Following Ban ‘Killing Fields Of Sri Lanka’ Available Free Viewing In India, Malaysia, Nepal And Sri Lanka

February 22, 2014 

The controversial documentary No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka has been refused a censor certificate for release in theaters by the Indian Central Board of Film Certification. In response, Callum Macrae, the documentary’s director has decided to make it available free online in India. The film will also be available free in Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, other countries where the screening of No Fire Zone has been banned.

The producers of the controversial documentary, have accused the Indian authorities of “political censorship of unpalatable truths” for refusing a censor certificate on the grounds it “may strain friendly relations with Sri Lanka.”

Claiming that “most of the visuals are of a disturbing nature,” the Board turned down the censor certificate for the documentary.

This means that the film – which documents war crimes and crimes against humanity committed at the end of the Sri Lanka civil war – is banned from theatrical release in India.

The ban on the film will add to the controversy over the Indian government’s refusal to grant a visa to the film’s director, Callum Macrae to attend a premiere of the documentary in New Delhi and Mumbai in November last year.

Mr Macrae – a respected film-maker who has won many industry awards and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on exposing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka – said today:

“I find it very disturbing that a country whose independent history is rooted in the struggle for democratic rights and free speech should have taken what is, in effect, an act of overt political censorship.”

In protest against the ban – and supported by a group of journalists in India – the production team have decided to make the film available for free streaming online in India.  It will be available from Sunday 23 February on  http://nofirezone.org/watch – both in English and in English with Hindi subtitles.  The film will also be available for free in Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The revelation of the Indian ban follows what appears to be a concerted campaign by the Sri Lankan government to pressurize foreign governments to stop the film being seen.  In Malaysia a screening of the film was raided by between 30 and 40 members of the Malaysian Censorship Board and police officers and an organizer, Lena Hendry of Malaysian Human Rights organisation Pusat Komas, was charged under censorship laws. She faces a maximum of three years in jail if convicted.

That was followed by an order by the Nepalese authorities to give the organisers of the Film Southasia Festival in Katmandu just 24 hours notice that they must not show No Fire Zone and two other Sri Lankan films in their festival as planned.

Film Southasia issued an immediate statement: “We announce with great regret that the Sri Lankan Government has pressurised the Nepali authorities to stop the screening of all three documentaries”  They described the attempted ban as: “an action that goes against the freedom of expression and the right of documentary filmmakers to exhibit their work.”

Director Macrae said: “While telling the world that it is investigating the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity  – the Sri Lankan government is in practice mounting an international campaign to deny the truth and silence the witnesses.”

“As national delegations prepare to meet in Geneva for the UN Human Rights Council – which will hear calls for the setting up of an international Commission of Inquiry into all the crimes committed in the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka – we hope making the film available in India, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka will stimulate debate on these vital issues.”

India bans ‘No Fire Zone’ film

By admin on February 22, 2014

The controversial documentary ‘No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka; has been refused a censor certificate for release in theaters by the Indian Central Board of Film Certification. In response, Callum Macrae, the documentary’s director has decided to make it available free online in India. The film will also be available free in Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, other countries where the screening of No Fire Zone has been banned, the producers said in a statement.

‘No Fire Zone’ documentary banned in India

22 February 2014

The documentary ‘No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’ has been banned from theatrical release in India, after it was refused a censorship certificate on grounds that it may strain relations with Sri Lanka.

India bans ‘No Fire Zone’ film by nelvely

‘No Fire Zone’ to be released for free viewing in India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka by nelvely

Muslims: What Really Went Wrong!

By Imtiyaz Razak -February 22, 2014 |

Dr. Imtiyaz Razak

The fact is that Muslims of the world are among the poorest of the poor and Muslims in the Muslim majority societies and non-Muslim majority societies in Asia and Africa are heavily struggling to embrace modernization due to economic and social backwardness.

There are several reasons as to why there is poverty and social backwardness among Muslims. I would like to share some easy but strong fact to have your opinions.

The combined annual GDP of 57 Muslim countries remains under $2 trillion. America , just by herself, produces goods and services worth $10.4 trillion; China $6 trillion, Japan $3.5 trillion and Germany $2.1 trillion. Even India ‘s GDP is estimated at over $3 trillion (purchasing power parity basis). Oil rich Saudi Arabia , U.A.E., Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $430 billion; Netherlands alone has a higher annual GDP while Buddhist Thailand produces goods and services worth $429 billion.

Muslims are 22 percent of the world population and produce less than five percent of global GDP. Even more worrying is that the Muslim countries’ GDP as a percent of the global GDP is going down over time.

The Arabs, it seems, are particularly worse off. According to the United Nations’ Arab Development Report: “Half of Arab women cannot read; One in five Arabs live on less than $2 per day; Only 1 percent of the Arab population has a personal computer, and only half of 1 percent use the Internet; Fifteen percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed, and this number could double by 2010; The average growth rate of the per capita income during the preceding 20 years in the Arab world was only one-half of 1 percent per annum, worse than anywhere but sub-Saharan Africa.”

The planet’s poorest countries include Ethiopia , Sierra Leone , Afghanistan , Cambodia , Somalia , Nigeria , Pakistan and Mozambique. At least six of the poorest of the poor are countries with a Muslim majority. Fifty-seven Muslim majority countries have an average of ten universities each for a total of less than 600 universities for 1.4 billion people; India has 8,407 universities, the U.S. has 5,758. From within 1.4 billion  Muslims.

Over the past 105 years, 1.4 billion Muslims have produced eight Nobel Laureates while a mere 14 million Jews have produced 167 Nobel Laureates. Of the 1.4 billion Muslims less than 300,000 qualify as ‘scientists’, and that converts to a ratio of 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The United States of America has 1.1 million scientists (4,099 per million); Japan has 700,000 (5,095 per million). Fact: Of the 1.4 billion Muslims 800 million are illiterate (6 out of 10 Muslims cannot read). In Christendom, adult literacy rate stands at 78 percent. Consider, for instance, that Muslims constitute 22 percent of world population with a 1 percent share of Nobel Prizes. Jews constitute 0.23 percent of world population with a 22 percent share of Nobel Prizes.

THE fact is that Muslims are poor, illiterate and weak. What went wrong? Arriving at the right diagnosis is extremely critical because the prescription depends on it.

Supreme Court overrules Appeals Court writ against CJ impeachment

• 5-Judge bench overturns Appeals Court writ against PSC findings in Shirani B impeachment
• SC says Court of Appeal has no writ jurisdiction over Parliament
• Overturns former Supreme Court ruling that PSC had no basis in law
• Ruling does not validate impeachment: Weliamuna

By Dharisha Bastians-February 22, 2014
The Government got one step closer to legalising the sacking of Chief Justice 43 Shirani Bandaranayake when the Supreme Court yesterday overturned a Court of Appeal writ that quashed the findings of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed impeachment charges brought against her.

A five-Judge divisional bench of the Supreme Court ruled that while the Court of Appeal had exclusive jurisdiction over issuing writs, that jurisdiction did not extend to matters of Parliament and its select Committees. The bench ruled that under Article 140 the Court of Appeal had writ jurisdiction over inferior courts but argued that under the provisions of the Sri Lankan Constitution, the Parliament and its select committees could not be regarded as inferior to the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court held that Parliament and its select committees would therefore not be amenable to writ jurisdiction.

The verdict was issued yesterday after considering a petition filed by the Attorney General’s Department against the Court of Appeal Writ Certiorari of 7 January 2013, four days before Parliament removed Chief Justice Bandaranayake from office.

The Court of Appeal writ quashed the PSC report on Bandaranayake’s impeachment ‘trial’ that found her guilty on three counts and barred Parliament from further action to remove the Chief Justice based on the flawed findings. The writ was issued the basis that the Supreme Court had just days before declared the impeachment process to be unconstitutional and legally unsound.

The petition against the Court of Appeal Writ was heard before Justices Saleeem Marsoof PC, Chandra Ekanayake, Sathya Hettige, Eva Wanasundara and Rohini Marasinghe.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, senior constitutional lawyer and legal activist J.C. Weliamuna told the Daily FT that the judgment in no way validates Bandaranayake’s impeachment.

“At the time of impeachment what were valid were the rulings by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. If the Government respected the Judiciary, it should have waited until the judgments were reviewed. They ignored everything and continued with their arbitrary actions to remove the Chief Justice. They can’t seek subsequent judgments to validate those actions now. What is material is the time of impeachment,” Weliamuna said.
In its 32-page judgment the divisional bench also overruled the Supreme Court order Ref. 3/2012 which held that only a court, tribunal or body that has power conferred upon it by law has the authority to make findings that affect the rights of a person. In its 1 January judgment a three-Judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that a Select Committee appointed under and in terms of Standing Order 78A has no legal power or authority to make a finding adversely affecting the legal rights of a Judge.

However, the five-Judge bench led by Justice Marsoof argued that the previous bench had deleted or ignored the words “or Standing Order” set out in Article 107 (3) which provides that Parliament shall “by law or standing order” provide for all matters relating the investigation and proof of a judge’s misbehaviour or incapacity.
“It is my considered opinion that the determination of this Court in SC Reference No. 3/2012 manifestly exceeded the mandate conferred on this Court by Article 125(1) of the Constitution to interpret the Constitution, and was made in disregard of the clear language of Article 107(3) and other basic provisions of the Constitution. The determination is a blatant distortion of the law, and is altogether erroneous, and must not be allowed to stand. This Court hereby overrules the said determination of this Court in SC Reference No. 3/2012,” Justice Marsoof wrote in his determination.

Palitha Fernando, PC, Attorney General with Shavindra Fernando, Deputy Solicitor General, and others appeared for the petitioner appellant. Attorneys M.A. Sumanthiran with Viran Corea and Niran Ankatell appeared for 11th Respondent TNA Leader R. Sampanthan and Attorneys J.C. Weliamuna with Sunil Watagala, Pulasthi Hewamanne and Mevan Bandara represented the 12th respondent, JVP MP Vijitha Herath.

Accident victim of Minister’s son dies : Son has no D/L – MaRa cangaroo courts come forth to rescue murderer son

(Lanka-e-News- 22.Feb.2014, 11.30PM) The victim who was run over by the vehicle driven by Minister Bandula Gunawardena’s son has died in hospital , and the assistance of courts are being sought to suppress this murder.

In keeping with the present raging lawlessness in the country under the MaRa regime , despite the Minister’s son who caused this accident not having a license to drive a vehicle, he had been released by the courts on a personal bail in a sum of Rs. 200,000. 

It is significant to note that this murderer son of the Minister Bandula who had been driving at reckless speed without a license had knocked down a pedestrian who was crossing along the pedestrian crossing at Gandara , Matara on the 20 th. The victim who sustained serious injuries had died after admission to Karapitiya hospital.

Though sly efforts were made by the traffic division OIC to substitute another individual as driver in place of Bandula’s murderous son , because the web media had exposed the facts already , and the other law abiding police officers objected , that attempt was foiled . Ultimately Bandula’s son had to be produced in court. 

As pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs , the courts have acted most unlawfully by releasing Minister’s son on bail despite the latter having no driving license and the victim dying following the accident.

It is as clear as crystal according to established law , where the driver who caused the accident does not have a driving license and the victim dies following the accident , the driver cannot be released on bail under any circumstance whatsoever, while the issue before the court is whether this is a murder.

In any event it has come to light that the Minister had made a request for a driving license for his son giving retrospective effect, to the Deputy Commissioner of motor traffic who is the chief of Werahera office. The Commissioner Bandukeerthi had however educated him on the procedure adopted when issuing a driving license ordinarily. But the Minister had exerted pressure on him to issue a license with back date ( perhaps the Minister knew well ahead about his frolicsome son’s reckless driving and killer speed ). 

Unfortunately for Bandula , the Commissioner who is law abiding unlike the Minister had disconnected his phone line and gone on leave to escape from lawless Bandula’s pestilence. Because the government servant, the Commissioner is duty conscious and refused to yield to unlawful pressures unlike Bandula the Minister notorious for his crookedness even in the sphere of his Ministerial duties as an education Minister , it is reported that the Commissioner’s job is at stake.

No Confidence Motion Against Rajapaksa Government

February 22, 2014 

A no confidence motion has been filed against the Government by the main opposition United National Party, over the ruling administration’s involvement in the ongoing drug scandals in the country.

Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga handed the no confidence motion over to the Secretary General of Parliament W.B.D. Dasanayake.

The Opposition says senior members of the Government including officials at the office of the Prime Minister are involved in a flourishing drug trade in the country.

It is the first no confidence motion faced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s Government, even though his Government has the numbers to defeat it easily.

Sri Lankan WarCrime Documentary with New 

Evidence by PuthiyathalaimuraiTV

To Little Sir, Our President After The Next President

By Kiribanda De Silva Sumanasekara -February 22, 2014 

Dear Mr. Namal Rajapaksa,

The son of our honorable president,

The Honorable the President after the next Honorable president,

Little Sir, your very sight is an immense pleasure to me, I am a Sinhala Buddhist person who has been silently watching your decidedly Buddhist activities as the prince regent of our beloved country, the greatest country in the world.  Last week I saw you speaking at an election rally making some brilliant arguments against Geneva. You said, “West does not want to see our country progresses”. That is true Sir, they are so scared. That is why all this fuss.

The thought of writing to you personally was with me for months. But there were two big problems. One was that there was really no one whom I could trust to send this letter with.  But the other day, I happened to see your mentor professor GL Peiris jogging in Torrington Square where I go regularly for watching people ‘enjoying’ the peace brought about by your family.  I know that the professor has been mentoring you on the art of statecraft during the last few years. Once I saw the professor in his meditative jogging reflecting on his plans for Geneva I sat right there and wrote this letter. The kind professor agreed to take this letter to you. If this ever gets published somewhere it is the professor who is responsible for leaking it to the press.Read More

ALRC calls for UN intervention into mass graves in Sri Lanka

 Saturday, 22 February 2014

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), which is an international non-governmental organization with General Consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, has called for UN intervention into the mass graves in Sri Lanka.

The ALRC is a sister organization of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

It has reportedly submitted a written statement to the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva asking the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to look into the two mass graves at Matale and Mannar.

The group in its statement has said that the procedures used in the excavation of the two mass graves and the investigations into the skeletal remains are not being conducted according to modern forensic methodologies.

The ALRC says the modern forensic methodologies are essential for the proper preservation of the findings as well as the prevention of the destruction of the materials found in the mass graves in the course of excavation.

The INGO has said that both at Mannar and Matale, the mass graves were dug with bulldozers and such methods are not conducive to proper handling of the human remains that are found in such graves.

“There are no guidelines that have been adopted for proper conduct of excavations, for the preservation of the findings as well as for proper conduct of investigations for the determination of the times at which the burials had taken place and other material elements which are needed for proper identification of the remains of persons which will enable the administration of justice relating to the persons whose remains are found in these mass graves,” the ALRC has said in its statement.

The mass grave in Matale was unearthed last November at the Matale Hospital ground and 154 skeletal remains were exhumed from the site. Forensic studies revealed that the skeletal remains belonged to the period between 1986 and 1990 during the second Marxist uprising.

Skeletal remains of 55 people have so far been unearthed from the Mannar mass grave since the excavations began on December 20, 2013. The excavations are still being carried out at the site in the former war zone.

The ALRC has noted that the methods of excavation need to be scientific and use of equipment and persons who use such equipment for excavations and handling of findings are not kept with the standards required.

“Without interventions from the United Nations Human Rights agencies it is unlikely that there will be the proper development of laws and procedures and the allocation of resources enabling proper excavations and investigations relating to mass graves,” the ALRC has said.

Recasting Of The Sri Lanka Administrative Service

By S. Sivathasan -February 22, 2014

S. Sivathasan

The article below written over 34 years ago but never published, is now being made public in CT in view of its topicality. A few might have wished that theSLAS was not created in the first instance. When the writer discussed with a senior Civil Servant he said that in the early fifties, JR Jayewardene desired to see the Civil Service and the Administrative Service co-exist. 

Some appreciate the survival capacity of the SLAS for 50 years and more. Some others see rectification in replacement. The writer saw fraying more than 35 years ago. The rather lengthy and detailed account seeks an elitist Civil Service culture and Administrative Service culture complementing each other. Both of them growing up, overshadowing and replacing the existing Service without displacing a single serving officer. In 20 to 30 years what was proposed would have been in place.

The writer’s public service experience is: any worthwhile document is long and anything long is not read. A respected civil servant told us 45 years back at a seminar “Any memorandum exceeding one page is never read in Colombo”. Many would affirm. 2.22.2014

In a modern state, the responsibility for a whole range of complex functions reposes with the Government. The vast spectrum of obligations impinge on virtually every sphere of human activity. This feature is particularly accentuated in a developing country seeking to compress the growth of centuries in a few decades. If the Government’s commitment to such a drive is firm, the administration has of necessity to be highly efficient. A point of crucial importance to be realised is that the tenor of administration at its commanding heights determines quality at levels below. It’s an elitist service that imparts this quality. Such a service is closely associated in formulating programmes and determining policy issues. From the privileged position in which it is placed, it becomes the repository of a rare experience. Such a background enables it to execute the policies of Government with competence and acceptance. Granted the above proposition, a Government should build up and nurture a service which deserves a superior status. The service should sustain its superiority through sheer excellence.                      Read More

Supreme Court is above parliament – Ceylon Tobacco Company

 Saturday, 22 February 2014 

In total disregard of the act passed by parliament recently to make it mandatory for pictorial warning against smoking in cigarette packets, the Ceylon Tobacco Company continues to release cigarette packets to the market without such warning, saying that the act passed in parliament is irrelevant and that the Court of Appeal is yet to make a ruling on the matter. 

The Court of Appeal is due to announce its verdict on May 12, and the CTC has said in a listing to the Colombo share market that it will continue to use the old packets without the pictorial warning in respect of the injunction issued by the Supreme Court on 20 September last year.

Commenting on this, a legal expert told us that the CTC recognizes the Supreme Court as being above parliament when going about with its businesses. Parliament is above the Supreme Court only at exceptional instances such as impeachments against chief justices, he said. Had it been a member of the ‘king’s family’ who has been cited a respondent in this case, instead of health minister Maithripala Sirisena, parliament would once again have been declared as the supreme institution, the legal expert added.

BOMB SCARE LETTER FROM STUDENT ‘FORGED’ – POLICE

February 22, 2014 

Puttalam Police have launched an investigation into a “forged letter” alleging a plot to detonate a bomb at a ceremony to be attended by the President.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to declare open a science lab at the Zahira Muslim Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Puttalam on Sunday (February 23).

A letter sent to the Inspector at the Puttalam Police Headquarters on Friday (21) alleges of a plot to detonate a bomb during the ceremony at the school. 

The letter, which claims that the explosives are to be placed in a building at the school, identifies the writer as a Grade 13 student of the Kadayamatte Muslim Maha Vidyalaya in Madurankuliya.

Police have uncovered that the student is Tamil and that he is the head prefect at the Muslim school.  

Investigations carried out thus far by intelligence officers reveal that the student in question is innocent and that other Muslim students in the school had been annoyed by the fact that he had been appointed as the head prefect, despite he being a Tamil student in a Muslim school.

Police believe that the letter had been written by three other students in the school possibly to frame the Tamil student. 

However, police said that investigations are still ongoing as the three students suspected of forging the letter are unavailable for questioning and were not at their respective homes. 

Police and National Intelligence Bureau have confirmed that the letter written under the name of the school’s head prefect had been forged. 

Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana, speaking to Ada Derana, stated that investigations have conformed the letter was forged by someone else and that Puttalam Police are conducting further investigations. 

Japan funds US$1.3bn for Colombo monorail

Sri Lanka is likely to opt for a 1.3 billion US dollar monorail mass transit system with Japanese finance to cut traffic congestion and boost mobility in the capital Colombo, an official said.

A monorail system will cost about 55 to 57 million US dollar for a kilometre to build, Rohan Seneviratne additional secretary of Sri Lanka's urban development ministry told the LBR-LBO Chief Executive Forum in Colombo.

An underground metro is likely to cost 120 million US dollars or more and a standard mass rapid transit system about 80 to 90 million US dollars he said.

Monorail systems are typically narrower and run on an elevated track through the entire length, while light rail systems have two tracks and can easily transit between elevated and street level. Larger MRT systems run underground or at street level.

Seneviratne, who is in an inter-agency committee that is looking at a traffic masterplan for the metro Colombo region said a feasibility of the first stage is being studied.

It involves a line running from Malabe, Talahena, Robert Gunawarden Mawatha, National Hospital, Union Place, World Trade Centre, Colombo Fort and Kotahena.

A link is also planned from Kollupitiya to National Hospital.

A second stage will involve a line running from Kotahena to Kelaniya.

A multimodal hub in Colombo's Pettah area is likely to cost another 175 million US dollars.

Seneviratne said a traffic masterplan done by Oriental Consultants of Japan also included linking other modes of transport to the rail system including bus-rapid-transit (BRT) and existing broad-gauge railways.

The Japan International Co-operation Agency is willing to fund the first phase, he said.

The monorail is likely to take up to eight years to build with about three years of pre-construction work including design and five years for construction, Seneviratne said.

The government (tax payers) will have to bear the capital cost capital of building the line, he said.

It was also likely that passengers may not be able to pay the full operation and maintenance cost requiring a government subsidy, based on the purchasing power of the people, Seneviratne said.

A 'government' subsidy will have to be financed through other tax sources including foods consumed by people in rural regions who do not travel on the monorail.

A mass rapid transit system provides a high quality, air-conditioned and quick service with no traffic jams and can usually draw out people who travel by private car and taxi, reducing road congestion.

A traveller in Colombo usually pays 32 to 40 rupees a kilometer to use a three-wheeler taxi and around 50 to 60 rupees a kilometre for an air-conditioned car.

While tax payer financed capital is usually used for mass transit systems, Thailand's Tanayong property group (now BTS Group Holdings Plc) built an elevated 23.5 kilometre BTS Skytrain system with private financing through its subsidiary Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited.

Though the company ran into financial difficulties during the Asian financial crisis, it is run profitably. Its income is supplemented by advertising and property.

It has since been tasked with operating and maintaining additional 12 kilometres of line built by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration as well as a BRT route.

Bangkok's underground Metro had state support for civil works but mechanical and engineering equipment was installed and is operated by a private firm.

Bangkok Metro Public Company Limited promoted by Ch Karnchang, a construction group, is still making operational losses but was cash positive by 2012.

Malaysia's high speed air-rail link KLIA Express, operated by Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd, is also private and self-financed with YTL group as the key shareholder.

Renal diseases hit Sri Lankan refugees at Madurai camp



TNN | Feb 22, 2014
MADURAI: Several cases of kidney ailments have been reported from Sri Lankan refugees living in Thiruvathavur camp here. Nine refugees have died due to kidney failure in the last four years, revealed a human rights organisation. Poor quality of water drawn through borewells is being blamed for the incidence of renal diseases at the camp.

Renal failure, also known as kidney failure, results when kidneys fail to adequately filter waste products from the blood.

The said camp was set up at Thiruvathavur village in Melur taluk in 2002 to accommodate refugees from Sri Lanka. About 490 families which were staying at another camp in Vaikam Periyar Nagar, near Avaniyapuram, were shifted here. The camp has 500 houses with toilets and other facilities, including three borewells. Water, which is drawn from two over-head tanks of 62,000 litre and 32,000 litre capacity, is taken by the residents through 60 tap connections on the premises.

Water available at the camp may contain chemicals causing kidney problems, said C Anadaraj, director of Equal Rights, the NGO.

Among the 16 people currently suffering from renal issues are a nine-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy. "Due to kidney failure nine people in the camp have lost their lives since 2009. Two children have urological diseases and seven others have kidney stones," said Krishna Leela, an inhabitant of the camp.

"The refugees have been using the borewell water for all their needs. People who are financially sound are buying can water for drinking after we came to know that water contamination has been causing kidney ailments. As many people at the camp can't pay for packaged water, they still use the borewell water," said Anna Rose, another inmate.

"The government, which is keen about the welfare of the refugees, should take steps to test the water available in the camp. We will be safe as long as we live here only if the water becomes potable," said both Leela and Rose.
Congress in Pondy Demands Deportation of SL Tamils


 FEB 20, 2014
Irked over Tamil Nadu government's decision to set free all seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, opposition Congress in Puducherry today demanded deportation of all Sri Lankan Tamils staying in India.

Addressing reporters here, former Chief Minister and Leader of the opposition, V.Vaithilingam described the decision as politically motivated with an eye on Lok Sabha polls. "All Sri Lankan Tamils staying in India should be deported," he said.

PCC President, A.V.Subramanian said the Supreme court had not declared the convicts innocent.

Former Education Minister and president of PCC's advocates wing A.Gandhiraj said Tamil Nadu government's decision would be a "bad" precedent and hence it should withdraw its decision.

Later, Youth Congress activists staged a demonstration condemning the decision to release the convicts.

Question of substantial justice in Rajiv case: 

Ram Jethmalani

Feb 21, 2014

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/india/question-of-substantial-justice-in-rajiv-case-ram-jethmalani-1402975.html?utm_source=ref_article

Chennai: Noted advocate Ram Jethmalani today rejected arguments that there were procedural lapses on the part of Tamil Nadu government in deciding to release seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and said it was a "question of substantial justice."

"One side the allegations are being made. It is not a question of irregularity of procedure but it is the question of substantial justice," Jethmalani told reporters here.

]Agency

Arriving here along with MDMK leader Vaiko, he said, "they have suffered life imprisonment, which is not ordinary but a life imprisonment, where every day (is spent under) the shadow of death...which was an additional punishment and this is torture which has been recognised by all civilised countries to get rid of death penalty and I hope India will not fall behind."

To a query on the Supreme Court's stay on the Tamil Nadu government's decision to release the seven convicts, he said, "my own opinion and this is what I like to say if I do appear. Each day of life imprisonment under the shadow of death is like five times than life imprisonment which they have already suffered."

"I hope what Jayalalithaa has tried to do, will continue and victory will be ours in the Supreme Court and everything will be alright".

Vaiko, who has been campaigning for the release of the convicts said "we will place our arguments in the apex court." The Supreme Court has adjourned hearing of the case to 6 March.

In a surprise move welcomed by several parties, including arch-rival DMK, the Jayalalithaa government on February 19 has decided to set free all seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a day after the Supreme Court commuted the death penalty of three of them to life on the ground of 11 years delay in considering their mercy pleas by the Centre.

PTI