Opposition candle light protest causes pandemonium in House

 

By Saman Indrajith-April 24, 2013

Parliament was turned into a mini battlefield yesterday as the government members disrupted a candle light protest by the Opposition members by throwing bottles of water which led to fisticuffs.

Soon after Senior Minister of International Monetary cooperation, Dr. Sarath Amunugama presented regulations, orders and bills for the debate, the UNP MPs started to light candles they had brought into the Chamber and walked into the Well, shouting slogans and calling upon the government do away with power tariff hike, around 4.23 pm.

Government member Lohan Ratwatte hurled bottles of water at Opposition protesters and the sittings were suspended for five minutes by the presiding member C. Murugesu. The Opposition MPs remained in the Chamber with candles, shouting slogans.

The UNP members with lit candles in their hands stayed in the Well of the House while DNA and TNA members remained in their seats.

The candle light protest was launched by Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga, MPs Joseph Michael Perera, Eran Wickremaratne, Ranjan Ramanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Dr Jayalath Jayawardana, Anoma Gamage, Lakshman Kiriella, Ruwan Wijewardene, Palitha Thevarapperuma, Thalatha Atukorala, Rosey Senanayake, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Sajith Premadasa, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Wijedasa Rajapakshe, Ajith P. Perera, and Dunesh Gankanda. Later TNA MPs M Sumanthiran and S Yogeshwaran too joined the protest as well as MP J Sriranga.

Some opposition MPs advanced to the seat of Health Minister Maitripala Sirisena and tried to fix the candles on his table but minister did not allow them to do that.

As MP Lohan Ratwatte continued to hurl bottles of water other government MPs followed suit with the security officials being compelled to removed schoolchildren from the gallery. One of the bottles hurled by MP Ratwatte hit MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who advanced towards the government side challening MP Ratwatte for a fight. MP Ratwatte however retreated while Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara came forward and was seen trying to pacify an exasperated Ramanayake. UPFA MP Duleep Wijesekera warned MP Ramananayake that the government was not scared of his celluloid action.

As the sittings resumed with Deputy Speaker, Chandima Weerakkody presiding, the government members came to the chamber and outnumbered the Opposition protesters. The government members led by Economic Development Minister, Basil Rajapaksa came to the Well and asked their Opposition counterparts to end the protest. Some government members were seen attempting to douse the candles of Opposition MPs which developed into exchange of blows. In the melee Galle District MP Manusha Nanayakkara kicked UNP Kalutara District MP Ajith P. Perera. This made MP Perera to challenge MP Nanayakkara who was seen shouting at Opposition MPs after retreating to back rows. Senior Minister C.B. Ratnayake, who was trying to douse the candles and to talk to Opposition MPs was seen being pushed out by MP Sajith Premadasa, who seemed to be unusually angry; he shouted at the government MPs.

At this point Leader of the House, Irrigation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, got up and said that if the Opposition did not want a debate, the government could pass the bills, regulations and orders scheduled in the Order Paper for the day and started to read out the list. Accordingly order under the Excise (Special Provisions) Act, Order under the Sri Lanka Export Development Act (No 1), Order under the Sri Lanka Export Development Act (No 2), Regulations under the Food Act (No 1), Regulations under the Food Act (No 2), Regulations under the Food Act (No 3), Marriage Registration (Amendment) Bill, Kandyan Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Bill, Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Bill, and Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment) Bill were passed with amendments while the government members were shouting aye and thumping their desks. The table lamps of the Government MPs were put on as a sign of saying yes to each bill while the pandemonium reigned.

When each regulation, each order and each bill was taken for the third reading, the DNA MPs Sunil Handunetti and Vijitha Herath asked for a division and others echoed their call, but the Chair continued with the process as the Sergeant at Arms Anil Samarasekera and his assistant Kushan Jayaratne stood beside the mace. As the bills were passed one by one without considering the calls for the division, DNA MPs Handunetti and Herath got on to their tables and shouted ‘division’ and ‘division against illegal bills’ etc.

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody around 5.05 pm called for the moving of an adjournment debate but since none appeared to move it, adjourned the House till May 07.

Ajith Panditharatne becomes a servant at the Central Bank Governor’s house

Friday, 26 April 2013

Chairman of People’s Merchant Bank, Ajith Panditharatne has been employed as a servant at Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s residence, Central Bank Governor’s friends said.

Informed sources say that Panditharatne had received this new posting during the Central Bank Governor’s mother’s funeral. Every one who had visited the funeral had spoken very highly of the head of the People’s Merchant Bank. However, the Central Bank Governor had not said the reason for this praise.

The People’s Merchant Bank Chairman’s loyalty towards the Central Bank Governor is due to the fact that the Governor had saved him from being jailed for one of his rackets. It is learnt that Ajith Panditharatne had prepared fake documents about the sale of Central Bank’s gold reserves with the knowledge of the Central Bank Governor and had collected monies from local and foreign investors.

People who had paid monies had later complained to the CID and Fraud Bureau about the racket in order to retrieve their monies. When the CID was going to arrest the People’s Merchant Bank Chairman, the Central Bank Governor had got Namal Rajapaksa to intervene and prevent the chairman from being arrested.

Sources said that the People’s Merchant Bank Chairman is now acting as a servant to the Central Bank Governor to show his gratitude.

The President had earlier planned on appointing Panditharatne as the People’s Bank Chairman after the demise of W. Karunajeewa. However, the President had changes his mind after Namal Rajapaksa had informed him of the situation. The President had then appointed his head of staff, Gamini Senarath to the post.

Speaker hides behind the Deputy Speaker

Friday, 26 April 2013

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa has hidden after assigning the task of managing the House to Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody due to the continuous protests carried out by the opposition MPs against the electricity tariff hike, sources from parliament said.

When the opposition parliamentarians started to protest in parliament lighting candles and JVP MPs standing on tables, the Speaker’s attempt to adjourn parliament sittings also failed to stop the protests. The Speaker had then told the Deputy Speaker to handle the situation saying he did not want to face the blame for others.

Senior SLFP MPs remained in their seats silently and several MPs who have defected to the government from the UNP had thrown bottles of water at the protesting parliamentarians to score points with Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Galle district parliamentarian Manusha Nanayakkara has taken the lead in this attack.

VIDEO: PROTEST AGAINST MORATUWA DEPUTY MAYOR...

A tense situation prevailed at the Moratuwa Municipal Council premises today (26) when the Moratuwa Deputy Mayor Ajith Pushpakumara, a suspect in the murder of Chief Buddhist monk of the Sunandopanandaramaya Temple, arrived to attend the council meeting. Hundreds of persons including Buddhist monks surrounded the prison bus and protested against him attending council sessions. The Deputy Mayor was therefore taken back to prison. -April 25, 2013 

Pavithra steals Rs.1000 from Bandula's Rs.2500 – Handunneththi

FRIDAY, 26 APRIL 2013

Ms. Pavithra Wanniarachchi has taken away Rs.1000 from the Rs.2500 Minister Bandula Gunawardene said that people could live with says JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi.

He said this regarding the electricity tariff hike that has been brought about by the government from the 20th and specially the difference of Rs.1000 in the electricity bill of a person using 90 units and that of one using 91 units.

Speaking further Mr. Handunneththi said, "We remember that some time back Minister Bandula Gunawardene said Rs.2500 would be sufficient for an ordinary family to make ends meet for a month. However, according to Ms. Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi's formula the difference between 90 and 91 units, that is for one unit, is Rs.1197 which means Pavithradevi has taken away Rs.1000 from the Rs.2500 Bandula estimated.

Now according to their formula the ordinary family is left with Rs.1500 to consume the rest of the 90 units, schooling for the children, for medicine, food, clothes and all other expenses.

Mr. Bandula Gunawsrdene ridiculed the masses. Today, Pavithradevi has given fire to take revenge from the masses. This is not an issue of the ministers. This is the folly of this system followed by this government. As such the masses in this country should rally not only to drive away this government that torments masses by increasing electricity tariffs, bus fares prices of commodities and fuel but also the sinister system they follow."

Harper hints he'd be open to moving Commonwealth summit from Sri Lanka

 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

BY BRUCE CHEADLE, THE CANADIAN PRESS APRIL 25, 2013 

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hinting he'd like to see this year's Commonwealth summit moved out of Sri Lanka in protest of the country's human rights record.

Harper has made it clear for more than a year that, without major reforms, he personally will not be attending next fall's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.

On Wednesday he appeared to take it step further.

Liberal MP Bob Rae rose in question period to cite the Sri Lankan government's "appalling human rights record" which he said includes impeaching the country's former chief justice and murdering journalists.

"I wonder if the Prime Minister would consider this proposition: Why would Canada not invite the Commonwealth countries to come to Canada for Canada to host the conference and for Canada to become the chairman of the Commonwealth for two years?" Rae asked.

Harper responded to Rae by saying "he and I and almost all members of this House are of one mind on this issue."

"I know we are deeply troubled by the direction in Sri Lanka and the fact that Sri Lanka is, at this point, the host of the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting," Harper continued.

"I know suggestions have been made of any number of countries who would be willing to host that."

Harper said that "in the meantime" his government would continue to monitor the situation and continue to put pressure on Colombo to reform, adding that as the situation stands "it would be very difficult for this government to fully participate."

The Prime Minister's Office, when asked to clarify the remarks, did not address a direct question about whether Harper's comments in parliament indicate he'd like to see the venue changed.

But as recently as last month Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal, was assuring Sri Lankan media that Harper had "at no time" indicated he wanted the country stripped of the conference, which is held every two years.

"There is no Canadian boycott of CHOGM. There will be a Canadian delegation in Colombo for CHOGM," Segal was quoted telling The Island newspaper online on the eve of a fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka last month.

Sri Lanka has received international condemnation since it brutally suppressed a long-standing Tamil insurgency on the island nation in 2009.

And the country has become a lightning rod for concerns about the future of the 54-member Commonwealth.

An internal report presented at the last leaders' summit in Australia in 2011 flatly asserted that the future of the Commonwealth was in danger if the organization could not credibly address human rights, democratic and rule-of-law abuses by some of its member states.

An international human rights group said early Thursday that the meeting should be moved unless Sri Lanka makes progress on human rights.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Sri Lanka needs to make ”prompt, measurable and meaningful progress on human rights.”

The Canadian Tamil Congress also weighed in late Wednesday with a statement that also called for the Commonwealth summit to be moved elsewhere.

The CTC said it is ”appalling to think that Sri Lanka ... will be taking over chairmanship of such an important organization.”

Canada is home to perhaps the largest diaspora community of Tamils in the world, and their concentration in certain urban ridings has made them an attractive electoral target for both Liberal and Conservative politicians.

An internal Conservative email during the 2006 election campaign that brought Stephen Harper to power revealed the party was attempting to keep their promised terrorist ban on the Tamil Tigers out of the media for fear of alienating Tamil voters.

The issue remains a sore point for the government in Colombo, and Segal was asked directly by his Sri Lankan interviewer last month whether domestic politics was at play in Canada's tough stance on the Commonwealth summit.

"It is rubbish that the Canadian government go against Sri Lanka due to Tamil vote bank," Segal is quoted responding.

"The government of Canada does not enjoy or has not enjoyed any particular support from the Tamil community."

TN responded, diaspora should come forward: Gajendrakumar urges addressing IC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 April 2013, 08:14 GMT]
“Just 25 miles away, across the sea, there are 70 million people in Tamil Nadu prepared to give their voice for our struggle […] At the same time, the Tamils living across the world who constitute the global Tamil Diaspora, should also come forward to strengthen this struggle by taking it forward in their countries, demonstrating their strength, as they voiced for us during the last phase of the war,” said TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam on Wednesday, urging the Tamils in the West and in Tamil Nadu to address the concerned States that allowed the genocide in war, to remind their responsibility when the process of genocide reaches its peak four years later. He was addressing people demonstrating against SL military seizing an entire region of their lands in Jaffna. 



We went to the IC during the war and told them that it was genocide. But in reply we were told that the LTTE is terrorist and the SL State’s war can’t be stopped, but they had warned the State against bloodbath. What happened is known today, Gajendrakumar said.

Four years after the war, the genocidal process has reached to its peak, with the destruction of all the pillars of the identity of the Tamil nation. The official take-over of the fertile lands of Valikaamam North that also have access to the resourceful seabed, is one such act of structural genocide, the former TNA parliamentarian and the TNPF leader said.

If we simply look at it only as a land struggle of Valikaamam people, we are only abetting our own genocide. The only power we have to day is people’s power, he further said.

Translated excerpts from Wednesday’s speech of Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam in Tamil follows:

“We went to the international community while our people were being slaughtered in massive numbers during the last phase of the war. We explained to them sharply that what was taking place on the ground was a massive slaughter of genocidal character. Today it is [known as] a massive slaughter. But, after the conclusion of this war, they [the SL State] would target - one by one - all the pillars sustaining the identity of our nation. So, don’t expect that we will have a solution after the war, we told the IC. We pleaded with the IC to take constructive actions to stop the war and to pave a way for peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

“What the international community told us at that time was that the LTTE was a terrorist organization and that they cannot act to stop a legal government fighting them. However, the IC also told us that they had clearly conveyed their opinion to the Sri Lankan government that the Sri Lankan State and the Government of Sri Lanka would have to face serious consequences if there was a blood bath.”

“Today, four years after the war, the genocidal process, which comprises of the destruction of all the pillars of the existential identity of our nation, has reached its peak.”

“What we witness today in the official takeover of lands in Valikaamam North is one such act.”

“The Sri Lankan military seizure and occupation of lands in one of the most fertile areas of cultivation in the Jaffna peninsula and depriving the people of Valikaamam North accessing their resourceful sea-beds in the region, cannot be viewed as an isolated act affecting the people of Valikaamam North or as something that only affects their livelihood. It is a systematic and planned act of destruction targeting the economy of the Tamils as a whole. Therefore, the struggle being waged by the people of Valikaamam should be seen as a struggle to prevent the structural destruction of the entire nation of Tamils.”

“We will be giving the space to the Sri Lankan government if we continue to look at this struggle only as a struggle of Valikaamam people to get back to their lands. It will only be like abetting our own genocide.”

“It is said that political power stems from the armed power and people’s power. The only power we have today is the people’s power.”

“Just 25 miles away, across the sea, there are 70 million people in Tamil Nadu prepared to give their voice for our struggle.”

“We today witness that the uprooted people of Valikaamam North are fully prepared to continuously wage the struggle. We need to devise a platform [of a mass struggle] where not only the people of Valikaamam North, but all the other uprooted people are joining the struggle.” 

“At the same time, the Tamils living across the world who constitute the global Tamil Diaspora, should also come forward to strengthen this struggle by taking it forward in their countries, demonstrating their strength, as they voiced for us during the last phase of the war.”

“Today, even after the end of war, the people are subjected to genocide.”

“This message should be taken up by the Tamil people living in the West and by the people of Tamil Nadu, passing the message sharply to the concerned States. Why? Because, those governments had also allowed [the SL State] to commit the genocide through the war. They could have acted earlier in stopping the war, but they didn’t. It was a cruel act. Since they failed to stop it at that time, again today, they have a responsibility in not failing to protect at least this time.”

Man claims rape and torture upon return to Sri Lanka

By Heather Ewart-Thu Apr 25, 2013 

A Tamil man living in Australia has detailed shocking claims of rape and torture at the hands of Sri Lankan army intelligence.

A Tamil man living in Melbourne has returned to Australia with evidence that he was abducted, raped and tortured by Sri Lankan Army Intelligence officers.

Video

Last year almost half of the asylum seekers who arrived in Australia were from Sri Lanka, which recently emerged from 30 years of brutal civil war.

The Government has been sending Sri Lankans home, claiming the threat of war and persecution is over.

But one Sri Lankan Tamil living in Australia has told the ABC's 7.30 a very different and disturbing story.

Kumar, as 7.30 chose to call him, says just three weeks ago he was abducted, raped and tortured by Sri Lankan army officers.

"I was naked and no place to sleep, except the floor like a dog. I felt like dying but I thought of my kids and family back here," he said.

Kumar arrived in Australia in 2008. He fled Sri Lanka after being interrogated and accused of links to the Tamil Tigers.

He says he was working as a school bus driver when he was coerced by the Tigers to deliver parcels for them.

"I got afraid and I thought it's not safe to live in Sri Lanka any more," he said.

I can't forget. No one wants to get these kinds of things in their life. I pray to God. No one must get this kind of punishment.

Kumar

Kumar's family joined him in Australia last year. In March, he needed to return home as his uncle fell ill.

Less than a week after he arrived home to manage his uncle's restaurant, Kumar says he and his brothers were abducted at gunpoint by two men in a white van.

He was blindfolded and taken to a dark room with "dried blood" on the walls.

He says the men claimed to be army intelligence officers and grilled him about links to the Tamil Tigers, which he denied.

"They came back and again started hitting me with a log at my back and now I've got a spine problem as well," Kumar said.

"The two guys were drunk and they came to me and they just put their hand on my body and they just rubbed me and I had some sexual torture as well."

On the fourth and final day of his ordeal, Kumar's captors branded his back with hot irons.

"I thought that's the end of my life and I just fainted," Kumar said.

"When they see my back they will know what has happened to me recently, because a lot of stories [do not] come out from Sri Lanka.

"I can't forget. No-one wants to get these kinds of things in their life.

"I pray to God. No-one must get this kind of punishment."

'Believable'

One has to remember that the people in charge of Sri Lanka at the moment have got a long history stretching back to the 1980s of using torture and abduction in order to suppress segments of the population.

Former UN spokesman Gordon Weiss

Kumar says he only made it home because his uncle paid a $20,000 bribe to his captors.

Soon after he returned Kumar went to see his local doctor, a fellow Sri Lankan Tamil who issued a referral for Kumar to get urgent psychiatric treatment for his trauma.

The doctor was so horrified by Kumar's injuries that he also sought help from the Tamil Refugee Council.

The council consulted Louise Newman, an expert adviser on the mental health of asylum seekers.

Ms Newman says Kumar's is a "credible story".

"He provides detail and is very preoccupied with some of the minute details of the actual atrocities that were performed on him which is very typical... of the accounts we get from people who have been through these sorts of experiences," she said.

Gordon Weiss, who was the United Nations spokesman in Sri Lanka during the civil war, agrees Kumar's story is believable.

"There have been a series of reports in just the last few months from the US state department, from Human Rights Watch, from the UN high commissioner for human rights, detailing this kind of treatment," he said.

"One has to remember that the people in charge of Sri Lanka at the moment have got a long history stretching back to the 1980s of using torture and abduction in order to suppress segments of the population."

The Final Frontier Of A Retrogressive Journey

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -April 25, 2013 |

“….the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think” - Tom Paine (Rights of Man)

In 2005 when he was nominated the SLFP’s Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Rajapaksa named his election manifesto Mahinda Chinthanaya (The Philosophy of Mahinda), after himself.

Within seven years, the Rajapaksas conquered the government, occupied the state and subdued the society.

With Basil Rajapaksa’s appointment as the National Organiser, the Siblings are set to breach the last frontier: the SLFP.

If Ranil Wickremesinghe did not exist, the Rajapaksas would have had to create him. Since he does, andSajith Premadasa is no better in terms of effectiveness, the Siblings do not have to be overly concerned about the UNP. The JVP is too busy waiting for its own Godot – another ‘Indo-Lanka Accord moment’ – to seize the socio-economic issues with requisite vigour.

It is thanks to this oppositional impotence that Keheliya Rambukwella, the spokesman of a cabinet of welfare kings and queens who pay just Rs.2000/- per month for electricity in their free official residences, would dare to say, “People expected to eat without paying for it…. People expected everything free. They ask for subsidy for everything. When the country has to be taken forward we cannot tolerate people who ask for subsidies”.[i]And get away with it.

Logically, the Rajapaksas have more cause for concern about the SLFP than about the Opposition. The party which serves as the necessary vehicle for the Rajapaksa dynastic project was founded not by the Rajapaksas but by the Bandaranaikes. Though Mahinda Rajapaksa is one of the senior-most SLFP leaders, Basil,Gotabhaya and Namal Rajapaksa are relative newcomers. Mahinda Rajapaksa worked his way up to the top; the other Rajapaksas parachuted there, straight from California, US and St. Thomas’, Mt.Lavinia. This wholesale elevation of the Rajapaksa family to the zenith of power cannot but cause discontent, humiliation and resentment among party leaders of long standing, who had spent decades defending and promoting the SLFP.

The Siblings used various stratagems to deal with this problem. They axed the cardinal potential-troublemaker, Mangala Samaraweera. They used managed–elections to increase the proportion of Rajapaksa-loyalists in the parliament, the provincial councils and local government bodies.  They also commenced rewriting the history of the SLFP. The purpose was to crease a new collective memory according to which the SLFP was founded, nurtured, protected and defended by Rajapaksas – fathers and sons, brothers and uncles, nephews and cousins.

Take for instance, an article by ‘Senior Journalist’ Dharman Wickremaratne on the 1989 parliamentary election: “Going through my old diary I came across the date March 4, 1988. Place: IRED Institute, Horton Place, Colombo 7…. There is no doubt that the discussions there laid the seeds of all the victories of the present President…. All plans were prepared for the 1989 General Election. It was Basil Rajapaksa who predicted that some day a President will emerge from the South. Basil was the brains behind all the strategies…. Gotabaya Rajapaksa regularly gave advice from abroad[ii]” (The Sunday Observer – 21.11.2010; emphasis mine).

In a familial party, kinship ties form an unbreakable glass ceiling. In 2005, many leading SLFPer may have believed that Mahinda Rajapaksa would do for the SLFP what JR Jayewardene did for the UNP: free it from dynastic-shackles and turn it into a modern political party. Instead President Rajapaksa commenced his own dynastic project. Had JR Jayewardene not included the term-limit provision in the 1978 Constitution or hadChandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga possessed a two-thirds majority, the SLFP would have remained a Bandaranaike-fiefdom. It was the term-limit provision which enabled the creation of the first non-Bandaranaike (by birth/marriage) leader of the SLFP. One of the first tasks of the Rajapaksas, post-2010 Presidential Election, was to close that democratic loophole with the 18^th Amendment.

Arguably the most potent impediment to the success of the Rajapaksa project, nationally, is that non-family members hold the key positions of SLFP General Secretary and Prime Minister. The appointment of Basil Rajapaksa as the National Organiser is clearly intended to work around the problem of an ‘untrustworthy party secretary’. His task would be to do to the SLFP what brother Gotabhaya did to the military: forge it as a Rajapaksa preserve and instrument. The new National Organiser will use every ounce of state power and resources to ensure that the SLFP becomes as incapable as the post-impeachment judiciary in mediating/checking Rajapaksa power, let alone challenging it.

Once the SLFP is turned into a full-fledged Rajapaksa party, President Rajapaksa would be able to appoint a Sibling as the PM, ensuring the continuance of familial rule after him.

The Politico-ideological Glue

The Opposition seems to be depending on a split in the Ruling Family to bring about a regime-change. Currently there is a powerful negative bond which keeps the family together, despite indubitable personal differences and competing ambitions – the knowledge that the fall will be a generalised one, endangering all family members alike.

Plus, so long as Mahinda Rajapaksa is president, familial-differences will be managed successfully.

The real weakness of the Rajapaksa project is that it lacks the cohesive power which an integral ideology can provide. ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ cannot fit the bill; which is why the Rajapaksas have adopted Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism as their leitmotiv. The Rajapaksas are depicting themselves to the Sinhala South as the true heirs of 1956. In 1956 the SLFP presented itself not as the champion of the poor but as the champion of the Sinhalese. Its appeal was not class-based but premised on language/ethnicity/religion. The Pancha Maha Balavegaya was a Sinhala-Buddhist bloc from which the minorities were viscerally excluded. Poverty was an issue only if it could be depicted as an outcome of the anti-Sinhala exploitative activities of the rich and greedy minorities. The SLFP’s populism was of the backward looking, reactionary variety, part majoritarian-supremacist, part feudal-socialist, anti-modern and anti-pluralist. Consequently the ‘1956 Revolution’ did not succeed in bringing hitherto marginalised segments of society into the democratic mainstream[iii]. What it did was to radically transform the character of democratic mainstream – from a pluralistic one to a mono-ethnic one. This is best evidenced by the fact that within ten years of that ‘revolution’ all Southern parties – including the old left – had become strident backers of Sinhala Only.

Under Rajapaksa Rule, the 1956-1987 commonsense, which permitted, excused and even justified naked, unbridled Sinhala/Buddhist chauvinism, has made a triumphant return. Today racial/religious slurs are once again comme il faut. Not even the thought of another Black July scares the Sinhala-South because it no longer fears another war; the belief is that the Rajapaksas can win a new war just as they won the old one.

This Rajapaksa commonsense is not just majoritarian-supremacist; it is also triumphalist and militarist. The Rajapaksas have their own version of the Pancha Maha Balavegaya, in which the army (rana- viruwo) is second only to the monks (sanga).

Since the glue of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism needs enemies and threats for best effect, the Siblings allow their acolytes to ignite small racial./religious fires. These they then put out, gaining relevance as indispensable guardians of the nation and conflict-managers safeguarding order and stability.

Thus they keep an economically-flagellated majority and a politically-persecuted minority in thrall.

---

[i] Sri Lanka Mirror – 19.4.2013

[ii] Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s career did not seem to have suffered despite his family connection to one of the most strident opposition leaders. According to Mr. Rajapaksa’s official biography on the Defense Ministry website, “During his military career Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was awarded the President’s Commendation Letter by former President JR Jayewardene and decorated with the Rana Wickrama Padakkama and Rana Sura Padakkama…by former Presidents R Premadasa and DB Wijethunga”. He seemed to have enjoyed his full quota of foreign training as well, including stints inPakistan,India and theUS. He was in charge of Matale in 1989-90, Weli Oya in 1990-91 and the Deputy Commandant ofSirJohnKotelawalaDefenceUniversity in 1991-92. He retired in the midst of the Second Eelam War. Since he obviously was not victimised by the UNP, the question as to why he chose to retire in the midst of the war and leaveSri Lanka for financially greener pastures cannot but arise. The obvious interpretation is that he retired upon completing 20 years of service, got his pension and commenced a second career in America – a conduct somewhat unbefitting the Rajapaksa notion of ‘patriotism’.

[iii] In 1956 voter turnout was 5% lower than in 1952 (1952-74%; 1956-69%); it was also the lowest turnout in a national election held under conditions of normalcy.

People rise up against SL military seizure of Valikaamam in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 April 2013, 06:57 GMT]
Hundreds of people, braving the hurdles put up by the Sri Lankan military, gathered on Wednesday in front of the District Secretariat in Jaffna, protesting against the systematic seizure of their already SL-military occupied lands in Valikaamam North, transforming the former ‘High Security Zone’ area into a permanent Sinhala Military Zone (SMZ). The successful protest, for the first time saw active participation of law students and activists, news sources in Jaffna said. Despite the deployment of SL military, intelligence operatives and the SL police in blocking peoples’ participation, around 500 people gathered in front of the District Secretariat passing a strong message to not only the occupying military, but also to the powers abetting the continued LLRC-based structural genocide. 

The occupying SL military had entered the premises of the camps of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North already on Tuesday night, threatening them not to take part in the protest. New military check posts were deployed on Jaffna – Point Pedro Road, blocking the Valikaamam people from taking part in the protest. 

Several participants walked to the District Secretariat, avoiding the military check posts to take part in the protest from 11:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m. 

The protest comes in the wake of an official announcement by the occupying Colombo, through its Land Acquisition Officer attached to the District Secretariat in Jaffna, of the steps for the ‘legal acquisition’ of lands of around 6,381 acres and 38.91 perches in 11 GS divisions in the two DS divisions, Valikaamam North (Thellippazhai) and Valikaamam East (Koappaay), encompassing the Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) harbour and Palaali airport. The entire area is being transformed into a Sinhala Military Zone (SMZ).

The protest, organized by the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) was participated by NSSP leader Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne, S. Bhaskara of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Sritharan, former TNA parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam, who is a political leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), TNPF leaders Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Kajendren Selvarajah. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa says he liberated Tamils. But, from who is not clear, said Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne addressing the protesters. “But, it is clear that there is a military rule after his genocidal war,” he said. 

The war, which consumed the lives of 150 000 people, destroyed a civilization, Dr Karunaratne said. 

“We must have an island-wide struggle against the dictatorial regime. We must get rid of this ruthless enemy of the people and install a regime that can establish autonomy to the Tamil people,” the NSSP leader claimed. 

The protest also saw the participation of Packiyasothy Saravanamuttu from the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based NGO outfit. 

Following the TNPF initiated protest on Wednesday, the TNA has also vowed to stage protests in the coming days. 

In February, a peaceful protest was attacked by SL military operatives who were mingling with and camouflaging as protestors in front of Thurkkai Amman temple in Thellippazhai, after the SL Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, who participated at the token fast, had left the site of the protest. 

The SL military has also stepped up its attacks against journalists and newspapers in Jaffna for their coverage of the protests. 

Sri Lanka: ‘Lay Down Clear Benchmarks’ – Joint Civil Society Submission To Commonwealth Ministers

April 25, 2013 

A  joint Joint Civil Society submission on Sri Lanka was sent to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group ( CMAG) through Commonwealth Secretariat today. They urge CMAG to put Sri Lanka on its formal agenda at the earliest and lay down clear benchmarks that the country needs to fulfill before it can host CHOGM in November.

The submission was sent by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA),  CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination (IMADR) and Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice.

Read the full submission here

Read the Annexure here

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DMK tells CMAG members to keep out of Sri Lanka meet

25th April 2013 

A delegation of Members of Parliament of the DMK on Tuesday gave a memorandum to several member countries of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in Delhi urging them to not hold the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo slated to be held from November 15 to 17.

Speaking to Express over phone from Delhi, DMK MP and spokesperson TKS Elangovan said the Parliamentarians highlighted, among other things, the UNHRC resolution on war crimes and the reports of the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on genocide in Sri Lanka.

“We impressed upon them that many national governments, NGOs, and world organisations have come out against the genocide in Sri Lanka. We urged them that it would not be appropriate to hold the meeting there at this juncture,” Elangovan said.

On Tuesday, DMK MPs called on representatives of Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Jamaica and are likely to call on others on Wednesday. “We don’t intend calling on Bangladesh’s representative as it supports Sri Lanka,” the DMK leader pointed out.

Elangovan, TR Baalu, A Raja, KP Ramalingam and Helen Davidson were among the MPs who called on the representatives of the CMAG.

According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, the current members of CMAG are Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, Maldives, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu. Maldives is currently not “participating” as the nation itself is under scrutiny by the group. CMAG deals with serious or persistent violations of the Harare Declaration, which contains Commonwealth’s fundamental political values