APEC leaders discuss trade, climate change and terrorism amidst protests

A man walks in front of the APEC 2015 logo in Manila, Philippines on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015. Pic: AP.

Riot police watch protesters as the latter hold a rally outside the Supreme Court to coincide with the session on the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation (EDCA) which they alleged to favor only the United States military Monday, Nov. 16, 2015 in Manila, Philippines. Pic: AP.

by AP News-18th November 2015

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Leaders from 21 countries and self-governing territories are gathering in Manila for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The meeting’s official agenda is focused on trade, business and economic issues but terrorism, South China Sea disputes and climate change are also set to be in focus. (All times are local.)

APEC Leaders Discuss Trade, Climate Change and Terrorism Amidst Protests by Thavam Ratna

Canadians Change The Pillow To Ease The Headache!

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –November 16, 2015

Veluppillai Thangavelu

The gruelling election campaign lasting 78 days came to an end on October 19 when Canadians went to the polling stations in troves to exercise their franchise.  The ruling Conservative Party deliberately prolonged the campaign in the hope a longer campaign will be to its advantage. Compared to the other two parties the Conservative had millions of dollars in extra cash in the bank to spend on the elections.

When the election results were flashed over the TV screens as soon as polled closed in Atlantic Canada at 7.30 pm, the Liberal party was painting the electoral map pure red. The Liberal party took a commanding hold in Atlantic Canada capturing all 32 ridings across the region and it set the stage early for a majority government.  High profile Conservative cabinet ministers and veteran New Democratic MPs suffered defeat at the hands of Liberal candidates.

It was a strong message; not only across Atlantic Canada but also the whole country coast to coast. The Liberals won seats after seats in record numbers as results from other provinces poured in.  Before mid-night, the Liberal party has won a convincing majority, taking 184 seats out of 338 seats.  Canadians in every province voted for Liberal candidates, who won in striking victories in greater Toronto and Quebec. In Ontario Liberals won 79 of the province’s 121 seats including all 25 Toronto City ridings and 22 of 24 ridings in the Greater Toronto. The Liberals mostly took back the seats they lost in the 2011 elections. The larger turn out at 68.5 % compared with 61.1 % in 2011 boosted the total number of votes cast. Turnout this year was the highest since 1993, when it was 70.9 %. The following Table 1 shows how the parties fared compared to 2011 election at a glance.

The major difference was the high voter turnout, motivated by the anti Stephen Harper sentiment. There were 3.0 million more votes cast in 2015 over 2011. However, the hardcore conservative base remained intact. Harper only lost 231,905 votes from 2011 and Liberals got 4.1 million more than 2011. So they got all of the additional votes and the strategic swing from the NDP also.     Read More

Japanese women suffer widespread 'maternity harassment' at work

Half of short-term workers discriminated against after becoming pregnant, survey says, as harassment complaints rise 18%

 New recruits at a retail company. Japan’s government is desperate to raise the number of women in the workforce to revive its economy. Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Justin McCurry in Tokyo-Wednesday 18 November 201508.29 GMT

Almost half of Japanese women who work on short-term contracts suffer harassment after becoming pregnant or giving birth, according to a government survey.

Evidence of widespread discrimination is a blow to attempts by the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to increase the number of women in the workplace and revive the world’s third biggest economy.

Concern about the prevalence of “maternity harassment” – or matahara in Japanese – prompted the health, welfare and labour ministry to conduct its first survey of attitudes towards working women who become pregnant or take time off to have children.

The results show 48.7% of women sent to corporate clients by temp agencies encountered victimisation, ranging from dismissal and demotion to unfair treatment and verbal abuse. The survey of 3,500 women aged 24-44 found that 21.8% of full-time employees were subjected to similar mistreatment.

The number of complaints has increased in tandem with a rise in the number of Japanese women who stay in their jobs after giving birth. In 2010, 46% stayed in work after having their first child, compared with 32% in 2001, the health ministry said. The number of maternity harassment complaints has risen 18% in the past six years.

Campaigners say harassment has added to fears among women on short-term contracts that they will not be re-hired if they take maternity or childcare leave.

Abe says he wants to raise the number of women in the workforce to revive the economy, which has slid back into recession for the fifth time in seven years. Japanese women on average earn just over 70% of a man’s salary for the same work. He has also pledged to create new nursery school places to encourage more women to go back to work.

Discrimination in the workplace poses a challenge to his plans for women to fill 30% of all public and private sector leadership positions by the end of the decade.

Japan performs poorly in international gender equality comparisons. In the World Economic Forum’s 2014 global gender gap index, it ranked 104th out of 142 countries.

At 64%, Japan’s female participation rate in the labour force, compared with 84% for men, is one of the lowest among the 34 leading economies of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Almost 48% of the women surveyed by the health ministry said they had been accused of “causing trouble” or were encouraged to quit their jobs after becoming pregnant. Just over a fifth were dismissed, while 17.1% had seen their bonuses reduced and 15.9% had been pressured to resign.

In most cases – almost 40% – the perpetrators were male superiors, but 20% involved discriminatory behaviour by female bosses.

Matahara Net, a group of women campaigning for an end to maternity harassment, has documented numerous examples on its website, even though dismissing or demoting employees due to pregnancy or childbirth violates Japanese employment laws.

The cases include a male employee telling his pregnant female colleague that she should quit her job, as he had instructed his own wife to do when she found out she was expecting.

Another woman said she was told not to expect to be granted maternity leave and to consider leaving the company instead.

The campaign to end maternity harassment has been given a boost by the courts, however.

Last year the supreme court ruled that demoting a woman because she is pregnant is illegal. That landmark ruling came in a case brought by a hospital physiotherapist who had been demoted after asking for a lighter workload during her pregnancy.

This week a court in Hiroshima ordered the hospital to pay the woman, who requested anonymity, 1.75m yen (£9,300) in damages.

Nepal quake survivors at risk as fuel crisis deepens - aid agencies

Tourists walk in front of the ruins of a monastery, which was damaged during earthquake which happened earlier this year, at Swayambhunath stupa, also known as Monkey Temple, in Kathmandu, Nepal November 18, 2015.-REUTERS/NAVESH CHITRAKAR

BY NITA BHALLA- Wed Nov 18, 2015

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A fuel crisis in Nepal has disrupted aid agencies' efforts to send essential items like blankets and clothing to earthquake survivors in remote mountainous areas before winter sets in, aid workers said on Wednesday.

Protests at the Indian border over Nepal's new constitution, which began in September, have prevented tankers from taking petroleum into the landlocked Himalayan nation, forcing Kathmandu to ration fuel and import supplies from China.

Aid groups supporting people hit by twin quakes in April and May say the mile-long queues for fuel and the lack of cooking gas have affected hundreds of thousands of people in the impoverished nation, including quake survivors.

"Hospitals have run out of essential drugs and supplies, vital social services have been disrupted and aid agencies such as Oxfam have not been able to secure fuel to deliver relief items to prepare people for the winter in earthquake affected districts," said Cecilia Keizer, head of Oxfam in Nepal.

"If the situation continues, Oxfam’s humanitarian programme will come to a complete standstill within two weeks," Keizer said in a statement.

Oxfam, which was planning to deliver thermal mats, blankets and hot water bottles to people in rural areas, said it had already had to reduce its programme.

More than 40 people have died in violent protests at border posts with India, where some southerners have blocked fuel imports, saying their Tarai Madhes region has been carved up in a way that gives them no say in running the nation of 28 million.

Many Nepalese accuse India of supporting the protesters. New Delhi denies the charges, but has said it cannot allow trucks to enter Nepal while conditions are unsafe.

Max Santner, Head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Nepal, said the IFRC had had to change the type of relief it was providing to around 48,000 quake survivors.

"The shortages of fuel are definitely hindering our operations. Instead of providing blankets and clothing for the winter, we are going to distribute cash vouchers as we don't have the fuel to take up trucks filled with aid," he said.

"We hope that people will be able to buy winter items where they are, but we are not sure on availability."

Aid workers said the shortages of fuel and basic goods had not reached emergency levels, but they were trying to save fuel.

"We have reduced non-essential travel, we are doing more car pooling and increasing the number of staff travelling in one vehicle," said Jeff Franklin from Save the Children in Nepal.

"We have also applied for a fuel-import licence, increased the amount of funds we are appealing for to take into consideration the higher costs of fuel and are tapping into fuel provisions offered by the U.N.," he added.

(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

Frontal brain wrinkle linked to hallucinations

The folds of the human brain are broadly consistent but do vary between individuals

By Jonathan Webb-17 November 2015

A study of 153 brain scans has linked a particular furrow, near the front of each hemisphere, to hallucinations in schizophrenia.

This fold tends to be shorter in those patients who hallucinate, compared with those who do not.

Frontal Brain Wrinkle Linked to Hallucinations by Thavam Ratna

TNA calls for 'continued involvement' of UN on disappearances

17 November 2015

The Tamil National Alliance called for the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) to continue their involvement in Sri Lanka, in a meeting in Colombo on Monday.

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran met with the UN officials and “stressed on the concerns of the families of the disappeared and detainees,” said the party in an email sent to media outlets.

Mr Sumanthiran “pointed out the importance of the judicial mechanisms and the truth seeking mechanisms that must be set up in this regard, and he asked for the continued involvement of the working group in these processes,” said the TNA.

The meeting comes after the UN officials visited the site of a mass grave in Mannar earlier this week, during their visit of the island.

See our earlier post:

UN Enforced Disappearances Working Group visits Mannar mass grave site (14 Nov 2015)

Prospects for good governance and national reconciliation post the August 17th elections

• by Gaetano Greco and Michael Cooke 
• - on 11/17/2015 

Featured image courtesy Newsfirst.

The birds they sang

At the break of day

Start again,

I heard them say,

Don’t dwell on what

Has passed away

Or what is yet to be.

There is a crack in everything.

That’s how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen[1] 

‘If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change Do you understand?

Giuseppe di Lampedusa[2]

Preamble

The genesis of this paper was a recent trip we took to Lanka as election observers for the August parliamentary elections. During the elections and after we had the opportunity not only to visit many  cities in the north, east and the south but to speak to a cross-section of its inhabitants. What follows is the result of our observations, our reading and our discussions about Lanka, not just during our recent trip but also in the course of the past decade.

Prospects for Good Governance and National Reconciliation Post the August 17th Elections by Thavam Ratna

HRC will look into AG’s Dept 

Avant Garde controversy:

HRC Chief Dr. Deepika Udagama addressing the media on Monday. Commissioner Ambika Satkunanathan looks on (Pic by Ranjith Wimalasiri)

PTA did nothing to prevent terrorism’

By Shamindra Ferdinando-November 17, 2015, 12:00 pm 

Chairperson of the newly constituted Human Rights Commission (HRC) Dr. Deepika Udagama yesterday assured that she would certainly look into the Attorney General’s Department.

Addressing the media at the HRC head office at Kynsey Road, Borella, Dr. Udagama stressed the importance of protecting the independence of the AG’s Department, the judiciary and the police. She was flanked by Commissioners, attorney-at-law H. Ghazali Hussain, attorney-at-law Saliya Pieris, Ambika Satkunanathan and Dr. U. Vidanapathirana.

Dr. Udagama was responding to a query by The Island whether the HRC would intervene in the wake of an influential section of the government questioning the conduct of the AG over his handling of the vexed Avant Garde Maritime Services (AGMS) issue. Asked to explain how the HRC intended to restore public confidence in the AG’s Department, Dr. Udagama said that the HRC would take it up with the AG.

The AG’s Department comes under the Justice Ministry for administrative purposes though the Minister concerned has no statutory powers to give instructions to the AG.

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka publicly accused both the AG and the Solicitor General of shielding Avant Garde, a charge strongly denied by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC.

Dr. Udagama emphasised that the HRC would initiate action on its own, depending on the requirement and situation. She cited the swift action taken by them following the police crackdown on HNDA students’ protest in Colombo recently as an example. Having inquired into the incident, the HRC was in the process of studying the available information before making recommendations, Dr. Udugama said.

The HRC intended to play a pivotal role in shaping the state policy, Dr Udagama said, adding that the supervision of the post-war national reconciliation process would be among the priorities. According to her, the HRC would also advice the government on the national reconciliation process. The HRC would also intervene in efforts to reach an agreement on a brand new Constitution, Dr Udagama said, adding that another priority would be reviewing certain controversial laws. The HRC chief called for law reforms as well as abolition of some such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Dr. Udagama asserted that the PTA hadn’t contributed to the defeat of terrorism. Stressing the need for what she called security laws, Dr Udagama declared: "PTA did nothing to prevent terrorism."

Dr. Udagama also explained the HRC role in ensuring Sri Lanka met its international obligations in protecting human rights.

Commenting on the Geneva process, reconciliation and transitional justice, Dr. Udagama asserted that the entire process should be based on human rights laws.

Dr Udagama emphasised that the constitution making couldn’t be solely left to political parties.

Ambika Satkunanathan explained the HRC mandate and its proposed role.

Responding to a query, Dr Udagama said that the HRC lacked the authority to give directives and those failing to carry out its recommendations could be found guilty of contempt of court in accordance with the HRC Act. The HRC chief said she believed in implementing the HRC recommendations through a process of consultation and discussions. A country couldn’t move forward by issuing directives, she said, underscoring the importance of consensus on critical issues.

She said existing laws weren’t adequate to meet international human rights standards, therefore the urgency to address reforms couldn’t be ignored.

Commenting on the resumption of judicial executions, Dr. Udagama said the capital punishment alone wouldn’t alone help control crime.

Civil society group DecentLanka calls afresh for release of Tamil prisoners

Featured image courtesy IPSNews

• by Kusal Perera 
• - on 11/17/2015 

Civil society group DecentLanka has called afresh for the release of Tamil prisoners, specifically those held without charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

A short while ago, it was reported that the prisoners had suspended their fastupon consultation with Minister D M Swaminathan, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran, and the Commissioner General of Prisons until December 15.

The detained prisoners recommenced a death fast last week calling for their release as the November 7 deadline set by the Government passed without any definitive resolution. Negotiations to release them continued this week – with at least one prisoner reported dead and several hospitalised. Over 30 of the prisoners have been bailed out so far, it has been reported.

The statement by DecentLanka notes that many of the prisoners held have been released on bail, while the Government is considering sending many of the detainees to rehabilitation. This is unacceptable as there has been no charge raised against the detainees, DecentLanka maintains.

Below is the statement reproduced in full:

We Demand Again – ALL Tamil Prisoners held in Detention Without Charges should be released immediately with Compensation for “Denied life”

Over 200 Tamil detainees held under PTA for very long periods and without charges filed against them were promised they would be released by 07 November (2015) and before their religious festival “Diwali” on 10 November by President Sirisena, after a special mechanism set up by the Minister of Justice re-examines their individual cases.

The TNA and Opposition leader Sampanthan saying he trusts President Sirisena very much on the promise, requested Tamil detainees to end their fast which they did on 17 October. While the TNA leadership and DPF Minister in this “Yahapalanaya” government used President Sirisena’s promise for their own image building, issuing a statement on 19 October (2015) we as “DecentLanka2015” said, “we do have very strong reservations on this compromised solution proposed by the TNA leadership that has unrestricted faith in leaders of this government and with this (Justice) minister on record saying Sri Lanka has no ‘political prisoners’ who could be bias in how he intervenes in this issue.”

None were released as promised by President Sirisena by 07 November that resulted in a second fast demanding unconditional release by these Tamil detainees, beginning 09 November. This demand for immediate release was backed by mass democratic agitations in North and East that crippled daily life. Yet this government that is on a popular mandate to effectively speed up the reconciliation process, acts very much like the ousted insensitive Rajapaksa regime and at the moment this statement is issued, there is controversy of reports that say 01 detainee had succumbed to his fast unto death, but 05 others from the Welikada remand prison had been removed to the National Hospital, Colombo on Monday (16 Nov).

Meanwhile media reports said 02 batches of 31 and 08 detainees have been bailed out, although they have no charges against them. Addressing a media briefing in Jaffna, the “bailed out Tamil detainees without charges” claimed, conditions slapped on them are extremely harsh too. Minister Ganesan who was making public statements on the issue had told media the government is considering sending all detainees for “rehabilitation” and sounds happy Tamil detainees without any charges could be sent for “rehabilitation”.

Making all decisions for rehabilitation of “arrested and detained suspects” illegal, regulations made by the President under section 27 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 read with paragraph (2) of Article 44 of the Constitution as Gazetted on 29 August 2011 clearly says it is only a voluntary “Surrendee” who should be handed over to the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation in the manner set out in paragraph (1) of this regulation for “rehabilitation”.

We as “DecentLanka2015” remain convinced that over 200 Tamil detainees who are only “suspects” and are “not LTTE cadres” cannot be further detained or sent for “rehabilitation” as authorities have not been able to file any charges against them on “terrorist” activities under the PTA they are presently held in detention.

As we noted in our earlier statement, “If the State agencies working with special powers vested in them under the PTA could not find any valid evidence to frame any charges all these long years, there is absolutely no necessity to have any more mechanisms to try and slap charges on these detainees once again” and there is thus no necessity to delay their release through unwanted “rehabilitation” programmes.

We therefore once again demand,

1. all detainees with no charges against them, be immediately released unconditionally
2. any who may have charges brought against them be produced in Courts and trial fixed
   within next 02 weeks
3. compensation for all detainees released for their unjustly long “denied life” while held in detention
4. they be provided with a re-socialising programme including individual counselling by qualified personnel and livelihood opportunities at State expense.

We also take this opportunity to call upon all organisations and individuals who were very vociferous during the Rajapaksa regime in agitating for human and democratic rights to break their present silence and demand the immediate release of all Tamil detainees without charges.

Signatories

Neville Ananda Attorney at law
Sujeewa Dahanayake Attorney at Law
Muditha Karunamuni Social activist
Kusal Perera Journalist
Anton Marcus Trade union leader
Srinath Perera Attorney at law
Srinath Perera President’s Counsel

Tamil political prisoners temporarily halt hunger strike

17 November 2015

Tamil political prisoners detained at jails across Sri Lanka have temporarily halted their hunger strike, following new assurances from the government that they would all be released.

Following a meeting in Colombo between the Northern Provincial Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesingh, the prisoners were told their cases would be reviewed and they would ultimately be released by December 15th. The Tamil National Alliance also stated that the prisoners took the decision after meeting with Minister D.M Swaminathan, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran, and the Commissioner General of Prisons.

The prisoners stated that if they were not released by then, they would all recommence their fast.

TNPF leader G Ponnambalam also met with the prisoners as they broke their fast.

The renewed pledges by the Sri Lankan government come after a public protest in front of the UN office in Jaffna on Monday.

தமிழ்க் கைதிகள் உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தை முடித்துக் கொண்டனர்

கைதிகளில் 99 பேர் புனர்வாழ்வு பெற்று விடுதலையாக விரும்புவதாக அரசாங்கத்திடம் கோரிக்கை மனுவொன்றை முன்வைத்திருந்தனர்

17 நவம்பர் 2015

இலங்கையில் தமிழ் 'அரசியல்' கைதிகள் தங்களின் உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தை முடித்துக் கொண்டுள்ளனர்.

பயங்கரவாதத் தடைச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் கைதாகி சிறைச்சாலைகளில் நீண்ட காலமாக தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த தமிழ் கைதிகள் தங்களை விடுதலை செய்யவேண்டும் என்று கோரி கடந்த 10 நாட்களாக உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்டு வந்தனர்.

குறித்த கைதிகளில் 99 பேர் புனர்வாழ்வு பெற்று விடுதலையாக விரும்புவதாக அரசாங்கத்திடம் கோரிக்கை மனுவொன்றை முன்வைத்திருந்தனர்.

இந்த கோரிக்கை தொடர்பில் நேற்று திங்கட்கிழமை பிரதமர் ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க தலைமையில் கூடிய உயர்மட்டக் கூட்டத்தில் சாதகமான முடிவு எட்டப்பட்டுள்ளதாக கூறப்படுகின்றது.

இந்த முடிவு கைதிகளுக்கு அறிவிக்கப்பட்டதை அடுத்தே அவர்கள் போராட்டத்தை கைவிட்டுள்ளனர்.

மட்டக்களப்பு சிறைச்சாலையில் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்களும் மாகாணசபை உறுப்பினர்களும் கைதிகளுக்கு இளநீர் வழங்கி உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தை முடித்து வைத்தனர்.

புனர்வாழ்வு பெற்றபின் கைதிகளுக்கு விடுதலை என்ற முடிவு தங்களுக்கு சற்று ஆறுதல் தருவதாக தனது கணவனை பார்த்துவிட்டு திரும்பிய நாகேஸ்வரி யோகராஜா தெரிவித்தார்.

Removal of PTA detrimental to national 

security – Manohara, PC

By Shamindra Ferdinando-November 17, 2015, 7:27 am 

President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva yesterday censured the government for agreeing to do away with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as well as other regulations in place to counter possible future threats.

The senior lawyer stressed the need to maintain security though the LTTE no longer posed a conventional military threat. The President’s Counsel was on Sirasa live political programme ‘Pethikada.’

Responding to interviewer Bandula Jayasekera, De Silva expressed surprise that the UNP-SLFP coalition had decided to do away with the PTA which had contributed to annihilation of terrorism with a new law.

De Silva urged the government to be cautious as the country was still vulnerable to terrorism. Last Friday’s Paris massacre highlighted the pivotal importance of a country being prepared to meet any eventuality, he said.

Commenting on the four-party Tamil National Alliance approach towards post-war reconciliation, De Silva alleged the grouping was still pursuing an agenda inimical to Sri Lanka’s national interest. He emphasised that the TNA was seeking to achieve a separate state through federalism.

The President’s Counsel asserted that the full implementation of the 13 Amendment to the Constitution would have a disastrous impact on the country. The devolution of police powers to nine provinces would automatically result in the creation of separate police forces under respective Chief Ministers. The police in one province wouldn’t be able to enter another province hence creating a chaotic situation, he said, adding that the devolution of police powers wasn’t advisable.

He noted that Indian intervention had caused the mayhem here.

The President’s Counsel admitted that Tamil speaking people’s demand for the implementation of the Constitution, too, was justified. The devolution process shouldn’t divide communities, he said.

De Silva faulted the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration for having co-sponsored a resolution that dealt with Sri Lanka at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). President Maithripala Sirisena had been deprived of expert advice on not only Geneva issue but also various other important subjects, he said. Referring to the proposed abolition of the PTA, the attorney-at-law declared that the government was taking the wrong path.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, too, hadn’t received proper advice, De Silva said. Had the previous government acted sensibly on the basis of sound advice, the country would have been prepared to tackle the accountability issues in the wake of its triumph over terrorism. The President’s Counsel lamented the absence of strategic thinking in tackling contentious issues.

The President’s counsel frowned on the readiness of the new administration to accommodate foreign and other Commonwealth judges, prosecutors as well as investigators to set up a judicial mechanism to try war crimes suspects. When it was pointed out that former President Rajapaksa had obtained the services of foreign experts to assist the Paranagama Commission, De Silva stressed that the proposed hybrid mechanism and the role played by foreign experts on the previous government’s invitation couldn’t be compared.

The President’s Counsel said that the failure on the part of the government to conduct a thorough inquiry into the alleged Central Bank bond scam in the run-up to the Aug. 17 parliamentary polls had given the lie to the government’s yahapalanaya claim. De Silva pointed out that Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran wouldn’t have acted on his own but carried out specific instructions received by him. He also recalled that President Maithripala Sirisena had publicly declared that he, too, felt the need to replace the Governor in the run-up to the general election.

Darkest Day In The City Of Lights

By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera –November 17, 2015

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world” – Albert Camus

Following the Charlie Hebdo in January killing 17 people,it was the second terror attack for this year in Paris. This time losing 129 innocent civilians on the evening of the 13th of November. This was a carefully planned and coordinated multiple attack on six different locations by eight gunmen. Out of the eight killers, seven committed suicide. The worst attack taking most lives was at a live concert at Bataclan Theater killing more than 80. It was a painful day which will be remembered by the entire world – a particular hit to human values. ISIS who claim responsibility have declared a war beyond their geographical area to the entire world.

Few weeks ago, the Russian flight carrying passengers from Shyam el Shek were bombed according to the western intelligence agency reports. On Thursday another suicide attack in Beirut killed 40 innocent civilians. These cowardly acts by the ISIS militant group is a clear message sent to the western world. One may wonder if the clash of the civilizations from Samuel P. Huntington is unfolding between the West and ISIS. We live at a point in history that we have witnessed serious height of terrorism from 9/11 to Mumbai attack and to many other attacks in our own nation Sri Lanka. According to the French philosopher André Glucksmann who passed away last week clearly states the characteristic form of modern terrorism is nihilism. “What do extremist ideologies like the communism or Nazism of yesteryear and the Islamism of today have in common? After all, they support ostensibly very different ideals – the superior race, mankind united in socialism, the community of Muslim believers (the Umma). Tomorrow, it could be altogether different ideals: some theological, some scientific, others racist. But the common characteristic is nihilism.” Whatever the cause, ISIS killing innocent people is most certainly not Islam.

World leaders meeting at the G20 conference in Antalya could be an opportunity to retool the strategy against ISIS. With coordinated effort from the global powers ISIS could be defeated. There should be space given to any nation who is ready to support and fight ISIS. Eastern powers; particularly Chinese and Indian among other nations should support this cause. There is no time to waste on political games as the threat from ISIS is serious and daily spreading. A political and military solution to ISIS terror should be ranked top priority on the global agenda.

The ISIS usage of social media for propaganda and the radicalization program using new methods is more evident than any other terrorist group in history. It appears ISIS is hiding operatives among the tide of legitimate refugees now entering Europe as one gunman was identified as a refugee who entered using this path.

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