08/08/2011
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Headlines Today
Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa advises Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to focus on the rehabilitation of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
09/07/2010
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The Hindu
COLOMBO: The visiting Army Chief V.K. Singh on Monday offered floral tributes at the memorial for the soldiers and officers of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) who lost their lives fighting the LTTE in the late 80s.
08/17/2010
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The Sunday Leader
following is a live transcription of statement by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the Lessons Learnt And Reconcilation Commission. Accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
08/17/2010
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Reuters
Sri Lanka said on Tuesday that the army did all it could to avoid civilian casualties in the war with Tamil rebels and blamed the United Nations as failing to halt the rebels’ use of civilians as human shields. Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who led the army to victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last year, justified the troops’ conduct in the final days of the fighting. Speaking on civilian deaths, into which Western countries and the United Nations had called for an independent inquiry, Mr. Rajapaksa said the government fought with a zero-casualty policy and most of those killed in the rebel-held area were separatists. Mr. Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, was testifying in Colombo before the state-appointed Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation. Rights groups have questioned panel’s credibility.
06/28/2010
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BBC Sinhala
The detained leader of the Tamil Tigers is playing a 'leading role' in helping the government in 'reconciliation process' after the end of the war, representatives of Tamil diaspora say.
06/26/2010
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Press Trust of India
COLOMBO: Once a close aide of Vellupillai Prabhakarn and the arms runner of the Tamil Tigers, Kumaran Pathmanathan may be used as a state witness by Sri Lankan authorities.
06/19/2010
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The Hindu
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday pledged to resolve the “problems faced from terrorism” by the people in the North by the end of the year and asserted that there could be no imported solution to the problems faced by the people of the island nation.
06/07/2010
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The New York Times
In an interview with the BBC, Sri Lanka’s powerful defense minister, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, exploded with rage and said that the former head of the country’s military, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who was lauded last year for defeating a Tamil separatist insurgency, could be hanged for reportedly claiming that the government had ordered the military to execute prisoners.
05/05/2010
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Hindustan Times
Sri Lankan troops will march down Colombo's historic Galle Face promenade every year on May 18 to mark the military victory over the Tamil Tigers, whose top leadership was wiped out killed on that day in 2009.