Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa accompanied by Army Chief Jagath Jayasuriya on Thursday visited Mullaithivu and Oddusudan, theatre of last battles between the military and LTTE.
“I give you my gratitude and also present compliments on behalf of H.E the President for the triumph over terrorism. What was so defined as ‘distance’ and ‘impossible’ has now been achieved, and that due to the great sacrifices of our security forces,” he told a gathering of soldiers and officers.
Separately, the self-styled Committee for the formation of the Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam in an e-mail statement from an undisclosed place urged the international community to act with urgency and provide relief to Tissainayagam, senior journalist sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment by a Colombo High Court and to the war displaced in the north living in government-run temporary camps.
“The conviction of the journalist J.S. Tissainayagam is the latest event in a long history of repression of Tamil views as well as the Tamil people,” said Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, Coordinator of the Committee.
“It is necessary for the international community to act through measures that would more meaningfully demonstrate its commitment to justice. If a government and its leaders can act with impunity in the face of global protests, then, the whole system of human rights so carefully built up over the years from events such as the holocaust will crumble,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, the military said the historic Jaffna Fort built by the Portuguese and later on further improved by the Dutch is to be renovated and turned into a tourist attraction.
