Mervyn Behind Kelaniya Crimes

By Nirmala Kannangara-Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Minister Mervyn Silva and Provincial Councillor Hasitha Madawala, who was murdered in Kelaniya

Following revelations on how former DIG Vass Gunawardena extorted money from the Parliamentary Affairs Secretary to Minister Mervyn Silva to avoid taking action against him for the possession of heroin and firearms; concrete evidence has now emerged as to how Minister Silva is having close associations with underworld thugs.

Sarath Edirisinghe alias Singappuru Sarath was the then Parliamentary Affairs Secretary to Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva. He was allegedly connected to many murders, extortions, prostitution and drug peddling with the assistance of the Minister. Although Singappuru Sarath was remanded for an alleged murder, he was later taken as a state witness and was granted bail within a few weeks all because of Mervyn Silva’s connections.

Mervyn Behind Kelaniya Crimes by nelvely

Mr. President, I Humbly Offer That I Can Do No Better Than Siddhartha Gauthama, How About You?

By Malinda Seneviratne -June 26, 2013 

Malinda Seneviratne

Draft Guidelines for Media Ethics 

These are days of ‘ethics’ or rather days where ethics are questioned and recommended.  President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed that there are those who come up with guidelines for ethical behavior in professional matters and that they themselves can violate these edicts with impunity.  He pointed out that politicians can and do infringe but at the risk of punishment.

Now it is clear that not all those who indulge in unethical (and even illegal behavior) are punished, either by the voters or in terms of the law.  This is not because voters are themselves indulgent.  Most often they don’t have the choice, for they have to pick from among the unethical and unlawful.  As for those who flout the law, there are those who are apprehended and those who get away, the latter usually being endowed with bucks and power, the ultimate insulators against due punishment.

The President also passed the ethics ball back to the media, challenging the fraternity to revisit their own guidelines, amend where necessary or even abandon if deemed unnecessary or impractical.

This Sunday is Poson Poya.  That’s an added incentive to seek succor in the word of the Buddha and the pathway to emancipation therein, namely the Arya Ashtangika Marga or the Noble Eightfold Path:  right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.  Of these, the first two are in the realm of ‘wisdom’, the last three refer to ‘mental development’.  Right speech, right action and right livelihood come under ‘ethical conduct’.  It would be useful then to discuss these in order to shed light on the seemingly vexed question of ethics, media ethics included.

Right Speech

This is the first principle of ethical conduct.  Media is about words.  And of course silences. Both can make and break, save lives and put them at risk, start wars or make peace.  The Buddha elaborates thus: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. In short it is recommended that truth be spoken, spoken in friendly, warm and gentle manner and silence be kept when word does not add to conversation and debate.

Right Action

This is the second ethical principle, right action, considers bodily action as form of expression.  In essence the recommendation is to desist from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and to abstain from sexual misconduct. The terms of ‘activation’ of the principle, it is thus recommended that one be kind and compassionate, honest, respectful of others’ belongings and that one keeps sexual relationships harmless to others. Plagiarism apart, the rest of the guidelines can be taken in metaphoric manner reflection upon which can enhance the ethical character of one’s work.

Right Livelihood

This essentially means that one should earn one’s living in a righteous way, i.e. legally and without harm to others.  Dealing in weapons, dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), and selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs are not recommended. Again we could use these as metaphors to guide professional conduct.

In general, it would appear that reflection on the possible consequences of a given act, including the act of writing, in terms of the above three frames of reference, the exercise of caution always, the deference to wisdom and compassion, makes for ethical practice.

One could write a thesis on journalistic ethics or a ‘comprehensive’ set of guidelines, but it can be argued that it would all boil down to the above.

Mr. President, I humbly offer that I can do no better than Siddhartha Gauthama, the Compassionate One, the All-Knowing One, the Samma Sambuddha, no less.  I can only strive to abide.  How about you and your Government?

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of ‘The Nation’ and his articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com

Video: CID after Ranil

While condemning the probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on a book written by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe the UNP questioned as to whether the CID had no other important incidents to investigate.

Mr. Wickremesinghe had written the book titled 'Deshapalanaya Saha Dharmaya’ in 2005 with funds received by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

“The book is only about Buddhism and the way its teachings can be put into practice when governing a country. We don’t see why the CID should conduct an investigation on the book,” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayke told a news conference today.

He said the probe was also a violation of the Constitution, as rulers were bound by the Constitution to safeguard Buddhism.

He further said the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Director was also under the CID radar only because the Foundation funded the book. (Yohan Perera & Lahiru Pothmulla)
►WATCH

Video:

UNP Constitutional Proposals Verses The Rajapaksa Constitutional Amendment

By Harim Peiris -June 25, 2013

Harim Peiris

Both the ruling Rajapakse Administration and the opposition United National Party are busy with their own versions of constitutional reform. The UNP with making constitutional reform proposals for dialogue and discussion, while the Government, was busy using its two third majority to rush through yet another constitutional amendment, this one reducing even further the very limited and truncated devolution of political power existing under the current13^th amendment to the Constitution.

The UNP proposals are a basis for a broader coalition

UNP Constitutional Proposals Verses the Rajapaksa Constitutional Amendment by nelvely

A Sri Lanka Summit Discredits The Commonwealth – Financial Times

By admin- Mon, Jun 24th, 2013

The world is so busy cheering on the emergence of democracy in Myanmar that it is in danger of averting its eyes from the assault on democracy in another Asian state – Sri Lanka.

In fact, the sins of the Sri Lankan government are not merely being ignored. They are about to be rewarded. This November Colombo is set to play host to the prestigious Commonwealth heads of government meeting. So far, of the 54 Commonwealth countries – more than a quarter of the members of the UN – only Canada has had the guts to say that it will not send its prime minister. But the leaders of the UK, Australia, India, South Africa and other democratic nations should feel sick about accepting the hospitality of a Sri Lankan government with a grim record of human-rights abuses.

(—–clipped —)

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The sad truth is that the Commonwealth heads of government will, in all likelihood, troop into Sri Lanka later this year. And the damage to the Commonwealth will not end there. Sri Lanka would then assume the chairmanship of the organisation for the next two years. That should just about finish off any claim the Commonwealth has to moral authority in world affairs.

gideon.rachman@ft.com

To Read the full article visit

A Sri Lanka summit discredits the Commonwealth

What Is Political Hypocrisy

 By R.M.B Senanayake -June 26, 2013 

R.M.B. Senanayake

Mr. Gamanpila of the JHU, sees no wrong in canvassing for the abolition of the Provincial Councils while continuing to hold office there-in. He has declined to resign from his membership of the Provincial Council. What do we make of this behavior? Should not a person behave in accordance with his beliefs? In common parlance this is called political hypocrisy. The concept of hypocrisy originally arose in the theatre where persons who were acting pretended to act out a behavior which in reality they were not. People who play a part are potentially unreliable, because they have more than one face they can display. So does not his continuing to serve in a Provincial Council  mean that Mr. Gamanpila does not believe that the Provincial Councils are a useless burden and should be abolished?

Hypocrisy always involves some inconsistency in behavior and behavior which is not in keeping with one’s beliefs. The absence of self-awareness can turn into a kind of deception of oneself or the people. The only sympathetic view of such behavior is that it is due to some kind of self deception.

Any sort of person who says “do as I say, not as I do,” is a hypocrite. An alcoholic parent or a smoking parent who tells his grown up teenager not to drink or smoke is a hypocrite. A person who preaches the value of vegetarianism but himself eats meat is a hypocrite. People think that whatever your principles are, you should believe and act in accordance with them. In the modern sense, a hypocrite is someone who criticizes something that he also does, or someone who acts in a manner that he specifically does not condone. This is considered to be a bad thing, in most cases, and there are plenty of idioms that express it when someone is acting in this manner. “The pot calling the kettle black,” is a classic one, and “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” is an equally popular saying.

But in politics Machiavelli argued for political hypocrisy. He wrote that princes have to at the outset of their career lie and deceive people. He pointed out that such behavior is necessary during the early part of one’s political career where one is weak or dependent on others. He said in times of weakness or dependence hypocrisy is the preferred mode of conducting politics for republics as well as principalities. Machiavellian ethics are specifically political ethics and he argued that instead of applying a pre-determined set of moral values to politics as to every other activity or relation,  the Prince should follow a set of rules for political activity that are justified by the unique character of that activity (politics). Certainly, he believed that the idea that political morality can be boiled down to a set of all-purpose maxims is itself an illusion.

Campaigning for something you don’t act out is hypocrisy. People think that whatever your principles are, you should believe in them and you should in your behavior conform to them. But hypocrisy has also come to describe public statements of principle that do not coincide with an individual’s private practices—indeed, this is what we most often mean by hypocrisy today, where the duplicity lies not in the concealment of one’s personal beliefs but in the attempt to separate off one’s personal behavior from the standards that hold for everyone else.

Non-Partisan Boards Of Ministers For Provincial Councils – Good Bad Or Indifferent

By R.M.B Senanayake -June 25, 2013 

R.M.B. Senanayake

It is usual for public spirited citizens to bemoan the partisanship of the political process and suggest that the parties should get together to run the Administration after the rivalry and posturing of the political parties at the election is over. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe has echoed the same sentiment and suggested that the Board of Ministers in the Provincial Councils should be drawn from all the political parties on the plausible argument that it will ensure less division and more co-operation among the parties in the Provincial Council (PC). He is of course referring to coalition governments at the PC level.

But this is to ignore the fundamentals of human nature. The rational model of behavior by politicians who will put the public interest ahead of their personal and private interest has been exploded in the literature of economics. Politicians are as much driven by self interest and extraneous interests like other human beings and to expect a nobler ideal from them is naïve. This point was shown by the Public Choice theorists like James Buchanan the Nobel Laurelist.  George Washington despised political parties and some the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy thought political parties should be abolished. But this has not happened. They are as much a part of representative democracy.

It is generally argued that single majority party governments are better than coalitions because they enable faster and decision making since all the Ministers belong to the same political party, while coalition governments find it difficult to reach decisions and to co-ordinate policy decisions. The Ministers will be accountable to different party leaderships and the political process affects the governance process as well. Power will be further divided if there are Deputy Ministers drawn from a different party than that which the Minister belongs to.

What is important to consider is whether the governance process will be more likely to work in the public interest if there is a coalition government rather than a single party government at the sub-national level. Judging from the way the present regime has formed coalitions through the offer of Ministerial posts which carry many perks and allowances which the public are called upon to fund, this is unlikely to make things better for the people. They will have to cough up more money to fund these dudes. Of course if a single party does not get an outright majority coalitions are inevitable. But to think it is an ideal is wrong.

There is not enough information available about how the Chief Ministers and the Board of Ministers in a P.C functions. Is the Chief Minister acting like a Prime Minister in the Westminster model or like an Executive President in our Presidential system? If it is the latter then the Board of Ministers are a mere aide playing a subordinate role in governance. How important is the Board of Ministers in a PC?

Any Board of Ministers as a policy making body at the PC is likely to lack the knowledge of the subjects at issue as well as the necessary operating and management experience. Much will depend on the bureaucracy. If the bureaucracy is appointed on political patronage then it would be below par and it will be a case of the blind leading the blind. A Coalition is more likely to use patronage to staff the bureaucracy. The Ministries are not fixed by law and the present regime has shown how their number can be increased without any administrative or functional rationale. So there seems to be no particular merit in the proposal of R.W.

Late September date for Lanka's northern polls

Monday, June 24, 2013,

Colombo: The long-awaited provincial council election in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north would be held in late September, the nation's poll Chief said on Monday. 

"Most likely it will be either on September 21 or 28," Election Chief Mahinda Deshapriya told reporters here. 

He said the number of nomination papers filed by political parties and interested groups to contest the election would have a bearing on his decision to decide the date. 

Deshapriya also said that elections for two other provinces, north western and central, would also be held on the same date. 

However, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is yet to make the official announcement on holding the northern election.

Presidential sources said the notice would come this week. 

The northern provincial council election is seen as crucial by international watchers who consider it a major step towards reconciliation with the island's Tamil minority since the end of a brutal three-decade-long civil war in 2009 when government troops finally crushed LTTE rebels fighting for a separate Tamil homeland. 

However, the government has held back the election as Sinhala nationalists within the ruling coalition have raised fears about Tamils gaining control of the province and pursuing their separatist agenda. 

The government has contemplated a move to water down the provincial powers, particularly the right of the provinces to merge with another to form a joint administration and control of the provincial police and land mass. 

Rajapaksa has called for setting up a Parliamentary Select Committee to look at changes to the thirteenth amendment (13A) of the Constitution under which the provincial councils entered Sri Lanka's statutes in 1987.

Concerned over reports of Sri Lanka considering removal of land and police powers prior to the northern elections, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had spoken to his Sri Lankan counterpart G L Peiris last month and underlined the need to leave the 13A unchanged, urging Colombo not to take any step contrary to its own commitments relating to the 13A. 

PTI 

The Politics Of The 13A And Election To The NPC: The Stakes Involved

By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe -June 25, 2013

Ajit Rupasinghe

The constitutional assault on the 13A is the follow up to the military conquest and occupation and political subjugation of the Tamil Nation by the Sri Lankan State commanded by the Rajapakse Regime. The legal andconstitutional denial of any form of nationhood and statehood to the Tamil people cohabiting historically in the North-East is the singular objective behind the mounting assault on the 13A. This assault is to constitutionallydeclare the nullification of the political and legal status of the Tamil Nation and establish the undivided and undisputed supremacy of the Sinhala-Buddhist Nation throughout the Land. What is the driving need for the Regime to establish this chauvinist supremacy and enforce this form of absolute hegemonic dictatorship?  It is not a simply a problem of a poisoned ideology, nor of a deranged megalomania. It is not an issue about extremism and fundamentalist forces on the fringe bearing on the Regime.

The Politics of the 13A and Election to the NPC the Stakes Involved by nelvely

UPFA ministers oppose moves to dilute 13A

 June 25, 2013 

• Rajitha, DEW, Tissa, Reginald vow to defeat constitutional amendment to slash powers of PCs
• Claim a silent majority is building against the amendments in Government
• Call on two major political parties to build consensus on power devolution

Divisions within the ruling UPFA coalition on the issue of diluting the 13th Amendment to the Constitution were laid bare yesterday when a group of senior Government Ministers publicly proclaimed their opposition to the move and vowed to defeat moves to reduce the powers of the provincial councils.
“The Government will not receive a two thirds majority in Parliament for a revision of the provincial council system through a constitutional amendment,” Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne told a news conference yesterday.
Minister Senaratne was joined by his ministerial colleagues Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, D.E.W. Gunesekera and Reginald Cooray in a rare public display of dissent within the ruling coalition at a press conference at the Lanka Sama Samaja Party Headquarters.
The Ministers said that there was a silent majority within the Government to defeat moves to dilute the powers of the provincial councils. Senior Minister Prof. Vitharana said that the group that had gathered under the banner ‘Let’s build a united Lankan nationality’ would not support any moves to dilute the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. “In fact the 13th Amendment and provincial council powers should be strengthened further and not reduced,” he said.
Former Constitutional Affairs Minister D.E.W. Gunesekera told the media briefing that the country’s ethnic conflict should not be used by politicians to gain political mileage again. He warned against the dangers of irking India over the moves to dilute the provisions of 13A that governed the provincial council system set up under the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.

Gunasekara said that a common consensus should be achieved by the country’s two main political parties – the SLFP and the UNP to arrive at a permanent solution to the national problem. He said there was a need to decentralise power to make democracy more meaningful.
Minister Senaratne said that if the Parliamentary Select Committee set up to advice on Constitutional reform recommends the dilution of the 13th Amendment, they would question the Committee on what threat the amendment truly posed.
Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara told the press briefing that the people of the north should be given the opportunity to elect their public representatives freely. “President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the cabinet once that there was no point even paving the roads in the north in gold if you don’t give them the right to elect their representatives,” Nanayakkara recalled. Minister Nanayakkara said they stood for an unitary state including the provincial council system.
“The JHU and the National Freedom Front were attempting to dilute the 13A because the two parties could never contest elections in the north. “Why can’t they? That is because they pursue a Sinhala only ideology,” Nanayakkara said. The Minister said that the solution of these two parties according to their political ideology was to prevent the northern election. “Their path to unifying Sri Lanka is to keep the north permanently under the rule of the Sinhala administration. That is why they want a military officer as a Governor of that province. They want a military administered north,” Minister Nanayakkara charged.
Minister Reginald Cooray said the SLFP does not approve the proposal to revise the 13th Amendment.
Communist Party Member Minister Chandrasri Gajadeera and Secretary of the Socialist United Front Raja Kollure also attended the meeting. Government constituent ally, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress who has eight seats in Parliament, has also expressed its opposition to moves to dilute the 13th Amendment.
In the face of mounting pressure domestically and from New Delhi about attempts to scuttle post-war devolution, the Government has decided to amend the 13th Amendment to the Constitution ahead of the northern provincial council election. (DB)

Promoting Accountability Internationally

By Rajiva Wijesinha -June 25, 2013 

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) invited me recently to a seminar which was essentially on the post-conflict situation, though it had a more philosophical title, as is required to attract funding. I felt ICES should have invited many more people who were not quite so single-mindedly opposed to the government as were almost all their speakers (except for Michael Roberts, who is no great defender of the regime, though he is an objective enough scholar to see where prejudices against government should be combated).

Mario thought many people had been asked, but this turned out to be an illusion. He also thought that some of the names we discussed had received the call for papers, but this was completely wrong. I certainly had not, nor had Pradeep Jeganathan and Jeevan Thiagarajah, who had been pillars of ICES before Rama Mani ran down the funds while trying to turn it into a proconsular palace for Gareth Evans.

LLRC members

More worryingly, ICES had not gone out actively to seek papers to ensure balance. Mario thought that some of the LLRC members had been asked, as was certainly desirable given that the LLRC figured so large in the deliberations, but only one of them had been, and he had not been asked for a paper.

Dayan Jayatilleka had not been asked to present in the discussion on the Human Rights Council, and given that ethics figured large in the title and in some of the abstracts – though I heard little about this in the sessions I was able to attend – it was sad that one of the few Sri Lankans to have published internationally on the subject was not encouraged to participate.

Jeevan Thiagarajah had not even been invited to the seminar, though I gather that he has been asked to another by the Kandy branch of ICES, which Rama Mani, and then the hatchet men who succeeded her, had wanted to suppress. I can understand though that Jeevan is still feared by the ICES establishment, because he had in fact been Neelan‘s choice to succeed him, and the move to carry that plan out had only been stopped by a fiendish combination of Sithy Tiruchelvam and Radhika Coomaraswamy. The latter had paid out a million rupees from ICES to Sithy soon after Neelan’s death, with no mandate from the ICES Board, and Sithy had then consolidated control of the Board, while Radhika became Executive Director.

This indulgence was in part because of what I term Sri Lankan softness, the idea that, since Sithy had suffered because of Neelan’s assassination, she needed to be treated with kid gloves.

Foreign funders

Indeed I remember, when Gananath Obeysekera stepped in to perpetuate the control of those who resented the exposure of Rama Mani, he told me he was essentially concerned about Sithy, a sympathy which governed others too.

But what is unforgivable is the failure of the foreign funders to have exercised due controls. In a context in which transparency and accountability are supposed to be essential for good governance, it is hypocritical to say the least that all this was ignored as far as ICES was concerned.

Radhika’s preposterous explanation for the ravages into funding that occurred in her time, that she simply signed what the Accountant put in front of her, seems to have been generally accepted, with no effort to find out what happened to the money, and whether some of what was used for Sithy’s personal expenses, including use of vehicles etc, can be recovered.

I do not know if Mario will be able to ensure full accountability, but I hope he will try. If ICES is to go back to what Neelan envisaged, accountability is essential.

Constitutional Changes Must Not Fuel Separatism – Sarath N. Silva 

By Nadine Mariah-Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sarath N. Silva

Sarath N. Silva, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka interrogated the government’s commitment to national reconciliation in light of the proposed 19th Amendment to the Constitution: specifically commenting on the repealing of the provision for two or more Provincial Councils (PC) to merge, and the need for all (PCs) to approve any legislative changes to the Constitution.

Constitutional Changes Must Not Fuel Separatism – Sarath N. Silva by nelvely

BBS Tamil wing ‘Dravida Sena’ also unleashes terror – Muslim shop attacked and set fire to in Batticaloa
(Lanka-e-News-24.June2013.11.00PM) The Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS), the government sponsored extremist terror group which is unleashing violence Island wide against Muslims and Catholics has commenced a Tamil wing named “Dravida Sena” in the eastern province, according to reports reaching Lanka e news.

The founder of this “Dravida Sena” is none other than the erstwhile notorious LTTE member and ex chief Minister of the eastern province , Pillayan. This group had started a campaign against the Muslims. As part of this campaign they are distributing handbills and pasting posters instructing the Tamil people to boycott Muslim business places. As with every government sponsored group which knows only killing , looting and plundering , so is this group , which had attacked a Muslim business place in Urukamam, Batticaloa and set fire to it. The victim of this violence and arson is a Muslim businessman , Seeni Mohomed . Though he had made a complaint to the Karadiyanaru police , nobody has been arrested yet.

It is learnt that this criminal “Dravida Sena” is not only against the Muslims , but also against the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) political party , and is supported by the SL defense secretary alias criminal offence secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse.
Pillayan was a child soldier under the LTTE child soldier leader Karuna Amman. His duties at that time were to rob vehicles , change the vehicle color and add to the LTTE fleet of LTTE administrative divisions.. After Karuna Amman deserted the LTTE , Pillayan was carrying on his terror killings ,a favorite hobby of his. Subsequently , he left Karuna Amman and joined President Rajapakse’s regime , perhaps because he felt he can carry on his killing and abducting occupation safely , secretly and with more security under Rajapakse ,who has strange evil powers of a despot under the present system to rescue criminals even when proved guilty , rule of law regardless.

Like how Pillayan saw in Rajapakse regime the right environment to protect himself and hide his criminal character , Rajapakse saw in Pillayan the right criminal to accomplish the regime’s hidden criminal agendas and goals. The natural outcome : Rajapakses appointed Pillayan as the chief Minister of the eastern province. Now , Pillayan has founded the “Dravida Sena” of the Rajapakses sponsored BBS extremist terror force. Unofficial reports say , Minister Douglas Devananda ‘s henchmen are also extending support to this terror force. 

No matter what , the “Dravida Sena” Tamil wing of the BBS is also going to function in the future as a Rajapakses’ paramilitary terror group.

Stirring The Pot

By Hameed Abdul Karim -June 26, 2013 

Hameed Abdul Karim

If anybody was looking for reasons why India split into two creating Pakistan and later Bangladesh or why Kashmir wants to be free of Indian rule, Ram Madhav of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) provides the perfect answer in his pro-Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) article that also contained intimidating views on Muslims that appeared in the state owned Daily News of Monday 17t^h June 2013. Ram Madhav’s article is essentially for sections of a Hindu audience in India pandering to the strongly cultivated prejudices that have been created in their minds against Islam and Christianity. The Hindus in Sri Lanka would be bewildered over Madhav’s claims about the Bodu Bala Sena and maybe laugh away his white washing of this anti-minorities organisation.

Stirring the Pot by nelvely

The government is overlooking the Matale mass grave, says JVP

2013-06-25 

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) alleged that the government is trying to evade taking action on the Matale mass grave, by diverting public attention towards the appointment of a Presidential Commission to carry out investigations on the issue.

In a media statement, the JVP pointed out that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed the Presidential Commission for the mass grave investigation, when an inquiry is already in progress at the Matale Magistrate Court.

"The government did not want to appoint any commission prior to this; they were trying to get away with the statement that the skeletons found in the mass grave belonged to various time periods. However, the situation is totally different now. Medical officers revealed that the skeletons belong to the period of 1987-89 and many people have filled petitions claiming that the skeletons found are the remains of their relatives. Additionally, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) extended their support to the petitioners. Given the nature of the circumstances, the sudden appointment of a presidential commission is very suspicious," the JVP statement said.

JVP also pointed out that in 1995 too, a presidential commission was appointed by the former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to investigate on missing people and abductions during 1988-89 period, but none of the recommendations of that committee were implemented.

The 1995 committee was headed by T. Sundaralingam and it was appointed to probe into disappearances and abductions in the Central, North Western, Uva and the North Central provinces. The commission started investigations in March 1995 and it inquired into about 775 cases, of which 225 inquiries were in regard to the Central Province.

The committee report revealed that some powerful politicians, police and army personnel were responsible for these cases of missing people and abductions.

Among the recommendations of the committee, are the conducting of impartial investigations by a special team on abductions and disappearances, taking action against those who were named as responsible for these losses, compensating families who lost their relatives due to these abductions, and issuing death certificates for those who have gone missing.

JVP urges the government to take action against those who were identified as being responsible for these crimes by 1995 presidential committee, instead of appointing another presidential committee to repeat the same task.

"We request the government to not to interfere with the work of the judiciary regarding the Matale mass grave by appointing presidential commissions. The government just needs to focus on implementing the recommendations of the previous presidential committee," the statement reiterated.

Lankan Military officers withdrawn from India

Two officers who were following the Defence Services Staff Course (DSSC) in Wellington, India returned to the island prematurely. 

Due to some security concerns the Indian Government had offered to transfer these two officers from DSSC Wellington to Higher Defence Management Course (HDMC) in the College of Defence Management, Secundrabad. Higher Defence Management Course normally followed by senior officers in the rank of Colonel is a higher course in scope. 

The Sri Lankan authorities whilst appreciating this offer kindly declined as it was observed that the HDMC was not in line with the initial purpose of sending these two officers for training in India. 

Moreover, a higher course with an entirely different scope would neither benefit the officers nor the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in immediate future employment of these officers.  Hence, the Sri Lankan Government made a request to withdraw the two officers from DSSC course and accordingly they returned to the island this morning (25 June 2013).

Further, it is reiterated that this withdrawal does not in any way hamper the growing relationship and training partnership between the Armed Forces of India and Sri Lanka.

The Indian Armed Forces are key partners in professional career development of Officers, soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.  This valuable training engagement has a history of over 4 decades and has seen progressive improvement in the recent past.  There have been difficulties in training Sri Lankan military personnel in some training facilities in India. (Info Dept)