* Sri Lanka Army converts former IDP camp into an orchard

* Sri Lanka Army converts former IDP camp into an orchard

Sat, Nov 17, 2012, 01:31 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 17, Colombo: Complying with the government's Deyata Sevana national tree planting campaign, Sri Lanka's peacetime Army has taken a measure to convert the land of the former IDP camps in Vavuniya into a fruit orchard.
The Army on Friday (16) launched the cultivation project at Settikulam Manik Farm in Vavuniya planting more than 1,000 fruit saplings of hybrid nature.
The Army has taken over 10 acres of less fertile land in the area, where the welfare camps were set up after the end of the war for the nearly 280,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), to set up the orchard.
Sapling of fruit species like pomegranate, guava, mango, cashew, lime, etc were planted with the participation of the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya as the Chief Guest.
The Army aims to provide fresh fruits from the orchard to both the public in Wanni and to the troops serving in the area.
At Settikulam, the Army is also growing vegetables on its own. The Army has launched a similar project jointly with Prima Ltd in a 225-acre land in the same area to grow corn.

A Heavy Price Will Have To Be Paid For Losing The Judiciary As A Separate Branch Of Governance

By Basil Fernando -November 18, 2012 

Basil Fernando

The late Mr. A.C. Soyza (Bunty), a well-known criminal lawyer and the president of the Bar Association, was retained by a group of young, radical leftists, who had been charged for their political work. During the consultations in prepartion for the trial, Mr. Soyza used to chat with these young radicals. One of these young persons told Mr. Soyza, “You lawyers are doing all this work only for money, no?” Then Mr. Soyza told these young people, “One day, when there are no lawyers, you will understand the value of lawyers.”

In some cultures, there is no deep understanding of the value of liberty and what it means to lose it.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn made a similar observation after great catastrophes had been faced in Russia, in the following words:

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Many Sri Lankans, with great shock, have now begun to realize that something that they never thought of is going to happen. One of the most valued things in the country, despite the tremendous limitations it had, was the independence of the judiciary. It is finally going to be lost. The judiciary as an independent branch of governance will cease to exist.

All kinds of ifs about how this could have been prevented are of little use now. Sri Lanka, which has witnessed some of the worst kinds of human rights violations, such as mass-scale forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, rampant torture, illegal arrest and detention and unbelievable levels of corruption, extreme rise in crime and every form of abuse of power, will soon realize that what they have already suffered is nothing compared to what is to come.

It is only when the independence of the judiciary is lost that everyone, including those who are causing this loss, will begin to realize under what horrors they will have to live when there is no institution to protect the basic liberties.

Yes, as the late Mr. Bunty Soyza said, it is only when we lose these things that we will begin to realize what we have lost.

Petrie report: Diplomatic blunder projects Sri Lanka as a Rwanda

By Our Political Editor

= President must intervene to prevent irreparable damage to country's image because of failure by EAM and mission in UN
= UN issues statement against impeachment of CJ while composition of UNHRC changes

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon receives the Independent Review Panel Report on Sri Lanka from ASG Charles Petrie. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

It was a week of more challenges for the UPFA Government both in Sri Lanka and abroad.�In Colombo, the official process to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake began on Wednesday. The eleven-member Parliamentary Select Committee chaired by Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa held its first meeting in Parliament. Standing Orders of Parliament prevent reportage of proceedings of the Committee.

It was a week of more challenges for the UPFA Government both in Sri Lanka and abroad.�In Colombo, the official process to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake began on Wednesday. The eleven-member Parliamentary Select Committee chaired by Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa held its first meeting in Parliament. Standing Orders of Parliament prevent reportage of proceedings of the Committee.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa warned all MPs not to discuss matters relating to the PSC outside the House. Warnings have also been issued to the media to heed Standing Orders when reporting. Within one month of last Wednesday’s meeting, the PSC report is required to be presented to the Speaker. However, the Committee is not precluded from seeking extensions.

The next day (Thursday) Chief Justice Bandaranayake received a letter from the PSC to respond to the 14 allegations against her within seven days. She has also been asked to appear before the Committee on November 23, one of her lawyers said yesterday. A team of leading lawyers led by Romesh de Silva will represent her. They were preparing her responses to the charges. These developments came as the impeachment resolution itself caught the attention of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. From its headquarters in Geneva, Gabriela Knaul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, issued a detailed statement.

Among other matters she noted, “Judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence, after a procedure that complies with due process and fair trial guarantees and that also provides for an independent review of the decision.” She noted that “the misuse of disciplinary proceedings as a reprisals mechanism against independent judges is unacceptable.” In her view, Knaul said, “the procedure for the removal of judges of the Supreme Court set out in article 107 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka allows the Parliament to exercise considerable control over the judiciary and is therefore incompatible with both the principle of separation of power and article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

That the remarks were made when both Colombo and Geneva are yet to reach accord on a date for the visit to Sri Lanka by the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay adds significance. She has been tasked to report to the UN Human Rights Council on the progress Sri Lanka has made in the adoption of provisions of the US-backed resolution passed in March this year.

The situation has been made worse. In almost every crisis faced not only by the UPFA Government, but by Sri Lanka itself, the woeful inadequacy of the External Affairs Ministry (EAM) is highlighted with great clarity. Whatever the rights and wrongs of an impeachment move on the Chief Justice would be, the EAM has failed to set out the Government’s own position to the country’s diplomatic missions abroad. If indeed that has been done, not one country has defended Sri Lanka. The EAM has not been able so far to respond to what this UN Rapporteur; an official, whose pronouncements are taken cognisance of diplomatically by other countries, has commented upon. If that is just one lapse, there is much more. The EAM, as we reveal today, is out of focus. Whilst its officials are busy paying all attention to their Minister, G.L. Peiris’ pet project “Look towards Africa,” things are happening elsewhere.

Last Monday, the UN General Assembly in New York elected by secret ballot 18 member states to serve on the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Contrary to expectations, the United States received 131 votes, Germany 127 and Ireland 124. Others elected are Argentina, Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea (south Korea), Sierra Leone, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. From the elected countries, Cote d’Ivoire, Estonia, Ethiopia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Sierra Leone, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela are on the HRC for the first time. Whilst United States has been re-elected, Argentina, Brazil, Gabon, Germany, Japan, Pakistan and South Korea served non-consecutive terms.

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Tamils want inquiry after UN says it 'failed civilians' in bloody Sri Lanka civil war

Tamils want inquiry after UN says it 'failed civilians' in bloody Sri Lanka civil war - CNN.com By Elizabeth Joseph , CNN November 16, 2012 -- Updated 0158 GMT (0958 HKT)

CNN.com

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon receives a report on Wednesday from an internal review panel on U.N. action in Sri Lanka.

(CNN) -- The Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka's largest Tamil political party, on Thursday called for an international inquiry into a U.N. failure to protect civilians during the final stages of the country's bloody 26-year civil war.

The request comes a day after the United Nations admitted that it didn't protect hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly ethnic Tamils, trapped in areas of heavy shelling in Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island nation off India's southern coast.

"The internal inquiry report that has now come to light says the U.N. failed civilians by leaving the area," M.A. Sumanthiran, the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, told CNN.

Sumanthiran was referring to the withdrawal of the U.N.'s international staff from north Sri Lanka's Wanni area. In late 2008, the government could no longer guarantee the safety of U.N. staff there because of intense fighting between its forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, an armed separatist group commonly referred to as the Tamil Tigers.

As the U.N. prepared to leave, local civilians pleaded with it to stay, fearing the government would bomb areas where there were no international witnesses. In the report released Wednesday, the United Nations questioned its decision to move its staff "because of a government safety warning when government forces themselves represented the dominant threat to staff."

The U.N. also acknowledged that it had, on occasion, "omitted to explicitly mention government responsibility for violations of international law" so as to not hinder its humanitarian access in the country.

The internal review published accounts in which U.N. officials emphasized grave responsibility for civilian deaths with the LTTE but only "raised concerns" with the Sri Lankan government.

The government of Sri Lanka declared victory in 2009 in its decades-long battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who had waged war for an independent state for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka since July 1983. As many as 70,000 people were killed in the conflict.

Caught in the crossfire year after year were civilians, thousands of whom were displaced and hundreds killed.

In the war's final stage, which lasted from September 2008 to May 2009, the Sri Lankan army advanced into an area of northern Sri Lanka known as the Vanni, where about 330,000 people were trapped by fighting.

A U.N. report in 2011 said the government used "large-scale and widespread shelling" that left large numbers of civilians dead.

In its report this week, the U.N. admitted to withholding the large number of civilian casualties it had recorded from diplomatic corps in the country.

Though the United Nations says it made taciturn criticism of the government so that it could negotiate pauses in fighting to allow civilians to escape and for it to gain access to internally displaced people, the efforts were made in vain because, as Wednesday's report said, the U.N. was never in a position to reach those displaced people.

The number of civilian deaths and injuries are unknown to this day, and U.N. figures greatly differ from those in reports from Sri Lanka's government and other nongovernmental organizations.

"The report concludes that the United Nations system failed to meet its responsibilities," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement Thursday.

The U.N. report concludes by stating: "The UN's failure to adequately respond to events like those that occurred in Sri Lanka should not happen again. When confronted by similar situations, the UN must be able to meet a much higher standard in fulfilling its protection and humanitarian responsibilities."

However, Sumanthiran says there is more work to be done before moving on.

"That does not mean that it is a lesson for the future for the United Nations. The United Nations should revisit the events that took place during the final stages of the war in May 2009, where both the Tamil Tiger rebels and the security forces are accused of committing war crimes," he said.

"If the U.N. has made a mistake, they must pursue that course of action."

The Sri Lankan government had no immediate official response to the United Nations report.

CNN's Iqbal Athas in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.

Sri Lanka army recruits 100 Tamil women from war zone

 
Sri Lankan army has nearly 4,000 women soldiers (AFP/File, Sena Vidanagama)

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's military has recruited 100 women soldiers in the biggest single intake of ethnic Tamils from the island's former war zone, according to a spokesman.

The women, who come from the northern district of Kilinochchi where Tamil Tiger rebels had their political headquarters before they were defeated in 2009, were enlisted on Saturday.

"These women soldiers will be deployed in the same area after completing a four-month training," Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya told AFP. "There are no former Tiger combatants among the new recruits."

He said the Sri Lankan army already had nearly 4,000 women soldiers.

"We have not discriminated on ethnic lines in recruitment, but we focused the enlisting in Kilinochchi where we have set up a training camp and the local population there is Tamil," Wanigasooriya said.

The new recruits will initially be asked to "assist civil-military coordination work" in the region, according to the Sri Lanka army website.

The number of minority Tamils joining the military declined during the height of fighting between troops and Tamil rebels, who campaigned for an independent homeland in the island's northeast.

The guerrillas were crushed by security forces in a massive offensive in May 2009 after decades of fighting that claimed more than 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

Weerawansa’s bid against 13A postponed, not abandoned

On hold as he’s a member of the impeachment Select Committee

By Shamindra Ferdinando-November 17, 2012

UPFA constituent, the National Freedom Front (NFF) yesterday emphasized that it would move the Supreme Court against the 13th Amendment to the Constitution regardless outcome of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) inquiry into a spate of allegations directed at the Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake

The breakaway JVP faction led by Minister Wimal Weerawansa, MP, is confident that action could be initiated early next year. Attorney- at-law, Chinthaka Mendis, who is spearheading the effort on behalf of the NFF, said that the party was to initiate action last Monday.

"We temporarily suspended the initiative due to NFF leader, Weerawansa being a member of the 11-member PSC," Mendis told The Sunday Island.

Mendis stressed that they would definitely go ahead with planned legal action immediately after the PSC announced its decision on Chief Justice Bandaranayake. The PSC recently called for the CJ’s written response to allegations made against her by a group of government MPs by Nov 23, 2012.

Mendis dismissed assertion that the NFF called off its much publicized effort due to political pressure. There was absolutely no other reason than NFF leader Weerawansa being on the PSC headed by Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, said Mendis who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Constitutional Law at Indiana University in the United States.

Commenting on the ongoing simmering political debate involving various political parties, with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) calling for constitutional changes to pave the way for the country to be divided to three or four zones instead of Provincial Councils, Mendis said that there was no way out of constitutional imbroglio other than seeking a ruling from the Supreme Court.

Such a course of action would prevent various interested parties, both here and abroad from making a political issue as part of their overall strategy targeting the Sri Lankan state.

Alleging that the then JRJ administration had introduced the 13th Amendment at the behest of India, Mendis said that it was enacted in violation of many fundamental constitutional provisions. The attorney-at-law alleged that the JRJ administration acted in contempt of the Supreme Court hence violated procedural process and the tripartite division of powers of government in the Constitution.

"Certainly, the procedure prescribed by the Constitution has not been followed in the enactment of the 13th Amendment and as such irreparable procedural error has been caused in the enactment. Therefore it should never to have become laws in this country,"Mendis said.

Asked whether the NFF was seeking to gain political mileage at the expense of ongoing national reconciliation efforts, Mendis said that the late Justice R.S. Wanasundara had clearly explained the circumstances under which the 13th Amendment was brought in.

"If you go through the proceedings of the National Revival Commission, you’ll realize the illegality of the entire process with regard to the 13th Amendment as well the Provincial Council law," Mendis said.

Responding to another query, Mendis said that the 13th Amendment was akin to the Post Tsumani Operational Management Structure (PTOMS), which, too, sought to bring the LTTE to the political mainstream.

Commenting on the enactment of 13th Amendment as well as the Provincial Councils Bill under questionable circumstances, Mendis said that they would seek a declaration from the Supreme Court on the legality of the 13th Amendment and the Provincial Councils.

He said that the following steps should have been followed for the valid enactment of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Bills without deviations from the law as per the Supreme Court Determination:

(1)The revised 13th Amendment should have been referred for the opinion of the Supreme Court.

(2) If the revised 13th Amendment was approved by the Court, it should have been presented to Parliament for debate, voted on and passed as indicated by the Court.

(3) If the 13th Amendment becomes law on the grant of the Speaker’s certificate, then the second Bill, the Provincial Councils Bill, must itself be referred to the Supreme Court for its opinion.

(4) If its legality is approved by Court, this Second Bill viz. the Provincial Councils Bill, must be presented to Parliament, voted on and passed with the required majority

Sri Lankan war a serious failure of UN – Panel report has shocking revelations

Posted by Karthiyayini on November 18, 2012 in Americas

Nov 18 (TruthDive): A 128-page UN report released recently by a panel set up by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has brought out the failure of the United Nations to protect the thousands of innocent Tamil civilians killed in the bloody ethnic conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

It also has shocking revelations on the number of civilian deaths during the decades’-old war waged by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamil rebels.

The United Nations in this new report has admitted to holding back the large number of civilian casualties. The report states that about 3, 60,000 people lived in Vanni at the time of war but it was reported that only 2, 80,000 people moved into places controlled by the Sri Lankan Army. If so, where are the remaining 80,000 civilians? questions athirvu.com.

The new report essentially brings attention to the performance of the international body, UN during the war. Fewer than 10,000 civilians had died according to government estimates and casualty figures as per earlier report. But, the current report gives out reliable information that over 70,000 deaths were unaccounted for according to sources.

The UN report in its conclusion has reiterated the point that events as occurred in Sri Lanka should not be repeated again in terms of protecting humanitarian responsibilities of the international body.

In response to this shocking report, Ban Ki-moon has stated that the world body required learning from its grave findings. He further added that he would put in place a senior–level team to examine the recommendations of the panel and advise him on future course of action.

The Sri Lankan government has been repeatedly rubbishing the war crime allegations it committed against the separatist Tamil rebels and has also denied intimidating the UN representatives that has been suggested in the report.

Sri Lanka’s powerful Tamil political party, The Tamil National Alliance, has demanded for an international investigation into the United Nations’ failure to safeguard civilians during the country’s civil war.

The government of Sri Lanka has not reacted to this UN report.

UN Regulation Bans Reporting War Crimes, Even After UN Sri Lanka Failure

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 16 -- Asked about hisreport into the UN's failure in Sri Lanka, Charles Petrie on November 15 told Inner City Press that Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon's chief of staff Susana Malcorra is "championing" the report's reform recommendations.

  The report, especially as un-redacted, shows how the highest officials at UN headquarters in New York urged that casualty figures not be released, and the term "war crimes" not be used.

  One simple reform would be to free up all UN personnel to report war crimes or crimes against humanity when they become aware of them, even if discouraged by higher UN officials, as took place in the case of Sri Lanka.

   This is NOT currently the case. As Inner City Pressreported on Friday morning, and asked the UN about, it has received multiple complaints about an October 22, 2012 letter from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Susana Malcorra to staff, "with reference to your statement that you will bring certain internal issues to the attention of Member States," drawing their "attention to staff regulation 1.2 (i)" which she wrote applies to "all staff members."

  Inner City Press has looked this UN Regulation, and it applies even after "separation from [UN] service." Here is the regulation:

"(i) Staff members shall exercise the utmost discretion with regard to all matters of official business. They shall not communicate to any Government, entity, person or any other source any information known to them by reason of their official position that they know or ought to have known has not been made public, except as appropriate in the normal course of their duties or by authorization of the Secretary-General. These obligations do not cease upon separation from service."

  By its terms, there is no exception or carve-out for reporting war crimes or crimes against humanity; some read the Petrie report (and the underlying history) as showing that authorization would not necessarily be forthcoming from on high at UN Headquarters.

  Inner City Press asked the UN, without yet receiving a serious answer, whether former UN staff are under any restriction in what they say about what they saw and did in Sri Lanka. By UN Regulation 1.2(i) which Ban's chief of staff cited in writing as recently as last month, such former staff ARE restricted. 

   Or is UN Regulation 1.2(i) only enforced, one might ask, if it makes current UN officials look bad? There is also no exception made in the Regulation for reporting wrongdoing, despite the UN's ostensible allowance for whistleblowers.

  (By this logic, one might ask if former UN official John Holmes, who leaped to the defense of the UN and himself in responding to the Petrie report, was spinning under the "authorization of the Secretary-General.")

  So here is a simple reform: instead of threatening (as they perceive it) UN staff with the above quoted regulation, amend it to made clear that staff can, even should, externally report war crimes or crimes against humanity when they witness or become aware of them. There will be more. Watch this site.

A Deaf And Dumb 113 Signed A Piece Of Paper: Hone A Crisis To Finish Off A Crisis

By Kumar David -November 17, 2012

Prof Kumar David

Obama and Lanka’s opposition must show no mercy! 

There are times when one must drive a political crisis to a ruthless finish to terminate a pernicious adversary whose continued survival will be iniquitous.Obama and the joint opposition in Lanka, each in their spheres, surely smell blood these days. Obama must finish off the Republicans for a decade. Events have played into his hands; the point is whether he has that killer instinct the moment demands. The Rajapakse regime has abruptly been caught flat footed and can be bloodied. No I am not saying it can be brought down in months, but its face can be ground in the dust so that it will limp on a cripple for the remainder of its term. Lanka’s opposition, does it have the hard-nosed intelligence to drive home the advantage of the moment – oh sigh! Still, neither my dismissal of Obama as short on testosterone, nor disdain for the stunted aptitude of Lanka’s opposition, will stop me from having a damned sassy say at speaking my mind more openly than usual today.

Let’s talk about Obama first; if only his spherical appurtenances were feral enough, he would refuse to blink, right up to, and over the “fiscal cliff”. This is also the time to press a reset button on US-Israeli relations, to tell Netanyahu where to get off, and to reconstruct US-Arab and US-Muslim relations in alignment with the Twenty-first Century. All that mush about eternal love for Israel was election talk; now elections are over, its time to get real and hard nosed, time to grow up. Obama set off on the road of rebuilding relations with the Arab and Muslim world but backed off when he got no support at home and was blocked by the powerful US Israel lobby. The US-Israel special relationship dates back to the Cold War and the Arab nationalism of the post-war period. But that’s a long gone world. Long run US interests now lie in ditching Israel and dealing with newly semi-democratic Arab nations. Obama must press reset buttons, one by one, step by step.

Is Obama tough enough?

Next let’s tackle the economy. Obama must not blink right up to, and over, the fiscal cliff. The ‘fiscal cliff’ is a term to describe the end of Bush Tax Cuts due to expire in a few weeks, after which, across the board tax increases come into effect and everyone, including low income earners, pay more. Simultaneously, fiscal expenditure on defence and other discretionary items, as well as social security and medical aid will come under pressure. The panic story sold by Wall Street and American capitalism is that this will lead to a double edged (private and public) decline in demand which will trigger a second recession. Their chorus is “Let the rich continue to enjoy Bush era tax cuts to prop up demand, invest and rebuild the economy”. Recession talk is bollocks! There will be more recessions in the US in the next decade, but that’s to do with the fundamentals of capitalism. The so-called fiscal cliff is a scare story to panic Obama into approving tax cuts across the board; for poor as a smoke screen, for the filthy rich, the essence of the plot. Compromiser Obama may fall for it.

If the US goes over the so-called fiscal cliff it will be a good for the Obama Administration. First, tax cuts will reduce consumption, but by nowhere as much as Europe-on-austerity diets. Some belt tightening is essential for US capitalism if it is to ever climb out of the hole it has fallen into. Second, further cycles of recession will be benefit capitalism by clearing out moribund enterprises. There is nothing for the Obama Administration to fear if America falls off the so-called cliff; if Obama plays his cards properly he can come out a winner.

The important motive for taking the fiscal plunge is political. Obama can blame Republicans in Congress, who will, in any case, continue to be as obstructionist as before. Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts on the rich and companies expire, but keep them for 90% of lower income earners – a populist measure, not economic rationality. That’s my point; let tax cuts expire for everybody and blame the Republican dominated House of Representatives and the Republican minority in Senate. “Bloody obstructionist sons of bachelors!” must be the battle cry. The target, the 2014 Congressional elections, when the entire House and one-third the Senate come up for grabs. From right now Obama’s objective must be to smash the Republicans in 2014 with an appeal to voters to give him a Congress he can work with instead of saboteurs. If he is strategic and cold blooded, he can win control of Congress in 2014 and drive the Republicans into the wilderness for years.

Tables turn on the lynch-mob

In Lanka a deaf and dumb 113 signed a piece of paper without knowing what would eventually be written on it. This is further proof, if needed, that the UPFA is stuffed with toadies grovelling at the feet of the Pakses to safeguard sinecures and dip their fingers into slime baskets. It is beyond belief that the mob would sign up to a motion of such monumental importance without extended, itemised discussion, and without conducting their own thorough investigations, prior to formalisation. Only poodles sit or stand when commanded by the master. Now the tables have turned and the lynch-mob is public laughing stock! The statement released by the CJ’s lawyers, I guess is 100% true, no way can they risk anything else at this conjuncture. In which case, the egg on the face of the Pakses and the lynch-mob is inches thick.

It is also very significant that Rauff Hakeem, DEW and Thondaman are not among the signatories. Tissa Vitarana who initially signed seems to have been instructed by his party to withdraw. I am not sure ofVasudeva’s situation though his signature is not there. Are some pro-government parties going to step back and let the SLFP drown in its own excrement? The CP has issued a statement of dissociation from the impeachment resolution; this is important. Some commentators have suggested that what the Dead Left does, does not matter since it is dead anyway. Well there’s more to politics than that; when a decaying structure is crumbling, every brick pulled away, expedites its fall. When rats leave a ship, it proclaims a stinking sinking story.

This then is my point about driving home the crisis. I forecast the last quarter of 2012 as the turning point in the fortunes of the Rajapakse regime, the beginning of its end. I am prophet enough to see that, but not prophet enough to foretell the funeral date. Six months, thirty-six months, I don’t know; but it’s downhill, all the way from now. The opposition however needs to get its act together; it needs the firmest unity, and merciless, relentless determination, to drive home the stake.

Can Obama or Lanka’s opposition rise to their tasks? I don’t know, we have to wait and see

Lanka face threats from Pettris report

National Patriotic Movement blamed the internal report submitted by the UN senior officer Charles Pettri against SriLanka would help international community and United Nation to make pressures against SriLanka.

[ Saturday, 17 November 2012, 02:13.43 PM GMT +05:30 ]

Addressing media briefing in Colombo secretary of the movement Wasantha Bandara went on to say during the last stage of war United Nation fail to save the lives of people in SriLanka.

United Nation as collected evidences on war crime allegations and human rights violations reported in the country.

This situation would lead to create more pressures against the country, he said.

(2nd lead)

UN will use internal review of activities in Sri Lanka to do better, vows senior official

Addressing a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra, reiterated that determination, adding that this is a moment for “strong introspection” for the world body.

“We are absolutely guided by his decision to look into the recommendations and make sure that we thoroughly review them and implement them to strengthen the system at large,” she stated.

“The report highlights areas of improvement for the system to work and deliver better,” she added, noting that the Organization is in the process of putting together a group of senior advisors to review the report’s recommendations and figure out how to move forward.

The eight-month study by the Internal Review Panel, headed by Charles Petrie – who joined Ms. Malcorra at the news briefing – came in the wake of recommendations made by another body, the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts, which he set up in 2010 to advise him on measures to advance accountability after the war’s conclusion.

The Panel of Experts’ report raised a number of issues, including those regarding the UN response to the situation facing civilians in the north of Sri Lanka in the last months of the war. It recommended “a comprehensive review of action by the United Nations system during the war in Sri Lanka and the aftermath, regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates” – which, in turn, led to the internal UN review.

“It is a very difficult report to read,” Mr. Petrie told reporters, referring to the review’s findings, while adding that the fact that the UN itself was championing the report bode well for the world body.

The report called the Secretary-General’s decision to commission an internal review a “courageous” step, and said that the findings and recommendations provide an “urgent and compelling platform for action.”

“The UN’s failure to adequately respond to events like those that occurred in Sri Lanka should not happen again. When confronted by similar situations, the UN must be able to meet a much higher standard in fulfilling its protection and humanitarian responsibilities,” said the report.

Ms. Malcorra added that the report is “clear proof” of Mr. Ban’s commitment to the principles of accountability and transparency, and that while it is “painful” to realize one’s shortcomings, the UN owes it to itself, and more importantly to those it serves, to find ways to improve and work better in the future.

BUDGET 2013: Don’t expect social security
Sunday 18 November 2012
The government indirectly proposes in this year’s budget, that the people must depend on banks and insurance companies for poverty alienation, without expecting social security from the state. We were told that the market should be allowed to function freely with Irida pola’s giving grassroots support. Accordingly, the poor youth should take it as a challenge and go into financial agreements with money lenders, local or others, and eagerly go into investment, preferably in the agricultural sector. No need to depend on social welfare of any kind because that will kill the initiative of the person. 
We have heard this sermon from the pundits of the IMF for several decades, until people such as Stigliz came out with sharp criticism and showed the need of state intervention, particularly the need to intervene to develop abilities of the individual. In fact they emphasised the need for welfare in education which will improve the quality of the person. 

Old slogans of the IMF
However Mahinda is repeating the old slogans of the IMF. What else could the government do when it is pruning the welfare system under pressure from the IMF and the global capital in general? Mahinda has proved that he is much better than any of the previous presidents, in relation to falling in line with IMF thinking. It is not a surprise that the Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the budget. They must appreciate that a populist village leader and a bunch of so called communists, supported by post modernist Che Gueveras such as Wimal Weerawansa are implementing the programme of the global capital. Obviously, they were very cautious.
“The fiscal consolidation envisaged constitutes a welcome advance towards creating a macroeconomic environment conducive for achieving these. Notwithstanding the difficult macroeconomic environment, we appreciate the efforts of the government to continue with the tax reforms announced in the Budget 2013,” the CEO said in its statement. The organization “specifically” welcomed the government’s measures to encourage SMEs, private sector led R&D, capital market development, investments in agriculture and the promotion of the IT and BPO sectors. But it warned that prudent monetary policies and the maintenance of fiscal discipline are required if the medium term macro targets announced are to be met. The Chamber further stressed that implementation will play a crucial role in achieving these objectives. They have to be careful with a president that has today become a glittering agent of international capital, starting in ‘88, with campaigns against disappearances that happened after the youth insurrection in the south.

Different picture
Though the upper layers in society are cautiously supporting the budget of Mahinda, we see a different picture at the bottom. While the workers are tired of waiting for a just solution to their economic grievances, all other layers of oppressed masses are agitating for redress to their particular problem.  This includes from university professors to peasants who lost their harvest. While economic hardship has radicalised all sectors of wage earners in society, threat to democracy and devolution has mobilised all oppressed communities. In other words, it is a classical scenario of a national democratic revolution, threatening a corrupt, bourgeoisie regime backed by global powers. At the centre we can see the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. 
Even professors and doctors have become a part of this struggle. That shows the acute nature of the class struggle. 
But this class struggle is surrounded by serious democratic struggles where smaller nationalities are moving into new battle grounds, anti dictatorship masses go from writing petitions to street actions, lawyers and judges leave court houses to fill the streets with black gowns, and peasants and fishermen become unexpected road blocks. To the extent the masses come forward to protest, the regime launches various outfits and methods of repression to stall the march of the masses. 
In the recent past we witnessed various actions and happenings where one is at a loss to understand the political interest in the background. The latest of these is the prison riot created by the police attack in the Welikade Prison. One thing is sure – the Mahinda regime is preparing its own grave.

Army teaches Sinhalese to Tamil schoolchildren
Tamil Guardian 16 November 2012

The Sri Lankan Army has been teaching Sinhalese to children in Kilinochchi, boasted the Ministry of Defence earlier this week.

In an article entitled “Serving the People”, the Ministry of Defence wrote on how the Army was conducting Sinhala lesson to Tamil schoolchildren, as part of their “Scouting, Sinhala and Road Sign awareness programmes”.

The seminars were organised by the 5 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps troops and held in the Security Forces Headquarters Kilinochchi.

See more of the Sri Lankan Army schooling Tamil schoolchildren in earlier post:
Only in Sri Lanka (28 October 2012)


Last modified on: 11/12/2012 5:31:46 PM

Serving the People Scouting, Sinhala and Road Sign awareness for Killinochchi students In parallel to the government's ambitious projects to expedite the post war recovery of the north and east region, Scouting, Sinhala and Road Sign awareness programmes were conducted recently for school students in the killinochchi area. These programmes were conducted with a view of enhancing their general knowledge and also involve them in extra curricular activities. A workshop on scouting for teachers of thirty schools in the area was conducted by a team of six scout instructors from Colombo, Vavuniya and Jaffna. Security Forces Headquarters Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) organized the training two day work shop with the assistance of the Commissioner of Scouting (Kilinochchi). The 5 Sri Lanka Armoured Corps troops (Killinochchi) conducted a Sinhala language awareness programme with a view of improving the Sinhala language knowledge of the children in Killinochchi. This would facilitate to diminish the communication barrier of children and give them more exposure and open up new avenues and opportunity. In order to educate the children of correct road rules and road use, troops conducted an awareness programme on road safety at St Theresa's Girls' School in Kilinochchi. It was a timely action by the military as, with the end of the humanitarian operations the region has seen a sudden increase in vehicular traffic and traffic related accidents. The programme was jointly conducted by Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police and Sri Lanka Police with the support of SFHQ-KLN. In addition to its involvement in infrastructure development projects under the government's post war development programme, security forces have carried out many educational work-shops and other assistance for students such as, educational seminars for GCE Ordinary Level students, donation of study packs, renovating school buildings, providing furniture, sports equipment and holding sports tournaments are among them.