Monthly archive

From Gopal Ethiraj in Chennai

Even before election heat was to settle on Saturday, May 17 (with the election results that day), rain god was kind enough to bring down the temperature in the city which cooled the Tamilnadu capital with summer showers in several parts of the city. Interestingly, the Met office had predicted sunny weather for Friday. Like the poll prediction, it was not to be. Some cooled; some went in rage. For some it was a welcome rain; for some it was devastating. Anyhow, it was first downpour of this year’s summer and will hopefully reduce the heat over the coming days. The government-formation and take-off of the 15th Lok Sabha will go on without any hitches as a decisive verdict has emerged.

Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune

The Government has requested the public to hoist the national flag today, in all households and institutions, as a mark of victory achieved by Security Forces in defeating terrorism and as a tribute to heroic soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation. The National Flag of Sri Lanka represents the country and her heritage as a rallying device that integrates the minorities with the majority race. The vertical stripe of orange represents the minority Tamil race and the green vertical stripe the minority Muslim race.

Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune

Dead bodies of LTTE leaders Pulidevan, Ramesh and Nadesan have been recovered and identified in Vellamullivaikkal by the Army this morning (18). Earlier the body of Charles Anthony, Prabhakaran’s eldest son was also recovered and identified. They had died in the battle with the Army.

Carl BildtA genuine National reconciliation has been urged by Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Minister and one of the well respected Swedish leaders. In a statement he said that, "Now the LTTE has been defeated, the Sri Lankan government should facilitate full and immediate access for international relief organizations and reach out to a genuine process of national reconciliation." Swedish foreign Minister Carl Bildt in his blog insisted that tens of thousands of people are now desperately in need of immediate assistance and urged that the humanitarian catastrophe has to be avoided. Writing in his blog, he said, "It is therefore necessary that the UN and Red Cross should be given an immediate access to the area."

Dr. Siri Gamage, Australia

The Sri Lankan military and the government are reporting the end of war with the LTTE after the latter's crushing defeat at the hand of a superior force. They are also reporting the demise of LTTE chief Prabhakaran and other senior leaders of the organization such as Soosai, and Pottu Amman. After decades of fear, death and destruction that engulfed the country, especially the northern and eastern provinces, the ending of war is welcome news -not only to the Sinhalese but also to others such as the Muslims and a majority of Tamil population who desire peace. While the casualty figures on both sides may be not known for a while yet, the celebratory atmosphere in Colombo and provinces highlight a truly historic juncture in the battle against LTTE - which endeavored to create a separate Tamil State called Eelam in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Shenali Waduge

No congratulatory messages from world leaders – No applause for Sri Lanka’s military – No mention for the world’s biggest humanitarian rescue operation by the armed forces that rescued almost 250,000 Tamil civilians from LTTE clutches - No plaudits for the Only Nation to have crushed the world’s worst Terrorist movement….Did we not say that barring a few friendly nations, world leaders remained hostile towards Sri Lanka preferring instead to play fiddle to the LTTE’s "liberation" "discrimination" "genocide" tune. Sri Lanka has proved the world and these world leaders wrong and as the nation continues to celebrate and rightly so there are a few key messages that need to be highlighted.

The United Sri Lanka Association (USLA) expressed its relief at the securing of over the week end, the release of the last fifty thousand of a total of nearly three hundred thousand innocent Tamil civilians, held hostage as human shields by the Tamil Tiger terrorists in the last few months for their protection from the security forces offensive to eliminate terrorism in Sri Lanka, after repeated failures at a negotiated settlement.