Politicians deprive G-5 scholarship winners slots in popular schools 

By Dasun Edirisinghe-December 6, 2013, 10:02 pm

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday lamented that thousands of students, who had got through the Grade V scholarship examination, with high marks, had been left kicking their heels for want of space in classrooms of popular schools already filled with children of those with political backing.

Minister Gunawardena said that principals of popular schools had overloaded Grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 under political pressure. Parents who failed to have their children admitted to Grade One classes at popular schools secure politicians’ help to facilitate their admission to Grades 2 or 3, he added.

According to report submitted to him by his ministry official including the Secretary, the minister said, it was impossible to admit at least one student under the Grade V scholarship scheme to Grade 6 at Dharmaraja College in Kandy and Sri Sumangala College in Panadura.

Minister Gunawardena said that the situation was worse at Royal, Ananda, Nalanda, Visakha and other popular schools in Colombo. They were unable to accommodate the number of children they are required to, he said.

The same situation existed in schools with primary classes, according to Minister Gunawardena. "There are already as many as 50 to 55 students in the Grade V classes of most of these schools.

Those who had gained high marks at the Grade V scholarship examination in rural areas had to be admitted to schools of their choice, the minister said. "I have informed President Mahinda Rajapaksa of the situation and he has promised to have a special discussion with a view to see justice it done."

Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) Mahinda Jayasinghe said that they would take a legal action unless the deserving students were admitted to popular schools.  

Convener of the Movement for Protecting Schools, Dhammika Alahapperuma, said that due to the problem, the ministry had yet to issue cut– off marks to admit students to popular schools. 

417 schools closed in last seven years 
By Ravi Ladduwahetty-December 7, 2013 

The government has closed a total of 417 schools in the last seven years, despite the proclamation of opening 1,000 new schools, Hambantota District UNP MP, Sajith Premadasa charged in Parliament yesterday.

He also said 64% of the students who had sat for the Ordinary Level examination in 2005 had failed English and Science papers, while 63% had failed those subjects in 2006, 60% failed in 2007 and 52% in 2013. He also asked what steps have been taken by the government to rectify this damage in the light of the government’s proclamation of wanting to increase the quality of Science and English education in the country.

Premadasa also alleged the government was supplying free mid-day meals only to 25% or one million of the four million schoolchildren, reminding that his late father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, was the pioneer in providing the free mid-day meal for schoolchildren.He also charged that the government had enough money to promote the Lambhorgini culture, but not enough for the Badagini culture. “The government has all the money to waste on corruption and casino culture, but nothing is available for the masses,” he charged.

Government to take away farmers’ right to agricultural seeds

Saturday, 07 December 2013

The government it is learnt is looking at introducing legislation that would result in farmers losing their right to agricultural seeds while the monopoly of agricultural seeds would be with multinational companies loyal to the Rajapaksa regime.

According to the new legislation, the right to all seeds will be vested with the Director General of Agriculture.

The Agriculture Ministry is looking at introducing a new bill on seeds and planting material.

The legislation will prevent farmers from personally cultivating seeds and permission would have to be sought from the Director General of Agriculture to do so.

It would therefore stop farmers from planting local seeds and any farmer intending to cultivate local seeds will have to get a license.
It is learnt that the government is looking at this new legislation to promote the cultivation of genetically modified seeds prepared by multinational companies.

Bandula criticizes Sarath’s response

Saturday, 07 December 2013 

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has in a political debate in a private television station said that Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama’s response in parliament to a question on per capita debt in the country was an idiotic one.

When JVP Propaganda Secretary, MP Vijitha Herath highlighted that the per capita debt is over Rs. 300,000 according to a response given by Dr. Amunugama in parliament, Gunawardena said that there was nothing called a “per capita debt” in economics.

Herath then noted that if the government speaks highly of the per capita income, which according to statistic s is over US$ 3,000, the per capita debt that amounts to over Rs. 300,000 needs to be highlighted as well.

However, Gunawardena reiterated that there was no term called per capita debt and that the question posed in parliament about it was an “idiotic” one.

“Does that mean that the deputy finance minister has given an idiotic response? If the question was an idiotic one, then why did he respond to it without explaining there was no such figure available?” Herath questioned.

“Are you saying that the response given by the deputy minister is also an idiotic one?” the JVP MP asked, to which Gunawardena said that it was so.

After making such a claim, Gunawardena tried to give an explanation when Herath said, “If a student asks an idiotic question, will the teacher give an idiotic answer? As you have admitted that the response by the deputy finance minister is an idiotic one, this is how the entire budget has been formed.”

Rs. 21.5 million to gratify Namal’s night race eccentricity; soldier paid only Rs. 100 per day for arrangements
(Lanka-e-News-07.Dec.2013, 10.30PM) Carlton super sports club whose chairman is Namal Rajapakse the synthetic lawyer and M.P. had organized the Colombo car and motorbike night race for the second time. This is to be held in Colombo on 16 th and 17 th along the roads in the vicinity of Fort.

The army had been deployed to place sandbags during the nights alongside these roads. Rs. 21 .5 million is being spent for these sandbags and preparing the roads to stage this race, according to reports.

These Fort night races were inaugurated in 2011. In 2012 , special concessions were granted by Rajapakse regime to import super luxury Lamborghini cars free of import tax (with super luxury car race in view) clearly confirming the Rajapakse regime’s maniacal concern towards gratification of the whims and fancies of its eccentric sons , after coming to power on the votes of the suffering people on grandiose promises that they will alleviate the people’s abysmal sufferings . 

This year that special tax concession was withdrawn.

The government spent Rs. 150 million on account of this night race last year. It is noteworthy that soon after these races were concluded , the Lamborghini crazy government raised the price of petrol by Rs. 10/- per liter and burdened the already badagini (starving) people to cover up its night race profligate expenditure .

As in the previous years , this year too the tasks of making the race track, erecting stages , preparing the roads and providing security are all entrusted to the security forces. Towards these tasks , shockingly a soldier is paid a meager Rs. 100 per day only apart from his salary.

Some Lessons From Mandela For Reconciliation

| by Laksiri Fernando 

“Of all the people I have met, he was by far the greatest.” – Malcolm Fraser 

( December 7, 2013, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Nelson Mandela is no more, but his legacy would hopefully inspire people, particularly the young, for some generations to come all over the world, including Sri Lanka. Some years back, I was delighted to see the translation of his “A Long March to Freedom” into Sinhala and I am not sure who did that admirable task. I am also not sure whether it is also available in Tamil or not. Whatever the situation, the story of his life, his determination to struggle for justice, his vision for a reconciled society or nation, and most importantly, his exceptional human quality to be magnanimous and forgive are crucially important historical lessons for all communities in Sri Lanka in achieving a better future for their progeny. 

Some Lessons From Mandela for Reconciliation by nelvely

U.S. Department of State

His Day is Done - A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela by Dr. Maya Angelou

49,242 views 23 hours ago

Video message delivered by Dr. Maya Angelou on behalf of the American people in memory of Nelson Mandela.

To view this video with captions in Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Hausa, Portuguese, Russian, Sesotho, Setswana, Spanish, Swahili, Wolof, Xhosa, or Zulu, please visit http://goo.gl/h6OeJC.

Death The Only Punishment For Blasphemy

by Xavier P. William

( December 7, 2013, Karachi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Federal Sharia Court has ordered to remove the life imprisonment from the section 295C of the Blasphemy laws and death sentence be the only punishment in 295C.

Justice Fida Hussain heading the panel heard a contempt of court petition, filed by Advocate Hashmat Habib. The Federal Sharia Court has issued orders to remove the provision of life imprisonment from the blasphemy law, stating that only death is the punishment for blasphemy under section 295 C.

In 1984 a group of conservative lawyers filed a petition at the Federal Shariat Court asking for a law against insult to Islam or the Prophet, in 1986 the blasphemy laws comprising section 295 A and 295 B were implemented as the part of the law of the state.

In 1990 under the Hadood ordinance 295C was introduced to the Blasphemy laws, in 1991 it was approved and the Law Minister Iqbal Ahmad Khan added text “death or life” as punishment for blasphemy in section 295C.

The blasphemy laws have been under debate for amending / ensuing to stop the misuse of these laws, the marginalized and the weak have been the victim of these laws. In Pakistan even being accused of blasphemy is equivalent to the sentence itself. Even the children are accused regardless of their age and mental state, we have witnessed this when an 8th grader was accused for misspelling a word in her exam, Rimsha a 11 years old girl with down syndrome was framed by a cleric under the blasphemy laws. These things need to be considered that the law clearly states that any one who deliberately dishonors a religious place or a Prophet is accountable.

In the last 30 years, incidents of extrajudicial killings of blasphemy accused have been common. Extrajudicial killings in blasphemy cases are not pursued by the victims’ families out of fear of being further victimized. Unfortunately, such killings are put under the carpet by the state and the court as it invites wrath. the first such extrajudicial killing took place in 1991 when blasphemy accused Naemat Ahmad was shot dead by some unknown persons. Later, a Muslim Farooq Sajid was beaten to death by a mob in Gujranwala. Similarly, Manzoor Masih was gunned down outside the District and Sessions Court after a hearing in 1990s. Take the case of Lahore High Court Judge, Arif Iqbal Bhatti, who was assassinated in his chambers after retirement at Lahore High Court in 1997. The killer said he targeted the judge because he was on the bench that acquitted two Christian men, Salamat and Rehmat Masih, accused in a blasphemy case.

Societies have laws in order to protect people from the actions of other people. It is clearly impossible for everybody in any society to have absolute freedom: as one person exercised that freedom, it would trample upon somebody else’s freedom. Despite the fact the blasphemy laws are there the people take the law in their own hands and they decide for themselves what the punishment should be, a mentally unstable man was set ablaze outside the police station in Bahawalpur on blasphemy accusation, these violent incidents clearly challenge the writ of the law and it is clearly evident that these laws are being misused.

Life For All Pakistan a Human Rights organization in said, “The minorities – the poorest stratum of our society who had received assurances of equal treatment from the founder of the state, Quaid-e-am Muhammad Ali Jinnah – have to bear the brunt of this hatred of ourselves. When the world is outraged by what is done to the women and the minorities here, we respond with xenophobia, The Blasphemy phenomenon takes a horrible turn when a charged mob targets a specific community, locality or a group by burning their houses, looting their valuables and resorting to mass killing, there have been examples of Gojra, Sangla Hill and the most recent one in Badami Bagh, Lahore. They have not stressed to stop the misuse; this law is widely misused to settle personal vendettas and rivalries. Why is such a law being allowed to be used as a tool? How many more innocent lives will it take for the authorities to realize that it`s about time to seriously take concrete steps to ensure that the laws are implemented and justice is served.“

Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won’t Talk About

CREDIT: AP

DECEMBER 6, 2013

In the desire to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life — an iconic figure who triumphed over South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime — it’s tempting to homogenize his views into something everyone can support. This is not, however, an accurate representation of the man.

Mandela was a political activist and agitator. He did not shy away from controversy and he did not seek — or obtain — universal approval. Before and after his release from prison, he embraced an unabashedly progressive and provocative platform. As one commentator put itshortly after the announcement of the freedom fighter’s death, “Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. Over the next few days you will try so, so hard to make him something he was not, and you will fail. You will try to smooth him, to sandblast him, to take away his Malcolm X. You will try to hide his anger from view.”

As the world remembers Mandela, here are some of the things he believed that many will gloss over.

1. Mandela blasted the Iraq War and American imperialism. Mandela called Bush “a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly,” and accused him of “wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust” by going to war in Iraq. “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,” he said. Mandela even speculated that then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan was being undermined in the process because he was black. “They never did that when secretary-generals were white,” he said. He saw the Iraq War as a greater problem of American imperialism around the world. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care,” he said.

2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

3. Mandela criticized the “War on Terror” and the labeling of individuals as terrorists, even Osama Bin Laden, without due process. On the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008 himself, Mandela was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s war on terror. He warned against rushing to label terrorists without due process. While calling for Osama bin Laden to be brought to justice, Mandela said, “The labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist responsible for those acts before he had been tried and convicted could also be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law.”

4. Mandela called out racism in America. On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela made a point of visiting Harlem and praising African Americans’ struggles against “the injustices of racist discrimination and economic equality.” He reminded a larger crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was not exclusively a South African phenomenon. “As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable, unacceptable, that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet,” he said. “All of us, black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.”

5. Mandela embraced some of America’s biggest political enemies. Mandela incited shock and anger in many American communities for refusing to denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had lent their support to Mandela against South African apartheid. “One of the mistakes the Western world makes is to think that their enemies should be our enemies,” he explained to an American TV audience. “We have our own struggle.” He added that those leaders “are placing resources at our disposal to win the struggle.” He also called the controversial Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade in arms.”

6. Mandela was a die-hard supporter of labor unions. Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers union when touring the U.S., immediately claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he said. “The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013: To honour Mandela Is To Learn From His Example

By Rajan Philips -December 8, 2013 

Rajan Philips

One of the most inspiring

moments in our life time was watching Nelson Mandelawalk out of prison on 11 February, 1990.  He looked tall and determined, defiant yet kind.  He looked taller than his 6’1” height, even though the twenty seven years in harsh prison conditions had shrunken his massive 200+ lb frame that he took to the prison.  On Thursday, 5 December 2013, Nelson Mandela passed away quietly in his Johannesburg home after keeping an anxious nation awake for several months.  The world that watched him walk out of prison 23 years ago is now ready to watch his last journey through the land that he liberated from apartheid.  “What would be his legacy?” – his longtime friend, anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate for literature, Nadine Gordimer, was once asked.  “It depends on what we make of it”, was her response.  The world could make a lot of it.  Even Sri Lankan leaders could benefit hugely from Mandela’s legacy.

As a prisoner, Mandela became the icon in the world’s final fight against political racism.  In South Africa, the site of that struggle, Mandela mediated the transition from apartheid to freedom.  Today, he is revered by everyone and everywhere.  But for the greater part of his political life as a leading member of the African National Congress, he was reviled by powerful forces in and out of South Africa.  Never before, or after, has the international community – governments as well as civil societies – become so involved as it did in the 1980s movement to free Mandela from prison and apartheid in South Africa.  The modern NGOs emerged and made their mark on the world stage through the anti-apartheid struggle.

The Commonwealth led the sanctions against apartheid, with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney leading the way and breaking ranks with his powerful friendMargaret Thatcher.  Thatcher despised the African National Congress and applauded the South African government for its economic prowess.  She was ideologically blinkered from seeing apartheid as inhuman racial exploitation that underpinned South Africa’s economic success.   Her ideological soul mate, President Ronald Reagan declared Nelson Mandela a terrorist and put him on the US list of terrorists.  By oversight and mistake, the Mandela name remained on the US terrorist list until 2008, when Hillary Clinton under President Obama formally took the name off the list.  The definition of terrorism and heroism vary across time and space.  A terrorist in the west or north could be a hero in the east or south, and a terrorist now could be a hero later.

Following In The Footsteps Of Mandela Is What We Need Sri Lanka Today

By Ranil Wickremesinghe -December 8, 2013 

I join my Colleague, the Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, in expressing the condolence of our House and of this country on the passing away of Nelson Mandela. The prisoner from Robben Island became a beacon of hope to the whole world. As my Colleague pointed out, it was the imposition of the apartheid state which led to Nelson Mandela getting involved in the struggle to regain full rights of the African people and thereafter, to take leadership of the movement. But, Mandela together with other colleagues, all had to suffer imprisonment. Nelson Mandela represented the ANC whose objectives were not limited to non-violent struggle. They also had to launch a liberation struggle in which they wanted the rights of the majority. They had to suffer many hardships. Nelson Mandela, at once, remarked that his was the least. He was kept in a prison and beaten up. He had to  suffer much more than the others had to suffer. As we listened to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it certainly shows the extent to which the apartheid system worked to try and hold its power. That is a characteristic of many authoritarian States which seeks to control thinking, which seeks to control the media – that is one sign, which seeks to control the judiciary and put those who are very favour to them, which seeks to control civil society and which seeks, in fact, to keep an eye on anyone who they think is a dissident and then take action against him legally or indirectly. So, it is not kept only to countries which go on white supremacy. It is an unfortunately sign that we see in many parts of the world.

What I see in Nelson Mandela is that once he took over, he dismantled that apparatus. He kept the states structure very much like Shri Jawaharlal Nehru and the Right Hon. D.S. Senanayake did in India and Sri Lanka. But, he dismantled that apparatus. Finally, we have to remember that the victory of Africans in South Africa was due, firstly because the struggle launched by the African National Congress, and secondly the international pressure that came in. Without that international pressure which finally forced even the USA to agree, it would not have been possible. They made it difficult for the apartheid regime inside and the others; the international pressure made it difficult them from outside.                              Read More 

Truth And Reconciliation Without Whitewash

THE MESSAGE OF NELSON MANDELA TO SRI LANKANS

( December 7, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) With the passing away of Nelson Mandela the world has lost one of the greatest and most extraordinary human beings of modern times who showed that change that improved the lives of all around was possible. As the first post-apartheid era President of South Africa, he led the transformation of his country from one that was ostracized by the world to one that is admired as a beacon of hope. The National Peace believes that his greatest contribution to South Africa and to the world was to ensure that anger over crimes of the past, including his 27 years as a political prisoner, would not motivate future laws and actions.

Key to the transformation in South Africa was the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1995. It gave priority to reconciliation but not at the cost of truth. It also highlighted the need for bipartisanship at the highest level of political leadership with the government and opposition in agreement. Even though the South African TRC cannot be replicated in full in Sri Lanka, a deeper study of the TRC process will highlight that it forged a political path that upheld both truth and reconciliation as the highest values and turned South Africa into a democracy.

There is speculation that the Sri Lankan government is contemplating establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on the lines of the South African TRC. Sri Lankan government sources have disclosed that the possibility of South African assistance to Sri Lanka was discussed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and South African President Jacob Zuma on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last month in Colombo. This bilateral meeting was preceded by several visits to South Africa by members of the Sri Lankan government and opposition.

The National Peace Council welcomes the initiative to establish a TRC or similar mechanism that has the support of a respected member of the international community like South Africa. We have been concerned by the increased confrontation between the Sri Lankan government and the international community on the issue of accountability. More than four years after the end of the war, Sri Lanka remains internally divided and in conflict with the most influential countries in the world and unable to attain its full potential. We are hopeful that a properly constituted and mandated TRC with South African support can transform Sri Lanka’s internal and external relationships in a positive direction if certain pre-requisites are honored.

In particular for the process to be domestically and internationally credible the establishment of a TRC will require bipartisan government – opposition support that includes the UNP, TNA and SLMC. There also needs to be significant changes in the enabling environment. In South Africa many persons faced charges in the Courts and the TRC was a forum for confessions by the accused with amnesty granted only if there was a full and fair disclosure. The victims had no fears of intimidation or revenge attacks on them when they gave evidence before the Commission. This requires a Witness Protection Law and the independence of the judiciary and the police will need to be secured. It cannot be a white washing exercise or the demand for an independent international investigation will continue.

| A statement issued by the The National Peace Council

For Madiba with Love

Post by David Turnley.

Victims coerced to produce false affidavits on controversial birth control in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 December 2013, 23:49 GMT]
Colombo has instructed Tamil health officials in Ki’linochchi district to obtain ‘affidavits’ from women who were subjected to a controversial coercive population control in three coastal villages of the district. The women are being approached to sign a document stating that they received subdermal implants on their own request for contraceptive protection. The latest move has come as the women, who were coerced to receive a long-term hormonal birth control implant inserted under the skin of their upper arm, have been complaining of side effects such as blood pressure, weight gain, irregular periods as well as traumatic stress after 2 months of the birth control experiment by the SL State. On 30 November, a 26-year-old woman, who was one of more than 50 victims subjected to contraceptive control, died at Jaffna hospital after a mysterious infection. 

The victim, Ms Manjula Satheeskumar was pregnant while she was subjected to the controversial implant treatment. The implant was late removed from her body, but she had to fight for her life due to an infection, medical sources in Jaffna said. 

More than 50 women in the coastal villages of Valaip-paadu, Vearaavil and Kiraagnchi, were coerced into to take Progestogen-only subdermal implants (POSDIs) on 31st August. 

Similar ‘birth control experiments’ were also being carried out among the up-country Tamil people in the island. 

Health officials have so far obtained 22 ‘affidavits’ on the instruction from Colombo. 

The fear-stricken victims are now being coerced to provide false documents. 

In an open appeal issued on 08 November, Fr. S.V.B Mangalarajah, the chairman of Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, had urged medical assistance to the victims, describing the population control experimented on a people subjected to genocide in Vanni as “Mu'l'livaaykkaal-2”.

I will visit Valigamam North high security zone if army shoot me. I’m proud to die on this land: Wigneswaran [ Friday, 06 December 2013, 01:12.51 PM GMT +05:30 ] Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran said central government promised to the international community that it will implement 13th amendment but they fail to do so. Kovils , churches and houses at the Valigamam North high security zone were demolished. I was not permitted to visit these sites. I will visit that area with or without permission. If army denies the permission. I will enter in to this area even if they shoot me I’m proud to die on this land, CM said. Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran met members of Democratic People’s Front headed by Mano Ganesan last evening. During the time of meeting CM said that the Lankan government not interested to implement 13th amendment and share powers with provincial councils. Sinhala Government always willing to control North and Eastern parts of the island. Tamil leaders should brief international community on this issue. CM thanked Democratic National Front for its continues support and also urge to continue it. We are ready to raise voice on problems face by minorities all around the country. Democratic National Front Western Provincial Council members Nallaiya Kumaragurubaran, S.Rajendran, central provincial council member Velukumar, Colombo municipal council member Vellanai Veniyan, Son. Gugawaradhan,Priyani Gunaratne, K.T.Guru Sami, S.Baskaran and Lorenas Fernando present at this discussion.

India to host Wigneswaran next month

by S Venkat Narayan, -December 5, 2013,

NEW DELHI, December 5: India is planning to host Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C. V. Wigneswaran next month.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had extended an invitation to Wigneswaran when he met him in Jaffna in October.

In his October 28 letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Wigneswaran wrote: "We had the fortune of meeting your Minister for External Affairs recently in Jaffna, where he extended a kind invitation to me to visit your great country.

"I shall most certainly avail myself of his kind offer at a mutually convenient time, when it will also be possible for me to meet Your Excellency."

Details of Wigneswaran’s programme are still being worked out. It is not clear just yet if he will visit Chennai too to meet with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President Muthuvel Karunanidhi, among others.

Sources here say that inviting Wigneswaran to India in January, barely three months before the country goes to parliamentary elections, may give political dividends to the Congress Party, which heads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government here, in Tamil Nadu.

The Congress does not have much of a presence in Tamil Nadu ever since the DMK ousted it from power in Tamil Nadu in 1967. For the past four decades, it has been aligning either with the DMK or Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK as a junior partner to fight parliamentary and state assembly polls to win a few (of the 39) Lok Sabha seats and some seats in the crucial southern state’s legislative assembly.

Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi never tire of accusing the UPA government of not doing enough for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi, whose DMK was a member of the UPA, withdrew from the ruling coalition in March this year in protest against the Centre neglecting the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.

It was because of vehement protests from Tamil Nadu political parties that Dr. Singh stayed away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo last month.

Hosting the Northern Provincial Council’s first elected Tamil Chief Minister will certainly deprive both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi an opportunity to lambast the Congress Party for "neglecting" the cause of the island’s Tamils.

Elected Leader

By Udaya R. Tennakoon -December 6, 2013 

Udaya R. Tennakoon

Sitting on the throne

Having the crown

Dwindles the brain

Having power Crane

Grave words

Sharpen swords

No many roads

Nowhere Gods

You are the man

We people won

Take your gun

Fire on ! We don’t run

You told, you are my men

We told, you are our king

We are the men of that nation

Under your feet as a sin

Heart and mind were ravaged

Wealth and land were grabbed

Tax and the rest we granted

Kingdom you have painted

Earth and sky are heaven

Kith and kin are fine

Cloak of face is shine

Doesn’t matter beggars no coin

The Elders honour the memory of their Founder, Nelson Mandela

“Nelson Mandela stands as an inspiration to us all” – Kofi Annan

The Elders are deeply saddened by the death of their founder, Nelson Mandela. They join millions of people around the world who were inspired by his courage and touched by his compassion. All will mourn his passing.

Nelson Mandela and the Elders in Johannesburg in 2010. (L-R: Graça Machel, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Martti Ahtisaari, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi) Credit: The Elders/Jeff Moore

The Elders Honour the Memory of Their Founder, Nelson Mandela by nelvely

Will MR pit India against South Africa? 

December 4, 2013
Mahinda seems to have hit upon the idea of a new strategy to counter the looming threat of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), adopting another damaging resolution at its upcoming March 2014 sessions. This new strategy is to accept the involvement of South Africa in the reconciliation process, as it had evidently shown much interest in it from about 2012. South African Ambassador in Sri Lanka at the time was the key player in setting the diplomatic ball rolling in that direction, by encouraging and organizing a visit by the South African Deputy Foreign Minister to the country, on a sort of fact-finding mission.
 
As a result of these diplomatic moves, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ibrahim, and a delegation paid a visit to this country and made contact with Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, in the first instance, and thereafter with R. Sampanthan and others of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister had made a proposition to Sampanthan that they were willing to act as intermediary to start reconciliation talks between the government and the TNA. Covert moves made by South Africa came to the open when the TNA divulged the news to the media. The government was disturbed by the news of unilateral action South Africa was pursuing, seeking to mediate in Sri Lanka's reconciliation process. As a counter to such unsolicited action from any quarter, the government issued a statement under the hand of External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peries, that Sri Lanka does not need the involvement of outsiders in its internal affairs.
 
South Africa's help was crucial
 
Notwithstanding this diplomatic reaction from the government over South Africa's interest in being involved in the reconciliation process, this matter later assumed even bigger importance due to the CHOGM. The government wished to have the presence of all African Commonwealth Nations at the CHOGM and South Africa's help in this matter was crucial. Its President, Jacob Zuma, not only confirmed his participation in advance; he also promised to help get the other member countries in the continent to participate.
 
Proposal coincides
 
When the South African President met Rajapaksa, on the sidelines of CHOGM and offered to help, the President set up a Truth Commission in Sri Lanka, on the lines of the one South Africa had used to arrive at reconciliation in their country. Rajapaksa was receptive to Zuma's proposal and had agreed to look into it seriously. The Sri Lankan President's positive response to the South African President's proposal coincided with the British Prime Minister, Cameron's controversial pronouncement of a deadline for Rajapkasa, to act in respect of reconciliation. It was also at this time that Rajapaksa had expressed his wish to set up a Truth Commission here, which was identical to the one held in South Africa. Cameron had noticeably mellowed his rhetoric in relation to this matter. Going a step further, Britain has invited the TNA to a visit that country to discuss matters further, prior to the involvement of South Africa in the contemplated process. The TNA had however said that, before taking any action in regard to this matter, they will first consult India. With the setting up of Northern Provincial Council (NPC), India has already moved ahead towards a reconciliation process in the country. India is awaiting government action for the devolution of land and police powers to the NPC. Rajapaksa is well aware that India will tighten the screws if those powers are not devolved to the Northern Provincial Council before UNHRC sessions come up in March next year. India's agenda in relation to this matter is entirely different from what South Africa will try to achieve. They will be concentrating more on bringing about reconciliation between Tamil Diaspora and the Sri Lanka Government. The 13th Amendment is not an important issue as far as South Africa his concerned.
 
Ample breathing space
 
President Rajapaksa is alive to the fact that any discussion with South Africa at this stage will take a long time, giving him ample breathing space. In light of the above, it can be safely assumed that Rajapaksa will agree to a South Africa sponsored Truth Commission for reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the TNA is trying to obtain India's help to push the 13A to the fore in South African agenda. If the UK and the US gives their (crucial) support for the Truth Commission to be sponsored by South Africa, as to what action Mahinda will take is not clear as this point in time. In this context, the Australian PM's advice to Rajapaksa to go along with South African sponsored Truth Commission assumes considerable importance.