| The silent waves of Gulf of Mannar towards the | | | | "Night of a Thousand Dinners", an initiative of |
| sandy shores of Marawila, a western coastal town of | | | | Adopt-A-Minefield, a program of the United Nations |
| Sri Lanka was creating a symphony of ecstasy, | | | | Association of the USA and the Canadian Landmine |
| made by mind often in a state of standstill.Watching | | | | Foundation that began as an opportunity for people |
| the horizon of the shiny blue sky, above the Indian | | | | and institutions globally to come together on a single |
| Ocean, while sipping blended coffee is always an | | | | night, enjoy a meal and help solve the global landmine |
| unforgettable experience at the beach-end restaurant | | | | crisis with discussions on world affairs.The event was |
| of Aquarius Sports Resort Hotel, which is surrounded | | | | observed a couple of years ago first time in Sri |
| by greeneries of scenic view, which is unique only to | | | | Lanka by the PDIP with the participation of its Patron |
| this Island-paradise.More than enjoying the taste of | | | | Dr. James W. Spain, a former US Ambassador for Sri |
| the nature's gifts around there, conversing on the | | | | Lanka and the UN with a global participation of the |
| issues of world affairs focusing Germany and rest of | | | | US State Department and its embassies, the |
| the Europe will become always a hot topic in the | | | | Canadian Foreign Ministry and its consulates, the |
| restaurant and will make at times, the environment | | | | American Chambers of Commerce and Rotary |
| into a German hamlet of Asia.The Aquarius Sports | | | | International.The event has given me an opportunity |
| Resort Hotel, which hosts the Asian-German Sports | | | | to address and share various international issues with |
| Exchange Program (AGSEP), a Non-Governmental | | | | German students and others and has taken me back |
| Organisation, operating in the development political | | | | to the Second World Era of Germany.Even in |
| sector with a partner office is in Essen, Germany. | | | | Germany there had been acts of resistance against |
| The Resort also accommodates the Sri Lanka | | | | the Nazis by individuals or resistance groups |
| division of the International Institute for Ratings and | | | | throughout the years. They came from all walks of |
| Consultancy (IIRC), a German based Think-Tank, | | | | life. A bomb attack initiated by Graf Stauffenberg |
| which facilitates surveys and consultancy and | | | | and other resistance fighters on July 20, 1944 failed: |
| currently carrying out a survey on the tsunami | | | | Hitler survived and had more than 4,000 people |
| devastations for presenting donors around the | | | | executed in retaliation. The war continued, claiming |
| world.My association with these institutions after the | | | | huge casualties on both sides, until the Allies occupied |
| tsunami disaster has made me to visit often there | | | | the entire German Reich. Hilter committed suicide on |
| and gave me a chance to know more about the | | | | April 30, 1945 and a week later the darkest chapter |
| German history, economy and cultural issues through | | | | in the history of Germany was brought to an end |
| my conversation with students of leading German | | | | with the country's unconditional capitulation.The |
| universities who are in their exchange programs and | | | | hardship, which German people suffered and |
| doing their undergraduate and postgraduate studies in | | | | underwent thereafter, has left them into a lasting |
| the fields of economics, political science, social | | | | trauma, which is so difficult to overcome even in the |
| science, engineering and other disciplines.Dietmar | | | | next centuries.When I was quoting in my brief |
| Doring, the founder/director of the AGSEP and the | | | | speech at the dinner that the tragedy where by |
| country director of the IIRC was an amateur national | | | | March, 1945 as the advancing Soviets under the |
| coach for the table tennis team of Sri Lanka and | | | | slogan, "There will be no pity. They have sown the |
| could be proud of his decision to use the sports | | | | wind and now they are harvesting the whirlwind" |
| events as a medium for encouraging peace in this | | | | tortured at east two million German women in an |
| island, has gone a long way.He has salvaged his | | | | undisciplined advance that is now acknowledged as |
| personal trauma of the war-torn experience by the | | | | the largest case of mass violation against women in |
| decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka and beyond that | | | | history, I too experienced the horror of many |
| by the lasting trauma caused by the destructions in | | | | decades back in Germany through the eyes of those |
| Germany in the major world - wars.The dedication of | | | | young female German students who were |
| Dietmar Doring and his AGSEP students who have | | | | participating in the event.Now the search for |
| done a memorable service to this Island in the | | | | inner-peace by finding peace in other countries and |
| tsunami period and thereafter, by importing goods | | | | helping others who are affected by the war and |
| and medicines directly from Germany which is worth | | | | natural disaster, is the only objective for these young |
| more than US$ 5 Million cannot be forgotten by Sri | | | | Germans.Consequently achieving a positive |
| Lankans forever.Their kind and caring nature has | | | | contribution to the re-establishment of peace in the |
| prompted me to associate with AGSEP in number of | | | | war-ravaged country with the help of sporting |
| ways and it is an unforgettable experience in | | | | events the AGSEP aims to help the divided ethnic |
| associating with them.Recently we had a joint event | | | | groups to become closer together and to give an |
| of the AGSEP and the PDIP: A Think-Tank on Post | | | | impulse towards peace and spread the message |
| Conflict, Economic and Gender issues at the | | | | beyond the shores of this Island. |
| restaurant of the Aquarius Sports Resort Hotel, the | | | | |