US Pacific Fleet Commander meets D.Secretary

US Pacific Fleet Commander meets Defence Secretary
Thursday, January 17, 2008, 14:47 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jan 17 (MOD), States Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Robert F. Willard today (January 17) met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Ministry of Defence, Colombo. He was accompanied by Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, US ambassador Robert Blake and a high-level U.S. Navy delegation.
The discussion between Defence Secretary Rajapaksa and Admiral Willard focused on strengthening the bilateral relations between defence establishments of the two countries.
Admiral Robert F. Willard is the commander of the world's larges naval command encompassing 100 million square miles and approximately 178 ships, 1500 aircraft and 160,000 sailors, Marines and civilians. He assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in May 2007. During his career, Admiral Willard had commanded the amphibious flagship, USS Tripoli and the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln. Also, he was as an F-14 aviator, who had served in a variety of fighter squadrons and aircraft carriers and commanded the Screaming Eagles of Fighter squadron 51 (VF -51).

Japan not demanding anything from Lanka – Akashi
by Ifham Nizam
Japan does not consider it its business to impose its will on other countries. " But we have the right to express apprehnsion over humanitarian and other consequent issues," Japanes Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi told the media yesterday.
He said the Japanese government does not believe that it should go public on whatever had been achieved as one of the co-chairs. "We feel our efforts have been worthwhile and appreciated by many people in this country. Our genuine efforts are to help in achieving ethnic harmony so that its great potential for growth and harmony could be realised by Sri Lankans."
He also said that when he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday evening, he conveyed the serious concerns of the Japanese Government, and emphasised that a political solution to the problem would be indispensable.
"And in that context, a devolution package, on which the Government of Sri Lanka had been exerting considerable efforts, must be drafted as soon as possible."
He said President Rajapaksa had expressed his commitment to a political solution, stating that the drafting of devolution package would be completed very soon.
With regard to human rights issues, Japan urged the Sri Lankan government on the vital need to improve the human rights situation.
"We will continue to observe closely the political, military and human rights situation in Sri Lanka," he said.
With regards to the Japanese government’s economic co-operation with Sri Lanka there were number of misunderstandings but it would not change, he said.
As a responsible government the Japanese aid programme has been determined to complete factors like economic development and the peace process. Future decisions would be taken by closely monitoring these matters, he added.

JVP wants govt. to dissolve APRC
Says war can’t be used as coverThe JVP yesterday demanded that the government dissolve the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) while giving up the idea of discussing power devolution proposals.
The JVP politburo in a special statement said Norway should be removed from the facilitator’s role, and no third party involvement should be sought when resolving the conflict.
The party urged the government not to give in to international pressure and amend the Constitution or draft a new one at this hour.
While taking these steps, the JVP said action should be taken to establish civil administration in the areas liberated from the terrorists’ and improve the living standards of the people living in those areas.
“An accelerated development drive should be launched to open new income generation projects for people in these areas while establishing school, health and transport services. Similarly, the government should also take measures to control the soaring prices of essential commodities instead of justifying the burdens heaped on people under the cover of war,” the statement said.
It said it was unfair to request the people to bear with the high living costs while rulers were using public wealth carelessly. The JVP urged that the government should also take at least minimum steps to ensure good governance. The party proposed that the jumbo cabinet should be reduced while making arrangements to curb corruption and wastage of public wealth. It also proposed that legal action should be taken against those responsible for corruption and fraud as revealed by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (PAC).