Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Monday, May 13, 2013

Namal Rajapaksa Pussyfoots About His Brother’s Thuggery

Rajapaksa Family Stands To Receive In Commission Anywhere Between US$1.2 To US$ 1.8 Billion During 2005-15

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WikiLeaks: Mahinda, The Right Leader To Make Progress On A Solution To Ethnic Problem – US

May 13, 2013 
Colombo Telegraph“PDAS Steven Mann, accompanied by Ambassador and Pol Chief, met Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa on March 8. Gothabaya, noting that an overwhelming majority of Sinhalese Buddhists had voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005, told us that his brother’s popularity among the majority community was still strong. However, Sri Lanka’s system of proportional representation in Parliament meant that the President’s party would never secure an absolute majority on its own. This, he explained, had made it necessary to create such a big cabinet to satisfy everyone. Mann responded that the President’s considerable political skills and his strong support made him the right leader to make progress on a solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem. The U.S. hoped that the new power-sharing proposals that emerge form the current consultation process would be of a quality that hadn’t been seen before.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “Confidential” and recounts a meeting the US Embassy had with the Secretary to the Ministry of Difence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The cable was written on March 14, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.
“Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa told visiting SCA PDAS Steven Mann that the government was certain that the LTTE was not interested in a political solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. Nevertheless, he said, the government would try to reach out to the Tamil populations, bypassing the LTTE leadership. The security forces were finding it difficult to choke off LTTE resupply of arms and ammunition, but would redouble its efforts. Security forces would seek to consolidate their hold on the East by drviing the LTTE out of its remaining base in Thoppigala, then replace troops in the cities with police and Special Task Force units. He said the Karuna group was not a partner of the government in military operations, but that he saw no problem with the Karuna faction transforming itself into a mainstream political party. The government would try to push the LTTE back in the Vavuniya sector in order to control LTTE infiltration and secure the overland route to Mannar. Then it would press the LTTE to retrun to the negotiating table.” the US Embassy further wrote.
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Koodankulam project buried under a heap of lies

May 12, 2013, 8:37 pm 
article_image
Reactor buildings at the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project site in Tamil Nadu

By Sam Rajappa

V. S. Naipaul in his Area of Darkness observed: "No civilization was so little equipped to cope with the outside world, no country was so easily raided and plundered, and learned so little from its disasters." In the year 1988, nuclear regulatory bodies of countries operating Soviet Union-built VVER nuclear power plants found the need to fit many new safety systems in almost all areas.  Convinced that upgrading to the new safety standards would render the plants uncompetitive, the manufacturers abandoned the idea. Unmindful of its poor safety standards, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi entered into an agreement with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachov for two VVER power units of 1,000 MW each in the autumn of 1989.  It was touted as a real bargain India had struck.  With the fall of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany, all VVER reactors in East Germany, Greifswald units 1 to 5, were shut down as they were not compliant with the stricter West German safety standards.  Unit 6 of Greifswald, which was completed by then, was never operated, and work on units 7 and 8 of Greifswald which were under different stages of completion, was stopped. Russia never fulfilled its promise of securing the British and the US regulatory authorities’ certification for the VVER reactors.

Erstwhile East Germany was not the only country to give up VVER reactors. Russia itself suspended construction of units 5 and 6 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant.  It shut down units 1 and 2 of the Novovoronezh plant and modernised the third unit. Iran cancelled the fourth unit of the Bushehr plant.  Bulgaria decommissioned all six units of the Kozloduy plant. In Finland, where two VVER units were being planned at Loviisa, the containment structures were changed completely. Slovakia suspended construction of units 3 and 4 of the Mochovec project. Hungary, which contracted for four VVER units for its Paks plant, cancelled two. Ukraine cancelled units 5 and 6 of the Rivne plant and unit 6 of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant.

China, where Russia installed two 1,000 MW VVER reactors at the Tianwan nuclear power plant, raised more than 3,000 queries and made the suppliers improve incrementally without altering the basic design of the units. The reactors are housed in a confinement shell capable of withstanding a hit by an aircraft weighing 20 tonnes. Other important safety features include an emergency core cooling system and core confinement system. While the reactor and turbo-generators are of Russian design, the control room was designed and built by an international consortium, thereby making the Tianwan plant meet international safety standards. The plant has 94 per cent of its systems automated so that it can control itself under most situations.  Only five operators are needed in the control room.  The International Atomic Energy Agency has declared the Tianwan plant as the safest nuclear power plant in the world.

In contrast, Rosatam, the Russian nuclear energy corporation, through its subsidiary Atomstroyexport, procured crucial steam generators and equipment, safety systems and reactor parts from another government-owned machine building company called ZiO Podolsk for the Koodankulam and similar plants being set up in other countries. In February 2012, Russia’s Federal Security Bureau, successor to KGB, arrested Sergei Shutov, procurement director of Zio Podolsk, on charges of corruption and fraud, and sourcing sub-standard steel blankets from Ukraine instead of the prescribed quality steel.  On 17 July  2011, the containment building of the Leningrad NPP-2 reactor that was under construction collapsed exposing the crumbling of steel structures supplied by ZiO Podolsk. There could be a large number of equipment, components and materials, besides the ones which failed during the pre-commissioning tests in Koodankulam, whose deficiencies and defects are dormant today, but could cause catastrophic failure when the reactor is operated for some time under high temperature, pressure, high neutron irradiation and thermal stress. Such materials could have been installed within the pressure vessel itself which is now closed and sealed in preparation for the reactor start-up. Once the reactor is made critical, that is nuclear reactions are initiated, and taken up gradually to generate power, these components and materials will become highly radioactive in an environment where they cannot be tested for quality or performance or even become inaccessible for close visual examination. ZiO Podolsk claimed in a statement, "Our Indian partners (NPCIL) have not raised any question about the quality of products supplied by us."

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy asked the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited for a list of equipment and parts supplied by ZiO Podolsk to the Koodankulam plant under RTI on 28 January this year. It replied tersely on 20 February, saying: "No information regarding any investigation against ZiO Podolsk is available to NPCIL." Corruption in any field is to be avoided, but when it involves the nuclear industry, the risks are high enough to result in another Fukushima. According to Russia’s official national daily, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, "In the past six months alone, removed from their posts on suspicion of corruption and other abuse were heads of 12 Rosatom enterprises." Against this background, India sent a delegation of the DAE, led by special secretary A Joshi, last summer.  After a visit to ZiO Podolsk’s machine building plant, Joshi observed on 24 July 2012: "Excellent presentation and representation of the plant, everything is wonderful.  We really liked what we saw." This was five months after the arrest of Shutov charged with embezzlement of budget funds.

Total lack of transparency from which the nuclear establishment in India is suffering prevents the public from knowing the real story. Nuclear technology is the most dangerous means of producing energy with a serious potential for catastrophic accidents causing severe damage to life and property.  VVER reactors are relatively new and untested.  The reactor manufacturer in Russia has consistently opposed even minimum liability in case of an accident due to manufacturing defect. Koodankulam is India’s first 1000 MW nuclear reactor and we do not have the experience to handle such a mega plant.  Units 1 and 2 with a combined installed capacity of 2000 MW represent about 40 per cent of the capacity of all existing nuclear power plants in the country and call for the highest level of safety and security.  These 100 per cent imported reactors are also the country’s first pressurised light water reactors.  Our nuclear scientists and engineers have expertise and experience in Boiling Water Reactors and Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors which have completely different design, safety and fuel features and response to meet accidents.

The International Convention on Nuclear Safety, which India has ratified, mandates that "each contracting party shall take appropriate steps to ensure an effective separation between the functions of the regulatory body and those of any other body concerned with the promotion or utilisation of nuclear energy." AERB is not an independent entity.  It acts as a rubber-stamp of the Atomic Energy Commission, chaired by the secretary of the DAE. It is subservient to those whom it is required to regulate and control in the interest of public safety. In Koodankulam, the AERB has demonstrated its subservience by allowing the NPCL to go ahead with fuel loading without implementing the 17 safety measures recommended by the post-Fukushima task force appointed by the Government of India. The captive AERB makes the overall safety management of atomic energy in the country a complete farce. (The Statesman/ANN)
The writer is a veteran journalist and former Director of The Statesman Print Journalism School

Pakistan election: Sharif poised to take over as PM
Supporters of Nawaz Sharif celebrate in Lahore. 12 May 2013Supporters of Nawaz Sharif have been celebrating in Lahore
Nawaz Sharif appears on course to secure a majority in Pakistan's parliament and form the next government after claiming victory in Saturday's election.
BBC13 May 2013 
Unofficial results suggest his Pakistan Muslim League has won easily, though he has reportedly opened talks with independents to guarantee a majority.
He has already been congratulated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
EU observers report that incidents of violence did not deter voters.
Mr Sharif is set to become prime minister for the third time.
Former cricketer Imran Khan, whose Movement for Justice Party (PTI) is in a close fight for second place, has promised to provide genuine opposition.
Analysts say Mr Sharif, 63, is in a far stronger position than the outgoing Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which led a weak coalition, often on the verge of collapse.
The PPP of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was badly beaten in the election. It was one of several secular parties unable to campaign freely due to Taliban attacks.
Pakistani media say Mr Sharif's PML-N has so far captured at least 125 seats with the PTI and the PPP on around 30 each.
Analysts said the PML-N was likely to win around 130 seats and should be able to make up the required majority of 137 with support from independents and small parties.
Once it achieves a majority, Mr Sharif's party would be allocated most of 70 other parliamentary seats reserved for women and non-Muslim minorities.
An election commission spokesman said turnout had been around 60%. In 2008 it was 44%.
The EU's election observer mission in Pakistan has issued its report, saying 64 people died on polling day itself. It said violence had distorted the electoral process in those areas affected.
But the mission added that at 90% of the 600 polling stations monitored, the conduct of the election was satisfactory or good.
On the whole, it said, there was a strong commitment by candidates and parties to the democratic process.
"The turnout in defiance of the threats against the process was an extraordinary vote of confidence in democracy itself," European Parliament member Richard Howitt told a news conference in Islamabad.
Shares rally
The election appears to have paved the way for the first transition from one elected government to another in a country prone to military takeovers.
The Karachi stock exchange hit a record high on the expectation of a Sharif-led government. He is seen as favouring the free market and deregulation.
Ishaq Dar, a senator, has been chosen to serve as finance minister in the new administration. He held the same post in Mr Sharif's second government in 1998 and 1999 and again in 2008.
Mr Sharif - who was toppled in a military coup in 1999 and spent years in exile - held talks on Sunday on forming a government.
Imran Khan, still bedridden after a fall at a campaign rally, said the election would boost Pakistan's young democracy.
"We are now moving towards democracy. I congratulate the nation on the numbers in which they turned out to vote," he said.
But Mr Khan added that his party was collecting evidence of alleged vote-rigging.
'New course'
President Obama congratulated Pakistan on successfully completing the election and said he looked forward to working with the government that emerged.
He welcomed the "historic, peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power" but stopped short of naming Mr Sharif.
During his election campaign, Mr Sharif said he would end Pakistan's involvement in the US-led war on terror.
However, he declined to say whether he would call a halt to military operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The Indian prime minister said he hoped for a "new course" in relations between India and Pakistan.
"PM extends his congratulations to Mr Nawaz Sharif and his party for their emphatic victory in Pakistan's elections," he said on his Twitter account.
He invited Mr Sharif to go to India "at a mutually convenient time".
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he hoped for co-operation to root out what he called terrorist sanctuaries.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are engaged in a long battle with Taliban Islamist militants.
The triangular relationship between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US will be tested more than ever as Nato withdraws combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of next year, says the BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad.
At home, Nawaz Sharif's government will be equally tested in tackling Pakistan's severe shortages of power which damage the economy and hold back job creation, says our correspondent.
In what is seen as another sign of the acute challenges facing the new government, a bomb has gone off in the south-western city of Quetta, killing at least five people.
A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the wall of the official residence of the police chief of Balochistan province, Mushtaq Shukhera.
Most of those killed are reported to be police, but one child also died.
Mr Shukhera was not among the 60 injured in the explosion, which left a large crater and was heard across Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan suffers from separatist violence and sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013


Sumanthiran In Parliament On PTA & Land Grabbing

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The Queen’s Absence: A Sign Of Sri Lanka Losing Legitimacy? 



By Dinesh D. Dodamgoda- Sunday, May 12, 2013
The Sunday LeaderThe Buckingham palace has announced that ‘Her Majesty the Queen’ will not be attending this year’s Commonwealth summit, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, as the palace reviews her long-haul travel. However, when questioned by Alex Thompson, Chief Correspondent of ‘Channel 4’, a palace spokesperson said that “no single long-haul flight is under reconsideration apart from the Sri Lankan one”, giving a different discourse to the official explanation of Queen’s non-attendance.
Does the palace spokesperson’s answers imply on anything to the effect that Sri Lanka is losing legitimacy?
As Henry Kissinger (1964) wrote, a ‘legitimate international order’ implies that all the major powers have accepted established conventions of dealing with one another and agree on the parameters of foreign policy aims and methods. Legitimacy is about collective consensus initiated by all the major powers, therefore, Kissinger implies, that any country in the international system should exist in accord with established conventions and agree on the foreign policy aims and methods.
Has the Sri Lankan Government failed to adhere to legitimate international order?
Although the war against the LTTE was a domestic issue, it warranted the Sri Lankan government to interact with international powers and players, because the increasing process of globalisation has changed the character of domestic warfare from a pure domestic issue to an issue that has an international dimension. This was in addition to the international conventions that Sri Lanka ratified with regard to war related matters. Hence, the context brought new non-traditional actors which include external state actors, international media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) into the war theatre in Sri Lanka’s North.
The inevitable result of this international involvement broke the traditional boundaries of the state sovereignty. However, ignoring international reality, the Sri Lankan government always used the traditional concept of sovereignty as a protecting shield to argue, using phrases like “international conspiracy” against any international involvement that alleged SL government for violating International Laws and Humanitarian Laws. The situation demanded international players to pay close attention to the war theatre in Sri Lanka.
In the aftermath of the war in May 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Sri Lanka and raised three key issues to lay out a post-conflict framework for Sri Lanka. They are: humane treatment and speedy resettlement of the internally displaced persons, adoption of policies to achieve political reconciliation, and accountability for war-time atrocities. In addition to that, during early 2010, a communiqué (10COLOMBO50 / 2010-01-22) between US Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis and the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs also referred to a framework built on four key issues to assess the progress in Sri Lanka: treatment of IDPs, human rights, political reconciliation, and accountability for alleged war crimes. Moreover, India, too, pushed the SL government to find an immediate political solution for the ethnic problem based on a 13+ power devolution proposal. Interestingly, the Sri Lankan government implicitly or explicitly had agreed to all of these internationally imposed frameworks and proposals, giving international actors a leverage to control Sri Lanka’s post-conflict affairs.
This naive approach adopted by the SL government could not even see that they had an opportunity to push post-conflict reconciliation issues forward against any international attempt that would seek to push an immediate war crime inquiry. For an example, the US Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis in early 2010 stated in a communiqué that “There is an obvious split, however, between the Tamil Diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka on how and when to address the [war-crime accountability] issue. While we understand the former [Tamil Diaspora] would like to see the issue as an immediate top-priority issue, most Tamils in Sri Lanka appear to think it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to push the issue too aggressively now.”
It is a pity that the Sri Lankan government did not exploit this golden opportunity to push international community in supporting a serious reconciliation phase whilst discouraging immediate war crime inquiry. The Sri Lankan government could argue that the reconciliation task conflicts with war-crime accountability creating a paradox that can generate adverse effects on a sincere “reconciliation” process. Therefore, pressuring the government on the war-crime accountability issue could draw the anger of the patriots who hail the military victory over the LTTE and respect the contributors to that victory as “heroes”, regardless of international concerns. Nonetheless, the Sri Lankan government had failed miserably in bringing those lines of arguments as their focus was different.
Apart from the progress the government made on IDP re-settlement and rehabilitation issues, the Sri Lankan government had adopted a lethargic approach in fulfilling an international impose where the government agreed on post-conflict obligations. The rest of the issues, reconciliation, war-crime accountability, human rights and introducing a political solution based on 13+ proposal yet to be fulfilled. The situation seriously has degraded the Sri Lankan government’s credibility. Making the situation worse, the war brought new international allies to the Sri Lankan government, which include China, Pakistan, Libya, Iran and Venezuela. These new alliances sent wrong messages especially to the US and India in a context where both countries compete with China for the Indian Ocean’s supremacy. The accumulated result of all these actions challenged the Sri Lankan government’s level of legitimacy in the international order and even generated negative impacts on the country’s economy as evident in the European Commission’s decision on February 2010 to suspend the GSP+ trade facility to Sri Lanka following investigation by the European Commission who said that the country fell short in implementing three UN human rights conventions relevant for benefits under the scheme.
Whilst the Sri Lankan government’s naive actions contributed to losing legitimacy in the international order, the Tamil Diaspora led by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) started carrying out a de-legitimisation campaign against the SL government figuring war-crime accountability issue prominently almost all over the world. They went to UN Human Rights Commission, European Parliament, US Congress, House of Commons, India (Ghandi Family), Canada and Australia as well. By successfully lobbying against the Sri Lankan government, the GTF and Tamil Diaspora managed to convince international players either through evidence or half-truth propaganda materials that the war-crime accountability issue should be given priority over other post-conflict issues in Sri Lanka. They insisted that the war-crime issue is the ‘key’ that may open the door to other important issues such as human rights, IDPs and reconciliation.
However, the Sri Lankan government could not challenge the information or misinformation campaign of the Tamil Diaspora, which could be due to the incapability of the ministry of external affairs.
The gradual loss of Sri Lanka’s legitimacy in the international order is clearly somewhat evident in votes Sri Lanka attracted in three UN Human Rights Council resolutions moved in May 2009, March 2012 and March 2013.
The decline in votes for Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council from 29 in 2009 to 15 in 2012 March and 13 in 2013 March shows how Sri Lanka gradually lost international support, raising questions on “Sri Lanka losing legitimacy”.
The votes against Sri Lanka have increased from 12 in 2009 to 24 in 2012 March and 25 in 2013 March.
Against this international backdrop, a campaign was raised by the GTF and Tamil Diaspora, to ask the Commonwealth Heads of Governments and Secretary General to “call for the venue of CHOGM 2013, proposing the Sri Lankan city of Hambantota, to be moved elsewhere until the Government of Sri Lanka agrees to allow an international, independent investigation into the credible allegations of war crimes.” The Canadian Prime Minister had already openly spoken in favour of moving the venue and some other Heads of Governments also raised their concerned over a credible investigation.
The question this article begins with, “Does the palace spokesperson’s answers imply on anything to the effect that Sri Lanka is losing legitimacy?” should therefore be, assed against the above elaborated international backdrop. For me, it is obvious that the official explanation provided by the Buckingham Palace, “The Majesty Her Queen will not attend this year’s Commonwealth summit, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, as the palace reviews her long-haul travel”, is nothing but a manifestation of Royal Diplomatic decency. In my opinion, the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry should take this situation very seriously and start fighting a battle for re-gaining Sri Lanka’s almost lost legitimacy.
(The writer is a lawyer in profession and has obtained a M.Sc. from the British Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham (Cranfield University) on Defence Management and Global Security.
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Resisting Rajapaksa Rule

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -May 12, 2013 
Colombo Telegraph“….instead of looking for necessary and sufficient conditions of change we must train ourselves to be on the lookout for unusual historical developments, rare constellations of favourable events, narrow paths, partial advances that may conceivably be followed by others…. We must think of the possible rather than the probable”. - Albert Hirschman (New York Review of Books – 10.4.1986)
Had Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga removed Presidential term-limits, Mahinda Rajapaksa would not have become the President. If the Rajapaksa dynasty takes root, every non-Rajapaksa SLFP leader will be condemned to a life of servitude.
The prospect of such a life-sentence of servility, not just to Mahinda Rajapaksa but to a host of other, major and minor, Rajapaksas, would dismay most SLFP leaders. Their dread of Rajapaksa vengeance would prevent them from voicing their discontent, but beneath this public show of quiescence, discontent will bubble. Nurturing and deploying this silent resentment is a sine-qua-non for any successful project of resisting Rajapaksa rule.
The Siblings, when inveigling opposition members to defect, use cupidity as a key psychological-propellant. The opposition can use similar tactics to cause dismay and consternation in government ranks. A word-picture of an unending Rajapakse future, consisting of unquestioning obedience to every caprice of every Rajapaksa, in every possible sphere, should be drawn for the edification of SLFP seniors and potential Young Turks. Such tactics will not produce lightening results, but those seeds must be sown, if the SLFP is to be persuaded to rebel against the Rajapaksas, someday.
Familial Rule has a critical structural weakness; it is an edifice built on an extremely weak and severely circumscribed base. A patrimonial oligarchy serves the interests not of a large and a relatively varied community but of a small kinship-group. The stakeholder-base of such a rule is, by definition, numerically minute and non-representative. It is to make up for this ingrained – and potentially disastrous – weakness that political dynasty-builders manufacture primordial/ideological/psychological facades and buttresses.
The Rajapaksas have chosen ‘Sinhala-Buddhist maximalism’ as their strategic buttress and their primary façade. So long as a majority of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority believe that Rajapaksa rule is beneficial for them, Rajapaksa rule will survive. But if economic woes continue to exacerbate (as they will), Sinhala-Buddhist masses will gradually withdraw their consent for Rajapaksa Rule. In such a context, the Siblings will need enemies and threats to maintain their Sinhala-Buddhist support base. When necessary, these enemies/threats will be manufactured, even at the cost of pushing the country into a newer and a deadlier war – as is evident from the Rajapaksa-patronage of the BBS.
That is why there will never be real peace or genuine reconciliation inSri Lanka, under the Rajapaksas rule.
The Siblings use their twisted versions of patriotism and national sovereignty to make the Sinhala people believe that they will stand or fall with Rajapaksa Rule. Without debunking this false equation, resistance to Familial Rule will be futile.
The Rajapaksas are bad for Sri Lanka; they are bad for the minorities; but they are worse for the Sinhalese, worst for Sinhala-Buddhists. The Rajapaksas are as disastrous for the Sinhalese as Vellupillai Pirapaharanwas for the Tamils and an Islamic-fundamentalist leader would be for the Muslims.
The Sinhala-Buddhist masses must be made to see this insalubrious reality. They must be made to understand that they will know neither safety nor wellbeing so long as the Rajapaksas rule. The nexus between high defence expenditure/megalomaniac projects and skyrocketing living costs must be explained; the manner in which the Siblings use national sovereignty to undermine the rights of the people and patriotism to suppress democratic dissent must be revealed. These exposes must happen primarily in Sinhala language and via popular media.
That is why the Siblings have accorded priority to the task of conditioning/controlling the Sinhala media, both print and electronic.
If this circle is not squared, the Rajapaksas will succeed in making the Sinhala South believe their diabolical lies about old Tamil enemies and new Muslim threats. If the old ethnic-overdetermination is replaced by a new ethno-religious overdetermination, resistance to Rajapaksa rule will fail.
Debunking Rajapaksa-Foundational Myths
Like other political dynasts, the Rajapaksas have created their own foundational myths. The attempt to draw a genealogical-link between the Rajapaksas and the Buddha via King Dutugemunu is just the comic-tip of a vast politico-ideological iceberg[i]. Far deadlier is the equation of Rajapaksa needs/desires with the national good, Rajapaksa interests with national interests and Rajapaksa security with national security.
That is how airports sans planes and seaports sans ships are justified, attacks on the judiciary/media explained and the use of the PTA against democratic opponents/critics defended. When lies and delusions do not suffice, repression will be stepped up, as is evident from the planned re-enactment of the Libel and Slander Act and the creation of a new elite anti-riot squad[ii].
Any viable opposition to the Rajapaksas must unite moderates of all ethnicities and religions and stripes into an alliance of moderates. A key use of the BBS and its anti-Muslim/minority propaganda is to make Sinhala-Buddhists fear such an alliance and to keep the Muslims out of it by blackmailing them with their lives, liberty and property. This, for instance, was the message sent by the arrest and release of Azath Salley.
Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims need each other to protect their basic human rights. The opposition, especially the JVP, must understand that in the current context, any downgrading of the 13th Amendment will only serve to enhance Rajapaksa power. If the 13th Amendment is killed, it will deal a lethal blow not just to minority rights but also to Lankan democracy, because the powers which are taken away from the provincial councils will be concentrated in Rajapaksa hands. Tamil parties too must understand that running to India is an exercise in futility[iii]; only a Southern-Northern-Eastern unity can save the 13th Amendment.
Lankan opposition is too weak to launch a successful frontal political-assault on the Rajapaksas. Nor is the time right for such an assault. Resisting the Rajapaksas cannot/mustn’t be reduced to ejecting the Rajapaksas, immediately. Before that indispensable goal is reached, and in order to reach that indispensable goal, every Rajapaksa injustice and excess must be opposed and thwarted. What is necessary and possible is a network of struggles, a series of single issue campaigns with clear short-term goals. These can be used to inflict innumerable political-wounds on the Rajapaksa edifice, de-legitimising, undermining and weakening it, step by step.
The issues can vary from prices to the kidney disease-epidemic, from the attack on the rugby-referee to the destruction of Mattala-wild life, from the repression of Tamils and attacks on Muslims to the eviction of Sinhala farmers/fishermen/poor. No issue should be too small, no injustice too irrelevant, no victim too unimportant, no method too insignificant[iv].
A series of minor victories can give the dispirited opposition a new lease of life and some badly-needed confidence.
Most of all, the Rajapaksa-juggernaut cannot be resisted unless the opposition discards ‘narcissism of small differences’ (Freud) and work together, when necessary.
Perhaps this process can begin by the UNP and the JVP cooperating with each other to make the protest on May 15th and the token strike on May 21st resounding successes.
[ii]“According to well-placed sources within the Police Department, a special police squad is currently being trained in specialized tactics, to deal with mass protests and riots”  -Ceylon today – 6.4.2013.
[iii] India could – or would not – save the North-Eastern merger; it has failed to deliver 13th Amendment plus.
[iv] It would have taken me several paragraphs to make the point so eloquently conveyed by this single photo:http://www.lunudehi.com/2013/05/mattala2015.html
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TNA demands voting rights for refugees

By W. Siri Ananda-2013-05-12
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has demanded that voting rights be granted to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in camps in Tamil Nadu and facilities be set up to enable them to vote in the upcoming Northern Provincial Council election. An estimated 100,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are living as refugees in Tamil Nadu.


The TNA has noted that facilities should be set up for the former residents of the Northern Province, in order to enable them to vote, similar to the expat voting rights extended by countries such as Australia, the US and India.


In the meanwhile, it has been proposed during a Cabinet meeting, Sinhalese and Muslim residents who had been forced out of the Northern Province during the late 70s and the early 80s should be accommodated in the new electoral list for the North. Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen, have also proposed at a recent Cabinet meeting that those who had been driven away from the Northern Province by the LTTE be granted lands within the province and restore their rights.


National Organizer of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe, claimed the Sinhalese population in Jaffna has been reduced from 20,402 in 1971 to 746 in 2011 due to LTTE activities. Likewise, the Muslim population has also reduced from 10,312 to 2,648 during the same time period, according to a census conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics. All rights, including the right to land in the Northern Province, should be given to these people."


Meanwhile, well-informed government sources told Ceylon Today over 1,500 hectares of government land in Kilinochchi have been allocated for the newly-resettled landless Muslim families.

New law to enable people displaced from North to vote

SATURDAY, 11 MAY 2013
In the wake of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections likely to be held in September, the Cabinet approval was granted to enact legislation enabling those who were displaced from the North between May 1, 1983 and May 18, 2009 to vote at the election, Daily Mirror learns.

However, this opportunity will be provided only if they have not been registered as voters in other electoral districts.  

The Cabinet memorandum for this purpose was submitted by Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem.  On this basis the Legal Draftsman will be instructed to amend the Registration of Electors Act No. 44 of 1980.

A large number of people were displaced from their original place of residence during the conflict in the North and now live in other parts of the country.     The Cabinet memorandum pointed out that the present Act did not provide for their registration as voters in the electoral districts of their original place of residence in the North.

This had resulted in the applications submitted by them during annual revisions of the electoral register being rejected by the Elections Department. The Justice Ministry hopes to present the new legislation titled ‘Registration of Electors (Special Provision) Bill in Parliament soon.

The bill, if enacted, will enable 15,000 people who are known to have been displaced between May 1, 1983 and May 18, 2009 to be registered as voters in the North. (KB)  
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The staggering deals for the showpiece summit

By Our Political Editor-Sunday, May 12, 2013

    The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka
  • Lanka may buy 50 RR limousines at Rs. 37.8 million each, Rolls Royce faces corruption charges on others fionts
  • India to get clearance for US$ 500 million Trincomalee power project despite objections by Minister Ranawaka and engineers
  • 19th Amendment being drafted, TNA won’t take part in polls if land, police powers are taken away
For Britain, widely described as the mother of the Commonwealth, it was a maternal change of heart towards Sri Lanka. First was the official announcement last Friday that Prime Minister David Cameron would attend the Colombo summit. The next came three days later when Buckingham Palace declared that Queen Elizabeth II would, however, not come. Instead, it would be Prince Charles who will deputise for his mother.
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma lost no time in issuing a statement. It clearly reflected the sycophantic legacy of the increasingly irrelevant grouping of the former British raj. He said: “the decision reflects the wish of Her Majesty at this time in her reign to limit her long distance travel.” Sharma then went on to “pay tribute to the continuing dedication and deep sense of duty the Queen brings to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and to advancing our shared values as embodied in the Commonwealth Charter recently signed by Her Majesty.” He added: “We warmly welcome Her Majesty’s decision to be represented by The Prince of Wales at this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting reflecting as it does her unwavering devotion to the Commonwealth.”
Those announcements, no doubt, ended weeks and months of speculation that Britain would join its western allies, mainly Canada, in boycotting the Colombo event. They were co-sponsors of the second US resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. As is well known, it called for the implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations, further action on reconciliation and alleged violations of international law. The reason given in diplomatic circles in London for the early announcements was Queen Elizabeth’s annual speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday. There were other reasons too, like the friendly overtures from India towards Sri Lanka. The Conservative Government had to go into hurried damage control mode in so far as its domestic constituency was concerned, after going public with the news.
Alastair Burt, Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for some countries including Sri Lanka, met a delegation from the London-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) headed by Suren Surendran. British Conservative Party leaders have strongly backed the GTF and many of its leaders took part in the GTF’s anniversary sessions in a room in the House of Commons late last year. They were now red in the face that Premier Cameron would attend. “(The) accusation of Rolls Royce diplomacy is an unfortunate coincidence. It came at the same time,” Burt told Surendran, referring to the exclusive revelations in the Sunday Times about the re-fleeting programme of SriLankan Airlines with British-made Rolls Royce engines.
Rolls Royce under fire
The Cabinet had on April 18 given approval for the national carrier to purchase six A 330-300 aircraft with Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines. It also granted approval four A 350-900 aircraft with Rolls Royce XWB engines. SriLankan Airlines will also lease three more A 350-900 aircraft. The purchase of Rolls Royce engines after rejecting offers from General Electric from the United States meant revenue for Rolls Royce. The Guardian newspaper which quoted the Sunday Times said campaigners for a venue shift were urging the Conservative Government not to influence its diplomatic position over human rights issues in Sri Lanka through what the newspaper called “Rolls Royce diplomacy.”
Photo from the UK Prime Minister's Office shows the Queen with Premier Cameron and Deputy, Nick Clegg. It was taken when the Queen addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Equipping brand new Airbus aircraft with Rolls Royce engines was not the only deal for Sri Lanka with the British-based manufacturing giant. Talks are already under way to buy at least 50 Rolls Royce limousines for the Commonwealth summit. Each vehicle, officials say, would cost around US$ 300,000 (or more than Rs. 37.8 million), without the duty component.
Thus, the enormous cost would add to the colossal expenditure the Government would already incur with the added purchase of new Airbus aircraft. This is at a time when the Treasury has already introduced a 30 per cent cut in funds for ministries in the budgetary allocations for the current year. The move is because the Government is cash strapped. An example of this situation — payments to contractors engaged in road construction projects have been long overdue.
Another disturbing development came this week when the head of Rolls Royce aerospace division quit his job, just four months after being promoted to the post. He is at the centre of bribery and corruption allegations over securing contracts. Before taking over as head of the aerospace division, Mark King had headed the civil aerospace division. This is where bribery allegations relating to contracts in “China, Indonesia and other markets have come to light”.
According to British media reports, Dick Taylor, a former Rolls-Royce employee has alleged that the company gave the son of Indonesia’s former President twenty million US dollars and a car to persuade the national airline, Garuda, to order Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. Rolls Royce, which is “co-operating with the SFO (Serious Frauds Office) has appointed Lord Gold, the City lawyer and Conservative peer, to review its compliance procedures,” one report said. Other reports quoted Rolls Royce Chief Executive John Rishton as saying that they would not tolerate “improper business conduct”. He told a meeting of shareholders recently that it had been “particularly disappointing to discover matters of concern.”
Yet, there are questions on how the head did not know what the hand was doing, said a London aviation expert familiar with the workings of Rolls Royce. Unlike the United States where there are rigid controls over bribery and corruption, in Britain, the rules were easier and that was how “business is promoted,” he said speaking on grounds of anonymity. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has long complained that its main European competitor Airbus always had an edge in the procurement of aircraft in developing countries because of its flexible offer of commissions. Not that US manufacturers are squeaky clean either. Some years ago, Lockheed was caught bribing people as high up as the German Defence Minister and Dutch Prince Bernhard – an act which nearly brought the downfall of the company. Airlanka bought Lockheed aircrafts at the time.
“Rolls Royce and SFO,” media reports said “are reportedly close to reaching a civil settlement to halt the bribery inquiry. Any agreement may involve a multimillion-pound fine, but avoid criminal charges.” According to the aviation expert, settling the issue out of court prevents details of the deal as well as the names involved from becoming public. Rolls Royce has said it was on track to report good growth in underlying profit in 2013, after a strong first quarter from civil aerospace unit, including a US $1.6 billion from IAG, the British Airways owner, for its Trent XWB engines to power 18 new Airbus A 350 jets.” Needless to say the income from providing engines to SriLankan Airlines would further boost Rolls Royce’s revenue.
Northern polls and the TNA 
The Commonwealth summit is not the only priority for the Government in the coming weeks and months. An even more important issue, the conduct of the Northern Provincial Council elections, has taken centre stage. As detailed out in this column last week, the polls are the direct outcome of Government’s new commitment to normalise relations with India. A diplomatic exercise with New Delhi has already paved the way for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to clear any impediments for the summit to be held in Colombo. By the conduct of the polls, the Government acknowledges the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as a means of devolution of power. The future of the Indian-brokered 1987 amendment was at one time in doubt with calls for its repeal, from the highest quarters of the administration. However, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s repeated public assurances that came in the wake of thawing relations between Colombo and New Delhi have put paid to such moves.
Yet, partners in the Government, particularly the National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), are strongly opposed to the conduct of the elections. NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa and JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka voiced strong views in this regard last week. They are equally opposed to land and police powers remaining in the 13th Amendment. As a compromise, UPFA leaders want to ascertain the possibility of introducing a 19th Amendment to the Constitution sans the two subjects and also incorporating a few other issues. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was consulting both partners in his Government as well as senior cabinet ministers to seek their views on the matter. He left on a three-day visit to Uganda yesterday and is to resume the dialogue upon his return.
A critical issue for President Rajapaksa in making changes to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is to ascertain whether the Government would receive a two thirds majority. Partners other than the NFF and the JHU may not favour the idea. So do some key ministers in the Cabinet. On the other hand, the Sunday Times has learned that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the principal player in the NPC polls, will not enter the fray if constitutional changes are made. The NPC polls, at India’s behest, now expected to be held on the first Saturday of September, are viewed as part of the process of reconciliation. Hence for the TNA, the largest Tamil political group in Parliament, contesting the NPC would be an acknowledgement that it is accepting the NPC elections as part of the reconciliation process. Such a move is salutary to the Government to deliver a message to the international community that the process is under way. However, there is still scepticism in a formidable section in the Government.
“We are yet to decide on any constitutional amendment. We are consulting a broader segment including even those from the Northern and Eastern Provinces,” Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times. He is also the national organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the largest constituent party in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), and the one who organised the massive May Day rally of the party. He said: “We have to first obtain a clear idea of what we need to do. Hence there is no final decision though the newspapers have said to the contrary.”
Minister Rajapaksa also clarified reports that the UPFA would launch a team of independent candidates. “To the contrary,” he said, “we have decided that UPFA candidates for the Northern Provincial Council would comprise three broad categories.” One would be members of the SLFP, the other from partners in the UPFA with interest in the North and the third will comprise professionals, academics and persons of standing from amongst those in the North. Rajapaksa said that Tamil newspapers in Jaffna would today carry advertisements inviting these categories and “even others” to send in their applications to the SLFP headquarters. The ads call for ushering in a development revolution in the North. “We will screen every application carefully and select the most suitable,” he said. The UPFA has not made any formal decision on who its Chief Ministerial candidate would be. It is likely the issue would be left open until the elections are concluded. In such an event, the candidate on the UPFA side polling the highest preference vote would qualify for it if there was victory for the UPFA.
TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, who returned from India on Friday, went into a hurried three-hour meeting with the constituents of his grouping. Ahead of the elections, his main task was to keep his partners under the officially recognised Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (Ceylon Federal Party) instead of seeking formal recognition from the Commissioner of Elections for the TNA. Though they are commonly identified as an alliance, for all official purposes they function under the ITAK banner. Sampanthan who is a remaining front runner of the ITAK has said this was not the time for them to function as TNA.
However, four other partners who together with the ITAK form the alliance hold a different view. They are the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOT). Yesterday, Sampanthan and his parliamentary colleagues were in Mannar where Bishop Rayappu Joseph was using his ‘good offices’ to resolve differences between the ITAK and the four constituent parties. TELO National Organiser M.K. Sivajilingam told the Sunday Times that discussions with the ITAK leadership on Friday night regarding the registration of the TNA were positive. “In principle, the ITAK has agreed to register the TNA as a political party. We will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding within a week regarding the registration of the alliance and future political work’, he said.
Whilst a decision on constitutional amendments is pending, a draft 19th Amendment is now on the drawing boards of a cabinet minister. In view of the political nature of the changes, it has not been referred to the Legal Draftsman’s Department. The changes, at least in the proposed draft are not confined to the deletion of police and land powers from the 13th Amendment. Several other elements are also being incorporated. One is to reduce the present term of office of the President from six to five years. Another is to enable a President to seek re-election when he has completed three years in office instead of the existing four. This factor has fuelled speculation in UPFA circles of a possible presidential election next year (in 2014), coming as it does after the glory of hosting the CHOGM. Yet another is to restrict the term of office of the Chief Justice to three years. The pivotal issue on which the constitutional change hinges is whether the Government will be able to obtain a two thirds majority for all these changes. That again will depend on how many in the Government and how many of its partners will vote for changing the 13th Amendment to exclude land and police powers. Even more importantly, in a sense, is how New Delhi, which Colombo is already set to pacify, would react to such a move.
Trincomalee power project and problems
It is in this backdrop that the ministers, at their weekly cabinet meeting on Thursday, were set to make a historic decision — the final go-ahead for the 500 Megawatt (2 X 250) Coal Fired Indo-Sri Lanka power project in Trincomalee at a cost of more than US$ 500 million (more than Rs. 63 billion). The matter was put on hold for a week after Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka raised strong objections. The former Minister of Power and Energy (and now Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy), a source said, had raised technical issues.
The project has been in limbo over several issues until a Sri Lanka delegation went to New Delhi on March 26; just five days after the UN Human Rights Council had adopted the second US resolution. The delegation comprised M.M.C. Ferdinando, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy, and Prasad Kariyawasam Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in New Delhi. The thermal power project was to meet the energy demands of Sri Lanka through a joint venture. That was between the Indian Government-owned National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). On that occasion Ferdinando said the project would meet the growing demand for power in Sri Lanka and would “strengthen the traditional friendly relations between the two countries”.
This meeting resolved two main technical issues raised by the CEB since 2011. One was the heat rate spelt out by it should be applicable immediately after the first year of commercial operation. The other is operation and maintenance charges. Sri Lanka held the position that such charges shall be based on audited expenditure certified by the joint venture company. Such expenditure is to be effected retrospectively from the date of commercial operation of the plant. Earlier, President Rajapaksa had directed Ferdinando to resolve the dispute over the two outstanding issues.
Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told her cabinet colleagues that “there was no consensus reached between the CEB (Ceylon Electricity Board) and the NTPC due to reluctance on the part of the NTPC to open the already finalised PPA (Power Purchase Agreement).” She said the project did not move forward and “the signing of the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) and the IA (Implementation Agreement) was postponed indefinitely, although the JVA (Joint Venture Agreement) was executed on September 6, 2011 and the JV (Joint Venture) Company was incorporated on September 26, 2011.
Minister Wanniarachchi said: “Pursuant to the directives of H.E. the President and Hon. Minister of Economic Development, and the advice of the Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of my Ministry intervened as a ‘facilitator’ on behalf of the CEB, with a view to get the agreement of the NTPC to amend the already agreed heat rate, O & M (Operation and Maintenance) rate and the ROE (Return of Equity) and to explore the possibility of implementing the project without further delay…..”
Minister Wanniarachchi sought cabinet approval:
  • To extend the validity of the Memorandum of Agreement dated December 29, 2006 up to the end of June 2013 to keep the MOA alive until the Power Purchase Agreement and the Implementation Agreement are signed by the parties.
  • To approve the Power Purchase Agreement which has been finalised and initialised by the CEB having obtained the legal clearance from the Attorney General on February 11, 2011 subject to amendments agreed at the discussions
  • To authorise the CEB to proceed with the execution of the Power Purchase Agreement subject to changes made with the NTPC.
After President Rajapaksa was voted to office in 2005, one of the major tasks of his Cabinet (on December 21, 2005) was to go for a joint Indo-Lanka coal fired power project in Trincomalee. Follow up action came up for discussion at least at five different cabinet meetings but was not pursued. Then a proposal was made for a Memorandum of Aqreement. Though it came up for discussion in at least at five different cabinet meetings it was not pursued. The last was August 24, 2011. Thereafter, follow up action came in March, this year.
According to Minister Wanniarachchi, the CEB Chairman, the Vice Chairman and the senior managers are in agreement with the draft Power Purchase Agreement she has prepared for approval by the cabinet. She has said they were in favour of implementation of the project with some “suggested” amendments. She has not specified what they are. “Since there are no further impediments either legally or technically for the CEB to start the implementation phase of the project, and to meet the looming power shortage by 2016, the Board of the CEB at its meeting held on May 3, this year resolved to proceed with the implementation of the project by signing the PPA….” Minister Wanniarachchi has told her cabinet colleagues. She has added, “…the Indian Government has further consented to effect all changes agreed as aforesaid, by amending the already finalised Power Purchase Agreement.” This was the result of a telephone conversation held by Ministry Secretary Ferdinando with Indian officials on May 5 and also the outgoing Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha.
In a letter to Ministry Secretary Ferdinando, CEB Chairman W.B. Ganegala on May 3 said the Board would accept the two contentious issues on the following basis:
Heat Rate: To accept the heat rate as given in the draft PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) and thereafter to use the heat rate as proven through a time-bound (within the first year of commercial operations), successful Performance and Guarantee Test adjusted by multiplication by the factor 1.065.
It is relevant to mention that the engineers in the Ceylon Electricity Board have challenged this issue. OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE CHARGES: As decided at the meeting held in New Delhi on March 26, 2013 to accept the O & M charges for the initial three years of commercial operation which shall be provisionally same as agreed in the initialled Power Purchase Agreement. Thereafter, the O & M charges shall be at actual cost based on the O & M expenditure as audited and certified by the JV (joint venture) company. Such actual O & M Expenditure will be effected retrospectively from the date of commercial operation of the plant for the first three years and if the O & M charges to be paid to the JVC through the tariff as per draft Power Purchase Agreement figures for such period is more than the actual O & M charges established by audited accounts, JVC shall pay the difference of the O & M charges to the CEB.
Ganegala has added that the CEB has resolved to request the Secretary to incorporate the contents of the supplementary agreement in the PPA to be signed by both parties after obtaining the clearance from the Attorney General and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Sri Lanka’s average electricity production per day, both through hydro and thermal power generation is 2050 MW. However, consumption rises to 2150 MW during hot days. Power requirements in the coming years are expected to be much higher and Minister Wanniarachchi has warned of a shortage by 2016. Even by today’s requirements, the joint venture project’s capacity meets a quarter of Sri Lanka’s power requirements.
Inherent national weakness
This week’s developments show that costs notwithstanding, the conduct of CHOGM in Colombo in November is high priority in the Government’s agenda. At least for two years, the prestige of being the Chair-in-office of the Commonwealth falls on Sri Lanka. For that, the Government has so successfully embarked on normalising relations with India. Provincial Council elections will be held in the first week of September and India’s help is being obtained to augment Sri Lanka’s national grid with electricity through a joint venture project in the strategic city of Trincomalee.
Whatever the merits or demerits of those measures, it clearly highlights an inherent national weakness. The absence of a quick and pragmatic response to issues raised by the international community, particularly before the UN Human Rights Council, was clearly a contributory factor. Now, in the wake of a CHOGM, an all-out effort is being made to adopt just the opposite position in the hope that cries against Sri Lanka would be over. The confusion is better underscored by what a UPFA politician told a western diplomat. “How do you see things playing out in the next one year,” the diplomat asked. The politico shot back; “If you tell me what is going to happen in one month, I will answer your question.” That explains the uncertainty.
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