Sunday, October 30, 2016

Achieving Durable Reform In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s democracy was robust enough to mandate reform not once but twice in 2015. Such an historic opportunity as the country has today must not be squandered for want of an integrated framework and forum for regular discussion. It is a question of renewing and re-conceiving the multi-party, civic-political cooperation that brought about this window of opportunity for reform in the first place. There is still time for Sri Lanka to succeed where so many other transitions have failed.

by Mark Freeman and Asanga Welikala

( October 30, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Time and again, countries that have experienced repression and armed conflict have an opportunity to transition to a better future. Yet, only a minority succeeds. The challenges may appear obvious, but the path forward is rarely so. And, as the initial optimism generated by the 2015 elections comes to an end, the Sri Lankan case is proving no exception.

Many Latin American states overcame military dictatorships, but still experience very high levels of violence and inequality. The transitions in many former Soviet states produced authoritarianism and massive expropriations of state property. Many African states collapsed into anarchic civil war in the 1990s while trying to transition away from despotism. Many post-authoritarian Asian countries have experienced positive economic growth, but remain plagued by corruption. And today, many states in the Arab region struggle to create stable and accountable governments – and curb open armed conflict – despite widespread demand for change.

One recurring problem, now on display in Sri Lanka, is the size and complexity of reform programmes. Often, too much is attempted too quickly in what are highly complicated, and often highly combustible, environments. Achieving individual public goods – democracy, improvements in public services, rapid growth and so on – cannot happen without significant trade-offs elsewhere. Yet despite this, many transitional governments continue to get caught up in the illusion that “all good things go together”, acting as though their transition’s window for deep reform will last indefinitely.

Particularly problematic is the fact that governments with ambitious reform agendas, such as in Sri Lanka, rarely devote adequate attention to “integration” – i.e., a continuous adjusting of the optimal sequencing and interrelationship between all of the legitimate reforms they want to achieve. Integration of this sort too often ends up being nobody’s job, with the consequence that well-intended actions in one area of priority easily risk derailing the others – or the transition as a whole.

This is precisely the risk that Sri Lanka cannot afford to run.

But the challenges of reconciling these priorities is far from straightforward, because in managing its limited political capital, the government is bound to satisfy competing interests of a wide range of different actors. For example, Tamils expect federalism and internationalised justice, the Sinhalese majority expects national reconciliation within a unitary structure, and the Muslim community’s CR and TJ interests lie somewhere in between. All groups have different sets of economic circumstances and expectations.

These divergent interests ought to be reconcilable. However, for that to happen, 1) the government coalition must stay intact, as it is arguably the prerequisite for Sri Lanka’s transition to a more inclusive polity, and 2) effective messaging must be developed to ensure ongoing, cross-community support.

In the near term, the government will also have to succeed in a “life and death” constitutional referendum. For that, only a victory that is deeply supported by the Sinhalese majority and broadly supported across other communities can avoid the immediate end of the government, or its conversion into a lame duck administration. As such, until the referendum takes place, everything within the CR process – and likewise, everything on the TJ and ER fronts – must be handled in a way that strengthens the odds of a solid victory.

While good progress is apparently being made within the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly with regard to CR, it is unclear to what extent those outside of the elite-level discussions – such as Members of Parliament and Provincial Councillors – are aware of these developments. As a recent survey by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) demonstrates, a quarter of Sri Lankans are unaware there is even a CR process taking place, while three-quarters of the population have not heard of the Constitutional Assembly.

These statistics should provoke deep concern, as a referendum campaign for a new constitution cannot be successfully conducted unless all sections of the ruling coalition are behind it, and even more importantly, the public is informed and engaged about the rationale and substance of reform.

Of equal import is the fact that other politically intertwined decisions and processes are currently in the process of culmination – including a new national budget, fresh local elections, the imminent TJ task force report (and subsequent UN report-back process), and the various anti-corruption inquiries.

As such, an integrated framework for reform has become a political necessity. If the idea of an integrated approach is accepted in principle, it must be further elaborated into a workable strategy as a top priority. At the very least, there must be an informal but high-level working group, representing all sections of pro-reform opinion within the government, the broader political community, and civil society, that can regularly meet to discuss emerging issues, share information, solve problems, coordinate action, and consider adjustments to the strategic direction of the transition.

Such an approach is especially vital for Sri Lanka given that the unity government is made up of rival political parties. This gives rise to inevitable tensions within the government, and the prospect of reform will be fatally affected if these are not managed successfully. The President’s recent public criticisms of the manner in which certain corruption inquiries are conducted points to a lack of internal coordination within the government. Similarly, there have been conflicting public opinions expressed by the highest levels of the leadership about the means and ends of the TJ process.

Sri Lanka’s democracy was robust enough to mandate reform not once but twice in 2015. Such an historic opportunity as the country has today must not be squandered for want of an integrated framework and forum for regular discussion. It is a question of renewing and re-conceiving the multi-party, civic-political cooperation that brought about this window of opportunity for reform in the first place. There is still time for Sri Lanka to succeed where so many other transitions have failed.

Mark Freeman is the Executive Director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT).

Asanga Welikala is Lecturer in Public Law, University of Edinburgh, and Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).

ACHIEVING DURABLE REFORM IN SRI LANKA

Image courtesy Tamil Canadian

MARK FREEMAN AND ASANGA WELIKALA on 10/30/2016

Time and again, countries that have experienced repression and armed conflict have an opportunity to transition to a better future. Yet, only a minority succeeds. The challenges may appear obvious, but the path forward is rarely so. And, as the initial optimism generated by the 2015 elections comes to an end, the Sri Lankan case is proving no exception.

This is precisely the risk that Sri Lanka cannot afford to run.

As is well known in policy circles, the current government has been working since last year on a number of signature initiatives on which it has promised to deliver important results, including constitutional reform (CR), transitional justice (TJ) and broad-ranging economic reform (ER). Indisputably, the former two are crucial to ensuring that the social divisions that have plagued the country do not recur.
But the challenges of reconciling these priorities is far from straightforward, because in managing its limited political capital, the government is bound to satisfy competing interests of a wide range of different actors. For example, Tamils expect federalism and internationalised justice, the Sinhalese majority expects national reconciliation within a unitary structure, and the Muslim community’s CR and TJ interests lie somewhere in between. All groups have different sets of economic circumstances and expectations.

Mark Freeman is the Executive Director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT). Asanga Welikala is Lecturer in Public Law, University of Edinburgh, and Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).

Portents For Black July And After

By Rajan Hoole –October 29, 2016

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Count Down To July 1983 – Part VII

We have confirmation from different sources that it was the UNP that was behind the campus violence. Thulsie Wickremasinghe, the main ringleader, has been identified as a UNP agent. He, it is said, was given good positions later by the Government. Qadri Ismail who was then a student at the University and was later in turn a journalist with the Island and Sunday Times, confirmed that the violence was a UNP affair. He also added, “Strangely enough, it was the JVP that worked hard to get the Tamil students back”. It also signifies a vacuum where the traditional opposition was ineffective. The UNP had created a situation where only the extreme-right or the extreme-left, which was not averse to the former’s methods, could thrive. In the South the vacuum was filled by the JVP from the violent Left. In the North- East it was to be the LTTE representing the extreme Tamil Right.

The ideas that surfaced at Peradeniya in May were those which emerged from the mouths of attackers at the end of July. Those who had destroyed Tamil houses down a road were heard saying, ‘We have cleansed this place!’ It suggests that at least by May 1983, an influential section of the UNP was planning for the big show while also laying down the line for those who still had some sanity left.

It is also worth noting that the attack on the Tamil students at Peradeniya marks a deliberate shift in political violence by the UNP. The document Communal Violence July 1983 put out by the Civil Rights Movement lists previous attacks on university students: – viz. Vidyalankara Campus (March 1978), Katubedda Campus (April 1978), Polgolla Campus (February 1979), Vidyodaya Campus (March 1979), Colombo Campus (March 1980), Kelaniya University (June 1980). (Note that subsequently all these campuses of the former single University of Ceylon, became independent universities; e.g. Vidyalankara Campus became part of Kelaniya University.)

These attacks were concentrated in the 27 months from March 1978 to June 1980. Parallel to this there were several UNP mob attacks against trade unions during this period, culminating in June 1980 when unions preparing for the general strike were attacked. Also in the same month there was a brutal attack on the teachers at Maharagama Training College. The CRM document says on the attacks on students, that thugs were brought from outside and the Police too participated in some of the attacks. Moreover, when the unions were attacked ‘no police protection was afforded to the pickets’.

The attacks here were not communal, and, had the clear purpose of breaking the opposition to the Government’s introduction of an open economy. There were no similar attacks on students for nearly 3 years after June 1980. We may therefore take it that the attack on Tamil students at Peradeniya flowed from a general decision about dealing with the Tamils taken at the highest levels of the UNP hierarchy.

In the next four chapters we will deal with these developments one by one. They are the developments in Trincomalee, the build up of opinion among the Sinhalese where sentiments were becoming violent resulting in the unbridgeable gap between the Sinhalese and Tamils, the assault on legality and a momentum, already observed, to resort to extra-judicial means in dealing with Tamil activists.

October 30, 2016, 12:00 pm

To my mind the most shocking news we have had of late is the death of the two Jaffna undergraduates who died on their way home from a get-together. Two young lives heading towards prosperity and renown, in a rough terrain had been nipped in the bud.

I remember how I traveled the length and breadth of the Peninsula as a Cadet, when I was around their age. One day I had a tyre puncture on my way home and I was standing hopelessly near my car. A passing taxi driver stopped his car on seeing me. He changed my wheel dexterously without allowing me even to fetch the spare. As the Good Samaritan took leave of me, I pulled out my purse to compensate him. The man refused to accept payment, appearing to be hurt by my attempt to commercialize civic values.

Such values and comradeship was damaged by politicians on both sides who made racial differences a weapon to catch votes. Despite such exploitation, common people on either side made a valiant effort to maintain racial amity. It is significant that the above incident took place at the peak of the ‘Sri’ crisis with my car bearing a ‘Sri’ number plate.

I did the same rounds forty years later, as the Chairman of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of the North, when the LTTE insurrection was on. Even under such stress. I was as safe as houses though I was never covered by security. With that personal experience, I have the highest regard for the goodwill and hospitality of the North.

Strangely, that standard appears to be deteriorating, despite the end of the conflict; and that, under a dispensation committed to reconciliation and good governance. May be under the previous regime discipline was maintained under relentless pressure. If Yahapalanaya wants to change that stance, it has to be quick in finding an amicable system of live and let live. That cannot be done with a magic wand or tiresome public declarations.

One does not have to go far to find instances of interracial conflict under the present Government. The alleged assault on some Sinhala students of the Jaffna University, who performed a Kandyan dance to welcome a new batch, is a clear case in point. That was followed in Peradeniya with an assault on a group of devotees returning from a Hindu shrine. The latest is the death of the two University students, followed by presumed reprisals against security personnel stationed in the North. The brewing crisis is fraught with dangerous potential.

But the Government appears to be trying to stop the rising storm by merely sweeping things under the carpet. Though it claims to be committed to reconciliation, not much has happened in that direction, after it came to power, except the setting up of prestigious structures to achieve the object. Of course, one has to sympathize with the problem of having to satisfy the demands of two opposite poles among strange bedfellows. The fact that at least parts of the habitual opponents have been able to come together is a historical achievement. But such coalition will make no meaning if the new partners fail to sail the ship of state on even keel.

Special Commissions have an added duty to help the regime to fill gaps caused by intra-coalition disagreements. One such duty is the onus on the Police Commission to recreate a Police force that is truly national in its composition. Seven years after the end of the armed conflict, the structure of the Police remains much the same as it was compelled to be under the confrontation. I am aware that four years back an attempt was made to recruit minority members into the Police cadres. But the response to the move was minimal, presumably, due to die-hard attitudes generated by the bitter conflict. Fortunately that psychosis appears to be settling down under the new dispensation. Under the emerging liberalism of the enlightened ruling Tamil leadership, Tamils are said to be joining the Police in their hundreds. But still the trend is too weak to make an impact on the public image of the police department.

I am not aware whether there was a single Tamil officer in the Police team that dealt with the two ill-fated undergraduates. If there was at least one Tamil among them, I believe the reaction of the North to the incident would have been quite different. If that team was ethnically more representative of the area, the tragedy would not have created a reaction different to a similar incident in the South. That is where the Police Commission should pull up its socks and build up a representative force, not forgetting of course, the security concerns. If the undergrads’ deaths are found to have been caused by criminal action, the PC should take transparent and prompt legal action against the culprits, in line with what happens in the South in similar situations.

I was delighted to see the University students unions rising in one voice against what happened to the Tamil students. There were demonstrations by them all over the island. I would have gladly joined them, if only I was a few years younger. I am convinced that national protest was the most potent cause that took the wind off the sails of some extremists who tried to create communal tension on the back of the mishap. The protests would have convinced those who felt threatened by the incident, that a vast majority of the nation eschewed communal discrimination.

UGC Advisory Committee

The University Grants Commission should take a leaf from that experience and hasten to build up a representative inter-University advisory committee of students to intervene promptly in situations that have a potential to create communal tension in Universities. They should be the first to be at the scene in such an event, dispelling possible doubts about ethnic bias. The Committee should not be imposed by the UGC, but it should be constituted by a process that excludes inter union rivalry. It should be adequately funded and facilitated to become a vibrant factor in reconciliation in the higher education sector.

Even the other Independent Commissions have a duty to be creative outside their routines to help lighten the burden of Yahapalanaya, in its struggle to introduce reconciliation in the face of political rivalry. For instance, the Human Rights Commission has an important role to play in the Northern refugee crisis. Their intervention in the proposed move to deny legal advice to crime suspects is an innovative step in the right direction. The Public Service Commission should keep an eagle eye on the distribution of available job opportunities among the respective communities, in a fair manner.

Somapala Gunadheera

Bail granted to suspects not only in Ekneliyagoda’s but even Lasantha’s murder confirming ‘Sirisenalization’ of judiciary

-Wijedasa and Shiral mounted illegal pressures on judge Amal !

(Lanka-e-News -30.Oct.2016, 9.00AM) Sergeant major Premananda Udalagama, a prime suspect in the ghastly cold blooded murder of editor Lasantha Wickremetunge , and a leader of the murder squad of Gota was yesterday released on bail. This was the latest in the series of callous release of suspects who were involved in the brutal ruthless murders of journalists during the nefarious decade , coming closely on the heels of the recent odious and outrageous ‘cyanide ‘ speech of the president , and clearly evident illicit ‘Sirisenalization’ of the sacrosanct independent judiciary.

When this case was called up yesterday before the Mt. Lavinia Magistrate court , magistrate Mohomed Shabdeen decided to enlarge the suspect on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000.00 and three surety bails in sums of Rs. 500,000.00 each during the non summary trial that is being heard under the criminal procedure code , despite the fact , never before suspects were so released on bail.

It was the opinion of the legal luminaries that this is obviously and clearly the outcome of secret and stealthy ‘Sirisenalization’ of the judiciary.

Even after Rivira Editor Upali Tennekoon identified Udalagama as the suspect who attacked and attempted to kill him , the Gampaha magistrate Kaveendra Nanayakkara earlier on enlarged Udalagama on bail. Besides , the case is now being heard most eccentrically . Kaveendra instead of deciding duly on the assault launched on Tennekoon is now focusing on how Lanka e news is receiving information ?

The photo of Udalagama posted by Lanka e News was referred to in court with a view to resort to this diabolic diversion from the actual subject matter of the case .Today (28) ,when this case was being heard , the CID was ordered to furnish a report on Lanka e News today. Might we state , Lanka e news has already complained to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Attorney General in relation to the topsy turvy manner in which this judge hears cases.

Udalagama the suspect in Lasantha’s murder and attempted murder of Upali , was in remand custody for a relatively short period of 3 months. By granting bail to such a dangerous suspect who led a murder squad , and allowing him room to mingle in society freely is most portentous , and is to endanger the entire society . There are 17 witnesses for Lasantha’s murder case , and they could all be in peril since this notorious Udalagama the criminal can be a serious source of threat and intimidation to them, without any trace of doubt.

It were Wijedasa and Shiral who exerted pressure on judges to release murderers on bail !

Meanwhile it is none other than the minister of justice Wijedasa Rajapakse and President’s two penny half penny co ordinating secretary Shiral Lakthileke , the brief-less black coated shark and NGO culprit who have mounted intense pressure via phone calls on Avisawella high court judge Amal Thilakarathne on the 24 th to release the prime suspects , army Lieutenant Colonel Shammi Arjuna and sergeant major Rajapakse Mudiyansalage Priyantha Kumara Rajapakse in the Ekneliyagoda abduction and murder case . Amal Thilakarathne himself has made a confession in this regard.

Amal Thilakarathne who is addicted to liquor had divulged the whole truth when under the influence of liquor to a friend . Shiral being a ‘bottle friend’ of Amal had assured that he would shield and safeguard him , Amal had further revealed .(The voice tape in this regard is with Lanka e news)

At the same time , based on reports ,the investigators conducting investigations into the murders of Lasantha and Ekneliyagoda have also been threatened and pressurized. Details pertaining to these criminalities we shall reveal shortly .

There was a rising tide of public opinion locally and internationally when the Rajapakses were leaving no stone unturned to safeguard the criminals involved in the murders of journalists , Lasantha and Ekneliyagoda during the period of the oppressive and despotic Rajapakse regime. It was at that time Maithripala Sirisena as the common opposition candidate came to power after making most solemn pledges to the people , and swearing publicly he would conduct impartial and independent investigations into these crimes , and duly mete out punishment to the culprits.

Miathripala at no stage or time prior to 8 th January 2015 say , he would show sympathy if the suspects or criminals are from the forces. Neither did he announce what action he would take against his minister of justice and his coordinating secretary if they mount illegal pressures and threats on the judges to grant bail to criminals .

In other words , the nation even in its wildest dreams never believed based on Maithripala’s loud assurances and solemn promises that his justice minister and his coordinating secretary would be this villainous or traitorous towards the masses who risked their lives and worked with commitment day and night to propel the president to power . This buffoonery and tomfoolery are therefore least expected from a president by the people on whose backs he rode gleefully to the winning post when he was being threatened with death by Gotabaya and Rajapakses at every turn.

Connected report :
Granting bail to murderers ignoring AG’s advice by court is serious ‘Sirisenalization’ of judiciary.!
Shocked legal luminaries bemoan

---------------------------
by (2016-10-30 03:50:29)

ARMY RETURNS 454 ACRES MORE IN THE NORTH; WANTS TO KEEP 1000 OUT OF 4000

29/10/2016

Going a step further on the promise given to the northern people, President Maithripala Sirisena will announce the release of the another 454 acres of land from the present Palali Army Cantonment area in the Thelippalai Divisional Secretariat area during his visit to the Jaffna peninsula tomorrow.

According to UPFA National List MP Angajan Ramanathan, the President will attend the ceremony to announce the release of these lands and several other houses built by the Army.

Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahesh Senanayake told the Sunday Observer that the lands to be released to the people are located West of the Palali runway.

“The Army will maintain two camps in the area released to the civilians and civilians will be allowed to live in coexistence with the military personal in that area,” he said.

President Maitripala Sirisena is expected to make this announcement when attending the ceremony to hand over 100 houses built by the Army in the Keerimalai area tomorrow.

The 454 acres of privately owned land in an the around Palali airport had been occupied by the security forces.

According to Major Gen. Senanayake, the Army has released 1,927.6 acres from Palaly Army cantonment since 2015. From October 2010 to 2015 the Sri Lanka Army has released 5,258.38 acres to the civilians.

“To-date the Army has released 7,185.98 acres of land occupied by the military to the civilians,” he said.

Military Spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera said 100 houses built by the Army on land which was a part of the Kankasanthurai Cement Factory within the Palali cantonment area.

The military is releasing the lands occupied by them during the conflict in the North through a step-by-step process and has requested the Lands Commissioner to permit it to continue to hold 1,000 acres of the 4,000 acres currently held by the Army for national security purposes in the Valikamam North area.

The 30-year war resulted in mass scale internal displacement and people moved out of their homes and relocated in camps or homes of friends and relatives. Since the end of the ethnic conflict and under the current government, steps have been taken to resettle people in their home lands.

Last week too several people who had fled to Tamil Nadu as refugees returned home to resettle with their families. The government has been providing financial aid for those who have still not been allocated with lands or houses.

According to government sources with the release of these lands the resettlement of the displaced people in the Jaffna peninsula is due to be completed by March next year.

by Ranil Wijeyapala and Anurangi Singh

Sunday Observer

There Is No Alternative To The Principled Conduct Of Government

By Emil van der Poorten –October 30, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

The phrase that constitutes the pith of the title of this piece is probably one that has been used and abused by the self-righteous more than any other in the realm of political comment.

However, that said, in practical terms, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE to doing things in a principled manner. If you deviate from that straight and narrow path you are going to end up in chaos. It is as simple as that.

The whole Mahendran brouhaha which doesn’t exactly promise to make the Rajapaksa regime (MR1) look like the epitome of principled civilized governance is still just the tip of an iceberg that has definitely been forming thanks to the behaviour of the leaders of the Maithripala/Ranil (MR2) lot.

The real slide began a while back with the toleration extended to some of those from the previous regime who defy polite description, several of whom had also been defeated at the last polls. They were enlisted and given (well-paid) positions of authority and prestige by the MR2 lot in the name of necessary political expediency. I have referred to several of these over the past months and they have included one who has pronounced, essentially, that it will be over his dead body that any of the Rajapaksa clan will face justice in the courts of this country, following that up (or was it preceding it?) by impeding the Avante Garde investigation. Then you had the other senior functionary who is contributing – there is no other word for it – to the poisoning of the citizenry of Sri Lanka’s hill capital so that the peace and quiet of the custodian of the tooth relic will, in no way, be at risk. Apart from weird and wonderful proposals for subjecting the Kandy lake to some kind of “flyover,” a corollary to that hare-brained proposal was to put a Rajapaksa-type super highway through Udawattakelle. Even if both of these schemes were beyond ludicrous, they served the purpose of diverting the public’s attention from what was really going on – pandering to the whim of someone who, with the active support of the previous regime, had ensconced himself as the custodian of what has been described as Sri Lanka’s most important place of worship.

These are but two examples of those who seek to protect crimes that have and/or are being committed against the people of this country because the theft or diversion of resources that should go towards health care and education (among other essentials), obstructing justice and pollution leading to serious health problems for thousands of people are simply CRIMINAL OFFENCES.
If the preceding sounds repetitious, I make no apology for that being so. We need to pursue accusations of these kinds against the guilty until they are removed from positions that give them the authority to do such evil.

I would submit that, given what has transpired in this country since January 8th of 2015, even the massive boondoggle that Arjuna Mahendran’s son-in-law is accused (allegedly with his father-in law’s connivance) is a great deal less damaging than it would be under normal circumstances and could, in the final analysis, provide cover for the greater ongoing injustices and crimes committed by those in the seats of power.

The Mahendran Fiasco should not simply provide cover for the injustices, deceit and theft that the citizenry of this country has been subjected to for far too long. I hope it will provide the lever for a general cleansing of what is swiftly approaching Augean proportions in the matter of stables of those in the seats of power.

(Lanka-e-News -30.Oct.2016, 9.00AM) The foreign tour of Chief minister of Northern province C.V. Wigneswaran has not so far been notified to the Governor of Northern province nor permission obtained in that regard . Moreover , an acting chief minister has also not been sworn in before the Governor of the Northern province , based on reports.

The chief minister went overseas on the 1 4th and will be away until the 29 th. Because an acting chief minister was not appointed by him when he was leaving the Island , the chairman of the provincial council C.V.K . Sivagnanam appointed education minster of the council , T.Kurukularaja as the chief minister until the 15 th. However , so far , Kurukuluraja has not taken oaths as the acting chief minister before the Governor nor handed over a swearing in report to him.

According to section 154 of the constitution , if the chief minister is travelling overseas , the provincial governor shall be informed , and after the acting chief minister is appointed , the latter should take oaths before the Governor .Thereupon the Governor issues a gazette notification. But in this instance such a gazette notification has not been issued because an acting chief minister has neither been sworn in before the governor nor a swearing in report submitted to him.

By Dinasena Rathugamage from Vavuniya.
Translated By Jeff

---------------------------
by (2016-10-30 04:03:07)

Army awaiting govt. nod to eliminate Aava threat

by Norman Palihawadana-October 30, 2016, 12:00 pm

Army could easily accomplish the task of tracking down the so-called Aava Group and eliminating the security threat it posed if the government gives the nod, Army Spokesman Brig Roshan Seneviratne said yesterday.

"If we come out of the camps in the North then there would be an outcry against it. Similarly, when we confine ourselves within the camps some in the South criticise us. There is a need for political leadership to decide what we should do. If we are given orders we are ready to come out and neutralise this security threat," Brig Seneviratne told The Island.

He said that the so-called Aava group was nothing but an underworld gang simply glorified by a section of the media. "They have mentioned eelam in a recent handbill. This should be nipped in the bud."

Brig Seneviratne said that the group had maintained a low profile after its initial forays but suddenly come out again after the recent killing of two undergraduates and the attendant turmoil in the North.

In January 2014, Kopai and Atchchuvely police stations arrested seven members of the Ava group. The police also seized several weapons, hand grenades and seven motorcycles.

The group which has named themselves as Aava Group was led by a person called Kumakeshan Vinodan alias Ava, who is now under custody. The group of about 20 young gangsters is responsible for a series of crimes including kidnapping, robberies and assaulting a police officer, police said at that time. Another underworld gang leader known as Senthuran, who headed an extortion gang is now leading the Ava group, according to sources.

Two policemen, a sergeant and a constable attached to the State Intelligence Service were attacked with swords in Chunnakam on Oct. 23 and hospitalized with injuries.

Later hand bills were distributed by the Aava group in some areas of Jaffna claiming that they had attacked the police in retaliation for the death of two Jaffna University students recently due to police shooting.

SRI LANKA: IS ‘GREASE YAKA’ MASQUERADING AS ‘AAVA’?

30/10/2016

The Police have been ordered to crack down on the gang going by the acronym ‘AAVA’ which has been operating in the North for a couple of years, intent on instilling fear into the people with sudden day and nighttime visits brandishing swords and machetes.

Police sources said the government has deployed the STF and two other special Police teams in Jaffna to crack down on this gang that is creating the fear psychosis in the North and the country as a whole.

This sword gang of the North has been given a ‘terror tag’ and is not treated as lightly as others are.

There are cries from Northerners about a serious erosion of law and order and that public security was being ignored. Tamil politicians have complained that the Police has not been focusing adequately on the AAVA gang.

The public and newspapers in the South have raised concerns about this group. Youth in the Northern peninsula fear moving about because of AAVA as well as the newly deployed STF personnel.

Though a few AAVA activists have been arrested, the fear looms in the North.

AAVA’s attack on two Policemen immediately after the incident in which the Police shot dead a university student has alarmed the nation.

AAVA has also left several leaflets in Tamil, scattered around Jaffna stating that AAVA ‘will be there to deal with any injustice’ and has claimed responsibility for the sword attack. The notice printed in Tamil had ‘unusual’ grammatical errors.

Many have condemned the attack and wonder how anyone could appear out of nowhere brazenly and attack services personnel.

Security forces and the Tigers fought tooth and nail for 30 years leaving behind fear and a bitter taste mainly in the North.

The Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council C. V. K.Sivagnanam told the writer that an outside force is deliberately disturbing the hard earned peace.

He referred to AAVA as the grease yaka that once terrorized the North and East.

He said a ‘planned conspiracy’ is ‘doing its rounds’ from outside. “It has infiltrated into the peninsula but its root cause is yet to be clearly identified. He was referring to the sword attacks by the self-proclaimed ‘AAVA’ Group.

“We have trusted and have had confidence in the Police and still do despite this demonstration to drive home the fact that we are deeply displeased about the continuing military presence in the North. But this confidence should not be shattered,” he added.

Between the years 2011 and 2013 there were fears of a return of the grease yakas in the North and that phenomenon also crept into the East.

In Nintavur and Kalmunai, Trincomalee, Mannar and places in the Jaffna District (around 13 cases registered) villagers apprehended security personnel in civil clothing who were prowling around the area at night. They were handed over to the Police who released them and this angered the villagers. Any military involvement has not been proved so far.

“But no one has got to the bottom of the grease yaka and now the AAVA gangs,” says the NPC Chairman.

He says ‘the Tamils will dare not do that after undergoing turmoil and hardship during the war’ adding that ‘Unless and until someone is backing them and assuring them of protection, they will not venture out in this manner”.

The media on the whole wonder how a group can attack the Police in the North in broad daylight despite knowing quite well that the entire area is under a virtual security blanket.

The likelihood that AAVA is being backed by some powerful elements has not been ruled out.

If it’s not backed by powerful elements then it has to be just an ordinary gang like other gangsters operating anywhere in the country.

So what are AAVA’s links?

Ceylon Today contacted Army spokesman Brigadier Roshan Seneviratne to find out who is behind AAVA. He said the Police is tasked with ensuring law and order and so it’s rightfully their duty to probe.\

When asked whether military intelligence is backing AAVA, he said it’s only the Police out there doing their duty and not the military. “The military is not responsible for AAVA,” he added.\

Asked how AAVA operates when the peninsula is under surveillance, he said, “there are hardly any military check points. They are confined to barracks and it’s the Police that’s in charge of law enforcement today but should they need our support we are willing to help them to crack down on AAVA.\

Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi would not commit himself to a comment but said there was a probe on about which he was not free to speak right now.\

DIG Ajith Rohana said the Police could not comment on AAVA and directed us to the Information Department and the Ministry of Law and Order.\

Ceylon Today was unable to contact Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayake who did not respond to several phone calls. Last week when the media questioned him whether the miliatry is backing AAVA, he left without responding properly.\

People in the North say AAVA has been around for almost two years but the authorities had taken no action against them.\

Also many people in the North do not see AAVA as a threat as those in the South do.\

Some opine that AAVA is from the South and is a ruse to deploy more security personnel to the North.

The government should immediately crack down on the group AAVA, the Tamils say in the North because they had enough in the past.\
(amiesulo@gmail.com)

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan

COPE, counter-terror and the karmic effect

Sunday, October 30, 2016

There is a whiff of ‘victory’ in the air. We are being told that this Friday’s report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the bond fraud of the country’s premier financial institution, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was a singular gain for democracy.

An artful crafting of a ‘win’
Former Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran was found by the COPE to be ‘directly responsible’ in allowing a dealer linked to his son-in-law to massively profit from the Bank’s bond auction of public funds last year. As we may remind ourselves, this deal occurred once again early this year despite the public outrage that it gave rise to, the first time around. The gargantuan profits thus collected are a matter of record.

Regardless, the wilder and more obnoxious surmises were to the effect that the COPE report was a direct result of democratic changes ushered in by the Unity Government. This is, of course, far from the truth. Let us distance ourselves from this sublimely artful crafting of a ‘win’ when what is evidenced is quite the converse.

It is only in a political culture as thoroughly subverted as ours that a new Government, promising that it would reverse Rajapaksa wrongs, could so airily and so quickly embroil itself in a daylight robbery of public funds. Yet, to put it plainly, the issue was not merely the bond deals themselves but what transpired within the ranks of government in relation thereto.

Was there a political scheme in play?

In a concerted move, United National Party (UNP) stalwarts once advocating the strictest financial probity from election platforms disgracefully tied themselves up in knots attempting to justify the deal and exculpate their party’s choice as the Governor at the time. Early on, a committee of party lawyers absolved Mahendran of wrong doing. As extracts of ongoing COPE proceedings on the matter were published last year, editors were threatened with parliamentary privilege under the Prime Minister’s imprimatur.

These same developments took place with aggravated force this year as this sorry scandal dragged on. The Auditor General’s integrity in respect of negative observations on the bond scandal was challenged within government ranks and high officials of the Bank declined to present documentation before the COPE. At each and every step, obstacles were mounted.

And as the beleaguered Chair of the COPE presented his report to the House this week, what was left unsaid by him spoke more than his actual words. Clearly this was far more than the reprehensible conduct of one individual. Overridingly, the public perception was of a political scheme in play, going beyond the simplistic view that this was just a result of party loyalty towards a Government appointee.

Looking beyond the legal ramifications

At this point, the legal culpability of the former Governor is none too clear with the COPE using terms such as ‘reasonable suspicion.’ In other words, the insistence of UNP parliamentarians in including copious footnotes in the report tells an obvious tale, given that the report will now be referred to the Attorney General for legal action. Is the objective then to weaken the legal accountability of the former Governor?

At one level, if the Attorney General becomes inactive, his prosecutorial discretion may be challenged in judicial review, provided that legal arguments therein are carefully formulated. Precedent exists in this regard though even our best judges have traditionally been reluctant to intervene except in regard to the most grievous prosecutorial lapses. There is little doubt therefore that the real test lies in the courts, not in the mere fact of the tabling of a COPE report. This has been the case even in the past with equally excellent reports collecting dust in some drawer.

But to focus on the legal angle would be a mistake. The Government may well remind itself that the popular tide turned against the Rajapaksas not due to spectacular court verdicts. That same relentless logic applies here as well. The damage already done to its credibility is irreparable.

A reflection of wider questions for debate

So, exercising a modicum of honesty, let us step back from this deceptive idea that somehow, Friday’s proceedings should lead us to shout ‘hallelujah’ In that same breath, onetime UNP crusaders for good governance and now run-of-the-mill party loyalists need to be richly castigated.

Indeed, this unhappy fiasco reflects wider questions confronting us. Are Sri Lankans supposed to be thrilled and clap rapturously when politicians imperil governance and then, facing public resistance, withdraw precipitously? A recently proposed amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act preventing suspects from accessing legal counsel forthwith upon arrest is a case in point. Disturbingly, a proposed draft legal and policy framework to replace the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) Act infringes even more severely on civil liberties.

As a friend observed caustically to me recently, if this counter-terror framework had been law in 2014, the Prime Minister and the President would have been the first to be caught up under clause three, sub-clauses one and two, of attempting to ‘illegally cause a change of the Government of Sri Lanka’ through interalia, ‘endangering of the lives of the public.’

Squandering the constituency of change

If these attempts had taken place during the last decade, the uproar would have been deafening. In contrast, the cautious tip-toeing around the very same questions by Colombo’s champions of good governance is increasingly being viewed with suspicion and cynicism. Political change was brought about last year, not merely in the voting booths of the capital or in volatile and highly irresponsible social media spaces. Even taken at the highest point of impact, these convulsions would not have sufficed by themselves to change the political tide.

Rather, the real change-makers were ordinary citizens from far flung corners of the country who reacted with extraordinarily powerful anger against the racism, chauvinism and corruption of the Rajapaksa regime. This was the true courageous heart of Sri Lankan citizenry despite it being beaten down for decades by ethnic and civil warfare and monumental misrule. But due to the ridiculous antics of the Unity Government, this critical constituency of support is being eroded day by day.

This betrayal (at several levels) of that courageous public yearning towards better governance by the current political leadership is unforgivable. Absent immediate course correction, an inevitably karmic outcome awaits the despicably brazen tomfoolery that we see now.

Nothing more needs to be said, really.