Petitioners Call On 5 Judges Chosen By 6th Respondent De Facto CJ To Reject Preliminary Objections In Impeachment Process Challenges

November 17, 2013 

Lawyers for the petitioners challenging the controversial Parliament Standing Order 78A that was used by the Rajapaksa regime to exclude Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake from exercising her functions without a fair or impartial inquiry, have filed a joint written submission calling for the dismissal of so-called ‘preliminary objections’ raised again by those opposed to relief being granted to prevent the case from being considered on its merits, the Colombo Telegraph is able to report today.

Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake

SC (FR) 665, 666 & 667/2012, the three cases filed by Athula Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Janaka Adikari and Mahinda Jayasinghe the three sets of lawyers have filed a joint written submission which will now be looked at by a ‘special bench’ handpicked by de facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris to hear the case. The bench allowed a few intervention applications led by junior President’s Counsel Nigel Hatch to support the Attorney General in opposing the granting of relief. These intervening parties are now again raising preliminary issues that were raised by Attorney General and already overruled by granting leave to proceed in the cases. Investigations by Colombo Telegraph reveal that Hatch is being sponsored and supported by 6th respondent Pieris to be appointed to the Supreme Court bench by the Rajapaksa regime as a reward for his loyalty. After the controversial 18th Amendment, all appointments, promotions and sackings of Supreme and Appeal Court judges are done directly by President Mahinda Rajapaksa without any quality or integrity controls.

The petitioners’ counsel had earlier objected to Pieris (6th respondent in the case) picking some judges and leaving other judges out as improper and against all Principles of Natural Justice. However the 5 nominated judges had refused to send the file back to Pieris with a ruling that in view of the concerns, it would only be proper for all judges of the Supreme Court to be allowed to hear the case.

A very senior constitutional lawyer contacted by Colombo Telegraph (who requested not to name him), said it seems clear the intention now is to get the preliminary objections upheld, which means the cases would not be fixed for hearing on the main issues and the court would then not have to consider the strong issues raised by the petitioners on the merits of the case at all.

Here is the joint written submission filed by the lawyers for the petitioners asking the 5 judges to reject the preliminary objections and fix the cases for hearing fully on the merits. Click Petitioners WS – Preliminary Objection

Uprooted Tamils in Trincomalee demand justice for genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2013, 14:37 GMT]
A section of uprooted Tamil families from Champoor, now staying at one of four so-called welfare centres in Trincomalee, staged a protest on Saturday carrying slogans that demanded justice for genocide and urged global attention on the continued refusal by the Colombo government in allowing them to resettle in their own lands in Moorthoor East. On Friday, a day before the protest, the occupying Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives, went on a house-to-house and camp-to-camp round instructing the Tamils not to take part in any protest during the ‘Sri Lanka CHOGM’. Subsequently, the protest was held in the premises of Ki’liveddi camp. The SL police who came to the Ki’liveddi camp on Saturday confronted the protestors and said they should not carry any placards with slogans. However, the uprooted people were firm in staging their protest with the presence of Tamil politicians. 

Uprooted Tamils in Trincomalee Demand Justice for Genocide by nelvely

MR keen on Truth Commission

November 16, 2013

The Sri Lankan government has shown interest in learning more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa and its process and the outcome.

The interest was shown when President of South Africa Jacob Zuma, who is now in Colombo to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President’s office said.

President Zuma while thanking Sri Lanka and President Rajapaksa for organizing CHOGM 2013 so well conveyed South Africa’s willingness to improve and expand the already existing good bilateral relations.

“Developed countries have their own views on affairs of other countries. However, we need to look at things for ourselves before coming to conclusions”, President Zuma said. While welcoming President Rajapaksa’s idea of learning more about the Truth Commission, he pointed out that exchange of delegations between the two countries is needed to facilitate the process.

Referring to the nearly 30 years of terrorist war, President Rajapaksa said that there were killings and destruction almost every day during the period. “Even all Tamil politicians and intellectuals were killed by the LTTE”, the President recalled. “With the end of the conflict no terrorist-related incident was reported during the past four years,” he observed. (Colombo Gazette)

Cameron’s northern show-stopper

•  British PM mobbed  by families of the disappeared protesting near Jaffna Library
• Meets Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran
• Pro-Govt. protestors granted closer access to Cameron’s motorcade
• PM shares Britain’s experiences with power sharing
• Claims stories heard at Northern IDP camp were “harrowing”
• Promises to raise land issues with GoSL By Dharisha Bastians in Jaffna

 November 16, 2013 
British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday became the first foreign leader to visit Sri Lanka’s North, using his three hour tour to focus on press freedom, land and political rights of the Tamil people four years after the end of the war.
Prime Minister Cameron stole the spotlight after the Commonwealth summit opened by visiting a camp holding the internally displaced in Chunnakam and stepping in at the besieged Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper, in addition to holding discussions with the new provincial political leadership in the formerly embattled region.
The largely non-descript motorcade did not disrupt life in Jaffna town or result in the closure of many roads to civilian traffic.
Cameron, who flew to Jaffna soon after the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo last morning, met with Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at the iconic Jaffna Library, rebuilt on the ashes of the building that was set fire to when ethnic tensions were rising in 1981.
The Chief Minister briefed the British Prime Minister on the issues faced by the TNA as it runs its provincial administration in the North. Chief Minister Wigneswaran told Cameron that the Northern Provincial Council was not permitted to exercise even the meagre powers such as land and police powers devolved to the provincial councils under the constitution.
Wigneswaran told the visiting PM that the NPC’s primary problem was the province’s military Governor who was “countermanding” all orders given by the Chief Minister and the continued military presence in the North. TNA Leader R. Sampanthan who also attended the meeting at the Jaffna Library articulated that Tamils of Sri Lanka needed ‘meaningful’ devolution even if it was not labelled ‘federalism’, TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran who was also present told Daily FT.
The British Prime Minister had shared the UK’s own experiences in sharing power, saying that extensive power had been devolved to Scotland and Wales. “It is possible to share power without labelling it,” Cameron told the TNA leadership. He assured the Tamil political leaders that Britain and the international community would do whatever it could to nudge the Sri Lankan Government in that direction. “Political leaders in the north of Sri Lanka tell me they are glad I’ve come to help highlight what is happening here,” Cameron tweeted following his meeting with Wigneswaran.
Demonstrations and counter demonstrations greeted the British Prime Minister’s motorcade in the Northern capital, as scores of families of the disappeared lined the street to the Jaffna Library where his first meeting was to be held. Families of the disappeared, blocked from Cameron’s view by a police truck placed in the centre of the road, breached the human wall created by the police and mobbed the VIP convoy just as the British Prime Minister’s vehicle was whisked away by security.
Emotional protestors mobbed buses filled with British media personnel who were travelling with Prime Minister Cameron. Several protestors thrust pictures of their loved ones and complaints of missing people into the hands of British journalists, including Channel 4’s Jonathan Snow.
A counter demonstration organised by the Jaffna Buddhist Association was permitted to be held in full view of the Library entrance where the Prime Minister’s motorcade entered the premises. Holding neatly printed signs, the pro Government demonstrators urged an international inquiry into abuses during the colonial period and asked Britain not to interfere in the country’s internal affairs. The British Prime Minister also visited the Uthayan newspaper that has been attacked multiple times and seen several journalists killed or brutally assaulted in the heart of Jaffna town. At the newspaper he was shown pictures of the victims on the walls of the editorial offices and bullet holes from one of the attacks on the building by the newspaper’s proprietor TNA MP E. Saravanabhavan and Editor M V. Kanamylnathan.
The British Prime Minister, clad in a simple short sleeved black shirt and slacks, navigated the narrow alleys of the Sabhapathipillai IDP camp in Chunnakam, a few kilometres from Jaffna town. With his media posse in tow, Cameron spoke with families that had been displaced for 24 years and walked into their temporary shelters to see their living conditions first hand. The British Prime Minister said he had found the stories he was hearing from people at the camp were “often harrowing”.
The 111 families at the Chunnakam camp have been displaced from the Valikamam North area, over which more than 2000 cases have been filed alleging illegal land acquisition by the Government. “He asked them why they were at the camp and why they could not go back to home and they all answered that the military was occupying their villages,” Sumanthiran who accompanied Cameron to the IDP camp explained. “So their lands have been occupied by the army and four years after the end of the war, they won’t give the lands back? And they can’t go to court because straight justice won’t be delivered,” the British Prime Minister summarised after hearing the stories of the displaced. “This is where we will need to put the pressure,” he added, speaking with Sumanthiran at the camp. Winding up his tour of Jaffna at the IDP camp, Cameron’s delegation left for Palaly to fly back to Colombo just after 5 p.m.
The TNA described the visit as ‘fruitful’ and important at a time when the Rajapaksa Government was basking in the glow of the Commonwealth Summit, believing it to be an international endorsement.

The CHOGM-Showgm Week And The Cameron Challenge

By Rajan Philips -November 18, 2013 

Rajan Philips

The Rajapaksa Government’s weeklong tryst with CHOGM is over.  Well witted Sri Lankans, ever ready for political wordplay, have aptly dubbed it: Show-gm!  CHOGM and Showgm provided quite a week of political medley that saw a Youth Forum in Hambantota, the island’s investment centre-of-gravity; a People’s Forum in Galle, whose old charm is now fading away in Hambantota’s new glitter, and where no ordinary people were to be seen but only government dignitaries who travelled all the way from Colombo perhaps in the new summit limos to welcome and listen to President Rajapaksa and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamlesh Sharma; a Business Forum in Colombo where President Rajapaksa again touted his government ‘robust hub-strategy’ for economic takeoff but omitted mentioning casinos as the only hub that the government might ill-advisedly create; a Ministerial Meeting for Small States including a lecture-lunch by External Affairs Minister GL Peiris struggling as always to sustain his relevance amidst all the goings on; and the plethora of committee meetings that are standard conference fare for scurrying bureaucrats.

There were also before-and-after birthdays.  Prince Charles celebrated his 65^th birthday before the summit in the company of all the members of Sri Lanka’s first family.  After the summit comes President Rajapaksa’s 69^th birthday; and the current occupants of the old Wijeywardene Lake House have already announced Pirith celebration and Sangika Dana to 69 chosen Bhikkus to mark the occasion.  Not to be outdone, the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs decaled a National Flag Week from November 14 to November 19, calling on all households to fly the National Flag to observe, as the Ministry noted in a mouthful: “the Third Anniversary of the Second Term of the Presidency of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the CHOGM meeting”.

A sideshow that could become a politically significant development was the attempted disruption of the Human Rights Festival at Sri Kotha by government thugs.  The festival was organized by the United Force (Samaga Balavegaya) of opposition parties at Sri Kotha, the UNP headquarters, after no other venue could be found in Colombo due to fear of government retaliation.  The thugs even targeted the vehicle of Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe as it was trying to enter Sri Kotha premises.  The upshot was that the new Leadership Council of the UNP decided to officially ‘boycott’ all Commonwealth ceremonies and events and instructed Ranil Wickremasinghe not to attend any of them.  In the end, none of the opposition parties were present at the Commonwealth ceremonies and events.  If the UNP Leadership Council were to play an equally assertive role in the future it could change the opposition political dynamic that has for so long been made dormant by whatever understanding that Ranil Wickremasinghe has been having with President Rajapaksa.

Island of two solitudes                             Read More

Britain Threatens Sri Lanka With Inquiry Over Stalled Reconciliation

November 16, 2013

British Prime Minister David Cameron has cautioned Sri Lanka to speed up its human rights and reconciliation process from civil war or face an international investigation.

Speaking Saturday at a British Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Cameron told reporters that the issue of war crimes and human rights abuses during and after Sri Lanka's 27-year conflict are not going away. He said if Sri Lanka does not address international concerns over its human rights record, his country will push for a U.N.-led investigation.

He also said he had frank discussions with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse after the prime minister returned from a fact-finding trip to the war-torn Jaffna region Friday and sensed the Colombo government does want to make progress on the issue.

However, Water Minister Nimal Siripalade Silva rejected Cameron's remarks, saying Sri Lanka would resist an international probe.

During Cameron's trip to northern Sri Lanka Friday, his motorcade was mobbed by protesters seeking answers about the country's civil war.

Several hundred people gathered on the streets of Jaffna, saying they wanted help from the international community to find missing loved ones from the war.

Some of the protesters scuffled with police and one group blocked a media vehicle. The protesters held up pictures of lost loved ones and some shouted, "We want to meet Cameron."

Cameron said on Twitter that the stories he heard in the north were "often harrowing."

Northern Sri Lanka suffered the worst of the country's decades-long civil war between soldiers and ethnic Tamil rebels.

The leaders of India and Canada boycotted this year's Commonwealth gathering amid controversy surrounding allegations the Sri Lankan army committed war crimes during the final months of the civil war.

At the opening of the conference Friday, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa urged his fellow leaders not to pass judgment on his country's past.  

The Sri Lankan government is under international scrutiny for the conduct of the final stages of its military campaign against Tamil Tiger rebels, when tens of thousands of civilians died. The government has staunchly denied committing war crimes.

The civil conflict ended in 2009 after nearly three decades of fighting.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

CHOGM 2013: A lie well told

• by Deborah Philip
• - on 11/17/2013 
• • 
  • • Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi, AFP/Getty Images via FT Photo Diary
      I imagine that beneath the cordial smiles and exchange of pleasantries there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth taking place at Temple Trees these days. The façade that was CHOGM 2013 seems to have crumbled, at least in the eyes of the world, although certainly not in most parts of Sri Lanka’s mainstream media. Images of women and relatives of the disappeared throwing themselves on David Cameron’s convoy in Jaffna dominate world headlines, overwhelming the photographs of Commonwealth leaders at CHOGM.

CHOGM 2013 a Lie Well Told by nelvely

What Victory For Whom?

By Emil van der Poorten -November 17, 2013 

Emil van der Poorten

As I write this, I am informed that the price of large (“Bombay”) onions, a staple for all the “rice-and-curry eaters” has doubled in price in the local market.   I am also told that rice has jumped in price.  Coupled with an increase in bus ticket prices and several other essentials inside and outside the categories of food, clothing and shelter, these are all costs that are disproportionately borne by the poor and middle class in a country where there is no progressive income tax structure and where, to add to the misery, a relatively miniscule part of the population pays any taxes at all, while the “stinking rich” get off scot-free thanks to “incentives” of various kinds that obviate the services of some slippery ‘tax consultant’ to ensure avoidance.  And, please note, I have not so much as mentioned the contribution of the “kudu mudalalis,” extortionists and other practitioners of the truly ugly arts!

Yet, it seems with the additional provocation of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (attended by less than half of those “heads,” it appears), one’s auditory (if not olfactory!) senses are being assailed by the “peace dividend” that we are allegedly harvesting at this point of time.  Maybe, the more affluent and city dwellers of the upper and middle-classes are enjoying life a great deal more than they did during the times of the lurking Prabhakaran monsters.  However, those who lived and continue to do so in the hinterland have seen a significant reduction in what little they might have had as disposable income.  Whatever food substitution was possible by virtue of living in rural circumstances has been increasingly reduced by the growth in numbers of vermin that compete more than successfully for what food the human inhabitatnts might have been able to grow above or below the ground.  Suffice it to say that the numbers of wild pigs, porcupines, giant squirrels and that ultimate curse of rural Sri Lanka outside the forest areas, the macaque monkeys, seem to have grown exponentially.  What (illegal) means of control this part of our population had via snares, trap guns and the like have been cracked down upon by the “guardians of the law,” while absolutely no attempt has been made to provide an alternative for those unwilling to surrender the fruits of their labours to their porcine, simian or rodent competitors.  And PLEASE don’t give me that “the animals were here first” because that wasn’t true within the last couple of hundred years at least and if you seek to carry such patently fictitious statements forward, not God himself can convince you otherwise!                    Read More

Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Lanka

 Sunday, 17 November 2013

A proposal to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine human rights and other accountability issues including alleged war crimes is now before the Government. The move is intended to help Sri Lanka address some of the important accountability issues now before the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The next sessions of the Council will be held in Geneva in March next year. At these sessions some western nations are pushing for further measures against Sri Lanka. The latest to join was British Prime Minister David Cameron who delivered an ultimatum during his visit for the CHOGM in Colombo that his Government would back the move for an “international inquiry” if no “domestic probe” is carried out over alleged war crimes.

South African President Jacob Zuma discussed the proposal with President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he met him for bilateral talks on Friday. A statement from the Presidential Secretariat said President Rajapaksa was “interested in learning more about the Truth and Reconciliation (commission) of South Africa, its process and its outcome.”

President Zuma is expected to place the same proposal before the Tamil National Alliance when he meets a delegation today. The TNA delegation will include its leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan and Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran.

For several months diplomatic consultations have been spearheaded by the South African High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Geoff Doidge. A diplomatic source said that Pretoria’s recommendation for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the outcome of these efforts. This was an added reason for President Zuma to attend CHOGM, the source said.

It is not immediately clear how the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission will take shape in Sri Lanka if the proposal is accepted.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in South Africa soon after apartheid was dismantled. Victims who complained of human rights violations were asked to state their case. Some were chosen for public hearing. Even perpetrators of violence were allowed to give evidence and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

Australian Senate calls on PM Abbott to raise Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses at CHOGM

media-releases

14 Nov 2013 | Lee Rhiannon
Human Rights

The Australian Senate has rejected Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s stance on human rights abuses in Sri Lankan, and called on the Prime Minister to raise an independent investigation into allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law with the President of Sri Lanka at the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo. 

Sri Lanka's war-crimes culpability raised in Australian Parliament

Lee Rhiannon, Australian Green Senator

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2013, 14:21 GMT]
Lee Rhiannon, a Greens Party Senator from New South Wales, during a debate in the Australian parliament following her return from Sri Lanka on the eve of the Commonwealth meeting [CHOGM], said that the situation in the NorthEast under Mahinda Rajapakse regime is dire, that the Sri Lanka army's involvement in civilian life is pervasive and Australia is turning a blind eye to credible allegations of continuing torture, rape and crimes against humanity reported by respected Rights groups and by several video documentaries from Channel-4. Rhiannon pointed out the increasingly voiced broad consensus from several countries for an international investigations into the war-crimes by the Rajapakse regime, and praised the CHOGM boycott of several Prime Ministers in spotlighting the Sri Lanka's continuing dismal rights record and lack of accountabililty for war-crimes. 

• Rhiannon speech in Australian parliament

Australian Senate calls on PM Abbott to raise Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses at CHOGM by nelvely

CHOGM or UNHRC Summit? — II

Editorial-November 17, 2013,

CHOGM is over—thankfully. Everything went as planned, the piece de resistance being its stunning opening ceremony. Sri Lanka has proved that it is safe for one and all.

Prince Charles must have seen, more than any other foreign dignitary, the huge improvement in security situation. In 1998, he was here for the 50th anniversary of Independence in the aftermath of a massive terror strike. But, the Commonwealth leaders who gathered here the other day could even have enjoyed leisurely strolls in the sunshine if they had so desired. In fact, British Prime Minister David Cameron was seen playing cricket.

PM Cameron, however, did his damnedest to turn CHOGM into a UNHRC summit of sorts. He came here to deliver a message. Shorn of diplomatic frou-frou, it was that unless Sri Lanka conducted a ‘proper’ probe into its alleged war crimes by next March he himself would campaign for a UN investigation.

Cameron is obviously singing for votes. Thanks to Wikileaks it is now known why David Miliband as British Foreign Secretary evinced so keen an interest in Sri Lanka’s conflict towards its closing stages in 2009. He has confessed, according to a leaked cable, that he remained maniacally focused on Sri Lanka because his party was dependent on pro-LTTE voters in Labour constituencies with slim majorities. He is now calling for stripping President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Commonwealth chairmanship! Why Cameron and Miliband are trying to outdo each other in bashing this country is only too clear; their concern is votes and not human rights as such.

Interestingly, Cameron has, at a meeting with President Rajapaksa, stressed the need for a process of truth-telling, we are told. One couldn’t agree with him more! Truth-telling is, no doubt, a prerequisite for reconciliation. However, example is better than precept. Will Cameron set an example to President Rajapaksa by releasing an unedited version of the Chilcot Report on Britain’s involvement in America’s illegal war against Iraq? Truth-telling like charity should begin at home, eh?

Will Cameron be able to honour his promise to have a UN war crimes probe launched against Sri Lanka? All efforts by the UK and its allies to move the UN against Syria in a bid to take military action purportedly to prevent a humanitarian disaster and the US attempt to destroy President Assad’s ‘chemical weapons’ with missile strikes came a cropper, didn’t they? So, it is doubtful whether Cameron is equal to the task of manipulating the UN, especially the Security Council, to achieve his objective.

The Sri Lankan government’s cavalier attitude towards human rights is only too well known. However, it has drawn flak from the West for a different reason—its foreign policy perceived to be anti-western.

The Western governments are, as is common knowledge, no respecters of human rights, which they use as a bludgeon against governments that refuse to toe their line. This is why they defend pro-western, repressive regimes in countries like Bahrain. They went so far as to coerce the UNHRC into withdrawing a statement that condemned the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests in that country. Britain, it may be recalled, never so much as censured Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who captured power through a military coup and killed his opponents with impunity. His Caravan of Death left thousands of suspected Communists dead. But, Britain defended him to the hilt because of his brutal suppression of socialism in that part of the world and his support for the British military during the Falklands war.

President Rajapaksa’s problems are not likely to go away. His external enemies will pursue him relentlessly and do everything in their power to make Commonwealth chairmanship a crown of thorns for him. Miliband, as was said earlier, is making a frantic effort to muster support for his campaign to remove President Rajapaksa as the Commonwealth chairman though the tradition is that the host of CHOGM becomes the ex officio chair.

It is high time President Rajapaksa goaded his government into getting its act together on the human rights front, kept the violent elements in his party on a tight leash, went all out to ensure that the rule of law prevails, and took steps to implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations fully. Thereafter, he may batten down the hatches and wait for the storm to pass.

CHOGM: A Meeting Of Genocidal Criminals, Terrorists, And Torturers

By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe -November 18, 2013 |

Ajit Rupasinghe

Statement by the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist):

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in Sri Lanka recently, between the 15^th and 17^th of November 2013. This is at a time when the Sri Lankan State and the current Rajapaske Regime is being held accountable for ‘alleged’ war crimes and atrocities during the final phase of the civil war by the UNHRC in Geneva, led by the US and its coalition of partners. The US as the number one terrorist, genocidal State in the world and in history, which stands accused of the most horrendous and barbaric war crimes, and its equally complicit coalition, is holding one of its trusted junior neo-colonial partners accountable for war crimes. This has to do with consolidating effective control over the lifelines and the politics of Sri Lanka in the context of intensifying inter-imperialist rivalry to maintain and expand strategic superiority in the Asia Pacific/ Indian Ocean Region between the US and China. It shows up the murdering hypocrisy of the imperialist system, including that of the United Nations.

To be expected, the Commonwealth, a crowning world body of former genocidal colonial predator states, along with their bloodied neo-colonial enforcers, has conferred its blessings and approval on one of the most trusted and ruthless neo-colonial terrorist executors of world imperialism- the Mahinda Rajapakse Regime. The Commonwealth has conferred chairmanship to an ‘alleged’ war criminal being held accountable by the UN. The Regime seized upon the chance to ingratiate and legitimate itself with this club of colonial-imperialist criminals in order to save its neck from the Geneva stranglehold. It was indeed pathetic and comic to see H.E. the President beaming with supreme pride as he showered his supine and servile graces upon Prince Charles, who had represented the Queen of Britain- one last archaic symbolic vestige of colonial barbarism, genocidal conquest and plunder. This is the Executive President who is claimed to be the reincarnation of a legendary line of Sinhala warrior- conqueror kings. The one who had authorized and orchestrated the military decimation of the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE) and ‘liberated the Motherland’. This is the President who stands up as the guardian of the Sinhala-Buddhist Nation, the living embodiment of militant patriotism, fighting to defend the Land, Religion and Language of the ‘chosen people’, against any and all foreign powers. The charade, the hypocrisy, the sheer ideological jugglery and political bankruptcy, the abject colonial servility was drowned out by the sustained din of official patriotism, jingoism and self-glorification, designed to stupefy and entrance the masses into fervent submission to the Regime. It was just one sick show of abject servility and capitulation to colonial-imperialist and regional hegemonic powers who are busily dividing up, slicing and devouring the country in order to advance their geo-political strategic interests in the Region, with the Regime living off the fat spoils of imperialist exploitation, profit and plunder.                       Read More

Patriotism And Nationalism Are Not The Same

By R.M.B Senanayake -November 17, 2013 

R.M.B. Senanayake

The authorities have issued a statement pointing out that the actions of individuals and civic organizations in our country will be judged by whether they are patriotic or loyal to the country. But there are other more fundamental values like truth and justice which rank above patriotism. When an individual is faced with a situation where one value is in conflict with another the individual’s duty is to uphold truth and justice. This is the preaching of religions.

Moreover patriotism or loyalty to the nation or the country tends to be equated to loyalty to the ruler. Hitler proclaimed that the German nation was in peril from a world conspiracy for domination by the Jews. He decided that in the interest of the fatherland the Jews should be eliminated from the German Empire which he was establishing through war. So he killed 6 million Jews which came to be called the ‘holocaust’. After this exercise in mass murder Hitler equated patriotism to loyalty to the Fuehrer. It was too late for those Germans who stood for truth, justice, freedom and genuine patriotism. So Bishop Bonheoffer was implicated in the conspiracy to kill him which some Germans had planned. Bishop Bonheoffer was executed.

A sense of identity, patriotism, or whatever we choose to call it, can in fact be a progressive and generous force. We are more likely to share things with each other, where we feel a sense of shared identity. Yes but we cannot equate it to Sinhala Buddhist identity or nationalism. It must be inclusive of the Tamils, Muslims and Christians as well. The President no doubt has his love for the people, particularly the Sinhalese Buddhists. He has spelt out his love for the Sinhala Buddhist cultural and social traditions and proclaimed reasons to be proud of being a Sinhala Buddhist. But other people too are proud of their traditions, religion and culture and space must be provided for them to do so.                                Read More

David Cameron says Sri Lanka need to go 'further and faster' in answering human rights concerns

By AFP

9:32AM GMT 16 Nov 2013

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, draws ire of Sri Lankan government after he warns that alleged abuses are not going to go away if ignored

David Cameron put Sri Lanka on notice on Saturday to address allegations of war crimes within months or else he would lead a push for action at the United Nations.

^{David Cameron looks on while waiting for the official photograph of CHOGM opening ceremony to be taken in Colombo}

David Cameron Says Sri Lanka Need to Go 'Further and Faster' in Answering Human Rights Concerns by nelvely

Gota slams Cameron for politicking in Colombo to placate LTTE rump back home

November 16, 2013, 6:36 pm 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday alleged that UK Premier David Cameron was playing politics in Colombo to placate the LTTE rump back home.

Cameron’s strategy was obviously influenced by the UK based Global Tamil Forum (GTF), British Tamil Forum (BTF) and Tamils against Genocide, he said.

The British government delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) went to the extent of meeting representatives of the three organizations in London before leaving for the Colombo CHOGM via New Delhi, the Defence Secretary pointed out.

"The British Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are eyeing the next parliamentary election," Rajapaksa alleged. He recollected the former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitting allocating two-thirds of his time to Tamil issue at the height of the Vanni war due to domestic political compulsions.

He was responding Premier Cameron’s warning at a news briefing yesterday that he would move the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva in March next year unless President Mahinda Rajapaksa took meaningful measures to address accountability issues.The UK recently secured a place in the UNHRC. The Defence Secretary said that the UK couldn’t have its own way in the UNHRC as there were other influential countries. He was referring to the election of Russia, China and Cuba to the UNHRC.

``Premier Cameron was speaking as if we were still a British colony,’’ the official said.

Rajapaksa ridiculed Cameron giving a deadline to Sri Lanka in the backdrop of UK’s failure to release the Chilcot Inquiry. Could anything be as unfair as pushing for war crimes investigation on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations propagated by Channel 4 News whereas the UK was yet to finalize its own domestic investigation into the illegal war in Iraq, he asked.

Premier Cameron, the Defence Secretary alleged, was conveniently forgetting his own Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s declaration in the UK parliament that invasion of Iraq on the basis of false intelligence reports was illegal.

"Don’t forget the March 2003 invasion of Iraq wasn’t sanctioned by the UN. Premier Cameron is preaching to us on accountability issues thinking we are unaware of its duplicity."

The outspoken official said that the UK as well as many other countries wanting to have Sri Lanka hauled up before an international war crimes tribunal were focusing on the final phase of the conflict in early 2009 whereas hundreds if not thousands of atrocities took place over a period of three decades.

Rajapaksa said: "Some former members of the LTTE responsible for atrocities committed here are now living in the UK and other EU countries. Today they are British passport holders. One-time British High Commission employee, LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham’s wife, Adele, now lives in the UK. Her role in recruiting teenage girls into the ranks of the LTTE is well documented. In spite of us bringing the presence of LTTE personnel to the notice of the British government, the administration is yet to take action."

The Defence Secretary said that successive UK governments had collaborated with Tamil terrorist groups beginning early 80s; hence the UK couldn’t absolve itself of responsibility for the terrorism here. Premier Cameron couldn’t be unaware of the LTTE having its International Secretariat in the UK which coordinated procurement of arms, ammunition and equipment for many years.

"Today, funds raised abroad are exclusively used to destabilize Sri Lanka. A section of the British political establishment is working closely with the LTTE rump. A case in point is former Labour Party minister Joan Ryan joining the GTF as its policy advisor."

The UK had no option but to proscribe the LTTE in the UK due to the situation getting out of hand there. In spite of that the LTTE remained active and aggressively campaign against Sri Lanka until the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, the Defence Secretary said.

Those now leading the GTF, BTF as well as Tamils against Genocide always represented the interests of the LTTE. Therefore it would be the responsibility on the part of the Cameron government to explain the circumstances under which such groups had access to British parliament.

The Defence Secretary alleged that the latest British threat was meant to destabilize the country. Under President Rajapaksa’s leadership, the government was able to finish off the LTTE in three years paving the way for unprecedented economic revival in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The country could move forward without Premier Cameron’s help.