‘Financialisation’ In Lanka Is A Myth

By Kumar David -October 13, 2013 |

Prof Kumar David

Lanka and the demise of neo-liberalism

People are not usually concerned about the more arcane aspects of theory, but of recent there has been discussion of whether the Lankan regime’s economic strategy can be termed neo-liberal and whether finance-capital has become a crucial element in this process. This is argued by some left party leaders and Marxist intellectuals. Ad hominem remarks will not help my case; therefore I will deal with concepts, not name protagonists. I argue in this essay that neo-liberal economics, in its known (and much hated) embodiment is dead and the agenda of Twenty-first Century global capitalism is no longer the same. My second point is that visions of Lanka as a financial centre are hallucinations. Leftist who see ‘financialisation’ looming and blooming are plain Quixotic. The regime’s economic agenda is a disaster, but let’s identify the real disorder, not tilt at windmills.

Neo-liberalism is a term identified with the phase of global capitalism commencing circa mid-1970s (Regan-Thatcher era) and in the West it signalled the end of the welfare state and an attack on unions and the working class. Its central tenants were curbing welfare and social outlay (education, health), privatisation of state assets including public goods (railways, water supply, electricity, post-office), and labour market reforms (pseudonym for wage cuts, slashed employment security, reduced health and retirement benefits). That awful Thatcher woman’s slash and burn crusade is remembered with a shudder; that is neo-liberalism in practice, Hayek its prophet.

Neo-liberalism also inherited from traditional liberalism, a deep faith in free trade. This resonated with the character of the post WW2 age; global expansion of production, trade, investment and finance. Globalisation battered down barriers to goods and services trade and obstacles to the free movement of capital. Protection of nascent industries in developing countries was anathema, subsidies were eliminated. Remember the ‘Structural Adjustment Programmes’? The IMF and World Bank constituted the task force leading the charge to conqueror the developing world; the Washington Consensus provided the programmatic muscle, the charter.

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New Delhi poses new challenge to Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 October 2013, 18:57 GMT]
NPC Chief Minister Mr C.V. Wigneswaran has to be profusely thanked and appreciated by Tamils for his honesty in conceding that he is not a natural leader of Eezham Tamils representing their aspirations, but a planted one by New Delhi to implement the 13th Amendment. Wigneswaran’s revelation and his efforts to muffle voices in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora have to be understood in the background of what M.K. Narayanan had told the TNA in May 2009 that, “we know better what is good for Tamils.” New Delhi simulating a leadership for the political surrender of the Tamil cause poses new challenge to Tamils all over the world, writes an activist for alternative politics in Jaffna. 

New Delhi Poses New Challenge to Tamils by nelvely

The Institutional Background For Devolution Of Power Must Be Put In Place

By R.M.B Senanayake -October 13, 2013 

R.M.B. Senanayake

The Government and the Northern Provincial Council have got off to a good start displaying much goodwill to each other. It is now necessary to make theNorthern Provincial Council work. All persons who wish peace and good governance will be happy indeed. But there are several obstacles  and challenges that have to be ironed out if the Northern Provincial Council is to function in a manner that will fulfill the expectation of the people of the North and make them willingly give up the demand for a separate state put forward by the Tamil Expatriates.

There are several clauses in the 13th Amendment which could be interpreted in more than one way For example the 13th Amendment says that the Executive power of the Provincial Council shall be exercised by the Governor either directly or through the Ministers of the Board of Ministers or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with the article 154F of the Constitution. If the Governor wishes to exercise power on his own initiative there could well be differences of opinion and even conflict. Such a situation arose in the Amparai District with regard to teacher transfers where the Governor on the advice of the Member of Parliament for the District allegedly reversed the orders of the Provincial Council Minster in charge of the subject.  One hopes that such conflicts will not arise in the functioning of the Northern Provincial Council.

Another provision in the 13th Amendment is with respect to the allocation of moneys to the Provincial Councils. The 13th Amendment provides for a Finance Commission which includes the representatives of the Provincial Councils. The relevant article of the Constitution states is as follows:                  

Finance Commission                                                                  Read More 
  

WikiLeaks: UNP Leader Under Fire From Within His Party – 2004 US Ambassador

    October 13, 2013 
“UNP leader and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is under fire from members of his own party who are seeking to clip his wings and/or remove him as party leader. The discontent stems from the view of many party members that Wickremesinghe led the party poorly in the April election in which the UNP was defeated” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and discuses the UNP’s internal crisis after the 2005 April parliamentary election. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on May 12, 2004.

The ambassador wrote; “Despite the heat, Wickremesinghe seems set to hang on as party leader, as there are no clear challengers to his rule at this time. In the mid- to longer term, if the party is to improve its standing, it will have to open up to a new generation of leaders.”

Read the relevant part of the cable below;    Read More

JHU wants Wigneswaran’s motives probed

Saturday, 12 Oct 2013

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has questioned the motive behind the non-hoisting the national flag during a meeting between Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, and External Affairs Minister of India, Salman Khurshid, where only the regional flag and the Indian national flag were on display.

Terming the blunder as a sign of non-recognition of the territorial integrity of the country by the Northern administration, the nationalist party queried whether the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) was sending an indirect message to India by ignoring the national flag of the country.

National Organizer of the JHU, Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe, said in a media release, “Wigneswaran taking oaths before the President was considered as an expression of his allegiance to the Constitution and the
leadership of the country.

However, it is a dilemma as to why Wigneswaran hoisted only the Northern Province Flag and the Indian Flag during his meeting with the Indian minister. On the first day after assuming duties, Wigneswaran failed to hoist the National Flag, which is a clear violation of the country’s Constitution.

“By ignoring the National Flag, Wigneswaran belittled the country and has paved the way for India’s wish for separatism. This is a very serious situation. The Northern Province is not a State of India and the responsibility towards the people living in the Northern Province rests with the Sri Lankan Government.

Even though he took his oaths before the President, his conduct on first day after assuming duties has shown his intention to promote separatism.”

The JHU further emphasized the necessity for the people to raise their objections towards Wigneswaran’s separatist agenda and added, the government has an obligation to reveal its course of action on this issue to the country.

Mangala’s speech in Parliament ‘censored’

• Secretary General to launch investigation
• UNP MP says Govt. is trying to censor MPs the way it censors the media
• Says supporters are being hunted in Matara following the UNP’s home-and-home battle last Saturday

By Dharisha Bastians -October 12, 2013  
The Acting Secretary General of Parliament has agreed to investigate into how references to the Presidential Security Division were censored in the tape of his speech to the House on Thursday, Opposition Parliamentarian and Matara District Strongman Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.
Samaraweera said that during his speech during the adjournment motion on the COPE report, he had tabled details of the Matara march led by UNP dissidents Maithri Guneratne and Shiral Lakthilake in Parliament and noted that there were at least 11 officers attached to the PSD dressed in civil clothing among the crowd.
Samaraweera’s supporters who are supportive of UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe clashed with the procession that was travelling from Matara to Colombo demanding his ouster from the party leadership.
The UNP Parliamentarian claims the Police are arresting his supporters in connection with the violence while other assailants identifiable in the photographic and video evidence are being allowed to roam free.

“I also tabled a media report in which there was a picture of a member of the PSD,” he charged.
When he obtained the tape of his speech from Parliament later that evening, Samaraweera said all references to members of the PSD had been omitted from the speech.
“While the President’s conduct cannot be referenced in Parliament and is liable to be censored, there is absolutely no bar on mentioning the conduct of his Security Division,” Samaraweera charged.
Upon making inquiries, Samaraweera said he had been informed that the Chair had issued instructions to remove the references.
“I raised the issue with Parliament officials and informed them that if they attempted to censor free speech in the House the way they were censoring it in the media, I would take the issue up to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, of which Sri Lanka is the Chair,” the UNP MP told a news conference at Sirikotha.
He said that as the incoming chair of the Commonwealth in which the traditions of parliamentary democracy were hallowed matters, Sri Lanka’s Parliament cannot behave in such an undemocratic way.
Samaraweera said the Acting Secretary General had assured him an investigation would be launched into the issue.
Last week, the Speaker of Parliament also promised an investigation as to how the Government was attempting to table and pass a gazette to legalise casinos without including it in the agenda or making copies of the bill available to the Opposition.

Sajith Calls Mangala A ‘Migratory Bird’

October 12, 2013 

Continuing his string of verbal attacks against senior members of his own party, Sajith Premadasa referred to SLFP dissident and former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera as a migratory bird who was trying to chart the UNP’s future course.

Mangala

“These migratory birds are attempting to violently attack long time UNP activists and supporters,” Premadasa charged at a Hambantota meeting on Friday.

Premadasa called for a disciplinary inquiry against Samaraweera and his supporters for their involvement in the Matara clashes between the pro and anti Ranil factions.

“We cannot just sit and watch while people in our own party are attacked by thugs from within the UNP itself,” he charged.

Samaraweera’s Matara District supporters allegedly disrupted a march calling for UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ouster last Saturday, led by the pro-Premadasa group Maithri Guneratne and Shiral Lakthilake.

Guneratne’s father Herman Guneratne was arrested in connection with a shooting spree in the middle of Matara town, that injured at least three people including a soldier on home leave who has been left partially paralysed due to the shooting.

Govt. Ministers Back Sajith Faction In parliament

October 12, 2013 

As the UNP’s home and home clash in Matara last weekend entered the realm of Parliament, with UNP Matara District MP Mangala Samaraweera tabling evidence of his supporters being attacked, Government MPs strongly backed the anti-Ranil faction involved in the violence.

Sajith

UPFA Minister Rohitha Abeygoonewardane praised the Sirasa Media Network and the Mawbima newspaper, run by businessmen Kili Rajamahendran and Tiran Alles who are closely affiliated with theSajith Premadasa faction of the UNP that is agitating for Ranil Wickremesinghe’s removal.

“Sirasa and Mawbima are owed the nation’s thanks for courageously revealing the truth behind the violence,” the Government Minister said, slamming Samaraweera for thuggery and violent tactics.

“The March was a peaceful march – these thugs attacked a peaceful march,” he said.

“Look at some of these faces,” the Minister said, tabling photographs of the violence, “Budu ammo, these are worse than LTTE faces.”

The Minister said that the ITN will be called a Government media, but Sirasa and Mawbima were private channels and therefore credible.

Minister Abeygoonewardane slammed Samaraweera saying he was a conspirator when he was in the SLFP as well.

Minister Jagath Pushpakumara also addressed the House and spoke against Samaraweera’s speech and criticised the former SLFP strongman on Thursday.

Samaraweera told a news conference on Friday that the Government was assisting the Sajith Premadasa faction and the Sirasa and Mawbima media organisations to launch a witch-hunt against him and his supporters in his home district of Matara in a bid to weaken his organisational structure in the region.

Judge’s son fakes abduction

by Ananda Weerasooriya-Saturday, 12 Oct 2013

Mount Lavinia Superintendant of Police, Ravindra Karawita, said the complaint lodged with the police about the alleged abduction of the son of Colombo Additional District Judge,L.A. Somasinghe, was fabricated by the son himself.

According to the Additional District Judge’s son, he had been purportedly abducted on 28 September near the Rawatawatte Junction by a group of unidentified persons and then released in the Wadduwa, Molligoda area.
The Moratuwa Police and the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) launched investigations into the complaint and sent the CCTV camera footage obtained from stores in the surrounding areas to the Moratuwa University for further
investigations.

The police also obtained the alleged abductee’s phone records and followed up on his contacts. When contacted, a friend of the alleged victim, had revealed the truth to the police. The alleged victim had spent his day at a friend’s house in Molligoda, after being in the Bambalapitiya area for some time. He later claimed that he had been abducted.

Investigations have revealed that the Additional District Judge and his son had had a quarrel the previous day, which led to the son claiming he was abducted.

Nine arrested over Wadduwa abduction

SATURDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2013 

Nine people have been arrested in connection with the abduction of Wadduwa Serene Pavilion CEO Anura Lokuhetti yesterday, police said.

He was abducted and left by the roadside in Bandaragama yesterday morning. He alleged that he was assaulted by the gangsters who abducted him.

Army deployed at SP Komasaru's request

Saturday, 12 Oct 2013
Police Acting Media Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana, refuted media reports that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), N.K. Illangakoon, sent the Army to Weliweriya, and said the Army had been deployed at the request of the Gampaha SP, Vijitha Komasaru, and to announce a message from the Defence Ministry. SSP Rohana said, "The IGP sent a team of Army officers initially on 29 July to provide protection to the factory in Rathupaswala as there was a rumour that the people in the area are to set fire to the factory. But the Army was called to Weliweriya on 1 August at the request of SP Komasaru."

For more details: http://ceylontoday.lk/16-44689-news-detail-army-deployed-at-sp-komasarus-request.html

Towards a parliament of ministers

Editorial-October 11, 2013

The government has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and, now, two-thirds of its parliamentarians are either ministers or deputy ministers! The Opposition has lashed out at the ruling UPFA for the appointment of nine more deputy ministers. The JVP has pointed out that even China, Russia and India have smaller Cabinets than Sri Lanka.

Yes, we have become the laughing stock of the world with so many ministers and deputies. The government, however, is not without politicians who deserve to be appointed ministers, but they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The problem is that government leaders prefer the riff-raff to the deserving ones when making ministerial appointments.

Among the MPs appointed deputy ministers on Thursday there are three who excelled in their chosen fields before taking to politics. Sarath Weerasekera is a former naval officer decorated for proving his mettle in fierce battles with the Sea Tigers who once boasted of ruling the waves off Sri Lanka’s north and east. Besides, he is a talented writer and filmmaker. Having polled the highest number of preferential votes in Digamadulla from the UPFA, he is now a deputy minister. But, if he had, instead of risking life and limb to fight the LTTE, resigned from the Navy, mastered the art of licking politicians’ slippers or sandals, he would have been able to become a Cabinet minister a long time ago. The same goes for Mohanlal Grero, who studied hard, received university education, beavered away again as a teacher for years and painstakingly built a reputed international school.

One’s mind boggles at why some world class sportspersons, too, choose to wallow in the cesspit of politics in the exalted company of scumbags. The World Cup winning cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga is an ordinary MP in the Opposition and Sanath, the Master Blaster, who stood one-day cricket on its head has been appointed a deputy minister. Don’t they think they have wasted their precious time playing cricket? Had Sanath taken to politics straightaway, not knowing a googly from a yorker or the hook from the cover drive, he would have been able to go places as the sports minister.

Jumbo Cabinets and the ever increasing number of deputy ministers have been blamed on the Proportional Representation system under which parties have to coalesce to form governments. This argument is not untenable. However, the ranks of Cabinet ministers and their deputies also swell due to the Executive’s insecurities. The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa took his parliamentarians for granted and tried to keep them under his thumb only to face a revolt in the House. Thereafter, in a bid to make amends he showered ministerial posts on UNP MPs. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga lost control of Parliament due to mass crossovers and her government collapsed in 2001. President Mahinda Rajapaksa fought quite a battle to prevent his government from disintegrating during the war due to defections. (US President Barack Obama is also having hard times because the Congress controlled by his rivals refuses to pass his budget.)

Therefore, the President in power tends to assuage the disgruntlement of his parliamentarians by pandering to their whims and fancies at the expense of the public so that he will be free from trouble. President Rajapaksa has done just that.

There is no need for the remaining one third of government MPs left without portfolios to worry; they, too, will be taken care of in time to come. At this rate, the day may not be far off when we have a parliament of ministers.

Sharma shrugs off jibe by Canadian Senator

SATURDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2013 

One of India’s most distinguished international civil servants has shrugged off a ferocious personal attack from a Canadian politician who described him as a “shill” or stooge of the Sri Lankan government.

Earlier this week, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamlesh Sharma was accused by Canadian Senator Hugh Segal of acting as a shill for the Sri Lankan authorities “defending their every mistake.”

Segal’s bitter criticism comes only weeks before the next Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting, which is being hosted in Colombo by Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The summit is being boycotted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has been critical of alleged human rights abuses by the Rajapaksa government, including “reported disappearances and allegations of extra judicial killings” of the country’s Tamil minority. Harper is on record as complaining that the “Sri Lankan Government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth’s core values, which are cherished by Canadians.”

Harper’s views have been amplified by Senator Segal, Canada’s special envoy to the Commonwealth, who has been severely critical of both Sharma and the Sri Lankan authorities.

In comments to the British media, Segal claimed Sharma had hidden legal advice that indicated Rajapaksa’s decision to fire the country’s chief justice early in 2013 was “illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of international law.” A spokesman for the Secretary-General said the advice had been sought in confidence and “it was not necessary for him to discuss it in public.”

In separate comments made to the Canadian media, Segal told how during a visit to Sri Lanka last April he saw, “bullet holes above the sofa in the office of the editor of a Tamil language newspaper in Jaffna. Days after we visited the paper, its offices were trashed and employees beaten. I met with individuals in displacement camps who had been there for years with no hope of returning home because their land had been appropriated to build housing for military families.

“I saw soldiers walk in as we walked out to “chat” with those who spoke to us”, Segal added. “We were followed wherever we went and had to “lose” our escorts in order to speak to people who were afraid for their lives. Christian, Muslim and Tamil leaders all spoke of persecution and intimidation. There was scant if any evidence of any reconciliation or efforts of any accountability”.

In London, the Commonwealth Secretariat has been much more guarded in its comments about what has been going on in Sri Lanka. A Secretariat spokesman also said the Secretary-General had no intention of stepping down following critical comments of Canadian officials.

“I have no comment to offer you on the more personal remarks made by Senator Segal about Secretary-General Sharma”, the spokesman added.

“What I can tell you is that Sharma continues to use his good offices as Commonwealth Secretary-General to work with Sri Lanka across a broad range of issues, including human rights. I draw your attention to the latest commitment made by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka further to work that the Commonwealth Secretariat has carried out with the commission.”(The Tribune)

• Rathika Sitsabaiesan to run in Scarborough North in 2015 election
• FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  October 11, 2013
  SCARBOROUGH – MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough-Rouge River) announced today that she will run for re-election in the new riding of Scarborough North. Her current riding of Scarborough-Rouge River will be divided in the next federal election into Scarborough North and Scarborough-Rouge Park.
  “I have consulted with the community that I am so proud to represent, and have decided that I will run in Scarborough North” said Sitsabaiesan. “Scarborough North is two thirds of my current riding, so looking to the future I want to continue serving as many of the people who put their faith in me in the 2011 election as possible. Until the next election, the residents of Scarborough-Rouge River can rely on me to continue to defend their interests here and in Parliament.”
  Sitsabaiesan made the announcement while visiting a local Hindu Temple in Scarborough.
  – 30 –
  For more information, please contact:
  Tania Liu, Constituency Assistant, 416-356-2834 or Rathika.Sitsabaiesan.c1a@parl.gc.ca
  Courtesy: Rathika Sitsabaiesan, MP
  Published on: Oct 12, 2013 14:38:52 GMT

Israeli Soldiers Line Up, Shoot and Kill 3 Young Palestinian Girls

Oct-11-2013

People who ask why this would take place, need to understand that the Israel military is ingrained with the thought that all Palestinian children will someday grow up to be their enemy, and threaten their lives...

Nine-year-old girl hurt in settlement terror attack; IDF: suspect got away

Little girl who survived shooting in Gaza. Video by BBC

(CARLSBAD, NM) - A little Palestinian girl named Summer tells a story from an Egyptian hospital bed that is too horrible to be true. Her two younger sisters, the girls says, were lined up and shot to death by soldiers from the Israeli Defence Forces.

The BBC located the girl's father, he cried as he reviewed the events that led to so much loss. He says the girls were killed shortly before 1:00 in the afternoon, the father said, "We were told to come out of the homes, the women, my three daughters". He explains that an Israeli soldier climbed out of a tank carrying a US made M-16 rifle, and started to shoot at the children.

People who ask why this would take place, need to understand that the Israel military is ingrained with the thought that all Palestinian children will someday grow up to be their enemy, to threaten their lives. They discount the fact that such ambitions are born from stories exactly like this one.

The father says that as the children were murdered, some of the Israeli soldiers were eating chocolate and crisps. He says he is sure his seven year old daughter who survived the shooting misses the teddy bear he picked up from the scene of the shooting. Defending the shooting deaths of the little girls. IDF spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich said "there were many cases of gunfire being exchanged between combatants. Excusing the deadly event, she says many civilian facilities had been used by militants. She did not explain how or why Israel constantly attacks the Gaza Strip when it is not their country, in any way shape or form.

Nine-year-old girl hurt in settlement terror attack; IDF: suspect got away

Israel Defense Forces finds suspect's escape route from Psagot settlement in the West Bank; girl in stable condition.

By Chaim Levinson, Gili Cohen and Jack Khoury | OCT. 6, 2013

THE NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL ARRIVES AT SHAARE ZEDEK MEDICAL CENTER, JERUSALEM, IN MAGEN DAVID ADOM AMBULANCE, OCT. 5, 2013.

PHOTO BY EMIL SALMAN

Haaretz.com

A nine-year old girl was wounded Saturday evening in a terror attack in the Israeli settlement of Psagot, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank. After searching the area throughout the night and Sunday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said the suspect was no longer in the settlement.

According to Magen David Adom rescue services, the girl was wounded at around 9 P.M. when she was shot in the chest. She remained conscious and was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem.

The Israel Defense Forces initially said they found evidence of a break-in in the fence surrounding the settlement. The IDF search of the area later found the suspect’s escape route and what they thought was an improvised weapon. After further investigation, it turned out that this was not in fact a weapon. A breach in the settlement’s fence was said to be fixed by military engineering soldiers on Sunday. The army was verifying whether this was the weapon used in the attack. Military sources said the investigation was focusing on intelligence. 

Initial findings indicate the girl was hit by one bullet shot toward her. The motivation for the shooting was not immediately clear.

Dr. Danny Fink, who treated the girl, described her condition as stable and said her life was not in danger. Her condition was initially said to be serious, but hospital officials later revised their assessment to “light.” 

The girl lives in a house at the edge of Psagot, just a few hundred meters from the Palestinian town El Bireh, near Ramallah. Palestinian media reported that two Palestinians were wounded overnight in Israeli army raids in El Bireh following the shooting.

According to initial reports, she was standing on the balcony of her home at the time of the shooting, and told MDA that she saw somebody fire at her. There were no other casualties reported.

Residents of Psagot were asked to remain in their homes while Israel Defense Forces surveyed the area. 

Ya’akov Berg, a Psagot resident, told Haaretz: “I was not at home when the incident happened and I rushed home to protect my family. For many years our security situation was terrible and this [incident] doesn’t get us worked up. No coward who shoots at a nine-year-old girl in the middle of the night is going to discourage us.”

As ICP Publishes UN Sri Lanka Report, Spox Admits "No Fire Zone" Didn't Work

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- After Inner City Pressexclusively published the UN's internal report on its "systemic failure" in Sri Lanka in 2009, on Friday Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq said that the UN had called for "safe zones." 

  Inner City Press asked if this was the notorious "No Fire Zone" in which tens of thousands were killed, which even the UN's John Holmes called the Bloodbath on the Beach. Video here, from Minute 25:27.

  Haq replied of the idea of "safe zones" and "days for halting" conflict that "many of those concepts did not work out or be implemented in the way we would have wanted them to be."

  You don't say. But did the UN call for a ceasefire? No. Did it say anything about the weapons bought or used by the Sri Lankan government? No.

  Now that Inner City Press has published the internal report, with its call for the Deputy Secretary General to take issues to the Security Council, when will it be implemented? Inner City Press asked, and Haq said, "this is something we're going to be in dialogue with member states about." Video here from Minute 6:07. 

 Haq said the Secretariat would be briefing NGOs and "the media" - when?

Now that the report has been obtained and published, it's time for the UN to speak out more.

  Since the slaughter, the UN has accepted one of the most involved military figures, Shavendra Silva, on the UN Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations; this month, Silva's putative boss Palitha Kohona, also involved, took over the chair of the UN General Assembly's Sixth (Legal) Committee.

  So what was learned from the cited 1999 Independent Inquiry on UN Action in Rwanda and the 1999 review on the fall of Srebrenica?

  Syria is cited in, and explains, this "Plan of Action to strengthen the UN’s role in protecting people in crises." The report says: "Today we are witnessing the agony of the Syrian people. That conflict is a test - not just of Member States’ will to fulfil their responsibilities, but of the UN’s ability to use all the tools at its disposal to make sure that people are protected."

  Again, this may explain the report: while the Western P3 members of the Security Council, the US, France and UK, did not much or at all push Ban Ki-moon to "do something" about the slaughter in Sri Lanka -- the UK is holding its Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting there -- they are pushing, and hard, on the issue of Syria and ousting Bashar al Assad. So, now a UN report and plan for "Rights Up Front." What next? 

The plan says the UN will "hold accountable staff, particularly at senior levels." But if the UN can't even admit and apologize for bringing cholera to Haiti, what does accountability mean?

  If Ban's UN allows its head of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous to openly refuse to answer Press questions about mass rape by his partners in the Congolese Army, where is the accountability? Now that farce has been reported this week in the UK New Statesman, here.

 This comes after the UN's Censorship Alliance tried to oust Inner City Press for its Sri Lanka reporting, then spied against it to the UN, click here for that; it is the new Free UN Coalition for Access, despite threats from the UN, now working to further open the UN.

Watch this site.

Sri Lanka: Banning Commonwealth summit protests a blatant attempt to silence criticism

10 October 2013
Sri Lanka’s reported decision to ban all protests in its capital Colombo and other locations around a key Commonwealth summit would be a blatant attempt to sweep human rights abuses under the carpet, said Amnesty International.

According to Sri Lankan news reports, the government today announced that protests, marches and the display of banners and black flags will be banned in the city of Colombo and other locations where delegates are expected to visit during the first three weeks of November. This coincides with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo on 15-17 November.

“This sounds like another blatant attempt to stifle civil society activism as Commonwealth heads of state meet. Sadly, it fits very well with the government’s aggressive and heavy handed efforts to silence any dissent over the past years,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.

“Such a ban would fly in the face of ‘Commonwealth values’ that respect human rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. This latest move should be another reminder to the Commonwealth that Sri Lanka should not be allowed to host the summit, given the country’s appalling human rights record.

“Banning protests shows how the Sri Lankan government is trying to hide ongoing human rights abuses from visiting world leaders and media. The Commonwealth cannot allow itself to be used by the Sri Lankan government to gloss over cracks in its international image.” 

On Sri Lanka, UN Now Tells ICP It May Release Report "In Days Or Weeks"?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 10 -- Now that the UN's Sri Lanka report is completed, why isn't it being released? Has Sri Lanka been given some sort of veto over it? 

 After being told that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would have something to say about in September and hearing only a brief reference in one of his speeches, at the October 10 noon briefing Inner City Press asked, video here and embedded below

Inner City Press: yesterday, the Deputy Secretary-General spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations and he said as to this report, which he said is finished, that he has advised that it not be released until a part of it is implemented and, or at least as I understood, until Member States are comfortable with it. What is the benchmark? Could it be years until it is implemented? Does this involve Sri Lanka giving the green light to its release? Why wouldn’t this simply be released in the spirit of courage of speaking that he referred to? Thanks.

Associate Spokesperson: Well, first of all, in the spirit of courage of speaking, he actually, at that discussion, gave out quite a lot of the details of the report, as you will have noticed. So, he has been speaking out on this, and we will have, I think, more to say in, I believe, the days and weeks to come. I don’t think that this is a long wait, but there is a dialogue that is going on, and we will have something more to say about our follow-up to the work of the internal review panel. But, as you know, we put out the report of the internal review panel; Michael Keating has proceeded to follow up with this, and we will be able to say things about the follow-up work as they proceed. But, the Deputy Secretary-General yesterday in his discussion did discuss what the main priorities were about this particular effort and what things we seek to strengthen, including prevention, the protection of civilians and the need for faster action. And those are three priorities that we will try to uphold.

Meanwhile at the UN, Sri Lanka Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona, who played a role in the 2009 end game, is now the chair of the UN's Sixth (Legal) Committee. Yesterday a representative from Slovenia speechified about working with the chair -- Sri Lanka -- to put an end to mass atrocity crimes. Really? 

 And now it's reported that protests will be banned in November when the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting comes to Sri Lanka. Watch this site.