India would have a legitimate concern about any foreign presence in Sri Lanka that precludes India.

UKTamilNews 

News Site For Tamils

By Nirupama Rao

(Full Text of Sree Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma ,birth centenary lecture titled‘India in a tough neighbourhood” that was delivered at Trivandrum on December 14th 2013.)

I am deeply honoured to be here at the kind and gracious invitation of Maharaja Sree Padmanabha Dasa Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma at the Kanakakkunnu Palace to deliver the Centenary lecture to honour the erstwhile Maharaja of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma whose Birth Centenary is being celebrated today. I know Maharaja Marthanda Varma cannot be here with us today due to unavoidable circumstances. I send him my warmest regards and my respects, and wish him a safe and speedy recovery.

India Would Have a Legitimate Concern About Any Foreign Presence in Sri Lanka That Precludes India. by nelvely

Diplomats' exploitation of domestic workers a 'plague,' activists say

தேவ்யானியின் பணிப்பெண்ணுக்கு நடந்த அநீதியை இந்தியா மறந்தது நியாயமா? ..கேட்கிறது யு.எஸ். 2ஆம் இணைப்பு

Global Tamil News

தேவ்யானிக்காக இவ்வளவு தூரம் போராடும் இந்தியா, அதேசமயம் இந்தியப் பிரஜையான அவரது வீட்டுப் பணிப்பெண் சங்கீதா ரிச்சர்ட்க்கு நடந்த அநீதி குறித்து ஏன் ஒன்றும் கூறவில்லை என குற்றம் சாட்டியுள்ளது அமெரிக்கா. மேலும், இந்தியத்துணைத் தூதர் கைது செய்யப்பட்டபோது நடந்தது என்ன என்பது குறித்து 3 பக்க விரிவான விளக்க அறிக்கையும் அது வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. நியூயார்க் நகரில் இந்திய தூதரகத்தில் துணை தூதராக பணியாற்றி வந்த தேவ்யானி கோப்ரகடே அமெரிக்க போலீசாரால் கைது செய்யப்பட்டார். விசா மோசடி உள்ளிட்ட குற்றச்சாட்டுளின் பேரில் அவர் கைது செய்யப்பட்டு நடத்தப்பட்ட விதம் கொந்தளிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளது. இந்தக் கைது விவகாரத்தில் ஆரம்பம் முதல் தனது கண்டனத்தைத் தேரிவித்து வரும் இந்திய அரசு, அவர் மீதான வழக்குகளை திரும்ப பெற வேண்டும் என அமெரிக்காவை வற்புறுத்தி வருகிறது. தேவ்யானிக்கு முழுமையான பாதுகாப்பு அளிக்கிறவகையில் அவரை ஐ.நா. சபைக்கான நிரந்தர இந்தியத்தூதராக நியமித்து மத்திய அரசு உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது. இந்நிலையில், தேவ்யானி கைது குறித்து 3 பக்க விளக்கத்தை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார் அமெரிக்க அரசு வழக்கறிஞர் பிரித் பராரா. அதில் தெரிவிக்கப் பட்டுள்ளதாவது:-

தவறான தகவல்கள்.... தேவ்யானி கைது செய்யப்பட்டது தொடர்பான விவகாரத்தில் வெளியான தவறான தகவல்கள் குறித்து, நான் தெளிவுபடுத்த விரும்புகிறேன். தூதர்கள், தூதரக அதிகாரிகளின் வேலைக்காரர்களை பாதுகாக்க உருவாக்கப்பட்டுள்ள அமெரிக்க சட்டங்களை தேவயானி பின்பற்ற தவறி உள்ளார்.       

வாசிக்க

Diplomats' exploitation of domestic workers a 'plague,' activists say

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Arrest of Indian diplomat 'an isolated episode'

The arrest of an Indian diplomat who allegedly submitted fraudulent documents to import a babysitter at an illegal wage to the United States has sparked an unusual spat between the two countries.

But advocates for immigrant domestic workers say the accusations underlying the case are nothing new: The exploitation and trafficking of domestic workers by foreign officials on American soil is all too common.
Diplomats' Exploitation of Domestic Workers a 'Plague,' Activists Say by nelvely

யாழ். பல்கலை வளாகத்திற்குள் ஆயுதம் தரித்த சீருடையினர்; அச்சத்தில் மாணவர்கள்

யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழக வளாகத்திற்குள் ஆயுதம் தாங்கிய இராணுவத்தினர் வருகைதர மாட்டார்கள் என யாழ்.மாவட்ட இராணுவக்கட்டளைத்தளபதி பல்கலை நிர்வாகத்தினருக்கு உறுதியளித்துள்ள நிலையில் இன்று ஆயுதம் தரித்த சீருடையினர் இருவர் பல்கலை வளாகத்திற்குள் நுழைந்துள்ளதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.

அதன்படி இன்று மதியம் 2.30 மணியளவில் ஆயுதம் தரித்த சீருடையினர் இருவர் பல்கலைக்கழக வளாகத்திற்குள் வருகை தந்ததுடன் கைலாசபதி அரங்கத்திற்கு முன்னால் உள்ள நினைவுத்தூபியினையும் சுற்றிப்பார்த்து விட்டு சென்றுள்ளனர்.

சம்பவம் குறித்து உடனடியாக பதிவாளருக்கு தெரியப்படுத்தப்பட்டதுடன் குறித்த சீருடையிரிடம் வளாகத்திற்குள் ஏன் நுழைந்தீர்கள் என்று கேட்ட போது மேலிடத்து உத்தரவின் பேரிலேயே தாங்கள் வந்ததாக கூறிவிட்டு சென்றனர் என பல்கலைக்கழக நிர்வாகத்தினர் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

எனினும்  கடந்த ஆண்டு நவம்பர் 27 மற்றும் 28ஆம் திகதிகளில் மாணவர்களின் விடுதிக்குள்ளும் பல்கலைக்கழக வளாகத்திற்குள்ளும் ஆயுதம் தரித்த சீருடையினர் அனுமதியின்றி நுழைந்து தாக்குதல்களை மேற்கொண்டிருந்தனர்.

இதுகுறித்து யாழ். மாவட்ட இராணுவ தளபதி பதிலளிக்கும்போது, அன்றைய நாட்களில் உள்நுழைய வேண்டிய தேவை ஏற்பட்டதாலேயே இராணுவத்தினர் ஆயுதத்துடன் உள்நுழைந்ததாகவும் எதிர்வரும் காலங்களில் இவ்வாறான சம்பவங்கள்  இடம்பெறாது என தான் உறுதியளிப்பதாகவும் நிர்வாகத்திடம் தெரிவித்திருந்தமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

இருப்பினும் இவ்வாறான செயற்பாடுகளை ஆரம்பத்திலேயே பல்கலைக்கழக நிர்வாகம்  உரியவர்வர்களுடன் பேசி நிறுத்திக் கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்றும் அவர்களது வருகையானது அச்சத்தைத் தோற்றுவிப்பதாகவும் தாங்கள் என்ன நடக்கப்போகின்றதோ என்ற ஒருவித பயத்துடனேயே உள்ளதாகவும் மாணவர்கள் கவலை வெளியிட்டுள்ளனர்.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=213622519718846757#sthash.f1DXxORS.dpuf

Armed soldiers patrol inside Jaffna Uni

18 December 2013

Despite a recent announcement by the head of Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, that armed personnel would not enter inside the premises of the University of Jaffna, two armed, uniformed soldiers were seen inside the university grounds today, reported the Uthayan.

According to the paper, the two soldiers were seen at 2.30pm walking around the memorial in front of the Kailaasabathi Hall.

When questioned by university staff, the two soldiers reportedly said that they were instructed to come by their seniors. They left shortly afterwards.

Last month on the 27th and 28th, coinciding with Tamil remembrance day, or Maaveerar Naal, armed soldiers entered the premises without permission, despite the university being closed to students with teaching being suspended.

The Rajapaksa State Barricades The NPC

By Kumar David -December 19, 2013 |

Prof Kumar David

Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran (CV) has enunciated a bitter testament of what it is like to run a provincial administration under the Rajapakse semi-dictatorship. I will quote from his statement anon. The seven UPFA Provincial Councils (PC) are phonies who stand up when told to, and squat when so instructed. The government treats them like spittoon bearers not administrations. Hence they are inept, riddled with scandal and incapable of regional development. Many dismiss the PC system as a monumental waste of money that delivers no useful output; this is true since they have zero autonomy and function as pliant instruments of Temple Trees. As long as PCs remained docile the problem was buried, but the birth of the Northern PC (NPC) upset the totalitarian apple cart. Anything that doesn’t cringe when the autocrat cracks his whip, obviously and by definition, is anathema. This is what has now come to pass in the North.

May I remind readers of what I said in this column on 11 August when election preparations were underway? My concern was an impending challenge, that is wilful obstruction by Centre, Governor, and a military accustomed to aggressive interference in civilian affairs. A second point I drew attention to was demilitarising the North and ending its de facto status as if occupied by an alien force. Third was recruiting talented people to build an energetic, able and efficient administration. CV has now bitterly complained of a deliberate and gigantic roadblock placed in his way by Centre and Governor in all three matters. A subculture of obedience to the military has so penetrated the sinews of serving provincial staff, he says, that his work programmes are obstructed. The implications are very far reaching; potentially catastrophic. Let me next offer you a few quotations from CV’s 10 December statement edited for length. (The full statement is on the Colombo Telegraph website).

Incapacitating the NPC                                              Read More

UN, a safe haven for alleged criminals?

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 December 2013, 01:17 GMT]
While the treatment of a woman Indian consular officer in the hands of the wayward New York law enforcement officials who stripped and cavity searched her for an alleged visa fraud has triggered widespread condemnation, the Government of India's swift action to transfer the official to a United Nations post to offer her retroactive diplomatic immunity, has further highlighted that, under the leadership of Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations is becoming a safe haven for alleged criminals, political observers in Washington said. Sri Lanka's alleged war criminals, ex-military General Shavendra Silva, under whose command Tamil civilians were massacred, and Palitha Kohona, who has a complaint pending in the International Criminal Court over his complicity the killing of surrendees in the Sri Lanka war, hold UN posts that protect them from prosecution. 

• EDNY Court: Khobragade complaint

• Diplomatic versus Consular immunity

A senior Indian official, acknowledged the transfer would not give the consular employee retroactive immunity. However, he said, it would protect her from future charges. 

• SDNY Court opinion on Shivendra case

Ex-General Shavendra Silva's case filed in the District Court of New York illustrates that immunity provision is ex-post facto law. Diplomats at U.N., when accepted for the post by the U.N., will enjoy diplomatic immunity even for past crimes.

Inner City Press (ICP) which covers the proceedings within the United Nations in New York, has covered how the U.N. officials have taken and continue to take extra-ordinary measures to provide cover to the alleged war-crimesincluding, as commander of the 53rd division, given orders that resulted in killings of thousands of Tamil civilians in Mu'l'livaaykkaal at the end of the war in May 2009.

• Filing with ICC Prosecutor Moreno O'Campo

Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United Nations, has been accused of assisting in organising the alleged murders of three surrendering Tamil Tigers in 2009. 

Dr. Palitha Kohona

In January, two Tamil organisations operating outside Sri Lanka — the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils and a US group called Tamils Against Genocide — submitted a request to investigate Kohona for the murder of three surrendering Tamil Tigers to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Kohona is said to have been prominent in negotiating the surrender of the victims while serving in the Sri Lankan government, but has denied any involvement in the alleged event. 

Shavendra Silva, alleged War Criminal holding UN post

On Shavendra Silva's appointment to the UN, Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, said, "U.N. Secretary-General has a Charter obligation to determine that the terms of article 101(3) have been satisfied before he appoints someone to the Staff irrespective of any alleged recommendation by the General Assembly," and therefore, "Ban to appoint a presumptive war criminal to his Staff would be ultra vires his powers under the terms of article 101(3) and thus a violation of the Charter itself." 

"Interpreting the law to provide a diplomatic 'cloak' of protection to Silva--who is seen as a war hero in Sri Lanka, but as a war criminal by the United Nations Panel of Experts--contravenes the U.S. Congress's intent behind the law," said Ali Beydoun, co-director at SPEAK and director of the UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic. 

Beydoun added, "The U.S. Congress never intended to immunize war criminals, and international law does not permit such immunity either. Judge Oetken's decision suggests that individuals who deliberately rample upon humanitarian law during armed conflict can later take advantage of the U.N. system. They can serve as diplomats and invoke its protections to evade accountability in every jurisdiction. This result not only represents an egregious failure of the U.N. human rights system, it should shock the conscience of the international community," Beydoun said.

Another cultural diamension of India's politicians and diplomats was also visible in Ms Khobragade's unfortunate episode. The reaction of high-level decision makers who kept silent was when more horrendous crimes including gang rape were committed by Sri Lanka's security forces on Tamil women, was immediate and harsh: "It is no longer about an individual, it is about our sense of self as a nation and our place in the world," Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said. Indian national security adviser, Shivshankar Menon, has called such treatment “despicable” and “barbaric.” 

Khurshid was reported to have said: “We are not convinced there is a legitimate legal ground for pursuing this case,” he said. “The worst that can be said about her is that she did not comply with the amounts that was supposed to be paid under your law. I don’t think that justifies treating her like a common criminal.”

* * *

Meanwhile, in the case of Ms Khobragade, accusing Washington for the violation of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on the privileges and courtesies that should be extended to diplomats, New Delhi has responded in the following ways:

India has directed all US diplomats and consular officers posted in the country to return the identity cards issued to them. India has withdrawn airport passes for the US consulates/ embassies personnel and their families. India has withdrawn VIP treatment to all US envoys across the nation. The Delhi police have been instructed to lift traffic barricades, except pickets, outside the US embassy. New Delhi has sought salary details of Indian staff working in the US consulate, including by Consular officers and families such as domestic help. India has stopped all import clearances for the US embassy including liquor. New Delhi has sought visa details of all teachers at US schools in India, salaries paid and bank account details, including of those of Indians in these schools [the last will particularly affect the USA, as the mushrooming US educational institutions operating in India often don’t follow standing regulations in getting prior clearances from GoI and also avoid paying the stipulated salary needed for an employment visa in India.]

As protest, Indian Speaker of the Loksabha, officials and politicians both in the ruling Congress and in the opposition refused to meet with visiting US delegations. Former External Affairs Minister and current BJP parliamentarian Mr Yashwant Sinha said that India should arrest same-sex partners of American diplomats, as homosexuality is illegal in India.

Ms Devyani Khobragade, Deputy Consul General for political, economic, commercial and women’s affairs at the Indian Consulate in New York, was arrested and handcuffed in public while she was driving her children to school. She was strip-searched and put in cell along with common criminals, drug offenders and sex workers. Later she was released on US $ 250,000 bail, after impounding her passport. 

The high profile arrest was over an accusation that the diplomat was paying a much less salary, 30,000 Indian Rupees per month, to her domestic help brought from India, while to get visa for the domestic help the diplomat had claimed that the domestic help would be paid a salary of US $ 4500 per month.

The world is aghast at the diplomatic muscle flexing of the two world powers over a petty issue, while both of them have no qualms in making partnerships either in their complicity in genocide or in shielding and protecting their stooges in criminal regimes, commented political observers in Chennai.

Safety In Ignorance

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -December 19, 2013 

“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave” - Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass)

The Stono Rebellion of 1739 was the largest slave uprising in pre-Independent America. Many Southern states responded to this unexpected freedom-struggle with the Negro Act which imposed severe restrictions on slaves, including an education-ban. Knowledge, the slave-states realised, was inconsistent with mindless submission.

The unbanning is yet to happen, though the President indubitably can get it done with one call. Is the banning – and the delay in unbanning – aimed at sending the message that satire will be permitted only so long as its primary target is the Opposition?

Today’s power-wielders are often beset by similar cares. The need to keep constituencies in pliable ignorance is not limited to governments. Religions tried/try to appear infallible through knowledge/information control. So do corporate-giants; a case-in-point is the unsuccessful attempt by ‘Dole’ to legally-restrict the documentary, ‘BANANAS!*[i], which depicted the connection between Dole’s use of pesticides and growing sterility among banana-plantation workers in Nicaragua[ii].

Thought control is impossible without information control. If people know, it is hard to keep them in thrall to mirages.

A ruler’s dependency on information control grows as the gap between rhetoric and reality widens. Attempts to hem and guide information flows become pivotal in places where lack of transparency is essential to the maintenance of societal-consent.

This month, the Censor Board banned the latest instalment of the popular satire, ‘Puswedilla’ – ‘The Common Welthings Summit’. Three days later the President reportedly called the playwright/director, Feroze Kamardeen, and promised to sort things out[iii]. The unbanning is yet to happen, though the President indubitably can get it done with one call. Is the banning – and the delay in unbanning – aimed at sending the message that satire will be permitted only so long as its primary target is the Opposition?

In absolute monarchies lèse majesté (offending the dignity of a ruler) was/is a punishable crime. There is nothing like humour to reduce these self-proclaimed divinities to ordinary level, and make their subjective people see the common clay beneath the dazzling gilt. Plus, President Rajapaksa is unsparing in his intolerance. He once condemned a song which mocked the rulers as ‘unpatriotic’ and proclaimed that “songs disgracing the country could help those who want to divide the motherland”[iv]. An astrologer was arrested for making an ‘unacceptable’ political-prediction. A leader with such a gossamer-thin skin is unlikely to be happy about a skit which mocks a matter dear to him. After all, inescapable billboards across Colombo hail the President as the ‘Great Leader of the Commonwealth’!                                  Read More

Calling For Their Immediate Release

Statement Condemning the Arrest and Unlawful Detention of Seven Tamil Youth

( December 19, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We the undersigned, strongly condemn the arbitrary arrest and illegal detention of Raveendran Kajeepan (21), Alfred Piratheepan (30), Murukaiya Ashokkumar (35) and Nageswarasri Yarsan (22) from Jaffna, and the arrest and continued detention of three other youth* from Mannar, by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) between the 25th and 27th of November, 2013. It has become common practice for the Government to arrest and detain Tamil youth under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) coinciding with the time of Mahaveerar Naal (LTTE Heroes Day). In November 2012 too, four Tamil students from the University of Jaffna were arrested and detained under the PTA, and released intermittently over the course of 3 months.

(*Families of these three youth did not want to reveal the identities of their sons for fear of reprisal. As, following their arrests, intelligence officers had visited the homes of those arrested and warned their families to not pursue any course of legal action, as this would prolong their detention.)

The Jaffna Incident

Calling for Their Immediate Release by nelvely

“Medamula Doctrine Is To Buy Them If You Can’t Win Them”: Mangala Reveals Rajapaksa Govt. Payouts To UK MPs Wonders What Kamalesh Sharma Was Gifted

December 19, 2013 |

The Rajapaksa regime was looking after British Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party better than it was looking after the interests of its own MPs and ministers in the Government, UNP MP and former SLFP stalwart and the former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera charged in Parliament yesterday.

Mangala Samaraweera

Exposing details of monies amounting to thousands of pounds paid by the Sri Lankan Government to several British Parliamentarians from UK’s ruling Conservative Party, Samaraweera accused both President Mahinda Rajapaksa and British Prime Minister David Cameron of putting on what he called a ‘pre Christmas Pantomime’ on the sidelines of CHOGM.

Opening the Committee Stage Discussion on the Votes of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development last week I said  that  for many of us who have seen through the duplicitous nature of this regime and understood its “Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds” policy, it did not come as a great surprise to learn that  the family members of this regime have been making large contributions to the ruling Conservative Party in the United Kingdom since 2011, despite the pre-Christmas  pantomime – that is what I call it – put on by Prime Minister Cameron and President Rajapaksa on behalf of their respective constituencies during the CHOGM one month ago,” Samaraweera charged.

Samaraweera tabled a letter written to Prime Minister Cameron by British MP Tom Blenkinsop, last week, expressing concern of a news that a prominent donor to the Conservative Party has links to the Rajapaksa’s regime through a nephew of the President and requesting Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, to look into the matter urgently.

“Mr. Chairman, since then, I have even more details of how the Rajapaksa regime is resorting to duplicitous and devious methods to win over Members of Parliament and other influential people especially in the House of Commons using government funds which should be allocated to  Ministries  in Sri Lanka,” the UNP MP revealed.

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Lead, be led or get out of the way

 December 19, 2013

• As the UNP Leadership Council attempts to effect real change in the main Opposition party for the first time in years, why is Sajith Premadasa insisting on becoming a stumbling block?

In these troubled times, when Sri Lanka’s democracy is gravely threatened by the twin evils of autocratic governance and ineffective Opposition, Sajith Premadasa, the former United National Party Deputy Leader, is busy drawing a self-portrait.
For the second time in two days, Premadasa has openly rejected personal invitations from the UNP Leadership Council to attend its Tuesday and Wednesday meetings. Both invitations were aimed at bringing Premadasa in for discussions with the Leadership Council in a bid to resolve his doubts about the new leadership structure and convince him to take his seat on the nine-member body.

Lead, Be Led or Get Out of the Way by nelvely

Villages gone, buildings razed to ground in SL military appropriated Valikamaam North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 December 2013, 07:53 GMT]
Almost all the buildings that were situated in the 6,400 acres of lands seized by the occupying Sri Lankan military in Valikaamam North in Jaffna have been completely bulldozed by the SL military, according to those who have witnessed the destruction in recent days. The entire area of fertile cultivation and residential lands now looks like single piece of desert land, they said. Except the buildings used by the genocidal military at the ‘forward line’ and the building at the rear, close to the Palaali military base, everything else has been razed to the ground. The SL military is transforming the former High Security Zone into a Sinhala Military Zone to encapsulate the Palaali military complex in Jaffna with a Sinhala military colony of the occupying soldiers from South. 

The destruction has taken place while more than 2,000 landowners have filed lawsuits against the appropriation. The uprooted people have been demonstrating against the seizure. 

All the buildings, consisting houses, temples, churches, schools, public buildings and private shops have been removed without any trace. Nadeswara College, which was one of the key education institutions in Valikaamam North, has been bulldozed along with historic churches and temples. 

Except Palaali Road and KKS Road running through the lands, everything else is gone, the eyewitnesses told TamilNet. 

In the meantime, occupying Colombo has been attempting to divide the uprooted people by promising 2 acres per family for a section of people in Kaankeasan-thu’rai quarry area and ‘temporary’ houses in a ‘clustered camp’ environment in Valikaamam East. However, thousands of uprooted people are firm in their stand of claiming their lands. 

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and the parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance have failed in mobilizing international pressure on the Sri Lankan State. The TNA has been ill advised by the International Community Establishments not to internationalize the crucial matter of structural genocide. The duplicity was exposed to the people during British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Jaffna. 

There were reports that the TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan took up the matter with SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa and that Mr Rajapaksa had promised to stop the bulldozing. But, the SL military was given instructions from Colombo to go ahead with the destruction. There was no such promise extended to Mr Sampanthan, the reports say.

In Vanni, around 4,000 acres of lands were appropriated for similar military colony under ‘Ranaviru Gammana’ (War Heroes Village) in Thiru-Mu'rika'ndi. 5,000 houses have been constructed, and Sinhala families are being settled there. The road and supply infrastructure to Thiru-Mu’rika’ndi military colony has been extended through the already Sinhalicised Ma’nalaa’ru division named in Sinhala as Weli-Oya. 

Colombo is scheming SL military colonies in several places from Maathakal to Mannaar in the North and at key entry points such as Naavatkuzhi. The occupying SL military has also accelerated militarisation of lands in the strategic points linking the Northern Province and the Eastern Province in a targeted move of demographic genocide depriving the nation of Eezham Tamils of its territorial integrity.

UN's Post Sri Lanka RUF Plan Goes Behind Closed Doors, Morality Test Cited

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 17 -- Following the UN's self-described "systemic failure" in Sri Lanka in 2009, in stages it is announcing an action plan it calls "Rights Up Front."

Inner City Press obtained and published the RUF Plan on October 1; after that, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky refused to confirm the documents, telling Inner City Press it "may or may not exist."

  Since then a number of member states asked Inner City Press for information about the plan. On Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson held a closed door briefing to member states about the RUF plan.

Hours before at Tuesday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Eliasson's briefing would at least be web-cast. Nesirky said to "Ask the President of the General Assembly's office." So Inner City Press did, and received this back at 3:02 pm: "The briefing is being webcast."

The webcast cut off after Eliasson's statement (which we expect to receive and post) and replies by Jordan and Bulgaria. Inner City Press spoke with diplomats outside the meeting, held in Conference Room 3, and was told that while "only Indonesia raised questions," a number of states did not speak.

A Latin American diplomat told Inner City Press that "more bureaucracy can't guarantee morality." An African diplomat, shaking his head, said that it was the Western P3 on the Security Council who by demanding in Syria from the beginning the ouster of Assad had guaranteed three years of carnage.

As Inner City Press has reported, the Western P3 never even tried to get a formal Security Council meeting on Sri Lanka in 2009. They seemed in favor of the elimination of the Tamil Tigers, then afterward feigned surprise at how many civilians had been killed.

An Asian diplomat told Inner City Press it is all double standards, "they criticize smaller countries for execution but said nothing when Saddam was killed, or about the drones."

Several diplomats said that the statement of Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan, in favor of the RUF plan, "set the tone." The bottom line is whether this UN actually implements it. Watch this site.

Cheap Politics Of TNA Parliamentarian Premachandran

By Rajasingham Jayadevan -December 19, 2013 

Rajasingham Jayadevan

I experienced a very serious illegal land grabbing endeavour by a group of Tamils on my visit to Jaffna on 6 December 2013. This is part of much wider land fraud perpetuated by the Tamil criminals in the north.

One has to experience the scandalous culture practiced widespread by Tamils against the fellow Tamils to understand the seriousness of the fraud that has become endemic in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. This appalling criminality is the product of the three decades old war that has made the very Tamils face the wretched conditions in a disproportionate scale in the hands of the fellow Tamils in the decaying socio-economic climate. It is time for the Tamils to articulate a way forward to overcome these criminality without conditioning the failures of the government to suppress our own ignominy.

The calculated land grabbing experience took place just a stone throw away from the Northern Provincial Council office in Kaithady in Thenmaradchi. Over 80 acres of land illegally grabbed were planned to be criminally transferred to poor innocent Tamil peasants by the unscrupulous predators without any remorse or fear of the law.

Our family home is located in the estate where my mother and brother were killed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force in 1987.

On the 7th December early in the morning, my brother Dr Narendran was approached by several victims providing information about the land fraud claimed to be performed by an unknown local Tamil Housing Association in Kaithady. The desperate victims  converged in the estate to deal with the chaotic situation created by the unscrupulous land grabbers.

What transpired was, the said housing association had illegally placed notice boards/posters  claiming ownership of the lands in the estate. They had meetings with prospective buyers of the plots of lands and some of them had even paid deposits in cash. The criminals had sold or allocated the estate in small plots taking deposits from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 per plot.                                           Read More

Minister warns of Muslim IDP issue in the country

 Thursday, 19 December 2013

The issue of Muslim internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country has been highlighted by Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

He has warned that the Muslim IDP issue will get out of control if the matter is not addressed soon.

He has stated that 100,000 Muslim IDPs continue to suffer as humanitarian agencies and even the Resettlement Ministry have turned a blind eye to their plight.

According to Bathiudeen, priority was given to resettle some 300,000 Tamil war displaced people despite Muslim IDPs remaining in makeshift camps in Puttalam and Anuradhapura for 22 years when he was the Minister of resettlement.

“Earlier we did not have any differences but the terrorists differentiated us and chased us away. When the war was over, all the Tamils were resettled but not the Muslims. The problem is these 100,000 Muslims are suffering a lot. Even from the Indian housing scheme, Muslims are not given their share. This is the correct time to clear the land issue,” the Minister has said.

RAVI CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO SPORTS SECTOR LOSSES

December 19, 2013 

If the sports sector has recorded losses of US $3 million according to Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, an investigation needs to be conducted in order to reveal whose pockets that money was put into, UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake stated.

MP Karunanayake said that Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had revealed a US $3 million loss in the sports sector while also revealing an even greater amount of corruption.

If UNP MP Sajith Premadasa does not join the Leadership Council, unlike President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet the UNP will not appoint other members in his place, Karunanayake stated.

He said it was important to strive to secure victory for the party before living in dream worlds.

Speaking at a press conference held today (December 19) in Colombo, the MP stated that if Sajith joins hands with him they could make a change in the party.

Four including Thalangama OIC released on bail 

   December 19, 2013 

Four including the Thalangama OIC who were accused of taking bribes  and hiding information in connection to a murder case have been  released under  conditional  personal bail and cash bail by the Kaduwela Magistrates Court today.
 
The Officer-in-Charge of the Thalangama Police Station, Upul Perera, and a team of officers of the crime division were taken into custody for soliciting a bribe of over Rs 10 million from the mistress of an ex-police officer to sweep a murder under the rug. 
 
The suspects were given a restraining order not to appear at the Thalangama Police and they were released on personal bail and cash bail worth Rs. 20, 000   each. (Ceylon Today Online)