SLFP disregards disciplinary report on Mervyn 

  January 25, 2014  

By Sanjaya Dasanayake and Karunadasa Vidanagamage

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has not taken any special decision regarding Minister of Public Relations and Public Affairs, Mervyn Silva, even though a report on the disciplinary inquiry conducted against the minister was presented to the SLFP Central Committee.

Addressing the media yesterday, SLFP General Secretary, Maithripala Sirisena, said he presented the disciplinary inquiry report regarding the SLFP Kelaniya Organizer, Mervyn Silva, to the party Central Committee.
Minister Sirisena said this when a journalist questioned whether the disciplinary inquiry regarding Minister Silva has been completed or not.

However, Chairman of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha (PS), Prasanna Ranaweera said, they had not been informed about Silva being reappointed as Kelaniya SLFP organizer.

Meanwhile, addressing a gathering at the Upulwan Vishnu Devalaya premises, Kelaniya on 23 January, Minister Silva said, now he is ‘matured enough’ and that he ‘expects to gain prosperity’ in near future.
“During the last few months, I opened my mouth only to eat. But now, I have decided to speak up ‘frequently.’ Buddhist monks don’t have any doubt about me.

Now I am matured. Like Prince Siddhartha knew he’ll attain Buddhahood when his begging bowl started drifting upriver.” Minister Silva said he now knows he will gain prosperity in life. He added, he is loved by the President and his family and he knows that the President is not angry with him.
“Most people thought that I am angry with the President, but I am not. King! I know you are not angry with me. I too am not angry; I know that you love me,” he said.

He added that all the children in the Rajapaksa family love him and he knows them from their childhood and nobody can deny it.
“I need the blessings and advice of intellectuals and ministers. Moreover, I want the blessing of the people in the Gampaha District,” he said further.

Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah: Anthropologist And Patriot

By H.L. Seneviratne -January 25, 2014

H.L. Seneviratne

Professor Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah

Professor Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah passed away on January 19^th, 2014. This is not a conventional obituary, but a brief account of his work, meant as a tribute to his scholarship. Professor Tambiah was both a versatile and influential theorist and one of the foremost contemporary social science scholars of Theravada Buddhism. This account, addressed to a largely Sri Lankan readership, focuses on the latter, with only passing mention of the former.

Professor Tambiah’s studies in Thai Buddhism consist of, in addition to numerous scholarly papers, three outstanding works. The first, Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-east Thailand (1970), based on an extended stay in the rural and conservative northeast Thailand, is a detailed description and interpretation of Buddhism as practiced at the village level. Deviating from the views of certain Western textualist scholars who saw popular Thai Buddhism as a debased form, Tambiah demonstrates the relations of continuity and transformation between “Buddhism” and the “folk religion”.  While this may sound like the commonest view of these two religious practices in all Theravada cultures, the freshness of Tambiah’s analysis derives from its particular interweaving of insights from several different strands of anthropology, enabling him to make general statements about, for example, the relation between myth and ritual, and the magical power of words.

                     Read More

Did The Elites Have Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Killed?

The Politics of Assassination in America

| by Jeffrey St. Clair & Alexander Cockburn 

Courtesy: Counter Punch 

(January 25, 2014, Petrolia, CA, Sri Lanka Guardian) The most compelling argument against the existence of a vast conspiracy orchestrating the assassinations of Jack and Bobby Kennedy is that the brothers were never threats to ruling power. 

Did the Elites Have Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Killed by nelvely

Human Rights Ambassador Asks World Leaders to Intervene to Save the Life of a British Citizen

Salem-News.com Staff Report-Jan-24-2014

Human Rights Ambassador, William Nicholas Gomes, is asking world leaders to intervene to save the life of a British citizen who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in Rawalpindi for blasphemy.

drjacobgeorge.com

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Mohammed Asghar was arrested in September 2010 after writing letters to a lawyer and politician claiming to be a prophet, according toReuters.

The 68-year-old says he did not post the letters, and that they were taken to the police by a disgruntled tenant who he was in the process of evicting.

At a court in the city of Rawalpini on Thursday, Mr Asghar was sentenced to death.

He has a history of mental illness and his law firm claimed they were barred from the courtroom halfway through the trial.

Maya Foa, director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: "One only needs to check Mohammed Asghar’s extensive UK medical records to see that he is a seriously mentally ill man, in dire need of medical care.

"The evidence is clear that he is unable to defend himself in court. Worse still, he is currently being held in utterly unsuitable conditions in prison, and we are very concerned about his health. The British government must immediately take all necessary steps to secure Mr Asghar’s safety."

Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com, William Nicholas Gomes, said, "Mohammed Asghar needs proper treatment, not a death sentence. In any case, no one deserves a death sentence. I call upon the international community and world leaders for strong intervention to save the valuable life of this British citizen. Pakistan has alarming record of human rights violations.

William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com who is long time campaigner for abolishing death penalty said I am communicating with world leaders and concerns and will continue do so. I believe that Pakistani leaders will step back and release him as soon as possible and let him fly back to Britain for better treatment.

Too old to be given cancer treatment: NHS is 'writing off' patients who are over 75

• Young lung cancer sufferers are only 10 per cent more likely to die within five years than their continental counterparts
• But pensioners with the disease have 44 per cent less chance of survival
• The figure for stomach cancer – at 45 per cent – is even worse

By JENNY HOPE

PUBLISHED: 00:20 GMT, 24 January 2014 | UPDATED: 08:04 GMT, 24 January 2014

Pensioners with lung cancer have 44 per cent less chance of survival that young sufferers

Pensioners with cancer are being written off as too old to treat, campaigners said yesterday.

They cited figures showing survival rates for British patients aged 75 and over are among the worst in Europe.

Too Old to Be Given Cancer Treatment NHS is 'Writing Off' Patients Who Are Over 75 by nelvely

Computers in bags and texting - phone hacking trial week 11

SATURDAY 25 JANUARY 2014

Almost 50 days in to the "trial of the era", here are five details we learned this week.

1) The Sun's decision to dump Labour went right to James Murdoch

Computers in Bags and Texting - Phone Hacking Trial Week 11 by nelvely

Syria government and opposition begin face to face talks

SATURDAY 25 JANUARY 2014
The UN says that both sides will negotiate face to face in Geneva for the first time on Saturday, just hours after the regime threatened to walk out, writes Sakhr Al-Makhadhi from Geneva.

After two days of shuttling between nearby rooms, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says that delegations from the Syrian government and opposition will today talk face to face for the first time, writesSakhr Al-Makhadhi.

Syria Government and Opposition Begin Face to Face Talks by nelvely

Dr Jude Lal Fernando on PPT verdict

Published on Jan 25, 2014

Dr Jude Lal Fernando of the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka interviewed on the recent verdict of genocide by J. Moya for TamilNet

International legal experts reiterate need for accountability in Sri Lanka

Tamil Guardian 24 January 2014
Panelists at a discussion hosted by the American Society of International Law and American University Washington College of Law UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic hosted an event on accountability in Sri Lanka that criticised the on-going impunity, and stressed the need for justice and accountability.

International Legal Experts Reiterate Need for Accountability In by nelvely

Conducting A Census; Another Cosmetic Exercise Before Geneva 2014

By Paul Newman -January 24, 2014

Dr. Paul Newman

After reading the Groundviews article dated 07/12/2013 and the article by Mr.Raj Jayadevan dated 20/01/2014 in CT, I felt something more could be added to this discussion on the census of human and property damages taken up by the Government of Sri Lanka. I fully acknowledge that it is nothing but a ploy of the present regime to thwart the International community once again just before the 25^th UNHRC in March.

The entire date was collected by the Gram Sevaka Niladharis and government staff, the respondents did not have a chance to fill the questionnaires which were in Tamil and Sinhalese, and there was no English translation available. There are serious allegations by very responsible people of the north that many villages were left out. The same type of population census carried out the last time would result in the reduction of the MP seats for Jaffna electoral district from 9 to 6 in the next elections.  Only direct relatives of the victims, (husband or wife and parents if the victim was unmarried) were eligible to register.

Though the forms had all the details, the contents were orally dictated for filling them up, which means the people who work for the government who collected the data, collected only what was instructed to them or only what they wanted, whereas the guidelines had all the details and this to tell the outer world that the census was of International standard.

During the census one of the important issues locally was the question of witness protection especially if the families had links with the militants or if the families were to be present till the end of the war in Mullivaikal, the question raised is, when a high profile human rights activist like Fr.Yogeswaran SJ was questioned immediately after he met Ms.Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, how will they be spared? Is it wise to give all the details?

In Jaffna the army has moved out physically to a large extent but the psychological scars remain and the presence of the para military too has made people think twice before they indulge in giving out details of the losses they have incurred especially if they have lost their near and dear ones, the reasons for their death/disappearance and the alleged perpetrators.

Many of those who have surrendered do not even speak about that if they have young girls at home fearing the security forces. Hence, the question of many disappeared people remains a mystery.

Read More

Sovereignty – Is it a Defence to cover up?

• by J C Weliamuna 
• - on 01/24/2014 

Image from DBS Jeyaraj.com. This article was first published in Hulftsdorp Law Journal, Colombo Law Society (2014)

Introduction

The term sovereignty is frequently confronted with hostile claims. Human Right and Anti Corruption Movements are often challenged by various groups with different notions and ideologies on sovereignty.  The purpose of this brief article is to examine some of  the legal issues with reference to the concept of sovereignty in a global political context, especially in the light of the UN Charter.

Emergence of Concept of Sovereignty 

Sovereignty – Is it a Defence to cover up by nelvely

Secretary Weeratunga briefs Geneva diplomats on progress in national reconciliation

Secretary Weeratunga briefs Geneva diplomats on progress in national reconciliation

Thursday, January 23, 2014

- Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva  
Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga who briefed Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in Geneva at the Palais des Nations on Tuesday (21st January 2014) on ‘Progress in the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka’, has said the Government of Sri Lanka has done all that was humanly possible to implement the recommendations of the National Plan of Action on the implementation of the LLRC, since its approval by the Cabinet of Ministers in July 2012. 

Mr. Weeratunga, who chairs the Committee Monitoring the National Plan of Action on the Implementation of the National Plan of Action of the LLRC who informed his audience of the state the country was left in following a near thirty year terrorist conflict which ended with the defeat of LTTE in May 2009, the effort that went into restoring normalcy to the lives of those affected due to the conflict and detailed the action taken by the Government over the past eighteen months to give effect to the recommendations of the LLRC in the areas of International Humanitarian Law Issues, Human Rights, Land Return & Resettlement, Restitution/Compensatory Relief and Reconciliation. 

He elaborated on key progress, including the successfully concluded Northern Provincial Council elections, the Government's cooperation with the Chief Minister in continuing the massive development effort that had been undertaken in the area, developments relating to the Commission of Inquiry into alleged disappearances which recently held its first public sittings in Killinochchi, and in this regard, the cooperation with the ICRC as well as the recent Census on deaths/injuries to civilians and property damages due to the conflict, the results of which are expected shortly. Noting Sri Lanka's continued cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Mr Weeratunga said since the visit of the High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in August 2013, at the Government's invitation, the Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons had visited Sri Lanka in December 2013 and the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants is scheduled to visit in May 2014. While the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education had also been invited, he had indicated his inability to visit Sri Lanka in the current year. The government is giving due consideration to visits by other Special Rapporteurs. 

During the Q&A session, while most of the countries that attended the briefing commended the government for its commitment to and efforts in implementing the LLRC recommendations, some questioned aspects of the implementation and the speed at which it was taking place. Many expressed the view that the international community should provide assistance to Sri Lanka and continue a constructive dialogue with Sri Lanka in dealing with human rights issues. Commenting on its own tragic experiences and continuing hardships in fighting terrorism, one country said “it is only the wearer who knows where the shoe pinches.” 

Mr. Weeratunga thanked the international community for their support towards the implementation of the LLRC National Plan of Action. Responding to some of the concerns raised, he said the Government would take constructive suggestions on board. Mr. Weeratunga emphasized that the solutions to reconciliation cannot be found overnight and that trying to do so at the stroke of a pen could be detrimental to a sustained process. He explained some of the complexities involved such as language issues, lack of senior Tamil administrators in the public service due to the LTTE preventing their recruitment since the conflict started in the early 1980s, and the ground level issues in administration in the former theatre of conflict. These included the destruction of previous land records which had caused serious difficulties in establishing ownership of property, the destruction of valuable infrastructure, and the need to take the sensitivities of all communities on board. He said while Sri Lanka was fortunate to have a stable Government which continued to enjoy popular support, some of the recommendations also required evolving a consensus across the ethnic, religious, regional and political diversity in the country, in order ensure that solutions are sustainable. He emphasized the importance of the opposition including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) joining the government to make the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) which had been constituted, fully functional. Mr. Weeratunga expressed regret that even responsible international figures were being misguided by parties with vested interests and gave instances of some such occurrences in recent times. 

Responding to comments on Sri Lanka’s cooperation with the UN and international partners, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said very few countries would have cooperated as much with the UN, the OHCHR, the Human Rights Council (HRC), and international partners, as Sri Lanka had done in the past year. In addition significant work is taking place under the UN Development Assistance Framework 2013-2017, which covers the areas of Equitable Economic Growth and Sustainable Livelihoods, Disparity Reduction, Equitable and Quality Social Services, Governance, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Social Inclusion and Protection and Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction. 

Responding to questions on what measures were being taken to prevent terrorism recurring in the country, Ambassador Aryasinha explained that while terrorism had been eradicated in Sri Lanka, many former LTTE cadre and sympathizers continued to be active, particularly in the western countries. He said that for these elements it was important to keep the pot boiling in Sri Lanka, as a means to stay relevant and to justify their continued existence in the more affluent host countries. He appealed to such countries to be very cautious of this fact, as it ran the danger of derailing reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka. 

Prior to the briefing to Member States, Mr Weeratunga also met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navaneethem Pillay and updated her on developments that had taken place since her visit to Colombo in August 2013. 

He also had discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres at the UNHCR and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer, on ongoing collaboration between Sri Lanka and their respective organizations. 

Associated with Mr.Weeratunga during his meetings were Mr. S.B. Divaratne, Secretary to Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security in Northern Province, Mr. Jayantha Jayasuriya, Additional Solicitor General, Ms. Manisha Gunasekera, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission in Geneva, Ms. Chandima Wickramasinghe, Senior Asst. Secretary to the President, Mr. Chandana Weerasena, Director/UN of the Ministry of External Affairs, Ms. Priyanga Wickramasinghe, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission in Geneva, Mr. Chatura Perera, Second Secretary the Permanent Mission in Geneva and Ms. Dilini Gunasekera, Second Secretary in the Permanent Mission in Geneva. 

SOUTH AFRICAN TAMIL LEADER CALLS FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GENOCIDE OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

SOUTH AFRICAN TAMIL LEADER CALLS FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GENOCIDE OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

The Subry Govender Column-

Thursday, January 23, 2014

By Subry Govender The new president of the South African Tamil Federation has called for those resposnible of the genocide of more than 70 000 Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka in 2009 to be brought to justice by the Interntional Court of Justice. 

South African Tamil Leader Calls for Those Responsible for Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka to Be Brought to... by nelvely

On March Threat Geneva: There Is Only One Strategy

By Tamara Kunanayakam -January 24, 2014

Tamara Kunanayakam

On my return to Sri Lanka yesterday after several months outside, I learned with much astonishment about recent media reports claiming that I am engaged in discussions with officials on my re-appointment as PR to Geneva. The falsity of the claim and its malicious character compel me to respond.

The reports refer to instructions given by the President to certain officials to meet and discuss with me arrangements for my re-appointment to Geneva as Permanent Representative to the United Nations. It claims that I have expressed “reservations” “due to short time span between now and the Geneva sessions to be held in March.”

At no time was I contacted or consulted by any Government official on this or on any other matter, related or otherwise, since my departure from the diplomatic service in July 2012.

Even when I was on the frontline in Geneva, and at the best of times, the Ministry of External Affairs chose to ignore me; at the worst, it sought to obstruct me from carrying out my functions! In preparation for the battle, I was severely reprimanded for travelling to Colombo to seek a briefing on the strategy to be adopted at theHuman Rights Council. Afterwards, the Ministry sought no debriefing and no information on my experience in Geneva, my opinion, or my analysis!

The practice of the ruling class to disseminate misleading information for personal gain has resulted in the nation being deluded about the real threats and their origin, so that its destiny is slowly slipping away from democratic control and being transferred to external forces.

We are on the brink of overt external intervention today and unilateral sanctions that will primarily affect the ordinary citizen, because those in positions of responsibility have failed to draw the political lessons from the strategy of defeat adopted by certain important members of the Sri Lankan delegation to the Human Rights Council in March 2012 and the ensuing debacle. A betrayal from within the ranks transformed a near victory into an overnight defeat.                                                    Read More

Lawyers Collective mourns the death of justice Sriskandarajah; urges transparent appointment process of judges

(Lanka-e-News-23.Jan.2014, 11.30PM) The incumbent President of the Court of Appeal, Justice S. Sriskandarajah, has passed away after a brief illness.

He was appointed to appointed President of the Court of Appeal in 2011 after serving as a judge of the High Court and then as a judge of the Court of Appeal. He delivered a large number of landmark judgments, exercising power under Writ Jurisdiction, during a crucial time of our judicial history. Among them was the judgment, where a bench of 3 judges presided over by him, quashing the decision of the Parliamentary Select Committee to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. 

The President overlooked Justice Sriskandarajah continuously for 4 occasions and thus he could not reach the highest court as a judge, during his life time. After the 18th Amendment to the Constitution by the present Government, there are no disclosed criteria in respect of appointments to higher courts and therefore, the President is free to appoint any one of his choice as a judge, without any scrutiny whatsoever.

The death of Justice Sri Skandarajah emphasizes the importance of securing a transparent appointment process of judges, whose career is protected against political victimizations. This is also a reminder to the country that judges are also subject to same type of discriminatory treatment as others, unless major constitutional changes are brought in. The Lawyers Collective urges the public to agitate for the introduction of transparent process of judicial appointments, consistent with international practices so that judges who deliver judgments independently and fearlessly will not be deprived of their due positions in the higher judiciary. The judicial independence will ultimately protect the people themselves against all types of oppressions of the Rulers.

JC Weliamuna

Convener, Lawyers Collective

Justice Skandaraja believed an independent and vibrant Judiciary - Karu Jayasuriya

 Friday, 24 January 2014 

'Justice Skandaraja believed in an Independent and vibrant Judiciary. He had the courage and the prowess to stand up to the powers that be, irrespective of the consequences' stated by Hon. Karu Jayasuriya,Chairman, United Leadership Council, UNP in his press statement.

Full text of Mr. Jayasuriya's press release as follows

We note with shock and dismay the sudden demise of the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Sri Skandaraja. He was a judge who believed in an Independent and vibrant Judiciary. He had the courage and the prowess to stand up to the powers that be, irrespective of the consequences.

These qualities were manipulated to such an extent by the Executive, whereby it has become inevitable that some fall prey to such pressures. Justice Sri Skandaraja, possessed the intellectual capacity and the courage to steer clear of such pressures and championed the cause of the Rule of Law that he fostered and nurtured at the cost of his life. For this he sacrificed decades of his professional life and the hard earned opportunity to serve the nation in the Apex Court.

This right of his was denied to him by the arbitrary and dictatorial actions of the Executive in a blatant and heinous manner. Such revengeful actions of the Executive snatched away his life in an untimely manner depriving the society of the luxury of an Independent Judge. The pinnacle of his Judicial Career was the Historical Judgment that was given by him when he presided over the Divisional Bench of the Court of Appeal quashing the arbitrary decision of the Parliamentary Select Committee that sought to punish the 43rd Chief Justice on trumped up charges. This Judgment was totally ignored by the Parliament and acted in violation of the same setting a black mark in the Parliamentary democracy.

We join the Civil Society to mourn the death of a great judge of our time, who was made to succumb to his death in the midst of a political witch hunt.