Why I am attending CHOGM – David Cameron

David Cameron Tamil Guardian 07 November 2013

Writing in the Tamil Guardian today, British Prime Minister David Cameron responds to calls for him to boycott the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Sri Lanka next week.

The full text of Mr. Cameron’s opinion follows:

A week from now I will arrive in Colombo to join leaders and representatives from 52 other Commonwealth member states for our biennial meeting. Today in Downing Street I will meet Tamil representatives from communities here in Britain to discuss their concerns about the situation in Sri Lanka and to hear the messages they want me to take to the government there.

Some, including many in the Tamil community here in Britain, have called for me not to attend because of the Sri Lankan government’s poor record on human rights and cruel treatment of Tamils. Four years after the conflict no one has been held to account for grave allegations of war crimes and sexual violence, journalists are routinely intimidated and thousands of people have yet to find out what has happened to their missing relatives.  

I want to see that change. And I do not believe boycotting the Commonwealth meeting will achieve that. The right thing to do is to engage. To visit the country. To shine the international spotlight on the lack of progress in the country. And to have frank conversations with the Sri Lankan government about what they must do to address the concerns of the international community and to improve the daily life of thousands of Tamils and civilians across all communities. 

I will visit the north of the country – the first leader to do so since Sri Lankan independence in 1948 – precisely so that I can see the situation on the ground with my own eyes and meet people directly affected by the conflict. 

Recent progress on elections, reconstruction, demining and resettlement of those displaced by the conflict is important but it is frankly not enough. I will demand that the Sri Lankan government independently and transparently investigates alleged war crimes and allegations of continuing human rights abuses; guarantees freedom of expression; and stamps out intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders - including by bringing those responsible to justice.

This will not be an easy conversation. But diplomacy is not about ducking the difficult discussions. It is about talking to those that you may not agree with precisely because you want to change their approach. 

We must also not forget that this meeting is not only about Sri Lanka, the host of this year’s meeting – a decision agreed in 2009 under the previous Government.  

The Commonwealth represents 2 billion people - nearly a third of our world’s population - and some of its fastest growing economies. And we want it to remain a force for good in the world, promoting democracy and human rights and creating new opportunities for prosperity among its 53 member states. 

This requires all the Commonwealth’s members to value the organisation, to participate fully in its discussions and work closely together. 

And finally, if we are not at the table we have no way of encouraging the Commonwealth to take a strong stand on issues that we care about deeply in our country. We want to ensure that the international framework that succeeds the Millennium development Goals has the rule of law and good governance at its heart. We want to promote freer and fairer trade. These things matter to Britain – to our security and to our prosperity – and I am determined to be present to argue for them. 

For these reasons attending the summit is not a betrayal of Britain’s values or the Tamil people, it is the way we champion them. 

We want the Commonwealth to take action on the things that matter to the UK and we will not achieve that by sitting on the sidelines.

Will Manmohan Singh Shake Hands With Mahinda Rajapaksa?

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole -November 7, 2013

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Every recent Sri Lankan expatriate conversation has been on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – why the UK, Australia and New Zealand are fully behind Sri Lanka, whether India’s Manmohan Singhwould and even whether he should go. Naturally tonight’s (Nov. 3) Channel 4 Broadcast has added to the anxiety of those on all sides.

Many have asked me what I think. As a Sri Lankan I want a Sri Lankan state that is multicultural and respectful of the rule of law. All the evidence I have seen points to terrible things having happened at the end of the LTTE’s rule and the life of its leader Prabhakaran  – I deliberately avoided saying end of the conflict as many say because, the way government is going, it is adding to the list of causes that resulted in that terrible war.

All the conversations I have had with friends and associates who lived through those terrible days of bombs,  and death all around them in Mullaitivu, and being shot at if they tried to flee, leave no doubt in my mind as to the accuracy of the UN Marzuki Darusman Report. The little doubt that would remain in any rational person’s head as to whether the government could be telling the truth vanishes quickly as its leaders evade an inquiry that could only help it, if things are as it claims.

Yet, plans for CHOGM on Sri Lankan soil continue under the primary case that Sri Lanka must be engaged by Commonwealth member-states to help her correct course. However, when a neighbor rapes a householder’s wife and kills his children, can he argue that the neighbor must be engaged? For minor offences such a principle would work, but not for the major ones that Sri Lanka stands accused of. In this case, the primary duty of the CHOGM is to protect and safeguard the people, rather than the system of solidarity among member states.

Britain, the primus inter pares among the members of the Commonwealth, is vulgarly rushing to participate in the CHOGM meeting. David Cameron says that he will push for accountability in Colombo, something, I note, he can do even from Downing Street. Indeed what better incentive for Sri Lanka to investigate current allegations than to be threatened with isolation? Verbal entreaties made while rewarding the Sri Lankan President with the chair of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, constitute active encouragement to do nothing.

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India-Sri Lanka: Of strategic ties and domestic pressure

By snubbing Sri Lanka, India can’t hope to do anything for the Sri Lankan Tamils

Illustration: Jayachandran/Mint

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is scheduled to start on 15 November in Colombo. In the normal course, these events—notwithstanding the fanfare in the host country—are staid affairs. Leaders make solemn speeches, resolve to do important things, and return to their countries. This time, the event has sparked a mini storm in India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s participation is still not confirmed. The divisions with the government are apparent. The ministry of external affairs wants the Prime Minister to go to Colombo; some of his ministers and leaders of various political parties are vehemently opposed to his visit and have exerted considerable pressure on him on this count.

The Prime Minister should attend the summit. There are good reasons for him to do so.

In South Asia at least, perceptions are driving what should otherwise be a rational decision. On the one hand, the Union government is under severe pressure from political parties in Tamil Nadu not to attend the summit. On the other hand, for Sri Lanka the non-attendance of the Indian Prime Minister will be a snub to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.

Two issues are worth pointing out here. One, Sri Lanka, for all the ups and downs in our relations with that country, is a friendly neighbour that deserves the minimum courtesy of not being subjected to political winds emanating from Tamil Nadu. Unlike domestic political compulsions, be it the passage of laws in Parliament or state governments haggling for central resources, foreign policy is one area where the country as a whole is affected. There can be no separate foreign policy for Tamil Nadu. In fact, any such “regionalization” of issues of national importance is fraught with danger. Second, there are indeed genuine concerns about the treatment and rehabilitation of Tamils in Sri Lanka especially in the years since the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

The question that needs answering is this: Can India, by snubbing the Sri Lankan government, hope to do anything for the Sri Lankan Tamils? The answer is a clear no. What our political parties, especially those from Tamil Nadu, forget is that Sri Lanka is an independent country and not an appendage of India. India’s ability to influence domestic events there—particularly on the Tamil issue—depends on maintaining friendly ties with the government there. The illusion being harboured currently is that any Indian disapproval will somehow move or propel the international community to act against the Rajapaksa government. This is unlikely for two reasons. One, multilateral efforts to censure any government accused of human rights violations are notoriously fickle. There are good examples why this does not work. In a far more extreme case, that of apartheid in South Africa, a global opprobrium ensued in the 1980s. Sanctions, feeble as they were, did nothing. In the end, it was the then South African government that ended apartheid. There is, of course, no question of comparing the two situations. The second, related, point is Sri Lanka is not dependent on India’s economic help—the most substantial leverage that any country can have over a partner. China is a key investor in Sri Lanka. And that relationship is now on the verge of being transformed into full political backing for the government of that country. This escapes most political leaders and parties in India.

There was, to be sure, horrific violence against unarmed, non-combatant, Sri Lankan Tamils at the end of the war against the LTTE. Since then, the pace of redeveloping the Northern Province, home to the bulk of Tamils, has lagged. Reports also suggest that niggardly treatment of Tamils continues. These are certainly issues that India needs to engage on with the Sri Lankan government in a forceful manner. But the mode of doing that has to be within the framework of normal bilateral ties. India’s efforts on this score have been sporadic and knee jerk. That has been the normal state of affairs of Indian diplomacy under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments. If at all, leaders from Tamil Nadu are keen to change things, they need to hold the UPA accountable on that. They have not done that, so far.

Should the Prime Minister skip the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka? Tell us at views@livemint.com

Commonwealth asked to urge Sri Lanka to investigate attacks on media

 Thursday, 07 November 2013 

The Commonwealth has been urged by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to ensure the Sri Lankan government investigates attacks on the media.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon has said that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was set up more than 40 years ago with the aim of working together toward shared goals of democracy, freedom, peace, and the rule of law.

In a letter to the Commonwealth heads, Simon has pointed out that in the past, formal meetings and private retreats at the summit have served as a platform for member states to discuss issues that affect all nations, such as apartheid in South Africa and the electoral dispute in Zimbabwe.
But as leaders from more than 50 nations converge in Sri Lanka for the biennial summit this month, CPJ has noted that it would like to highlight grave concerns about the perilous climate of press freedom in the country and urge meaningful action.

“Critical or opposition journalists continue to face intense intimidation in Sri Lanka. Our research shows that at least 26 journalists have gone into exile in the past five years, which is one of the highest rates in the world. And while work-related murders have declined since 2009, the slayings of nine journalists have gone unpunished over the past decade, which is one of the worst records of impunity in the world. CPJ is investigating other cases of journalists killed in Sri Lanka to determine whether the murders were related to their work. At least one journalist has simply disappeared,” Simon has said.

CPJ research has shown that since the end of the civil war, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration has failed to prosecute a single case of a murdered journalist, including the assassination of prominent newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga in 2009. Many of the victims, like Wickramatunga, had reported on politically sensitive issues in ways that were critical of the government.

“Sri Lanka remains a highly unsafe place for journalists to work, a circumstance that is exacerbated when killers have impunity. We ask that in formal and private meetings with President Rajapaksa, you urge him to ensure a credible, independent investigation into the cases of disappeared and murdered journalists, make the findings public, and efficiently prosecute the perpetrators in an effort to help reverse the pattern of impunity,” CPJ has said.

Mahinda will be stripped of chair if he plays hell – Kamalesh Sharma!

 Thursday, 07 November 2013 

Commonwealth secretary general Kamalesh Sharma has assured that Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapkasa would be stripped of the chair of the commonwealth, which he would assume for the next two years at the CHOGM in the coming week, if he engaged in authoritarian, anti-democratic activities without safeguarding Commonwealth principles. He gave the assurance yesterday (06) at a meeting with a delegation from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) at the Comonwealth headquarters in London.

The APPGT delegation comprised its chairperson Lee Scott, deputy chairperson Siobhain McDonough, secretary Hazel Weinburg and two representing the Tamil Diaspora.

Mr. Sharma was told by the APPGT delegation that handing over the CHOGM chair to such a person was like giving a girl in marriage to a criminal despite objections by the entire society and later divorcing her after understanding the real situation. Thanking them for their example, Mr. Sharma said that despite being the secretary general, he has to work in accordance with the forces higher than him.

William Hague: a boycott of Sri Lanka would be wrong

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, is firmly against a boycott of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka Photo: AFP/GETTY

By William Hague-06 Nov 2013

Next week, the Prime Minister 

and I will travel to Sri Lanka for the latest Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The 53 Commonwealth countries together represent two billion people – nearly a third of our world’s population – and some of its fastest-growing economies. Despite its significance, most discussion of the summit has centred on its location. In particular, because of Sri Lanka’s poor record on human rights, some people are calling for a British boycott.

I am among the first to want to see change in Sri Lanka. While we shouldn’t regret the end of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s campaign of terrorism, no one can forget the bloodshed and horrific images that accompanied the end of the long conflict between them and the government. The final push in 2009 saw thousands of people killed – many of them innocent civilians – and appalling alleged violations of human rights.

Four years later, Sri Lanka is still a country where civil society is suppressed, where NGOs and the media are routinely intimidated, where journalists and critics of the government have disappeared, and where no one has been held to account for alleged war crimes including rape and sexual violence. It is completely legitimate for there to be a debate about how we influence Sri Lanka so that these crimes and concerns are addressed.

Unlike the Labour Party, which was in power when Sri Lanka was chosen to host this meeting, and which has come out at the 11th hour to say that Britain should not attend, many of those advocating a boycott have been doing so for some time. I respect their views and share many of their concerns.

But I strongly believe that a boycott would be wrong. Attending the Commonwealth summit is the right thing to do. We do no good for the situation in Sri Lanka by sitting on the sidelines. During the final stages of the civil war, the international community was criticised for doing just that. By visiting, we can see the situation on the ground first-hand, meet people on all sides of the conflict, and raise our concerns frankly and directly with the government.

The Prime Minister will visit the north, where some of the worst fighting and suffering occurred, and thousands of people are still displaced from their homes. He will be the first head of government to visit the region since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948 – and he will meet people directly affected by the conflict. For my part, I will meet journalists and human rights activists – the very people who are courageously trying to bring about reform, and who might not otherwise ever meet a British minister or travel to the UK.

We will urge Sri Lanka’s leaders to guarantee freedom of expression, to ensure justice for war crimes and to reach a sustainable political settlement that benefits all the country’s communities. We will raise the cases of people who have disappeared and call for thorough, open investigations into their fate.

This is what diplomacy involves: talking to people whom you don’t agree with on every issue and being ready to have tough conversations. We will have more impact doing these things than we could by leaving our chair empty.

Hosting the Commonwealth has put Sri Lanka under the international spotlight and has contributed to some improvements. Since 2009, its government has taken positive steps on resettling displaced civilians, rebuilding infrastructure, removing land mines and reintegrating former Tamil combatants into society. It has held provincial elections in the north and announced a commission on the disappeared. We welcome these steps and want to see more, and that is what we will be calling for during our visit.

We should not forget, also, that this meeting is about far more than just one country. It is about the future of the Commonwealth as a whole. We want it to be a dynamic and positive force in the world, promoting democracy and human rights and creating new opportunities for trade. This requires all its members to value the organisation, to participate fully in its meetings and to work closely together. If we boycotted the summit because Sri Lanka is hosting, we would, unfortunately, be turning our back on the Commonwealth itself.

If we are not at the table, we have no way of encouraging the Commonwealth to take a strong stand on issues that we care about deeply in Britain. We want the summit to strengthen our plans to eradicate rape as a weapon of war; to encourage freer and fairer trade between Commonwealth countries; and to ensure that the international framework that succeeds the Millennium Development Goals has the rule of law and good governance at its heart. All these things matter to Britain and to the world, and we have to be present to argue for them.

Attending the summit is not a betrayal of Britain’s values – it is the way we advance them. That is as true of our discussions with the Sri Lankan government as it is for the Commonwealth as a whole.

William Hague is the Foreign Secretary

Manmohan Singh’s Sri Lanka Dilemma

By JYOTI MALHOTRA

Tamil women in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 27, holding images of their family members, who reportedly went missing during the war between the Sri Lankan army and the separatist group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

On Nov. 15, the presidents and the prime ministers of an array of countries once ruled by the British Empire will assemble in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, for the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Manmohan Singh’s Sri Lanka Dilemma by nelvely

Someone In The Regime Made Rs.1Billion Per Km Off Katunayake Expressway: Mangala

November 7, 2013

The Government has paid Rs. 1.8 billion per kilometre for the recently opened Katunayake expressway, UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera charged today, saying the price was double that of a highway constructed with Chinese aid in Kenya.

Mangala Samaraweera

Samaraweera told a press briefing today that China had built a highway in Kenya at Rs. 972 million per kilometre for a 50 km highway.

“The 26km Katunayake expressway has cost double that per kilometre. Some individual in the regime has made Rs. 1 billion off each kilometre,” Samaraweera said.

He said that at the astronomical cost the Katunayake expressway was the most expensive highway constructed in the world.

Nurses and Paramedics to strike

By Zahrah Imtiaz-Thursday, 07 Nov 2013

The members of the Joint Council of Nursing, Professions Supplementary to Medicine (PSM) and Paramedics of the Government Health Services sector are due to carry out a strike on the 27th and 28th of November, Convenor of the Health Services Trade Unions Alliance Saman Rathnapriya said during a media briefing in Colombo today.

He went on to say that the strike will be carried out to demand for the incentives that are provided for the Government Doctors, to be provided to the members of the Joint Council of Nursing, Professions Supplementary to Medicine (PSM) and Paramedics as well.

Saman Rathnapriya added that around 40,000 members of the Council will participate at the strike. (Ceylon Today Online)

Cars, cars, cars

Editorial-November 6, 2013, 7:16 pm 

An eye-catching picture we published yesterday of a fleet of sleek cars imported for next week’s CHOGM must have made the ruling party politicians who apparently have all the luck, grin smacking their lips while the taxpayers were grimacing and gnashing their teeth.

The government has sought to defend the purchase of so many luxury cars on the grounds that the heads of state attending the summit cannot travel in ordinary vehicles. It would have sounded more convincing if it had said that not even the UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha members would condescend to go by basic cars. However, one wonders why the government did not ask the members of its jumbo Cabinet to make available some of their vehicles for the use of visiting dignitaries. Super luxury cars they have at their disposal, thanks to taxpayers, are enough for all the heads of state in the world—not just fifty odd Commonwealth leaders.

People are blissfully unaware of what they are in for after the summit. When the Commonwealth circus is over and the guests have left, Budget 2014 will be presented to Parliament with the bill for the event delivered to them. Those who secured CHOGM contracts will laugh all the way to the bank. Patriotic masses will have to tighten their belts while shouting, ‘Jayawewa!’ and paying through the nose. Patriotism is not cheap in this country!

CHOGM cars are likely to be problematic for the government. Not that it is worried about loan repayment which could conveniently be palmed off to the public who are gluttons for punishment. It will have a mad scramble for those vehicles to contend with if the beneficiaries have not yet been named.

A government politician has recently said the cars will be auctioned. That’ll be the day! A similar promise was made way back in 1994. The SLFP-led People’s alliance, condemning the then UNP government’s profligacy and corruption, vowed to seize all the luxury vehicles UNPers had been using and sell them at the Galle Face Green so that funds could be raised for public welfare. But, the promised auction never came to pass.

If CHOGM cars are neither given away to UPFA politicians nor sold to others, the Opposition should be careful. Speculation is rife that five elections have been lined up for one and a half years beginning next January. This is certainly bad news for the crisis-ridden Opposition, especially the UNP struggling to put a debilitating internal battle behind it. Mercedes has an appeal which not even religious dignitaries could resist easily. Now that some of the UPFA allies have struck a discordant note on the new casino laws etc, and ruffled the feathers of the powers that be, the government might need some more crossovers to retain its two-thirds majority in the House. The flashy cars with an inviting look about them may come in handy where luring MPs who do not scruple to switch allegiance is concerned.

We have a suggestion. Of late the First Lady has been walking quite a lot to raise funds for many a worthy cause, the latest being a campaign to purchase a scanner for a hospital. The JVP is shouting from the rooftops that the government is wasting public money on vehicles for Commonwealth leaders who will be here only for two days while charity walks are being staged to buy life-saving equipment for state-run hospitals. The government may not give two hoots about what our Rathu Sahodarayas say, but it should at least think of the First Lady who is exerting herself so much. How many walks she will have to take part in before enough funds are raised for the much-needed scanner etc is anybody’s guess. So, to relieve her of that burden the government should consider selling the CHOGM vehicles after the summit and utilise the proceeds to acquire that machine and develop hospitals.

UNP: The War Within A War

By Dharisha Bastians -November 7, 2013

Dharisha Bastians

“Politicians are like children; you can’t just give them what they want – it only encourages them” – Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn (Yes Minister)

Standing at the podium of the Business Today Top 25 Awards to recognise the country’s top companies on Tuesday night, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe cut a confident, even charmingly self-deprecating, figure.

None of these are adjectives that are often used to describe the new ‘National Leader’ of the United National Party. In his post-2005 avatar, Wickremesinghe is rarely confident or confidence inspiring. He has not been charming in years. And even his staunchest allies will admit that Wickremesinghe often possesses an off-putting arrogance about his own skill and intellect.

But under the glittering lights of the Hilton Colombo Ballroom on Tuesday, hours after he had abdicated as Party Leader and delegated many of his powers over to a Leadership Council that will run UNP affairs from this point, Wickremesinghe owned the audience of business tycoons in a short speech that was prefaced with witty remarks and ended by laughing at himself.

Addressing his hosts Mathi and Glenda Parthipan, Wickremesinghe said they were to be congratulated for putting on a good show as usual. “If politics consisted of bread and circuses, they would do jolly well at putting on the circuses,” he quipped light-heartedly. He addressed his remarks next to Leader of the HouseNimal Siripala De Silva whose speech had immediately preceded his own and consisted of a scathing critique of the abdication of moral responsibility by the business community and a system that favoured the super-rich while squeezing out the small businessmen.

“I thought I am invited here as the only discordant voice. But I must say the Leader of the House also joined me but I don’t think he went as far as I am planning to go,” Wickremesinghe jested. “But, then we are politicians. All of you, the 25, are fighting for different market shares, but both of us are fighting for the same market share and we are getting ready for the next round,” he said, causing ripples of laughter in the audience.

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T. Suntheralingam, A Judge Like Many Others

By Suriya Wickremasinghe -

I first met T. Suntheralingam when I was an eighteen year old first-year student at Peradeniya. It was a brief meeting at a University function but somehow I remember it. I next heard of him in 1972 when, as Magistrate Tangalle, he ordered the exhumation of five bodies in the compound of the Walasmulla police station.

T. Suntheralingam

“All five skeletons from Walasmulla buried and unearthed from under the billing tree in the Walasmulla police station contain fractures indicating possible gunshot injuries before death” reported the Judicial Medical Officer, Dr. Chandra Amarasekera of Colombo in his report to the Tangalla Magistrate, Mr. T. Sunderalingam who called for a report on the five skeletons exhumed.” (Ceylon Daily News, June 21, 1972)

In the inquiry that followed, an inmate of Wirawila rehabilitation camp, K. M. Leelasena, of Maddawatte, Matara, told court that on 13 April 1971 he was shot at by certain police officers at the police station. He fell down and pretended to be dead; he saw others being shot and falling down dead. Later he managed to crawl into the jungle (Ceylon Daily News, 2 December 1972).

Suntheralingam proceeded to work his way up through the judiciary in the normal way, serving in various parts of the country. As Magistrate rarely did he accede to requests for remand without searching questions on the contents of a ‘B’ report. There were occasions when he would get a suspect to walk a little to see if he limped due to possible assaults on the heels, and would refer to the DMO for a medical report if he saw any signs of torture. In due course he was promoted District Judge, and then High Court Judge, at which point he retired. We used to exchange a smile occasionally in the premises of the High Court of Colombo at the former Queen’s Club in Bauddhaloka Mawatha.

The Regional “Disappearance” Commissions                                  Read More

Sapugaskanda to run out of stocks by the 10th

 Thursday, 07 November 2013

 

The Sapugaskanda oil refinery is to run out of crude oil stocks by the 10th of this month.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya Branch has warned that the oil refinery at Sapugaskanda may have to be shut down by the 10th due to the lack of stocks.

Secretary of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya Branch, Ananda Palitha said that currently no oil shipments are expected and the existing stocks would end by the weekend.

He observed that the crude oil quantity that is refined these days is less than the capacity of the refinery.

The refinery has a capacity to refine 6,000 tons of crude oil per day, but only 3,500 tons are refined per day at present.

The bad management of the CPC has been pointed out as the reason for the current situation and it would result in the Corporation losing Rs. 70 million per day.

No Tears For Departed Attorney Generals

By Basil Fernando -November 7, 2013

C.R. De Silva

Why I have no tears for departed Attorney Generals:

Do we feel sorry for ones extinguishing the light

Leaving everything in the dark?

Is there any crime worse than

Killing the soul of a nation?

Is not justice the soul of the nation?

Subverting justice was raised
To an art.
Molding the young to lie
Without compunction.
Teaching the abductors and murderers
In uniform to lie under oath
And crafting them false affidavits
To subvert the writ of habeas corpus.
Cynically putting into wastepaper baskets
Thousands and thousands of letters
Written by mothers in tears.

Eloquently lying in august international forums,
Defending the indefensible.
All this for a post or a promotion,
For the proverbial 30 pieces of silver.
Turning upside down
The house of justice.

No, I have no tears

For departed Attorney Generals.

They killed the soul of my nation.

We are all dead now

Roaming in a justice-less nation.

Tears are for the citizens, the living

And those yet to come,

To the desolate nation.

No, I have no tears for departed Attorney Generals.

LLRC Chairman Passes Away

November 7, 2013

Chitta Ranjan De Silva, fondly known as ‘Bulla’ in the legal fraternity, who chaired the Government’s Reconciliation Commission passed away following an illness this morning.

C.R. De Silva

C.R. De Silva served as Solicitor General and then Attorney General of Sri Lanka.

He was appointed to chair the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010, and delivered a strong report and progressive recommendations, despite fears the Commission would toe the Government line on alleged rights abuses during the war.

Earlier this year when the Government moved to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, the President urged De Silva to accept the position as CJ 44. De Silva repeatedly rejected the offer.

Mohan Pieris who is also a former AG was the choice of Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, while ‘Bulla’ was the President’s preferred choice, Colombo Telegraph learns.