Whither Indian Anti-Corruption Movement ?

In any case, the country men still look up to Narendra Modi to live upto his promise of eradicating corruption. This is a do or die battle for him and one hopes he is aware of it.

by N.S.Venkataraman                                                

( July 19, 2015, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Indian anti corruption movement seem to be going nowhere. While there is huge disgust and anger amongst cross section of citizens in India about the widespread prevalence of corruption at various levels in government departments, private and public sector institutions, the citizens’ opinion appear to be impotent in combating corruption in the country.

What is particularly disgusting is the ground reality that even educational institutions, hospitals and religious bodies and NGOs are often seen indulging in corrupt practices. Of course, judiciary too is often suspected to be dishonest and partisan and several judges have faced charges of corruption and malpractice. Where can the country go from here ?

Failure of Anna Hazare Movement :

With support from the common man and backed by media publicity, Anna Hazare launched his anti corruption movement with much fanfare ,but unfortunately, this movement has now lost all credibility and sense of direction. Poor leadership capability of Anna Hazare may have caused set back to this much publicised movement.

Insincere approach of several of Anna Hazare’s associates who jumped into his anti corruption bandwagon and then later on used their position in the movement to get political advantages for themselves , have caused great embarrassment and frustration to the genuine anti corruption crusaders in India. Many of those who thought that Anna Hazare would be able to create strong anti corruption climate in the country now feel hopeless. Many in India even think that Anna Hazare has actually caused great set back to anti corruption movement in India by launching it and then not sustaining it, due to his inability to judge his associates and their motives correctly. Failure of Anna Hazare’s movement has created doubts as to whether anti corruption movement in India will succeed at all, driving down the morale of the anti corruption crusaders.

Modi government yet to make impact :

With Anna Hazare failing to stand up to the expectations, people placed faith on Narendra Modi and thought that he would stem the corruption rot and restore probity in public life and government machinery. The general perspective today is that whatever anti corruption steps that Modi government has taken so far are half hearted and inadequate. It may be due to several constraints faced by Modi government such as non cooperative bureaucracy and government officials many of whom are involved in corrupt practices, as well as cumbersome judicial procedures. While Modi government certainly has set some good standards in corrupt free governance at the top level, the impact is yet to be felt at the lower level of the government machinery and at the state level. It is known that many state governments and ministers in the state are corrupt and dishonest and Modi government could do nothing about it so far.

Failure of Kejriwal :

Yet another attempt was made by the people to defeat corruption by voting Kejriwal as Chief Minister of Delhi. This move has also failed , as several members of Kejriwal’s party face charges of corruption and malpractices and his party has already split with serious allegations being made against Kejriwal himself. While Narendra Modi continues to give an impression that he would ensure corruption free administration by striving hard for it,Kejriwal does not even give such hope anymore, as several suspicions about his party collecting funds from abroad during election campaign remain unanswered. Kejriwal could not even maintain a Lokpal in his own party and how can he ensure Lokpal for the state? On the other hand, Kejriwal is now seen to be spending crores of rupees of cash starved Delhi government’s money in advertising about himself and the activities of his government, which is the familiar practice adopted by self centred and dishonest politicians.

Undefeated corrupt forces:

The anti corruption movement in India has now gone through one full circle. We find a scenario in the country that rarely anything can be done without paying bribe money, leading to a situation where both bribe givers and bribe takers are active and both do not think anymore ashamed and feel guilty about their corrupt dealings. With even the print and visual media, now largely controlled by political parties and business houses , are suspected to be partisan and even corrupt to some extent by publishing paid news , the poor people of India who are the worst victims of prevailing corrupt practices all over the country , are very angry and feel sad about their own helplessness.

By and large, people realise now that anti corruption movement has to be built on strong foundation by taking the fight to the grass root level and encouraging people’s resistance at individual level , instead of adopting such strategies as going on fast which now look like gimmicks. Even change in law such as enactment of Lokpal bill cannot take the movement forward , in the absence of the will to implement the regulations and alert crusaders making necessary sacrifices for the cause. The failure of the Right to Information Act, introduced with great promise and hope to fight corruption, is a glaring example.

Do or die battle for Narendra Modi :

In any case, the country men still look up to Narendra Modi to live upto his promise of eradicating corruption. This is a do or die battle for him and one hopes he is aware of it.

Researchers discover a possible reason for drug resistance in breast tumors

Micrograph showing a lymph node invaded by ductal breast carcinoma, with extension of the tumour beyond the lymph node. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia

July 17, 2015

HER2 membrane proteins play a special role in certain types of breast cancer: amplified levels of HER2 drive unrestricted cell growth. HER2-tailored antibody-based therapeutics aim to prevent cancer cell growth. However, two-thirds of HER2 positive breast cancer patients develop resistance against HER2-targeting drugs. The reason for this is not yet understood. Researchers now found out, that HER2 dimers appeared to be absent from a small sub-population of resting SKBR3 breast cancer cells. This small subpopulation may have self-renewing properties that are resistant to HER2-antibody therapy and thus able to seed new tumor growth.

For their studies researchers from the INM - Leibniz-Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken and from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg used a new electron microscopy method called Liquid STEM. It allows nanoscale studies of intact cells in their native liquid environment.

The scientists have studied the local variations of HER2 membrane protein and of its dimers. HER2 is a member of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family. These family members trigger cell growth signals, when two of the membrane proteins are bound into a protein complex (dimerization). This happens usually after the binding of a small protein, the epidermal growth factor, which circulates in the blood stream and serves as communicator to transmit signals that regulate cell growth. HER2 is special in the sense that it does not need the growth factor protein in order to form dimers. It is thus capable of triggering cell growth without external regulation. In certain types of breast cancer, amplified levels of HER2 and its dimerization are known to drive unrestricted cell growth. HER2-tailored antibody-based therapeutics entered clinical practice more than a decade ago. These drugs aim to prevent cell growth triggered by HER2 homo- and/or heterodimerization.

"We found out, that HER2 dimers appeared to be absent from a small sub-population of resting SKBR3 cells. Could such cells survive the therapy and then develop into a drug resistant cancer at a later stage? It thus seems to be of key significance to study this sub-population of cells with exceptional phenotype," says Niels de Jonge, head of the Innovative Electron Microscopy group.

HER2 dimerization processes were thus far mostly studied on the basis of cell population averages, for example, with biochemical methods using pooled cell material, and information about the localization of HER2 dimerization was lacking. Therefore, the researchers around de Jonge pioneered the electron microscopy method Liquid STEM to imaging these receptors on cancer cells. The cells were examined on a microchip placed in the electron microscope, and remained intact and in liquid. "Specimens cannot be studied in liquid with traditional electron microscopy", explains Professor de Jonge. "Cells are typically studied in dry state via thin sectioning of solid dried plastic embedded or frozen material. The role of HER proteins is a "hot" topic in cancer research but despite large research efforts using a wide range of techniques over the past decades this important information was not unveiled before. Our novel findings were obtained as a direct consequence of the high spatial resolution of Liquid STEM combined with its capability to study many intact cells in liquid," says de Jonge.

More information: "Local variations of HER2 dimerization in breast cancer cells discovered by correlative fluorescence and liquid electron microscopy" was published in the new online journal Science Advances Sci. Adv. 1, e1500165 (2015) by D. B. Peckys, U. Korf, N. de Jonge. advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/6/e1500165 

Desperate discarded Rajapakses plot and plan to re capture power via LTTE -The whole truth with evidence..

(Lanka-e-News -19.July.2015, 11.30PM) The defeated people rejected Rajapakses who know deep within their bones that if they are to cover up all their corrupt , perfidious and criminal activities ,they must somehow re capture  power,   in their desperation and frustration are even stooping at the expense of national interests to utilise the LTTE to accomplish their traitorous goals , based on reports reaching Lanka e news.

According to Tamil news reporters , Mahinda Rajapkse with this in view has forwarded a list for Kurunegala district under the leadership of M.K.Sivajilingam , a relative of Late Prabhakaran , and monies to meet all expenses involved in this regard have  been provided by Rajapakse himself.

It is the diabolic plan of  Mahinda Rajapakse to create the impression that Prabhakaran’s relative is coming forward to defeat him , and thereby draw a parallel with the UNP which is also seeking to defeat him . This is also to mislead the foolish racists who are eagerly waiting to swallow whole such deceitful machinations without realizing that such deceptions practised by politicians earlier on only brought the country to the brink of total annihilation via a 30 years old ethnic war.

Moreover , it is Mahinda Rajapakse who has expended for this list of group of LTTE members , and  is hell bent on regaining power even at the expense of country’s unity and genuine interests of the masses , based on what the reporters of the North revealed. It is the sordid aim and objective of Mahinda Rajapakse  to defeat through these maneuvers the TNA which has abandoned its demand for a separate administration , and now clamoring for a political solution via  devolution of powers within a unitary State.

Towards achieving this end , Rajapakses have used Vidyatharan , the editor of Udayan newspaper as the pawn. Vidyatharan is the brother in law of ex M.P. Saravanabavan, the owner of Udayan . It is specially worthy of note that Udayan news paper was set on fire  during the Rajapakse  era. It is also worthy of special mention that all the media Institutions that were subjected to attacks , intimidation and threats by Rajapakses transformed  into bootlickers and  lickspittles of the Rajapakses later on . Subsequently  these media Institutions (except Lanka e news) shamelessly descended to the lowliest levels to do  the sordid biddings of the Rajapakses. Some of them even served as their spittoons only worthy of being spat into. 

After bombing Sirasa of  Kili Maharaja , the latter was made Rajapakses’ pet henchman ; Tiran Alles too followed suit ; After killing Lasantha Wickremetunge , his brother Lal Wickremetunge was made their plaything , and finally a majority of the shares of the newspaper was bought by a pro Rajapakse businessman.(By now that situation has changed) . Siyatha too suffered a similar fate.These are some of the many examples. 

In the end the Udayan newspaper too was subjected to this same treatment , a Tamil version though. Already Saravanabavan  owner of Udayan , and its editor , Vidyadaran who have overriding venal traits have become pawns of the Rajapakses.  At the last presidential elections too the Udayan news paper played a dirty double game . The Rajapakses who have got down ex LTTE members through Vidyadaran have spent colossal sums in this connection , Tamil news reporters disclosed. If any of these LTTE members enter parliament they  have agreed to work with the Rajapakses .

Meanwhile  those opposing the special security detail  provided to Mahinda Rajapakse have gone to courts to make a request that he should like the other candidates  contest elections sans the special security . The Rajapakses on the other hand have hatched a conspiracy to counter this and exploit it to their advantage.That is ,use the ex LTTE members who are now with them to launch a fake attack on Mahinda , and paint a picture that this was a traitorous attack of the LTTE at the behest of the opposition , with a view to winning over the racism oriented votes. 

Wimal Weerawansa the grade nine qualified moron who is most infamously famous for his  unguarded forked tongue , at the recent Anuradhapura rally inadvertently blabbered about this plan and plot. This blabbermouth said, may be those who are clamoring to withdraw the special security of Mahinda are conspiring to send a bullet through Mahinda. This statement of Weerawansa is being construed by political analysts as a signal of the hidden plots of the Rajapakses in store. 

The UPFA Rajapakse faction say , the colossal amount of monies robbed by the corrupt crooked traitors and the one  trillion (one thousand billion!)  rupees given by a powerful country that helped in these criminal activities may be spent for this forthcoming elections ( sources from within the Rajapkse regime reveal  the proceeds collected by the Rajapkses on the sale of even a small amount of gold of LTTE exceeds Rs. Two trillion !)

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by     (2015-07-19 20:25:29)

Seeking A Permanent Solution

By Easwaran Rutnam

Sunday, July 19, 2015

The upcoming Parliament election will see, possibly for the first time, a division in how the Tamil votes will go as several political parties and independent groups contest seats in Parliament.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has always been the clear winner at past elections held in the North but this time they are bound to face stiff competition.

Seeking a Permanent Solution by Thavam Ratna

Prageeth wife anoint coconut for Kaaliamman against Rajapaksa

Sunday, 19 July 2015

Today 18th marks 2000 days of the disappearance of the journalist Prageeth ekneligoda by the Rajapaksa regime. In order to remember his disappearance his wife Sandya Ekneligoda held a fasting determination mass at the Kaaliamman kovil at Modera Colombo.

Although it has elapsed 2000 days for his disappearance so far nobody was held responsible. By convening a mass Sandya demanded justice from the Modera Kaaliamman to punish the Rajapaksa’s who is responsible for the disappearance of her husband.

Abducting and causing disappearance is a crime against humanity. Punishing the perpetrators who caused the disappearance is a must. This fasting determination mass was held in the name of to Prageeth Ekneligoda and to all who were disappeared during the Rajapaksa
regime.

However the Good Governance who came to power by promoting Prageeth has forgotten to search his whereabouts.

Retired Cops To Probe Missing

19/07/2015  

The Presidential Commission Investigating Cases of Missing Persons has appointed a team of retired police officers to look into the cases of missing people which need further investigation.

An internal source revealed that a team of five retired police officers, who are well experienced in conducting investigations, has been appointed by the Commission and they have already started their operations.

According to the source, the team was appointed in accordance with the recommendations made in the interim report that was submitted to President Maithripala Sirisena and the commission received approval from the President to appoint this team. He added that the team is currently having discussions and will soon conduct the investigations into the required cases and necessary actions will be taken.

However, when inquired, the Chairman of the Commission, Maxwel Paranagama, told The Sunday Leader that it is premature to release a statement regarding the team of investigators. “At present, with the general election coming up, we do not intend to release any information with regard to the team of investigators or the state of investigation as we do not want to let anybody politicize the actions taken by the team,” he said.

This year April, the commission submitted the interim report to President Maithripala Sirisena on alleged disappearances that had occurred during the time of the conflict and several recommendations were made in the report. The President has granted approval to implement certain recommendations and appointing a team to further investigate into certain cases was among those recommendations.
SL

Buddhist military monks behind structural genocide: Tamils in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 July 2015, 23:39 GMT]
Sinhala settlers brought down from South into Ampaa’rai under the Gal Oya scheme carried out the first ever large-scale massacre against Eezham Tamils in June 1956 when Ceylon was a British Dominion. The fundamentals for the future genocide were laid under the British rule since 1833. Invading Buddhist monks and the occupying SL military played the crucial role in the genocide project in Ampaa'rai district in the Eastern Province. The first monk entered the place Buddangala, situated 8 km away from Ampaa'rai town in 1964 with the agenda of Sinhalicisation and Buddhicisation of the Tamil villages. After the SL military seized the full control of the Eastern province from the LTTE, Major General (retd) Ananda Weerasekara, a former war criminal and associate of extremist Sihala Urumya, has been spearheading the Sinhalicisation of Ampaa'rai as ‘Buddhangala Ananda Thero’. 

Former Major General Ananda Weerasekara is now Buddhangala Ananda Thero at Ampaa'rai

Since Ampaa'rai district was carved out of Batticaloa district in 1961, a systematic demographic genocide was committed against Eezham Tamils reducing them from 23% of the district's population (1963 Census) into 17% (2012 Census). 

At the same time, the Sinhalese population increased from 29% to 39%. 

Tamil-speaking Muslims remain as the majority population constituting 43% of the population. 

Sinhala settlers in Ampaa'rai under the Gal Oya scheme carried out the first big-scale genocidal massacre in the chain of the State-sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms. 

Ever since then, the Eezham Tamils were chased out from their traditional and later settlements. 

Late S.J.V. Chelvanayakam (1898 - 1977), a prominent leader of Eezham Tamils for three decades, who brought out the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution in May 1976, collectively termed these continuous acts of violence together with other discriminatory programmes of the unitary State as cultural genocide against Eezham Tamils. 

The British colonists had laid down the fundamentals needed for the Sinhalese to effect the genocidal ‘transformation’. 

Ceylon was a Dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations between 1948 and 1972. The Sinhalese changed this dominion status by imposing the republican constitution, not only changing the name Ceylon, which had become the name of the island in the colonial times into ‘Sri Lanka’, but also by constitutionally transforming the island into a Sinhala Buddhist unitary State without the democratic consent of the nation of Eezham Tamils. 

Even before the British granted ‘independence’ to Ceylon in 1948 ignoring Tamil Sovereignty, the fundamentals enabling the Sinhalese to carry out a structural genocide against Eezham Tamils were laid down in 1833 (Colebrook-Cameron Commission) when the Tamils, who were the majority population in their traditional homeland in the north and east in the island were seen as ‘minorities’ for the first time. The British went on abolishing even the parity of status between the communities by getting rid of the communal representation in their Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1931 amidst Tamil protest. The Tamil fears were already proved right when the ‘ethnic majority’ came out with an ‘All Sinhalese Cabinet’ in 1936. 

The Sinhalese dominated governments began colonizing strategic Tamil areas, especially along the borders and in the East, in order to de-link the contiguity of the homeland. 

The Sinhala ministers in Ceylon started Gal Oya irrigation settlement in 1940s with the aim of Sinhalicising the Eastern Province. The existing administrative provinces at that time were British innovations.

More than 50% of settlers under the Gal Oya scheme were Sinhalese brought from South.

Even the 6 Tamil settlements created under Gal Oya Scheme at Naavithan-ve'li DS division are now fully Sinhalicised. 

Tamils were not able to enter their settlements and agricultural lands for which they were in possession of land deeds. 

In 1964, extremist Sinhala Buddhist monks from South established a hermitage 8 km away from Ampaa'rai town at Uddangala. These Buddhist monks, occupying more than 1200 acres of lands from Tamils were chasing Tamils away from the Tamil settlements. 

During the times of late TULF leader A. Amirthalingam, legal suits were brought against the illegal occupation in Colombo High Court. Even though the verdict was in favour of Tamil landowners, the Tamils were not able to enter the lands due to armed actions by the SL military and the Sinhala paramilitary. 

A section of lands that came under Chammaan-thu'rai DS division have been absorbed into a Sinhala division later, complicating the issue further, Tamil officials in Ampaa'rai said giving details of 200 acres of lands in Varampu-va'laintha-veddai, 171 acres in Pazhave'li-measan-mummaari, 175 acres in Thoddach-churungki Puthukkaaddu-veddai, 180 acres in Malaiyadi-veddai. 

Former Chairman of Kaaraitheevu division, Selliah Rasiah, has registered at least 27 complaints from Varampu-va'laintha-veddai and 26 cases from Pazhave'li-measan-mummaari with the Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC) under the SL National Land Commission in 2012. But, there has been no resolution on these cases. 

Apart from the above seizure of lands in Naavithan-ve'li and Chammaanthu'rai, Tamils have also lost their lands in Kalmunai, thu'rai, Akkaraip-pattu, Thirukkoayil, and Poththuvil divisions of Ampaa'rai district, the Tamil civil sources in the district said. 

Buddhist monks play a lead role in the seizure of lands from their occupied base of Buddangala forest hermitage in Ampaa'rai. 

A former Sinhala Buddhist military commander in the Sinha Regiment, Major General Ananda Weerasekara, who was the ‘Commanding Officer of the North Central Province’, has been serving as ‘teacher’ at the Buddangala forest hermitage Establishment. Major General (retd.) Ananda Weerasekara entered the Buddhist Order by the name of Buddangala Ananda in May 2007. 

The same Ananda Weerasekara was accused in year 2000 of torture and murder during the JVP uprising in late 1980s in Anuradapura. He has been very close to Sinhala extremist group Sihala Urumaya, informed media sources in Ampaa'rai said. 

Major General (retd) Buddhangala Ananda Thero delivering a sermon at Ampaa'rai

NDDCA Board Chief's life in danger

2015-07-20 

Chairman of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Authority Dr. Nilanga Samarasinghe and his family have not been provided with any protection after continuous threats had been received for revealing information about politicians and government servants involved in the drug trade.

Samarasinghe said, he informed the IGP and Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Order about his predicament last Friday. Meanwhile Police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara said, the IGP has received the letter sent by Samarasinghe. The IGP returned to Colombo only on 18 July and he will take the necessary action about the threats, Gunasekara said. Samarasinghe told Ceylon Today that if he is assaulted or killed, he wonders who will take the responsibility. If intelligence sources had taken any action to protect High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya, who was killed after he sentenced a drug baron to death, his life could have been saved.

Samarasinghe has also requested the District Secretary of Gampaha for a firearm for his personal security, with a recommendation from Police SSP. However the long bureaucratic process has made his request more of a problem for him than a solution.
When contacted Gampaha DS, Sunil Jayalath said that media has no right to question about that since it's a private request.

CT - The life of Samarasinghe is under threat because he revealed important information about politicians involved in the drug trade. Don't get angry, because it's a national issue. Don't we have the right to inquire what is going on?
DS - I am not angry. We get a lot of request for firearms. We have to be very subtle. I met this person recently also and he did not talk to me about it. We can't encourage the spread of firearms in the society. He has sent a staff member asking me to sign a document to give him a gun. I can't do things like this.

CT - He has sent that letter through one of his staff members because he fears for his life, is that wrong?
DS - Ask him at which Police Station he has lodged a complaint?

CT - He has lodged a complaint at the Ragama Police. His mother has also done the same.
DS - Has he shown you copies of the complaint? When has he complained? If he has made a complaint, then the Police must investigate. We will act under the instruction of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.

CT - You initially said that we had no right to ask about this. But this is a state official who has done a lot for the country. Should we not be concerned for his life?
DS - No you have no right. He should talk about it, not you. He has a family. This is a private matter of an official. He hasn't spoken to me over the phone. If he has a problem he should tell the Police.

President Sirisena Or Alice In Wonderlad?

By Kumar David –July 19, 2015

Prof. Kumar David

The initial title of this piece was “Requiem for a President” but Tuesday’s developments have left me flummoxed for a title; it is a most unusual constitutional wrangle when a President declares that he will not appoint someone as PM even if he secures a majority in parliament. Additionally, the leader (MS) of a party (SLFP), showers imprecations on the head of the person (MR) leading that party’s electoral campaign. Alice in Wonderland stuff! MS has to take the blame for this circus because when he nominated MR for the slate of the party he nominally leads, he put himself on collision course with the declarations that he now pronounces. If the UPFA gains adequate seats there is no power on earth that can prevent MR from becoming prime minister. How can MS constitutionally refuse? True the UPFA has little chance of winning; but hypothetically, if it does, what is MS’s way out, short of a constitutional coup? Didn’t I warn you that the two-competing-centres-of-power provision in 19A was a huge blunder!

Mind you, I like President Maithripala Sirisena. He is a decent man who has won respect for Lanka on his overseas assignments, is scrupulously free of corruption and has kept many promises. Unlike his predecessor he is not a fraudster, he has not woven protective wraps round drug scullions, nor is he feted as overlord of a Mafia State. What a pity he vacillates like a straw in the wind. One grievous defect in a good man can be fatal.

So oft it chance with particular men
Carrying the stamp of one defect
His virtues else be they as pure as grace
As infinite as man may undergo
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of eale
Doeth all the noble substance oft adulter
To his own scandal.

And what is his defect? Not that of Hamlet, who dithered over the MORAL dimensions of his choices – “thus conscious does make cowards of us all and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought” – but rather, the high price that MS now has to pay is for a dearth of boldness in the aftermath of 8 January. His first misjudgement in his Indian summer was failure to follow up the alleged coup in the early hours of 9 January and stalling the arrest of those incriminated, MR included. The next let down is not bringing to book venal politicos of mega-corruption infamy (and now nominating them); how painful and slow the Basil and Gota cases. The third mistake was holding on, in 19A, to an elected presidency with semi-executive powers. A ceremonial president, whatever the electoral outcome, would not now be treading water. To what extent Ranil shares blame for these flops will be known only when the archives of oral testimony burst into the open one day.

Poor Maithripala Sirisena                       Read More

The Freak Show Returns

• by Tisaranee Gunasekara 
• - on 07/19/2015 

The UPFA’s election campaign is based on Four Ignoble Lies: Sri Lanka and all true-born Lankans are suffering; the reason for this suffering is the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa on January 8th; national salvation depends on bringing Mahinda Rajapaksa back to power; the way to do it is to make Mahinda Rajapaksa the prime minister on August 17th.

The Freak Show Returns by Thavam Ratna

Ex-CJ's argument rubbished by Justice Minister

Former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva is sorry for 2005 ruling

2015-07-19

The United National Party (UNP) today rubbished the argument proffered by ex-chief justice Sarath N. Silva and other UPFA members that under the 19th Amendment, the President did not have the authority to appoint a prime minister.

He said on Friday that the President had no say in selecting a prime minister other than appointing as PM a member who commanded the majority support in parliament.

UNP Colombo District Candidate and Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe told a media briefing that under 19A the President had the authority to appoint anyone whom he thought would be able to win the confidence of a majority of members in parliament.

He said the ex-CJ was double-talking and behaving in a duplicitous manner.

The minister hit back at the ex-CJ that during the presidential election he came out with an entirely different opinion when on several occasions he very clearly stated that the then president Mahinda Rajapaksa had to be thrown out of power. The minister also recalled that the ex-CJ Silva had tendered a public apology for having given an incorrect judgement in the 'Helping Hambantota Case' in which the ex-president was charged with committing a financial fraud.

The minister said that similarly all the other judgments given by Sarath N. Silva during his tenure as chief justice were questionable when considering the apology he made on the 'Helping Hambantota' scam. (Yohan Perera and Dayana Udayangani) - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/80093/ex-cj-s-argument-by-justice-minister#sthash.6Gvtx9ax.dpuf

Sri Lanka opposition's war on Mangala's oral brigades

Jul 18, 2015

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's main opposition launched its parliamentary election campaign declaring war against an alleged group of 5,000 young men and women deployed to “discredit” former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

UPFA affiliate Wimal Weerawansa told the inaugural campaign rally at Anuradhapura on Friday evening that Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has recruited 5,000 youngsters to attack the opposition via word-of-mouth.

"There was one such person slating Mahinda Rajapaksa at a restaurant," Weerawansa said. "The restaurant owner was angry over this and pretended to accidentally spill boiling hot water on that person.

"I am not asking you to assault them, but you can throw boiling hot water on them... accidentally of course," said Weerawansa who is facing a string of allegations over falsifying official travel documents and a host of other financial frauds while he was a minister.

Weerawansa said the Foreign minister had also launched a successful campaign to spread what he called falsehoods over social media.

The UPFA rally also demonstrated the deep divisions within the party. The main Anuradhapura district leader Dumina Dissanayake boycotted the meeting, but sent his cut out with a bold number 9, his preferential list number.

Dissanayake was one of the first batch of SLFP MPs to quit Rajapaksa's government last year and support Maithripala Sirisena.

The play ground at the Anuradhapura town was packed when former president Rajapaksa addressed the crowds. He was assisted by a teleprompter, but his officials said he deviated from the prepared text.

He talks about the need to learn from his previous mistakes and ensure ethnic reconciliation and freedom for minorities to practice their religion, but had minutes earlier noted that it was the minority Tamils who defeated him.

However, he ended his speech with a Ramadan greeting to Muslims.

Economy Next also wishes its Muslim readers a happy Eid. (Anuradhapura/July18/2015)

Presidential body blow, Anuradhapura counterblow, and the bond scandal that won’t go away

by Rajan Philips-July 18, 2015

The scores seem to have become even at the end of a tumultuous first week after nominations. To go back to the week before –the UPFA scored first by hijacking and announcing the Rajapaksa candidacy supposedly premised on a ‘historic unity’ between Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa candidacy. The real threat of a Mahinda return galvanized the yahapalanaya forces to come together after months of infighting into a new United National Front for Good Governance. Then on Tuesday came the Sirisena thunderbolt – that was every bit a body blow to the UPFA/Rajapaksa campaign, save for the left handed bond swipe at Ranil Wickremesinghe over the Central Bank scandal.

Presidential Body Blow, Anuradhapura Counterblow, And the Bond Scandal That Won’t Go Away by Thavam Ratna

On Believing One’s Own Sycophants

By Emil van der Poorten –July 19, 2015

Emil van der Poorten

While there is no gainsaying the value of political supporters who fit the category of zealots in most circumstances, there is a “down side” to that equation for the Rajapaksa Regime that has coasted on such support for a long time.

The reason for such myopia would be obvious to anyone who observes the human condition no matter how cursorily.

In the last analysis, the truism that “If we don’t hang together, we will hang separately” is the bedrock of the movement to restore Mahinda Rajapaksa to his throne with all that entails.

There is absolutely no doubt in the minds of any observers of the Sri Lankan political and financial scenes that a very impressive web of absolute corruption has been built in a relatively short time, considering the extent and tensile strength of that web.

That the totality of the siphoning of public funds into private pockets may never be known is something that the very nature of the enterprise would suggest.

“Massive leakage” would be a polite term to describe what has occurred over the last ten years. “Haemorrhaging,” would probably be more accurate terminology. And that embezzlement of public funds has not been confined to any (privileged) stratum of the ruling clique. In colloquial terms, “every mother’s son” has been dipping into the public purse and I am talking here only of simple acquisition of government funds not of the more subtle “commissions” and “santhosams” that accompanied so much as the establishment of contracts, leave alone their execution.Read More