Word: sri
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...Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to a dramatic end in May with a decisive military victory and the killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tigers' fearsome leader. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the man who tamed the Tigers. Now his task is to heal a nation still divided by tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, Rajapaksa, 63, talked with TIME's Jyoti Thottam at the President's official compound in Colombo on July...
...TIME: Prabhakaran had become practically a mythical figure in Sri Lanka. What went through your mind when you heard he had been killed? Rajapaksa: Thank the Lord. Thank the [Buddhist] Triple Gem. That was a gift. (Read "Prabhakaran: The Life and Death of a Tiger...
...come and do that, they would have killed most of the people. It is my soldiers who will protect my citizens. They are my people, they are my voters ... The international community must help the government if a government is elected properly by the people. (Read "Viewpoint: Obama Failing Sri Lanka Test...
...largest country in South Asia, India's repeal effort has been watched especially closely. "We have had a very progressive leadership, and I sincerely hope that the Indian decision will help us in the right direction," says Sahran Abeysundera, a gay rights activist in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. As in India, Sri Lanka's law on homosexuality, known there as Section 365, has hindered HIV prevention programs among male sex workers. "We stand to gain more by repealing these laws than keeping them in the law books...
...case overturning India's Section 377 took years; activists elsewhere realize they have a long road ahead. "There will not be any immediate change here because of the Indian decision," Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, executive director of Equal Ground, a gay rights group in Sri Lanka. "Things don't work like that, we have to keep working and advocating constantly." The Indian High Court has given them one more rallying cry. - With reporting by Amantha Perera / Colombo and Delwar Hussain / Dhaka...