First Lady’s nephew gets 2,000 acres for free

Saturday, 03 December 2011 

Arrangements have been made to give a 2,000 acre land in Trincomalee to one of First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa’s nephews, Dilshan Wickremasinghe for free, a senior official from the Economic Development Ministry said.

Dilshan Wickremasinghe is a son of the First Lady’s brothers Nishantha Wickremasinghe (head of SriLankan Airlines).

The land is to be given for a special project undertaken by Sri Lanka Gateway Industries Pvt Limited.

The First Lady has also intervened to provide a jetty in the Trincomalee harbor and a warehouse to the company in addition to the land.

The project is to be carried out by Mitchell Group Holdings and Salwa Corporation – Australia.

The local agent for the project is Asset Holdings. The managing director of the company is Dilshan Wickremasinghe.

Police ordered to arrest police suspects

Police officers at the narcotics division are accused of killing a suspect in custody

A court in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo has ordered the police to arrest police officers accused of killing a suspect in their custody.

Strongly criticising the officers of the Fort police station for failing to arrest suspected police officers at police narcotics division, the Fort magistrate told the open court that the investigations are not satisfactory.

The magistrate made the order delivering the verdict of magistrate inquiry onto the death of Mohammed Fahim while in the custody of the narcotics division.

Though the magistrate has issued an order on 14 November to arrest the suspects and produce them before courts, the police in a report said investigations are continued to identify the suspects.

Inspector Ruvan Kumara and two other officers of the narcotics division Champika Nahinna and DM Ranil were identified at the post mortem as those who arrested the diseased.

Lawyers representing the family of Mr Fahim accused the police of failing to arrest the suspects despite their identity have been revealed.

The narcotics division has told the court that Mr Fahim died due to excessively drinking water.

But the pathologist in a report has informed the court that the amount of water in the body was not enough for him to be killed.

The hearing was postponed until 16 December.

East African children dying from mysterious disease

Dec 2, 2011

A mysterious disease is killing thousands of children in Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania.

The cause of the "nodding disease" is as yet unknown but it only affects children between the ages of five and 15.

Thought to be an epileptic neurological effect of the Onchocerca volvulus parasitic worm that causes Onchocerciasis or river blindness, victims suffer seizures that often start with nodding of the head, giving it its name.

Malcolm Webb reports from northern Uganda.

Sri Lanka nun faces charges over mother and baby home

The Indian-origin nun is thought to be the first from the Missionaries of Charity order to be imprisoned

A nun in Sri Lanka is to appear in court in connection with the failure to disclose an underage pregnancy at a mother and baby shelter.

Sister Mary Eliza, superior nun at a Missionaries of Charity convent near Colombo, was given bail on Monday.

Police raided the convent last week after child welfare officers said they suspected her of involvement in child-trafficking, claims the church denies.

During the raid police say they found at least one underage pregnant girl.

Police officials say that failing to disclose an underage pregnancy is an offence in itself.

"Making an underage female [pregnant] constitutes statutory rape. It is also an offence not to inform about that offence to the authorities," superintendent (SP) Ajith Rohana told BBC Sinhala's Saroj Pathirana on Monday.

The church denies wrongdoing, saying children and mothers are looked after at the shelter which is registered for this purpose.

Sister Eliza is expected to appear at a magistrates' court on Thursday. Charges have yet to be filed.

Church denial

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says this is an unprecedented incident for the religious order founded by Mother Theresa in Calcutta. The head of the Missionaries of Charity religious order is now in Sri Lanka for consultations.

The Missionaries of Charity have had their controversies, but never until now has one of their sisters been imprisoned, our correspondent reports. Sister Eliza, an Indian national, was kept in a high security prison for several days after her arrest.

The Indian High Commission is also monitoring the case.

The police raid came after a report from Sri Lanka's National Child Protection Agency (NCPA) that claimed Sister Eliza was suspected of selling children under her care and other related abuses.

But the Archdiocese of Colombo has categorically denied this; its website says money has never been exchanged for children. There are no charges in connection with this allegation.

A church statement said: "We never involve in selling these precious lives of the children and never take money for our work."

The church also accused the media of trying to stoke public anger over the issue.

A long Road ahead for family reunification for Sri Lanka’s Missing Children

02/12/2011 - In the final months of 2009, Tamil families found themselves separated from each other in the heat of battle. Two years later, Sri Lanka’s missing children are still struggling to find their families.

During the final Months of conflict in 2009, while the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) rebel group experienced the final showdown in the contested north of the small island nation, frightened civilians escaped the embattled north in an attempt to find safety in government territory.

On May 19th, when Sri Lanka declared victory over the LTTE, these families began the long and hard road to recover their past lives and reunite with their loved ones. Some had fled their homes with little more than photographs of their children who had been left behind or recruited by the rebels.

In the final months of battle, the depleted Tamil Tigers were conscripting children in a desperate effort to build up their forces as the government conducted its final offensive. What happened to these child soldiers remains a mystery for hundreds of families.

The Sri Lankan authorities struggled for months after the fighting had ended to find and match separated family members. This proved an almost impossible task, as hospitals brimmed over with the wounded, camps overflowed with the displaced and the battlefield was littered with bodies.

Another issue facing family reunification was the difficulty of finding official records as many families had fled without their official documentation, some without record of the official spelling of their children’s names. This has caused problems as the Sinhalese-speaking government officials try to keep records of unfamiliar Tamil names, some even writing them down phonetically.

Despite these complications, many are still clinging to hope that reunification will happen, eventually. Around 2,000 children were reunified with the families in the early period after the fighting stopped.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is helping the government set up a Family Tracing Unit (FTU) in order to help in the process of finding Sri Lanka’s missing children. As of September 2011, it had received 690 applications from families. The long and hard process is reflected in the fact that only 29 children so far have been reunited with these families.

FTU workers have to comb through piles of records every day from the police, hospitals and orphanage logs, as well as logbooks from camps for the displaced. However, lacking official documents from families even when a child is traced, it takes months to verify identities, to find birth certificates and other documents and to secure court approval to hand the child back to its family.

Issues such as child trafficking and abuse remain as serious considerations to make sure that a child is reunited with their real family.

Search warrant for Interpol against KP?

SATURDAY, 03 DECEMBER 2011
A court in Chennai has issued a search warrant to Interpol against LTTE’s chief arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP in connection with offences such as crimes involving the use of weapons, explosives, criminal conspiracy and terrorism, a document tabled in Parliament reveals. 
UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane tabled a copy of this search warrant in Parliament on Thursday during the budget debate. 

Dr. Jayawardane said that he informed the Deputy General Inspector of Police in Chennai about the presence of KP in the custody of the government of Sri Lanka at the moment. 

“It is a crime to harbour a person involved in crimes. I went to Chennai recently and informed the Chennai police about the presence of KP here,” he said. 

However, Dr. Jayawardane did not say when this arrest warrant was issued to Interpol.

In the search warrant, KP has been mentioned as Tharmalingam Shanmugam Kumaran. His place of birth, as mentioned in the arrest warrant, is Kankesanthurai, Jaffna. He has been identified as a person with the ability to speak English, French, Sinhala and Tamil. Hair combed sideways is noted as a distinguishing mark. 

KP was arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities in August, 2009 in Malaysia and brought to Sri Lanka. Since then, he has been in the custody of the government. Also, he has now formed an organization called North-East Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NERDO). (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)

After kudu Duminda was shot at and injured , underworld leaders go missing – ‘Fairoz’ the latest to disappear

(Lanka-e-News -03.Dec.2011, 7.00PM) An underworld leader ‘Fairoz’ of Negombo who is connected with a number of crimes has gone missing since last 29th, according to reports reaching Lanka e news. Fairoz who was associated with underworld front liners like Karate Dhammika and Potta Nowfer in criminal activities had taken the place of ‘Karate Dhammika’ after Dhammika’s death and had been engaged in underworld activities 

According to a complaint made by his mother to the police, Fairoz was a soldier who deserted the Army sometime ago, and was abducted or went missing at Deen junction , Negombo. The mother had stated in her complaint that when Faroz was coming in a three wheeler from Dalupotha , an armed group had abducted him.

Fairoz had been working under the father of politically powerful ‘kudu Lansa’ of Negombo district , and had been indulging in politically backed violence , murders , political revenge and assaults on media personnel . There were a number of charges against him for committing these kinds of crimes . For sometime Faiz has been working under kudu Lansa’s father looking after the Negombo beach park.

Fairoz maintained close and cordial relationship with ‘Loku Seeya’ who was abducted and killed recently . Residents of the area believe that Fairoz who is linked to kudu (drugs) business had been abducted in the same manner as Loku Seeya .

Fairoz was closely associating top politicos and high ranking police officers , and his disappearance is therefore a shock and mystery , because in Sri Lanka’s present political climate kudu dealers and their politicos are protected and hold sway , while law abiding citizens have no protection or place even before the legal processes in the country.

As regards ‘Karate Dhammika’ , another underworld leader ,according to the police official reports he has gone missing. It is intriguing that all these underworld leaders have gone missing under suspicious circumstances , only after the Bharatha Lakshman was killed as a result of kudu Duminda Silva’s shooting, reports say. It is be interesting to note that the defense Secretary Gotabaya , a bosom pal of kudu Duminda, after the latter sustained gun shot injuries in the recent shoot out had completely stopped taking his usual evening walk along independence square , for obvious reasons.

Unemployed Tamil graduates stage protest in SL militarized Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 December 2011, 18:13 GMT]
Hundreds of unemployed Tamil graduates Friday held a protest in front of the office of the SL Colonial Governor of Northern Province Maj. Gen (retd) G.A.Chandrasiri demanding immediate employment and condemning the lethargic attitude of the Colombo government in providing employment opportunities to the graduates in the North. The demonstration commenced from Va'n'nai Perumaa'l Kovil the city of Jaffna went through Stanley Road and Kandy Road to the final destination in Chu'ndukuzhi where the SL Governor’s Secretariat is located. Around 500 unemployed graduates participated in the protest. No government appointments are made in the North between 2005 till 2010, the protesters complained. 

The SL Police had deployed riot squad in front of the Governor’s Secretariat.

The demonstration was peaceful and without any incident.

Around 6,000 graduates are unemployed in the North. 

“Action should be taken immediately to provide employment to them, easing their untold sufferings. Vacancies existing in the state sector in North should be filled in a reasonable way and not through backdoor influence”, a representative of unemployed graduates demanded.

Sometime back, volunteer teachers working in Ki'linochchi district held demonstration in front of the Governor’s Secretariat demanding permanency. 

Earlier, the SL government had been citing the war as the reason for the failure to provide permanency to volunteer teachers. 

However, volunteer teachers in other parts of the island were absorbed into permanency and appointed as assistant teachers.

The successful rally by the unemployed graduates, amidst the prevailing conditions of threat by the SL military, is a testimony to the will power of the civil society to fight for their rights, political observers in Jaffna said.

Lanka law student 'assaulted again'

By Saroj Pathirana 02 December, 2011

Mr Jayaratne has complained about alleged exam malpractices at SLLC

International human rights organisations have expressed serious concern over the safety of a Sri Lanka law student who has previously complained about alleged malpractices of the Law College (SLLC).

DM Thushara Jayaratne, the whistleblower of alleged exam malpractices by Namal Rajapaksa, MP, says he was assaulted by a group of assailants on Thursday at a safe house.

Though he was not physically injured, say activists, he is suffering from post-assault trauma.

"The recent attack follows threats and intimidation last year when Thushara publicly complained that President Rajapaksa's son received preferential treatment in his exams at the Law College," Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International told BBC Sandeshaya.

Full Story>>>

2 December 2011

ICC seeks Sudan defence minister arrest over Darfur

Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein also served as Sudan's interior minister

Continue reading the main story

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for Sudan's defence minister for alleged crimes in Darfur.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein was suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 2003-04.

The Hague-based ICC has already indicted Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges in Darfur.

A senior Sudanese official has dismissed the warrant as "ridiculous".

Full Story>>>

Baird talks tough on SL

FRIDAY, 02 DECEMBER 2011

OTTAWA - Sri Lanka needs to take accountability for serious allegations of war crimes committed during its 25-year civil war, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Thursday.

Baird's comments to MPs at the Commons foreign affairs committee come after Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly criticized Sri Lanka over its human rights record during the Commonwealth meeting in Australia in October.

"Other countries have taken 10 years for reconciliation, other countries never reconcile," Baird said. "But it's incredibly important."

Sri Lanka's government has denied its forces committed war crimes and refused any investigation.

Baird praised the UN for publishing a recent report on Sri Lanka contradicting the government's position, a report the minister called "deeply disturbing."

The South Asian nation is under growing Western pressure to probe allegations of war crimes following the end of the conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

"Two years after the civil war we've seen no meaningful attempt at reconciliation with the Tamil minority," Baird said.

"We've also seen a growing authoritarian trend by the government in Colombo."

Harper has threatened to boycott the Commonwealth 2013 heads of government summit in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo if the government fails to launch an investigation into allegations its military engaged in indiscriminate shelling of civilians and bombed hospitals in 2009. (owensoundsuntimes)

Presidential Media Advisor attacked

Friday, 02 December 2011

A media advisor to the President, Rohan Welivita has been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital following an attack on him.

Rohan Welivita has been a close friend of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for several decades and is also an official director of Carlton Sports Network (CSN) belonging to the President’s sons.

It is learnt that Welivita had been attacked by a businessman closely affiliated to the President, Jayantha Wickremasinghe and his son.

Jayantha Wickremasinghe is a former Finance Manager of the Tourist Board and his son is a member of the armed forces.

Welivita had been attacked after he had allegedly played out Wickremasinghe in a business deal carried out by both of them.

Welivita had been admitted to the Apollo Hospital following the attack yesterday and has been transferred to a paying ward at the Colombo National Hospital on a Presidential directive.

Ivory Coast President stands trial by ICC

Sri Lanka is next in line

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

(December 02, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, is now on trial at the ICC (International Criminal Court) facing four charges of crimes against humanity committed by his camp as recently as between December 2010 and April 2011 since he refused to conced victory to his contender in November 2010 presidential elections. The charges against the President and his camp are murder, rape,sexual violence, persecution and other inhuman acts.

"The world is not blind to the fact that media and humanitarian NGOs were barred from the theatre of war in the name of that euphemism `national security' since war intensified."

Gbagbo ruled over the African state for 10 years and the charges the ICC is currently bringing against him and five others relate only to election violence since November 2010. However his rule was beset with `economic crimes' such as looting, armed robbery and embezzlement and is being investigated by Ivorian justice officials.      Read More

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Sri Lanka's Killing Fields

Rev.Sr. Eliza released on Bail

(December 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rev. Sr. Mary Eliza is the first MC Sister to be imprisoned in the whole world, since Blessed Mother Teresa started the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Charity, serving poorest of the poor. On Friday night 25th Nov. around 11.00 pm, some police officers and Officers from National Child Protection Authority had arrested the superior of the Convent, Rev. Sr. Mary Eliza and imprisoned her at Welikada Prison. There are nearly 760 Convents with 5040 Rev. Sisters of Mother Teresa serving in the whole world.

Very Rev. Sr. Prema MC, Superior General of the Missionary Sisters of Charity (Mother Teresa's Sisters) arrived on 27th November, in Sri Lanka, having heard that one of her Sisters, Sr. Eliza had been arrested by the Police and put her in the Weliikada Prisons. His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo received her at the Katunayake airport. His Eminence conveyed that the Sri Lankan Catholic Church is deeply concerned about the arrest of Rev. Sr. Mary Eliza and the way National Child Protection Authority and the Police has acted to find out information about "Perm Nivesa"Read More

War crime evidence places ‘command responsibility’ on Rajapaksa brothers

2 - 8 Dec, 2011

Rajapaksa brothers

By Brian Senewiratne   02 Dec 2011

Posted 01-Dec-2011 Vol 2 Issue 48 Sri Lankan rulers want to destroy the concept of Tamil homeland and make Tamils permanent refugees, says the Sinhalese doctor in Australia, Brian Senewiratne, in this third part of a series. (Also Read: First Part, Second Part) UK Channel 4 News video I need hardly dwell on this ground-breaking video that has established the war crimes committed by both sides, especially the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, in the closing stages of the war. Houses burnt. Women raped. Thousands killed. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has a lot to account for  (Photos courtesy: http://www.warwithoutwitness.com) This video was so important that it was shown at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in June 2011. Despite feeble claims by the GoSL that the evidence presented was fabricated, there are few, if any, who would doubt the authenticity of what was shown since the original recordings have been checked by international experts. This is evidence which will not go away, as the GoSL hopes it will. Full Story>>> ---------------------------------------------------------- TamilNet 16.04.11 Prepared to go to gallows to save Motherland - Rajapakse.flv

TamilNet 09 05 10 Colombo adopts failed Sudanese ruse to deflect war crimes charges Prof Boyle

The report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission of Sri Lanka may lack credibility in international fora.

REUTERS 

During the final battle in which Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Prabakaran was killed,in May 2009.

Challenging tasks

R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN
in Colombo

The report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission of Sri Lanka may lack credibility in international fora.

EVERY time the international community pointed the finger at Sri Lanka's conduct of Eelam War IV, which ended in May 2009, and blamed the government forces for the unacceptably high number of civilian casualties, the government sought refuge in the fact that it had appointed a commission to go into the civil war and the events that took place after the breakdown of the truce with the Tamil Tigers in 2002.     Full Story>>>>
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Louise Arbour Video on Sri Lanka - International Crisis Group.flv

West endorses ethno-military rule, military solution: Tamil civil groups

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 December 2011, 11:39 GMT]
Civil society organisations in the country of Eezham Tamils are enraged at foreign diplomats visiting their country confining the purposes of the visits primarily to meeting the commanders of the occupying Sinhala military but not the civil society. When genocidal Sri Lanka declares ’normalcy’ has come to Tamils, the gesture of these diplomats is a tacit endorsement to the ethnic-shaded military rule and military solution. Those who delay international justice, sit on international responsibilities, and talk about ‘domestic’ solutions are not honest. They only mean ‘remote controlled’ military solution, and that is what in the minds of the core sections of the Establishments that deploy cosmetic talk of human rights as a cover, the civil groups accused. They are particularly enraged at the conduct of the US, UK and EU diplomats. 

A three-member delegation representing the US Department of State on their brief visit to Jaffna met SL Commander of Jaffna Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe on Wednesday, 30 November 2011.

The West is yet to engage with Eezham Tamils either in a civil manner or in an understanding way to the national question, compared to its dealings with the genocidal military of Sri Lanka, the Tamil civil groups in the North and East of the island told TamilNet.

President of the European Parliament Friends of Sri Lanka Group Mr. Geoferey Van Orden along with a few other officials at Palaly meeting the SL Commander in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe

Full story >>

‘Rehabilitation’ means mental torture in open prison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 December 2011, 19:18 GMT]
For former liberation fighters and their active supporters who were ‘released’ after the war, the so-called rehabilitation means servitude under SL military and mental torture in open prison, news reports from the SL-occupied country of Eezham Tamils said. The latest sanction against them is that they were warned by the SL military not to try going abroad for any reason. If caught at the airport their lives are not guaranteed, they were told. Instructed to report often to SL military intelligence units, they have been repeatedly told not to talk to media, not to discuss anything with the public and not to attend to any public gatherings. Most of the former liberation fighters are already under mental stress from the ‘brain washing’ sessions before the so-called release. Now they are forced to live a completely isolated life. 

Suffering from frustration many of them wish to go and find work in West Asia or elsewhere. 

Colombo’s fear is that they may reveal the war crimes or join the diaspora’s struggle, news sources in the island said.

But, Colombo has sent a chosen few for manoeuvrings outside and exploits another desperate lot for devious collaboration inside. Devoted and conscience-minded sections – the real human resource of the nation – silently suffer, the news sources further said.

By continued vilification of the liberation fighters, by one-sided justice against them while being genial to war criminals of the state and its military, and by denying the sovereignty and political right of the nation of Eezham Tamils to look after the rehabilitation of its own freedom fighters, the Establishments of the world, especially the West contributes to a heinous crime that will be indelible in the social memory of Tamils for ages, commented a Tamil political activist in the diaspora.

In the name of ‘reconciliation’, the West wants the Tamil freedom fighters to be ‘rehabilitated’ through the hands of the genocidal Sinhala military. Sometimes back, a visiting British diplomat was seen discussing that with the crimes-accused SL military’s commanders in Jaffna.