India must respond to Gotabaya’s statement

[angeldemon_007]

Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and that lends greater resonance to his words. In a recent interview, he lashed out against those who voice concern over the plight of the Tamils in the island nation. He singled out Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa among those who have been espousing the cause of the Tamils “for political reasons”. What he implies implicitly is that Indians have no right to speak on behalf of the Sri Lankan Tamils. It is now more than two years since the Sri Lankan army defeated the LTTE and killed its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. However, there is increasing evidence that the Tamils had to suffer atrocities at the hands of the army.
Thousands of Tamils still remain in relief camps, deprived of even the basic necessities of life. The condition of the lakhs who returned to their land is no better. What’s worse, the Rajapaksa government, which still gloats over the “final solution” it found for the demand for a Tamil Eelam, is not even prepared to acknowledge the unfinished task of the war, ie, the rehabilitation of the affected population. At no point during the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka did India support the cause of Tamil Eelam, for it believed in the integrity of Sri Lanka. But that does not mean that it can turn a blind eye to the unfolding human tragedy.
On humanitarian grounds India offered relief material worth `500 crore to help rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamils. It has also shown its readiness to contribute more. Given this, it is natural that the defence secretary’s statement has caused incense, not just in Tamil Nadu but all over the country. It is his government’s insensitivity that is reflected in his assertion that India should not allow fishermen to enter the Sri Lankan waters. The External affairs ministry should summon the Sri Lankan high commissioner and lodge a strong protest against Gotabaya’s unwarranted statement.

India must respond to Gotabaya

 

[IndoCarib]

More about this loose cannon brother of Mahindra Rajapakse

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : A brother out of control

Two years after defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and eliminating it as a military entity, Sri Lanka is still struggling to emerge from the woods on some important fronts. Two issues are predominant. One is the nature of the peace, and the efforts by the Sri Lankan government towards a political reconciliation between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The military victory over the LTTE, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa's strength in parliament, gave the government an unprecedented opportunity to put in place a progressive political framework to heal the wounds of a 30-year war, and address Tamil grievances that predate the war. That it has taken only nominal steps in this direction is a matter of concern even to friends of Sri Lanka, such as India, which stood by its military efforts against the LTTE. The second issue, which has found strong voice in a recent documentary by a British television station, Channel 4, and in a United Nations report, has to do with the nature of the military operations in the final stages of the war in 2009. Both make allegations of war crimes against the Sri Lankan Army, accusing it of knowingly aiming fire at civilians such that thousands lost their lives, of killing captives in cold blood, and of possible sexual assault. It is shocking that instead of addressing these issues in the right spirit, a high-ranking official of the Sri Lankan government, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a brother of the Sri Lankan President, has chosen to vitiate the atmosphere even more with his intemperate remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and by attributing motives to the adoption of resolutions on Sri Lanka by the State Assembly.

Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa's comments, made in the course of an interview to Headlines Today television, reveal a troubling contempt for the Tamil minority. He has trashed “the political solution talk,” asserting, among other things, that it was “simply irrelevant” because “we have ended this terrorism in Sri Lanka,” making the egregious assertion that when the 13th Amendment was being drafted, “the government of Sri Lanka was not involved,” and proposing that with the LTTE “gone,” there was no further need to amend the Constitution. President Rajapaksa would be well advised to distance himself swiftly from his brother's stream-of-consciousness on sensitive issues that are not his business. This includes an outrageous comment that because a Tamil woman, an “LTTE cadre” who was a British national, interviewed in the Channel 4 documentary was “so attractive” but had been neither raped nor killed by Sri Lankan soldiers, the allegation of sexual assault by soldiers could not be true. For this statement alone, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa must be taken to task.

 

[Quick MIK]

There are limitations for india to intervene in srilanka.Srilanka is a soverign nation.

 

[Patrician]

There are limitations for india to intervene in srilanka.Srilanka is a soverign nation.

As long as Sri Lankan Tamils land on our shores as refugees, we will decide where Sri Lankan sovereignty ends and where Indian interests begin.

In my opinion, this is the right time for India to intervene in Sri Lanka citing UN human rights report in which even the UN has stated how the Sri Lankan army abused the human rights of Sri Lankan Tamils during its crackdown on LTTE.

India should send in its forces and facilitate the formation of a Tamil EElam before we end up having another Chinese pearl around our neck.

 

[misterme2]

As long as Sri Lankan Tamils land on our shores as refugees, we will decide where Sri Lankan sovereignty ends and where Indian interests begin.

In my opinion, this is the right time for India to intervene in Sri Lanka citing UN human rights report in which even the UN has stated how the Sri Lankan army abused the human rights of Sri Lankan Tamils during its crackdown on LTTE.

India should send in its forces and facilitate the formation of a Tamil EElam before we end up having another Chinese pearl around our neck.

It would be possible with Indira but with a lame duck PM, there is no chance in hell. I think we need a dictator to set things right in India. Once, corrective measures are taken then move back towards Democracy.

 

[Bang Galore]

As long as Sri Lankan Tamils land on our shores as refugees, we will decide where Sri Lankan sovereignty ends and where Indian interests begin.

In my opinion, this is the right time for India to intervene in Sri Lanka citing UN human rights report in which even the UN has stated how the Sri Lankan army abused the human rights of Sri Lankan Tamils during its crackdown on LTTE.

India should send in its forces and facilitate the formation of a Tamil EElam before we end up having another Chinese pearl around our neck.

We played that game once & paid a very heavy price for it. Thanks but no thanks. Btw, I find your logic weird. The surest way to make Sri Lanka go into Chinese arms is by being heavy handed. Nobody in India wants to fight this war.

 

[misterme2]

We played that game once & paid a very heavy price for it. Thanks but no thanks. Btw, I find your logic weird. The surest way to make Sri Lanka go into Chinese arms is by being heavy handed. Nobody in India wants to fight this war.

It will only be the surest way if we don't do the job properly. Our lesson in 1984 was due to choosing the wrong side and not playing the game properly. We are the idiots for arming a group and then demand it to give up its arms in the first place. We are just standing still watching China make moves. When are we going to react, when our adversary has taken up the best positions. Are we setting ourselves up for failure? Sure looks like it. Looks like we haven't learned ****.

If have a security agreement with Sri Lanka and they break the provisions, then is justifiable means for war. Lets look at that policy.....and build from that. We need to seriously learn a thing or two from the Israelis..

 

[Bang Galore]

It will only be the surest way if we don't do the job properly. Our lesson in 1984 was due to choosing the wrong side and not playing the game properly. We are the idiots for arming a group and then demand it to give up its arms in the first place. We are just standing still watching China make moves. When are we going to react, when our adversary has taken up the best positions. Are we setting ourselves up for failure? Sure looks like it. Looks like we haven't learned ****.

If have a security agreement with Sri Lanka and they break the provisions, then is justifiable means for war. Lets look at that policy.....and build from that. We need to seriously learn a thing or two from the Israelis..

We have our policy framed correctly. A pity you don't agree with that. Guess the rest of us will just have to live with your disapproval. We are not going to war with Sri Lanka. Period!

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Indo-Lanka co-operation helped in ending terrorism - Defence Secretary


Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

The Defence Secretary said that the Indian government was regularly kept informed of what was happening in Sri Lanka during the humanitarian operation.

This strategy averted many misunderstandings which could have resulted in abrupt halts as was the case in the Vadamarachchi operation in the 1980s.

He was giving evidence in the defamation case against Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga and the Leader Publications company when it was taken up for hearing yesterday.

The Defence Secretary said that India is the only country which could interfere with Sri Lanka militarily due to its close proximity to Sri Lanka.

He added that terrorism would have ended 25 years ago, if there was proper coordination with the Indian government. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that the Vadamarachchi operation led by General Wijaya Wimalaratne and General Denzil Kobbekaduwa had to be stopped due to pressure exerted by India.

The Defence Secretary said that high level delegations were appointed by Sri Lanka and India with a view to sharing information with regard to the humanitarian operation.

He said that there was an era in which people believed what war analysts reported in papers.

They wrote articles giving indication that the number of soldiers injured in the humanitarian operation was always high. Such reporting resulted in the declining morale of soldiers. He said the people needed to know what was actually happening in the battlefield and there was no vibrant source that gave accurate news on the battle field.

The Defence Secretary said the Defence Ministry started a website Sri Lanka News - The Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka with a view to disseminating more accurate news on the government s mission of eradicating terrorism in Sri Lanka.

He said that over 40 million people around the world had visited the website at the last stage of the humanitarian operation.

The Defence Secretary also mentioned the Civil Defence Force which was mainly involved in protecting civilians in villages threatened by the terrorists in the North and East. The Defence Secretary said the number of CDF personnel was also increased from 19,000 to 42,000 and over 5,000 made their contribution at the last stage of the humanitarian operation.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that there was a belief among the public and foreign countries that terrorism cannot be defeated at the time he was appointed Defence Secretary.

He added that the Ceasefire Agreement had been violated more than 10,000 times by the terrorists and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had received more than 3,000 complaints.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had informed India that Sri Lanka was prepared to negotiate with the LTTE, while keeping the ploys adopted by them for the past 35 years in mind.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that President Rajapaksa stressed the importance of strengthening the Sri Lankan Security Forces.

He said that the government had to implement a number of programmes to boost the morale of the Security Forces. The Defence Secretary said the number of personnel in the Sri Lanka Army was increased from 20,000 to 220,000 after he assumed duties as Defence Secretary with the approval of the President who is also the Commander in Chief.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said a series of programmes were also launched for the welfare of Security Forces personnel.

He stated that the intelligence service was sagging when he took over the reins of the ministry and the intelligence services of Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Air Force, Civil Defence Force and other security establishments were combined and they took a concerted effort in the eradication of terrorism.

The Defence Secretary added that the number of Civil Defence Force personnel was increased from 19,000 to 42,000 and it helped protect villages threatened by terrorists.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa added that he as the brother President Rajapaksa was blessed with the opportunity of informing him of what was actually happening in the defence sector at any time of the day.

He described an instance where the Director Operations of the Army phoned him and said that the ammunition for a particular weapon is running out and the military was in urgent need of that kind of ammunition.

The Defence Secretary stated that he promptly informed the President about it and the President was directly involved in purchasing the necessary ammunition through the Head of State of that country.

Sri Lanka SECURITY:: Indo-Lanka co-operation helped in ending terrorism - Defence Secretary

 

[rockstarIN]

And the people who thinks SL will go to Chinese way, they paid the price for Pak warship refuel in the Indo-Pak War. They won't ever hurt Indian interests for sure.

And we paid the price for messing up with their affairs by heavy casualities.

Better to give humanitarian help to the victims and use the influence to deal with it