that eventually led to the crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has denied that his administration was behind the murder, which was condemned by the US, the United Nations, the European Union, and both local and international rights groups.

The privately run Sinhala-language Divaina newspaper said the head of the military intelligence unit, a major general, was already in police custody and was being questioned.

The military declined comment.

Wickrematunga was last month named one of the 60 World Press Freedom Heroes by the Austria-based International Press Institute (IPI).

The IPI said 17 journalists were killed in Sri Lanka because of their work over the last decade.  Two were killed in 2009.  No one has been brought to justice in connection with any of the killings.

Originally published on March 2, 2010 through AFP.

Click here to access the original article.

A few days after the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, addressed the World Tamil Forum in London and the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, talked to the same Forum delegates, on Friday March 5th, the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, telephoned Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapaksa to tell him that he intends to appoint an expert committee to “advise him on and/or probe the alleged war crimes” committed ostensibly by all parties at the last stages of the Eelam war to “ensure accountability on the part of Sri Lanka on human rights.”

The connection between Sri Lanka’s former colonial master, the British Government, and the UN pressure on Sri Lanka became more obvious when “a British High Commission official told The Sunday Island [7 March 2010] that Britain consistently supported the UN Secretary General’s call for an “accountability process.”  It appears that the present move to probe war crimes is primarily a demand by the World Tamil Forum.  It was a major facet discussed at the Forum in London as reported by The Times (24 February 2010).

Accountability

The claim for the so-called ‘accountability process’ is something that the UN and other anti-Sri Lankan forces have been twisting and turning overtime with the connivance of certain local personalities to suit their political agendas since the defeat of LTTE terrorism decisively from Sri Lankan soil in May 2009.  The retired Army General and defeated presidential candidate, Sarath Fonseka, has been the key personality provoking ‘war crime charges’ against the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces to suit a personal ambition for political power quite contrary to what he stood for against the LTTE during the Eelam War IV.

There are certain accountability processes on human rights that Sri Lanka has formerly agreed upon by virtue of its sovereign rights as a member state of the UN, and those are the various treaty bodies in addition to its obligations under the UN Charter.  While there are around seven key treaty bodies that Sri Lanka regularly report on various substantive aspects of human rights, the country also actively participates in at least at three key Charter Based Bodies, the Human Rights Council now in session being the most key among them.

Sri Lanka, or any other ‘third world’ country, should not allow the UN or any other such body to investigate human rights situations in its own country for the simple reason that it is an obvious abdication of its sovereign rights.  If this principle was not so clear in the past, believing that the UN has always been working on good faith for the interests of all countries on an equal and a fair basis, the experiences since the 1990s has proven that our assumptions were utterly wrong and the UN is mostly working on the interests of the big bullies in the world arena.

The UN has no unilateral legal mandate whatsoever to intervene in domestic affairs of a country unless there is a great threat to international peace and security as a result of that particular domestic situation.  Yet, a decision has to be taken by the UN Security Council.  This is what appears in Chapter VII of the UN Charter.  If such a domestic situation arises, then it would wholly mean the complete breakdown of state affairs, not to speak of sovereignty.  Therefore, the question of abdication of sovereignty does not arise.

Even under those circumstances, the UN interventions have not proven very successful (i.e. Angola, Mozambique, or Somalia) because of the vested interests of those countries that mostly engineer such interventions completely in contradiction to the national interests of the respective countries.  The most reliable would be the assistance from friendly neighboring countries perhaps with some sort of mandate from the UN.  After all, the UN is still the only international umbrella organization that exists today in the name of peace and security, and this ‘some sort of mandate’ would be necessary and desirable on that score and only on that score.  There is nothing wrong, on the other hand, if the UN intervenes completely on the request of the country concerned, like what happened in Cambodia in 1991; yet the results or forces behind would be utterly dubious.

Sri Lankan Case

The case of Sri Lanka has been completely different.  While the UN should have unconditionally supported Sri Lanka in its struggle against terrorism as a great threat to human rights and also peace and development in the country, the UN role particularly at the Secretariat level and its agencies, including the Colombo Office, has always been dubious from being lukewarm on terrorism to aiding and abetting the LTTE organization in various ways and means quite detrimental to the sovereignty of the country.  This is why there is a strong opposition to Ban Ki Moon’s proposition at present.

The above behavior of the UN agencies in Sri Lanka has had no mandate whatsoever from the Charter or any other instrument of the UN, except that the organization happened to be completely or largely infiltrated by the anti-third world elements, INGO supporters and the so-called human rights careerists who do not seem to have an iota of realism on how human rights could be promoted and protected in countries in conflict or transition.

As President Mahinda Rajapaksa has correctly pointed out “it was both unprecedented and unwarranted as no such action had been taken about other states with continuing armed conflicts on a large scale, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians due to military action.”

This is where the hypocrisy and double standards of the UN proposition to appoint a panel of experts on Sri Lanka lies.  Ban Ki Moon has been completely silent on Iraq and Afghanistan where thousands of civilians are being killed by military action by foreign forces; quite contrary to the very spirit of the UN Charter.

In the case of Sri Lanka, if the UN had been cooperative with the government during the ‘humanitarian war against terrorism,’ without speaking and standing on behalf of the LTTE, obviously many more civilian lives would have been saved.  The UN, or its Office in Colombo, unfortunately did not behave in that manner for several reasons.

Apart from being prejudicial on ethnic and human rights issues in what they term as the ‘third world countries,’ the UN officials have been extremely influenced by the LTTE Diaspora.  It is completely incorrect to call them the Tamil Diaspora.  These prejudices and pressures also coincided with their own self-interests of being human rights troubleshooters who earn their dollars without even proper academic qualifications.  It is an undeniable fact that the UN officialdom is dominated by the Westerners.  If the UN is a world organization, this should not be the case.

UN Culpability

There is so much of circumstantial evidence to reveal that the UN officials who were particularly working in Sri Lanka were aiding and abating the LTTE terrorists.  This is something that the government of Sri Lanka should investigate with or without the cooperation of the UN Secretary General.  Some of the broad indicators are the following.

• When the Sri Lankan armed forces were closing in on the LTTE in early 2009, the UN officials were largely responsible for advising the Tamil civilians to move towards Mullativu where the LTTE could take them as human shields.

• When the government of Sri Lanka declared a call for surrender in April 2009, the UN officials refused to support the government call virtually indicating to the LTTE to continue to fight.

• The UN officials in Colombo not only blatantly exaggerated the casualty figures, but also leaked them to various dubious organizations strengthening the LTTE propaganda machine.  They hardly corroborated with the government on the issue.

• The UN, from top to bottom, tried its best to pressure the government of Sri Lanka to stop the final military action against the LTTE in May 2009 as a last ditch effort to save at least the top LTTE leaders.

It is my concerned opinion that the UN is trying to investigate the so-called war crimes as a result of its failure to save the LTTE from military extinction.  If this is not the case, the UN should prove it, and prove it by cooperating with the government against the remaining remnants of terrorism.  Any investigation by the UN will undoubtedly resurrect the LTTE both politically and militarily as the move towards such an investigation has already given some life to the LTTE Diaspora.

What happened during the last days of the war is ‘essentially within the domestic jurisdiction’ (to use the UN jargon), and outsiders have no business whatsoever in investigating or intervening on the matter.  Of course Sri Lanka could have a friendly dialogue with the UN or any other if the intentions are proven to be honorable.  So far, UN intentions do not seem to be that honorable and Sri Lanka is completely justified in categorically rejecting such a move.

The countries in our part of the world (to mean Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and East European) should not succumb to the unjustifiable UN pressures whether on human rights or conflict issues.  It appears that the UN seems to be the greatest abuser of human rights by distorting the issues and misusing them for others’ vested interests.

The mandate that the UN has is conditional.  It has no mandate to violate the sovereignty of nations.  The progressive world should expose the current duplicity, hypocrisy, and double standards of the UN.  It is the officialdom that controls the UN at present.  What we should look forward to is a reformed UN and not the one that serves the interests of dubious forces.

Originally published on March 8, 2010 on Asian Tribune.

Click here to access the original article.

However, the CID told court that the suspect had fled the country soon after the arrest of Danuna Thilakarathne’s mother and so the support of Interpol will be sought in order to arrest him.

According to the CID, the money had been transported from Fonseka’s office to the private bank in a Land Rover Defender.  The suspect, Don Sanjeew Kumara, is believed to have fled the country after the arrest of Fonseka’s son-in-law Danuna Thilakarathne’s mother on February 17.

Originally published on March 6, 2010 on Ada Derana News.

Click here to access the original article.

From the day our current President became the President of my motherland, you guys have been harassing our government and the people in various forms.  WHY?  There should be a reason, and that reason, I cannot understand.

President Bush said many times that any country which harbors and supports terrorists or terrorism were guilty as the terrorists.  We never supported any terrorism in any form anywhere in the world, and faced terrorism for more than thirty years in our lives.  We can thank our President and our war heroes for freeing our motherland from terror.

So now you three idiots, what else do you want from us?  After eliminating the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world, you should be thankful and proud of our President and our war heroes.  Instead, you guys are still harassing us.  WHY?  You don’t harass a person or persons without a valid reason.  Either you are paid by someone to do it, or you are jealous or wicked as my Motherland celebrates the freedom.

You three tell me, have your governments won a war anywhere in the world?  You guys know only how to kill innocent people around the world and say “SORRY.”  How many were killed in World War II in Hiroshima, Japan?  Did anyone talk about human rights at that time?  How about the Korean War and Vietnam War?  Did you win those wars?  And how many were killed?  Did your leaders or governments face any war crime courts?  Why do you idiots want our leaders to face war crime charges?

You should be fair to all as you are the sole super power in the world.  Mr. Blake, your government should be an example as a free democratic country to other countries around the world; instead you guys are bullying and harassing every small country who dosen’t approve of your dirty habits.  The other two guys never mind because they are always your puppies and bark according to your tunes.

You, Mr. Blake, weren’t you were in my country for sometime as the Ambassador to your government?  And I think you know very well about our country, culture, and the habits of our people, and I think we were very kind and helpful to you, yet you were wicked and unkind to us and want to harass our country for unknown reason to us.

We are very kind, freedom-loving people.  If someone harasses us unnecessarily, we get worked up; otherwise we are very peaceful people who live with all the other races together as one family, until terrorism started all mayhem in our beloved Motherland.  After leaving my country, you sided with the Tamil Diaspora and tried to harass my country and put blame on our government for the way we handled the war.  From there onwards, you were giving statements criticizing our Government and the President unnecessarily.

I think you were paid to do say these kind of unjust statements about our Motherland by the enemies of our land.  Miliband too followed you like always after Solheim did for so many years while his Godfather was living like a king in his underground hideout in the jungles of Wanni.

You guys are a shameless  bunch of hypocrites.  Your Tamil Diaspora or any other living or dead individual or individuals, or any government in the world will not be allowed or cannot take our new born freedom from us as long as we Sinhalese live in my Motherland.  We are not cowards like you guys; we fight for the truth and we will always prevail.

Solheim and his Norway government tried all their tricks to divide our land with the help of Tamil terrorists, and to steal our rich resources as they wished, and they failed miserably, and now they are witch-hunting in our government and our people to take revenge, and are planning to create another monster like the previous.  Our government and the citizens alike should be alert all the time if we are to save our country.  We don’t know from which side these enemies of our land of birth will strike again, but we are ready for them at any time.

When China, Russia, and other friendly countries appreciate our war victory and our progress, these Western evil empires want to harass us without a valid reason just because our President doesn’t say YES\NO to everything they say like our Opposition leader and the puppet of the white masters, Mr. Ranil, the joker.  Solheim acted like he was the President of Sri Lanka when Ranil the joker was Prime Minister.  He traveled in the country in helicopters, and dined and danced with the most brutal killer in our history, Velupillai Prabakaran, and was paid by him in millions.

These stooges came and went as they liked, and their main aim was to make a separate land for those enemies of our Sinhala land.  They thought our country was like Kosovo or East Timor.  Now Blake’s people are taking our citizens to East Timor on a study tour to learn how to live and govern.  What do they think of us, these idiots?  Is east Timor or Kosovo or any other small countrie around us better than us?

They have many things to learn from us, not us learning from them.  Our country is a gem of a country with rich culture and places, and is a more decent and prosperous country than any of them.  We are better than India, Pakistan, Nepal, etc.  We can say this now after we’ve gotten rid of Solheim, Prabakaran, Miliband, and so many like them. We don’t need to learn anything from these poor countries.

We have a rich history and culture better than most of the countries around us, and we have more learned people in my country who have been recognized by the international community and the world.  So Blake, Miliband, and Solheim – don’t come to teach us anything of your bad habits.  Just mind your own business and stay away from our paradise island of Sri Lanka, my Motherland.

Miliband, lecturing in Tamil diaspora gatherings and advising us how to govern and how to treat others, is unacceptable to anyone in my country.  Before you do that, Mr. Miliband, you tell those terrorists to forget about a separate land and support our country as citizens of my Motherland to build a new nation which we all can live in together irrespective of politics, race, religion as one nation.  You and all those powerful Western people in the likes of Blake, the Clintons, the Pillays, etc., give daily lectures to us in world forums not worth a damn to us because we don’t listen or take advice from such individuals who are trying daily to bring a bad name to our country and to our leaders in front of the world.

You should remember that we have a Sinhala President who loves our Motherland and who loves our people not like those past leaders who were traitors to my homeland by doing things through their white masters’ instructions and payments.  Everyone saw how you wicked Western powers tried to mould another Prabakaran in disguise in Sarath Fonseka to take over power in my country a few days back.

The Western evil empires paid him in millions and he betrayed the land and the leaders who made him a General.  How can a man, who said in his election campaign that he was a poor guy with only few rupees in his bank account, have millions in his bank lockers safely hidden with the help of his Ali Baba family (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves).

These was all plans of this dirty bunch of hypocrites from the Western world.  Our President and the citizens alike should always keep their eyes open to safeguard our Motherland from these vultures.  Nowhere in the world has a country done so much to IDP’s after a war such as that which was in my country.  In one year’s time, our leaders have given them everything denied to them for thirty bloody years.

You Western vultures come and see for yourself with your own eyes what is happening in my country and how our citizens live as decent people.  Don’t think we are Darfur or Afghanistan or Baluchistan.  We are a country with proud and happy people, and we wont allow anyone on this earth to sabotage our forward march.  Before you guys lecture us, go and finish the unpopular wars which were created by you in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

How many innocent lives were taken by your guns daily and how many displaced peoples are there in those countries?  Where’s the human rights for you guys?  Did you catch Bin Laden or Al Sawari yet?  No, because you want to sell your war materials to those countries and try your new weapons shooting down poor civilians.  How many innocents are killed daily, and no one questions that because you are the superpower, King, and Lord?  How many years have passed since Katrina in New Orleans – have you given shelter for those in need?  So why do you worry so much about our IDP’s?  Worry about your own citizens before you worry about others.

Do not create problems for small countries like us because we are small.  We too have a rich history better than yours and we live according to our rules and regulations in our constitution; therefore you guys mind your own business and keep away from our beautiful land forever.

We know that every word you utter from your mouth was paid in millions by someone or some organization.  That’s how you guys do business, but don’t unnecessarily give a hard time to small countries who are trying to live in peace and harmony, and are progressing in every field to uplift the standard of living for their citizens.  Neither our leaders or the citizens will not bow down to unfair criticism from any superpower or any individual, but like to live as free citizens of the free world.

We listen only to our great President, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, who liberated our land from the clutches of terrorism, and who now takes our beautiful country forward to the 21st century.  You Western puppets come and take advice from him rather than complaining or criticizing our Motherland.

You three stooges and all traitors to our Motherland – hands off SRI LANKA, my homeland.

Originally published on March 5, 2010 on LankaWeb.

Click here to access the original article.

WHY IS US EMBASSY (USAID) BUTTING IN TO TAMIL LAND OWNERSHIP ISSUES?

Rebecca Cohn and Ambassador Butenis, why is the US Embassy (USAID) involved in Tamil land ownership issues?

What business has the US in Sri Lanka’s land issues?   And why is the Sri Lanka government allowing the US to interfere in the internal affairs of our country?  Isn’t Sri Lanka a sovereign nation?

THE US IS NOT SURE ABOUT OUR AUTHORITY AND ABILITY TO SOLVE LAND ISSUES  –  “occupation of land by non-original owners”

The US embassy says, “This study tour will focus on land tenure issues in a post-conflict environment and highlight issues of ownership security and occupation of land by non-original owners.”

Is this not the signal to claim that the Sinhalese in the East and North are ‘non-original owners’ of a Tamil homeland?  Further, there is little doubt the LTTE “land registry” in Killinochchi printed their own land deeds out of Crown Land and lands they drove out the Sinhalese and Muslims from.

Calling it “aid” (USAID), the US is interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka; they are trying to subvert the authority of Sri Lanka government.  If this is not interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation, what is?

The legitimate government of a sovereign nation should not look on and let a foreign government subvert/undermine its authority.

This is not “aid;” we think this is “subversion.”  Doesn’t Sri Lanka have a functioning legal system to solve land disputes?  Is this not an attempt by the American embassy to create the impression that we don’t have the wherewithal to govern ourselves?  In other words, they are implying that we are like their “Western Puppet” planted in East Timor.

What business has the US embassy to go to solve Tamil land ownership issues bypassing the Sri Lanka government?  Sri Lanka is not the Panama Canal Zone.

THE U.S. EMBASSY IS BYPASSING THE SRI LANKA GOVERNMENT IN DEALING WITH EX-REBELS

We submitted to Lankaweb, “Smells Like Norway Trojan Horse – US Embassy to Rehabilitate Former Rebels” on October 30, 2009, where we highlighted how the US embassy is “fishing in troubled waters.”  There, bypassing the Sri Lanka government, the US embassy (USAID) was (is) directly re-training/rehabilitating ex-LTTE terrorists.  There, the Embassy statement said the former “rebel” Pillaiyan too was rehabilitated by this USAID program.  The US Embassy in Colombo, in a press release, said, “The Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan [former LTTE commander], alias Pillaiyan, has already participated in an event in Batticaloa.”

We wrote, “…now comes another US aid project directly to the East, bypassing the government of Sri Lanka …”

Click here to read the referenced article.

AID THAT BYPASSED THE GOVERNMENT

Sri Lanka must not forget what happened to the “aid that bypassed the government.”  We now know what happened to all that “aid,” including some of the “tsunami aid,” and the “Wickremasinghe/Prabakaran aid,” that bypassed the government’s oversight.  Most Western governments and international aid agencies now demand that their aid be distributed through Western-paid NGOs and agents, bypassing the legitimate democratically elected government of Sri Lanka.  We now know where the “aid” ended up!

Judging from the massive hauls of arms and other enormous machinery that are being discovered daily, even now, it is inconceivable that these international agencies and those foreign embassies – through whose agents they funneled their “aid” – did not know where their “aid” was going.

Therefore, now Sri Lanka must ensure that this project, USAID, and others like it, coming from some foreign governments and aid agencies are not more of those “Trojan Horses” by other “Peace Facilitators” and “Good Samaritans.”

As we said then: Paranoid, Cynic?

Yes – given the Sri Lanka assault by the American Ambassador Robert Blake and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – and given the pair’s close association with the likes of financier Raj Rajaratnam and lobbyist/ lawyer Visuvanadan Rudrakumaran!

Not to forget, General Fonseka’s campaign funds – half million (or more) US dollar bills!

Originally published on March 3, 2010 on LankaWeb.

Click here to access the original article.