THE Government handed over 54 reconditioned buses to the Northern Sri Lanka Transport Board on July 23, for strengthening and streamlining the transport service in the Peninsula. The handing over of these buses to the General Manager of the Northern SLTB took place at a ceremony chaired by Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda at the Jaffna Central College grounds.
THE government hopes to promote war-torn Jaffna as a tourist destination soon. Tourism Promotion Minister Faizer Mustapha speaking to Daily Mirror at the launch of the Hikkaduwa beach festival this evening said that Jaffna will be marketed for its diversity and not as a former war zone. “We would like to have events in Jaffna and the East. We would not like to market Jaffna as a war zone, but to market Jaffna as another province in Sri Lanka which offers diversity. People in that area suffered due to terrorism and will like to move away from that part of history,” the Minister said.
THE newly appointed Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Major General Daya Ratnayake said that several thousand LTTE cadres could be still among nearly 300,000 civilians accommodated at welfare centres in the north. Addressing a press conference at the Information Department, Ratnayake said that once the Police and the Army had completed the ongoing screening process the numbers of LTTE cadres in government custody could go up as high as 20,000. The serving officer said that though as of yesterday (30) there had been 9796 men and women held at 12 detention centres in the Vavuniya region, this figure could go beyond 15,000.
THE closing ceremony of the annual Inter Regiment Sports Meet of the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF) which has a proud history of over 147 years took place at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Thursday (30). In this three-day long Sports Meet which started on 28th July, over 1000 male and female soldiers including a number of competitors with national and international records took part. They participated in representing 104 volunteer battalions. The chief guest for the closing ceremony was Major General JJPST Liyanage, the Commandant of Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF).
SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS in the 3rd Battalion Vijayaba Infantry Regiment that functions under 521 Brigade gave away about 200 lunch packets to people in Katkolam, Jaffna recently on account of the 20th anniversary of the Battalion. Meanwhile, officers and soldiers of the 9th Battalion of Sri Lanka Light Infantry that operates under 522 Brigade collected 100 novels and pre-school books for distribution among people in Mirusuvil welfare centre. The distribution took place recently in the peninsula.
COMMANDER of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, making his first visit to the Jaffna peninsula Friday (31) morning after he took office as the 19th Army Commander appreciated and commended the contribution made by Jaffna-based troops during the height of successfully concluded Wanni operations. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya was received at Palaly by Major General G P R De Silva, Commander, Security Forces Headquarters, Jaffna (SFHQ-J), 51 Division General Officer Commanding Brigadier P W B Jayasundara and a few more senior officers before he was conducted to the Security Forces Headquarters. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya at the entrance to the SFHQ-J in conformity with military tradition was accorded a Guard Turnout plus a Guard of Honour by soldiers of the Armoured Corps.
WANNI & EAST: TROOPS in PUTHUKKUDIYIRUPPU, NAWATIKULAM and KOKAVIL areas on Friday (31) recovered one anti tank mine, two hundred and eighty-five 120 mm mortar bombs, nineteen anti personnel mines, forty-three hand grenades, six thousand six hundred and ninety rounds of T-56 ammunition, eight T-56 magazines, twelve 60 mm para bombs, two M-4 bombs, twenty-three Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), five RPG chargers, one box of 12.7 mm ammunition, one claymore mine, one 12.7 mm ammunition link, two gas masks, four Multi Purpose Machine Gun (MPMG) links, eight paddle gun ammunition belts, two radar parts.....
TRINCOMALEE: NAVAL troops in TRINCOMALEE conducted a search and clear operation in THONYTHATTAMADU area and recovered fifteen I-com sets, three base station sets, one telephone, twelve 1077 type hand-held communication sets, three mikes, one multi-meter, one Global Positioning System (GPS) and one vehicle mounted antenna on Saturday (01).
THOUGH the LTTE terrorism was brought to a finish about two months ago, the memory of atrocities committed by the terrorists cannot be erased from the minds of the people in the country. The Tiger terrorism knows no religious sanctity, nor does it care for the lives of infants, children, women, and clergy or for that matter, anybody else. This was once again proved exactly nineteen years ago when Tiger terrorists cold-bloodedly butchered 147 Muslim devotees, praying in the mosques in the pre-dominantly Muslim town of Kattankudy, Batticaloa in the east.
IN AN INTERVIEW, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is combative towards the West and conciliatory towards India. This year’s stunning and decisive military annihilation of the LTTE by the Forces has created, in its wake, a humanitarian crisis of colossal dimensions. Some 300,000 displaced persons, most of them Tamils who were forced to flee their homes, are living in government welfare camps awaiting rehabilitation. The architect of this victory, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is hailed as a national hero at home, but international human rightsgroups and many European countries have been vociferous in criticizing him for war-related excesses, questioning his commitment to giving his country’s minority population a fair shake.....
