'Duminda Silva shot Bharatha Lakshman'

The driver of the slain Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra has told police that MP Duminda Silva fired at Mr Premachandra after he fell down to the ground. Driver, Saman Shantha Perera's statement to the the Criminal Investigation Department ( CID) was presented to the Magistrate Court, Colombo on Wedneday. He has stated that MP, Duminda Silva who arrived at the scene had assaulted Mr.Premachandra. Then, he had taken his pistol and opened fire at the fallen politician, driver Perera has said. The court also ordered to remand a policeman arrested in connection with the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra. The policeman, Anura Thusara de Mel attached to the Mirihana Police Station served as a bodyguard to MP Duminda Silva. CID, quoting driver of late Mr.Premachandra told court that the driver had identified the bodyguard Anura Thusara de Mel who had used a T56 assault rifle to fire at Mr. Premachandra, CID    ========================================

‘All the cruel murderers are of the defense Ministry’ – says Gen. Fonseka when taken to courts

Lanka-e-News -13.Oct.2011, 6.00P.M.) ‘I express my deepest sympathies to the grief stricken families in the tragic death of Bharatha lakshman Premachandra. The brutal murderers are all from the defense Ministry. In that case , who are those accountable for these murders? Jayawewa for the present sorry state of politics and sorrowful political culture’. These comments were made by former Army Commander Gen. Fonseka when he was at the courts in connection with his white flag case trial.

The oral submissions of the defense began today. The senior lawyer for the defense , Nalin Ladduwahetty told court when commencing his submissions that charges cannot be filed under the emergency regulations and the criminal procedure code against Sarath Fonseka , rather , it is very clear they should be filed against the Sunday Leader newspaper which published this incident.
Ladduwahetty pointed out , not only in Sri Lanka , but even in India and in England , it is the newspaper which publishes such an incident that is in the fault . The owners of the Newspaper and others were present at the interview , but they had not been summoned as witnesses , he pinpointed.

The submissions of the defense continues tomorrow (13)

Liam Fox faces fresh claims over Werritty funding

(AFP) Liam Fox has rejected calls to resign over his ties to Adam Werritty (AFP, Andrew Yates)

LONDON — Defence Secretary Liam Fox faced renewed pressure on Thursday over claims that rich backers paid for the best man at his wedding to travel the globe with him despite not being a government official.

Liam Fox again rejected calls to resign over his links to his close friend Adam Werritty, who posed as the minister's advisor and accompanied him on 18 overseas visits to countries including Sri Lanka and Dubai.

The BBC reported that 34-year-old Werritty was being bankrolled by several wealthy private clients who shared Fox's private foreign policy views, which are said to be more eurosceptic and pro-US than the government's.

Labour's defence spokesman, Jim Murphy, said the claims "blow a hole" in Fox's defence and that there would be a clear breach of ministerial guidelines if Werritty was being paid as an unofficial adviser.

Fox, 50, said on Thursday he was concentrating on his job, especially as the conflict in Libya appeared to be nearing its end.

"I'm continuing to do what is needed at the moment which is that the defence secretary focuses on defence issues," he told reporters at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after attending a national security council meeting.

"I think we're getting very close to the fall of Sirte which I think may bring the Libyan conflict to a close, and that is what I have to focus all my attention on."

He was sitting in parliament alongside Foreign Secretary William Hague on Thursday as Hague made a statement on the situation in the Middle East.

But government sources said civil servants were going to interview Werritty for a second time this week as part of an investigation into Fox's conduct ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this week.

"The earlier conversation was more about establishing some of the basics. This (new interview) will be a lot more about understanding some of the issues," one source told AFP.

Werritty would be reinterviewed on Thursday or Friday, the source said.

British media carried a string of stories about the controversy on Thursday, especially about the tangled web of businessmen and lobbyists, many of them with links to Israel and Dubai, said to surround Fox and Werritty.

Liam Fox battles to save career as PM gives only conditional support

Patrick Wintour and Rupert Neate
Tuesday 11 October 2011
Sir Gus O'Donnell steps up inquiry as Fox admits 'mistakes' and more detail is revealed about relationship with Adam Werritty

Video

Liam Fox faces questions from MPs in the House of Commons about his professional relationship with adviser Adam Werritty Link to this video

The defence secretary, Liam Fox, was still battling to save his ministerial career as the country's top civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, launched a full inquiry into Fox's intricate links with his friend Adam Werritty, including whether he was profiting from the privileged access Fox gave him to his thinking and his ministerial diary.   Full Story>>>

Confusion over Fox’s Sri Lanka trust

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A trust set up by Liam Fox to help Sri Lanka’s development appears to have achieved nothing other than to pay for the MP’s trips to the country, one of his allies has told the British Financial Times.

The defence secretary on Monday told the Commons he had worked with people in “business, banking and politics” to create the trust as a “mechanism” to allow reconstruction funding through the private sector.

According to Lord Bell, an ally of the MP, the trust consists of two funds, the “Sri Lanka Infrastructure Development Fund” and the “Sri Lanka Charitable Fund”.

Last year a memorandum of understanding was struck between the Sri Lankan government and the two funds to carry out future work together.

Yet neither fund is up and running, according to Lord Bell, whose lobbying firm Bell Pottinger represented the Sri Lankan government until last December.

He said the two funds were linked to the Sri Lanka Development Trust, which is not registered as a charity or a company in the UK. It remains unclear who works for it, how it is funded or what it does.

“I’m not aware that any activity exists yet or that anybody has invested any money in it,” said Lord Bell. There have been discussions with the Sri Lankan government and the governor of the central bank in the country, he added.

Yet the trust paid for at least three return trips between London and Colombo – worth about £7,500 – for Dr Fox while he was in opposition in 2008 and 2009.

Emma Reynolds, a Labour MP, said it was “odd” that the Sri Lanka Development Trust “doesn’t seem to be doing any development in Sri Lanka”: “Dr Fox needs to explain exactly what this trust is, who is behind it, where its money comes from and where the money goes.”

The trust’s current address is an office in Edinburgh but it was previously located at 40 George Street in London’s West End. This is also the headquarters of an investigative company, G3 – or Good Governance Group – which offers services such as “business intelligence”.

G3 is chaired by Chester Crocker, a former US politician under Ronald Reagan, who sits on the US board of Bell Pottinger Communications. He refused to comment. But an ally of Mr Crocker said he had no involvement with Sri Lanka and had never heard of the trust.

Lord Bell said the infrastructure fund was designed to invest in roads and other infrastructure projects in northern Sri Lanka. The second fund would direct money into “things of a charitable nature”. Neither fund is registered with the UK Charity Commission.

Mr Fox’s aide said he could not answer questions about the trust or funds – nor suggest an alternative spokesman. “You need to ask them,” he said. “I don’t speak for them.”

Lord Bell did not know how the Sri Lanka Development Trust paid for Dr Fox’s flights without other visible activities. “I do not know an answer to your question. I can understand why you are asking,” he said.  (www.ft.com)

British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Answers GTF Question on Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Global Tamil Forum

உலகத் தமிழர் பேரவை

Wednesday, 12 October 

2011The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, His Excellency John Rankin, kindly answered a question put forward by the Global Tamil Forum regarding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is set to take place in Sri Lanka in 2013. The answer came during the High Commissioner's fortnightly Q&A session which is broadcast via the British High Commission in Colombo webpage.லகத் தமிழர் பேரவை

The Global Tamil Forum asked whether it is appropriate for the 2013 CHOGM to take place in Sri Lanka, given the allegations of war crimes that have yet to be resolved and the current concerns regarding the violation of human rights on the island.

The High Commissioner gives his response to this question at 1:24 into the video, where he states:

"...we look to any host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government including Sri Lanka to uphold the Commonwealth commitment, Commonwealth values on good governance and human rights and in the case of Sri Lanka we look forward to now and in the run up to 2013 to address those issues and to keep on making progress on them, in particular we made clear that we look to Sri Lanka to make progress by the end of this year on issues of accountability and reconciliation which we believe can help to build a sustainable peace in this country."

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Of guns and ballots - Violence in Sri Lankan politics

   October 12, 2011

A fatal firefight between rival factions of Sri Lanka's ruling party in a Colombo suburb, has trained the spotlight on the island's gun culture in politics.

Police said four people were killed in the gun battle in Kolonowa.

Police detained one suspect and seized several fire arms, including two automatic assault rifles.

Now, concerned citizens have petitioned the government to take action, noting that the gun culture is a hangover from Sri Lanka's protracted civil war.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Kusal Perera, political correspondent and columnist, the Sunday Leader, Sri Lanka

• Listen:
 
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PERERA: Over the years, elected MPs to the parliament, provincial councillors were provided official security, in the face of the sudden insurgency from 1987 to 1990 and also because of the protracted war, which had its own life threats on elected politicians.

As you know, in Sri Lanka, so many were eliminated by suicide bombers. So therefore, there evolved a culture of armed security being taken all over by these elected MPs, the provincial councillors, leading top officials who were very much part of the regime. And that provided an opportunity for most politicians, who got involved in business dealings, wheeler dealings, to carry with them, an unknown number of army deserters and underworld thugs, as their personal security. So this was something that was not checked before. They were just taken for granted by the regime, as well as the society. The society also just gave into that culture.

LAM: And I understand that now, a group of concerned citizens have written a petition, calling for these armed security details to be dismantled?

PERERA: Yes, I'm one of the initiators of that public appeal, because we believe that the context in which armed security was provided for politicians, for elected members of parliament, for provincial councillors and also for top bureaucrats, is no longer there. There is no rationale, no logic anymore to contine with this armed security for elected politicians. During the last thirty years or so, allowing these politicians to go about with armed security has created an unnecessary, unwanted, undemocratic culture. And we have to get back to the free political climate that was there, pre-83, and the best way for this society to get demilitarised and disarmed, is to first remove this armed security provided for the elected members, since now, the factors that made it necessary for the security is no more.

LAM: And now that peace has prevailed and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and no more a threat, why do you think this kind of gun culture still persists in Sri Lanka?

PERERA: Alot of these politicians, more from the ruling government, to use these armed security, their own escorts, to distance themselves from the citizens, from the voter, and also to use these security people during election campaigns. So it became not only an escort for their own life safety, but a tool in manipulating elections and manipulating voter sentiments and to distance themselves from the voters and get their own wheeler-dealing done.

LAM: As part of the petition, you've also called for members of parliament with a criminal past, to be thrown out of the House. Are there many of those, in the Sri Lankan parliament?

PERERA: Not very many. There are one or two, but there's a trend, where this regime, now in power, keeps promoting from the local government election levels, from the provincial council levels, into the parliament. There's a trend where this type of local hooligans, local thugs are being promoted. So if you don't stop that right now, in time to come, we would have more hooligans in parliament than respected legislators.

Sri Jayawardena Hospital Board of Directors dissolved forthwith

(Lanka-e-News -11.Oct.2011, 11.45 P.M.) The Minister of health Maithripala Sirisena had dissolved the Sri Jayawardena Hospital Board of Directors with immediate effect allegedly on grounds of inefficiency. Dumminda Silva , the prime suspect in the murder of Bharatha Lakshman is being treated at the Jayawardena Hospital. Until the time of dissolution there had not surfaced any such issues of inefficiency against the Board. A new Board is to be appointed next week.

Meanwhile the CID had told the Director of the Jayawardena Hospital , Gamage yesterday not to reveal anything to the media.

A Doctor attached to the Jayawardena Hospital who did not wish to mention his name speaking to Lanka e news , said, the Duminda Silva episode has nothing to do with this dissolution of the Board , and the Minister was waiting for an opportune moment to change the Board since there was a lot of corruption and frauds plaguing the place. The Minister only took advantage of the present crisis to achieve his long awaited aim.
There are however rumors afloat that the dissolution of the Board stemmed from the removal of the machine that was connected to Dumminda Silva. Since the trade unions had expressed bitter resentment against the deployment of about 250 gangsters and supporters of Dumminda Silva in and around the Hospital , all of them had been withdrawn from the Hospital premises. Now , the security is provided by Army soldiers.

After the admission of Duminda Silva to the Hospital , Gotabaya had taken special pains to provide army security to the Hospital , to his family as well as his relatives.

Based on information from internal sources of Duminda Silva’s family , they are trying to make arrangements to take Duminda to Singapore for further treatment.
======================================================

Monday, October 10, 2011

We may also die like dogs on the road at the hands of Gota’s murder gangs -Minister reveals conspiracy to kill Bharatha

Jageth Dias- War crime commander turned diplomat

Oct-12-2011 10:01

The recent decision by Germany and Switzerland is unlikely to lead to a criminal investigation, since Dias has stated that he is unlikely to return to those countries either as a diplomat or as a private individual.

Jagath Dias photo courtesy: jdslanka.org

(LONDON) - One of the key members of the Sri Lankan army during the final stages of the civil war faces criminal investigation if he re-enters parts of Europe.

Jagath Dias, a senior office of the Gajaba Regiment, led the 57th offensive division, and is allegedly responsible for war crimes committed during the final phase of the civil war in 2009. These crimes include the deliberate bombing of religious buildings, the intentional shelling of hospitals and densely populated civilian areas, and the torture of LTTE commanders.

He served as the most senior general officer commanding in the last stages of the conflict. A few months after the war ended he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Berlin (on September 18 2009), accredited also to Switzerland and the Vatican.

A dossier by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, andsubmissions by two organisations, TRIAL and the Society for Threatened Peoples (SPM) prompted the Swiss Federal Prosecutor to announce the initiation of a formal criminal investigation against Dias if he returns to the country. Allegations of his complicity in crimes under international law during the Sri Lankan civil war are already under preliminary investigation in Germany.

Dias is one of a number of high-profile figures, who were intimately involved in the final stages of the Sri Lankan conflict and have since been promoted to diplomatic positions. Until his withdrawal as vice-ambassador, Dias enjoyed diplomatic immunity, which he had been granted with his diplomatic visa in Germany and Switzerland, protecting him from any criminal investigation or prosecution.

Read Full Article

Employing thugs as Presidential advisors

Sri Lankan hospital staff carry an injured person following a shootout on the outskirts of Colombo on Saturday – AP, via Deccan Chronicle

An advisor to the President is dead and a Member of Parliament is critically injured.  Also amongst the dead and injured are supporters of the Presidential advisor and the parliamentarian.

This incident, where the politicians and their henchmen openly resorted to a shoot-out in broad day light, only proves a common known fact; that Sri Lanka’s politics has, for the past several decades been taken over by thugs, criminals and drug dealers.

Continue reading »

Improper Swiss disclosure to Sri Lanka endangered Tamil lives: Swiss TV

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 01:09 GMT]
Switzerland government improperly passing over information of 235 phone numbers to Colombo by the end of 2010 is feared to have contributed to arrests, disappearances or extrajudicial killings of Tamils traced by those numbers in the island, Switzerland National TV, Schweizer Fernsehen said Tuesday. Swiss gave the phone numbers in the island that were contacted by alleged LTTE sympathisers in Switzerland. Commenting, Social Democratic Party’s Luzern Canton parliamentarian Lathan Sudaralingam told TamilNet that accused war-criminal and former SL Ambassador Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias was instrumental in facilitating such transactions. “We have long been raising alarm on such human rights violations, but Swiss Government appeared to have allowed an alleged criminal to engage in more crimes while in Switzerland, and had allowed him to escape from facing prosecution,” Mr. Lathan said. 

Phone numbers given to Sri Lanka by Swiss authorities

Early this year Switzerland arrested several Eezham Tamils on suspicion of being LTTE fundraisers. Before that, their telephone communications with the island were long monitored and the contact list was given to genocidal Sri Lanka.

The Attorney General of Switzerland now faces criticism that the act had the potential of endangering the lives of the relatives and friends with whom the Swiss Tamils were in touch with, and probably contributed to some of the arrests, disappearances and killings. The exact extent of the damages is yet to be ascertained, the TV broadcast said.

One of the numbers provided by the Swiss government to Sri Lanka was the number of a Communication Centre, where many Tamils go to make or receive phone calls. Many could have been affected by blacklisting this number.

Max Birke Maier

Angela Mattli of the Society for Threatened Peoples

Max Birke Maier, the Attorney representing one of the alleged LTTE sympathisers arrested by Switzerland, criticized the one-sided attitude of Switzerland. The lawyer said the transfer of files is illegal.

The prosecutor, Patrick Lamon, has given the consent to send the data to Sri Lanka.

Society for Threatened Peoples in Switzerland criticized the actions of the Attorney General for providing information to Sri Lanka that pursues and kills ex-LTTE members and shows no willingness for an independent investigation of war crimes.

State law professor, Rainer Schweizer, criticized the wrongful disclosure of data.

This shouldn’t have happened. This action violated the Convention on Human Rights, he said.

Whether there were any other countries too in the West that might have followed the ways of Switzerland in contributing to Sri Lanka's continued genocide of Eezham Tamils even in the aftermath of the war, wonder Tamil diaspora circles.

External Links:

tagesschau.sf.tv:

Bundesanwaltschaft übergibt heikle Telefondaten an Sri Lanka

CHOGM a chance to hold Sri Lanka to account

 12 Oct 2011

Antony Loewenstein

In late September, the government of Sri Lanka released1,800 former Tamil Tiger 

fighters.

Colombo claimed they had been rehabilitated as President Mahinda Rajapaksa told them at a ceremony in the capital:

"I hope you will work for peace and ethnic harmony in this nation of ours. We must not dwell on the bitter past, but look to a prosperous future."

Many other former fighters remain incommunicado, housed in secret camps away from international inspection or human rights protection.Full Story>>>

Liam Fox friend accused over Sri Lanka ‘arms deal’

Exclusive: Well-placed sources in Sri Lanka have told Channel 4 News that the government there asked Liam Fox’s friend Adam Werritty to lobby the UK government for arms supplies.

Highly-placed souces in Sri Lanka have told Channel 4 News that Liam Fox and Adam Werrittyhave both visited Sri Lanka every year now for a decade. And every time Dr Fox has gone there, Mr Werritty’s been with him – even while on holiday.

It’s far from clear what, if anything, is in it for the man who would go on to become Britain’s Defence Secretary, and who has consistently supported the Sri Lankan regime.

A spokesman for Liam Fox told Channel 4 News on Tuesday: "Dr Fox's visits to Sri Lanka in opposition have been to promote post-conflict reconciliation and development. Any suggestion otherwise is without foundation and is insulting."

But, as Mr Werritty was grilled on Tuesday by Cabinet Office investigators about the 18 foreign trips they have recently taken together, some light has at last been shed on what Mr Werritty has apparently been doing on his travels.

High level sources

Three highly placed sources in Sri Lanka independently allege that Adam Werritty’s frequent visits to the island were to do with arms deals – and that he stayed there, it’s alleged, at Sri Lankan government expense.

The sources have claimed that Mr Werritty acted as an interlocutor for a senior figure in the regime of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This senior figure reportedly discussed with Mr Werritty whether he could lobby the British government over the supply of arms, security equipment and aviation parts.

We do not know when Mr Werritty was allegedly engaged in these discussions. A separate, high-level source has told Channel 4 News that Mr Werritty has been visiting the island since 2000.

Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war ended in a victory for the government in May 2009. Since the end of the war, in which a UN report says up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final months, Mr Werritty was allegedly involved in helping launder the Sri Lankan government’s reputation on the international stage.

Jaya raps duplicity, asks PM to pull up Lanka

 Express News Service , The New Indian Express

Oct 12, 2011

CHENNAI: Accusing the Sri Lankan government of playing a double game on the issue of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday reiterated her stand that the Centre should view the continued aggression against the Tamil fishermen as a national issue and not as an isolated issue of the State.

 

“The government of Sri Lanka, who, on the one hand, are participating in various Indo-Sri Lanka meetings in order to resolve the fishermen’s problems, on the other, are resorting to violence against our fishermen,” the CM said in her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh bringing to his notice the latest attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy on October 8.
Requesting the PM’s intervention, Jayalalithaa asked Singh to convey the Centre’s serious objection to the Sri Lankan government with regard to the continuous incidents of harassment of Tamil fishermen who seek to eke out their living peacefully in their traditional areas of fishing in the Palk Bay area.
She expressed distress at reports that the Sri Lankan Navy chased away Tamil fishermen by firing in the air off Mandapam coast of Ramanathapuram district on October 8, the day she brought the issue to the notice of Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who was on his way to Colombo. Even before the Foreign Secretary reached Colombo, this incident took place. “It is a matter of great concern to the Tamil Nadu government as it accords the highest priority to protect the fishing rights of its fishermen and ensuring their safety,” the CM said.
Jayalalithaa emphasised that the harassment of Tamil fishermen should be viewed as an act of provocation and aggression against India by Sri Lanka, similar to acts of firing across the border by Pakistan and China. 
Observing that there has been a uniform pattern of either Sri Lankan Navy personnel or miscreants from that country harassing and assaulting the State’s fishermen, Jayalalithaa said several persons have been injured in such attacks and there have been ­many insta­nces of theft of their catch, damage to nets and snatching away of the fishermen’s personal belongings. In this connection, the CM recalled the 16 incidents of attacks that took place since the present government took over.