Photos - (rehearsal for the National Victory Parade)

Traffic plan: rehearsals and Victory Day parade

Colombo traffic police informs of a special traffic plan that will be in effect in the vicinity of Galle Face grounds, the venue of the parade, from today till Wednesday in view of the Victory Day celebrations. Police kindly inform the public to use alternate routes from today till Wednesday. Galle road (Bambalapitiya junction to Galle Face), Sri James Peries Mawatha, Perehera Mawatha, Navam Mawatha, Justice Akbar Mawatha, Union Place, D. R. Wijeyawardhana Mawatha, Lotus Road and York Street will be closed for security reasons.

Terror leader: Adele Balasingham outside her home in New Malden, Surrey

'Aunty' to female Tamil Tigers run London protests from New Malden

A Tamil terror chief who allegedly handed cyanide pills to child soldiers is living in a London suburb, the Standard can reveal.

Sri Lankan intelligence officials believe Adele Balasingham, 59, is one of the most senior figures in the remains of the terror group which fought a 26-year war for independence on the island and was defeated last month.

They claim she has played a key role in organising protests by Tamils outside Parliament and want Britain to take action against her.

Sri Lanka's government believes Tamil Tiger leaders abroad are raising funds and procuring equipment which could be used in fresh attacks.

Mrs Balasingham lives in a œ500,000 house in New Malden, Surrey. She is the widow of Anton Balasingham, a Sri Lankan with British citizenship who was the chief political strategist of the Tamil Tigers until he died in 2006.

Mrs Balasingham, an Australian-born nurse, met and married him while he was living in London in the Seventies. She became deeply involved in the Tigers' cause - ending up as the leader of its women soldiers and nicknamed "Aunty" on the island. An undated video of Mrs Balasingham, showing her in camouflage fatigues and presiding over a parade of female child soldiers, has been circulated to confirm her status as one of the movement's most influential figures.

The female Tamil Tiger fighters, some thought to be as young as 14, have completed three months of training.

She is seen presenting them with cyanide capsules to be worn on a necklace and swallowed if they are about to be captured by troops. Her presence in Britain has increased tensions between Britain and Sri Lanka, which believes the Government has been "too soft" on Tiger associates since banning the group in 2001.

A senior Sri Lankan High Commission source told the Standard: "Given the association of Mrs Balasingham with the senior ranks of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) she could be seen as a sole survivor. "She was involved in taking major decisions in the hierarchy of the LTTE and there is a possibility that supporters will rally around her in Britain.

"We believe the Parliament Square protests were organised directly from the Tamil Tigers leadership... and Mrs Balasingham has been a main point of contact in the UK for this."

Representatives of the Sri Lankan government are to meet Scotland Yard and the Home Office in the coming weeks for talks on the Tigers' presence in Britain. There are fears a new faction of the Tamil Tigers could emerge, fuelled by anger over the number of innocent people killed by the Sri Lankan army in its offensive against the militants. Mrs Balasingham, who rarely leaves her four-bedroom home, declined to speak to the Standard. In her 2001 book The Will To Freedom: An Inside View Of Tamil Resistance, she wrote about staying as a "guest of honour" with Tigers' founder Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Scotland Yard said they were unable to comment on ongoing inquiries.

More military equipments recovered - Mullaittivu

While continuing their search operations in Mullaittivu areas, Troops of 55 Division recovered a large amount of military equipments from Puthukudueurruppu East, yesterday (31st May). The items recovered by troops as follows;

Item / Description	Amount	Item / Description	Amount
DF monitoring sets	04	Antenna switches	12
Radio direction finders	06	Display unit	01
Communication receivers	03	Circuit boards	07
Kenwood automatic tuners	02	Spring base antenna mounts	08
I-Com sets	03	Antenna parts	02
YAESU radio set	01	Charger	01
AC adaptors	04	Rod antennas	03
Antenna simulators	02	Yagi antennas	04
Serial data expanders	03	Cable rolls	47
Trusted wireless data units	10	Data connector	01
Power distribution units	09	Power cord	01
Antenna switches	12	Other connector	01
		T-56 weapon	01

Meanwhile, 57 Division troops during a search operation recovered following items from Puthukudueuruppu area around 10.00 a.m. 

Item / Description	Amount	Item / Description	Amount
Det cord roll	60	81mm Mortar sights	02
81mm Mortar barrel	20	T-56 Weapon	01
120mm Mortar barrel	01	Hand grenades	68
120mm Mortar mount	01	T-56 Weapons	07
120mm Mortar barrel muzzle cap	01	Electric detonator	10000
12.7mm Ammunition	52	40 mm Grenades	11
60mm Mortar bomb	01

While conducting search operations in Puthumathalan area between 6.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m., troops of the 58 Division recovered following war materials.

Item / Description	Amount	Item / Description	Amount
9mm Pistol	01	40mm Grenade Launcher	02
9mm Ammunition	09	60mm Mortar	05
T-56 Weapons	14	T-81 Weapon	01
LMG Weapons	02	Gas gun	01
RPG Weapons	08	60mm Mortar bombs	35
MPMG Weapons	02

Troops of the 59 Division recovered 01 x 7.65 mm pistol and 02 x pistol magazines during a search operation conducted in the Vellamullavaikkal area around 2.20 p.m. 

Meanwhile, a soldier was wounded due to a LTTE booby-trap explosion in the Puthumathalan area around 9.20 a.m., and another three soldiers were also wounded due to booby trap and Anti personnel mine explosions around 2.20 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. respectively in Vellamullawaikkal area.

War Heroes

The "Appalling" chorus against Sri Lanka

Light Refractions

(By: Lucien Rajakarunanayake)

The latest to use the word was the unnamed BBC correspondent who was quoted on the 11.30pm BBC News on Tuesday night. "Appalling". That was how the BBC Correspondent described the conditions at the relief village for the IDPs in the Vanni.

Just one damning word is all that was needed. There was no effort to explain why it was appalling, or when this was said. For the BBC, as for many other western news organizations today, just the word was enough. It is somewhat like the word becoming flesh as it is said in the Bible. The word is the truth, and it suited the BBC news presenter who was reporting on the Special Session on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier that same evening.

A glimpse of the Sri Lankan Minister speaking at the Special Session, a few frames of people undergoing hardship at an IDP centre and the BBC correspondent's mighty proclamation " It is appalling". End of story. The point is made. The message is conveyed that Sri Lanka deserves to get a battering from the "International Community" in Geneva for the "appalling" condition at the IDP centres.

Cut. Move to the next item on the news - so many killed in Pakistan, thousands upon thousands of refugees on the move there, which is described as biblical in proportions, but there is nothing appalling about that. There never can be, because the reporter BBC or whatever other channel, and the presenter knows the great trek has been caused at the behest of the Americans, who are urging Islamabad to be as tough as ever with the Taliban. Mormon polygamy will be looked at with Nelsonian blindness by US law enforcers, but Sharia Law is certainly bad for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Why are we not appalled?

It's not as funny as it initially seems, when one sees how the international media has allowed itself to be manipulated to present a picture of a country that suits the political agendas of the ruling groups in some western countries, and the interests of the pro-LTTE Tamil citizens of who can today make up a considerable vote bank in some electorates or districts in those countries. The truth or the background to current developments is not of importance anymore. It is the power of gripping words and the images that can send a negative message that matter. And most of the media people who report on Sri Lanka have come with considerable baggage of that stuff in their mental rucksacks.

In guess you recall the words of the popular baila which goes "And she's got kerosene oil in her brain". Well it is something like that, but this is no piece of fun. Most of the journalists who go up to report on the IDPs carry plenty of barbed wire in their brains, and precious little of anything else, such as intelligence, or powers of observation, and objectivity, that one usually associates a good journalist with.

Either because the bedside stories their mothers or grandmothers read to them had much to do with it, or their readings on conflict have been confined to the days of the Second World War or more recently the tragedies in Srebrenica in the Bosnian War, they have an instant mental link between barbed wire and concentration camps. The IDPs in Sri Lanka are held in concentration camps surrounded by barbed wire - this is the refrain of the international media today. It is a chorus that is fully in sync with the chanting of the pro-LTTE expatriate Tamils, who are now well rooted citizens of western countries, and have no regrets about what the LTTE has been doing to their own kind for nearly three decades.

Let's try to ignore the fact that these media guys do not know that concentration camps did not have their beginning here, but in the British controlled South Africa, during the Boer War. That they were later were perfected by the western Christian, anti-Semitic regime of Hitler in Nazi Germany and in the other parts of Europe the Nazi troops ran over; by its Eastern Axis Partner Japan, especially in Malaya, and was later used to terrible effect in the more recent Bosnian War.

They just don't know that the vast, majority of people who own property in Sri Lanka use barbed wire for boundary fencing. This is not to prevent the owners or residents on such property from escaping, but to keep unwanted outsiders from entering. Those who write about barbed wire surrounded concentration camps show pictures of these places, where the strands are thin and so far between that it cannot prevent anyone from easily creeping through. Hardly the stuff of concentration camps; but they are the tellers. The world is supposed to believe them

But the piece of barbed wire writing that deserves a cake was what appeared in the Guardian UK, usually a good and respected newspaper of the mainstream. The Guardian writer said the Sri Lankan government put barbed wire round the IDP camps to prevent journalists getting there and learning the truth about how the IDPs where treated by the LTTE before they escaped and came to the relief centres, or camps, if you like to all it that. Don't you think that deserves a special prize for journalism of an overly fertile imagination? Can you give one reason why the government would try to prevent journalist learning of the atrocities of the LTTE? And, who is the journalist worth one's salt who can be put off the trail of a story just by a few strands of barbed wire around the location? But the Guardian has also joined the ranks of Sri Lanka bashers today, so it is most unlikely to prevent such unimaginable flights of fancy in print and on the web.

There are two other words also buzzing around the diplomatic and media circuits that are training their guns on Sri Lanka in the new battle the country is facing. It is "Uninhibited" and "Unimpeded". That is what we are supposed to extend to foreign aid workers, including the UN types who leak unverified and unverifiable information to the bloodthirsty media about the conditions in the IDP relief centres. Leading the trumpeter making this call for unhindered and unimpeded access is Ban Ki-moon. No less than the General Secretary of the United Nations.

What these new warriors of peace, who could only issue statements that both sides exercise restraint during the entire struggle with the LTTE seem to have forgotten is that Sri Lanka is a sovereign state, and that we bloody well have the right to lay down our own terms on who enters any place in the country, and especially to deal with our own citizens. Those who are just now overcoming all the tragedy and trauma of being held hostage by the LTTE, when all these patrons of unhindered and unimpeded access could do was warn of an impending bloodbath, which to their terrible discomfiture did not materialize.

I'd like to ask Ban Ki-moon when he asked the United States of America to allow "unhindered and unimpeded access to any relief workers" to that genuine concentration camp, complete with barbed and razor wire and much more in Guantanamo? Is it because this ugly blot on the American name is located on Cuban soil, leased out to the US, or is it that any or all of those alleged terrorist inmates at Gitmo have less rights to equal treatment under Human Rights than the Tamil civilians who have been so brutally treated by the LTTE.

"Unhindered and unimpeded" my foot. That should be the real response. Just for a start let's introduce rules that anyone, aid workers included, who wish to serve in the IDP centres should be certified as being free of HIV/AIDS, of any suspicion of Swine Flu or whatever technical term that is now called now to help the US Pork Industry, should have no suspicions of being paedophiles, and that gay and lesbian couples, whether married or in civil union will not be allowed there. There are a few more restrictions one can think of. I suggest the Swine Flu impediment be extended to anyone from any US state or Mexican region that has had even one suspected case of the illness. We can then be sure that Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be coming this way.

Just watch how everyone from the BBC to the TimesOnline, Human Rights Watch and Ban Ki-moon himself, will be shouting out that this is all so....yes bloody appalling.

But Ban Ki-moon is also an appalling type. Addressing a Media Briefing in Kandy last Saturday he picks his words very carefully to say that what he saw when flying over the terrain of war in the North was sobering. He then says that what he saw at the IDP centre he visited was saddening. How true, indeed; and then he goes on to say the government was doing a very good job in looking after the IDPs, but lacked enough resources. ....But you can't keep one of these appalling guys down. He next speaks to a CNN reporter, on camera to be sure, and opens his heart out to say that all of what he saw was....yes, appalling. Maybe he was afraid of the appalling time he would have from the pro-LTTE American & Canadian Tamil mobs that would have a violent protest at his sobering and saddening comments about Sri Lanka. That is being charitable. But what an appalling guy this Secretary General must be. Would he have said it better if he had spoken Korean? I wonder.

Wanni war heroes given military honours & their service appreciated

"The ability to evaluate the situation objectively has always been a sign of true leadership" - General Frido and Senger Etterlin.

round commanders and hundreds of troops in the Army who sweated day and night for victory over terrorism, mostly during the last leg of the Wanni battles were hailed and their national contribution appreciated during a mammoth saluting parade that got underway at Army Headquarters Thursday (28) morning.

The military ceremony saw Commander of the Army General Sarath Fonseka, appreciative of their roles, presented silver parchment scrolls to twelve War Heroes who were at the forefront of the battles against separatist terrorists.

Major General G. A. Chandrasiri, Major General M. C. Mendaka P Samarasinghe, Major General N. A. Jagath C. Dias, Major General Nandana Udawatta, Major General G. D. H. Kamal Gunarathna, Brigadier Prasanna P. De Silva, Brigadier Sathyapriya D. T. Liyanage, Brigadier L. H. Shavindra C. Silva, Brigadier C. P. Gallage, Brigadier P. M. Rohana Bandara, Colonel Nihantha D. Wanniarachchi, and Colonel G. V. Ravipriya were the recipients of those conferment, awarded by General Sarath Fonseka on the occasion.

Under the shade of fluttering regimental flags in the esplanade, more than one thousand and two hundred soldiers, belonging to infantry and other regiments serving Wanni in a colourful military parade, commanded by Major General Kamal Gunarathne saluted their chief, General Sarath Fonseka, as rhythmic melodies of "Peradiga muthu etayayi me" and "Hela jathika abhimane" resonated adding patriotic sentiments to the occasion.

General Sarath Fonseka, in a moving address to his troops commended them for their gallantry and valour. Here is the full text of the Commander's speech;

"In order to mark the victory over terrorism that spanned over thirty years, posing a threat to unitary nature and sovereignty of our motherland, and also to pay tribute to all War Heroes who relentlessly fought to eliminate the scourge of LTTE terrorism from the Sri Lankan soil, this mammoth Saluting Parade was organized.

Let me on this occasion of commemoration also recall cherished memories on our fallen War Heroes, those went missing, turned disable and those sustained injuries during this battle. That memory gives a deep sense of sorrow, but accomplishment of their mission offers solace to us.

This battle victory was largely dependent on leadership of the officers and soldiers who fought in the battle ground. His Excellency, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Secretary Defence as well as those here and abroad offered leadership and guidance to this fight deserve our tribute and commendation. Fighting units, Task Forces, Service and Logistic units extended their maximum support to us and such cooperation is gratefully acknowledged. Those who provided protection to the ground while fighting was on elsewhere also receive our praise.

New recruits and soldiers who joined the Army en masse contributed largely to this victory. Had they failed to do so, we would not have been able to see an end to this battle. Parents and their family members who directed those heroic soldiers to join the Army also deserve our praise. The Army's strength rose to 200,000 from 116,000 as some 80,000 novices joined the Army in the past few months. Their entry helped us enormously to hold on to the territory thus captured and minimize soldier casualties.

Our ancestors facing similar threats in the past overcame such challenges at the risk of their lives. We have inherited a motherland through their sacrifices, gallantry and valour. The entire country, other than a handful of politicians and segments of people who betrayed the country, supported us whole-heartedly, like one people celebrating this victory.

Rescue of thousands of besieged Tamil people, affected by terrorism was to be launched through a humanitarian operation after Mavilaru episode, enabling them to live as they wished. It was one of our objectives. We brought the entire nation under one flag after eliminating terrorism once for all. It is a matter of pride for Sri Lanka. We fulfilled the mission and the entire Nation is indebted to the Army for that. We have added another 'Dutu Gemunu' reign to history once again.

Sri Lanka Army's sacrifice for successful completion of this fateful "Eelam war - 4" cannot be challenged or equated to a parallel by anyone. 190 officers and 5200 soldiers sacrificed their lives and 27,000 soldiers sustained injuries or turned disable during this battle. Of the total national dedication towards this battle, the Army has contributed more than 96 percent to it. The Army got rid of 22,000 terrorists and captured 9000 of them alive, destroying all their assets and resources. By granting relief of death to those LTTE cadres, the Army amply depicted its discipline and dignity. More than 70 percent of the enemy's maritime and aerial resources were demolished by troops of the Army. Therefore, service and commitment, rendered by Army officers and other ranks in this battle cannot be equated to that of any other individual. As Commander of the Army, I am proud to state so, on behalf of the entire Army.

By introducing changes to the Army, all necessary training were imparted to the troops, all required facilities and essential devices were provided and more importantly, competent military leaders were posted to right seats and appointment of junior leaders among soldiers was made as required. Though the war was to be completed in three years, our collective efforts made it possible to eliminate the enemy within two years and ten months. We are determined to bring peace to the country and we have created an environment, conducive to peace and security. We must still consolidate that basis to avoid any such threats in the future too.

In conclusion, let me thank President, Secretary Defence, the government and everybody for helping us achieve our target that led to the fall of 'Prabhakaran' and all the terrorists. Let me also thank my wife, children, all well-wishers and staff at Army Headquarters for their unstinted support given to me during the period of the battle. Let us resolve to rally round as one people in order to develop this country and lead it to be a prosperous one. Let peace prevail in Sri Lanka," the Commander concluded.