Grave doubts plague even the Law entrance exam results conducted by the examinations Dept.

Tuesday 3 of January 2012 

(Lanka-e-News -02.Jan.2012, 11.55PM) Grave doubts have been cast even on the results of the Law college entrance examination , another most important exam conducted by the examinations Dept., following this year G C E advanced level examination results total muck up by it , widely believed as being an evil fallout of the unprecedented politicization of the Govt. sectors.

The Law entrance exam this year was conducted by the Examinations Dept. The law College keeps its doors open only to those students who are successful in the law entrance examination conducted by the Examinations Dept. By now the results of that examination had been released.

The total number of students who sat the examination in the Sinhala, English and Tamil streams are 6360. Of them , 5505 sat in the Sinhala medium, while the balance 855 sat in the English and Tamil media, that is 256 of the Tamil medium students sat in English , and 599 sat in the Tamil medium. In other words , 13.4 % of the total number of students sat in English and Tamil mediums.

According to the results published , out of the 5505 students or 86.6 % students who sat the exam in Sinhala medium , only 137 have passed . But in the case of students who sat in the Tamil and English mediums , 106 students have been successful.

This result ratio is something that is totally different vis a vis the results in the whole history of law College entrance exam results The results in the previous years had been , 15 % passes among the Tamil and English media with 20 to 25 passing the exam. But , this year suddenly there has been a 44% or 106 students among them passing the exam which is a steep and strange increase .

It is obvious to anyone therefore that this result savors of some error somewhere or based on a premeditated aim.

At any rate ,we kindly request anyone reading this not to see it in a racial perspective or give it a mischievous twist, as we are only giving out the bare facts as they truly are.

The G C E advanced level results this year was plunged into a total chaos with monumental blunders , because more students passed under the old syllabus , and fewer students were successful in the new syllabus. According to knowledgeable sources , the rabid contracted ‘dogs’ of the examination Dept. made a hash of the results by trying to manipulate the results of the two groups , via their ‘rabies infected magic’. It is well to recall at this juncture that Lanka e news published an article in regard to this present examination results debacle and the predicament of the candidates under the caption ‘Whither SL with MaRa ? regime mucks up even the G C E exam results’ on the 16th of December 2011.

There are grave and widespread doubts that even the law entrance examination Dept. results is a consequence of politically motivated machinations.

"Russian tourist raped after attack in Sri Lanka"

 

(January 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the tourism industry in Sri Lanka struggled to contain the negative fall-out from the murder of a 32-year old British tourist, Shaikah Zaman, and attack on his Russian girl friend, Victoria Alexandrovna, in Tangalle, Sri Lanka, a local bar owner and eye-witness told Sunday Leader that the attackers "stripped and raped her [Alexandronova] mercilessly although she was bleeding from her head. Later I saw Zaman [British tourist] lying on the lawn next to the restaurant but did not know whether he was dead or alive.” Earlier, Sri Lanka's deputy economic development minister, Lakshman Abeywardene, summarily dismissed the rape reports as false.

Police say the Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha, Sampath Vidanapathirana, a close associate of ruling SLFP politicians.

Sunday Leader also reported that many eye-witnesses wished to remain anonymous as they fear for their lives. "Informants willingly spoke to the newspaper with a desire to educate the people about the true state of affairs in Tangalle over the past few years," the paper said, adding, many locals have told the paper that "Tangalle and Hambantota are becoming the most dangerous cities" in Sri Lanka.

According the primary eye-witness, “I was dancing with two foreign girls. The altercation began because none of the foreign girls wanted to dance with Vidanapathirana. He and his companions then assaulted me and a brawl broke out. It was at this time that Zaman and his friend rushed to the scene from the pool side. When the British tourist tried to settle the fight, Vidanapathirana attacked Zaman with broken bottles," the eye witness told the paper.

Hotel staff was prevented from leaving the premises and were held inside the hotel for three days, as a measure to control information spreading out to the media according to the paper.

Locals alleged that the police failed to arrest the main suspect even while the police knew the suspect's whereabouts. Police were fearful of suspect's connections to high-level politicians, locals added.

Rajapaksa-Wamsa: History As Their Story

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…by clever and persevering use of propaganda, even heaven can be represented as hell to the people, and conversely the most wretched life as paradise”. - Hitler (Mein Kampf)

Impunity is illimitable

(January 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) If the law was allowed to take its normal course after the Kolonnawa mini-war, the Christmas Eve murder of a British tourist in Tangalle may not have happened. If the regime did not protect parliamentarian Duminda Silva so blatantly, Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sampath Chandrapushpa may not have thought that he too could get away with murder.

If not for the message of impunity sent by l’affaire Kolonnawa, Khuram Shaikh, a prosthetic-limb expert who managed the ICRC’s physical rehabilitation programme in the embattled Gaza, might still be alive.

Read More »
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LLRC calls for Rule of Law, not rule of men

LLRC calls for Rule of Law, not rule of men

Implementation of recommendations crucial for Sri Lanka Grievances of Tamil people must be addressed; trilingualism and talks with diaspora suggested

By Our Political Editor

More talks on the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) began last week just after

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, returned from attending the Asia Pacific Democracy Forum in Bali, Indonesia

There was a change of mind over President Rajapaksa tabling the report in Parliament and making a statement as revealed exclusively in the Sunday Times of December 4. In fact the outlines of such a speech, government sources said, were being put together by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris. It was decided that instead, House Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva make a statement and table the report. Thus, it was agreed it should take place not on December 21, the last day of the on-going budget sessions of Parliament but last Friday. Yet, President Rajapaksa is expected to be present in the House on Wednesday in his capacity as Minister of Finance.

LLRC Chairman and former Attorney General C.R. de Silva P.C.

read more..

Sixth anniversary of 'Trinco 5' killings

     02 January 2012

Photograph: TamilNet

Six years have now passed since the execution of five Tamil students by Sri Lankan Security forces, while they spent an afternoon on the beach in Trincomalee. As of yet, no thorough investigation has been conducted into the murders and no-one has been arrested. The struggle for justice however, has not been given up on. Earlier this month, Amnesty International launched a “Write-for-Rights” campaign, highlighting the case of the “Trinco 5” and called for genuine investigations into this and the countless other human rights violations on the island. See the video below to hear Dr Manoharan, father of one of the victims speak about the campaign. Dr Manoharan has said in an affidavit collected by Tamils Against Genocide and submitted to the Dublin Tribunal that he, "personally believe[s] that these murders were carried out by the STF [Special Task Force] under the supervision of Superintendent of Police [SP] Kapila Jayasekara." Speaking to TamilNet, he also said, "The case embodies my fight to seek justice for my son, and we have reached an important milestone in this effort. Our attorney has navigated the legal obstacles and have forced Mahinda Rajapakse, a sitting head of state, to court for complicity in the extra-judicial killings."  Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is currently facing a $30m civil case in the US, for damages through violations of the Torture Victims Prevention Act, which relates to the Trincomalee murders. Also see Amnesty International’s film on the murders entitled “Sri Lanka – Tell the Truth” below. Shortly after the murders, journalist Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan was shot dead after publishing photos showing the bodies of the 5 students with point-blank gunshot injuries, disproving government claims that they were killed by a grenade explosion. The five slain students are: Manoharan Ragihar (22.09.1985) Yogarajah Hemachchandra (04.03.1985) Logitharajah Rohan (07.04.1985) Thangathurai Sivanantha (06.04.1985) Shanmugarajah Gajendran (16.09.1985)

Extra-judicial execution of Trincomalee students, Sixth anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2012, 00:05 GMT]
Two Tamil organizations in the U.S. jointly issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 6th anniversary of the extra-judicial execution by Sri Lanka security forces of five Trincomalee high school students on the 2nd January 2006, when the highly accomplished students were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee. The stamp, the issuing organizations said, is a mark of respect to the families that are fighting for justice, and to celebrate the indomitable spirit of Dr Manoharan, the father of one of the students, Ragihar, who had made the fight to bring the killers of his son to justice his life's mission. Meanwhile, Amnesty International conducted a "Write-for-Rights" campaign seeking justice for Dr Manoharan's family during the first week of December 2011. 

Post-Trinco-massacre photo album

The report submitted to Dublin tribunal pieced together a description of the crime as follows:

• Amnesty campaign (English)

• Amnesty campaign (Tamil)

• TAG Report: Trincomalee executions
A pre-staged effort to terrorize the Tamil population of the city by attacking innocents in a very public venue is a likely explanation of the incident. Close coordination between separate branches of the security forces – the army, navy, STF and police – in the incident lead to the supposition that the effort was directed from a high level in the Defense Ministry (the police report to the Minister of Defense).

Trinco executions crime scene

Culpability chart
The incident started with a grenade being thrown out of a three-wheeler near a common gathering place for students, wounding several of them. Reports have said that the vehicle then proceeded into Fort Frederick, the Army HQ. A short time later, five students were killed by gunfire from men who arrived in a jeep, while the father of Ragihar Manoharan was held back from the area at checkpoints of the security forces within earshot of the firing. The five dead and two wounded students were later transported to a hospital. Security forces attempted to build the case that the students were LTTE members, and told the father of Ragihar Manoharan that his son’s body would not be released unless he signed a statement saying that his son was an LTTE combatant. Dr. Manoharan refused. Dr. Manoharan later received many threats, including ones claiming Trincomalee for the Sinhalese, and bribes, including the offer of a house in the capital. Large numbers of civilians and military forces were in the area while the incident occurred, but collusion and intimidation kept all but one or two from providing much information to the local inquiring magistrate and to the 2008 Commission of Inquiry.

Dr Manoharan says in his affidavit that he "personally believe[s] that these murders were carried out by the STF [Special Task Force] under the supervision of Superintendent of Police [SP] Kapila Jayasekara."

The STF team was sent to Trincomalee with the approval of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse just before Christmas 2005, and Sinhala extremist Kotagadeniya was acting as an advisor to the Defence Ministry in Police matters. "Judging by events there is hardly any doubt that the attack on the students in a public place was conceived as teaching the Tamils a lesson...If not the details, the general form of the atrocity was planned at the highest level," the Rights organization UTHR concluded in its investigations. (UTHR, 1/2/10, pg. 14)

Ragihar Manoharan’s father, who heard the shots, has received death threats for giving evidence at an inquest into his son’s killing, Amnesty said in its campaign document.

Thirteen security forces personnel were detained in connection with the killings, but were later released. A commission of inquiry was established to investigate the incident along with 11 other deaths. However, the commission report, delivered directly to the President, has never been published. No thorough investigation has ever been conducted and no one has been brought to justice for Ragihar’s murder, according to Amnesty's report.

The names and the dates of birth of the five students killed at the big harbor town under the control of and heavily garrisoned by the Sri Lanka security forces are: (i) Manoharan Ragihar, DoB 22.09.1985, (ii) Yogarajah Hemachchandra, DoB 04.03.1985, (iii) Logitharajah Rohan, DoB 07.04.1985, (iv) Thangathurai Sivanantha, DoB 06.04.1985, and (v) Shanmugarajah Gajendran, DoB 16.09.1985. 

Trinco-5 victim Ragihar's father talks to Amnesty From April 2011 archives

Dr. Manoharan, speaking to TamilNet from his UK residence, said that he is pleased with the progress of the law suit currently in progress at the District Court in the District of Columbia where Sri Lanka's President has "waived" his opposition to service of process by filing a memorandum requesting the judge to seek the views of the State Department.

• Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK, Complaint

• U.S. Court: Filed motion for Alternate Service

• Court order: Alternate means of service

• Memorandum to validate service of process (127Kb)

• Rajapakse Motion seeking US intervention

"The case embodies my fight to seek justice for my son, and we have reached an important milestone in this effort. Our attorney has navigated the legal obstacles and have forced Mahinda Rajapakse, a sitting head of state, to court for complicity in the extra-judicial killings. 

"Legal actions are expensive, and I appeal to the diaspora to contribute to the legal fund set up by Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) to defray the legal costs. Legal hurdles still remain, but crimes charged in this case are international crimes and immunity defenses are unlikely to succeed," Dr Manoharan told TamilNet.

Dr Manoharan's affidavit and evidence gathered by the independent rights group, UTHR, provide a preponderance of evidence on the alleged perpetrators and the chain of command responsible for the crime, legal sources in Washington said. Report submitted the Dublin Tribunal on Sri Lanka war crimes contains collected information on the killings.

The case (DR-11/1-2006) in the Trincomalee court, meanwhile, is being kept alive by Colombo and the subservient judges for procedural purposes only, legal sources in Trincomalee said. The Magistrates have been postponing hearings routinely for the past five year, first asking the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to produce reports of investigations, and then accepting without scrutiny CID's response that investigation is still in progress, Dr Manoharan said.

Kumar Mahaththaya’s wife and children arrested

Monday, 02 January 2012

Wife and children of the theoretician of the JVP dissidents, Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Kumar Mahaththaya was arrested by the security units at the Katunayake International Airport this morning.

Kumar Mahaththaya’s wife Dr. Champa Somaratne and the two children were interrogated by the security units for a long time.

Kumar Mahaththaya’s wife and children are Australian citizens and were arrested when they were trying to return to Australia after spending the holidays in Sri Lanka.

After the security units had learnt that Kumra’s wife and children had arrived in the country, the Defence Ministry had asked the airport authorities to keep a close watch on them.

Kumar Mahaththaya played a lead role in the JVP since the 80s. Former convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Ranjitham Gunaratnam was Kumar Mahaththaya’s brother.

Ranjitham Gunaratnam was a member of the JVP politburo in 1988 and 89 and was killed by the security forces.

Kumar Mahaththay then went in to hiding and carried out politics in secret and played a major role in bringing the JVP back to the mainstream political arena in 1994. Even when the JVP started mainstream politics, Kumar Mahaththaya continued to work behind the scenes.

The party’s Central Committee decided to allow Kumar Mahaththaya to carry out party politics from overseas after Wimal Weerawnasa revealed details about the JVP’s internal leaders to the intelligence units after his defection.

Kumar Mahaththaya left for Australia with his family during that time.

President also responsible for mess up in A/Level results – Education Minister

Monday, 02 January 2012 

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena says that President Advisor Sunimal Fernando was completely responsible for the mess up in the A/Level results and that nothing can be said about it in the open since it would haven an impact on his portfolio. Therefore, he has said that being silent and taking the blame was the only option.

The Minister has made this statement when several ministers had inquired about the controversy surrounding the A/Level results.

Gunawardena has observed that he was sick of the portfolio and that he has to even follow orders from peons at the Presidential Secretariat.

The Minister has revealed that the Z score was formulated by a group of Indian specialists who were brought down by Sunimal Fernando and that the President had also put pressure to assign the group the task of determining the Z score formula.

According to the Minister, the confusion over the examination results had been created by the group of Indian specialists.

Will the pressure on the regime ease?-International responses to the LLRC Report

Sunday 01 January 2012

Assessing how the international community is reacting, the LLRC Report is the strategic key for the regime. For the government, what the locals think is irrelevant. Not only Rajapaksa and his ministers but just about everybody in the country knows and has known for a long time how to reconcile with the Tamil community – substantial devolution, demilitarization of the N-E and release of thousands of illegally incarcerated Tamil youth. The government needed no commissions of inquiry to tell it any of this; the LLRC’s appointment had nothing to do with reconciliation; it was a ploy to get international pressure for war crimes and violation of human rights off the back of the regime. I said this last week in this column and the International Crisis Group echoed it as follows on December 22. 
“Appointed by President Rajapaksa in May 2010, the LLRC has been the government’s primary means of deflecting pressure for an international investigation into credible allegations of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by both government forces and fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final stages of the long civil war. The government has pledged that the Commission’s report would fully address the international community’s demands for accountability, as President Rajapaksa promised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after the government’s declaration of victory over the LTTE in May 2009.”
So is the international community satisfied that the government has conducted an adequate investigation, that the findings are acceptable and the world can stop breathing down the necks of the regime? Of course no one believes the LLRC’s whitewash of the military and the regime, but the point is whether the international community has been bamboozled into keeping quiet. If this much hasbeen achieved the game plan has succeeded and the LLRC has served its purpose in the eyes of the government. 

Western government responses            Read more...

Thousands of ex-LTTE soldiers still unemployed

Sunday 01 January 2012

By Elmo Leonard 

Unaccounted numbers of rehabilitated Tamil LTTE soldiers --- both male and female go unemployed in Sri Lanka’s north and east, Sinhalese, Human Rights Activist and Trainer, Marini de Livera said. 
Most of these young men and women had received weapons training. All they now want is a source of livelihood. If another armed Tamil movement begins, the hungry, rehabilitated Tamil youth will have no option but to join in militancy, De Livera, who since 2003 is involved in training Sri Lanka Army majors and captains in human rights, said. 
Working in an honorary capacity for the past five years with the army, De Livera is also an attorney-at-law, holds a post graduate Diploma in Human Rights and is a senior lecturer in her discipline. It is a mistake to send ex-combatants back to their villages and towns of origin without ensuring them a mode of livelihood, she said.

Marginalized Tamil people

During the island nation’s 27-year civil strife that ended May 2009, it was the poor and marginalized Tamil people of the north and east who remained in the war theatre; the others had found a home in First World nations as USA, Canada, UK, Australia, besides other countries.  
On inquiry what 200 ex-combatants in a rehabilitation camp wanted most, the response was that they had wished for toiletries such as soap and shampoo, while some had requested for Tamil-English dictionaries. Their requests were collated through an email. One youth had said that while the parents of all ex-combatants visited them, his father could not and requested for a wheel chair for his father. De Livera found the father lying in a hut with amputated legs. Now, father and son see each other.                 
De Livera at a recent public forum in Colombo appealed that someone provides employment to female ex-combatant Balachandran Subakhani, 26, from Chulipurum in the island’s north-east. Subakhani had surrendered to the army two days after the war ended. Subakhani who fought in the frontlines had spoken only of AK47 and T56 expertise. She was also successful at the Advanced Level examination. 

Sinhalese women were evil

De Livera told delegates at the International Volunteer Day that at their first meeting Subakhani had said that all Sinhalese women were evil. Subakhani had asked De Livera, why she came to see her. De Livera had answered, “Because I love you.”
Subakhani’s father died in the war. She lives in a little hut with her mother. For a time, they had lived by pawning their jewellery. Now, they do not know when they will get the next meal. On surrender, Subakhani was taken to the Ambepussa Rehabalitation Centre, then to the Tellipillay RC. 
Now, Subakhani’s only wish is to find employment in the public sector, but has been “prevented from seeing a government gazette,” De Livera told the gathering, among them foreign United Nations delegates.
Of the much talked about white flag incident, De Livera said that when international media had interviewed Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the interviewee had said that the Sri Lanka Army was human rights friendly, having been trained in that discipline. De Livera said she was elated to hear that as she was the trainer for the army. 
De Livera has to pay double the fee for English classes for Subakhani. For reasons unknown to De Livera, no teacher in Chulipuram had initially wished to teach a poor girl English. Subakhani is now computer literate. 
De Livera does not understand Tamil and initially spoke to Subakhani in faulty English and Sinhala. Now, they communicate in English.   
De Livera called on Sinhalese families to ‘adopt’ Tamil ex-combatant youth, not by physically getting them down to their homes but by spending for their education and finding them jobs. There has to be inter-personal contact between the Sinhalese and Tamils if the wounds of the long conflict are to be healed. There is a common denominator between people who lived in conflict zones as Ruwanda, Kosovo and Sri Lanka, De Livera said. 
With the A9 road now open, there is no excuse for the Sinhalese keeping away from humanitarian work in the north and east of the island, De Livera stressed.
There are 130 government schools in the north and a few teachers versed in English. A question is how English could be taught effectively to those youth. De Livera is now writing a book of English plays intended for fulfilling that aspiration, she said.

Read more...

Mayor accused of blackmailing hoteliers

By Saroj Pathirana    01 January, 2012

Hoteliers in a popular tourist destination in Sri Lanka have accused a local politician of blackmailing them and demanding ransom from hotels at the peak of a tourism season.

The Hikkaduwa Hoteliers Association (HHA) told BBC Sandeshaya that the town's Mayor, Winnie Kariyawasam, discontinued collecting garbage from Coral Sands hotel for weeks after they refused to pay "extortion" money.

Mr Kariyawasam, who admitted that the urban council stopped collecting garbage from the said hotel, categorically denied accusations of blackmail and extortion.

Siri Goonewardene, president of the HHA and the vice president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) says the 'blackmail' intensified after the HHA refused to pay a tax imposed by the local government body led by Mr. Kariyawasam.

He claimed that the Hikkaduwa Urban Council demanded Rs 350,000 for banners displayed at hotel venues by sponsors of the 2011 Hikkaduwa Beach Festival.

'Confiscate property'

"The sponsors refused to pay any taxes on flags displayed as a letter of understanding was given by the Mayor that no taxes will be charged on them," said Mr Goonewardene.

The sponsors refused to pay any taxes on flags displayed as a letter of understanding was given by the Mayor that no taxes will be charged on them   Siri Goonewardene, president of Hikkaduwa Hoteliers Association

But the Mayor, who rejects any such understanding, accuses Mr Goonewardene, the owner of the Coral Sands hotel, of stopping the payment of a cheque issued for Rs 350,000 as tax for displaying the banners.

"The owner of Coral Sands is working on a political agenda," Winnie Kariyawasam told BBC Sinhala service.

The Mayor is also accused by the association of demanding the payment of Rs 300,000 as a penalty for the non payment of tax soon after the industry was devastated by the tsunami in December 2004.

"The Urban Council has failed to give us details of how this amount has been arrived at," said a statement issued by the HHA in the weekend.

Mr Kariyawasam, however, points the finger particularly at the owner of Coral Sands, claiming that all other hoteliers have paid due taxes.

"I have requested the local government commissioner to launch an investigation to confiscate his properties," he added.

India cannot dictate terms says Govt

01 January, 2012

'Neither India nor other country can dictate how our country is governed'

The Sri Lanka government has denied it is under pressure from India to devolve more powers to provinces.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who heads the government delegation for talks with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said its apparent U turn over land and police powers has nothing to do with India.

"No no no no, there was no pressure. Neither India nor other country can dictate how our country is governed," he said in response to a question by BBC Sandesaya.

The government, he said, is "always prepared to discuss land and police powers as well as the re merger of the north and east."

'Only SLFP'

The minister, however, clarified that the team led by him only represents the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling coalition.

We are always prepared to discuss land and police powers as well as the re merger of the north and east   Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva

The TNA that left talks with the government citing the government's failure to respond to a ten-point plan submitted in March, later re-initiated talks on the government's request.

In a statement issued on 4 August, last year, the TNA called on the government define and state the government's policy on the structure of governance, the division of subjects between the centre and the devolved units and fiscal and financial powers before continuing the dialogue.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a recent meeting with newspaper editors has said that the government was not willing to devolve land and police powers to the regions, in line with the 13 amendment to the constitution.

The Indian government, responding to the release of the war panel report, urged Sri Lanka to fulfil it's continuous pledges to implement the 13 amendment that devolved land and police powers to the provinces.

A Sinhala nationalist partner of the coalition government has, meanwhile, criticised the response by India to the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which was submitted to the parliament on 16 December.

Saying that the present government has not given any assurances to India to devolve more powers to provinces, the Jathika Hela Urumaya asked India "to clarify which Sri Lankan government has given this assurance."

Conservatives laying groundwork for Office of Religious Freedom

The Globe and Mail

The Harper government is preparing to carve out a new role for Canada as a champion of religious rights abroad, another sign of the Conservative shift in foreign policy and one that has roots in the tragic 2011 assassination of a Pakistani cabinet minister.

Early in 2012, the Tories will finally flesh out a campaign promise to install the Office of Religious Freedom within the secular confines of the Department of Foreign Affairs – a controversial pledge that has drawn accusations of vote pandering and blurring lines between church and state.

MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY

• John Baird crafts Canadian foreign policy with a hard edge
• Muslim women must show faces when taking citizenship oath
• Polygamy ruling won’t be appealed

The Conservatives are unapologetic about making a defence of the right to worship a central objective of Canadian foreign policy, noting, as a recent Pew Centre study found, that assaults around the world on religious freedom have increased in recent years.

They say however it was a charismatic Pakistani foe of religious persecution that helped clinch their decision to create the office – a man who visited with Prime Minister Stephen Harper only weeks before he was shot dead in Islamabad.

Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, was the first Pakistan minister for minority affairs and the only Christian serving in the Islamic state’s cabinet when he died on March 2, 2011. A militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for killing Mr. Bhatti, who had been urging reform of blasphemy laws.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who’s also the party’s point man for outreach to new Canadian voters, said Mr. Bhatti made a major impression on Mr. Harper when they met in early February, 2011.

“The Prime Minister was deeply affected by this as was everyone who had the chance to meet him,” the minister said. “His visit to Canada shortly before his assassination helped to galvanize within the government the reality of this kind of persecution.”

The Conservatives say they were impressed by Mr. Bhatti’s refusal to stop fighting religious intolerance despite death threats.

“Just before I brought Shahbaz to meet the Prime Minister, I told the Prime Minister it would be a miracle if the man he was about to meet would be alive in a few months’ time,” Mr. Kenney recalled.

The minister said he counselled Mr. Bhatti against returning home – to no avail.

“Shahbaz was very conscious that in returning to Pakistan he would be facing not just the possibility but also the likelihood of assassination,” the minister said.

“I pleaded with him to consider staying in Canada, but he insisted that he had to be in solidarity with his people.”

The new Conservative office – which will publicly criticize regimes that mistreat religious minorities – is in part a workaround to avoid the pushback the Tories previously encountered from the Foreign Affairs bureaucracy. Conservatives privately complain that civil servants in some instances resisted their efforts to raise concern about religious persecution.

Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, for one, offers qualified support for the new office.

He said it can “turn a Canadian spotlight on people in danger” and can provide the persecuted “with the protection of visibility and concern.”

But he says it can’t be a tool for pressure groups the Conservatives hope to appease in Canada.

“It’s a good thing provided it defends all cases of religious persecution, not just those that are bothering domestic constituencies at home, and that it doesn’t ignore other human-rights violations, which usually accompany religious persecution, like limits on freedom of the press, denial of democratic rights and persecution.”

Slew of pacts with Lanka on cards

Expressbuzz        P K Balachandran   02 Jan 2012 

buzz 

COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka will sign a number of agreements to implement projects already agreed upon or which will be underway during the visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Sri Lanka in the middle of this month, Indian official sources told Express on Sunday.

Details were not available as officials from both sides were still working on the agreements.Dates for Krishna’s visit have not been finalised tho-ugh it is expected to take pla-ce in mid-January.One of the projects that is expected to be taken up is the India-funded project to build 49,000 houses for war-displaced persons in North and East Sri Lanka, and Indian origin plantation labour in Central Sri Lanka.Asked if there was a plan to involve the United Nations in the imp-lementation of the housing project as reported in the Lankan media, an official said that all contracts would be subject to a transparent and open tendering process and any agency with the requisites could make a bid.The Lankan media are sp-eculating that the main purpose of Krishna’s visit will be to press the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to find a political solution to the Tamil question through devolution of power to the provinces as per the 13th amendment of the Lankan constitution.While the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been pressing for the devolution of power over land and police, President Rajapaksa has rejected it as being unsuitable for the governance of a country like Sri Lanka. He has dubbed the demand as that of the LTTE, although devolution of power over land and police is provided for in the 13th Amendment of the constitution.India had supported Sri Lanka in world forums when the latter was attacked on the issue of war crimes.In return, India expects Sri Lanka to fulfil its promise to implement the 13th Amendment and move towards a genuine post-war reconciliation.However, Indian officials were non-committal on what exactly would be discussed when Krishna meets Rajapaksa.“When leaders of two countries meet at that level, they will discuss all matters of mutual interest,” a diplomat said.Krishna last visited Sri Lanka in November 2010, and the visit in January is considered overdue.

Exams Dept. bogus certificate business is not something that is recent ! –fee for amending is Rs.75000/-

(Lanka-e-News -01.Jan.2012, 11.55P.M.) Following this year’s G C E advanced level examination results muck up by Govt. officials, the attention of the public was drawn to the examination Dept.’s performances and activities. It has now come to light that for a long time a group of examination Dept. officials have been engaged in issuing counterfeit results on the sly for money, according to reports reaching Lanka e news.

To change the results thus of the G C E ord. level or the adv. Level examinations or to change the grades of the subjects , the illicit fee charged by the intermediary varies from Rs. 50,000/-to Rs. 75,000/-

The most vexatious and perplexing part of all these crimes committed by the Dept .is these unscrupulous elements have not spared the most important Sri Lanka degree qualifications from their sordid earnings – they issue a degree certificate for a fee of Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs. A policy of the much hyped University Grant Commission ?

Though these bogus results have been ‘manufactured’ , the special feature about it is , on a cursory examination , it is this bogus result that is revealed as true . But for an in depth investigation , its spuriousness cannot be detected. This is because all registers of records had been tampered with and amended for this purpose .

The beneficiary of this bogus result gives full payment to the intermediary only after inspecting the examination result via the ordinary results process and is computer generated.

It is learnt that there are so many who have obtained such spurious results and are spread across the globe, and who have not leaked out the racket.

A great majority of them have obtained such certificates to get jobs and to pursue higher studies abroad. When a foreign Institution inquires about the veracity of this certificate , what they get back is a confirmation of this computer generated result , meaning that the racket remains hidden sans complications.

Two of SL ‘s high profile cricketers are among those who have taken advantage of these bogus Advanced level exam. results , after amending them.

Going by the announcements made by the Examinations Commissioner in response to the havoc wreaked by his Dept. on the students examination results this year , it is very evident that his Dept. information and data storage division is not competent to maintain records duly and efficiently. He openly and shamelessly stated that , if a candidate has given an index No. of a previous exam to this year’s exam result , the student receives the result of another candidate. This is a most ridiculous statement.

In such an instance , what ought to have been done by the Dept. ordinarily is to notify the candidate that his number is in error , and cannot proceed any further . On the other hand when the Commissioner says, his Dept . gives a result of another candidate, he is implying that his Dept . will commit wrongs in respect of two candidates , instead of making a rectification.

The bottom line is , this bungling of the students’ results and thereby their future is part and parcel of an overall administration which does not care two hoots for discipline , rule of law and the future of the country , and when its concern is wholly and solely to politicize every sector in order to make them subservient to its evil power perpetuation.

We shall be bringing forth to you more exposures on the bogus results ‘factory’ and those behind it shortly.

Using the LLRC report as a consensus mechanism

Sunday January 01, 2012

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

A careful and sober reading of the Report of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) reveals its many complexities when weighed against the current political ethos. Gradually, the responses to this Report are bound to be far more measured rather than starkly divided between those who unhesitatingly support its contents and those who, just as unequivocally, dismiss the same. Bringing this administration to task     read more..

A Murderer Turned Politician Let loose to kill again

 Sunday, January 01, 2012

By Nirmala Kannangara in Tangalle - Pictures by Thusitha Kumara

Sampath Vidanapathirana, Police guard at the resort- picture taken over the closed gates, The Nature Tangalle where the unfortunate incident occured, Kuram Shaikah Zaman, The poster that announced the Christmas party at The Nature and The lawn where Zaman lay bleeding

Sri Lanka’s booming holiday season has been marred by the brutal murder and assault of two tourists in Tangalle on Christmas Eve.
British tourist Kuram Shaikah Zaman was murdered while his friend, Russian national Victoria Alexandrovna, was viciously assaulted during a visit to a tourist resort in Tangalle.
According to the International Committee of Red Cross, Zaman worked in the Gaza Strip fitting prosthetic limbs.
Police say the Chairman of the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha, Sampath Vidanapathirana is the main suspect in this case.
Read More »

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*groundview journalism For citizens 

Killer Representative

I am assembling the scene, a local hood and his gang come to a Christmas Eve gathering at a beach hotel, want to dance with foreign women, see a bloke from town trotting high with a blonde, but when they ask for a spin, are spurned, although they are hot shots in the area, their chief an elected representative; they have guns and knives in their pockets, or placed discreetly on their reserved table, and they tear a woman from her boyfriend, cutting her up and him, then shooting. Government in a tither, keeping press at bay, we cannot have these stories displayed in the West where similar incidents take place in the most respected capitals, says another representative, and the perpetrators have been booked, are under investigation, although the head of the local governing council has been known to kill in the past but nobody is sure who can, or will, introduce historical evidence.