Justice Wigneswaran : TNA Chief ministerial candidate for North

Justice Wigneswaran : TNA Chief ministerial candidate for North

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Monday, July 15, 2013

The premier Political configuration representing the Sri Lankan Tamils –Tamil National Alliance – has decided to field former Supreme court judge CV Wigneswaran as its Chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming elections to the Northern Provincial Council.
The decision was arrived at on Monday July 15th 2013 when the “Orunginaippuk Kuzhu”(coordinating committee )comprising 21 representatives from the five constituent partners of the met at the Colombo party office of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi(ITAK)in Bambalapitiya.

The five constituents of the TNA are the ITAK, Tamil United Liberation front(TULF),Tamil eelam Liberation Organization(TELO),Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liiberation Front(EPRLF)and Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil eelam(PLOTE).

Justice Wigneswaran will be contesting as a candidate of the ITAK under the aegis of the TNA.The final decision was unanimous.

The TNA has been conducting protracted discussions from Thursday July 11th to decide upon its chief ministerial candidate. 

The issue had become complicated due to a tussle that ensued over who was to be the TNA final choice.

While TNA Parliamentary Group leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan wanted Former Supreme court Judge Wigneswaran to be nominated other constituent parties wanted ITAK secretary –general and Jaffna district MP Somasuntharam Senathirajah alias “Mavai”Senathirajah to be the chief ministerial candidate.

This led to five rounds of discussions in five days among the coordinating committee members until a final decision was reached.

It is learnt that TNA leder Sampanthan supported by fellow MP’s Selvarajah and Sumanthiran succeeded in convincing the rest of the coordinating committee that Wigneswaran was the best possible choice under prevailing political circumstances.

After a majority of the committee was persuaded to revise their original position and endorse Wigneswaran ,Mavai Senathirajah voluntarily stood down from contesting and proposed that Wigneswaran should be nominated as the chief ministerial candidate.Thereafter the candidacy was approved unanimously.

It is understood that Senathirajah himself led a delegation of TNA leaders and met Wigneswaran at the latter’s residence. Senathirajah personally assured Wigneswaran of his unstinted support and cooperation in the election campaign.

The TNA chief ministerial candidate Justice Wigneswaran is of Jaffna origin but had grown up in Colombo studying at Royal College.He had a distinguished record at the bar before mounting the bench. He had an equally impressive record as a judge notably in dealing with cases connected to the draconinan Prevention of Terrorism Act.

He had made a name for himself after retirement by making erudite,courageous speeches on different occasions. Be it matters affecting the Tamil community in particular or issues relating to the country at large such as independence of the Judiciary, Vigneswaran had spoken out loud and clear.He had not hesitated to speak truth to power. Essentially a cosmopolitan, Wigneswaran also retained strong Hindu links.

TNA leader Sampanthan felt that Wigneswaran was the ideal choice for Chief minister for a number of reasons.Given his qualifications and experience and his track record while on the bench and afterwards,Wigneswaran was sure to attract votes immensely in the North. If Douglas Devananda was to be the chief Govt candidate then pitting a person of Vigneswaran’s calibre could virtually transform the hustings into a one horse race.

It was also necessary to have a man of eminence like Wigneswaran as Northern chief minister at this historic juncture. The new chief minister would have to meet with the Colombo Govt on a number of matters.He needs to negotiate with the Govt for more powers,resources and functions for the council. He must possess the ability to interact on equal terms with the Governor and military hierarchy in the North. He must also be able to deal with International leaders,diplomats and media personnel.These required extraordinary attributes and ideally, Wigneswaran seemed to fit the bill.Besides Wigneswaran possessed legal acumen and expertise that could be of crucial importance.

Meanwhile the media office of the TNA issued a press release on the matter.

The full text of the communiqué is as follows -

Elections to the Northern Provincial Council

The Tamil National Alliance(TNA), comprising of five constituent parties, met at the TNA office on 15th July 2013 to consider the nomination of the candidate for the post of Chief Minister of the Northern Province.

It was unanimously resolved that the candidate for the position of Chief Minister at the forthcoming Provincial Council elections for the Northen Province would be Mr C V Wigneswaran, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Other nominations will be finalized in due course by the TNA.

Mr C V Wigneswaran is a much respected public personality and we appeal to the voters in the Northern Province to wholeheartedly support Mr C V Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister candidate of the TNA and all other candidates who will be nominated for election.
DBS

The Trinco-5 And The Matale Mass Grave: Behind The Facade Of Accountability

By J. S. Tissainayagam -July 17, 2013 

J.S. Tissainayagam

Anxious to escape reprimand by the international community at the next UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions and Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting, Sri Lanka has arrested 12 persons in connection with the 2006 extrajudicial killing of five Tamil boys in Trincomalee. This however is only a façade. The government’s actual attitude to ending impunity in Sri Lanka and promoting reconciliation is evident not only in the glaring lapses in the way it is handling this case, but also in the recently-unearthed mass grave in Matale.

Since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the refrain of the international community has been the importance of accountability and reconciliation. As the Sri Lanka government displayed an aversion to both, the UNHRC adopted two resolutions in 2012 and 2013 advising Sri Lanka to move forward on these matters. The 2013 resolution asks Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for accountability reconciliation. Her recommendations highlight the killing of the five boys (known as the Trinco-5 case) and urges Sri Lanka to accept proffered UN expertise in criminal and forensic investigations to resolve these cases in keeping with international standards.

Trinco-5 has two intertwining threads running through it, both reflecting government highhandedness. On January 2, 2006, six boys were seated chatting in the gathering dusk at the waterfront in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka. A grenade was lobbed at them, following which a jeep full of masked men approached them. The men first assaulted the boys and then shot them in cold blood.  These were civilian deaths during the 2002-2008 ceasefire, in a city that was not under siege but in the full control of the Sri Lanka military.

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Exams and polls

Editorial-July 16, 2013, 12:00 pm 

The police have reportedly been ordered to arrest anyone who causes disruptions to the GCE A/L examination centres in the run-up to the PC polls scheduled for September. Children prepare painstakingly for years for this highly competitive examination held during the month of August and it is a crime to disturb them in any manner.

Elections in this country are chaotic affairs which lead to clashes, bloodshed and curfews. Besides, they are notorious for noise pollution. Politicians with king-sized egos don’t consider even a pocket meeting attended by a handful of people complete without loudspeakers mounted on lampposts or trees. So, the Elections Commissioner and the police will have their work cut out in trying to ensure that students will be able to face the examination free from any disturbances in the provinces that are going to the polls.

That the GCE A/L examination is held in August is known to one and all including school dropouts who have taken to politics. So, the government ought to explain why on earth it decided to have PC polls in September, knowing well that the run-up thereto was bound to be tumultuous or even violent. It may not have given two hoots about the exam because it usually does as astrologers say in going for polls, superstition being the religion of most politicians. It is, in fact, astrologers who run this country; people do as politicians say and politicians do as astrologers say!

Now that the government has, true to form, blundered, it is up to the Polls Chief to keep the candidates on a tight leash. Self-righteous party leaders should be considerate towards the children striving to clear an extremely difficult hurdle in a bid to secure university admission. Let them be urged to order their supporters to refrain from resorting to anything that might disturb children at examination centres or on the way.

Those at the levers of power have proved once again that they badly need some schooling.
 

Committee reports, stupid!

A presidential committee probe into the allegation that several dozens of fishermen perished at sea last month because they had not been warned of a storm has exonerated Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera from responsibility for the tragedy.

Nobody expected the minister to be held accountable. He was so confident of being exonerated that he offered to resign if found guilty. If the committee had pinned the blame on him, its report would never have seen the light of day!

The UNP says the government, having cleared Minister Amaraweera, will now try to pass the blame on to the dead fishers themselves, claiming that they had set sail out of their own volition in spite of bad weather. But, we think the ruling politicians are far too smart to do anything of that nature and incur the wrath of the bereaved families. Instead, being the descendants of King Kekille, the bovine monarch, they might hold the weather gods responsible for the unfortunate incidents and even declare war on them the way Caligula Caesar, who, claiming to have metamorphosed into the god of gods, had the sea attacked with swords and catapults to spite Neptune, the deity of water. Some of them are known for their quixotic battles with deities, aren’t they? One of them has a history of storming a shrine dedicated to Kali Amman to rescue animals.

Not many people take committees, presidential or otherwise, seriously, so much so that even the Parliamentary Select Committees have lost their credibility. A wag suggests that the reports issued by such committees be printed on toilet paper, for they are full of you know what.

Cabinet ministers are infallible and, therefore, never at fault. They are super humans capable of unthinkable feats. So, conducting inquiries into their alleged lapses is an exercise in futility. Instead, the government ought to develop the Meteorological Department which is crying out for resources, both human and physical, besides equipping the fisherfolk with modern technology to keep track of weather conditions on their own. Else, many more lives are bound to be lost when the next storm blows this way.

Reconciliation And The Need Of The Hour

By Salma Yusuf -July 17, 2013 

Salma Yusuf

The dominating narrative is dichotomous. The perceptions are equally remarkable. International interest is in no small measure. The impact on domestic stability remains uncontested. Whichever viewpoint is adopted, consensus is achieved on the limited.

The LLRC

The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommends, among other things, formulation of a political solution acceptable to all communities. The home-grown mechanism, independent in nature though commissioned by the Government, was developed to reflect upon and recommend action, and drew on solicited and unsolicited submissions from the public in all areas of the country and hence has been hailed for its credibility and transparency. The report has been widely welcomed by key players and stakeholders across the board.

A National Action Plan (NAP) for implementation of the recommendations of the Final Report of the LLRC was drawn up by a distinguished team of government administrators appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse. This team of persons worked at short notice to produce a document detailing designated implementing agencies and key performance indicators for each recommendation adopted. The NAP is a useful document in that it incorporates aspects such as Key Performance Indicators which would undoubtedly increase the efficiency of the implementation process. To ensure that the LLRC and NAP do not become a spent force, the following will benefit from consideration.

Structural And Institutional Challenges                           Read More

Kumaarapuram massacre case comes up for trial after 17 years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 July 2013, 10:44 GMT]
Four witnesses to the February 1996 brutal massacre of 24 Tamils by the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Kumaarapuram village in Trincomalee district have been summoned to appear on Wednesday in Anuradhapura High Court that is situated in predominantly Sinhala district. The trial in the case is listed for hearing on July 17, July 18 and July 19 more than 17 years after the genocidal massacre. Many of the witnesses are poor labourers who do not know Sinhala.Meanwhile observes say that the Colombo government hoodwinks the international community on one side summoning the witnesses to give evidence and the on the other hand threatening them not to appear in court to give evidence. 


On 11 February 1996, gunshots by the SLA rocked the village of Kumaarapuram, between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

A large group of SLA personnel from the Ki'liveddi camp, incensed at the killing of two SLA soldiers at 58th Milepost junction at Ki’liveddi, massacred 24 persons on that day.

The villagers there were farmers, mainly agricultural labourers. The main road from Moothoor to Ki'liveddi Mukaththuvaaram runs through this village. 

During the late nineties massacres of Tamils were common and villagers ran towards Allai Tank and hid behind the trees. Few people stayed at home. 

All the victims, who stayed back in the village, were shot dead.

Three infants below age 5, three children aged 5-10, eight youths aged 11-20, six persons aged 21-30, two persons aged 31-40 and two persons above 50 years were among the slain victims.

Two of the victims were girls who were gang-raped by several Sinhala army men before they were slain.


One of the victims was 16-year-old girl Arumaithrai Thanaluxmy who was hiding in a nearby shop, on her way back home with her 8 year old brother. She was dragged to the nearby milk collection centre and gang raped by the military. 

7 among the 22 injured were children including 2 year old Moses Antony Joseph and 4 year old Kidnan and 6 year old girl Maheswaran Kuventhjini. One Nagarajah lost his eyesight as a result of the shooting.

The villagers had identified eight of the SLA men as the perpetrators of the massacre.

Of the twenty soldiers arrested by the SL Police immediately after the massacre the SL Attorney General had indicted nine with the murder of 24 Tamil civilians. 

One of the accused died after being indicted. Despite the nature of the crime, all the remaining accused was enlarged on bail.

124 witnesses contributed to the non-summary proceedings which, was heard in January 1998.

All together 120 charges including murder, attempted murder and unlawful assembly were made against the accused.

Kumaarapuram case was committed to the High Court in the year 2002 after the conclusion of the non-summary proceedings in Trincomalee Magistrate's Court.

The case against the accused soldiers has since been pending in the Trincomalee High Court awaiting trial. Now the massacre case has been transferred to Anuradhapura High Court for hearing.

India-backed constitutional move vital for Sri Lanka: Book

Long War, Cold Peace by Dayan Jayatilleka

IANS
New Delhi, July 16, 2013
A Sri Lankan constitutional amendment done with Indian backing to devolve autonomy to provinces remains "historically significant and indispensable", says a new book by a well known political scientist from the island nation. 

The 13th amendment, as it is popularly known, provides "a basis for the reconciliation of the Sinhanese and Tamil communities within a united and unitary Sri Lanka," says Dayan Jayatilleka in his "Long War, Cold Peace" (Vijitha Yapa Publications).

A former activist and later a diplomat, Jayatilleka says the 13th amendment should not be seen as a negation of the military victory scored over the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending a protracted conflict that left thousands dead.

"The 13th amendment is historically significant and currently indispensable because is the only structural reform of the centralized Sri Lankan state which devolves power, makes for some measure of autonomy and thereby provides a basis for the reconciliation of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities," Jayatilleka says in the rich and well-argued 508-page book.

The book has come out when the Sri Lankan regime seems to be wanting to abrogate or dilute the 13th amendment due to fears that limited autonomy could give oxygen for a new round of Tamil separatism.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed dismay over the Sri Lankan moves. Sri Lankan minister Basil Rajapaksa, a brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, visited India recently for talks with Indian leaders amid the controversy.

The amendment was carried out when India deployed troops in Sri Lanka's northeast in 1987-90 to end Tamil separatism by devolving powers to the provinces, and thereby provide autonomy to Tamils who populate the north.

Jayatilleka warns that the Tamil diaspora, which supported the now vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), wants to see fissures between Sri Lanka and India. "The non-implementation of the 13th amendment will open up such a gap."

He points out that Sri Lanka had already weakened the amendment by de-merging the northern and eastern provinces. But "the carefully negotiated arrangements on land cannot be deleted or diluted" - as sought by some.

According to the author, while the LTTE can never re-emerge, "Tamil nationalism cannot be stamped out and if there is a perceived threat to their collective identity, we shall face (a) blowback".

He added: "While Tamil separatism must be overcome, Sinhala and Tamil nationalism have to be contained if the country is to build a Sri Lankan national identity and consciousness. They can only be contained by being accommodated to some degree...

"I cannot think of any state in the world, and at the UN in Geneva I worked among 193, that does not hold that Sri Lanka's Tamils deserve and require equal rights in practice, as well as some autonomous political space, be it devolution of power to autonomous regions or provinces or something more."

It is time, Jayatilleka says, for Sri Lanka to show "generosity, flexibility, enlightenment and wisdom... to expeditiously remove the discrimination, frustration and alienation felt by the Tamil minority".

On India-Sri Lanka relations, he says that either Colombo "was and is the guarantor of the safety, security and rights of the Sri Lankan Tamil people or India will become that guarantor, whether the LTTE exists or not. The weight of Tamil Nadu makes it impossible for India to do otherwise.

"India is not what it was in 1987. It is far more powerful and has earned far grater respect in the world."

Some in Sri Lanka, he says, "cherish the illusion they can play China off against India... If Sri Lanka allows any force or factor to estrange it from India, even its friends and sources of support/supply would begin to back off."

The Debate On The Unit Of Devolution

By Charitha Ratwatte -July 17, 2013 |

Charitha Ratwatte

Empowering the regions

At a time when Sri Lankans are debating the merits and demerits of devolving power, in a democratic system and the unit of devolution, whether it should be the village, an existing local government unit, the administrative district, the province or a combination of provinces, it would be useful to look at some examples from other parts of the world for comparative purposes.

The first issue to sort out is what we mean by a democracy. Unfortunately some rulers interpret a democracy in a narrow sense to mean a ‘Ballot-O’cracy’. Just by the winning one or more contests for the ballot, one cannot claim to be democratic. Unfortunately many ‘democratic’ rulers like Ergodan of Turkey and Morsi of Egypt think that winning the majority of the ballot means they are virtual dictators until the next election.

Ergodan, in the face of massive public demonstrations against his policies, keeps repeating ad nauseam that he has got a mandate from the voters, not once but thrice! He brands his opponents who are taking on tear gas and pepper spray mixed water cannons on the streets as looters and vagabonds. Politicians have to realise that voters’ views change and sensible rulers are sensitive to the voters’ changing views and keep abreast of them.

Brazil and Egypt                              Read More

Audio: Nurses say longstanding demands ignored WEDNESDAY, 17 JULY 2013  The Government Nursing Officers Association said its members had launched a countrywide token strike from 7.00 a.m. today to highlight their longstanding demands, which the Government has continued to ignore. Government Health Services Union President Saman Ratnapriya said all nursing staff, except those working at the Lady Ridgeway, De Soysa and Castle Street Hospitals, would participate in the token strike. He said operating theatres, intensive care units and emergency units at all hospital would continue uninterrupted. Mr. Ratnapriya said the strike would end at 7.00 a.m. tomorrow and regretted any inconvenience caused to the people.(Darshana Sanjeewa)

Shout by nurses

WEDNESDAY, 17 JULY 2013 

The Government Nursing Officers Association (GNOA) held a protest march from Colombo National Hospital to the Health Ministry today urging the authorities to resolve their concerns. Pix Nisal Baduge

Sri Lanka ban on film Flying Fish sparks anger

The film is set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war-16 July 2013 

Sanjeewa Pushpakumara said the film, Flying Fish, sought to depict reality and was based on his own experiences growing up in Sri Lanka's war zone.The director of a banned Sri Lankan film has rejected government claims it seeks to insult the armed forces.

The film was banned on Friday after being shown at a festival promoted by the French embassy in Colombo.

A government spokesman said the film was "illegal" and used images of the army uniform without permission.

In a statement issued from South Korea, where he is based, Sanjeewa Pushpakumara denied discrediting the military and said he sought to depict reality "in a humane and artistic way".

He denied any links with the Tamil Tigers or non-governmental organisations, and dismissed state television broadcasts which had alleged such ties.

Police are now holding what they call a "fact-finding investigation" into the film and some of its production staff have been questioned.

The distribution and screening of the film had been stopped in Sri Lanka, government security spokesman Lakshman Hulugalle, confirmed on Monday.

The Sinhala-language film was made in 2011 and is set against the backdrop of the country's brutal civil war. The film is said to portray bad behaviour by both soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels, the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo reports.

The Sri Lankan state venerates its armed forces and any message that contradicts this is liable to fall foul of the authorities, our correspondent adds.

'Militarise arts'

Sri Lanka's official censoring body had allowed the private screening of Flying Fish. But an official from the government-owned venue walked out of the showing and denounced the film, saying it portrayed soldiers as over-sexed and also degraded women.

The festival was closed down as well.

The venue's board apologised to what it called the "heroic armed forces" and the general public. The French embassy regretted the "unfortunate incident".

However a prominent Sri Lankan film-maker, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake told the Ceylon Today newspaper that the censorship board had approved the screening. He said "regimented jackboots" were "crush[ing] artistic expression".

Sri Lanka's Free Media Movement released a statement saying the ban demonstrated the government's desire to "even militarise arts and culture".

And activists have also signed a petition deploring state media criticism of a Sri Lankan writer, Gamini Viyangoda, who was accused of being a "conspirator" in screening the film.

Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil separatist rebels in 2009 after a bloody 26-year war which left at least 100,000 people dead and both sides accused of war crimes. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle.

One UN investigation said up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final few months alone. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.

The government does not accept these figures and has denied allegations of war crimes.

‘Flying Fish vs Blind Donkeys’

(Lanka-e-News-16.July.2013, 11.30PM) Sri Lanka yesterday banned the film ‘Flying Fish’ (Igillena maluwo) which earned international merit. The ban was imposed by the Defense Ministry , and this decision was made public by the national defense media spokesman Lakshman Halugalle.

This film was not only banned in SL but also orders had been given by the State Film Corporation chairman Asoka Serasinghe to call back the film reel that had been sent to the Mexico film festival for screening. 

Though Film Corporation permission is not necessary for participating in a film festival , the Customs permission has to be obtained when the reel is being dispatched. By all this it is Serasinghe the notorious villain who got an opportunity to became a hero by withdrawing that permission.

It is to be noted that these dastardly actions are being taken to recall this film reel by Institutions that have no role to play in this, when the relevant Public performance Board which is vested with the official powers had granted the authority to screen this film.

‘Flying Fish vs Blind Donkeys’ by nelvely

Sri Lankan film ban halts French festival, sparks anger

© AFP-By Leela JACINTO-16/07/2013 

The Sri Lankan government’s decision to ban the acclaimed film, “Flying Fish” and halt the French film festival, where it was screened has sparked outrage in a country that’s no stranger to threats to free speech.

'FLYING FISH' TRAILER

A couple walks precariously on a railway track as it ploughs through the lush green fields of northeastern Sri Lanka. It’s an old childhood stunt in these parts - trying to walk as far as possible on winding railway tracks without losing balance.
But this couple has developed an ingenious way to stay on track. As the camera zooms out, the audience can see they’re cheating. The couple – a young village girl and a soldier - keep steady by clutching the two ends of a rifle across the track.

Sri Lankan Film Ban Halts French Festival, Sparks Anger by nelvely

Nothing Special About Specialization

By Arjuna Seneviratne -

Arjuna Seneviratne

July 17, 2013 

Everyone knows that a tree is an organism that is standing on its head. A very large percentage of tree species absorbs nutrients through their roots and excretes oxygen and water vapor through stomata in their leaves. The tree of knowledge is no different. However, we, in our collective madness have done something rather shocking with it. We have, to all intents and purposes, decided that *yuck*, no self respecting organism should identify as its “head” something that is buried in the ground and instead, we have, over the last century or so, valiantly attempted to legitimize the case for calling it’s excretory organ its intake organ. We have tried to re-label its backside as its mouth.

Let me explain. Despite the fact that knowledge, by its very definition should be an all encompassing whole, we concluded that we could become “knowledgeable” by acquiring fact-nuggets selectively. This is the result of a fact of science which proposes, aggressively promotes and teaches us that everything can be broken down into their component pieces, studied in a mutually disassociated state, deductively or inferentially linked together through analysis and understood as a whole. The rationale stems,as Thom Hartmann says, from thinking such as this: If you break a car into its component parts, you can understand exactly how it works and if you put it back together it will come back alive. However, and here is the fallacy of that argument, if you do that to a dog, regardless of how competent a surgeon one is, once one puts it back together it will remain dead. Something very essential to the idea of the living dog, the whole of it existence is lost in the process of dismembering it.  As a matter of fact, when attempting to understand systems that exist dependent on the right juxtaposition of a very large number or even an infinite number of parameters (such as a living being, an ecosystem, a social group, a nation etc.), breaking things down has only one practical outcome – it breaks them.

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Brutally felled for taking stand against felling of trees

By Chris Kamalendran-Sunday, July 14, 2013
Planters hold a protest over the brutal slaying of a colleague

Another senseless crime allegedly involving a politician claims the life of a veteran planter, whose earlier complaints to police were ignored

Nihal Perera, a veteran planter with 45 years of experience in the field, took up his posting as the manager of Noori Estate in Deraniyagala, in the Kegalle district, late last year. However, he soon started facing resistance from a group backed by a local politician. The group was allegedly encroaching on estate land, felling trees and preventing other suppliers from selling goods to the estate.

The victim - Nihal Perera

Three months into the job, Mr. Perera (69) was beaten up inside the estate bungalow resulting in a leg fracture.  A local politician was reported to be behind the incident. The Deraniyagala Police had failed to entertain the complaint, the Sunday Times learns. It was in this backdrop that Mr. Perera was abducted and brutally killed on July 5.

On this fateful day the Noori Estate manager accompanied by one of the field officers was on a routine inspection tour of the 600-acre estate, when the attack occurred. Earlier Mr. Perera had got off his vehicle after instructing his driver and a security guard to meet him and the field officer further inside the estate.

Brutally Felled for Taking Stand Against Felling of Trees by nelvely

India police release sketches of temple bomb suspect

2013-07-17

Indian police investigating bomb blasts at one of Buddhism's holiest sites released sketches of a suspect on Tuesday and offered a reward for information about the attacks.

Ten small devices exploded on July 7 in the Bodh Gaya temple complex in the eastern state of Bihar, wounding two monks, while three others were defused at the historic shrine.

The National Investigation Agency released two sketches of a man suspected of planting the bombs at the complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which was not badly damaged in the blasts.

One sketch showed the suspect wearing a mask, while the second showed a clean-shaven face. The suspect was "wearing the dress of a Buddhist monk", the agency said on its website.

It also announced a reward of one million rupees (US$16,900) for information leading to the arrest of the bombers.

Police studied CCTV footage of the complex immediately after the early morning attacks and arrested a man for questioning, but no charges were laid.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. But police say they had received intelligence that Islamic militants could target the site as revenge for Buddhist violence against Muslims in neighbouring Myanmar.

Along with temples, dozens of monasteries housing monks from around the world dot the Bodh Gaya complex, which is said to be the site where the Buddha reached enlightenment in 531 BC.

The centrepiece of the complex is the site of the holy Bodhi tree, under which Buddha is said to have meditated. A sapling of the original tree was undamaged in the attacks.

The complex, 110 kilometres (69 miles) south of Patna, contains one of the earliest Buddhist temples still standing in India.

Buddhists are rarely targeted in India but there have been tensions in the wider region recently following communal clashes in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In neighbouring Nepal, dozens of police have been mobilised to guard the country's famed Buddhist temple complex as a precaution after the India attacks.

Police have doubled to 70 the number of security officers guarding the Lumbini temple complex, 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the capital Kathmandu, local police official Surendra Bahadur Shah told AFP.

Thousands of pilgrims visit Lumbini each year to pay homage to the Buddha, who is said to have been born in the temple gardens in 623 BC. (AFP)