Israel condemns US spying revelations

Officials call on US to stop spying on Israel amid renewed calls for release of Jonathan Pollard, jailed in 1980s for spying

Associated Press in Jerusalem-Sunday 22 December 2013 

Israeli protesters in Jerusalem hold posters of Jonathan Pollard, who was convicted for spying on the US in 1987. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Senior Israeli officials have called on the US to stop spying on Israel, after revelations that the National Security Agency had intercepted emails from the offices of the country's former leaders.

It is the first time Israeli officials have expressed anger since details of US spying on Israel began to trickle out in documents leaked by the formerNSA contractor Edward Snowden. The scandal has spurred renewed calls for the release of Jonathan Pollard, a former US intelligence analyst who has been imprisoned in the US for nearly three decades for spying for Israel.

"This thing is not legitimate," the Israeli intelligence minister, Yuval Steinitz, told Israel Radio. He called for both countries to enter an agreement regarding espionage.

"It's quite embarrassing between countries who are allies," the tourism minister, Uzi Landau, said. "It's this moment more than any other moment that Jonathan Pollard [should] be released."

Documents leaked by Snowden – and published last week in the Guardian, Der Spiegel and the New York Times – revealed that British agents from GCHQ worked with the NSA from 2008-11 to target email addresses belonging to the offices of then Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak.

Amir Dan, spokesman for Olmert, played down the revelations. He said the email address targeted was meant for queries from the public and was not used for sensitive communications. "There is no chance there was a security or intelligence breach caused from this email address," he said.

Barak could not immediately be reached for comment.

Leading Israeli officials work on the assumption that they are being monitored. Officials use special secure lines for certain types of communications, and for the most sensitive matters, issues are discussed only face to face in secure rooms.

Even so, Israeli officials reacted with uncharacteristic anger toward the US, Israel's closest and most important ally. Nachman Shai, a member of Israel's parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee, which deals with intelligence matters, called for an urgent briefing on the reported spying.

Shai called for a "full report about what we know, what we have done, and just to find out". He added that he was "really surprised that my government, which is very easily responsive on any given issue, on this we keep silent, which is not the right policy and right behaviour".

Espionage is a sensitive subject between Israel and the US because ofthe Pollard affair. Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analyst, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for passing classified material to Israel. Israeli leaders frequently call for his release and say his nearly three decades in prison are punishment enough. But opposition from the US military and intelligence community has deterred Barack Obama and his predecessors from releasing him.

Since Pollard's conviction, Israel has promised not to spy on the US. Israeli ministers said on Sunday that Israel does not spy on the US president or defence secretary. "I think we should expect the same relations from the US," Steinitz said.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, issued a more subdued reaction, saying Israel continued to press for the convicted spy's release

"This is not conditional and not connected to the latest events, even though we gave our opinion about these developments," Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet.

Santa is Not Coming to Palestine

Jafar M. Ramini Salem-News.com-Dec-23-2013

What is it that makes our leaders tread the same path over and over and over again, knowing that it can only lead to disaster?

(LONDON) - It’s the Sunday before Christmas. London is wearing its party frock; the lights are glittering, the bells are chiming; the throng of shoppers are streaming up and down the streets. Happy and joyous are they all. And here I am, a Palestinian exile, a grandfather, a father and a husband, trying to bring some of this happy mood into a corner of London that I call my little Palestine.

Amongst all this, my heart and thoughts are with my people back home, going through the most arduous winter on record. Snow has covered the entire Middle East in the last week or so. Palestinians inside Palestine, in the refugee camps dotted around the Arab world are all at the mercy of the elements. Gaza is not only totally besieged and freezing but is also flooded by sewage, courtesy of the ever merciful Israelis. In the West Bank they decided this harsh winter week was a good time to cut the electricity. After all, the illegal settlers need it more.

Santa is Not Coming to Palestine by nelvely

Cuba’s Raul Castro calls for ‘civilised relations’ with US

Video-21 December 2013

Raul Castro’s comments came at the closing session of the parliament

Cuban President Raul Castro has called for "civilised relations" with the United States, saying the two countries should respect their differences.

President Castro said the US should drop its demand for regime change on the communist-run island.
That would allow both sides to continue work on improving relations, he said.
Mr Castro’s comments follow a public handshake with President Obama at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela in South Africa earlier this month.

In a rare public speech, Mr Castro said Cuban and American officials had met several times over the last year to discuss practical matters, such as immigration and the re-establishment of a postal service.

That shows that relations can be civilised, Mr Castro explained.
But he warned: “If we really want to make progress in bilateral relations, we have to learn to respect each other’s differences and get used to living peacefully with them. Otherwise, no. We are ready for another 55 years like the last.”
The US broke off relations in 1961, two years after the revolution, and maintains an economic embargo against the island.
Raul’s reforms
"We do not ask the United States to change its political and social system, nor do we agree to negotiate over ours," Mr Castro told legislators at the closing session of the parliament in the capital, Havana.

Raul Castro’s unprecedented handshake with Barack Obama took place at Nelson Mandela’s memorial ceremony

Relations between the two neighbours have shown signs of improvement of late, although some stumbling blocks to reconciliation remain, said the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Havana.
Raul Castro, 82, took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2006. Fidel had serious health problems and was never able to come back to power. Two years later, he resigned and transferred control permanently to Raul Castro.
He has since carried out a programme of economic reforms, which has helped efforts for relations with the US to be improved.
But critics say the pace of change has been too slow.
"The reform process in Cuba cannot be rushed or it will lead to failure," Mr Castro warned.
Among the most recent changes announced by Raul Castro is the end of restrictions on private individuals to buy new and second hand cars.
Anyone with enough money will be allowed to order the vehicles from a government dealer.
Until now, only those who were given a previous government authorisation were allowed to buy cars in Cuba.

Healthy eating: nutritious indigenous foods you may never have heard of

Unhealthy western diets should take a leaf from nutrient-rich indigenous fare. Do you know your amaranth from your yacón?

Healthy eating in Senegal. Staff clean niebe, or cowpeas, at a factory in Dakar. Photograph: Seyllou/AFP/Getty

Mark Tran-Monday 23 December 2013

The proliferation of the western diet, which is high in refined sugars, fats, processed grains and meat, has been blamed for a rise in global obesity and diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. As awareness of healthy eating has grown in the west, sales of once obscure grains such as quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) have skyrocketed. The ancient 'superfood' from Peru has a fluffy texture, and is lauded for its health benefits. Unusual among grains, quinoa is packed with dietary fibre, iron, 

Healthy Eating Nutritious Indigenous Foods You May Never Have Heard Of by nelvely

Sri Lanka's trilingual policy
A board sign in Sri Lanka, along the coast in the south of the island. 
 22 December 2013

தமிழ் மொழியை ஓரங்கட்டி சீன மொழியை 

அரவணைக்கும் இலங்கை

[ சனிக்கிழமை, 21 டிசெம்பர் 2013, 03:34.47 PM GMT ]

இலங்கையில் தற்போது சீனாவின் ஆதிக்கம் அதிகரித்து வருகின்றது என்பதை விளம்பர, பெயர்ப்பலகைகள் கூட உறுதிப்படுத்திக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றன.

சீனாவின் ஆதிக்கமும், சீன மொழியும் வியாபித்து வந்தாலும், தமிழ் மொழி இங்கே ஓரங்கப்பட்டப்படுவது தமிழர்கள் மத்தியில் மனவேதனையையும், அதிருப்தியையும், கசப்புணர்வையும் ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது.

இலங்கையின் நாலாபக்கமும் சீன மொழியும், சீன சந்தைகளும், சீனர்களும் நாளுக்கு நாள் வியாபித்து வருகின்றனர். குறிப்பாக சாதாரண அறிவித்தல் பலகைகளில்கூட சீன மொழி இடம்பிடிக்கும் அளவிற்கு ஆதிக்கம் வலுவடைந்து வருகிறது.

இதற்கு தெற்கின் கரையோரத்தில் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள இந்த விளம்பரப் பலகை சாட்சியாக இருக்கிறது. சீனர்களின் இனப்பரம்பல் அதிகரித்து வருவதை இது சித்தரிப்பதாகக் கூறப்படுகிறது.

சீனர்கள் அதிகம் வரும் கடற்கரையாக இருந்தால் சீன மொழியும் அறிவித்தல் பலகையில் இடம்பெற வேண்டும் என்பதை வலியுறுத்துபவர்கள், தமிழ் மொழி புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதற்கான விளக்கத்தையும் அளிக்கக் கடமைப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

குறிப்பாக இனங்களுக்கிடையிலான நல்லிணக்கத்தின் முதற்படியாக மொழிக் கொள்கை அமைந்துள்ளது. இலங்கையில் மும்மொழிக் கொள்கை இருந்துவரும் நிலையில், இவ்வாறு விளம்பரம் அல்லாத பொது அறிவித்தல் பலகையில் தமிழ் மொழி புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டு, சீன மொழி ஆக்கிரமித்துள்ளமையானது எதிர்கால இலங்கையின் நிலை குறித்து தெளிவாக எடுத்தியம்புகிறது.

மூன்றாவதாக எழுதப்பட்டுள்ள சீன மொழி, எதிர்காலத்தில் முதல்நிலைக்கு வரும் நிலை ஏற்படும் என்பதுடன் அடுத்த 50 வருடங்களில் சீனர்கள் இலங்கையின் அரசியலில் நேரடியாக தடம்பதிக்கும் நிலையையும் எவரும் தடுக்க முடியாது என்பது திண்ணமாகும்.

Police forced to close Dehiwala mosques later attacked – President the chief surprisingly unaware : Salley

(Lanka-e-News-20.Dec.2013, 11.55PM) National peace front leader and Central provincial council member Azad Salley revealed , the threats that were held out to three Muslim mosques recently to close them down , and the attacks launched on them were by the police . 

In a communiqué issued by him , Salley had stated that previously Muslim mosques were attacked by fanatical Buddhist monks of the area or by extremist groups , but on this occasion it was a police officer who committed these crimes in official capacity , and therefore constitutes a serious threat. 

This police officer had outrageously said , if discussions are to be held , the mosques shall be closed. A resident had tape recorded this threat.

It is a well and widely known fact that previously when such threats and intimidations were held out , the police took no action to bring the offenders to book, and nobody had been punished so far . Since the present police department is under the President , the latter cannot under any circumstance disclaim responsibility .

The recent incident involving three mosques in Dehiwala where a police officer appeared in official capacity and threatened ,and attacks were launched thereafter , are only making the Muslim community to compulsorily lose faith in the police department under the President , Salley pinpointed.

In various media it was reported that minister Rauff Hakeem intimated this to the President , and the latter apparently knew nothing about it . In that case , who is the Lokka other than the President who is giving instructions to the police department under the President to commit these crimes ? the Muslim community is thoroughly disillusioned and disgruntled over this , Salley told with grave concern.

Since the Muslim community had already lost faith in the government and the President , Minister Rauff Hakeem for his own selfish self propulsion is enacting a drama while selling the community in order to continue doing the sordid biddings of the government , Salley charged..

Salley warned that the people are not blind though the powers that be are blind to the woes of the people after coming to power. Hence , if the President is unaware of what is happening under him , it is his duty as being in charge of the police force to identify who this ‘Lokka’ beside him who is giving orders to create ethnic unrest and attack religious places of worship . It is also his responsibility to take measures against these uncalled for and unwarranted attacks , and immediately interdict the police officer who created ethnic unrest and took the initiative to threaten ,intimidate and attack the mosques , he added.

Rajapaksa-War On Middle Classes

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away – a man is not a piece of fruit”.

Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman)

( December 22, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Social mobility is a capitalist thing. During the much eulogised feudal past, men and women were prisoners of the geographical and social loci they were born into. Capitalism liberated them from that servitude, even though the break happened as a brutal wrench which created its own particular miseries and discontents.

Rajapaksa-War on Middle Classes by nelvely

Hit and run Namal in fatal accident rescued: police fear infuriated people will attack them: Full report herein

(Lanka-e-News-20.Dec.2013, 11.55PM) The innocent victims of Namal Rajapakse vehicle fleet accident at Kotadeniyawa in which one victim died most tragically and the leg of the other was amputated , consequent upon which he is permanently disabled, are to be made liable to pay compensation for the damage caused to a wall of a house due to the accident, based on a decision taken under the SL’s present Rajapakse’s reign which lawless decision surpasses verdicts given by the ancient eccentric King Kekille, according to reports reaching Lanka e news based on Rajapakse.

The most cruel part of the investigation into this fatal accident resulting from Namal’s racing sport mania and puerile gratification of his funny and frolicsome whims at the expense of precious lives is : the driver of the vehicle has still not been arrested. Besides , the conduct of the Kotadeniyawa police governed by Namal’s instructions is most deplorable and disgraceful. This fatal accident which was caused by Namal ( we say Namal caused the death because, following the accident in which the victims were run over by Namal’s fleet of vehicles , instead of taking measures to immediately dispatching the victims to the hospital , the driver and Namal’s vehicle fleet fled from the scene most inhumanly after stopping to have a brief look at the tragedy and dying victim.)

The funeral of innocent 50 year old Subasinghe Appuhamilage Samarasinghe residing at Nalle, Koradaminne, Kotadeniyawa will take place today(20). 

The Kotadeniyawa police which are in fear that they would be attacked by the provoked residents have got down 80 supernumerary policemen of the neighboring police stations to reinforce the Katadeniyawa police station, it is learnt. 

Though the deceased and the other victim Ruparatne whose leg is amputated and still in hospital are popular SLFP ers of the village , neither Namal nor any SLFP leader had visited the hospital or sighted the village after the accident.

Hereunder is the full report of the hit and run frolicsome Namal’s dastardly conduct , and the equally unlawful conduct of the law enforcers – the police : 

This fatal accident occurred on the 8 th of December at 9.58 p.m. at Nalladeniya on the Colombo- Kurunegala main road . Namal and his fleet of vehicles including 3 jeeps have been traveling towards Colombo at a reckless speed of 110 kms per hour . Samarasinghe and Ruparatne had also been traveling in the same direction on a motorcycle No. P S 0223 as was Namal’s fleet when the defender vehicle W P K D 9976 belonging to the President’s security division (PSD) of Namal’s fleet had run over the innocent motor cyclists and hit the concrete wall of the house belonging to Ms. D B Rupamathie Chandralatha . The killer defender vehicle had traveled 85 meters even after the collision before it could be stopped and not before the gate of the house too was completely dislodged, clearly indicating the most reckless manner in which Namal and his fleet had been speeding on a public road.

After the two unfortunate victims were admitted to hospital the legs of both of them had to be amputated . Samarasinghe succumbed to his injuries at 5.35 p.m. on the 18 th. It is worthy of note that under the laws of the country , everybody irrespective of his position or status ( VIP or not) must abide by the speed limit. It is only a traffic division police officer who can transgress this law. This is because he may have the need to speed in order to arrest a traffic law offender.

Following the accident , Namal and his fleet had fled the scene in order to escape from others who noticed them ,after discarding the vehicle involved in the accident . Yet there is a n eye witness, and it is a TDI vehicle that is involved in the accident. The driver who had surrendered is 29 years old Jayakody Arachchilage Jeewan Mahesh residing at 101/3 , Pansala road , Rukgahavila Nittambuwa bearing identity card No. 832960160 and driving license No. is 1432565

Despite the glaring fact that it is the driver of Namal’s security vehicle who was fully responsible for this fatal accident , a most strange and concocted investigation report has been prepared by SP R. B. S. Wijeratne in charge of Negombo police 3 division appointed by DIG S .M. Wickremesinghe in charge of the PSD on the orders of Medamulana MaRa and Namal.


The distorted version of the accident according to police record:

The motor cycle No. W P S 0223 that was traveling along Colombo- Kurunegala main road had lost control and collided with Jeep No. 0076 which was going along the main road . The motorcyclist had been driving carelessly under section 151 of the motor traffic Commissioner Act. and met with the accident. A case is to be filed in this connection shortly. The case No. is 1947/2013 and the date of hearing is 6 th January 2014. In other words this is ancient Kekille King ‘s court hearing in the modern Rajapakse’s Kangaroo court. It is also learnt that compensation is also to be extracted from the victims of the accident via this hearing. The victims will have to pay compensation to the damaged wall of Rupamathie and the damaged jeep .

In the statement of Rupamathie it is mentioned she incurred a loss of about Rs. 2,63.000 because of the damage caused to the wall. Her statement has been recorded based on the distorted version of the incident.

This is a fatal accident and therefore it is a non -bailable offence , yet the driver of the jeep had still not been taken into custody. Besides , this jeep had not been subjected to an examination by the official traffic department examiner , and had already been released. 

An officer who had followed a traffic course of the DIG can examine a vehicle , but when the vehicle is involved in a fatal accident it is a mandatory requirement that an accredited motor examiner inspects it. That too had not been done which is a flagrant violation of the traffic laws. 

These conspirators who had got alarmed following the death of the accident victim Samarasinghe have hidden the motor traffic complaint register (T I B ) and the daily records register (R I B) at Kotadeniyawa police and replaced them with new registers. The Negombo SSP had taken and gone the old registers. 

Interestingly , it is the Kotadeniyawa police OIC Udayakmara IP who had most energetically and enthusiastically acted to facilitate this conspiracy. In fact , it is learnt that Medamulana MaRa had called the Negombo police and personally thanked them for extricating his ‘golden’ son from the criminal involvement (by foul means) .

The TNA-Rajapaksa Confrontation

By Kumar David -December 22, 2013 

Prof Kumar David

It is time to call the regime’s bluff: The TNA-Rajapakse confrontation

“Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living” -  Marx: Eighteenth Brumaire

This has been Mandela-week and nothing can be truer of the compromise he made than this remark by Marx. Madiba’s choice was forced on him by the simple fact the alternative was civil war. Hence he took political transformation and full democratic rights for the blacks, Coloureds and Indians of South Africa, in exchange for which he gave up economic transformation of the country, at least for the first stage. He agreed not to expropriate white lands – the fertile and productive vastness of the country – and he held back from taking over mining and mineral enterprises from white monopoly ownership.  That obviously was the deal he made with the Afrikaner regime; abolishing apartheid in exchange for a compromise on economic privilege. Madiba did not liberate South Africa “under circumstances chosen by himself, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past”. It was said and implied on the sidelines of Madiba’s funeral that the long road to freedom is only half trodden; economic liberation, the abolition of poverty, malnutrition and unemployment, and the provision of dwelling places and adequate education, are tasks still stretching far into the future. The past “weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living”.

On a less grand scale the TNA faced a somewhat similar dilemma. Should it have entered the Septemberpolls for a Northern Provincial Council (NPC), notwithstanding that it would have to do so under circumstances not chosen by it? Should it have refused to participate in anything given and transmitted from the past? Should it have bided its time till an ideal world dawned? Should it have entered the electoral and constitutional process under the historically given Thirteenth Amendment (13A), or languished till the International Community (IC) in its wisdom, or the Sinhalese people in an act of enlightenment, forced the legislature to enact a just and utilisable 13A+? The TNA, like Madiba, made the right choice; it decided to participate in, and to confront, the real world. As with Madiba, the first stage no more than sets the scene for the next. The ANC will now have to confront the social and economic misery of the people, or it will wither and die; it will be pushed out and it will perish if it fails to check unbridled corruption all the way to the top, that is, to Jacob Zuma himself. However, this is a lesson for our government, not the TNA. As for the TNA, it now needs to either confront the illegal, unconstitutional and totalitarian misconduct of the Rajapakse state and regime, or to shrivel and lose relevance in its own constituency.

The two tactics of democracy in national question                    Read More

TNA wants ‘a credible response’  

By Ananth Palakidnar -December 21, 2013

Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampanthan, responding to an invitation extended by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the TNA was prepared for talks, but insisted the government reciprocate with ‘a credible response.’

President Rajapaksa on Friday (20) invited the TNA and Northern Province Chief Minister, C.V. Wigneswaran, to resume long-stalled talks to seek a political solution to the national question.

“We have never said that we are not prepared for the talks. The TNA expects that the government should engage in a meaningful manner,” he said noting the TNA submitted to the government a set of proposals for a political solution, but the government has failed to respond to them.

“Earlier, on 17, 18 and 19 January 2012, three dates were fixed to discuss the issues with regard to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). However, the government did not respond positively and the meetings were not held on those three dates or even after that. Therefore, the government was solely responsible for keeping away from the talks and not the TNA,” Sampanthan said.

Commenting on the PSC, the TNA Chief said that certain key allies in the government were not for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and that they wanted it to be nullified. Therefore, the TNA was of the view that the PSC could not succeed when the hardliners in the government were all out to deny the powers to be devolved under the 13th Amendment.

Responding to the international community’s role in the Lankan Tamil issue, Sampanthan said the international community’s role was different. “It has expressed concerns over several other matters. However, the international community is also concerned over a meaningful solution to our problem and we should not get confused over the role of the international community,” he added.

On Friday, during the Budget debate, President Rajapaksa invited the TNA to hold talks to seek a political solution.

“I invite Sampanthan and Northern Chief Minister, Wigneswaran to join hands for the sake of peace and national reconciliation,” Rajapaksa said in the Parliament during the debate.

A President’s embarrassments: Budget brawls, corruption stinks, northern stalemate

Rajan Philips-December 21, 2013, 5:21 pm

The last few weeks have been particularly remarkable for a harvest of embarrassments for the President. It began with a string of budget upsets in quite a few Pradeshiya Sabhas throughout the South. In the North, the TNA provincial government presented its first budget to Council with due decorum, but not much by away of revenues and allocations. Devolution is a shell game, only the NPC is exposing it. Worse, the President was severely let down by his Leader of the Opposition in the NPC. K. Kamalendran, who led the UPFA list in the NPC elections, and is now Leader of the Opposition, who could not attend the budget speech because he is in police custody over murder charges. So the new Northern Provincial Council has quite a cross-floor contrast: a former Supreme Court Judge as (TNA) Chief Minister and an accused murderer as Leader of the (Sri Lankan government) Opposition! Regardless, the unelected Governor of the Province is administratively handcuffing the elected Provincial government. He is under a public hallucination that he is the sole custodian of the Constitution in Jaffna, if not the whole country. So much for the peripheries!

A President’s embarrassments Budget brawls, corruption stinks, northern stalemate by nelvely

Beyani’s Report – A Trojan Horse?

By Austin Fernando -December 22, 2013 

Austin Fernando

I looked at United Nations Rights Specialist Chaloka Beyani’s statement after a friend’s inquiry whether it is a Trojan Horse!

Beyani is an academic from London School of Economics; independent expert. His studies mainly focus on human rights, internally displaced people (IDPs), refugee women’s rights, legalities for protection of rights etc. He did same in Sri Lanka too. Being essentially a human rights exponent his reporting will be rights oriented. His statement was happily quoted by State Media on its praiseworthy references on the government.

Beyani’s reporting

Beyani was here on Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) invite, according to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe. Beyani’s statement is important to Sri Lanka, because it is not restricted to the host. It is shared by both friendly and antagonistic internationals and local organizations, as an “on the spot, independent, expert version.”

Beyani concluded: “Constructing a development based strategy for durable solutions for IDPs in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of conflict is now essential.” This is what GOSL constantly claimed she was doing. Indirectly the Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced justifies this: “IDPs have a right to a durable solution and often need assistance in their efforts.”

Therefore, his statement opening to international standards is understandable: “The IASC (Inter Agency Standing Committee) Framework on Durable Solutions for IDPs, …….is more relevant than ever”, which motivates studying IASC approaches (e.g. Durable Solutions).

Durable Solutions

Since “durable solutions” are his key words, attention is drawn to the criteria determining the extent a ‘durable solution’ had been achieved? The criteria are (a) Long-term safety and security; (b) Enjoyment of an adequate standard of living without discrimination; (c) Access to livelihoods and employment; (d) Effective and accessible mechanisms to restore housing, land and property; (d) Access to personal and other documentation without discrimination; (e) Family reunification; (e) Participation in public affairs without discrimination; (f) Access to effective remedies and justice. One may niche Beyani’s statement under these IASC criteria.

‘Durable solutions’ are also flagged by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) orchestrating negativism by GOSL, while the opposite is heard from GOSL.  Recently in the Parliament TNA Leader R Sampanthan discussed the GOSL on devolving land powers, “Uthuru Wasanthaya” (Northern Spring), attitude towards Northern Provincial Council (NPC) etc and quoted Beyani’s statement on other issues the latter raised, i.e.: “protection of the physical integrity and bodily autonomy of women and girls and their reproductive rights, of children, feasible access to land, and a proportionate balance between justifiable military concerns of national security and freedom of movement and choice of place for IDPs seeking to return to their original places of residence.”

He critiqued the military: “Transparent information on plans to release land currently under military control and withdrawal of the military from all civilian functions would help to find durable solutions for people in conflict-affected areas” and dealt with “some still need access to their original farmland or fishing areas to sustain their livelihood….. growing food-insecurity and indebtedness in the Northern Province, partly due to the lack of sustainable livelihood opportunities.” It appeared that he was unmindful of GOSL’s expressed security concerns or the potential for practical compromises in releasing lands occupied by the military.

Therefore, were these criticisms meant for an unfriendly Parliament or to reinforce internationals preparing for Geneva?

GOSL Achievements                                                      Read More  

UN's Post Sri Lanka Failure Rights Up Front Leaves Complacency in Place

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 19 -- The UN says it has learned from its "systemic failure" in the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka, and has announced a "Rights Up Front" action plan. Perhaps the UN will improve.

UN's Post Sri Lanka Failure Rights Up Front Leaves Complacency in Place by nelvely

Who is to blame for shaming Sri Lanka?

Sunday, December 22, 2013

A chance conversation this week reminded me forcefully as to why and how Sri Lanka’s problems of reconciliation between communities and indeed, of post-war understanding between social classes remain so hopelessly tangled.

Excruciating angst of the middle class

This was when a matron domiciled overseas took umbrage at demonstrators holding placards against the government at international conferences, including the November 2013 Commonwealth Summit, querying plaintively as to whether this was not shameful to the image of the country. When asked for a precise clarification, her answer was ‘well, whatever happened during the war, are these not problems that should be sorted out within the country? Does not talking about this outside tarnish all Sri Lankans, making us objects to be laughed at by others?’

Taking these questions superficially, the sheer self-centeredness revealed thereby is veritably mind-boggling. So, it does not matter as to what atrocities were committed or continue to be committed post-war by a government, what matters only is that we are not ‘shamed’ internationally? And it is not the pain of Northern mothers and fathers asking ceaselessly as to what had happened to their disappeared children, (as much as the parents of Southern children asked equally anguished – and yet unanswered – questions decades ago), that is of concern but the excruciating angst of the middle class who writhe uncomfortably when visiting foreign heads of government are besieged by parents of the disappeared?

Moreover and crucially, is it not the government which has shamed this country through its manifold violations of Sri Lanka’s own law and the Constitution, including the unconscionable witch-hunting of a sitting Chief Justice some months ago? But this is not the issue. Rather, public demonstrations exposing subversions of governance are frowned upon by elites who whiz around in newly beautified Colombo and marvel in gaping wonder at mushrooming expressways built at magnificently corrupt economic cost.

Displaying scorn towards CHOGM

My reference to class at the outset of this column was deliberate. For it is important to understand that the question here is as much about class as it is about ethnicity. Let us examine the realities. In Sri Lanka, there is a politically and economically privileged Tamil class which is quite at ease regarding the trajectory of this administration’s policies since it vastly benefits thereof. These are not people who care a whit for their own people as much as the Sinhalese elite casually dismiss the ‘great unwashed’ as it were. It is not privileged Tamils after all who are on Jaffna’s streets asking for answers, post-2009.

And when the Southern insurrection was at its full horrific height in the late eighties, it was not the Southern upper middle class, (with the singular exception of the extra-judicial killing of Richard de Zoysa), which had to bear the brunt of the government’s counter-terror. Instead, these were the ‘ordinary’ Sinhalese as much as the ‘ordinary’ Tamils who now weep for justice. This is the enduring story of Sri Lanka. Indeed, even now and in these difficult times under an unbearably authoritarian Presidency, the most stinging critical commentary of government comes from the vernacular media which, for example, displayed its scorn towards the nonsense that was CHOGM is no uncertain terms.

Meanwhile let us not dwell beyond a moment on those parts of the Sinhalese and Tamil ‘diaspora’ whose shrill diatribes in either defending the Rajapaksa government or in crucifying it, is done most pleasurably from their Western domiciles or during whistle-top tours to Sri Lanka. This is not to say that the entire ‘diaspora’ should be painted with the same brush; indeed there are well informed and truly concerned people amongst them. Nonetheless, the voices that are heard are unfortunately otherwise inclined, as evidenced through this chance conversation that I had to my disconcerted surprise this week.

Exposing profound ignorance

At a deeper level, the extent of profound ignorance that emerges through such conversations is shocking. Did this questioner bother to ascertain for herself the fact that Northern parents had, in fact, moved nearly literally heaven and earth in the post-war years to find out what had happened to their loved ones? Mothers have despairingly shown me pictures of their disappeared children photographed behind bars at government detention centres by visiting foreign journalists. However, when they make the journey to Welikada and Boosa expending their meagre means, they are merely met with stony silence.

And are those who shudder at the sight of placard-holding demonstrators aware that President Mahinda Rajapaksa downwards to local members of parliament had been uselessly petitioned for answers? That the government’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations as to the urgent administrative resolving of this outstanding issue had been disregarded? That the government’s limited response two years thereafter to appease growing international pressure was to appoint yet another commission of inquiry that is ongoing? And given our dismal history, we may justifiably be pardoned for abstaining from ecstatic rejoicing as to its efficacy until this is practically proven.

Following an excellent precedent

But the best answer to this deplorably uninformed objection that Sri Lanka’s ‘dirty linen’ should not be washed internationally, comes from none other than President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself who, in an infinitely more preferable avatar as an opposition parliamentarian, once waxed strident against the Southern disappearances of the eighties in the corridors of the United Nations.

Famously he was stopped at the Katunayake International Airport on one such occasion and ‘incriminating’ material taken away from him. Indeed placard-holding demonstrators were a most useful tactic practised by parliamentarian Rajapaksa at that time to whip up national fury and successfully unseat the governing United National Party.

Sri Lankan demonstrators, protesting against the atrocities of his administration post 2009, are only following in this excellent lead. Should they be blamed for this? One thinks not, surely.