Casino has become economic strategy of the government– Hadunneththi

FRIDAY, 29 MARCH 2013

There is no dearth for kings in this country. The latest to join the 'royalty' is Casino King who is getting ready to build a 'casino palace' in valuable lands in Colombo says JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi.

Participating in a media conference held in Colombo Mr. Handunneththi said, "Mahinda Rajapaksa regime had as its basis themes such as Mahinda Chinthanaya, 'Mathata Thitha (halt to intoxicants) and an ethical society. However, now the number one casino king of the world is to build a casino palace on a valuable land in Colombo. There is no dearth for kings in this country. James Parker, the casino king about to come to Sri Lanka, is the owner of the biggest casino business in Australia. He earns colossal amounts of money through colossal rackets. The economic strategy of Sri Lanka has now become gambling casino.

The car park opposite Lake House is to be handed over to the casino king to build his casino palace. Siri Sambuddha Viharaya is in very close proximity to this site. When the gambling bill was presented we opposed it. To justify the bill a clause was included in the bill that casinos would not be allowed to exist near religious places. What happens now? Those restrictions are removed and racketeers are given every opportunity to do what they wish. Colombo city is being changed to accompany casino racketeers.

The government should reveal to the masses on what basis the casino racketeers are allowed to invade the country. It should tell the people on what basis the most valuable piece of land in Colombo city is given to casino king. The Parliament has not been informed. Neither has the Public Utilities Commission informed. The government uses its political power to do whatever it wants. The government's intention is to make Sri Lanka a den for international racketeers.

There is an issue as to why those who boast of patriotism, love for the country are dumb regarding this matter. Colombo's casino palace is only a beginning. Government's plan is to have casinos in all the areas in Sri Lanka, encourage people, specially the youth to gamble and fill its coffers.

North Korea ready to strike US bases

TUESDAY, 26 MARCH 2013 

North Korea said today (26th) that it has put its military on combat ready status, with "strategic" rocket units and long-range artillery units ordered to prepare for possible strikes against the U.S. bases in mainland, Hawaii and Guam according to North Korea's state media.

The order issued in a statement from the North Korea’s supreme command came after the U.S. bombers flew sorties threatening the North.

"From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army will be putting into combat duty posture No. 1 all field artillery units, including long-range artillery units and strategic rocket units, that will target all enemy objects in the U.S. bases on its mainland, Hawaii and Guam," the Korean Central News Agency said.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the army to destroy and wipe away any enemy who lands on their coast.

The threat is the latest from North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea since the joint military drills by the US and its allies and extension of economic sanctions by the U.N. Security Council. North Korea in response to the ongoing military drills had said it scrapped 1953 armistice that stopped the Korean War.

The U.S. military bases in the Pacific area are in the range of North Korea’s missiles according to foreign media.

President orders attacks on Bogollagama Friday, 29 March 2013  External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has complained to the President that former Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama is posing an obstacle for him to carry out his work at the External Affairs Ministry and that officials appointed to the Ministry by Bogollagama were scuttling the work at the Ministry, sources from Temple Trees said. Sources added that Peiris had blamed Bogollagama for the failures at the UNHRC in Geneva. The President believing the tales carried by Peiris had said, “I will teach him a good lesson.” The President had ordered the Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery Or Corruption, Jagath Balapatabendi to carry out an investigation into the wastage of monies at the External Affairs Ministry during Bogollagama’s tenure. The President has asked several newspaper editors close to him to give maximum publicity to the story on a bribery and corruption investigation against Bogollagama. The Commission had recorded a lengthy statement from Bogollagama on the 27th. The daily Lankadeepa had published the story on its front page on the 28th. Our sources say that officials in the External Affairs Ministry who are believed to be providing information to Bogollagama are to face a witch hunt shortly. Southern Expressway incurs Rs 5.5 B loss By Raj Moorthy-2013-03-29 A leading strategist in transport and logistics management revealed that the much-celebrated Southern Expressway (E01) is currently incurring a whopping Rs 5.5 billion loss annually, raising concerns over the cost-effectiveness of such hyped highways. The annual revenue collected from vehicles using the Expressway is approximately Rs 1 billion, whereas the maintenance and debt service cost is around Rs 6.5 billion," said Prof. Amal S. Kumarage of the Transport and Logistics Management Department of the University of Moratuwa. The Colombo-Galle section of the Colombo-Matara Expressway, which is now open to the public, is estimated to have cost US$ 742 million. Prof. Kumarage, who was the former Chairman of the National Transport Commission, was speaking at the 46th LBR-LBO Chief Executive Officers' forum at Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. He said due to the dilapidated condition of the public transport, the use of private transport would further increase in the future, exacerbating the traffic congestion. Citing statistics, he projected the average speed of the vehicular traffic in the City of Colombo would come down to 17.4 km per hour by 2021, from the current speed of 21.6 km, due to the dilapidated public transport sector, which would encourage the public to use private transportation. He added the vehicular speed would further come down to 9.1 km by 2031, should the current trend continues. He forecast the share of bus transport, which amounts to 55% at present, would drop to 41% by 2021 and the railway transport would remain at the same level at 5%, and privately-owned transport would rise from 26% at present to 38% in 2021. He maintained the quality of buses today remain the same as in the 50s and train services have showed a degree of improvement since the early 80s. "Both quality and quantity should be maintained at a steady rate," he noted. "We need to do something radically different to make public transport more appealing to the public. Our country can improve the transport system by bringing in new services like the rapid transport metros, which would take some time to put in place," he said. "Sri Lanka had the best transport system in Asia after Japan in the 50s, but it had a steady decline since then," he said. He suggested the private sector be encouraged to engage in road building.

David Miliband a colossus? He’s a greedy failure in a cosmic sulk

The Telegraph

By Peter Oborne

Convulsions of grief were still being felt across north London last night in the wake of David Miliband’s resignation. The BBC, which has long felt special reverence for the great man, reported the event in hushed tones. The Guardian hosted feverish and wistful discussions about whether Mr Miliband might condescend to return one day to public life.

Tony Blair regretted “a massive loss to UK politics”. A near tearful Tessa Jowell said “it’s very sad”. Lord Adonis mourned an “inspirational leader”. A tremulous Yvette Cooper praised a “powerful speaker” and a “great minister”.

Across the Atlantic, former president Bill Clinton called him “one of the ablest, most creative public servants of our time”. Lord Mandelson, whose protégé Mr Miliband was, almost begged him to reconsider.

The rest of us, however, can contemplate the situation with equanimity. We are, after all, talking about someone who was at best a minor politician, no towering colossus. Mr Miliband has left only one lasting legacy, and that was destructive. As foreign secretary he closed down the Foreign and Commonwealth Office library. It had been there since before the days of Palmerston, and its absence has done permanent damage to the corporate memory of the FCO – now that its contents have been dispersed, it will never be restored.

Apart from this one moment of breathtaking bibliographical barbarism, which only a politician who cared nothing for British tradition and history would have contemplated, Mr Miliband achieved nothing.

However, before he fades into obscurity, it is important to ask what the fuss is all about. Why is the BBC, which would scarcely have noticed if a former Conservative foreign secretary stood down from Parliament, unable to contain itself? Why is the Blairite wing of Labour in such a state of desolation and hysteria? Why the agonised Guardian inquest? Any detached judge has always been able to see that David Miliband was not front-rank. He is a hopeless public speaker (whatever Yvette Cooper’s protestations), and has never once expressed an original thought.

Yet after Labour’s 1997 election victory he was the poster boy of a new ruling elite which seized control of the commanding heights of British politics. Anti-democratic, financially greedy and morally corrupt, this new political class has done the most enormous damage. Since David Miliband was its standard-bearer, his political career explains a great deal about what has gone wrong with British public life, about why politicians are no longer liked or trusted, and about how political parties have come to be viewed with contempt.

Mr Miliband – and this is the essential point – set the pattern that so many others, including his brother Ed, have followed. Obsessed by politics at university (like Ed and David Cameron, he read PPE at Oxford), he has never had even the faintest connection with the real world. From life in think tanks he became a Labour Party researcher and special adviser, before being parachuted into the north-eastern constituency of South Shields as an MP.

He rose up on the inside track, getting in with the right people and making sure he stayed there. This meant not rocking the boat. He wrote Labour’s 1997 and 2001 election manifestos, which even Labour people now admit were content-free. He was at the heart of the Labour machine when it spewed out its now notorious falsehoods over immigration and Iraq (there is a savage irony to the fact that Mr Miliband is going to head a humanitarian organisation when the government of which he was such a loyal member created so many of the world’s disasters).

When promoted to education minister, he was personally responsible for issuing false claims that exam marks were getting better because of higher standards rather than (as we now know) grade inflation.

I used to speak to Mr Miliband fairly often during this period, and it is important to make clear that he was personally not an especially bad man. It was simply that he was completely inexperienced and had no idea how the world (which he famously defined as a “scary place” during a Labour conference speech) worked.

This meant that he was out of his depth when promoted to the Foreign Office, where he quickly became an apologist for British government involvement with torture. I once counted six lies emerge from his lips on the subject of our complicity over “extraordinary rendition” during the course of a nine-minute interview with Andrew Neil on The Politics Show.

It is a great pity that Mr Miliband, who is only 47, is not entering politics now, after learning the ropes elsewhere. If so, this well-meaning man would surely have a serious contribution to make. As things stand, however, we can learn lessons from his failure, and the most important of these is that MPs need more ballast when they come into Parliament.

There was a time when politicians picked themselves up and got on with it after a setback. When Denis Healey, much the more serious candidate, was defeated by Michael Foot in the 1980 Labour leadership election, he did not go into some cosmic sulk. He dusted himself down, joined the front bench, and served Foot loyally. Willie Whitelaw probably felt hard done by when he lost the Tory leadership to Margaret Thatcher in 1975. But he was her bulwark and support ever after.

But the Whitelaws and Healeys had enjoyed a deep knowledge of the world, which told them that a personal setback such as losing the party leadership was a trivial matter indeed, and other things mattered far more.

Nobody expects this kind of wise judgment today. When, yesterday, the BBC sent its political editor, Nick Robinson, into Mr Miliband’s home to ask reverentially about the great decision, he did not ask why Mr Miliband was leaving his South Shields constituents in the lurch. Nor did Mr Robinson ask any questions about Mr Miliband’s finances.

Yet these are extremely pertinent to his decision to resign. The House of Commons register reveals that he has earned an incredible sum – nearly £1 million – from outside interests since losing the party leadership to his brother, including £125,000 for 15 days’ work as a director of Sunderland, a constituency-based football club owned by a super-rich businessman with interests in private equity. Approximately £60,000 has come his way from the UAE, a gulf state with an unappetising human rights record, and another hefty chunk from St James’s Place, a company that advises very rich people how to invest their money.

Like his mentors Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, Mr Miliband is one of that unappetising breed of modern politician that has chosen to profiteer out of public service. It is a pity that the BBC did not ask him whether his sudden decision to abandon his constituents was not informed by a desire to keep his huge earnings out of the public eye.

During his short, undistinguished career, Mr Miliband has done grave damage to British politics. He is part of the new governing elite which is sucking the heart out of our representative democracy while enriching itself in the process. He may be mourned in the BBC and in north London, but the rest of us are entitled to form a more realistic view. David Miliband has belittled our politics and he will not be missed.

To defend Buddhism we have brought an army; Begin a holy war - BBS Theme song

Muslim Owns Fashion Bug Is Attacked By A Mob Led By Buddhist Monks

By Colombo Telegraph -March 28, 2013 |

A mob, lead by a group of Buddhist monks has attacked the Head office and Stores Complex of Mssrs Fashion Bug situated at Pepiliyana Junction, a short while ago, at around 8 pm SL time (Thursday 28th March).The excuse used to attack this complex was that a 15 year old girl had been raped inside the building.

“The accusation that a rape had taken place is a baseless one as can be proved by the close circuit cameras which were installed as well as the inquiry carried out by the Police.The camera tells the real story on how these mob of fanatics had entered the building. The Special Task Force had to intervene to bring this attack under control.” said sources close to the owners.

This is another, in a series of attacks against Muslims as Fashion Bug owns by a family of Sri Lankan Muslims. The mob had gone on a rampage setting clothes that were in the store on fire and shouting obscenities at the girls who worked in this complex, saying that they should be ashamed to work in an enterprise owned by Muslims and to never come back. The mob had also manhandled some of the girls.

To defend Buddhism we have brought an army; Begin a holy war - BBS Theme song

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013

Fearsome hordes of demons have brought their armies and are upon us again

Dear Load Buddha who broke the strength of demons,

the dharma you gave us is under threat

The pinnacle of temple lies broken; the lams are gone out,

Buddhism lies in darkness.

It is now time to raise our riotous voice. Come, awaken my brothers. Let us awaken.

The dharma has been perverted, the words mangled.

The heathens have all united into one camp.

Various new age Buddhas have arrives, and Gautama Buddha lies in darkness.

If we tolerate this, Buddhism will be destroyed. Let us rise up and raise our rallying cry.

To defend Buddhism we have brought an army.

Bodu Bala Sena is on march.

This generation gives their whole life to the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha.

Great lion cubs it is time for you to awaken now,

gathering your whole race behind you.

Begin a holy war, completely pure, to destroy the rallying cry of unrighteous.

As long as the sun and moon exists we must protect the Dharma in the island.

- From the  Face Book of Sanjaya Senanayaka

Administrative Liquidation And The Independence Of The Judiciary

By Basil Fernando -March 28, 2013 |

Basil Fernando

In a very recent order from the Supreme Court of India the court, among other things, stated as follows:

For this Court, the life of a policeman or a member of the security forces is no less precious and valuable than any other person. The lives lost in the fight against terrorism and insurgency are indeed the most grievous loss. But to the State it is not open to cite the numbers of policemen and security forces killed to justify custodial death, fake encounter or what this Court called “Administrative liquidation”. It is simply not permitted by the Constitution. And in a situation where the Court finds a person’s rights, specially the right to life under assault by the State or agencies of the State, it must step in and stand with the individual and prohibit the State or its agencies from violating the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. That is the role of this Court and it would perform it under the all circumstances. We thus, find that the third plea raised in the counter affidavit is equally without substance.

(Suresh Singh vs. Union of India & Another – Writ Petition (Criminal) order dated January 4, 2013 )

This order was made relating to two writ petitions which allege that a large number of Indian citizens have been killed by the Manipur police and other security forces while in custody or in stage-managed encounters or in ways broadly termed as extra-judicial executions. In one of the petitions it was stated that during the period of May 1979 to May 2012 1,528 people were killed in Manipur in extra-judicial executions.

During this same period, that is 1979 to 2012 in Sri Lanka, the number of people who were killed by way of extra-judicial executions is easily over 100,000 of which at least 50,000 were enforced disappearances.

In recent months the issue of the arbitrary removal of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke has been among the top most issues discussed both locally and internationally. It is quite relevant to note that this bold attack by the executive to remove the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka for the first time in the long history of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka the first chief justice of which was appointed in 1802 did not happen by way of an accident. There was a long process leading up to the gradual undermining of the Supreme Court.

Close examination of the conflict between the Supreme Court and the executive would show that one of the very important causes (perhaps not the sole cause) for the conflict the executive and the judiciary lies in the area of dealing with the very issue of what the Indian Supreme Court has referred to as ‘Administrative liquidation’.

From1971 following a minor insurrection the government, with the complete support of the opposition at that time, engaged in a ruthless spree of killings of between 5-10,000 persons, mostly youths. Most of these killings took place after arrest. There has never been a proper judicial intervention to inquire into these killings by way of ‘Administrative liquidation’. From then on there has been a continuous causing of extrajudicial killings often by way of enforced disappearances and the number of such disappearances would easily exceed 50,000. The government appointed commissions themselves recorded the complaints of enforced disappearances of around 30,000 persons between 1987 and 1991, mostly in the south. The conflict with theLTTE has caused large numbers of disappearances in the north and east and these have never been counted. It was recently reported that about 5,000 complaints were made to the United Nations Working Group on enforced disappearances and the government was only able to account for 17 out of that 5,000.

What is relevant to this article is that in Sri Lanka these killings were considered as a legitimate form of ‘Administrative liquidation’ in. It was the inability of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court and the judiciary to challenge these arbitrary killings and its willingness to be silent on the issue that has undermined the judiciary in Sri Lanka more than any other reason. A vast gap has been created between the people and the courts. The courts did not prove capable of intervening on this crucial issue demanding accountability on the part of the governments in power.

This was perhaps the reason why the executive was able to move to the extent of the arbitrary removal of the Chief Justice herself. Had the courts maintained their moral authority by way of a proper judicial intervention to require accountability when the state had taken the lives of some of its citizens, the people would have not allowed the executive to strangulate the judiciary by way of such an arbitrary removal. The judiciary having failed to play its role in the protection of the most precious of all rights, the right to life, it has bared its throat to an extent that the executive is now able to take away its own life.

The judicial role in the protection of the life and liberty of the people and judicial independence are inseparable. The judiciary needs to be independent in order to play the role of the protector of the individual. On the other hand the courts need to play that role effectively so as to justify their existence legally and morally.

Thus, when threats to the independence of the judiciary is posed, as in Sri Lanka, the responsibility of the executive as well as the responsibility of the judiciary itself should be examined at the same time. The judiciary that fears to expose itself to risk by way of defending the rights of the individual will sadly expose itself to the executive who would not fear to attack the judicial independence knowing the great gap that has come to exist between a judiciary that lacks courage and the people could be exploited to their advantage. When the judiciary passively watches the killing of citizens by the security forces the executive sees in the judiciary not a lion but a monkey. Then the executive begins to monkey with the judiciary. In 1978 Dr. Colvin R. de Silva wrote an article entitled ‘Monkeying with the judiciary’. From that monkeying with the judiciary to the arbitrary removal of the chief justice herself was only a small step.

The Indian Supreme Court has been able to maintain its independence because it has been quite alert to the threats posed by the executive to the dignity and the rights of individual citizens in India. When Indira Gandhiattempted to acquire greater authoritarian powers the Indian Supreme Court was able to stop it. No government in India would even think of the removal of its chief justice in the manner in which the Mahinda Rajapaksa government did. In India the role played by the courts to be the protector of the rights of the people has helped to protect the courts themselves. This is a lesson that should be kept foremost in the minds of everyone who wishes to see the judiciary in Sri Lanka regain its independence.

The Weerawansa Saga..!

(Lanka-e-News-28.March.2013, 8.00PM) After reading the articles published relating to so called Adirajyavirodi, Deshapremi, Wimal Weerawansa. As searched I came to know that although many petitions and complaints were sent to the authorities there has no action been taken so far, sounds to be they are also slaves of MR and his henchaiyas. Do you know what happened to Prof Ashu Marasinghe who was called upon to take over the chairmanship of State Engineering Corporation? He came here by giving up all his assignments in UK on Weerawansa's invitation to serve the people but didn't aware that Weerawansa is a major public money sucker. Within few months of the appointment he was removed because he did not agree to join Weerawansa’s illegitimate earnings in the SEC. As usual, after his removal corrupted CID made arrangements to do as same as What were done to Sarath Fonseka and Shirani Bandaranayake by preparing forged documents to use in case if he staid against or reveal the information. (As same as trying hard to trap Sarath N Silva and P.B Warawewa). As the result Prof Marasinghe did not open his mouth and got back to UK because he does not have a backbone like Sarath Fonseka. B.K. Jagath Kumara Perera, Weerawansha’ very close chakgolaya whose name was mentioned in the article published on 20th August in this web site.( who has only O\L) was made the chairman of SEC with lot of perks. This is a record breaking appointment because there had not been an unqualified person appointment as the chairman in the SEC’s history. It was revealed that (mentioned before articles in this web site) Ocean View Development company’s General manager a well educated Architect was removed from his office and replaced with one of his darling women as the General Manager who has no single knowledge about building maintenance only to assist so called Chairman Jagath Kumara Perera in all sort of corruption work. As usual she also taken upper hand & shows colors to the staff and the tenants. All the mulgal posted by Weewansa are made with gold sovereigns as he spent around Rs.5 million per mulgala. The famous contractor is his wife and the family members for all supplies and services. In wife's family no one has above OIL, have registered construction business and other kind of supply, gets all the bids with far above quotations. Wife is running a small communication center and a small redikadaya to cover up black money, on that Weerawansa keep on repeating that his wife is a big business woman, because they spent 5 to 10 million per family foreign tour very often. Weerawansa has now made bulk of black money since all the contractors should give him Rs.300 to Rs.1000 per sqft from all the contracts. How is the Mattegoda housing project given to his subordinate Ruwan (Pradeshiya Saba member) despite there has been much low bidders with better standard quotations. It is because of the corrupted Weerawansa gets a biggest share from the said subordinate. Finally do you know who are paying for these, it is poor housing recipients. They have to pay long year’s mortgage loans with big installments. They have to cut down nourishment part of their children's food plate to pay long years loans until they become adults. So on Weerawansa's children who enjoy at Universal studio and Disney world etc are responsible for these poor children's health. These curse will come behind his tens of generations for sure. Weerawansa has emptied all the accounts of the NHDA and SEC. There won't be anything for the next minister to enjoy. He has spent bulk of money for caps and lunch parcels for the hirers of his picketing dramas and rallies, also for their daily payments and transports from distance places, also for the functions, ceremonies and meetings. He keeps a big margin from every supply starting from cleaning or gardening service. Even now all these institutions vehicles are used for election campaigns occurring lot of fuel expenses. Weewansa carrying on the largest granite quarry in Sri Lanka in Koratota through one of his henchaiyas by causing big harm to the neibour hood, although people make hundreds of complains to Police / Environment authority etc no action is taken, due to his political power. When people gathered in the police, weerawansa calls the OIC in front of them and gives orders hat should do. Weerawansa's wife treats that Ananda and Visakha colleges as her private properties & trying to control over the principals because their son and daughter attend but it is well known that the principal of Ananda is washing Weerawansa's behind. Now it has come to a situation that you should go through Weerawansa to admit a child to Ananda College. Being an Anandian I feel shy to see these types of stray dogs are invited as VIPs for the college ceremonies who is not even suit as the toilet cleaner in the college. Weerawansa s wife is the one to negotiate most of the jobs and its commissions. She says everybody that she and Shiranth Rajapaksha are best of friends and where ever SR goes she was called to accompany her as a closest friend and tells that she is always invited to the Temple trees for all the functions. She does telephone conversations in the presence of visitors by calling `Shiranthi’ and in turn says that is president's wife if Shiranthi couldn't meet me couple days at least call and inquire my whereabouts. She shows pictures of parting with MR & family. She also says this government is saved because of Wimal and he knows all the secrets of MR and family, he keeps all the documents and conversation records for the future safety, so that they cannot kick him off like others and he has demanded a better ministry next time than now. She calls the police OICs around the country and gives orders to harass people whom she wants and to shape off the complaints made against her relatives and friends. My friend one IP in Bambalapitiya police station told me that couple of years before one business lady made a complaint against wimal's wife for threatening and demanding kappan from her but wimals wife manipulated through the OIC to put it off without having an inquiry at least. His wife also has collected lot of money by promising to obtain visa for European countries, and uses government power for those who go against her. When Wimal was in the JVP his sister got caught by getting the electricity connection illegally and Weerawansa attended the Kalutara court to support the sister for the bail and she was charged on stealing public property. If he was in this government the CEB officers could have charged with a fabricated corruption or women abuse case. He back bitted the JVP & sold the bloods of Wijeweera. Gamanayake etc and their family members' tears for the benefits, those who made him a star in the politics and now enjoying all the comforts from this corrupted government, because same feathers flock together. Weerawansa criticizes people like Mervyn Silva and Sarana Gunawardena a others who openly do wrongful a acts kappan and cheating, but he does it confidentially wearing a mask of a communist and appearing as people’s man. It is really the fault of voters who sent this berakaraya’s son who comes from a low grade hingana family who hasn't pass OIL (only qualification that he has a vachala mouth) to the parliament and the brainless voters are responsible for these frauds.

By -A Reader

Commonwealth Fails Sri Lanka Test

Frances Harrison

Ex-BBC Correspondent, Ex-Amnesty International, Journalist & Author of 'Still Counting the Dead' - book on Tamils who survived Sri Lanka's 2009 war

27/03/2013

 Lanka is a test case for reform of the Commonwealth, intended to produce a renewed commitment to rule of law, democracy and human rights. It looks as if the 54-nation body is already failing dismally.

The custodian of the Commonwealth's political values is a rotating group of Foreign Ministers gathered in what's called the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Last year its role was strengthened by new guidelines. It was not enough to deal with military coups - the Commonwealth decided it needed to tackle situations where its political values were undermined without a government being actually overthrown. After all, the Commonwealth claims to be an organisation based on the "shared values of peace, democracy, development, justice and human rights" as the Queen, its head, tells us.

And yet we have a country about to head the Commonwealth for two years and host its major heads of government meeting in November, that stands accused (in two UN reports) of crimes against humanity and murdering possibly seventy thousand of its own citizens. This is perhaps the worst bloodshed of this century and certainly not your run of the mill human rights problem - it is something quite out of the ordinary. Perhaps that's the problem. As Samantha Power writes, "policymakers, journalists and citizens are extremely slow to muster the imagination needed to reckon with evil".

The scale of the crimes in Sri Lanka is so shocking that it's easier for many nations to overlook them. It is hard to understand how a military could repeatedly and deliberately target hospitals but Human Rights Watch documented more than thirty such attacks in six months - hardly accidental. Even more difficult to accept that a government would announce civilian no-fire zonesand then attack them again and again.

It's almost inconceivable that every man, woman and child who staggered out of the war zone was forced into detention to be security screened but thousands escaped by paying bribes to the same security forces. Eleven thousand suspected combatants were locked away for years in what was at the time the largest mass detention without trial in the world.

And why didn't we hear about it at the time people ask. Well a UN internal inquiry last year revealed how senior United Nations officials suppressed casualty and war crimes information, slanting the reporting of the war. Most telling is survivors of that war are still too scared to come forward in public and relate their ordeal four years later - fearing for extended family still in Sri Lanka.

It's much more comfortable to ignore such horrid goings on and believe the soothing lies of the Sri Lankan government that claimed nobody was deliberately killed as they rescued Tamils being held hostage by terrorists.

To its credit Canada has been lobbying for action on Sri Lanka - the first step would be putting the country on the agenda at the next meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to be held on 26 April. Bizarrely the Commonwealth Secretary General has decided not to do this. And yet the guidelines stipulate that he should consider any "undermining of the independence of the judiciary". Somehow he's overlooked the biggest constitutional crisis Sri Lanka has faced - the impeachment of Sri Lanka's Chief Justice earlier this year, which every international legal andhuman rights body has condemned as gravely undermining the rule of law.

The Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, himself said in mid-January this year that Sri Lanka's impeachment "could be perceived to constitute violations of core Commonwealth values and principles."

According to the Commonwealth's new guidelines (para 18, x and xi), if after two months the Secretary General has exhausted his efforts at engagement and there is no progress, then Sri Lanka should be put on the formal agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Two months have passed and yet Mr Sharma is inexplicably delaying. In fact his spokesman has confirmed Sri Lanka will not be on the agenda of the meeting.

Under the new guidelines the Secretary General of the Commonwealth is also supposed to reflect on "the systematic violation of human rights" and the "denial of political space, such as through detention of political leaders or restriction of freedom of association, assembly or expression" (para 18 vi).

He should read the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which said survivors of the war in Sri Lanka were not even allowed to gather in churches and temples to mourn their dead. Mothers and wives of the disappeared were recently blocked from travelling to the capital for a peaceful protest to ask where their loved ones were. Journalists continue to flee or self censor. Sri Lanka is 162 of 179 countries in terms of media freedom this year, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The Human Rights Council just passed a second resolution against Sri Lanka backed by 25 countries that speaks of continuing reports of:

"enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and journalists, threats to judicial independence and the rule of law, and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief".

Eight Commonwealth members sponsored this Resolution: the UK, Canada, St Kitts, Cameroon, Malta, New Zealand, Australia and Cyprus. Two more who sit on the Human Rights Council voted in favour: Sierra Leone and India.

So why is the Commonwealth Secretary General not following the organisation's own guidelines? The fact that its major meeting is due to take place in eight months in Sri Lanka is an organizational hurdle but surely values should come above logistics. Perhaps the Commonwealth isn't that keen on reform after all.

 

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