சுவீடன் உல்லாச பயணிகள் இலங்கைக்கு பெருமளவில் செல்லவுள்ளனர். இந்த குளிர்கால விடுமுறைக்கு 7000 உல்லாச பயணிகளை சிறிலங்கா சுவீடனில் இருந்து எதிர்பார்க்கிறது. இவர்கள் உல்லாச பயணமுகவர்கள் மூலம் ஏற்கனவே ஏற்பாடுகள் செய்யப்பட்டபடி இலங்கைக்கு பயணம் செய்யவுள்ளனர். சுவீடனில் உள்ள பிரபல உல்லாச பயண முகவர்களான அப்பலோ, விறிற்ஸ்ரெசர், விங் ஆகியன விமானங்களை ஒழுங்கு செய்து வாரம் இருமுறை உல்லாச பயணிகளை இலங்கைக்கு கடந்த நவம்பர் 28ல் இருந்து அனுப்பி வருகிறது. இலங்கையில் உள்ள கடற்கரைகளும், வனவிலங்கு சரணாலயங்களும் சுவீடனில் இருந்துவரும் உல்லாச பயணிகளுக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்தமானவை. இந்த உல்லாச பயணிகள் ஆள் ஒருவருக்கு SEK 10,000 (US$ 1,350) முதல் SEK 11,300 (US$ 1,500) வரை கட்டணமாக செலுத்துகிறார்கள்.

பிரபல உல்லாச பயணிகள் நிறுவனங்களான Apollo, Fritidsresor, Ving இந்த உல்லாச பயணிகளை கடந்த நொவெம்பர் 28ம் திகதியில் இருந்து வாரம் இருமுறை வாடகை விமானங்களில் இலங்கைக்கு கொண்டு செல்கின்றன. இந்த உல்லாச பயணிகளை கவர்ந்திழுக்க பாடசாலை மீள்சந்திப்பு (Highschool Reunion) என்ற பிரபலமான தொலைக்காட்சி நிகழ்ச்சியை Meet Film and Television என்ற நிறுவனம் இலங்கையின் தென்பகுதி கடற்கரைகளிலும் வனவிலங்கு சரணாலயங்களிலும் படமாக்கி வருகிறது. இந்த தொலைக்காட்சி நிகழ்ச்சி Kanal 5 ல் ஒளிபரப்பப்படுகிறது. 85 வீதமான மக்கள் இந்த நிகழ்ச்சியை பார்க்கிறார்கள். இது சுவீடனில் ஒளிபரப்பாகும் முதல் 10 சிறப்பான நிகழ்ச்சிகளில் ஒன்றாக கருதப்படுகிறது.

Letter: Sri Lanka

Published: January 31, 2010

To the Editor: Regarding "The 31 Places to Go in 2010" (Jan. 10): I am surprised you included Sri Lanka as one of the 31 places to visit. It appears your newspaper seems to have forgotten the innumerable human rights violations committed by successive Sri Lankan governments, the worst being by the present regime. Journalists have disappeared; people with independent views were abducted and whereabouts not known; massacre of the Tamils by the army in May 2009; no press freedom and no law and order.

Pon Thangarajah

Los Angeles

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31Letters2.html

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I am deeply frustrated with reading your Travel story on Sri Lanka oblivious of the ugly political scene developing in that country.

Not too long ago Gill Charlton wrote in the UK Telegraph about the Eastern province beaches and the difficulty to pass through military checkpoints:

"There are also two men dressed in fatigues sitting on a wooden bench with sub-machine guns beside them.

“I asked for guards for the island after a German tourist cut his foot on glass last month” says the boatman. “These rowdy visitors from Colombo are becoming a real nuisance; they are drinking, fighting and throwing rubbish on the beach and the reef.To the Muslim villagers the behaviour of the Sinhalese is insulting, but there is little they can do except clear up after them."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelviews/6994644/Too-soon-for-tourism-on-Sri-Lankas-east-coast.html

The country is more divided on the ethnic line than ever before, leaving the future more unpredictable with the upcoming parliamentary elections. Many poltical analysts in capitol Colombo feel that Sri Lanka is moving towards a dictator dynasty. The Rajapakse families and cronies are amassing wealth with the squandered money from Tsunami funds, arms deals and the business sectors headed by the ruler's family are incurring heavy losses. The family and friends who hold high positions in the two-third of the national budget have never cared about the skyrocketting cost of living and rampant poverty.

There are still over 12,000 Tamil youth held in undisclosed locations without access by public or media. The abduction of journalists by the white-van agents of the regime is a daily event.

Tourists who want to pass through military checkpoints to reach these beaches manned by guards carrying submachine guns, should think twice about the humanitarian crisis and the scorching political climate in Sri Lanka.

======================================================

TO: travel@thenational.ae

Subject: re Sri Lanka's calmer shore

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100130/TRAVEL/100124883/1258/MAGAZINE

Dear travel journalist

You are lucky- over the last three years several journalists have been expelled from the country for asking certain questions. Three days ago a Swiss radio correspondent has been ordered to leave the country by tomorrow for asking a question on the election descrepancies.

Two weeks back People's Tribunal published a report in Dublin with the findings that Sri lankan government committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and that it committed genocide needs more investigation.

It pains me to think that some(foreigners and Southern Sri lankans)are enjoying themselves along the Eastern beaches, when there are tens of thousands of native IDPs in camps across the East. The beach near Trincomalee witnessed the cold-blooded murder of five Tamil youths by government forces four years ago and not very far from there 17 aid workers belonging to a French aid agency were murdered allegedly by the Army but they are dragging the investigation. Thousands of abduction-murders, mostly in Northeast, in the last four years alone remain uninvestigated. On the southern side of the East coast hundreds of tsunami victims are living near the beach in tin huts five years after the tsunami and are troubled by the rubbish thrown by day trippers from the South.

In the North, eight months ago 300,000 IDPs were detained in a mammoth, terribly overcrowded camp and aid agencies were severely restricted from helping them. Though recently some have been released, 100,000 are still in the detention camp. there are many more camps in the North. Northeast itself has been an open prison and journalists have been barred from there except a few travel journalists who have been given permission with the condition they write columns pomoting tourism in Sri Lanka.

Because the main road to jaffna peninsula was closed down for 3/4 years prices of basic food items soared too high to make people starve and die. it's only a few weeks ago it was opened and prices are coming down. Foreigners are not allowed to go there.

Please try to go to different parts of Northeast to make reports if you want to help the people of Northeast Sri Lanka who have been poltically and economically oppressed for six decades and are desolate now.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/27/sri-lanka-president-s-new-term-time-accountability

Sri Lanka: President’s New Term Time for Accountability, 27 January 2010:

''United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key international actors should take steps to bring accountability for Sri Lanka's grave human rights violations so that the thousands of victims will not continue to be denied justice during President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second term .... The human rights situation in Sri Lanka deteriorated markedly during Rajapaksa's first term, and he failed to hold perpetrators accountable .... "The various investigatory bodies set up by President Rajapaksa have spent more energy trying to deflect serious inquiries into abuses than actually conducting them," Adams said. "Ban and key governments should not fall for the same trick again and instead should call for an independent international investigation. The ball is now in Ban's court."

Thank you

Edited January 31, 201016 yr by akootha