Spotlight On The North 

• Push to have foreign polls monitors gathers pace

By Easwaran Rutnam-Saturday, July 13, 2013

Freign monitors are expected to be present for the Northern Provincial Council elections

As the spotlight shifts to the North after President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a proclamation for the Northern Provincial Council to be formed and elections to be held, there is now a push to have foreign monitors to ensure that the election is free and fair.
Election monitors say there need to be foreign monitors at the crucial election and Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya echoed those views last week.
Executive Director of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Keerthi Tennakoon said that representatives from political parties and the Election Commissioner discussed the possibility of foreign election monitors observing the elections even before the Northern Provincial Council election was officially announced.

Spotlight On The North by nelvely

GoSL Welcomes All Journalists To Sri Lanka To Cover CHOGM 2013

July 13, 2013 

“The Government of Sri Lanka, as host of CHOGM 2013, welcomes all journalists to Sri Lanka to cover this very important summit. As a member of the Commonwealth of Nations for more than 60 years, Sri Lanka remains fully committed to Commonwealth values, including a free press”, says the Chairman of the Media/Publicity/ICT Sub-Committee and Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath.

Herath’s today clarification came after media reports and direct tweets to him seeking answers to the open threats made by diplomat Bandula Jayasekara, the Consul General in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.

Read More

TNA stands firm on 13th Amendment panel

Speculation on boycott ending after talk with Rajapaksa- July 13, 2013

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan met President Mahinda Rajapaksa here on Friday, prompting speculation of a shift in TNA’s position on being part of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) studying the 13th Amendment.

However, highly placed sources in TNA told The Hindu that there was no change in the Alliance’s decision to boycott the PSC.

A statement from TNA on Friday said Mr. Sampanthan met the President on his invitation, and they had a cordial meeting with discussion on land rights and resettlement in the north. “The President expressed his desire to solve all outstanding issues relating to the national question,” it said.

According to the statement, Mr. Sampanthan reiterated TNA’s commitment to the evolution of an acceptable, workable and durable political solution, within the framework of a united undivided country.

The meeting — held just a couple of days after National Security Adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon’s visit to Colombo — has assumed significance in political circles here, as it is seen as the government’s attempt to reach out to TNA.

TNA has boycotted the PSC “due to the government’s moves to incrementally water down the already-limited provisions of the 13th Amendment”, according to its statement on the PSC.

During Mr. Menon’s visit, Mr. Rajapaksa had told him that the PSC was the best forum to reach a consensus on the implementation of the 13th Amendment, which followed the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987. He had observed that TNA’s participation in the PSC was important.

TNA’s stance has been that: “In the absence of any Opposition member of parliament, this PSC will be nothing but a sub-committee of the Government Parliamentary Group and not a Parliamentary Select Committee and will have no credibility whatsoever,” as has been said it its detailed statement on the PSC.

Even as United National Party, the main opposition, and TNA stay away from the PSC, local media reported that the PSC would seek public opinion on the issue.

Election mode

TNA, over the last few days, is also trying to settle some differences within the Alliance on the choice of chief ministerial candidate. While one section is keen on fielding former Supreme Court judge C. V. Vigneswaran, others have been backing TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah based in Jaffna.

With barely two months for Northern Provincial Council Polls, the country is getting into election mode. Nominations, according to the Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, will be accepted from July 25 to August 1.

A Tale Of Two Brotherhoods: The Rajapaksa And The Muslim

By Rajan Philips -July 14, 2013

Rajan Philips

There is no direct comparison between what began as a High Noon drama in Egypt two weeks ago, and what has been going on for quite a while in Colombo as a low level street theatre involving 13A.  The comparison, if at all, lies in the main orchestrators and actors in the Egyptian showdown and their counterparts in Sri Lanka.  In Egypt, the army, the Muslim Brotherhood and their extremist variants, and the vocally united but otherwise hopelessly divided secular opposition are all in play, in full public view, on the political stage that is the state itself.  The Sri Lankan situation is less dramatic but more insidious.  There are also striking contrasts while a parallel might be seen in the preoccupation with constitution making in both Egypt and Sri Lanka.

There is a brotherhood of a different kind in Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksa brotherhood constitutes the regime, controls the army, and orchestrates the extremists among the Sinhalese, who without the regime’s support and protection will be run out of town in no time by the real majority of the Sinhalese people. The opposition to the regime in Sri Lanka is nowhere near the opposition in Egypt by any measure. Remarkably, it is the opposition in Egypt that gave the Egyptian army the justification to dismiss the regime of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. But one must be crazily out of touch with reality to envisage a parallel development in Sri Lanka. The thrust of my argument, however, is that Sri Lanka is heading towards a situation that Egypt is trying to escape from.        

A Coup by some other name         Read More

Youth killed after being knocked down by UPFA MP

2013-07-13 

A 22 year old youth travelling on a motorbike has died after colliding with a cab driven by a UPFA MP of the Dambulla Municipal Council, the Police Media Unit told Ceylon Today Online.

The Matale Police have arrested the UPFA MP of the Dambulla Municipal Council in connection to the incident.

The incident has occurred at the Matale area last night, while another individual who was also travelling in the motorbike and had sustained injuries in the incident has been admitted to the Matale Hospital.

The cab and motorbike had collided head- on, while the deceased youth had died on the spot.

The arrested UPFA MP of the Dambulla Municipal Council is due to be produced before the Matale Magistrate's Court today.(Ceylon Today Online)

One dead, 88 rescued in Australia refugee boat sinking SATURDAY, 13 JULY 2013 Australian authorities were scouring remote seas for survivors on Saturday after a people-smuggling boat carrying 97 went down, with 88 people rescued so far and the body of a baby found. Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the boat first issued a distress call in rough seas north of Christmas Island, between Australia and Indonesia, on Friday morning. Rescuers were unable to reach the scene until 10:00 pm (1200 GMT), and a short time later Clare said a huge wave broke over the boat and it began to sink. "Last night our officers have rescued 88 people and they've recovered the body of a little baby boy," Clare told reporters, adding that the infant was reportedly less than a year old. "The advice to me is that there were 97 people on board and a search and rescue effort is happening right now."

Jaffna’s Upcoming Elections: Caste Ramifications

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole -July 14, 2013 

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Caste: Compromised Conscience

Caste is a fact of life in Sri Lanka and its elections. No one talks about it. Some religions sanction it, defining dharma as caste duty. Others are ideologically opposed to it but compromised. For, going against the system has consequences as in marriage.

The America Ceylon Mission in Jaffna undermined caste much, but in 1826, because Church 

expansion required respectable converts, it targeted agriculturists, saying “Vellalas are emphatically our people.” They opened up a female boarding school so that agriculturist boys may marry Christian agriculturist girls; otherwise they would marry their Hindu cousins when they went home,  leading to reversion. Accordingly the Church even supplied a dowry. As the Church compromised, she also worked for the conversion of the low-castes. Depressed areas like Ariyalai West were converted by St. John’s’ The Rev. Canon SS Somasundaram and Chundikuli’s Muriel Hutchins who cooked and ate with them, holding night classes over the Hindu Schools Board’s objections. I was recently at a community function when an elder tearfully recalled these.

As with churches so it is in politics. Egalitarian parties need to compromise against what their hearts tell them is right just to win elections.                                    Read More

Planter’s family alleges complicity of police in Deraniyagala killing*NPC won’t act without complaint

By Shamindra Ferdinando-July 12, 2013

Relatives of murdered planter Nallaperuma Arachchige Nihal Perera are calling for a high level investigation into the alleged complicity of the Deraniyagala police in the killing. They say that those responsible for the crime had been operating with the knowledge of the local police.

A spokesperson for the family told The Island that the Deraniyagala police made an abortive bid to have the post mortem performed at the Kegalle hospital. Responding to a query, the spokesperson claimed that the local police had conspired with those involved in the killing to move the body out of the area to prevent public protests.

Perera (69) succumbed to his injuries at the Deraniyagala hospital on the afternoon of July 5 after being assaulted by a group of persons, allegedly led by a local SLFP politician, one-time Chairman of Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha, Anil Champika.

The planter had earned the wrath of the gang by thwarting its attempts to remove property belonging to Noori estate in the Deraniyagala electorate.

In the wake of allegations against the Deraniyagala police, police headquarters transferred Deraniyagala OIC, Nimal Dharmapriya Gunawardena to Padukka pending an investigation.

The family said that the National Police Commission (NPC) should examine the failure on the part of the Deraniyagala police to take pre-emptive action in spite of a complaint the victim had lodged with the police. The family said that the NPC should intervene without further delay to ensure a proper investigation.

Director Public Complaints of the NPC Ariyadasa Cooray yesterday told The Island that the NPC, like the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, couldn’t initiate an investigation on its own. When pointed out that both the print and electronic media had extensively reported the incident, Cooray stressed the NPC had to no option but to follow guidelines.

According to the family, about 15 persons had been involved in the day time attack. The gang targeted the planter as well as three of his bodyguards, the family said, claiming that the severely wounded couldn’t be moved to the Deraniyagala hospital as local people feared to provide assistance. Those who owned vehicles simply refused to help as they didn’t want to earn the wrath of gangsters, the family said.

The family had to seek intervention of the Defence Ministry to get the body released around midnight on July 5 after the Deraniyagala police said that Avisswella Magistrate couldn’t be asked to visit the crime scene and the hospital on that day. However, following the Defence Ministry intervention, the police escorted the magistrate to the scene of the crime before visiting the hospital for the magisterial inquiry.

On a request made by the family, the Avissawella Magistrate directed Deraniyagala police to move the body to Avisswella hospital instead of Kegalle as earlier planned. The Magistrate rapped Inspector Gunawardena for ordering the transfer of the body the Kegalle hospital.

The family said that the Avissawella Magistrate also directed the police to facilitate the presence of Colombo Judicial Medical Officer at the post mortem at the Avisswella hospital. Responding to a query, the family said that due to the Avissswella Magistrate’s intervention, they were able to secure the body around midnight and move it to Avissawella for the post mortem held on July 6.

However the Magistrate declined a request by the family to cremate the body due to ongoing investigation. Directing the body to be buried, the magistrate said that it would probably have to be exhumed for further investigations.

Police headquarters said that the former Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman was among 19 suspects arrested in connection with the killing and remanded till July 15.

The family also brought to the notice of the Deraniyagala police how many women had been abducted and raped by the gang over a long period of time. The family quoted a weeping man as having said that the gang had taken away his wife on many occasions and dropped her at home in the evening.

The family said that the government should expose the godfather of the Deraniyagala gang. It would be important to identify the politician who had facilitated the chief suspect’s entry into politics and then recommended him as the Chairman of the Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha.

The Disconnect Between Principle And Practice In Sri Lankan Governance

By Emil van der Poorten -July 14, 2013 

Emil van der Poorten

The fooforaw about the 13^th Amendment to the constitution has effectively camouflaged the fact that all the indulgence in debating skills, real and pretended, conceals the fact that NOTHING in the matter of legislation or law is sacred in this country and that what passes for these two elements of governance is not, literally, worth the paper on which it is written!

The term “mind-boggling” is one of those that I have problems dealing with when used by others and one that I try to eschew when at the keyboard of my laptop.  However, that is probably the most appropriate term with which to describe what amounts to the ignorance of or refusal to accept the “Sri Lankan reality” which goes beyond the farthest reaches of impunity in the matter of a select few exercising that which they assume is their God-given right to impose upon their fellow citizens: the kind of violence and intimidation that will never be tolerated in more civilized circumstances (read as “the western world”).

I know that invidious comparison or, rather contrast, is going to bring out the usual  howling mobs of defenders of Sri Lanka’s current regime, but that is what is plain as a palm held in front of one’s face at high noon.  Notwithstanding all the sleaze and deception of many of the governments in the so-called “western democracies,” there is at least an acceptance of what passes for “the eternal verities” – even if hypocritically – in the matter of how people live their day-to-day existences.                                   Read More  

Sinhala military takes up Buddhicisation of East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2013, 05:59 GMT]
The Sinhala military occupying the East of the country of Eezham Tamils is directly engaged in Buddhicising the province, news sources in Batticaloa said, citing the mushrooming Buddha statues in the district in the recent times. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr R. Thurairatnam said that an effort is now being undertaken to create permanent Buddhist establishments out of the improvised Buddhist shrines built in the SL military camps. Such shrines were ostensibly built for the ‘religious purposes’ of the occupying military and they could be found everywhere, as the Sinhala military is occupying every junction and other strategic locations. 

Already small Buddhist temples have now come up at regular intervals in the Batticaloa –Colombo A4 Highway, right from Naavaladi Junction in Batticaloa to Punaanai at the border of the district, so that one who travels in the Batticaloa district will see only a ‘Buddhist’ district.

At Aaraiyampathi (Aaraip-pattai) in the Kaaththaan-kudi SL police division, the Sinhala military was earlier occupying a handloom mill, and it has planted a Bo-Tree and has built a Buddhist shrine there. Even after the military vacating the mill, the mill workers are unable to clear these structures and clean the place. The SL police intervened when they tried to remove them.

People in Baticaloa are disturbed and they are suspicious of the entire modus operandi, said Mr. Thurairatnam.

People come and complain that with the placement of every Buddha statue, bigger permanent Buddhist enclaves are planned and the SL military is behind the move, the parliamentarian said.

Tamils are not against Buddhism, but this kind of activities will disrupt communal harmony. The SL military should desist from such activities and the mushrooming statues in the traditional land of Tamils should be removed. We will not permit such cultural onslaught and the grab of our land through such activities, the parliamentarian further said.

Sinhala Colonisation: What is Rama’s Relationship With Seetha?

By S. V. Kirubaharan -July 13, 2013 

S. V. Kirubaharan

After listening to the Ramayana epic all-night long, in the morning, who will ask : “What is Rama’s relationship with Seetha?”

Those who have studied deeply and listened diligently will never speak Foolish words, even when they have wrongly understood a matter. - Thirukkural 417 

The title of this article is a Tamil expression. Years ago, the late SivaramTaraki wrote an article in Tamil, under the same title, explaining how every Singhalese politician since 1948 has viewed the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and gradually changed their position to deny Tamils’ rights. In fact, this popular article was translated and became available in English as well.

•  The armed struggle started in 1983, came to a complete halt after Mullivaghzal in May 2009.
• Since Mullivaighzal, when we look at websites, especially those published in Tamil, we find news items covering – arrests, torture, killings, rape, disappearances, Sinhala colonisation, new Buddhist temples, military camps and also destruction of churches, temples and mosques.
• Former combatants and the people are in detention centres and internment camps
• Majority of the Singhalese in the South and the Rajapaksa regime publicly say that there is no ethnic conflict as such, in Sri Lanka. They don’t want even a Provincial Council governed by the Tamils.
• The international community continuously reminds us that they are in favour of a solution within a united Sri Lanka.
• Presently Tamils are divided into many organisations and groups. Therefore, there is clearly no unity.
• Read More

GA inefficient in Sinhala colonisation of Tamil land transferred

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2013, 03:14 GMT]
Colombo’s Government Agent (GA) in the Mannaar district of the Northern Province, Mr A.S. Sarath Ravindra, who is a Sinhalese, has been transferred with immediate effect for poor performance in the Sinhalicisation of the Tamil district, news sources in Mannaar said. Similar to Ma’nal-aa’ru in the Mullaith-theevu district that is now Sinhalicised into ‘Weli-oya’ division, grabbing a part of the North at its border, the genocidal State has been planning for a massive Sinhala colonisation at the Musali division of the Mannaar district too that borders the North Central and North Western Provinces. The new GA of the occupying State, Mr M.N. Desapriya, who is also a Sinhalese, assumed duties even before handover by his predecessor and has immediately conducted a meeting with the Bishop of Mannaar. 

The transfer that has taken place after the announcement of the Provincial Council elections, raises questions on the other motives too, news sources in Mannaar said. 

The Rajapaksa regime, internationally known for its electoral intimidations and manipulations but is always patted on its back by New Delhi and Washington, must have considered Mr. Ravindra unsuitable for the task, the news sources said.

Occupying Colombo’s new GA for Mannaar was serving as Education Secretary of the Southern Provincial Council. 

Of all the provinces in the island, it is only the North that has five districts. All the other provinces have just two or three districts. The administrative partitioning is now intensely used for the Sinhalicisation of the Province, especially at its borders both in the southeast and southwest.

A Referendum To Repeal The 13th Amendment?

By R.M.B Senanayake -July 13, 2013 

R.M.B. Senanayake

The Government seems to be toying with the idea of holding a national referendum on the abolition of or changes in the 13th amendment. But can an ethno-religious majority decide against the rights of a minority by a majority vote? A certain institutional structure has been fashioned to resolve the grievances of the Tamil minority and to protect their rights with regard to their language, religion, culture, land and personal security of the minority. They have for long protested at what they called discrimination against them by the Sinhala dominated State. There is a UN Declaration called the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Tamil minority has been complaining that they have been disadvantaged and discriminated against since 1956.  They say their language and cultural rights have been denied and point to past attacks on the Hindu writers Conference. They say they have to deal with the State in Sinhala even in the areas where they are in a majority. They also say they have been deprived of personal security of life and limb and point to violence against them in 1958, 1977 and 1983. They point out that the Sinhala majority State failed to protect them from such violence. So they ask for police powers in areas where they constitute a majority. They say they cannot trust the Sinhala majority Police to act impartially. They also have been pointing out that there has been discrimination against them in the alienation of State land and want land powers to protect themselves from encroachments on their lands by the Sinhala dominated State. They also allege that there is settlement of Sinhalese in their traditional areas of occupation to make them a minority in their areas of habitation- something not permitted in UN Declarations.  It is to resolve these problems and prevent discrimination that they want some measure of self government while being subject to the over-all sovereignty of the national State. They have also alleged in the past that they were discriminated against in entry to universities through the unscientific standardization of scores which was later altered to district quotas for admission to the universities.

Read More

Human Rights Abuses Since Thein Sein Became President - New Briefing

10 Jul 2013

Just days before Burma’s President is due to visit the UK, Burma Campaign UK today releases a new briefing paper summarising some of the main human rights abuses which continue in Burma today. The briefing paper is available at: 

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/burma-briefing

It is now more than two years since former General Thein Sein became President, yet Burma still has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Since Thein Sein became President, human rights abuses which violate international law have actually increased. Burma Campaign UK is receiving increased numbers of reports of rape by the Burmese Army and security forces. Hundreds of political prisoners remain in jail, and almost all repressive laws remain in place.

There has undoubtedly been an increase in ‘civil liberties’ in cities such as Rangoon and Naypyidaw, but none of these are enshrined in law, and so can be reversed at any time. At the same time, in ethnic states, human rights abuses are being committed which are so serious they could be classified as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

Of course no path to transition is easy, and reforms will take time, with obstacles along the way. But more than two years into the reform process, the sheer scale of continuing human rights abuses, how serious these abuses are, and the lack of any genuine political dialogue process, or new freedoms enshrined in law, should be sounding alarm bells.

Given these abuses, the briefing paper argues that the British government and rest of the international community should now be asking if this is a genuine reform process that is a transition to democracy, or is it, as many people in Burma have told Burma Campaign UK, a transition to something else? Is Burma simply moving away from being a pariah state and instead becoming a ‘normal’ dictatorship? Is the transition actually not towards democracy, but rather to be something more like China and/or Russia? Is Thein Sein only making minimal reforms seen as necessary to end sanctions and international pressure? Has the British government and the rest of the international community confused a process of modernisation with democratisation?

President Thein Sein’s visit to the UK is a big reward given the skin deep nature of most reforms. Rather than focussing on trade issues, the British government should be aiming to secure concrete agreement on key human rights issues, such as an international investigation into abuses against the Rohingya minority, co-operation on including Burma in the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, releasing all political prisoners, starting a genuine dialogue process to draft a federal democratic constitution, reducing military spending, and setting a timeline for repealing all repressive laws.

“The British government is about to give Thein Sein red carpet treatment in the UK, but the reality is that after two years of his reforms, Burma still has one of the worst records on human rights in the world”, said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “On-going human rights abuses should be dominating the agenda of Thein Sein’s trip to the UK, not trade. The British government’s softly-softly approach to Thein Sein simply isn’t delivering results.”

View the briefing at: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/burma-briefing

Another Church Attack To Be Swept Under Carpet – HC Judge Pressures Church Attack Victims To Settle With BBS Gnanasara

July 13, 2013 

A criminal case filed after an attack on the morning of June 6, 2008 on a church (Malabe Calvary Christian Center) by a Buddhist fundamentalist mob including the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence of the Rajapaksa regime backed Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Secretary Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thero was taken up recently in the Colombo High Court.

Galaboda-atte Gnasara Thero

The way in which the case is progressing has caused serious concern at a seeming attempt to sweep the crimes of the mob under the carpet, when High Court judge Shiran Goonaratne urged the parties to arrive at a settlement of the case, which would prevent the possibility of a conviction of mob members, including the BBS Secretary. This was after one Roshan Henricus, an eye-witness had stated in the court, that he identifiedGalagoda-atte Gnanasara Thero and several others who were part of the extremist mob.

The witness also gave evidence that Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thero, who led a mob of around 700 people, claimed that he has destroyed 22 churches.  The centre had been attacked and damaged.                        Read More

Former COPE chief wants successor to probe CIABC investigations 

July 12, 2013, 7:40 am

UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has alleged that the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABC) from its inception accommodated retired and a selected few to have comfort and enjoy special privileges at public expense.

The former Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) MP Rajapakshe, in a letter dated July 11, urged his successor, senior Minister Dew Gunasekera to examine the status of investigations undertaken by the Bribery Commission during Rajapakshe’s tenure as the head of the parliamentary watchdog.

Rajapakshe alleged that the commission had failed to bring the investigations to a successful conclusion though investigations began in 2007.

Former COPE chief wants successor to probe CIABC investigations by nelvely

Enter The Dragon: China Bankrolls Sri Lanka’s Post-War Development

By Marwaan Macan-Markar -July 13, 2013 

Marwaan Macan-Markar

Hambantota, Sri Lanka – This small town with its narrow streets and slow pace of life on Sri Lanka’s southern coast has always belonged to the geography of off-beat trails. Visitors drawn to its solitary hotel are largely day-trippers stopping to take a quick look at Hambantota’s quaint, yet colourful fishing harbor and the vast stretches of the nearby salt pans.

But when it did make the news, headlines about tragedy and death on a massive scale dominated. The powerful Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 pummeled this stretch of beach, leaving a trail of bodies in the thousands and reducing communities already laboring under poverty in ruins.

Before that, in the late 1980s, the surrounding areas were added to the list of the country’s “killing fields.” Then, government troops were locked in a brutal battle to suppress a Marxist uprising led by disaffected youth. Headless bodies and torched corpses littered roadsides.                 Read More