Radhika Now Says She Received The Suntheralingam Report And Ordered To Release It

January 7, 2014 

The former Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy now says, she did receive the Special Rapporteur Suntheralingam’s report on high profile human rights violations, and ordered it to be published.

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy

Last night she states further; “contrary to the suggestions made in the comments, at no time did I seek or receive endorsement from the Sri Lankan government for any of my UN appointments.  Please publish this as your report has done unnecessary damage, since it seems to imply that we were pressurized to suppress the report and that we succumbed to that pressure.”

When asked for her opinion on the non-publication of the report, she said “It is not proper to comment on the actions of the HRC Commissions that came after me.”

Two days ago, Dr. Coomaraswamy told Colombo Telegraph that Dr. Deepika (Udagama) had also confirmed that the report was not finalized when they left the HRC. “Neither she nor I can remember the contents and if it had been finalized we would surely have remembered,” Dr. Coomaraswamy said.

Yesterday the Colombo Telegraph has published the unpublished report commissioned by the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in 2006 which had explicitly concluded that security forces personnel were involved in several high profile human rights violations including the killing of five students in Trincomalee in January 2006 and the abduction on 31 January 2006.

We publish below our correspondence with Dr Coomaraswamy;

From Dr Coomaraswamy to Colombo Telegraph;                            Read More

It would be problematic for Rathika 

Sitsabaiesan to make a “strong statement” 

while in Sri Lanka- Gary Anandasangaree

It would be problematic for Rathika Sitsabaiesan to make a “strong statement” while in Sri Lanka- Gary Anandasangaree

For parliamentarian Rathika Sitsabaiesan while in Sri Lanka and also to issue a strong statement would be problematic, says Human Rights Lawyer Gary Anandasangaree. He appeared on the CTV News to discuss the reports of “intimidation" against the Canadian MP while she was visiting Sri Lanka. 

NDP released a statement on New Year’s Day quoting Rathika Sitsabaiesan MP that she was “subject to political intimidation,” and was warned of being “subject to arrest and deportation, as several commonwealth MPs from New Zealand and Australia recently faced” in Sri Lanka.

In the statement NDP further stated that according to Canadian High Commission in Colombo, there is no longer an arrest warrant against Rathika Sitsabaiesan MP existing as Sri Lankan authorities had claimed earlier.

Responding to a question from CTV News whether the MP from Scarborough-Rouge River was pressured or coerced by Sri Lanka to make such a statement, Gary Anandasangaree added that, “there may be some strategy to her statement”, and full details are to seen only when Rathika Sitsabaiesan MP returns to Canada. 

For critics, the situation is quite dangerous in Sri Lanka Gary Anandasangaree pointed out on CTV News. The MP was out of danger only due to the level of scrutiny on the matter by the Canadian Government he said.

Gary Anandasangaree also emphasized his concerns for the safety and well being of the general public and activists in the Tamil Heartland area of Sri Lanka North, in the aftermath of their exposures with the visiting Canadian MP. 

Colombo newspapers reported that Rathika Sitsabaiesan MP left Sri Lanka on Saturday, January 4.

யாழ். மாவட்டத்தில் பாலியல் கொலைகள் அதிகரிப்பு

05 ஜனவரி 2014, ஞாயிறு
யாழ் மாவட்டத்தில் பாலியல் தொடர்பான படுகொலைகள் அதிகரித்துள்ளதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.

யாழ்ப்பாண போதனா வைத்தியசாலையின் சட்ட வைத்திய அதிகாரி இதனை தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் பெண்களைப் பாலியல் துஷ்பிரயோகத்திற்கு உள்ளாக்கப்படுவது அதிகரித்துள்ள நிலையில், படுகொலை செய்யப்படும் சம்பவங்களும் அதிகரித்துள்ளன.

சாட்சிகளை இல்லாது செய்யும் பொருட்டே இவ்வாறான கொலைகள் இடம்பெறுவதாகவும் அவர் சுட்டிக்காட்டியுள்ளார்.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=868572559107763495#sthash.fsn4mtEh.dpuf
Rape-related killings on the rise in Jaffna - Uthayan

06 January 2014

More and more rape victims are being murdered in Jaffna, reports Uthayan newspaper.

According to a legal official at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, rape and sexual abuse is increasingly being followed by murder.

The official expressed that he believed that victims, mostly women, were being killed to protect the perpetrators from implication.

Victims Of Genocide: Palestinians And Sri Lankan Tamils

By Ron Ridenour -January 7, 2014

Ron Ridenour

Orwell couldn’t have done it better: Sri Lanka’s genocidal government, client of genocidal Israel, exchanges honors with genocidal victim State of Palestine 

The government of Palestine presented Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the “Star of Palestine” the highest award of the State of Palestine, on January 6.

“The relations between Sri Lanka and the State of Palestine are exceptional and we remain committed to extending our fullest support to the State of Palestine and the friendly people of Palestine,” President Rajapaksa said during the conferment ceremony.

“President Rajapaksa, on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka, conferred the ‘Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushana’ awards on former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and current President Mahmoud Abbas,” during his current trip to Palestine, Israel and Jordan. So reported the Sri Lankan news agency.

This is not satire albeit double speak.

The Sinhalese chauvinist Sri Lanka government practices genocide against Tamils, as confirmed by the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, which held hearings in Berman, Germany, December 7-10, 2013.

The Zionist State practices genocide against the Palestinians, as many nations acknowledge and so determined by the War Crimes Tribunal in Kuala Lumpur, November 26, 2013.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (KLWCT) found former Israeli army general Amos Yaron and the state of Israel guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide stemming from the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in 1982.

“While it’s constantly mindful of its stature as merely a tribunal of conscience with no real power or enforcement, this tribunal finds that witnesses in this case are entitled ex justitia to the payment or reparations by the two convicted parties,” said KLWCT president Tan Sri Lamin Mohd Yunus.

Lamin hoped that armed with the tribunal’s findings, the witnesses who were also the victims in the case, would, in the near future, find a state or an international judicial entity able and willing to exercise jurisdiction to enforce the tribunal’s verdict against the two convicted parties.

Now that Rajapaksa has declared eternal friendship with Palestine perhaps he would offer his government to bring the tribunal’s wishes before the world court or, even better, he could try Israel for war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians.

The duplicity of Sri Lanka foreign relations is beyond Orwellian. The governments of USA/UK and other European states, Australia, Israel, India on the one hand, and on the other hand China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan gave or sold weaponry in the multi-millions of dollars to Sri Lankan governments over decades, and aided in many other ways the defeat of the Tamils’ guerrilla movement, including the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).

Read More

SRI LANKA WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT PALESTINE’S CAUSE – RAJAPAKSA

Read the Message of the Mothers:

January 7, 2014

Expressing hope for an independent Palestine “as soon as possible,” President Mahinda Rjapaksa has said that Sri Lanka will always support Palestine’s cause and that relations between the two nations get stronger each year.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Palestine from Jordan yesterday (06) for a two-day visit and held bilateral discussions at the Presidential Palace in Ramallah with President of the State of Palestine Dr. Mahmoud Abbas.

During the friendly and warm discussion President Abbas recalled his two visits to Sri Lanka respectively in 2008 and 2012.

The Palestinian President emphasized on the longstanding cordial relations between Palestine and Sri Lanka. “Our two countries maintain good relations and I wish it will improve more and more,” he added.

Dr. Abbas also expressed his gratitude for the support that Sri Lanka extended for Palestine to gain the status as a Non-member Observer State in the United Nations and updated President Rajapaksa on the ongoing peace process with Israel.

“Sri Lanka will always support your cause,” President Rajapaksa assured. “We hope that we will have an independent Palestine as soon as possible,” he said.

“Relations between our two countries get stronger year after year,” President Rajapaksa added.

President Rajapaksa apprised the Palestinian President of the current developments in Sri Lanka. 

President Rajapaksa said that within a short period of four years following the end of the conflict, Sri Lanka has made significant progress, in terms of reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation. 

President Rajapaksa also briefed Dr. Abbas on Northern Provincial Council elections, the Presidential Spokesman said.

While noting that there has been no single terrorist incident reported in Sri Lanka since 2009, President Rajapaksa said in comparison to other provinces in the country more resources have been allocated for the development of Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The President also said that Sri Lankan government took a calculated risk in releasing the rehabilitated child soldiers into the society within a short period of time.

Followed by bilateral discussions, the two leaders witnessed the signing of the Agreement on Establishment of Sri Lanka-Palestine Joint Commission and the signing of the MoU on Establishment of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Vocational Training Centre.

Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Mr. Sajin de Vaas Gunawardena, Parliamentarians Mrs. Kamala Ranatunga and Mr. Roshan Ranasinghe, Secretary to the President Mr. Lalith Weeratunga are accompanying the President.

On President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Visit To Israel

By Latheef Farook -January 7, 2014

Latheef Farook

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Israel: Why island’s Muslims, not Muslim politicians, are concerned?

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s two day visit to Israel, during his current tour to the region which included Jordan and the Israeli occupied West Bank, remains the greatest achievement for Israel which has been aggressively trying to enter the country through backdoors only to be sent out from front doors since mid 1950s.

It is an added victory to Israel because President Rajapakse has also been the president of Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine People for almost three decades.

As a country which thrives on others’ misery Israel, which trained Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTEfighters at the same time in the same area, managed to enter the country during the government’s war against the LTTE. Since then Israel penetrated several spheres including the mainstream media effectively blocking any publicity highlighting its true face and its unprecedented crime and sufferings inflicted on Palestinians.

In its drive to entrench its presence in the island which, in the past, has been a steadfast supporter of Palestinians struggle for freedom against Israeli occupation and oppression, President Rajapaksa’s visit is certainly the culmination.

The visit also speaks for the political bankruptcy of the island’s Muslim politicians who failed to voice their concern. Today the Island’s Muslim community remains sandwiched between globally aggressive   Israel and a totally ineffective and shameless Muslim politicians.

However the Muslim community has its own concern about this fast growing relation between Sri Lanka and Israel. The reason being with the Israeli presence comes its deadly secret service Mossad whose main target worldwide remains Islam and Muslims. They lavishly throw money, recruit local agents and set communities against Muslims

For example long before the handful of racist elements began their ongoing anti Muslim campaign many knowledgeable Muslims feared that Israeli presence may create problems between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities.

Their fear proved right judging from the current wave of overall attacks on the island’s Muslim community.

Most politicians, journalists and others who are now hobnobbing with the Zionists do not know who these Zionists are and what is their background is -which is only akin to German Nazis.

Read More

JVP demands arrest of PM

 

By Dasun Edirisinghe-January 6, 2014, 11:08 pm

 Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne, too, should be arrested like OIC of the Wellampitiya Police station on drug charges, the JVP said yesterday.

Addressing a media conference at the party head office in Pelawatte, JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Vijitha Herath said that the police had arrested Wellampitiya OIC for keeping 42 g of heroin in his possession, but Prime Minister was still free even after issuing letter to release a container of 262 Kg of the substance.

MP Herath said that Prime Minister Jayaratne had recently said at a public meeting that the main suspect involved in importing the drug container was a friend of his son, Central Provincial Council member Anuradha Jayaratne and that was why he had issued a letter through one of his secretaries.

The Gampaha District MP said PM had to resign from his post and apologise to the nation.

Herath said that government MP Arundika Fernando, too, had said in a newspaper interview that there were heroin dealers in the government. "If so, he must expose them to the public," the JVP MP said, adding that otherwise the police should question him to find out who they were.

Colombo District JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti said that according to police information around 400 kilos of heroin circulated all over the country at present, but the government was silent on the matter.

Madatugama villagers say Wildlife Dept. blind to marauding elephants

 

Madatugama villagers say Wildlife Dept. blind to marauding elephants


  

  

 

  January 7, 2014 

By Siri Kumarasinghe – Kekirawa
 
Residents of the Madatugama, Bakmeegaha Ulpatha village, who are affected by the wild elephant menace and suffering due to non-availability of electricity, lament that the Department of Wildlife had meted out step-motherly treatment to them.
 
There are nearly 30 families without electricity in the village. A herd of wild elephants had recently invaded the village and destroyed some houses. The village is situated about 3 Km from Madatugama. About 175 families are supplied with drinking water from the Bakmeegaha Ulpatha (spring). Their main livelihood is cultivation.
 
Raju, a resident of Madatugama, explaining his predicament, due to wild elephant attack, said:-
 
"When we were sleeping with our children, I heard a noise and a little later a wall collapsed inwards and tiles fell from the roof. We raised cries and the elephant fled. It returned after about 20 minutes and toppled the other wall too. I lit a cracker and threw it at the elephant which fled but returned at about 01.00 a.m. and broke down the wall of the drawing room and it crashed on the TV. My children, through fear, passed urine. Though we have been residing in this village for 23 years, we have no electricity facilities."
 
Chandani Senevirathne, Raju's wife said:-
 
Wild elephants attacked several other houses in our village. I was on pins thinking the wall might fall on my children. I got so scared that day and now I don't fall asleep. If I hear a small noise, my sleep is disturbed. I am frightened to keep a bottle lamp lit in the bedroom thinking it will topple and cause a worse disaster with the house catching fire. One elephant flung bricks into the house. If we had lights, the elephants would be scared to come closer to houses."
 
B.M. Swarnalatha of Bakmeegaha Ulpatha said:-
 
"We don't appeal to the government to feed us, nor are we asking for jobs. We only request the authorities to allow us to attend to our cultivation work peacefully. Officials of the Wild Life Department say there no locations, where the elephants can by chased to. Our cultivations are destroyed by wild elephants. We have started cultivation after obtaining loans from banks. How are we to pay back the loans we took? We'll have to take poison. Wild Life Department officials sometimes give us a special type of cracker (Ali Wedi) to chase away wild elephants. They give only two crackers. That is not at all sufficient. Elephants have destroyed our plantain cultivation and snake gourd loft."
 
Tillekarathna of this village said:-
 
"When an election is close by, candidates visit our villages and promise us various facilities, including electricity. But they forget us after they win the elections. The village needs only 5 or 6 posts to provide electricity. We have no way of going out in an emergency or to take a patient to a hospital at night through fear of wild elephants. The town is close by. The Electricity Board can fix an additional transformer and supply us with power."

Ministerial Responsibility And Prime Minister’s Drug Scandal

 by Laksiri Fernando

( January 7, 2014 – Sydney –Sri Lanka Guardian) The Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne may or may not be involved in any manner, directly or indirectly, in what appears to be the largest single haul of heroin smuggling in South Asia. We are not to determine the guilt or innocence of him, in any manner, as the JHU has been doing, and it is up to the judiciary to do so after a proper police investigation. But what was uncovered on 30 August in Colombo was a stunning 131 kilograms (288lb) of heroin, worth of several millions of dollars.

When the smugglers responsible for the shipment, sought a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office, it cannot merely be for the waver of demurrage or tax. The letter was issued on 23 August. The collection of the shipment was overdue over a month by then for some reason and a letter in any form going from the PM’s Office could have persuaded or convinced the Customs and/or Ports Authorities to release the consignment without much checking. That is the usual bureaucratic culture in Sri Lanka. However, that was not to be the case in this instance fortunately, as the Pakistani authorities apparently had tipped off the Police and the Customs.
Circumstances
It is now revealed that the PM have had lunch with one of the suspects of the smuggling racket and the heroine trade, most probably unknowingly of his exact business involvement, but it was apparently known that he was a businessman. The PM obviously do not dine with the ordinary folks; hardly if at all. It was during that lunch or on the sidelines, that sending a letter had been arranged. The two others involved in these interactions were a Pradeshiya Sabha member at Gampola and PM’s own son who is also a Provincial Council Member in the Central Province.
Unfortunately, Mangala Samaraweera from the opposition bench had come forward to give a ‘bona fide’ to the Prime Minister. Samaraweera’s intention may be sincere, since many of the SLFP Seniors like DM Jayaratne have come under attack from the top and the rightwing political formations, but the error or the Individual Ministerial Responsibility of the PM in this instance is crystal clear. What is most unfortunate is what Samaraweera has said in Parliament.
“Sending a letter seeking tax concessions for a container is not something illegal. When I was the Minister of Ports I too received letters daily seeking such duty concessions. Even the President as an MP then had made similar requests. I have received so many letters from a lot of other parliamentarians. Not that we give tax relief to all those requests. Only if the Minister of Ports permits and signs, the concessions can be given. The letter in question only says that if tax concessions could be granted the sender would be grateful on behalf of the Prime Minister.” 
A petition by a citizen for a tax concession on the basis financial difficulty or because of bureaucratic mishandling cannot be illegal. For example, there may be bona fide cases on the part of Middle East returnees or even small business people, but not from the heroin smugglers. There should be proper and transparent channels for these requests. But when these requests or petitions are channeled through Ministers, they are obviously subject to political abuse or even corruption. When the Prime Minister’s Office issues such a letter even without verifying the bona fides, it is the Prime Minister and not the issuing officer that should take the responsibility.
The Officer who had apparently sent the letter on behalf of the PM, Keerthi Sri Weerasinghe, resigned on 9 December. He was PM’s Coordinating Secretary. But who should have primarily resigned was the Prime Minister himself. That is how he should have preserved his claimed integrity and the dignity of the position. The age old dictum that ‘justice should not only be done; it must also be seen to be done’ also applies here. There is no point in appointing a Coordinating Secretary unless the PM cannot take responsibility for what he does on his behalf. All officers cannot obviously issue such letters, but only the assigned few.
The gravity of the involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office in this scandal is highlighted by the fact that Sri Lanka is fast becoming a ‘Hub of Heroin Smuggling’ in South Asia. As the information reveals, while a part of this consignment coming from Pakistan meant to be for Sri Lanka, the other half was supposed to be distributed in India.
According to the police, 53,000 persons had been arrested for drug offences in 2013 and over 70 per cent of those who are in jails at present are in for drug offenses. The PM should have been in the forefront of campaign against the drug trafficking and the drug abuse as the Minister in charge of Religious Affairs. He undoubtedly talked vehemently in the past against this vice in the country but should have continued to do so by gracefully resigning on the issue and revealing all the facts pertaining to the letter and persons involved behind.

Something Rotten 
While the whole episode reveals something fundamentally rotten behind the present state of governance in the country, it is unfortunately not the main opposition which has utilized this issue and the opportunity, but the JHU and the JVP. Perhaps Sri Lanka needs a new political culture both from the government and the opposition. The motive of the JHU is undoubtedly suspicious on religious and other grounds as the PM has been critical of their activities and even suggested once that a special court should be set up to try the criminal charges against the culpable Buddhist monks, as the misdeeds were exorbitant. However, the JHU opposition to the PM is not a reason to defend the PM, and it completely ignores the fundamental issues involved.
The JVP on the other hand has conducted a principled opposition on the matter highlighting that the Prime Minister is primarily responsible for what has happened in the Ministry under his supervision. The Coordinating Secretary undoubtedly is PM’s protégé and has acted according to his wishes and interests.
Ministerial Responsibility
The principle violated in this instance is the Individual Ministerial Responsibility or IMR. This principle is slightly different to the Collective Ministerial Responsibility (CMR) of a Cabinet or a Board of Ministers. Both derives from the principles of responsible government and rule of law which are increasingly becoming rare species in the Sri Lankan context. The collective responsibility means that if a minister cannot take responsibility for a collective decision of a cabinet he should resign. There is a classic definition about CMR by Lord Salisbury as far as in 1878.
While the collective responsibility principle does not directly apply in this instance, what is intriguing is the manner in which Minister Patali Champika of the JHU behaves on this subject while in the same Cabinet of the Prime Minister without resolving the matter within it, in a Cabinet meeting. The President may be more responsible as the Head of the Cabinet, without asking the Prime Minister to resign or making a statement on the subject openly. It is possible that there are many ‘skeletons’ in the Cabinet.
Although D. M. Jayaratne is the Prime Minister, he is more like just a Minister, or even worse, than a Prime Minister. This is one debacle of the presidential system which has largely distorted parliamentary democracy or democracy at large. It is also possible that the frustration resulting from this situation must have developed into lapses on the part of the Prime Minister to allow the others to run the affairs without much of his supervision. However, Individual Ministerial Responsibility applies to him without any excuse. The following is how one expert, Joanne Sellick (Constitutional and Administrative Law, 2010), explained the concept.
“This convention places Ministers in a position of having to answer for the works of their departments. The doctrine is identified with the Carltona principle (1943), which provides that a decision taken by a junior/subordinate official is regarded as being the decision of the Minister in charge of the Department and they must answer for it in Parliament.”
Sellick also explains how the responsibility evolved into the principle of resignation in Britain starting with Lord Carrington and other two Ministers resigning in 1982 on the allegations that the British forces were not prepared when Argentina invaded the Falklands. The last instance that she has reported is when Beverley Hughes, Minister for Immigration, resigned in 2004 when a scandal regarding bogus visa cases became known although she was not directly involved, but responsible. A resignation in such an instance does not necessarily mean an end of a political career either. For example, she was appointed as Minister for Children in 2005 after the election.
In the case of Sri Lanka, the ongoing drug scandal undoubtedly is big enough for the responsibility/resignation principle to apply. A resignation is a dignified way to assure the people that the Ministers take the mistakes, wrong doings or misbehavior under their supervision seriously and ready to account for. This is largely a Commonwealth practice and as the Chair of CHOGM, Sri Lanka has an abiding duty to follow such traditions and conventions. The presidential system is not an immunity to nullify such good conventions. Such resignations in the case of the Commonwealth countries are usually prompted by the Prime Minister or the Head of the Cabinet and in the case of Sri Lanka it means the President. 

The Kejriwal Phenomenon

January 7, 2014

A new thunderbolt has hit the political scene in South Asia. The South Asian voter after decades of being lied to and cheated by a class of self-serving professional politicians, a political class which has given a new meaning to the word parasite, since South Asia emerged from colonial bondage many moons ago, has today seen new hope in the Aam Admi Party (AAP) [the Common Man Party] of India led by Arvind Kejriwal,

The Kejriwal Phenomenon by nelvely

Government's Mathata Thitha, a cropper   

By Ravi Ladduwahetty-January 7, 2014

The government's much-hyped campaign to abstain from intoxicants (Mathata Thitha) has come a cropper in the light of a startling revelation that the biggest offenders of drugs, in a single segment are school children, both boys and girls.

Statistical reports compiled by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) reveal that in 2008, as many as 8,032 people in the Colombo District had been arrested for possessing/using cannabis while 5,843 people had been arrested for possessing heroin. However, in 2012, the number of those arrested for possessing cannabis had risen to 15,516 in the same region, and as many as 13,332 people had been arrested for possessing heroin.

"This is a very serious situation that the Western Province has to grapple with as there are large numbers of school children who are using drugs. They are not only children of the so-called elite schools but also children who attend central schools," the Chairperson of the NDDCB, Leisha de Silva Chandrasena, told Ceylon Today. Commenting on the issue further, she said that the situation in schools in the Central and North Central Provinces is also bleak in this respect.

Chandrasena said that while the children of the elite Colombo schools were smoking and consuming sophisticated narcotics, children of central schools in the Western Province were consuming cannabis. "This is a serious problem which has reached epic proportions and we are attempting to bring the situation under control," she said.

She also said the coastal area between Bambalapitiya and Mount Lavinia – the long stretch of beach, as well as the night clubs in Colombo, are venues where school children visit to consume drugs. "Some of the vendors are three-wheeler drivers and van drivers who operate in the illegal trade directly outside schools," she alleged.

In addition to this problem is the other sordid scenario where pharmacists are dispensing drugs that they are not supposed to dispense without a prescription. These drugs are consumed by schoolboys in copious quantities so as to reach a 'high,' she said. "Some of the other alarming cases are of children who take drugs meant for psychiatric patients and they end up in hospital. Around 35 such children had been sent to the rehabilitation centre in Kandy that the NDDCB runs," she added.

She attributed this phenomenon to children who lack parental love and care and went on to say that there were girls who were also caught up in this syndrome. "The boys definitely have an age limit where those who are below 16 years cannot go to night clubs, but the girls do not have age limits and they accompany the boys, unchecked," she remarked.

In 2008, there were 1,479 people arrested in the Gampaha District for using cannabis; this figure had shot up to 2,269 in 2012. Similarly, 552 persons had been arrested for possessing heroin in the same District in 2008; the figure had gone up to 706 by 2012.

Statics put out by the NDDCB also reveal that in 2008 in the Kalutara District, 1,128 people had been arrested for possessing cannabis; this number had risen to 1,321 in 2012. The number of persons arrested for possessing heroin in 2008 in the same region was 406, which figure had risen to 746 in 2012. In the Hambantota District, there were 921 people who had been arrested for possessing cannabis which figure had increased to 1,800 in 2012. Those arrested for possessing heroin in 2008 was 36; the number so arrested in 2012 was 81 in the same District.

SL hit by 4000 workplace accidents annually

*

Eighty Lankans die every year in work-

linked incidents 

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa-January 6, 2014, 6:19 pm

Sri Lanka records around 4,000 workplace accidents every year, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Labour Department statistics reveal that alarmingly over 80 Sri Lankans lose their lives in work-related accidents every year.

The construction sector has the highest number of work related accidents in the country and the highest frequency of fall-related fatalities is experienced by the construction industry, Labour and Labour Relations Ministry Secretary, W.J.L.U Wijayaweera told The Island yesterday.

ILO estimates that around the globe, every 15 seconds, worker dies from a work-related accident or disease and every 15 seconds, 151 workers have work-related accidents. Over two million people die annually from work-related diseases and 321,000 people die each year from occupational accidents.

However, the secretary pointed out that in our country, most accidents while at work, take place either due to negligence or lack of awareness.

Wijayaweera said that the existing provisions were not sufficient in the current context, specially with changes taking place in industries and technology.

He explained that the country has the Factories Ordinance which details safety measures to be taken by employers but it is only applicable to factories and The Shop and Office Employees Act covers maternity benefits to employees, adding that the Industrial Disputes Act covers terminations and related issues.

"After we realized the issue we started to draft a new bill in 2010 and it is now in its final stage and would be completed this year," he added.

"We have been working with all stakeholders in formulating a framework for the new law. We will be able to introduce regulations for every industry," he said.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that occupational accidents are a burden on the country’s economy as the government had to spend large sums on free medical care.

Sri Lanka needed to adopt laws on occupational safety and health to protect the workers and all industries, whether small or large, have to comply with health and safety standards to be competitive in the marketplace and enhance workers’ productivity, the ministry said.

Massive-scale heroin racket inside Negombo Prison 

By Anuradha Samuel-January 7, 2014 6

The Police Special Task Force (STF) has uncovered a massive-scale heroin racket inside the Negombo Prison, and named it the country’s largest heroin racket.

The heroin racket is said to have been carried out in the guise of a delivery service, where the heroin was concealed under the caps and various parts of the uniform of the delivery persons.

An STF officer further said the inmates at the Negombo Prison consume 3-4 kg of heroin on a daily basis, and added that a large amount of heroin is also consumed daily at the majority of prisons in Sri Lanka.

The STF officer added there are around 14 areas in and around Negombo where there is massive-scale heroin businesses being carried out, while six of such places are situated in the Negombo Town.

He said these places cannot be raided as they are politically protected.

He added the persons involved in the heroin racket cannot be arrested as they pay money to high-ranking officers in the Police Department, in order to avoid being arrested. (Ceylon Today Online)

Villagers protest against attempt take over cemetery land

 Tuesday, 07 January 2014 

Villagers in the Kanda area in Ahangama in Galle have commenced a protest campaign against the move to acquire a 100 year old cemetery land.

The protesting villagers have asked Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody whether the government was trying to now take away the people’s freedom to die in peace.

The people have accused Weerakkody of playing a double game after entering parliament with the votes given by the people in Galle.
Weerakkody had said a beach park would be put up using a part of the cemetery land and the rest would be left for the cemetery.
The residents have inquired from the Deputy Speaker as to the kind of a beach park that would be built in the middle of a cemetery.
The JVP Councillor in the Southern Province Nalin Hewage had said the government was trying to hand over the land to a petrol shed owner under the pretext of setting up a beach park.

UPFA Southern Provincial Councillor Ajith Prasanna has also supported the villager at which point, Weerakkody had accused him of joining the JVPers who were trying to gain political mileage from the incident.

It has been reported that the businessman planning to take over the cemetery is a supporter of Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and a financial backer of Weerakkody during elections.