Gota frees bandicoots and traps mice: releases Kerala ganja big shot and arrests assistants
(Lanka-e-News-28.July.2013, 3.30PM) Recently a big time dealer in drug business along with two of his assistants who smuggled ganja(cannabis) from Kerala to Sri Lanka (SL) were arrested . But on instructions of defense alias criminal offense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, the main dealer had been released, based on information reaching LeN inside information division.

Following information received by a low rung officer of the narcotics division of Katunayake Airport , this detection was made early morning on 5 th February . 84 kilos of Kerala ganja were found hidden among the clothes – Salwar kits and shirts. The contraband were in separate quantities of 65 and 19 kilos in two bags of textiles . The value of the contraband seized is about Rs. 15 million. 

The King pin of this business is a Tamil National Arumugam Shivakumar (ID No. 713063878 V) residing at 131/5 , New Chetty street , Kotahena. He has textile shops opposite Wellawatte police and another at Pamankade - Asian textile . He has also another shop in the name of Ram Silk at Wellawatte. He had been smuggling in Kerala ganja along with the textiles for a long time. At the time this detection was made , Shivakumar and his two assistants had also been arrested along with the ganja.

However , on the instructions of SL’s notorious criminal defense secretary Gotabaya , the king pin Shivakumar had been released by the narcotics division ASP Ajith Pathirane , and case had been filed only against the two assistants. The reference Nos. of the cases filed in the Negombo magistrate court are B /143/2013 and B /144/2013.

After Shivakumar was released , he is continuing with his illicit businesses smoothly under the umbrella of Gota and the ASP Pathirane, it is reported .

Though the narcotics division should be under the purview and powers of the IGP , it is now , unlawfully under the control of the criminal defense secretary Gota and a Brigadier . The latter who was a colonel until recently was promoted to Brigadier position citing the ground that he was performing his anti narcotics duties duly.

Now, all transfers of the narcotics division officers , and filing of cases are under the control and instructions of Gota and this Brigadier. Nobody else can interfere in these. Incidentally, even the IGP had expressed his resentment against the transfer of an inexperienced ASP Pathirane to that division. It is noteworthy that three narcotics division officers of the Katunayake airport had been transferred by this Brigadier after this detection.

It is well to recall that some time ago when heroin was being loaded into the Prado vehicle No. KN- 7046 of Kudu Duminda De Silva in the coastal strip of Chilaw , the narcotics officer Eric who did the detection was transferred out by Gota, the criminal defense secretary.

Was Dayasiri’s Crossover Planned 3-4 Years Ago?

By Malinda Seneviratne -July 28, 2013 

Malinda Seneviratne

A conversation took place between a singer, a lyricist and a journalist, in Kaduwela. This was 3-4 years ago.  The topic was the charisma and charm of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.  The singer, Kithsiri Jayasekera, brother of the in-the-news Dayasiri Jayasekera told a story.  He had no reason to lie.  Chaaminda Ratnasuriya was witness.  This writer remembers.  Kithsiri spoke in Sinhala.  Here’s a translation.  

‘Lokka (that’s the President), called Malli (younger brother).  He told Malli that he knows that Malli wanted to work. He pointed out that he could not do anything for the people while in the UNP.  He asked Malli to join him and do some real work.  He told Malli to think about it.

‘A few weeks later he had called again. This time he had told him that he (the President) had thought about it again and decided it was not a good idea.  This is what he said: “I thought about it.  You should remain in the party.  You have a future in the UNP.  The opposition needs people like you.  And anyway, despite all the insults I’ve had to suffer, I didn’t leave my party. I think you should remain in the UNP”.Read More

If You Do, Just Join The Party And We Will Get You Off The Hook!

By Ranil Senanayake -July 29, 2013 

Ranil Senanayake

The malaise of ‘profits before people’ seems to be getting well established within our political class. The concerns of local scientists and concerned citizens are now treated as a criticism of government. There are incredibly stupid statements from uneducated politicians demonizing Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) without realizing that any organization not of the government, be it funeral societies, Religious groups or flower arrangers groups are all NGO’s.  In the spirit of today’s politics it could be argued that politicians do not get profits, only bribes and commissions. But to us, the public, all the underhand moneymaking of these corrupt individuals is only to profit themselves. The vision (Chinthanaya) of the founding fathers of this nation, that ‘the performance of any government must be measured by the larder of the poorest of its homes’ has been transformed into subservience to the GDP and similar abstract economic measures. The advice of the Buddha that desire, fear and hate brings suffering is ignored by monks who should know better than to support a desire filled, intolerant, gambling addicted society, where amassing individual wealth is the only goal. Fear has become a staple of society, the flames fanned and maintained so that a huge security apparatus is seen to be essential to our safety. We have become the antithesis of the dhamma as propounded by the Buddha while assiduously claiming to be ‘good Buddhists’.

What has this twisted vision of ‘economic development brought us?

Agriculture                        Read More

Politico criminals get preferential treatment: BASL SUNDAY, 28 JULY 2013  The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has noted its grave concern about the marked difference between bail conditions imposed on politically-blessed people and those on ordinary people, the BASL president Upul Jayasuriya said at a Bar Council meeting. He said the Bar Council noted with grave concern that there was an alarming increase in criminal activities committed by people who enjoyed political patronage and in some instances they were given preferential treatment when bail conditions were imposed on them. “They are committing these crimes with impunity. Some statutory authorities have even been reluctant and hesitant to entertain complaints against them and produce them court,” Mr. Jayasuriya said. He said a BASL committee had congratulated Puttalam Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake for re-remanding the former provincial councilor who was alleged to have violated his bail conditions by threatening witnesses. “The committee has informed the Bar Council that it had passed a resolution to congratulate Puttalam Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake for having re-remanded the former provincial councillor over the violation of his bail conditions. All are equal before law,” he said. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda) Police attempt to suppress Nuriyawatte evidence SATURDAY, 27 JULY 2013 Some senior police officers are allegedly attempting to suppress evidence of the recent atrocities unravelled in Nuriyawatte in Deraniyagala, the Daily Mirror learns. Earlier, after the killing of the Nuriyawatte estate superintendent many reports of heinous crimes in the area began to surface. According to reports, senior Police officer at the Avissawella Police Station had allegedly created havoc at the temple premises recently. Sources said the officer was a close confidante of an accused in the murder of the Superintendent. According to sources the OIC acting under the behest of senior police officials together with the police are attempting to suppress evidence emerging against the suspects.

It is a cruel irony even as popular actor minister Jeewan is attacked with brickbats Dayasiri chose to somersault –says another popular actor MP Ranjan

(Lanka-e-News-28.July.2013, 3.30PM) UNP M.P. and popular actor Ranajan Ramanayake stated, an erstwhile popular actor and present MaRa regime Minister Jeewan Kumaratunge had to hide inside a house and ward off attacks of the people with water bottles and brickbats which is a consequence of the curse that befell him for committing the unpardonable sin of becoming a Minister under a cursed regime.

When Kumaratunge arrived at the venue of the protests staged by the carpentry industry workers at Moratuwa on the 24th , he was disgraced and subjected to a hurl of vicious abuse and water bottle attacks of the people, and chased away. The Ministerial division security officers of the Minister could protect the Minister only by secretly leading him into an unknown house in the vicinity, Ramanayake observed. 

The Minister could not even come out of the place of hiding because the people laid siege to the house and protested. Fortunately for the poor Minister , a sudden rain came down which forced the people to disperse enabling the Minister to scoot off stealthily in his vehicle.

Ramanayake who spoke to LeN on this incident related the afore noted details when we asked for Ramanayake’s comments as a member engaged in opposition politics for the last 7 years uninterruptedly and still sustaining his popularity as an actor and among the people.

Ramanayake speaking further regretted that Kumaratunge who is a cousin brother of his drove himself into this dire strait not through the cinema but through the sordid and shameless politics of the Rajapakses, after becoming a Minister under it. This incident bears testimony to the egregious unpopularity of this government . It cannot be forgotten the first of this series of attacks launched by the people on this government involved no less a person than the President’s elder brother himself , Chamal Rajapakse who was attacked with bricks and brickbats by the farmers’ (Govi) community . What was shown in the film ‘Parliament jokes’ 7 years ago in which , people chased away politicians with whatever they had in their hands including a lime fruit. This latest attack on Kumaratunge is a real scene reminiscent of the film where people attacked not only what were in their hands but even with water bottles , which is clear index of the vituperative hate they harbor against this despotic regime, Ramanayake pointed out.

This tragedy also had a comic twist because on this same fateful day when Jeewan was getting a thrashing from the public , a Dayasiri somersaulted to the government camp aiming at a chief Minister post , Ramanayake quipped .

Popularity is building the love of the people , not just being nominally popular. Even notorious people can be famous infamously. Maru Sira too was a well known figure. The popularity of those who consider themselves as such can be known through the websites which expose them when they have stooped to treachery , self degrading and disgraceful actions. Just see the facebook today , over 80% are critical of Dayasiri . His being well known is akin to that of Maru Sira now. This is a beleaguered government in most dismal state not knowing in what direction to turn to solve people ‘s problems. The number of bricks and brickbats thrown at it indicates the countless number of unsolved people’s problems, Ramanayake asserted.

Fox News Anchor Dumbfounded That A Scholar, Who Is Muslim, Had The Audacity To Write A Book About Jesus

By Adam Peck on Jul 27, 2013 at 9:48 pm

On Friday, Fox News invited renowned religious scholar and prolific author Reza Aslan onto the air, ostensibly to discuss his latest book on Christianity, ‘Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.’

But instead, host Lauren Green launched into an Islamophobic attack on Aslan’s credentials and expressed incredulity that he, a self-professed Muslim, would be able to write about Christianity in a fair and honest way.

Throughout the nearly 10 minute interview, Green inaccurately sought to portray Aslan as a religiously-motivated agitator with a hidden agenda out to discredit the very religion that he himself once practiced:

GREEN: This is an interesting book. Now I want to clarify, you’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?

ASLAN: Well to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees — including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades — who also just happens to be a Muslim. So it’s not that I’m just some Muslim writing about Jesus, I am an expert with a Ph.D in the history of religions…

GREEN: But it still begs the question why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?

ASLAN: Because it’s my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That’s what I do for a living, actually.

Undeterred, Green continued by reading aloud from an equally Islamophobic FoxNews.comcolumn by John Dickerson in which he dismissed Aslan’s academic pedigree, referring to him simply as “an educated Muslim” with an “opinion” about Jesus.

Watch it:

Green would pivot back to Aslan’s religion at least seven more times during the interview, simply refusing to accept that a Muslim could also be an impartial scholar of Western religion.

As Aslan pointed out towards the end of his interview, many scholarly works have been written about Islam by Christian academics. Those authors, he noted, are rarely if ever asked to defend their credentials or explain why they chose to cover a religion apart from their own, certainly not on Fox News, which regularly provides a platform to hate-mongers like Pamela Geller andFrank Gaffney and passes them off as experts on Islam.

  

Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up

By Rajan Hoole -July 27, 2013 

Part 4 -

Rajan Hoole

The first comment on the violence came from cabinet spokesman Anandatissa de Alwis after the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday (27th) morning. In speaking to the Press, few deaths were admitted but there was no expression of concern for the victims. Jayewardene’s speech was broadcast to the nation in the night of 28th July. Jayewardene’s speech contained signs of his vacillations during the foregoing weeks. Had Jayewardene been firm and steady, one would have expected him to have followed de Alwis and blamed the violence on an insidious section of the opposition. He could, in addition, have said a word of comfort to the Tamils, claimed that the Government had got the situation under control, made ritual promises about bringing the offenders to book and tried to look good. But on the contrary, Jayewardene was feeling very insecure. The burden of his speech was the appeasement of the Sinhalese: “Because of this violence by terrorists, the Sinhala people themselves have reacted … the time has now come to accede to the clamour and national request of the Sinhalese people… [other than through bringing legislation to deprive those in positions of influence who campaign for separation of their civic rights, we cannot see] any other way by which we can appease the natural desire and request of the Sinhalese people to prevent the country being divided…” (T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka)

Read More

Black July: ‘Api Suddha Kara’ – JR’s Failure To Declare Curfew

July 26, 2013

By Rajan Hoole - Jayewardene’s failure to declare curfew thus appears in an appropriate setting. About 1.30 A.M. this same witness from the Left party saw the walls of TULF president M. Sivasithamparam’s house, which was on fire, collapsing to the ground. A little over a week later, this witness was placed under arrest along with other members [...]

Continue reading …

Sri Lanka’s Black July: What Really Happened At Kanatte?

July 25, 2013

By Rajan Hoole - As indicated above, there are different versions and impressions about what happened at Kanatte on the 24th evening. We give below crucial pieces of testimony, which help to fill some glaring gaps. The first is an eyewitness account by a responsible member of the Ceylon Mercantile Union and is extracted from a statement [...]

Continue reading …

Sri Lanka’s Black July: Borella, 24th Evening

July 24, 2013

By Rajan Hoole – Most people hate to see themselves as murderers. This influences the manner in which they perceive public and private tragedies, and memory often rejects the unpleasant and sanitises the true nature of the event. So it happened with Tamils in the way they sanitised and rationalised instances of Tamil violence against Sinhalese [...]

Thirty years on: Remembering Black July

July 26, 2013, 8:49 pm 

By M. A. Sumanthiran-Member of Parliament-Tamil National Alliance

T

For the past 30 years, July 23, 1983 has been remembered in Sri Lanka as ‘Black July’. It marks the tragedy and horror of thousands of Tamil people being attacked by rioting mobs acting with impunity. Hundreds of Tamils were killed and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed. Many Tamil people who survived these attacks fled the country, fearing they would never be able to see their home again. The repercussions of these brutal actions are still felt by the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and abroad. The ’83 pogrom is widely seen as a trigger to Sri Lanka’s civil war.

The importance of remembering such atrocities cannot be underestimated. It is only remembrance of such tragedy that will, one hopes, ensure that such horrors will never again take place. It is only such remembrance that will ensure that action is taken to prevent Sri Lanka ever having to face yet another ‘Black July’.

It is, however, most unfortunate that we, as Sri Lankans, have not seemed to come very far from ‘Black July’. Instead of dealing with, and eradicating the root causes of the conflict, we seem to be intent on exacerbating them. Today, more than four years after the end of a bloody war, reconciliation amongst Sri Lanka’s peoples is still very far away. In fact, sadly, 30 years later, not much has changed.

Black July was widely recognised as a genocidal act unleashed against the Tamil people; as Sri Lanka’s holocaust. This was recognised as Genocide not merely because a large number of Tamil people were killed and injured, but also because assets and property owned by Tamils – Tamil homes and businesses – were attacked and demolished. Thirty years on, we are still seeing such genocidal acts being committed against the Tamil people. It is internationally recognised that the term Genocide includes acts that force a community of people to leave the land that has been traditionally occupied by them for several generations. This is taking place in our country today, with the mass land grabs by the government and the military in the North and East.

The horrendous killings of Tamils during Black July 30 years ago are largely believed to have been carried out with the support of the government of that day. The rioting mobs that attacked Tamil homes and businesses acted with impunity. In fact, even in the then President J.R. Jayewardene’s first speech on the event made on July 27, 1983, he offered little sympathy to what the Tamil people had faced.

Today, four years after the end of the civil war, the incumbent President has declared that Sri Lanka has ‘no minorities’. The reality, however, is vastly different. The government turns a blind eye to the repeated attacks against various minority groups. Today, that includes not only the Tamil people, but the Muslim people as well. One of the recent incidents was an attack carried out against a Muslim owned business. Video footage taken during this attack clearly showed a Buddhist monk vandalising the building in question while policemen looked on, doing nothing. Other religious minorities also continue to come under attack, with threatening and violent acts being committed against not only mosques, but churches as well. Following the events of Black July, despite rioting mobs openly attacking Tamil civilians for several days, no perpetrators were apprehended or held accountable for these brutal actions. Today too, few, if any, of the individuals responsible for attacks against members of minority groups are ever apprehended. Hate speeches against minority groups are made; processions threatening minority groups are openly conducted, and the government does nothing.

The blind eye of the government is turned not merely to attacks against minorities, but to other quarters as well. Scores of journalists have been attacked, seriously injured, killed and made to disappear, but the perpetrators of these attacks are almost never apprehended and brought to justice. The crime rate in the country has risen dramatically over the past months and years. The riots in July 1983 were symptomatic of a complete breakdown in the Rule of Law of the day. It is indeed disheartening to see that breakdown today as well.

The ‘83 pogrom is seen as a determined effort by a portion of the majority community, backed by the government of the day, to teach the Tamil people who had been for a long time calling for meaningful power sharing, a lesson. Until 1983, these calls had been for the most part, non violent. Following the attack in 1983, the violence by Tamil youth increased significantly. It is this that led to the 26 year long conflict in our country. To date, the Sri Lankan state has been unable to address the Tamil question in a meaningful way. The only concession to power sharing in Sri Lanka’s Constitution is the 13th Amendment. Even this has, to date, not been fully implemented despite the government’s repeated promises to its people and to members of the international community that it will do so. In fact, the government now proposes to do away with it altogether! Instead of making a realistic effort to arriving at a meaningful power sharing arrangement through genuine, constructive political dialogue, the government now proposes to take away even the limited concession to power sharing in the constitution. The Tamil National Alliance has stated, time without number that the solution to the ethnic conflict cannot be by military means, but by political ones. However, 30 years on, the Sri Lankan government seems more unwilling than ever to either engage in any meaningful, genuine process to this end.

In 2004, then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge acknowledged the role played by the government and made a public apology for the atrocities of ’83. Despite being seen by many as 21 years too late, in my opinion the gesture was tremendously significant. For Sri Lanka and its peoples to move past ’83, this acknowledgment, and with it the accountability for the atrocities committed, was absolutely necessary. Today, four years after the end of a bloody civil war, despite assurances given to the international community and its own peoples, the government of Sri Lanka has yet to put in place any credible process for accountability for what occurred during the war. The tragedy of ‘83 should have taught us that in order for us as a country to move past the tragedy of the civil war, there must be accountability for atrocities committed on both sides.

Thirty years on, the environment and circumstances that made Black July possible have not changed in any significant way. A war has ended, but we have failed to address, far less eradicate, the root causes of the conflict behind it. If anything, we have exacerbated them. Thirty years on, can we claim to have come very far from Black July at all?

Mahinda Chintana Vision, Reconciliation And Implementation

By Salma Yusuf -July 28, 2013 

Salma Yusuf

Key aspects of the proposed National Policy on Reconciliation drafted at the Secretariat of the Presidential Advisor on Reconciliation are particularly striking as creative and innovative in that they require the participation and support of all stakeholders involved coupled with the fact that while being essential towards a larger reconciliation framework, individually and separately have merit in the reconciliatory dividends that each is capable of realizing. The strategy embedded in the Policy Proposal straddles four aspects, namely, Recovery and equitable development, Political participation and administrative accountability, Justice, Truth and Understanding and an Implementation Plan.

The Draft Policy was initially produced by a small group of persons characterized by multi-party, multi-ethnic representation. The Draft Policy was then circulated to leaders of all political parties and followed by a discussion with Members of Parliament including those Cabinet Ministers actively involved in working on issues of reconciliation.

Thereafter, the Draft Policy was taken through a process of consultation with key national stakeholders including religious leaders, civil society and the media. Following the several rounds of consultation, feedback and comments were carefully considered by the core group originally involved in drafting the Policy and amendments were incorporated as relevant into the existing framework before which a Final Consolidated Draft Policy was produced.      Read More

The Commanding Officer

The Commanding Officer

Photo courtesy BBC

Groundviews

W.S. Mendis-26 Jul, 2013

I remember going over to the house of a friend and trying to save the house from attack and destruction. I remember our failure to achieve that hope. A friend who I never counted as the ‘Other’. At that time, in our youth, we related to each other regardless of our ethnicity. We never asked if one was a Tamil, Muslim, Sinhalese or Burgher. I still never do. I stayed over there that whole week and we miraculously escaped assault and death as groups of thugs repeatedly forced themselves into the house. I remember sending members of their family over the boundary wall to safe houses.

I remember, July 29th. ‘Black Friday’. We ran for our lives. After the rest of the family was sent to safety, my friend’s brothers and a couple of friends sat down to a lunch we had cooked up – hot white rice and pol-sambol. We heard an uproar outside. We ran. A mob too large to count came charging at us and finally managed to burn the house down. I remember my friend’s brother hiding under the bed of a neighbour; escaping the sword of a thug, swiped under the bed in the room, by the sheer grace of God. I remember hiding from the mob in half-built houses, scaling walls and hanging on a ledge over a canal.

I remember a gun in my face stuttering to explain that I was not a tiger come to bomb SLBC and being let off by a Commanding Officer who was my schoolmate and providentially who recognised me. (If memory serves me right, he said he had orders to shoot the ‘tigers’ on sight). I remember walking back barefoot with the many others. I remember walking past burning cars and bodies charred beyond recognition.

The stench was awful.

I remember the day that changed my life forever. A day that made my friend’s siblings and their families all leave this country. A day that made all my siblings and their families also leave Sri Lanka. They all left hopeless. But for me, this was a day that made me (and my friend) choose to remain in Sri Lanka and do what we do despite all that we valued crumbling around us. Sadly, echoes of July ’83 return hauntingly when I see similar hate mobs and instigation by authorities and powers that be, using ethnicity and even religion to maintain their own popularity. The apathy and inaction of law officers who stood by and watched the mobs on rampage is not too dissimilar.

But I still hope.

I hope that what I do, though it may only be a drop, still fills the bucket. I hope one day it will be full and we would have made a difference. I pray that it we never have to face a Black July again. Our children must have a better future in this nation.

Sri Lanka must have a better future.

Video: How To Stop Milinda Moragoda Buying Ravaya – Viyangoda Speaks Out On Citizen’s Effort

July 28, 2013

Gamini Viyangoda‘s speech at the media forum on Ravaya and Citizens held on July 25, 2013 evening at the National Library Services Board auditorium .

Following is the appeal made by a group of writers, journalists, creative artistes, social and cultural activists, trade unionists, academics, lawyers and concerned citizens,  to save the 25 year old “Ravaya” news paper, a news paper owned by the readers, by the people. Perhaps the first such news paper in South Asia and definitely the first in Sri Lanka, to be in the mainstream print media.

Read the appeal here

Video courtesy Samabima

‘US-British imperialism helps Sinhala colonization of Tamil homeland’

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 July 2013, 21:32 GMT]
The help of US and British imperialism assists the Sinhala state’s colonization of Tamil areas, observes a solidarity statement by Europe based Kurdish and Turkish diaspora youth organizations. Released on the occasion of Black July, the statement in German language, signed by 4 Left-leaning youth organizations and published on the official website of the German based Kurdish youth organization the Union of Students from Kurdistan (YXK), besides condemning the massacre in July 1983 also traced the continuity of genocide to May 2009 and after, stating that the rulers “had no interest in the scheduled peace process and negotiations”. 

The statement was signed by Union of Students from Kurdistan (YXK), Democratic Youth Movement Europe (ADGH), Young Struggle (YS) and Union of Students from Kurdistan (YXK).

“On 30 Anniversary of the massacre of the Tamils, we remember all the victims of Black July. Organized youth from Turkey and Kurdistan who have come together to stand up together against all forms of oppression, exploitation and repression, we will continue to go in this sense to the streets and stand up for freedom and justice. As youth organizations in Europe, we have joined us to focus our efforts in the future, together, in solidarity and determination to build international solidarity and to take our organization to the streets,” the statement said. 

Welcoming this gesture of solidarity, Balakrishnan Koculan, representative of the youth wing of the German Die Linke party, told TamilNet “From 1983 to 2009 and to now, world establishments assisted and abetted the genocidal war on the Eezham Tamil nation. Our real friends in the international community are oppressed nations and progressive forces who have been persecuted by the same establishments.