Wednesday , 15 May 2013
11 thousand forces would partake at the war victory celebration parade for defeating the liberation tigers, said Sri lanka army spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya.
Displaying military strength of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces will be held on Saturday, 18th May 2013 in Colombo, to mark the 4th Anniversary of the end of Eelam War against liberation tigers.
The parade will consist 6,350 from the Army,1,300 from the navy, 1,300 airmen, 1400 police, 676 Civil Security Department totally 11 thousand forces will participate.
Military parade will contain Armor Tanks, Artillery Guns, and Engineer Mine Clearing equipment including 100 Armor vehicles.
Navy forces will parade with Navy Gun Ships and Attacking craft sailing along the Galle Face Ocean Coast which includes 50 naval crafts. Over 100 Army vehicles of different types will be March on this parade.
Sri Lankan Air force Fighter Aircraft and Helicopters will fly over the parade including 30 aircrafts.
The rehearsals are now held at the Galle Face Green. Government celebrated war victory celebrations from year 2009.
Sunday 19 May will mark the fourth anniversary of the defeat of a near 30-year scourge, but it appears the plight of the ordinary Sri Lankan has only gotten worse. The many promises of a rich peace dividend have turned to ashes, leaving behind the aftertaste of bitter disillusionment, frustration and disappointment.
 The growing conviction the government doesn't care for the ordinary Sri Lankan, whose vote propelled the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) into power and who wholeheartedly backed its decision to eliminate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) once and for all, has led to public anger that is plain and palpable. And today, it is certain to spill out into the streets giving an added impetus to the protest march organized by the People's Movement Against the Electricity Price Hike, which has also received the support of several constituent parties of the government.
The unprecedented electricity tariff hike, viewed as a blatant manipulative endeavour to pass off the sins of greed and corruption of those managing the power utility to the hapless consumer, has struck a sensitive cord, eliciting a similar response to that of the 2012 fuel price hike, which saw the cost of kerosene and diesel go up several fold, hitting hard at the cash-strapped common man.
Then as now, there was widespread agitation and public outrage at the price increase, which saddles back on a series of upsurges that make mere existence an expensive business. The past year has seen the price of fuel, bus fare, key consumer items, and yes, even electricity, go up by whopping percentages, while the salaries of the common man have remained static, or had barely perceptible, insignificant increases.
A public that has been pinned into a corner economically will not need much marshalling to get out on the streets and vent its frustrations, no matter the bitter lessons of the past and no matter the excesses used by the law enforcement agencies to keep it cowed down and subservient. Virtually every public protest and demonstration the past couple of years has been met with a heavy handed deployment of riot police squads, Special Task Force and even Army personnel, with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets kept on the ready.
Today's protest march in Colombo, demanding the withdrawal of the electricity tariff hike, will no doubt have the same heavy handed police and army presence. One hopes the personnel so deployed, who are also victims of the serial price hikes and suffer the same hardships as the ordinary citizen, acknowledge while demonstrations are a venting of the public's frustration, it is also an unassailable democratic right and one of the most effective tools in democracy.
Dissent is part and parcel of democracy. And when the price of every conceivable item is increased beyond the reach of the common man, who is now being asked to pay more for his electricity due to no fault of his own and when rulers and their kin live the Dolce Vita are unaccountable for their action, public demonstrations are the only outlet the people have to express their discontent and disappointment with the government. But if counteraction takes a bloody turn, when excessive force is used to dispel protesters and people are injured or killed in the process, there is no quantifying the devastating impacts such action could have on a nation.
That is where the importance of great leadership comes into play, something Sri Lanka has lacked since the main opposition became a government proxy. If the government that is elected by the public forsakes it, the public looks to the opposition to fights its battles, help win its demands, and make the political leaders answerable.
Come Sunday Sri Lanka will be celebrating with grand fanfare the fourth anniversary of the war victory. It is sad indeed while triumphalism reigns supreme, there is no political leader with a backbone to fight the battles of the common man, whose plight is indeed pathetic.
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