Church vandalized in Trincomalee, mosque burnt in Anuradapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2012, 12:13 GMT]
Unidentified gangs, believed to be Sinhala extremists, have destroyed a statue at a Catholic church located at Paazhaiyoottu in the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat division Friday night. In the meantime, Thakka Mosque has been put on fire Saturday early morning around 2:30 a.m. on Hajji festival day at Sinha Hanuwa in Malwathu Oya at Anuradhapura district, news sources in Trincomalee said. 

Two hands of the statue at the church were destroyed and electric lights used to decorate the statue have been removed. 

The church is located near the Uppuve'li Police station near the railway crossing about 4 km away from the heart of Trincomalee city. 

The destruction has taken place Saturday early morning, according to residents of the area. 

At Anuradhapura, the Islamic clergy had made arrangement to hold special prayers in the destroyed mosque in connection with Hajji Festival.

As the mosque was put on fire by an unidentified gang, the Muslim clergy arranged the scheduled special prayer for Hajji Festival at a house situated near the destroyed mosque, news sources further said.

 Why ?

 By Tisaranee Gunasekara –October 27, 2012 

“…the despot is a madman, and an enemy to himself.” Baron d’Holbach (Good Sense)

Why are the Rajapaksas obsessively intent on getting the Divi Neguma Bill through?
Why is the regime orchestrating a campaign against the 13th Amendment?
Why were principals of 23 leading schools made to undergo a week’s ‘Leadership Training’ and made brevet colonels?
Why have the police failed to catch the assailants of JSC Secretary and High Court Judge Manjula Tilakeratne?
Why does the government spend on buying/maintaining a satellite the money unavailable to install rail-gates at 950 unsafe rail-crossings?
Why do they politically promote their kin while imposing strict kinship-restrictions on other SLFPers?
Why are lesser Tiger suspects being incarcerated, often under inhumane conditions, while the highest surviving Tiger leader lives the good life, at public expense?
Why is there no provincial council in the North, to approve/disapprove the Divi Neguma Bill?
***
Post-war, there are certain aims the government pursues, with no consideration for cost or consequence. Winning elections for example; the replacement of the democratising 17th Amendment with the 18th Amendment (which enhanced presidential powers and removed presidential term-limits, enabling the President to contest again and again); the Leadership Training Programme, the Lotus Tower, the Commonwealth Games…..

The commonest of the common denominator in these seemingly disparate projects is their capacity to increase Rajapaksa power and enhance its’ glory, further its’ interests, satisfy its’ whims and realise the fancies. Therein can be gleaned a fundamental law of this rule. They always pursue their interests and their desires; they fight for themselves. Supporting them, helping them, obeying them is good; hindering them, questioning them is bad.
As a group of ordinary Tamil detainees pointed out, they rot in jail, without even being charged, while “Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s top ally, and the prime arms supplier to the outfit for years, is allowed to function freely, with all privileges like a state guest” (Ceylon Today – 24.10.2012). KP has considerable use-value for them and he is willing to serve them as assiduously as he served the Tiger chieftain. Thus he is elevated above the law, while ordinary Tamil detainees, who have no such use-value, are deprived of even a sliver of justice.

Avalanches start with tiny snowballs; that is when precautions must be taken. For instance, though the government says it will not tax wells used by ordinary people, once the groundwater tax is enforced, expanding it to include private consumers would be just a matter of interpretation. As Environmental Lawyer Jagath Gunawardane warned, “This is the first step in privatising drinking water” (The Island – 24.10.2012). And if this most heinous tax is allowed to pass, will not the regime come up with other outrageous taxes, to fund its expressways, tall towers and space programmes?
Like the avalanche, the power-grab began with small steps. The new President appointed Gotabhaya as his Defence Secretary. Basil Rajapakse was made a Senior Presidential Advisor and sent to parliament on the national list. Nephew Shashindra started as a Presidential Secretary and ended as the Uva Chief Minister. Son Namal was given parliamentary nominations …. Just seven years later, they permeate the state and the siblings enjoy near-absolute power, aided by an impotent cabinet and blessed by a fractious opposition. To discourage opposition and defeat dissent, the siblings use an extremely effective concoction of threats and blandishments, spiced, with violence. Even as the state becomes a family concern, the siblings try to enhance their own holdings within it. Contrary to the unctuous claims by government propagandists, the Divi Neguma Bill will render Minister Basil über-powerful. The Bill will create several layers of unelected organisations, from Grama Niladari level upwards, and endow these unrepresentative entities with many powers hitherto enjoyed by elected provincial councils. At the apex of this power-pyramid will be the Divi Neguma National Council, controlled by Minister Basil (he will appoint 6 out of 11 council members). Minister Basil will also control the Divi Neguma Banks, Banking Divi Neguma Development Fund. The secrecy clause will give Minister Basil a carte blanche. The Divi Neguma Department will be allocated Rs.80 billion and Minister Basil will have more money to play development-poker with than allocated for either education or higher education for 2013.

Divi Neguma Bill will be a bad law, of the sort defined by Diderot as “based on whim, which owe their force only to blindness or local necessity” (Rameau’s Nephew); familial necessity, in this particular case. Fortunately for Sri Lanka and inconveniently for them, the 13th Amendment and the judiciary stand in the way. Over the years they have become accustomed to total, unquestioning obedience. Take, for instance, those 23 principals who agreed, sheep-like, to undergo “thorough cadet and leadership training conducted by the National Cadet Corps”. One cannot imagine any previous administration imposing such a humiliating labour on leading educators. And most of the predecessors of these principals – such as Visakha’s Mrs. Jayasinghe, Mrs. Motwani and Mrs. Pulimood – would never have consented to undergo ‘cadet and leadership training’ in an army camp, don a uniform and accept the rank of a brevet colonel. They would never have demeaned themselves and their august positions so; nor did they need a colonel’s certificate to run their schools to perfection. That offensive order and its abject acceptance symbolise the demeaning future which awaits every Lankan under this rule.

Furious at being thwarted, the Siblings are acting like the Erymanthian Boar out of the Cretan Bull. Thus the attempt to terrorise/browbeat the judiciary into submission; thus the plan to replace the 13th Amendment with a 19th Amendment. They want to get rid of the 13th Amendment because it circumscribes they’re power. As Minister Basil Rajapaksa admitted, in a rare moment of candour, “The LTTE had at one time strongly opposed the 13th Amendment”
(Colombo Gazette – 24.10.2012). In fact, the LTTE strongly opposed the 13th Amendment at all times, because 13A impeded separatism, by demonstrating the possibility of a political solution to the ethnic problem within an undivided Sri Lanka.

Extremism is visceral to despotism. The Divi Neguma saga indicates that they do not hesitate to sacrifice not just popular or national interests but their own enlightened self-interests to gratify their whims/fancies, in politics as in economics. The campaign against the 13th Amendment would be unintelligent at any time; it is nothing less than self-mutilating when attempted just before Sri Lanka’s human rights record is to be examined by a UNHRC panel headed by India.
The 13th Amendment is not just the sole really existing attempt at responding to minority grievances; it is the only positive result India has to show for its Lankan policy. Repeal that via a referendum or replace it with a 19th Amendment, and they will antagonise not just Tamils and Muslims, but also India, and the West, with one blow.

Colombo’s genocide-stabilizing approach to diaspora patronized in London

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2012, 04:23 GMT]
A meeting of the diaspora with a group of cross-party parliamentarians of the genocidal regime in Colombo is hosted in London on Saturday to discuss the recommendations the group has presented to the Colombo government and political parties after its earlier meeting with the diaspora in London in last December. The report lamenting lack of highlight on the positive actions of the Colombo regime, recommends for a diaspora ministry or department in Colombo. The report confines preservation of Tamil identity to local administration mechanism and demilitarisation only to the level of allowing day-to-day activity of Tamil civilians. The recommendations were envisaging foreign investments besides urging implementation of the LLRC recommendations. 

The ‘grand victory’ day celebrated yearly by Sri Lanka after the war is not a victory of Sinhalese over Tamils. It is a ‘Day of National Remembrance’, the recommendation said, adding that many Tamils have missed the point in the speech of Rajapaksa after the war.

“A cross-party section of young Sri Lankan politicians from the United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) and young civil society actors from north and south, including TNA and the diaspora,” had participated the meeting in London in last December, to come out with these recommendations for further discussions now, the hosts in London said.

Tamil Information Centre in UK that has hosted the December meeting is also hosting the discussions on the recommendations on Saturday. 

But the actual sponsor of the move is a UK-based International peace-building NGO, informed circles said. 

The NGO that was born 26 years ago with its involvement in the island of Sri Lanka has now expanded its operations in Africa, several parts of Asia, the South Caucasus, the Middle East and Latin America.

The main funding agencies of this NGO are the British High Commission in Sri Lanka, Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK, various international development agencies of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden, European Commission, and the Foreign Ministries of Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland and Switzerland. 

Last Saturday, genocidal Colombo’s spokesperson and minister, Keheliya Rambukwela, confidently announced that the regime “was making headway in its dialogue with the Tamil diaspora.”

None of the mandated diaspora bodies has plans to talk to Rajapaksa without agreement on certain fundamentals, was the response of some articulating diaspora activists.

Vigilant sections of diaspora activists have long been urging the diaspora to have more faith in people’s movements and mass struggle in collaboration with similarly affected nations in the world. 

They have also been cautioning the diaspora on the futility of a polity depending on funding agencies, foundations and institutions of the West that led Eezham Tamils to the genocide and continue to lead them to accept subjugation and annihilation of their nation.

• SL group recommendations for discussions in London

The document of ‘recommendations’ coming from the SL parliamentarians seeking diaspora dialogue, an outcome of nearly a year-long deliberations funded by the Western agencies, especially the British ones, is given herewith in pdf. It is self-explanatory on the vantage from which the funding agencies encourage dialogue and the vulnerability of those who work with the funds.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s message to mark Eid ul-Fitr festival

Mosque set on fire in Anuradhapura [ Saturday, 27 October 2012, 03:22.41 PM GMT +05:30 ] In Anuradhapura, the mosque in Malwatte road, Sinha junction, has been set on fire a group of persons, according to Colombo Municipality UNP member Mr. Mujibur Rahman said. The mosque has been totally razed to the ground. Mr. Rahman explained that including the Dambulla mosque, around 20 25 mosques have been attacked. Although there was ample evidence as to who was responsible, because of the political protection of the government, such incidents are glossed over, he explained , saying that it was nevertheless a serious situation.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s message to mark Eid ul-Fitr festival
SATURDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2012

I am pleased to send this message of greetings to the devotees of Islam as they celebrate the festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr today.

On this important date in the Islamic calendar, the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, together with their brothers in faith the world over, marks the completion of the period of fasting and religious practice which is the most significant of the annual traditions of Islam. It is the time of rejoicing at the end of a holy month of strict religious observances, strengthening spiritual life, through prayer and sacrifice in keeping with the teaching of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet Mohammed.

The Muslims of Sri Lanka will be glad for the opportunity to carry out the religious observances of the past month in the peace that prevails in our country, as they live in harmony with all other communities to whom this country is motherland.

This is an occasion to recall the contributions made by the Muslim community for the progress of Sri Lanka, in a culture of harmony and understanding, and to look forward to its continued participation in activities for the progress of Sri Lanka.

I wish all followers of Islam in Sri Lanka a happy Eid-Ul-Fitr.

Eid - Mubarak!

Mahinda Rajapaksas

அநுராதபுரத்தில் பெருநாள் தினத்தில் பள்ளிவாசல் தீக்கிரை

By M.Nesamani

2012-10-27 10:35:54

அநுராதபுரம் மல்வத்து ஓய சிங்க கனுவ பகுதியில் அமைந்துள்ள தக்கியா பள்ளிவாசல் முஸ்லிம்களின் பெருநாள் தினமான இன்று அதிகாலை 2.30 மணியளவில் இனந்தெரியாதோரால் தீக்கிரையாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
முஸ்லிம்களின் புனித ஹஜ்ஜுப் பெருநாள் தொழுகைக்கான ஏற்பாடுகள் செய்யப்பட்டிருந்த வேளையில் இனந்தெரியாதோரால் தீ வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.
இதன்காரணமாக தக்கியா பள்ளிவாசலுக்கு அருகாமையில் உள்ள வீடொன்றில் தொழுகையில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர்.

Thirteenth A'ment vs Eighteenth A'ment

– misplaced priorities

Sunday 28 October 2012

The Constitution making process in this country has often been arbitrary, unilateral and carried out at the whims and fancies of the rulers of the day. With each of those Constitution-making exercises, which have successively burred the separation of power principle, a key constitutional tenet, there had also been efforts to cater to the popular majoritarian impulses of the time. Such manoeuverings were meant to sugarcoat the bitter pill, and force it down the throat of a gullible general public. 
Successive governments of both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the United National Party which ruled post independent Sri Lanka, dismantled the mechanisms of liberal democracy which the departing British instituted, turning this country into a basket case, in terms of constitutional governance. 
As all powerful Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa calls for the abrogation of the 13th Amendment and the ultra nationalist JHU and pseudo nationalistic Wimal Weerawansa's NFF jump the bandwagon, there are premonitions that the political leadership in the country is set to indulge in another farcical attempt at redrawing the supreme law of the land - of course to suit the whims and fancies of the current regime.  
This forewarning stands to be relevant despite the remarks by Keheliya Rambukwella that the government does not have plans to abrogate the 13th Amendment for the 'time being.'
The post independent history of Constitution making in Sri Lanka and former Ceylon is a microscope of the post independent failure of this country in terms of liberal democracy and nation building.  
Tampering with the Constitution began soon after the British left the shores of the island. The Father of the Nation, D.S. Senanayake disenfranchised the Tamils of Indian origin under the Citizenship Act. While the Act was sugarcoated with rhetoric of patriotism, the true intention of Senanayake, who for sometime had, uneasily, observed that the upcountry Tamils were rallying around the political left, was to manipulate the electorate and eliminate an electoral challenge emanating from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party.
The Constitution making exercise in the subsequent decades proved to be a farce. 
The Republican Constitution that was enacted by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration, in place of the Soulbury Constitution, forced open floodgates for political interference in the public service and abolished the section 29th entrenchment of the Soulbury Constitution that afforded safeguards for minorities. The hitherto independent public service commission, which was established in 1946 and remained independent for the first 25 years of the country's independence, was abolished by the Republican Constitution of 1972, which vested authority in respect to the public service with the cabinet of ministers. 
The Republican Constitution set precedence for the worst ever tampering and manipulations of the supreme law of the land which took place under J.R. Jayewardene. 
Jayewardene's 1978 Constitution, which replaced the first Republican Constitution created the office of the all powerful presidency and subsequent amendments of the Constitution were custom drafted to cater to whims and fancies of Junius Richard Jayewardene.
Power was concentrated in the office of the presidency; minority communities were excluded in the affairs of governance; authoritarianism reigned; the independence of the independent institutions eroded and the constitutional mechanisms that ensured the separation of power and related checks and balances crumbled. 
Authoritarianism at the Centre triggered two rebellions, one in the south and the other in the north. It was in that context that India, during the last throes of the Cold War, forced then president of Sri Lanka, J.R. Jayewardene to sign the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord. The Indian overture and the imposition of the 13th Amendment should be viewed in the context of increasing authoritarianism in Colombo at the time. A host of Tamil militant groups  disarmed under the 13th Amendment, though the war ravaged for two more decades due to the intransigence on the part of the megalomaniac leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabakaran. It is also true that the provincial council system established under the 13th Amendment itself turned out to be a flop; the short-lived Northern Provincial Council collapsed after Varatharaja Perumal fled to India after declaring an Eelam and the provincial council system in the south turned out to be a white elephant.
However, the failure of the 13th Amendment lies primarily at the manifest dislike of the Centre to devolve powers to the even existing provincial councils in the south and, the concurrent list, of which, the statute making powers are shared by the centre and the provincial council, thereby complicating the exercise of power sharing. The solution to the current deficiencies of the 13th Amendment lies in strengthening the power sharing structure stipulated by the amendment. 
However, the willingness on the part of the current regime to share power with ethnic minorities is a moot point. That the current regime had failed, even to initiate a truly national dialogue to seek a political solution betrays disingenuousness on the part of the government.  Set against its rush to enact the 18th Amendment, which dismantled all salient achievements of the 17th Amendment - which could be considered the only liberal democratic constitutional making exercise that took place under the 1978 Constitution, the procrastination on the part of the government to seek a political solution is glaring. 
These misplaced priorities of the government as per the Constitution making process and manifest hypocrisy towards constitutional liberalism are also proof of the trajectory of the current regime towards authoritarianism.

Two Questions Before The Supreme Court On The Divineguma Bill

By Laksiri Fernando -October 27, 2012

Dr Laksiri Fernando

The matter before the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka as the sole legal authority in interpreting the Constitution, and its democratic procedure, in respect of the Divineguma Bill, in my opinion, is:
(1) Not only to determine whether, in the absence of an elected Provincial Council in the North, the Governor could fulfil the requirements specified in Article 154 G (3),
(2) But also in the absence of such a Council, and in the absence of “views expressed” thereon, without any special circumstances like war or natural disaster, whether the Bill that was obligatory to refer to “every Provincial Council” could be placed before Parliament for a decision, under the same provisions in the Constitution.

What is ‘supreme’ in this instance is the provision in the present Constitution, unless the Constitution is changed through due process. The relevant section of the Article on both matters is as follows with emphasis added:

“No Bill in respect of any matter set out in the Provincial Council List shall become law unless such Bill has been referred by the President, after its publication in the Gazette and before it is placed in the Order Paper of Parliament, to every Provincial Council for the expression of its views thereon, within such period as may be specified in the reference…”

Let me deal with these two matters one after the other, of course within my competence and expertise.

Council and the Governor

First, that the Governor cannot act on behalf of the Council in this instance is so obvious. It is completely erroneous to refer the matter to the Governor by the President. The Governor simply is not the Council. The Council is an elected body of the people in that Province. The Governor is not, but appointed by the President on behalf of the Center and not the Province. Allowing the Governor to “express his views” on the matter on behalf of the Council defies the election principle of democracy in the Constitution and franchise, apart from the very clear procedure specified in the Constitution as quoted above.

The Governor may have certain legislative functions, but not on the questions of abrogating or relinquishing matters related to the Provincial Council List in the Constitution. It is a prerogative of the people in the province through their elected representatives and that is the Provincial Council. The fact that the Governor is not the proper authority to “express views” on the Divineguma Bill is already conceded implicitly by President’s Counsel, Faizer Mustapha, appearing on behalf of the Government, but “on behalf of the mediatory petitions,” according to the Colombo Page news (22 October 2012). “There was no need for the President to direct it to the Northern Province which has no Provincial Council,” he has pointed out.

Absence of the Council

Then why did the President refer the Bill to the Governor or the Northern Province? “But the President has directed the Bill to the Northern Province with the intention of safeguarding democracy,” the same Counsel has pointed out. Yes, “safeguarding democracy” is important, but through the correct procedure. Otherwise it is not democracy.
The absence of the Provincial Council in the North is not by accident or by special circumstances such as ‘war or natural disaster.’ The President has failed to direct the Commissioner of Elections, for some reason, to hold elections for the Northern Provincial Council since the end of war in May 2009, now for more than three years.

In the absence of their Provincial Council, the people in the North are denied of “expressing their views” on this important bill of Divineguma either way, for or against. This is not only a denial of fundamental right, that the people of other provinces have already exercised (i.e. discriminatory), but also jeopardize the correct procedure that has to be followed in the case of bills such as Divineguma.

There are arguments that by approving the Divineguma Bill in Parliament by two third majority, this impasse can be solved. This presumes two erroneous conditions. First, the situation of in fact the ‘absence of the Council’ is equivalent to the ‘disapproval of the bill’ by the Northern Provincial Council! This is an absurd presumption to make, to say the least.
Second is that the Divineguma Bill could ‘necessarily’ be passed with two thirds majority in Parliament. This is simply an unknown or incorrect presumption to make. In case, the bill fails to seek two thirds majority, and in case the ‘will of the people’ in the North is to approve the Divineguma Bill, then the presumption negates democracy, to say the least.
There are no short cuts to democracy. The holding of elections for the Northern Provincial Council, in my opinion, is imperative.

*The writer is former Senior Professor in Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo, and currently Visiting Scholar, University of Sydney.

No oil; Sapugaskanda runs dry! 

The Sapugaskanda oil refinery was shut down on Friday for the first time in its 42 year 

history after the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation ran dry of Iranian crude oil as a result of the 

UN sanctions on Iran. Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha told LAKBIMAnEWS that the 

government has decided to stop all oil purchases from Iran. The Sapugaskanda refinery can 

only process Iranian crude oil.

Pic by Malith Gamage

SL’s vessels turn back
No more oil from Iran – Premajayantha

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan

Tankers sent by Sri Lanka to Iran to transport oil from Tehran at the request of the Iranian government have not been allowed to enter the territory of Iran by American vessels that have set in place a blockade, Minister of Petroleum Susil Premajayantha told LAKBIAMEnEWS.
He said Sri Lanka will not have dealings with Iran till the US State Department gives the green signal to resume the purchase of oil. 
Minister Premajayantha said, “Two teams were sent to Iran last month to finalize oil purchase but the exercise was fruitless. We then asked Iran to send their ship with the necessary crude which they are unable to do.”
He added, “The real issue is, Iran is not in a position to export a drop of oil. They also told us to send one of our small ships to Iran a month ago and we did but the ship was not issued reinsurance. None of the insurance companies is coming forward to cover insurance. Also, our ship was not allowed to enter their territorial waters, so we directed the ship to bring Saudi light crude.”
The minister also said that banks are not willing to open LCs. “So without a LC how can we order cargo?” he asked.
“We are trying our best to work out a plan through our diplomatic sources to get the supply from Iran. Till the US gives us a green signal, we won’t be able to have any transactions with Iran, that is the reality,” Premajayantha averred.

Devolution Talk And Devolution Talkers

By Malinda Seneviratne -October 27, 2012 

Malinda Seneviratne

Are you for 13, 13-minus or 13-plus, someone asked me. Political circles are a-buzz with the 13th, i.e. the Amendment thrust down the Sri Lankan polity by India in 1987, defended ferociously by Indophiles and non-Tiger separatists and happily used by politicians of all color intent on furthering careers and making bucks. The pro-13th commentators have all come out of the woodworks, as have those who opposed it and oppose devolution to boot.

Debate on the matter is not new. The present buzz follows a statement byGotabhaya Rajapaksa advocating its repeal. Context in brief is as follows: a) the 13th is a part of the constitution, b) the President has at various times talked about devolution and pledged to go further, i.e. ’13 Plus’, c) it has no discernible connection with expressed grievances and makes no sense in terms of demographic, developmental and historical realities.

And yet, those who are dismayed do make some interesting points. Dharisha Bastians (‘From 13 Plus to 13 Minus’) argues that there is presidential double-speak. Sumanasiri Liyanage (‘The UPFA government is heading for its first defeat in Parliament’) on the other hand is a victim of his own fantasies and notions of democracy predicated on faulty reading of conflict. Laksiri Fernando (‘Gotabhaya’s talk about abolishing the 13th Amendment’) is fascinated with status quo (right or wrong) and erroneous in the assertion that a repeal would necessarily wreck language rights.

Tissa Vitharana’s outburst is perhaps the most clownish, for he sees ‘foreign conspiracy’ in moves to abolish the 13th. The biggest conspirator with respect to the 13th was India and that’s certainly ‘foreign’, not to mention that the darlings of those intent on dragging his leader to the Haig are also ‘foreign’ or ‘foreign funded’ AND are staunch 12-Plus advocates (their backtracking from separatism to federalism to the 13th corresponds to the decline and fall of terrorism: no coincidence!).

Fernando’s is nevertheless the most thoughtful of the responses. He has detailed, for example, pre-13th devolution talk. He has also referred to the LLRC recommendations pertaining to devolution. He has conjured a gonibilla factor: ‘Devolution and the 13th Amendment are the ‘trophies’ that the government has been showing the international community and the UN as indications of Sri Lanka’s commitment to resolve the ethnic question in the country. Backtracking on them would undoubtedly spell disaster for the country in the international sphere.’

Now the statements made on devolution from time to time does not necessarily make it logical, necessary, meaningful or sustainable. These statements could be shot to pieces with the as-is situation of the 13th. Fernando argues that as-is is mendable. This is true except for the fact that devolution to provinces is antithetical to current economic theory in terms of resource endowment and allocation. We have to keep in mind also that the X-Country success is not necessarily replicable in Country-Y.

As for the ‘trophies’, Fernando misses the blatant truth that Sri Lanka’s detractors are as interested in ‘solutions’ as they are concerned about ‘democracy’ In Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or the Arctic. Showcasing ‘achievement’ is simply not going to cut ice unless the relevant lines are toed.

Grievances (and no one can deny that Tamils have them, as do various other segments of society, including Sinhalese) need to be resolved in different ways, especially through democratization. Here, Fernando’s comments on the 17th and 18th are extremely valid. But we are not talking about ‘democratization’ here but ‘grievance-addressing’.
What all these people forget is that the lines we are talking about here are white-drawn. They have nothing to do with the longer history of the country (where demarcations – Ruhunu, Maya and Pihiti –made political but more than this geographical sense) or make sense in terms of present day prerogatives (economic hub, resource-complement, seaboard and so on). Secondly, I am willing to wager that if asked to enumerate ‘grievances’ and tie each of them to territory-based ‘resolution’, they would be stumped, particularly given the fact that the majority of Tamils live outside the North and East.

It is in this sense that the line Fernando quotes from the LLRC Report (‘appropriate system of devolution’) and the one he misses (‘acceptable to all’) need to be considered. We can have devolution, not to resolve grievances that are not devolution-resolved but for better and more meaningful development. That would necessitate re-demarcation of provincial boundary. That’s the ’13 Plus’ we could aim for. If there’s anything that thumbs a nose at reality, then it is better to scrap. No 13, no 13 Plus, no 13 Minus. Zero.

Thillekeratne’s appointment as JSC Secy. violated Constitution, says Minister Peiris

Saturday, 27 October 2012

The appointment of Manjula Thillkaratne, as the Secretary to the Judicial Services Commission, was done in violation of the Constitution, External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris said in Parliament yesterday.

"The person appointed was 30th on the seniority list. What is his special qualification to hold the post?" the Minister said, during an adjournment debate in Parliament.

Minister Peiris, who tabled the seniority list during the course of his speech, said that according to the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, the most senior Judge of the Courts of first instance should be appointed the JSC Secretary. "Most of the problems that have cropped up around the judiciary have come about after this appointment," Prof. Peiris said.

"It is an invitation to disaster, if a junior official is appointed to manage and control senior officials," the Minister said.

He cited instances where the JSC Secretary had intervened to prevent a female Magistrate from lodging a police complaint saying that such complaints should first be brought to the notice of the JSC.

UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella, who spoke after Minister Peiris, asked why the government had remained silent about the appointment of the JSC Secretary until then.

High SL military intelligence protection marks Chinese envoy visit to Jaffna
[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2012, 19:50 GMT]
The visit of the Chinese ambassador in Colombo, Wu Jianghao, to Jaffna on Thursday was conspicuous of the SL military intelligence protection he was getting, perhaps the highest a foreign visitor to Jaffna was getting in recent times, news sources in Jaffna said. Usually, SL police in the peninsula or ministerial level security officials provide security to visiting foreign dignitaries. But, top officials of the SL military were looking after the security arrangements to the Chinese envoy. In giving protection, he was surrounded by more than 6 SL military intelligence officers, clad in civil clothes. The SL military intelligence personnel did not allow journalists to get closer or to interact with the visiting envoy. 



It looked as though China and occupying Sri Lanka wanted to send a message on the nature of their extraordinarily special relationship to impress upon Eezham Tamils, the news sources commented on the visual impression the visit had made.

Speaking in Jaffna, the ambassador said that the Chinese aid is of a different nature from what India gives, and they should not be compared. Aid, in whatever way and from whatever sources, is a matter of welcome for the affected people in the North and East, he added.

The Chinese-assisted road construction projects in Jaffna would be successfully concluded soon, he said.

The envoy visited the Jaffna Public Library to donate one million rupees (about 7700 US dollars).

He met various groups of people and visited the SL-government controlled Municipal Council to meet the Mayor.

The Chinese ambassador’s visit to Jaffna followed his meeting with a parliamentary team of the TNA at the embassy in Colombo on Wednesday. 

The TNA was favourably signalled by India for this meeting, informed circles said.

During the meeting, when the TNA requested China to help stopping SL militarization of the Tamil country in the island, the envoy in turn advised the TNA to find solutions with the Colombo government without third party involvement.

Sri Lanka couldn’t have won the genocidal war against Eezham Tamils without the generous firepower assistance that was coming from China, is the view of many military analysts.

After the war, China’s aid priority in the North and East was concentrating on building cantonments and camps for the occupying Sinhala military. 

Fooling Delhi and the Tamils for the umpteenth

 time-Lies, damn lies and the national question

Sunday 28 October 2012

They say that if you are deceived once it’s the fault of the con artist, but if you are taken for a ride a second time you are an imbecile. What if you are lied to from day one till kingdom come and you nod and say, “Oh yes, that’s great” every time? Surely it must mean that you are party to the deception. That’s Manmohan Singh and the mandarins in Delhi. And what if you arm twist the miserable, impotent, Lankan Tamil leaders, leaving them with no option but to squeal and comply, “Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.” 

Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Delhi and laid out a supreme con (again) and the Indian Prime Minister pretended he gulped it all. Rajapaksa who was playing for time and gaming international pressure and the up coming Human Rights review, said, “I say Singh, if you get that pain in the butt Sampanthan to come sit in the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) I promise that this time, at least I won’t play the Tamils and the TNA for unmitigated suckers.” Singh of course knew it was just another version of Aesop’s fables but pretended to swallow it hook, line and sinker. So he sent for the TNA, made pomp and pageantry of his concern for the Tamils of Lanka, and rammed Rajapaksa’s hoax right down the throats of the poor fellows who had not a chance in hell of refusing. Rajapaksa has pulled off one more conjuring trick; a rabbit out of a hat, sorry, turban.

TNA’s demands

Fortunately the TNA can’t stomach it in perpetuity without indigestion, so after returning, it is putting up a bit of a fight by demanding that Rajapaksa commits to moving the PSC along the lines of five previous agreements including Chandrika’s 2000 draft Constitution and the APRC Expert Committee Majority Report. If Rajapaksa agrees to even a fraction of these conditions I will change my name to Percy Basil Gotabaya. But no worries, I am certain my current name is 100% risk free; there will be no movement on the Tamil question; that’s how the Rajapaksa’s want it.
When the LTTE imbeciles committed de facto suicide, they simultaneously killed any hope of devolution and Tamil political rights for another generation. Someone asked me the other day, “When was the defeat of the LTTE sealed?” and I answered, as I have been for the last 20 years, “The day it prioritized the military struggle over the political struggle the defeat of the LTTE was certain; every one of its other mistakes flows from there.”

“Why on earth is the
state going to make 
concessions?”

Having pulverized the LTTE and smashed the militants who had grabbed Tamil leadership, why on earth is the state going to make concessions that the Tamils had failed to secure on the battlefield? Let’s face it; it’s a flat NO to devolution and Tamil political rights. Tough luck for the Tamils but that’s the truth. Maybe it is the Sinhala State that is their executioner, but it was the LTTE that led them up the garden path to the chopping block.

Negotiations with the 
Tamil diaspora

In this context where does the government’s announcement that it will commence negotiations with the Tamil diaspora fit in? Sure it may be able to find a few quislings and try to drive a wedge between overseas Tamils and the TNA. Or maybe it hopes to create a rift between local Tamils and the TNA which has now emerged as their voice. But this cock won’t fight; rather than be used by Rajapaksa, GTF, BTF and the Trans-national bunch will be gadflies and corner him globally. So that can’t be the game plan. Then is it to get the heat off in the persistent diaspora demand that the heads of this government be investigated for war crimes? I think not again because both America and India are suffering from Tamil fatigue, just going through the motions but not pursuing the war crimes agenda with any vigour. Hence my take is that engaging the diaspora is another red herring, not an initiative that the government will pursue with energy. Maybe some guys will get a few trips, nothing more will come of it.
The Sonia-Singh government committed itself unreservedly to the Rajapaksa side during the last few years of the civil war. The logistical support Delhi provided to the Lankan military was invaluable in hastening the LTTE’s defeat. Sonia-Singh cannot back out of this hole now; even India’s vote in Geneva in March was a most reluctant one. What makes India’s sheltering of Rajapaksa obvious is that it is arm-twisting the TNA into the PSC, but plays blind on the glaring anomaly of the day. Every province in Lanka has an elected Provincial Council but not the Northern Province. Why? Because the TNA not Rajapaksa will win power there and hinder the march towards a corporatist authoritarian state. Delhi however has little grasp of the political dynamics of this country and enough problems on its head to drive anyone crazy.