The Counter-Robin Hoods

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“I shop everywhere, anything that fits perfect will be purchased, price and name does not matter”.

Rohitha Rajapaksa (Daily Mirror – 8.5.2013)

( November 28, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In her autobiographical-history of Pre-revolutionary China, Han Suyin explains how the country’s incompetent and spendthrift rulers used taxes as a mode of wealth-extraction from ordinary people. Kettle tax, stocking tax, bedding tax, hog tax, wealthy house tax, army mule tax, troop movement tax, soldier reward tax…the list was endless. “There was inaugurated in certain areas a ‘happy tax’ for the purpose of promoting happiness on the day taxes were paid” .

The Counter-Robin Hoods by nelvely

Press Freedom Prize goes to Uzbek journalist and Sri Lankan daily

 Thursday, 28 November 2013 

Without Borders, Le Monde and TV5Monde are pleased and proud to award the 2013 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize to the imprisoned Uzbek 
Reporters 
journalist Muhammad Bekjanov and the Sri Lankan Tamil-language daily Uthayan.

The names of the winners were announced during a ceremony this evening in Strasbourg’s city hall, where the awards were presented to Uthayan editor Vallipuram Kaanamylnaathan and ownerEswarapatham Saravanapavan, and to Uzbek human rights defender Nadejda Atayeva on behalf of Bekzhanov, who has been in prison for the past 14 years.

“This year we again salute the exemplary courage of men and women for whom reporting the news is a daily battle,” Reporters Without Borders president Alain Le Gouguec said. “Their activities embody the universal value of media freedom in a real and concrete way. Thanks to them, information becomes a force capable of enlightening, mobilizing and advancing the cause of freedom.”

One of the world’s longest held journalists, Bekzhanov was the editor of Uzbekistan’s main opposition newspaper Erk (Freedom), which he used in the early 1990s to start a debate on such taboo subjects as the state the economy, the use of forced labour in the cotton harvest and the Aral Sea environmental disaster. As result, he became one of the leading bugbears of President Islam Karimov, who had quickly established an autocratic and repressive regime.

The regime took advantage of a series of bombings in Tashkent in 1999 to silence its critics. Under torture, Bekzhanov was forced to “confess” to being an accomplice to terrorism and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In January 2012, just a few days before he was due to be released, he was sentenced to another four years and eight months in jail on a charge of disobeying prison officials.

The relatives and colleagues who are very occasionally allowed to visit him say he is in terrible health. No fewer than eight other journalists are currently detained in appalling conditions for defying the ubiquitous censorship in Uzbekistan, which is ranked 164th out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

A daily newspaper based in Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, Uthayan is one of the country’s few Tamil-language media and the only one to have kept going throughout the 1983-2009 civil war between the Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankan regular army. It supports the Tamil National Alliance and, with 28 years of experience, is nowadays read by a fifth of the Jaffna Peninsula’s inhabitants.

Despite operating in a country that is ranked 162nd in the press freedom index, Uthayan has never balked at covering stories that are controversial in a still fragmented society. As a result, it has been the target of repeated violence, leading to the departure of many of its employees over the years. Two were killed in May 2006 and its editor, Gnagnasundaram Kuhanathan, was beaten unconscious in Jaffna in 2011.

In April 2013, armed men forced their way into its distribution office in Kilinochchi, smashing equipment and attacking employees. What with abduction of its journalists, threats, attacks on its offices, forced closure, destruction of equipment and smear campaigns, there is little that Uthayan has not endured and it continues to pay a high price for its uncompromising coverage of the country’s situation and its frequent revelations about illegal activity by the government and armed forces.

Reporters Without Borders has been awarding an international prize to a journalist and a news organization every year since 1992. In partnership with Le Monde and TV5Monde, its aim is to encourage, support and publicize the work of journalists and media that have contributed significantly to the defence or promotion of media freedom.

More than 30 men, women, news organizations and NGOs have received this prize in the past 20 years. Some who were in jail at the time subsequently recovered their freedom. Others who were in danger received a form of protection as a result of this international recognition.

“This year we are honouring one of the best known writers of the struggle for democracy in Uzbekistan, Muhammad Bekjanov, and through him we would like to renew our support for all the journalists who are in prison in that country for courageously doing their job to report the news,” Reporters Without Borders director-general Christophe Deloire said.

“The war in Sri Lanka is not yet over for Uthayan. If this newspaper were to succumb to the constant harassment to which it is exposed, the abuses by the security forces against the population in the north would continue with complete impunity, without being brought to the attention of Sri Lankans and the international community. The courage and persistence of Uthayan’s staff in reporting what happens in this embattled country demands our respect and our full solidarity.”

TV5Monde news director Pascal Guimier said: “Many prizes are awarded every year but this one has a particular importance for us. It is a prize for freedom of information, one of the conditions necessary for the existence of every form of democratic life. It is therefore logical for us to join Reporters Without Borders and Le Monde in this event paying tribute to all those who work with courage and passion, sometimes paying with their lives, because they deeply believe that this helps to bring about freedom for all.”

Reporters Without Borders, Le Monde and TV5Monde would also like to pay tribute to all the other nominees for the 2013 prize:

In the “journalist” category: Reyot Alemu (Ethiopia), Jorge Carrasco (Mexico), Luo Changping (China), Ntina Daskapopoulos (Greece) and Ismail Saymaz (Turkey).
In the “media” category: Lakome.com (Morocco), L’Eléphant Déchaîné (Côte d’Ivoire) and Radio Kimche Mapu (Chile)

International And Legal Implications Of Weli Oya And Its Aftermath

By Rajan Hoole -November 28, 2013 

Rajan Hoole

The Rise and Fall of the Tamil Militancy and the International Legal Implications of the Government’s Counter-Insurgency – Part 4

In late 1984, India, which was helping the Tamil militant groups, was in a position to bring the conflict to an end, had the Sri Lankan Government come up with an adequate political arrangement. But the Government was still talking about cosmetic variations on the District Development Councils of 1981, which had been thoroughly discredited by its intemperate actions at their very birth. Moreover, India was far from hostile to Sinhalese interests. Only, the wisdom to deal with India advantageously was lacking. Mr. R. Sampanthan recalls Mrs. Indira Gandhi telling the TULF leaders, “I will help the Tamils, but I will not harm the Sinhalese.”

By escalating the conflict instead with projects like ‘Weli Oya’, which quickly led to mass killing, the Government was inadvertently moving the ethnic conflict into a legal status, which it badly wanted to avoid. There are two Protocols of 10th June 1977 additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949. Protocol II relates to Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, such as ‘which take place in the territory of a High Contracting Party (i.e. the Sri Lankan State) between its armed forces and dissident armed forces or other organised armed groups,…which exercise control over part of its territory…’ It forbids collective punishment, acts of terrorism and reprisals.

Article 17 of Protocol II stipulates in Paragraph 2 that ‘civilians shall not be compelled to leave their own territory for reasons connected with the conflict’. Paragraph 1 allows for ‘displacement’ with satisfactory relief measures only when the security of the civilians is involved or for ‘imperative military reasons’. Such displacement must of necessity be temporary. It certainly does not allow for the forced evacuation of civilians in order to introduce those of a different ethnicity.                                 Read More

From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here

Genocide, resistance and the politics of remembrance

BY ATHITHAN JAYAPALAN-27 NOVEMBER 2013

When various coordinated actions result in organized violence targeting a particular people with the intent of eradicating the foundations of their national identity, such as territorial, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, socio-cultural characteristics and the life, liberty and property of group members, in Rapahel Lemkin's word, that amounts to genocide and nothing else. It is also a fact that it is state powers who inhibit the capacity to execute and sustain such multifaceted genocidal onslaught which targets an entire population.

As a response to the attack on life, liberty and property, the people subjected to state terrorism will be forced to defend themselves. When the state perpetrators legitimises such policies of structural annihilation by concealing the underlying genocidal intent with all possible means, pursuing democratic means to arrest such atrocities largely become futile. As the peaceful means of resistance go unheeded, people tend to take up arms as a last resort to achieve their rights including right to self-determination, sovereignty and national liberation. The fact of the matter is that when the existing nation-state system and its political and military leadership remain hell bent on institutionalizing the murderous policies to perpetuate genocide in the pursuit of creating a mono-ethnic oppressive nation-state, only few alternative solutions would be left to the victimised population. An oppressed people resorting to armed action does not happen due to an extreme obsession they have with violence or due to a weird fascination about the destructive power of arms as many would prefer to interpret. On the contrary, what governs their action is an extreme sense of frustration and endless desperation.

Likewise, in Sri Lanka, it was the decade old genocidal oppression of the Sinhala Buddhist state which eventually compelled the Tamils to fight back, first peacefully, and later violently. History illuminates the systematic nature and the institutionalized manner of the violence perpetuated against Tamils. Discriminatory laws, state aided colonization schemes, anti-Tamil pogroms and coercive counterinsurgency policies were coordinated to deprive Tamils of their rights, liberty, life and property. Those who resisted using peaceful and democratic means were systematically persecuted by the Sri Lankan state, ensuring the closure of democratic venues for any opposition. Hence the armed resistance was the logical and inevitable outcome of decades old state policies which  relied upon the methods of extreme violence and brute force.

Heroes Day and Repression

Today on the 27th of November, Tamils commemorate the young women and men who laid down their lives in the thousands to safeguard their national existence and bravely fought for national liberation and self-determination. Since May 2009, a military occupation has been entrenched in the Tamil homeland as there is no formidable force to thwart the ongoing genocidal onslaught. While every attempt has been made to wipe out any trace of armed resistance, the state has gone to the extent of desecrating over 25 large war cemeteries with over 20,000 tomb stones - including the destruction of two such places in Killinochchi district as recently as October 25th this year. These graveyards, which were maintained with utmost respect for decades were symbolic spaces where the people including the families and friends of those who laid down their lives could gather in order to remember, mourn and commemorate their dead. By denying even the symbolic means to console their collective pain while attempting to erase the memories of a  generation who fought for liberation, the state attempts to coerce the Tamils into submission and to annihilate their memories connected to the resistance.

On Maaveerar Naal (Heroes Day) Tamils remember the courageous souls who embodied the national resistance. The state, fearing the resilience and the spirit of resistance, unleash terror  to suppress it. The right to assembly, association and expression is deemed a threat to the state as they unwittingly acknowledge the collective will of the Tamil nation in rejecting Colombo's sovereignty and embrace their national aspirations. Those who engage in activities of remembering and paying homage are intimidated, detained and some disappear while others have been murdered.

In order to evade international pressure, the state reiterated the content of the 6th amendment on the 25th of November, and thegovernment media announced "any attempt to promote or glorify the LTTE either directly or indirectly even under the cover of media freedom was illegal and violators would face prosecution in the courts of law." Despite being outlawed, Tamils defy and practice what is their inalienable right to commemorate their daughters, sons, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who fought for the well being of their nation. On the 26th of November TNA MP Sritharan delivered an evocative speech elucidating the oppressive nature of the state and commemorated the revolutionaries who fought. On the 27th of November daring the regime, Heroes Day was observed as elected members in the Northern province and the civil bodies, the students and the people lit candles, planted trees, observed silence, paid floral tributes and distributed posters commemorating the national resistance. The military forces subsequently in frustration initiated a terror campaign to deter the Tamils from organizing the acts of commemoration, and several incidents of violence have been reported. The courageous Jaffna university students who met violent repression from the army in 2012 on the same day, once again organized assemblies to commemorate their martyrs. Around the world, from Australia to Tamil Nadu, from the quiet streets of Bergen to the urban jungle of Toronto Tamils commemorate their martyrs. Such show of collective will demonstrates nothing but fortitude and unity in resistance to genocidal oppression.

Remembrance is a powerful means of mobilizing resistance and organizing solidarity when state repression is unfettered and rampant. In these times the occupying army conceives the acts of lighting candles, planting trees and ringing bells as threats to their oppressive regime. The fire, a symbol of homage is turned into the apex of resistance by both the oppressor and the oppressed. The Tamils are denied collectively the right to remember, mourn and commemorate amidst all the other forms of oppression they are subjected to.

In these difficult times, we remember the significance and the nobility of those who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of their people. A revolutionary salute to the martyred souls of the Tamil liberation struggle, and in their spirit we shall pursue the inevitable struggle to liberate our lands, people and rights from the genocidal Sri Lankan State. In their spirit we will also advocate the revolutionary struggles across the world for national liberation, from the dense red jungles of central and eastern India to the snow covered mountains of Chechnya, from the savannahs of Ogaden, the golden rocky steppes and bountiful deserts of the Baloch lands to the green mountains and plains of the Kurdish homelands.

© JDS

---

Athithan Jayapalan is a student in social anthropology and studied in Oslo and Pondicherry universities. Born in Jaffna, he currently lives in Oslo, Norway.

Tamils remember Maaveerar in North-East despite SL military violence and intmidation

27 November 2013

After braving the Sri Lankan government's intimidatory measures in the run up to Maaveerar Naal, Eelam Tamils across the North-East, defied government bans to remember those that lost their lives in the struggle against genocide, whilst facing further intimidation and violence. 
(Pictures:Tamilnet)

Families of Maaveerar remember the sacrifice of their loved ones

Memorial ceremonies for the Maaveerar  were held in Jaffna, Vanni, Mannar and Mulaththeevu amidst attempts by military personnel to prevent any such occurrences.

NPC Councillor Thurairasa Ravikaran lights remembrance flame in Mullaitheevu

In Jaffna, the government forced closure of Universities during November, did not stop students from remembering the dead. As Sri Lankan military personnel gathered around Jaffna University to prevent any spontaneous remembrance events, the students and public, in an act of defiance, lit a remembrance flame from one of the tallest buildings in Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Ignoring the closure of the university closure, students mobilised within the university premise to light another remembrance flame.

Students light remembrance flames within Jaffna University

A group of students also bypassed Sri Lankan military to light a remembrance flame at a recently destroyed Maaveerar cemetery in Vadamaraachi. According to Tamilnet the people within the area faced an immediate backlash and were indiscriminately beaten by the military.

Maaveerar commemorated in Valikaamam North displaced persons camp

Sri Lankan military also entered and smashed light bulbs of houses in Kaddaikkadu, after a memorial flame was lit in the town’s public grounds.

A councillor of Mullaitheevu in the Northern Provincial Council, held a memorial service with families of Maaverar in an undisclosed location.

Mannar saw over 60 people gather ceremoniously amidst intimidation from Sri Lankan Military and Police, resulting in the arrest of at least 3 Tamils that attempted to commemorate their dead.

Maveerar memorial in Mannar

SL military operatives issue death threat to Catholic priest in Trincomalee

SL military operatives issue death threat to Catholic priest in Trincomalee

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Fr S.S. Johnpillai

Pointing their gun at the parish priest of Our Lady of Gaudalupe church, unidentified persons who came in motorbike that had no number plate, issued death threat to Fr. S.S. Johnpillai in Trincomalee city. The incident took place around 9:00 p.m. on 26 November. The gunmen blamed that the priest was praying on the birthday of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan. 

A Sri Lankan police post is located the near the church of Our Lady of Gaudalupe.

Last year, the gunmen issued death threat to another priest for tolling the bells of church on 27 November.

Also this year, almost all the church bells were tolled in Trincomalee at 6:05 p.m. on Heroes Day.

The SL military was also ‘visiting’ other Catholic priests who have been voicing for the collective rights of people earlier in the day.

The ‘visiting’ military men said, according to the information they received from the ‘Defence’ command in Colombo, it was not the LTTE, but Catholic priests who were active in Mannaar and Jaffna as well as in Trincomalee in starting the next wave of the Tamil struggle.

In the meantime, an informed source at a different location said that the SL ‘Defence’ command in Colombo had warned its operatives in North and East telling them that if they once allowed the Tamils to speak up, it would be difficult to keep the situation under their control. According to the instructions from SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya, that ‘error’ has already been made during the provincial council elections and ‘before it is too late’ the SL military intelligence was made ‘responsible’ for making sure that the situation is ‘under the control’ of the SL military.

Northern Agriculture Minister's house attacked

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2013

An unidentified group has attacked the residence of Northern province Minister of Agriculture P. Iygaranesan which is situated in Thirunalweli, Jaffna last night (27).

The roof and windows of the provincial council minister’s house has been badly damaged from the attack and he is reported to have lodged a complaint regarding the attack to the Jaffna Police as well.

Meanwhile Mr. Iygaranesan issued a statement regarding the “MahaViru” LTTE Heroes Day, stressing that he is going to hold the ceremony somehow.

Accordingly a “tree planting Ceremony” parallel to the LTTE Heroes Day was organized with the patronage of the Northern Province Chief Minister and it is reported that Mr. Iygaranesan and the Provincial Education Minister were among the participants of the ceremony.

Mr. Iygaranesan further accused that the Security Forces had threatened him warning him that there would be a “tree planting” in the next year’s ceremony in his name as well.

He thus expressed his suspicions whether this was an attack conducted by some group more powerful than ordinary thugs.

-theindependent-

Commission seeks extension

November 27, 2013

The commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to investigate incidents of disappearances during the war has sought an extension to the time period it was given by when to complete investigations.

Former Judge Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama, who is heading the Commission, said that so far the Commission has received 8000 complaints on disappearances.

Of the complaints, 4000 involve civilians and the rest were from family members of the security forces.

The most number of complaints were received from Kilinochchi, he told reporters at a media briefing today.

The Commission, which was appointed in August, was given a six month period to complete the investigations and hand over a report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However Paranagama says the Commission feels it needs more time to complete its inquiries and so will seek an extension.

The Commission has been given the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations necessary, and submit a report to the President. In President Rajapaksa’s instructions to the Commission, he stressed the necessity to identify the person(s) responsible in cases where abductions or disappearances are found to have taken place and to take legal action against those person(s).

The President indicated that the inquiries are being conducted in the interest of public security and wellbeing and in order to determine what measures should be taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. (Colombo Gazette)

 Sri Lanka begins island wide census on dead and missing during war

Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 01:53 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 28, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Department of Census and Statistics will begin an island wide census today to assess the human and property damages occurred during nearly three-decade long civil war conflict.
In accordance with one of the recommendations being made in the LLRC report, the Department of Census and Statistics will commence a nationwide census today to ascertain details of people injured, disabled, and missing since 1983 up to May 2009, the government announced.
The island‐wide census will collect detailed information on the deaths, missing persons, injured and/or disabled persons, and damages to the property.
The Census will be completed by 20th December and the report will be made available by March next year.
The census will be conducted jointly by the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs and the Department of Census and Statistics.

According to the Director General of the Department, D.C.A. Gunawardena, the survey would be carried out in 14,022 Grama Niladhari Divisions, island wide, and 16,000 officials would be deployed to collect information.

Undercover

| by Victor Cherubim

( November 28, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) How often have we heard people say, that we should be aware, alarmed and furious at the process of surveillance ordinary people “experience” to protect their privacy. Recently, we were informed that there is no privacy even on the mobile phones of some leaders of friendly nations of the world! Was it that we have come to a stage that “no one trusts anyone anymore?” or is it a paranoia that has taken root and we have no capacity to shake off? To counter this argument, we also are told that the price politicians pay is their loss of their privacy.

Everywhere we note that in the name of protecting the public, governments use unscrupulous practices at the expense of the freedom of the individual. As David Ormond, lately of GCHQ, Cheltenham, UK’s monitoring agency defended: “Privacy is not an unequal right.” At the same time if we accept this position, surely then it is equally reasonable to expect that the custodians, who wield so much power on the people, have to exercise their power responsibly.

Need we say that with the technological capability in today’s world, no one would deny,

Information is power. However, potential power of the State matters, but how about the

“power over life or death” used sometimes lethally and unethically by many other professions, the most obvious being the medical profession. Some medics have the power to switch off life support mechanisms, on the basis of their individual judgment, that “life has no meaning.”

Dual Use Research

I wish to draw the attention of the reader to the theme of “dual use research” which is practiced in many Genome laboratories around the globe. Dual use research means exploratory work that could have both beneficial as well as dangerous consequences. This is the so called “biological revolution” that is hidden from us, but which is “surreptitiously” taking place, mostly undercover, in research centres in the most developed of nations.

We know the 19th century was noted for advances in engineering – to deal with the subject of physics. We know the 20th century dealt with advances in Information Technology and advances in Chemistry. What we do not fully understand or appreciate is that with the dawn of the 21st century, mankind is slowly but surely going in the direction of a Biological Revolution.

Biological Revolution

“Biology has taken predominance, with the biologist becoming an engineer, Coding new Life forms as desired. We are informed that all the key barriers to the artificial synthesis of viruses and bacteria have been overcome, at least on a proof of principle basis.”

This biological revolution is the potential power of the researcher. With or without checks and balances on access to information on Genome Technology, observers believe that there is a serious threat, not dissimilar to privacy of the individual, but much more dangerous power

being spawned in laboratories, making GCHQ or National Security Agency (NSA) in the States, pale in comparison.

Does the end justify the means?

We as a human race have now the power and the proper DNA units that can code life forms.

This all embracing biological revolution has researched many codes but the one according to some researchers that is frightening is the tampering with DNA itself.

The most difficult part that concerns us in the underdeveloped world and this applies to us in Sri Lanka as well, is water pollution. We are reliably informed by research biologists that, “the most difficult part is to put the DNA components in a sensible sequence –this is called epidemiological surveillance.”

To many of us as laymen, we have no clue of this theory. We have to blindly accept what research has been done on introducing healthy bacteria in our water systems to detect whether our water is contaminated or not. By luminescence or so called “arsenic sensing,” researchers now maintain surveillance, which can be either switched on or off, at their command.

Cutting Edge Technology

Scientists have used DNA to create genetically engineered cells and organisms for many years –mixing and matching genetic material with the goal of creating novel plants and animals with desirable traits.

“What differentiates this research today is the ability to design and create new genetic systems from ground up.”

Whilst we are all worried about individual freedom, something more serious is taking place which many researchers believe should attract our attention. “Now that synthetic biology is here to stay, the challenge is how to ensure bio-security. We have a duty how to ensure that future generations see its emergence as a boom and ensure it does not “boomerang.”

Budget 2014: No Rupee Devaluation Shocks

By Hema Senanayake - November 28, 2013

Hema Senanayake

If I have any kind of expertise, it is in the subject of economics, especially in macroeconomics. Perhaps some CT readers might want to know my views on the budget 2014. Let me begin with the budget of 2013.  When the 2013 budget was presented, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) forecasted to achieve 7.5% GDP growth. Instead, I suggested that “Sri Lanka will never achieve 7.5% GDP growth” for the year 2013. My claim is on record. Why did I say that?  In the budget for 2013, it was proposed to reduce foreign borrowings dramatically in compared to the previous year. Pointing it out, I categorically said that if the government stick to the limit of foreign borrowings proposed in the budget, the government has to contain the private sector credit growth severely in order to avoid significant rupee depreciation and as a result it would not be able to achieve 7.5% GDP growth in the year 2013. My prediction was well backed by a reason.

The economy is a system; you can’t do whatever you want in one area without having impact in another area. The stability of rupee depends on the balance between the inflow of dollars (or foreign currencies) into the country and the outflow of dollars. And private sector credit growth is important to achieve higher GDP growth; ensuring private sector credit growth is not possible if the balance between inflow and outflow of dollars breaks negatively which means inflow of dollars reduced in compared to outflow. The proposed dramatic reduction of foreign borrowings in the budget of 2013 should have definitely broken the said balance negatively. This was a great mistake and as a result finally the government desperately pushed the National Savings Bank to borrow in dollars.                                            

The said mistake has been avoided in 2014 budget. In this budget it has been proposed to increase foreign borrowings by 34.15% to Rs.331.5 billion; this will roughly amounted to USD 2.5 billion. Quickly you will guess that in the year 2014 there won’t be currency devaluation shocks. That is right. Another positive point is the proposal to reduce domestic borrowings by 22%. The combined effect of both proposals is that it provides a better chance to expand private credit issuances. If credit issuances (or credit growth) are not significant then there are chances to appreciate the value of rupee which is an indication that CBSL has to bring down the interest rates. This means in 2014 we will be able to see more stable currency, low interest rates and private sector credit expansion which combination helps to have a higher GDP.Read More

Sri Lanka counts war dead after pressure from abroad

Author: Reuters - Thu, 28 Nov 2013 

Sri Lankan Tamils hold pictures of family members who disappeared during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, at a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, November 15, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer

* Census to collate death toll from Sri Lanka war

* Move follows pressure from UK to probe alleged war crimes

* Commission will also look into disappearances

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal

COLOMBO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka began counting the dead from its 26-year civil war on Thursday, less than two weeks after the island nation came under intense international pressure to investigate allegations of war crimes during the climax of the conflict.

Some 16,000 officials will spread out across the country in a major operation that the government said would take six months to complete.

More than 100,000 people are believed to have died during the 1983-2009 war between Tamil Tiger separatists concentrated in the north and government forces.

In the most contentious, bloody phase, some 300,000 civilians, mostly ethnic minority Tamils, were trapped on a narrow beach during the army's final onslaught on rebels, and a U.N. panel estimates 40,000 non-combatants died in a few days.

Both sides committed atrocities, but army shelling killed most victims, the panel concluded.

D.C.A. Gunawardena, director general of the Department of Census and Statistics, said the country-wide survey would assess the death toll and damage to property since 1982.

But he conceded that the census could not give a full picture of the scale of losses.

"There is a limitation," Gunawardena told Reuters. "If somebody's whole family died or fled the country, then nobody will be there to give their details."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a Commonwealth summit in Colombo this month that he would push for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes if Sri Lanka did not conclude an independent investigation by March.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose brother and defence secretary Gotabaya was one of the main architects of the war's endgame four years ago, said he would conclude the investigation, but in his own time.

WHERE ARE 40,000 DEAD?

The government has disputed the number of dead and missing Tamils. A state-run newspaper published an article earlier this month entitled "What are the names of the '40,000 dead'...?"

The report in the Daily News added: "On what grounds can they claim it was the armed forces who killed them? Where are the dead bodies, at least the skeletons, and how did the army manage to bury so many dead bodies?"

Steve Crawshaw, director of Amnesty International's Office of the Secretary General, gave the census a cautious welcome.

"I welcome the fact that the focus of the human rights issues during the Commonwealth summit has clearly put pressure on the government finally to confront the truth," he said.

"Again and again, the government has come up with ways of deflecting pressure. What we finally need is real action, not words to confront those crimes."

A separate commission appointed by Rajapaksa to look into people who disappeared in the north and east of the country between 1990 and 2009 has received around 8,000 complaints, half of them from families of military personnel, officials said.

Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama, head of the commission, said an independent team would be set up to look into the credibility of the complaints.

"Most ... are about the final days of the war," he told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday. The commission has asked for more time to study the complaints.

During Cameron's visit to Sri Lanka, he visited the north where protesters took to the streets seeking his backing in locating missing relatives. Government supporters also waved placards in opposition to his visit. (Editing by Mike Collett-White, Ron Askew)

Saint Mahinda

By Jagath Asoka -November 28, 2013 |

DR. Jagath Asoka

Today, we are going to have fun, get to know each other, and play a game. This is our playground; if you want to play with me, keep on reading. Always, I like to play, both cerebral and corporeal games. My heaven is where I can play tennis; hell is where there is no tennis. All work and no play makes Jagath a dull boy. Before we play our game, I need to tell you why we are going to play this game. It is all about politics, stupid; you cannot escape it; even when you are alone in a cave, struggling to concentrate on your own breath, it is all about politics: your conscious mind against your unconscious. Only death will separate you from this scourge: politics.

Even though I abhor the methods, tactics, vision, white-van abductions, intimidations, collusions, thuggery, bribery, impunity, and nepotism ofMahinda Rajapaksa, I understand why some people think that Mahinda is a saint. Most Sri Lankans behave worse than barbarians when it comes to fighting for political power. Since independence, we have not had charismatic, sagacious visionaries like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Mandela. There is no difference between the Sri Lankans who elect their politicians and the politicians that they elect. It is like picking an apple from a barrel of rotten apples. I was told that as far as thuggery is concerned, the way Madam Chadrika used thuggery makes Monsieur Mahinda look like Mother Theresa.

In all recent elections in Sri Lanka, some people think that Lankans are electing their devils; I mean, “They elect the devil they know than the devil they don’t know.” I totally disagree with them; I think in all recent elections, Sri Lankans had to choose between a crook who is a notorious thug and a crook who is also a thug, but not yet notorious; Sri Lankans always choose the crook who is a notorious thug because the crook who is also a thug, but not yet notorious, may turn out to be worse.

Right now, if Mahinda were to drop dead—relax, all of us are going to drop dead—because of some divine intervention or afflation, who is going to be our next president: Ranil, Sagith, Karu, Sarath Fonseka, a JVP member, a Tamil politician, a Muslim politician, Gotabaya, Basil, or Chamal?

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Sri Lanka is a key money laundering centre - Mangala

 Thursday, 28 November 2013 

 

UNP Communications Division Head, parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera says that Sri Lanka has become a key money laundering centre where ill gotten monies and those of the LTTE are being laundered openly.

Making his speech in the budget debate, the UNP MP has noted that in contravention to the communiqué issued following the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, the country has become a major centre for money laundering and the whole economy is focussed on laundering ill gotten monies.

“Most of the LTTE monies and gold are laundered in the country,” Samaraweera said.

“We are being labelled LTTEers, but everyone knows who is harbouring LTTEers. LTTE monies and gold are being laundered in broad daylight in the country. LTTE members like Karuna were in Nelum Pokuna attending CHOGM and the current leader of the LTTE, KP participated in the Commonwealth People’s Forum in Hikkaduwa,” he added.

He also pointed out that the government sponsored protest against British Premier David Cameron’s visit to Jaffna was led by LTTEer Daya Master.

“The whole world needs to know who is keeping LTTEers close to them,” the UNP MP charged.

Samaraweera pointed out that LTTE monies laundered and monies earned through commissions from development projects are laundered in the country.

According to him, the growth rate of the country stated by the government is not reflected in the outcome of state institutions.
Samaraweera also said that he has written to Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma accusing him of concealing some information ahead of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka.

In his letter to Sharma Samaraweera had accused the Commonwealth chief of concealing information in the face of objections by some powerful members in the Commonwealth on holding the 2013 summit in Colombo.

The UNP MP said that among the information concealed by Sharma was a report on the impeachment of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

“The commonwealth summit was held in Sri Lanka after concealing all this information,” he said adding that the Commonwealth has lost its integrity.

 Listen the speech below

Part 01

Part 02

Part 03