30 December 2008 

A delegation from the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process attended the opening, on Saturday December 27th, of the Future Minds Of Jaffna Industrial and Educational Exhibition organised in Jaffna by the Security Forces, with the assistance of the Secretariat. Secretary General, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, was accompanied by Director Operations, Brigadier Piyal Abeysekera, and Director Economic Affairs, Rohantha Athukorale.

-President assures people of Jaffna 
 
  “All that was lost to you due to terrorism will be restored. It will not be long before your brothers and sisters who are trapped in areas such as Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu can be happy. That is when, just like the New Dawn in the East, there will be the New Spring in the North,” said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a message to the people of Jaffna in connection with the “Future Minds of Jaffna" exhibition currently being held in Jaffna.  

In the first ever address by a Sri Lankan Head of State to the Tamil people in their own language, the President said: “It is time for us to forget the unfortunate developments of the past. We shall take action to restore to the people of Jaffna and the North, all they have lost in the past.”

When there are only three days to pass the year 2008 during which Security Forces recorded remarkable victories against the LTTE, secretary defence Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera went to Welikanda in a bid to wish the troops in the east courage and strength to continue their service to the motherland in the oncoming new year.

LTTE terrorists had abducted 16 children from a Catholic Church run orphanage at Dahrmapuram in Kilinochchi on Friday (Dec 26), the church sources revealed. The sources while condemning this nefarious act of terrorism called the incident to be an ideal example of the inhumanity of the terrorist outfit.