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National Defence College of Sri Lanka – By Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratna Source : island I was invited to deliver a lecture at the Diners Club of the National Defence College (NDC), the highest Defence learning establishment of Sri Lanka, by its Commandant, Major General Amal Karunasekara, highly decorated officer from the Sri Lanka Light Infantry. Our inaugural NDC course started on 14 November, 2021, and 14 senior officers from the Army, seven from the Navy, six from the Air Force and four from the Police took part in the one-year-long course. I was very happy about the invitation, as the Chief of Defence Staff, in 2017 to 2019, I was involved in securing this mansion, known as ‘Mumtaz Mahal,’ Colombo 03 the former official residence of the Speaker of Parliament, from 1948 to 2000, until a new official residence for the Speaker was built, close to the Parliament. From year 2000, ...

Aug 9, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , ,
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The People of the Fire – By Randika Jayakody & Jerome Perera Source :  Sri Lankan Group of Radio 4EB is pleased to present its Newsletter “Dæhæna” for August 2022. What do the Mumtaz Mahal (former residence of Speaker of Parliament), Independence Memorial Hall, Tintagel Colombo, Temple of Fire and the Kandy Masonic Temple have in common? All of these iconic buildings were intricately crafted within the mind of a Sri Lankan Parsee named Homi Billimoria. The Parsis of Sri Lanka are an ethnoreligious group that originated in Iran who left Iran to escape religious persecution. As a result, many Parsis in Sri Lanka practice Zoroastrianism, a fascinating religion with a wholesome philosophy. The migrations out of Iran brought the Parsi community to Ceylon where they have settled and contributed vastly to the historical, intellectual and cultural landscape of modern Sri Lanka. The Parsi community has significantly invested in improving ...

Aug 1, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , ,
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Protecting Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb’s silver coin ship – By Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne (Retired from Sri Lanka Navy) Former Chief of Defence Staff Source:Island In 2008, I was the Commander Southern Naval Area. It was my first appointment as an Area Commander. In May 2008, I received an email from an unknown foreigner to my official email account. The sender was a Dutch National who had travelled to Sri Lanka in month the of April 2008. The email read as follows:”As I was a keen SCUBA diver, I joined diving expedition arranged by KALU from Hikkaduwa on Great Basses reef off Kirinda fishing village. We traveled in a van from Hikkaduwa early morning on 14th April. There were five more foreigners and three locals in our group. KALU carried all diving equipments required for dive. I became friendly with KALU and he spoke of the Basses reef and its underwater ...

Sep 4, 2020 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , Comments 0
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