UPFA ally questions new govt. decision

Go-ahead for Colombo Port City Project

The then president Rajapaksa at the launch of Colombo Port City Project last Sept.

By Shamindra Ferdinando-February 6, 2015, 9:13 pm 

The new government owed an explanation to the country as regards its decision to go ahead with the Chinese-funded Port City Project, the national Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the SLFP-led UPFA said yesterday. He said it had before the Jan. 08 presidential election vowed to scrap it.

NFF spokesperson Mohammed Muzammil was reacting to Cabinet spokesperson and Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senar-atne’s declaration that the new government would go ahead with the Colombo Port City Project.

Muzammil urg-ed the government to reveal whether it had conducted fresh negotiations and signed a new agreement with the Chinese before deciding to go ahead with the project.

Responding to a query, Muzammil pointed out that the government had retracted its stand on the Colombo Port City Project on the eve of Special Chinese Envoy and Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Jianchao meeting President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

The visiting official met Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday.

Muzammil said that the UNP-led coalition declared on Dec 16, 2014 that the Colombo Port City Project would be scrapped immediately after the defeat of then President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Jan.8, 2015 presidential poll. Muzammil pointed out that the then Opposition coalition backing Maithripala Sirisena claimed that the Chinese project would destroy the coastal belt from Negombo to Beruwela.

The NFF spokesman alleged that a high profile media campaign directed against both Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as the Chinese in the run-up to the presidential poll had caused immense damage. Muzammil said that those who had been tasked with countering UNP propaganda had never made a genuine attempt to respond to those allegations. The media depicted the former President as a Chinese agent making profits at the expense of national economy, Muzammil said, adding that the Colombo Port City Project was one of those initiatives condemned by the then Opposition.

The social media, too, had played a significant role in the campaign against the former President with attacks on the former president’s relationship with the Chinese, Muzammil said. Asked whether there was no basis for allegations against the Rajapaksas, Muzammil emphasized that those responsible for waste, corruption and irregularities should be punished regardless of their former or present status.

Responding to a query, Muzammil said that Sri Lanka had had close ties with China for many decades.

If not for Indian intervention here in the 1980s, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have had to seek closer relationship with China, Muzammil said, regretting that today people had conveniently forgotten that China remained one of Sri Lanka’s major weapons suppliers until the very end of the conflict.

China supplied a range of arms, ammunition and equipment when Western governments halted military sales consequent to India’s requests.

Muzammil said that the country should be told of the contribution made by China over the years.

"We got a range of weapons, including widely used T-56 assault rifles, transport aircraft, jet fighters, fast gun boats as well as radar. China also backed Sri Lanka at various international fora. The Chinese support to successive Sri Lankan governments at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council is a case in point."

Commenting on allegations that the previous government had built its relationship with China at the expense of India, Muzammil insisted that Sri Lanka was a victim of wrong Indian foreign policy. The then JRJ government had been left with no option but to secure Chinese, Pakistani or Israeli military assistance to face unprecedented challenge posed by Indian-sponsored terrorist groups, Muzammil said. The bottom line was that the Sri Lankan army would have remained a ceremonial outfit if not for terrorism and the Chinese presence here wouldn’t have been an issue here, Muzammil said.

Baghdad celebrates lifting of curfew, despite rash of bombings

A suicide bombing at a restaurant in the Shiite neighborhood of Iraq’s capital killed at least 12 people. The bombing was followed by two more attacks killing more than 20 people.

By Liz Sly and Mustafa Salim February 7 at 5:54 PM

BAGHDAD — Jubilant Iraqis thronged Baghdad’s main square at midnight Saturday to celebrate the end of the curfew imposed by U.S. troops in 2003, hailing the new freedom to stay out all night as a sign that their capital is finally coming back to life.

The day was darkened by a rash of bombings in the morning in which at least 36 people died, a reminder that the city still is far from safe.

Baghdadis, hardened by years of war, seemed undeterred, however, by the uptick in violence. The crowd that gathered in downtown Tahrir Square numbered in the hundreds as midnight struck, but as word spread that people were gathering, cars streamed through previously forbidden streets to join the fun.

A band played Iraqi songs, children were lifted onto their fathers’ shoulders and even some of the policemen keeping watch joined in the dancing.

“I am just crazy happy,” said Sara Adams, 22, who was 10 when the curfew was first imposed and has never stayed out after midnight. “Maybe it’s still a little dangerous, but I just want to live my life for the moment.”

Bombings had become relatively rare in recent months, and Baghdad had already begun to breathe a little easier, prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to announce last week that the curfew would be lifted Saturday night.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen Saad Maan said he did not believe Saturday’s attacks were linked to the lifting of the curfew, which was first imposed by U.S. troops when they entered Baghdad in 2003. He accused the Islamic State of carrying out the attacks in order to assert its continued presence in the capital at a time when setbacks on the battlefield elsewhere have left the group feeling vulnerable.

“They need to do these attacks to show their people they are still here,” he said.

Even if the attacks escalate, the government won’t change its mind about the curfew, he added. “Of course they will try to make problems,” he said, referring to the Islamic State. “But we have our destiny, we have our faith and we can manage.”

The attacks Saturday morning harkened to the past, with three bombs exploding in rapid succession in two different parts of the city. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest outside a restaurant in a busy street in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing 22, according to Maan. Shortly afterward, two bombs exploded in the Souk al-Araby clothing market in the center of the city, killing 10, he said.

A fourth bomb exploded a few hours later in the southwestern neighborhood of Abu Dshir, killing four, the Interior Ministry reported.

The frequency and intensity of bombings has decreased significantly, however, since the Islamic State surge into northern Iraq last summer focused the war outside the capital, suggesting the group’s capacity to wage the kind of mass casualty attacks that terrorized Baghdad for years has diminished.

The replacement of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister also heralded a more relaxed mood, many Iraqis say, and Iraqis had begun to enjoy themselves. At night the streets typically buzz with life as Iraqis venture out to many of the restaurants, clubs and bars that have opened up around the city.

“It’s the end of the dictator Maliki,” said Hatem Tome, 25, as he joined in the dancing in the square. He had helped organize Arab Spring-style protests there in 2011, for which he was imprisoned for several months. “Now we have a new life.”

China Achieves Breakthrough, Adds Pulse Weapons To Arsenal (Video)

via Want China Times by Staff Reporter

China achieves breakthrough in pulse weapons technology

Staff Reporter-

2015-02-04

Directed-energy weapons are said to be the future of advanced technological warfare. (Internet photo)

China has achieved a technological breakthrough that could help introduce pulse weapons to the People's Liberation Army's arsenal, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

According to the report, the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully developed a third-generation X-ray pulsar simulation source. The technology, which can create an X-ray pulsar source in X-ray tubes to generate arbitrary waveform pulses, officially passed evaluation tests on Jan. 17.

The evaluation committee found that the creation's performance indicators were at an advanced international level and concluded that it is an advanced technology with original and practical applications that could lead to important economic and social benefits.

An X-ray pulsar consists of a magnetized neutron star in orbit with a normal stellar companion and is a type of binary star system. They are a class of astronomical objects that are X-ray sources displaying strict periodic variations in X-ray intensity with ranges that can vary from microseconds to several minutes.

As a natural beacon, X-ray pulsars have important applications in aerospace, astronomy, science and engineering. In terms of military applications, simulated X-ray pulsars may help China develop new weapons that can challenge America's dominance in the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons sphere.

Traditional non-nuclear EMPs weapons produce a short burst of electromagnetic energy to disrupt or damage electronic equipment. Nuclear EMP weapons, which have been dubbed "the second atomic bomb," have a much wider range of impact as they produce an abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation resulting from a nuclear explosion. The electromagnetic pulse from non-nuclear EMP weapons come from within the weapon, while nuclear weapons generate EMP as a secondary effect. In terms of military applications, a nuclear EMP would be delivered via a nuclear warhead detonated hundreds of kilometers above the Earth's surface.

EMP weapons have begun to find more practical applications in top militaries around the world. During the 1991 Gulf War, the US carried and used EMP weapons on its E-8 Joint Stars aircraft to disrupt electronic command systems, which international analysts believe was one of the main advantages the US had over its enemy. In July 1992, high-powered microwave weapons were named as one of six key future arms technologies by the US Congress, with the US Navy, Army and Air Force each putting forth a high-powered microwave weapons development plan.

In March 1999, the US used microwave weapons during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, causing communication in certain areas to be disrupted for more than three hours. EMP weapons were then used to sever Iraqi state television broadcast signals in March 2003 during the Iraq War.

Apart from the US and Russia, countries developing high-powered microwave weapons include England, France, Germany and Japan.

Thursday, February 5, 2015 13:37
China has achieved a technological breakthrough that could help introduce pulse weapons to the People’s Liberation Army’s arsenal, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

According to the report, the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully developed a third-generation X-ray pulsar simulation source. The technology, which can create an X-ray pulsar source in X-ray tubes to generate arbitrary waveform pulses, officially passed evaluation tests on Jan. 17.

An equalizer for China.  Between this and their aircraft carrier killer missiles, sounds like a fair game to me.  

Troops fathered 400,000 children in post-war Germany

German historians say in a new book that at least 400,000 children were fathered by troops of the four allied powers that occupied Germany after World War Two. They resulted from widespread rapes as well as love affairs.

GERMANY-Date 06.02.2015

University historians in the German cities of Jena and Magdeburg conclude that only France helped children fathered by its occupying troops. Many of those born to German mothers in four occupation zones suffered ostracism their whole lives.

The study to be published next Monday in a German-language book whose title translates as "Bastards, the children of occupation in Germany after 1945" found that at least 300,000 children were fathered by occupying Soviet Red Army soldiers.

Rapes perpetrated on German women occurred in all four zones, including forced sex by members of French and US units. Only a few cases by British troops were uncovered.

The first of these children were born around Christmas 1945.

The researchers deduced the Soviet zone child figure from a count of up to two million rapes allegedly committed by Red Army soldiers.

'Occupation children' still seek answers, says Satjukow

Love affairs, ostracized

Professors Silke Satjukow of the University of Magdeburg and Rainer Gries of the University of Jena said "numerous thousands" of children were also born to German women who had love affairs with foreign troops.

"The 'occupation children' long remained unmentioned after the war," said Gries.

"The children were ostracized because in the eyes of society they born amid a burden of guilt," Satjukow said.

Who is my father?

Many, now approaching their seventies, still dwelled on the question: "who is my father?," Satjukow said.

They still felt incomplete and wanted to "finally trace their family to the full and in doing so find peace," she said.

But, their chances were not promising. After occupation, many fathers returned home to Russia, the United States or France to marry and established families. To locate them now was extraordinarily difficult, said Satjukow.

No alimony

Many young mothers received no maintenance in monetary terms because the occupying powers were not subject to German jurisdiction.

Evidence had emerged that in Soviet-run eastern Germany mothers often sought help from its post-war president Wilhelm Pieck.

Instead of being granted alimony, it was suggested to the women that they find work to finance their living, Gries said.

Baby French citizens adopted

Children fathered by French soldiers were regarded as French citizens. At least 1,500 of them were handed over for adoption in France and its colonies.

While some "occupation children" gradually found their place in the societies of divided Germany, others never overcame the supposed flaw.

The study - a collective biography of the children - collates research work funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation based in Cologne.

ipj/bw (epd, dpa)

Ukraine crisis will not be solved by military means, says Angela Merkel

German chancellor admits, however, that she is unsure whether the current diplomatic push to end the conflict in the east of the country will succeed

German chancellor Angela Merkel says she wants to secure peace in Europe with Russia and not against it

Angela Merkel has said the crisis in Ukraine will not be solved by military means, and that the peace agreement struck last September needs to be implemented.

Speaking at the Munich security conference on Saturday, the German chancellor said she wanted to secure peace in Europe with Russia and not against it.

Germany has opposed aiding Ukrainian troops for fear of worsening the conflict, which has already cost more than 5,000 lives, but the idea has many supporters in Washington.

“I cannot imagine any situation in which improved equipment for the Ukrainian army leads to President Putin being so impressed that he believes he will lose militarily,” Merkel said. “I have to put it that bluntly.”

Disagreement has emerged between Europe and the US about how best to confront Putin as Moscow-backed rebels make gains in eastern Ukraine. Barack Obama is under pressure from some in Congress to sent weapons to Kiev.

Nato’s top military commander, US Air Force general Philip Breedlove, gave the strongest signal yet in Munich that he wanted the west to consider sending weapons to Ukraine.

“I don’t think we should preclude out of hand the possibility of the military option,” he said, adding: “There is no conversation about boots on the ground.”

Merkel told the conference she could not be certain the talks she and the French president, François Hollande, held on Friday in Moscow with the Russian leader would result in a peaceful solution to the crisis.

“But it is in my view and the French president’s view definitely worth trying. We owe it to the people affected in Ukraine, at the very least,” she said. 

Hollande said: “If we don’t manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it’s called war.”

The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said he hoped sincerely that the latest diplomatic drive would “produce results, and those results will be supported by the parties to this conflict”.

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said a peace proposal aimed at ending clashes with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine could work.

Merkel is expected to meet the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and Lavrov on Saturday, along with Poroshenko and the US vice-president, Joe Biden.

The focus at the Munich conference is on a new blueprint agreed in overnight talks in Moscow between Putin, Merkel and Hollande. The aim is to reach a solution to the crisis before it turns into a major east-west confrontation.

No details were released about the Moscow talks, but the new plan is likely to be based on the failed September Minsk ceasefire and peace accords that the west accuses Moscow of failing to adhere to.

“Work is under way to prepare the text of a possible joint document to implement the Minsk agreements,” said Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who described the Moscow talks as “substantial and constructive”.

Merkel and Hollande, who both left Moscow late on Friday night, made no public comment after the meeting and are to discuss the plan again with Poroshenko by telephone on Sunday.

German media broadly welcomed the latest initiative on Saturday, saying time was running out to avoid a disaster for Europe.

Spiegel Online said that with Merkel expected to meet Barack Obama on Monday, “this weekend will be crucial for how the crisis in eastern Ukraine and relations with Russia develop”.

“If Merkel fails in Moscow, the US will want to punish Putin,” it said.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed the lives of five civilians in the past 24 hours, government and rebel officials said.

After a limited truce to allow civilians to escape the violence offered some hope on Friday, the Ukraine government said missiles hit the embattled town of Debaltseve on Saturday.

Noam Chomsky: A Brief History of America's Cold-Blooded, Terroristic Treatment of Cuba

"The Cuban threat was the familiar one that runs through Cold War history, with many predecessors."

By Noam Chomsky / AlterNet

-February 5, 2015

The establishment of diplomatic ties between the US
and Cuba has been widely hailed as an event of historic importance. Correspondent John Lee Anderson, who has written perceptively about the region, sums up a general reaction among liberal intellectuals when he writes, in the New Yorker, that:

Noam Chomsky a Brief History of America's Cold-Blooded, Terroristic Treatment of Cuba by Thavam Ratna

Nigeria postpones election to fight Boko Haram

Nigeria is planning to delay its general election so that a multinational force can try and reclaim large swathes of the country from militant Islamist group Boko Haram, an official says.

Above: A Boko Haram flag flutters from an abandoned command post in Gamboru deserted after Chadian troops chased them from the border town.

A Nigerian official is reported to have told Associated Press that the elections would be delayed so that a multinational taskforce can tackle the group, which controls a 20,000 square mile territory in Nigeria's north east.

Boko Haram has killed an estimated 7,000 soldiers and civilians in Nigeria since the start of 2014 in a campaign of terror in which schools have been targeted, towns razed to the ground, and children abducted.

The group hit the headlines in April last year when it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, and at the start of the year it massacred up to 2,000 people (though estimates range widely) in the town of Baga.

US officials said on Friday that it believed Boko Haram was still holding the majority of the missing schoolgirls across multiple locations.

Boko Haram has escalated its attacks since the start of 2015 in a bid to disrupt the general election - in what will be the most tightly fought election in Nigeria's short democratic history.

Attempting to dislodge Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (pictured above, right) is Muhammadu Buhari (above, left) who ruled Nigeria following a military coup in the 1980s.

The retired major general will be seen by some Nigerians as the strong hand needed to fight Boko Haram. Speaking to Reuters on Saturday, Mr Buhari said it was a "big disgrace" that other countries had more success in fighting Boko Haram than Nigeria.

He said: "Our main objective is to secure the country. We will not tolerate insurgency, sabotage of the economy by the blowing up of installations, by stealing crude and so on.... All these things will be things of the past."

Chad, Cameroon and Niger - countries that all share a border with Nigeria's north east - have deployed troops and repelled attacks by Boko Haram in recent days.

On Friday Niger's security forces, alongside Chadian warplanes, claimed to have killed 109 Boko Haram fighters as they fought off an assault on two towns near Nigeria's border.

US intelligence officials said on Friday that Boko Haram has a "hardcore" of around 4,000 to 6,000 fighters.

Chad and Cameroon have deployed thousands of soldiers to reinforce the Nigerian border.

Modi faces Delhi election defeat in first vote setback - exit polls

Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote outside a polling station during the state assembly election in New Delhi February 7, 2015.

NEW DELHI Sat Feb 7, 2015

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces his first state election defeat since sweeping to power last year, according to exit polls on Saturday which showed a resurgent anti-corruption party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on track to win a majority in New Delhi's assembly.

A defeat for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Indian capital would harm his chances of consolidating power in parliament, where his reform agenda is being thwarted.

Modi needs to win most of the state elections over the next four years to gain control of both houses of parliament to deliver on his promise of jobs and economic growth.

The upper house, where his party is in a minority, is frustrating his efforts to pass laws related to tax and foreign investment.

The anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party, or Common People's Party, is likely to win 38 seats in the 70-seat New Delhi assembly, according to the average of four opinion polls released on Saturday after the voting had ended.

The official results will only be published next Tuesday.

"Modi has not done enough since coming to power. He is brilliant at marketing, but he is all talk, no action," said Gurjit Singh, 45, outside a polling booth in south Delhi, adding he had voted for Aam Aadmi.

The BJP is expected to win 29 seats and Congress, the party that has dominated Indian politics over the last century, will win three seats, its worse ever performance, the polls showed.

The BJP's campaign has been marked by infighting with party workers frustrated that Kiran Bedi, the first woman officer in the Indian Police Service, was appointed as the party's chief ministerial candidate, even though she only became a party member three weeks ago.

Earlier this week, the BJP ordered scores of its top national and state leaders to campaign for this weekend's high-profile election to the Delhi assembly.

Modi took out full-page advertisements on the front of several major newspapers in the capital on Friday in a last-minute effort to sway voters.

The BJP, which under Modi won India's biggest election mandate in three decades last May, has come first in three of four state elections over the past year. It may also form a coalition government in the fourth regional assembly.

(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Gay Cruising in Modi’s India

The art of the pickup in New Delhi, where homosexuality is illegal, Grindr is growing, and policemen are waiting just around the corner.

BY ISAAC STONE FISH-FEBRUARY 6, 2015

NEW DELHI — Observing gay cruising in India felt like high-stakes bird-watching — the fluttering of something delicate and intense. On a Sunday night in mid-December, I visited Nehru Park with a gay rights activist; he agreed to accompany me but asked to remain nameless, in part because homosexuality is illegal in India.
Gay Cruising in Modi’s India by Thavam Ratna

Diabetes and Muscle Cramps: Cause, Prevention, Relief

By Jacqueline Marshall, Jul 30, 2014

Muscle cramps, or spasms, are involuntary contractions (shortening) of our skeletal muscles.

Cramps can occur at any time but often wake people during the night. They can affect any muscle but usually show up in the calf, front and back thigh, feet, and arms.

Since having either high or low blood sugar contributes to spasms, many people with diabetes report having from mild to severely painful muscle cramping.

Causes of Cramping

Glucose and Electrolytes. The proper contraction and relaxation of our muscles requires a fuel source such as glucose, and a balanced exchange of electrolytes (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium) flowing through the cell membranes.

When blood sugar is low, the muscles can become starved for fuel. When blood sugar runs high our body excretes excess glucose via urine, causing dehydration, and a depletion of electrolytes.

These types of imbalances cause cramping in athletes engaged in extended strenuous exercise, those who are active without proper conditioning or hydration, and in active or sedentary people with fluctuating blood glucose.

Nerves and Circulation. Complications from diabetes can trigger muscle cramps as well. Since poor circulation and nerve damage may instigate spasms, people with peripheral vascular disease or peripheral neuropathy may be prone to cramps. In rare cases, muscle cramps are a symptom of kidney problems.

Medications and Others. Medications and substances that contribute to the incidence of muscle cramps include insulin, lipid (cholesterol) lowering drugs, antihypertensives, beta-agonists, antipsychotics, oral contraceptives, and alcohol.

Muscle cramps are also associated with thyroid disease, hemodialysis, fatigue, pregnancy, poor flexibility, spinal nerve compression, and sitting, standing, or lying in one position for long periods.

Preventing Cramps: Six Suggestions

Other than monitoring your glucose carefully, consider the following tips to prevent muscle cramps.

1. Before going to bed loosen your muscles with a hot bath or shower, by riding an exercise bike a few minutes, or doing some gentle stretching exercises.
2. Warm up your muscles well before exercising and stay hydrated.
3. Eat foods rich in calcium, potassium, and magnesium such as milk, broccoli, salmon, sardines, and bananas, and talk to your doctor about the advisability of taking nutritional supplements.
4. Wear supportive shoes, and if you stand a lot—stand on a rubber mat.
5. Consider practicing yoga to keep your muscles and joints flexible.
6. Avoid sitting still for long periods of time.

Calming the Cramps

Let your diabetes care team know if you are experiencing muscle cramps. They can run simple tests to pinpoint the exact cause, if necessary, and recommend individualized solutions.

The most common remedy for muscle cramps is to massage and stretch the affected muscle. For instance, if the calf muscle is cramping you can massage it and/or stretch out the leg, and gently pull the toes toward the top of the foot.

Some people find relief with warm or cold compresses. or rub an ice cube over the cramping muscle. Others use an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen or take prescribed muscle relaxers. There is some controversy about using quinine tablets or drinking tonic water for muscle cramps, so it is best to discuss this questionable option with your doctor.

ரவிகரனிடம் கடற்படையினர் சோதனை
05 பெப்ரவரி 2015, வியாழன் 9:40 பி.ப

வடமாகாணசபை உறுப்பினர் துரைராசா ரவிகரனிடம் கடற்படையினர்  சோதனை நடாத்தியுள்ளதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. 

இன்றையதினம் முல்லைத்தீவு ரெட்பானா பாரதி வித்தியாலய மாணவர்களில் தாய் தந்தையரை இழந்த மாணவர்களுக்கான உபகரணப் பொருட்களை வழங்கி விட்டு ரவிகரன் வீடு திரும்பிய நிலையிலேயே இச் சோதனை இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது . 

இராணுவத் தளபாடங்கள் வைத்திருந்தாக கூறியே கடற்படையினரால் இச்சோதனை மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டதாக அங்கிருந்து வரும் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. 

எனினும் சோதனை மேற்கொண்ட போது ரவிகரன் தன்னை அடையாளப்படுத்தியபோது,"அது எமக்கு நன்றாகத் தெரியும்" என்று கடற்படையினர் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். 

இதே வேளை சோதனை முடிந்த பின், ரவிகரனும் இப்போலியான சோதனை குறித்து தன் கண்டனத்தையும் நேரடியாக தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

ரவிகரனிடம் இது குறித்து தொடர்பு கொண்டு கேட்டபோது,

வடக்கில் ராணுவ அடக்குமுறை அதிகரித்துள்ளதை இச்சம்பவம் காட்டுகிறது. பாடசாலை உபகரணங்களை இராணுவ தளபாடங்கள் என அடையாளப்படுத்தி சோதனை செய்தது முற்றிலும் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ள முடியாதது.  

மக்களால் தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்ட என்னிடமே இவ்வாறான அத்துமீறல் சர்வ சாதாரணமாக மேற்கொள்ளப்படுகிற நிலையில் சாதாரண மக்களின் நிலையை எண்ணிப்பாருங்கள்.

இது போன்ற அத்து மீறல்களுக்கெல்லாம்  நாம் அஞ்சப்போவதில்லை . அடிபணியப் போவதுமில்லை. எத்தனை தடைகள் வரினும் தொடர்ந்தும் எம் மக்களுக்கான உரிமைக்குரல் வலிமையாக ஒலிக்கும். என்றார். 

Mangala Expresses Regret Over Blocking Colombo Telegraph And Promises Full Report Soon

February 6, 2015 

In a call to Colombo Telegraph editor, Uvindu Kurukulasuriya last night, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Telecommunications, Mangala Samaraweera referring to the Colombo Telegraph story on blocking, expressed regret and promised to launch an immediate investigation.

Mangala Samaraweera -Minister of External Affairs

Samaraweera insisted that it was not the policy of the Government to block any website and said that an independent report as well as a report on server management will not only be submitted soon but that they will be made public.

As we stated in our research only the parts of the network that use the server r1.ns.stl.lk are affected by the blocking. The important fact here is that the DNS server remains configured to block the site and there is no means for us to find out which parts of the network are blocked until a proper investigation takes place.

It is our understanding that the blocking was implemented at the direction of the Telecom Regulatory Commission and/or the Minister. Under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act, No. 25 of 1991, s. 69, “the Minister may, upon being satisfied of the above matter by Order made either generally and published in the Gazette or specially in writing in respect of any telecommunication service provided in any place in Sri Lanka or in any ship in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka or in any vehicle or aircraft in or over Sri Lanka or the territorial waters thereof.”

In the absence of such lawful order, we contend that the TRCSL has engaged in an act that is ultra vires. Colombo Telegraph request the Sri Lankan government authorities to examine the facts of the case and provide us with (a) a detailed explanation and (b) an assurance that such unlawful acts shall not be repeated.

Related stories;

Exposé: Srisena Brothers Continue Rajapaksa Policy Of Blocking Colombo Telegraph

Video: How SLT Blocking Colombo Telegraph At The CTO Building

Click here to read the history