Some Pakistan militants denounce school attack, amid national outrage

Members of the civil society hold placards and light candles for the victims of the Pakistan Taliban attack on the Army Public School, during a rally in Lahore December 18, 2014.

BY JIBRAN AHMAD AND KATHARINE HOURELD-PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Thu Dec 18, 2014

(Reuters) - As Pakistanis unite in grief over the killings of 132 schoolchildren by the Pakistani Taliban, several other militant groups have been quick to condemn the carnage too.

Most such groups have slaughtered civilians themselves, but the wave of outrage following the school attack is threatening the relative freedom they enjoy in Pakistan.

The country is home to a range of armed militant groups. Some, like the Pakistani Taliban, fight against the state. Others have cosier ties with the authorities who use them against India and to jostle for influence in Afghanistan.

Whether Islamabad moves against all of them equally will show whether the school massacre has finally spurred authorities to tackle militancy seriously, said Senator Afrasiab Khattak.

"They are all terrorists and the state has to clearly oppose them in all shapes and colours," he said.

"So far they have not done so."

The Afghan Taliban, a group Pakistani jihadists look up to, were the first of the Sunni Islamist armed groups to denounce the school attack as unIslamic, despite often killing civilians themselves. An Afghan Taliban suicide bomber killed more than 50 people at a volleyball match last month.

Some Pakistani Taliban, including powerful splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, quickly sided with their Afghan patrons.

"Like them, we condemn the attack on the school and killing of innocent children," said spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan. The group earlier claimed responsibility for an attack that killed more than 50 people last month at a border crossing to India.

Other condemnation came from sectarian or anti-Indian groups that are nominally banned in Pakistan but operate openly, sometimes under different names.

Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of supporting the Afghan Taliban to try to maintain its influence in the region. Pakistan says Afghanistan is doing the same with the Pakistani Taliban in return.

An Islamabad-based analyst said the Afghan Taliban's condemnation could be intended to protect its Pakistan bases.

"Any group that still wants to maintain a working relationship with the Pakistani establishment has to denounce this attack," he said.

"They must distance themselves from (Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah) Fazlullah and the outrage around him."

Another banned Pakistani group said it stood alongside the military in response to the attack.

"We strongly condemn the attacks on schoolchildren in Peshawar and believe that there is no religious, ethical or any other social reason for this cruel act," said Ghulam Rasool Shah, a deputy for Malik Ishaq, leader of the sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

"We stand with the Pakistan army and political leadership in this critical situation."

The group was responsible for twin blasts in the city of Quetta last year that killed around 180 people, mostly civilians from a Shi'ite Muslim ethnic group.

Authorities were accused of inaction in response to those attacks, leading victims' families to stage a sit-in alongside the bodies of the dead on a main road for several days in protest.

(Additional reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Syed Raza Hassan in Islamabad; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Maria Golovnina and Andrew Roche)

Putin protest: 20 arrested outside news conference - video

THURSDAY 18 DECEMBER 2014
Russian police arrest at least 20 people who came for an unsanctioned protests outside the venue where President Putin held his end-of-year news conference.

‘Can’t stuff this bear’ & other Putin Q&A quotes

December 18, 2014. President of Russia Vladimir Putin during his tenth annual major news conference at the World Trade Centre on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment (RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich)

 December 18, 2014

The range of answers at Vladimir Putin’s annual meeting with the media varied from purely practical to practically poetic and even personal. RT has compiled the most memorable quotes from the president.

On the Russian economy bearing the cost of reuniting with Crimea

‘Can’t Stuff This Bear’ & Other Putin Q&A Quotes by Thavam Ratna

Cuba decision marks a bet by Obama that Cold War politics have turned a corner

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) vowed to block moves by President Obama toward normalizing relations with the Cuban government. (Reuters)
By Karen Tumulty and Anne Gearan December 17 at 7:44 PM
President Obama’s surprising move toward normalizing relations with Cuba amounts to a big bet that the nation — and, particularly, the crucial swing state of Florida — has turned a political corner from the Cold War era.

Cuba Decision Marks a Bet by Obama That Cold War Politics Have Turned a Corner by Thavam Ratna

Woman dies in Ireland after 

abortion 'refused'

WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2012

The husband of a pregnant woman who died in Ireland after being refused an abortion tells Channel 4 News he "strongly believes" that she would be alive had doctors terminated the pregnancy.

Warning: viewers may find some of the details in the above video report upsetting

Clinically dead pregnant woman kept alive by Irish hospital

THURSDAY 18 DECEMBER 2014

A woman who suffered a blood clot is being kept on life support in Ireland against her family's wishes because there is a chance her baby could survive.
Woman Dies in Ireland After by Thavam Ratna

The TNA follows JVP strategy

by Harim Peiris 

- on 12/17/2014 

No less a person than the JHU’s General Secretary, Patali Champika Ranawaka, went on record over the past weekend, stating that every attempt at campaigning by the joint opposition is being violently and illegally suppressed by the Rajapakse regime. He stated that if democratic dissent and a genuine electoral process did not occur, the country would slip back to the era of extra parliamentary and violent opposition to the regime. A free and fair election, at least by Sri Lanka’s own flawed standards is a must for us to continue our claims to be a democracy. That claim is being negated by the unprecedented abuses of the entire election process by the Rajapakse campaign. Notwithstanding the same, the joint opposition campaign is graining traction, politically because the SLFP is not really running too hard on behalf of Rajapakse’s and administratively because officials and police are no longer certain that come January 9th that the Rajapakse regime will remain and accordingly are loath to accept illegal commands. The IGP standing up to the Law and Order Ministry on the illegal transfer of police officers is a good example.

It is in this context, that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Anuradhapura, His Grace Norbert Andradi, was quoted in the press earlier in the week as stating that this was not an opportune time for the Pope to visit Sri Lanka and claimed that several other Bishops too shared this view and also expressed concern about the misuse of the Papal visit for political advantage at the election. However, this caution about the visit, has been pulled back through a pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishops Conference welcoming and anticipating the visit. Now the Vatican foreign ministry and security desired to access the post election climate prior to making a final decision on the visit. However, the pre election environment has been so badly tarnished that for the Pope to visit Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of a disputed, flawed and violent election, might be just unsuitable for the Holy Father. However, many observers believe that the visit of the Pope will act as a damper to any thoughts of post-election violence.

The TNA and the JVP  

Two important political parties, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) arguably the third and fourth political forces in the country, have both adopted a similar strategy, which is actually working well for the joint opposition’s National Democratic Front (NDF) of Maithripala Sirisena. The NDF holds out the promise of a National Government of both the UNP and the SLFP, under a “Maithri palanaye” in a post Rajapakse political environment. The general expectation is that with a Rajapakse defeat the SLFP will revert back to a Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena leadership, especially when it holds the promise of continued partnership in government, as opposed to languishing in opposition.

Not directly joining in this process, is both the JVP and the TNA for slightly different but also similar reasons. The JVP would be well placed to be the small but main opposition to a UNP- SLFP combine, while the TNA or its predecessor the TULF / Federal Party, which historically does not hold executive office in government, except for its one experiment under Dudley Senanayake, can continue to represent the interest of its constituency from outside the executive.

However, both the TNA and the JVP will play a crucial role in the presidential election, because this early presidential election, wanted by no one expect President Rajapakse, is in fact, a request from Mahinda Rajapakse to continue to rule this country for seven more years ( six year term plus one from the current term) or until 2022 as opposed to retiring in 2016. The JVP is already busy telling their supporters countrywide that a further term for Mahinda Rajapakse is not in the interest of all Sri Lankans. Essentially the TNA is most likely to be telling its constituency the exact same thing. After all Sinhalese and Tamils have many if not more shared common interests, than just only competing ones. Listen carefully to ITAK spokesman, Human Rights lawyer MA Sumanthiran and several things become clear. Firstly the ITAK / TNA believes that a democratic and law abiding Sri Lanka is beneficial to everyone including the Tamil people. After all minority rights cannot exist in an environment where all rights are at stake. Incidentally, MP Sumanthiran was a leading part of Chief Justice Bandaranaike’s impeachment defense team and put up a valiant fight to prevent the usurpation of judicial power by the Rajapakse presidency.

Moreover, the Tamil people like to exercise their franchise, something which some misguided sections of the Tamil Diaspora should bear in mind as it supports the Rajapakse campaign’s dream of a Tamil vote boycott. It was such a Tamil boycott in the close 2005 election which saw Mahinda Rajapakse elected. On that occasion with allegations of having paid the LTTE money, via an alleged Tiran Alles deal to boycott the vote. History must not repeat itself. However, the real lesson of the 2005 election was this, in the Batticalo District, where the LTTE was weakened post the Karuna defection, the Tamil people disregarded the LTTE boycott call and voted in droves for the UNP. If the LTTE could not stop the Batticaloa voter in 2005, one pities some Diaspora busybodies, playing to the Rajapakse campaign’s dreams of seeing a Tamil vote boycott in 2015.

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons: Trends, Practices and Implications

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (the Commission) was established on 15th August 2013 under Gazette No. 1823/42. Over a year into its mandate, the Commission continues to operate under circumstances that raise serious concerns in respect of the search for truth, justice and accountability in Sri Lanka. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) depicts the Commission not only as its primary instrument to address the grievances of the families of the disappeared, but also since the expansion of its mandate, as the sole mechanism for addressing war time violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, amongst others.

The present critique by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) captures key issues and trends observed during public sittings of the Commission and the perceptions of affected communities and civil society who have observed and engaged with the present process. At the very outset CPA notes that the Commission, operating under the Commissions of Inquiry apparatus, is structurally flawed, given its dependence on the Executive for appointments, financing and follow up action. Having observed a string of failed State initiatives at transitional justice in recent years and the lack of progress with past Commissions appointed by successive governments, CPA calls for immediate steps to be taken for legal and policy reform that provides for a genuine and credible domestic process at truth seeking, justice and accountability. Failure in this regard further confirms the inability of domestic processes to address grievances in a post war context and strengthens calls for international investigations.

The brief consists of three sections. The first looks into technical issues of the present Commission and critiques the operational processes and practices of the Commission. The second explores the broader issues embedded in the structure within which the Commission operates, while the final section analyses the trend perceptions and concerns and their implications for the Commission’s work.

Download the critique here or read it online here.

Dissappearances COI Dec 2014 FINAL by Thavam Ratna

‘No devolution possible under Rajapaksa’

File photo of Rajitha Senaratne

 

MEERA SRINIVASAN- December 16, 2014

Sri Lanka’s Northern Tamils cannot expect powers to be devolved as long as President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in power, according to Rajitha Senaratne who was, not very long ago, a Minister in his cabinet.

On November 21, he left the ruling coalition along with his colleague Maithripala Sirisena, now the principal challenger of President Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential polls.

“The President never wanted to give anything to the northern people,” he said, alleging that even the development taken up there was solely for the purpose of commissions. “The development has not benefitted the people of the area. They have not been given employment,” he said, less than a month ahead of the January 8 elections. So far neither the joint opposition he is part of, nor the ruling coalition he left, has spoken about substantive devolution of political rights to the country’s Tamil minority in its campaign.

On why he did not speak out when he was still with the government, Mr. Senaratne claimed he had been complaining even then. “Within the government I was struggling to get some social and political reforms implemented. I left the government when I knew nothing will ever come through with this President,” said Mr. Senaratne.

Mr. Senaratne said some of the old timers in the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had been trying to push political reforms such as the abolition of the executive presidency — which has now emerged as one of the key campaign points — a political solution to the Tamil question, good governance “like in India”; independence of the Election Commission, the Public Services Commission and the judiciary. “President Rajapaksa promised to do all that, but never kept his word. I realised there was no point expecting anything from this government, and it is better to have our own process,” said the former Fisheries Minister.

Religious freedom

Charging the Rajapaksa government of “actively promoting ethnic disharmony”, he said the government supported extremist Sinhala-Buddhist organisations hoping to win elections “over pseudo patriotism”.

The June 2014 religious clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Aluthgama, a coastal town south of Colombo, where three people died and 80 were injured, he suggested, were another indication of state patronage for the hard-line Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) charged with provoking the clash.

“No legal action was taken against any of the culprits after the Aluthgama incident,” said Mr. Senaratne, one of the few in the government then to publicly condemn the Buddhist hard-liners.

‘Family rule’

President Rajapaksa — a close ally and comrade of Mr. Senaratne for nearly 40 years — had been a “wonderful person” earlier but, following the end of the war in 2009, allowed his family to dictate terms to the government, Mr. Senaratne said, referring to the alleged role played by the President’s brothers Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, Basil Rajapaksa, the Economic Development Minister and the President’s son, Namal Rajapaksa, a parliamentarian. Chamal Rajapaksa, another brother of the President, is the Speaker in Parliament. “And then there are the numerous henchmen. Some people were singing his praise and calling him a king, which Mr. Rajapaksa began taking very seriously.”

The atmosphere for Ministers like him was stifling, with the “family’s domination” manifesting in budgetary allocations, he said, pointing to the near-70 per cent budgetary allocation to portfolios held by the family members. “Only the remaining 28 per cent were allocated for the rest of the ministries, including health, education and fisheries.”

Even that funding, he said, was channelled through the Economic Development Ministry forcing senior Ministers to “run behind Basil begging for the money.”

India-Sri Lanka ties

India had virtually given up on President Rajapaksa after many unkept promises, the former Minister said. “There is no relationship between the countries now because of that. Mr. Rajapaksa’s attitude is very dictatorial, but Indian leaders tend to be democratic and hence there is a huge gap there.”

Despite all the differences and the apparently close contest, the Maithripala camp is clear it will protect their opponent from the international powers that may victimise him over allegations of war crimes. The joint opposition, Mr. Senaratne said, would strengthen domestic mechanisms and “settle our matters in our own country”.

XXX இல் உலகில் இலங்கை முதலிடம்…

Video: Real Mahinda speaks!

இணையத்தளத்தில் sex என்ற வார்த்தையை அதிகமாக தேடும் நாடுகளில் இலங்கை முதலிடத்தில் உள்ளதாக கூகுல் தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

இதன்படி 2011, 2012, 2013, மற்றும் 2014ஆம் ஆண்டுகளில் கூகுல் இணையத்தளத்தில் SEX சொல்லை அதிகமான தேடிய நாடு இலங்கையாகும்.

இலங்கையின் மேல் மற்றும் மத்திய மாகாணங்களிலேயே இந்த SEX என்ற சொல் கூகுலில் அதிகமாக தேடப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இதேவேளை இந்த பட்டியலில் இந்தியா இரண்டாவது இடத்தில் உள்ளமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

கடந்த ஆட்சியுடன் ஒப்பிடுகையில் ஜனாதிபதி மகிந்த ராஜபக்ச ஆட்சிக் காலத்தில் சமூகமட்டத்தில் பாலியல் தொடர்பிலான தேடுதல் அதிகரித்துள்ளதுடன் இதற்கு வேலையில்லா நிலை மற்றும் மக்களின் பொழுது போக்கு தொடர்பில் அரசிடம் உரிய திட்டம் இன்மையே காரணம் என இலங்கையின் சமூக ஆய்வு மையம் சுட்டிக் காட்டியுள்ளது.

Video: Real Mahinda speaks!

WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2014
The speech made by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa at a rally held at Chilaw yesterday (16th) shows how bankrupt he has become politically despite stating on political stages that he never slings 

XXX இல் உலகில் இலங்கை முதலிடம்… by Thavam Ratna

Here's the relationship between Mahinda & Tamil diaspora

WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2014

It is revealed that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has again started saying there is an international conspiracy to take him to the electric chair, has very close relationships with the Tamil diaspora.

It is revealed through internet that there had been a meeting between Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa and a group including Dharmalingam Lokeshwaran, a former activist of the LTTE and a person who has had special knowledge regarding collecting money for the LTTE.

This meeting had taken place when Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Italy in October. The presidential media unit had stated that the visit was organized to make the official invitation to the Pope to visit Sri Lanka. However, no media had revealed until now that a meeting of LTTE activists too had been arranged.

There is a very close relationship with Dharmalingam and KP. There is also a very close political relationship between Suresh Surendran, the member of Tamil diaspora who said Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa would be taken to Hague. It is revealed that there is a blood relationship between them as well.

It is now revealed that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who attempts to show he is a patriot on election stages, made available more than Rs.200,000 million to the LTTE in 2005 to prevent people in the North from exercising their franchise.  According to what is being revealed now the conspiracy he would carry out with the Tamil diaspora this time could be anyone’s guess say political analysts.

Related news: ‘Operation KP’ to save Mahinda

Tyranny Dares To Plot And Democracy Fears To Preempt

By S. Sivathasan -December 17, 2014 

S. Sivathasan

Who Helps When State is Paralysed?

The caption is a tragic commentary on the events likely to unfold in Sri Lanka in just three weeks. May not, is a distant possibility; but if they do what is the response of the International Community, the government and the people? When Tamils faced mayhem, there were certainly good and noble deeds at all times from the better ones. From 1977 to 2009 against the Tamils and in 2014 against Muslims, when pogroms were unleashed, the state apparatus stood idle struck by rigor mortis. Worse still paralysis was induced by the government itself. Blood-letting went unrestrained. Can these calamities of 37 years be allowed to recur?

Even after such harrowing experience should we have more of the same?

Electoral reaction however was continued applause and sustained endorsement. Successive governments had confirmation that evil found acceptance. Yet today even with impeding reservations, impelling sentiments seek a rare togetherness to see despotism out of their way. It may be noted that the entities are affected in different ways, but the target and the resolve are same. In the next 22 days they have to be strengthened resolutely.

Churchill’s Warnings

Far sightedness is rare. Decisiveness is rarer. They were manifest in Europe particularly in the thirties. As early as in October 1930, Churchill warned that Hitler will seize the first opportunity to resort to armed force. Even as Hitler rearmed other European countries disarmed. Chamberlain joined Hitler to dismember Czechoslovakia. Then he prated about “Peace for our time”. Churchill had foresight and spent impatient years. “Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent”. So blurted out Churchill in 1930s, after witnessing for long, continued inaction of the British and their lack of preparedness for war with Germany. In July 1939, he warned of a Russo-German Alliance. A Pact was signed soon after and Poland was invaded on 1^st September 1939.Read More

Will Mahinda Go If He Is Defeated?

| by Upul Joseph Fernando

"If Sirisena wins poll, President and his brothers may try to retain power by resorting to compliant Court or military…" – International Crisis Group

( December 17, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) 

Mahinda’s fears must be doubled and trebled in his march towards the Presidential Election. The reason is that Chandrika is behind Maithri. Mahinda having won the 2005 Presidential Election ousted Chandrika from the SLFP leadership on her birthday. Hence, Mahinda fears that Chandrika will not only destroy his political future but also of his kith and kin. That was why even international organizations predict that Mahinda will not give up power even if he is defeated

Last week it was revealed that Mahinda Rajapaksa had met the Bishops’ Conference and assured that he would step down gracefully if he was defeated at the 8 January Presidential Poll in view of the Pope’s visit. However, this assurance looked to have been given at a time the International Crisis Group report was released. The Bishops’ Conference stressed the need to have a peaceful atmosphere in the country for the Pope’s visit.

Mahinda is not new to understand the pains of defeat. He lost his parliamentary seat and the government in 1977. He re-entered Parliament in 1989. In 2001 he lost his ministerial portfolio. However, losing a presidency and the SLFP leadership cannot be equaled to his past pains. When the SLFP won in 1994, former President J.R. Jayewardene who was in retirement feared the SLFP in office as Ms.Sirima Bandaranaike would take revenge on him as he deprived her of her civic rights when he was President. When President D.B. Wijetunga attempted to appoint Ms.Bandaranaike as the Prime Minister, JR instructed DBW to call on Chandrika Kumaratunga to be appointed Prime Minister to overcome the fear of Ms.Bandaranaike trying to take revenge from him.

Mahinda’s fears must be doubled and trebled in his march towards the Presidential Election. The reason is that Chandrika is behind Maithri. Mahinda having won the 2005 Presidential Election ousted Chandrika from the SLFP leadership on her birthday. Hence, Mahinda fears that Chandrika will not only destroy his political future but also of his kith and kin. That was why even international organizations predict that Mahinda will not give up power even if he is defeated. Be that as it may, the South Asian region ‘Big Brother’ India will not permit a military administration in her neighbourhood. If that happens, India will not hesitate to mediate. Indian Security Advisor of Indian Premier Narendra Modi who was in Colombo recently stressed that the Indian Ocean should be a Zone of Peace adding that nothing harmful should happen in the region. India indirectly hinted that a military rule in Sri Lanka would be detrimental to the region.

When Sarath Fonseka won the LTTE, intelligence services reported of a possible military coup in the country. In that backdrop, India came to the assistance of Mahinda. The then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, Alok Prasad met Mahinda late night and informed him that India was ready send ships to Colombo to help combat such coup and that was reported in the media. If Mahinda is defeated, he is not ignorant to establish a military rule to run the country. What Mahinda fears is that he could be taken before an international tribunal to try him for war crimes. But India will not allow that to happen. India supported Sri Lanka at the UNHRC against the American sponsored resolution on human rights with the view that if she favoured the resolution, she too could be accused of committing such crimes in Kashmir. So, even if Mahinda is defeated, India will not allow the international tribunals to touch him.

An incumbent President in Sri Lanka had never lost an election. In that backdrop, chances for Mahinda to lose look less. Similarly no other President has ever gone before an election after completing four years of his second term in office when his popularity is on the decline.

Will muster 200,000 Tamil votes

2014-12-15

The Democratic People’s Front had already announced its support for the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the January Presidential Election. In a wide ranging interview with the Dailymirror DPF leader Mano Ganesan claimed that the Tamils may not support President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he had failed to change the mindset of the majority community following the end of the war. Excerpts:

As the leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) what is your stance on the common candidate (CC)?

A long standing Leftist leader and now Minister for National Languages and Integration Vasudeva Nanyakkara speaks to the Dailymirror of the forthcoming Presidential Election, the journey with the government and the demands of the Democratic Leftist Front. Following are some of the excerpts.

You were someone, who went with Mahinda Rajapaksa to Geneva to complain against the violation of human rights to the Human Rights Council (HRC). This government is one that has a lot of allegations of violating human rights and minority rights. What has made you to stay on with the government? Isn’t it contradictory to your actions before?

I will explain. I am against violence. But I cannot help when there is legitimate violence.

What do you mean by legitimate violence?

Will Muster 200,000 Tamil Votes by Thavam Ratna