Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Friday, December 21, 2012


International Boycott Day – Protests Held Globally Against Clothing ‘Made in Sri Lanka’


WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Consumers and human rights activists across the globe staged protests in front of clothing outlets on December 15, 2012 to warn holiday shoppers to “check the label” and boycott products made in Sri Lanka. Boycott Sri Lanka Campaign activists in U.S. cities handed out leaflets, held signs and talked to customers in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington, Raleigh, and San Francisco.  They picketed outside GAP and Victoria’s Secret stores advocating for human rights and educating consumers that money spent on Sri Lankan-made clothing helps fund the genocidal war on the Tamil people. Similar boycott protests occurred in Chennai, India and Toronto, Canada.
“It was a huge outpouring of support for the boycott campaign, and customers showed interest and concern over the increasingly terrible conditions for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.  It is the indomitable spirit of this boycott Sri Lanka movement that will expose the apartheid Sri Lanka and get the Tamils justice!” said Dr. Ellyn Shander, MD, Campaign Chair for International Boycott of Sri Lanka.
In 2009 the Sri Lankan armed forces killed over 75,000 Tamil civilians with indiscriminate attacks and starvation, according to the recent internal UN review. After the war ended, the Sri Lankan Army held over 300,000 Tamil civilians in closed, military-controlled internment camps according to Amnesty International.Reports by The London Times said that thousands died from starvation and terrible conditions. While theUN’s Panel of Experts called for an international investigation of war crimes during and after the war, the Sri Lankan government continues to deny independent investigators and have restricted access to journalists to the former war-torn areas. “Recently released UN documents indicate the death toll in Sri Lanka is the worst mass atrocity of the 21st century, surpassing the genocide of Srebrenica and Bosnia and present-day Syria combined,” Dr. Shander emphasized.
“Sri Lanka is a highly militarized state that is sustained by the government’s dependence on the garment industry, Sri Lanka’s largest source of foreign exchange,” stated Dr. Shander. Over 50% of Sri Lanka’s exports reach the U.S., mainly as garments, while another 33% of the exports enter the European markets.
“While holding innocent Tamil civilians under military control, these soldiers and paramilitaries continue to harass with rape, illegal arrest, and extrajudicial killings. The government recently arrested and tortured Tamil students who demonstrated for the right to mourn their dead. The Sri Lankan government continues to station 16 of its 19 divisions occupying the traditional Tamil homeland in the North East of the island,” said Dr. Shander.
With nearly half the clothing exports from Sri Lanka being sent to the U.S., the rally organizers have targeted GAP and Victoria’s Secret stores as venues for their boycott campaign. Protesters held signs saying “Big GAP in Ethics, Boycott Blood Garments made in Sri Lanka.” “Though these corporations market themselves as socially responsible brands, a large number of their clothing items originate in Sri Lanka, thus helping the government fund its military,” added Dr. Shander.
Protestors at the rallies urged American corporations to begin moving their production of clothing to other countries that do not commit rights abuses. The European Union has already withdrawn their trade preferencefor Sri Lanka due to human rights violations. In order to call attention to Sri Lanka’s brutal treatment of Tamils and prevent further violations, protestors asked consumers to check the labels and not purchase any products made in Sri Lanka.
For more information and pictures of the campaign check www.boycottsrilanka.com  or visit the Facebook page at  http://www.facebook.com/boycottsrilankanow.
Contact info: Dr. Shander, 203-561-0414
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ASEAN REGION: India Needs to Stand Strategically Tall

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By Dr. Subhash Kapila-Dated 20-Dec-2012
“In the present day, the issues are no longer of parochial interest. Freedom of navigation and lawful commerce are universal interests. The statement of the Admiral (Indian Naval Chief) is a confirmation that it is a problem (South China Sea disputes escalation by China) that India cannot turn its back on”.-----Jejomar Cabanatuan, Vice President, Republic of the Philippines, December 18, 2012
Indian Navy Document entitled ‘Freedom to Use the Seas: India’s Maritime Military Strategy’ in 2007 asserts that India’s area of interest “extends from North of the Arabian Sea to South China Sea.”
“India and ASEAN should not only work for shared prosperity and closer links between our peoples, but also to promote peace, security and stability in the region” ----- Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, November 19 2012 at 10th ASEAN Summit in Pnom Penh
Perceptionally from the above three salient facts emerge about India from the above recount. India’s strategic interests in terms of area of influence in the east incorporate the ASEAN region, inclusive of the South China Sea. Further, India has a strategic interest in the security and stability of the ASEAN region.  But the third perception articulated by the Vice President of The Philippines is of greater strategic significance for India and that is that India cannot afford to turn its back on ASEAN nations territorial sovereignty being challenged by China in the South China Sea.
The India-ASEAN Summit is scheduled for November 19-21 to be held at New Delhi.  It will be a historic occasion for India when nine Heads of State/ Government from ASEAN would be congregating in New Delhi and presumably giving an opportunity to India for closer consultations with ASEAN leaders on Indian soil.
Ostensibly, the India-ASEAN Summit New Delhi seems to be focussed on forging a Free Trade Agreement between India and ASEAN countries and improving geographical connectivity in between India and ASEAN countries.
All of the above is fine, but reflected in my recent papers was the strategic reality that China looms large as a security concern and threat over ASEAN with a large number of ASEAN countries drawn by China into conflictual controversies cantered on the South China Sea territorial sovereignty issues
Asian security is at critical strategic cross-roads where a military rising and military aggressive China is running around wildly like a bull in a china shop. Recent military brinkmanship in the South Sea China region against ASEAN countries and against Japan in the East China Sea area are a clear pointer that China has no respect for international conventions or Asian peace and stability.
Against such Chinese military turbulence inflicted on the Asian security landscape, ASEAN countries lie in the direct line of fire of China’s irredentist territorial claims in the South China Sea area. In terms of size and military power ASEAN countries individually and as a grouping are ill-equipped to cope with the China Threat.
Arising from the above is ASEAN’s quest for seeking the countervailing power of the United States and enlisting India as a regional balancer against China.
The Asian security environment in 2012 no longer can brook or have time and space for Indian political rhetoric. As ASEAN leaders congregate in New Delhi this week, their scrutinising gaze would be hinging on whether “India can walk the talk” in terms of Indian strategic assertions on the security and stability of the ASEAN countries.
Undeniably, India in the time span 2004-2012 has strategically diminished itself in Asian eyes because of its virtual deference to China’s strategic sensitivities. This has arisen primarily because of political diffidence of the Indian national security establishment. India should not have back-tracked from her joint oil-prospecting with Vietnam in Vietnamese waters of the South China Sea. Further, the Indian national security establishment should not have back-tracked from the assertions made by the Indian Navy Chief on India’s readiness to protect its interests in the South China Sea.
The Indian policy establishment singularly fails in coming to grips with the strategic reality of the Asian security environment. In relation to ASEAN countries, the Indian policy establishment perceives that ‘soft power diplomacy’ incorporating economic, cultural and scientific cooperation would secure India’s strategic interests in the ASEAN region. Strategically, India surely cannot believe that a few port visits to ASEAN nation’s ports or some passage at sea naval exercises by the Indian Navy would suffice.
The United States strategic pivot to Asia Pacific has weaned away ASEAN nations from adopting ‘hedging strategies’ against China’s coercive strategies. It is in India’s strategic interests to take this process still further by “standing tall” strategically in the ASEAN region not by rhetoric but by India’s strategic postures.
India’s traditional ‘soft power diplomacy’ in ASEAN needs to be reinforced if not supplanted by enhanced Indian ‘military diplomacy’ which could effectively contribute to greater strategic integration of India with the ASEAN nations. The repetitive and hackneyed phrases of strategic cooperation encompassing, anti-piracy operations, disaster relief management and counter-terrorism as the Indian foreign policy ‘mantras’ need to be dispensed with.
India needs to be seriously contributing to the military-capacity building of ASEAN nations Armed Forces and particularly of ASEAN navies. India military experts and military professionals should be left to work out strategies and initiatives in this direction. India seriously needs to match her political rhetoric by substantial strategic and military moves befitting her power attributes lying pickled over the decades.
India must recognise the pressing imperatives in 2012 that India’s economic integration with ASEAN need to be accompanied strongly in tandem with India’s strategic integration in ASEAN’s security matrix.
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Eating properly and smiling: The evasive Valerie Amos on Twitter

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On 18th December 2012, at around 10pm in Sri Lanka, Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator took to Twitter, ostensibly to answer questions related to the UN’s role, relevance and responsibilities regarding humanitarian aid and relief work. The event with Baroness Amos was announced via the Twitter account of,inter alia, UN OCHA, which also had a photo of her in front of a laptop, getting ready to face the questions.
703944904The event was conducted with the hashtag #AskValerie. Baroness Amos is (whether through office aides or by herself it remains unclear) fairly active on Twitter via @ValerieAmos. However, despite her own and OCHA’s familiarity with web based social media interactions, yesterday’s Twitter question time with Baroness Amos was a cogent example of how not to curate and conduct public debates when one is ill prepared to take on, and answer, hard questions. It reflected extremely poorly on the professionalism of Baroness Amos, the chief participant, her staff, pictured in the photos with her during the session, UN OCHA as the institution represented and the UN system writ large. Vital questions repeatedly posed by Groundviews and others, which didn’t generate even a simple acknowledgement, are now a public and permanent record of the UN’s continued role as an infuriating firewall of information vital for a fuller record of the end of Sri Lanka’s war.
A partial account of the answers Baroness Amos gave over Twitter during the #AskValerie session can be seen below.
No sooner than the event started, Groundviews submitted two questions to Baroness Amos, the first in the session from Sri Lanka and on Sri Lanka.
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Jaffna Teaching hospital doctor assaulted with a sword.

A doctor attached to Jaffna Teaching hospital was severely wounded as he was assaulted by sword attack and was admitted to the hospital.
 
On conclusion of his night duty, while the Doctor was returning home, some unidentified persons have assaulted him at Kantharmadam locality.
 
The incident had occurred yesterday night at about 9.45 a.m. The doctor has been identified as an ENT surgeon named Thirumaran.
 
Regarding this incident a complaint had been lodged to the Jaffna police station.
 
 Police circles inform that the Doctor is severely wounded. Police have commenced further investigations states reports.

யாà®´் போதனா வைத்தியசாலை வைத்தியர் வாள் வெட்டுக்கு இலக்கு
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logonbanner-1யாà®´்.போதனா வைத்தியசாலை வைத்தியர் à®’à®°ுவர் வாள் வெட்டுக்கு இலக்காகி படுகாயமடைந்த நிலையில்  வைத்தியசாலையில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளாà®°்.

இன்à®±ு இரவு பணியை à®®ுடித்துக் கொண்டு வீடுதிà®°ுà®®்பிக் கொண்டிà®°ுந்த சமயம் கந்தர்மடம் பகுதியில் வைத்து இனந்தெà®°ியாத நபர்களினால் இவர் வாள் வெட்டுக்கு இலக்காகியுள்ளாà®°்.

இன்à®±ு இரவு 9.45 மணியளவிலேயே இந்தச் சம்பவம் இடம்பெà®±்றதாக தெà®°ியவருகின்றது. இச் சம்பவத்தில் காது,à®®ூக்கு தொடர்பான சத்திரசிகிச்சை நிபுணர் திà®°ுà®®ாறன் படுகாயமடைந்துள்ளாà®°்.

சம்பவம் குà®±ித்து யாà®´். பொலிஸ் நிலையத்தில் à®®ுà®±ைப்பாடு பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளதாகவுà®®் அவர் படுகாயம் அடைந்துள்ளதாகவுà®®் பொலிஸ் நிலைய வட்டாà®°à®™்கள் தெà®°ிவித்துள்ளன.

அத்துடன் சம்பவம் குà®±ித்து விசாரணைகளை ஆரம்பித்துள்ளதாகவுà®®் அவர்கள் à®®ேலுà®®் தெà®°ிவித்தனர். 
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Former Chief Justice gets a Rs. 5.9 million cheque from the Supreme Court

Friday, 21 December 2012
The accounts division of the Supreme Court has reportedly release a cheque for Rs. 5,900,000 (Rs. 5.9 million) to former Chief Justice Ashoka de Silva during the financial year of 2010 and 2011.
The reason for releasing the amount has been cited as tax refund. However, the cheque has now posed a problem to the Supreme Court accountants.
The accountants have informed the accounts division that if such a tax refund was being paid, the Inland Revenue Department or the Customs Department should have done it.
The Supreme Court accounts division has been unable to thus far give a proper response to queries by the accountants as to how such a large sum of money had been released to the former chief justice and on what basis.
When inquired from the Supreme Court accounts division, the cheque had been issued on a request by the former chief justice. The official added that there was an entry in the relevant account books to the effect.
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CJ’s Case: Not To Act In A Derogatory Manner -AC Issued Notices On Speaker And PSC Members

By Colombo Telegraph -December 21, 2012 
Colombo TelegraphThe Court of Appeal today observed that it has the jurisdiction to hear the writ petition filed by Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake challenging the findings of the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) and as such issued notices on the Speaker and PSC members returnable on January 3, 2013.
The Appeal Court also observed that the Speaker and the PSC members should advise themselves not to act in a derogatory manner with regard to the CJ’s rights and that any act disregarding the ongoing case and moves to alter the status quo may lead to chaotic situation in the country.
Romesh De Silva PC yesterday told courts that the PSC procedure had not followed due process and could not grant his client a fair trial. He told the court that no procedure under law to carry out an inquiry into the charges contained in the impeachment motion against his client and added that some members of the PSC had verbally abused the Chief Justice.
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Sri Lanka court stops impeachment proceedings against top judge

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Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. File photo
AP
Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. -COLOMBO, December 21, 2012
File photo Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Friday halted a parliamentary committee’s impeachment proceedings against the country’s first woman chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake, who had sought a writ order to declare the findings of the panel illegal.
The Appeal Court noticed the parliament speaker and parliamentary select committee members to appear before it on January 3 and asked them not to act in derogation of the chief justice until the court concludes its hearings.
The hearing was with regard to a plaint filed by Ms. Bandaranayake on December 19 seeking an order to quash the findings of the committee, which probed impeachment charges against her.
A lawyer for Ms. Bandaranayake said the Appeal Court held that if quashed by it the findings of the panel would be null and void and the panel should advise themselves of this eventuality when taking further action.
The parliamentary committee on December 8 ruled that Ms. Bandaranayake was guilty of three of the 14 charges in the impeachment proceedings against her moved by the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition legislators.
The three charges were financial impropriety based on non declaration of assets and conflict of interest in a case involving a failed investment company.
The 54-year-old chief justice denied all the charges against her. On December 6, she stormed out of the impeachment hearing in parliament, saying she will not be given a fair trial.
The court ruling on Friday has added a new dimension to the impeachment issue as parliament claiming its supremacy over judiciary had ignored previous notices issued by the court.
However, Ms. Bandaranayake’s lawyers said Friday’s ruling had asserted the court’s jurisdiction on the impeachment impasse.
Impeachment of Ms. Bandaranayake was the result of a months long dispute.
The government was angered by Supreme Court rulings which it claimed was blocking the government’s progress. The government targets Ms. Bandaranayake in a media campaign to bring pressure on her to resign.
The opposition has claimed the whole process a political witch hunt.
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