Another epic lie of Colombo Stock Exchange -Mangala
(Lanka-e-News- 14.Sep.2012, 10.00PM) In an incongruous turn of events the Colombo Stock Exchange has become the third best performing stock market in the world, over the last month, according to reports in the state media and broadcasters affiliated to business tycoons under scrutiny by independent securities regulators. The report comes just weeks after the appointment of Nalaka Godahewa as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a move that has been likened to putting a fox in charge of the hencoop.

Godahewa is SEC chairman for one reason and one reason only – to protect the interests of the very market mafia that is running the bourse to the ground and is therefore, supposed to be under scrutiny by the regulator. Godahewa is an appointment sanctioned and mooted by the mafia, run by business tycoons whose affiliations to the incumbent regime need no second telling.

Rampant corruption, cronyism and insider trading has led to the implosion of the CSE, which was the world’s best performing stock market just months after the end of the conflict, buoyed by Sri Lanka’s post-war potential and investor confidence. That same confidence has been turned on its head today, with the same market being rocked by scandal and allegations of unimaginable corruption. The CSE has seen its value plunge by 26 percent over the last year, as state appointed securities regulator after regulator have quit in disgust at the way the market is being run.

Last month, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Tilak Karunaratne quit his position, saying he could no longer fight against a ‘mafia of crooks’ preventing SEC investigations into ‘pump and dump’ cons that were shaking the market to its core and completely swindling the small retailers investing in the market. Karunaratne, upon his resignation from the post for which he was handpicked by President Mahinda Rajapaksa said brokers were involved in the scams that were being perpetrated by a handful of high net worth individuals manipulating the stock exchange. Karunaratne’s predecessor at the SEC Indrani Sugathadasa, a highly respected public servant also resigned last year, saying she was unwilling to “compromise her principles.” Currently, there are 17 high profile cases of insider trading and other irregularities under investigation at the SEC. Many of them, Karunaratne has claimed have been put on the backburner on the instructions of higher echelons of power. According to Karunaratne, he was given a not so subtle message to quit his post through emissaries of the very man who placed him in the chair, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The story of the Colombo Stock Exchange is therefore, now becoming abundantly clear and the lack of investigation and acceptance of this status quo by the ruling regime has been criticized by international financial lending agencies such as the IMF, whose loan tranches to Sri Lanka are conditional on fiscal responsibility on the part of the Sri Lankan state. The bubble that was the CSE soon after the end of the war, has now burst, resulting in the bourse losing more than 5 billion dollars in value within six months, leaving the high profile stakeholders in the Stock Exchange desperately seeking scapegoats for mitigating their losses. Ably assisted by brokers, they are preying on the carefully invested savings of ordinary people, spurring them on to invest in dud companies by pumping money into the dodgy stocks, only to flee when the time is right with their winnings, leaving the small investor high and dry, often with less capital than they started out with.

The time has come therefore, to stop bandying words. The crisis in Sri Lanka’s stock exchange is simply put, a money laundering Ponzi scheme, orchestrated by certain high net worth individuals; individuals that are protected by the regime because they also look after the financial interests of the ruling family. The breakdown of the rule of law, that is leading to the enactment of the law of the jungle in every aspect of Sri Lankan life at the hands of this regime has now pervaded the financial system, a harbinger of almost certain collective doom for the citizenry at large.

Laughably, these same individuals, led by the likes of Dilith Jayaweera claim that the bourse is suffering from over-regulation – an incredulous charge since unprecedented insider trading and market manipulation notwithstanding, not a single individual in Sri Lanka has been prosecuted and jailed for securities fraud.

With the government firmly on the side of these white collar crooks, because of the wealth they wield, the question of who will protect the small investor must be raised. Who will come to their defence when they trust in the government’s reassurances that the stock market is a safe investment and feed their savings to the corporate sharks lurking beneath the surface of the murky waters of the exchange?

As the government aims to obtain more international loans to finance its extravagant habits and courts international image building by holding the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Colombo, an agenda dominated by Rule of Law issues and democracy, one has to marvel at this regime’s tremendous ability to orchestrate public relations stunts while the country is being engulfed in flames of corruption and rampant economic mismanagement.

The government, in its blasé acceptance of the Sugathadasa and Karunaratne resignations and appointment of Godahewa as their regulatory successor, proves beyond doubt that they take no issue with the fat cats continuing to fill their pockets with stolen gold, as long as a share is carefully apportioned out to the regime in exchange for its silence.

By Mangala Samaraweera MP

Sri Lanka’s Provincial Election: Some Disturbing Realities

By Annonymous -September 14, 2012

The Provincial Council poll held on 8 September 2012 in three provinces (namely, North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern) ended with a repeated victory to President Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition. Under the Constitution of the Second Republic, the head of state wields the power to call elections in separate chunks, as in the case of the September 8 election. It was held only in three provinces, and in the near future, an election will be held in another couple of provinces. Not unsurprisingly, personalities in government are keen to express their delight over their coalition’s successes.

However, the election is also quite revelatory about a number of disheartening realities in Sri Lankan politics. Its results demonstrate, for instance, that ethnic minority communities are less prone to stand by the ruling coalition. The TNA has fared extremely well in Tamil majority areas in the Eastern Province, while the SLMC has triumphed in Moor majority areas. It should not be forgotten that this outcome was produced in a backdrop in which the ruling coalition also presented Tamil and Moor candidates on its behalf, with the fullest support of the state machinery. If Tamils and Moors in large numbers are prone to prefer members of their respective communities contesting under the banner of exclusively Tamil and Moors parties (and not members of their communities contesting for the ruling coalition), it says something about the reception of the Rajapaksa rule among the majority of citizens from minority communities.

This, if anything, is a disturbing reality. After some thirty years of war and destruction, and some three years into the post-war phase, none of the largest political parties/coalitions have begun to sow the seeds of an ethnically inclusive support base.

The ruling coalition has made efforts on terms its own. Vinayagamoorti Muralitharan, also known by his nom de guerre Karuna Amman, the LTTE’s ex-second in command and head of operations in the Eastern Province, is presently not only a cabinet minister, but also a member, just like President Rajapaksa, of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main component of the ruling coalition. His deputy in the LTTE, Sivanasaturai Chandrakantan, alias Pillayan, was the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province prior to the elections. The LTTE’s international operations chief, Kumaran Patmanatan, works behind the scenes with the Rajapaksa administration. Key surviving figures in the LTTE’s small political wing, Daya Master and George Master, were both acquitted by the government. Ms Tamara Kunanayakam, a Sri Lankan Tamil Swiss national and confidante of President Rajapaksa, is the ambassador inHavana. The list could continue.

A question worth raising is, why are the leading political parties systematically failing in winning substantive support from minorities?

Impunity and immorality                              Read More

The President asks Basil to return immediately

Friday, 14 September 2012

The President had on the 10^th informed Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who left for the US leaving the Eastern provincial Council election campaign without telling anyone, to return to the country.

Attempts by the President to resolve the issue of forming the Eastern Provincial Council through his confidential finance secretary, MP Sajin Vass Gunawardena had failed.

The President had said that no one possessed the ability to resolve such issues like Basil and had asked his secretary to immediately ask Basil to return to the country to resolve the issue over appointing the chief ministers for the Eastern and North Central Provinces.

Basil had told his friends that the President had realized his importance and had returned to the country on the 12^th.

Govt. ally proposes all-party council in EP: SLMC agreeable

September 13, 2012

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) yesterday proposed that the government and the Opposition explore the possibility of forming a joint provincial administration in the Eastern Province. The CPSL said that the ongoing post-war national reconciliation efforts would receive a tremendous boost through setting up of an all-party provincial administration.

Having consulted senior representatives of political parties, including the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), CPSL General Secretary Senior Minister Dew Gunasekara yesterday said that the government should take up the issue with all political parties, which won seats at the Sept.8 poll for the Eastern Provincial Council. The veteran politician was speaking to The Island after writing to General Secretaries of UPFA (14 seats, including two bonus slots), Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (11 seats), the SLMC (7 seats), the UNP (4) and the National Freedom Front (1 seat), which shared the 37-member council.

DEW said that copies of the letter had also been forwarded to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and SLFP General Secretary Minister Maithripala Sirisena. The CPSL move came in the wake of US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake’s arrival in Colombo for consultations with the government and the Opposition.

Minister Gunasekara said that he had the blessings of the leftists such as Prof. Tissa Vitharana (LSSP) and Vasudeva Nanayakkara (Democratic Left Front). The onus was on the five political parties that had won seats in the Eastern PC to reach an understating on a working arrangement if they were genuinely interested in helping the people of the Eastern Province and democratic wellbeing, he said. "Let there be a working arrangement for a specific period in the Eastern Province. All political parties could share the credit for such an arrangement, though various people may give different interpretations."

Asked whether the CPSL, as a constituent party of the UPFA, was making a move on behalf of the government, Minister Gunasekara emphasised that the country was no longer in a position to play politics with the national issue. There couldn’t be a better opportunity than an all-party administration to convince the international community that those having won seats were genuinely interested in national reconciliation, he said.

The CPSL, the LSSP and Democratic Left Front fielded candidates at the PC polls in the Eastern Province comprising Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Digamadulla electoral district, but none of them were returned.

Minister Gunasekara said that he had discussed the matter with SLMC General Secretary Hassen Ali on Wednesday. Regardless of what hardliners say, an agreement on the running of the Eastern PC was possible, the minister said, emphasising that it could be perhaps the only way the current impasse could be tackled. Responding to a query, the minister said the SLMC had been placed in an extremely difficult position due to both the UPFA and the ITAK pushing for its support. He asserted that it would be a mistake on the part of the UPFA as well as the ITAK to obtain the SLMC support at the expense of the other. "Don’t let the SLMC make a choice at the Eastern PC. We should be able to reach an agreement soon." He said what he had gathered from his talks with the SLMC was that it was amenable to an all-party administration in the East.

Speaking to The Island immediately after the Eastern PC polls, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said that his party felt that a genuine effort was needed to prevent further polarisation. The Justice Minister emphasised the need to pursue reconciliation efforts, while acknowledging the danger in causing further uncertainties.

Sri Lanka: Post-mortem of the provincial elections
Guest Column by Dr. Kumar David 

The Rajapakse government called early elections to three provincial councils (PC) as a tactical build up to early parliamentary elections (possibly after another round of PC elections) and early presidential elections. If president and parliament serve out their full term, elections are not due till early-mid 2016. The alleged reason for early elections is that the government wants to go to the polls before its falling popularity declines too much, and early PC elections which the government hopes to win will be useful psychological groundwork. Elections to the North Central Province (NCP) bordering the Northern and Eastern provinces, Sabaragamuwa in the south-west, both in the Sinhalese heartland, and Eastern provinces were held on 8 September. Were the government’s hopes and expectations fulfilled? Yes and no, and some deep complications have also surfaced; this piece will briefly discuss these issues. 

Eastern Province (EP) 

The EP is where the government’s hopes went most awry and has become the seat of deep complications. The demographics of the EP are as follows in round numbers: 40% Muslim, 35% Tamil and 25% Sinhalese and a further significant matter is that Batticaloa, one of the three districts in the EP (the other two are Trincomalee and Amparai also called Digamadulla), is very Tamil, say 70%. The outcome of the election was as follows. The UPFA, the government alliance, obtained 32% of the vote and 14 seats, the TNA 31% and 11 seats, while the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) won 21% and 7 seats. The UNP polled just 12% securing 4 seats and the Sinhala extremist National Freedom Front of cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa with 1.5% grabbed a seat, adding up to a total of 37 in the Council. Seats are not allocated on a strictly proportional basis since the party with the largest vote gets two bonus seats without which the UPFA seat tally would have been only 12.  

There is a little more background information to add before making any analytical remarks. The SLMC is led by Rauf Hakeem who is Minister of Justice in Rajapakse’s cabinet and the SLMC, like the NFF, is a constituent of the government at the Centre; it having been agreed that parties that wished to could go it alone in the provinces. Secondly, of the UPFA elected 12, a full seven are Muslims, and one of the UNP’s four is a Muslim, making a total of 15 with the SLMC’s seven, but crucially they lie scattered and spattered across three political entities. This is very significant because the Muslims have long been wailing that they have no political clout in the country, not even in the EP which has a clear Muslim plurality. I will return to the horse-trading now in full swing about who the SLMC will join, UPFA or TNA, in forming a provincial administration after a digression. 

Perhaps the most significant outcome of the EP-PC election on a national scale is the total erasure of Pilleyan’s TMVP party from the political landscape. Like Douglas in the North before him Pilleyan as a significant Tamil leader with pro Rajapakse leanings is history. Except for Pilleyan himself, not one single Tamil candidate aligned to Pilleyan was elected on the UPFA list which he led in Batticaloa. The others were all Muslims and Pilleyan too would not have succeeded unless UPFA Muslim voters granted him a preferential vote. (Sri Lanka employs a party plus candidate preferential voting system which can only be described as downright stupid and injurious to the public good). The TNA secured 51% (presumably all Tamil) and the UPFA 31% (maybe half Tamil and half Muslim) and the SLMC 12% of the total poll in Batticaloa District.  

The ex-LTTE commando boss Pilleyan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan) who crossed over to the government side has been wiped out in Tamil majority Batticaloa and the TNA has emerged as the voice of the Tamil people. This is a sign of what portends for the Northern Province (NP) provincial elections if they are ever held; it is clear as daylight that the TNA will score a handsome victory in any Tamil majority region. I must pause to mention that I use the term TNA (Tamil National Alliance) throughout this piece though it was only its principal constituent theIllangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), formerly called the Federal Party in English, that run in the EP in a deplorable show of Tamil internecine sectarianism. The acronym TNA is better known internationally.

This has enormous political significance since there is no one that reads the political tealeaves as carefully as the Rajapakses and the significance of this demonstration of Tamil allegiance with the TNA is that the President will not hold the NP-PC elections unless he is dragged to it, kicking and screaming, by the international community. It is not simply that the UPFA will be roundly defeated, but more important that regimes with an authoritarian drift cannot stand any form of power dissent. A PC in the country that will dare to say boo to the President’s goose is a danger that no autocrat accustomed to absolute power will countenance. This despite the absurdity that the PC system was brought to Lanka under the 13-th Constitutional Amendment to grant a degree of autonomy to the Tamils, but now every other province except the Tamil province has a PC!  

Rauf Hakeem and his ardent pursuers                                         Full Story>>>

Video: Malaka never assaulted an army officer-Mervyn

FRIDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 
Minister Mervyn Silva said that his son Malaka Silva did not assault any army officer as reported.
Addressing a press conference in Colombo, Minister Silva however said that Malaka would have assaulted a man. “My son had never assaulted an army officer; he would have assaulted a man, but definitely not an army officer,” the minister said adding that “even in your childhood you had fought with others, in the younger age you would have fought and even at my age you would have had a fight with someone.  That cannot be stopped, because we are human beings and it applies to my son too.”

He also said that if something had been done by his son, police could take proper action.

The minister told a news conference that the Kaliamman Kovil would not be allowed to hold the animal sacrifices scheduled for October, 16.
“The police will take necessary measures to ensure that the rituals are stopped,” the minister said.
Thun Hela Jathikaya Secretary the Ven. Omarpe Kassapa Thera said they had filed a complaint at the Chilaw police station because the temple had not obtained the necessary clearance from authorities to hold the ceremony.  
“This is not a religious matter, we accept the right to practice the religion of his or her choice, but this is illegal and has to be stopped,” the Thera said.
(Nabeela Hussain)

A ban on MBBS doctors

The facility of performing surgery by doctors with M.B.B.S (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) that existed has been withdrawn through the Registration Certificate issued for them by Sri Lanka Medical Council state government doctors.

Accordingly, these doctors will be denied the legal right to perform surgeries in government as well as private hospitals and will affect the surgeries in hospitals as majority of surgeries performed in both government and private hospitals are handled by medical officers said a senior government doctor.

Speaking further he has said the certificate issued to doctors by the Sri Lanka Medical Council until now had stated that the medical practitioner was lawfully qualified to practice medicine and surgery. However, the certificate issues at present states that medical practitioner has lawfully qualified to ‘practice medicine only.’ He said the doctors have been slyly removed from performing surgery and they will now be able to perform surgeries under the supervision of medical consultants only.

Thuggery: Father, Son And Holy Ghosts

By Malinda Seneviratne -September 13, 2012 
Chaminda Senasinghe and (inset) Malaka Silva

Malinda Seneviratne

When the Minister of Public Relations and Public Affairs, Mervin Silva, set out to capture a public servant, he made it a photo opportunity. The media was invited.  TV stations were ‘camera-ready’.  The victim was tied to a tree.  It was reported in the newspapers and the footage was shown on television.  The police did nothing.  The Attorney General did nothing.  The entire justice system shamed itself that day.

In March this year the same minister openly stated that he was responsible for Poddala Jayantha leaving the country. Jayantha, a well-known media activist was earlier abducted and assaulted.  His assailants are yet to be brought to justice.  While bragging about his role in Jayantha’s exit, this minister also threatened to personally break the limbs of Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Sunila Abeysekera and Nimalka Fernando.  All four mentioned above have dubious track records in financial dealings as well as being pawns of the LTTE.  All that is irrelevant to the matter of threat and threat-execution.  The law has not pursued these individuals for wrongdoing, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to take the law into his or her hands.

Two days ago, the minister’s son assaulted an Army Major.  He was accompanied by an entourage of thugs.  It is reported that the entire incident was caught on camera.  Police Media Spokesperson, SSP Ajith Rohanain a radio interview last morning told SLBC Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe that this was true, i.e. the assailant, Malaka Silva, son of Minister Mervin Silva was caught on camera assaulting the Army officer.  Statements have been issued, also, claiming that the Police was looking for this thug.

The man, whose face is familiar to the entire population and ought to be familiar to every single policeman in this country, was photographed worshipping the Sacred Kapilavastu Relics at the Kelaniya Rajamaha Viharaya.  It is known that the police were out in full force to ensure security and to control crowds thronging to pay homage to the Relics.  It is incredible that he was not arrested.

It is hard to believe that the police do not have eyes.  It is hard to believe they don’t have legs to walk up to this thug and handcuff him.  It is hard to believe that they were ignorant of the fact that he is wanted for assault and battery of a citizen and probably (given context) wanted for other and more serious crimes.

The father got off scot-free.  Now, for all the pledges of the Police Media Spokesperson, the people cannot be blamed for thinking ‘the son will get away too!’  Indeed, it has come to a point where editorial comments about these acts of thuggery containing demands that the police do their job have been likened to hitting head against brick wall.

The impotency of the law enforcement authorities clearly indicate a numbing imposed by people in positions of power. We have to come to some conclusions here.

The police are not sleeping, but pretending to sleep. The Attorney General is not sleeping but is pretending to sleep.  The President hardly ever sleeps, we are told.  He cannot therefore pretend to sleep.

Sooner or later what was caught on camera will go viral on youtube.  It won’t spark a movement to overthrow the Government, for Mervin Silva’s antics and gross violations have also gone viral on youtube.  Things add up though.  Dots are joined.  Credit gets spent.  Worms turn.  Birds come home to roost.

Every minute that passes without Malaka Silva being arrested, we get closer to a terrible moment where we begin to walk a path we’ve walked twice in the last 40 years.  That is because of Mervin Silva, Malaka Silva and all the other Silvas who have been spared by the law.

There are crimes of commission and there are crimes of omission.  Neither is spared in the karmic matrix.   There will be loud knocks on the doors of big houses.  The doors may or may not be opened, but if it is not they will be broken down, in violation of the law.  A letter might be delivered.  It would probably contain an 11-word reminder: ‘What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’.

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of ‘The Nation‘ and his articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com

Related posts;

Assault On Army Major: Police Fail To Nab Minister Mervyn’s ‘Criminal’ Secretaries

An Army Major Is Hospitalised; Mervyn Silva’s Son Malaka Silva Has Done It Again

WikiLeaks: Mervin Silava Is A Drug Kingpin Patron Chief

Arrest This Thug!

Elected PC member remanded before sworn in

T.M. Hasithe Samanthe Muhandiram, the UNP candidate who received the highest preferential votes from Ratnapura District at the recently held provincial council election, has been remanded say reports.

He was ordered to be remanded by Ratnapura Magistrate Ms. Chanima Wijebandara when a complaint regarding an assault on the UNP Leader of the Opposition of Kuruwita Pradeshiya Sabha was heard today (13th). It is alleged that the suspect assaulted the Opposition Leader with a weapon.

Mr. Muhandiram’s counsel Nissanka Nanayakkara has told court that the matter regarding the weapon was fabricated by the police.

Over 2,000 cops, 500 commandos fail to arrest Mervyn's son, Malaka

September 12, 2012,

By Madura Ranwala

Many an eyebrow has been raised in defence circles by the failure on the part of the police to arrest controversial Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva's son Malaka wanted for his alleged involvement in an incident where two army officers attached to military intelligence were severely assaulted and relieved of a service revolver and a mobile phone at Jaic Hilton in the wee hours of Sunday.

The Major injured in the attack is receiving treatment at the Army Hospital, Colombo.

Police spokesman SSPAjith Rohana said two special police teams had been deployed to arrest Malaka and one of them had visited the suspect’s house but he had not been there at that time.

The police were expected to arrest Malaka either last evening or latest by today and drastic action would be taken against the police personnel concerned if they failed to do so, the SSP said.

Malaka is moving about freely surrounded by bodyguards including Ministerial Security Division personnel, according to sources. On Tuesday he visited the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya, paid homage to the Kapilavastu Relics there and walked away despite the presence of 500 Special Task Force (STF) commandos and over 2,000 police personnel providing security to the temple. There were also more than a dozen high ranking police officers overseeing the security operations.

Police spokesman, asked whether there had been 2,500 police men at the Kelaniya temple on the days when the relics exposition was held, answered in the affirmative.

According to highly placed sources, a CCTV footage obtained from the Jaic Hilton security division have corroborated the victims' statement to the police that Malaka de Silva and Rehan Wijerante assaulted them and removed a revolver and a mobile phone.

Asked what action the army had taken in this regard, Acting Military spokesman Brigadier G. V. Ravipriya told The Island that the military investigation would be carried out after the police investigation was over.

WikiLeaks: Mervin Silava Is A Drug Kingpin Patron Chief

By Colombo Telegraph

suspected of trafficking the drug “ecstasy”-------------------------------------------------------suspected of trafficking the drug “ecstasy”

A leaked US embassy cable reviled “drug kingpins in Sri Lanka have political patrons in the government”. “Chief among them Dr. Mervin Silva, a Member of Parliament and the Minister of Labor” the cable further said. The Colombo Telegraph found the cable from the Wikileaks database.

The remarks by Washington’s embassy to Sri Lanka, are revealed by the Wikileaks leaked cable. The cable was classified as “ CONFIDENTIAL” by ambassador Patricia A. Butenis. Read More

Nails kept against tyres of university dons’ vehicles

A summit of representatives of trade unions was held at the Public Library auditorium today (13th) to extend support to the continuous strike action carried out by university teachers. .

The trade union leaders who participated in the summit have told the media that planks with nails had been set against tyres of their vehicles.

When they went to their vehicles after the summit some had seen planks with nails kept against the tyres of the vehicles. Those who had not seen the nails had got the tyres of their vehicles damaged.

The trade union leaders say they vehemently condemn the vile act.

Commonwealth asks Canada to drop Sri Lanka boycott

September 13, 2012

COLOMBO — Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has urged Canada to drop its threat to boycott the group's summit in Sri Lanka next year over war crimes allegations.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has warned that he may refuse to attend the summit unless Sri Lanka addresses allegations of atrocities during the closing battles of the war against separatist Tamil rebels in 2009.

Sharma, completing a five-day visit to Sri Lanka on Thursday, said the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2013 should be attended by all nations.

"My message to all leaders is to participate at this (Sri Lanka) CHOGM," he told reporters on Wednesday after talks in Colombo with President Mahinda Rajapakse.

"I understand a dialogue is going on between the two countries," he said, adding that he hoped the issue would be "resolved" so that Canada could participate in the summit.

The war crimes allegations centre on the Sri Lankan military's final push against the Tamil Tiger rebels before victory for the government ended decades of ethnic bloodshed on the island.

Sri Lanka has denied allegations from international rights groups that government troops killed up to 40,000 civilians while battling Tamil rebels.

Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada have been vocal in their calls for Sri Lanka to ensure accountability for rights abuses, placing the issue high on the agenda at the 54-nation bloc's summit last year.

Canada had wanted the Commonwealth to change the venue of the 2013 summit, but other member states turned down the request.

‘OHCHR Expert Team Visit Has Led To Apprehensions About The Internationalization Of The Country’s Internal Problems’ Says NPC

By Colombo Telegraph -

“The National Peace Council calls for the speedy agreement on a By 
political solution by all parties in the Sri Lankan polity, both within and outside Parliament, that addresses the problems of impunity, breakdown of law and order, further victimization of the war-affected people and the reduction of the concentration of power within the government by means of the decentralization, devolution and sharing of power amongst independent institutions that ensure a check and balance on central power within the framework of a united and law-abiding country in which international standards are met.  Once such measures are decided upon and activated there will be no more apprehension about visits from the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva.” says National Peace Council Sri Lanka.

High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva

Issuing a press statements they further say “The present Government has a 2/3 majority in Parliament obtained not through elections but by inducing Members of Parliament elected from Opposition parties to cross over to the governing party by offering them posts of Ministers.  This strategy subverts internationally accepted democratic norms for which inducer and the induced are equally responsible for the weakening of the system of checks and balances that is essential in a healthy democracy.  The ruling party also controls all the Provincial Councils and is once again inducing those elected from rival parties to join it with the promise of ministerial positions. Political power is exercised for the exclusive benefit of those who voted for the ruling party. Since 50%of the people obtain welfare grants called ‘Samurdhi’ from the government there is a strong motive for the people to vote for the ruling party for they would otherwise risk losing their entitlements and other government assistance.”

We below reproduce the NPC statements in full;

Human Rights, LLRC and Visit of OHCHR Expert Team

The visit of a 3 member technical team from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Genevathis week will be a follow up on the March 2012 Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka that called for the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.   The visit has led to apprehensions about the internationalization of the country’s internal problems. But it also presents an opportunity for the government and civil society to obtain international expertise to remedy shortcomings that exist with regard to governance in the country.  It is the view of the National Peace Council that that the most serious problems facing Sri Lanka lie in the domain of impunity,  breakdown of the rule of law, over-concentration of political power, treatment of war-affected people and lack of progress in finding an overall and mutually acceptable political solution.

The present Government has a 2/3 majority in Parliament obtained not through elections but by inducing Members of Parliament elected from Opposition parties to cross over to the governing party by offering them posts of Ministers.  This strategy subverts internationally accepted democratic norms for which inducer and the induced are equally responsible for the weakening of the system of checks and balances that is essential in a healthy democracy.  The ruling party also controls all the Provincial Councils and is once again inducing those elected from rival parties to join it with the promise of ministerial positions. Political power is exercised for the exclusive benefit of those who voted for the ruling party. Since 50%of the people obtain welfare grants called ‘Samurdhi’ from the government there is a strong motive for the people to vote for the ruling party for they would otherwise risk losing their entitlements and other government assistance.

After he won the Presidency for the second term President Mahinda Rajapakse introduced the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and passed it.   This constitutional amendment not only removed the term limit on incumbent Presidents, it also did away with the Constitutional Council which appointed the former Independent Commissions like the Public Service Commission, the Police Commission and the Elections Commission. Instead a Parliamentary Commission was appointed whose members were appointed by the President. The Independent Commissions which functioned under the 17th Amendment lost their independence since the appointments were made by personal unilaterally appointed to the Parliamentary Commission by the President. The 18thAmendment has conferred absolute power the President and the machinery of the State is under his control.  Subversion of democratic norms has also contributed to the country’s problems from which we will find it difficult to extricate ourselves.

In addition the 18th Amendment entitles the President to attend Parliament once in 3 months. These changes removed the power of oversight of the Executive by Parliament. Parliament can no longer hold the Executive President or the Ministers or officials accountable. The President has absolute immunity under the Constitution and he cannot be sued in any court. He could well repeat what Louis XIV of France said “I am the State.”  So there is no accountability under the law for not only the President but for any other persons for whom the President may choose to protect from the law.  The murder of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge has not led to the arrest and charging of the murderers although he was killed in a high security area.  Prageeth Ekneligoda a journalist is missing and the former Attorney-General, who once said that the disappeared journalist, had taken refuge in a foreign country when summoned before a local court and asked to explain failed to vindicate his statement and appealed to God above. It is necessary that this matter be probed.

The Government has put out a National Action Plan for implementing human rights. While this plan has been welcomed by many civic groups who were hopeful of its implementation, there is little evidence so far that the Plan is being implemented.  Human Rights are not being adequately protected by the State despite the presentation of a National Human Rights Action Plan to the international community. Torture and cruel and degrading punishments are resorted to by the Police against those whom they arrest on suspicion in order to extract confessions. The Magistrates are necessarily guided by the Police in the matter of bail. There is also no Witness Protection Law despite a draft law being prepared and submitted to the Government some years ago. There have also been many instances of unexplained deaths of persons taken into custody.  These have often been explained as suspects attempting to escape or attacking the police when they are taken to scenes of crimes etc.  The roles of the police are both protective and investigative which seem to be flawed and need urgent rectification.

When the Police Force is at the beck and call of the President, Ministers and even Members of Parliament belonging to the ruling political party the Police become not the Police of the State or the people but the Police Force of the ruling political elite.  It is in this context that the abductions, disappearances and kidnappings of media personnel and others who are vociferous critics of the Government have to be viewed. Statistics of abductions, disappearances, kidnappings have come down significantly over the past three years, but they still continue to generate a climate of fear. The National Peace Council calls on the Government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

It is necessary for the Rule of Law and the protection of human rights that there is a Police Force which will have the independence to act according to the law.  During the period of the war the Police Force also became semi-militarized. Despite the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommending the separation of the Police Department from the Ministry of Defence and the establishment of independent commissions for the Police and Public Service there is no sign that this about to happen.

The National Peace Council also expresses its concern over the continuing plight of those people who lived in the former war zones of the North and East and who lost their families and properties in the fighting that took place. Although the government keeps on stating that the problem of resettlement is over, it is not possible to accept this position. At least 100,000 persons continue to live outside their own homes with relatives and friends or are in temporary camps, while tens of thousands of those so-called resettled persons live in the midst of jungles with hardly any social or economic infrastructure to support their livelihoods.  Government assistance to them has been minimal and they are expected to obtain their psycho-social and livelihood support from NGOs and the international community.   With the North East monsoon which will break out in the coming weeks, immediate action needs to be taken to prevent further suffering of these persons who are also citizens of Sri Lanka like ourselves.  We call on the government to implement the recommendations of the LLRC with regard to rebuilding the lives of the people and set up a non-partisan and independent monitoring mechanism to ensure that deeds follow words.

The National Peace Council calls for the speedy agreement on a political solution by all parties in the Sri Lankan polity, both within and outside Parliament, that addresses the problems of impunity, breakdown of law and order, further victimization of the war-affected people and the reduction of the concentration of power within the government by means of the decentralization, devolution and sharing of power amongst independent institutions that ensure a check and balance on central power within the framework of a united and law-abiding country in which international standards are met.  Once such measures are decided upon and activated there will be no more apprehension about visits from the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva.

Governing Council 

The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organization that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.