Saturday, September 25, 2010

Sri Lanka already attained, or on track to attain MDGs - President tells MDGs Summit

Sri Lanka has incorporated Millennium Development Goals key performance indicators in our national budget policies, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
Speaking at the Summit of the Millennium Development Goals in New York, he pointed out that as a result Sri Lanka has already attained or is on track to attain the MDGs, despite formidable odds, including the almost thirty years of a violent terrorist movement and the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
"In terms of universal primary enrollment and completion, we had recorded a level of almost one hundred per cent (100%) by year 2007. Gender parity in primary education has reached ninety nine per cent (99%) and in secondary and tertiary enrollment, the ratio of girls to boys exceeds one hundred per cent (100%)," the President said.
Quoting from what Buddha preached in the Maha Parnibbana Sutra, President Rajapaksa expressed deep conviction that "the well-springs of our civilization, nurtured by the Buddhist tradition should guide our approach to economic and social policy making.
At the core of this, there must be a sound scale of values. Nowhere is this better expressed than in the Maha Parnibbana Sutra, the final sermon preached by Gauthama the Buddha. Here, he declares that the moral worth of any society can be assessed by a clear yard stick. This consists of the quality of treatment meted out to women and children. In building a caring and compassionate society over the centuries, we have never lost sight of this ideal.
Emphasizing the imperative need for protecting the environment, the President said, "while we strive to achieve reasonable standards in living, we must not forget the need to avoid treading heavily on the natural environment. The current spate of natural disasters around the world and frequent flood situations in countries, are a stark reminder of the effects of environmental degradation."
President Rajapaksa urged the world leaders to treat this as urgent and reach consensus on curtailing global warming based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and the Bali Action Plan.
Following is the full text of the speech:
Ten years ago at the dawn of a new millennium, we re-affirmed our commitment to consolidate efforts in the spirit of collective responsibility, to free our world from hunger, to uphold human dignity, and to ensure sustainable co-existence with Mother Nature.
We set for ourselves the goal of advancing progress in eight key areas by the year 2015. Today, with just five years left, we have mixed results. Amidst multiple, inter-related and worsening global crises that confronted our world in the past few years, some countries have suffered setbacks in achieving these goals while others have scored remarkable success.
Mr. President,
Yet, time is still on our side to renew the political will and look for a way forward to reach the set targets, by harnessing our synergies. It is in this context that this High-Level Forum under the auspices of the United Nations assumes special significance.
Although each individual country has the sacred responsibility to ensure the welfare of its people, in an increasingly inter-connected and globalized world we cannot survive in isolation. Hence, achieving the Millennium Development Goals becomes ever more important in the collective interest.
The recent global economic and financial crisis has severely reduced the access to external resources and private capital flows, for developing countries. In such circumstances, there should be genuine commitment to fulfill donor obligations.
Unfortunately, the trend for more restrictions and protectionist measures in trade, debt relief and access to technology is posing a challenge to development. Hence, we need to act with a sense of urgency and partnership. At the same time, it is important for development assistance from external sources to continue to encourage for the sake of sustainability.
Our national policy has been developed within the framework of global priorities which we consider appropriate at this time. In the South Asian context, some of our urgent pre-occupations include food security, energy security, and global warming. Building up buffer stocks of essential food items, ensuring price stabilization and continuity of supply calls for a more systematic approach to international cooperation.
We are convinced that economic development to be sustainable, must include emphasis on protection of the environment. Green technology in industrial production is, therefore, one of the central needs of our time. The improvement of infra-structure in our villages and opportunity for social advancement is necessary to discourage mass movement of populations from rural areas into our towns.
Gender equality and the breaking down of social barriers are features of a peaceful society. Equity with regard to the distribution of wealth and access to essential services, we believe, are hall-marks of long term stability.
Mr. President,
In Sri Lanka, social development goals, such as free healthcare, access to education were embedded from independence, in the country's overall policy framework. In addition, through my own vision spelt out in the "Mahinda Chinthana - A vision for future", we embarked upon a 10 year pro-poor, and pro-development oriented framework, to further consolidate and accelerate socio-economic progress, equally importantly.
It is our deep conviction that the well-springs of our civilization, nurtured by the Buddhist tradition should guide our approach to economic and social policy making. At the core of this, there must be a sound scale of values. Nowhere is this better expressed than in the Maha Parnibbana Sutra, the final sermon preached by Gauthama the Buddha.
Here, he declares that the moral worth of any society can be assessed by a clear yard stick. This consists of the quality of treatment meted out to women and children. In building a caring and compassionate society over the centuries, we have never lost sight of this ideal.
Sri Lanka has incorporated MDG key performance indicators in our national budget policies. As a result, Sri Lanka has already attained or is on track to attain the MDGs, despite formidable odds, including the almost thirty years of a violent terrorist movement and the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that brought massive destruction to my country.
Mr. President,
In terms of universal primary enrollment and completion, we had recorded a level of almost one hundred per cent (100%) by year 2007. Gender parity in primary education has reached ninety nine per cent (99%) and in secondary and tertiary enrollment, the ratio of girls to boys exceeds one hundred per cent (100%).
Now the challenge is to further enhance the quality of our education to empower and prepare young people for productive employment. We have also undertaken vigorous measures to enhance computer literacy through a nation-wide project called "Nena sala" - centers of wisdom, covering mostly the rural areas.
In the health sector, our endeavour is to ensure every expectant mother a safe and attended child birth, and to increase the current rate of ninety eight per cent (98%) of such births, immediately to one hundred per cent (100%). The infant and under-five mortality rates, have decreased from a rate of 32 per thousand births in 1990 to 11.3 per thousand in 2009.
While our focus has been on countering tropical epidemics such as malaria and other vector borne diseases, we now need to pay adequate attention to forms of non-communicable diseases that pose a serious challenge to our health sectors. We would therefore urge access to medicines at reasonable costs and more predictable financial and technical assistance to develop local capacities, to improve conditions for patients.
Mr. President,
While we strive to achieve reasonable standards in living, we must not forget the need to avoid treading heavily on the natural environment. The current spate of natural disasters around the world and frequent flood situations in countries, are a stark reminder of the effects of environmental degradation. We must, with a sense of urgency, reach consensus on curtailing global warming based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and the Bali Action Plan.
Mr. President,
Every crisis while posing a threat brings an opportunity as well. Let us therefore resolve to use the opportunity afforded by our High-Level Meeting, to forge the strongest possible global platform to achieve the goals so necessary for our common good. I thank you.
Courtesy : PRIU

Army Para Games 2010 concluded

Army Para Games 2010 ceremoniously concluded with the participation of over 1000 disabled war heroes at Army Grounds today (24 Sep) evening.
Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa graced the occasion as the chief guest.
War Heroes, who sacrificed their legs and limbs to bring the lasting peace to the country, showcased their multiple sport talents in the Sri Lanka Army Para Games 2010 tournament.
Speaking at the event the Secretary Defence said that war heroes had made tremendous sacrifices during the last 30 years to liberate the country from the most ruthless terror outfit in the world and many were disabled in action but, still their courage and morale are at the highest level. We should appreciate their participation in this Army Para Games 2010.
He further emphasized that "as a responsible government we always take care of them catering for each of their needs such as medical needs, housing problem, legal issues, education of their children and so on, the welfare of disabled war heroes is our paramount concern". In addition the Ministry of Defence has built a "Ranaviru Nikethanaya" at Atthidia for permanently disabled war heroes and it is nearing completion. Apart from that the Army too has initiated "Abimansala" project at Anuradhapura to cater for permanently disabled war heroes.
Finally, he said that he was happy to see the talents displayed by the disabled war heroes and wished them all a brighter future.
Sergeant Rajakaruna of SL Army Singha Regiment honoured as the best sportsman of the Army Para Games 2010.
The Chairperson of the MOD Seva Vanitha Unit Mrs. Ioma Rajapaksa, Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath jayasooriya and Mrs. Jayasooriya and senior army officers were present at the occasion.

Friday, September 17, 2010

'Any country facing terrorism should follow Lankan model'

In an exclusive interview, with 'The Asian Age' Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka's military victory over the LTTE offers lessons for the international community.
Following are excerpts of the interview on 15th September, 2010.
Q. Recently you visited India for defence talks. There was defence cooperation for years before and during the conflict, so what are both sides talking today?
A. India could not do certain things, meet certain needs of the Sri Lankan armed forces, like supply of weapons, because of the sensitivities during the conflict period. Now that issue is no longer there, so we can think of going beyond that. The whole idea is to improve the defence relationship, to strengthen regional security, to improve maritime security in the Indian Ocean.
Q. There are concerns in India about China looking to beef up its presence in Sri Lanka, particularly its role in the Hambantota port project.
A. It is purely a business arrangement, nothing beyond that. I don't think there is any issue in that sense. Wherever possible, when India has faced any security concerns, we have always bent backwards to accommodate them. With India, we are not looking at government-to-government relations alone; we are interested in people-to-people ties and trade. I know that Indian investors are interested in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka. We are studying India's successful PPP (public-private partnership) model.
Q. There has been criticism of the delay in the rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils.
A. I don't think any other place in the world has so quickly resettled these people in their original habitats in such a short period. In one year we have resettled a majority of the three lakh IDPs. Very few are remaining, and that is because of the delay in clearing landmines. We cannot solve problems overnight but the government has aggressively invested more money in the North and East than the other provinces.
Q. Sri Lanka has also been criticized for not minimizing the civilian casualties of the war.
A. India knows what is LTTE but most of the outside world does not. It was a most ruthless terrorist organisation. Some think the attack on the USS Cole was the first attack by a terrorist group but by that time the LTTE had done many attacks on ships. It had done more suicide attacks in one year in Sri Lanka than all the suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq put together. The LTTE's weaponry was equivalent to that of the armed forces - heavy artillery guns, mortars, machine guns, missiles, Naval suicide boats and, ultimately, even small aircraft. That was the magnitude of its military strength. So it was not a small insurrection or a civil disturbance. By defeating the LTTE, we have stopped the killings of innocent civilians.
Q. How are you dealing with the former LTTE combatants?
A. We have rehabilitated about 500 child soldiers. We started a skill development programme for the 11,000 former combatants who surrendered; some of whom have completed this programme and joined the society. This is the truth but the other side does not know the true story.
Q. What can the world learn from Sri Lanka's experience with terrorism?
A. What we have done is to defeat the terrorists. I should say any country which faces terrorism should follow the Sri Lankan model. I think in fighting terrorism as well as humanitarian assistance in a conflict like this, there are lots of lessons for others to learn rather than criticise. But there were concerns about humanitarian assistance during the conflict. Our military operations and humanitarian assistance ran parallely. One can say the actions were not effective, maybe there were weaknesses, but it was a success. Of course, there were issues but in a situation there would be issues. We had no-fire-zones and restrictions on use of heavy weapons which are not normally done anywhere in the world in this type of situation, but we did that.
Q. Looking back at the last days of the conflict, would you have done anything differently? There were reports that some LTTE leaders wanted to surrender but they were shot, there was also talk of ceasefire.
A. Prabhakaran did not want to surrender. Even the night before they were defeated, they tried to launch a counter attack and escape. There would have been no problem if they had surrendered, but we came to that last minute after a hard battle and a lot of sacrifices, so we were not ready for ceasefire.
Q. And did they inform the UN?
A. Nobody informed us about any surrender. We took the time to defeat the LTTE because of the civilians. If we had no such concerns, we could have bombarded the place, used all our artillery and walked through within a day but we took over two months. So the international community must consider the risks that we took.
Q. Looking ahead, do you have a political solution of the ethnic problem, a devolution package?
A. Political jargons alone will not bring about a solution. We have created an environment for everybody to live peacefully, as Sri Lankans, as one nation. All other issues are for politicians. The ground reality is we must give people the opportunity to live peacefully, with jobs and education. That is what they want and the government will ensure that is there in Sri Lanka.
Q. What will be your message to the Lankan-Tamils living in India and abroad?
A. Some of them left long ago; others, more recently. The second and third generations have concerns about their children's education. I know it is difficult to give all that up and come. But if they come, they are most welcome. I think they must bring their know-how, knowledge, and invest their wealth here because development is the main requirement.
Courtesy: The Asian Age

Saturday, September 11, 2010

No training for LeT in Sri Lanka - Secretary Defence

Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that extremist groups operating in Pakistan have not received any type of training on Sri Lankan soil. He stressed that Sri Lanka is free from terrorists and there is no ground for terrorists to receive training in the country.
The Defence Secretary's denial came in the wake of Lakshar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspect involved in the German Bakery blast in Pune claimed that he was trained in Colombo. Two suspects involved in the attack were arrested by the Anti Terrorism Squad of India last Tuesday. Nine died and 45 people were injured by the incident.
One suspect has claimed that he was trained in Pakistan and the other suspect Miza Himayat Beig , 29 has confessed that he received training in Colombo. The Defence Secretary categorically denied the claims made by the suspect in Indian custody.
Secretary Defence further insisted that there is no ground in Sri Lanka for such an activity. He added that no terrorist group is operating in Sri Lanka after LTTE terrorism was swept out of the country.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has sought a comprehensive report from Indian defence authorities over the claims made by the Lakshar-e-Taiba suspect through the Defence Attache of the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi.