Eight thousand of the 10,000 principals failed examination
God bless the students
(Lanka-e-News, June 11, 2009, 7.20 PM) “The entire education of Sri Lanka has been politicized and collapsed. Eighty percent of the education officers are political appointees. Eight thousand of the 10,000 principals are politically chosen persons who have failed the recruitment examination.
After 2005, no proper selection of principals has taken place. Although the authorities say that the 2006 gazette will be followed for the principal appointments, those who obtained 185 marks in the examination were dropped and those who obtained 115 marks were given posts.
The Supreme Court ordered to cancel these wrongful appointments and to give principal posts to those who obtained over 155 marks. But it was ignored. Although 22,000 persons have been given acting principal posts, mere 1268 are qualified for the posts. The results of the 2006 competitive examination for recruiting principals are still not released.“This is the pathetic situation of the education now.
“Education sector has become a house for elders. The age of the Secretary of the Education Ministry is 61 years. The Additional Secretary – Education Development is 63 years. The age of the Director General of National Institute of Education is 65. Can education be developed with these officials who have surpassed the retiring age?”These issues were raised by the UNP Monaragala district MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara who is also the Chairman of the National Education Workers’ Union.
Addressing a press meeting held in the office of the Opposition Leader, the MP pointed to the fact that 199 of the 200 Grade-1 Education Officers are political appointees and asked how these under qualified persons manage the education of the country.Further showing the pathetic situation of the education under the present government, MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara said that 2900 persons are withdrawing salaries without rendering any service related to their positions.
Although the number of Grade-2 Education Officer positions in the Education Department is 1783, with the political appointments 3000 persons are in the cadre. Most of them have no any qualification sans political alignments to bear the positions.
All Provincial Education Directors have been appointed considering their political links than the educational qualifications. An ordinary trained teacher is appointed as the Provincial Education Director of the North Central Province and there are 28 others in the administration who are senior to him, explained MP Madduma Bandara.
The MP said that the project to provide a nutritious meal to the students has also terminated since the suppliers have not been paid. The education must be relieved from politics, said MP Madduma Bandara.Sri Lanka allocates mere 2.6% for education whilst Cuba allocates 18%, Malaysia 8.1% Bhuthan 5.2% and India 4.1% for education. He appealed the government to increase the allocations for the education since the war is over now.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Injustice fuels Sri Lanka's cycle of abuse and impunity
11 June 2009Amnesty International has accused the Sri Lankan government of trapping the country in a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity. A new report published on Thursday by the organization details the Sri Lankan government’s failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations over the past twenty years. "Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka’s Commissions of Inquiry", documents the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to provide accountability for violations, including enforced disappearances, killings, and torture.
Since 1991, the Sri Lankan government has formed nine ad hoc Commissions of Inquiry to investigate enforced disappearances and a number of other human rights-related inquiries. These commissions of inquiry have lacked credibility and have delayed criminal investigations, according to Amnesty International, who accused the government of failing to protect victims and witnesses. While most, if not all, of these Commissions of Inquiry identified alleged perpetrators, very few prosecutions for human rights violations have resulted.From the outbreak of anti-Tamil rioting in July 1983, which led to full-scale armed conflict between the state and the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE), increasing numbers of people were victims of gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
By the late 1980s, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions had reached vast proportions. These violations occurred in the context of two major conflicts in the country: the government’s war with the LTTE in the north and east of the country, and a second confrontation between government forces and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front, JVP), a southern-based Sinhalese party that sought to overthrow the government. By 1991, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances had received almost 15,000 reports of enforced disappearances and had transmitted 4,932 cases to the government of Sri Lanka.President Ranasinghe Premadasa created Sri Lanka’s first Commission of Inquiry into "involuntary removals of persons" in January 1991. Its mandate was extremely limited, dealing only with new enforced disappearances that occurred after the establishment of the CoI (the vast majority of Sri Lanka’s tens of thousands of reported enforced disappearances from the period occurred between 1988 and 1990). Since 1991, there have been nine Commissions of Inquiry to investigate enforced disappearances and a number of other human rights-related inquiries.
While most, if not all, of these Commissions of Inquiry identified alleged perpetrators, very few prosecutions for human rights violations have resulted. The Sri Lankan government has brushed off requests for an independent investigation into violations in the context of the recent military conflict, in spite of a 23 May joint statement by the Sri Lankan President and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stating that: "The Government will take measures to address those grievances".
"There is strong ground to question the Sri Lankan government’s sincerity about its most recent promise to provide accountability for the war crimes and human rights violations that occurred in the past few months, given the extremely poor track record documented in Amnesty International’s most recent report," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. Amnesty International has called on the government to use the opportunity created by the end of military operations against the LTTE to provide accountability for serious violations and abuses committed by both sides during the last months of fighting which cost thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
"As the Sri Lankan people contend with the most recent abuses committed by both sides of the recent conflict, particularly during the last few months of the fighting, the reality is that they have been haunted by injustice and impunity for years," said Sam Zarifi. "If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses." As an immediate priority, Amnesty International is calling for the establishment of an independent international commission to investigate allegations of serious violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law by both the Sri Lankan forces and the Tamil Tigers in the recent military hostilities.
"The Sri Lankan authorities have had little success in providing accountability for abuses against civilians committed by the LTTE; they are even less likely to effectively investigate and prosecute their own forces for violations of human rights and humanitarian law," Sam Zarifi said. "Given the scale of the problem of impunity in Sri Lanka, accountability can only be achieved with the active commitment of the Sri Lankan government, supported by systematic and sustained international human rights monitoring and technical assistance."To address the need for broader human rights protection and reform, Amnesty International has called for the establishment of a UN human rights monitoring presence under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate reported abuses and assist Sri Lanka’s national institutions to deliver justice.
11 June 2009Amnesty International has accused the Sri Lankan government of trapping the country in a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity. A new report published on Thursday by the organization details the Sri Lankan government’s failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations over the past twenty years. "Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka’s Commissions of Inquiry", documents the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to provide accountability for violations, including enforced disappearances, killings, and torture.
Since 1991, the Sri Lankan government has formed nine ad hoc Commissions of Inquiry to investigate enforced disappearances and a number of other human rights-related inquiries. These commissions of inquiry have lacked credibility and have delayed criminal investigations, according to Amnesty International, who accused the government of failing to protect victims and witnesses. While most, if not all, of these Commissions of Inquiry identified alleged perpetrators, very few prosecutions for human rights violations have resulted.From the outbreak of anti-Tamil rioting in July 1983, which led to full-scale armed conflict between the state and the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE), increasing numbers of people were victims of gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
By the late 1980s, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions had reached vast proportions. These violations occurred in the context of two major conflicts in the country: the government’s war with the LTTE in the north and east of the country, and a second confrontation between government forces and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front, JVP), a southern-based Sinhalese party that sought to overthrow the government. By 1991, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances had received almost 15,000 reports of enforced disappearances and had transmitted 4,932 cases to the government of Sri Lanka.President Ranasinghe Premadasa created Sri Lanka’s first Commission of Inquiry into "involuntary removals of persons" in January 1991. Its mandate was extremely limited, dealing only with new enforced disappearances that occurred after the establishment of the CoI (the vast majority of Sri Lanka’s tens of thousands of reported enforced disappearances from the period occurred between 1988 and 1990). Since 1991, there have been nine Commissions of Inquiry to investigate enforced disappearances and a number of other human rights-related inquiries.
While most, if not all, of these Commissions of Inquiry identified alleged perpetrators, very few prosecutions for human rights violations have resulted. The Sri Lankan government has brushed off requests for an independent investigation into violations in the context of the recent military conflict, in spite of a 23 May joint statement by the Sri Lankan President and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stating that: "The Government will take measures to address those grievances".
"There is strong ground to question the Sri Lankan government’s sincerity about its most recent promise to provide accountability for the war crimes and human rights violations that occurred in the past few months, given the extremely poor track record documented in Amnesty International’s most recent report," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. Amnesty International has called on the government to use the opportunity created by the end of military operations against the LTTE to provide accountability for serious violations and abuses committed by both sides during the last months of fighting which cost thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
"As the Sri Lankan people contend with the most recent abuses committed by both sides of the recent conflict, particularly during the last few months of the fighting, the reality is that they have been haunted by injustice and impunity for years," said Sam Zarifi. "If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses." As an immediate priority, Amnesty International is calling for the establishment of an independent international commission to investigate allegations of serious violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law by both the Sri Lankan forces and the Tamil Tigers in the recent military hostilities.
"The Sri Lankan authorities have had little success in providing accountability for abuses against civilians committed by the LTTE; they are even less likely to effectively investigate and prosecute their own forces for violations of human rights and humanitarian law," Sam Zarifi said. "Given the scale of the problem of impunity in Sri Lanka, accountability can only be achieved with the active commitment of the Sri Lankan government, supported by systematic and sustained international human rights monitoring and technical assistance."To address the need for broader human rights protection and reform, Amnesty International has called for the establishment of a UN human rights monitoring presence under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate reported abuses and assist Sri Lanka’s national institutions to deliver justice.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
UN chief warns Sri Lanka against 'triumphalism'
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday warned the Sri Lankan government against "triumphalism" after its recent defeat of the Tamil separatist insurgency and urged it to "heal the wounds" of the bitter conflict.
"I would like to take this opportunity to warn against the risk of triumphalism in the wake of victory," Ban told reporters after he briefed the 15-member Security Council on his visit to ethnically divided Sri Lanka last month.
"It is very important at this time to unite and heal the wounds, rather than enjoy all this triumphalism," he added, after the Sri Lankan army last month crushed the 30-year-old separatist rebellion by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)."
Ban reiterated that the purpose of his visit was to press for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the more than 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the fighting and for their speedy resettlement,
But he stressed that for the longer term the priority was to help the Sri Lankan government reach out to minority Tamils and Muslims.
Tamils make up 12.6 percent of the 20 million population of the Sinhalese-majority island but have long complained of discrimination and restriction of movement.
Ban said he had been told by Colombo that "conditions have improved since my visit and restrictions have been eased."
But he also said that the "challenges still remain huge" and "this requires international assistance."
The UN boss also called on Colombo to "recognize international calls for accountability and transparency."
"Whenever and wherever there are credible allegations of violations of humanitarian law, there should be a proper investigation," he noted.
Earlier Friday, Amnesty International urged the Security Council to probe war crimes allegations against Sri Lanka.
The London-based rights watchdog said the Security Council should also demand full humanitarian access to state-run camps where the 300,000 people who fled Sri Lanka's war zone are being held.
Earlier this week, Ban rejected charges that the UN had deliberately underestimated the death toll in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Press reports cited confidential UN estimates that more than 20,000 civilians were killed by Sri Lankan army shelling.
The Amnesty statement also cited reports of young men being taken away from the displacement camps by pro-government paramilitary forces and said they risked being tortured or even killed.
Among those detained by the military are six foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin and three doctors who worked inside the war zone and provided information about civilian casualties.
The Sri Lankan government is also detaining some 9,000 suspected Tamil Tigers without legal safeguards or notice to their families, Amnesty said.
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday warned the Sri Lankan government against "triumphalism" after its recent defeat of the Tamil separatist insurgency and urged it to "heal the wounds" of the bitter conflict.
"I would like to take this opportunity to warn against the risk of triumphalism in the wake of victory," Ban told reporters after he briefed the 15-member Security Council on his visit to ethnically divided Sri Lanka last month.
"It is very important at this time to unite and heal the wounds, rather than enjoy all this triumphalism," he added, after the Sri Lankan army last month crushed the 30-year-old separatist rebellion by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)."
Ban reiterated that the purpose of his visit was to press for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the more than 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the fighting and for their speedy resettlement,
But he stressed that for the longer term the priority was to help the Sri Lankan government reach out to minority Tamils and Muslims.
Tamils make up 12.6 percent of the 20 million population of the Sinhalese-majority island but have long complained of discrimination and restriction of movement.
Ban said he had been told by Colombo that "conditions have improved since my visit and restrictions have been eased."
But he also said that the "challenges still remain huge" and "this requires international assistance."
The UN boss also called on Colombo to "recognize international calls for accountability and transparency."
"Whenever and wherever there are credible allegations of violations of humanitarian law, there should be a proper investigation," he noted.
Earlier Friday, Amnesty International urged the Security Council to probe war crimes allegations against Sri Lanka.
The London-based rights watchdog said the Security Council should also demand full humanitarian access to state-run camps where the 300,000 people who fled Sri Lanka's war zone are being held.
Earlier this week, Ban rejected charges that the UN had deliberately underestimated the death toll in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Press reports cited confidential UN estimates that more than 20,000 civilians were killed by Sri Lankan army shelling.
The Amnesty statement also cited reports of young men being taken away from the displacement camps by pro-government paramilitary forces and said they risked being tortured or even killed.
Among those detained by the military are six foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin and three doctors who worked inside the war zone and provided information about civilian casualties.
The Sri Lankan government is also detaining some 9,000 suspected Tamil Tigers without legal safeguards or notice to their families, Amnesty said.
King Mahinda Rajapaksa
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 21 --
Every 15 minutes, Sri Lankan state television halts its normal programming to broadcast patriotic images of women in lush tea fields at sunrise, workers building power lines and troops standing guard, all accompanied by a soaring anthem in which a young beauty calls for the country's president to be crowned king.
On the streets of the capital, billboards proclaim, "King Mahinda Rajapaksa: He saved us," beneath a photograph of the president hugging his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defense minister, and apparently glorying in the military victory that this week ended more than a quarter-century of war with the Tamil Tiger separatists.
"Everyone's heartbeat is just like my song and the billboards," said Saheli Rochana Gamage, 21, whose rendition of the anthem has made her a celebrity in this small Indian Ocean island nation. "He should be our president forever. We are happy with a king who can protect our country. Elections don't matter."
At a time when insurgencies elsewhere seem to be expanding, notably in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Rajapaksa brothers were able to do what five Sri Lankan presidents, eight governments and more than 10 cease-fires could not: win a war against a movement that the FBI has called "the most ruthless and efficient terror organization in the world."
Despite the elation, however, the human cost of their accomplishment is also becoming clear: Power has been consolidated around a ruling family, a humanitarian crisis looms, and civil rights and media freedoms have been rolled back.
Perhaps the most pressing problem is the situation of more than 280,000 people, mostly Tamils, who have been driven from their homes in recent months, many of them traumatized women and children who were used as human shields or forced to huddle in trenches or the jungle during fighting. They are now living in crowded, highly controlled government-run camps, fenced in by barbed wire. Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads, many here say.
"Sri Lanka has won the war. But now they have to win the peace, which is a very difficult challenge," said Erik Solheim, Norway's minister for international development, who worked for 10 years with the warring parties and brokered a failed 2002 cease-fire. The government must make all communities feel they are Sri
Solheim said closing the camps to aid workers and journalists "for any reason is completely unacceptable and dangerous for those inside."
"The international community must, and I mean must, get into these camps," he said. "They have to say to Sri Lanka: 'It takes two to tango. If you want reconstruction and aid money, you will open the camps."
Diplomatic PressureThe United States and Britain, two key members of the International Monetary Fund, have said they will link the release of a $1.9 billion bailout loan to improvements in Sri Lanka's treatment of war-displaced civilians.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned President Rajapaksa to urge political reconciliation and speedy resettlement of displaced Tamil civilians.
Few question the need for security, but civil society leaders worry that the country's mood of blind patriotism will encourage the government to ignore international standards for the treatment of war criminals and Tamils they suspect are rebel sympathizers. At the heart of the insurgency are the long-standing grievances of the country's largely Hindu and Christian Tamils, who make up as much as 15 percent of the nation's population of 21 million. Some Tamils say they have suffered economic marginalization and racial discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
One key issue will be the timeline for resettlement of the displaced Tamils. If they stay in the camps too long, advocates say, they could be sidelined as the north is rebuilt and could also have difficulty reclaiming their farms.
After a meeting with an Indian delegation Wednesday, Sri Lankan officials vowed to return most of the displaced civilians to their homes this year.
Rajapaksa also called on Sri Lankans on Thursday to make peace. "The celebration of this victory, as deep as it is felt, should be expressed with magnanimity and friendship towards all," the president said in a statement.
Suresh Premachandran, a Tamil leader and a member of Parliament, cautioned that the military victory cannot be considered complete unless Tamils feel they are equal citizens. Sri Lankan police and civil servants often don't speak Tamil, and there is tension over both language and lack of Tamil representation in government jobs.
"We are the people who are elected democratically," said Premachandran, a former rebel. "Even when we start to speak in Parliament, immediately all the people in the ruling party start to shout, 'You LTTE bugger!' and things like that," a reference to the rebels' formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"The Sri Lankan government does not want to share the power with the Tamil people," he added. "That is the whole reason why this thing started."
Rebuilding a NationSri Lanka's government has won over public opinion by painting the conflict as a war against terrorism. Several ministers have already advised the president to hold early elections, and others have urged amending the constitution to allow Rajapaksa to run for a third a term.
Nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict and thousands displaced in this once prosperous teardrop-shaped island. Under emergency regulations introduced in August 2006, the security forces have sweeping powers of search, arrest, detention and seizure of property. They are also permitted to hold people in unacknowledged detention for as long as 12 months, according to Human Rights Watch.
"The president has his work cut out," said Lal Wickrematunge, editor of the independent Sunday Leader newspaper. "Of course, he's very, very popular right now. He's at the zenith of his popularity. He should use that to unite all communities and not even talk of ethnicity, but of rebuilding Sri Lanka."
Wickrematunge's brother, Lasantha, the newspaper's former editor and an outspoken critic of the government, was killed earlier this year and predicted his own death in an editorial headlined "And Then They Came for Me," which he directed to be printed in the event of his assassination. Many here claim government security forces had a hand in his death, an allegation the government denies.
"The Tamil Tigers are vanquished," Lal Wickrematunge said. "But there is still fear. I hope the wind of freedom will blow across our country."
At market fruit stands and at prayer stations near white-washed statues of Buddha, Sri Lankans here expressed optimism. Many said the mood is reminiscent of the sense of unity that followed the 2004 tsunami, which left 30,000 Sri Lankans dead. Sri Lankans of all backgrounds sent rice, blankets and clothing to the victims. They are doing the same now for those in the camps.
In her family's living room, Gamage, the singer, who is Sinhalese, said she had thought a lot about the president's victory speech to the nation, especially his admonition: "The war against the LTTE is not a war against Tamil people."
"I liked that way of thinking," she said.
The Sri Lankan government has produced a stream of war propaganda, including coffee-table books on Tamil Tiger killings and films showing soldiers saving civilians.
But Gamage said her song expresses pride, not propaganda. After hearing Rajapaksa's speech, she said, she translated the lyrics into Tamil. "Everyone should love our king," she said. "We trust him."
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 21 --
Every 15 minutes, Sri Lankan state television halts its normal programming to broadcast patriotic images of women in lush tea fields at sunrise, workers building power lines and troops standing guard, all accompanied by a soaring anthem in which a young beauty calls for the country's president to be crowned king.
On the streets of the capital, billboards proclaim, "King Mahinda Rajapaksa: He saved us," beneath a photograph of the president hugging his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defense minister, and apparently glorying in the military victory that this week ended more than a quarter-century of war with the Tamil Tiger separatists.
"Everyone's heartbeat is just like my song and the billboards," said Saheli Rochana Gamage, 21, whose rendition of the anthem has made her a celebrity in this small Indian Ocean island nation. "He should be our president forever. We are happy with a king who can protect our country. Elections don't matter."
At a time when insurgencies elsewhere seem to be expanding, notably in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Rajapaksa brothers were able to do what five Sri Lankan presidents, eight governments and more than 10 cease-fires could not: win a war against a movement that the FBI has called "the most ruthless and efficient terror organization in the world."
Despite the elation, however, the human cost of their accomplishment is also becoming clear: Power has been consolidated around a ruling family, a humanitarian crisis looms, and civil rights and media freedoms have been rolled back.
Perhaps the most pressing problem is the situation of more than 280,000 people, mostly Tamils, who have been driven from their homes in recent months, many of them traumatized women and children who were used as human shields or forced to huddle in trenches or the jungle during fighting. They are now living in crowded, highly controlled government-run camps, fenced in by barbed wire. Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads, many here say.
"Sri Lanka has won the war. But now they have to win the peace, which is a very difficult challenge," said Erik Solheim, Norway's minister for international development, who worked for 10 years with the warring parties and brokered a failed 2002 cease-fire. The government must make all communities feel they are Sri
Solheim said closing the camps to aid workers and journalists "for any reason is completely unacceptable and dangerous for those inside."
"The international community must, and I mean must, get into these camps," he said. "They have to say to Sri Lanka: 'It takes two to tango. If you want reconstruction and aid money, you will open the camps."
Diplomatic PressureThe United States and Britain, two key members of the International Monetary Fund, have said they will link the release of a $1.9 billion bailout loan to improvements in Sri Lanka's treatment of war-displaced civilians.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned President Rajapaksa to urge political reconciliation and speedy resettlement of displaced Tamil civilians.
Few question the need for security, but civil society leaders worry that the country's mood of blind patriotism will encourage the government to ignore international standards for the treatment of war criminals and Tamils they suspect are rebel sympathizers. At the heart of the insurgency are the long-standing grievances of the country's largely Hindu and Christian Tamils, who make up as much as 15 percent of the nation's population of 21 million. Some Tamils say they have suffered economic marginalization and racial discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
One key issue will be the timeline for resettlement of the displaced Tamils. If they stay in the camps too long, advocates say, they could be sidelined as the north is rebuilt and could also have difficulty reclaiming their farms.
After a meeting with an Indian delegation Wednesday, Sri Lankan officials vowed to return most of the displaced civilians to their homes this year.
Rajapaksa also called on Sri Lankans on Thursday to make peace. "The celebration of this victory, as deep as it is felt, should be expressed with magnanimity and friendship towards all," the president said in a statement.
Suresh Premachandran, a Tamil leader and a member of Parliament, cautioned that the military victory cannot be considered complete unless Tamils feel they are equal citizens. Sri Lankan police and civil servants often don't speak Tamil, and there is tension over both language and lack of Tamil representation in government jobs.
"We are the people who are elected democratically," said Premachandran, a former rebel. "Even when we start to speak in Parliament, immediately all the people in the ruling party start to shout, 'You LTTE bugger!' and things like that," a reference to the rebels' formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"The Sri Lankan government does not want to share the power with the Tamil people," he added. "That is the whole reason why this thing started."
Rebuilding a NationSri Lanka's government has won over public opinion by painting the conflict as a war against terrorism. Several ministers have already advised the president to hold early elections, and others have urged amending the constitution to allow Rajapaksa to run for a third a term.
Nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict and thousands displaced in this once prosperous teardrop-shaped island. Under emergency regulations introduced in August 2006, the security forces have sweeping powers of search, arrest, detention and seizure of property. They are also permitted to hold people in unacknowledged detention for as long as 12 months, according to Human Rights Watch.
"The president has his work cut out," said Lal Wickrematunge, editor of the independent Sunday Leader newspaper. "Of course, he's very, very popular right now. He's at the zenith of his popularity. He should use that to unite all communities and not even talk of ethnicity, but of rebuilding Sri Lanka."
Wickrematunge's brother, Lasantha, the newspaper's former editor and an outspoken critic of the government, was killed earlier this year and predicted his own death in an editorial headlined "And Then They Came for Me," which he directed to be printed in the event of his assassination. Many here claim government security forces had a hand in his death, an allegation the government denies.
"The Tamil Tigers are vanquished," Lal Wickrematunge said. "But there is still fear. I hope the wind of freedom will blow across our country."
At market fruit stands and at prayer stations near white-washed statues of Buddha, Sri Lankans here expressed optimism. Many said the mood is reminiscent of the sense of unity that followed the 2004 tsunami, which left 30,000 Sri Lankans dead. Sri Lankans of all backgrounds sent rice, blankets and clothing to the victims. They are doing the same now for those in the camps.
In her family's living room, Gamage, the singer, who is Sinhalese, said she had thought a lot about the president's victory speech to the nation, especially his admonition: "The war against the LTTE is not a war against Tamil people."
"I liked that way of thinking," she said.
The Sri Lankan government has produced a stream of war propaganda, including coffee-table books on Tamil Tiger killings and films showing soldiers saving civilians.
But Gamage said her song expresses pride, not propaganda. After hearing Rajapaksa's speech, she said, she translated the lyrics into Tamil. "Everyone should love our king," she said. "We trust him."
'Viagra lure' for Afghan warlords
America's CIA has found a novel way to gain information from fickle Afghan warlords - supplying sex-enhancing drug Viagra, a US media report says.
The Washington Post said it was one of a number of enticements being used.
In one case, a 60-year-old warlord with four wives was given four pills and four days later detailed Taleban movements in return for more.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people," the Post quoted one agent as saying.
"Whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra."
'Silver bullet'
The newspaper said the use of Viagra had to be handled sensitively as the drug was not always known about in rural areas.
It quoted one retired agent as saying: "You didn't hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones."
In the case of the 60-year-old warlord - the head of a clan in southern Afghanistan who had not co-operated - operatives saw he had four younger wives.
The pills were explained and offered. Four days later the agents returned.
"He came up to us beaming," the Post quoted an agent as saying. "He said, 'You are a great man.'
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
The pills could put chieftains "back in an authoritative position", another official said.
The paper said the CIA had a long line of inducements for the notoriously fickle warlords, including dental work, visas, toys and medicine.
It quoted one private security official as saying that simply handing over large sums of money would raise suspicions about newfound wealth.
America's CIA has found a novel way to gain information from fickle Afghan warlords - supplying sex-enhancing drug Viagra, a US media report says.
The Washington Post said it was one of a number of enticements being used.
In one case, a 60-year-old warlord with four wives was given four pills and four days later detailed Taleban movements in return for more.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people," the Post quoted one agent as saying.
"Whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra."
'Silver bullet'
The newspaper said the use of Viagra had to be handled sensitively as the drug was not always known about in rural areas.
It quoted one retired agent as saying: "You didn't hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones."
In the case of the 60-year-old warlord - the head of a clan in southern Afghanistan who had not co-operated - operatives saw he had four younger wives.
The pills were explained and offered. Four days later the agents returned.
"He came up to us beaming," the Post quoted an agent as saying. "He said, 'You are a great man.'
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
The pills could put chieftains "back in an authoritative position", another official said.
The paper said the CIA had a long line of inducements for the notoriously fickle warlords, including dental work, visas, toys and medicine.
It quoted one private security official as saying that simply handing over large sums of money would raise suspicions about newfound wealth.
Sri Lanka ready for devolution to Tamil areas
Colombo (PTI): With LTTE out of its way, Sri Lanka on Thursday assured India that it will implement a law for devolving powers to Tamil-dominated areas as both the countries agreed on the need for a lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict.
The assurance was contained in a joint statement issued after National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met President Mahinda Rajapaksa here, three days after LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran was eliminated and the country was declared free of terrorism.
Sri Lanka and India agreed that with the end of the military operations, the focus should be on issues of relief, rehabilitation, resettlement and reconciliation, including a permanent political solution in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Menon told reporters after the meeting that Sri Lanka appeared willing to go beyond the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord which for the first time set up a devolution plan for the ethnically-divided nation.
"Our discussions were within the framework of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace agreement. The President is not only willing to implement the 13th Amendment (set up under the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord) but is willing to go the extra mile," he said.
Mr. Menon and Mr. Narayanan, who arrived here on Wednesday, had a breakfast meeting with the President at his 'Temple Trees' residence.
The two also met with senior officials and Basil Rajapaksa, President's Senior Adviser, Lalith Weerathunga, President's secretary and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The two envoys said the Sri Lankan Government outlined a 180-day plan to resettle the tens of thousands of civilians who were displaced due to the fighting between the security forces and the LTTE.
India was willing to cooperate closely with the Sri Lankan side in reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as demining of areas for resettling civilians in their towns and villages.
The Sri Lankan side said that India had offered support for the huge reconstruction effort and was keen to ensure that civilians returned from the camps for the internally displaced persons at the earliest.
Both sides emphasised the urgent need to resettle the IDPs in their towns and villages of habitation and to provide them necessary basic and civic infrastructure as well as means of livelihood to resume their normal lives at the earliest possible.
To this end, the Government of Sri Lanka indicated that it was its intention to dismantle the relief camps at the earliest.
The Hindu 22-05-2009
Colombo (PTI): With LTTE out of its way, Sri Lanka on Thursday assured India that it will implement a law for devolving powers to Tamil-dominated areas as both the countries agreed on the need for a lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict.
The assurance was contained in a joint statement issued after National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met President Mahinda Rajapaksa here, three days after LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran was eliminated and the country was declared free of terrorism.
Sri Lanka and India agreed that with the end of the military operations, the focus should be on issues of relief, rehabilitation, resettlement and reconciliation, including a permanent political solution in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Menon told reporters after the meeting that Sri Lanka appeared willing to go beyond the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord which for the first time set up a devolution plan for the ethnically-divided nation.
"Our discussions were within the framework of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace agreement. The President is not only willing to implement the 13th Amendment (set up under the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord) but is willing to go the extra mile," he said.
Mr. Menon and Mr. Narayanan, who arrived here on Wednesday, had a breakfast meeting with the President at his 'Temple Trees' residence.
The two also met with senior officials and Basil Rajapaksa, President's Senior Adviser, Lalith Weerathunga, President's secretary and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The two envoys said the Sri Lankan Government outlined a 180-day plan to resettle the tens of thousands of civilians who were displaced due to the fighting between the security forces and the LTTE.
India was willing to cooperate closely with the Sri Lankan side in reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as demining of areas for resettling civilians in their towns and villages.
The Sri Lankan side said that India had offered support for the huge reconstruction effort and was keen to ensure that civilians returned from the camps for the internally displaced persons at the earliest.
Both sides emphasised the urgent need to resettle the IDPs in their towns and villages of habitation and to provide them necessary basic and civic infrastructure as well as means of livelihood to resume their normal lives at the earliest possible.
To this end, the Government of Sri Lanka indicated that it was its intention to dismantle the relief camps at the earliest.
The Hindu 22-05-2009
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