Sri Lanka: Militarizing the land and terrorizing the minds

“Given that 75% of the army’s divisions are stationed in the Northern Province, in addition to other formations such as task forces and independent brigades and regimental units, it is not unreasonable to assume that at least 60% of the army, i e, approximately 1,80,000 personnel, are stationed across the Northern Province.” - Notes on the Military Presence in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province | Economic & Political Weekly, July 14, 2012

Nearly four decades of asymmetric war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil guerrillas ended in an unprecedented bloodbath, which was seen by some as "unacceptably high".  Regardless of the fact that such statements naturally arouse anyone's cynical curiosity to know what could be an "acceptable level of bloodbath", it confirmed that the State's decisive victory over the guerrillas was achieved by massacring hundreds of thousands of Tamils. It was a well calculated and masterly executed systematic war plan which was grounded on state's unwavering determination to annihilate any number of Tamils to reach their ultimate goal. 

Consequently the Tamil inhabitants who traditionally lived in those areas were forced to vacate their native lands due to obvious concerns for their safety and security.  These traditional places of habitation consisted of residences, places of worship, schools, community buildings, farm lands and coastal fishing zones.

War and peace.., and war again                    More...

Minister threatens Magistrate and sends thugs to stone Courts- MaRa’s model in the making

 (Lanka-e-News-18.July.2012, 10.00PM) We are indeed very sad to report a most disdainful and despicable incident from Mannar demonstrating that the judiciary has been pushed into the worst predicament and humiliation as never before in the history of SL. The Rajapakse regime which is ruling this country with a bunch of criminals , crooks and hooligans has now resorted to threatening and hurling stones at Judges of courts who bow to the sacrosanct traditions of the judiciary and act justly and pass judgments duly , but of course not falling in line with the Rajapakse illegal edicts. 

It is also reported that the Govt. had moved heaven and earth to suppress the print and electronic media from revealing this incident. However the Lanka e news that is always first with its news and dares to face any Govt. intimidation is in receipt of a first hand report :

On the 16th , Minister Rishard Badurdeen has sent his stooges and hooligans and attacked the fisher folks at a location in Mannar. The police performing its duty duly had reported the incident to the courts. The Mannar Magistrate D.J. Judson has then ordered the court to take immediate action against all those responsible for this attack ,arrest and produce them before court irrespective of their power or position.

On the 17th , Minister Badurdeen has telephoned the Magistrate Judson. The Minister had told the Magistrate that it was his ‘people’ who were the assailants in this attack , and therefore not to take any action against them. The Magistrate had politely educated the brute of a Minister who does not know the basics of laws , that he ought to know that even his speaking to the Magistrate in regard to a case in courts is illegal, let alone phoning him ; and not try to teach him the law. The Minister who was obviously enraged , had threatened the Magistrate ‘ okay , we will see. I will set fire to Mannar’ the Minister has screamed.

Thereafter on today18th noon , the Minister had sent his henchmen and hooligans to chant slogans against the Magistrate in a most vilifying and humiliating manner and staged protests in front of the Court . The Minister had also instigated his ‘ people’ to hurl stones at the Magistrate court where Judge Judson hears cases , and the high court where Judge Diyanendran hears cases, whereby the courts were devastated . Later the police had taken 8 suspects into custody. In the clash 3 police man also injured. 

It is most noteworthy that this is the first time in the history of SL such lawless and murderous attacks have been launched : a judge coming under direct threat from a Minister , and the latter subsequently sending his gangs and goons to attack the courts .It is the consensus that under the murderous MaRa regime which is bragging of making SL a model of Asia , these incidents are what MaRa going to use to build his model.

Since this is a most grave and perilous situation never before faced by the SL ‘s judiciary , the Magistrates’ association has summoned an emergency meeting tomorrow(19).

Since this incident is going to militate against the Govt. in view of the forthcoming elections, the regime had threatened the print media and electronic media Institutions against publishing this story , according to reports.

Syria conflict: Ministers 'killed in suicide attack'

18 July 2012
The three men were taking part in a meeting of ministers and security heads, state TV said

Three men at the heart of President Assad's defence team have died in a suicide bombing, Syrian state TV says.

The president's defence minister, brother-in-law and head of his crisis team were at a meeting at national security headquarters in Damascus.

No footage has yet emerged of the attack in which the national security chief and interior minister were also said to have been wounded.

It comes as rebels claim to have launched an offensive on the capital.

For the past three days, rebels have fought with troops in several parts of the city, declaring their operation, entitled Damascus Volcano, a final battle for the capital.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and a jihadist group calling itself Lord of the Martyrs Brigade both said they were behind the security headquarters bombing.

Security sources say the suspected bomber worked as a bodyguard for members of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.

As events in Damascus unfolded, a UN Security Council vote on a Western-sponsored resolution threatening Syria with tougher sanctions was postponed until Thursday following a request by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Condemning the violence, Mr Annan urged members of the Security Council to take strong, concerted action to help stem the bloodshed.

'Ministers' meeting'         Full Story>>>

Nelliyadi protesters overcome sabotage by SL Military Intelligence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 July 2012, 12:30 GMT]
Around 300 protesters gathered at Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna, on Wednesday, braving threats from the occupying Sri Lanka Army that warned participants about ‘firing orders’ issued to SL soldiers and Policemen. However, the demonstrators, that included solidarity groups from Upcountry and South, protesting the killing of Tamil prisoner Nimalarooban, successfully beat the sabotage attempt by the SL Military Intelligence. The SL military had dispatched four masked operatives in two motorbikes with Tamil Eelam national flags in their attempt to incite trouble at the site of the protest organised by the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF). The intelligence operatives had to escape from being caught by the protesters.

The SL military intelligence operatives, escaping from the protest site, crashing on an aged man. The Sri Lankan Police is watching by without doing anything to arrest the intruders.

Rev Fr Marimuthupillai Sivasakthivel at Nelliyadi by TamilNet

Rev. Fr. Marimuthupillai Sivasakthivel

In their rush to escape from being caught by the protesters, the Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives who waved Tiger flag at the protest ran their bike on a civilian.

The trouble-making Sri Lankan intelligence operatives escaped from the site while the Sri Lankan policemen were silently watching the intruders passing through the SL military check posts in open daylight.

The TNPF organisers urged the participants to show restraint and observe the protest peacefully as the intention of the intruders was clearly understood by the participants from all parts of the island.

The latest episode has evidently exposed the intention by the SL military intelligence and the extent to which they are prepared to go in discrediting peaceful protests, the demonstrators said.

Protest at Nelliyadi, organised by TNPF, was particiapted by TNA parliamentarian S. Sritharan and Tamil political activists. Activists of New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party (NDMLP) together with the representatives of the political parties from South, the United Socialist Party (USP), Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) and Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) participated in the protest. Trade union representatives and grassroots activists from different parts of the island also took part in the event.

The SL military intelligence, which has been adopting various tactics, from ‘grease devils’ to ‘crude oil attacks’, to strengthen their military grip on the country of Eezham Tamils, have been working hard to sabotage the peaceful protests in recent days.

On Tuesday, just a day before the protest, the SL military intelligence had deployed its squads to attack the houses of TNPF politicians who organised the protest. The attackers had used crude oil and stones.

On Wednesday, the SLA and SL policemen were also attempting block participants from outside from attending the protest by screening the travellers on the two entry points to Vadamaraadchi conveying them a message that the SL military and police were given ‘firing order’ to quell the protest at Nelliyadi.

Rev. Fr. Marimuthupillai Sivasakthivel in his address to the protesters exposed how he and his team were blocked at their entry to Vadamaraadchi and how they were ‘advised’ by the SL military that told them that they had received ‘firing order’.

The Catholic priest, in his address, also exposed the sabotage attempt by the intruding operatives in motorbikes.

The SL military operatives, who carried Tiger flag to incite trouble at the protest site, were not blocked by hundreds of Sri Lankan policemen deployed at Nelliyadi junction.

Full story >>

Hungary Nazi war crimes suspect Laszlo Csatary detained

18 July 2012 

Hungarian authorities have put a 97-year-old Nazi war crimes suspect, Laszlo Csatary, under house arrest.

The Sun says the wanted Nazi lives in the top-floor apartment pictured here

He is number one on the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center's wanted list and is accused of assisting in the murder of 15,700 Jews.

Mr Csatary was taken in for questioning on Wednesday.

He has denied the accusations against him. State prosecutor Tibor Ibolya said: "One of his arguments in his defence is that he was obeying orders."

Mr Ibolya said Mr Csatary was accused of a "war crime committed by unlawful torture of human beings", which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

He said placing him under house arrest would enable authorities to confiscate his passport.

They said he was co-operating with investigators and that, considering his age, he was in good physical and mental health.

Earlier this week, reporters from the British newspaper the Sun found the former art dealer living in Budapest.

He was questioned on Wednesday by an investigative judge at the military prosecution's office in Budapest, before being put under house arrest for 30 days and released.

An AFP correspondent said he appeared and acted considerably younger than his 97 years when he emerged, wearing a grey jacket and carrying a plastic bag, to be picked up by two friends or relatives in a car.

Deportation

According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Mr Csatary served as a senior Hungarian police officer in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice, then under Hungarian rule and called Kassa.

Continue reading the main story

The city was the site of the first Jewish ghetto established on Hungarian territory, following the German occupation of the country, in 1944.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center accuses Mr Csatary of involvement in the deportation of 15,700 Jews from Kosice to the Auschwitz death camp.

Earlier, he allegedly played a key role in the deportation of about 300 Jews from Kosice to Kamenetz-Podolsk in Ukraine, where almost all were murdered, in the summer of 1941.

Efraim Zuroff, the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, urged the Hungarian authorities to prosecute Mr Csatary, saying: "The passage of time in no way diminishes his guilt and old age should not afford protection for Holocaust perpetrators."

However, others questioned the value of hounding a 97-year-old when proving his guilt would not be straightforward.

Laszlo Karsai, Hungary's pre-eminent Holocaust historian, and the son of a Holocaust survivor, told the BBC: "The money spent hunting down people like him would be better spent fighting the propaganda of those who so energetically deny the Holocaust today."

Tracked down

In 1948, a Czechoslovakian court condemned Mr Csatary to death in absentia.

After the war, Mr Csatary escaped to Canada where he worked as an art dealer in Montreal and Toronto. He disappeared in 1997 after he was stripped of his Canadian citizenship.

The Sun says it tracked him down with help from the Center, whose Operation Last Chance is aimed at bringing surviving Nazi war criminals to justice.

Last year, the Center alerted Hungarian authorities to his presence, giving them evidence it said implicated him in war crimes.

Action against Sirasa media for distorting the actual picture and DIG who addressed Madawala as sakkili dog

 (Lanka-e-News- 18.July.2012, 8.30PM) Kelaniya local body member Hasitha Madawala, who was remanded during a meeting to resolve a people’s issue was released on bail on the 16 th. At the behest of DIG Anura Senanayake , the notorious Govt. bootlicker and latrine cleaner the Govt. employs when latrines are overflowing with faecal matter, Hasitha was remanded .Though the police strongly objected to bail being granted , the Magistrate ignoring the police released Madawala on a cash bail of Rs. 5000/- and two personal sureties. Madawala later speaking to the media , Madawala said , the DIG abused him ‘ you sakkili ( scavenging) dog , I will squeeze and crush you’ . Madawala stated that he would reveal this to he court and seek redress from the Human rights Commission.

He also added that he will be filing action against Sirasa channel which is aligned with Mervyn Silva which is distorting the actual picture . When they were having a meeting to discuss the court order and the dumping of garbage at Manelgama following court order , Ranji , a stooge of Mervyn who was at the discussion was violently trying to sabotage the meeting. When Ranji was uttering all the falsehoods that because of the dumping of garbage , the Kotte city is getting submerged due to a canal getting blocked , although the dumping site was about 20 kilometers away from the Kelaniya river, he was provoked , Madawala said. Hence a fierce altercation followed between him and Ranji since the former could not bear the stupid and absurd lies he was telling. But the Sirasa by distorting the actual story had caused damage to him , Madawala pointed out.

It is more important to give priority to the interests of lakhs of people of the Kelaniya district, and not just 50 people. The police trying to aggravate the people’s problems rather than solving them is most reprehensible and condemnable , Madawala said.

Though in the visuals , it is shown by Sirasa that I went to attack Sirasa , that was actually Sarath Dias it depicted. Owing to Sirasa’s blatant distortions and falsehoods he had suffered immense humiliation , and he is filing action claiming compensation for defamation , Madawala further stated. 

The Sirasa failed to display the pictures of how the peaceful meeting was disrupted on its news bulletin of the 14th, Madawala regretted.

Herein are pictures of how Sirasa distorted the true position , in order to stoop to do the sordid biddings of Mervyn the most notorious vermin.

Two TNA candidates withdraw due to threats

WEDNESDAY, 18 JULY 2012
Two TNA candidates have withdrawn their candidacy due to threats by an unknown gang in the Batticaloa district, former MP M.K. Sivajilingam said.

Mr. Sivajilingam told Daily Mirror that the TNA was to file nominations for the district today, but the list had to be prepared again after the withdrawal of candidacy  by  two members. He said political groups having links with the UPFA had started threatening their political opponents.

“This is a serious trend at the very beginning,” he said.

He said the house of a leading TNA candidate for Batticaloa, K. Thurairajasingham had been padlocked from the outside by an unidentified gang so that nobody get out.

The main door of the house had been locked in this way when the occupants were asleep. Later, police assistance  was sought to break it open it.( Kelum Bandara and M. Sukri)

'Reconciliation' is a facade used to coverup crimes' - Jude Lal Fernando

In January 2010, a Peoples' Tribunal on Sri Lanka was conducted in Ireland by Milan based Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT), an independent international body,  which derives its legacy from Russell-Satre Tribunal on Vietnam. The international hearing, now widely known as 'Dublin Tribunal', was the first international attempt made to look into the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Sri Lanka.

The prime mover behind the 'Dublin Tribunal' was Dr. Jude Lal Fernando, a Sinhalese academic and social activist, who coordinates the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka.

He is a Research Fellow & Lecturer at the Irish School of Ecumenics,  Ireland's only cross-border post-graduate institute affiliated with Trinity College in Dublin. His M.Phil. thesis - 'A Paradigm for a Peace Movement: Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr' - received the James Haire Prize for best dissertation in 2004-2005, while his doctoral research on 'Dynamics of Essentialist Representations of Nationhood' and the 'Politics of Interpretation: The Role of Religion in the Making and the Unmaking of the Sri Lankan State' as well as his post-doctoral research titled 'A Comparative Analysis: Geo-Politics of Peace and Conflict in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland' have gained wide acceptance.

"Instead of 'reconciliation' we should use the word justice" he said in a conversation with the JDS.  "The reconciliation, as far as the Sri Lankan context is concerned, is a facade and a moralising discourse that justify a monolithic unitary state which helps to coverup its crimes. Therefore, the Dublin Tribunal dropped the word reconciliation in its recommendations and suggested a Truth and Justice Commission.''

Excerpts from the interview follow:

JDS: In January 2010, six months after the end of Sri Lanka's war, you were instrumental in organizing the first war crimes tribunal in Dublin as an independent international initiative. Why, Dublin Tribunal?

Read more

Former IGP’s wife sets up clothes shop at the Sri Lankan mission in Brazil

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Former IGP and Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Brazil, Mahinda Balasuriya’s wife, Asha Balasuriya has set up a clothes shop at the Sri Lankan mission in Brazil, diplomatic sources said.

Asha Balasuriya had maintained close links with well known racketeers when her husband was the IGP and she at the time was known among members of the police force as “senior IGP.”

The sources who gave us the information said that Asha Balasuriya had got down clothes manufactured in Sri Lanka using her diplomatic privileges without paying any taxes and was carrying out her garment business quite lucratively by abusing embassy resources. It is learnt that she has asked all embassy staff to purchase their clothing requirements from her.

A senior External Affairs Ministry official said that many complaints have been received about head of Sri Lankan missions who abuse embassy property for their private businesses. The official added that inquiries are currently being carried out in to the complaints and that necessary steps would be taken afterwards.

Sri Lanka's envoy must be recalled

July 18, 2012
Opinion-

Bruce Haigh

Sri Lankan envoy Thisara Samarasinghe

Fairfax senior correspondent Daniel Flitton reported on July 18 that the AFP had dropped an investigation of war crimes into the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, former Admiral, Thisara Samarasinghe.

Samarasinghe joined the Sri Lankan navy in 1974 and retired in 2011, after his appointment to Australia became known. Samarasinghe was Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan navy in 2009 when the navy carried out the shelling of Tamil women and children in a safe zone designated by the Sri Lankan defence force, in the north of the country, at the end of the civil war between the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

Whether he ordered the shelling or not, Samarasinghe as Chief of Staff held a very senior and responsible position in the navy and as a result must be held to account.

There is no question that Samarasinghe should be recalled. A former Commodore in the Sri Lankan navy has been refused permission by the Canadian Federal Court to apply for refugee status in Canada because of his complicity in war crimes in 2009.

In 2005 and 2008 the Canadian Government refused to accept nominations from the government of Sri Lanka for the position of high commissioner on grounds that both nominees were guilty of human rights abuse.

In September 2011, former Sri Lankan General Jaghat Dias, who had been appointed ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, was recalled to Colombo, following accusations that he was complicit in the shelling of civilian and hospital targets at the end of the war.

In 1995 the nomination, as ambassador, of former Indonesian General Herman Mantiri was rejected by Australia on the basis of war crimes committed against the East Timorese.

The UN has accepted that the Sri Lankan defence forces were guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final weeks of the war, just as they accept that both sides in the civil war were guilty of war crimes during the course of the conflict.

The President of the International Commission of Jurists in Australia, John Dowd, AO, released a statement on 17 October last year which said in part: "Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 must not be allowed to go unpunished. The expert committee established by the United Nations Secretary-General found credible allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law."

Senator Lee Rhiannon of the Greens says, "If the Prime Minister has information which clears the High Commissioner of any complicity in war crimes then she should share this with the Australian people. If not, the Australian government should immediately ask the Sri Lankan government to recall its High Commissioner, or move to expel him."

The AFP should never have been tasked with investigating Samarasinghe's conduct during the war. They have a conflict of interest. Charged with preventing boat arrivals of refugees from Sri Lanka and with helping to organise disruption activities with the Sri Lankan navy, they are hardly in a position to bite the hand of a former representative of the service that AFP officers based in Sri Lanka are now working closely with. The Australian government condones this activity.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was said to have been opposed to Samarasinghe's appointment but the AFP may well have pushed for it in order to assist their disruption activities of which Samarasinghe has admitted undertaking. (ABC radio interview 17.7.12).

The unsupervised power of the AFP is a matter of growing concern, but the fact that they can drop an important investigation without informing parliament or its representatives is symptomatic of the arrogance now attending this force as it seemingly prosecutes its own agenda, free from parliamentary constraint and supervision.

The Gillard government and the Abbott opposition are weak for having allowed this situation to develop and more so for now appearing to condone it.

Tamils in the north of the country remain under military occupation. Credible witnesses report a climate of fear. Women and children are abused, the economy is dead and there is no work.  All this is denied by Samarasinghe and the government he represents, however this is why desperate Tamils continue to try and come to Australia by boat. A form of apartheid is being carried out against the Tamils in the north.

When apartheid was being carried out by the white South African government against black South Africans, not even a Coalition government was prepared to accept a general or admiral from South Africa as ambassador to Australia; so why do we bend and break the rules with Sri Lanka?

Is it all to do with the disruption program and the special 'relationship' we have forged with Sri Lanka over terrorism? Most likely. The terrorism bogey, from, and within Sri Lanka, is long dead if ever it were alive for anyone but the Sri Lankan spin machine and ASIO expansion plans.

AFP involvement overseas with the disruption of refugee boats is corrupting and harming what should be a premier Australian police force. It is preventing the AFP from fully gaining the respect of Australians and distorts their ability to focus on non political police activities. They should have no role in the formation and conduct of aspects of Australian foreign policy and yet they do.

Bruce Haigh is a political commentator and retired diplomat who served in Sri Lanka.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/politics/sri-lankas-envoy-must-be-recalled-20120718-22a26.html#ixzz20zH2iXnA

Son brings bad luck to Berty Premalal

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Details of a conspiracy not to hand over the chief ministerial post of the North Central Province to Berty Premalal Dissanayake have now surfaced.

As a result, details of the President reprimanding Dissanayake at the SLFP Central Committee meeting for failing to get a piece of legislation given by him to the chief minister to be passed in the North Central Provincial Council had been published in the gossip columns of weekend newspapers. The reports have also stated that the President was displeased with Dissanayake’s conduct.

The news that would reflect badly on the North Central Province Chief Minister had been given to the media by the President’s Media Unit on a Presidential directive.

Meanwhile, one of Deputy Minister Duminda Dissanayake’s coordinating Secretaries, Nandana Lokubharana, who had not been arrested by the police for about one year over an alleged cheque fraud was suddenly arrested last week and presented before court as part of the operation to bring disrepute to the Chief Minister.

When the suspect was produced before court, Magistrate Ruvandhka Marapone had questioned the police as to why he was not arrested earlier since he was wanted for a period of one year.

However, political analysts say the real reason to sideline Berty Premalal Dissanayake is due to his son Deputy Minster Duminda Dissanayake who is also Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne’s son n-law.

It is believed that he would pose a threat to Namal Rajapaksa’s political future, analysts said.

The Impunity Of Powerful Individuals And ‘Filthy Websites’

July 18, 2012

By Sanjana Hattotuwa -

Sanjana Hattotuwa

ITN’s website on Thursday featured a story on the caring side of government, if this wasn’t already evident to citizens.  It noted, “There have been continuous complaints from the general public about certain websites publishing malicious, defamatory and row (sic) filth and stories defamatory to the characters of certain people.  Therefore, it has become necessary to protect the dignity of the general public being victimized by these filthy websites”.

The government’s genius solution to this perceived conundrum was to slap a steep and recurring tax on ‘news websites’, which at the time of writing remains a loosely used term. Obviously, mainstream media websites will fall under this new tax. But online, anyone from anywhere at any time can report something newsworthy, so this new regulation could potentially and very quickly embrace personal blogs, micro-blogs (Twitter accounts), Facebook groups and fan pages, content on platforms like Bundlr that curate news items over the long-term or around a certain issue or event, Flickr photo-streams that are on current events and YouTube video channels. In addition the government announced it would amend the relevant legal framework, dating from 1973, so that anyone associated with running or curating any of these platforms, blogs or websites can be, at the government’s whim (or through a paid proxy in court) be slapped with lawsuits, fines and even imprisonment.

The development is a seriously disturbing one, but in it lies an opportunity as well. For years, independent media online has published the most damning accounts of government excesses, including graft, corruption and probing debates on allegations of war crimes. Post-war, this trend will increase. The change in legislation and the imposition of tax are points of no return. During the years of war, government never tired of saying there was no official censorship in place. That’s gone now – the law and tax are very real, and the unspoken yet palpable threat is that perceived non-compliance will most likely lead to content censorship coupled with duress and possible criminal proceedings.

What’s new is the fact that anyone, anywhere in Sri Lanka is now liable for prosecution at the sole discretion of government. It is likely this columnist’s paper, one of the first to register with the government even when there was no legal requirement to do so, as well as other mainstream media will immediately pay the tax and supinely comply with the law. A tremendous increase in self-censorship will be the result of this. It’s unlikely a single media institution in this country will have the backbone to resist it. Where things get interesting is when it comes to blogs and social media, sites that are located out of Sri Lanka and the other web and mobile based platforms which can be easily and effortlessly set up by individuals, groups, institutions or political parties. Henceforth, no matter whether you write, photograph, record or tweet – if what you say is newsworthy and seen as particularly inconvenient, you will be blocked, and if identified and geo-located within Sri Lanka, face criminal proceedings. And because it’s now the law, the government will say this clamp down on media freedom is all very democratic.

The opportunity in all this lies in the impossibility of the intended goal – which is to control content with extreme prejudice. Going after a few voices online for entirely parochial reasons, the Rajapaksa’s have grossly underestimated the scope and fallout of what they have now brought about. Fighting new forms of dissent – agile, multi-platform, real-time, glocal and mobile – with antiquated means and mind-sets was tried early last year in Tunisia, for example. Didn’t exactly turn out as expected for Ben Ali et al. Forget about higher democratic ideals – a modicum of enlightened self-interest would suggest that the government simply cannot sustain this level of censorship without serious domestic and international repercussions. And mind-bogglingly, it sees fit to propose these laws to secure decency and dignity when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, not for the first time, demonstrated to the world and us just how unhinged he is, and Mervyn Silva, despite the most heinous violence, threats and language in public for years on end, roams free after being found innocent of any wrongdoing by government.

The impunity of powerful individuals, retrogressive laws and censorious taxes respectively showcase so much of what’s wrong and getting worse with the freedom of expression our country. We are impervious to the violent censorship of Tamil dissidents in the country, writing against both LTTE and the State, during and after war. But the noose now ensnares a larger community. If you’re producing content on how you see and choose to describe Sri Lanka, you’re now liable for criminal prosecution, regulation and possible taxation. It’s as simple as that.

Good luck.

Sanjana’s bolg sanjanah.wordpress.com

Lalith Alahakoon back at Lankadeepa

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 

Member of the Ceylon Newspaper Company and editor of the Ceylon Today newspaper, senior journalist Lalith Alahakoon is to join the Wijeya Newspaper Company.

There was much controversy over Alahakoon’s removal from the post of editor of Ceylon Today. Soon after the management announced his removal, three members of the editorial staff resigned from the newspaper. Alahakoon had previously been a member of The Sunday Times editorial and the Editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper that were published by the Wijeya Newspaper Company.

He later joined the Rivira Media Corporation and became Editor of The Nation newspaper. Afterwards he joined the Ceylon Today newspaper.

However, Alahakoon is to join Wijeya Newspapers as an editorial consultant to the Sinhala newspaper published by the organization.

He has been assigned the task of overseeing the daily Lankadeepa and Sunday Lankadeepa newspapers.

The Wijeya Group has also decided to employ the other members of the Ceylon Today editorial who had resigned following Alahakoon’s removal.

  ReliefWeb report

 

Sri Lanka

 

A Grim Search for the Missing

By Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Jul 17 2012 (IPS) - A bloody civil war was reaching its climax but this Tamil family, who had already experienced the conflict intimately, had one last decision to make that would prove to be the hardest one of all.

Fighting during the early months of 2009, in the last phase of Sri Lanka’s 30 year-long civil conflict, was so intense that a Tamil couple in their sixties was forced to make a heart-wrenching choice when they fled the bloody warzone: whether or not to leave behind Thangamathi, the elderly unmarried sister in the family who had been mentally handicapped since birth and required constant care.

Finally, Thangamathi’s brother decided to leave her at a home for the mentally challenged, a location that he hoped would shelter her until his return.

“It was a hard decision, but neither of us was strong enough to take care of her, (when we ourselves) were barely surviving from minute to minute,” he told IPS.

Full Story>>>

SL court postpones Tamil prisoner's funeral rites case

Colombo, Jul 18 (PTI) A petition filed by the parents of a deceased Tamil prisoner demanding his funeral to be held at their native place was postponed to July 20 by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court today.

Ganesan Nimalaruban a prison inmate in Vavuniya jail in northern Sri Lanka was injured late last month as were several other LTTE suspects when the prisoners took hostage three prison guards. He died later.

The case would now be heard on July 20, lawyers said.

Taking It To The Streets

By Liyanage Amarakeerthi -

Dr.Liyanage Amarakeerthi

Last week, university dons around the country took to the streets asking people to sign a one million-signature petition demanding that the authorities safeguard the state-funded education system of the country. In Kandy, some famous professors and academics from University of Peradeniya turned up in the middle of the city and explained to people why they were asking people to sign the petition. The preamble to the petition reads:

“Education is a primary feature of all human societies today. It is a fundamental human right and a fundamental feature of our democracy. Everyone has the right to education and access to education (Article 26 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). In 1945, education was established as a ‘free’ service, which should be made accessible to all persons irrespective of caste, creed, gender, ethnicity, language and region. This brought about a near social revolution in the country. Free education has provided social mobility to ordinary people; people from all parts of the country. We all need schools of quality for our children. Universities are where so many of our children aspire to go to. It brought about a renaissance in the arts creating a strong sense of belonging among its people in different ways. This system has supported artists, writers, teachers, engineers, doctors, dentists, vets, architects, agriculturalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, accountants and many more professionals. Education supports all other professional and bureaucratic services contributing to the health of the country.”

Of course, people already knew about most of it. They, however, were visibly startled when they heard the tragic twist at the end of the tale:

“Yet, today, public education is under severe stress from many quarters. We are concerned about current government policy toward education and higher education. From 2005 onwards, government spending on education has been fast decreasing. When the current President came into office, in 2005, the government’s expenditure on education was 2.9% of GDP. Today, it has fallen to a miserable 1.9% of GDP.”

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