The Politics of ‘Aluthgama’

by Kalana Senaratne 

- on 06/22/2014 “The Muhammedans, an alien people, who in the early part of the 19th century were common traders, by Shylockian methods became prosperous like the Jews […] What the German is to the Britisher that the Muhammedan is to the Sinhalese. He is an alien to the Sinhalese by religion, race and language […] The whole nation in one day have risen against the Moor people. The causes are economic and spiritual…”

The Politics of ‘Aluthgama’ by nelvely

Muslim homes at Thotawatte, Panadura too attacked in a midnight terror operation

(Lanka-e-News, 22.June.2014, 12.30PM) Groups that arrived at last midnight in two vehicles have attacked houses of Muslims who are in a majority at Thotawatte , Panadura. The residents who phoned us (Lanka e news) said , they have been attacked with stones and missiles by these goons and gangs who arrived at about 11.30 p.m. causing damage to their houses until the glass panes were smashed to smithereens.

The police had appeared on the scene after some one call them. The DIG too had visited the scene. The police answering inquiries made by Lanka e new said , as the Muslims were gripped by a fear psychosis due to the series of attacks , and are congregating on one place , the police are taking steps to dispatch them to places where there are security .

Meanwhile , a Panadura police officer answering our phone call said , ‘of course homes had been attacked, but we never saw vehicles in the direction they were supposed to have gone. It is presumable they have themselves caused the damage.’

It is worthy of note , when the Muslim establishment 'No Limit', was reduced to ashes by a fire at yesterday morning The Police stated initially , that was due to an electrical fault . Later they retracted that view and said , it is due to a fire caused by a cigarette butt.

No Limits? Southern Fascism & The Politics Of Anti-Fascism

By Dayan Jayatilleka - June 22, 2014  

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.”

-WB Yeats, The Second Coming

The Aluthgama attack on the Muslims was followed by several incidents, the exact nature, causes and perpetrators of which have yet to be ascertained. These are the acid attacks on the Police in Mawanella, the abduction and torture of Ven Watareka Vijitha thero (a long standing target of the BBS), and the fire that gutted the ‘NOLIMIT’ store in Panadura. To me what seems to be happening is that someone or something is stepping up the pace or is out of control. This is eerily reminiscent of violent neo-fascist movement in Italy in the 1970s, which committed acts of terrorism as part of what it termed ‘a strategy of tension’.Read More

Law suit against Watareka Vijitha Thera 

By Ruwan Jayakodi, Amali Hemachandra- June 22, 2014
 
Two statements given by Watareka VIjitha Thera on alleged assault are contradictory, Ajith Rohana, Police Media spokesperson stated at the police press conference today held at Police head quarters.
 

According to Ajith Rohana phone call records does not tally with the information Watareka Thera had given in his statements about the phone call he received.
 

Further the police media spokesman revealed that Colombo chief JMO and two assistant JMOs confide that injuries of the Watreka Thera are self-inflicted using a key chain.
 
 
Reportedly, according to police ordinance actions would be taken against Watareka Vijitha Thera for giving false statements. 
Abductors forcibly circumcise Vijitha Thera

BY MENAKA INDRAKUMAR-June 22, 2014


The abductors had circumcised Venerable Watareka Vijitha Thera, who is presently undergoing treatment at the Colombo National Hospital.
 

The lawyer of the Ven. VijithaThera confirmed to Ceylon Today, the Thera was forcibly circumcised on Thursday (19) by an unidentified group who kidnapped and assaulted him at Bandaragama, on Thursday morning.
Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera said, "Vijitha Thera was assaulted on Thursday.
 
He sustained severe injuries and had been forcibly circumcised. Vijitha Thera is still receiving treatment at the National Hospital and was transferred to a new ward, under security.
 

The Venerable Watareka VijithaThera was abducted on Thursday and was found by a passerby unconscious, tied, undressed and dumped under a bridge. Bandaragama Police had rushed him to the Panadura Hospital and he was later transferred to the National Hospital.

‘If I Was The President I Would Side With The West Not The Muslim Countries’ Says Gnanasara

June 22, 2014 

Despite continuous accusations being leveled at the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) of its direct involvement in instigating anti-Muslim violence in Southern Sri Lanka, its General Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasaraclaims it was they who took steps to simmer down the aggression in the area.

Gnanasara

In an interview Divaina – a local Sinhala newspaper, Gnanasara has stated that the BBS visited Aluthgama last Sunday in order to use their ‘expertise’ to calm the residents who were tensed by the alleged attack on a monk by three Muslim youth in the area.

“When the aggressed crowds were beyond the control of the law enforcement authorities, it was we who stepped in and settled them. I have seen criticisms leveled at the speech I made in Aluthgama on Sunday, but I never at any point ordered anyone to attack Muslim shops. I simply voiced the frustration of theSinhala Buddhists in the area and they told me they felt very lighthearted after listening to my speech,” he has stated in his interview.

The outspoken monk has gone on to claim that it was a group of outsiders that created havoc by pelting stones at the crowds who were heading home after the BBS rally after they were calmed down.

“Violence in Aluthgama was a result of the Police inaction over the harassment of Sinhala Buddhists including a priest, by Muslims in the area. How can you expect a country’s majority to remain placid before continuous attacks on them?” Gnanasara has questioned.

He has also criticized Sri Lanka’s foreign policy during the interview.

Responding to a question on Sri Lanka being isolated in the international politics due to lack of support by Muslim countries following the anti-Muslim violence – particularly concerning human rights allegations leveled at Sri Lanka, Gnanasara has noted – “This is a result of the misguided foreign policies of Sri Lanka. If I was the President I would side with the Western forces not the Muslim countries because I can very clearly foresee the dangers of befriending Muslim extremists 15 years down the line,” he has stated.

Is The BBS The Boss? The BBS Bid For Power And How To Beat It 

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka-June 21, 2014

There are scarier things, worse things, than Black July ’83. Aluthgama signaled the possibility of such things.

The sequence of events, the lethal violence, the horror of Aluthgama were reminiscent of July ’83 —and to go by Tarzie Vittachchi’s Emergency ’58, the anti-Tamil riots of that year. That is the element of dark continuity, which we must never forget in our haste to define the present as the worst of times. But there is also the element of discontinuity which makes Aluthgama potentially far more dangerous.

Is the BBS the Boss  the BBS Bid for Power and How to Beat It by nelvely

The Uncrowned Media King Of Sri Lanka

Mervyn de Silva ( Middle)

By Mahinda Rajapaksa -June 22, 2014

Mahinda Rajapaksa

“Mr. de Silva was undoubtedly the uncrowned media king of Sri Lanka and he rose to this level only because he wrote what he wanted. He will wine, dine and light the best Cuban cigar presented to him by the leader of the country, but he could not be dictated to by anyone. To him, friendship and other considerations were secondary to ethics in journalism. In this context I feel that the journalists in Sri Lanka should emulate these great qualities of Mr. Mervyn de Silva.” 

Mervyn de Silva 15th Death Anniversary June 22, 2014 - *This article originally appeared 15 years ago, in the Ceylon Daily News of July 3^rd, 1999

I will be falling in my duty if I do not pen a few words of appreciation about Mr.Mervyn de Silva who I admired very much for his knowledge, genuine friendliness and most of all his ability to call a spade a spade.

Whenever I met him, which happened to be at least twice a month during the last 25 years, I always made it a point to have a serious chat even for a minute. I valued his ability to provide an unbiased interpretation of the current political issues and his forecast on such matters were always accurate.

It is with a very heavy heart that I recollect some past meetings and I begin to feel that I have lost a very useful and genuine friend. First I came to know Mr.de Silva through my cousin the late Mr. Lakshman Rajapaksa. Both of them were regulars at the Orient Club. Being a Royalist he was also very close to late Mr. George Rajapaksa, his fellow alumni.                                                                     Read More

President's website hacked! 

Ravi Ladduwahetty-June 22, 2014

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's website and those of some key State institutions' had been hacked and knocked offline, in the immediate aftermath of last Sunday's Beruwela and Aluthgama atrocities.

Last night, Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, confirmed to Ceylon Today, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's website had been hacked "and said has been activated now and would be hosted from Monday."

Government sources confirmed that the websites of the President, the Treasury and Sri Lanka High Commission in London had been shutdown following a spate of cyber attacks over the past few days.

However, President's Media Director Anuradha Herath said, the President's websites was operational now. The Treasury website was also operational as this edition went to press.

Hackers from 'Operation Sri Lanka' announced, on their Twitter account that those websites had been closed down following the attacks.

Buddhist monk murdered in Bakamuna

June 22, 2014

The Chief Incumbent of a Buddhist temple in the Weeraheeratiya area in Bakamuna has been assaulted and murdered by a group of individuals last night, police said.

Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the 54-year-old Buddhist monk was murdered over a personal dispute, the Police Spokesman’s Office said. 

A special police team has been assigned to carry out investigations and arrest the suspects, it said. 

The IGP Must Resign!

By Malinda Seneviratne - June 22, 2014

Malinda Seneviratne

These are days of frayed tempers, perceived grievances, real threats and real fears that can cloud and blow away reason.  This is the hour or the rumor-monger.  This is the hour of the extremist.  This is the hour of the passionate and irresponsible.

The word on the street is ‘Aluthgama’.  Indeed it is the word on every street where matters of yesterday, today and tomorrow, matters of the nation and its destiny, matters of unrest and fear and other related matters are discussed.  Aluthgama moved from the Kalutara district to Colombo and Badulla.  ‘This is83-July all over again,’ some said.  Not true, but we could get there.

There were arguments over who threw the first stone, as though it justified throw-return and more.  After all it is hard to pin it down to first stone cast when there were only a handful of STF men to ‘protect the (BBS) procession’ in Dharga Town.  STF personnel were clearly confused because their orders were specific.   One source explained thus: ‘The Muslims keep saying that the STF sided with the mob.  We didn’t.  We were acting on our orders which were specific and were about protecting the procession.’

It was not, let us repeat, not a peaceful procession.  There were anti-Muslim slogans, there was whipping of hysteria, there was undisguised inciting of violence against Muslims in a Muslim majority area by people who had petrol cans and carried weapons. Literally minutes after that ‘first stone’ Muslims and Muslim-owned premises were attacked and torched in Adhikarigoda, Aluthgama and the interior of Dharga Town.Read More

VIDEO: IGP must resign or I will - Thewarapperuma

June 22, 2014

 UNP Parliamentarian Palitha Thewarapperuma today accused Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary, Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero of throwing “straw” into an already ignited fire in Aluthgama and the government of pouring “petrol” on to it. 

The Kalutara District MP also demanded the resignation of IGP N.K. Illangakoon over the recent clashes which broke out in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas and said if the police chief does not step down he will resign from parliament. 

“If you (IGP) do not resign, I will resign from Parliament at the next session. We are ashamed to represent the district after witnessing these. I will resign,” he told reporters in Colombo.

He stated that if the Inspector General of Police wants to safeguard the respect of the Police Department and the police uniform, he should resign. 

Whether he received an order from higher-ups to intervene and resolve the situation or not he should take responsibility for this and resign, Thewarapperuma said, while accusing the IGP of remaining silent while the police spokesman spoke “baby talk”. 

Western Provincial Councilor Mujibur Rahaman, who also addressed the press briefing, stated that the government has failed in its duty to ensure peace and security in the country. 

The government is attempting to show the world that it’s not involved in these incidents and did not assist this, he said, however adding, that there is a question as to who allowed the Bodu Bala Sena meeting to be held in Aluthgama, while religious tension already existed there. 

“Who gave them the license? Who provided them with the location? Why did the police allow the use of loudspeakers to provoke the public?” he questioned the government. 

He also criticized the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for his recent comments, claiming that there are no legal provisions to arrest the Buddhist monks of the Bodu Bala Sena organization. 

How can the IGP say there are no legal provisions when the President of the Bar Association has written to the Attorney General asking for the law to be implemented against the BBS for inciting religious hatred, Rahaman inquired. 

The UNP Western Provincial Council member also claimed that none of the Muslim leaders, who held discussions with the President in Beruwala following the clashes, were from the affected areas. 

They were taken there from Colombo for the meeting and even they were asked by Presidential security personnel to refrain from asking any questions and to just sit and listen to what he says, Rahaman alleged.

He also accused the government of engaging in a conspiracy of creating clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese in order to brush aside the public’s opposition towards the ruling party.  

“If the government thinks it can protect its political power by espousing racism and destroying Muslim-Sinhala unity, that is a myth,” he said. 

The scope and limitations of foreign power

Baghdad:Barbarians at the Gate

June 21, 2014, 4:13 pm 

ISIL control on 17 June but the map is changing daily

Kumar David

The barbarians are at the gate! Trouble started with the dumb American invasion of 2003. Nay, the fault is Saddam’s; the eventual overthrow of his nightmarish regime by the people would have left the nation in shreds. Or maybe the blunder lies with the brain-dead sectarian Shiite regime of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki whose refusal to share power has alienated Sunnis and Kurds and driven them to a dervish compact with bloodthirsty fundamentalist-extremists. Yes all true and you can apportion blame in your preferred proportions. Lanka’s liberals, leftists and minorities, angered by Rajapaksa’s hostility to Tamils and Muslims, may pick the third as prime cause.

The Scope and Limitations of Foreign Power by nelvely

Stop deporting Pakistanis: UN

By Chathuri Dissanayake and Namini Wijedasa-Sunday, June 22, 2014

Refugee agency says Lanka violating international law but Immigration Chief defends the move

The UN’s refugee agency has sought an explanation from the Sri Lankan Government why large numbers of Pakistani asylum seekers are being arrested and detained – with local and UN officials making conflicting claims on the issue. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also warned the Government that any deportations or expulsions would be in violation of international law – a principle called “non-refoulement”, which forbids the handing over of victims of persecution to their persecutors.

The UNHCR has sought access to Pakistani asylum seekers in Government custody and urged the authorities to stop their deportation. The UNHCR at a meeting with Colombo-based diplomats on Wednesday asked them also to take up the issue. Since June 9 this year, the police, with the assistance of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, have arrested and detained a large number of Pakistani asylum seekers and refugees in Negombo and Colombo. It follows a government decision to return them to their countries of origin, Immigration Controller Chulananda Perera said.

Investigations had revealed that many of these asylum seekers were involved in drug peddling and other illegal activities, Mr. Perera said. “Those against whom substantial evidence is found will be sent back,” he said. According to UNHCR figures, 142 Pakistanis were reported to be in detention as at June 17. Of these, 141 are at the Boosa Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) detention facility while one is at the Mirihana Immigration and Emigration detention unit.

All of them are males and a majority from the Ahmaddiya community. There are also a few Christians and Shia Muslims, according to UNHCR sources. Among them are three men with medical conditions and two who are differently-abled, they said. One is a 17-year-old minor.

The decision to deport the Pakistanis came after India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the matter with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as revealed exclusively in the Sunday Times political commentary last week. During talks in New Delhi on May 27, he expressed concern over Pakistani militant groups gathering in Sri Lanka to plan terrorist acts against India. He also alluded to the possible presence of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agents here. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had told Premier Modi he would look into it upon his return.

The UNHCR in Colombo is not aware of any concrete decision that has been taken by the Sri Lankan Government regarding the Pakistani asylum seekers who are registered with the UN agency, UNHCR Resident Representative Golam Abbas said. “We have had discussions with different agencies of the Government regarding the issue. We are cooperating with the Government to find a fair solution,” he said.

But there are strong differences of opinion between the Immigration Department and the UNHCR on the arrest and detention of persons listed with the agency as asylum seekers. Such registration was made possible by a 2005 agreement between the Government and the UNHCR. This allows registered asylum seekers to stay in a host country until their cases are processed and they are relocated to a third country.

The UNHCR emphasises that the ongoing operation was against the spirit of international refugee protection and law. Immigration chief Perera countered, however, that the agreement bound the UNHCR to notify the Immigration Department when asylum seekers arrived in Sri Lanka. The agency was also obligated to ask the Department if it had objections to an individual remaining in the country.

“We have objected to this but our objections have never been considered,” Mr. Perera said. “Thus, it is the UNHCR which has violated the agreement, not us.”
The External Affairs Ministry endorsed the actions of the Immigration authorities. “The decision was taken to safeguard national security,” the ministry’s Public Communications Director General A.M.J. Sadiq said. “These asylum seekers are creating local issues which should be curtailed.” It was also necessary to stop the abuse of the on-arrival visa facility, he said.

The UNHCR has been in contact with the authorities since June 10, according to authoritative sources. This includes the EAM, the Ministry of Defence, the Chief of National Intelligence and the Immigration Department. No “real explanation” was given for the clampdown while letters sent to the EAM with copies to relevant authorities have gone unanswered, they said.

The UNHCR headquarters in Geneva is being updated regularly on the developments. The local office has also held discussions with community and religious leaders. A discussion with the Chief of National Intelligence and Immigration officials at the Ministry of Defence this week did not result in “a clear reason” being given for the ongoing arrests and detentions.

As at Friday, 1,450 Pakistanis were registered with the UNHCR as asylum seekers, official statistics from the Department of Immigration show. UNHCR figures at the end of May stood at 1,547 asylum seekers and 291 recognised refugees in Sri Lanka.

Israeli teenager killed in attack on Syrian frontier

The Israeli border with Syria, seen from the Golan Heights. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Attack on civilian vehicle in Golan Heights leaves 15-year-old son of IDF contractor dead – the first Israeli killed by fire from Syrian civil war

Orlando Crowcroft in Tel Aviv

Sunday 22 June 2014

An Israeli teenager has been killed in a mortar attack on Israel's border with Syria in the Golan Heights.

Israeli media reported on Sunday morning that the victim was the 15-year-old son of a civilian contractor employed by the Israel Defence Forces and that four other people were injured. An official told the Associated Press that the vehicle in which they were travelling appeared to have driven over a bomb or been struck by fire from Syria.

It would be the first time an Israeli has been killed by fire emanating from the Syrian civil war.

Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed in clashes in the West Bank on Saturday night, bringing the death toll to five since Israel launched its biggest military operation in Palestinian cities and villages for a decade.

Ma'an news agency named the two Palestinian dead in the West Bank as Ahmad Fahmawi, 36, who was killed in Al Ein refugee camp in Nablus, and Mahmoud Ismail Atallah, who was found dead on a rooftop in Ramallah.

It said Fahmawi was killed on his way to dawn prayers, after refusing to return to his home when ordered by IDF troops, who then opened fire. The circumstances of Atallah's death were unclear, but he was found on the roof of a commercial building in Ramallah and had been shot.

An IDF spokesman did not reply to requests for comment, but in a statement to Ma'an it said Fahmawi had approached soldiers "in a threatening manner". After firing warning shots at him, the soldiers had then "fired towards the suspect".

The Israeli incursion into Ramallah, deploying hundreds of IDF troops, marks the biggest operation in the city – the Palestinian capital and political hub – since the intifada.

It follows a week of military action in Palestinian cities including Hebron and Nablus after three teenagers – Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gil-ad Sha'er and Naftali Frankel, both 16 – went missing nine days ago.

Israel blames Hamas for the kidnappings and says it has evidence, although no Palestinian group has taken responsibility and the Israelis are yet to release proof that the Islamist party is involved.

Much of the anger on the streets has been towards the IDF, but many in the West Bank also blame the Palestinian Authority and in particular the Palestinian police for their perceived complicity in Israeli operations.

In Ramallah, dozens of young Palestinians attacked a police station with rocks, and police inside fired on the crowd from a balcony. In a video of the attack uploaded to YouTube, officers could be seen firing what appeared to be live rounds at protesters.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the IDF said it had searched 1,350 locations and arrested 340 people since the beginning of Operation Brother's Keeper, 250 of whom were associated with Hamas.

"Our activities are ongoing. We are combining actions on the ground aimed at locating Eyal, Gil-ad and Naftali, and systematically targeting Hamas's terrorists and its civilian support system," said IDF spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told his weekly cabinet meeting that the IDF soldiers were acting in self-defence and "had no intention of harming anyone". He called on the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to dissolve the unity government with Hamas, which was formed last month.

Khamenei says Iran strongly opposes U.S. intervention in Iraq

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 25th death anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, in Tehran June 4, 2014.

BY MEHRDAD BALALI-DUBAI Sun Jun 22, 2014

(Reuters) - Iran's top leader rejected possible intervention in Iraq by the United States or other outside powers, accusing Washington on Sunday of trying to manipulate Iraqi sectarian differences to retake control of the country it once occupied.

Khamenei Says Iran Strongly Opposes U.S. Intervention in Iraq by nelvely