SRI LANKA's Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order declared a week for commemorating war heroes scheduled from May 12 - 18. It was named as Ranaviru week and scheduled in par with defeating LTTE on May 18th 2009.
Within the week, commemoration ceremonies will be held at provincial level organised by the Governors of the respective Provinces.
Accordingly, the commemoration ceremonies will be held on May 12 in the Central Province, May 13 in the Uva, East and Northern Provinces, May 14 in the North Western, May 15 in Southern province, May 16 in the North Central and on May 17 in the Sabaragamuwa Province.
In addition, all regiments of the Sri Lanka Army will be conducting religious ceremonies, felicitations in commemorating the war heroes week as directed by the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya.
The main event of the Sri Lanka Army within the week will be the laying of the foundation stone on May 15 for the wellness resort built for the dependably disabled soldiers - 'Abimansala' at Nuwara Wewa in Anuradhapura.
The Brave Hearts project run by the Sri Lanka Army Seva Vanitha Unit is conducting and coordinating the fund-raising and constructing activities of the wellness resort.
While celebrating the defeat of LTTE, Sri Lankan authorities have commenced a new “operation” to counter international LTTE propaganda and other related activities with Tiger proxies now aiming on forming a transnational government for Tamil Eelam, the military said.
Military Spokesperson Major General Prasad Samarasingha told that while the war in Sri Lanka has been won, Tiger operations still continue internationally and the government is now taking steps to address that issue as well.
“We have won the war in Sri Lanka but internationally the second phase of the war has started. Not only the forces, but the whole nation, including the people living overseas must get together and stop this international LTTE propaganda and activities. We will have to conduct a separate operation on that which the government has already started,” Major General Samarasingha said.
In the mean time Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday urged Tamil people to mourn and hold silent prayers on the morning of May 17 to mark what it called a day of "catastrophe". This "catastrophe is one of the worst in world history," the TNA said in a joint statement signed by its 14 Mps.
Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka has for the first time appeared before a civilian court to deny inciting unrest.
He is alleged to have said in a newspaper interview last year that the defence secretary ordered the killing of surrendering Tamil rebels.
The general appeared before Colombo magistrates to protest his innocence.
He said he had been misquoted by the newspaper and that the case was part of an attempt to silence him.
Gen Fonseka is in military custody and faces separate court martial charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and overseeing corrupt arms procurements.
The judge adjourned the hearing until 26 May.
Main opposition party of Sri Lanka parliament United National Party after suffering chain of defeats in elections considering reforms whithin the party at last. Although the release of a report on the proposed reforms of the UNP is scheduled for Friday, a majority of the party Working Committee members including parliamentarians have not made their submissions yet.
There are 77 Working Committee members and 48 parliamentarians but not even one fourth of them had sent in their suggestions, sources said.
They said it looked as if most of them were reluctant to make suggestions. However, a high ranking Working Committee member said that though there were ready with their suggestions, no arrangements had been made to receive them.
The US government has welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s intention to establish a Commission on Lessons Learned and Reconciliation to examine key aspects of the recently ended conflict in Sri Lanka and added that the findings of the commission should be made public.
Susan E. Rice, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in a statement said that experience in other countries has shown that commissions of inquiry can play a valuable role in advancing accountability when they are appropriately constituted and enjoy broad public support.
She added that particularly important in this regard, broad experience has shown that to be effective in advancing accountability and reconciliation, commission members should be and be perceived as independent, impartial and competent; their mandate should enable them fully to investigate serious allegations of violations and to make public recommendations; commission members and potential witnesses must enjoy adequate and effective protection; the commission must receive adequate resources to carry out its mandate; and the Government should undertake to give serious consideration to its recommendations.
“We hope the commission will also reflect the desires and requests of the citizens of Sri Lanka, who were the primary victims of the conflict. Being responsive to their needs will be an important measure of the commission’s success. In light of these general principles, we would welcome the Sri Lankan Government's commitment to give the Commission on Lessons Learned and Reconciliation a mandate to probe violations of international standards during the final stages of the conflict and to identify those responsible and, we would expect, to make appropriate public recommendations based on its findings,” the US envoy to the UN said.
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