MR Oxford - Sri Lanka lost Battle with Britain
Oxford Watch | 24.12.2010 11:16 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Terror War | Oxford | World
The grip of the despot Mahinda Rajapakse in Sri Lanka is loosened drastically due to direct consequences of the protests that started in Oxford on 1st December.
Unseen by many, with the UN investigations on serious crimes against humanity all set, the long oppressed media in Sri Lanka has started to report the real story of what happened in Oxford.
It is now refereshing to see, in the Daily Mirror, based in Colombo, an editorial contradicting earlier inaccurate stories, as had been supplied by the Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse.
Unseen by many, with the UN investigations on serious crimes against humanity all set, the long oppressed media in Sri Lanka has started to report the real story of what happened in Oxford.
It is now refereshing to see, in the Daily Mirror, based in Colombo, an editorial contradicting earlier inaccurate stories, as had been supplied by the Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse.
The first head of state to address the Oxford Union twice
The then editor of the Daily Mirror had reported about few years ago that she was threatened with life by the president's brother, a US citizen - new Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse. Unlike in most occassions Mahinda Rajapakse, as an executive president, confirmed this allegations as he addressed it as an 'exageration'.
Whatever transpired then, it was clearly observed that the Daily Mirror, one but last of the English newspapers in Sri Lanka started to tow the line of well trained Defence Department line of propaganda.
Following his hurried backdoor exit from the Dorchester, London, sometime in the middle of the cold night, on 2nd December, Mahinda Rajapakse has been exposed as farce to the vast majority of Sri Lankan voters.
The obsession with Oxford has cost this despot a lot more than he bargained for.
The Dailiy Mirror connects the locals in Sri Lanka with impending UN inquiries and the recent horrifying disclosures in Wiki Leaks.
Backlash from the battle with Britain
http://print.dailymirror.lk/editorial/106-editorial/30456.html
(In the Daily Mirror editorial, inaccuracies remain with details of the Oxford Union nutters ... see detailed stories and comments from few weeks back in Oxford IMC)
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:00
While Sri Lanka is preparing to host the Commonwealth Summit in 2013, Sri Lanka and Britain are virtually embroiled in a political war. Effective diplomatic steps need to be taken to sort out this conflict if the summit is to be of value to Sri Lanka and other countries.
Recently, Sri Lanka suffered one of its worst political debacles when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was virtually humiliated during his visit to Britain. It was a private visit to address the Oxford Union. But when the President reached London, the Sri Lankan flight was diverted to a different tarmac because hundreds of pro LTTE activists were staging a protest outside the scheduled terminal. British police whisked the President away to the superstar Dorchester Hotel but the Tamil Diaspora then reportedly gathered around the Hotel to stage protests. British government leaders did not meet the President on the basis he was on a private visit but there may be other reasons judging by a letter sent to the President by British Premier David Cameron when Mr. Rajapaksa was sworn in for his second term in office. This letter from the British premier is being kept secret with the presidential media unit and the External Affairs Ministry confusing journalists as to who is not releasing this letter and why. According to diplomatic insiders, Premier Cameron’s letter was unprecedented with advice on good governance and related issues.
The biggest political blow in Britain was the sudden cancellation by the Oxford Union of the speech scheduled to be made by the President on December 2. The Oxford Unions’ outgoing president James Kingston met the President at the Dorchester Hotel to give him a letter saying the OU regretted it had no option but to cancel the speech due to the scale of the planned protests and the fear that it might cause security problems not only for the President but also for the university and the areas around it. Mr. Kingston said the cancellation was on the advice of the area’s Thames Valley Police but a spokesman for the police later said they had told the Oxford Union to go ahead with the event and that the police were able to handle any demonstration or security risks.
The mystery deepened when the Union’s new president James Langston met the President apologized for the embarrassment and invited him to make the speech on December 3. But the President declined and left on December 2 night while a former British minister apparently instigated by the Tamil Diaspora filed a petition in a British Court seeking a warrant to arrest on war crimes charges a major general who was accompanying the President. But when the Court made inquiries on December 3, the President had left with his entourage. The only British leader who met the President was Defence Secretary Liam Fox but that too in his private capacity. Dr. Fox a long time friend of Sri Lanka and mediator in the ethnic conflict was to make a private visit last Saturday to deliver the Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture but on Friday the visit was put off apparently due to pressure from other leaders of the British government.
Instead of finding fault or getting into the blame culture, Sri Lanka needs to take some major initiatives to restore the relationship with Britain, other members of the European Union, the United States and the United Nations itself. Otherwise Sri Lanka might end up not as one of the foremost countries in the world but like Somalia, Ruwanda or the Ivory Coast.The horrifying allegations in last week’s WikiLeaks disclosures – widely publicized in the world media -- have further marred Sri Lanka’s reputation and the only solution appears to be urgent steps to settle the ethnic conflict and probe the charges made mainly against ministers Douglas Devananda and Viniyagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna.
Whatever transpired then, it was clearly observed that the Daily Mirror, one but last of the English newspapers in Sri Lanka started to tow the line of well trained Defence Department line of propaganda.
Following his hurried backdoor exit from the Dorchester, London, sometime in the middle of the cold night, on 2nd December, Mahinda Rajapakse has been exposed as farce to the vast majority of Sri Lankan voters.
The obsession with Oxford has cost this despot a lot more than he bargained for.
The Dailiy Mirror connects the locals in Sri Lanka with impending UN inquiries and the recent horrifying disclosures in Wiki Leaks.
Backlash from the battle with Britain
http://print.dailymirror.lk/editorial/106-editorial/30456.html (In the Daily Mirror editorial, inaccuracies remain with details of the Oxford Union nutters ... see detailed stories and comments from few weeks back in Oxford IMC)
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:00
While Sri Lanka is preparing to host the Commonwealth Summit in 2013, Sri Lanka and Britain are virtually embroiled in a political war. Effective diplomatic steps need to be taken to sort out this conflict if the summit is to be of value to Sri Lanka and other countries.
Recently, Sri Lanka suffered one of its worst political debacles when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was virtually humiliated during his visit to Britain. It was a private visit to address the Oxford Union. But when the President reached London, the Sri Lankan flight was diverted to a different tarmac because hundreds of pro LTTE activists were staging a protest outside the scheduled terminal. British police whisked the President away to the superstar Dorchester Hotel but the Tamil Diaspora then reportedly gathered around the Hotel to stage protests. British government leaders did not meet the President on the basis he was on a private visit but there may be other reasons judging by a letter sent to the President by British Premier David Cameron when Mr. Rajapaksa was sworn in for his second term in office. This letter from the British premier is being kept secret with the presidential media unit and the External Affairs Ministry confusing journalists as to who is not releasing this letter and why. According to diplomatic insiders, Premier Cameron’s letter was unprecedented with advice on good governance and related issues.
The biggest political blow in Britain was the sudden cancellation by the Oxford Union of the speech scheduled to be made by the President on December 2. The Oxford Unions’ outgoing president James Kingston met the President at the Dorchester Hotel to give him a letter saying the OU regretted it had no option but to cancel the speech due to the scale of the planned protests and the fear that it might cause security problems not only for the President but also for the university and the areas around it. Mr. Kingston said the cancellation was on the advice of the area’s Thames Valley Police but a spokesman for the police later said they had told the Oxford Union to go ahead with the event and that the police were able to handle any demonstration or security risks.
The mystery deepened when the Union’s new president James Langston met the President apologized for the embarrassment and invited him to make the speech on December 3. But the President declined and left on December 2 night while a former British minister apparently instigated by the Tamil Diaspora filed a petition in a British Court seeking a warrant to arrest on war crimes charges a major general who was accompanying the President. But when the Court made inquiries on December 3, the President had left with his entourage. The only British leader who met the President was Defence Secretary Liam Fox but that too in his private capacity. Dr. Fox a long time friend of Sri Lanka and mediator in the ethnic conflict was to make a private visit last Saturday to deliver the Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture but on Friday the visit was put off apparently due to pressure from other leaders of the British government.
Instead of finding fault or getting into the blame culture, Sri Lanka needs to take some major initiatives to restore the relationship with Britain, other members of the European Union, the United States and the United Nations itself. Otherwise Sri Lanka might end up not as one of the foremost countries in the world but like Somalia, Ruwanda or the Ivory Coast.The horrifying allegations in last week’s WikiLeaks disclosures – widely publicized in the world media -- have further marred Sri Lanka’s reputation and the only solution appears to be urgent steps to settle the ethnic conflict and probe the charges made mainly against ministers Douglas Devananda and Viniyagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna.
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