Speaking at the victory day parade at Galle Face to celebrate four years since the defeat of the LTTE, the President said that past leaders attempted to settle for a ceasefire with the LTTE as they had no confidence in defeating the rebels.

However he said that those past leaders were unable to stop the bombings in Colombo or the assassination of several politicians.

In 2002 the then UNP government signed a cease fire agreement with the LTTE but the deal failed to last and the rebels were eventually defeated militarily by the current government.

“Subsequently, although a ceasefire agreement was signed with the intervention of several foreign countries, and a part of the country was betrayed to the forces of terror, those who were responsible for that agreement could not prevent bomb attacks in Colombo. All those who ruled the country at that time acted in this humiliating manner because they believed that the Tigers could not be defeated. We were also told by the entire world not to clash with the Tigers. We were told to give what they wanted. If we too were so fearful and lowly we would still be living in a country where one is afraid of a parcel on the road,” the President said.

He also  said that after the military defeated the LTTE and even today, four years on, several attempts are being made to raise human rights allegations against the government.

He said that most attempts are with the aim of dividing the country, which he says he will not allow.

A massive victory day parade with the participation of the troops who actively took part during the final stages of the war against the LTTE, was held at Galle Face following the President’s speech.

President Rajapaksa also awarded the ‘Parama Weera Vibhushanaya’ award, the highest gallantry award any military person receives from the Head of State, on six war heroes.

The awards were handed over to the family members of the six soldiers who were killed during the war. (ER)

The ‘Voice Against Corruption’ (VAC) has threatened to gather public support and surround the Bribery and Corruption Commission in Colombo over its failure to investigate several complaints lodged with the Commission.

VAC convenor Wasantha Samarasinghe said that the public taxes pay for the salaries of the Bribery Commission and yet the Commission has failed to investigate complaints made by the public to the Commission.

“We will gather public support and surround the Bribery and Corruption Commission in Colombo and protest,” he said.  He said that complaints made at the Commission include one over an EPF fraud incident, a financial company deal and complaints against the incumbent Chief Justice.

Samarasinghe said that another case is to be filed at the Commission against the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and when the case is filed a protest is likely to be held as well against the Commission.

However the Bribery and Corruption Commission insisted it investigates all complaints submitted in writing.
Lakshmi Jayawickreme, Director General of the Bribery Commission said that if someone has doubts about an investigation then a written complaint can be made.

The Tamil political parties which were involved in formulating a draft political solution for the Tamil issue failed to reach a consensus last week.

A committee comprising Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran, Tamil National People’s Front leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, senior lawyer Puvindran and law faculty lecturer Kumara Guruparan, had been formed last weekend to formulate the draft proposal.

However Sumanthiran said that the committee had failed to reach a consensus after Ponnambalam had put forward a pre-condition.

Sumanthiran had put forward some proposals for the draft which was accepted by Ponnambalam and the others in the committee.
However Ponnambalam had asked the TNA not to contest the elections in the Northern Provincial Council and instead be represented by a proxy independent group.

“We did not see the logic on this request as it had nothing to do with the political solution we are drafting. So I did not agree to that,” Sumanthiran said.

Sumanthiran said that the TNA position has always been to find a solution to the Tamil issue and not run away from it.
He noted that the TNA had contested the elections in the East for that reason and performed well and will do the same in the North as well.

The committee has two weeks to formulate the draft proposals on a basic solution for the Tamils.
The Tamil parties will meet again on June 8, in Vavuniya for further discussions on Tamil issues.

The United States (US) has begun looking at the progress made in Sri Lanka following the resolution adopted at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March this year.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michele J. Sison met the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) last week to get their views on the post UNHRC situation.

“The Ambassador wanted to meet us to discuss the UNHRC resolution and see what progress has been made since it was adopted,” TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told The Sunday Leader. He said that the US envoy was also briefed on the land issue in the north and she was told by the TNA that taking over civilian land is in complete contravention of the LLRC recommendations.

Around 1,474 persons owning land in Jaffna filed a writ application last week in the Court of Appeal challenging the attempts to illegally and unlawfully acquire their private land. A further 2,000 petitioners are to file on the same issue in the near future.

The massive area that is identified constitutes approximately 25.8 square kilometers. Sumanthiran also said that they had discussed about the elections scheduled to be held in the North in September. “We said that a free and fair election cannot be expected in a militarized environment. We also reiterated that there need to be foreign election monitors for the polls,” he said.

A group has been formed consisting of government parliamentarians with the aim of ensuring that the 13th Amendment is implemented and land and police powers to the provinces remain.

Minister Douglas Devananda is heading the group which consists of 31 government parliamentarians, including several Ministers.
The group is of the view that if any attempt is made to remove land and police powers to the provinces ahead of the Northern Provincial Council elections then a 2-3rd majority will be needed in parliament.

However the group may vote against such a move in parliament which could see the government losing the vote.

Government members D.E.W. Gunasekera, Tissa Vitharana, Janaka Bandara Tenakoon, Reginold Cooray, Mervyn Silva, Felix Perera and Rajitha Senaratne are among those in the group. When contacted by The Sunday Leader Minister Tissa Vitharana said that elections for the Northern Province should be held with land and police powers remaining in the provinces.

He said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had assured that a select committee will be formed if there is a push to remove the land and police powers.

The government has launched a campaign to promote Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November.

External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama said that the government will also attend a meeting to be held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London this week. He said that Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath is heading the publicity team in Sri Lanka while Sri Lankan High Commissions overseas are also carrying out separate campaigns ahead of the summit.

External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris had also briefed Ministry staff last Friday regarding the preparations for the summit in November.
Amunugama said that if any county boycotts the summit it will not be good for that country in the future.

He said that Canada is expected to attend the summit although it is still not clear at what level the Canadians will be represented.

TNPF leader Gajen Ponnambalam said that the police had given him an assurance the TNPF members will be released after statements were recorded from them.

He also said that the police had visited the TNPF office in Jaffna but no one was arrested there.

When contacted, police spokesman Budhika Siriwardena said that 9 people were arrested over a poster used at the event.

Events to remembers the civilians killed during the war was held in in many parts of the north yesterday including Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya.

The Tamil National Alliance took part in a remembrance event in Vavuniya. (ER)

Election monitors are concerned about the possible strong military presence in the North if elections are held in September.
Executive Director of CaFFE, Keerthi Tennakoon said that the political environment, the political freedom, the freedom of press and freedom of movement in the North needs to be addressed before the elections take place.

“There are still restrictions in those areas that could hamper the movement of people engaged in election campaigning. The freedom of assembly on the other hand is always a question mark, because in Mullaitivu, Jaffna and even in Kilinochchi we see that if there are a group of people gathered, there are so many questions being asked by the security forces. The militarization is one main aspect.

The North is one place that has more security personnel per square metre than any other place in the world. Therefore it is a big question mark as to when this militarization can stop and civil administration reinstated. The increasing of police personnel has to be introduced as part of the establishment of civil administration,” he said.

He also said that  this is the right time to ensure the freedom of expression, freedom of press, freedom of association and freedom of expressing ideas and most importantly canvassing for their parties especially the freedom to move freely and talk to the people has to be ensured for a fair election to be held.

Meanwhile the Executive Director of PAFFREL Rohana Hettiarachchi said that his organisation is also preparing for the Northern Provincial Council elections  and had commenced their programs two months ago, educating the people on voting procedures.

However according to him one of the biggest problems regarding the holding of elections in the Northern Province is that over 70% of the voters do not have National Identity Cards according to information gathered from the Elections Department. “We held programs recently in Mannar and Kilinochchi and have so far facilitated around 2,500 persons to obtain their NIC. In the first week of June we plan on having a five day mobile program in the Jaffna district in liaison with the GA to identify the areas where there are larger numbers of people without identity cards and issuing them their ID’s free of charge.” He said that the government had indicated that the Northern Provincial Council elections would take place in the first week of September.

Commenting on the issue of the military presence in the area he said that in comparison to the last local government elections the conditions today have improved greatly, yet pointed out that the presence of military personnel at polling booths could influence the voting process.

“The problem is that after three decades of war it is understandable that there should be military deployed for the security of the people, and we cannot challenge the government’s security arrangements. However it has been four years since the war has ended but still there is a heavy presence of military personnel in those areas. The main fear as in past experiences is if they will be directly involved in the election process and that could have an influence on the outcome of the results,” he added.

Meanwhile responding to the concerns of the military presence in the north, Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that troops deployed in the North and East have been reduced considerably since the end of the conflict. “For instance in 2007 there were around 45,000 troops deployed in the Jaffna peninsula; however today that number has been reduced to around 13,000. The fact is that the military cannot be totally removed from these areas as yet, as still there are weapons recoveries taking place even four years after the conclusion of the war. Hence if anyone is claiming that there is a heavy presence of troops in these areas, they are only imagining so,” he said.

The Brigadier stressed that these troops deployed are in no way involved in the civil administration process. “The civil administration is being carried out by properly appointed government servants. This allegation that the presence of troops deployed in the North could have an impact on the election process is totally baseless, and the fact that troops are not involved in civilian administration has been conveniently ignored,” he pointed out.

“We are fellow Commonwealth countries and have been working in a spirit of friendly cooperation since The Bahamas attained its independence almost forty years ago. The common themes are democracy, the rule of law, respect for the rights of the individual including the right to privacy and the security of the citizens, their persons and property. We exchanged views on these issues today, particularly in light of the upcoming Heads of Government conference in Sri Lanka in the fall,” Fred Mitchell said in a statement.

Canada has been pushing for the summit to be moved out of Sri Lanka but it is not clear if that issue was discussed during the Bahamas meeting.
The Canadian Minister of State is on a seven country tour of the Caribbean region, the Bahamas Foreign Ministry said.

The Colombo Divisional Secretariat has lost its archeological value as a result of the fire which damaged the building and some of the documents last year.

The District Secretary of Colombo Kamal Padmasiri said that he had discussions with the Archeological Department regarding the building.

He had been informed that the building, which was once an archeological site, has now lost that value.

The building was built by the British in 1854 and was preserved over the years until the fire damaged important documents and part of the building. The CID and police are conducting separate investigations into the blaze and statements have been recorded from 78 people so far.