Rajapakse renews pledge to fight ‘external elements’

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, centre, rides in a jeep during a Victory Day parade in Colombo yesterday.

IANS/ColomboSri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday renewed his pledge to fight all “external elements” seeking to “disrupt” the country’s peace at the fourth anniversary celebration of winning the three-decade war.He was alluding to foreign countries, led by the United States, who have been critical of Sri Lanka’s human rights record and called for an independent investigation into the alleged war crimes committed during the last stage of the war in the country.President Rajapakse insisted that these were attempts to undermine the peace that has been won and the reconciliation that is already taking place.“When the war ended, we freed most of the top officials of the LTTE with very minor punishments despite the many atrocities their organisation committed. We rehabilitated over 11,000 cadres, resettled thousands of displaced people and demined vast tracts of land,” he said.Addressing the nation during the celebration, Rajapakse also harshly criticised the Tamil diaspora, whom he saw as “aiding and abetting” the international community to criticise Sri Lanka.“The Tamil people don’t need enemies as long as these people are there,” he added, clearly alluding to the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora organisations such as the Global Tamil Forum that have been lobbying internationally on allegations of war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war.These groups have supported countries such as Canada and UK to vote against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that adopted two resolutions on Sri Lanka in 2012 and 2013.However, Rajapakse emphasised several times during his speech that he would not allow for any such group or country to dictate Sri Lanka.“We will not allow a single inch of the land that you won by the sacrifice of your life to be taken away,” Rajapakse said. “There will be no room for separation.” The Sri Lankan forces crushed the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) that waged a three-decade war in the island in May 2009. Since then, every year the government has held a massive military parade in Colombo to celebrate the victory.This year’s celebration did not differ from the previous ones and featured contingents from each part of the army, navy, air force, police and home guard. Families of soldiers who had died during the war were presented medals after the president’s speech.The military offensive which crushed the Tigers had triggered allegations of war crimes with rights groups saying that up to 40,000 civilians perished in the last months of fighting alone. Meanwhile, a naval craft taking part in the celebrations capsized and a search was on for an officer who was reported missing after the accident, a military official said, adding that the other four crew members had been rescued.Lanka Tamils defy ban on rebel memorial

Sri Lanka’s main opposition Tamil party yesterday defied a military ban and staged a commemoration of their war dead as the government celebrated the fourth anniversary of defeating Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said it staged the remembrance in the northern town of Vavuniya for those who died in the final battle which also killed Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his entire top leadership. “We had a meeting to commemorate all those who died in the conflict,” TNA lawmaker Suresh Premachandran said from Vavuniya, 260km (162 miles) north of Colombo. The event came as Sri Lankan troops held a parade in the capital Colombo to mark the victory over Tamil Tigers and an end to 37 years of ethnic bloodshed. The state-run Daily News said the Vavuniya meeting was illegal and warned anyone commemorating the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be jailed. Witnesses said the TNA-led ceremony ended peacefully amid a heavy police presence.