SRI LANKA: Two brothers were arrested, tortured and detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division and remain in remand as they cannot pay the amount demanded in bribes by the TID officers.

August 20, 2013

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Ganeshan Pushparaj and his brother Mr. Ganeshan Govi of Odinton Estate, Lindula, Thalawakalle in Nuwara Eliya District have been detained for more than 4 years and 10 months by the Terrorist Investigation Division. They were tortured in detention and have been laid with fabricated charges. It is believed that the reason for their continued detention is their failure to pay the bribe demanded by the TID officers

This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional misuse of the powers bestowed on state agencies, particularly the Terrorist Investigation Division.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Photograph of Ganeshan Pushparaj

According to the information that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received Mr. Ganeshan Pushparaj (32) and Ganeshan Govi (30) of Odinton Estate, Lindula, Thalawakalle in Nuwara Eliya District has been detained for more than 4 years and 10 months. Pushparaj and Govi are brothers.

SRI LANKA Two Brothers Were Arrested, Tortured and Detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division and Rem... by nelvely

I am no dictator, says President

I am no dictator, says President

TUESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2013 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that many people who called him a dictator were unmindful of the fact that they were using such slogans while being on a democratic platform which allowed them the freedom to express such opinions about the President of the country.

Addressing an election rally in Gampola, the President said he could not understand how they could term him a dictator.

“I don’t understand how they could accuse me of being a dictator while casting such allegations in public on a platform within the country itself. If one takes a paper or a website they slander me using obscene language which are not even found in the Sinhala language. But they have been given that freedom to do so,” the President said.

The President further said that every citizen of this country enjoyed the freedom of expression.

“ Every citizen of this country has the right to do as he pleases, our aim is to preserve such democratic values and that is why we conduct elections. We give the responsibility to the people to choose who should govern them. However, these few people use this democracy and freedom to slander,” he said.

The President also said a few Non-Governmental Organisations and bankrupt political leaders seem to betray the country internationally in order to further their agendas.

“We have had to fight again to protect our country because of these people. Just as we were rebuilding our country these people portray us to the world as being destructive people. Their main agenda is to portray our country in bad light,” he said.

The President during his speech said that every province in the country is reaping the benefits of development.

“ There are no racial and religious barriers because each and every province and village is reaping the benefits of the development that we are carrying out. But a few people cannot bear this fact and therefore are engaged in discrediting and slandering us internationally. However, never can this government be made to kneel through such slander,” he said. (Suranga Rajanayake)

Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara on the Run: CID questioning and Arrest Imminent

(Lanka-e-News-19.Aug.2013,11.30PM) The latest reports from Sri Lanka’s professional and academic community on the continuing saga of Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara is that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is closing in on him. They are about to question him before framing charges against him for criminal misappropriation of monies totaling over Rs. 50 million in connection with the government owned PIM’s (Postgraduate Institute of Management) International Centre which he operated in Dubai in the UAE for a period of nearly three years from 2007 to 2009.

Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara on the Run CID Questioning and Arrest Imminent by nelvely

Of that paper pyre

Editorial-August 19, 2013,

Several Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) officials are up the creek, having burnt a slew of files at, of all places, the Borella Cemetery. It is believed that they tried to wipe out the evidence of some rackets. Thankfully, some files were saved and Colombo Mayor A. J. M. Muzammil has promised a probe into the incident.

Opinion is divided on the burning of CMC files. It is being claimed in some quarters that permission had been obtained to destroy some documents, but many others, had been smuggled out of record rooms and offices with the papers to be incinerated. Others claim there had been absolutely no need to destroy any files at all. However, what really matters is that CMC members are confident that irrefutable evidence has surfaced that there was a sinister attempt to obliterate evidence of a racket. They should know. Councillors of both the UNP and the UPFA have, in a rare moment of unity, joined forces to have the incident investigated.

That cemeteries are used for various illegal activities is only too well known. The dead are not allowed to rest in peace. Some crematoria along the littoral are, according to anecdotal evidence, used for drying fish at night while it has been established beyond doubt formalin is widely used to ‘embalm’ raw fish. After nightfall, some cemeteries become havens for druggies, prostitutes and bootleggers as our provincial correspondents point out from time to time.

Time was when cemeteries were used to destroy the bodies of senior JVP members in their numbers. The lesser ones were just shot dead and burnt on tyre-pyres on the roadside to send a chilling message to one and all in the late 1980s. Founder leader of the JVP, Rohana Wijeweera, was executed and cremated at the Borella cemetery as confirmed by a municipal worker interviewed by our sister paper, Divaina, a few moons ago. However, this is the first time a graveyard has been used to ‘cremate’ evidence of municipal rackets which are usually swept under the carpet.

Burning CMC files to cover up crooked deals, in our book, is as futile as the proverbial squirrel’s desperate attempt to empty the ocean with the help of its fluffy tail. For, given the high incidence of rackets at the CMC, all its files would have to be burnt, if racketeers were to cover their tracks.

CMC members who acted fast enough to prevent some of the vital documents from going up in flames are to be commended. Thanks to their efforts, we now know that among the files being burnt were some documents pertaining to issues such as questionable recruitment of drivers and security guards to the CMC.

If the mayor goes ahead with the promised probe, he may be able to bring the culprits to book. However, such action will amount to scratching the surface as everything is rotten about the CMC which, in our view, is an Augean stable, the cleaning of which requires a Herculean effort. The challenge before the mayor is to prove that he is equal to it.

The public perception is that the CMC is one of the most corrupt public institutions though the advocates of good governance and transparency haven’t mentioned it in their reports. Nothing gets done there unless several palms are oiled as is common knowledge. Besides, it has earned notoriety for inefficiency and colossal waste of public funds. There have been calls for setting up a permanent internal mechanism to probe allegations against CMC officials as an antidote to corruption. It is hoped that the mayor will give serious thought to this while probing the ‘cremation’ of documents.

Four Sri Lankan Navy members arrested for people smuggling

Four members of the Sri Lankan Navy have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 100 asylum seekers to Australia.

BY BEN DOHERTY-

19 AUGUST 2013

Navy spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya has confirmed that police are investigating the role of three sailors and one ''civilian attached to the navy'' in organising the boat voyage of a group of asylum seekers who were arrested last week trying to leave Sri Lanka for Australia.

''We have handed over to police the three sailors and one civilian for the police investigation. If the allegations against them are found to be correct, they will face legal action,'' he said.

The three sailors are understood to be members of the navy's signal branch. A van belonging to the suspects was reportedly seized, too, along with bank receipts for 1 million rupees ($8000).

The sailors have been taken into custody pending charges of assisting illegal emigration.

The 111 asylum seekers - 46 men, 20 women and 45 children - were arrested on board the fishing trawler Rwan Putha in seas off Galle, on Sri Lanka's southern coast, last week.

The group was overwhelmingly Tamil - 108 of the 111 - and mainly from areas heavily affected by Sri Lanka's civil war: Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Jaffna and Mullaitivu.

In March, Fairfax Media exclusively reported that navy sailors and officers were widely believed to be complicit in, and profiting from, people-smuggling rings.

Prominent Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Suresh Premachandran said: ''I believe some navy personnel are involved in this smuggling.''

Fellow TNA MP and leading Sri Lankan lawyer, M. A. Sumanthiran, said the navy's involvement was common knowledge across the country.

''There is no doubt there is a level of naval complicity in the people smuggling,'' he said.

''It is quite clear that some people are given the chance to go through, and we have even heard of stories where the navy has escorted boats out of Sri Lanka's territorial waters.''

The allegations of naval complicity were raised directly with Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr when he visited Sri Lanka in December.

The Australian government said it was aware of the allegations, but had no specific evidence to support them.

Australia provides several million dollars in training and materiel support, such as surveillance and search-and-rescue equipment, to the Sri Lankan Navy to help it interdict asylum seeker boats.

In March, the Sri Lankan Navy denied the claims of naval complicity. Commander Warnakulasuriya at the time said the allegations were baseless.

''There is no truth to them. No one has ever presented any proof that the navy, or any government personnel, is involved,'' he said.

''The Sri Lankan Navy has stopped more than 3000 people from leaving Sri Lankan waters last year.''

The number of Sri Lankan asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat jumped from 211 in 2011 to 6428 last year.

Image: Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP

Human Smuggling: Four Sri Lankan Navy Members Arrested

August 20, 2013 

Four members of the Sri Lankan Navy have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 100 asylum seekers to Australia, the Age reported today.

Secretary to the Defence, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Navy

Navy spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya has confirmed that police are investigating the role of three sailors and one ”civilian attached to the navy” in organising the boat voyage of a group of asylum seekers who were arrested last week trying to leave Sri Lanka for Australia.

The three sailors are understood to be members of the navy’s signal branch. A van belonging to the suspects was reportedly seized, too, along with bank receipts for 1 million rupees ($8000).Read More

Life Is Not Rocket Science

Rocket man, president and inspiration for generations of Indians, Abdul Kalam finally tells his story. Excerpts from his forthcoming autobiography.

A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

MY JOURNEY BY A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM PUBLISHED BY RUPA PUBLICATIONS | PAGES: 147 | RS. 195

The Boat

Living on the island of Rameswaram while I was growing up, the sea was an important part of our lives. Its tides, the lapping of the waves, the sound of trains passing on the Pamban bridge, the birds that always circled the town and the salt in the air are sights and sounds that will always remain linked with my memories of childhood. Apart from its sheer presence around us, the sea was also a source of livelihood for our neighbours and us. Almost every household had some connection with the sea, whether as fishermen or as boat owners.

My father, too, operated a ferry that took people back and forth between the islands of Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, which is about 22 kilometres away. I still remember the time when he got the idea for this, and how we built that boat.

Rameswaram has, since antiquity, been an important pilgrimage destination. Rama is believed to have stopped here and built the bridge to Lanka when he was on his way to rescue Sita. The temple of Rameswaram is dedicated to Shiva, and houses a lingam fashioned by Sita herself. Some versions of the Ramayana say that Rama, Lakshmana and Sita stopped here to pray to Shiva on their way back to Ayodhya from Lanka.

People visiting our town would go to Dhanushkodi as part of their pilgrimage. A bath at Sagara-Sangam here is considered sacred. The sangam is the meeting place of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Dhanushkodi is now connected by road and vans take pilgrims there, but way back when I was a child, a ferry was also a good way of reaching the island.         Full Story>>>>

Netanyahu’s Social Media Director Suspended For Offensive Facebook Posts

August 20, 2013 

Daniel Seaman slammed Japanese nuclear-victim commemorations, and wondered whether Muslims ‘stop eating each other’ during Ramadan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new social media chief was reportedly suspended for making inappropriate statements on his personal Facebook page.

Daniel Seaman, the prime minister’s recently appointed director for interactive media, suggested that Palestinians who commemorate the Nakba, an Arabic word referring to the “catastrophe” that is Israel’s victory in the 1948 war, may want to reflect on how “stupid” they are.

Seaman, former head of the Government Press Office, and a deputy director-general in the now extinct Ministry of Public Diplomacy, also wrote he was “sick” of commemorations for the victims of the nuclear bombs dropped in Japan during World War II because “Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow.” He added: ”Instead, they should be commemorating the estimated 50 million Chinese, Korean and other victims of Japanese imperial aggression and genocide – not to mention nearly 120,000 Allied military casualties who fought to defeat the genocidal Japanese. These are who deserve to be and should be remembered this week.”        Read More

Courtesy Times of Israel

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PM’s designated social media chief down but not out

Although Daniel Seaman has been suspended and ordered to delete his offensive Facebook posts, he might still get the senior post he was tapped for last month

By RAPHAEL AHREN-August 18, 2013

Daniel Seaman (photo credit: YouTube screenshot)

Despite having been suspended over a series of inappropriate Facebook posts, the designated chief of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new social media advocacy department has not been fired from his current job and might still end up being promoted.

Netanyahu’s Social Media Director Suspended For Offensive Facebook Posts by nelvely

CIA Admits It Was Behind Iran's Coup

BY MALCOLM BYRNE | AUGUST 18, 2013

Sixty years ago this Monday, on August 19, 1953, modern Iranian history took a critical turn when a U.S.- and British-backed coup overthrew the country's prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The event's reverberations have haunted its orchestrators over the years, contributing to the anti-Americanism that accompanied the Shah's ouster in early 1979, and even influencing the Iranians who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran later that year.

But it has taken almost six decades for the U.S. intelligence community to acknowledge openly that it was behind the controversial overthrow. Published here today -- and on the website of the National Security Archive, which obtained the document through the Freedom of Information Act -- is a brief excerpt from The Battle for Iran, an internal report prepared in the mid-1970s by an in-house CIA historian.

The document was first released in 1981, but with most of it excised, including all of Section III, entitled "Covert Action" -- the part that describes the coup itself. Most of that section remains under wraps, but this new version does formally make public, for the first time that we know of, the fact of the agency's participation: "[T]he military coup that overthrew Mosadeq and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of U.S. foreign policy," the history reads. The risk of leaving Iran "open to Soviet aggression," it adds, "compelled the United States ... in planning and executing TPAJAX."

TPAJAX was the CIA's codename for the overthrow plot, which relied on local collaborators at every stage. It consisted of several steps: using propaganda to undermine Mossadegh politically, inducing the Shah to cooperate, bribing members of parliament, organizing the security forces, and ginning up public demonstrations. The initial attempt actually failed, but after a mad scramble the coup forces pulled themselves together and came through on their second try, on August 19.

Why the CIA finally chose to own up to its role is as unclear as some of the reasons it has held onto this information for so long. CIA and British operatives have written books and articles on the operation -- notably Kermit Roosevelt, the agency's chief overseer of the coup. Scholars have produced many more books, including several just in the past few years. Moreover, two American presidents (Clinton and Obama) have publicly acknowledged the U.S. role in the coup.

But U.S. government classifiers, especially in the intelligence community, often have a different view on these matters. They worry that disclosing "sources and methods" -- even for operations decades in the past and involving age-old methods like propaganda -- might help an adversary. They insist there is a world of difference between what becomes publicly known unofficially (through leaks, for example) and what the government formally acknowledges. (Somehow those presidential admissions of American involvement seem not to have counted.)                                     12NEXT 

Guardian Says Britain Made it Destroy Snowden Material

David Miranda, schedule 7 and the danger that all reporters now face

LONDON — August 20, 2013

British authorities forced the Guardiannewspaper to destroy material leaked by Edward Snowden, its editor has revealed, calling it a “pointless” move that would not prevent further reporting on U.S. and British surveillance programs.

In a column on Tuesday, Alan Rusbridger said he had received a call from a government official a month ago who told him: “You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back.” The paper had been threatened with legal action if it did not comply.

Guardian Says Britain Made It Destroy Snowden Material by nelvely

Zuckerberg's Facebook page hacked to prove security flaw

By Doug Gross, CNN-Tue August 20, 2013

Shreateh said he contacted Facebook security about the vulnerability before using it to post to Mark Zuckerberg's page.

A Palestinian researcher posted a message on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s page last week after he says the site’s security team didn’t take his warnings about a security flaw seriously.

"First, sorry for breaking your privacy and post(ing) to your wall," wrote Khalil Shreateh. "I (have) no other choice to make after all the reports I sent to (the) Facebook team."

Zuckerberg's Facebook Page Hacked to Prove Security Flaw by nelvely

PAKISTAN: The AHRC welcomes the stay on executions

August 20, 2013

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the postponement of the scheduled executions of condemned prisoners in Pakistan which were to take place from August 20, 2013.

A temporary stay on the hangings was announced on Sunday, August 18 in response to protests from outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari and various international human rights organizations. This stay is set to last until Zardari returns to Pakistan and can discuss the matter with incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Relative to this meeting, the Pakistani Taliban threatened retaliation should any of their members be executed.

In an alleged effort to curb crime and terrorism, the newly elected government of Pakistan Muslim League-N reiterated their refusal to renew the moratorium. They are especially concerned about the crime-ridden urban centers such as Karachi and conflict areas along the Northern border with Afghanistan. It seems that regional terrorism is merely a way for the Pakistani government to maintain control over domestic politics and policies. Control over killing people, be they convicts or innocent persons, demonstrates their hold on terrorism but which in reality they have little power to control and too often to condone.

Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the courageous decision of President Asif Ali Zardari in taking the bold step in refusing to allow the schedule executions to go through.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s decision provides Pakistan with yet another opportunity to show concern in taking up the question of abuse of Human Rights in the country. Furthermore, the AHRC hopes that the Government of Pakistan will give serious thought to two vital questions. These questions are; lifting the moratorium on death penalties and due consideration for the international and domestic protests from Human Rights Organizations and Activists.

Since independence, Pakistan has increasingly incorporated Shariah law (fundamentalist Islamic law) into its common law system. It has increased the scope of crimes for which one can be put to death, including blasphemy against Islam. Would it not be better for the country as a whole, that Pakistan’s new government focus on the rampant impunity afforded Islamic terrorists?

In its interventions the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported on ‘the saga of the prisoners waiting in death row’. The number of death row inmates increased from 5447 in 2005 to 8300 today, prison capacity has not been increased to hold them, leaving them to subsist in inhuman and inadequate living conditions.

The Pakistani government has high hopes to put a stop to criminal activity, especially acts of terrorism. Many of the actors in this situation come from believers of a radical sect of Islam that promotes the idea that by being a suicide bomber, one can reach salvation. So, the mere threat of a death penalty would not be a deterrent for radical followers of such a devout, if mis-guided faith.

It is vital that the international community and the United Nations work together to put pressure on the Pakistani government to formally abolish the death penalty. Questions have emerged concerning the legitimacy of the judicial system that has been handing out these death sentences.

AHRC would like to place on record its concern about the Government of Pakistan’s refusal to sign and ratify the two optional protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR.) AHRC would also recommend to the Government of Pakistan to strictly abide by international standards on the death penalty.

In summation, the AHRC urges the Pakistani government to:

Protect Pakistani citizens’ right to life by re-implementing the moratorium on all pending death penalty cases in both civilian and military courts.

Formally abolish the death penalty for all crimes under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Respect the rights of prisoners by correcting the overcrowding and poor conditions within the prison system.

Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights regarding capital punishment.

Pakistan's Musharraf charged with murder of Benazir Bhutto

By Syed Raza Hassan-RAWALPINDI, Pakistan | Tue Aug 20, 2013

(Reuters) - A court in Pakistan charged former military dictator Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday with the 2007 murder of Benazir Bhutto in an unprecedented move likely to anger the all-powerful army.

The indictment of the army chief who seized power in a 1999 coup - once Pakistan's most powerful man - was almost an unthinkable event in a nuclear-armed country ruled by the military for half of its 66-year history.

Pakistan's Musharraf Charged With Murder of Benazir Bhutto by nelvely

Welikade Prison: The Second Massacre: 27th July 1983

By Rajan Hoole -August 19, 2013

Rajan Hoole

Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 15 - Welikade Prison Massacres:

C. T. (Cutty) Jansz and his leading officials had an unenviable problem on their hands. They could maintain order in the prison only through jailors and jail guards. They knew that some politically influential jailors were behind the massacre on the 25th. Having transferred the survivors to the YOB, they could only hope for the best. To whom could they go for help, to the Government?, to the Army?, the Police?. The events of the 25th had taught them that the prisoners were in a vicious environment where everything was against them. Had Jansz been a tougher nut who could arm-twist his jailors, the Army and the Government by threatening to make things awkward for them, these events may have been avoided, or at least limited. But there he was, asking if they could ‘at least help him’ as though it had nothing to do with them. Even those who perhaps would like to have helped, sensing what the Government wanted, tried to avoid the issue.

Senior DIG Suntharalingam who had been a confident law enforcer six weeks earlier, was apparently helpless because he was then going to a Security Council meeting! The deterioration of state culture had gone too far down the road where it had become very difficult to find someone in authority who would in a crisis tell another, “You jolly well do the right thing or, whatever happens to me, I will tell the world about it!”

We now continue with the testimony of the victim downstairs.         Read More

To be continued..

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

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

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

Part four - Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up

Part five -  30th July 1983: The Second Naxalite Plot

Part six  - Black July: The Testimony Of Lionel Bopage, Then General Secretary Of The JVP

Part seven - Black July: Thondaman & Muttetuwegama

Part eight - What Was Behind Tiger Friday – 29th July? -The Significance Of The Pettah

Part nine - Tamil Merchants In The Pettah – Post July 1983

Part ten –  Sri Lanka’s Black July: A Family’s Tragedy In Colombo

Part eleven -  Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Question Of Numbers

Part twelve –  Welikade Prison Massacres: The First Massacre: 25th July 1983

Part thirteen –  Welikade Prison Massacres: Testimonies Given At The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fourteen -  Circumstances Leading To The Magistrate’s Inquest

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued..

Homeless, why?

July ’83.-

by Melanie Emmanuel

- on 08/19/2013 

It was the month and year I would like to forget.  As we woke up that fateful July morning, all I knew and felt was the tension in the air, in the house, as my parents and we children were contemplating what kind of dangers we, as a minority family was going to face!  The situation was aggravated when the bodies of thirteen soldiers killed in the North were brought to the Borella cemetery and retaliation for their killing was vowed by the politicians present, hence the rampage on the minorities started almost immediately.

Homeless, Why by nelvely