President: No room for communalism

President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared yesterday that communalism would never be tolerated by his Government.

"We dearly love our Motherland and respect our various communities, but we are in no way racist. We denounce all forms of communalism," President Rajapaksa told the 29th D.A. Rajapaksa memorial ceremony in Tangalle.

"Sisura" scholarships were granted to schoolchildren to mark the occasion.

The President stressed that the Government was not fighting a war, but only retaliating terrorist attacks to defend the Motherland. "We can only wage war with another country and not with our own citizens. We must cast aside race, religion and caste differences and be together as one united nation."

The President underscored the importance of developing the child's psyche to value and appreciate true patriotism, morals, values and norms of the nation, without being confined solely to physical development.

He had directed the authorities in the education sector to ensure that quality teachers are available not only in the Western Province but also in the other under-privileged regions of the country such as Hambantota, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura.

"We have allocated Rs.500 million for infrastructure development in villages. However, we will pursue development while protecting the environment. We will ensure that the cities as well as the villages are protected environmentally," the President added.

Anagarika Dharmasekera who made the main commemoration speech, urged workers to refrain from engaging in strikes at their workplaces demanding wage hikes, as that would have a detrimental impact on President Rajapaksa's efforts of solving the crucial national issues at this decisive moment.

Courtesy: Daily News (Wednesday the 08th of November)

Welcome Guys!!!

The two Ceremonies to welcome the New Admissions for the year 2007 was commenced at 8.30 a.m. & 11.00 a.m . respectively on Monday, 23 rd October 2006 , in the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology(SLIIT), Malabe Campus.

Maldives-Lanka undersea-link could be first leg of trans-Indian Ocean cable to Africa

November 6, 2006 (LBO) – An undersea optical fibre cable between Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands could be the first leg of a trans-Indian Ocean cable system that would link Africa with the Far East, officials said.

A 20 million dollar joint venture with Sri Lanka Telecom and Dhiraagu Telecom of Maldives, the 850 kilometre cable is due to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2007.

“This cable has a 10 Gigabit capacity, but it can be expanded to 1 terabit because there is a possibility that we can connect to the African side, via Maurtius, Seychelles, Madagascar and also South Africa,” Shuhei Anan Chief Executive of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) told Lanka Business Online shortly after a cable laying ship set off towards the Maldives from the West coast of Sri Lanka.

20,000 tons of food monthly to Jaffna

20 000 Metric Tonnes of essential food items will be sent to Jaffna, on monthly basis. The Sri Lankan Government has already taken the necessary steps to initiate the process and the adequate amounts of stocks are available to assure the continuation of the supply chain.

Already, 8000 Metric Tonnes of items is lined up to be sent to North within the next two days. The ships will start sailing from Colombo and Trincomalee habours. As the first step 3525 Metric Tonnes of essential food items will be sent to North initially that will consists of 1000 Metric Tonnes of Rice, Sugar 918 Metric Tonnes, 350 Metric Tonnes of Dhal, 200 Metric Tonnes of Coconuts and related products, 250 Metric Tonnes of Milk Powder and 25 Metric Tonnes of tea leaves etc.

The goods sent to North are being properly distributed through the Divisional Secretariat offices and Co-operative societies and so far totally thirteen ships with Rs. 600 million worth essential items were sent to North.

LTTE mortar shelling injures a Tsunami victim- Ampara

The LTTE terrorists launched an indiscriminate mortar shelling, targeting the Special Task Force' (STF) camp at Sangamankanda and the compound of Tsunami rehabilitation camp in the area this morning at 7.15 (Thursday the 28th of September).

A lady who is a resident of the Tsunami rehabilitation camp, suffered serious injuries and was rushed immediately to the General Hospital Thirukkovil.

The STF personnel retaliated the terrorist attack using Mortars and small arms and brought the situation under control.

Vessel carrying weapons for LTTE completely destroyed [3rd Lead]

The Navy and the Air force in a joint operation successfully destroyed and sank a large vessel carrying weapons and ammunition for the LTTE this morning.

The vessel, sailing in the deep seas around one hundred nautical miles off Kalmunai was destroyed around noon today.

Large quantities of weapons and ammunition including artillery guns had submerged with the vessel.

The vessel sailing in deep seas around one hundred nautical miles off Kalmunai without a flag was detected by the Navy around 7.30 a.m. today. The ship had completely ignored the warning shots fired by the Navy patrol craft to stop. Instead the vessel had opened fire towards the Navy craft. Subsequently the Navy with the assistance of the Air Force destroyed and sunk the suspected vessel.

It is now confirmed that the vessel had illegally carried weapons and ammunition for the LTTE. The LTTE's continuous attempts to acquire weapons and ammunition during the past failed due to measures taken by foreign countries. This incident is a clear indication that the LTTE has not stopped their attempts in procuring arms and ammunition to further their terrorist activities.

This incident clearly indicates the motives of some organizations that are seeking to protect the LTTE following their humiliating defeats in the Northern and the Eastern regions. This is yet another attempt of the LTTE at hoodwinking the International Community. The LTTE has opted for peace talks every time when they were weakened by the Security Forces. This is a clear instance that proves that the LTTE is buying time to procure arms and strengthen themselves. Through these act it is not difficult to realize the ulterior motives of the LTTE. However, the successful operation carried out by the Security Forces to destroy this vessel is a great victory to the Government.

The sinking of this vessel comes at a time when the LTTE has suffered humiliating defeats against the Security Forces. It is well known that the LTTE is trying to create a ceasefire to strengthen themselves and procure arms for future attacks.

Press Release- MCNS