Below we carry excerpts of a speech made by Mangala Samaraweera at the Sri Lanka — America Friendship society gathering held recently at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. “THE POST WAR SCENARIO” - in my view is a misnomer as I feel that it is still a little too premature to talk of a post war situation as Sri Lanka has yet to win the peace despite the convincing victory over the LTTE. Perhaps, we ought to be looking at “ The post Mullativu scenario” for the moment.
By Montage ⋅ June, 2009HISTORY IS AN EXTRAORDINARY THING. While many might think of it as a slow inexorable process and while it does typically involve vast time spans – sometimes it can sneak up on you. For months 20 million people had been anticipating the news that would usher in the dawn of a new era on the island. But after dozens of missed deadlines and a lifetime of conflict when news began trickling in, of the most significant event in the last 30 years of the country’s political history, many were caught completely off guard.
By Savan Wijewardena ⋅ June, 2009THE WIPING OUT OF THE LTTE by the armed forces resembles a giant tree being chopped off like nipping a tender bud. It is a historical event for Sri Lanka bearing an utmost significance and such historical events occur only once or twice in a century. The individuals who provided the leadership for such a major event inevitably become major personalities themselves. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected as the president of this country I thought a leader with a fitting counter personality to Prabakaran has come to power. This fact I have mentioned in my previous articles directly and indirectly. I had a feeling that Prabakaran would witness his end in the hands of Mahinda.
By Victor Ivan ⋅ June, 2009THE SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT, MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA, savoured a victory that had eluded every Sri Lankan head of state before him: he declared on television that after more than 25 years, his troops had defeated one of the world’s most enduring guerrilla armies on the battlefield. Behind that victory speech was a historic and bloody family triumph, guided by two of the president’s brothers: Gotabhaya, the influential Secretary of Defense, and Basil, a so-called special adviser who devised the political strategy around the war effort.