Quake kills 45 in Pakistan, creates new island in sea

By Gul Yusufzai-QUETTA, Pakistan | Tue Sep 24, 2013 

(Reuters) - A major earthquake hit a remote part of western Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast.

Tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the east, where buildings shook, as well as the sprawling port city of Karachi in Pakistan.

The United States Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude quake struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran.

The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 meters (yards) off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea.

Television channels showed images of a stretch of rocky terrain rising above the sea level, with a crowd of bewildered people gathering on the shore to witness the rare phenomenon.

Officials said scores of mud houses were destroyed by aftershocks in the thinly populated mountainous area near the quake epicenter in Baluchistan, a huge barren province of deserts and rugged mountains.

Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, told Reuters that at least 30 percent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had caved in.

The local deputy commissioner in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, and the spokesman of Pakistan's Frontier Corps involved in the rescue effort said at least 45 people had been killed.

In the regional capital of Quetta, officials said some areas appeared to be badly damaged but it was hard to assess the impact quickly because the locations were so remote.

Chief secretary Babar Yaqoob said earlier that 25 people had been injured and that the death toll was expected to increase as many people appeared to be trapped inside their collapsed homes.

Local television reported that helicopters carrying relief supplies had been dispatched to the affected area. The army said it had deployed 200 troops to help deal with the disaster.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina; Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik in Islamabad and David Chance in New Delhi; editing by Mark Heinrich)

One-Third of Americans Under 30 Have No Religion -- How Will That Change the Country?

Americans are abandoning religion in droves.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Maria Maarbes

September 19, 2013  |  

The following article first appeared in the American Prospect.  [3]
In the two years leading up to his death this past February, the legal and political philosopher Ronald Dworkin was completing a slim volume with a weighty title. Religion without God, which began as a series of lectures in 2011, set a lofty goal: to propose a “religious attitude” in the absence of belief. 

One-Third of Americans Under 30 Have No Religion -- How Will That Change the Country by nelvely

TNA demands ‘a measure of autonomy within a united, undivided Sri Lanka’

By Shamindra Ferdinando-September 22, 2013

Having secured the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) with an overwhelming majority at Saturday’s Provincial Council polls, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) aka TNA yesterday urged the government to ‘grant a measure of autonomy to Tamil speaking people within a united undivided country.’

Saturday’s was the first Northern PC polls since the introduction of the 13th Amendment, in accordance with the Indo-Lanka Accord, signed on July 29, 1987.

TNA heavyweight M. A. Sumanthiran, MP, told The Island that the government should ensure the newly elected NPC was given an opportunity to exercise its powers in accordance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.Nothing could be as important as allowing the NPC to exercise even the limited powers it enjoyed under the present PC system, the MP said. Saturday’s overwhelming verdict reflected the mood of Tamil speaking people in spite of the UPFA’s relentless efforts to undermine the democratic process, the MP said.

The TNA obtained a staggering 353,595 votes (78.48%) to secure 30 seats, while the UPFA and its constituent, the SLMC, obtained seven and one seats respectively in the 38-member NPC.

Responding to a query, Sumanthiran pointed out that the TNA’s achievement was bigger than even a two-thirds victory. "What we have achieved under proportional representation is extraordinary. We hope the government as well as the people will respect the verdict. The government can no longer ignore the verdict at the NPC."

The attorney-at-law said that the TNA expected the government to engage in a meaningful discussion with the party in the wake of its historic electoral victory. Sumanthiran said that the party would act responsibly to pursue post-war national reconciliation.

When pointed out that the TNA as well as several other organisations had repeatedly alleged that a free and fair election couldn’t be held due to heavy presence of the military in the Jaffna peninsula, Sumanthiran said that troops had intervened on behalf of those contesting on the UPFA ticket. The MP alleged that some troops had fired in the air outside the Varani College on the day of the polling when the TNA rushed to the scene after having heard of trouble there. The MP alleged that troops positioned close to some polling booths had chased away voters between 1.00 and 3.00 p.m.

What Do NPC Election Results Convey?

By S. Sivathasan -September 24, 2013

S.Sivathasan

The unconquered will of the Tamils yet remains unconquerable. This genetic trait is conspicuously displayed. Trials and tribulations for thirty continuous years have not killed their spirit of defiance. Nor have they impaired their quest for freedom. Till they quench their thirst, the world will see the pursuit of this ideal. Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it, is sure to become the credo of every Tamil. If the spirit is understood and rights are conceded, the call will not become strident.

Chief Minister Elect

Justice Wigneswaran was well known for uprightness. In his judicial career he was unswerving in fair play. For him a life of religion was to be the consummation of his existence. In this ambition he was thwarted and with sensitivity he has responded to the people’s call. They too in equal measure have endorsed his decision unreservedly. The nation’s polity has expressed its desire of rising expectations. It is precisely this wish that will make his approach to administration most formidable.

There is a compulsion not only to take the tone and tenor of administration to top notch, but to deliver. Shibboleths like those at other places cannot be satisfying. Results have to be concrete, tangible and quantifiable in monetary terms. Two conditions have to be immediately met. (1) Seed funds by way of a one-off grant from the government for 2014 to be negotiated for and secured by October this year itself. (2) Assembling a compact coterie of high caliber administrators – serving and retired – with an acknowledged reputation for delivering results. As important would be their astute understanding of the nuances of inter- personal relations with those who matter in Colombo.

I have worked and interacted with the late Saumiamoorthy Thondaman sufficiently long to perceive the fundamental of his success. It was intense preparation. Never taking up an issue at high level discussions without thorough study and reflection. He will even seek to anticipate likely lines of cross examination and be sufficiently armed with cogent replies. I have been privy to a lament of his. “The TULF had excellent speakers, but were very poor negotiators”. Extensive study and analysis by those at the commanding heights of advising the Chief Minister will be crucial to securing Presidential and governmental support.Read More

UN rights chief lashes back at Sri Lanka claims

By AP News Sep 21, 2013

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations’ top human rights official lashed back Friday at the Sri Lankan government, accusing some of its most senior officials of waging a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting her and her office.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, in a statement that’s unusual for a top U.N. official to direct at a U.N.-member country, took aim at Sri Lanka’s powerful Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and other government officials, on the heels of her visit to the South Asian island nation last month.

During the visit at least three government ministers “joined in an extraordinary array of distortion and abuse” which is continuing now, Pillay’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva. “We consider it deeply regrettable that government officials and other commentators continue what appears to be a coordinated campaign of disinformation in an attempt to discredit the high commissioner or to distract from the core messages of her visit.”

At the end of her visit, Pillay issued a hard-hitting statement that democracy was being undermined and the rule of law eroded in Sri Lanka, with the country increasingly becoming an authoritarian state, despite the end of its civil war four years ago.

The government responded that she had violated her mandate by making political statements. The defense secretary said her visit was influenced by propaganda from remnants of the Tamil Tiger rebels who lost the war.

The Tigers were fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils, saying they faced discrimination from the Sinhalese majority.

A U.N. report says that as many as 40,000 people may have been killed in the final phase of the civil war, and Pillay’s visit followed a resolution in the U.N.’s 47-nation Human Rights Council in March that urged Sri Lanka to investigate more alleged war crimes committed by government forces and Tamil rebels. She is due to report her findings on Sri Lanka before the Geneva-based Council next week.

On Sept. 12, Pillay’s office sent a formal complaint to the Sri Lankan government demanding that it immediately retract and publicly correct “misinformation which has — not surprisingly — aroused much disquiet in Sri Lanka,” Colville said.

Pillay complained that the defense secretary made widely reported but false claims that she had asked President Rajapaksa during their private meeting to remove a statue of Sri Lanka’s first prime minister from Colombo’s Independence Square.

“Firstly, we categorically deny that the high commissioner ever uttered a single word about the statue of Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake at any point during her visit to Sri Lanka, let alone asked the president to remove it. This claim is without a shred of truth,” Colville said. “Secondly, there has been a further distortion concerning comments the high commissioner made to the president concerning a flag in Independence Square.”

Pillay told the president she was concerned about “rising inter-communal tensions and incitement to violence on the basis of religion in Sri Lanka,” and asked the president why the flag of one religious community — the Sinhalese — was flying next to the national flag in such a symbolic location, Colville said.

She suggested “it might be more inclusive to fly only the national flag,” he added. “At no time did she request any flag to be removed.”

UK Welcomes Polls, Calls For Probe On Intimidation Reports

September 24, 2013

UK’s Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has welcomed the provincial elections last Saturday but called for an investigation into the reports of intimidation and abuse of state resources in the electoral process.

Alistair Burt

Issuing a statement Burt said polls have been described as largely peaceful by Commonwealth and domestic observer missions, with high turnout across all three provinces. “This demonstrates the desire of the Sri Lankan people to engage in this democratic process which ensures all provinces now have a council for the first time since the end of the military conflict,” he said.

“I call on the Sri Lankan government and parties who won provincial seats to work together to contribute meaningfully to effective and inclusive regional governance in Sri Lanka,” Minister Burt said.

He said the lasting reconciliation all Sri Lankans deserve cannot be delivered by these polls alone, but the elections remain an important step in recognising the rights and aspirations of all citizens.

Burt also welcomed the access granted to local and international polls observers and the overall conduct of polling day. “However, I note with concern the credible reports of the misuse of state resources for campaigning, incidents of intimidation, and violence in the run-up to elections. I call on the authorities to investigate these serious allegations and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” the UK Minister said.

Northern comfort

Elections in Sri Lanka-Banyan

FIRECRACKERS at dawn and a few weary smiles. As Jaffna’s palm trees swayed in the wind, northern Tamils in Sri Lanka were celebrating cautiously on September 22nd. Their favoured party all but swept the board in provincial elections the day before. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) scooped up 30 of 36 contested seats. Municipal and other local elections have been held here since 2009, when Sri Lanka’s three-decade long civil war ended. But this was the biggest poll, a test of northern Tamils’ perception of their place in the country. The ruling party of Sri Lanka was heavily defeated.

Northern Comfort by nelvely

TNA’s Victory Statement: Tamils Want To Live In A United, Undivided Country

September 23, 2013 |

Statement released by the Tamil National Alliance on the results of the Northern Provincial Council Election 2013

R Sampanthan

The Tamil National Alliance – Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi – has achieved a resounding victory at the Northern Provincial Council election, winning nearly 80% of the seats in the Northern Province and nearly 90% of the seats in the Jaffna District. Such a verdict is unprecedented in the country’s political history.

The democratic verdict of the people is clear. Within the framework of a united, undivided country, they want to live in security, safeguarding their self respect and dignity with adequate self-rule, to be able to fulfill their legitimate political, economic, social and cultural aspirations.

The Tamil National Alliance is committed to the achievement of the above objective and expects that the Government would also extend its fullest cooperation to the achievement of the same. The results of this election offers everyone an opportunity which should be fully utilized in a positive manner.

The Tamil people of the Northern Province have, despite several trials and tribulations, even during the electoral process, pronounced their verdict clearly and courageously and we strongly urge that their democratic verdict should be respected.

We want to extend to our people our sincere thanks for the overwhelming support they have extended and want to assure them that we will spare no effort to ensure that they are able to fulfill their legitimate aspirations.

R Sampanthan

Leader, TNA

President, ITAK

இனிமேல்தான் எமது பயணம் ஆரம்பம்: சம்பந்தன் பரபரப்புப் பேட்டி
https://www.facebook.com/bharati.rajanayagam?fref=pb&hc_location=friends_tab

"இனிமேல்தான் எமது பயணம் ஆரம்பமாகவுள்ளது. பாரிய பொறுப்பு எம்மை எதிர்நோக்கியுள்ளது'' என தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் தலைவர் இரா.சம்பந்தன் இன்று காலை தேர்தல் முடிவுகள் அறிவிக்கப்பட்டவுடன் யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் வைத்து தினக்குரல் ஒன்லைன்னுக்குத் தெரிவித்தார். 

The Northern Spring

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“The people want to be free.”

Thomas Saundranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna1

( September 23, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka is at a turning point.

The people of the North have spoken, clearly, unambiguously, democratically.

Will the Rajapaksas have the sense to accept the popular verdict, to mend their policies and attitudes towards the minorities in general and the Tamils in particular? Or will they beat the racist-tom tom with increased vigour, under cover of anti-separatism?

The Northern Spring by nelvely

‘We Urge The Govt. To Grant The Council The Powers That Are Legitimately Ours’ – Northern Chief Wiggie

September 23, 2013

In a special message to the Sinhalese people, the Northern Province Chief Minister Elect C.V. Wigneswaran called on communities in the South to educate their political leadership about federalism and make them understand that it was not a euphemism for a separate state.

Wigneswaran

Addressing a press conference in Jaffna last afternoon, the newly elected Wigneswaran who received a historic 132,255 preferential votes and topped the TNA list in the Jaffna District, said that it was time for the Sinhalese and the Tamils to live together in peace. “We are citizens of the same country,” he said.

Wigneswaran said that the massive mandate the TNA had received in the Northern Province was a reason for the communities in the south to finally come to terms with the fact that the people of the North have an individuality of their own. He said it was up to the Government to respect the verdict of the Northern Tamils given in Saturday’s election. “We urge the Government to grant the council the powers that are legitimately ours in line with international covenants and agreements,” he told reporters.

VIDEO: WE WILL NOT DO ANYTHING THAT GOES AGAINST THE LAW - VIGNESWARAN

We will do nothing that goes against the law, Tamil National Alliance Chief Ministerial candidate, C.V. Vigneswaran stated after receiving the highest preferential votes in the Jaffna District at the concluded Provincial Council election.

Speaking to journalists in Jaffna, he stated that the party requires the support of the government in order to be able to maintain the Northern Provincial Council.

Vigneswaran, who is set to become the Chief Minister of the region, said that the party however did not have any intention of joining an alliance with the government.

He also assured that the TNA was prepared to take action if the government attempts to exert pressures on land and police powers.

Canagasabapathy Viswalingam Vigneswaran, a retired Supreme Court Judge, obtained the highest preference votes in the Jaffna District of the Northern Province with a total of 132,255 votes. TNA’s Anandi Sridharan, who is the wife of the former LTTE Political Wing Leader in Trincomalee, Elilan, came in second with 87,870 votes while the UPFA’s Kandasamy Kamalendran only managed to secure 13,632 preference votes. 

The Tamil National Alliance, which is registered as Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), won a landslide victory on Sunday in a landmark election in the battle-scarred North, securing 30 out of 38 seats in polls for the provincial council in the former war zone.

The TNA swept all five districts in the election for the Northern Provincial Council, the first for 26 years.

17 TNA candidates unite on 3 key demands

Eye Sri Lanka

     In the final run up to the election, candidates of the TNA across the five districts have come together on three key points of their electoral campaign -reaffirming their belief in the Tamil nation’s right to self-determination, rejecting the 13th Amendment or the unitary Sri Lankan constitution as a point that can lead to a political solution, and reiterating the need for an international investigation into war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

In advertisements printed in the local Tamil newspapers over the last few days, a total of seventeen candidates from all five districts – eight from Jaffna district including Ananthi Sasitharan and C.V. Wigneswaran, three from Killinochchi and two from Vavuniya, Mannar, and Mullaithivu respectively – have expressed the follow three points:

1) We insist that any political solution should recognise the Tamils as a nation entitled to the right to self determination and shall be based on a united NorthEast.

2) Neither the flawed 13th amendment nor the unitary Sri Lankan constitution can lead to a solution that reflects the aspiration of the Tamil people

3) We charge that Tamils living in Sri Lanka are subjected to genocide. Even after the war, demographic change through the systematic colonisation and land grab are continuing. We are firm on our insistence that the war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed against the Tamil people during the war and for the last 30 years should be investigated though an international, independent, UN mechanism.

Confrontation of Two Nationalisms

Another Peace Process May Needed

 by Laksir Fernando

Monday, September 23, 2013

( September 23, 2013, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian)  If political realism is any indication, Sri Lanka again is in trouble waters after the three PC elections and the polarization between the two nationalisms, Sinhala and Tamil, is higher than what it was before the commencement of the war. If the NPC election was held in 2009, soon after the end of the war, the situation could have been averted. It is not for convenience that the two other PC elections in the Central and the North Western were held along with the Northern PC, but as a signal or a ‘mirror’ to the North. The results show the polarization of the country between the TNA and the UPFA, in the North and in the South, and any subsequent PC elections would show the same trend perhaps by enhanced majorities for the UPFA, given the nationalist polarization.

Confrontation of Two Nationalisms by nelvely

NPC Polls: C’wealth Observer Report Slams Military Influence

September 24, 2013

The Commonwealth Election Observer Mission to the Northern provincial polls yesterday released their preliminary report of their findings, calling polling day largely peaceful but noting with concern the heavy presence and influence of the military in the electoral process.

Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe - Jaffna Commander

“The heavy presence and influence of the military, including persistent reports of overt military support for particular candidates, reported cases of the military actually campaigning for selected candidates, and military involvement in the intimidation of the electorate, party supporters and candidates. The role of the military in the electoral campaign was consistently described to the mission as a significant obstacle to a credible electoral process,” the Commonwealth Election Observer mission said.

The Observers said any election was a process and not an event. “Despite the several positive features of the process, we noted issues of concern with regard to the electoral environment and the pre-election period,” the Observers said.

We publish below the statement in full;

Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council Elections 2013: Preliminary Findings

23 September 2013

Statement by: Commonwealth Observer Mission

Jaffna, Sri Lanka                                    Read More

High profile investigation into soldier’s alleged rape in Haiti MONDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2013  Three senior officers appointed by the Army Commander Lt. General Daya Ratnayake are to leave to Haiti shortly, in order to investigate an alleged molestation attempt on a Haitian woman by a member of the Sri Lankan contingent, serving the UN Peacekeeping Missionin Leogane, Haiti Following is the release issued by the Army regarding the ongoing inquiry Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake on hearing the alleged misconduct took a very serious view of the incident and assured the UN of a full and impartial inquiry immediately in order to bring any offender to justice.  In addition to the already ongoing investigation of the Military Police section of the Haiti mission, the UN Commander for the Sri Lankan contingent in Haiti, has been directed to cooperate with UN investigators, if any request to this effect is made. The Army Court of Inquiry, appointed by the Commander of the Army comprises Major General N. A. J. C. Dias, Adjutant General, Major General E. K. J. K. Wijayasiri, Provost Marshal, Brigadier R. P. Rajapathirana, Director Legal, Major H. S. K. Jayasinghe and Major L. G. Epa. Three of those members in the CoI upon conclusion of its investigations in Haiti, the identified offenders, if any are to be voluntarily repatriated to Sri Lanka forthwith, to face a General Court Martial in Sri Lanka upon return. Apart from the investigation of the matter under consideration, the CoI team would ascertain whether there had been any lapse on the part of any Haiti-based Field Commander which would have led to the alleged incident. Any such Field Commander, found to be negligent in supervising his troops is also to be seriously dealt with, taking very severe disciplinary action. Simultaneously, the CoI would inquire into all other aspects as regards the alleged incident to ascertain whether there were any deliberate attempts by interested parties to discredit the Army and the country in particular.    Earlier on Sept 14, 2013, it was reported that the UN had commenced an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by a member of the Sri Lankan contingent to the UN Peace Keeping Mission in Haiti, based on an alleged complaint, said to have been made by a Haitian woman.  Commander of the Army who has already gone on record affirming that Sri Lanka Army has a zero tolerance policy on wrongful conduct by any of its members, has directed the investigating team to visit every Sri Lankan detachment in Haiti and further educate the troops in order to prevent incidents of this nature. The Court of Inquiry upon return to the island expects to submit its findings to the Commander of the Army in the first week of October 2013, the Army said. Related News Army probing alleged rape by soldier in Haiti

Sri Lanka election shows Tamils reject the status quo

Police in Kilinochchi train station, on their way back home. They’d been brought up from the south to provide law enforcement for the election, with the Sri Lankan Army in barracks and off the streets.

By: Rosie DiManno Columnist, Published on Sun Sep 22 2013

The Toronto Star

KILINOCHCHI, SRI LANKA—In an election that was largely symbolic, perhaps nowhere is a dewy sense of back-to-the-future envisioned more poignantly than here — the former de facto capital of Tigerland.

This is the town that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam captured at the beginning of a brutal civil war and kept as a formidable stronghold until almost the very end. Guerrillas blew up the train tracks, severing commuter travel from the south, using the rail ties to construct fortified bunkers.

Sri Lanka Election Shows Tamils Reject the Status Quo by nelvely

The Promise To Work Together After Elections

By Jehan Perera -September 23, 2013 

Jehan Perera

The unexpectedly large scale of the defeat suffered by the government at the Northern Provincial Council elections held last Saturday is an indication of how inaccurate it was in assessing the mood of the electorate in the former war-zone of the North.  The government cultivated the belief that economic development and the self-interest of individuals would outweigh their desire for political rights.  With its ability to raise large loans from the international community and deliver economic benefits, the government had the decisive advantage over the opposition in that respect.  Prior to the election, government leaders went around the North gifting consumer durables and promising jobs for the unemployed.  One government candidate even published advertisements in newspapers boasting of his ability to provide employment opportunities.  Just prior to the election, the President opened the newest railway station in the former LTTE capital of Kilinochchi on the new railway lines being built to replace those destroyed in the war.

However, the outcome of the elections shows once again that political rights do matter more than anything else to the people of the North.  It is likely that the same feelings pervade the Tamil people living in the East, but as they are not in a majority in that province, the numerical strength to show that desire in elections is not available to them.  There is no question that economic well being matters to the people of the North and East, and is a priority to them.  But there is no getting away from the issue of establishing a system of power-sharing, in which the power to make decisions affecting their lives is provided to the representatives of the Tamil people.   Of course, they, like every other community have to be aware that the country is a plural and multi ethnic one, and that decisions need to be arrived at with due sensitivity to that reality, and even giving deference to it. The devolution of powers provided to the provincial councils under the 13th Amendment is the option that was adopted in 1987 during the time of war.  It needs to be revised and improved upon now that there is peace.

Read More

SAARC Monitors ‘Dismayed’ About Fake Uthayan Publication

September 24, 2013

The SAARC Election monitors who oversaw Saturday’s Northern Provincial Council election said they were dismayed at the falsified special edition of the popular Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna and the continued publicity granted to that fake edition by a television operator.

Fake Uthayan

Addressing a press conference in Colombo yesterday Head of the SAARC Election monitoring mission N. Gopalswami who is also a former Elections Commissioner of India said that the observers had noted that no action was taken by the authorities to stop the broadcast.

The ‘fake’ Uthayan newspaper that was delivered before the newspaper’s morning edition was circulated to its subscribers and news stands and repeatedly displayed and broadcast on the Government affiliated DAN TV broadcast in the North and run by the LTTE’s former spokesman Daya Master.

The head of the SAARC observer mission said that the violation was a main example of the misuse of the press on polling day.

The SAARC monitors also said they were dismayed by the involvement of the armed forces in incidents of polls related violence, specifically the attack on the home of then TNA candidate, Ananthi Sasitharan the day before the poll.