HRC 'to probe' Prageeth disappearance

05 February, 2012

Mr Peiris has told the UN that Mr Ekneligoda has sought refugee in a foreign country

The wife of a missing cartoonist and political analyst in Sri Lanka has expressed hope that an investigation launched by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) would help find him.

The HRC has informed Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of Prageeth who is missing since 24 January 2009, that an investigation has been launched into her petition made in January and December, last year.

The HRC was told by Mrs Ekneligoda that the former Attorney General (AG) Mohan Peiris has told the United Nations that Mr Ekneligoda has sought refugee in a foreign country.

"In order to facilitate the investigation into the above case the commission has decided to request you to submit an affidavit with regard to this matter," a letter sent by HRC to Mr Peiris stated.

No time limit

There was no time limit, however, given to Mr Peiris to submit the affidavit.

I sincerely hope they will call Mr Peiris to testify though I am not clear how this investigation will be conducted   Sandya Ekneligoda

The former AG and currently the legal advisor to the president and the cabinet, Mohan Peiris, has told the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCaT) that his information about Prageeth’s whereabouts has originated from a very reliable source.

"I am not saying this with the tongue in my cheek. It is something that we are reasonably certain of. This is information that we have got through the media circles and that this is being played out for various reasons," Mr Peiris told the UNCaT.

His wife, says she is pleased that the HRC decided to launch an investigation into the statement.

"I sincerely hope they will call Mr Peiris to testify though I am not clear how this investigation will be conducted," she told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

The HRC is yet to invite her to testify though she requested the same in her letter, added Mrs Ekneligoda.

Rich Govts harassing Sri Lanka - PM

05 February, 2012

PM says only the parliament can create or amend the country's constitution

Sri Lanka's prime minister has accused capitalist countries in the West of threatening resource-rich nations in Asia.

DM Jayaratne issued the warning addressing a celebration to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohamed in Ratnapura.

"There is no talk about Libya; no questions about Egypt and Iraq. They are only talking about Sri Lanka ending 30-year old war," he told the gathering in Arabic school in Batugedara.

"We should not forget how many countries in Central Asia were destroyed through similar mechanism by the capitalist countries," he added.

National question

The aim of the capitalist countries, added Mr Jayaratne, is to capture oil and other resources in these countries.

It is the government that pledged to find a solution to the national question not the capitalist countries Tissa Attanayake, UNP secretary general

In an apparent remark on the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in finding a political solution, the prime minister said it is only the parliament that can create or amend the country's constitution.

"The president does not have a right to decide anything on his own about the issues facing the country. It is the parliament that makes and breaks the constitution," he added.

Sri Lanka's major Tamil party has abstained from nominating members to the PSC awaiting the government's response to proposals on power devolution.

The main opposition United National Party (UNP), meanwhile, criticised the prime minister for pointing the finger at others.

"It is the government that pledged to find a solution to the national question not the capitalist countries," said Tissa Attanayake, MP, the secretary general of the UNP.

He told BBC Sandeshaya that other countries would not point the finger at Sri Lanka if the government come up with a solution to the Tamil grievances and implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

"Once a proposal to implement the recommendations is put forward, the parliament can make it law," said the UNP secretary general.

REFILE-Sri Lanka may drop dollar to meet Iran oil sanctions

Sun Feb 5, 2012
* Sri Lanka may use Indian, Sri Lanka rupees

* Sri Lanka heavily reliant on Iranian crude

* India in talks to upgrade Sri Lanka refinery

By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka may avoid a costly squeeze by the United States sanctions on Iranian crude by purchasing it in a currency other than dollars, following India’s lead, officials said on Sunday.

The Indian Ocean island nation is facing the most potential collateral damage from the sanctions, which are meant to cut off the dollars Washington believes are being used to fund Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Sri Lanka imports 93 percent of its oil from Iran, OPEC’s second biggest producer, and its sole refinery, the 50,000 barrel-per-day Sapugaskanda plant, can only refine Iranian crude and three or four others that are in short supply.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing, Luke Bronin, flew in for a one-day visit on Thursday to meet a host of government officials to explain the options available and the impact on Sri Lanka.

A senior government official directly involved in Sri Lanka’s payments to Iran who met with Bronin said he offered a potential solution.

“I don’t know whether it was deliberate or it was accidental, but he said they are only concerned about transactions done in dollars, so that was a hint to us,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Sri Lanka’s central bank pays its Iranian counterpart on behalf of the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), a nine-nation trade clearing house set up in Tehran in 1974.

The ACU method would run afoul of the sanctions, which were signed into law on Dec. 31 and are due to take effect after a six-month deadline. India already ruled out the ACU last year.

ANYTHING BUT DOLLARS

The fact the United States appears only to be concerned with dollars opens up an opportunity for Sri Lanka to follow India’s lead. India is considering rupee-denominated transactions and other similar options to pay for its Iranian crude needs.

“It gives us the option of doing it in Indian rupees or some other currency, although we would prefer to do it in Sri Lankan rupees,” the official said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week complained Sri Lanka and other small nations were being unfairly squeezed in a fight not of their making, and said he had asked his officials to find out what alternatives the United States could offer.

A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said the United States was mainly concerned with dollar transactions, and had not attempted to extract a political price from Sri Lanka, which is separately under pressure from Washington over war crimes allegations and the slow pace of reconciliation following the end of its civil war.

“The point is to try and choke some dollars off, so we want to know what the Sri Lankan government is going to do in terms of a workaround,” a U.S. embassy official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “At least they are trying, so that’s good.”

Bronin declined to speak to a Reuters reporter on Thursday.

“He came to explain the act, the meaning of the act and what options are available to us,” Foreign Secretary Karunaratne Amunugama told Reuters. “We are aware of the seriousness of the act, and government agencies are discussing what options we could take.”

Sri Lanka has already said it was looking at buying crude from Oman and Saudi Arabia, both of whom can supply something the Sapugaskanda refinery can handle. The possibility of a waiver from the United States, which requires a demonstration of lessened ties with Iran, is also under consideration.

Meanwhile, an Indian petroleum ministry delegation visited on Friday and expressed formal interest in taking over the upgrade of the Sapugaskanda refinery.

“We already have interests here with Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, so it would fit in that context, and a technical-level team will be coming,” an Indian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Iran had initially proposed a $2 billion upgrade, but it fell apart when the government was unable or unwilling to contribute $500 million to it. (Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Will Waterman)

Death of press freedom post independence

Of all the liberties enjoyed up to the early '80's, press freedom suffered the saddest blow. Up until the eighties the governments allowed freedom of speech and then came President Premadasa and he spelt the death-knell for free speech and democracy and tragically the murders of journalists which ensued beginning with the brutal murder of versatile actor, anchor and journalist Richard de Soysa who was dragged out of his home in the heart of Colombo in broad daylight by uniformed men and his body dumped on the beach.

l by Pearl Thevanayagam

(February 04, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The differentiation from independence to freedom matters most as we celebrate independence from British dominion once more today. What choices of freedom has the average Sri Lankan got? Did the independence gained without a droplet of blood shedding give the average Ceylonese the freedom he/she is entitled to as in a democracy?

From Sinhala Only in 1956 to compulsorily learning Sinhala to get promoted in public services, from forcibly changing English number plates to Sinhala ones in vehicles to the denial of English stream education which greatly affected the Burgher community which led to the first mass exodus of professionals and intellectuals in the '60's, our freedom has continued to be curtailed by successive governments.

The denial of English education to the rural students saw the first Sinhala youth uprising in 1971 who were denied white-collar jobs even after completing their higher education in the vernacular. Sirimavo Bandaranaike's Standardisation Policy laws enacted among others to alienate the Tamil minority would rouse the Tamil youth into armed rebellion against the State and the country plunged into a perpetual state of unrest and terror.

She would also go down in history as the leader who crushed the JVP rebellion annihilating a sizeable number of Sinhala youth and they would rise again in the eighties only to be crushed by the succeeding UNP government under J.R. Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa. Serendib Isle as Ceylon was known continued to lose its serendipity no matter how often tourist brochures flaunt the term.

Of all the liberties enjoyed up to the early '80's, press freedom suffered the saddest blow. Up until the eighties the governments allowed freedom of speech and then came President Premadasa and he spelt the death-knell for free speech and democracy and tragically the murders of journalists which ensued beginning with the brutal murder of versatile actor, anchor and journalist Richard de Soysa who was dragged out of his home in the heart of Colombo in broad daylight by uniformed men and his body dumped on the beach.

As Marxism and communist ideology began infiltrating the youth the governments also adopted Russia's strategy in muzzling the press. Today Communist Russia and China appear more democratic than those countries which have enshrined freedom of expression in their constitution including ours.

But several Acts passed in parliament including the PSO (Public Service Ordnance) of 1956 followed by OSA (official Secrets Act) and PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) of 1972 further strangled press freedom and governments would successfully use these tools to muzzle journalists and writers.

Soysa's death set the precedent to the murders of scores more journalists including Keerthi de Alwis, Sivaram alias Taraki, BBC correspondent Nimalarajan, Aiyathurai Nadesan, the Batticaloa Correspondent for several national newspapers, Atputharaja of Thinamurasu and last but not least Lasantha Wickrematunga. Evidence in all these killings point to State complicity since none of these were solved nor efforts made by the State to investigate.

The murders sent out warning signals to would-be muckrakers - as investigative journalists are popularly known – to shut up or ship out. Incidentally it was President Theodore Roosevelt who on April 14, 1906, on the occasion of dedicating the US House of representatives office building drew on a character from John Bunyan's 1678 classic, Pilgrim's Progress, saying, “ you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; Who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor.

While cautioning about possible pitfalls of keeping one's attention ever trained downward, "on the muck," Roosevelt emphasized the social benefit of investigative muckraking reporting, saying:

There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.

Although it is incumbent on journalists to write with responsibility and take stock of national security it should not stop them from exposing corruption and malpractice, injustice and fraud be they in politics, business or society as a whole.

What plagues our country is the impunity with which it is ruled particularly by the family run dynasty of the Rajapakses and while we want to cherish the independence bestowed on us we certainly need to fight for every citizen's freedom of expression. And that is why we have reached a point of no return and are compelled to ask the international community to sit in judgment on the government for its war crimes.

The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 21 years. She can be reached atpearltheva@hotmail.com)

Costly Money or Costly Political Choices?

Sunday, 05 February 2012

Dr. Arujuna Sivananthan

On the 30^th of January, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank announced that it would not draw down the withheld 800 million US dollars (USD) of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby facility citing its high interest rate.

In a world starved of capital, disbursing the withheld tranches would have posed a simple conundrum to the IMFs board and shareholders. Unique to such loans, all major shareholders of the IMF abstained from voting for it, not for economic reasons, but to press Sri Lanka to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during its conduct of the war with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

On the face of it, Sri Lanka has not fulfilled the terms of the facility. It continues to use borrowed money to defend the rupee at a level which the IMF deems 20 percent above fair value. Its current account deficit is 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). There has been no visible reform of its public sector utilities. The Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) -both state monopolies- are projected to incur losses of hundreds of millions of dollars. The former is set to lose USD 118 million in 2011. CEYPETCO lost USD 259 million in 2010 and forecast to incur similar losses in 2011. Defaulting counterparties to CEYPETCO include state owned enterprises such as its airlines and railways. And, Sri Lanka’s public debt to GDP ratio stood at 78 percent at the end of 2011; one of the highest in the Asia-Pacific region and well above the median for its single-B and double-BB rated peers at 41 and 40 percent respectively. Fiscal consolidation has been difficult to achieve due its defence expenditure, in excess of 4 percent of GDP, hitting record highs.

Sri Lanka has also borrowed heavily to invest in infrastructure projects where economic and social internal rates of return remain well below its cost of capital. Development has been concentrated in its Southern Province. The government has spent over USD 1 billion on developing a port and air port close to the Southern town of Hambantota –its president’s hometown. Unfortunately, Hambantota does not have the economic resources to make such projects viable. It also lacks connectivity to Sri Lanka’s economic hub in its Western Province. A motorway built to link both suffers from chronic choke points and is expensive to use.

The IMF board’s choices were to support Sri Lanka’s costly soft-peg of the rupee, non-compliance of the terms of the standby facility and low-yielding infrastructure projects; or, channel funds to countries which have made the policy adjustments to satisfy its conditions. With shareholders confronting their own economic challenges and under pressure from taxpayers to curb payments to multilateral organisations; this time, there existed a non-trivial probability that Sri Lanka would not have been given the benefit of the doubt.

By choosing not to draw down the outstanding USD 800 million citing higher borrowing costs, i.e. 3.1 percent -a rate lower than countries rated 12 notches higher pay to borrow; Sri Lanka’s policy makers may be content with lower foreign exchange reserves. Although, with a balance of payments deficit of 10 percent of GDP it is difficult to see how. Note, Sri Lanka has borrowed in capital markets at much higher rates through 2010 and 2011. On the other hand, its policy makers may have found the compliance with the standby facility’s terms politically onerous. Either way Sri Lanka has missed out on a very cheap source of funds.

On the 1st of February, the Central Bank announced that it would seek to launch a new USD 1 billion sovereign bond to refinance maturing debt. Yields in the secondary market for Sri Lanka’s USD sovereign bond maturing in 2021 imply that its cost of new funds raised through capital markets will not be less than 6.28 percent for 10 year money -significantly higher than 3.1 percent. Therefore, it is baffling why Sri Lanka’s policy makers would chose not to borrow at the lowest levels available to them.

The writer was formerly a Director at Barclays Capital, the UKs largest investment bank and French bank Societe Generale. He has extensive experience trading corporate and sovereign bonds and credit derivatives. He also holds a PhD and Masters in economics from the University of Glasgow.

The Inevitable 20 percent Depreciation in the Rupee

Govt. on firefighting mode to face Geneva volcano

US-backed resolution with diplomatic consequences coming; Clinton's note raises the stakes Ministers sent to UNHRC member states; AG and the Army study LLRC recommendations on accountability issue

By Our Political Editor

United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton issued a virtual 'ultimatum' to the government of Sri Lanka this week. In essence, it is a call to address accountability issues relating to the final stages of the separatist war in May 2009 or face a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in the coming weeks. Hillary Clinton The proverbial Sinhala saying gireta ahuvunu puvak gediya wagey ( like the arecanut caught between the blades of a nut-cutter) underscores the government's dilemma. It cannot extricate itself from a US-backed resolution nor subjugate to it. Worse enough, it comes at a time when US help would be most needed to avoid a possible economic disaster. Washington's sanctions on Iran, supplier of 93 per cent of Sri Lanka's crude oil requirements, prompted the government this week to plead for exemption or urge US to pressure Saudi Arabia to increase its supply to Colombo. It was made to Luke Bronin, Deputy Assistant Secretary to the US Treasury, on a visit to Sri Lanka to discuss the sanctions. This is whilst debating on a fall back option -- whether or not to make another strong plea to Iran, which assured last week, that it was willing to continue to supply crude oil to Sri Lanka. A proposal, if it materializes, is for Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal to leave for Teheran to plead Sri Lanka's case for an extended credit facility. At present, Iran provides crude oil at four months credit. He is also to ascertain whether Iran could make payments in advance for future tea exports. If the Cabral visit and talks in Teheran do materialise, it would earn the wrath of the United States and place the country's trade with Washington in peril. That is on the grounds that its sanctions are being violated by Sri Lanka.Read more..

China to build airport in Poonakari to balance India’s Palaali

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2012, 01:27 GMT]




Occupying Sri Lanka plans to invite China to build an airport of international standard at Poonakari in the north of the country of Eezham Tamils to balance India’s projects centring around KKS harbour and Palaali airport in the northern coast of Jaffna Peninsula, news sources from the island said. Colombo has started confiscating large tracts of lands for this purpose and China has presented models of the airport for approval, revealed TNA parliamentarian Mr. Sritharan. Poonakari is situated in a controlling location linking Vanni with Jaffna Peninsula, with Palk Bay and Jaffna Lagoon on either side. It is also located close to Raameasvaram and Tho’ndi of the Tamil Nadu coast. 

[Satellite Image Courtesy: NASA, Visible Earth. Details & Legend: TamilNet]

Sometimes back, SL military officials in Jaffna were heard bragging about their ‘diplomacy’ of giving the construction of KKS harbour and Palaali airport to India and involving a Chinese government corporate to use the rest of the northern coast of Jaffna in the guise of installing solar panels and windmills.

A feature appeared in SL government-run Daily News in July 2010, cited Sri Lanka’s occupying military commander in Poonakari, Col. Susantha Gunasekara saying that “as per historical records all enemy incursions to Sri Lanka in the past had been done through Pooneryn and before the last victorious military exercise there had been 135 battles to capture and regain Pooneryn [Poonakari].”

The Daily News feature was also then referring to Sri Lanka’s plan to build the third international airport of the island at Ira’nai-madu in Ki’linochchi. The choice must have now fallen on Poonakari and China has been preferred for the task, considering the advantage of the location of Poonakari checking any ‘enemy incursions’ from Tamil Nadu/ India, political observers in Jaffna said.

Poo-nakari means the city of flowers. The suffix Nakari is a variation for Nakar in old Tamil. Identical to place names like Aazhvaar Thiru-nakari in Tamil Nadu on the opposite coast, and connected to Negeri in Malay, Poo-nakari is a name retaining an ancient linguistic strain. It became Pooneryn in the colonial records.

Meanwhile, constructing a tourist resort in the Nedun-theevu(Delft) island off Jaffna and close to Kachcha-theevu and Raameasvaram in the Palk Bay has been given to China, news sources in Jaffna said.

Why can’t one go to Jaffna to criticize the government?

Sunday 05 February 2012
Now look who’s dividing the country!
In a most curious turn of events the military which battled to defeat the LTTE because of its separatist agenda is now the agency that is dividing Sri Lanka into two distinct portions. Persons who wish to travel to the north to campaign against the government are stopped, harassed and busloads are turned back. I ask you who is de facto dividing the country. What is wrong, in law, with holding meetings to raise public awareness and increase anger against abductions, killings and rights violations? If one can do it in the Sinhalese south but not in the Tamil north, well who has set up a two-state formula? This is not war time when, arguably, there were public security constraints; this is now-now when the Rajapaksas’ are on the run.
Why is the New-JVP, harassed and blocked every step of the way to Jaffna, to join up with Tamils who share similar views, and to condemn the abduction of two of their members, Lalith Kumar Weeraraju and Kugan Muruganathan? These obstructions by the security establishment only raise further suspicions about who was behind the abductions. Where is the evidence that the law of the land was to be transgressed at a peaceful protest rally? No doubt the government and the security establishment would have been roundly condemned, and for me that’s just what makes the protest important in the public interest. It is only by raising our voices that we, the people, can salvage scraps of our eroding democracy. I am no member of the New-JVP, but I have not the slightest doubt that it is not just their freedom that is at stake, but my freedom too. That’s the reason I am making a fuss in this column today.
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