Category Archives: sri lankan society

Buddhist Extremists in Sri Lanka and Burma on the Warpath

Latheef Farook, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 11 October 2014, where the title is “BBS – Wirathu Agreement: Declaration Of War On Muslims In Sri Lanka And South Asia”

Anti Muslim Sinhala racist outfit Bodu Bala Sena(BBS), which does not represent the mainstream Sinhala Buddhists, but had done considerable damage to pit Sinhalese against Muslims in the name of Sinhalese and Buddhism, together with Myanmar’s convicted criminal Ashin Wirathu, have declared war on Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka and in South Asia. As part of this program the two sides, BBS and 969, also signed a special agreement aimed at creating South Asia free of what they described as (Islamic) terrorism and religious fundamentalism.

bhikkhus listen to Wirathuv-AFP Bhikkhus listen to Wirathu at Sugathadasa stadium, Colombo — Pic AFP

Addressing the Sangha Council meeting, organized with pomp and pageantry by the BBS costing millions of rupees on Sunday 28 September 2014 at the Sugathadasa Stadium, Ashin Wirathu, the dreaded leader of the 969 movement, the architect of the massacre of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims and described by TIME magazine as the “face of the Buddhist terror” told, that his organization 969 would work with the BBS to fight so called Islamic terrorism. Continue reading

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Reconciliation via Cricket: Murali Harmony Cup 2014 sprouts more buds

SEE http://cricketique.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/murali-harmony-cup-2014-sprouts-more-buds/

ALSO SEE http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/current/series/680743.html

Sanga rules the north……As Sri Lanka recovers from a devastating civil war, Kumar Sangakkara does his bit to help with reconciliation in the LTTE’s former stronghold

Botham, Jayawardene open Murali Cup……Ian Botham and Mahela Jayawardene opened the 2013 Murali Cup in Kilinochchi on Friday, as the five-day tournament began in five venues across Sri Lanka’s northern province

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Saving Talaivar Prabhākaran, 2009: Fr. Gaspar Raj’s Revelations in 2010

Saving private ryan The title for this item is inspired by that riveting film from 1998 entitled Saving Private Ryan with Tom Hanks in the lead role.

 KEY QUOTATION: “It is said that the LTTE was agreeable to USA’s direct involvement, but they were not agreeable to locking the weapons. The USA had also started preparing for the Mullivaikal operation. Accordingly, PACOM’s Naval unit, Marine Expediency Brigade, will land at the Mullaithivu shores; and the Navy and the Air Force of PACOM will also join in this operation” … being just one stick of dynamite in “Mullivaikal Last Stages: Facts Unknown to the Tamil-Speaking World,” by Fr. Gaspar Raj, an essay in Tamil translated by one “ M N” for Nakeeran and then presented to the world by Sri Lanka Guardian on 23rd June 2010.

 Jegath Fr. Gaspar Raj prabha-tiger Talaivar Pirapāharan in his guerrilla days

This essay was re-discovered by accident when I went through my computer files recently and becomes extremely important in the light of (A) the recent review article by Daya Gamage; (B) the startling facts and manoeuvres that are displayed in the raw within the US Embassy despatches of 2009 made available by Wikileaks;[1] and (C) by the veteran journalist[2] PK Balachandran’s information on Revd. Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj’s role in 2009 and his endorsement of key facts in the Gaspar Raj essay…….inserted here at the end of the article by Gaspar Raj.[3] Michael Roberts.

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Absorbing Lanka’s Variety by Rail

Anthony Dennis whose original title reads “Sri Lanka’s charmingly colonial era railway”

A journey on one of the most charming railway systems in the world reinforces the maxim that all great travel involves a modicum of discomfort. At Colombo’s Fort Station, the trapped tropical humidity inside the building’s interior, a tangle of silver-coated wrought and corrugated iron straight out of the early 20th-century British colonial era, is intense. I feel like a chicken inside a pressure cooker, and probably look like one, as I await my train for the two-and-a-half-hour ride to Kandy.

RAIL Lanka 1 I’m at the beginning of a 10-day journey around Sri Lanka. Such is the antiquated nature of the Sri Lankan railway network that here, in my perspired state, I wouldn’t be surprised if a locomotive, spewing steam and nostalgia, drew into the platform. Soon enough my train, pulled by a diesel loco, arrives and I identify the carriage – the last –with the words “Observation Saloon” written on it. Continue reading

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Ian Botham bats for Sri Lanka … and walks too

Ian Botham: “Hit for six by spectacular Sri Lanka …” at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2787839/Ian-Botham-reveals-Sri-Lanka-perfect-holiday-destination.html

BOTHAMS --REX PICS My initial impression of Sri Lanka? Hot. I first visited in 1982 – when England played their first test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Then we went and played in Kandy, in the central province, and it has become one of my favourite places in the whole country. It’s home to the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa), and is the most important spot for Sri Lanka’s Buddhist community.

The whole town is steeped in history. It’s always been one of the country’s major trading places, and there are beautiful temples and tea plantations. It must be part of your itinerary. A family favourite: Ian Botham has spent time with his grandchildren in Sri Lanka – and has long found Kandy (right), where the Temple of the Tooth Relic is an important Buddhist landmark – to be one of its greatest cities Continue reading

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Boom Time in Lanka? Three Good Signs

ONE; Financial Times of UK …”Lanka next Asian Tiger”

GDP surged 175 percent to $ 67 b. Sri Lanka’s first US dollar-denominated mutual fund [was] launched [and] Sri Lanka is gearing itself to be Asia’s next tiger, only five years after ending the three decades long separatist war with economic reforms fuelling astounding growth, the prestigious Financial Times published in the UK stated.

Lanka as Tiger

Since 2009, when the war ended the country’s Gross Domestic Product has surged 175 per cent, to $67bn, and is projected to top $76 bn this year. Real GDP, adjusted for price changes, is up by two-thirds over the period, to 6.7 per cent, and is projected to remain in that range for the medium term. Continue reading

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Devanesan Nesiah’s Reflections on Tamil Circumstances via Jayaweera and the Scottish Referendum

Nesiah ONE: Reviewing Neville Jayaweera’s Book on Jaffna, viz., Exorcising the Past and Holding the Vision

NEVILLE Jayaweera

When I was asked by Marshall Fernando whether I would review the above, I readily agreed. Neville was several years senior to me in the Ceylon Civil Service. He also served as the Government Agent (GA) Jaffna but 18 years before my turn. I know him well and have some familiarity with his career till he left the Island prematurely. Further, during his three months as GA Badulla, I was his deputy. He is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished of many eminent members of the Ceylon Civil Services. His tenure in Jaffna was particularly well appreciated, even by many who were deeply distrustful of him when he first arrived in there. Continue reading

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Yaal Devi: Euphoria, Lampoon and Caveat as Trains to Jaffna run again

MR in YAAAL   “Jaffna, here I come’  President greeting the people of Jaffna”

02- r'way to jaffna

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Gunasekera vs SBS: Mahinda from Canada places Corlett’s Dateline Video and SMH Report in Context

ITEM ONE. David Corlett: “The Nightmare of Returning to Sri Lanka,” 10 September 2014 

 TORTURE BACK SMH Tamil asylum seeker shows his wounds from being tortured.

The Abbott government has all but claimed victory in stopping asylum seeker boats. Offshore processing and turning around boats at sea have been important elements in achieving this goal. Also important has been its efforts at returning asylum seekers, especially Sri Lankans. Continue reading

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Torture ‘Clinics’ in UK as Pathway to Asylum?

Exposure of Nandani’s Act in BBC Documentary hosted by Frances Harrison in 2013

This exposure is the work of an anonymous hand/or set of hands just as some of the reportage and footage in the BBC documentary is pseudonymous. Readers should first absorb the BBC video located at the end of this stunning news item after skimming through the item itself; then perhaps re-read the details in this report. ALSO SEE http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-24849699

WITNESS’S ACCOUNTS ON SRI LANKA ASYLUM SEEKERS By Dead and Missing Person’s Parents Front  …. http://www.eyesrilanka.com/2014/10/07/witnesss-accounts-on-sri-lanka-asylum-seekers/

Nandini_5NANDANI ‘RAPE’ STORY WINS HER ASYLUM IN UK

Sri Lanka’s Unfinished War, a BBC Documentary presented by Frances Harrison, fulfilled every criteria of an attention-grabbing piece of fiction. Unfortunately, the story that emerges is very much a piece of fiction as evidence will expose not only the story of Nandani but a  dangerous racket taking place in the UK manipulating the innocent  asylum seekers to live in Western nations. The version we present is no fiction but it will alarm and shock readers making them wonder if such actions can take place in the UK under the eyes of democracy, rule of law and equal justice. It will establish a link that would require British authorities arrest the evil minds involved in the asylum racket making money out of a desire to want to live in a First World Nation. We do not blame Nandani. There are thousands of females like Nandani who have fallen prey to the advice given simply because they either want to join their husbands or to just tell their family back home that they are earning dollars and pounds. Continue reading

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