Sunday, February 24, 2013

February 23, 2013, 4:56 pm

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by Rajan Philips

Writing about the Pope and the President in the same article would seem quite an elastic stretch even if one were to accept that political commentary is often about connecting dots which do not connect by themselves. For the faithful, it might even come across as sacrilegious. But I was able to overcome my diffidence to write on this topic after learning about the vote of appreciation in Sri Lanka’s parliament for Pope Benedict XVI following his resignation. For once in many years our parliament has done something good and beautifuland we could all take some inspiration from it.

The context, if not the pretext, for the article is simply the sequence of events. On February 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be resigning as Pope effective February 28, the first such resignation in 500 years. The previous week, following February 4 Independence Day parades in Trincomalee, President Rajapaksa went on a pilgrimage to Indian shrines for divine insurance rather than going to New Delhi for political assurance.

The President visited Bodh Gaya in Bihar and the Tirumala Temple in Tirupati, which is not far from Chennai, triggering street protests in Tamil Nadu. With good advice, the President could have started his worship in Trincomalee which in Tamil Hindu tradition is a site of Shiva’s shrine praised in the psalms. Also with good advice, the President could have been more open and not cryptic about the government’s position on political devolution. Intentionally or otherwise, the President’s Trincomalee speech left it to the translators to figure out what he really said about devolution.

Appreciation or hypocrisy?

The question, however, is if politics is about power and religion is about renunciation, what will the gods do when a religious man renounces god’s power on earth and a political man seeks power through religious pilgrimage? Even the gods may be confused. But Sri Lankan politicians are not confused. They might be confused about matters constitutional but they are not confused about the place of worship in their politics. A worrying recent trend however is to treat one form of worship as more important than other forms. This goes against the ethos of religious tolerance that has been with us for nearly a century.

Whether it was intended or not, the vote of appreciation was a welcome antidote to the rising wave of religious fascism in the country. Although the vote in parliament was not as tumultuous an event as the apparently massive Maharagama convention on Halal, it was still worthwhile for parliamentarians to give expression to their better qualities and show respect to all religions and tolerance for religious differences. It may not have been an atonement to the vandalizing of the statue of Saint Mary in Avissawella, but the experience of the vote and the speeches in parliament hopefully made parliamentarians realize that they could be capable of something better than what they usually project themselves to be. At the least, they should have realized that they could be better and more tolerant than the likes of Bodu Bala Sena Organization (BBSO). One would only hope that the government and parliament as a whole will not turn the vote of appreciation of the Pope into an act of hypocrisy by failing to act firmly against groups such as the BBSO.

But such a positive hope could be ill founded because the government believes that the BBSO is an innocent baby. President Rajapaksa has reportedly told the Cabinet that the BBSO representatives had assured him that "their organization was not responsible for the campaign against the Muslims" and that "the good name of their organization was being used by other interested parties." We do not know who these interested parties are but we do know that the President told the same cabinet meeting that he had Muslim theologians to be careful in the use of words" after hearing reports that some of them had called on the Muslims to be prepared to defend themselves. Strangely, the President does not seem to be getting independent reports on the activities of the BBSO. And indeed, words would have been used very carefully at the Maharagama convention.

The Pope and the Church

To give the MPs due credit without making too much of a political point, they were all fulsome in their praise of the Pope. Prime Minister DM Jayaratne in particular stated that with his great act of humility Pope Benedict XVI has shown that "a man holding any mighty office should resign forthwith if he is not physically fit and well enough to administer his duties." It was a loaded shot from the outspoken Prime Minister. To be sure, the papal resignation is not only an act of great humility but also an act of rare courage.

One of the greatest theologians ever to mount the rock of St. Peter, Pope Benedict has established a new precedent for voluntarily retiring from the Holy See. The German Pope’s Polish predecessor, the charismatic Pope John Paul II, gave the world a lesson in forbearance as he lived through the agony of aging and infirmity with grace and fortitude until it was time to go. Pope Benedict has given us a contrasting and perhaps an even more exemplary model of accepting the limits of the human condition and renouncing organizational power and the theological authority of infallibility. In every way, he is the old school priest, pious, unassuming, but rock solid in his faith. He will now retire to the seclusion of prayer and penance, and in keeping with his faith to prepare for eternal life.

The Catholic Church is the oldest and the most global institution in the world. Its origin is traced to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, although the man from Nazareth apparently never used the word "church" to prescribe organizational efforts after him. For two thousand years the Church has been pounded by hostile forces but has outlived its tormentors from ancient emperors to modern Nazis and Maoists. Through its long and unbroken history, the Church has grown in checkered ways encompassing both a living, growing and vibrant fellowship of believers and an archaic Roman system of hierarchy and control that is internally opaque and suffocating but externally capable of discharging globally much good among local communities.

The internal opacity and inertia to change has made the Church a fertile source for sensational and scandalous stories in the media. The Time Magazine lead story question in 2002 – "Can the Catholic Church save itself?" – has not gone away. It is everywhere even now and right behind the encomiums to the retiring Pope. There is no question that in numbers and involvement of both the clergy and the laity, the Church is in terrible decline in the West. The scourge of the Church in the West, especially in the US, is the revolting stories of sexual abuse of children by priests and the cover-up by church authorities instead of punishing and even sacking the clerical culprits. For the reform critics within the Church, the roots of the pedophile priest are structural and traceable to eleventh century developments in the Church. It was then that the absolute authority of the Pope was established along with the subordination of the laity to the clergy and the imposition of compulsory celibacy for priests.

Put irreverently, the Church reformists would like the Vatican to good-naturedly acknowledge the reality of sex in human relationships without smothering it under unreal notions of spirituality. Specifically, they are calling for the priests to be given the freedom to choose between celibacy and marriage, for admitting women as priests, and for devolving decision making power from the Vatican to the local dioceses. Of the three demands, devolution would be the most easily achievable while there would be real opposition from traditionalists to changes in celibacy rules or ordination practices. Already, in a regretfully regressive remark, Ghanian Cardinal and leading Papal contender, Peter Turkson, has attributed clerical abuses of children to homosexual priests and suggesting such abuses will not take place in Africa because of the continent’s cultural taboo of homosexuality.

While the traditional Church might be declining in the West, it is thriving in Africa, in Latin America and is steady in Asia. In a reversal of the colonial passage of missionaries from Europe to Asia, Asian priests are now trekking to Western countries to look after their parishes without shepherds. There is quite a buzz about the possibility of a non-European Pope being selected for the first time in history. The bookies are busy naming Cardinal Peter Turkson (Ghana), Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Canada), and Cardinal Francis Arinze Igbo, Nigeria – the short-lived Biafra) as odds on favourites. Other contenders featured in bookie charts include Odilo Scherer (Brazil), Leonardo Sandri (Argentina), Christoph Schoenborn(Austria), Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras), and a number of Italian Cardinals - Angelo Scola, Angelo Bagnasco, and Gianfranco Ravasi.

Pope John Paul II was a theatrical extrovert who literally took flight and brought glamour to the Church. Pope Benedict is credited for his quiet efforts in realigning the Church with the Scripture and its traditional roots. The new Pope will not be constrained by the legacies of the two immediate predecessors, but will be judged by the direction of his leadership. The main legacy of Pope Benedict will be his renunciation of the Papacy, his voluntary resignation to make way for a younger man to take the helm of the old bark of St. Peter and navigate it through a sea of new troubles.

South Asians can relate to renunciation better than people of other cultures. Asceticism plays a prominent role in Hinduism and Buddhism. Sri Lanka is the messianic home of the greatest renouncer in religious history, Gautama the Buddha. The island is also the biggest beneficiary of the imperial renunciation of Emperor Asoka. These noble traditions are being besmirched by the rise of religious intolerance and the fostering by the state of those fomenting religious extremism. It is not a coincidence that pilgrimages and rituals have become common in Sri Lankan politics as the greater traditions of the past are withering away.

The GTF Conference in London: Who Is Afraid Of Sinhala-Tamil Unity?

By Kumar David -February 24, 2013

Prof Kumar David

In an amazing turn of events the LSSP has prioritised its toadying to Mahinda Rajapakse above its relationship with the Tamil people. Let me explain. TheGlobal Tamil Forum (GTF), a diaspora organisation little known in Sri Lanka, but not connected to the LTTE-rump, and whose programme is to win the rights of the Tamil people in a democratic Lanka, is organising its annual conference at the House of Commons in London at the end of this month. The theme is challenges to democracy in Lanka, since this has a grave bearing on the future of the Tamil community. As a writer I am watching with keen interest and as a Marxist I have a stake in Sinhala-Tamil unity to fight authoritarianism. Several Sinhalese lawyers, political figures, trade unionists and journalists were invited, including leading LSSPers from both factions; some accepted. Then a ghastly thing happened; the LSSPers were forced to withdraw at the last minute because the party barred participation. Here is a typical reply: “I deeply regret that I will not be able to accept the invitation to the GTF conference as my party (LSSP) has not approved it. If I act in breach it will affect my struggle within the party. Please pardon me. Sorry for disappointing you”.

As a party man for decades I accept bowing to party discipline provided the objective is to engage in decisive inner party struggles. To bow to party discipline as mere formality, without credible political objectives, is empty. Hence the jury is out on the LSSP Left-wing’s effort to defeat the leadership – all toadies of Rajapakse whose sole motive is personal opportunism. Admittedly this is not an easy task since the quality of party membership has declined appallingly from the old days. If the Left-wing does not make significant headway now, where the rottenness of the regime lies exposed for all to see, then it is time to change strategy, fundamentally.

It is the left movement that for decades preached the need for Sinhalese-Tamil unity; it is the left that opposed narrow nationalist disunion. V Karalasingham, in the days when he was still a fine Marxist, wrote a pamphlet entitled “The way out for the Tamil speaking people” in which he argued that Tamils must not hitch their wagon to rotten Sinhala governments but unite with the left in common struggle. Now the Tamil community (the LTTE is non-existent internally, and a minority in the diaspora) is calling for unity to protect democracy, but the Dead Left is fleeing to Mahinda screaming “Rape! Rape! Save us from the Tamils”. Poor Karlo must be turning in his grave! Tissa et al have turned the tables on him. It is not the majority of the Tamils, but the Dead Left, that is now a slave to reactionaries.
Who’s afraid of national unity?

In a hard to believe reversal of fortunes, those who want Sinhala-Tamil unity and those who oppose it have changed places. The Rajapake government fought a bitter and costly military campaign to defeat the LTTE because it was Eelamist and wanted to divide the country. Some Tamils supported the LTTE, some opposed it and many were neutral. Now most Tamils have come to appreciate that abandoning democracy is a grave threat to them. As a national minority they have seen what happens every time authoritarianism is entrenched and military power rides rough shod over the people. It is the minorities that become the easiest targets and suffer the most. If the Rajapake strategy of making this country an autocratic fiefdom of the family succeeds, it will be curtains for the minorities. The Muslims still shut their eyes to this reality because of Rauf Hakeem’s treachery, but the Tamils, since they are outside the pale of the regime’s protection, are well aware of the danger. Yes, I agree that the Tamils are seeking unity with democratic Sinhalese not because they have read the latest enlightenment tomes on liberty, but out of a sense of self-preservation. What’s wrong with that?
Why is the regime opposed to unity across the ethnic divide? From where comes the slander that the GTF Conference is an Eelamist gathering? Why is every independent (of the regime) Tamil slandered as a Tiger in sheep’s clothing? Why is everybody who is an obstacle to its authoritarian ambitions (against 18A,Impeachment, Divineguma, potentially opposed to 19A) labelled a foreign agent if Sinhalese, a terrorist if Tamil? Because unity of Sinhala and Tamil (and Muslim) peoples, will inevitably, be an alliance against encroachments on democracy. Hence in a turn around, the Rajapakses oppose unity but the majority of Tamils see that their protection depends upon it! As a Marxist, this is where I see the importance of the Conference, if done properly.

What is the meaning of ‘done properly’? The GTF certainly does not need to hide that it is primarily a Tamil entity concerned with justice and fairness to the community. It does not need to conceal that it is seeking an alliance with Sinhalese and Muslims to make common cause on democratic rights; communities standing for democracy for their own protection. The GTF should not fight shy of publicising its programme about a democratic solution to Tamil concerns. It has insisted that it is neither a rump nor a bearer of LTTE ideology, this is essential if it is seeking inter-ethnic alliances (LTTE ideology was separatist, hence it rejected such alliances; I say this as a matter of fact, not morality). However, since chauvinists attempt to obscure this, GTF has duty to publicise its identity in ways that reach people in Lanka. Above all the Conference must be a genuine multi-ethnic gathering with international participation. The Conference must proclaim its objectives and publish its conclusions; it must stuff the mouth of the chauvinist state.

Most Sinhalese pull out

I am not a GTF member but an outsider who sees these developments in the Tamil community as valuable and welcomes positive responses from Sinhalese; but have heard that many Sinhalese invitees have pulled out. If true, the reason in all likelihood is racist slanders by chauvinists, and fears of reprisals by the state. If a Sinhalese engages in action in unity with a Tamil, he/she is mocked as a demala-lover. Narrow prejudices are common in the petty-bourgeoisie; progressives, Marxists and liberals, come under persistent ideological attack. It is not surprising that some progressive Sinhalese fear association with anti-Rajapakse Tamils, even of the anti-LTTE variety. Marxists like Bahu and strong personalities like Vijaya Kumaratunga have no difficulty in relating to Tamils, but most liberals, and nearly all soft-leftists, are bashful of alliances with Tamil organisations, even democratic ones.

In part, however, the blame also lies with GTF, which has not done enough to highlight its identity and publicise its own programme among people living in Lanka, especially Sinhalese. How many people know the difference between democratic Tamil groups and the LTTE-rump? GTF must be bold in asserting its identity, if an alliance of Tamils and Sinhalese for democracy, is to be a core element in its programme.

Liberal democracy

Left inclined folks like me usually see liberals as people of limited courage and partial objectives. Considering what is happening to the Dead Left, an example being the story in my opening paragraph, and the difficulty that the JVP and the Frontline (Peratugami) have in taking up a Marxist position that will be unpopular with the chauvinism of the Sinhala petty-bourgeoisie, it is idiotic to be snooty about liberals. Sure there are still are elements frightened to stray beyond talk-only or write-in-English-only, and who avoid anything that faintly smells of action; horror of horrors, Gothabhaya might notice their existence!

However, anyone who has followed the campaign against the regime’s drive to autocracy cannot but be impressed by the determination and courage of certain sections of liberal society. Many in civil society movements and in business chambers are contributing to the struggle without concealing their work. Which leftist does not shrivel in embarrassment at the mention of Vasudeva? So who dare deny that certain liberal groups and intellectuals are openly defying the would-be dictator? I will not mention names since many lobbies are at work on parallel tracks; naming names will not be comprehensive.

International assistance

Where there is a substantial threat to democracy – Burma in the past, Syria acutely, and Sri Lanka obviously – international questioning and pressure is welcome. A criticism of Obama is that he is not making a decisive intervention in Syria and finishing off Assad. (This would be in the best interests of the Syrian people, but will have tangential consequences not in America’s best interests; obviously the latter is Obama’s priority). Similarly, the assistance the international community will afford us, will be what is in its own interests. But the crucial point is this: At times there is a convergence of interests, and this is the case at the moment. Defeating burgeoning dictatorship is vital for the people of Lanka; but if Lanka goes under the jack-boot, in the long run it will be costly and dangerous for the international community, including China. The Chinese have learnt from the mistake of backing brutal dictators in Burma, Libya and Sudan. A more nuanced foreign policy approach is likely from the new leadership in Beijing. Furthermore, involving human rights activists and theUNHRC in Lanka’s democratic campaign will be fruitful. A helping hand from governments, rights groups and UN bodies on terms defined by Lanka’s peoples’ organisations (obviously not the Rajapakses), is desirable.

The reason for discussing international assistance in this essay is that human rights bodies, the British opposition and political leaders from the governing coalition are slated to address the Convention. But a final assessment can be made only after the event. The criteria are: Did the conference build Sinhala-Tamil unity in support of democracy? Will the conference contribute to winning the rights of the Tamil people and mobilise Sinhalese support? Did it contribute to a healthy relationship between the people of Lanka and the international community? The answers to these, not vile chauvinist slanders, are the acid test.

Beginning of the end of Rajapakses: Foreign Bank 32 years in SL to close down

(Lanka-e-News- 23.Feb.2013, 11.30PM) A leading foreign Commercial Bank which had been operating in Sri Lanka for 32 long years had decided to close its business after having taken into consideration the total economic collapse the country is headed for and the crises faced right now, according to reports reaching Lanka e news.

The CitiBank was not a Bank which was just engaged in normal transactions , rather it played a key role in the facilitation of huge transactions of the Govt. – it was one of the Banks that provided financial facilities for the Govt. in the import of fuel and in the hedging deal ( ‘soodhuwa’ ) . In this connection ,the hapless Bank had to later on go in for litigation internationally to recover the monumental losses (polla weteema – in pure Sinhala) it incurred by trying to help the MaRa Govt.

The CitiBank is the first Bank to have judiciously realized that the Rajapakse regime cannot go far . It has therefore decided to put up its shutters which was indicated when it notified its account holders to close their accounts within three months. The Bank has only 200 normal account holders engaged in ordinary banking transactions. All preparations have been made to transfer all pending transactions including loans to another Bank during this period of three months.

The employees of the Bank are also to be transferred to other Banks .

According to Banking circles , the CitiBank has taken this decision after getting wind of the fact that the Rajapakse regime is heading for an economic holocaust . Earlier on the Bank of America closed its SL branch and left the shores.

Unconfirmed sources say , the American Bank took a similar decision in Iran 2 years ago, and issued a warning to its investors in Iran to withdraw their investments two years prior to imposing economic sanctions on that country.

America had made large investments in Iran unlike in SL where the investments are trifling relatively. At all events , if SL is to oppose the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the Geneva assembly , that may well mark the beginning of the end of the Rajapakses.

Planter association’s efforts to extend the existing agreement is totally unacceptable - Mano Ganesan

Sunday, 24 February 2013

“Plantation employers federation representing the plantation management companies is pushing efforts to extend the current collective agreement which is reaching expiration end of March. This stance is totally unacceptable to us. Such unilateral attitude will create economical turmoil in the all important plantations industry ” warns Mano Ganesan, president of the recently launched plantation trade union federation (PTUF).

Ganesan speaking to media on the issue said further;

Employers federation chairman Lalith Obeysekara tends to put all the blame on the wage increase given in the existing collective agreement and points at the cost of production.

The current wage was agreed two years ago. The rupee has been devalued since then. It has helped the export sector, primly the plantation companies.

Mr. Obeysekara is speaking about the daily wage, which is Rs. 515-00. He is also comparing the cost of production with India and Kenya. The Rs. 515 per day wage is only in the agreement papers. Large segment of poor plantation workers do not receive this stipulated daily wage. It is only the theory. Besides the employers’ chairman should consider serious reforms to bring down the extravaganza management costs. These costs are a major component in the ‘cost of production’. He should send his team of managers to India and Kenya on a study tour.

Mr. Lalith Obeysekara says that they have started the discussions. We do not know if they have started talking to CWC or with the government. I call upon him to talk to the government on the cess on exports. If the cess is brought down to the minimum it would be in the interests of employers and the workers. It will help the industry too.

Our PTUF is not a party to the collective agreement. But we are the frontline stake holders as we hold the largest segment of the poor plantation workers today. We will continue to monitor the process. We will not hesitate to go for trade union action, if necessary.

Constitutionally incorrect to hang Rajiv killers now, says Judge

SUNDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2013

CHENNAI: It would be ‘constitutionally incorrect’ now to hang the three people sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, said Justice K T Thomas, who headed the Supreme Court bench that confirmed the death sentences. “It was my misfortune to have presided over that bench,” he told TOI.

More than 13 years ago, it was a three-judge bench headed by Justice Thomas that confirmed death sentence for Nalini Sriharan, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. Nalini’s death penalty was commuted to imprisonment for life by Tamil Nadu governor in April 2000 on the basis of a recommendation of the state cabinet and a public appeal by Sonia Gandhi. The TADA had originally awarded death sentence to all the 26 accused persons. When the matter reached the Supreme Court, which was the only appellate forum under theRajiv Gan as a referred trial, capital punishment was confirmed only for four.

In an interview, Justice Thomas said the judgment itself had ‘errors’ as the death sentences had not considered the antecedents, nature and character of the accused. Hence any decision to hang the three could now be termed as ‘constitutionally incorrect’ and a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, he told TOI. Going a step further, the judge said case deserved a review, considering the antecedents and character of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.

“At a time when the Supreme Court bench headed by me pronounced judgments in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, apparently, we did not consider the nature and character of the accused who were sentenced to death penalty by us. It was only many years thereafter a bench headed by Justice S B Sinha pointed out that without considering the nature and character of accused, a death sentence should never be awarded. His judgments mentioned errors in previous SC judgments and that applies to Rajiv Gandhi assassination case,” he said.

Also, he pointed out the three have been in prison for 22 years. “For any life imprisonment, every prisoner is entitled to have a right to get his case reviewed by the jail authorities (to determine) whether remission can be announced or not. Since the accused in Rajiv Gandhi case were death convicts, they underwent a long period of imprisonment without even having the benefit of life imprisonment,” he said. “This appears to be a third type of sentence, something which is unheard and constitutionally incorrect. If they are hanged today or tomorrow, they will be subjected to two penalties for one offense.”

In 1999, Justice Thomas had agreed with two others on the bench in respect of death penalty for only Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. As for Murugan’s wife Nalini, he gave a dissenting, but minority, verdict preferring imprisonment for life.

When TOI contacted Justice V R Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court, he said death penalty could not be considered as a punishment. “It is just another act of murder, a judicial murder, by the state. It is high time for India to abolish death penalty and India has not gained anything from death penalties in the past,” he said.

The three death convicts have completed almost 22 years of imprisonment. Their execution, which was scheduled to be held on September 9, 2011, was stayed by the Madras high court for six weeks in August that year. The case has since been transferred to the Supreme Court, to be decided after the Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar case verdict is delivered.

Sri Lanka, Without Sri Lankans

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -February 24, 2013

“Are we so morally sick, so deaf and dumb and blind, that we do not understand this?” Ariel Dorfman (The Washington post – 24.9.2006)

Finally, in a cauldron of insanity, a few grains of sense!
The willingness to compromise displayed by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) has opened a path away from a new war. We can now discard the bogus ‘Halal issue’, and focus on real problems, such as the ricochet-effect of fuel price increases; or Sri Lanka’s tumbling international reputation.

Champika: Hopefully he can find other, less deadly, alternatives to twiddling his thumbs than fanning the flames of religious disharmony

Faced with an incendiary campaign aimed at provoking a new conflagration, the ACJU has acted with mature good sense. Its proposal enables Muslims to have halal-meat and non-Muslims to have ordinary meat. It also opens the door to the introduction of humane methods of slaughter in most Lankan abattoirs.

Do Sinhala-Buddhist fanatics possess the sense to be appeased by the ACJU’s moderation? Or will they continue to insist on their maximalist agenda?

The initial signs are not hopeful. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is maintaining a stony silence while MinisterChampika Ranawaka has declared himself dissatisfied with the ACJU’s moderate proposal. According to this Christian-basher of yesteryear, the ACJU’s position of differentiating between halal and non-halal meat smacks of ‘separation’.
The JHU-BBS types believe that Tamils, in order to be deemed anti-separatist, must oppose not just the Tigers and Eelam but also devolution. In their maximalist-eyes even limited devolution is akin to separation.

The same fundamentalist criteria are now being applied to Muslims. Muslims can be anti-separatist only if they abandon those parts of religio-cultural identity which Sinhala-Buddhist fanatics deem objectionable. Thus it is not enough to create a separation between halal and non-halal; halal must go.

Minister Ranawaka not only rejects the ACJU’s compromise; he is single-handedly striving to open a new frontier in the ‘war of the religions’. Marking a new inane-low (even for the JHU) he has stated that his ministry and the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress are discussing with the Sri Lanka Standards Institute to introduce “a new food quality certificate for non-Alcoholic food and beverages” (Daily Mirror – 23.2.2012). Granted, that his recent demotion from the important portfolio of Power and Energy to the inconsequential one of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy (there is already a Minister of Technology and Research) would have left Minister Ranawaka with eons of free-time. Hopefully he can find other, less deadly, alternatives to twiddling his thumbs than fanning the flames of religious disharmony.

The silence of moderate Buddhist organisations and leaders is distressing. If the moderates can speak out, step forward and accept the ACJU compromise, the hardliners can be consigned to the margins and prevented from imposing their deranged agenda on the country.

The silence of the regime about the ACJU proposal is equally puzzling. Will the Rajapaksas step forward to end the spurious ‘halal controversy’? Or will the Siblings permit their JHU-BBS-SR acolytes to feed the embers of religious-disharmony with more malevolent rhetoric and other spurious issues? Is this a way to make the Sinhala masses forget the bleak economic outlook?

The Human Rights Watch is to issue a new report claiming that Lankan forces raped/sexually abused Tamil detainees not only during the war but even afterwards. The HRW Report is said to “chronicles 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse which occurred from 2006 to 2012 in Sri Lanka” (One India News – 22.2.2013). If true, this should be of paramount concern to the Sinhalese, not only for moral-ethical reasons but also in self-interest. If, as the HRW claims, “politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present”, it can victimise Sinhala opponents of the regime too, ere long.

Do the Rajapaksas think that a new religious enemy will enable them to sweep even this outrage out of international-sight? And be welcomed at the White House, Downing Street and Élysée Palace, as leaders of the new frontier nation in the war against ‘Islamic Terrorism’?

Pro-Sri Lankan ACJU and Anti-Sri Lankan BBS-JHU

In the spurious ‘Halal controversy’, the ACJU represents the moderate centre while the JHU-BBS-SR combine occupies the destructive/self-destructive extreme.

The spirit of moderation displayed by the ACJU on the ‘Halal issue’ and about the impending removal of the ancient Sufi shrine at Kuragala exemplifies the politico-psychological attitude necessary for the creation of a Sri Lankan nation.
Because, a Lankan nation, though a good idea and a necessary idea, is still an idea. Sri Lanka is a politico-geographical reality, with a surfeit of Sinhalese, Buddhists, Tamils, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Conspicuous by their dearth are citizens or leaders who can transcend their primordial identities and their particularist concerns to think and act as Lankans.

The Tigers were enemies of the idea of a Lankan nation; they regarded it as undesirable and impossible. The BBS-JHU-SR combine share this belief. The Tigers said Sri Lanka was a Sinhala/Sinhala-Buddhist country; that was their main rationale for a state of Eelam. The BBS-JHU-SR combine also believes that this is the country of Sinhala-Buddhists and that the minorities are here because of the generosity and the hospitableness of Sinhala-Buddhists; the minorities can either accept this subordinate place and take care not to cause ‘stress and concern’ for Sinhala-Buddhists – or get out.
According to this ‘Hosts and Guests concept’, Sinhala-Buddhists are the sole owners of Sri Lanka; the minorities are guests here on sufferance, rather than co-owners. This particularlist definition of ‘nation’ as the sole-property of the majority community is not a Sinhala-Buddhist invention. It is a belief common to all racial and religious fanatics. The counterparts of the BBS-JHU-SR combine range from Republican right-wingers (who hate Barack Obama because, in their racially jaundiced eyes, he is a ‘foreigner’) to European Neo-Nazis, from Hindu fanatics to Taliban and its many offshoots. These extremist elements are united in their hatred of variety and in their belief that a nation should be a homogenous entity which takes it hue solely from the majority community.

This vision is dangerously out of place in today’s world. Attempts to impose it, through discriminatory laws or violence, can lead a country along self-destructive paths, as we have witnessed in Sri Lanka.

Whatever we, Sinhalese/Buddhists, feel about the pluralist nature of Sri Lanka, the only realistic choice is to accept it, because that is the really existing reality. Whether we celebrate the plurality and the diversity of Sri Lanka or whether we fear and bemoan it makes no difference to its existence. The sensible thing to do is to accept the Tamils, the Muslims, the Christians and the Hindus of Sri Lanka as equal citizens and owners of this country. They are not guests living here on our grace; they belong; this is their country as much as it is ours.

A lasting peace can come only on that basis.

Sinhala supremacist politicians, monks and ideologues never tire of repeating that Sri Lanka is the greatest land in the world. Perhaps Sri Lanka has the potential to become one of the best, but only if it succeeds in creating a peaceful, compassionate and prosperous nation. A truly Lankan nation, which manages to achieve an imperfect but viable and dynamic unity of its many differences.

The other half of murder

: 23 FEBRUARY 2013; BY M.J. AKBAR

Could death be a half-truth? This question is obviously a killer’s last hope and best alibi. There is enough truth in that great genre of mystery fiction to suggest that murder can often be an open debate. This does not help the dead, for there can be no murder without a victim; but this remains a serious concern for the living. Whether murder is committed in cold or warm blood, there is no legitimate end without justice.

The pictures depicting the killing of a 12-year-old child, Balachandran, in Sri Lanka, were stark. The chubby innocence of his face was a further torture to the imagination. His only mistake was being son of the wrong parents, as far as his killers were concerned. His father was Prabhakaran, the defeated and slain dictator of the LTTE, who spent his life trying to partition Lanka and create a separate country for its Tamils. No war is pleasant, but this one was especially ruthless. Balachandran became a hostage after LTTE’s annihilation in the winter of 2008-09. Channel 4, the British TV station, which has been running a campaignagainst human rights violations by the Lanka Army, aired footage of this murder and alleged that orders had come from the very top.

The official Lanka Army reaction, through a spokesman, called the story “lies, half-truths and…speculation”.

If that is only half the truth, then what is the other half?

The only speculative part is the bit about orders coming from the very top but that is common sense even if the source has not been identified. No officer would risk elimination of such a high-profile prisoner without clearance from the highest in the land. Twenty four hours later, someone more intelligent in the Lanka government added that the visuals had been morphed. The channel explained that it had verified the images.

But there is a simpler answer. If the pictures are a lie, then the child must be alive. If he is alive, he is in Lanka government’s hands. All the authorities have to do is produce the child. That would be the ultimate habeas corpus: produce the body, in this case hopefully alive.

That is unlikely to happen. What will follow is silence, tons of it, in the quiet confidence that media stories cannot be repeated forever. This silence is being, and will be, supported by the three major powers with an interest in Sri Lanka: India, China and the United States. No one will seriously question Colombo at a Geneva human rights forum, or weaken relations with the present government which took the decision. They will endorse the logic of this murder. Colombo has killed the child for one reason, and one alone: that he should not survive to wear his father’s mantle ten or fifteen years later. An extra-judicial exit was the only “solution”. Delhi, Beijing and Washington are not terribly squeamish when it comes to present or future terrorism. One false word and their own skeletons will clang noisily, awakening all sorts of demons in Geneva and elsewhere.

As in any conventional murder mystery, the killers did overlook an obvious detail, the sort of clue that sets the grey cells of a Hercule Poirot whirring at a frantic pace and opens up the path of discovery. Colombo’s wise men missed one of the great new facts of the contemporary age, the rise of the mobile phone.

All the mass manufacturers of such phones are as much camera makers as communication specialists. Everyone is now a walking camera. We are still groping through the full implications of this mobile phone revolution, but one thing is already clear: justice has moved from the time of eye-witness testimony to camera-witness evidence. We are undecided about CCTV surveillance. When there is a terrorist attack we want them everywhere. In calmer times we worry about government snooping into our private lives. Perhaps there is no such thing as privacy anymore already. Telephone conversations are routinely taped by secretive agencies. Governments have other worries. Any official today can take out his camera phone and copy a file in a second, exposing corruption if he so wishes, or simply waiting for the opportunity to indulge in some supplementary blackmail of his superiors on the side. Almost every event is being recorded, sometimes with a sense of celebration, sometimes out of a sense of grievance. We get antsy at the thought of a barbarian government assaulting our privacy. But the anonymous individual can be a greater danger.

There are two ways the footage of Balachandran’s killing could have reached media. Someone could have leaked it from government records. Or it might be a soldier in the death squad who thought he wanted a gruesome but historic memento, and then began to grapple with his conscience. We do not know, yet. But something slipped through that security net, and it was not a lie.

Mobashar Jawed (MJ) Akbar is an author and veteran Journalist with several books that have achieved international acclaim. He is the ieditor-in-chief of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi.

Living Under Murderers In A Savage Land?

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole -February 23, 2013

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Note: This is a slightly expanded version of the article in The Sunday Leader of 24.02.2013 that appeared at thesundayleader.lk.

Topping this week’s news was the heartrending photograph of 12 year oldBalachandran, showing that he was in army custody before being murdered. The Sinhalese are rightly upset about the CJ’s impeachment and the Matale massacres. Yet the absence of an equally loud protest in the face of mounting evidence of Tamil genocide in Mullivaikal seems proof that we are two divided peoples. Yet there is hope for us in that it was Sinhalese who released the photo.

If genocide happened in 2009, then imagine the plight of Tamils living under the army. Seeing every soldier we wonder how many he killed and when he would turn on us – wonder as I do whether my wife and daughters are safe from rape when they travel in Jaffna. When Tamils are made to live under heartless, savage killers, can any Sri Lankan deny the importance of an inquiry to find out if these credible allegations are true? Nobody has the right to say that Tamils should live under a murderous army, and at the same time say that we should not ask for a separate state.

Mendacious State

Command responsibility makes the President answerable. The mass graves in Matale implicating members of his family who are also accused of Tamil massacres necessitate an impartial inquiry. How can those who argue that Navaneetham Pillay is not neutral because she is Tamil, then proceed to argue that the Rajapaksas and the Sinhalese army can be objective? I shudder in fear when I see images of our Defence Secretary shouting at Channel 4 in unmitigated rage or our Deputy Permanent UN Rep whose mouth smiles while his glazed eyes betray fury – wondering how safe we are. If the Rajapaksas are innocent, international inquiries are in their interest.

As a preview of what a government inquiry would reveal, the Army recently announced its findings after looking into shelling in May 2009: “Evidence before the Court has conclusively established that the Humanitarian Operation was conducted strictly in accordance with [Rajapaksa’s] ‘Zero Civilian Casualty’ directive.” The army does not seem to know that the LLRC clearly rejected the President’s zero casualty claims, admitting to a large number of civilian casualties and calling for further investigations.

In measure of their untruthfulness, as Britain’s Independent and Guardian used their government’s database to show Colombo buying British weaponry worth at least £3m, Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya denied it.

Tissa Vitarana, Mahen Watson, Euroville

TNA leader Sampanthan has rightly said that the government brought this situation on itself and is now paying for its sins. He sees no reason to bail it out. Tissa Vitarana dragged the APRC process, giving the world the impression of progress. Claiming to work for the 13th Amendment and calling attempts to abolish it a foreign conspiracy he, according to Wikileaks, privately criticized it as an Indian creation.

Mahen Watson was Director-NSF under Vitarana. An accomplished Tamil gentleman scientist with a British MSc and perfect English language skills, NSF functioned smoothly in English under him. But Vitarana wanted his man to take over when Watson’s 5-year term ended. Vitarana’s stooges on the Board claimed Vitarana wanted an excellent candidate and called for new recruitment criteria. Their subcommittee proposed advertising for very high qualifications including a PhD. Watson, privy to our Board discussions as CEO, moved on in dignity. Then these fancy recruitment schemes were dispensed with and Vitarana simply appointed his friend Dr.M.C.N. Jayasuriya.

Vitharana went to Jaffna last week to publicly ask the TNA at a meeting in Euroville in Muthirai-chanthai to come for talks. Sensing he was staging another drama for Geneva, he was sarcastically told to come back in April after Geneva.

Euroville’s proprietor is Ramathasan, Devananda’s right-hand. Rs. 700 mn in World Bank road development funds was allocated to Ramathasan in 11-2011 with Rs. 90 mn as advance, but no work was begun. On WB insistence, RDA cancelled the award. Devananda wrote to the Governor and the project has been reawarded to Ramathasan. (Provincial Secretary Vijayalakshmi Ramesh has, violating regulations, returned the penalty cheque given to her through the defaulting Euroville’s bank guarantees!)

Ramathasan’s vote of thanks to Vitharana indicates the nexus built against proper management of public funds, threatening future WB funds for Jaffna. Ramathasan was the LTTE’s preferred contractor in the Vanni. Those of his ilk are always on the winning side. But Vitarana the Trotskyite?

Lawlessness and Deceit

Over 1500 persons demonstrated in Tellipallai on the 15th over the prime lands seized for High Security Zones. In 2004, TNA elder Mavai Senathirajah and farmer Yogeswaran filed fundamental rights applications, arguing no basis for including them in the Palaly HSZ, and were not contradicted. In 2006, after long delays, the SC ordered the lands to be vacated with conditions like the army verifying deeds. 7,456 families came forward accepting the terms. A committee, supposedly to study their claims, was used to delay resettlement.

Then the 2010 presidential elections came, the only time Sinhalese need Tamils. Sarath Fonseka announced that he would remove the HSZs and allow civilians back home, explaining that it could have been done earlier as the camps were not threatened. Rajapaksa countered that Jaffna peninsula HSZs will be dismantled and replaced by 300 metre buffer zones. Douglas Devananda promised immediate resettlement. Additional GA Rubini Varathalingam confirmed there would be no HSZs but only Defence Front Lines. Bulldozers and heavy equipment were said to be ready to remove bunds and bunkers. Alas, it was all election gimmickry! (A monument to election chicanery at the time was the Sangupitty Bridge opened by Rajapapaksa as his “Pongal Gift,” boasting at the ceremony in scripted Tamil “I do what I say and say what I will do,” and promising in The Daily News that “the people who had to make a six-hour journey to reach Jaffna from Mannar could now make it in three hours.” Unfortunately the road from Mannar to the bridge is so neglected that it still takes 6 hours. When my wife tried the journey this week, the road conditions made the bus break down and she took 9 hours. We risk the journey to make the point that if Tamils let fear stop us visiting home the communalists succeed in effecting genocide. Some, like British subject Arumugam Yogeswaran aged 37 who disappeared this week, pay a price for making this point. The Sinhalese must try to understand that we want devolution merely to feel safe.)

Friday’s fast-demonstration against the nonfulfilment of SC orders on the HSZ and government pledges to the court, were disrupted by 9 men believed to be secret intelligence operatives from the Ministry of Defence. Four were apprehended by the crowd and handed over to the police.

Police Media Spokesman Prasantha Jayakody immediately claimed that no one was arrested and, without time for analysis, labelled photos of the police walking with the arrestees fake Recall similar dismissal of genocide photos authenticated by UN experts.

Hathurusinghe

Ranil Wikremasinghe who witnessed these incidents added that he believes Jaffna Commander Mahinda Hathurusinghe operates private armed militias.

When uneducated soldiers are placed over civilians, we have commanders without an appreciation of their role in a democracy. Most of them joined as Officer Cadet with merely 5 OL credits and were dressed up at Staff College. (This is why they hanker after honourary doctorates from stooge academics). It is no surprise that despite the court order, Hathurusinghe told the press on the 12th that the HSZs “belong to the forces” and lands within the permanent security fence are now seized.

This Hathurusinghe whom Rajapaksa has appointed to rule over Tamils is the Lt. Hathurusinghe who commanded the platoon guarding Welikada Prison during the 1983 massacre. He is described in Rajan Hoole’s Arrogance of Power as “preventing [prisons commissioner] Jansz from taking the injured to hospital and then doing nothing while [they were] attacked [and] just watching after preventing the Police from coming to the aid of the victims.”

Confusion before Geneva

After Sri Lanka compromised Britain’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox, one wonders who is being bought ahead of Geneva. Council of Jurists President Dr. Adish C Aggarwala, also India’s Bar Association President, issued a letter to Rajapaksa that the Council considered the CJ’s impeachment correct; only to be severely contradicted by others. Last week we saw Former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma lying about cancelling his visit on his own whereas Sri Lanka withdrew his visa.

Even today, as Sri Lanka brazenly prevaricates in its Indian diplomatic discussions and kills fishermen, India turns the other cheek instead of invoking the 1987 Accord and the Supreme Court decision that the 1974 and 1976 Katchaitheevu agreements lack validity without passage in India’s Houses of Parliament.

The US is insisting on the law in Geneva, even as The Island reports that it supplied intelligence for Sri Lanka to destroy 4 LTTE ships in 2008, and Sri Lanka and the CIA colluded in undermining the Rome Treaty and used fraudulent travel documents to violate the rights of third-country citizens. Britain is selling arms to Sri Lanka while fussing about genocide; and overlooking the BBC’s Charles Haviland and his crew being threatened this week in profanities while the Maharagama police “appeared to comply with the mob.”

Dayan Jayatilleka attributes Sri Lanka’s slide to “an ethno-religious fascist movement from the dark underside of Sinhala society.” Only strong action at Geneva and the Commonwealth can stop everything good in Sri Lanka turning savage.