Secretary Of The Judicial Services Commission Was Assaulted By A Group Of Unidentified Men

By Colombo Telegraph -October 7, 2012

The secretary of the Judicial Services Commission Manjula Thilakarathne has been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. He was assaulted by a group of four unidentified men in Mount Lavinia this morning, the according to the Police .

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem strongly condemned the assault as an act that is likely to trigger far reaching repercussions. Last week Manjula Tillekaratne said “A situation has arisen where there is a danger to the security of all of us and our families beginning from the person holding the highest position in the judicial system,”

“I absolutely reject the malicious and baseless allegations levelled against me and the Judicial Services Commission these days. We see the only reason for this malicious mudslinging campaign was the media statement issued by me on the directions of the Judicial Services Commission,” Manjula Tillekaratne said.

In the Cabinet meeting President Mahinda Rajapaksa had discussed the possibility of initiating disciplinary action against the JSC Secretary over a complaint. Meanwhile President Rajapaksa orders the IGP to take action to bring perpetrators to Justice.

Read more;

Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice’s Life In Danger – JSC

JSC Secretary brutally attacked and chopped by an armed group
(Lanka-e-News-07.Oct.2012, 11.30PM) The Secretary of the Judicial service Commission (JSC), Manjula Thilakaratne was attacked this morning at about 8.00 by an armed group and chopped by a sharp weapon in front of S. Thomas’ College , Mt. Lavinia.

The armed group had surrounded the driver of Thilakaratne ,and attacked the latter. Thilakaratne is now hospitalized and has sustained three cut injuries on his body , reports say. The assailants have also wrested the mobile phone of Thilakaratne. Significantly, the regime chief at his monthly meeting with the media chiefs had stated that Thilakaratne is having rape charges , and he is not fit for the post he is holding. It is interesting to note whenever MaRa shows such resentment based on false charges against an individual, that had always been a forerunner to attacks being launched on that individual MaRa targets. So was it in this instance .

The JSC Secretary who issued a counter notice said, ‘I must first of all totally repudiate the false and baseless charges leveled against the JSC and myself as its Secretary. I see this malicious and false mudslinging is the result of a media communiqué issued by me on behalf of the JSC on the 18th of September.
‘I must also emphasize that a dangerous situation has arisen where, those of the higher echelons of the judicial sphere including families of all of us shall be provided with security or our protection’

Subsequently, on the 5th of October, Regime’s MaRa said at Ratnapura , it is not for the judicial executives and constitutional executive to demonstrate the power of each other.

By the fears expressed by the judiciary and the loquacious expressions of MaRa , it is very clear that it is MaRa's JaRa murder gangs which have launched this gory attack.

MaRa seeks glory on gory attacks and murders – Mangala Samaraweera

(Lanka-e-News-07.Oct.2012, 11.30PM) UNP communication unit chief Mangala Samaraweera M .P. said, the attack launched this morning on the Judicial service Commission (JSC) Secretary Manjula Thilakaratne is reminiscent of that on Editor Late Lasantha Wickremetunge who was murdered in cold blood a few years ago by individuals who came in motor cycles in broad daylight before the shocking gaze of so many.

Making a special announcement he told Lanka e news while condemning this ghastly murder , that he regretted MaRa’s murder gang is still in operation, and clearly even more active. It is the requirement of the MaRa regime to uproot the independence of the judiciary and substitute judicial dependence like how all other Institutions have been debased and politicized.

Therefore the time is ripe for all parties irrespective of their different hues and people regardless of race and religious differences to unite . It is now or never , he asserted.
The Govt. is obviously behind the attack on JSC Secretary – Mano Ganeshan
(Lanka-e-News-07.Oct.2012, 11.30PM) Democratic people’s Front leader Mano Ganeshan speaking to Lanka e News said, referring to the ruthless attack launched on Manjula Thilakaratne , the Judicial service Commission (JSC) Secretary , that the entire Colombo population knows including children that it is an assault orchestrated by the Govt.

Mano Ganeshan answering queries raised by Lanka e news on the deplorable and despicable attack launched on the JSC Secretary this morning , went on to say as follows :

This attack was launched on the Secretary because of the communiqué issued by him on the 18th of September. This is positively and indubitably a Govt. sponsored attack. There is none who can launch such an attack in Colombo otherwise than the Govt. My good friend Rauff Hakeem is not only a Lawyer but also a Minister of justice. We expect him at least now to wake up and get alerted. 
As a representative of the Tamil people , I am not surprised by this attack. But I am most certainly disgusted and grieved. Under this Govt. this kind of brutality prevailed freely directed against the Tamil people. Such attacks were launched on Tamil Judges in the north who gave verdicts as well as against Tamil Lawyers .At least now all races must unite against these dastardly activities , he observed.

Cold war between Govt. and Judiciary continues

Sunday, October 07, 2012

By Our Political Editor= Speaker to make statement in Parliament on Tuesday on alleged violation of Parliament's powers = Magistrate dissociates herself from letter against JSC official; focus now on what next with Divineguma Bill Leaders of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) were preoccupied asserting the role of the Executive in the ongoing cold war with the judiciary this week too. �President Mahinda Rajapaksa who held a breakfast meeting Thursday with publishers of national newspapers and heads of radio and television stations, both private and state, re-iterated the issues involved. It was clear that the major thrust was against a senior official of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) team has been tasked to probe allegations of sexual harassment against him. The accusations have been made in two separate letters sent to President Rajapaksa by the father of a lady magistrate. One was received in April last year and the other in June this year. In those letters the father in question has claimed that his daughter has been told by the JSC official that she should heed his “requests” if she were to succeed in her career. The letters surfaced after questions were raised at a breakfast meeting Rajapaksa held with national newspaper editors on Thursday September 27. A journalist who said his newspaper had received copies of such letters asked whether they had reached the President too. The President was also asked what action he proposed to take. Though no serious notice was given to such matters, Rajapaksa declared that in the light of the current developments, the complaint would be investigated. Thereafter, the CID was called in. Government supporters holding a demonstration outside Parliament calling for the implementation of the Divineguma Bill The Sunday Times has learnt from authoritative legal sources that Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake who heads the JSC also conducted an investigation of her own. In the presence of two JSC members, she had questioned the official against whom the allegations had been made. He had strongly denied the accusations. The lady magistrate, now serving a station bordering the hill country, was also called in to be questioned. She had dissociated herself from the contents of the letter her father had sent. She has denied the allegations in the letter that has been attributed to her. That has set a poser to CID detectives who now have to determine how the complaint originated. There was an added issue for the lady magistrate. She had also been questioned on how she sought additional Police protection without routing such a request through the JSC. Circulars issued by the JSC, it was pointed out, had insisted that members of the judiciary making requests for personal protection over work related issues should channel those through the JSC. On Thursday morning, Tiran Alles, MP and publisher/proprietor of Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt.) Ltd., asked President Rajapaksa why the government had not reacted to the three-page statement issued by the JSC. In that statement on September 18, among other matters, the Commission said “various influences have been made” regarding decisions taken by them and cited disciplinary action against a judge as an example. It charged that an attempt by the Executive to call for “a meeting with the Hon. Chief Justice and two other Supreme Court judges, was not successful” and added that the JSC has “documentary evidence on this matter.” The Sunday Times was the only English newspaper to publish the full text of the statement in its political commentary on September 23.                                                      Read More

ABC 730 Report re mentally disabled Tamil refugee

Tamil refugee who was brain damaged when the Sri Lankan military tortured him is in detention in Australia. He has been accepted as a genuine refugee but has received an adverse ASIO assessment, despite having being brain damaged since 2003. Long term detention and lack of medical assistance in Australia has made his mental health worse.

06 Oct 2012

Patronage system replacing the rule of law
Sunday, October 07, 2012

These are cataclysmic times marked by complete public cynicism regarding the value of the law, when the Judicial Service Commission has been unrelentingly attacked by the state media and its Secretary complains publicly that there are fears for the security of even ‘the person holding the highest position in the judicial system’ (see Daily Mirror of September 29th 2012).

Enlightened law reform now redundant
Perhaps however, through the extremity of the crisis, we may indeed hope that a newer form of critical thinking may emerge regarding the hugely dangerous nature of the political authoritarianism that now confronts us as well as our own failures which may have stemmed the tide at an earlier point of time.

Certainly, the law has been rendered at naught. Reformers who earlier argued that the focal point of change was enlightened law reform, whether in relation to civil liberties or general governance, must now take a step back and concede that this, by itself, is a superficial gloss. The actual issue of injustice superimposed by what a friend and colleague recently referred to as the ‘patronage system’ replacing the Rule of Law, will not be addressed by mere law reform.� Necessarily, our thinking has to delve much deeper into fundamental problems with our current political order.

Criminals running rampant
Take the recently touted Witness Protection draft law for instance. Would any thinking person believe that the horrendous breakdown of law and order and the negation of the legal system in imposing accountability on criminals and rights abusers who manage to threaten witnesses against them and even kill these unfortunates on occasion, will be corrected if this draft law is enacted? Hardly, one would think. To be effective, a Witness Protection system must be handled by competent officers with security of tenure and completely independent from the police structures and from political interference, at the minimum.

But what do we have? Criminals (including Ministers who instigate crowds to attack court houses) roam the country at large protected by political patronage with the police helpless to stop them. Would a Witness Protection law offer any solace against these rampant law breakers? The question is self explanatory. It will be just another glorified law on our statute books for this government to parade before the world as marking yet another milestone in its record. This travesty is a bitter mockery of what the law should mean to ordinary people in this country.

Pervasive problem with accountability
The patronage system that has now pervaded every sphere of our administrative, policing and legal process is a matter that affects the majority and the minority communities equally. As this column has repeatedly emphasized, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is practised against ordinary Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people by police and prisons officers though the motives may differ. As documented research studies have shown, these motives include personal spitefulness on the part of those in power, personal or professional greed. When victims are brave enough to invoke the law to obtain redress, they and their family members become targets of further attacks by law enforcement officers themselves. In turn, these officers are protected by the politicians. The enactment of the Witness Protection draft in its present form cannot change this dynamic.
What is needed rather is increased public demand for complete overhaul of the criminal justice and policing systems coupled with a well drafted law protecting witnesses as well as complainants. For this, the delinking of the Department of the Police from the Ministry of Defence is essential. The recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission in that respect have been predictably brushed aside by the government. It was not to be expected that this concrete change in policy would be easy. Strong public opinion to that effect is therefore needed. Instead of an Attorney General subjected to political pressures, an Office of an independent Prosecutor (appointed by consensus of all parties in Parliament and with the salaries of its officers chargeable on the Consolidated Fund) needs to thereafter handle the prosecution of these cases.

Challenging the government
Predominantly, the impact of the 1978 Constitution has been pivotal in the ineffective functioning of the criminal justice system. The Constitution privileges emergency law over ordinary laws, including the normal criminal procedure, penal law and evidentiary rules, and in so doing, bypasses the principle of the presumption of innocence in favour of emergency law.

In a wider constitutional context, the head of the executive is effectively placed above the law by virtue of Article 35(1) of the Constitution and therefore cannot be called to account for any omission or commission even if blatantly unconstitutional. This constitutional bar has been primary to the denial of accountability.

A serious push for change needs to be demonstrated through a common front that will challenge this government at each of these levels. It is encouraging that such common thinking is now increasingly being evidenced through public protest movements in cities and village communities. We can only devoutly hope that this would achieve the necessary critical mass leading to change in Sri Lanka, filling a vacuum left by a spectacularly useless political opposition that can only take refuge in pathetic bleats of endless complaints against the government.

Lake House found guilty of violating Intellectual Property Rights – Land mark judgment on Journalistic rights

Sunday, 07 October 2012

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ordered the state owned Associated News papers Ceylon Limited (ANCL known as Lake House) to pay Rs 1,000,000 together with costs to Chandragupptha Amerasinghe for the violation of his Intellectual Property Rights.

The Supreme Court had issued the directive on October 5th.

Amerasinghe had initiated legal action against ANCL after the newspapers Dinamina and Daily News had published some photographs taken by him during the 1983 Riots without his consent or approval.

The photographs had been published in the two newspapers on July 24, 1999.

Amerasinghe had initiated action against ANCL and obtained a judgment in his favour in the Colombo Commercial High Court.

ANCL however had appealed against the judgment to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had last week upheld the High Court judgment and found ANCL to be guilty of violating Intellectual Property Rights.

The Supreme Court in its directive has stated, “There is indeed an urgent need for protection of journalists like the Respondent who with skill and commitment respond to the journalistic duty to honor the citizenry of our nation by fulfilling their primary obligation to report on facts in an unbiased, independent, undistorted, and disciplined manner, providing the unvarnished truth whilst maintaining an objective perspective of the people and events they cover. Their journalistic lens needs to be strengthened and empowered by law and their skills be developed through education and investment, propelling them in turn to report with a higher degree of accountability, independence and fairness. A nation of people who make their life’s choices on the information they receive from the media need to support and acknowledge their bravery and fearlessness especially when they become independent monitors of power and the checks and balances in exposing the truth, thereby being a cornerstone in creating a fair and just society. The extended lens of dedicated, fearless and responsible journalists has oft been the tool in effecting social justice and they must be protected, nurtured and supported, as much as an irresponsible journalist who distorts and violates the truth for biased reasons must be soundly condemned and exposed as they shame a noble profession.”

Please log on to the link below for full details of the Supreme Court Judgment:

http://www.supremecourt.lk/images/documents/SCCHC_Appeal_30_2003.pdf

Photographed  by Chandragupptha Amerasinghe

Still Counting The Dead

Still Counting The Dead

Friday, 5 October 2012

Posted by About Roma Tearne 

Frances Harrison’s important new book on Sri Lanka, Still Counting The Dead is published this week. It was sent to me at its proof stage, to read. Such was the elegance of the prose that I read it voraciously in one sitting. I did not know its author, but I recognised the passionate commitment that this slight, energetic Englishwoman had for the vanished dead of Sri Lanka’s killing fields. Sri Lanka, that distant land where I was born and whose name is a song of childhood memory, a love though lost impossible to erase. I was stunned to find a stranger cared so much.

We, my family & I, left our home many years ago when the war was still   simmering out of sight. In those days there were only riots to contend with. Some broken glass windows on a bus, verbal abuse, a stone or two been thrown. Then, suddenly I saw some Singhalese youths set fire to a Tamil man. My father saw this too and also the writing on the wall. And so with the violence a hair’s breath away, we left.

What happened next is familiar history and, depending on which side you were on, the story differs. The Singhalese majority had their version while the Tamils, some of them, hounded for years, took matters into their own hands. Who amongst us can blame them? Which of us can take the moral high ground over what happened next? For of course what happened next was civil war.

The newly formed Tamil Tigers, beaten and hounded, psychologically and economically (their university careers and job prospects becoming non existent), took what they believed to be the only course of action by pitting violence against violence. Was it any surprise that grim death followed? That the chief casualty was innocence itself? Or that the great dark heart of revenge and bitterness took a strangle hold on the entire country’s psyche? Around the world today all Sri Lankan’s have a ‘view’ on the subject of the war even if they don’t voice it. Often this view is painfully at odds with the views of their fellow countrymen. No other civil war has managed to create such an astonishing cacophony of discordant voices and Frances Harrison is already finding this out.

Having spent time witnessing and interviewing victims and relatives of the dead along with decent Singhalese who have helped Tamils in their hour of need, Harrison has raised a clear voice reporting on the violence that took place on both sides of the divide. We know that both Tamil Tigers and Singhalese hard liners are at fault. That after the British left, long before any war started, each successive majority government persecuted innocent Tamils for decades. From this seething crater of injustice came the Tamil Tigers who, living by the sword, using their own people as cannon fodder, walked into the trap of becoming the aggressor. Losing what little sympathy they had from the International community they were labelled the terrorists they had become. Violence had cut its inevitable path to hell.

And now the war is over. All the Tamil Tigers are dead. And it isn’t easy to be critical of the dead. Still, in spite of this difficulty Harrison manages to take a balanced view. But it isn’t easy, the Tamil people are sensitive and some do not take kindly to what she has to say.  For while understanding what led them along this terrible road, the truth remains that no sane person can support any further desire for violence. The Tamil diaspora, their dignity twice violated, their homeland littered with land mines, their children maimed and killed, now, more than ever, need help to move away from anger. As do, interestingly enough, the disgraced Singhalese elite. The sad truth is that all this hatred, violence and grief, has worked its way through the skin of the country and into its blood stream, heading straight for the heart and head of the nation.

Thousands of corpses lie in mass graves created by the Singhalese military while the child soldiers, recruited by the Tigers, add to their numbers. Thus far the diaspora on both sides seems unwilling to engage with these shocking issues. Touch on them at your peril. For who will admit the great wrong done by so few to so many? Can the Singhalese elite stop using the anthem of ‘They-Were-All-Terrorists-So-We-Killed-Them’, and look at what theystarted all those years ago when the British left? Can the Tiger supporter abandon the crossed gun flag for another less aggressive symbol?

In order for a healing process to begin all white vans should be clamped, all weapons, both real and psychological, must be laid down. While memory, that most gracious of human qualities, needs inviting in with a flight of angels called up to sing the dead to rest. Frances Harrison’s book Still Counting The Dead is the first of those angels. Ignoring her words would be an act of monumental foolishness on the part of the Sri Lankan community, for she is one of the few messengers we have.  

Memories of injustice do not simply go away. Take a look at the beautiful filmNostalgia For The Light, about Chile’s disappeared and you will see the infinite extent of human remembrences and its refusal to be denied. Effort is what is needed. The effort of admission. Reading Still Counting The Dead is a start.

‘Give us justice, not charity’

BANGALORE, October 8, 2012-A file photo of Leela (left) and Akku.

Akku and Leela clean 21 toilets in an institute three times a day, but without pa 

Earning a salary of Rs. 15 a month for their work as sweepers for over four decades, Akku and Leela have never had it easy. But one thing they are never short on is self-respect.

The two women, cleaned toilets at the Government Women Teachers’ Training Institute, Udupi for a monthly salary of Rs. 15 from 1971 to 2001. They still clean the 21 toilets in the institute three times a day, but without pay as they had approached the court seeking justice regarding their salary.

Following publication of their story in The Hindu, several readers from across the globe have come forward to help them financially. But these women insist that they do not want charity. “All that we want is what is due to us. What our hard work all through the past 42 years deserves,” Ms. Akku told The Hindu.

Ms. Akku was employed as a sweeper at the institute in 1971 after her mother died. Ms. Leela, too, joined as a sweeper the same year in her grandmother’s place.

Both their appointments were approved by the Deputy Director of Public Instruction of Dakshina Kannada district in 1972 and their basic salary was fixed at Rs. 15 a month. “We were promised that our services would be regularised and salaries increased as per the government rules [the Minimum Wages Act]. But the same salary continued for years. And that was also stopped after we approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) for justice in 2001. From then till now we have been working with the hope of getting the benefits that are due to us from the government,” Ms. Akku said.

Udupi-based Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) president Ravindranath Shanbhag, who has been fighting for their cause, said although the Supreme Court, the Karnataka High Court and the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) ruled in favour of the two women and directed the government to regularise their services, the order is yet to be implemented. “It is unfortunate that the government spent lakhs of rupees on fighting the cases against the hapless women rather than pay what is due to them,” he said. Mr. Shanbhag said the women had high self esteem and had refused help in the past too.

“When some teachers from the institute gave them some money a few years ago, they refused to accept it until they were allowed to return the favour by cleaning the toilets in the homes of the teachers. While supporting their battle, HRPF has seen to it that their self-respect is not hurt,” he said.

Pointing out that both Ms. Akku and Ms. Leela have been fighting for justice since four decades, Mr. Shanbhag said: “The HRPF joined their fight only in 1998. When their Rs. 15 salary was stopped and services terminated in 2001, we offered them financial and legal support. They flatly refused the financial support but accepted the legal assistance with a condition that they would return the money spent by the Foundation once they get justice from the courts. We agreed, respecting their spirit and self-respect.”

Reacting to the issue, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri said he had directed his officials to submit a report on the case within two weeks. “It is an old case. I will study the report and will ensure that the women get justice,” he said.

A white van group operating under MP Wasantha

Sunday, 07 October 2012 

Gampaha District parliamentarian Wasantha Senanayake has reportedly used a group of persons in a white van to intimidate people who pose a threat to his iron business.

The latest strategy adopted by the parliamentarian to collect his dues from clients is to use persons in white vans to roam the areas of those who have to pay him money.

It has been revealed that the parliamentarian had used a white van group to intimidate one Neal, who is engaged in the iron business, and his family.

The parliamentarian had used the white van group to threaten Neal following a dispute over the purchase and re-sale of a stock of iron brought from the HNB auction at Rs. 450 lakhs.

The parliamentarian had asked Neal to buy the iron from him according to the weight. The businessman had therefore paid a sum of Rs. 390 lakhs to the parliamentarian. However, the parliamentarian had complained to the court that he had not received any money for the iron from the businessman.

Neal had finally paid a sum of Rs. 60 lakhs to parliamentarian Wasantha Senanayake in order to resolve the matter.

Nevertheless, the parliamentarian had not yet informed court that he had received any money for the transaction.

SLMC Has Become A Shameful Liability On The Community

By Latheef Farook -October 7, 2012

Latheef Farook

It was deliberate deception and calculated betrayal by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

This is how most Muslims describe the SLMC decision to join the very United Peoples Front Alliance, UPFA, government which it severely criticised to win votes and deceive people during the recent eastern provincial council elections.

Muslims were suspicious of SLMC when it criticised the government, while being part of the it, in view of its past record of letting down the community. As a result most Muslims were indifferent to recent provincial council elections. They only voted in response to appeals by mosques in the hope that this time the SLMC will honour its promises.

However Muslims were once again deceived when the SLMC joined the government without seeking any assurance to solve some of the community’s burning issues. This is nothing but shamming by the SLMC to harvest votes.

Muslims are not against joining the government. As a minority community Muslims need to work hand in hand with the government in power. However, they wanted to do so ensuring their rights and dignity. Side-lined by the government, the Muslim community has been facing numerous serious issues.

To cite few examples more than 120,000 or so Muslims were driven out mercilessly within hours by the LTTEin October 1990. Most of them continue to languish in refugee camps in appalling conditions in and around Puttalam even to this day. They expected to return to their lands after the defeat of the LTTE. However, as even pointed out by Minister Rishard Badurdeen, the government remains indifferent to the pathetic plight of these victims. Declared as old IDP and ignored by all they were allowed to rot.

In the east Muslims claim that their lands were acquired under various pretexts and the latest being the acquisition of Karumalai village in Mutur after evicting 105 families without any notice as claimed by Muslims there. There is uncertainty in Colombo too following the forceful ejection of Muslims from Slave Island and the acquisition of commercial property in Fort.

Instead of relief there has been a steady rise of chauvinism and Sinhalisation since the defeat of LTTE in May 2009. This includes organised campaign, perhaps sponsored by external forces, demonising Muslims as plotting to turn this island into a Muslim country. The aim of this ridiculous and vicious campaign is to poison the minds of mainstream Sinhalese perhaps to create an anti-Muslim pogrom. As part of this campaign, in an extremely dangerous move, a handful of Buddhist monks who are supposed to preach Lord Buddha’s message of peace and harmony, have been used to attack Mosques inciting Sinhalese against Muslims. These activities intensified since the arrival of Israelis who remain sworn enemies of Islam and Muslims worldwide.

Read More

FINALLY A CONCLUSION?

President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri shakes hands with Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa following a meeting held on Saturday (Oct. 06), regarding the present university crisis. The discussion was positive, said Dr. Dewasiri while adding that they will decide on Monday whether to continue with the strike action, demanding 6 percent GDP for the education sector. 

India works out deal with President

By Our Political Editor
TNA to resume talks with Govt. and participate in PSC sessions

The Government is to resume bilateral talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) simultaneously whilst the latter will agree to participate in the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in terms of a deal being brokered by India.

The broad outlines were discussed when President Mahinda Rajapaksa held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently.
A five-member TNA delegation headed by its leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan left yesterday for New Delhi at the Indian government’s invitation to be briefed on the outcome of the Rajapaksa- Singh talks. In essence, India is to stand guarantee to ensure the bilateral talks and TNA’s participation in the PSC. The twin track dialogue is to evolve a political package to address Tamil issues and is a major step in the UPFA government’s reconciliation programme.

The TNA delegation’s main talks will be with V. Narayanaswamy, Minister of State in the Indian PM’s Office, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon. They will also call on Prime Minister Singh.TNA leader Sampanthan told the Sunday Times, “The present stalemate is because the government has not kept to its promise. Although we agreed for talks in January this year, nothing materialised.” Other members of the TNA delegation are Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Selvan Adaikalanathan and M.A.Sumanthiran – all parliamentarians.

The Rajapaksa-Singh talks took place when the President visited New Delhi en route to Bhopal last month. Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone of the Sanchi University of Buddhist and Indic Studies.The Indian government ordered special security precautions during President Rajapaksa’s visit to Bhopal. Indian Air Force aircraft hovered over the skies of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh whilst trains were banned from stopping between Bhopal and Videsha including Sanchi.

The President told the Sunday Times he was “very pleased” with all arrangements made by the Government of India for his visit. He said he was particularly touched by Premier Singh’s speech during a banquet, where he said “petty issues” should not mar the long standing relationship between Sri Lanka and India.

Patronage System Replacing The Rule Of Law

By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -October 7, 2012

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

These are cataclysmic times marked by complete public cynicism regarding the value of the law, when the Judicial Service Commission has been unrelentingly attacked by the state media and its Secretary complains publicly that there are fears for the security of even ‘the person holding the highest position in the judicial system’.

Enlightened law reform now redundant

Perhaps however, through the extremity of the crisis, we may indeed hope that a newer form of critical thinking may emerge regarding the hugely dangerous nature of the political authoritarianism that now confronts us as well as our own failures which may have stemmed the tide at an earlier point of time.
Certainly, the law has been rendered at naught. Reformers who earlier argued that the focal point of change was enlightened law reform, whether in relation to civil liberties or general governance, must now take a step back and concede that this, by itself, is a superficial gloss. The actual issue of injustice superimposed by what a friend and colleague recently referred to as the ‘patronage system’ replacing the Rule of Law, will not be addressed by mere law reform. Necessarily, our thinking has to delve much deeper into fundamental problems with our current political order.

Criminals running rampant

Take the recently touted Witness Protection draft law for instance. Would any thinking person believe that the horrendous breakdown of law and order and the negation of the legal system in imposing accountability on criminals and rights abusers who manage to threaten witnesses against them and even kill these unfortunates on occasion, will be corrected if this draft law is enacted? Hardly, one would think. To be effective, a Witness Protection system must be handled by competent officers with security of tenure and completely independent from the police structures and from political interference, at the minimum.
But what do we have? Criminals (including Ministers who instigate crowds to attack court houses) roam the country at large protected by political patronage with the police helpless to stop them. Would a Witness Protection law offer any solace against these rampant law breakers? The question is self explanatory. It will be just another glorified law on our stature books for this government to parade before the world as marking yet another milestone in its record. This travesty is a bitter mockery of what the law should mean to ordinary people in this country.

Pervasive problem with accountability                                    Read More 

Abductions lack evidence: Govt.

WASTE-OIL THROWN AT DIMUTHU ATTYGALLE

Exclusive expose of Dimuthu Attigala

Abductions lack evidence: Govt.

(April 10, 2012, Colombo)

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WASTE-OIL THROWN AT DIMUTHU ATTYGALLE

October 7, 2012

Central committee member of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), Dimuthu Attygalle claims she came under waste-oil attack in Jaffna today. 

She stated that she was climbing into a vehicle near the Nallur Kovil in Jaffna, to return after participating in several events organized for World Children’s Day, when two persons on a motorbike threw waste-oil on her and several others before fleeing.

The political activist and JVP dissident said she suspects the attack was government sanctioned and that she sensed she was being watched closely, ever since setting foot in Jaffna.

Currently officers of Jaffna Police have arrived at the scene and are carrying out inspections, she added.