Video: All governmental brats do such things; Harin

Video: All governmental brats do such things; Harin

THURSDAY, 04 JULY 2013

One couldn’t blame Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s son alone for misbehavior in a situation where children of other ministers were also up to various mischief, United National Party (UNP) charged today.

“Sons of other prominent members of the government are even going to the extent of assaulting people,” UNP Badulla District MP Harin Fernando told journalists.

Mr. Fernando claimed that foreign passengers who were on the aircraft on which Minister Rambukwella’s son was flying had shouted ‘Asian idiots, Asian idiots’ when he mistakenly tried to open the cabin door.

He said children of several ministers and even the sons of Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne are to contest the Provincial Council elections.

 He said advertisements of these ruling party candidates have come up in news papers even before the elections are declared.(Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana) (Pix by Pradeep Pathirana)

►WATCH

Video:

Ramith Rambukwella says he was sleep-walking-Attempt to open aircraft cabin door in mid-air

By Norman Palihawadana-July 3, 2013, 10:24 pm 

Sri Lanka ‘A’ team cricketer Ramith Rambukwella, the son of Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Ramukwella, said yesterday that he had been sleep-walking when he tried to open the cabin door of a British Airways passenger flight at a height of 35,000 feet. He said he had not been drunk.

Rambuwella junior told The Island that he had been somnambulist since his childhood and had not been aware of what he was doing when he tried to force open the exit door of the British Airways flight from St. Lucia to Gatiwick.

"It was only very much later that I realised what had happened.

Rambukwella said: “We were too tired and had not been able sleep the previous day due to our busy schedule. I am not stupid to open a cabin door in midair. As for those who complain and accuse me of being drunk, all I have to say is to wait till the medical reports are released. They would show whether any alcohol was in my blood. The British Airways has already released a report with regard to this incident,"

Teacher allegedly blackmailed in Colombo

Police rescued Mullaitivu youths to be killed by underworld members [ Thursday, 04 July 2013, 05:57.14 AM GMT +05:30 ] Police have arrested four suspects abducting and attempting to kill two youths from Mullaitivu area. Traffic police arrested these suspect while taking victims towards Mathugama area and rescued two youths. Abductors have detained these two youths at Kalutara area to obtain Rs.16 million from asylum seekers sent to Australia recently. During the time of investigations it was revealed Rs.1 million handover to underworld group members to kill these two victims.

Teacher allegedly blackmailed in Colombo

THURSDAY, 04 JULY 2013 

A 26-year-old female teacher of a Colombo school had been allegedly blackmailed into sex by an airman who had an affair with her before she married.

The airman had allegedly threatened to post her nude photos and videos on internet, the Police said.

The Slave Island police said they were currently conducting investigations to trace the suspect using his mobile phone number.

Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage issued an order directing the mobile telephone company that a report pertaining to the telephone conversations alleged to have been made by the suspect be given to the police for investigations.

In her complaint with the Slave Island Police, the female teacher from Dehiattakandiya told police that she got to know an airman and used to meet him in a room in Pettah, Colombo.

The complainant further told police that on one occasion the airman had coaxed her to be videoed in the nude.

She also said that she got married a month ago and alleged that the airman constantly asked her to come with him even after her marriage and thereafter threatened to post her nude photos and videos on the internet.

The complainant had asked police an investigation be conduct into the incident since she had been distressed over the incident. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

Ex-Tamil Nadu cop seeks probe into KP’s role in Rajiv killing

July 3, 2013

By S Venkat Narayan Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, July 3: A former Tamil Nadu police inspector who was part of the crack Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team that probed Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991 is now seeking further investigation into the role played by Kumaran Pathmanathan, or KP, the former arms procurer of the LTTE.

J Mohanraj, a CBI inspector who took voluntary retirement in 1997, approached the Madras High Court on Tuesday with a petition to this effect.

The Bench hearing the case admitted the petition and ordered that notices be issued to the Central Government, to be responded by August 5.

Mohanraj petitioned the court to question KP, the former chief arms procurer of the LTTE rebels, on the conspiracy behind the assassination that is still being investigated by the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) headed by the CBI, comprising IB, RAW and Revenue Intelligence.

There was an allegation that the explosives used in the assassination were sent to Chennai from Singapore by KP. The Jain Commission that probed the killing had said in its report that KP had prior knowledge of the plot. But the CBI did not make any effort to arrest and question him, said Mohanraj.

After KP’s arrest by Sri Lankan government in 2009, the cases against him were repealed and he is a free man in Sri Lanka now, he added.

Gandhi was killed by Dhanu, an LTTE woman suicide-bomber, at an election rally at Sriperambathur near Chennai on the night of 21 May 1991.

Lincoln, Mandela and Obama: Lessons for Leaders Over Three Centuries

Arianna Huffington-07/03/2013

I'm happy to be back breathing the hot and muggy-though-wonderfully-sea-level air of New York, having just returned from the Aspen Ideas Festival. There were, as usual, many great speakers, but one of the speeches that became the talk of the festival was by Nancy Koehn, a professor at the Harvard Business School. Though she teaches at the business school, Koehn is actually an historian and the speech, titled "Crisis Leadership: Lessons for Here and Now," was about lessons we can learn about leadership from the experiences of Abraham Lincoln and the explorer Ernest Shackleton. (You can watch the whole thinghere.)

Lincoln, Mandela and Obama Lessons for Leaders Over Three Centuries by nelvely

The Many Dimensions Of Surveillance

By Malinda Seneviratne -July 4, 2013

Malinda Seneviratne

Edward Snowden was unknown, just as Julian Assange was a nonentity until he blew a whistle.   The disclosures regarding the extent, pernicious character and the political economy of surveillance has raised the ire of a lot of people.  Americans of the United States, in particular, are livid about this invasion of privacy, apparently sanctioned by the self-appointed high priests of democracy and freedom (not just for the citizens of that country but the rest of the world as well) themselves.

The Many Dimensions of Surveillance by nelvely

Asia's unknown uprisings

Asia's unknown uprisings

Details

 

Created On Thursday, 04 July 2013 13:13

Category: General

A conversation on the Kangju uprising of 1980 and uprisings in the Philippines, Burma, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia recorded on video. 

 We are pleased to announce a video presentation of the conversation between George Katsiaficas, the author of two volumes on Asia's Unknown Uprisings and Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The video was produced on behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission by Ms. Josefina Bergsten.

The first volume of Asia's Unknown Uprisings is on the South Korean social movements in the 20th Century (435 pages). The book covers a series of social movements in South Korea culminating in the Kwangju Uprising of 1980. There are separate chapters on the Jeju uprising and the Yeoson insurrection, the Finjung awakening and the struggles of the student movements. The book covers the Kwangju peoples' uprising at great length. It provides detailed accounts of the Kwangju people's resistance against the military takeover. The citizens held the city for several days and this situation is compared by George Katsiaficas with the historic Paris Commune.

Volume two of Asia's Unknown Uprisings covers the people's power uprising which overthrew the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, the 1988 uprising in Burma against General U Ne Win and uprisings in Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia.

In conversation with Basil Fernando, George Katsiaficas discusses these uprisings and their significance in understanding modern Asia as well as changes that are taking place in the world as a whole. Katsiaficas observes that these tremendously important social movements and uprisings have not received the attention they deserve. Particularly, western academic circles whose world views are based on Euro centrism, have failed to recognise what has been happening in the rest of the world. He notes that the Kwangju uprising in many ways is even more significant that the historic Paris Commune given the extent of the peoples participation and direct democracy that prevailed during the uprising.

George Katsiaficas may be contacted at: katsiaficas@gmail.com
A video presentation produced by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Commonwealth Secretary General avoids BBC

Details

 

Created On Thursday, 04 July 2013 07:06

Category: General

The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma and his spokesman have been avoiding the BBC despite a promise to allocate time for an interview, a journalist working for the BBC Sandeshaya has revealed.

In a Twitter conversation with Groundviews websites the journalist says that Mr. Sharma's spokesman Richard Uku promised to arrange an interview with the Secretary General but there was no response since then.

"Spokes Richard Uku promised to arrng int with Sec Gen but not even answers txt msgs now," said the Tweet sent by the journalist.

Tn response,Groundviews editor Sanjana Hattotuwa replied that Mr. Sharma & his spokesman's behaviour need to be exposed by media.

American feminist writer contrasts gender politics of LTTE and GoSL

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 July 2013, 23:51 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government has used rape against Tamil men and women suspected of being members of the LTTE [...] but the Tamil Tigers have seemingly not used it in retaliation,” writes American feminist writer Michele Lent Hirsch. In an article that is general commentary on the use of rape by both state and non-state actors in war published on Women Under Siege on Tuesday, the author compares and contrasts the gender politics of the LTTE with other actors in conflicts, and concludes that “if rape is not inevitable in war, it follows that we have all the more reason to hold the perpetrating groups responsible.” Commenting on this, a Tamil feminist activist from Vanni remarked that it is not only important to condemn rape in war in general, it is also important to recognize the nature of the sexual violence used in specific cases and to deal justice to survivors accordingly. 

Further observations from the Tamil activist follow:

While the Sri Lankan government calling itself a ‘democracy’ had used rape against the Tamils in the island before, during and after the armed struggle for Tamil Eelam, the de-facto state led by Pirapaharan’s LTTE, condemned by international powers as a ‘dictatorship’, had made exemplary efforts to create a gender-just society. 

The vision of the leadership was to forge an egalitarian society where discrimination and oppression based on one’s gender, caste or religion would not be tolerated. This was an intrinsic aspect of the ideology of Pirapaharan’s LTTE. 

Dr. N. Malathy in her book ‘A Fleeting Moment in my Country’ gives testimony to the nature of governance in the de-facto state and the progressive ideals that they tried to infuse into society. 

Feminists with a Liberal-Western orientation commenting on Pirapaharan’s LTTE without fail failed to take into account the nature of emancipatory Tamil nationalism that the movement espoused. 

Likewise, international organizations and media in the West and India were more content obsessing with the issue of child soldiers, and tried to vilify the de facto state through all means possible. 

In her article, Ms. Hirsch, while making some conceptually erroneous statements about the LTTE led armed struggle, has taken an effort to understand the gender politics of the LTTE, referring largely to Western sources.

The other limitation of the article is that it only focuses on the why rape was not used by the insurgents and on gender-inclusiveness only as a question of instrumentality rather than on the agency and ideology of the leadership in creating an active participation of women in the struggle. 

Her conclusion, however, is worthy in that she appeals to not treat war as an essential component of war but that to consider it as a question of choice by the actors involved, calling for a corresponding punishment of perpetrators. 

Rape against the Tamils in the island was not an ‘excess of war’. It was and is a planned strategy to break the social fabric of the Tamil nation. 

The New Delhi gang-rape case which happened some months back provoked sharp condemnations and reactions from the Left, Right and Centre in the Indian mainstream politics. But these political actors not only wilfully ignored rape used a genocidal weapon by the Sri Lankan state against the Eezham Tamils, they also continue to endorse the legitimacy of the Sri Lankan. There is no concrete difference between the politics of the BJP, Congress and CPM as far as the interests of our genocide-affected people are concerned. 

How would have the Indian activists protesting against the Delhi gang-rape case reacted had someone suggested that the family of the rape victim should pursue reconciliation with the rapists? But they have no qualms in denying retributive justice a la Nuremberg Trials to the Eezham Tamils and a political solution that would protect the Tamil nation from the essentially predatory Sinhala nationalism, suggesting instead that the Tamils should reconcile with their oppressors. 

It is this sense of international apathy towards the Tamils that allows the Sri Lankan state to commit its crimes with impunity. 

The physical trauma endured by Tamil women owing to abuse at the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence is one aspect. That the dimensions of the other aspect of cultural and psychological trauma that Tamil women in their homeland undergo everyday owing to the omnipresence of the Sinhala military have not been taken into critical consideration is a matter of lamentation. 

While every soldier occupying the Tamils’ homeland is complicit in the systematic crimes committed by the institution he serves, punishment of individual soldiers for crimes is irrelevant when the system is essentially genocidal. 

This is the reason that many Tamil feminist activists grounded in struggle conclude that it is impossible to talk about gender issues alone without addressing the chronic national question of the Eezham Tamils.

Why European nations must protect Edward Snowden

Why European nations must protect Edward Snowden

On October 12, 2012, the European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize for contributing to the “advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” The EU should show itself worthy of this honor and show its will to defend freedom of information, regardless of fears of political pressure from its so-called closest ally, the United States.

BY CHRISTOPHE DELOIRE & JULIAN ASSANGE-04 JULY 2013
Now that Edward Snowden, the young American who revealed the global monitoring system known as Prism, has requested asylum from 20 countries, the EU nations should extend a welcome, under whatever law or status seems most appropriate.

Although the United States remains a world leader in upholding the ideal of freedom of expression, the American attitude toward whistleblowers sullies the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A Democracy Long Gone

Joe Clifford Salem-News.com-Jul-02-2013 

Those who violate the law and our privacy are accountable to no one, while the hero with a conscience will be imprisoned for life.

boldprogressives.org

(JAMESTOWN, RI) - I no longer understand my country. The changes I see frighten me and the indifference of the public is in indication that freedom and democracy are on the verge of extinction. Democracy is based on openness and transparency; they cannot co-exist, as they are opposites. We have "secret courts", "secret laws", "secret trials", "secret judges", "secret kill lists" including Americans citizens, "secret prisons", where we do not know who is being held. The views of our Congressional delegation on "secrecy" apparently are a big "secret".

Why European Nations Must Protect Edward Snowden by nelvely

Another Attempt To Harass, Gunaratne Wanninayaka, The President Of Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyer’s Association

July 3, 2013 

Gunaratne Wanninayaka has complained to the police authorities that on June 24 some officers visited his house and made inquiries about him. Later at around 2:30 pm on the same day, two officers went to the court premises where  Wanninayaka usually practices and made inquiries about him and also looked for his car. These two officers approached him and asked for his business card under the pretext that they wished to consult him on a case.  Wanninayaka and several of his lawyer friends monitored the movements of these two officers and discovered that there was a second group of officers with the premises and these two officers approached them to seek instructions. The lawyers also discovered that these two officers arrived in a vehicle bearing number, GI 8786. This vehicle belongs to the Narcotics Branch and the lawyers were able to ascertain that these two officers were from that Branch.

Wanninayake

After lodging a complaint to the police, the police filed a case relating to this matter before the Magistrate’s Courts and the case is fixed for hearing tomorrow (July 4, 2013). Meanwhile the two police officers from the Narcotics Branch approached  Wanninayaka seeking a settlement on the pretext that, in fact, the officers were looking for someone else and they approached him on mistaken identity.

The lawyers do not believe that this explanation is plausible as  Wanninayaka is a well known lawyer in Sri Lanka. They are of the view that these officers were looking for  Wanninayaka and his vehicle as a part of some secret operation and possibly with the view to plant some evidence so that they could implicate him or his driver. They lawyers inquired as to the identity of the actual person the officers were looking for if indeed they were but the officers failed to answer this question.

Earlier when the impeachment proceedings were taking place against the Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranaykethere was an attempt on the life of  Wanninayaka. Some officers visited his home and tried to abduct him which was prevented due to the intervention of some neighbours. Despite of a complaint made to the police authorities by him and the Magistrate’s Courts Lawyer’s Association no credible inquiry has been held and no one has been arrested or prosecuted for the attempted abduction. Kindly see our earlier statement here.

Further, the Asian Human Rights Commission has repeatedly warned that there is a sophisticated intelligence operation being carried out against anyone who is perceived as a threat to the government. Wanninayaka is an active member of the opposition United National Party and also a very active member of the lawyer’s network which is fighting for the independence of the judiciary and lawyers. Clandestine attempts to implicate such persons are part of a scheme to blackmail and also to fabricate charges against them.

 *A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission

PSC will be nothing but a sub-committee of the Govt Parl. Group and will have no credibility whatsoever - TNA

PSC will be nothing but a sub-committee of the Govt Parl. Group and will have no credibility whatsoever - TNA

TNA decides not to participate in the PSC-

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) took a decision on the 29th of June 2013, not to participate in the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). At that time we said we would issue a full statement explaining this decision: 
When the Government originally announced that it wanted to set up a PSC, it was engaged in bilateral negotiations with the TNA. It was at a time when the Government had defaulted in its commitment to respond to the comprehensive proposals put forward by the TNA. Even so the TNA fully cooperated in the process of setting up of the PSC by seeking amendments to the Terms of Reference, upon an undertaking by the Government that the PSC process will commence only after a measure of consensus was reached between the two parties at the bilateral talks. It is the conduct of the Government that made it impossible to commence the PSC deliberations, despite the TNA making compromises at least three times, in order to break the deadlock and move forward. The following historic narrative will make this clear: 

PSC Will Be Nothing but a Sub Committee of the Govt Parl. Group and Will Have No Credibility Whatsoever TNA... by nelvely

Expelled German NGO in talks with TNA, TNPF, GTF

Expelled German NGO in talks with TNA, 

TNPF, GTF

By Shamindra Ferdinando
July 2, 2013, 9:33 pm 

A German NGO expelled from Sri Lanka, at the height of the Vanni offensive, is pushing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) as well as the most influential Diaspora grouping - the UK headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to adopt a common strategy on the national issue.

The TNPF headed by former MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam is a breakaway faction of the TNA. The TNA split in the wake of the LTTE battlefield defeat in May 2009 leading to the formation of the TNPF, which contested Jaffna and Trincomalee electoral districts at the April 2010 parliamentary election, on its own. The TNPF is not represented in parliament.

Authoritative sources told The Island that the TNA, TNPF and the GTF had recently met in Berlin under the auspices of the Berghof Foundation to discuss an entire range of issues, particularly the proposed first Northern Provincial Council election.

The NGO is funded by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Sources said that a two-day conference took place on June 22 and 23 with the participation of Suresh Premachandran (Jaffna District MP), M. A. Sumanthiran (National List MP) and Selvam Adaikalanathan (TELO leader and Vanni District MP) representing the TNA, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and S. Kajendran from the TNPF and GTF leader Rev. Father S.J Emmanuel and its spokesperson Suren Surendiran.

The British Tamil Forum (BTF) too, is believed to have participated in the discussions.

The Berghof Foundation suspended its operations in Sri Lanka late April 2008 subsequent to government decision to rescind a work permit issued to the then Country Director Dr. Nobert Ropers. The Berghof Foundation launched its project here in July 2001 on the invitation of the then government.

The TNA’s recent announcement that it would boycott the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to recommend ways and means of settling the national problem should be examined taking into consideration the deliberations made in Berlin, sources said. Responding to a query, an official said that the TNA and the TNPF were believed to be divided over their strategy in case the government called for northern provincial council elections even under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Sources speculated that TNPF was likely to boycott the elections widely expected to be held in September.

Sources said that Berghof Foundation sponsored two meetings for the same purpose in Singapore (April 2011) and Berlin (January 2013). Sources asserted that the project was aimed at agreeing on a roadmap to achieve their objectives, which remained the same in spite of eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military power.

At the inauguration of the TNPF, the party pledged it was committed to the concept of Tamil nationalism, homeland, Tamil nationhood, Tamil sovereignty and Tamils’ Right to self-determination. The All Ceylon Tamil Congress was the main constituent of the TNPF, they said.

Former TNA MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan had been an original member of the TNPF, sources said, adding that the majority of those who threw their weight behind the new party were close to the LTTE, particularly its top leadership.

Rajapaksa Government Playing Pandu With 13A

• Rift within govt over 13A comes out
• MR irked by ‘Mahindan Saranam Gatchcami’

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

The 13th Amendment drama enacted by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was in full swing last week with coalition members of the governing party openly criticizing each other on their stances on the move to amend the controversial piece of legislation.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, Rajitha Senaratne, R. Sampanthan and Somawansa Amarasinghe

The discussion over the 13th Amendment has resulted in many other issues losing its due focus.
A key issue that missed its due focus was the sudden transfer of the Matale Magistrate who was hearing the case on the Matale mass grave that saw the exhumation of 154 skeletal remains.
Forensic inquiries found the skeletal remains to be between the period of 1986 and 1990, during the period of the JVP insurgency.
The Matale Magistrate was hailed for her swift action in issuing directives to expedite the inquiry and on two occasions even faulted the CID for its failure to comply with the necessary procedures in conducting an investigation of such a nature.
When the case was being heard, the JVP in fact pointed out that given the Matale Magistrate’s commitment to delivering justice to the dead and the families who had lost their loved ones, would eventually result in a sudden transfer due to the involvement of government members in the mass grave saga.The Magistrate’s transfer follows the transfer of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Matale Hospital, Dr Ajith Jayasena.

Rajapaksa Government Playing Pandu With 13A by nelvely

Open warrant issued against LTTE ‘pitch invader’

Open warrant issued against LTTE ‘pitch invader’

WEDNESDAY, 03 JULY 2013 

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya today issued an open warrant to arrest Logeshwaran Manimaran who invaded the pitch at Cardiff Grounds in the United Kingdom (UK) carrying a ‘Tiger’ during the semifinals match on June 20, played between Sri Lanka and India in the ICC Champions trophy tournament.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya todayissued an open warrant to arrest Logeshwaran Manimaran who invaded the pitch at Cardiff Grounds in the United Kingdom (UK) carrying a ‘Tiger’ flag during the semifinals match on June 20, played between Sri Lanka and India in the ICC Champions trophy tournament.

The Magistrate issued an open warrant to arrest the suspect Logeswaran Manimaran alias Mohamed Raji, a British Citizen residing in the UK, for allegedly withdrawing cash from 10 ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) of several private banks in Sri Lanka by using fake credit cards.

He was alleged to have withdrawn money to the tune of nearly Rs. 3 million from the Hatton National Bank and the Commercial Bank.

The suspect was identified as the person who carried the ‘Tiger’ flag during the cricket match, after comparing the visuals recorded in the CCTV cameras fixed in the ATM cubicles.

After identifying the suspect the CID had questioned two other suspects, Ananda Ruban Kaladeepam and Balasubramanium Udyanan already in detained by the CID regarding the crime, who verified his identity.

They had told CID that Logeswaran Manimaran, the person who carried the ‘Tiger’ flag during the cricket match in Cardiff had come to Sri Lanka recently and executed the fraud.

CID Inspector D.A.M. Priyadarshana moved to court to issue a warrant for the suspect Logeswaran Manimaran’s arrest and have Interpol informed, as he had migrated to England and was absconding.

Magistrate Pilapitiya issued an open warrant to have the suspect arrested through Interpol and further inquiry was fixed for July 30.( TFT)

Electricity mafia causes losses amounting to millions

Details  Created On Wednesday, 03 July 2013 13:08 Category: General

The actions of the electricity mafia involving some private sector thermal power producers and officials in the CEB has caused daily losses amounting to millions of rupees in the country.

It has been estimates that the country is losing approximately Rs. 110 million a day due to the CEB’s decision to halt hydropower generation when all the reservoirs are filled to capacity.
The Advisor to the National Electricity Consumers Movement Bandula Chandrasekera has said that due to unscheduled maintenance and sudden breakdowns at some hydropower plants, as claimed by the CEB, the national grid has been deprived of around 195 MW of hydropower.
The CEB has therefore made arrangements to purchase thermal power from private suppliers at much higher rates.
The cost to produce one unit of hydropower is less than Rs. 3.50 while thermal power purchased from private suppliers varies between Rs. 20 to Rs 40 per unit.

Trying To Plant Drugs In A Lawyer’s Car?

By Basil Fernando -July 3, 2013 

Basil Fernando

The strange riddle that the Magistrate’s Court of Colombo must now untangle is this: what is the plot that the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) was trying to hatch against the well-known Hultsdorf lawyer Gunaratne Wanninayaka and why was such a plot considered necessary in the first place? Perhaps the more important question is as to who was directing the PNB to do this. The natural question that follows is, whether the mover behind this plot is the same one that was behind the previous one that failed, which was the abduction attempt.

The answer, of course, is quite simple; the hidden director will never be revealed. This is indeed a Kafkaesque situation. At least that part is not very strange in Sri Lanka. Many people are faced with similar situations, although the agents who carry out such plots may vary from incident to incident. The general suspicion is that the director behind all such attempts is more or less one and the same.

The suspicion of Mr. Wanninayaka, as he told the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) over the telephone, is that the visit of the two PNB officers to his home and the Magistrate’s Court premises was to implicate him in some serious crime. A few other lawyers that the AHRC has spoken to said that it is most likely that there was an attempt to plant some narcotics, either to implicate Mr. Wanninayaka directly, or indirectly through his driver.

These suspicions are supported by the failure on the part of the two PNB officers to provide a plausible explanation about their visits to his house and the courts where he practices. They tried to get away with the explanation that this was a matter of mistaken identity. However, when asked who they were really looking for, they were unable to reply.

In Sri Lanka the phrase ‘mistaken identity’ is rather terrifying. When a group of police officers from the Wattale police station arrested and brutally tortured Gerald Perera to the extent of causing renal failure, which placed him in a coma for over two weeks, their final explanation was ‘mistaken identity’. When he later challenged them about the mistreatment he endured, their next move was to assassinate him.

The dangers of taking the public interest seriously

That is the kind of situation that the lawyer Mr. Wanninayaka is in at the moment. Had the plot succeeded, it is not difficult to see what his predicament might have been; a charge for a non-bailable offence. Now that he has been able to uncover the plot, he faces the same problem as Gerald Perera did when he challenged his torturers. This is the kind of situation that many people are now facing in Sri Lanka. On the one hand, there are plots hatched against them; and on the other, if they were to expose and challenge those plots, they face an even worse situation.

Someone may well ask what Mr. Gunaratne Wanninayaka did to deserve such treatment from an agency of his government. The public record is that Mr. Wanninayaka is a reputed lawyer and that he takes the public interest seriously. In Sri Lanka, taking the public interest seriously is now treated as a heinous crime.

Such reactions to those who take public interest seriously expose the core of the political situation in Sri Lanka. The machinery of the security state, run by a hidden director, which operates through several government agencies, is aimed against those who manifest any sign of the possession of a public conscience. To remain silent in the face of blatant illegality and injustice is a requirement for anyone who wishes to be left ‘in peace’. The others face the option of ‘resting in peace’. The latest episode in this saga is the situation faced by the lawyer Mr. Wanninayaka, who publically stands up for lawyers, the independence of the judiciary and for free and fair elections.