Death List of 52 Rohingyas Given To National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar

Salem-News.com-Feb-02-2014

The villagers submitted a death list of 52 people. They said that the death toll is higher than 100 and that they can have a full list once all the remaining villagers return to the village.

U Sit Myaing is leading a National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar tour visited Duchiradan village on 01 February.

(MAUNGDAW Rohingya Blogger) - A delegation led by U Sit Myaing from National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar visited Duchiradan village on February 1, at 10 am where the mass killing took place. The delegation met with villagers in Duchiradan middle hamlet and were told the following facts by them:

1. Duchiradan village administrator Aung Zan Phyu, police sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein killed eight innocent Rohingyas before January 13th, who were coming to Maungdaw through Mayu hills.
2. At midnight on January 13th the police and Rakhine extremists entered the village and killed more than hundred innocent people and many are still missing.
3. We were forced to leave from the village at that night and our houses were under custody of police but they permitted Rakhine extremists to take all our personal belongings and properties. All evidence is available and can be checked at any time.
4. 22 houses were burnt to ashes in Duchiradan west hamlet by police with the collaboration of Rakhine extremists. Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko was stationed nearby the village. His outpost was just about 100 yards away from the village.
5. On the day that the homes were burnt in west hamlet, the police and extremists came into the village and forced us to leave from our homes. They were holding knives, swords and sticks. Then they poured the patrol and burned the houses. They didn’t give us time to take any of our belongings.
6. We are glad that National Human Rights Commission visit us and listen to our voices.

The team of National Human Rights Commission visited Duchiradan west hamlet after the meeting with the people.

The villagers submitted a death list of 52 people. They said that the death toll is higher than 100 and that they can have a full list once all the remaining villagers return to the village.

Death List of 52 Rohingyas

Duchiradan village burning; other photos of Duchiradan: rvisiontv.com

 --

(1) Shafika D/o Abu Siddique (3-months-old) – (The baby was taken from mother's hand and hacked into pieces by Rakhine extremists.)

(2) Mamed Sultan S/o Azizul Hoque (16-years-old)

(3) Fatema D/o Azizul Hoque (22-years-old)

(4) Farooque S/o Rahmat Ullah (17-years-old)

(5) Shabir Ahmed S/o Sayed Alam (20-years-old)

(6) Kabir Ahmed S/o Sayed Alam (18-years-old)

(7) Abdul Fayaz S/o Mamed Husson (16-years-old)

(8) Samira D/o Abul Hashim (19-years-old)

(9) Azizda D/o Abul Hashim (17-years-old)

(10) Anamul Hoque S/o Abul Zohar (19-years-old)

(11) Samira D/o Numar Hakim (20-years-old)

(12) Rafiul Kader S/o Abdul Shakur (18-years-old)

(13) Azizra Khatoo D/o Eliyas (16-years-old)

(14) Salim Ullah S/o Siddique (65-years-old)

(15) Sawmuda D/o Kala Miah (18-years-old)

(16) Haroon S/o Einus (20-years-old)

(17) Issaque S/o Einus (18-years-old)

(18) Rowaida D/o Amir Hamza (20-years-old)

(19) Mamed Waris S/o Hamid (18-years-old)

(20) Rahmat Ullah S/o Ali Husson (19-years-old)

(21) Aziz S/o Haroon (20-years-old)

(22) Nur Husson S/o Uzir Ahmed (22-years-old)

(23) Nurul Hoque S/o Issaque (17-years-old)

(24) Shafique S/o Kadir Husson (25-years-old)

(25) Shabir Ullah S/o Aman Ullah (17-years-old)

(26) Hamida D/o Sayed Hussein (17-years-old)

(27) Nur Faisal S/o Anzul Husson (7-years-old)

(28) Eisuf S/o Fawzawl Ahmed (18-years-old)

(29) Zubair S/o Einus (3-months-old)

(30) Arnis S/o Mustaq (22-years-old)

(31) Abdul Rahman S/o Fakkir (25-years-old)

(32) Ismail S/o Kamal (30-years-old)

(33) Samira D/o Ali Johar (18-years-old)

(34) Tawyuba D/o Fawzaw Ahmed (55-years-old)

(35) Abayda Khatoo D/o Waris (7-years-old)

(36) Ziabul Hoque S/o Abdul Karim (18-years-old)

(37) Mamed Rafique S/o Bashir (16-years-old)

(38) Sayed Karim S/o Zabair (45-years-old)

(39) Rabia Khatoo D/o Nur Ahmed (30-years-old)

(40) Jamla S/o Eman Husson (18-years-old)

(41) Kabir Ahmed S/o Habi Ullah (40-years-old)

(42) Mamed Rafique S/o Abu Siddique (30-years-old)

(43) Mamed Rafique S/o Hala Miah (25-years-old)

(44) Mamed Tahir S/o Azimullah (18-years-old)

(45) Nasufi Khatoo D/o Abdul Malek (18-years-old)

(46) Mujit Sama D/o Abdul Malek (16-years-old)

(47) Jamil Ahmed S/o Nur Mamed (25-years-old)

(48) Mamed Zubair S/o Aman Ullah (18-years-old)

(49) Tawyuba D/o Khair Husson (40-years-old)

(50) Hazara Khatoo D/o Afas Uddin (60-years-old)

(51) Mamed Shahad S/o Fawzaw Ahmed (16-years-old)

(52) Mamed Yasin S/o Zakir Ahmed (19-years-old)

________________________________________

Ahimsa’s Project For Cambodian Street Kids

February 3, 2014

“I had the most amazing relationship with my dad; he was one of my best friends and he was one of the few people I trusted completely. Losing him, in such a violent manner, has been the most painful and traumatic experience in my life; what also hurts is that I can no longer confide in my dad who supported me in all my decisions, dreams, ambitions and desires……..”Ahimsa Wickrematunge

Ahimsa, the only daughter of the slain Editor of the Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunge, is finally starting to pick up the pieces of her traumatised young life, five years after her precious father was snatched from her, by cruel and heartless hands.

Lasantha and Ahimsa

Ahimsa Wickrematunge is on a laudable mission- Help Cambodia’s Street Kids- one which her father Lasantha, would have been proud of, had he still been with us.

Following is Ahimsa’s message-

“In 2012, I searched for those that needed aid the most, and was led to Cambodia. While there are people in need in every country, what I witnessed
in Cambodia, was shockingly overwhelming, and has troubled me greatly.

I want to start by raising awareness, for this one particular organization-

Les Restaurant des Enfants (LRDE). It is a place, where over 300 children who range from ages 3-16, can take refuge in, every day. These children are either homeless, or live in the rural slums of Phnom Penh.

What I witnessed firsthand at the slums, was a gut punch. I still remember one volunteer telling me, how he bashed his head on a wall, and the whole house shaking over the river.

These children live under the most horrific circumstances.

Lal and Ahimsa

This is weighing very heavily on my conscience, as it should for all of us. I think and worry about these kids almost every day, but I take comfort in knowing, they are being taken care of, the best they could be, through the work of the LRDE.

These kids are forced into either prostitution or employment, as young as 7 years. The LRDE helps these children everyday by providing them with meals, education and healthcare, by a doctor who treats all the children every month, and provides them with all their basic needs, which they consider a luxury.

These children are led from prostitution and employment, into having real childhoods, and are being given a future through education; giving their families hope.

A lot of children in Phnom Penh, who can’t make it to the LRDE, are given transportation. This organization also helps their families monthly, with ration bags and rice. I can’t begin to express the amazing and admirable work the LRDE does on a daily basis.

Please help me help these children. I know it sounds so cliché, but trust me when I say, every single dollar counts, and goes SUCH a long way.

I am so grateful, to have been led to this amazing organization, that works so tirelessly, to better the lives of these kids.

Thanks and God Bless everyone for their generosity.”

Ahimsa Wickrematunge

http://www.gofundme.com/6l1o2o

Ukraine stands on the brink – and Europe must bring it back

This is no velvet revolution, but nor is it an uprising of fascist Cossacks or a zero-sum game with Russia. Europe must intervene on the side of democracy and human rights

Ukrainian protesters stand in Kiev's Independence Square. ‘Putin’s Russia has been intervening for years, overtly and covertly, while insisting that no “outsiders” should interfere. Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA

Timothy Garton Ash

Ukraine has not yet died – as the country's anthem observes. But the face of Ukraine today is that of the bloodied, scarred opposition activist Dmytro Bulatov. Comparisons with Bosnia are still far-fetched, but think of this as a political Chernobyl.

I have no idea what will happen in Ukraine tomorrow, let alone next week. But I know what all Europeans should want to happen over the next year and the next decades. In February 2015, on the 70th anniversary of the Yalta agreement, Ukraine should again be a halfway functioning state. A corrupt and rackety one, but still the kind of state that, in the long run, forges a nation. It should have signed an association agreement with the EU, but also have close ties with Russia. In February 2045, on the 100th anniversary of the Yalta agreement, it should be a liberal democratic, rule-of-law state that is a member of the EU, but has a special relationship with a democratic Russia. "Pie in the sky!" you may say. But if you don't know where you want to go, all roads are equally good. This is where we should want to go.

That outcome would obviously be good for Ukraine. Less obviously, it would be good for Europe. Look at the shifting balance of world power, and look at the demographic projections for western Europe's ageing population. We'll need those young Ukrainians sooner than you think, if we are to pay our pensions, maintain economic growth and defend our way of life in a post-western world. Less obviously still, it would good for Russia. Russia has lost an empire but not yet found a role. Its uncertain sense of itself is inextricably bound up with its deep-seated confusion about Ukraine, a cradle of Russian history that many Russians still regard as belonging back in Russia's nursery.

Once upon a time, young Conservatives like David Cameron shared such a vision of a wider Europe of freedom. Inspired by the velvet revolutions of 1989, and by Margaret Thatcher, they loathed the statist, federalist and socialist Little Europe of Brussels, but loved that far horizon of liberty. Yet where is the British prime minister's voice on Ukraine today?

Back in his idealistic youth, Germans were the mealy-mouthed stability-huggers, and Brits spoke out for human rights in eastern Europe. Now,Angela Merkel tells her parliament – to applause – that the Ukrainian authorities must not ignore "many people who have shown in courageous demonstrations that they are not willing to turn away from Europe. They must be heard", while the Conservative benches of the British parliament resound with appeals to turn away from Europe, and to keep out those numberless hordes of eastern European welfare scroungers. Among the few Ukrainians welcome here are the oligarchs, who get Britain's special visas for the very rich, and buy the fanciest places in London. One of them, Rinat Akhmetov, paid £136m for a 25,000 sq ft pied-a-terre in the luxurious One Hyde Park apartment complex.

Granted, it is hard to see how we can make much difference in the short term. This is no longer a velvet revolution, as the 2004 Orange Revolution was. It started as a protest against the (freely and largely fairly elected) President Viktor Yanukovych's sudden refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU. Opinion polls show that a majority of Ukrainians favour more European integration. The heart of protest in Kiev is still nicknamed the Euromaidan (Eurosquare). What characterises a velvet revolution, however, is that non-violent discipline is largely maintained – even in the face of violent oppression by the state – and it ends in a political negotiation. Now, mainly because of the stupidity of the Yanukovych machine and the brutality of its Berkut militia thugs, but also because there are other opposition forces at work in different parts of a fractured country, the velvet is burning.

Some very nasty far-right groups have mounted the barricades. How large a role they play is disputed. A Ukrainian specialist on the European far right, Anton Shekhovtsov, who was there during the recent protests, says that while there is a real neo-Nazi and hooligan fringe, especially in a group called White Hammer, most of the so-called Right Sector activists see themselves as national revolutionaries fighting for independence from Russia. Yet even if you take a more alarmist view, to suggest that Europe should just sit on its hands because fascists and antisemitic Cossacks (recognise a stereotype anyone?) are taking over the show is even more ridiculous than it would be to pretend that this is all the sweetness and light of Václav Havel's Wenceslas Square in 1989. Abandon all meta-narratives, ye reporters who enter here.

Worse than ridiculous is the notion that the EU should not intervene in any way because this is a purely Ukrainian affair. Putin's Russia has been intervening for years, overtly and covertly, while insisting no "outsiders" should interfere. In the last decade, Russia has twice turned off the gas tap to force Ukrainian hands, and the methods Moscow uses behind the scenes to persuade Yanukovych and pivotal oligarchs can barely be described in a family newspaper.

By contrast, the EU's "imperialist" intervention has consisted in offering an association agreement, attempting to broker a negotiated settlement between the warring parties and mainly verbal support for non-violent, pro-European demonstrators. To denounce this herbivorous intervention while ignoring Russia's carnivorous ones is Orwellian doublethink.

But comrade Lenin's question remains: what is to be done? The Poles, with members of the Ukrainian opposition, call for a larger carrot. "Not martial law but a Marshall Plan," says opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk. In your dreams, Arseniy. Others call for targeted western sanctions against the Yanukovych clan and selected oligarchs.

I suspect all this will make only a marginal difference. History is being written hour by hour on the ground in Ukraine. But if the British prime minister does want to reconnect with the idealism of his youth, while practising the realpolitik required in his current job, I suggest he has a private word with those key swing-players in Ukraine, the oligarchs. Men like Victor Pinchuk, Dmytro Firtash (a generous donor to Cambridge University) and Akhmetov. We know where they live – in London, among other places. So to have that discreet fireside chat, the prime minister would only need to pop down the road, from Downing Street to One Hyde Park.

Twitter: @fromTGA

Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014
Karl Marx
From the iPhone 5S to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight

By Sean McElwee

January 30, 2014 12:30 PM ET

There's a lot of talk of Karl Marx in the air these days – from Rush Limbaugh accusing Pope Francis of promoting "pure Marxism" to a Washington Times writer claiming that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an "unrepentant Marxist." But few people actually understand Marx's trenchant critique of capitalism. Most people are vaguely aware of the radical economist's prediction that capitalism would inevitably be replaced by communism, but they often misunderstand why he believed this to be true. And while Marx was wrong about some things, his writings (many of which pre-date the American Civil War) accurately predicted several aspects of contemporary capitalism, from the Great Recession to the iPhone 5S in your pocket.

Here are five facts of life in 2014 that Marx's analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:

1. The Great Recession (Capitalism's Chaotic Nature)

The inherently chaotic, crisis-prone nature of capitalism was a key part of Marx's writings. He argued that the relentless drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers' wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created. Sure enough, modern historical events from the Great Depression to the dot-com bubble can be traced back to what Marx termed "fictitious capital" – financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps. We produce and produce until there is simply no one left to purchase our goods, no new markets, no new debts. The cycle is still playing out before our eyes: Broadly speaking, it's what made the housing market crash in 2008. Decades of deepening inequality reduced incomes, which led more and more Americans to take on debt. When there were no subprime borrows left to scheme, the whole façade fell apart, just as Marx knew it would.

2. The iPhone 5S (Imaginary Appetites)

Marx warned that capitalism's tendency to concentrate high value on essentially arbitrary products would, over time, lead to what he called "a contriving and ever-calculating subservience to inhuman, sophisticated, unnatural and imaginary appetites." It's a harsh but accurate way of describing contemporary America, where we enjoy incredible luxury and yet are driven by a constant need for more and more stuff to buy. Consider the iPhone 5S you may own. Is it really that much better than the iPhone 5 you had last year, or the iPhone 4S a year before that? Is it a real need, or an invented one? While Chinese families fall sick with cancer from our e-waste, megacorporations are creating entire advertising campaigns around the idea that we should destroy perfectly good products for no reason. If Marx could see this kind of thing, he'd nod in recognition.

3. The IMF (The Globalization of Capitalism)

Marx's ideas about overproduction led him to predict what is now called globalization – the spread of capitalism across the planet in search of new markets. "The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe," he wrote. "It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere." While this may seem like an obvious point now, Marx wrote those words in 1848, when globalization was over a century away. And he wasn't just right about what ended up happening in the late 20th century – he was right about why it happened: The relentless search for new markets and cheap labor, as well as the incessant demand for more natural resources, are beasts that demand constant feeding.

4. Walmart (Monopoly)

The classical theory of economics assumed that competition was natural and therefore self-sustaining. Marx, however, argued that market power would actually be centralized in large monopoly firms as businesses increasingly preyed upon each other. This might have struck his 19th-century readers as odd: As Richard Hofstadter writes, "Americans came to take it for granted that property would be widely diffused, that economic and political power would decentralized." It was only later, in the 20th century, that the trend Marx foresaw began to accelerate. Today, mom-and-pop shops have been replaced by monolithic big-box stores like Walmart, small community banks have been replaced by global banks like J.P. Morgan Chase and small famers have been replaced by the likes of Archer Daniels Midland. The tech world, too, is already becoming centralized, with big corporations sucking up start-ups as fast as they can. Politicians give lip service to what minimal small-business lobby remains and prosecute the most violent of antitrust abuses – but for the most part, we know big business is here to stay.

5. Low Wages, Big Profits (The Reserve Army of Industrial Labor)

Marx believed that wages would be held down by a "reserve army of labor," which he explained simply using classical economic techniques: Capitalists wish to pay as little as possible for labor, and this is easiest to do when there are too many workers floating around. Thus, after a recession, using a Marxist analysis, we would predict that high unemployment would keep wages stagnant as profits soared, because workers are too scared of unemployment to quit their terrible, exploitative jobs. And what do you know? No less an authority than the Wall Street Journal warns, "Lately, the U.S. recovery has been displaying some Marxian traits. Corporate profits are on a tear, and rising productivity has allowed companies to grow without doing much to reduce the vast ranks of the unemployed." That's because workers are terrified to leave their jobs and therefore lack bargaining power. It's no surprise that the best time for equitable growth is during times of "full employment," when unemployment is low and workers can threaten to take another job.

In Conclusion:

Marx was wrong about many things. Most of his writing focuses on a critique of capitalism rather than a proposal of what to replace it with – which left it open to misinterpretation by madmen like Stalin in the 20th century. But his work still shapes our world in a positive way as well. When he argued for a progressive income tax in the Communist Manifesto, no country had one. Now, there is scarcely a country without a progressive income tax, and it's one small way that the U.S. tries to fight income inequality. Marx's moral critique of capitalism and his keen insights into its inner workings and historical context are still worth paying attention to. As Robert L. Heilbroner writes, "We turn to Marx, therefore, not because he is infallible, but because he is inescapable." Today, in a world of both unheard-of wealth and abject poverty, where the richest 85 people have more wealth than the poorest 3 billion, the famous cry, "Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains," has yet to lose its potency.

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Powerful President dithering in the South, 

Powerless Provincial Council resolving in the 

North

by Rajan Philips-February 1, 2014

Last Sunday I alluded to Geneva anxieties. Since then things have got sillier and more complicated at the same time. On Monday, the Northern Provincial Council, that has not been able to do anything worthwhile after its election in September, passed a resolution calling for international investigation into the last stages of the war, and for erecting a memorial at Mullivaikal to honour the civilians killed there during the war’s final phase. The Council also decided to send Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan as its representative to Geneva to speak on the question of the missing persons. The resolution seems to have come out of the blue for most observers, and certainly for the UPFA government (which lately has been losing its original SLFP blueness).

Powerful President dithering in the South, by nelvely

Towards The Resolution Of Conflicts: Lessons From Mandela

By R S Perinbanayagam -February 1, 2014 

Prof. R.S.Perinbanayagam

One of the ways of resolving long-standing conflicts can be termed as aspresentism and futurism. In deploying this strategy one focuses only on what his happening now and what is available on the ground and in futurism one focuses on what can be done to secure a better set of circumstances than what had been available in the past. In pursuing these two strategies, the first step is to ignore, however painful it had been, the past and start   anew and  constitute systems of relationships and programs that will ensure a relatively congenial and efficient functioning of the social order in the future.

This in fact was the strategy that Nelson Mandela adopted in South Africa, not only after he became president but even before that. In the beginning he favored a nonviolent approach in the fight against apartheid. He soon abandoned such a strategy, after certain events that had transpired, and opted for an armed struggle. Once he found out that that was not going to be fruitful he returned to the strategy of negotiating with the state as the intelligent and prudent and efficient way of achieving freedom for the black and brown people of South Africa. Negotiating for a non-apartheid South Africa meant that one underplays  all the injustices and cruelties of the past, leaving that to future historians, and seek to make fundamental changes in the current political structure so that the people who are living now and those who will live in the future are served well. It does not mean forgiving or forgetting the wrongs done in the distant or immediate past but focusing on “what is to be done” now so that the future can be better served. It also means forgetting about seeking revenge and retribution and working towards the future of the people for whom one is fighting as well as for the future of one’s one-time antagonists.

Revenge truly has no place in politics and in life too. “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution. In due time their foot will slip. For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.” sayith the God of the Jews, and not man’s. He will take care of vengeance in His own good time and did!.  Christ too spoke strongly against revenge in his famous sermon on the mount. The Buddha recommends compassion, right action and right speech In the Mahabaratha, which is really a narrative of events that lead to a great war, one may mention that after Krishna’s passionate recommendation to Arjuna of the virtues of the war, the Pandavas and the Kauravas were at peace with each other in the afterlife, described in the last chapter of the epic.

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Family members of missing people say police misled them

By Chris Kamalendran-Sunday, February 02, 2014

Some family members of missing people have charged that police officers in civvies diverted them to an alternate office while they were waiting at the Kilinochchi Kachcheri to give details to the commission probing the whereabouts of missing people.
The civilians complained to the Kilinochchi Government Agent that the policemen had directed them to another office 100 metres away, claiming that it was also part of the commission office and they could lodge their complaints about disappearances and abductions.

They said officials from the Ministries of Economic Development, Child Development and Women’s Affairs and Social Services and several government departments were present along with Terrorism Investigation Department officials at this office at ‘Harmony Centre’ in Kilinochchi.

“We were told that if we claimed that our missing kith and kin were abducted by the LTTE they could arrange to issue death certificates in addition to providing relief including dry rations,” one of the residents said.

He said that about 15 people received a cheque for Rs. 100,000 each after they agreed to the conditions.

Former Judge Maxwell Paranagama who is heading the commission to investigate complaints regarding missing persons told the Sunday Times that when the first sittings were in progress at the Kachcheri some people who turned up to present their cases had reported to an office close by and lodged their complaints.

“We are an independent body looking into complaints regarding missing persons. We have already received more than 13,000 complaints including some 5,000 about service personnel who have gone missing while serving in the North,” he said.

Meanwhile, Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said they had no hidden agenda in conducting a relief programme to help the affected families. “We were trying to help these people,” he said.

He said they had nothing to do with the Commission.

Meanwhile the Commission is due to have its next sittings in Mullaitivu followed by sittings in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mannar.

London conference explores nature of land grabs in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 February 2014, 10:50 GMT]
Academics, legal experts, activists, journalists, and Eezham Tamil politicians gathered in London to discuss Sri Lankan state facilitated land grabs in the Eezham Tamils homeland, its nature, its effects, and possible solutions, at a conference on Saturday. While all of the presenters were in consensus that land grabs in the Tamil homeland was a phenomena that was a genuine and pressing issue, many expressed their support for a strong international campaign to put a halt to this. Likewise, some of the participants also criticised the international community’s silence and complicity in the process. There was also heated debate on whether the process could be termed “genocide”, with former UN official and Bremen-PPT judge Dr. Denis Halliday along with Tamil activists from both the presenters and the audience arguing in its favour. 

London Conference Explores Nature of Land Grabs in Tamil Homeland by nelvely

Yet another craft with illicit weapons of Gota in the red sea !

(Lanka-e-News -02.Feb.2014, 10.00AM) On the 21 st of January 2014 , Lanka e news posted a report about how a craft of Sri Lanka’s (SL) criminal defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse’s illicitly carrying 45 AL 47 weapons was seized by the Indian coastal security division . With this report gaining publicity , there is information that another similar craft loaded with arms was in the red sea and that was belonging by name to the Avant Garde security chief Nissanka Senadhipathy . However by now it is known that it is truly belonging to Gotabaya.

This vessel has been registered in the name of ‘Djibouti,’ a small state facing the red sea , and the name of the craft is ‘Sinbad.’ Premkumar Gunawardena , a former officer and close henchman of Gotabaya is functioning as the captain of that craft. Though they are pretending to protect the commercial ships from Guerilla attacks , in truth they are engaged in the illicit arms deals of Gotabaya.

Might we add that after we disclosed through our news report earlier about the capture of Gota’s craft with illicit arms by the Indian coastal security, Lanka e news received a phone call on an undisclosed number . The caller speaking in Sinhala threatened most ominously ‘ no matter where you are hiding , we shall search and kill you.’

Undaunted and undeterred by threats and intimidations we have continued to expose the second illicit arms craft of Gotabaya in the best interests of the nation in true patriotic fervor, no matter how close or far our traitorous enemies are .

Letting The Military In

by Tisaranee Gunasekara-

“Ignorance marches in triumph, carrying with her, in one place, barbarian ferocity; in another, a more refined and accomplished cruelty; every where, corruption and perfidy.”

Condorcet (Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind)

( February 2, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Last week, ten uniformed soldiers under the command of a uniformed lieutenant, were caught felling teak trees in a forest reserve in Ampara. 

Letting the Military In by nelvely

"This is an ongoing genocide" - landgrabs conference concludes 02 February 2014 The second day of the international conference on the Sri Lankan state’s forcible and militarised procurement of Tamil lands in the Northeast took place in London on Saturday. The conference, organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils alongside British Tamils Forum, opened with a screening of ‘This Land Belongs to the Army’, a documentary by Tamil Nadu journalist Tamizh Prabhagaran, who was arrested and deported from the island last year. The documentary focused on the extent of militarisation in the Northeast. Professor Oren Yiftachel of the Ben Gurion University, Israel, delivered a talk examining ethnocracies, saying that they “might have elections and citizenship on paper… but below this facade it is about the expansion of one ethnic group”. In a panel discussion, Dr Shapan Adnan from Singapore University, pointed out that “army of archaeologists were released [into the Northeast] after war ended, “rediscovering” religious sites” which espoused a “state sponsored rewriting of history”. Dr David Rampton, a fellow of the London School of Economics, asserted that “the international community is only now beginning to comprehend it was Sinhala nationalism that created the dynamic for many of [the island’s] problems”. Dr Jochen Hippler from University of Duisburg-Essen argued that oppression is a useful tool in Sri Lanka’s nation-building project. On the question of genocide, Hippler stated that “Sri Lanka is trying to turn Tamils from a nation into a minority.” In a talk entitled “President Rajapaksa – biggest mass murderer of the 21st century?” Professor Jake Lynch from the University of Sydney reiterated that the TNA’s landslide victory in the Northern provincial elections was “very clear evidence of Tamil aspirations for self-determination”. In a second panel discussion, Mr K Kurunathan, a retired land commissioner in Sri Lanka, detailed the renaming of Tamil villages into Sinhalese by Sri Lanka, and the seizing of Tamil lands sometimes under the premises of preserving wildlife sanctuaries. President of TNPF, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, pointed out that building military camps do not benefit the local population of the Northeast, and so acquisition of private lands served no “public purpose”. Ponnambalam asserted that that the Sri Lankan constitution and legal system completed the Sinhala Buddhist nature of the Sri Lankan state and said: “There is a clear state transformational process of establishing a Sinhala Buddhist ethnocracy,” “The only barrier to that process was armed struggle of the LTTE... Now the process is unabated,” “In the eyes of the Tamil people the laws itself are the cause of oppression.” Ponnambalam also contested Professor Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister for the Malaysian state of Penang, who earlier advocated regime change, highlighting that the opposition were seen as weak for entering the ceasefire agreement, and that a regime’s victory in Sri Lanka was a determined by its Sinhala ethnocratic credentials. He also emphasised the Tamil protests during David Cameron’s visit to Jaffna, which showed that the Tamil “people are willing to take risks despite oppression” and “willing to take action” but were in need of “leadership”. Anuradha Mittal of think-tank, Oakland Institute, led the final session of the day detailing that effective campaigns have been started against companies that do business in Sri Lanka. Former UN Assistant Secretary-General, Denis Halliday built on his earlier discussion of genocide and explained that it is a “process, a strategy and a government policy” and also discussed the many genocidal processes enacted upon Tamils by Sri Lanka. Halliday also pointed out that the “LTTE was not given the chance to show their capabilities and leadership”. TNA MP Suresh Premachandran describing the strong sentiment among the Sinhala polity that the island belongs to Sinhala Buddhists, implored the European Union to lay down preconditions before giving any sort of assistance to Sri Lanka. In a video recording, Jaffna University Lecturer and civil society activist Kumaravadivel Guruparan explained that the Sri Lankan state “wants to redesign and reclaim the Northeast, to make it part of its Sinhala Buddhist state” and also said: “The narrative of a potential liberal space in Sri Lanka denies the constitutional reality of the Sinhala-Buddhist state,” “Tamils have spent all these years trying to show attempts within the Sri Lankan state have been truly exhausted”. Miriam Rose from Foil Vedanta spoke on sea grabs and explained that restricting access to areas of the sea were detrimental to livelihoods. Suresh Premachandran MP, addressing a question from the audience on the TNA’s stance on genocide, said: "I think TNA has a clear view. Me, Sampanthan and Sumanthiran have all spoke in parliament and said there is genocide." The conference was concluded by Dennis Halliday stating “this is a genocide. This is an ongoing genocide.”

The great tragedy of our ‘non-law’

Sunday, February 02, 2014

It is a favorite argument of the cynical minded among us that Sri Lanka never had a functional system of law in a manner which actually served the people. This argument may have its adherents and its critics. Indeed, radical theorists would argue that the role of the law and the courts is at the best, only limited in its impact and that the framework of social justice encompasses far more than judgments of courts or provisions in statute books. This critique too would be right but only in part.

A system of ‘non-law’
As a norm, the role of the law is powerful though the aim of political leaders all over the world would be to devise imaginative ways in which to bypass that norm without appearing to be too crude about it. The United States, in that sense, offers us the best example in the manner in which old engrained of life, liberty and happiness have, in the name of the war against terrorism, been whittled down to the extent that its people no longer care if their private correspondences are being interfered with sans adequate judicial oversight and public openness or if their government invades other nations with contemptible scorn for principles of international law.

This theory of the equality of the law that we hear so often articulated as the norm is, of course, a myth, among nations as well as within nations.
Despite all this, it has also been understood that people in democratic nations will tolerate only to a point. This is why, for example, the US President recently addressed his people by engaging in painful justifications as to why his administration was compelled to spy on its own citizens. These justifications may be tortuous and even bordering on being disingenuous. But the point is that they are made for important policy reasons that are to do with the democratic acceptance of his government.

This is what distinguishes functional states from dysfunctional states. And the role of the law in that regard assumes great importance, despite the flawed nature of its equitable implementation. When countries disregard these imperatives, a state of ‘non-law’ comes into being. Sri Lanka is a classic example of this peculiar state.

Games of tit-for-tat?
This week, Sri Lankans were privileged to hear that the Principal of the country’s Law College who was summarily sacked for what is mysteriously termed in public as ‘examination irregularities,’ the nature of which is familiar to any person with a nodding acquaintance with the legal sphere, has been appointed as the Legal Director of the Presidential Secretariat by President Mahinda Rajapaksa (see Daily Mirror, February 1, 2014).

Piquantly, this appointment was made amidst a well publicized media blitz by those responsible for governing Law College that there would be stringent reforms of the administrative structure of this institution. As a wit marked in passing, this was something akin to locking the stable doors after the horses have bolted. The focus ironically enough is on those lecturing at the College, with new examination and marking procedures that would appear to be highly impractical in their implementation. But as we should well remind ourselves, the origin of this furore was elsewhere.

The immediate issue certainly was the allegation that the sacked Principal had engaged in nepotism. Yet even preceding this, ugly rumors circulated during his term regarding the manner in which the Sri Lanka President’s own son had passed the Law College examinations. And regardless, if allegations are made, they must be fairly inquired, made open to the public and concluded with propriety. Yet, this is not the case. Instead we have interesting games of tit for tat; an individual is sacked for alleged irregularities and is then employed elsewhere with a blinking of an eye. This indeed is a good case of the institutional breakdown that this country faces where the law as a norm, is openly and defiantly flouted.

Legal professionalism cannot operate in isolation
That said, the concerns that occupy those at the helm of the judiciary regarding the deterioration of professional standards in the legal profession which, as has been opined, must be addressed through reform of legal education, would be hilarious if it were not so nonsensical. One might well ask the question as to how can there be professional standards in a context where the sitting head of the judiciary is dragged out like a common criminal, brought before abusive parliamentarians and tossed out of office without so much as a by your leave?

And how can professionalism be maintained when judges who deliver orders according to law are given threatening calls by thugs operating at the behest of politicians? Or indeed, when murderers and rapists roam free under the patronage of the political hierarchy? Is professionalism of lawyers to be pursued as something isolated from the culture of despicable politicization that has corrupted our systems to the extent that the law is no longer workable in a fundamental sense? And what can be said indeed, of the integrity, independence and capacity of the other parts of the legal system, including the judiciary?

Not merely of domestic concern
In sum, the dysfunction affecting Sri Lanka’s legal and justice institutions and the now quite evident degeneration of the Rule of Law is a prime reason why this country is under international scrutiny. The issue is not one of mere domestic concern. The distractions of international war crimes inquiries are only a part of the picture.

That much must be clearly understood.