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My lifelong friend

[Sri Lanka raids office of pro-opposition news websites
Posted by Karthiyayini on June 30,2012 in Exclusive, Headlines, News, Sri Lanka · 0 Comments
Colombo, June 30 (TruthDive) : Media freedom has always been a huge concern in Sri Lanka. The country shows its ugly face yet again by showcasing it as one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.
An independently running and pro-opposition office of two news websites have been raided by Sri Lankan Police. The Police have arrested nine workers including the editor of one of the websites, searched the premises for about three hours on Friday and seized computers and documents.
A statement from government stated that the police officers had acted on a court order, searched and sealed off the office on Friday. The websites were said to be publishing flawed information and had put a ‘blot on Sri Lanka's image.'
The Opposition United National Party member Mangala Samaraweera said that the office had operated two websites - www.srilankamirror.com and www.srilankaxnews.com that belong to the party. He added that the nine arrested employees were released on bail after an appearance before a magistrate.
Samaraweera said that Friday's raid had been initiated as his party's website had uncovered corruption and other unlawful activity by the government.
Gnanasiri Kottigoda, who heads Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, stated that the police action showed that the government has not ceased to harass and intimidate independent media institutions and journalists in Sri Lanka. He also opined that it is a step towards silencing the independent media groups in Sri Lanka.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said, in the year 2010, Sri Lanka was ranked as the fourth most dangerous country for journalists. Since the beginning of year 2006, at least 14 Sri Lankan media employees were said to have been killed, according to Amnesty International.
www.srilankamirror.com and four other websites were blocked by authorities last year over so-called character assassination, and the action is still in effect for four others.
www.srilankamirror.com went on to file a case in the Supreme Court after which the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority agreed to unblock the website on condition that it would not provide links to blocked or unregistered sites. Several media rights groups and other countries, including the United States had severely criticized the blocking of the websites by the Sri Lankan government.
To top it all, attacks on media men and media institutions either fail to get properly investigated or blocked, according to Reporters without Borders.]

I was born with you and since in the cradle
We crawled together.
It's not a bed of roses,
My bare-feet very familiar with the thorny painful streets.
Sometimes you hide in my eyes as tears
And often remain as a hug in my weeping heart.
You too starved in my difficult times

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poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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Mi Media Naranja

I am searching for my soul mate
Oh baby I know it’s not too late
Maybe try in a foreign tongue
The very reason for my song

Hey why not in Spanish…

Chorus:
Mi Media Naranja por donde encuentra
Madrid, Perú o Sri Lanka…
(interlude with Spanish guitar)

Oh I am not gonna vanish..

I climb mountains and dive a sea
So why not search an orange tree
Ying and Yang my high ambition
Oh on my love life’s mission

Chorus:

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poem by Isabel Lavender
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And let the oil flow cheaply!

Heads of state or government of 25 nations met in Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia at the first Summit of Non-Aligned Nations on 1st September 1961. Sri Lanka was a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement which consisted mainly of developing countries that preferred to stay away from any power blocks. These nations were not aligned to any superpower – either USA (America) or USSR (Russia) .Sri Lanka’s newly elected Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike attended the inaugural Summit, stepping on to the world stage as the world’s first woman Prime Minister. She attended the second Summit held in Cairo in 1964 and in 1976 hosted the fifth Summit in Colombo. Thereafter Sri Lanka occupied the chair for three years.The origin of the movement dates back to 1954, when the Prime Minister of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru had coined the term “non-alignment” during his speech at the Asian Prime Ministers Conference in Colombo. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations. Called ‘Panchaseela’ (five restraints) , these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement.The five principles were: Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereigntyMutual non-aggression
Mutual non-interference in domestic affairsEquality and mutual benefit
Peaceful co-existence

I hear a sad Bedouin song of an aging Dictator
Who sung with his deep voice for a long period!
Yes, let others to sing and get rid of the power.
Bring the lute and leave the wealth.
Like your younger days remember
You touched the Sri Lankan soil once
As Omar Mukthar the Hero!
At the 5th Non-Alignment Summit, Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1976.
We're old now and leave aside the burden
Watch how they sing with the different pitch?
Companion Camel too old now
And no more desert crossing
Stop at an Oasis!
Take the lute out and sing the oldest song;
'Where we've come from
And where do we go? '

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poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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Bibhishan's Warning

Twenty warriors armed and girded in the Council Hall arose,
Thirsting for a war of vengeance, hurling challenge on the foes,

But Bibhishan deep in wisdom-Ravan's youngest brother he,-
Spake the word of solemn warning, for his eye could farthest see:

'Pardon, king and honoured elder, if Bibhishan lifts his voice
'Gainst the wishes of the warriors and the monarch's fatal choice,

Firm in faith and strong in forces Rama comes with conqu'ring might,
Vain against a righteous warrior would unrighteous Ravan fight!

Think him not a common Vanar who transpassed the ocean wave,
Wrecked thy city tower and temple and a sign and warning gave,

Think him not a common hermit who Ayodhya ruled of yore,
Crossing India's streams and mountains, thunders now on Lanka's shore!

What dark deed of crime or folly hath the righteous Rama done,
That you stole his faithful consort unprotected and alone,

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poem by Valmiki
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Sethu Ocean Project(TamilNadu, India)

To shorten the sea-trade route
and export goods and expand trade,
the stone-bridge across the Palk Straits
off the town of Rameswaram
needs to be cleared away.
But some superstitious men
trade tirade against the Project
and stop carrying on the work.

The stones might have been laid
in ancient days by the Tamil Kings.
But these religious bigots
argue with fictional stories
that it was built by Rama
with the help of Hanuman's forces.
Whoever could have built it
but what use the people have
within the sea the bridge to save?

When Katchativu Islands

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poem by Rajendran Muthiah
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Mandodari's Lament And The Funerals

'Hast thou fallen,' wept in anguish Ravan's first and eldest bride,
Mandodari, slender-waisted, Queen of Lanka's state and pride,

'Hast thou fallen, king and consort, more than Gods in warlike might,
Slain by man, whom bright Immortals feared to facein dubious fight?

Not a man!-the Dark Destroyer came to thee in mortal form,
Or the heaven-traversing VISHNU, INDRA ruler of the storm,

Gods of sky in shape of Vanars helped the dark and cruel deed,
Girdling round the Discus-Wielder in the battle's direst need!

Well I knew,-when Khara, Dushan, were by Rama's prowess slain,
Rama was no earthly mortal, he who crossed the mighty main,

Well I knew,-when with his army he invested Lanka's gate,
Rama was no earthly mortal but the messenger of Fate,

And I prayed,-the faithful Sita, might unto her consort go,
For 'tis writ that nations perish for a righteous woman's woe,

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poem by Valmiki
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Veto-powered Membership in UNO

Some bigoted leaders heading some nations
sent shipments of arms to kill civilian Tamils
in the war-torn SriLanka ruled by inhuman Buddhists.
The Tamils are locked in a three-decades-war
with the brutal Sinhalese to free their Eelam soil.
Lakhs of Tamils were bombed en masse, and burnt alive.
Sites of mass-burials are strewn with corpses over.
The women and girls were raped, butchered and left to rot.
The Tibet-occupier China has supplied a chemical to Lanka
to hasten the decay of the fossils of the dead.
What is done in Tibet to capture the land
was carried out in a short time in Lanka.
Does Buddha, the God of the poor-folk, revel to see,
one-lakh war-widows in the Eelam land of Tamils?
Is the veto-powered membership of China in UNO
to annihilate the weaker races and nations?

poem by Rajendran Muthiah
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A Humble letter to the Queen

Honored Madam,
I take this opportunity to wish you a happy birth day as I saw in the BBC the celebrations,
Oh! What a lovely pageant.
My blessings, you may long-lived!
Sri Lanka is once a colony under your kingdom.
Thank God we got independence.
But Madam you left your precious friend in our tiny country
And his name is ' Divide & Rule' a real gentleman.
One day some innocents died of a bomb explosion
But your precious BBC showed only the empty bus.
I think some defect to their cameras?
This ethnic cleansing is a by-product of your factory 'The Imperialism'.
Never mind Madam we can forget the past as we are Sri Lankan.
But I humbly request a favor Madam,
if possible could you please minimize?
You're prominent BBC's (Prima Donna) partial yelp!
Thanking you in anticipation of a kind and a favorable reply.
I remain Madam,
Yours most obediently,
A scribbler,

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poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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Tent and the desert Horse

Sinhabahu (Sinha = Lion, Bahu = Hands) was father of Vijaya of Sri Lanka, the first Sinhalese King and king of Sinhapura.
According to the Mahavamsa's folklore (the chronicled history of Sri Lanka) , Sinhabahu's father was a lion and his mother a princess of Vanga. His hands and feet were like a lion's paws.
When Sinhabahu was sixteen, he escaped with his mother and sister, Sinhasivali, and arrived in the capital of Vanga. He later killed his father for a reward and was offered the throne of Vanga.
He refused the throne, instead founding the city of Sinhapura, in his native country of Lála. He lived there with Sinhasivali, whom he made his consort. They had thirty-two children, of whom Vijaya was the eldest and Sumitta the second.

This endless desert
In the awful night
An old bachelor
And a spinster
Looking for an Oasis
As they're thirsty.
How sad in the small tent
The travelling companion Camel has no place to rest?
Their different dialect when meets and he plays his loot
The taboos and barriers of the desert long last?

poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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Have pity on those who love each other and are separated

Mom you suffered nine months and rest of the life until you died.
I continue and almost fifty eight years now.
On my birthday..........greetings and gifts come along from Australia and Sri Lanka.
My eldest daughter Tharindu and Son-in-law Kelum write,
Wish you a healthy & wealthy life and may your dreams come true!
The youngest daughter Thilini and Son-in-law Chinthaka insists
We could not ask a better friend than you.
Yes of course, my loved ones we are born friends.
It's our fault we broke our own peaceful nest and scattered into different parts.
But the links are much stronger than earlier in the chain.
I drew a World Map in my complicated mind.
I brought Australia to Canada and sent her to Australia
And my tiny precious island Sri Lanka pushed towards Hawaii
And sent Hawaii into the Indian Ocean.
But still it's too far to touch.
Oh! My beloved wife hugs as usual
You are a Sun in my winter Igloo
And a full Moon in the mysterious summer hut.
I kept a piece of cake for my missing son 'Marco'
from my beloved's home made delicious chocolate cake.

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poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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