Queen's summit no-show is 'message': Sri Lanka party

Queen Elizabeth II arrives for the rededication of the newly refurbished Temple Church Organ during Choral Evensong at Temple Church in London on May 7, 2013. AFP PHOTO

May 09, 2013 

COLOMBO, May 9, 2013 (AFP) - The decision by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II not to attend a Commonwealth summit later this year in Sri Lanka is related to the island nation's poor human rights record, the main opposition said Wednesday.

The November meeting has been mired in controversy, with Canada threatening to stay away unless Colombo investigates suspected war crimes committed by its troops in 2009.

United National Party (UNP) spokesman Ravi Karunanayake said the queen might have attended the summit "if we didn't have these governance and human rights issues".

"The queen has sent a strong political message. The message is improve your (rights) record," UNP's Karunanayake told AFP. "There are lots of other governance issues too that must be addressed."

Buckingham Palace, in a statement Tuesday, said the queen would be represented at the November 15-17 Commonwealth heads of government meeting by the Prince of Wales.

A palace source said the decision was unrelated to the controversy over Sri Lanka's human rights record.

The 87-year-old monarch's decision to stay away is part of a gradual move to cut down her long-distance foreign trips and comes as she hands over some of her duties to younger members of the royal family.

There had been a question over British Prime Minister David Cameron's attendance but his office has said he will be make the trip while delivering a "very tough message" that Colombo must make progress on human rights.

Rajapakse's regime faces allegations, which it denies, of indiscriminately killing civilians during the final assault on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels that ended a four-decade civil war.

Sri Lanka's government has said it will "warmly welcome" 64-year-old Prince Charles.

Queen Elizabeth attended the last Commonwealth summit in Australia in 2011 in her role as the symbolic head of the 54-member organisation, which is made up primarily of former British colonies, home to around two billion people.

She has only missed the biennial summit once before, when it was first held in 1971. 

Is Pranab Mukherjee MR’s guardian angel?

It is no secret that the assurance the government received that Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will definitely be held in Sri Lanka as scheduled carried India's imprimatur. Speculation as to who in the Indian polity pulled it off for President Mahinda Rajapaksa gained considerable interest in the local political guessing game. Now, it has come to light through sources at the Ministry of External Affairs, the knight in armour, who came to the rescue was none other than Mahinda's erstwhile friend, Pranab Mukherjee, President of India. It is now emerging that Rajapaksa had solicited Mukherjee's help to charm India so that it would help Sri Lankan in this hour of grave need; albeit extending its support for the US sponsored UNHRC resolution brought against Sri Lanka at the Geneva sessions. The Rajapaksa-Mukherjee camaraderie The Rajapaksa-Mukherjee camaraderie started during the latter part of war, when Mukherjee was India's Foreign Minister. At that time, Tamil Nadu's then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi was clamouring for Indian Government intervention to put a stop to it, threatening to withdraw its support from the coalition government. Feeling the gravity of the situation, Rajapaska sent his brother Basil to meet Mukherjee, to work out a solution. Immediately after Basil left India, Mukherjee met with Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu at Sonia Gandhi's request. It was after the Mukherjee, Karuarunanidhi tête–à–tête, the latter agreed to withdraw his threat to leave the government. Amidst various speculations as to how Mukherjee tamed Karunanidhi, one which gained currency in the Indian news media was that he warned Karunanidhi that corruption allegations against his family members could be revived if he did not back out from the confrontational stance he had assumed, challenging the central government. Yet others in the Indian media conjectured that Mukherjee had given a dead rope to Karunanidhi to the effect that when Prabhakaran is annihilated he would naturally become the supremo of the ethnic Tamil people, which Karunanidhi swallowed hook, line and sinker. Whatever it was that Mukherjee used as bait, it attained its goal of keeping Karunanidhi silent on the war thereafter. Interesting information A Wikileaks cable datelined 29 January 2009 revealed an interesting bit of information. It said Mukherjee, who visited Sri Lankan at around this time did not try to discourage Sri Lanka's war effort in anyway. The cable reads as follows: "From Mr. Mukherjee's statement at the end of his visit, it was clear that India did not oppose the operations. 'I stressed that military victories offer a political opportunity to restore life to normalcy in the Northern Province and throughout Sri Lanka, after twenty three years of conflict. The President assured me that this was his intent'." In February 2009, when Tamil Nadu politicians were engaged in verbal pyrotechnics against Sri Lanka, Mukherjee, as the Indian Foreign Minister made the following special announcement in Parliament as reported in the media. "External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee bluntly told the TN members that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not deserve any sympathy because of the damage it had caused to the Tamil Community. He also made it clear that Delhi cannot force a sovereign government of another country to take a particular line. Mukherjee reiterated the Delhi line, which was articulated by Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram on Sunday in Chennai that LTTE should lay down arms. There is a political opportunity after 23 years to restore normalcy in Northern Sri Lanka and India is ready to assist in help in reconstruction and development there, he said. In his statement, Mukherjee said. "... Government of India has no instrumentality under which it can force a sovereign government to take a particular action. This is not simply possible." The minister pointed out that since the mater concerned another country, India has to deal with another sovereign government. He, however, said the House and the government share the 'anger' over killing of civilians in crossfire in conflict zone of Sri Lanka and wants 'the conflict to come to an end.' Mukherjee assured Parliament that the government remained concerned over the safety and security of innocent Tamils and was ready to provide all possible help in their evacuation from the conflict zone. He added, India wants Tamils in Sri Lanka to get their 'rightful place' for which they have been yearning for over two decades. The government will try to ensure that. Reminding members that LTTE is a 'proscribed organization' in India and that it had caused 'much damage' to Tamil community, even using civilians as human shields, he remarked: 'As the conflict enters what may be the final phase of military operations, the LTTE would best serve that interest of the Tamils by immediately releasing all civilians and laying down arms'. Pressing for early start of normal democratic political processes in the Island nation, India's External Affairs Minister said, 'after 23 years of conflict, there is today a political opportunity to restore life to normalcy in the Northern Province and throughout Sri Lanka'. India, he added, continues to support a negotiated political settlement in Sri Lanka within the framework of an undivided Sri Lanka acceptable to all the communities, including the Tamil community. He renewed India stand on full implementation of the 13th Amendment to Sri Lankan Constitution, saying it would be a significant first step towards bringing about a political settlement to the issue. The 13th Amendment was introduced to give effect to the India-Sri Lanka accord in 1987. "Going beyond the 13th Amendment on the question of devolution of powers would be significant," he observed and said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had assured him on January 27 in Colombo that he intended to start political processes in north Sri Lanka." Post war political solution Mukherjee's especial announcement made in Lok Sabha shows the intense level of his help to Sri Lanka during the war. At that time he acted as middleman between India and Sri Lanka, exchanging important information between the two countries. After the 2009 Indian General Election, Mukherjee became Finance Minister; yet he delivered the Kadiragamar Commemoration Oration as former Foreign Minister of India. It was during this visit he met President Rajapaksa to deliver an important message; that of the necessity of finding a post-war political solution to the ethnic problem. The Indo-Sri Lanka relations had already soured up by the time Mukherjee assumed Presidency in India. With India condoning the UNHCR resolution against Sri Lanka, relations between the two countries had further deteriorated. With the situation growing worse day by day, a meeting with Mukherjee became a top priority for Rajapaksa. In September 2012 he was able to have this all important meeting and made a direct personal appeal to Mukherjee to intervene and use his good offices to help improve Indo-Sri Lanka relations. Rajapaksa felt Mukherjee, a friend of his, could help him in this matter, even though he was no longer the Foreign Minister of India; especially in view of the fact that he was a close associate of the Gandhi family. Rajapaksa heavily banked on Mukherjee's personal connections with India's powerful Gandhi dynasty; and rightly so, as it later transpired. Objective assessment Mukherjee assumed responsibility of repairing waning bilateral relations between the two countries subsequent to the adoption of the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka in the March 2013 Geneva sessions. Sometime before that, in his address to the Parliament as President, he had made reference to the importance of improving ties with Sri Lanka; to which Karunanidhi had taken umbrage. The Hindu reported it as follows: "DMK president M. Karunanidhi, an ally of the Congress-led UPA at the centre, on Saturday criticized the reference made by the President in his address to Parliament on improving ties with Sri Lanka. "When the entire world has taken note of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's dictatorial policies and condemned him as an international war criminal, I am not able to understand why the President in his address should talk about improving the country's relationship with Sri Lanka. When will India understand the man who sports a smiling face but harbours a heart full of poisonous vengeance?" he said in statement. Mr. K Karunanidhi said though the situation in Sri Lank had reached such a pass that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was 'shedding crocodile tears', President Pranab Mukherjee was trying to paper over the real problems faced by Tamils in the country." Mukherjee's powerful hand was visible in the act of preventing the Indian Parliament from adopting an anti-Sri Lankan resolution, promoted by combined Tamil Nadu political parties, in the run up to the UNHRC resolution. He was able to convince the other partners in the Congress Alliance about the possible adverse fallout from such action. In an objective assessment of the events under discussion, it standout to reason without any doubt, that the architect of the CHOGM victory for Sri Lanka was none other than Mukherjee. He pulled it off as sine qua non for holding elections for the Northern Provincial Council, as India has been urging Sri Lanka all along. When Mukherjee became President of India, his former diplomatic role may have undergone some change; but obviously Sonia Gandhi was very much alive to the fact, that if anyone could persuade Mahinda Rajapaksa to hold Northern Provincial Council elections, it was Mukherjee undoubtedly.

2013-05-08

CHOGM WILL BE LIKE ‘WEDDING WITHOUT THE BRIDE’ – HARIN

May 9, 2013 

UNP MP Harin Fernando today said that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka this year, “is like a wedding without the bride.”

Buckingham Palace announced this week that the Queen will not be attending the summit in November, for the first time since 1973, and will be represented by the Prince of Wales.

The 87-year-old monarch’s decision to stay away is part of a gradual move to cut down her long-distance foreign trips, according to reports.

Fernando stated that he had previously proclaimed the Queen would not be part of the summit but the Deputy Speaker had rejected it and that what he had said then has now been proven true.  

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo today, the parliamentarian further said that instead of the ruling party’s “Rata Nagana Nil Rella” programme, the United National Party is prepared to launch a “rebellion” to widen its member base.

Condemning the arrest of former CMC member Azath Salley’s arrest as “unjust,” MP Harin Fernando said he too can be arrested for declaring they will start a “rebellion”. 

He charged that while those accused of murder and rape in Tangalle, Akuressa and Kahawatta are roaming free, persons having democratically voicing opposing opinions are being arrested and locked up.

NPC polls: Now, govt. mulls backing independent group

May 8, 2013, 10:14 pm 

by Shamindra Ferdinando

Speculation is rife in political circles that an independent group with state backing may enter the fray at the Northern Provincial Council election scheduled for September.

Well informed sources told The Island that the independent group comprising civil society personalities had explained to top level government representatives that they intended to go it alone.

Sources quoted the group as having told the government that the vast majority of those living in the Northern region resented both Tamil National Alliance (TNA) as well as the UPFA constituent, the EPDP.

The group has suggested that the government should ensure a level playing field in the Northern Province, according to sources.

EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has already declared his willingness to be the UPFA’s chief ministerial candidate.

Asked whether the entry of an independent group into the fray could weaken the government campaign, UPFA sources said the ruling coalition would campaign hard in the Northern Province. However, an influential section of the government was of the view that regardless of the consequences, the right of this particular independent group to contest the election should be respected.

Responding to a query, sources said that the government was determined to go ahead with the Northern Provincial Council election though some constituents of the ruling coalition as well as civil society organizations, supportive of the UPFA, were opposed to the move on the ground it could lead to the division of the country. National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Minister Wimal Weerawansa recently declared that he wouldn’t hesitate even to give up his ministerial portfolio as a mark of protest against the NCP polls.

Due Process And Civil Liberties Or Security State?

By Dayan Jayatilleka -May 9, 2013

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” -  ‘The Second Coming’, WB Yeats (1919)

When Sri Lanka was nominated as host of the Non Aligned Conference and chair of the Non Aligned Movement under Madam Bandaranaike there wasn’t a single dissenting voice within that movement or anywhere in the world. As Sri Lanka plans to host the Commonwealth summit, there are. It is highly likely that there will be a global media and civil society campaign which causes considerable embarrassment to this country and further tarnishes its name, as the summit nears. This makes it incumbent upon Sri Lanka to demonstrate that it is indeed suitable beyond a reasonable doubt, in terms of its adherence to and practice of the democratic values, virtues and spirit of the Commonwealth to chair that organization for two years. It is against this backdrop that the Azath Salleysaga unfolds.

The state, or rather its hard-core and its propaganda apparatuses, has sallied forth to defend its conduct in the affair. By doing so many things stand revealed. Firstly, that the doctrine of pre-emptive hyper-securitisation has increasingly become the driving doctrine and dominant ideology of a democratic, pluralist state. Secondly that the arguments used to justify the handling of Azath Salley, reveal that the lessons of the recently ended protracted conflict have not been learned. Thirdly that those lessons which are being trotted out as deriving from the thirty years war, are completely at variance with the conclusions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Fourthly that the doctrine now enunciated is asymmetrical with the norms and practices of any civilised democracy, most especially those of the Commonwealth that we are gearing up to lead. Fifthly, that the arguments and doctrine now enunciated are portents of a dark and dysfunctional future.

The crucial argument of the state’s security bureaucracy is that Azath Salley issued a call to arms in the pages of a journal in Tamil Nadu. Let us take that head on. Unlike in the case of the mullah in the UK who was detained for incitement of violence, there is no incontrovertible video evidence. There is a statement which has since been contradicted. In the matter of a statement purported to have been made to a publication, a democratic state does not detain the individual for 90 days. It brings him or her in to record a statement. This is all the more so in the event of complaints made against a person. No one can be arrested in a democracy or any society in which the rule of law prevails, on the basis of either an alleged statement or a plethora of complaints. The norm is that he is requested to come down to the station for the purpose of questioning and the recording of a statement. The matter is then referred to the legal officers within the police or in the office of the attorney general who then determine whether there is a prima facie case to move to arrest and detain the individual. That’s called ‘due process’.

Let us assume that Salley did make a statement of a dangerously provocative nature. Who knew about it? Only the readers of Junior Vikatan (and I must apologise for having erroneously identified its editor as Cho Ramaswamy). Who knows about his alleged call to arms now? The whole country, all the Muslims in it, and some part of the world. Who disseminated to all corners of the country with far more efficacy than the muezzin at Friday prayers? The Sri Lankan authorities who chose to detain him for it and blare it out for all to read and hear. If not for that miscalculation, Azath Salley’s alleged call to arms would have remained in the pages of a publication known only in parts of Tamil Nadu. I mean, it isn’t like he said it on NDTV.

Beneath the logic of arresting Azath for his supposed statement to an obscure publication overseas, is another rationale. The argument seems to be that what was wrong in the past, what led to the war, is that the state was too soft; not fast and harsh enough. Evidently Prabhakaran should have been arrested for inciting violence. But Prabhakaran never made any public speeches until Sudumalai in 1987. He wasn’t inciting violence on public platforms. In fact he literally disrupted many such platforms on which Tamil nationalist politicians were campaigning. ‘Thambi’ was organising deep underground. The point I seek to make, is that it is dangerously counterproductive to confuse ‘above ground’ political activism and rhetorical militancy, with underground armed activity. The former is legitimate in a democracy.  Erroneous – even dangerously radical– ideas spouted in the public domain have to be countered by correct ideas, not repression.

A variation in the argument of the hawks, is that Tamil politicians should have been prevented from making provocative statements in decades past, and that had a policy of zero tolerance been embarked upon, there would have been no war. Now that is simplistic on several counts. The Tamil politicians were arrested and detained many times, and that didn’t prevent the armed conflict, not least because it isn’t such elements who practise armed struggle. Furthermore, anyone who pronounces on the politics of Tamil separatism must study its history and that history shows that the nationalist politicians were following the lead of and were propelled by the militant or radical youth movements from below, rather than the other way around. They were echoing the rhetoric from below and from the periphery of society. Intolerantly locking up the mainstream politicians would not have helped, and inasmuch as this was done, it only helped the radicalisation of the struggle.

Another point sought to be made by propagandists is that Salley is a mere City politico-businessman.  If so, why treat him as a major threat to national security? Why assume that a call to arms by him, if he made one, will resonate within his community at all? Why not assume that no one will give a rodent’s rear end about his rousing ‘call’? Why amplify a squeak? Why turn him into an internationally known name? Does this sound logical?

If the counterargument is that post-war peace must be preserved by a crackdown on hate speech and incitement, the obvious question arises as to why no such crackdown was launched against those who hurled vicious abuse and incited hatred against the Muslim community on public platforms and who discourse was followed – and arguably led to –acts of civic violence. Where was the vigilance, due diligence and doctrine of deterrence then? Azath Salley’s rhetorical flourish, in which he was never abusive towards the Sinhalese or Sinhala Buddhists as a community, if at all he indulged in it, came after, not before.

Must the Sri Lankan citizenry accept or acquiesce in the sacrifice, even in peacetime, of due process and civil liberties at the altar of an absolutist model of security?

Let Prince do dirty work at CHOGM: Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2013, 00:29 GMT]
While Colombo media advanced the theory that Queen Elizabeth's age was factor in her skipping the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting [CHOGM] in Colombo, and the British media opined that the Queen was slowly scaling down her royal responsibilities and transferring duties to Prince Charles, Professor Francis Boyle who teaches law at College of Law, University of Illinois, surmised that the reason for Her Majesty the Queen skipping Colombo was, as a constitutional monarch, the Queen was not willing to be seen with genocidal Rajapaksas. "Let [Prince] Charles do the dirty work. He is not head of anything. So his being there [in Colombo] will not insult anyone or anything but himself," Prof. Boyle said in a note sent to TamilNet. 

“My guess is that the Queen decided to have nothing to do with the genocidal Rajapaksas. Good for her! Constitutionally, she is the Head of State not only for the United Kingdom but also for the Commonwealth Countries themselves,” Professor Boyle said. 

Meanwhile a commentary in Canada's The Star debunked some academic pundits' dismissal of Stephen Harper's likely boycott of the international meeting in Sri Lanka as nothing more than political pandering, and added that Harper's critics are making a cynical mistake.

The paper argued that "there’s a solid case behind the Harper government’s view that boycotting the Commonwealth meeting is required to convey principled condemnation of what’s happening to human rights and democracy in Sri Lanka. It is disputable, of course, whether a boycott is indeed the best tactic here.... But apart from the tactical question, it is clear that there exist significant principles and relevant facts worth acting. (Indeed, Amnesty International Canada is supporting a complete boycott of the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka by all Canadian officials, not just the prime minister.)

Professor Boyle further added his criticism of the United Nations which "announced Tuesday that it had appointed a retired Australian judge, Michael Kirby, to lead a panel charged with investigating human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity in North korea “with a view to ensuring full accountability,”" (NYT, Wednesday) asking why the UN has not carried out a similar international investigation into Sri Lanka's war-crimes.

Stephen Harper government ‘pandering to diasporas’? Not so fast, pundits: Brender

JIM RANKIN / TORONTO STAR

Tamil protestors carrying candles at a 2009 Toronto protest. Despite many promises to enact democratic reforms, the government of Sri Lanka is continuing to persecute its minority Tamil population, and is becoming increasingly authoritarian. No wonder Stephen Harper doesn't want to go to an upcoming meeting in the country.

By: Natalie Brender Published on Tue May 07 2013

It's a cynical mistake to dismiss Stephen Harper's likely boycott of an international meeting in Sri Lanka as nothing more than political pandering.

It’s looking likely that Prime Minister Harper will boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Sri Lanka this November, due to that country’s deteriorating human rights and governance record. If so, Canada may be alone among the Commonwealth leaders in adopting a boycott. Other countries seem to be endorsing a policy of engagement and waiting for Sri Lanka to make good on its promises of democratic reform.

Why would Canada stick its neck out on this issue? The answer to that question depends on whether you’re looking primarily at the particulars of the Sri Lankan case. If so, you’ll notice that despite many promises to enact democratic reforms, the government of Sri Lanka is continuing to persecute its minority Tamil population, and is becoming increasingly authoritarian. In January it removed the Chief Justice of its Supreme Court from power after she delivered a judgment against the government’s efforts to expand its control over the state.

On the other hand, if you’re bypassing those particulars and taking a generalized cynical view of governmental decision-making on issues of concern to Canadian diaspora communities, your view will be rather different. It will look, for instance, like a recent Huffington Post Canada story that highlights one academic expert’s view of the Prime Minister’s apparent boycott as “pretty much pandering to a domestic audience” of Tamil Canadians, and as part of a larger electoral strategy of “catering to new Canadians.” Another academic expert similarly stated in a blog post last week that a Commonwealth boycott would be consistent with Canadian governments’ history of “pandering to the Tamil Canadians.”

What’s at stake in opting for one or the other of these interpretations is a lot more than just armchair punditry. In fact, the choice goes to the heart of how Canada as a democratic society will deal with the realities of an increasingly diverse and globally-linked population.

In the current situation, there’s a solid case behind the Harper government’s view that boycotting the Commonwealth meeting is required to convey principled condemnation of what’s happening to human rights and democracy in Sri Lanka. It is disputable, of course, whether a boycott is indeed the best tactic here. Last fall, for instance, the prime minister chose a different tactic in a similar situation: he attended the Francophonie summit in the Congo while condemning that country’s human rights violations and meeting with opposition leaders during the summit. But apart from the tactical question, it is clear that there exist significant principles and relevant facts worth acting. (Indeed, Amnesty International Canada is supporting a complete boycott of the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka by all Canadian officials, not just the prime minister.)

A high-profile Canadian boycott would greatly please many of Canada’s 300,000 Tamils, to be sure. Yet that fact itself doesn’t justify experts’ cynical view of Tamil-Canadian approval (and its purported translation into voting-booth wins) as motivating the government’s decision. Trotting out the “diaspora pandering” line here overlooks the wealth of principles and reasons at stake in the current Sri Lanka case. By extension, it also implies that any governmental invocation of foreign policy principle where diaspora interests are also at stake is nothing more than a smokescreen for political corruption. That’s not true, and it’s not helpful to Canadians’ view of their democracy.

Moreover, a knee-jerk diagnosis of “diaspora pandering” behind Canada’s foreign policy decisions casts a host of unfair aspersions on Tamils and on all other diasporas within Canada. It falsely suggests a uniformity of opinion on “homeland” matters within these communities, and it presumes that members of these communities base their voting decisions en bloc on those matters alone. In doing so, it paints diaspora Canadians as less than responsible in their democratic voting, choosing to vote on the basis of narrow communal interests not directly relevant to Canada’s interests and well-being. These are not attitudes helpful to the task of forging mutual respect among the citizens of an increasingly pluralistic country.

To say all this is not to cast aspersions on the right, and desirability, of academics to commit political science. As many scholars have observed, it’s a general truth that governments’ domestic agendas often influence their foreign policy positions. Academic studies have shown that countries such as Canada, in which diverse immigrant communities maintain ties with “homeland” countries, may see those communities’ concerns with “homeland” issues reflected on the national stage. Such concerns can emerge on the policy level when a diaspora community lobbies officials and elected representatives; they can also emerge on the political level when diaspora voting blocs are large enough to catch the attention of electoral strategists.

There is nothing amiss in political scientists pointing out the existence of such general patterns. And equally, there is nothing greatly troubling in the fact that such patterns do exist within Canada’s democracy. They’re part and parcel of a globally-linked population and the widespread presence of interest-group influence on politics.

Yes, it’s true that occasionally cases arise in which Ottawa’s foreign policy decision-making is logically inexplicable except by reference to a diaspora community’s pressure and votes. Those generally aren’t sound decisions, and they deserve to be called out by pundits, the media and voters. They might even, when all the facts of the case are clear, merit the derisive label of “diaspora pandering.”

But those cases of egregious pandering to diaspora communities are not the rule in Canada’s foreign policy-making – neither with the Harper government nor with previous ones. It’s certainly not a plausible diagnosis to make with respect to a potential decision to boycott the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka. And that’s why it’s more than disappointing to see such an explanation ascribed in this case. Adopting a default attitude of cynicism about relationships between Canada’s diaspora communities and Ottawa’s responses to their concerns is no way to build a country together.

Natalie Brender is a freelance journalist. Her column appears on thestar.com every Monday.

STUDENTS PROTEST IN KELANIYA...

May 9, 2013 

An effigy of Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake being torched during a protest held in front of the Kelaniya University today (09), demanding hostels and for authorities to improve facilities for students at the university. The protest, organized by the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), also called on the government to “stop selling degrees” at private universities. (Pic by Sanjeewa Lasantha)

Air Arabia suspends flights to Mattala THURSDAY, 09 MAY 2013 Air Arabia, the only international carrier that flew to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), is believed to have either cancelled or temporarily suspended its flights to the newly built second international airport in southern Sri Lanka.  The website of the Sharjah based airline no longer provides reservation facilities to or from MRIA and the airline’s destination map only contains Colombo as its sole Sri Lankan destination. When contacted by Mirror Business, Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Dr. Ravindra Ruberu, cited low levels of passenger traffic as the primary reason behind disruptions to the flight schedule. “Reports that Air Arabia has completely stopped flights are false. We have signed agreements with them that state that they will fly to Mattala however the frequency of flights is for them to decide based on the levels of passenger traffic” A website called airlineroute.net reported that Air Arabia has cancelled its flights to MRIA from May. When queried, Nawaloka Aviation Pvt Ltd General Manger, Ramly Vilcassim, General Sales Agent (GSA) for Air Arabia in Sri Lanka, told Mirror Online that Air Arabia is operating at MRIA without any disruptions. But he declined to comment on the frequency of flights. CEO of Mattala Airport, Derick Karunaratne was unavailable for comment When questioned about frequency of flights and passenger arrivals into Mattala, several officials from government owned service provider, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited declined to comment.

Gota’s Gon-katha (buffalo explanation) regarding Salley’s arrest

Gota’s Gon-katha (buffalo explanation) regarding Salley’s arrest

Ceylon Today.
(Lanka-e-News -08.May.2013, 11.00PM) Jathika Samagi Peramuna leader Azath Salley was taken into custody under the prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) because of the grudge nursed by Gotabaya against Salley for challenging Gotabaya as confirmed by the latter himself. Gota , yesterday and today had told two newspapers that Salley was taken into custody based on the statements made by him in India to a magazine, which had triggered the fear that extremists in SL may take to arms . 

On 24 April 2013, in an interview to the Tamil Nadu bi-weekly magazine “Junior Vikatan”, Mr. Salley is alleged to have said that “ if the Muslim community is relentlessly harassed by the government they too should launch an armed struggle against the state in the same manner in 
which Tamils conducted a campaign earlier…(and) that such a struggle would commence once necessary arms are procured.” Mr. Salley has later written to the magazine stating that he was misquoted. The magazine published a correction on 4 May 2013.which clearly mentioned that Salley did not say Muslim community ought to take to arms. 

Salley was taken into custody on the statements purportedly made by him to the Tamil nadu 24th April magazine , why didn’t Gota accept the corrected statement published in the same magazine dated 4th May, and why doesn’t he explain that? Not only Salley allegedly said , if the Government continuously persecutes the minority communities , the Tamil communities too will be compelled to take to arms , not only the Muslims. Interestingly ,even the international community at the Geneva assembly made this same enunciation. This is what was meant when the government was warned that if the LLRC recommendations are not implemented , the country will drift again towards a war. Moreover , if this oppression continues and opposition parties are stifled like this , there is no doubt that even the Sinhala people will take to arms . 

When such warnings are held out in the best interests of the country , it is only a Gona (buffalo) like Gota of the buffalo herd with only a head but without grey matter will construe them as fanning terrorism.

This same buffalo herd Gota had told another newspaper today in his characteristic stupid style that people like Azath Salley cannot take the place of Tiger leader Prabhakaran , and he (Gota) will not leave room at all for Prabhakarans to rise again or anybody to nurture Prabahakarans . ‘We also know of those who are shedding crocodile tears for Salley over his arrest,’ Gota added. 

Can a recognized political party leader be a terrorist? How can Salley who was not a terrorist when he contested under the Rajapakse party become a terrorist just because he joined the opposition ? 

When every intelligent person who knows the political history and the true picture accepts Prabahakaran’s history is not a fairy tale , and that every government that ruled the country in the past must hold itself responsible for creating that monster , this Mongol of a barely GCE O/L qualified Gotabhaya relating fairy tales springs no surprise , for his education level had permitted him to read and enjoy kindergarten fairy tales only and not more serious stories. 

Both the brothers who are fit only to be tied to a Bullock cart may enjoy relating these kindergarten tales including their own tale ‘ Alibaba and 40 thieves’ . The question is will that solve the problems when they are at the same time sowing the seeds of disunity and discord and paving the way for another war to achieve personal and selfish milestones, and become cardboard heroes.

What is most significant to note is , during this war which was fought for 30 years , Gotabaya who is now parading as a war hero remained as a ‘zero’ hiding in the US in fear of the war for 16 years . At that time , at the farewell function before he fled to the US , in his farewell speech he said, ‘at present it is only sergeants who are dying in the war . In the days ahead , Majors and Colonels will also die. Before that I am using my head ( though it has very little grey matter) and scooting off.’

No sooner his brother became the President than Gota who did not spare a thought for his motherland during the 16 years in the US came back to SL , and started appropriating to himself the kudos of the war victory that belonged to others. There is not a single war operation which Gota planned and carried out . Yet when Sarath Fonseka was winning the war and finally concluded it for the country , Gota claimed it ‘ Gota’s War.’ Of course Gota did one thing properly during the war : he pursued his favorite hobby with great diligence , that is he collected massive commissions on the import of aircrafts and arms.

He did another thing properly : he killed Editors like Lasatha Wickremesinghe who exposed his sordid , traitorous and unscrupulous activities.

Any Dictator can assume that every opposition mounted by the people against the brutal murderous Rajapakse regime can be suppressed , but such regimes had always met with a most devastating end with its leaders going into hiding in culverts only to be dragged out by the people to be killed like a stray dog. This is the stark truth and has been confirmed by the happenings around the world. Rajapakses are no exception to this rule.

520 garment factories closed down during 7 years of Rajapaksa rule – Samanthe Vidyaratne

THURSDAY, 09 MAY 2013 

From the 834 garment factories that existed in 2005 only 314 remain at present and within 7 years of UPFA rule 520 garment factories have been closed down says the Member of the Central Committee of the JVP former Parliamentarian for Badulla District Samanthe Vidyaratne.

He said the reason for the factories to close down in such a large scale is the destruction of the economy of the country by Rajapaksa regime and states that the economy of the country has been cast aside and a large amount of public money is used to sustain a colossal cabinet.

Speaking further Mr. Vidyaratne said, "The rulers are responsible for the economic crisis that exists in the country. Rajapaksa is not a baby not to understand the inconveniences caused by the regime and the pressure caused to the people through its administration.

The production economy of the country has been broken down. The treasury doesn't receive money. Foreign countries have stopped giving loans to Sri Lanka. Foreign aid and relief have been cut by 20%.

Rajapaksa regime has no other alternative other than milking the poor. Now the masses have been roused up. Despite calling himself a 'sensitive' leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa did not have any sensitivity when raising the electricity tariff. He was not sensitive when he said on the 1st May that the increased tariff would be withdrawn. As it was not a sensitive statement it did not have any life.

Such promises have been given by Rajapaksa regime throughout its rule. Such dead statements were made from the day power of this country was grabbed. Hence, we ask the government not to lie to the masses saying they were given relief.

State institutions and corporations incur losses not due to masses. The CEB incurs a loss due to the irresponsibility of rulers and administrators."

Unemployment rate rises as level of education goes up

In Sri Lanka: Highest unemployment rate among educated youth, especially women

May 8, 2013, 8:24 pm 

With government spending on education on the decline, youth unemployment in Sri Lanka continues to follow a disturbing trend, rising with the level of education attained, a new report published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said.

"Unemployment rates in South Asia tend to rise by level of educational attainment, which is related, in part, to family income. In Sri Lanka, the highest unemployment rate is found among those with at least a higher secondary education: 5.5 per cent for men and 11.7 per cent for women in the second quarter of 2012. In comparison, the unemployment rate for Sri Lankans who did not complete their lower secondary education is just 1.7 per cent for men and 3.3 per cent for women (Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics, 2012)," ILO’s report ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A Generation at Risk’ noted.

Last month, the World Bank’s World Development Report 2013 said one of the biggest challenges facing Sri Lanka was to improve women’s employment opportunities, especially for the young female population. In 2010, only 28 percent of young women aged 15-24 participated in the labor force in Sri Lanka (compared to 50 percent of young men). The participation rate among women aged 25-64 in the same year was 43 percent, compared to 90 percent of men in the same age group. Importantly, the World Bank report said Sri Lanka needed to improve employable skills.

Sharp reductions in current expenditure have driven down budget allocations for education from 1.81 percent of GDP in 2010 to 1.51 percent in 2013.

In 2011 two senior ministers of the government, Dr. Sarath Amunugama and DEW Gunasekera, both made public statements to the effect that youth unemployment was an issue that needed the urgent attention of the government before it reached crisis proportions.

Regional, global youth unemployment…

According to the ILO report ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A Generation at Risk’, the youth unemployment rate in South Asia decreased in 2011 by 0.4 percentage points to reach 9.2 per cent, but increased to 9.3 per cent in 2012.

Projections suggest a continuing upward trend in South Asia in the coming years for both young men and young women, the ILO warned.

"The youth employment? to? population ratio is expected to continue its downward trend, from 37.2 per cent in 2012 to 36.1 per cent in 2018. In 2008, the youth employment?to?population ratio stood at 40.3 per cent in South Asia. One in ten economically active youth in South Asia are unemployed, as employment is often taken up due to the necessity to make a living, even among the young.

"South Asia has one of the highest regional working poverty rates, and almost one in four workers are counted among the working poor, while working poverty rates are often higher for youth. In India, for example, which represents three?quarters of South Asia’s population, the working poverty rate in 2010 was 33.7 per cent for youth at the US$1.25 poverty level, compared with 28.5 per cent for adults.

"Aggregate youth unemployment rates tend to rise if family incomes increase. In India, the unemployment rate for poor youth in 2010 was 9.7 per cent, compared with 10.5 per cent for youth living in families with an income per capita above the US$1.25 poverty line. This is the result of large differentials in youth unemployment rates for females (12.9 per cent for non?poor young women versus 3.1 per cent for poor young women). The difference is far less for young males, and the unemployment rate for poor young men (10.0 per cent) is actually slightly higher than for non?poor young men (9.7 per cent).

"A similar pattern prevails in India, where unemployment rates increase rapidly for highly skilled workers, particularly women. At the same time, Indian employers have trouble hiring staff: according to the 2011 Manpower Talent Shortage Survey, 67 per cent of Indian employers stated that they had difficulties filling positions. Skills mismatch therefore appears to be particularly serious in South Asia and may well contribute to youth unemployment," the ILO report said.

"The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young job seekers. So long, in fact, that many youth are giving up on the job search.

"The global youth unemployment rate, estimated at 12.6 percent in 2013, is close to its crisis peak. 73 million young people are estimated to unemployed in 2013. At the same time, informal employment among young people remains pervasive and transitions to decent work are slow and difficult.

"By 2018, the global youth unemployment rate is projected to rise to 12.8 percent," the ILO said.

Italian court upholds Berlusconi fraud conviction

Italian court upholds Berlusconi fraud conviction

© AFPVideo 

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday after an appeals court in Milan upheld his conviction for tax fraud in a case involving his media company, Mediaset.

By Olivia SALAZAR WINSPEAR / Siobhán SILKE (video)

A Milan appeals court upheld former prime minister and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi’s four-year sentence for tax fraud on Wednesday, adding to the complications facing Italy’s fragile coalition government.

In addition to the prison sentence for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset, the court’s ruling would also bar Berlusconi from holding public office for five years.

However, neither sentence will take effect unless confirmed in a final appeal before the court of cassation, making it unlikely that “Il Cavaliere,” as he is known in Italy, will find himself behind bars anytime soon.

“Berlusconi will not go to prison for at least two reasons,” Giuseppe Guastella, a journalist for Italian daily Corriere della Sera, told FRANCE 24. “Firstly, the court of cassation still needs to rule on his case, which will most likely be in the fall of 2013. Secondly, because of an amnesty law passed in 2006, three out of the four years in his sentence will be automatically annulled, and the fourth year will be dedicated to community service, given Berlusconi’s advanced age.”

The 76-year-old media magnate was accused of inflating the price paid for television rights using offshore companies under his control, and skimming off part of that money to create illegal slush funds.


Berlusconi, who is also facing a separate trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor in notorious “bunga bunga” parties, had appealed to reverse the four year sentence handed down in October.

However, his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini said he had little confidence that the Milan court would listen to his arguments and repeated that judges were biased against Berluscno for political reasons.

“We realised it was totally useless to give our arguments to a court of appeals that in our opinion had decided from the first day what its judgment would be,” Ghedini told reporters.

Italy’s top appeals court this week rejected a request by Berlusconi to move his trials out of Milan, where he argued he could not get a fair trial as judges were biased against him.

Berlusconi, head of the centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL), is not a member of the coalition administration headed by Prime Minister Enrico Letta but he has the power to bring the government down in parliament.
The next hearing of his trial for paying for sex with a minor is scheduled for May 13.

Indonesian monks condemn violence in Myanmar

Monday, 06 May 2013

Hla Hla May, a Rohingya Muslim woman displaced by violence, holds her one year old daughter Roshan at a former rubber factory that now serves as their shelter, near Sittwe April 29, 2013.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Sangha Supreme Council asked Myanmar's monks to stop violence in Myanmar. Chairman of  Sangha Supreme Council, Nyanasuryanadi Mahthera expressed his profound grief over humanitarian crisis on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine last summer.

"We condemned the involvement of many Buddhist monks in Myanmar with their various acts of violence that resulted in death, material damages and large-scale displacement in Myanmar," Mahthera said on Monday. He also appealed the monks returned to the Buddha's teachings, Dharma and Vinaya which mentioned any violance and hatred were incompatible to the Buddha's teachings.

Mahthera explained both Buddha and Islam taught people about the values of peace and tolerance. "Inter-religious harmony in Indonesia for example, had a long and deeply histories that rooted to Indonesian culture," he said. He hoped the religious and civil society leaders in Myanmar could encourage cross-community and cross-religion dialogues to scrape many concerns and suspicions among community.