JVP to take legal action against CEB 


BY RUWAN LAKNATH JAYAKODY

  June 8, 2014
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Puttalam People's Voice (PPV) yesterday said they will be taking legal action against the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

The JVP, the Puttalam People's Voice and the All Island General Fisheries Federation state that they do not want the holding column towers carrying high tension wires and high voltage electricity power lines connecting Anuradhapura and the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant's third phase to distribute electricity, to be built in the biodiversity rich Puttalam Lagoon or in islands in the Lagoon as this will cause an environmental disaster and precipitate a serious threat to fishermen and fisher families' livelihood.
Meanwhile, the PPV said they will be protesting continuously.

The Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management's Geology Unit is presently conducting soil tests in Crocodile Island (Kimbul Doopatha) under the protection of the Sri Lanka Navy provided by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.

After an argument with the Sri Lanka Navy, over 250 fishermen last week went to Crocodile Island in the Puttalam Lagoon in boats, raised symbolic black flags and inspected the soil test and constructions including excavations being conducted which were authorized by the CEB through its contractor – Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB).
Chairman of the CECB, N. Rupasinghe, said, "We are working for a Chinese company as a contractor investigating the foundations and drilling holes. We check whether or not the towers can be erected in their required capacities."

Puttalam District Organizer of the JVP and Chairman of the PPV, Samantha Koralearachchi said, "Earlier nine holding column towers that were to be constructed in the middle of the Lagoon but now they have brought it down to six. Two will be in two islands with a 700 metre gap between them and the balance four will be in a narrow area in the Lagoon of nearly 4.2 kilometres. We still do not agree with this as it will divide the Lagoon."
National Organizer of the All Island General Fisheries Federation, Rathna Gamage, said, "The government did not reveal the construction plans properly. We have asked JVP Leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, to take this up in Parliament."

Not available

Chairman of the CEB, W.B. Ganegala, and General Manager of the CEB, W.J.L. Shavindranath Fernando, were not available for comment but Additional General Manger (Projects) of the CEB, L.A.S. Fernando, said, "The country needs this and thus we have handed over the entire programme to the Navy, who will assist in the construction, while ensuring the safety of the personnel working on the project."
Navy Media Spokesman, Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya, while denying that the Navy was involved in the construction of the holding column towers added that they were only assisting with soil testing and also looking after the safety and security of those working on the project.

L.A.S. Fernando added that, while this type of thing happens abroad, where they even drag holding column towers through the sea, the CEB was arranging to give compensation to anyone who suffers losses.
"Two towers are to be on the islands and one will be in the Lagoon. There is not much of an environmental impact, and the statement that fishing nets get entangled is absurd," he continued. The CEB also said they did not have a problem with the JVP taking legal action as the JVP will have to take action against the government.

"We however do not know their intentions. We have discussed this with the predominantly Muslim folks in the area and also with the Divisional Secretaries and Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman. Puttalam does not have the population distribution that the JVP makes it out to be, as if it is Colombo. We do not know anything about the Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project proposed or orchestrated by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority," he said.
JVP Southern Provincial Councillor, Nihal Galappaththi, who took part in the protest last week and Secretary of the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, K.W. Ivan De Silva, were not available for comment.

Sugar production reduced, spirit production increased 5-fold to earn forex? -Daya Gamage

 

Sunday, 08 June 2014 

UNP national organizer Daya Gamage questions as to whether the government intends to earn foreign exchange for the country by reducing local sugar production and by effecting a five-fold increase in spirit production.

He also wants to know if the increased production of spirit in that manner is agreeable with the government’s ‘Mathata Thitha’ programme.

Mr. Gamage said so when ‘Digatha News’ sought his response with regard to a statement made by deputy  finance minister Sarath Amunugama in parliament yesterday.

In his statement, the deputy minister said 242 licenses for liquor shops had been issued since 2005 with the aim of attracting more foreign tourists in order to earn foreign revenue further.

Also chairman of Daya Group, Mr. Gamage noted that the president had given a wrong impression to the people when the government expropriated his Sevanagala Sugar Factory.

Just like what the sugar factories had been doing under previous regimes, the Sevanagala factory too, had been producing 50 per cent of sugar and 50 pc of spirit, but the president has falsely accused that more spirit than sugar had been produced there, he said.

Mr. Gamage noted that around Rs. 35 million goes to the pockets of ministers from each ethanol container imported into the country, which should have gone to the state as import revenue.

Speaking further, he said the ports, airports, expressways, auditoriums and urban beautification that have become white elephants are being carried out at public expense.

From those too, government politicians and officials obtain commissions and pass on that burden too, to the average people, he added.

SLTB workers to take legal action against Board 

By Umesh Moramudali- June 9, 2014 
  
Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) employees will file a petition in the Supreme Court against the SLTB Board of Directors for not crediting their Employees' Provident Fund (EPF)... ... installments to the relevant fund. General Secretary, All Ceylon Transport Workers Union (ACTWU) Sepala Liyanage, said a sum of Rs 4.5 billion had not been credited to the EPF account by the SLTB.
 
 
"From 2010 onwards, installments deducted from the monthly salaries of employees' were not credited to the EPF," he said.
Liyanage claimed that 34,274 SLTB employees have been affected and added that although a complaint has been lodged with the Commissioner General of Labour and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) over the matter, no relief had been granted.
 
 
"HRCSL and the Commissioner General of Labour instructed the SLTB to credit the EPF money of employees. However, the SLTB did not act on their instructions. Some of our depot members started taking legal action in lower Courts," he said.
Liyanage said from 2010 SLTB employees did not receive their bi-annual statements sent by the EPF to employees. He alleged that the present Board of Directors had no genuine intention to develop the SLTB or secure the rights of the employees.
Vice Chairman, SLTB, L.A. Wimalaratne was not available for comment.

Washington’s Iron Curtain In 

Ukraine

Tightening the U.S. Grip on Western Europe

| by Diana Johnstone
Courtesy: Counter Punch

( June 8, 2014, Paris, Sri Lanka Guardian) NATO leaders are currently acting out a deliberate charade in Europe, designed to reconstruct an Iron Curtain between Russia and the West.
Washington’s Iron Curtain in  Ukraine by Thavam Ratna

India questioning 17 Hindus about Muslim’s death

By AP News Jun 07, 2014

NEW DELHI (AP) — Police have arrested 17 members of a hard-line Hindu group after a Muslim man was beaten to death in western India.

Deputy Police Commissioner Manoj Patil said Friday the men were being questioned in the killing of Mohsin Sadiq Shaikh in Pune city.

Shaikh was returning home from a mosque on Monday night when a group of men beat him with iron rods.

The Hindu group had been protesting against derogatory pictures posted on Facebook of a 17th century warrior king whom they revere.

Patil said Shaikh had nothing to do with the posts but was caught by the armed men and fatally beaten.

Muslims fear that hard-line Hindu groups will be emboldened by the overwhelming victory of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in recent general elections.

Afghan election front-runner escapes assassination attempt

BY MIRWAIS HAROONI AND JESSICA DONATI-KABUL Fri Jun 6, 2014

(Reuters) - Abdullah Abdullah, front-runner in Afghanistan's presidential election, escaped assassination on Friday when two bombs blew up outside a hotel where he had just staged a rally, killing six people.

The midday blasts, one caused by a suicide bomber, destroyed a car in Abdullah's convoy, police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said. One of the dead was a bodyguard. Twenty-two people were injured.

Television images showed the charred remains of the car alongside shattered shop fronts in a densely populated western district of Kabul.

"When I was leaving the rally from the People's Islamic Unity Party, our car was hit by a roadside bomb and destroyed," Abdullah said at another rally soon afterwards.

Abdullah, a former leader of the opposition to the Islamist Taliban, came first in the largely peaceful first round of the poll to replace Hamid Karzai, winning 45 percent of the vote.

Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani scored 31.6 percent and the run-off between the two leaders is set for June 14.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on Abdullah but the Taliban, seeking to set up an Islamic state, have vowed to disrupt the election. They could not be reached by phone.

It was the most serious attempt on Abdullah's life since the start of the presidential race and the first such attack close to a rally. In February, he survived an assault on his convoy as he was travelling between the capital and the eastern city of Jalalabad.

By law, the elections must start again from scratch if one of the candidates is killed. Such an event could place the country in an extremely difficult position just months before the pullout at the end of the year of most foreign forces.

The election's first round won praise as an unexpected success after the Taliban, removed from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion, failed to deter millions of voters from turning out in major cities to vote.

The run-off is likely to prove more difficult as the Taliban summer offensive will be in full swing.

The number of weekly attacks rose by around 10 percent to more than 350 incidents - including suicide attacks, gun battles and roadside bombs - in the final week of May, according to a Western security firm.

And recruitment at radical Islamic schools in places like Quetta in Pakistan has intensified as part of the Taliban's campaign to disrupt the vote.

It was unclear whether the attack near the rally represented a change in tactics following the removal of Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Qayoum from the group's military leadership.

The Taliban denied suggestions that Mullah Qayoum had been dismissed for failing to disrupt the first round and said he had stepped down because of longstanding health issues.

Iraq: spate of bombings kills nearly 70

SUNDAY 08 JUNE 2014

A suicide bomber kills 18 people and wounds around 60 more in Iraq in the latest of a string of blasts that leave nearly 70 dead. A member of the defence committee says security will only get worse.

The bomber attacked the headquarters of a Kurdish political party in the ethnically mixed Diyala province, according to reports. Most of those hurt were members of the Kurdish security forces who were guarding the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

"A suicide bomber parked a car packed with explosives near the PUK headquarters and when it went off, he managed to sneak into the building and detonated his vest," said Khorsheed Ahmed, the chairman of Jalawla city council.

The blast on Sunday followed a dozen bombings in Iraq on Saturday that killed more than 60 people. Militants stormed a university campus in the west of the country, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited security and medical sources.

In total, there were a dozen blasts in mainly Shi'ite districts of the capital Baghdad, the deadliest of which occurred in Bayaa, where a car bomb left 23 people dead, many of them young men playing billiards.

"I was about to close my shop when I heard a huge explosion on the main commercial street," said Kareem Abdulla, whose legs were still shaking from the shock. "I saw many cars set ablaze as well as shops", he told Reuters.

Other bombs went off near a cinema, a popular juice shop and a Shi'ite mosque.

'Security will get worse'

No group has yet claimed responsibility for any of the bombings, but the Shi'ite community is a frequent target for Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground and momentum in Iraq over the past year.

Since Thursday June 5, militants have seized parts of Ramadi and Falluja, the two main cities in the mainly Sunni Anbar province. And, on Saturday, they took control of the campus of Anbar University in Ramadi.

The latest attack took place in the town of Jalawla, 70 miles northeast of Baghdad.

A member of the security and defence committee in the Iraqi parliament said the insurgency could not be quelled by force alone because the root cause was political. Critics of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government say its treatment of the once-dominant Sunni minority is the main driver of the insurgency.

"The Iraqi government now relies on using force to solve things, that is why security will get worse," said Shwan Mohammed Taha, predicting that violence could spread to other Sunni-dominated provinces such as Diyala.

"This is not only deterioration, it is a failure to manage the security file."

Parts of Ramadi have been held by anti-government tribesmen and insurgents since the start of the year. Overnight, gunmen fought their way past guards into the university, planting bombs.

They eventually allowed students and teaching staff to leave, but remained in control of the campus late on Saturday, exchanging fire with security forces.

A professor trapped inside the physics department told Reuters some staff who live outside Ramadi had been spending the night at the university because it was the exam period.

"We heard intense gunfire at about 4 a.m. We thought it was the security forces coming to protect us but were surprised to see they were gunmen," he said, adding: "they forced us to go inside the rooms, and now we cannot leave."

Karachi airport attacked by militants

At least four security guards reported killed in heavy fighting after gunmen penetrated security cordon of Pakistan's busiest airport

A police officer standing guard at Karachi's Jinnah International airport in September 2002. Militants attacked the airport on Sunday. Photograph: Itsuo Inouye/AP

Sunday 8 June 2014 

Heavy fighting has broken out at Pakistan's busiest airport after armed gunmen penetrated the security cordon, hurling grenades and exchanging gunfire with Pakistani security forces.

Smoke and flames were seen billowing from the old terminal of Jinnah International airport in Karachi. Police surrounded the building and initially said that they believed up to 10 gunmen were involved in the attack.

At least four security guards were initially killed, according to local media, which carried reports of an aircraft being on fire. All flights have been diverted.

Attacks have taken place before on airports in Pakistan, but this is believed to have been the first time that a civilian airport rather a military one has been targeted.

Thai junta security forces stay in barracks as protests dwindle

A soldier stands guard at the Victory Monument during a military event in Bangkok June 4, 2014.

BY APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT AND PANARAT THEPGUMPANAT-BANGKOK Sun Jun 8, 2014(Reuters) - Thailand's junta kept many of the thousands of troops and police it readied to deal with protests in Bangkok on Sunday off the streets as the number of people making a public show of dissent to the May 22 coup dwindled.

The military has cracked down hard on pro-democracy dissidents and supporters since it ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last month, seeking to mute criticism and nip protests in the bud.

A heavy security force presence at potential flashpoints in Thailand's largest cities has limited protesters to small gatherings, which are often coordinated through social media and mostly located around shopping malls.

On Sunday, few protests took place and the security presence was lighter. Half a dozen women outside a mall gave the three-fingered salute that has become a symbol of defiance to the coup. [ID:nL3N0OL0SV]

Protesters posted photographs on social media of small groups at Bangkok's main international airport making the same salute, which was inspired by the film "The Hunger Games."

Police detained four protesters, deputy national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said. Since the coup, authorities have forced detainees to sign statements declaring they will desist from political activity as a condition of release.

"Those four people will be brought to the army camp to tune their political attitude later," Somyot told Reuters. "We did not use the full capacity of the forces. The protest was peaceful and it has ended now."

The force on Sunday ready for deployment numbered more than 6,000, Somyot said. Army chief and coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha had instructed security forces to avoid confrontation, he said. Police would photograph protesters, identify them and issue arrest warrants later.

The military coup in May was the latest convulsion in a decade-long conflict between the Bangkok-based royalist establishment and the rural-based supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and has lived in self-exile since a 2008 corruption conviction, won the loyalty of the rural poor with populist policies and was the real power behind the deposed government of his sister.

Yingluck was prime minister until May 7, when a court found her guilty of abuse of power and she stepped down.

The army toppled the remnants of her government on May 22, saying it needed to restore order after six months of sometimes violent anti-government protests that had brought the economy to the brink of recession.

Thailand has been without a properly functioning government since December, when Yingluck dissolved parliament and called a February election in a bid to end anti-government protests. But protesters disrupted the vote, the election was annulled, and her caretaker government limped on until Prayuth seized power.

COUP LEADER HEADS INVESTMENT BOARD

The military has moved swiftly to revive the economy, and has given itself two months to clear a backlog of applications from local and foreign investors to spend more than $21 billion on projects in Thailand. [ID:nL3N0OJ1PI]

The backlog arose because Yingluck's caretaker government lacked the power to appoint a new team to run the Board of Investment to replace executives whose term ended in October.

Prayuth on Saturday declared himself the head of the body considering the investment applications, a position typically held by the prime minister.

Quick approval would bring longer-term stimulus to the economy and follow the payment of billions of dollars in subsidy arrears to rice farmers that has already lifted consumer sentiment.

The military's move to pay debts to farmers quickly after seizing power contributed to the first rise in consumer sentiment in 14 months in May. Political turmoil had sunk consumers confidence to a 12-month low in April.[ID:nL3N0OJ2C5]

The junta is reviewing infrastructure projects planned by the previous government but delayed during the protests and will press ahead with some. Among those under review are several

In the face of international condemnation of the coup, Prayuth has asked for patience for at least a year while the military engineers reforms that he says the country needs before democracy can be reinstated.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Marshall and Amy Lefevre; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Michael Perry)

1,406 ஏக்கர் சுவீகரிக்கப்படும்; நாடாளுமன்றில் அரசு அறிவிப்பு 

06 ஜுன் 2014, வெள்ளி

கிளிநொச்சி மாவட்டத்தின் கரைச்சிப்  பிரதேச செயலர் பிரிவில் ஆயிரத்து 406 ஏக்கர் (1,406.94) காணிகளை சுவீகரிப்பதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகள் முன்னெடுக்கப்பட்டு வருகின்றன. அவ்வாறு எடுத்துக் கொள்ளப்படும் காணிகளுக்காக காணி உரிமையாளர்களுக்கு நட்டஈடு வழங்கப்படும்  இவ்வாறு  நேற்று நாடாளுமன்றில் அறிவித்துள்ளது அரசு.

 

நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் நேற்று வாய்மூல விடைக்கான கேள்வி நேரத்தின் போது ஐக்கிய  தேசியக் கட்சியின் நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் ரவி கருணாநாயக்க, காணி அபிவிருத்தி அமைச்சரிடம் எழுப்பியிருந்த கேள்விகளுக்கு சபாபீடத்தில் சமர்ப்பிக்கப்பட்ட பதில்களிலேயே மேற்படி விடயம் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

 

கிளிநொச்சி மாவட்டத்திலுள்ள காணிகள் அரசியல் வாதிகளினாலும், அரசியல் ரீதியாகத் தொடர்புடைய அலுவலர்களாலும் பலவந்தமாகக் கைப்பற்றப்படவில்லை. 2010ஆம் ஆண்டிலிருந்து கிளிநொச்சி மாவட்டத்தில் 10 அரச நிறுவனங்களுக்கு 86.08 ஏக்கர் காணி சுவீகரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்தக் காணிகளின் பெறுமதி இன்னும் மதிப்பீடு  செய்யப்படவில்லை. 

 

இதில் நீண்டகாலக் குத்தகை அடிப்படையில் 29.90 ஏக்கர் காணி 3 தனியார் நிறுவனங்களுக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதன் மதிப்பீட்டுப் பெறுமதி ரூபா 17 மில்லியனாகும் என்றும் காணி அபிவிருத்தி அமைச்சு சபையில் ஆற்றல்படுத்திய பதிலில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=605913082506441421#sthash.CBXe1nLh.dpuf

Thirteenth Amendment In Driblets Or Plus Or Beyond

By S. Sivathasan -June 7, 2014 

S. Sivathasan

Minds in Turmoil

“The genius and the mortal instruments

Are then in council, and the state of man,

Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

The nature of an insurrection”. – Shakespeare in Julius Caesar

There cannot be a more apt depiction of the state of mind of Sri Lankans, of the two major ethnicities. A change of government in India taking the form of a resounding victory for BJP and a devastating rout of Congress was known for certain for some months up to May 16. The prospect had inspired hope among Indians and Tamils of Sri Lanka. Anxieties had gripped a major section of the Sri Lankan population ahead of May and more so since the results. Brave talk notwithstanding, whistling in the dark continues. The media mirror explicitly how much their minds are assailed.

Anything does for Tamils

“But there’s never a question

About my digestion

Anything does for me”. The Plaint of the Camel

Tamils have developed an appetite for equality and dignity. Give them something or if you can’t make it worthwhile, give them anything. They are so inured, anything does for them. This is the tenor in which the attitude of the South is couched in its approach to the North. When anything does, why think of something more. While 13A is in place, why talk about 13A+. One particular political analyst continuously advances the thesis that implementation of 13A will serve as a panacea for what Tamils consider are their ills. Why discuss 13A and beyond when they are not necessary. That analyst spreads the dread that if perchance some content is put into the shell, that would spell disaster for the Southern polity. Yes, the relevance of talk of Plus and Beyond  is to pull wool over the eyes of all Tamils and of India. When we have succeeded for past five years what prevents success in the next five or more? This tactic was packaged and taken to Delhi where it was dissected for specifics.

Sickle came across a Stone                                                        Read More

Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka - An Unhealed Wound
07 June 2014

Next week, the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is due to take place in London, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie. 

Sexual Violence in Conflict Sri Lanka - An Unhealed Wound by Thavam Ratna

Families struggle to mourn 5 years after Sri Lanka's war

5 years have passed since the end of the civil war, but many Sri Lankans are still haunted

 

By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

MULLAITHIVU, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's nearly three decades-long civil war was forcibly ended in May 2009. In its last stages, daily shelling and bombing killed thousands of innocent civilians cornered into "no fire zones." Thousands more have disappeared over the years, women became widows, and buildings have been left in disrepair.

In the five years since the Sri Lankan army crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- the Tamil Tigers -- the country has struggled to move on. This year's victory day parade saw a military showcase, army regiments paraded with flags and rifles, and Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke about the need to "protect the peace."  

The effect of that message was limited for the families of fighters lost on both sides. Visaka Dharmadase is just one among many Sinhalese mothers; she had encouraged her son to enlist in the army in 1995, when the nation was hopeful of an end to the war.

"I never knew what is war. I never felt the danger that I was putting my son into," says Dharmadasa, who now campaigns for the families of fallen soldiers. "Five years after the end of the war, what have we achieved as one united country? Only the pain of loss of loved ones, and not knowing the fate of the missing, and youth with permanent disability, and shattered lives remains in the hearts of the people in the north, east, and south." 

The deprivation Dharmadasa feels is shared by Tamils in the north. While the national victory celebrations were held on the south coast, the same type of event was not permitted for Tamils. Thousands like Varatharajah were denied the chance to mourn the dead. Roads were blocked and people in Jaffna were prevented from performing religious rites for their dead at the revered Keerimalai Springs. 

Former Tamil Tiger Mary Gunawathy Varatharajah's husband was a commander in the rebel force and surrendered to the government forces on the last day of the war. 

"I was assured of his wellbeing by the security forces who were present at the time of surrender," says Varatharajah. "But, I have not seen him afterwards, I have visited all the prisons and detention centres in the country, but I didn't see him anywhere." 

In March, the United Nations approved an inquiry into the alleged war crimes, focusing on the last stages of the war. The Sri Lankan government however, insists that its own domestic programme, Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, is making progress. Many Tamils disagree.

"There is neither transparency nor trust in the local mechanism to investigate war crimes. It should be properly conducted by an independent and international panel of experts," says Varatharajah.

The numerous missing people has stalled grieving for families who sat on both sides of Sri Lanka's divide, but many Tamil families feel particularly aggrieved. They do not buy into the praise for the reconciliation process, saying that the end of the war has only meant continued discrimination. In post-war Sri Lanka, they say, they have been told who, when, where and how to mourn. 

www.aa.com.tr/en 

BBS Seeks Police Intervention To Remove Mosque In Mawanella

Friday, 06 June 2014

The Bodu Bala Sena has lodged a police complaint against Heraminiya Dharul Hikma mosque in Hemmathagama, Mawanella, demanding its immediate removal. 

The BBS has made the complaint on the grounds that the mosque has been operating "illegally", without undergoing the proper registration process. Madirigiriye Pugnasara Thera, Chief Incumbent of a temple in the area has lodged the complaint on behalf of the organization. 

Following the complaint, Police officials had visited the mosque and the mosque management had shown documents pertaining to its registration. It is also learnt that the Muslim Religious and Cultural Department has also cleared the mosque. 

There have been various mini scale protests in the area, backed by the Bodu Bala Sena, demanding closure of the mosque. However, the authorities of the mosque have clearly stated that there is no reason to close down the mosque. 

Mawanella is an area where there is a sizable proportion of Muslims who live in harmony with the Sinhalese who form the majority of the area's population. 

Diaspora to challenge proscription

By admin on April 5, 2014

Tamil Diaspora groups have decided to challenge through court, the Sri Lankan Government’s decision to proscribe them in Sri Lanka.

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) said it will deploy all legal and political instruments that are at it’s disposal to send a clear message to the regime that none of these ‘terror’ tactics will work as they live in a free society where they cherish freedom of speech and democracy and democracy not as defined as in Sri Lanka but practicing democracy.

The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC)  said it will seek the intervention of the President of the UN Human Rights Council, the Canadian government, and various international non-governmental organizations, many of whom have already voiced their indignation at the proscription.

Meanwhile the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) said it is expecting the International community to denounce the “anti-democratic” measure.

The Government recently listed 16 Tamil Diaspora groups under a UN Security Council resolution which seeks to curb finding for groups linked to terrorism.

TGTE “Prime Minister” Visvanathan Rudrakumaran told the Colombo Gazette the Government’s order designating foreign Tamil entities as terrorist organizations demonstrates its unwillingness and paranoia to engage with democratic ideals and ideas.

He noted the order is an attempt to weaken the Tamil nation by prohibiting the Tamils inside the island from communicating, sharing and working together with Eelam Tamils outside the island.

“It is also an insult and affront to the legal system of democratic countries in which most of the organizations are legally registered and functioning. The Order also demonstrates the Government’s attempt to perpetuate the prison conditions of the Tamils inside the island,” he said.

GTF spokesman Suren Surendiran said that the proscription proves that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is bankrupt of political will to even attempt to resolve the root causes of the Tamil National Question. He notes that as the UN Human Rights Commissioner acknowledged after her visit to Colombo in August 2013 and in her recent report, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s authoritarian tendency is now giving rise for him to think that he can suppress freedom of speech even overseas.

“By creating fear and by allowing ‘terror’ through white van abductions, killings and by targeting local media organisations and personnel he has successfully suppressed freedom of speech internally in the island. Now by proscribing organisations in Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa is trying to intimidate members of international organisations like the Global Tamil Forum to give into his ‘terror’ tactics. Its a proven fact through the percentage votes his party gained in the recently held elections that his popularity internally too is weakening. UNHRC has given the authority to the Office of the UN HR Commissioner to initiate an international investigation into alleged breaches of international law in Sri Lanka. Fear has set in due to these combined reasons, is the only conclusion that can be drawn for his idea of proscription of organisations that function overseas. This is a typical reaction of dictators,” he said.

David Poopalapillai, National Spokesperson of the Canadian Tamil Congress says his orgation will not allow such fear-mongering tactics to dissuade it, and we will continue to work resolutely for the human rights of all Sri Lankans, and to seek truth, justice and peace for Tamils.

“We invite interested parties to review the recent judgment of the Ontario Superior Court,ruling in favour of CTC in a libel case against Sri Lankan-born ‘terrorism expert’ Rohan Gunaratna, who had been quoted as saying, “the LTTE is operating under the name of the Canadian Tamil Congress, which is the main LTTE front organization in Canada.” In his ruling, Justice Stephen E. Firestone found, “it is unequivocal and uncontroverted that [Gunaratna’s] statements were, in fact, false and untrue,” and awarded damages to CTC in the amount of $53,000. In this light, CTC categorically rejects the Sri Lankan government’s proscription of CTC as funding or supporting terrorist activities,” he added. (Colombo Gazette)