April 5, 2011 · 4:48 am

Power-sharing vital: Personal exhortations insufficient for multi-ethnic victory

Jehan Perera, in the Island, 5 April 2011

 Pic from Island, 5 April 2011

Sri Lanka’s loss to India in the finals of the World Cup cricket tournament in Mumbai was a big disappointment to the country’s cricket fans that would comprise the vast majority of its population.  But it was not unexpected, even as victory was hoped for as within reach.  India’s cricket team is known to be strong and it has a population that is more than 50 times larger than Sri Lanka’s from which to draw its talent.  The Sri Lankan team also fought to the end to make it a thrilling contest worthy of a world final. The crowds that thronged Galle Face Green to witness the action in Mumbai on giant screens in the public park streamed to their homes dejected at its conclusion.

Pic from Sunday Observer, 3 April 2011

The disappointment would have been much greater to the members of the Sri Lankan cricket team who had done so well to come to the final of the World Cup tournament. They overcame other great cricket playing nations on the way, but the challenge in India was just too much.  The cricket pitch and the roaring crowd in Mumbai favoured the Indian hosts. But the Sri Lankan team had their country’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the stands cheering them all the way.  The President knew where the heart of his nation was and was there with them. Continue reading →

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April 3, 2011 · 6:05 pm

Jaffna Music Festival enthralls audiences

Thulasi Muttlingam, in Sunday Observer, 3 April 2011

Jaffna afforded an opportunity for artistes to come on a common platform and showcase their talents and abilities. The much anticipated and spirited Jaffna Music Festival (JMF) has concluded. It was an exhilarating three nights filled with diverse forms of folk music and dance and artistes participated in workshops for three days.

 

This was a meeting of Northern, Southern, Eastern and Hill Country Artistes in one setting for the first time – their joy at being able to mingle with others and exchange notes for the first time in their lives. The happiness of the elderly Jaffna folk artistes who had thought that dance and music they had practised as youth had withered but saw it being revived in their lifetime and passed on to another generation, that exhibits a lively interest to keep it alive. Continue reading →

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April 3, 2011 · 5:42 pm

Is Sri Lanka a tiger state? How do we describe its economic growth?

Eric Ellis, in the Sydney Morning Herald under title “With Tamil Tigers slain, booming Sri Lanka makes up for lsot time.”

 Hambantota Convention Centre

… and Unawatuna beach near Galle

The country seems like a construction zone, with ports, highways and airports sprouting and former rebel strongholds blossoming, writes Eric Ellis in Colombo. SO TINY Sri Lanka has made it to today’s Cricket World Cup final, to face mighty India in Mumbai in the first all-south Asian final. With India emerging as an economic superpower and relations with Pakistan, also a semi-finalist, thawing, it’s a symbolic triumph for this fast-rising region and for Sri Lanka, in particular, just two years after the end of its 25-year civil war with Tamil Tiger insurgents.   

Continue reading →

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April 2, 2011 · 5:48 am

Revisiting the Lahore Attack II: “What I’m feeling most is disbelief,” Trevor Bayliss

From http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3947678 in March 2009

Sri Lanka national cricket team coach Trevor Bayliss was aboard the team bus in Lahore, Pakistan when gunmen opened fire on his players and police. He told his story to Cricinfo while waiting to be airlifted out of Pakistan. Working in pairs, the attackers in Lahore carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with water, dried fruit and other high-energy food — a sign they anticipated a protracted siege and may have been planning to take the players hostage.

The bus sped through the ambush, but the gunmen’s preparations indicated they may been planning to hijack the vehicle, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told The Associated Press. None of the gunmen were killed and all apparently escaped into this teeming eastern city.

Even though the bus was peppered with 25 bullet holes, none of the cricket players were killed. The attack was among the highest-profile terrorist strikes on a sports team since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes.

In addition, by targeting not only a major Pakistani city but also the country’s most popular sport, the attack was sure to resonate throughout the region, where cricket has been an obsession since it was introduced by the British during the colonial era. Continue reading →

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April 2, 2011 · 5:24 am

Revisiting the Lahore attack I: “How the attack on cricketers happened” BBC

BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7920303.stm

1. Masked gunmen ambush the players’ convoy, firing at least one rocket grenade, and killing five police officers in an escort vehicle and one other on the ground. Several players are injured.
2. The driver speeds the team bus to the Gaddafi Stadium where the players are airlifted by helicopter to safety.
3. Gunmen escape in the direction of Liberty Market. Ammunition and weapons, including a rocket launcher, found.

Eyewitnesses to Tuesday’s attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers described scenes of shock and horror as gunmen opened fire in the heart of the Pakistani city of Lahore. “As the Sri Lankan team was approaching the stadium for the test match this morning, about a half a kilometre away from the stadium, two cars entered the roundabout… and fired a grenade,” said Graham Usher, a British journalist, who was approaching the area just as the attack took place. “As they did this, three other gunmen ran into the roundabout, where the bus was, opened fire on a police vehicle – where a police officer was killed – and then opened fire on the bus, spraying the bus we understand with machine gun fire,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. 

Pics courtesy of

http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/lahore-attack-photos/

 

The gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus,” Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene told cricinfo web site. “We all dived to the floor to take cover.” Continue reading →

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March 31, 2011 · 1:48 pm

Circumscribing Tiger Networks in Europe

Ravinath Aryasinha: Text of the speech by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha, at the European Corporate Security Association (ECSA), Brussels on March 23, 2011

 

 

Pics from Daily News

 

 

In May 2009 having decisively defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the terrorist organization which for 30 long years held the country at gun point, the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has re-settled 90 percent of the nearly 300,000 persons displaced due to the conflict, rehabilitated and re-integrated into society almost 70 percent of the 11,696 ex-combatants who surrendered/were arrested including all 594 child combatants and has facilitated restoration of houses and livelihoods to most of those resettled, while ensuring education to all, including ex-combatants who continue to remain in custody. Continue reading →

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March 30, 2011 · 10:46 am

Indo-Pak Rapprochement via World Cup Cricket?

Michael Roberts, Courtesy of HIMAL, April issue, article drafted on 12 March and now posted on http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/1-web-exclusive/4330-the-world-cup-in-cricket.html

The leaders of India & Pakistan honour their national anthems — Pic by AFP

 The present World Cup scenario can be contrasted with that in 1987, when Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka sprang a surprising coup and snaffled the rights to hold the competition. Since then, India has risen to become a financial giant in the cricket world; therefore, the decision to hold the competition in this region was understandable.

This time around, due to security concerns Pakistan is no longer a part of the equation; Bangladesh now makes up the trio. Despite this and the loss of key players to the notorious spot-fixing betting scandal, the Pakistani squad displays significant talent. Their cricket so far has been as volatile as dangerous; their victory against Sri Lanka was highly accomplished, while their defeat against New Zealand was lamentable. They do have the advantage of playing all their first-round matches in Sri Lanka, and the grapevine indicates that they are pleased with these circumstances – presumably due to the considerable support from the substantial Muslim minority (eight percent of the population) in Lanka – even when pitted against the local team. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2011 · 7:09 pm

The Laureus Foundation, Botham and FOG announce a cutting-edge school and sports centre project for Mankulam

Michael Roberts

A significant media event was hosted by the Laureus Foundation on the Sunday evening 27th March at a function room in the Taj Samudra Hotel with Sir Ian Botham, Kushil Gunasekera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Michael Vaughan and Christopher Martin-Jenkins on the podium. The gathering was meant to publicize a venture that was being launched at Mankulam in the north, one initiated by the Foundation of Goodness, but now supported powerfully by Laureus Sports Foundation.

 Pic by Roberts

Botham & Vaughan at Mankulam –Pic by AFP

Botham, Vaughan, Murali, Kushil, Jenkins and a number of foreign journalists had flown to Mankulam by helicopter earlier that day to see the site selected for the project, to look around the devastated war zone and to meet some of the Tamil IDPS who had returned to their locality after the harrowing experiences of war and displacement. This trip in itself was a unique operation calling for permission and cooperation from the army and air force. As such, it was a measure of the influence secured by Kushil Gunasekera and Muralitharan working in conjunction.

     A number of British and foreign media personnel attended this event, but Rex Clementine was, as far as I could see, the only local print journalist who turned up. This was a pity because we were treated to a major initiative as well as some excellent snacks. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2011 · 7:35 am

About the Seenigama and Mankulam projects by FOG — basic statements

Inspired by principles of compassion Kushil Gunasekera set about philanthropic work catering to the people of his home area in Seenigama in the early 2000s. He received support from such cricketers as Muralitharan and Vaas as well as many friends. I was fortunate enough to see the place and its activities in early 2003. I was also fortunate in not being at Seenigama when Kushil and others were assembled for a Childrens’ Scholarship Programme on 26 December 2004 — when the tsunami swept in and all of them ran for their lives. Several people in the locality died. Muralitharan was on the way to star in the festivities, but was fortunately turned back at Kalutara.

   As we know, Murali continued to haunt opposition batsman thereafter, but also devoted considerable energy to tsunami relief work everywhere, especially through the auspices of the World Food Programme. He also has been a staunch supporter of Kushil Gunasekera’s Foundation of Goodness (FOG for short). Likewise, after the tsunami hit, several cricketers such as Shane Warne, Steve Waugh have supported the venture at Seenigama; while the singer, Bryan Adams, donated funds for a top-class swimming pool and the MCC was the principal sponsor of its Centre of Excellence. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2011 · 6:55 am

Murali’s welfare activity depicted as “nation-saving”

Simon Hayden, for the Associated Press with title “Sri Lanka‘s superhero Murali turns from match-saving to nation-saving”

 Murali appeals for lbw against Bopara– Pic by Eranga Jayawardena

As his cricketing career winds down, Sri Lanka’s superstar Muttiah Muralitharan, the man who can spin a cricket ball like magic, is turning his sights on dragging war-shattered youngsters out of poverty and nurturing the country’s next generation of athletes. Who else but Murali, as he’s known to the whole country, could persuade the Sri Lankan president to donate a 50-acre parcel of land in the northern region that has been devastated by 20 years of civil war!

 Pic by Jason Smith for the Age and WFP

Continue reading →

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