KUWAIT: “The core teaching of Buddhism lies in living in harmony, solidarity and peace with people and avoid¬ance of causing harm to any living creation both seen and unseen,” commented ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait C.A.H.M. Wijeratne during the celebration of “Vesak Day within the premise of the embassy Saturday morning.

The full day event started with the observance of the “Eight Precepts”. Visiting monk from Sri Lanka Reverend Eriminne Anomadassi explained that in many Buddhist countries, devout Buddhists observe the “Eight Precepts” on Full Moon and New Moon days. Believers spend 24 hours in the temple from early in the morning to break away from this material and sensual world.

The idea is to withdraw from our daily life of hustle and bustle to cultivate spiritual development, self training and peace of mind. These precepts are; Abstain from taking life, Abstain from stealing, Abstain from speaking unneces¬sary, Abstain from sexual activity, Abstain from taking in¬toxicants, Abstain from taking meals at inappropriate time, Abstain from entertaining, dancing, singing, use of beauty products and perfumes and Abstain from seating on high and luxurious chairs and beds.

India-Sri Lanka Foundation facilitates students from Northern Province of Sri Lanka  to visit India

A twenty-member team of students from various government schools in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka visited New Delhi, under the student exchange programme of the India-Sri Lanka Foundation, from 16-22 April 2012.

The Governments of Sri Lanka and India established the India-Sri Lanka Foundation in 1998 in order to promote greater understanding through enhancement of economic, scientific, educational, technical and cultural cooperation between the peoples of the two nations. The High Commissioners of the two nations act as Co-Chairpersons of the Foundation while the two governments have nominated two directors each as the other members of the Board of Directors.

This is the first time in decades that a students team from government schools in Northern Province visited New Delhi under such an exchange programme after normalcy returned to the North and the East.

Besides visiting a local private school to gain knowledge, experience and exchange of views, the students visited several important monuments, museums and memorials in New Delhi.

The India-Sri Lanka Foundation in future will continue to facilitate such visits for the benefit of the student community of both countries.

Dr. (Mrs.) Damitha de Zoysa ,Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development was nominated and elected unanimously as Vice- Chair for the next biennium at the Ninth Session of the Compliance Committee (CoC 09) of the Sixteenth Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)  held in Freemantle, Australia from 18 -20 th, April , 2012. The Nomination of Dr. de Zoysa as Vice- Chair of the CoC  for the next biennium was proposed by Ms. Ann Willock , representative from Australia and seconded by Mr. Nicolas Gorodestka, Head of Delegation of France.

Allegations Relating to Cluster Munitions

The rehashed allegation in international media that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces used cluster munitions during the Humanitarian Operations is baseless.  It is a repetition of similar allegations that were made earlier on several occasions and is not based on any facts.

The UNDP official quoted in the news report has confirmed that his email to superior officials in the UN Headquarters, which was quoted by the media, was only meant to explore the possibility of obtaining further assistance for Mine Action Program in Sri Lanka and that he made no reference to alleged use of cluster munitions by the Sri Lankan Forces.

The Sri Lankan Forces comprehensively defeated the LTTE in May 2009 and liberated over 290,000 hostages who were forcibly held by the terrorists as a human shield. Neither ‘Cluster Munitions’ nor illegal weaponry were used.  The Sri Lankan Armed Forces used only carefully planned precise military actions in this humanitarian endeavor.

Sri Lankan Airlines will start a direct flight between Kuwait and Colombo from May 1, Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said.

The flight will depart from Kuwait at 21.55 and arrive in Colombo at 6.15 a.m.  Considering the huge air-passenger demand, the airline will conduct daily flights including weekends without any stopover.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Airlines has increased its flights to many Middle East destinations.

Flights to Muscat have been increased from two to four per week, Doha from five to seven and daily flights to Dubai.  With the new scheduling of flights, Sri Lankan will operate 47 weekly flights to the Middle East.

Sri Lankan Airlines has also taken measures to increase its seating capacity to Saudi Arabia aiming to meet the demand from special Umrah groups, travelling to observe religious rites, by adding a 314 – seater A340 Airbus on its Colombo – Jeddah route.

It is scheduled to commence the new service from May 6 and continue until September 2.  The flight will operate every Sunday departing Colombo at 15.20 hours and arriving in Jeddah at 18.50 hours.

Sri Lankan Airlines statistics reveal a 42 percent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in January and February.