telekinetic

Lifted from Reddit comments, and mirrored, because the original (http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm) is down:

On Friday, unidentified attackers shot and stabbed to death the editor of one of Sri Lanka's most controversial newspapers, 50-year-old Lasantha Wickrematunge. He had clashed with the government on multiple occasions over coverage of the war, alleged corruption and and other issues. He had left an article with the newspaper to be printed in the event of his death, reportedly written only days earlier. It is a stark tribute to the courage of local journalists everywhere and it really is worth reading. Even if the Sri Lanka politics material in the middle does not make sense to all of you, try to read the last few paragraphs.

And Then They Came For Me

No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.

I have been in the business of journalism a good long time. Indeed, 2009 will be The Sunday Leader’s 15th year. Many things have changed in Sri Lanka during that time, and it does not need me to tell you that the greater part of that change has been for the worse. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.

Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.

The Sunday Leader has been a controversial newspaper because we say it like we see it: whether it be a spade, a thief or a murderer, we call it by that name. We do not hide behind euphemism. The investigative articles we print are supported by documentary evidence thanks to the public-spiritedness of citizens who at great risk to themselves pass on this material to us. We have exposed scandal after scandal, and never once in these 15 years has anyone proved us wrong or successfully prosecuted us.

The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.

Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for they each has profound meaning. Transparent because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal because we recognise that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic… well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you’d best stop buying this paper.

The Sunday Leader has never sought safety by unquestioningly articulating the majority view. Let’s face it, that is the way to sell newspapers. On the contrary, as our opinion pieces over the years amply demonstrate, we often voice ideas that many people find distasteful. For example, we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. For these views we have been labelled traitors, and if this be treachery, we wear that label proudly.

Many people suspect that The Sunday Leader has a political agenda: it does not. If we appear more critical of the government than of the opposition it is only because we believe that - pray excuse cricketing argot - there is no point in bowling to the fielding side. Remember that for the few years of our existence in which the UNP was in office, we proved to be the biggest thorn in its flesh, exposing excess and corruption wherever it occurred. Indeed, the steady stream of embarrassing expos‚s we published may well have served to precipitate the downfall of that government.

Neither should our distaste for the war be interpreted to mean that we support the Tigers. The LTTE are among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations ever to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship.

What is more, a military occupation of the country’s north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering “development” and “reconstruction” on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall.

It is well known that I was on two occasions brutally assaulted, while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. Despite the government’s sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended. In all these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.

The irony in this is that, unknown to most of the public, Mahinda and I have been friends for more than a quarter century. Indeed, I suspect that I am one of the few people remaining who routinely addresses him by his first name and uses the familiar Sinhala address oya when talking to him. Although I do not attend the meetings he periodically holds for newspaper editors, hardly a month passes when we do not meet, privately or with a few close friends present, late at night at President’s House. There we swap yarns, discuss politics and joke about the good old days. A few remarks to him would therefore be in order here.

Mahinda, when you finally fought your way to the SLFP presidential nomination in 2005, nowhere were you welcomed more warmly than in this column. Indeed, we broke with a decade of tradition by referring to you throughout by your first name. So well known were your commitments to human rights and liberal values that we ushered you in like a breath of fresh air. Then, through an act of folly, you got yourself involved in the Helping Hambantota scandal. It was after a lot of soul-searching that we broke the story, at the same time urging you to return the money. By the time you did so several weeks later, a great blow had been struck to your reputation. It is one you are still trying to live down.

You have told me yourself that you were not greedy for the presidency. You did not have to hanker after it: it fell into your lap. You have told me that your sons are your greatest joy, and that you love spending time with them, leaving your brothers to operate the machinery of state. Now, it is clear to all who will see that that machinery has operated so well that my sons and daughter do not themselves have a father.

In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too. For truth be told, we both know who will be behind my death, but dare not call his name. Not just my life, but yours too, depends on it.

Sadly, for all the dreams you had for our country in your younger days, in just three years you have reduced it to rubble. In the name of patriotism you have trampled on human rights, nurtured unbridled corruption and squandered public money like no other President before you. Indeed, your conduct has been like a small child suddenly let loose in a toyshop. That analogy is perhaps inapt because no child could have caused so much blood to be spilled on this land as you have, or trampled on the rights of its citizens as you do. Although you are now so drunk with power that you cannot see it, you will come to regret your sons having so rich an inheritance of blood. It can only bring tragedy. As for me, it is with a clear conscience that I go to meet my Maker. I wish, when your time finally comes, you could do the same. I wish.

As for me, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I walked tall and bowed to no man. And I have not travelled this journey alone. Fellow journalists in other branches of the media walked with me: most of them are now dead, imprisoned without trial or exiled in far-off lands. Others walk in the shadow of death that your Presidency has cast on the freedoms for which you once fought so hard. You will never be allowed to forget that my death took place under your watch. As anguished as I know you will be, I also know that you will have no choice but to protect my killers: you will see to it that the guilty one is never convicted. You have no choice. I feel sorry for you, and Shiranthi will have a long time to spend on her knees when next she goes for Confession for it is not just her owns sins which she must confess, but those of her extended family that keeps you in office.

As for the readers of The Sunday Leader, what can I say but Thank You for supporting our mission. We have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and the waste of your hard-earned tax rupees, and made sure that whatever the propaganda of the day, you were allowed to hear a contrary view. For this I - and my family - have now paid the price that I have long known I will one day have to pay. I am - and have always been - ready for that. I have done nothing to prevent this outcome: no security, no precautions. I want my murderer to know that I am not a coward like he is, hiding behind human shields while condemning thousands of innocents to death. What am I among so many? It has long been written that my life would be taken, and by whom. All that remains to be written is when.

That The Sunday Leader will continue fighting the good fight, too, is written. For I did not fight this fight alone. Many more of us have to be - and will be - killed before The Leader is laid to rest. I hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts. Indeed, I hope that it will help galvanise forces that will usher in a new era of human liberty in our beloved motherland. I also hope it will open the eyes of your President to the fact that however many are slaughtered in the name of patriotism, the human spirit will endure and flourish. Not all the Rajapakses combined can kill that.

People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niem”ller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niem”ller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niem”ller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.

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twisted no more

biznatch

EDIT: I'd like to thank Twistedmosaic for an excellent topic, I was unable to find this article even though I really wanted to read it.

I heard about this journalist from my Sri-lankan friend.
He(my friend) is a Tamil who left the country to work small jobs in the US and Europe, leaving his family there (in the "safe" area) and sending them money. He can't read or write English, so I help him get news from Sri-Lanka from the internet. He often talks about the politics there, how Tamils are treated(they basically have no rights), where the army is, the battles against the LTTE..

Since he can't write, I often have trouble understanding what is going on, and why it's going on, even though he narrates the news and translates it a bit for me. The little that I do grasp is bewildering, though, especially since there are hardly any articles in the international press, even the BBC, about these injustices.

Essentially, however, everyone should know this: there are huge differences in how the different ethnicities are treated in Sri-Lanka, the government and the police are corrupt, and if you're born Tamil there you're out of luck. There is a full scale war going on there, with the government clashing against a terrorist organization known as the Tamil Tigers, whose wish is to rule over a portion of territory at the north of Sri-Lanka.
And although there's often people questioning whether human rights are respected, the truth is the majority of people in the world are not aware of the situation in Sri-Lanka, especially in the US.

This man quoted in the OP, from what I understand, is one of the last great journalists of the country, who puts his profession above anything else. He's been killed for almost a week now, I'm certain the government has never launched an investigation and doesn't intend to.
Any voice of dissent is just bombed to rubble or shot to pieces there.

Let's hope people still have the balls to continue doing this profession the right way, as Lasantha Wickrematunge did.

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telekinetic

You're welcome! I know it's not a standard 'let's discuss this!' topic, but the text of this article was hard to find and I think it deserved to be read by as many people as possible.

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twisted no more

biznatch

Agreed, the text has an immense journalistic value, and sets standards for all people in the press.

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Anormalguy

Excellent piece, the deceased has my deepest respect. Sri Lanka has a complicated and sad history, and it doesn't sound as though that is going to change anytime soon (an all too familiar story in third world countries).

Note: A lot of clothing sold in the USA is (was?) made in Sri Lanka.

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In a society where the individual is not free to pursue the truth...there is neither progress, stability nor security.--Edward R. Murrow

snowy

I'm studying this portion of the world in geography class at the moment, and the violence in Sri Lanka has been a recurrent topic of class discussion. We're due to begin presenting current events in recitation this week, and I imagine it will come up again there. Thank you for sharing this, twistedmosaic; I'll be taking this to the discussion with me.

The situation is very sad. I hope this man's family stays safe.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Leto

Interesting, I noticed this article in the Toronto paper over the weekend. There are many Sri Lankans in Toronto, since the mid 1980's they have become mostly Tamils (fleeing the inequities and violence of their homes) but prior to that the majority of SL's in Toronto were Sinhalese. This group of Sri Lankans tended to be better off as immigrants, being mostly white collar or gov't workers and professionals.

As Anormalguy puts it, Sri Lanka has had a complicated and sad history. I was lucky enough to partake in a Canadian government cultural exchange programme (Canada World Youth) which placed me in a Sri Lankan home for four months back when I was only 20 yrs old.

Living with a Sinhalese family, on a tea estate in the central highlands, I was surrounded by ethnic tension where ever I went. Layered on top of the majority Buddhist/Sinhalese peoples of Indo-Aryan cultural heritage (about 75% of the people), the Hindu/Tamil minority of Dravidian cultural heritage (about 15%) are serveral other ethnicities (Muslims, Christians, Portuguese Burghers and aboriginal Veddas) as well as the remains of British hegemomony.

There was an obeasance to 'whiteness' that really struck me. The Sri Lankans themselves seemed to value the lighter shade of skin tone to the point where within a single family they would point out that one sibling was better than the other because her skin was lighter. Being a white guy in the highlands made me a constant centre of attention. But the British legacy seemed to do more than provide a colour scale. During the British raj, the indigenous Tamils were given all the breaks. Appointed to positions of power, holding government posts and highly educated. The British seemed to want to favour the minority over the majority.

Once the country achieved it's independance after WWII (when it was known as Ceylon) the majority Sinhalese assumed the democratic leadership role, eventually providing for the world's first female Prime Minster in 1960. Having attained leadership, it appears that the Sinhalese started to reverse the trend imposed by the Brits, so that by the 1980's civil war erupted when the Tamils could not deal with the persecution at many levels.

I noticed while I was there that the comon opinion of the Sinhalese was that they were a proud race, fierce warriors with a 2,000 year tradition in the country. The Tamils were viewed as interlopers that first appeared as invaders from southern India during (our) middle ages, but also as coolie labour imported by the British for working the (at first coffee then) tea estates (plantations). They have very little patience for being dictated to by this "upstart" minority in their own "homeland"

On the other hand, I found that at a personal level, both of these groups are exceptionally hospitable, intelligent more than willing to please and well educated. The contry has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The problem, as I saw it, was that there was very little opportunity in the country. I witnessed large groups of people hanging out in parks, on beaches, drinking, jobless, and basically an easy target for what became the Tamil Tigers. With Sinahalese getting the favour of what few jobs there were, it's no wonder that Tamil youth became disaffected.


We've all been exposed to stories of plight on behalf of the Tamils, in our papers, but very little is known of the Sinhala side. I found a telling post using google, below that sheds some light on their perspective. One thing to note. It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. I have seen much hyperbole utilized by both sides. The Tamil protesters in Toronto invoking the term genocide, spurious claims of thousands of civilian deaths, are not uncommon. The language employed below by the Sinhalese, is no different. Genocide is again mentioned. Wild claims of tens of thousands of Sinhalese deaths also included. If there is impatience in North America for the Tamil worries, they need to look to themselves and how they try to get their message across.


Tamil Nadu is the motherland (traditional homeland) of 62 million Tamils – nearly FIVE TIMES the population of the indigenous Sinhelas (‘Hela’) of the Sinhela motherland, Sinhalé (presently wrongly called ‘Sri Lanka’*). Tamil Nadu, the Tamil country, has an area of 130,000 square kilometres – TWICE the size of of Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) – and it is only 35Km (22 miles) from the coast of Sinhalé. [See map]


A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words!
This picture is worth is worth seventy-five thousand lives!

Over 75,000 people, mostly Sinhelas, have been brutally murdered by Tamils because this frightening picture of Tamil aggression has not been recognised.

Because of the nearness of Sri Lanka to south India, for nearly a thousand years the Island – the motherland of the Sinhela (‘Hela’) nation – was subjected to countless invasions from south India. Some invasions lasted for just a few days or weeks, but some for decades, before the invaders were defeated and chased back to India. From the early 1980s, the Tamil terrorists have been using Tamil Nadu as a base from which to attack the Island.

The ultimate objective of this Tamil aggression is the occupation and colonisation of Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) to establish a racist, segregated and apartheid Tamil colony as a SECOND Tamil country, and extend the Tamil motherland as a Greater Tamil Nadu! [See map above]

Therefore, what has been taking place in the Island from the early 1980s was not only a terrorism – including the genocide by Tamils of more than 75,000 indigenous Sinhela men, women and children – but, more surreptitiously, a camouflaged invasion of the Sinhela motherland by Tamils.

Over the years, the Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) government, itself, has been increasingly controlled by Tamils, resulting in direct and indirect government collaboration with the Tamil terrorists. As a result, the Tamil-controlled government, itself, was attempting to partition Sinhalé (‘Sri Lanka’) – the motherland of the Sinhela (‘Hela’) nation – to facilitate the creation of this SECOND Tamil country!
[Please also see overleaf…..]
* ‘Sinhalé’ (meaning ‘Land of the Sinha-Hela’) and ‘Heladiva’ (meaning ‘Island of the Hela’) were the traditional names of the country presently known as ‘Sri Lanka’. In 1972, the Tamil-controlled government, instead of restoring one name, gave the Island an invented name ‘Sri Lanka’, which concealed the Island’s heritage and facilitated spurious Tamil claims to it.

The Tamil Invasion Of Sri Lanka - ElaKiri Community

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You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
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http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

Halx

Powerful and captivating.. inspiring..

That's all I can say.

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biznatch

I wish this was something that could cause more discussion. I was never good at making threads that get a thousand replies, but some people here could probably bump this up with interesting opinions.
Or is it because the subject of Sri Lanka is just not covered enough in the media?

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Leto

Maybe it's just out of the public eye, you know, a small country in the Indian Ocean. Famous for... what?

I wonder if people know how significant this country has been in the past? A few little nuggets that I've gleaned:

- there's a mountain in the highlands with a rock formation at the top, that looks like large human footprint. Muslims claim that it is the imprint of Adam's foot, when he first arrived in the world. The connotation is that when he was cast out of Paradise, he came to the closest place on earth that resembled it. Buddhists call this Sri Pada, (holy or scared footprint) and of course belonging to Buddha. The Hindus? well being a polyglot land, they get their go at it too. This is supposed to be Shiva's footprint.

Adam's Peak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Speaking of Buddha, there is a tree in the mid north ancient city of Anuradhapura which is claimed to be grown from a cutting of the original Bo tree under which Siddartha Gautama achieved enlightenment and started his journey to Buddha.

When I saw this tree, it was huge, and its limbs were supported buy iron crutches. this tree was planted in 288 BC. You can buy little metal Bo leaves to where on a chain similar to how Christians wear crosses.

Bodhi Tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- keeping on with Buddhism, there is a temple in the central highland city of Kandy (love that name!) called the Temple of the Tooth. It contains a tooth of the Buddha - considered a sacred relic

- There are two very ancient cities, which lie in the centre of the country. Both are hard to pronounce:

Anuradhapura - capital of the country from the 4th century BC until 1017 AD when it fell to the Chola invasion (The Tamils arrive en masse!). there's archealogical evidence of inhabitation at the site going back to 900 BC

and Polannaruwa - founded in 1070 as the capital city after the Chola invaders were repelled


- The country has had many names to outsiders: The Alexander the Great's conquest team called the island Taprobane, Marco Polo referred to it as Saylam, The Arabs & persians called it Serendib, from where we get the word serendipidous; the portuguese parlayed Saylam to Ceylon, which it was called until it received it's independance and reverted to Lanka (sacred Lanka or Sri Lanka)

- There is an escarpment in the high country, on the edge of Horton's Plains called World's End. It is a 4,000 foot drop. this is where Sinbad was taken captive by the Roc. I've stood a the edge of this cliff, and felt the clouds blow up on my face.
there are so many cliffs in the high country, that the locals told me of riders flying off of them on their horses as the ground just disappeared from under their feet.


- Currently this country is a source of precious and semi precious gems & real rubber from trees, the world's best tea (orange pekoe - you haven't tasted tea, until you go to a Sri Lankan tea estate, and smell the leaves drying in the factories) and cinnamon - again the smell of the cinnamon bark drying in people's houses is fantastic.


- Sri Lanka had the world's first female prime minister. Sirimavo Bandaranaike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike

- Arthur C Clarke, author of 2001 A Space Oddessy lived here (he just passed away) where he indulged in his passion for scuba diving: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
his novel The Fountains of Paradise is about the building of a space elevator is based in a fictional Taprobane which is modeled on Sri lanka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise



- you can pick fruits such as mango, passionfruit, jackfruit to eat (although the jack fruit is a hard one) at the side of the road.


- Michael Ondaatje, a famous author in Canada, is from Sri Lanka. He wrote The English Patient. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ondaatje

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

biznatch

Thanks, Leto. All of these bits of information, when added up, do give more of a grasp on culture, and places, of the country.

Just by curiosity, since not many people know much about Sri Lanka, unless they know someone from there, or are from that area of the world (South Asia), how come you do? Have you lived there, traveled there?

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Willravel

BTW, I think that's a brilliant program (or programme, if you wish). Clearly Leto has a substantially more informed perception which allows him better context.

Thanks for the additional info, Leto.

Leto

My pleasure. I know it's a relatively unknown place here in North America. When I was pondering my 3 choices for the exchange programme, my father counselled that I should go for distance. I.e., how far can I get from home on the government dime. He also said that it was his dream to go to Ceylon, being from Germany, many Germans have that desire.

The program(me) CWY was quite an eye opener. It languished for a while, in the 1990's but I hear it is back up and running.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

Leto

Noticed another article in the Toronto paper today, thought I would throw it out for ppl to read. Again, the language that is being bandied about by the two sides in this 'war' takes on epic proportions. Terrorism & genocide. The LTTE is considered to be a terrorist outfit, which I suppose is accurate as any group that furthers their cause using suicide bombers against civilian targets should be portrayed. Therefore it is illegal for Canadians to support them. This has gone a long way towards drying up the cash flow to LTTE in Sri Lanka and subsequently allowing the government troops to have more success in their offensives.

But what happens to a terrorist group that is loosing? I expect to see a spike in bombings around the country in the days to come.

Again, notice the language used by both sides. They both are claiming genocide, which is extreme given the numbers involved.

TheStar.com | GTA | Thousands of Tamils protest against genocide


Jan 30, 2009 02:14 PM
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Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Immigration Reporter

Thousands of Tamils from across Greater Toronto formed a human chain stretching along Front Street and up University Avenue this afternoon to protest against what they call the genocide of the Tamil people in their homeland, Sri Lanka.

Many held up copies of photographs of children maimed and killed in the violence. Others wore armbands or carried banners denouncing the deaths of civilians in this latest bloody phase of a civil war that has gone on for a generation.

The Red Cross in Sri Lanka said today there are 250,000 civilians trapped in an area of jungle and villages in the north, which is dominated by the Tamils, who are a minority in the rest of the country.

The government insists there are fewer than 120,000 civilians in the war zone and has denied reports of 300 civilians killed in fighting.

University of Toronto graduate student Supanki Kalanadan, who helped organize the massive rally, said the only hope now is for a ceasefire.

"People have no access to food or shelter," she said. "Everyone here has someone back there who is affected."

Similar demonstrations were planned for Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.

In Toronto, Tamil Catholics planned a 12-hour night vigil starting tonight at 8 at the Church of St. Joseph and Our Lady of Health, 172 Leslie St.

Toronto is home to the largest concentration of Tamils outside of Sri Lanka.

Tamil student associations from universities and high schools in Greater Toronto helped mobilize people because, said Kalanadan, "we were lucky to have been educated here and to grow up with Canadian freedoms. We respect the Charter of Rights and we want the rights of Tamil people respected, too."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said top U.N. officials were "seriously alarmed" about the fate of civilians in the north.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war, which grew out of complaints by Tamils who have suffered decades of marginalization at the heads of successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

SSJTWIZTA

this thread put my ignorance in perspective.

i had no idea shit like this was going on over there.

i have some reading to do.

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First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

Leto

so, the news is heating up in Sri Lanka, with the government pushing to end the threat of rebellion quickly and finally. They are in the end days of the offensives, and ready to declare victory. I worry though, that this will drive the Tamil Tigers to even more terroristic methods. As Eric Margolese (cdn journalist) stated this morning, the Tamils are waging a poor man's war, using bodies instead of war craft. In the West we tend to refer to this as terrorism.

From the Associated Press:

TheStar.com | World | Tamil rebellion over, government says

Tamil rebellion over, government says

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared Monday the army is on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels after a 25-year war, as images from the war zone showing scores of dead and wounded civilians surfaced.

The photographs and video footage, which were handed to The Associated Press, highlight the plight of some 250,000 civilians trapped in the shrinking war zone in the Mullaittivu district where the Tamil Tigers have been boxed in by advancing troops. They emerged as a hospital in the war zone was shelled for the second straight say, leaving 11 patients dead.

Journalists have been barred from travelling to the area, but the video and photos show what appear to be scores of civilians killed or injured in artillery attacks.

The images were provided to The AP by independent observers in the region, who did not wish to be identified because they feared government retaliation.

In recent months, the army has wrested all major towns once controlled by the Tigers, who are now defending a 300-square-kilometre pocket.

"The strongholds of terror once believed to be invincible ... have fallen in rapid succession, bringing the final elimination of terror from our motherland and the dawn of true freedom to all our people well within our reach," Rajapaksa said in a message to mark the 61st Independence Day that will be celebrated Wednesday.

It is the first time the Sri Lankan government has come this close to a military solution to Asia's longest-running civil war, centred over demands for a separate Tamil state in the north and the east.

As the military pressed ahead, civilians continued to suffer in the north.

One photo given to The AP from the town of Udakattu, inside a government-declared "safe zone," showed family members apparently killed in their sleep by artillery Jan. 23. The mother and father lay dead on mats on the floor, still cradling their two children between them.

Video footage showed a hospital in the war zone packed with severely injured people. Many were forced to lie on mats underneath beds, because of overcrowding.

Young boys and girls had legs amputated, an elderly woman missing her right leg was forced to lie on a mat on the floor. A small boy with a head wound had his left eye sealed shut. A teenage boy with no arms cried in despair, while an elderly man nearby lay on a bed with one leg amputated above the knee and the other below it.

The hospital was hit with several artillery shells Sunday and Monday, Red Cross spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne.

Kandasamy Tharmakulasingham, a local health official, confirmed the attacks. In total, 11 people were killed in the attacks and 26 wounded.

Sarasi and Tharmakulasingham couldn't say who fired the shells.

Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top government health official in the area, said two of the attacks appeared to have come from the army.

He said the shelling caused extensive damage to the hospital, one of the last functioning health institutions inside rebel-held territory, overcrowded with civilians injured in the fighting.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara denied the army was responsible for the attacks and accused the rebels, of ``desperately" firing artillery shells at random. He also claimed that troops have found an underground luxury apartment belonging to rebel leader Velupillai

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

Leto

More news re Sri Lanka. Well, the national cricket team was ambushed by gunmen, while en route to a match in Lahore Pakistan. Brazen, and reminiscent of the Mumbai scenario.


TheStar.com | World | Gunmen attack Sri Lankan cricket team

Gunmen attack Sri Lankan cricket team

Mar 03, 2009 06:08 AM

RIZWAN ALI
The Associated Press

LAHORE–At least a dozen men attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers Tuesday ahead of a match in Pakistan, wounding seven players and an assistant coach from Britain in a brazen assault on South Asia's most beloved sport. Six policemen and a civilian were killed.

The players' and the coach's injuries were not life-threatening, officials said.

In a coordinated attack, the assailants ambushed the convoy carrying the squad and match officials at a traffic circle 100 yards (meters) from the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gunbattle with police guarding the vehicles.

None of the attackers was killed or captured at the scene, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers or their motives.

The attack reinforced perceptions that nuclear-armed Pakistan is veering out of control and will end any hopes of international cricket teams – or any sports teams – playing in the country for months, if not years. Even before the incident, most cricket teams choose not to tour the country because of security concerns.

Tuesday's attack came three months after the Mumbai terror attacks, which were allegedly carried out by Pakistan militants.

Two Sri Lankan players – Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana – were being treated for injuries in a hospital but were stable, said Chamara Ranavira, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan High Commission.

Team captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Suranka Lakmal and Chaminda Vaas had minor injuries, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board said. Ranavira said British assistant coach Paul Farbrace also sustained minor injuries.

Veteran batsman Sangakkara told Sri Lankan radio station Yes-FM that "all the players are completely out of danger.''

Authorities canceled the test match and the Lahore governor said the team was flying home. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the attack and ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist in the team's evacuation and ensure they are safe.

TV footage of the attack showed gunmen with backpacks – apparently the attackers – firing at the convoy as they retreated from the scene, with several damaged vehicles and a lone, unexploded grenade lying on the ground. Other video showed the bodies of three people crumpled on the ground.

"It is a terrible incident and I am lost for words," said Steve Davis, an Australian who was umpiring the match.

Nadeem Ghauri, a Pakistani umpire who witnessed the attack, said the umpires were behind a bus of Sri Lankan players when suddenly they heard gunshots.

"The firing started at about 8:40 and it continued for 15 minutes," he said, adding "our driver was hit, and he was injured.''

Lahore police chief Rehman said officers were hunting down the attackers who managed to flee. "Our police sacrificed their lives to protect the Sri Lankan team.''

Three hours after the attack, at least Sri Lankan eight players and team officials left the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore on a Pakistani army helicopter that took off from the pitch. Wajira Wijegunawardena, the Sri Lankan cricket board's media manager, said the helicopter was headed to Lahore airport, where the team planned to board a flight to Abu Dhabi later Tuesday and return to Sri Lanka on Wednesday. He said all the wounded players were well enough to travel.

Haider Ashraf, a senior police official, said six policemen and a civilian died in the attack. It was unclear whether the civilian was a passer-by or someone traveling in the convoy.

Sri Lanka had agreed to this tour – allowing Pakistan to host its first test matches in 14 months – only after India and Australia postponed scheduled trips.

Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said little could be done to stop such an attack.

"I think the Pakistani authorities have provided adequate security but as we know from experience ... there is never enough security to counter a well organized and determined terrorist group.''

The Dubai-based International Cricket Council quickly comdemned the attack.

"We note with dismay and regret the events of this morning in Lahore and we condemn this attack without reservation," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement. "It is a source of great sadness that there have been a number of fatalities in this attack and it is also very upsetting for the wider cricket family that some of the Sri Lanka players and one match official have been injured in this attack.''

Pakistan is battling a ferocious insurgency by Islamist militants with links to al-Qaida who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.

One militant group likely to fall under particular suspicion is Lashkar-e-Taiba, the network blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks. The group has been targeted by Pakistani authorities since then and its stronghold is in eastern Pakistan.

The nature of the Tuesday's attack – coordinated, using multiple gunmen armed with explosives – is reminiscent of the Mumbai strikes in November that raised tensions between Pakistan and India.

In the past, India and Pakistan have blamed each other for attacks on their territories. Any allegations like that will trigger fresh tensions between the countries, which are already dangerously high. The Indian government refused permission for the national cricket team to tour Pakistan last month.

Authorities will also consider possible links to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist rebels who are being badly hit in a military offensive at home, though Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says authorities there did not believe the group was responsible.

Sri Lanka appeared on the brink of crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels after more than a quarter century of civil war. In recent months, government forces have pushed the guerrillas out of much of the de facto state.

The Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, rarely launch attacks outside Sri Lanka, though their most prominent attack – the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a female suicide bomber – took place at an election rally in India in 1991.

Most of the violence in Pakistan occurs in its northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants have established strongholds. Lahore has not been immune from militant violence, however.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

genuinegirly

Thank you for the update, Leto.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

highthief

Yup, the attack on the cricket team is big news around the world. I know it is not a big game in the US (and even being English I still don't get it half the time) but it's massive in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

__________________
Si vis pacem parabellum.

Leto

okay, time for my monthly Sri Lanka update. Apparantly the Government forces have the LTTE pinned down in a very small area, a tiny strip of beach in the north and have issued an ultimatum to their leader to lay down weapons. Here in Toronto, the Tamil community continues to mount large protests to educate us about the violence and unfairness that is occuring in Sri Lanka. They would like the Canadian government to intervene in that country. At any rate, here is the latest news:
TheStar.com | World | Thousands flee Sri Lanka war zone

Thousands flee Sri Lanka war zone

REUTERS
Tamil Tigers make last stand as government issues 24-hour ultimatum

Apr 20, 2009 07:37 AM
Ranga Sirilal
C. Bryson Hull
reuters


COLOMBO – Today Sri Lanka gave the Tamil Tigers 24 hours to surrender or die after troops breached a huge earthen defence and unleashed an exodus of tens of thousands of civilians held there by the rebels, the military said.

Sri Lanka's quarter-century separatist war has come down to a tiny strip of coastline, where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are making a last stand while urging a ceasefire to protect civilians they have refused to free.

With so many civilians now outside the 17-square-kilometre no-fire zone that is the only remaining battlefield, Sri Lanka warned LTTE founder Vellupillai Prabhakaran to surrender or face a final military showdown.

"We have given a final warning to Prabhakaran and his terrorist group to surrender to the government forces within 24 hours from 12 noon," defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters at the Air Force battle management centre in Colombo.

"Thereafter will be a military course of action. That is the best option," Rambukwella said.

The LTTE could not be reached for comment. Prabhkaran, 54, and his fighters wear cyanide vials around their necks to be taken in case of capture. For decades, he has vowed no surrender in his fight for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamils.

With Asia's longest-running civil war now nearing its end, Sri Lanka will face the twin challenges of healing the divide between the Tamil minority and Sinhalese majority, and reviving an $40 billion economy that is suffering on multiple fronts.

The island nation is seeking a $1.9 billion (U.S.) International Monetary Fund loan to shore up a balance of payments crisis and boost flagging foreign exchange reserves, half of which were spent defending the rupee in the last four months of 2008.

Between 25,000 and 35,000 people fled today but counts were not finalized, said Lakshman Hulugalle, director of the military's Media Centre for National Security.

The largest single-day exodus so far, which should put the number of those fleeing LTTE areas this year near 100,000, started after soldiers fought past an earthen dam blocking the biggest land route in and out of the no-fire zone.

Live video from an unmanned aerial vehicle and beamed into the operations centre showed thousands of people thronging around temporary reception centres set up by the army less than a kilometre outside the no-fire zone.

"All of these small dots you see are human beings waiting to be checked," said the air force operations director, Vice Air Marshal Kolitha Gunatilleke, to reporters while displaying the footage.

That checking process is designed to weed out suspected LTTE suicide bombers. Nonetheless, three exploded themselves, killing at least 17 people and wounding 200 today, the military said.

Other video footage saw groups of hundreds of people sheltering on the beach, the surf washing up. The military had no details on how many civilians remain inside the no-fire zone.

Several thousand of those people later tried to flee from the north of the no-fire zone but were being stopped by the LTTE, said air force spokesperson Janaka Nanayakkara.

Enormous international pressure has been brought to bear against the government and the LTTE to hold fire long enough to let the trapped civilians come out. Estimates of their number range from 60,000 to 100,000.

The United Nations has accused the LTTE of forcibly recruiting people to fight and of shooting those trying to flee, and the government of shelling civilian areas.

Both have denied the accusations. So far only the government has offered breaks in the fighting to let civilians come out, the latest of which was a 48-hour respite during the Tamil and Sinhala new year last week, which the Tigers rejected as too short.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

biznatch

I'm very worried. I hope there are not too many civilians in this tiny area. Shit's about to go down.

__________________
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biznatch

Shit is now going down.
This needs to come to an end. How can a cease-fire be imposed? I don't see the government budging on this, and so many innocent killed.

Also, pictures of the civilian/military situation: Sri Lanka Unrest - Yahoo! News Photos

__________________
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Leto

The shit went down. As everybody most likely knows, the war is 'over', the LTTE has capitulated, Tamils remain in place in cities around the world (especially in Toronto) protesting the situation. Hopefully the SL government takes as conciliatory an approach as indicated in the accompanying article. Perhaps international oversight is required, which seems to be why India has a role, althought the Tamils are still chagrined that the Indians took the government side back in the early '90's - which resulted in the suicide bombing & death of Rajiv Gandhi.

TheStar.com | World | Sri Lanka to send Tamil refugees home

Sri Lanka to send Tamil refugees home

REUTERS
Tanks are parked near the site where the Sri Lankan army celebrated its victory, in what was formerly the "no-fire zone" near the town of Mullaittivu. (May 20, 2009)




As Sri Lankans celebrated a national holiday yesterday to mark the long-awaited victory over the Tamil Tigers, the International Committee of the Red Cross complained the central government has stopped it from sending aid to refugee camps.President calls for magnanimity in victory as Indian officials arrive to negotiate civil war's aftermath



COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka said today it planned to return most of the nearly 300,000 civilians displaced by civil war to their homes this year as the president called on the country to be magnanimous in victory.

The fate of the ethnic Tamil civilians in the crowded, fenced-in camps has caused great concern among the minority throughout the country. Aid groups say their access to the camps has been greatly restricted and human rights groups accuse Tamil militias of abducting children there.

Two senior Indian envoys met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa today to express their concerns about the humanitarian situation in the area.

In a joint statement, both governments said they had agreed on the urgent need to resettle the civilians in their villages in the north as soon as possible.

"The government of Sri Lanka indicated that it was their intention to dismantle the relief camps at the earliest and outlined a 180-day plan to re-settle the bulk of (displaced) to their original places of habitation," said the statement from the president's meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan.

India promised help with demining the former war zone and rebuilding homes and infrastructure, said the joint statement.

An estimated 280,000 civilians were displaced in the recent government offensive that routed the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefields of the north and quashed their more than quarter-century war for a separate state.

The United Nations estimates at least 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final offensive this year and between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed throughout the war.

With the conventional war over and the rebels' leadership slain, many Sri Lankans have spent days celebrating, especially in neighbourhoods dominated the Sinhalese majority. Many among the Tamil minority worried that the security crackdowns they faced during the war could worsen.

Rajapaksa called today for Sri Lankans to set aside their differences and make sure not to offend one another.

"The celebration of this victory, as deep as it is felt, should be expressed with magnanimity and friendship towards all," he said in a statement.

Rajapaksa has called in the past for a political compromise with the Tamil community, which has long felt marginalized by the Sinhalese. However, it is not clear what sort of power-sharing deal he is willing to offer.

Meanwhile, aid groups and the UN have complained that their access to the camps has been severely restricted, and the Red Cross has said aid shipments to the largest camp have been stopped.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to take up the issue when he travels here Friday.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, an umbrella organization of international human rights groups, said it had verified reports that children as young as 12 were abducted from the camps and the nearby town of Vavuniya.

"(Some) have been taken away for ransom and their release has been subsequently negotiated by the parents, either by offering jewelry or cash," said Charu Hogg, Asia manager for the coalition. Others have been abducted by paramilitaries and taken to Sri Lankan army camps, presumably for questioning over ties to the rebel group, which frequently recruited child soldiers, she said.

The coalition, which includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said Tamil paramilitary groups, which emerged from the rebel movement in the 1980s and aligned themselves with the army, appear to have unhindered access to the camp despite the presence of the military.

The military denied the accusation.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

biznatch

Now we have to see if ethnic conflicts will be any better after this. I don't really see it happening, but let's hope so.

__________________
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Leto

The ball... is firmly in the SL gov'ts court. will they drop it?


Tigers renounce violence - The Globe and Mail


Doug Saunders

Kandy, Sri Lanka — From Monday's Globe and Mail, Monday, May. 25, 2009 09:46AM EDT

After a week without terrorist attacks and the rebel Tamil Tigers finally acknowledging the death of their leader, a tense and highly guarded Sri Lanka dared to imagine that its quarter-century of violence might have come to a lasting end.

Substance was added to that hope Sunday when the last surviving major figure from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, their de facto foreign minister Selvarasa Pathmanathan, ordered supporters of the Tigers in Sri Lanka and around the world to give up violence permanently.

In a statement issued on an LTTE website Sunday, he admitted, after a week of denials from the organization, that Tigers founder and leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been killed in the final hours of battle last weekend. And he instructed Tamils everywhere to “restrain from harmful acts to themselves or anyone else in this hour of extreme grief.”

Then, in an interview with the BBC, he declared that “we have given up violence and agreed to enter a democratic process to achieve the rights for the Tamil determination of our people.”

If the Tamil militants of northern Sri Lanka and their supporters abroad follow this message, the island nation's 26-year civil war could end like those in Northern Ireland or in India's Punjab, with an armed secessionist struggle transforming itself quickly into a parliamentary debate.

But another, darker possibility loomed as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ended a visit to Sri Lanka: that the Tamils of the country's embattled north, freed from the LTTE but denied full access to mainstream society and abused by the military, might turn to the sort of large-scale guerrilla violence that Iraq experienced after the military defeat of its ruling regime in 2003.

Mr. Ban, speaking in the Buddhist temple-city of Kandy in the island's mountainous centre, issued a grave warning that if Colombo does not make a major gesture of magnanimity toward the minority Tamils, extend them genuine rights and end a containment-camp system that is widely considered inhumane, then they could turn to guerrilla violence on a large scale.

“If issues of reconciliation and social inclusion are not dealt with, history could repeat itself,” Mr. Ban said Saturday. “There is danger of social disruption and even renewed violence.”

But Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa turned down Mr. Ban's request to open the camps to humanitarian and aid workers, and to “initiate a political process of accommodation, dialogue and reconciliation” with the Tamils.

The camps, which hold almost 300,000 northern Tamils behind barbed-wire fences and ranks of armed guards, are intended to hold and “process” the entire civilian population of the northeast.

Mr. Rajapaksa said that aid groups will have access only after all Tamils have been “screened” so that LTTE leaders, fighters and trained terrorists have been weeded out from the civilians – a process that Colombo has estimated, in various statements during the past week, as taking between six months and two years.

This also risks alienating the majority of Sri Lanka's two million Tamils who live in the country's non-conflicted south, but who feel a strong connection, and often have family relations, to the Tamils who lived in the LTTE-controlled proto-state of “Tamil Eelam” in the north.

Mr. Rajapaksa did reassure the UN that his government would quickly reintegrate the LTTE's many child soldiers, many of them raised in special military schools, into broader Tamil society.

Officials from Unicef told The Globe and Mail that they have had full access to northern Tamil children, who make up 40 per cent of the population of the camps, and that they are reasonably satisfied that all are with their parents and any unaccompanied children have been reunited with family members in the south.

Unicef's conclusion casts doubt on the credibility of rumours, printed in the British press and elsewhere, that children had been snatched from the camps by militia groups.

However, Unicef officials said that the extremely long periods of incarceration could be damaging for children.

Mr. Rajapaksa's sharp refusal to listen to widespread international calls to open up the camps seems to be part of a growing, angry alienation from the West on behalf of his party, which is heavily dominated by Sinhalese-speaking Buddhists.

In his statements and in the newspapers that are loyal to his party, the President has condemned the United States and Europe and repeatedly praised Russia, Japan, Iran and China, which armed the Sri Lankan military in the final years of its conflict.

When the conflict became so ruthless and violent this year, with an estimated 8,000 Tamil civilians killed in bombings that may have struck shelters and hospitals indiscriminately, the United States and other countries dropped their support for Sri Lanka and issued calls for a tribunal to look into allegations of war crimes.

On Friday, Mr. Rajapaksa held a huge rally in Colombo, attended by at least 100,000 followers bedecked in Buddhist colours, in which he ridiculed the UN, the European Union and national leaders for calling for an inquest into humanitarian abuses in the war's final months.

“There are some who tried to stop our military campaign by threatening to haul us before war crimes tribunals,” he said. “They are still trying to do that, but I am not afraid.”

He issued a statement yesterday saying he would “take measures to address those grievances,” but offered no other details.

__________________
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I