Although appointed to protect the law, Nanda breaks the law

 Thursday, 29 August 2013 

The history of Maj. Gen. Nanda Mallawarachchi, appointed secretary of the newly-formed Law and Order Ministry, is replete with corruption and fraud, Army sources say.

The only qualification of the retired Maj. Gen. Nanda Mallawarachchi to be given this position is that he is a batch mate of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. When he was the Chief of Staff of the Army, he was a puppet of the Access Group, which had appointed one of its directors, named Gomes, to solely deal with him.

During the war, Mr. Nanda Mallawarachchi, as the head of the Army’s procurement board, had helped Access Group in an unlimited manner to import military hardware. In return, Access Group provided financial support for him to build a huge house in Battaramulla. When an extension was built for that house, the timber needed for the door and window frames were acquired by felling several jak trees in the land owned by the Kotalawala Defence Academy. At that time, the KDA was under him as the Chief of Staff of the Army.

Further, the then Army commander General Sarath Fonseka had ordered an inquiry into the death of an on-duty soldier who had been deployed in the private security service run by Nanda Mallawarachchi. The first owner of this security service is Dambo Jayatileke. Following his demise, his son Kesara Jayatileke ran the security service. Mr. Kesara Jayatileke was a close friend of Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, and like him, he too, died due to alcoholism. The ownership then went to Mr. Kesara Jayatileke’s widow Mrs. Shari Jayatileke. But, its true owner was Mr. Nanda Mallawarachchi.

In an attempt to cover up the inquiry against Mr. Nanda Mallawarachchi ordered by the Army commander, the Defence Secretary posted his batch mate to Indonesia as Sri Lanka’s ambassador. The tenure of a diplomat is usually three years, but owing to his close connection with Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Nanda Mallawarachchi received two extensions. After being in service as the ambassador for six years, he was recommended for yet another extension. He was recently appointed by the president as the secretary to the Law and Order Ministry.

Tamils stopped at gunpoint, Sinhalese demonstrate during Pillay visit to Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 August 2013, 04:09 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Trincomalee visited all the camps where uprooted Tamil civilians were staying and threatened them that they would be facing dire consequences if they were to take part in awareness gatherings anywhere in the district during the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navanetham Pillay. The SL police didn’t allow local media reporters to any of the venues where Ms Pillay was interacting with the people and the civil society. Meanwhile, the SL military deployed its paramilitary and intelligence operatives to organize a protest giving placards portraying that LTTE was the main culprit in ‘abducting’ people. The Sinhala extremist JVP and JHU elements were also behind bringing false victims to the stage-managed protest held in front of the District Secretariat. 

Despite the prevailing threats, some Tamils managed to attend awareness gatherings demanding resettlement, information on the whereabouts missing persons and objecting the genocidal land grabs. 

There was no visible mobilization by the Muslims in Trincomalee. 

Ms Navi Pillay visited Ki’liveddi ‘welfare centre’ and met a section of the uprooted people from Champoor. She also visited Naavaladi and Verukal areas where the war-affected people had been resettled. 

Tamil civil society representatives who met the High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted a detailed report on the systematic destruction of Saiva temples, Sinhalicisation, Sinhala colonisation, the plight of resettling people and the situation of refugee camps known as ‘welfare centres’. 

The SL authorities rushed ahead with distributing dry-ration cards that had remained suspended during the past 2 years. 

The SL authorities had also rushed to ‘resettle’ 400 people at Koonith-theevu, without basic facilities or any infrastructure. 

The local journalists were not allowed even to the venues where the occupying Sinhala colonial governor of the East, Rear Admiral (retd) Mohan Wijewickrama and the Sinhala Government Agent of the district of Trincomalee Major General (retd) T.T.R. De Silva held meetings with Ms. Pillay. 

The SL Government Agents of Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai of the occupying regime in the East had also been invited to be present along with these Sinhala military administrators in Trincomalee.

Open verdict on B’deshi monk’s death

By Premalal Wijeratne-

Thursday, 29 Aug 2013

The inquest into the death of a Bangladeshi monk, who died after sustaining serious injuries, returned an open verdict.

The monk, who had been temporarily staying at the Sudharshanaramaya, Welikada, Rajagiriya, had been assaulted by a group men on 20 August around 8:20 p.m.

A high ranking officer at the Welikada Prison said three suspects have been arrested in connection with the assault. They are being interrogated, he added.

The monk had been assaulted on a public road, in the vicinity of the Sudharshanaramaya. The victim was later hospitalized by a neighbour who had witnessed the assault.

The police said, following the inquest, the remains of the monk is to be handed over to the deceased’s brother, who has arrived from Bangladesh. (Ceylon Today Online)

Police looking for B’deshi monk’s killers

 

By Norman Palihawadane-August 28, 2013

The Welikada police have commenced investigations into killing of a Bangladeshi bhikkhu, Ven. Burawa Thera, who resided at the Sri Sudarshanaramaya, in Kalapaluwawa.

Ven. Burawa was receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital following an assault and succumbed to his injuries yesterday.

A group of unidentified persons had broken into the temple and assaulted the monk on August 20.

According to hospital sources the monk’s head had been seriously injured in the attack.

Later, the monk found lying naked near the temple was admitted to the National Hospital, Colombo.

Attempts by the police to record a statement from him failed as he was in a serious condition. The Welikada police are conducting further investigations.

What we said becomes true! Basil summons Mervyn before Bribery Commission

 

 Thursday, 29 August 2013 

In an attempt to show UN human rights chief Navaneethan Pillai that rule of the law is existent in Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa brothers have begun yet another political witchhunt, and as their first victim, action has been taken to summon minister Mervyn Silva before the Bribery Commission.

We recently revealed that investigations were underway against six ministers on charges of bribery and corruption. Confirming our report,

minister Mervyn Silva has reportedly been ordered by the Bribery Commission to appear before it on Friday the August 30th.
When contacted, a senior official of the Bribery Commission confirmed that.

Minister Mervyn Silva has been told to describe how he had earned all his wealth.

Meanwhile, Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s Media Secretary Dharman Wickremaratne has personally asked heads of media institutions to give extensive coverage to this incident. Although Mr. Mervyn Silva is considered to be a close henchman of his, the president has been angered by a report about him given by minister Basil Rajapaksa.

In his report, Mr. Basil Rajapkasa has accused Minister Mervyn Silva of placing the government into inconvenience during the Rathupaswala murders incident by providing material assistance to the protestors, threatening the heads of the factory, owned by casino businessman Dhammika Perera, that was behind the issue and telling them to stop work there, thereafter telling the media in front of the protestors that he would expose the politicians behind the incident, indirectly saying that the politician behind it is Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, and meeting Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera some nights ago and plotting against the government.

Further, Mervyn Silva’s son Malaka Silva had quarreled with a friend of Mr. Namal Rajapaksa and Malaka Silva was assaulted, leading to the Rajapaksas distancing themselves further from Mervyn Silva. Minister Basil Rajapaksa has told the president that Mervyn Silva had said that Malaka had been assaulted at the behest of Namal and Yoshitha Rajapaksa.

Mervyn Silva has also claimed an attempt by the Rajapaksa sons to murder Malaka, the report says.

Meanwhile, an order to the Bribery Commission to investigate Minister Janaka Tennakoon is on hold since he is presently in Singapore to obtain treatment for a heart ailment. The president has deployed a separate team to gather evidence on how the minister’s son Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon is extorting traders at the Dambulla Economic Centre in order to fund his campaign for the provincial council polls.

Also, an order has been given to investigate a secret agreement reached by Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne with a Chinese company, claiming a big loss to Sri Lanka as a result of the agreement. State intelligence has informed the Defence Secretary that a team of officials of Minister Senaratne is in China with the aim of amending one such agreement in order to avoid losses. After being informed of this, the president has told officials to immediately investigate it.

Another investigation targets Minister John Seneviratne. As we exposed earlier, the president, from Belarus, has inquired from the Defence Secretary about the progress into the investigations with regard to ministers Champika Ranawaka and Wimal Weerawansa.

SRI LANKA: The Armed Forces are now the police

AHRC-August 29, 2013

On July 3rd 2013, President Mahinda Rajapaksha published a gazette that authorized the armed forces to engage in “the maintenance of public order”. Last week, he announced a new ministry under the title “the Ministry of Law and Order”. By these two acts, the Sri Lankan civilian police have been virtually reduced to nothing, and their function – which is to maintain law and order – has now been handed over to the armed forces.

The exact wording of the gazette notification from July 3 is as follows:

SRI LANKA the Armed Forces Are Now the Police by nelvely

Elephants Stroll Past Temples on Once-Forbidden Sri Lankan Coast

By Christopher Bagley - Aug 27, 2013

With the civil war now ended, the island nation's east and north have opened up for the first time in a quarter century. St. Martin's Seminary in Jaffna is shown here. Although Sinhalese Buddhists make up 74 percent of Sri Lanka's population, Catholics are a significant minority. Photograph: Simon Norfolk/Bloomberg Pursuits

“You’re going to Jaffna? Don’t worry!” My tuk-tuk driver in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, upon hearing that I plan to visit the northern capital of Jaffna, feels compelled to offer reassurance.

Elephants Stroll Past Temples on Once-Forbidden Sri Lankan Coast by nelvely

Activists and journalists discuss Eelam Tamil issue in Delhi 

Thursday, 29 August 2013

The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) held a meeting in Delhi on 12th August, highlighting the plight of Tamils on the island of Sri Lanka and discussing future plans to campaign for Tamil rights.

The meeting, titled "Human Rights Violations: Sri Lanka and the Tamils", began with a screening of the 'No Fire Zone' documentary, and was attended by activists and journalists from across the world. It was led by renowned Indian social activist Medha Patkar, at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.

Tamil Guardian 25 August 2013 Print ArticleE-mail ArticleFeedback On Article

The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) held a meeting in Delhi on 12th August, highlighting the plight of Tamils on the island of Sri Lanka and discussing future plans to campaign for Tamil rights.

The meeting, titled "Human Rights Violations: Sri Lanka and the Tamils", began with a screening of the 'No Fire Zone' documentary, and was attended by activists and journalists from across the world. It was led by renowned Indian social activist Medha Patkar, at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.

Speaking at the event, Patkar highlighted the non-violent roots of the Tamil struggle on the island, noting that initially there were peaceful satyagrahas, before armed resistance emerged in the form of a "Tamil people's army".

On the current situation, Patkar said,
"There is a new type of atrocity now.. claiming the economic livelihood of Tamilans".
Dr Gabrielle Dietrich, a professor of social analysis, spoke on atrocities committed on the island, adding
"It was very hurtful to many of us that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was invited as a Chief Guest during the Commonwealth Games (held in Delhi in 2010)".
Thusiyan Nandakumar, an Eelam Tamil activist based in the UK, explained the need to recognise the existence of a Tamil nation on the island, and its right to self-determination, as well as the detailing the different facets of genocide that had culminated in Mullivaikkal in 2009, and continue as structural genocide today.

His comments were echoed by the Indian journalist, Revati Laul, who called on Indian press to overcome the "fear" of using the term genocide. Laul, who recently visited the island and wrote a piece in Tehelka "The war may be over, but the idea lives on", addressed the audience, saying
"We cannot look at this as simply human rights violations. To do that makes it benign. We must look at this situation as a genocide."
"To look at it as only human rights takes the politics out of it. This was a conflict between the Sinhala nation and Tamil nation."
Other Indian journalists also addressed the meeting, including Mohua Choudry, who had also visited the island before writing a piece. Addressing the event Choudry detailed how the former bustling capitals of the Tamil homeland, such as Kilinochchi, had becomes "ghost towns". Meanwhile the journalist Satya Sivaram described Sri Lanka, as a "fascist Nazi like state".
Dr Ezhilan Naganathan, a Tamil Nadu activist, detailed the post-independence history of the island and explained how this amounted to a "structural genocide of the Tamil nation".

His comments were reinforced by Valarmathy of the May 17th Movement, who highlighted the failure of the United Nations to intervene in Sri Lanka and detailed all the UN articles that had been violated by the Sri Lankan government.

The closing session of the meeting saw a discussion on future strategies for the organisation, with Vijay Pratap from the Socialist Front and Dr Sunilam from the NAPM, calling for nationwide exhibitions to be held that highlight the genocide that took place. Speaking in Hindi, Dr Sunilam concluded calling for greater networking with other activists from across Asia, and building solidarity with trade unions.

Courtesy - http://www.tamilguardian.com/

Dreaming of Eastphalia, in Belarus

 by Tisaranee Gunasekara-Thursday, August 29, 2013

"I am the last and only dictator in Europe"

Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus1

( August 29, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)The day the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights arrived in Sri Lanka, the President of Sri Lanka flew to Belarus.

Belarus has been ruled by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. In 2010 he won his 4th presidential election by bagging 79.65% of the vote (two of the rival contenders were badly beaten-up by the police2). His long reign was enabled by a referendum in 2004 which removed presidential term-limits. Mr Lukashenko, known by the sobriquet Bat’ka (father), is given to theatrical – and rather juvenile - displays of machismo; when President Putin displayed a giant pike he ‘caught’ as a demonstration of his prowess, Mr. Lukashenko responded by parading a much larger catfish3. The Belarus leader is an expert in holding stage-managed elections (at the last parliamentary election, the opposition parties failed to win a single seat). He jailed a one-time presidential rival4 and has taken giant strides to muzzle the media, including the internet.

Had November come before September, the Rajapaksas could have adopted a far more obstructionist attitude vis-à-vis Navaneethan Pillai. But the outcome in Geneva, in September, might have an impact on the Commonwealth, in November. And making a success of the Commonwealth Summit is of the highest priority to the Rajapaksas.

He is also reportedly grooming his youngest son to succeed him5.

Dreaming of Eastphalia, In Belarus 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)

Belarus President: I am not a dictator

Thursday, August 29, 2013
( The following transcript of the interview was originally published by the Russia Today on last March. Just few days before his " official" visit to Belarus, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa also said that he (Rajapaksa) is not a dictator)

( August 29, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In an interview in St Petersburg on Friday, the Belorussian President, Alexander Lukashenko, rebutted accusation of ruling his country like a dictator.

The president said: "I can prove right here, right now, that there is no dictatorship in Belarus. Shall I? It's very simple, in just a few words. This is the argument I use to convince my Western partners. In order to be a dictator, like Stalin, one has to have the resources. Resources are paramount, you need to understand that. Do I have any nuclear weapons? Exactly, I do not. Do I have as much oil as Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela? No. Do I have as much natural gas as Russia? None at all. And so on and so forth. Do I have so many people as China does? 1.5 billion people? No. In order to be a dictator and dictate one's will one has to have the resources: economic, social, military, population, and so on. But we have none. And I am being objective about it. I am telling you that we have no claims of global importance and do not see ourselves solving major global problems. We do not have the resources to do so. What we want to do is find our place in the sun and live as an average civilized European state. That's all I want."

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country's independence in 1991. The president has been called 'the last European dictator' by former and current US and European leaders, and in 2012 the EU extended sanctions against his country saying that the Lukashenko government had failed to improve its human rights record.

Lukashenko travelled to Russia on Friday to meet with President Vladimir Putin for talks about a number of cross-border trade and cultural initiatives. Belarus is heavily dependent on Moscow, with large Russian investment in the country. Prior to his visit it was reported that President Lukashenko's meeting with Putin was part of negotiations over a $2bn loan to inject new life into the Belorussian economy.

Ex-Bosnian Serb police chief jailed for war crimes

Members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's special police work in Sarajevo on April 26, 2013. Bosnia's war crimes court on Wednesday sentenced a former Bosnian Serb police chief to 14 years in prison for his role in the killing of Muslim civilians during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo.

28 AUGUST 2013
AFP - Bosnia's war crimes court on Wednesday sentenced a former Bosnian Serb police chief to 14 years in prison for his role in the killing of Muslim civilians during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo.
Goran Saric was "found guilty of crimes against humanity for his role in the expulsion, illegal detention and execution of Muslim civilians" in June and July 1992, judge Mira Smajlovic said as she pronounced the verdict.
Saric was charged with ordering the arrest of about 100 Muslims in the Sarajevo suburb of Nahorevo, where he was police chief.
Eight of the victims were executed, 29 were placed in a detention camp and 60 were sent to the frontline during the fighting between the mainly Muslim Bosnian army and Serb troops, the court heard.
During and after the war, Saric was also commander of a Bosnian Serb special police unit. He was arrested in November 2011.
Some 100,000 people were killed while two million left heir homes during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, a former Yugoslav republic that currently has a population of 3.8 million.
The Bosnian war crimes court was set up in 2005 to ease the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

West's Strike in Syria is Folly

Best to duck, Bashir

Written by Philip Bowring- WEDNESDAY, 28 AUGUST 2013

Asia should join China in telling the US to forget it

America's Asian allies should join China in warning against the west's planned strike on Syria, supposedly a punishment for alleged (probably accurate) use of gas in its war against insurgents. This outburst of sanctimony will do nothing to bring a brutal multi-party civil war to an end but it will show once again how western countries like to create so-called "rules of war" to suit their own interests.

For sure, the Assad regime is brutal and will use almost any means to stay in power, even if that power is only exercised in a portion of the nation while the rest becomes a fragmented group of ethnic, religious and other fiefdoms. It is indeed shocking that the regime endeavored to "cleanse" a district held by opposition forces with an indiscriminate weapon.

But it pious nonsense to throw around words such as "barbaric," "evil" and "inhuman" to describe this form of attack while high explosive bombs or napalm would have done just as much indiscriminate damage to civilian populations.

Indeed in a civil war almost everyone is engaged whether they like it or not, which explains why civil wars are always singularly brutal. It has always been the case that the mass slaughter of men, women and children has been the explicit threat behind sieges of cities just as the use of mass bombing of cities was used by the US and its allies against Germany as Germany had previously done against Britain.

Whether such terror tactics work is questionable but they are not unusual. Likewise the US drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been primarily aimed at individuals or groups of insurgents, but the collateral damage - deaths of non-combatants - is acknowledged to be a threat to the population at large not to harbor insurgents.

President Obama has so far shown commendable restraint in not wanting to become embroiled in the multi-faceted Syrian war. But the western instinct for moralizing has been aroused by the instant emotion drummed up by reference to use of "chemical weapons," as though high explosives were not chemicals.

The fact is that gas and related weapons are viewed as outlawed mainly because they are effective only in very limited circumstances because use on a larger scale cannot readily be controlled. Thus in the First World War gas attacks were known to blow back on the attackers.

This moralizing always comes easily to the Americans and British. As for France's desire to be part of the punishment team, this is a throwback to its own lingering sense of ownership of Syria and Lebanon.

These western leaders all seem incapable of thinking ahead, thinking through the consequences of knee-jerk reactions to situations leading to interventions which in the end have consequences far more damaging to them. The list in the Middle East is a long and tragic one. Lingering outrage over the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 paved the way a generation later to the rule of the Ayatollahs. The support for Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran sustained the Ayatollahs, caused Saddam Hussein to turn on Kuwait and hence to two US invasions of Iraq, a nation now almost as divided as Syria.

The worst thing about handing out punishment, as though the west was such a fount of wisdom and justice, is that it will make any peace in Syria harder to find. The reasons is not that it will make any significant impact on the Assad regime's durability. It will however infuriate the Russians, whose cooperation is urgently needed if there is to be any chance of negotiating a peace by applying pressure on Assad.

Likewise it will (rightly) be seen in Iran as yet another attempt to undermine the Islamic republic and thus make it more difficult than ever for the new president, Hassan Rohani, to engage with the west on the nuclear issue.

In short, western intervention in this region will for the nth time in 95 years create more problems than it solves, further fragmenting Syria, enhancing jihadist groups, increasing Sunni/Shia and Arab/Persian/Turkish/Kurdish divides. Asia is not engaged and will not be. But its nations are indirectly impacted and they should now have sufficient voice, and sufficient history of good relations with the US, to speak up against this planned exercise in ill-conceived righteousness.

Colombo Telegraph Blocked, How To Reach Us Now: Sri Lanka Telecom And Mobitel Joins The DPI Club!

August 28, 2013

Starting the Friday, 23rd of August 2013 a large number of connections to http://www.colombotelegraph.com were failing. Readers of the website started to report that the site was not available inside of Sri Lanka from some Internet providers.

Colombo Telegraph is strictly a public interest website relating to Sri Lankan matters and is run completely voluntarily by a group of exiled journalists. The site gives space to a wide range of political views and censored/ underreported stories. Colombo Telegraph has the honour of being first and only Sri Lankan site to be approved for inclusion in ‘Guardian Select‘. It was checked and approved for Guardian Select membership by Guardian editorial. Guardian Select bring together the very best independent publishers from across the web.

History of Colombo Telegraph blocking

First -December 26, 2011 - We are blocked but we will not be stopped

Second - May 8, 2012 -Colombo Telegraph Blocked Again

Third - March 29, 2013  - Sri Lanka Blocks Colombo Telegraph and Selected Tweets: Colombo Telegraph Unblocked

Other attempts 

October 26, 2012 - Colombo Telegraph Was Hacked

August 9, 2012 ColomboTelegraph Password Cracking Attempt Blocked

Freedom House Report: Freedom On The Net 2012, Sri Lanka Is A Country At Risk

As the server has been blocked in the past, it was reasonable to believe that blocking was taking place again. In order to verify the cause of the problem we checked 500 different connections inside of Sri Lanka to see from where such blocking was taking place.

Who is blocking the site?

From our analysis we can see that connections from AS45356 and AS9329 are currently blocked. The providers are MOBITEL-LK and STINT-AS-AP

Other providers as AS18001/DIALOG showed signs of blocking the 24th of August but is currently open. The provider AS8966/ETISALAT has never show signs of filtering.Read More

FMM calls on the Government to invite he UN Special Rapportuer on Freedom of Expression & Opinion to visit Sri Lanka in 2014

In a letter handed over to the National Human Rights Commission the Free Media Movement has requested the government to honor the commitment it made in 2006 to invite the UN Special Rapportuer on Freedom of Expression & Opinion to visit Sri Lanka in 2014, as part of a team of UN Special Rapportuers who have also requested invitations for a country visit

The full letter follows:

27th August 2013
Hon. Justice Priyantha Perera
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
Colombo 7

Hon. Sir,

Media Freedom in Sri Lanka

FMM Calls on the Government to Invite He UN Special Rapportuer on Freedom of Expression & Opinion to Visit... by nelvely

Mandana, And A Contract Gone Awry

By Lal Wickrematunge -August 28, 2013

Lal Wickrematunge

Why did five men attempt a robbery at Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema‘s house at Dickmans Road, Bambalapitiya on the 24th morning of August? A cursory glance at Mandana’s residence by any sane person could raise many interesting questions. The Ismail Abeywickrema residence, is in fact the last house any would be robber would enter, on Dickmans Road, if they wanted to carry away the biggest booty.It is also the most austere residence along this road. The residence seem to say “come and get anything from this house if it’s of any value”.

It is a well known fact that Mandana, the Associate Editor of the Sunday Leader does work each week through Friday till 2 or 3 am of Saturday to put the paper to bed. This fateful week she had finished earlier than usual or curtailed her work to get home well before that time. The Associate Editor’s father had returned home around mid night, noticed some men hovering around nearby, but had not given it much thought. The house settles down for the night though Romesh, Mandana’s husband is yet at Havelocks Sports Club, his watering hole, which is at the lower end of this road.

The would be robbers, enter the premises over the rear wall and use an implement to remove an iron bar of a window adjacent to the room in which the senior Ismail sleeps, to gain entry. Or so it is assumed at this point in time. This house has a three and a half foot front wall secured by a very old grilled iron gate. The front door and windows are wood paneled with frosted glass panes that could easily be prised open. The time is around 2.30 am on Saturday. Mandana is half asleep in an ante room. Mandana’s mother and ten year old daughter CK are asleep in a room leading off senior Ismail’s room. The criminals armed with knives and a sword prowl around with the help of a torch light before holding senior Ismail at knife point. The lights are put on and they proceed to hold Mandana at knife point. Negotiations begin with Mandana agreeing to give whatever valuables provided none of the family, are harmed.

At this point another from the group proceed to hold her mother and daughter at knife point which leads to Mandana pleading that the verbal agreement reached with them should be honoured. The criminals go on to break open all the steel cabinets and wardrobes and scatter all belongings in a random fashion. They pay special attention to paperwork. By now they have used items of clothing to cover their faces by tying them around like a bandana. Mandana’s rings are whisked off and the criminals look for the only jewellery in the house which belongs to Mrs Ismail.         Read More