Occupying SLAF demands money from people to access their beach in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 October 2013, 23:35 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Air Force, which had appropriated the popular Marble Beach in 2001 at the southern tip of Trincomalee under the pretext of providing ‘high security’ to the SL Air Force base at China Bay, has transformed it into a military run corporate outfit after the war, naming it ‘Marble Beach Air Force Resort’. The occupying SL Air Force has now started to charge money from the public to even access that limited area, civil sources in Trincomalee said. 

The occupying SLAF personnel harass the people visiting their beach to pay 20 rupees each to ‘Air Force Command Welfare Fund’. 

The ‘Marble Beach Air Force Resort’ was declared opened by the SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa in March 2011.

In the beginning, the SLAF said it allowed people of Trincomalee to access an ‘open area’ in the beach, but now the entire beach has been under the administrative control of the occupying SL military. 

Legal sources in Trincomalee alleged that the occupying Sri Lankan Air Force had also violated the Sri Lankan parliamentary act called Coast Conservation Act (Act No. 57 of 1981), in appropriating the beach and making it into a military run corporate property.

Trade unions demand decent work & wages 

By Lal Gunasekera-October 9, 2013

The Trade Union Co-ordinating Centre (TUCC), comprising 15 trade unions, has placed four demands before the government, including decent working conditions and wages.

Anton Marcus of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU) told The Island Financial Review that the demands included that the government drop all plans to enact laws and regulations legalizing manpower agencies, stop employing temporary workers in all state corporations and state institutions and instead provide permanent employment in filling all vacancies.

It called for the amendment to section 45 of the Wages Board Ordinance as agreed at the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) that was still kept in cold storage be immediately effected and enforced and the two Board of Investment (BOI) circulars dated 16th March, 2005 and 4th October, 2005 under the caption ‘Policy Guidelines On Employment of Casual/Temporary Workers and Contract Labour for BOI factories’ issued for all BOI enterprises by the Chairman/Director-General be immediately brought into effect and all factory owners advised accordingly.

Marcus said that ensuring job security and equal treatment in work is the responsibility of the government.

"The private sector claims this is necessary as they have at times to employ temporary workers to expedite urgent orders within deadlines for export," he said.

The Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said such disparities must be accepted in order to encourage foreign investors to invest here in Sri Lanka. The TUCC challenges the government to explain what foreign investments are expected for the banking and State corporation sectors.

"The global trade union movement declared - October 07 as the World Decent Work Day to campaign against such indecency. The ILO has endorsed October 07 as the World Decent Work Day to stress the need to honour workers’ rights and decent working conditions for workers. It is in such context this government is scheming to enact new laws to enslave our workers in the name of foreign investments," Marcus said.

Marcus said manpower agencies made huge profits by exploiting labour.

"A concept note presented by the Senior Legal Consultant of the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations on 02 August 2013, to the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) chaired by the Minister for Labour and Labour Relations, Gamini Lokuge had this to say about the situation: ‘The Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations intends to formulate legislation to control the supply of labour to various private organizations by manpower agencies and such other organizations. Workers so provided undergo various harassments and are frequently shifted from one employer to another. Their wages are not paid regularly and are below market rates. Contributions to EPF and ETF are not made and so are gratuity payments. The privilege of leave or different types of public holidays in terms of the Wages Boards Ordinance and the Shop and Office Act are alien to them. Vulnerable sectors, the categories such as women, young persons, disabled, sick persons (being sick while in employment) are not adequately protected or covered under heap of concessions accorded under other laws. The rights of labour such as the freedom of association, unionization, combinations, affiliation or federations, etc. are beyond their reach. In other words, the bulk of the labour provided by manpower agencies have become a commodity rather than human beings who should be protected under the recognised labour standards and their recognition as social partner in development is ignored’."

"This has led to two categories of workers doing the same work, with the same responsibility, but with very differential treatment. As explained by the Senior Legal Consultant at the ministry, this supply of labour by manpower companies even violating labour laws, is now being schemed by the government to regularise through a new law, having shelved amendments agreed upon by trade unions at the NLAC. The government can not shirk its responsibility of providing legal safety for workers to be treated equally and paid the same for same work," Marcus said.

Indian government to respond on Kachchatheevu

 Thursday, 10 October 2013 

The Indian government has been granted six weeks by the Indian Supreme Court to file its response to a writ petition filed by DMK president M. Karunanidhi for a direction to the Centre to retrieve Kachchatheevu.

The Hindu newspaper has stated that a Bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bobde granted time on a request made by Additional Solicitor General Paras Kuhad and directed the matter to be listed after six weeks.

The Centre had already filed its response to a similar writ petition filed by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa stating that the question of retrieval of Kachchatheevu from Sri Lanka did not arise as no territory belonging to India was ceded to Sri Lanka.
The Centre had said that Kachchatheevu was a matter of dispute between British India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and there was no agreed boundary.

“The dispute relating to the status of this island was settled in 1974 by an agreement and both the countries examined the entire question from all angles and took into account historical evidence and legal aspects. This position was reiterated in the 1976 agreement. No territory belonging to India was ceded nor sovereignty relinquished since the area in question was in dispute and had never been demarcated.”

The filing of this affidavit by the Centre created uproar in Parliament with opposition parties objecting to the government’s stand and seeking withdrawal of this affidavit.

In his writ petition Karunanidhi also sought a declaration that the agreement between India and Sri Lanka dated June 26 and 28, 1974, and the agreement dated March 23, 1976 and the related communications pertaining to such agreements surrendering Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka as unconstitutional and void.

He wanted a direction to protect the historic fishing rights and other traditional rights of fishermen of Tamil Nadu in the waters of Palk Strait and Palk Bay and waters around Kachchatheevu.

He said, “Kachchatheevu is an uninhabited island located about ten miles north-east off Rameswaram on the Indian side and nine miles south off Delft Island on the Sri Lankan side.”

SriLanka own world largest cabinet

[ Thursday, 10 October 2013, 09:12.26 AM GMT +05:30 ]Cabinet lead by President Mahinda Rajapaksa reordered as world largest cabinet in the gunnies record book.President Mahinda Rajapaksa took office on November 17, 2005 and appointed 52 ministers in his cabinet.
In various occasions president appointed new ministers and totally number of ministers increased up to 68, Guinness website reports.
(2nd Lead)
Nine MPs were sworn in as Deputy Ministers before the President at the Presidential Secretariat a short while ago, the Presidential Media Unit confirmed.
The new deputy ministers include,
1. Sanath Jayasuriya - Ministry of Postal Services.
2. Lakshman Perera - Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
3. Sarath Weerasekara - Labour Ministry.
4. Y.G. Padmasiri - Agriculture Ministry.
5. Anthony Victor Perera - Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Ministry.
6. Hemal Gunasekera - Ministry of Cooperatives and Internal Trade Affairs.
7. Mohan Lal Grero - Education Ministry.
8. Nishantha Mutuhettigama - Ministry of Minor Export Crops.
9. Sarath Mutukumarana - Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms.

SriLanka Own World Largest Cabinet by nelvely

India to press for land, police powers

By Ananth Palakidnar-Wednesday, 09 Oct 2013

Indian External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, has told a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation that India will continue to discuss unresolved issues such as land and police powers for the provincial administrations, with the Sri Lankan Government.

Khurshid met the TNA delegation comprising R. Sampanthan, M.A. Sumanthiran, Suresh Premachandran and Selvam Adaikalanathan at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel yesterday, where the Indian minister congratulated the Alliance over its victory at the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) polls.

"India can assist more towards stabilizing the NPC in the future. The NPC polls outcome is only a small step in the direction of settling the issues," Khurshid said.

During the meeting, the Indian minister was briefed extensively on the political developments and the unresolved humanitarian issues in the North by the TNA delegation.

The TNA members emphasized the need to strengthen the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, while pointing out the challenges to fully implementing the Amendment.

Sampanthan, detailing on the meeting with Khurshid, said the Indian minister discussed issues pertaining to the NPC in a positive manner. "We pointed out that the outcome of the NPC polls has highlighted the desire of the people in the North towards settling the political and the humanitarian issues," he said.

Sumanthiran said the TNA's meeting with the Indian External Affairs Minister was satisfactory. "The TNA emphasized the need to strengthening the 13th Amendment and pointed out that apart from the powers already devolved in the 13th Amendment, more powers should be included to enhance the Amendment. Therefore, India's cooperation in implementing the 13th Amendment and the devolution of powers is vital at this juncture to make the NPC more effective," he added.

Khurshid who also met the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, C.V. Wigneswaran, had pledged to extend support to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

The meeting between Wigneswaran and Khurshid took place at a Guest House in Jaffna, where they had discussed issues pertaining to the implementation of the 13th Amendment, Indian fishermen encroaching into Sri Lankan waters and post-war reconstruction activities in the North.

Commenting on his meeting with Khurshid, Wigneswaran said it was encouraging as far as the devolution of powers to the Northern Province, were concerned. "Salman Khurshid listened patiently to the challenges being faced in the implementation of the 13th Amendment, and said India would play its part to overcome the obstacles in devolving power to the North and East," Wigneswaran said.

Khurshid had also said the railway project to the North would be completed in 2014, and India would embark on a project to build a civil airport in Palaly, in 2015.

The Indian External Affairs Minister had pledged his support towards various other post-war reconstruction projects being carried out in the North.

C.V.Wigneswaran officially assumes his office duty today

[ Wednesday, 09 October 2013, 07:57.51 AM GMT +05:30 ]

Newly appointed Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran officially assumes his office duty at Jaffna this morning.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians M.A.Sumandhiran, Mawai Senadhiraja, E.Sarawanabawan and secretary to the ministry present at this event.

<

Black July: Planned Violence And Its Significance

By Rajan Hoole -October 10, 2013 

Rajan Hoole

Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 36

In discussing the violence of July 1983, we have adduced four different kinds of testi- mony. The first kind are testimonies consis-tent with the violence having been planned by the Government, but do not imply it, however tantalisingly close to doing so they may seem. That concerning Gunawanse’s role is of this kind. So are Jayewardene’s attitudes to declaring cur- few, the Government’s inaction regarding stop- ping the violence, Jayewardene’s call to the Sin- halese to lay down their arms and so on. Also in this category are the statements of Anandatissa de Alwis.

A second kind points to Government com- plicity in the violence once it started. Testimony of this kind is damagingly plentiful.

A third kind of testimony tells us that the Government was driving towards a violent blow up. A number of statements and actions in the run up to the July violence indicate that the Government’s thinking on the Tamil problem was to place the Law in abeyance and teach the Tamils a lesson. The attack on students at Peradeniya University and Jayewardene’s Daily Telegraph interview belong to this category. It was also the thinking behind the violence of 1977, 1981 and the arson in Jaffna during the 1981 DDC elections. The evidence here is very strong, but it does not imply any systematic organisation.

The fourth kind points to definite evidence of planning. The instances are few but crucial. One is the mobs in Colombo on the 25th going street by street not just with electoral lists, but also processed and assigned lists, certainly pre- pared well in advance by JSS agents in the pro- fessional sectors – e.g. the media. Another is the arrangement of transport and assignment of mobs to other areas where they could not be identified. Then we have important ministers around Colombo – e.g. Lalith Athulathmudali, Mrs. Sunethra Ranasinghe and Ranil Wickremasinghe – not being available to their constituents and perhaps looking over things elsewhere during the violence, and then offer- ing the same truthful but ridiculous excuse that miscreants from elsewhere had invaded their electorate. Such actions did not come from a few hours of planning or from a spontaneous tele- pathic resonance among UNP members. Note also the uniformity of the initial attacks in widely separated areas.

A further important instance of advance planning is to do with the Welikade prison mas- sacres. In the first attack there were on the one hand brutal and merciless attacks on Tamil pris- oners, and on the other, a careful handling, with- out causing hurt to the two senior prison offi- cials who intervened. Elements had been picked in advance and instructed on keeping certain things under control. Further, there is the defi- nite involvement and the key role of Jailor Rogers Jayasekere.                                     Read More

Spokesperson’s Statement on Canada’s attendance of the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

8 The Commonwealth

October 2013

Statement by: Richard Uku, Commonwealth Spokesperson

The Commonwealth Secretariat has been notified of the Canadian Prime Minister’s decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka next month.

The Commonwealth is a family of 53 sovereign, independent states, which work by consultation and consensus. It is up to each member country to determine its level of representation at CHOGM. Canada has made that determination and we respect its decision.

Canada is a valued member of the Commonwealth family, and its contribution to the association is appreciated by other member countries and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Like other members, it too is able to avail itself of the advantages of Commonwealth membership.

It is important to highlight that Commonwealth Heads of Government collectively decided in Port of Spain in 2009 that Sri Lanka would host the 2013 CHOGM. The leaders confirmed their decision when they met again in Perth in 2011.

We expect broad-based participation by Commonwealth leaders in Colombo and a successful meeting next month – one that focuses on issues of collective interest to the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General looks forward to the participation of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and for International Human Rights, who will represent Canada at the meeting in Colombo.

Britain's Cameron to raise human rights with Sri Lanka at Commonwealth summit

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron waits to greet his counterpart from Hungary, Viktor Orban, on the steps of 10 Downing Street in central London October 9, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Andrew Winning

LONDON | Wed Oct 9, 2013 8:07pm ISTBy Peter Griffiths

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday rejected calls to boycott a Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka next month because of concerns over the country's human rights record, but said he would raise difficult issues at the talks.

Rights groups have urged world leaders to stay away from the meeting in Colombo to protest against what they have described as a "human rights crisis" in the former British colony, suggesting attendance could help legitimise the situation.

In particular, campaigners want the Sri Lankan government to allow an independent investigation into allegations that government forces committed war crimes towards the end of a civil war that ended in 2009 after almost three decades.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday he would not attend the summit, citing reports of "incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra judicial killings".

But Cameron told the British parliament on Wednesday he had decided to attend as he thought the best policy was engagement rather than staying away.

"It is right for the British prime minister to go to the Commonwealth conference because we are big believers in the Commonwealth," Cameron told lawmakers, referring to the organisation whose members are mostly former British colonies.

"But I think it is right in going to the Commonwealth conference we should not hold back in being very clear about those aspects of the human rights record in Sri Lanka that we are not happy with."

If he didn't go, he couldn't raise such issues in person, he said.

Chitranganee Wagiswara, Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Canada, told Reuters that the rights situation had improved over the last four years and that Colombo did not accept Harper's comments.

The Sri Lankan government has faced global condemnation over its rights record, with criticism focused on its final campaign against separatist Tamil Tigers, an offensive the United Nations said killed tens of thousands of civilians in 2009.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a report last month that she also had concerns "about the degree to which the rule of law and democratic institutions in Sri Lanka are being undermined and eroded".

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa may be overseeing a slide towards an authoritarian system in the island nation off India's south coast, the same U.N. report said.

Pressed about Cameron's stance on Sri Lanka, his official spokesman said nothing would be "off the table" at the Commonwealth meeting.

Rights group Amnesty International has accused the Commonwealth of being "shamefully silent so far about Sri Lanka's human rights crisis". (Additional reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Susan Fenton)

Commonwealth chief is stooge of Sri Lanka regime – Canadian envoy

Commonwealth secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma. Photograph: Akira Suemori/Associated Press

Robert Booth, and Jason Burke in Delhi

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Hugh Segal accuses Kamalesh Sharma of defending regime accused of human rights abuses, intensifying row over summit

Canada has launched a direct assault on the authority of the Commonwealth secretary general, attacking him as a stooge for a Sri Lankan regime it accuses of serious human rights abuses.

On Tuesday Hugh Segal, Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, accused Kamalesh Sharma of "acting as a shill [a stooge] for the Sri Lankan leadership, defending their every mistake".

His remarks intensified the row over the Commonwealth's decision to host its biennial heads of state meeting in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo next month. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced on Monday that he would boycott the summit because of alleged human rights abuses by Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which until 2009 was engaged in a brutal civil war.

India, the Commonwealth's largest country, is undecided about whether its prime minister, Mahoman Singh, should attend.

Harper complained of "reported disappearances, and allegations of extra judicial killings. It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians."

Canada is the Commonwealth's second biggest funder after the UK and is now reviewing its £12m a year financial backing and looks set to cut support for the secretariat headed by Sharma.

The United Nations last month warned of "continuing high levels of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists" in Sri Lanka. India this week reiterated calls for all sections of the Sri Lankan population to be treated with "equality, justice, dignity and self respect".

Richard Uku, a spokesman for the Commonwealth, said it respected Canada's decision but that Commonwealth leaders had made a collective decision in 2009, confirmed in 2011, that Sri Lanka would host the summit.

He said Sharma looked forward to Canada being represented by the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.

Last week, Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh, announced his country's withdrawal from the grouping, branding it "a neo-colonial institution".

The Queen, who is head of the 53 state grouping, has already said she will not attend next month's meeting. While Buckingham Palace put the reason for her absence down to a review of her long-haul travel, others suspect her decision may have been informed by the potential awkwardness of attending when one of the most powerful Commonwealth nations was taking such a strong stand.

"It was a very significant decision," said Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. "This is her most important political cause and her absence is going to change the atmosphere. It means that governments that are critical of Sri Lanka may be more comfortable speaking out and David Cameron may be under pressure to take some sort of a stand."

Segal told the Guardian that Sharma, an Indian diplomat, had concealed crucial legal advice showing Rajapakse's sacking of the country's chief justice in January was "illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of international law". A spokesman for Sharma defended his position, saying "the advice was sought in confidence and it was not necessary for him to discuss it in public".

Segal said that if Sri Lanka was not hosting the summit it would have faced suspension from the 53-country group months ago.

In an article in Toronto's Globe and Mail on Tuesday he wrote: "I went to Sri Lanka as a fact finder for our foreign minister in April of this year. I saw wonderful new highways and buildings in Colombo that would rival those in Toronto. I also saw the bullet holes above the sofa in the office of the editor of a Tamil language newspaper in Jaffna."

Canada looks likely to be isolated in snubbing the summit. Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, told Rajapaksa he would attend, citing significant bilateral dealings with Sri Lanka over people smuggling. The country's former foreign minister, Bob Carr said: "Our view is that any suggestion of a boycott would be counterproductive. It would simply isolate the country and render it defiant of international opinion."

John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, confirmed his attendance last month at a meeting in which he also asked for Sri Lanka's support in its bid for a seat on the UN security council. Twelve other heads of state, including from Ghana, Malaysia, Rwanda Tanzania and Uganda, have also agreed to speak at the associated Commonwealth Business Forum.

Analysts in Delhi said that while Singh's attendance would anger India's substantial Tamil population and thus be a political risk for the Congress party, which is facing elections in spring, a significant boycott was unlikely.

"India is very uncomfortable with that sort of thing," said Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary. "Though the relationship with Sri Lanka is not as cosy as it could be and there are strong domestic dimensions, there is a general recognition in government that both the relationship and the meeting, are nonetheless important."

Murphy said reluctance to follow the boycott was partly due to fears that an isolated Sri Lanka could quit the Commonwealth, allowing China greater influence in the region, and a belief among some member countries that development, rather than human rights, should be the priority.

"Most members will go with varying degress of enthusiasm," he said. "But this is damaging the Commonwealth itself. It has tried to reinvent itself as a values-based organisation promoting democracy, freedom of the press and human rights and it is going to hold its big summit in an oligarchy. It is increasingly authoritarian and it makes the Commonwealth look ridiculous at the one moment when it gets a modicum of attention.

Commonwealth crisis: Canada pulls out of Sri Lanka summit 

Monday 07 Oct 2013

Channel 4 News

PM brands Sri Lankan human rights violations “unacceptable”

It’s been on the cards for months, now it’s official. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will boycott next month’s Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka over serious human rights concerns. By doing so, Canada becomes the first and only country to take such a stand.

Commonwealth crisis Canada pulls out of Sri Lanka summit by nelvely

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY, STRESSES

IMPORTANCE OF PROVIDING EDUCATION GIRLS DESERVE

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Secretary-General SG/SM/15372 OBV/1265

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of the Girl Child, to be observed on 11 October:

Empowering girls, ensuring their human rights and addressing the discrimination and violence they face are essential to progress for the whole human family.  One of the best ways to achieve all of these goals is to provide girls with the education they deserve.

Yet, too many girls, in too many countries, are held back simply because of their gender.  Those whose mother was also deprived of an education, who live in a poor community or who have a disability face an even steeper climb.  Among girls who do make it to school, many face discrimination and violence.

I launched the Global Education First Initiative to accelerate progress in getting every child into school, especially girls.  We are aiming to teach more than reading and counting; we are striving to raise global citizens who can rise to the complex challenges of the twenty-first century.

To achieve meaningful results, we need fresh solutions to girls’ education challenges and we must heed the voices of young people.  I have heard from girls around the world participating in the consultations for the new Girl Declaration.  I resolve to ensure that Global Education First mobilizes all partners to respond to their powerful call for empowerment.

More broadly, our campaign to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and shape a vision beyond that date must address the concerns and potential of the world’s girls.

On this International Day of the Girl Child, let us work together to invest in education, so that girls can advance in their personal development and contribute to our common future.

Six weeks since the 'robbery' of journalists Mandna's residence – No proper inquiry held

Wednesday, 09 October 2013 

Six weeks since the 'robbery' of journalists Mandna's residence – No proper inquiry held, intimidations continue and her service terminated  by 'Sunday Leader'

Networking for Rights notes with great concern that though it is more than a month since the alleged “ break-in”, of the residence of Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, Associate Editor, Sunday Leader,  no worthwhile investigation has taken place to bring the culprits to book and to find out real reasons behind the ''robbery''.   Ms. Ismail Abeywickrema is also the President of the newly formed Sri Lanka Journalists Trade Union.

NfR is further dismayed, that the Sunday Leader has terminated both Ismail Abeywickrema and her husband Romesh, Business Editor soon after they fled Sri Lanka in fear for their lives, without following due process of providing them a three month window to return to work.

The two journalists home was reported to have been broken-in by “robbers” on two occasions in  August  this year.    

In the early hours of Saturday the August 24th a group of five men armed with knives and hand grenades stormed the Ismail Abeywickrema residence and searched the house including her documents for nearly 3 hours.  Photographic evidence published by the media show that the so called robbers had been going through her documents.

The gang had threatened to abduct Ms. Ismail Abeywickrema when they were unable to find the documents they were looking for. According to Ms. Ismail Abeywickrema, the gang is reported to have received phone calls while they were going through the documents; phone calls that can be easily traced if the authorities are sincere in their investigations.

Soon after the ''robbery'' it was reported  that two of the 'robbers' had been in the military and one of them had been discharged on 20th August just 4 days before the 'robbery'.

NfR learns that, days before the incident the tyres of the family vehicle had been slashed while a body of a dead cat was found dumped on their door step.

Further concerns are raised that Ismail Abeywickrema is the victim of a sustained attack, owing to a report in the Sinhala language newspaper, Divaina, by its Defense Reporter, that she along with the Information Officer of the US Embassy, Juliana Spaven, were preparing a secret document on the Weliweriya shooting incident, to be given to Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who visited Sri Lanka recently on a fact-finding mission.

NfR is concerned that police insist on terming the “break-in as a robbery”, as the gang had spent several hours going through documents in the house after disabling the phone lines.  Additionally, assaults and assassinations of media personnel have so far gone unsolved.  This poses the fear that while no genuine attempt will be made by authorities to end the terrorizing of media personnel, such attacks will only reinforce the governments agenda of suppressing free speech.

Therefore, NfR calls on the Sri Lankan government to be genuine in its efforts to reign in the attacks on media personnel, and ensure that the police bring the culprits to book.  As well, we call on the management of the Sunday Leader to rescind the termination notices and ensure due process is followed when staff are forced to flee for security reasons.

Courtesy - NfR

India for lasting political solution in Tamil areas: Khurshid

MEERA SRINIVASAN- October 8, 2013

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid with beneficiaries of the Indian housing project near Jaffna on Tuesday. India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha and Deputy High Commissioner P. Kumaran are in the picture. Photo: Meera Srinivasan.

India will do everything possible to work with the Government of Sri Lanka to enable a lasting political solution, said Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid here on Tuesday.

After meetings with Sri Lankan leaders across the political spectrum, Mr. Khurshid said India was committed to pursuing the full implementation of the 13th Amendment.

The Minister met President Mahinda Rakapaksa and later Leader of Opposition Ranil Wikramasinghe in Colombo Tuesday morning and then flew to Jaffna where he held discussions with C.V.Wigneswaran, the newly-elected Chief Minister of the Northern Pronvincial Council and G.A. Chandrasiri, Governor of the Northern Province.

At the meeting with the President the Minister commended the Sri Lankan government for successfully holding the Northern Provincial Council elections.

When the Indian Foreign Minister brought up the issue of meaningful political devolution in his meetings, the Sri Lankan side - both President Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, in response, seem to have pointed to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), emphasising that it was working on precisely that - a position that was clearly reflected in a statement from the President's office on Tuesday, and earlier at the joint press conference of the two foreign ministers held in Colombo on Monday.

The PSC, with a majority of its members from the ruling coalition, has the task of studying the 13th Amendment and recommending suitable modifications. However, many parties, including the United National Party, the main Opposition here, and the Tamil National Alliance boycotted the PSC for different reasons.

Speaking to the Indian media in Jaffna before his meeting with Mr. Khurshid, Chief Minister Mr.Wigneswaran said it was important that the PSC lay down explicitly its parameters and matters related to its forward movement. Emphasising India's role here, he said: "I am here because of India. By that I mean India has been instrumental in holding the provincial elections and India's help is absolutely essential."

Mr. Khurshid - who emphasised the need for dialogue and consensus for meaningful devolution - said he could not, on behalf of India, provide a sequence to the process of dialogue between the democratically-elected Northern Provincial Council administration and the Government of Sri Lanka, for that was a matter for the dialogue partners to decide. Having indicated to Sri Lanka that it was a "historic opportunity to start dialogue afresh", he said India would be there to "help, assist and advise."

Speaking on the fisheries issue, Mr. Khurshid said he was grateful to the Sri Lankan government for releasing as many as 127 fishermen in the last two weeks. Only 19 remain in custody as of now.

The talks between fishermen's associations from both countries, to be facilitated soon, would help the Joint Working Group on fisheries arrive at a sustainable solution that will ensure that "one man's fishing does not deprive the other man of his livelihood," he said.

The message he carried back to India was, he said, one of "hope with caution". There was no scepticism or cynicism, he added.

A good start

Editorial-October 8, 2013

The government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a rare display of political maturity, refrained from flexing muscles, for once, on the question of Northern Province Chief Minister (CM) C. V. Vigneswaran’s swearing in. The TNA did not want him to take oaths before the Northern Governor Maj. Gen. (retd) G. A. Chandrasiri, whose ouster it seeks, but agreed to come to Colombo in spite of speculation that it would insist that the swearing in take place in Jaffna itself, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa reciprocated. This, we believe, is the way forward. Democracy is a process of give-and-take and the winner and loser should learn to cooperate.

Now, it is up to the government to do everything in its power to ensure that the NPC will work smoothly. It will have to nerve itself up to resist pressure from some of its coalition partners as well as other support groups who will want it to throw a monkey wrench in the works posthaste.

Unlike other PCs under the government’s thumb, the NPC is sure to strive to secure all the powers devolved under the 13th Amendment. Demanding more is the name of the game in politics. There have been instances where even the conformist CMs of the government-controlled PCs have got under the skin of Presidents by doing an Oliver Twist. The late NCP CM Bertie Premalal Dissanayake, it may be recalled, was at the forefront of a campaign to secure land and police powers. Vigneswaran may be a political novice but he is not likely to settle for what the Centre is willing to part with by way of devolution. He is sure to ask for what, he thinks, the NPC deserves or, perhaps, even more. For the first time since the collapse of the EPRLF-run North-East PC in the late 1980s we are now in a position to see how devolution is going to work. The general consensus is that PC system has become a white elephant, but this perception will be put to the test in the North.

There are many, both there and abroad, who will want to sway and manipulate the NPC to further their own interests. They may even try to use it as a battering ram against the Centre in a bid to plunge the North into chaos again and make a case for an external intervention. The onus is, therefore, on the newly elected NPC not to subjugate the interests of the Northern people who have reposed their trust in it to those of others peddling hidden agendas.

If the NPC adopts the advocacy of self-determination as its raison d’etre with its leaders hailing Prabhakaran as a war hero and lending their voice to calls from some quarters for an international war crimes probe, reconciliation will be pie in the sky. Worse, the NPC and the government will be on a collision course.

Name those racketeers

UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake has made a very serious allegation against the government. He has recently told the media that two government MPs were responsible for an abortive attempt to smuggle in heroin and ethanol. The Customs detected a large haul of narcotics concealed in many cans of grease and two container loads of illegally imported ethanol. Investigations have been launched, we are told, but all chances are that they will draw a blank.

It is common knowledge that the kingpins of large-scale smuggling rackets cannot go scot free without political backing. No less a person than Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne told Parliament a few moons ago that politicians were involved in the narcotics trade.

If the UNP has irrefutable evidence to substantiate its allegation against government politicians, it ought to reveal the names of the culprits and lodge a complaint with the police without further delay. In fact, it should have made a beeline to the police before speaking to the media. It should also take up the issue in Parliament.

Here is a grand opportunity for the Opposition in the doldrums to gain some political mileage. If the UNP, instead of engaging in internecine violence, stages public protests, naming the heroin and ethanol smugglers and demanding action against them, it would be able to rally the public and regain lost ground. If it does so, it can rest assured that every right thinking person will join forces with it to get rid of the scourge of narcotics and illicit liquor. Making mere media statements and bellowing rhetoric won’t do.