The communiqué betrays hidden selfish agenda of ‘Mangi’ ; Media Minister has forgotten even UNP name !

(Lanka-e-News - (Lanka-e-News - 31.Jan.2018, 11.30 PM) The mask of  minister of mass media and finance Mangala Samaraweera who during the last 7 months while being in the government was on  the sly helping the Maithripala  SLFP group , was torn into shreds  ,and his true hideous double faced identity became  known when  the special  statement issued  by him targeting  the forthcoming elections was published. His special statement is in our possession.

This communique  issued under the caption  'March to freedom or return to fear?', though on the face of it is progressive, Mangala had in fact promoted the campaign of Maithri group. In that communique which urges to cast the vote for the sake of  freedom, nowhere   is it stated to cast the vote for the UNP on that account. There is no mention of the UNP at all. Who doesn’t know today  that the Maithri SLFP group is soliciting   votes for freedom?  Can a genuine UNP media minister therefore issue an election  communique leaving out the UNP name? 

Caravan in the middle of a  muddle 

Mangala Samaraweera is of course universally known  as a world cup winner in somersaulting and pole vaulting  in the political arena for the most nefarious reasons.  He is a Machiavellian who changes colors so fast that it could  earn the envy even of  a chameleon . He who espouses the cause  of  peace today, can in a few months join with the racist JVP to stoke war . In addition he can mingle with the hard core racists at the same time . What is most remarkable about all these chameleon and culprit ways of his is ,he can resort to all these   villainies and treacheries with consummate ease. Being possessed of  innate evil traits his favorite sport is opportunistic politics for self gain and self propulsion  , while party and policies mean nothing to him going by his putrid antecedence.  Of course being a masquerader , somersault Sultan and opportunist ,he knows how to gather grounds to justify his  ruthless stealthy and  unscrupulous actions. Though those grounds of his may serve his selfish  purpose , they are however sans policies .

So when such a minister  Mangala Samaraweera issues a communiqué , needless to say, everyone knows he is seeking to rescue a desperate sinking equally policy-less unscrupulous Maithripala  not with  a thin thread but with the thickest rope ,despite the well known fact it is this same Sirisena alias Sillysena who is openly insulting and vilifying Mangala’s genuine leader – the P.M.

It is a well and widely known fact some days ago , a 19 th century outdated law pertaining to women drinking beer was  brought to limelight  and updated in order to inflate the punctured balls of Maithri so that he can  jump up like an inflated rubberball. Rajitha himself exposed  this at a recent cabinet meeting while adding ,even the cabinet did not know about such a law being introduced. Mangala is not an infant to introduce such a law to be taken up at the debate  during the run up to elections. Double faced Mangala thereby was  obviously playing a ‘double game’ 

When accepting the finance minister portfolio Mangala the masquerader  gave Ravi Karunaratne a ‘kiss’ which was like the kiss of death – even before a week had elapsed , Mangala axed all the UNPers in the Institutions , some even via gazette notification . In their places Mangala appointed all the staunch  SLFPers , among whom were many misfits  who are not suitable for the posts. Amidst all that villainy , finance minister Mangala did not forget to establish  a ‘beyond  limit’ bond between his sister’s advertising Co.- Bates strategic allinace pvt ltd and Chaturika  Sirisena (daughter of president) to ensure that his sister’s Bates ads also comes close enough to that of Chaturika’s .

Kudu(heroin) Sameera back at work secretly !

No matter  how much Mangala brags loudly and proudly that he works in accordance with  the laws, those words are never translated into deeds. This was well illustrated when his secretary Sameera Manahara (Mangala’s bottom half) was arrested by  the STF along with a quantity of heroin ; a huge publicity was given that he was sacked from Mangala’s service. Yet , unbelievably ,he is back at work on the sly from 2018-01-01  even while the case against Sameera is still being heard in court. In order to rescue his ‘kudu koluwa’ ,Mangala held  media conferences at that time and  uttered a profusion of lies.  He even told, the Police Commission had decided to dismiss STF chief Latheef. The latter ,a most reputed officer is still in service without any hindrance. 

Need we warn afresh about  the fate of a country and where it is headed when its  finance minister is one whose   closest ‘bottom half’ is having closest  ties with well known top heroin magnates of the country. 

The heroin  chain of  Sameera who became a billionaire within a short period  is well known to the international heroin investigators though Mangala pretends he is unaware.  But we are of course fully aware , at a not too distant date kudu Sameera the indispensable bottom half of Mangala will fasten that kudu label – ‘kudu Mangala’ on his minister too. ( We are issuing this forewarning because of our solicitude  for Mangala who was an erstwhile friend of Lanka e news ) 

The mask of faceless politician Mangala who is openly and shamelessly  doing the sordid biddings of Maithri’s SLFP group while also being a UNP minister got torn off  on the 25 th with the release of the media communique titled ‘March to freedom or return to fear?’

What is most perplexing and rudely shocking about this communique is , while it makes mention of abduction and murder of journalists, and attacks launched on media Institutions including arson, it makes no mention of the illegal  ban imposed on the news website during his tenure of office as media minister. This is obviously because his latest mentor is Maithri .

In order to dupe the nation   he has concocted choice words and grandiose phrase,   that is ‘Change is incremental, political systems are entrenched and sometimes immovable; but the will to change remains as strong as ever.'

Mangala who consistently says, he would retire from politics after he is 65 years old, cannot gainsay the fact that he is now bootlicking Maithri in order to ingratiate himself into his favor nursing the vain hope of becoming the prime minister.  The latest communique of his has betrayed  this self centeredness and hidden ambition.

The bottom line : Traitorous  leaders are the outcome of a foolish  nation. 

Chandrapradeep

Translated by Jeff

Mangala’s contorted communique is hereunder…

March to freedom or return to fear?

The National Unity Government ushered in through a historic and revolutionary election in January 2015 has recently marked three years in office. As the Government attains this milestone, our achievements are many, but the road ahead of us remains as long and challenging as ever, and Sri Lanka stands again at the cusp of a crucial election in three weeks time that will determine the course of our nation in the years ahead. 

Once again, it is an election that will decide if democratic institutions and traditions, painstakingly rebuilt since January 2015 will be torn down and laid to waste again. It is an election that will determine if Sri Lankans will live free or under the yoke of fear, impunity and grotesque abuse of power by a single family and its henchmen. 

For this local government election on February 10th is much more than a regional contest to capture political power in urban and municipal precincts. It is an old regime’s first real attempt to recapture power and restore an old, corrupt and dictatorial order. 

Incumbency fatigue and the monumental challenges ahead of Sri Lanka as the country strives to march towards sustainable peace and prosperity, weighs heavily on the January 8th constituency and the representatives elected to serve them. Disillusioned by the road ahead, which seems fraught with difficulty and the potential for lost opportunity, this constituency may waver. But I believe it is important to try and build on what has already been achieved and keep the window open for peace and change. I believe it is important to have a long memory. I believe it is important to be long-sighted and clear-headed about the monumental choice facing all Sri Lankans in this crucial election. 

As memory fades and we are embroiled in the politics of the present, it is easy to forget that once, not so many years ago, a Government shot and killed its citizens for the crime of demanding clean water.

We need to ask ourselves, where all the white vans have gone. Where have the grease yakas gone? 

We must question why the Government’s political critics and dissidents are not being thrown in jail. Why media organizations are not attacked and burned any longer. Why journalists are not being abducted or killed. 

Remember the night races – the gift of an indulgent father who wielded all the power of his presidential office to ensure his sons could have a good time? 

Remember the time when young men paid with their lives for the crime of being a rugby rival? 

Remember when an incompetent brother in law to the President ran the national airline to the ground? 

Remember how it was impossible to speak openly about the excesses of the ruling family except in hushed whispers not so long ago?

Of course, these are basic freedoms that citizens in any functioning democracy should take for granted. But it must never be forgotten that there is a profound co-relation between the end of this tyranny imposed upon the citizenry and the fall of the Rajapaksa regime in 2015. And it is this culture of extravagance, abuse of state property and state terror that is trying to make a comeback in the February 10th local government election. 

Electoral inroads made in this poll could be used to attempt to recapture national control in future elections. So while the forthcoming election may be a ‘little one’ it has national consequences that could reverberate for years to come, casting long shadows over the lives of Sri Lankans who have begun to live unfettered and free again today.  Yes, perhaps we are not where we hoped to be by this time. But we will get there. Change is incremental, political systems are entrenched and sometimes immovable; but the will to change remains as strong as ever. 

With the Rajapaksa regime and its fellow barbarians at the gates once more, Sri Lanka is at another crossroads at this election. In a way, this makes the choice clearer for all those citizens who want liberty, democracy and peace. On February 10th the people will have to choose once more – will we continue the march to freedom or herald a return to fear?

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by     (2018-01-31 19:53:21)

Mangala Pressured To Appoint One-Judge Commission To Investigate Rāvaya

January 31, 2018

Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera is under pressure from civil society organizations and other interested parties to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to investigate allegations of misappropriation and other wrongdoing by the Rāvaya newspaper, especially its founder editor and Chairman of ‘Rāvaya Publishers (Guarantee) Ltd’ Victor Ivan.


Civil society activists as well as individuals who had contributed to a fund launched by ‘Rāvaya Solidarity’ (to keep the newspaper afloat) have petitioned Samaraweera to act swiftly on these allegations.

Colombo Telegraph learns that Samaraweera had initially tried to sidestep the issue, claiming that the matter was not under his purview. He has since changed his mind and is considering appointing a one-member commission of inquiry, most likely a retired judge. This was after it was pointed out that the matter comes directly under him. First, it is a newspaper and mass media is one of the subjects he handles. More importantly, Rāvaya Publishers is registered as a company and comes under the Registrar of Companies, who comes under Samaraweera in his capacity as Minister of Finance.

Although these developments come in the wake of what has been described as an editorial coup whereby Ivan orchestrated the appointment of Wimalanath Weeraratne as Editor after K.W. Janaranjana was forced to resign, it is not a question of editorial independence, according to sources among those pushing the minister to act in this manner.

 

One of the reasons is that the Registrar of Companies is still to investigate or give a determination on a complaint filed two years ago regarding Ivan’s misappropriation of money to the tune of Rs 10 million. Ivan has claimed that he sold ‘shares’ whereas a ‘Guarantee Limited’ company, by definition is a not-for-profit entity.

Rāvaya being a Company limited by guarantee and operating as a not-for-profit organization, much like an NGO, does not and cannot have provision for Ivan or anyone else to claim monies that have been collected for a fund of this kind.

The relevant conditions are enshrined in Section 34 of the Companies Act:

“Where the Registrar is satisfied that an association about to be formed as a company limited by guarantee is to be formed for promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity, sport, or any other useful object, and intends to apply its profits, if any, or other income in promoting its objects, and to prohibit the payment of any dividend to its members.”

Sections 32-34 are the applicable Sections. And here’s the Section that specifically exempts shares, debentures etc from companies limited by guarantee;

 

THIRD SCHEDULE [Section 35 (1)] PROVISIONS WHICH DO NOT APPLY TO COMPANIES LIMITED BY GUARANTEE
Part IV (Shares and Debentures)
Sections 93 to 98 (Minority buy-out rights)
Sections 99 to 101 (Interest groups)
Section 123(1)(b) and (c) (Company to maintain share register)
Section 124(1) and (3) (Place of share register)
Sections 198 to 200 (Disclosure of director’s interests in shares)
Section 220 (Duty of directors on serious loss of capital)

Furthermore when ‘Ravaya Solidarity’ solicited contributions it was not disclosed that part of the fund would be used to pay Ivan.

Read More

Sri Lanka sets up special courts for Rajapakse-era graft

Members of the administration of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse are accused of stealing vast sums from government coffers

By AFP-31 January 2018

Sri Lanka is to set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under former president Mahinda Rajapakse, the government said on Wednesday.

The move, designed to accelerate the process of trying such cases, follows criticism over the slow pace of justice under the government elected three years ago.

President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising to stamp out corruption and punish members of the former administration accused of stealing vast sums from Sri Lanka's coffers during Rajapakse's decade in power.

"There will be special three-judge high courts set up exclusively to hear bribery and corruption cases which are currently clogging the lower courts," the government said in a statement.

Sirisena has said as many as half of all public procurement contracts under the Rajapakse administration were corrupt and the new government has renegotiated several multi-billion dollar projects.

Rajapakse's chief aide Lalith Weeratunga has already been convicted on a charge of misappropriating $4 million and sentenced to three years in prison.

Two of the former president's three sons have been charged with money-laundering and other family members face allegations of corruption.

Rajapakse, who is not under investigation, denies any wrongdoing and says his successor is carrying out a witch hunt.

Official sources said the new courts could start functioning by the middle of this year.

ARJUN ALOYSIUS, A CONFIDANTE OF MR - DEPUTY MINISTER

Chameera Elladeniya-Thursday, February 1, 2018

Deputy Power and Energy Minister Ajith P Perera yesterday stressed that Perpetual Treasuries Director Arjun Aloysius who was involved in the Central Bank Bond issue, was a close confidante of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Perera told the press yesterday that Arjun Aloysius was not a member of United National Party and this person was allegedly involved in financial misappropriations during the previous regime too. A relative of former Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal was a Director of the Perpetual Treasuries during the previous regime, Perera said.

He added that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that investigated the controversial Central Bank issue has not raised allegations against any member of the United National Party.

“The charge against former Minister Ravi Karunanayake is not related to the Central Bank Bond issue.No member of the UNP face charges over Central Bank bond issue though there are charges against Arjuna Mahendran and Arjuna Aloysius”, he said. The Deputy minister added that the Commission has upheld that the footnotes placed on the COPE Report are in compliance with the evidence.

Perera added that the government will institute legal action against the culprits under the Criminal Procedure Code and recover the loss to the government based on the recommendations of the Commission.

“The Commission to inquire and investigate the allegations of Bribery and Corruption will first intiate investigations into the incident before taking legal action against the culprits.

The Deputy Minister added that his party is ready to have a debate on the Presidential Commission reports before the Local Government election.“We have nothing to hide.That is why we took a decision to advance the parliamentary debate to February 6.

“We want to divulge who the rogues are.We want to divulge those who associate with the rogues even today”, he said.

Doubts as to who is ruling the country: Lal Kantha

2018-01-31

Though both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) are urging the people to cast their vote for the ruling party, it is doubtful as to which party was ruling the country, National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) Chairman K.D. Lal Kantha said.

He told a public rally in Ginigathhena that the country had a unity government but neither President Maithripala Sirisena nor Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were able to say that it belonged to any one of them.

“Members elected to Local Government bodies should be aware that they will directly receive the funds allocated for development work,” he added. (Ranjith Rajapakse)

President Sirisena the laughing stock of the country guilty of grave misconduct - violates 225 MPs’ privileges and people’s sovereign rights..!

-Poddala Jayantha writes..

(Lanka-e-News - 01.Feb.2018, 2.10AM) State leader Maithripala Sirisena  who has by now become a laughing stock of the country  and a clown before the people despite being the highest in  the hierarchy,  by tabling  the Bond Commission report without some of its pages  to the Parliament has made a  deliberate move to mislead the supreme legislative body . This move  constitutes  a breach of parliamentary privilege of every member of Parliament (225 in number) who are all representatives of the people , meaning that  it is tantamount to a violation of the people’s sovereign rights , according to legal experts and luminaries.

This is a grave misconduct of the executive in relation to the legislature through the use of the president’s power most controversially . In other words it is a gross and direct violation of the constitution , the legal experts pinpointed.

The constitution empowers the president to inquire into any subject and obtain a report (Special Advisory presidential Commission Act) .

The report forwarded to the president following an inquiry conducted by such a Commission when being  tabled before the legislative assembly (parliament ) by the president cannot be amended , interpolated  or its content reduced  , and if that has happened , the executive has degraded the constitution , whereby there had been a breach of parliamentary privilege accorded  under the constitution to  the representatives elected by the people. Since the M.P.s are people’s representatives , it is also tantamount to a violation of the sovereign rights of the people.

If an M.P. or a State officer or any individual  who is acting under their  command  , forwards  a written or oral information to any Institution or Parliament ,and  if it is incorrect or false when it is sent  or tabled ,it is tantamount  to misleading the Parliament , and is liable to punishment under the laws of parliamentary privilege.

In an instance in which an M.P. in Parliament makes a false statement , the speaker halts the publication of it in the Hansard   when objections are raised against it. This applies to a submission of a false document which has been tampered with  whether it is a page or paragraph   or even if anything as small as a sentence is removed ;that  is an absolute  wrongdoing . 

On public platforms it was announced by  president on four occasions before  25 th January that the Bond Commission report after  removal of  some of its pages was forwarded to Parliament by him . It was also revealed this step was taken as a precautionary measure in view of future legal action contemplated. 

The submission of such an incomplete (sans some pages) Bond Commission report cannot be accepted as ‘an inadvertent  mistake’ under any circumstances. 

It is significant to note the president is not vested with powers under special presidential Commission Act  to alter , reduce or make additions to  the content of a State document tabled in parliament for any reason , let alone in view of contemplated  legal action . Neither the Attorney General (AG) has the power to proffer such advice to the president . (The president has powers, if necessary to hold back the report without revealing , but he has no powers to alter , add to  or reduce the content of the document tabled in parliament).

Is the legislature supreme or the Supreme Court ? Anura Bandaranaike a former speaker answering  this  question ruled  ,any document sent to the legislature cannot be altered , interpolated or reduced in its content  and the AG cannot give such advice, and such advice is a wrong  equivalent to encouraging misconduct mentioned hereinbefore .

This report which is false cannot be a topic for debate in parliament even merely on the fact that it is incomplete, and cannot be included in the agenda book.

Legal experts and luminaries are intently watching as to what measures the parliament is going to take in this regard.

The party leaders are to meet with the speaker , and the legal experts are expecting them to question on this .

This is a compilation following a discussion with legal experts.

Poddala jayantha 

Translated by Jeff

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by     (2018-01-31 21:05:28)

Building Resilience: Responding to Cyber Violence in Sri Lanka

Featured image by Deshan Tennekoon

Text by Raisa Wickrematunge-DESHAN TENNEKOON-01/30/2018

She strikes a pose for the camera; arms akimbo, looking determined, her gaze locked into the distance. Watching her, the group laughs and shouts words of encouragement. The atmosphere is light and supportive. Yet, just five minutes later, one of the girls being photographed talks about the anxiety she feels, whenever she posts photos of herself online.

I feel like everyone’s watching everything you’re doing. Even what you wear… it sends a message,” Deshani Dharmadasa says. “It just adds to my anxiety.”

This group all has one thing in common – they have been targeted online, often through vicious commentary on their appearance.

View the full story, compiled on Microsoft Sway, here, or scroll below.

Video: Palestinian protesters chase US diplomats out of Bethlehem meeting

Tamara Nassar- 31 January 2018

This video shows Palestinian activists disrupting a meeting with a US diplomatic delegation at the chamber of commerce in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday, forcing the Americans to leave.

The protesters carried banners and pictures of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and chanted “America out.”

Activists told the online publication Quds that they were protesting Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“The message we’re sending the delegation is that we reject the blatant American bias towards the Israeli occupation,” a protester said.

After the delegation left, protesters followed it out, throwing eggs, shoes and tomatoes at its cars, while the Palestinian Authority police tried to stop them.

Protesters arrested

Local media reported that PA intelligence was arresting activists who took part in the protest.

They arrested Muhammad al-Habshi from Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem and issued warrants for several others.

Despite his own blistering criticisms of the US and declaration it could no longer play a mediating role, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the protest, his office saying in a statement that “we affirm our absolute rejection of such behavior which contravenes Palestinian ethics.”

شبكة قدس الإخبارية

✔@qudsn

الرئاسة الفلسطينية: "ندين الاعتداء الذي تعرضت له بعثة القنصلية الامريكية في مدينة بيت لحم اليوم، ونؤكد رفضنا المطلق لمثل هذ التصرفات الخارجة عن الأخلاق الفلسطينية".

12:05 PM - Jan 30, 2018

The US State Department also condemned the protest, claiming that “though no one was hurt, the objective was clearly intimidation.”

Farid al-Atrash, a lawyer with the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, called the arrests by the PA a “violation of freedom of expression and political opinion.”

He added that preparations were taking place at the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethelehm to protest the arrests by the PA.

Palestinians in Syria, Lebanon may feel US UNRWA cuts 'within weeks'

Agency official says funding shortfall 'most profound crisis' since the Palestinians were displaced in 1948

Fuad Abu Khaled with his daughters in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp (AFP)

Abby Sewell-Wednesday 31 January 2018

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon who rely on support from the United Nations’ Relief and Welfare Agency are facing a “profound crisis” after the US withheld much of its funding earlier this month, agency officials said.

Exacerbating existing shortfalls within the agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees, the impact of the US cuts "creates a profound and immediate risk" to UNRWA's operation and may be felt within weeks, the officials said.

'If we don’t have this help to continue our schooling, it will destroy our lives and destroy our dreams'

- Haya Nemer, 15, Syrian-Palestinian living in Lebanon

“The current severity of these emergencies and their impact on the populations is unprecedented and constitutes perhaps the most profound crisis Palestinians have faced since they left Palestine and went into displacement in 1948,” said Mohammed Abdi Adar, director of UNRWA affairs in Syria.

The US announced on 16 January that it was holding back $65mn of a $125mn payment to UNRWA, demanding that agency make unspecified reforms.

The move came weeks after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, sparking widespread protests. In reaction, Palestinian leaders had said they would not participate in a US-led peace process and, in return, Trump repeatedly promised to cut their aid.

The US is normally the largest contributor to UNRWA programmes, but the $60mn released so far is designated only for operations in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan, throwing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon into uncertainty.

Palestinians who fled violence in the Syrian refugee camp of Yarmouk at the Masnaa Lebanese border crossing with Syria as people stamp their documents before entering Lebanon in December 2012 (AFP)

In an attempt to make up the shortfall, UNRWA officials launched a fundraising appeal in Beirut on Wednesday, with an aim to raise $409mn for this year's operations in Syria and for Palestinian-Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

Many of the estimated 560,000 Palestinians living in Syria who were registered with UNRWA before the war are now doubly displaced. Of those, about 120,000 have fled the country and another 254,000 are internally displaced in Syria, according to the agency.

Some 32,500 Palestinian Syrians have fled to Lebanon, where they joined about 174,000 Palestinian refugees already living in the country, as well as more than a million Syrian refugees who are not Palestinian.

US demands reforms

Along with the education and health services provided by UNRWA, many Palestinian Syrians in Syria and displaced Palestinian-Syrians in Lebanon rely on cash assistance to pay for rent and food.

If the situation in Syria stabilises over the coming year, UNRWA will also be assisting increasing numbers of returning Palestinian-Syrians with resettlement.

Officials with the US State Department declined to say why Syria and Lebanon were excluded from the funding released so far.

“Historically, many other donors to UNRWA have chosen to direct their funding to a particular field or activity; our actions are no different, and we are confident that our funding is supporting urgent humanitarian needs,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.

US officials have said they want to see reforms made in the refugee agency before giving more funding.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert (AFP)

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters last week, “The system and the structure shouldn’t be set up in such a way that every year they are running out of money and need to plead for emergency funds. So it’s just not a sustainable program the way the funding mechanism is currently set up.”

Earlier this week, seven countries – Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Russia – reportedly fast-tracked their funding while Belgium, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ireland pledged they would send their funds soon.

But Abdi Adar said no new funding has so far been committed.

'Then the war came'

In Lebanon, officials said some of the impacts of the cuts could be felt soon. Palestinian-Syrian refugees in Lebanon receive monthly allotments of $100 per family to help with housing and food costs.

Given that nearly 90 percent of the displaced Palestinians from Syria are living in Lebanon are below the poverty line, many depend heavily on the UNRWA assistance, said Claudio Cordone, UNRWA’s director in Lebanon.

But if new funding does not come in by the end of February, Cordone said, those payments will stop. Likewise, he said, some health centre workers and instructors in vocational institutes could be laid off after March without new funding.

'The stakes are huge, first and foremost for the individuals we are assisting but also for the stability of Lebanon and for the region as a whole'

- Claudio Cordone, UNRWA direct in Lebanon

Syrian-Palestinian youth living in Lebanon said their greatest fear is that the disruptions to UNRWA aid will mean an end to their schooling, which in many cases was already disrupted by the war before they fled Syria.

Fifteen-year-old Haya Nemer said before the war in Syria, her family had a good life in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus.

“The situation was great – secure, stable, but then the war came,” she said. “We were going to school under bombing.”

Her family fled Syria in 2015 and now lives in the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Nemer attends an UNRWA-run school. She said she hopes to finish her studies and go on to study medicine at university, but the uncertainty about UNRWA’s fate has made her also question her future.

“If we don’t have this help to continue our schooling, it will destroy our lives and destroy our dreams,” Nemer said.

Cordone also warned – as have a number of Lebanese political leaders – that worsening conditions in the Palestinian camps could lead to unrest and violence.

“The stakes are huge, first and foremost for the individuals we are assisting but also for the stability of Lebanon and for the region as a whole,” he said.

US officials have said they are still reviewing whether they will contribute more later in the year.  Last year, the US gave about $350mn to the refugee agency, nearly one third of its $1.2bn budget.

Kenyan opposition figure alleges gun and grenade attack on home

Kalonzo Musyoka, a former vice-president, says he was victim of assassination attempt hours after opposition rally

Jason Burke Africa correspondent Wed 31 Jan 2018 14.53 GMT

A senior opposition leader in Kenya has said unknown gunmen tried to kill him at his home in the early hours of Wednesday, raising the stakes after months of political turmoil.

Kalonzo Musyoka, a former vice-president, said gunshots were fired and a grenade detonated at about 1am in what he described as “an assassination attempt” at his residence in the capital, Nairobi.

The alleged attack came after tens of thousands of people defied the authorities to attend a ceremony to swear in Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition leader, as “president of the people” in Uhuru Park in the centre of Nairobi on Tuesday.

Musyoka was to take the oath as Odinga’s deputy president in the mock inauguration but did not attend the meeting.

Analysts said Odinga’s symbolic challenge could lead to fresh confrontations in Kenya, three months after Uhuru Kenyatta won a further five-year term as president in a controversial election rerun. The opposition boycotted the poll, saying it was not free or fair.

“The motive [for the attack] was clearly political,” Musyoka told the Associated Press, describing the blast as “shocking”. There was no independent confirmation of Musyoka’s claims.

Government lawyers described Tuesday’s opposition ceremony as treason and later outlawed the opposition’s National Resistance Movement, with the interior minister, Fred Matiang’i, declaring it to be an organised criminal group. Membership of such a group can lead to imprisonment up to 10 years under Kenyan law.

Authorities had cut live transmission of the country’s top three TV channels to prevent coverage of the mock inauguration.

In a brief speech to the enthusiastic crowd, Odinga, 73, described a “high calling to assume the office of the people’s president of the Republic of Kenya” and stressed his acts were constitutional.

Though many in Kenya are tired of the continuing instability, the large turnout at Uhuru Park may rejuvenate an opposition campaign that had been flagging.

A statement from the government on Wednesday afternoon said the TV networks that were taken off air would remain closed while under investigation. The statement accused the media of “complicity” in the ceremony, which it described as a “well-choreographed attempt to subvert or overthrow the legally constituted government of ... Kenya”. “Co-conspirators and facilitators” in the ceremony would face appropriate legal action, it added.

The turmoil in Kenya was triggered when the supreme court annulled the result of the presidential election in August because of irregularities. Turnout in the subsequent rerun was only 39%, though Kenyatta won with 98% of the vote.

The supreme court was again asked to dismiss the result, but this time upheld Kenyatta’s victory.

Odinga dismissed the October election as “fake” .

Last year, William Ruto, the powerful deputy president, compared Odinga to Joseph Kony, the infamous warlord who has terrorised a swath of east Africa for decades.

“Mr Odinga has chosen to walk away from the democratic arena and says he has transformed his party into a resistance militia or movement … which is unfortunate,” Ruto told the Guardian.

Bangladesh: Mirpur liberated us from darkness to walk in the glorious light

Brutal and heavy acts must be fought back suitably and vanquished by the patriotic forces. Our people stood up as best they could to the disgusting stupidity and brutality of Pakistani Military.

by Anwar A. Khan- Feb 1, 2018

Feb 1, 2018

( February 1, 2018, Dhaka Sri Lanka Guardian) More than two decades, the Pakistani rulers used fear, intimidation and murder to brutally oppress over the Bengalis who sought justice and equality from them. But the most brutal, ugly, desperate, and vicious form of aggression happened due to them in our history in 1971. Never before in history has such a sweeping fervour for freedom expressed itself in great mass movements and mass armed struggles which drove down the bastions of Pakistani President Yahya Khan’s empire. This wind of change blowing through out Bangladesh was no ordinary wind. It was a raging hurricane against which the old order of the Pakitani Military Junta and their local brutal collaborators could not stand. The great millions of Bangladesh grew impatient of being hewers of wood and drawers of water, and were in an armed rebelling against the oppressive Pakistan’s Army. The year 1971 saw the emancipation of the Bengali nation which finally witnessed the total liberation of the country-Bangladesh from the brutal Pakistani rule and their exploitation except Mirpur area of Dhaka.

M.E. Estemil said, “National freedom is an expensive gift always worth fighting for. Even if it costs us!” And undoubtedly, we paid a very high price to gain our motherland. Bangladesh was born on December 16, 1971 after a 9-month long war having or covered with or accompanied by blood because of large-scale massacre by the brutal Pkakistan’s Army and their local cruel mango-twigs. But Mirpur, an important part of the metropolitan Dhaka city, was occupied by the Bihari (non-Bengali) butchers from early March to January 30, 1972. The place of Mirpur was finally liberated on January 31, 1972. Hence, January 31 is generally known as the Victory Day of Mirpur.

But this year, the day should not pass silently like the previous years. So many precious lives including the lives of eminent journalist Shahidullah Kaiser, noted film maker & novelist Zahir Raihan, and famous poet Meherunnisa were brutally slaughtered in Mirpur area before it was liberated from the cruel clutches of the non-Bengalees (the Bihari people) and some Bangla speaking Pakistanis like Qader Molla and the likes of him belonged to the criminal organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami. It is very sad that no words for it were from any corner in the country on this very important day of our History of War of Liberation in the past. But we had to bear witness to the worst of human brutality and atrocity during that time in that important area and throughout Bangladesh. Like John Burns, we wish to say, “We are depressed rather at the wave of brutality sweeping over the country” during our nine months of long struggle to achieve Bangladesh. During the past years, I only heard the roaring voice of Syed Shahidul Haque Mama (died a few months back) from abroad, the 1971 war veteran and who actively participated in all operations to free Mirpur from those hyenas.

The biggest threat against the survival of humanity is not brutality and unkindness, it is stupidity and selfishness but we really encountered horror, terror, brutality, mass killing, and genocide from an opposing Pakistan’s military force and a hostile group of local people supported by them who used our holy religion-Islam to annihilate us from this sacred soil of ours. The war against the tyrannical rule of the Pakistani commands in 1971 was truly our mankind’s war of liberation. We are sorry for those who have never had the experience of seeing the victory of a national liberation struggle, and we should feel cold contempt for those who jeer at it.

According to the Asia Times, at a meeting of the military top brass in March 1971, Pakistan’s military dictator President Yahya Khan declared, “Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands.” Accordingly, on the night of 25 March, the Pakistani Army launched “Operation Searchlight” to crush Bengali resistance wherever found in this country; the Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia were systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and were gunned down.

The biggest threat against the survival of humanity is not brutality and unkindness, it is stupidity and selfishness but we really encountered horror, terror, brutality, mass killing, and genocide from an opposing Pakistan’s military force and a hostile group of local people supported by them who used our holy religion-Islam to annihilate us from this sacred soil of ours.

Mama Guerilla Bahini Chief Syed Shahidul Haque Mama recounted, “On March 27, 1971, Abdul Quader Mollah, Hasib Hasmi, Abbas Chairman, Akhter Gunda, Nehal and many others killed poet Meherun Nesa, her brothers and mother and chopped their bodies into pieces in Mirpur. Akhter Gunda and his accomplices forcibly brought one Pallab from Thathari Bazar to Muslim Bazar in Mirpur. Then Akhter and his accomplices cut his fingers and hung him up on a tree and killed him mercilessly.” He also said, “Quader Mollah and his accomplices took part in the election campaign in 1970 for the “infamous” Ghulam Azam, the then Ameer of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami and a candidate of the Mirpur area for membership of the Pakistan National Assembly.”

The enemies were the Pakistan army personnel, Jamaat-e-Islami men, Al-Badr men, Al-Shams men and Razakars. At the fag end of our glorious War of Independence in 1971, the Biharis, Pakistan’s Military personnel, Jamaat-e-Islami along with the members of Islami Chhatra Sangha (now Islami Chhatra Shibir), the-then student wing of Jamaat built a strong resistance in Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas. Jamaati gangsters convinced the Biharis that Bangladesh would turn into a part of Pakistan once again. A fearless freedom fighter Mama recollected from abroad that on December 17, 1971, he recovered the bodies of martyred intellectuals from the Rayerbazar killing field; and he said, “I found a small sack full of human eyes.” He further added that they picked up many killers who were hiding in Mohammadpur and following their information, they recovered the bodies of hundreds of intellectuals from the brick kilns of Rayerbazar. We know very well that the martyred intellectuals were our best sons of the soil of Bangladesh. The killing of intellectuals was a clear manifestation of the grave brutality unleashed by the Al-Badrs, Al-Shams and the Razakars.

According to the celebrated Journalist and columnist Syed Badrul Ahsan (SBA), “Let us get the facts straight. When Bangladesh stood liberated, as a whole, on December 16, 1971, there were yet small pockets where Pakistan’s defeated soldiers were putting up last ditch resistance. That resistance would come to an end within days. But there was, unbelievably, one small portion of the country which non-Bengali collaborators of the Pakistan occupation army kept in their grip for about one and a half months after liberation.” And it was the place of Mirpur. SBA further added, “There is Quazi Rosy to tell you all about it. And there is Syed Shahidul Haque, popularly known as Mama, to remind you of the gathering gloom which would descend on the Bengalis inhabiting Mirpur in the stirring times that were in 1971. Even as a resurgent Bengali nation, led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, brought Pakistan to a grinding halt in March 1971, the non-Bengalis in Mirpur went on a spree of coercion and intimidation of the Bengali population in the locality”.

According to Christopher Hitchens, “Freedom is the decision to live and die, doing what you love” and we decided to die; we decided to live and we decided to do what we loved in 1971. And we loved to attain independence from the shackles of the Pakistani rule marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behaviour and we finally achieved Bangladesh. Mirpur was a heartless terror in 1971 till the end of January, 1972. Yes. Terrible, and…A wise saying has spelt out, “When somebody challenges you from the wrong path, fight back.” And our freedom fighters fought back those cruel devils valiantly with patriotism and liberated Mirpur. It was a milestone in the annuals of our struggle for freedom from the Pakistani regime.

In man – in the history of mankind, this has happened many times, and occupation leaders cling on to the land that they are occupying. People fight to liberate their land. But in the end, the people’s will is what achieves victory. Brutal and heavy acts must be fought back suitably and vanquished by the patriotic forces. Our people stood up as best they could to the disgusting stupidity and brutality of Pakistani Military. It was a fight to the bitter end, one in which we are defending our ideals or beliefs. Eons of suffering, brutality and struggle have paved the way through the corridors of time to create this moment, where we now exist as an exalted expression of lives. According to George Weah, “My fellow revolutionaries; liberation is a noble cause. We must fight to obtain it” and our people took it as a noble cause and so, we have won it.

Mirpur liberated us from darkness to walk in the glorious light. We should not miss to celebrate the good days like Mirpur Victory Day with pureness and due solemnly because there were brutal days in the past. Like Paulo Freire, we wish to say, “Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.”

In closing, we wish to use the words of eminent journalist Zulfikar Ali Manik of Dhaka Tribune, “It is impossible to forget the grief of the gruesome killings of 1971 but this time we at least have the consolation that we could ensure justice.” And justice has been happening in the country though belatedly. We should pray for the departed souls to reside in Heaven in peace who were brutally murdered by those lummoxes before the liberation of Mirpur on 31st January 1972. We also should commiserate for the families of those victims.

-The End –