Lanka Monitors Iran Deal

By Easwaran Rutnam-  Sunday, December 01, 2013

The government has sought information from the US Embassy in Colombo on the deal signed between the US and five other world powers with Iran.

Petroleum Resources Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that his Ministry is monitoring the situation and a decision will be taken once all the required information is gathered on if Sri Lanka can look at importing more fuel from Iran once again.

“We are still not sure what sanctions will be lifted but our refineries are built to suite Iranian oil so if things go well we will consider the option of importing oil from Iran once again,” Minister Yapa told The Sunday Leader.

However the Minister noted that apart from the US sanctions imposed on Iran there are also sanctions imposed by the EU which Sri Lanka needs to take into consideration when deciding on Iranian oil.

The U.S. State Department on Friday extended a waiver from US sanctions to Sri Lanka for another six months for not purchasing crude oil from Iran.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that as President Obama has made clear, the United States will continue to vigorously implement its existing sanctions on Iran as six world powers seek to negotiate a comprehensive deal with Iran that will resolve the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

The initial agreement reached recently after more than four days of negotiations between Iran and the United States, France, Russia, China, Britain and Germany, was designed to buy time for negotiations on a final settlement of the decade-old nuclear dispute.

The Sri Lankan government had last year decided to stop importing oil from Iran ahead of a US sanctions deadline.

Sri Lanka has depended almost entirely on Iran for its crude oil supplies, getting 93 percent from the country.

Sri Lanka’s Iran oil sanctions exemption extended

30 November 2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced an extension on exemptions from sanctions on oil purchases from Iran.

“As President Obama has made clear, the United States will continue to vigorously implement our existing sanctions on Iran as the P5+1 seeks to negotiate a comprehensive deal with Iran that will resolve the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program,” he said in a statement.
"I am pleased to announce that, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their purchases of Iranian crude oil, China, India, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Taiwan have again qualified for an exception to sanctions,
“Additionally, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and Sri Lanka have also qualified again for the NDAA exception because they no longer purchase crude oil from Iran,
“The effectiveness of the international sanctions regime has proven essential in bringing Iran to the table to negotiate and agree to the Joint Action Plan that, for the first time in nearly a decade, halts the progress of the Iranian nuclear program and rolls it back in key areas.
“We will continue to aggressively enforce our sanctions over the next six months, as we work to determine whether there is a comprehensive solution that gives us confidence that the Iranian nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.”

Regarding Significant Reductions of Iranian Crude Oil Purchases

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

November 29, 2013

As President Obama has made clear, the United States will continue to vigorously implement our existing sanctions on Iran as the P5+1 seeks to negotiate a comprehensive deal with Iran that will resolve the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

That is why I am pleased to announce that, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their purchases of Iranian crude oil, China, India, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Taiwan have again qualified for an exception to sanctions outlined in Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.

These additional reductions were determined based on an analysis of these economies’ purchasing activity over the previous six months.

Additionally, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and Sri Lanka have also qualified again for the NDAA exception because they no longer purchase crude oil from Iran.

As a result, I will report to the Congress that exceptions to sanctions pursuant to Section 1245 of the NDAA for certain transactions will apply to the financial institutions based in these countries for a potentially renewable period of 180 days.

This is the fourth time that these nine economies have qualified for an NDAA exception as a result of their continued significant reductions in the volume of crude oil purchases from Iran or their end to such purchases.

The effectiveness of the international sanctions regime has proven essential in bringing Iran to the table to negotiate and agree to the Joint Action Plan that, for the first time in nearly a decade, halts the progress of the Iranian nuclear program and rolls it back in key areas.

As part of the Joint Action Plan agreed to by the P5+1 and Iran, we will pause for six months our efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales. However, the Joint Action Plan does not offer relief from sanctions with respect to any increases in Iranian crude oil purchases by existing customers or any purchases by new customers.

We will continue to aggressively enforce our sanctions over the next six months, as we work to determine whether there is a comprehensive solution that gives us confidence that the Iranian nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.

One culprit reviled

Sunday, 01 December 2013 

This is a shocking tale of one minister's (Mahindananda Aluthgamage) alleged corrupt activities that has been exposed. He had only been the Deputy Minister of Power and Energy.

He is said to have personally profited to the tune of approx. 50% of US $23.5 million out of the Coal Burning Power Plant at Norochcholai which he has invested in real estate in key locations in Colombo, Kandy, etc. The initial contract entered into during the time of President Chandrika B is said to have been US $300.0 million, which later bounced to US $455.0 million but leaped further to a figure of US $891.0 million, impowerishing the future generations with inflated borrowed financing. If the information given by the sender of the e-mail and also carried in a Sinhala newsprint article written by one Praveena Mudalige is an accurate report, it is a shocking story of corruption engaged by those entrusted with the welfare of the nation. According to the news report the total amount of foreign debt amounts to a sum of Rs.300,000.00 owed by every single individual in Sri Lanka which adds up to over Rupees One Million per household. Any upward movement of interest rates will further adversely affect the country which is heavily indebted. I believe this Mahindananda was also one time Minister of Sports whose name was associated with some corrupt deals affecting the Sri Lanka Cricket Association. The news report goes on to state that the Minister was a Sales Representative of 'The Finance Company' in 1987, and his wife worked for the Singer Company on a salary

of Rs.250.00 monthly before entering the lucrative field of politics where they dip into the public purse and impoverish the nation.

The Norrochcholai Power Plant has been implemented without an Environmental Impact Study according to environmental activists in Sri Lanka who have warned that the toxic sulphur emissions could come down as Acid Rain in the NCP with the SW Monsoon winds blowing the toxic vapours inland, which region is already faced with a Chronic Kidney Disease problem. Furthermore, acid rain could cause untold damage to our priceless heritage of ancient monuments in the Cultural Triangle. Even the proposed Coal fired Power Plant planned for Sampur on the east coast with Indian involvement too is proceeding without an Environmental Impact Study, which again will generate Acid Rain which will come down in the NCP due to NE Monsoon winds carrying the toxic emissions inland.

I hope the Bribery Commissioner who is said to be in possession of a report carrying the alleged corrupt profiteering by the Minister concerned would act speedily and firmly and bring other such corrupt politicians and officials to book without delay, and thereby justify the costs borne by the nation to maintain his office.

I am copying this to some of the high officials in Sri Lanka for their attention as well. MG

One culprit reviled.
Divorce case was filed by Asha Wijayanthi Perera the wife of Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, reviled off a lot of information on bribes and commissions taken by him during the time he was the Deputy Minister of Power & Energy. Details of his bank accounts and wealth is exposed in the petition to the Court. Later it was sent to the Bribery commission by the very bosses of Mahindananda to entrap him like Mervin Silva & Wimal Weerawansa to use his fowl mouth to castigate the senior SLFP’s who are now gathering around Chandrika Bandaranayake. After former wife Asha migrated to USA, Mahindananda continued to miss behave with Upeksha Swarnamali…. alias “Pabha”. It was a trap laid by Sajin Vas Gunawardena on the instructions of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Then Mahindanada, tried to marry the daughter of DM Jayarathne, PM, who was recently divorced from Dep Min Duminda Dissanayake.
When President Found, Mahindananda supported Anuradha Jayarathne‘s candidate Nimalsiri for the post of Chairman of the Central provincial council, Bribery Charges were leveled against Mahindananda, based on above petition.

Ironically it was reviled, by Lalkantha of JVP, that Mahindananda & Eshan De Silva, both together siphoned off 23.5Mil$ from Norochcholai Coal plant. However, the real deal is put under the carpet. The actual deal was over $ 400Million. It was shared by mahinda Rajapaksa & his clan of thieves.

In 2005, August 30th then President Chandrika B’ signed the agreement to put up 300MW Coal plant @ a cost of US$300Mil. Immediately after signing this, 1.5Mill US$ was given to Upali Rajapakse the project promoter then as a token of appreciation, Later Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected as the President & MMC Ferdinando signed another agreement inflating the cost of Norochcholai plant to US$455Mil. Later another agreement was signed for US$891Mill. Every engineer in The CEB knows that the real cost of the plant & the Transmission line and the jetty (Total Project) is equal to 900Mill$ (Standard cost for Coal plant @ that time was 0.6-1.1US$ for a MW). Rajapaksa is hitting hard to CJ, Shirani Bandaranayake on many Bogus allegations and the men like Mahindananda for accepting fraction of bribes and commissions from the real payoffs.

Now it is pertinent to find out the day the real crooks like Mahinda Rajapaksa and his clan of thieves be investigated by the Honorable Bribery Commissioner.

Friends, these are the foxes covered themselves with Lion hide.

Israel/OPT: Gaza power crisis has compounded blocade’s assault on human dignity

Children play in streets flooded with raw sewage in al-Zaytoun, south of Gaza City, after the shutdown

1December 2013
Israel must immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip, including by allowing the delivery of fuel and other essential supplies into the territory without restrictions, said Amnesty International today. 

Israel OPT Gaza power crisis has compounded blocade’s assault on human dignity by nelvely

Daily Life in Gaza Under Israeli Blockade

Nov-30-2013

Complacent Complicitous Holocaust Children: do not be offended by the truth of your complicity in this new holocaust.

Nov-30-2013Child in Gaza

(GAZA STRIP) - Notice that China TV is concerned about this new holocaust, while the United States TV supports this genocide by concealing it from caring eyes! Why? Because the genocide-backers own the U.S. networks.

Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead' - 2009/09

I never thought that I would someday be thankful for Chinese and Russian TV journalism (CCTV and RT-TV).

Shielded from American eyes, this new holocaust has thrived ever since 1948 when the fanatical Zionist terrorist Irgun waged "ethnic cleansing" upon the defenseless agrarian people of Palestine.

Complacent Complicitous Holocaust Children: do not be offended by the truth of your complicity in this new holocaust. Rather, be shamed by this truth! Get a conscience, like that of Stephanie Fried, Norman Finkelstein, and many other Jews around the World. It is humanitarians like Norman Finkelstein who are the reason why we must never blame "THE Jews" for the genocide of Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, etc.; rather, we can only blame some. After all, we Americans were taught by Zionist TV to hate Arabs, so we too, are backers of genocide.

We too, have become Nazis. Please click on the FULL Screen icon.

(Written by John DiNardo)

http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20131130/102476.shtml

A Call for Accountability: Death of a Young Woman in Kilinochchi

• by The Social Architects
• - on 11/30/2013 

On November 28, 2013 a pregnant mother from Malaiyalapuram North[1](Malaiyalapuram) in Kilinochchi District died at Jaffna Teaching Hospital. She was 17 and 2/7 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.

She had been injected with Jadelle,[2] a Progestogen-only subdermal implant (PODSI), [3] on September 07, 2013.[4]

The deceased – Ms. Manjula Satheeshkumar – was twenty-six-years-old.[5]She was married and had one child, a boy.

At the time the implant was inserted, Ms. Satheeshkumar was two months pregnant. However, she was not aware of her pregnancy. Additionally, Ministry of Health (MoH) officials failed to administer a pregnancy test which should have been part of pre-implant screening especially for women who are not sure of if they are pregnant.[6]

After receiving the implant, Ms. Satheeshkumar was suffering from severe abdominal pain. Her husband, Mr. R. Satheeshkumar, decided to take her to a private hospital in Kilinochchi.  Hospital staff ran some tests and informed her that she was pregnant (Report attached).[7]

Thereafter, Ms. Satheeshkumar visited the Primary Health Centre in Malaiyalapuram and informed a Public Health Midwife (PHM) that she was pregnant. At that time, the PHM advised her to visit the MOH office in Kilinochchi and remove the Jadelle implant. By the time this conversation took place, the implant had been actively releasing progesterone for three and a half weeks.

During the first week of October, she visited MOH office in Kilinochchi to have the implant removed. Her implant was surgically removed at Kilinochchi hospital by a doctor.[8]

After the removal of the implant, she was continuously ill. She developed a rash, which was an allergic reaction on her skin and was feeling very itchy. Her neck was swollen and she regularly complained of having a lot of headaches and was consistently running a high fever.

On November 22, 2013 she was taken to Kilinochchi District Hospital by her husband due to her high fever.[9] After having been admitted to Kilinochchi District Hospital, she was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital the following day – on November 23. She was running a fever and was subsequently placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

She passed away on November 28 at approximately 4am.

On the 28th of Novemenber,Mr. R. Satheeshkumar told TSA that “this was the worst my wife had felt in six years. Before she was injected with that implant, which the midwife coerced her into doing, she was totally fine. She had only been admitted to the hospital twice before…for the births of our two children.”

The day she was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital, she told her husband, “I am afraid. My neck is swollen and I can barely speak.”[10] Her pregnancy record indicates she did not have any prenatal or postnatal complications in the past.( report attached)

TSA, in its previous report stated: “Failure to adequately conduct all pre-insertion tests jeopardized the health of these women. Moreover, failure to provide the women with after-surgery instructions – including directions for severe adverse reactions – represents a violation of the Jadelle protocol and endangers women’s well-being.”

The pregnancy record (shown below) failed to mention that the implant was the last form of contraceptive used, instead it says she was using pills; we do not know if this is an intentional entry or a mistake. Accurately recording medical history is very important in patient care and diagnosis. Considering the fact that, a patient’s medical records contain false information, the appropriateness of the care given to them can be questionable. A patient’s history is not only a medical record, but in cases of death, also a legal document.

TSA notes here that there has been a clear breach in duty of care owed by the doctors and MoH due to the substandard pre-medical screening. This report is not conclusive that the cause of death was the implant itself, but it is very important to rule out the possibility that the implant could have materially increased or aggravated any pre-existing medical conditions. The obvious negligence in pre-screening and failure to obtain proper medical history from a patient prior to a minor surgical procedure is a legitimate cause for investigation.

---

[1] Malaiyalapuram North is located in Karaichchi Divisional Secretariat Division.

[2] She gave consent and the procedure was administered at the Primary Health Centre in Malaiyalapuram.

[3] TSA’s initial article about this incident can be read here:http://groundviews.org/2013/09/13/coercive-population-control-in-kilinochchi/

[4] TSA’s subsequent report about this incident can be read here:http://groundviews.org/2013/10/11/above-the-law-violations-of-womens-reproductive-rights-in-northern-sri-lanka/

[5] She was born on August 26, 1987.

[6] During a telephone interview with TSA, Ms. Satheeshkumar’s husband mentioned that his wife frequently had irregular periods.

[7] This happened approximately two weeks after Ms. Satheeshkumar was administered with the Jadelle implant.

[8] TSA was unable to confirm the name of this doctor.

[9] Ms. Satheeshkumar was admitted to Kilinochchi District Hospital at around 10am.

[10] Ms. Satheeshkumar was actually at Kilinochchi District Hospital when she said this.

Land – A Raw Nerve

By Rajan Hoole -November 30, 2013 

Rajan Hoole

The Rise and Fall of the Tamil Militancy and the International Legal Implications of the Government’s Counter-Insurgency – Part 5

Weli Oya was conceived as a northward expansion of the Padaviya Scheme with quasi-military motivation. The spirit in which the Padaviya settlement was done in 1957 and the secretive methods employed had some similarity to Weli Oya in 1984 (see T. Sabaratnam, The Murder of a Moderate, pp.52-60, 85-86). A part of Trincomalee District bordering the North Central Province came at the tail-end of the scheme where 400 allotments were to be given to Tamils who were losing their jobs at the Trincomalee Dockyard which was being ceded by the British Admiralty. A group of Sinhalese labourers at Padaviya led by a monk forcibly occupied this land and the Government did nothing. The ideological significance of the scheme was not lost on C.P. de Silva, then Minister of Lands, and his officials. At its very inception Padaviya, in 1958, had become a hot bed of communal violence. It was the first major scheme in which there were no Tamil beneficiaries.

The following testimonies of people in Padaviya are taken from Bulletin No.4 (1995):

“H.N. Somadasa of Walapane, Udapusselawa, came to Padaviya at the age of 21 in 1956 as an irrigation employee. Following the communal violence which sparked off [in 1958], he was remanded. Asked what led him to join in attacks on Tamils, he replied, “There were many Tamils employed on the scheme. A rumour was spread that Tamils were going to take-over the entire scheme. We became angry and attacked them. I later discovered that the rumour was false and felt ashamed.” Asked who spread the rumours, he replied “Why, the papers had them!” He, like the other employees of the scheme received land in Padaviya in lieu of gratuity.

“Asked about the impact of the war, Somadasa said that every year about two or three dead bodies of soldiers are brought for interment to his village of Siyawa, Padaviya. The village has about 200 families. Considering the ten years of war, the impact is quantitatively of the order of what an average Tamil village in the East would have suffered.

“Piyadasa (50), originally from Madawachiya, explained: “Many young boys from here have joined the forces because rains have failed for the last seven years and the reservoir does not store enough water. Consequently, the people are unable to make ends meet through cultivation. During the rainy season (Yala, October-December) our fields tend to flood. Cultivation at this time (rain-fed cultivation) thus tends to be unreliable. Our main crop is therefore during the summer (Maha, May-September) season. This depends on water from the reservoir.” Farmers questioned said they have cultivated about four times in the last three years. For families without an income apart from cultivation, life is hard.

“Gunawathie (40) originally from Madawachiya is unmarried. Her family derive their main income from helping two brothers who cultivate the family plot of 3 acres. They manage because of support from the state (e.g. dry rations) in the event of crop failure. That also means state patronage.”

Read More

To be continued..

*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

Raping and Murdering Your Way Into War Crime Court'Indisputable' - the Only Word for Sri Lanka's Guilt

Sri Lanka's army messed up bigtime in deciding to rape and murder a famous TV reporter named Isaipriya. (WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES)

Isaipriya

(SACRAMENTO) - If a government remains indifferent and defiant long enough, even the west can lose its patience. Sri Lanka's President Majinda Rajapakse oversaw the elimination of approximately 160,000 Tamil people during the closing months of the country's civil war.

Isiapriya was an LTTE officer

Touted as a hero at first for eliminating the Tamil Tigers or LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), Sri Lanka's President Majinda Rajapakse has since been exposed as a war crime president. He runs this country with his three brothers, all of whom hold high political positions and a large portion of the nation's wealth.

The country has sailed into political turmoil because of the unrepentant attitude of its national leaders. There are thousands and thousands of photos and videos of the minority Tamil Hindu and Christian people being slaughtered by the Sri Lankan government, and after a while their squawk, "fake fake" starts sounding irresponsible and ridiculous, even to those who at first could not believe the charges.

Tamil Tigers were militants, but most of the people killed by Sri Lanka in the early months of 2009 were just families. Civilians were specifically targeted by the Sri Lankan Army. People were terrorized, chased, children were given no quarter. The Tamils of Sri Lanka endured a bloodfest and those who lived are forever scarred.

This article is partly excerpted from the report Sri Lanka Can't Deny This... Disturbing Video Proves Sri Lanka Army Committed War Crimes, filed in June 2012.

War proponents and propagandists often make excuses for criminal acts that take place in combat. People who have never heard a shot fired in anger can be the first to stupidly say, "Well that happens in war." Yet most of the crimes we criticize governments for are not committed in the heat of battle, they generally happen after the smoke clears. War crimes take place during bad wars. Politics are behind this most grim expression of criminal militant brutality.

The story of Isaipriya or Shoba, who was a reporter from TamilNet and a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - The Tamil Tigers, gives a clear idea of what motivates these crimes. Prime motivating factors are lust, greed, indifference, and the knowledge that there will be no repercussions for acts committed against enemy prisoners and civilians.

While this report concentrates on the video showing Isaipriya's body as an obvious rape/murder victim, and alternately posed as a dead militant, a new video clip has emerged as well, thanks to Channel 4 in London. This unforgettable footage shows Isaipriya's actual capture.

Sitting half naked in shallow water on what appears to be a mud flat, she is taken by soldiers who initially cover the top half of her unclothed body. There is no explanation as to why she is only partly clothed.

In the video we see her brought closer to the camera. Soldiers initially mistakenly identify her as the daughter of LTTE Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. She tells them that she is not Prabhakaran's daughter, and then the video ends.

In death, Isaipriya is still wearing the white cloth that the Sri Lankan Army covered her with in death photos, though it was alternately moved to expose her breasts.

Excuses, reasons, explanations...

Recent reports about Isaipriya divided her name in half, referring to her as Isai Priya. She was a mother, a dancer, an actor and journalist with TamilNet. Isaipriya had health issues and she didn't carry a rifle, she carried a microphone.

But even if she had been a full bore LTTE fighter, there are international laws that protect combatants after they are prisoners of war.

Sri Lanka did not follow these rules of war. In the first photos of Isaipriya, she is dead, her clothes are stripped away from her body, her hands are tied behind her back and her pants are pulled down, her legs are spread. Dead women with their legs open and their clothing stripped away, who are bound, are generally rape victims.

The photo we all first saw; the fact that her hands are tied proves she was murdered.

She is photographed and videotaped initially it appears, where the murder likely occurred. These are the images that show her with her hands bound behind her back. They are backed up with video that Channel 4 used in 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields'.

It shows very clearly, that the girls who are recently killed, are actually covered up to some degree when the video begins, and then the clothes come off again to reveal their damaged, nude, dead bodies.

Isaipriya's hands are untied in the new clip

No human being deserves such a fate. Isaipriya led a dignified life, it is a tragedy that her life ended so violently, in a story packed with lies from the Sri Lankan government, which has categorically denied every element of indisputable truth.

These are hard images to look at, but they tell more of a story now, than they did at first. A London attorney named Vasuki Muruhathas, who represents an unnamed Tamil war crime victim, recently acquired and released 32 new video clips of captured and dead LTTE fighters.

It is clip #28, at 2:56, that heavily indicts Sri Lanka in the death of Isaipriya.
This video shows her body in a row of dead fighters, presumably photographed for identification by the Sri Lankan Army. The still frame to the right is recorded after the clip on the left, according to metadata.

Smoking Gun

At 5:50 in this clip, we see the body of Isaipriya with her hands tied behind her back. It is clear that she has been bound, violated and murdered. Most bodies are buried, but hers served another purpose...

In this more recently emerged tape, Isaipriya's body is shown at 2:56 with her hands untied in a lineup with dead Tamil Tigers. In previous images, her were hands tied behind her back, this proved her body was staged.

The thing that sets this video apart, is that the young woman is not bound in these shots. Her hands have been untied to make her appear as one more dead resistance fighter, but we know that shortly before this, she was laying in a pool of blood with her hands tied.

This is where the deception of Sri Lanka's government clearly enters the picture. They really must have assumed their critics wouldn't eventually see through their constant denials. Sri Lanka portrays all media who report this information as groups with personal beefs against their country.

Several things are clear:

• Isaipriya was captured alive or surrendered, or else she would not have been restrained. Nobody ties the hands of a dead person, so she was alive at first.
• The positioning of her body; the nudity and seemingly depraved references to her naked form recorded on video, indicate a state of sexual interest and assault.
• The fact that her hands are untied and that she is laid in a row of corpses, proves that the SLA tried to cause the viewer and consequently the world public, to believe that her death was a legal act of war when it could not possibly have been.

We have the proof and there is no need to ask about whether war crimes took place, it is painfully obvious that they did. I hate using the photos of Isaipriya nude but believe the full impact of what happened is necessary. These clips are all one needs to see to know Sri Lanka's forces acted with great depravity and that no captives, even non-combatant journalists. off limits to their abuse and destruction.

Exclusive Interview with Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran

“Please do not pre-judge and criticise my strategies and level unjust allegations”

Exclusive Interview with Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran

Exclusive Interview by Thambu Kanagasabai (Attorney at Law), a resident of Toronto, Ontario with Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran

The interview was conducted at the Chief Minister’s residence in Jaffna on Oct 10th, 2013 in Tamil and translations of the excerpts from it are as follows:

Q: 

TNA under the leadership of Sampanthan along with your participation has recorded an overwhelming

Exclusive Interview With Chief Minister C.v. Wigneswaran by nelvely

Decoding The Inscrutable Chinese CP

By Kumar David -December 1, 2013 

Prof Kumar David

Upshot of the Third Plenum: Decoding the inscrutable Chinese CP

The Third Plenary session of Central Committee elected at the 11-th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party’s met in December 1978, chose Deng Xiaoping as paramount leader, adopted an agenda of economic reforms and the rest is history you might think. No, it was two years before the world awoke to its colossal impact. The plenum communiqué, crafted in Mao-speak, was as opaque as a slab of lead. The Third Plenum of the 18-th CC met in November 2013. Xi Jinping has been waffling about monumental change for months, but the post-plenum communiqué matched its predecessor in foggy opacity. However, a more lucid plenum resolution containing 60 initiatives was released last week. I have not been able to lay hands on a full English version.

However, a few things have happened already; small but crucial experiments in Anhui to allow peasants to sell land, and second, asking Sri Lanka, after CHOGM, to pay attention to human rights. The latter may not be a one-off thing but signal a turn bringing Beijing back from where it is now, way out on a limb, closer to the prevailing international consensus on human rights. Don’t expect a reversed vote at the next UN-HRC or anything dramatic. China moves by deliberate infinitesimal steps, but like a glacier once it begins to shift, change is inexorable. This however is not my topic today, Rajapakse buffoonery bores me. Instead, I turn to the infinitely and globally more important issue of the reforms that have kick-started the Xi Jinping decade.

There is one trait to grasp if you wish to figure out the post-Mao chess board; slow, gradual moves in small steps, watch then move again. Never precipitate big-bangs. Chinese political thinkers are unanimous: The Soviet Union collapsed because of big-shot, big-noise folly; perestroika, glasnost and such like desperate throws of the dice. Confucius like fixation with social stability, consolidation at every stage, safeguarding Party authority, that’s the pace. ‘On the darkest of nights a monkey does not loose its grip’. The Politburo has learnt a Tamil proverb!

The leaders turned a blind eye in 1979 when peasants in one area dismantled Communes, let it spread, and then enacted a universal household responsibility system (in effect, private farming). First a few experimental  joint ventures with state enterprises in the early 1980s, then a welcome mat for overseas Chinese capitalists, now some of the largest foreign investments in history – Foxconn is not a factory, it’s a whole blithering district! Reform came from the countryside and mutated into glittering seaboard cities, then gradually took over the global consumer goods market. All gingerly done with bandaged feet; China’s women may be liberated, but the Party prefers measured steps.

The debate in China                        Read More  

Sri Lankan government has not presented a political solution to the national problem yet, Tamil party says 

Fri, Nov 29, 2013,

Nov 29, Colombo: The major Tamil political party in Sri Lanka, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says the government has not yet presented a political solution to the national problem as recommended by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
TNA Leader, parliamentarian R. Sampanthan said that although the LLRC had recommended that the government present a political solution to the national question, such a solution was not presented by the government despite holding several rounds of talks with the TNA.
Explaining that the government and his party had held several rounds of discussions on finding a political solution in 2011, the TNA Leader said that both parties had agreed to a solution based on a united, undivided country.
However, Sampanthan noted that the government had not responded to the proposals presented by the TNA based on this principal and had even avoided participating in several discussions on finding a political solution in 2012.

According to the TNA Leader, the government following pressure from some of its allies has set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) claiming to find a political solution to the national problem, with the real intention of delaying the process of finding a permanent solution.

The shadow of war

Asna Ali-Saturday, November 30, 2013 

The violence in Sri Lanka may have ended but

long-standing grievances on both sides have not vanished


When the conflict between government forces and Tamil separatists effectively came to end in 2009 after more than two decades, Sri Lanka began its journey towards increasing its regional power. 

With the help of loans from both China and India, the country has been rebuilding and putting itself on the map as an important member of the regional and international community. The Commonwealth summit held there earlier this month was supposed to be an important milestone in this journey.

Unfortunately for the Sri Lankan government, everything did not go according to plan. The international community has become ever more emphatic in its demands that the Sri Lankan government initiate investigations into the war, particularly its final few weeks when it is rumoured that many human rights violations occurred. 

Throughout its long period, this conflict claimed many thousands of lives and, according to UN reports, many of these happened near the end. The rebels were hemmed into a small area along with numerous civilians. 

It is reported that these people were used as human shields by the rebels and also that armed forces deliberately fired into known civilian areas and safe zones. Investigations into the matter by the Sri Lankan government have been deemed inadequate by many.

It is for this reason that even as the government was busy issuing defensive statements, the leaders of India, Mauritius and Canada refused to participate in the Commonwealth Summit to register their protest over Sri Lanka’s reluctance to carry out large scale investigations into its civil war. 

During the summit, Tamils lined the streets holding up pictures of their dead or missing loved ones for the world to see. The spotlight was not on the summit’s agenda or Sri Lanka’s triumph over ethnic conflict or the progress it has made ever since. 

Instead, British Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the leaders who did attend the summit, used this opportunity to visit survivors of the conflict and make his own strong opinions known on the subject. Reiterating the views of other world leaders, Cameron called for investigations into war crimes. 

Though the Sri Lankan government has been adamant in the past that claims about war crimes are false and that it has the right to carry out any probe into the matter at its own pace, the events during the Commonwealth Summit have left it wrong-footed. 

Finally caving in to the demands, it has now been announced that a census will be conducted to find out the full extent of loss of life and property during the civil war period – from 1983 to 2009. 

However, this census is being deemed inadequate by human rights groups who have pointed out that several surveys of this nature have been called for in the past but their results are biased. There are no enquiries into war crimes and violations of international law by the armed forces. 

As Sri Lanka continues its march towards normalcy and ‘healing the wounds of war’, many observers look on with concern. It has been suggested that extremist sentiments in the country have not evaporated with the end of the civil war. Rather, they have found new targets in other minority groups like Muslims and Christians. 

A conflict that has lasted a whole generation is sure to have long shadows. The violence may have ended but long-standing grievances on both sides have not vanished. The dead, the disappeared and the displaced call for justice. 

Here’s hoping that Sri Lanka will emerge from this shadow more united and not with another ethnic conflict on its hands.

The writer is a business studies graduate from southern Punjab. Email: asna.ali90@gmail.com