Sunday, August 3, 2014

India wants SL probe Lankan link with Pakistan terror activists

by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-August 3, 2014

India, determined to get to the bottom of the alleged terror activities by Pakistan, reportedly using Sri Lankans, had last week asked Sri Lanka to probe the information India had gathered after interrogating the terror suspects already arrested in India.

India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) New Delhi, has sent a detailed communication pertaining to information they gathered from two suspects who were arrested in India. The suspects are Tamil Nadu businessmen, identified as Tasmeen Ansari, a frequent visitor to Sri Lanka, arrested in September 2012 and a Sri Lankan Zakir Hussain, a resident of Kandy arrested in May 2014.

In the letter, addressed to the crime branch, India has listed nearly 25 points for probe.
India has urged Sri Lanka to probe the background and events pertaining to Sri Lankans involved in terrorist activities, suspected of having links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which plots terror attacks in India.
Highly placed sources from NIA said the letter had been directed to the Public Administration and Home Affairs office in Sri Lanka through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoping it would be handed over to the police crime branch.
According to him, there are 'three Sri Lankan suspects' involved in the terror plot.

India, over a period of three years, had been probing the events linked to a Pakistani diplomat who was based in a High Commission.
The interrogation of the two suspects has led to the revelation of the name of the Pakistani diplomat in question who was the visa consular in Colombo till May this year, the sources revealed.

The Pakistan High Commission claimed that the reports and information were purely false and misleading. The officials also said that the visa consular was never recalled in 2012 as Indian reports claimed.
The Pakistan High Commission said the former Visa Consular, Amir Zubair Siddiqui, in fact was serving the High Commission for more than the period any visa consular had had served and that he had completed his tenure successfully and left for Pakistan last May.

A Spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan, Tasnim Aslam Khan, when contacted as to what measures Pakistan had taken as the diplomat's name had transpired as the 'main conspirator' and would it probe incidents linking Pakistanis and Sri Lankans involved in terror activities, told Ceylon Today that Pakistan will not comment on baseless allegations and whatever the dossier or collecting of evidence between India and Sri Lanka was not their concern.
"India's has been throwing such baseless allegations as usual at Pakistan and the atest claims that our diplomats are involved is not worth commenting," she noted.
The NIA official said, "We will not say we have sent a dossier to Sri Lanka but basically a detailed letter with background information we have collected after the suspects were arrested."

India wants Sri Lankan officials to gather all the information they need according to the sharing of information under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) that was signed in 2010.
The sources said they had sent two letters to Sri Lanka, one in December last year and another recently.
The NIA official said, "It's an ongoing investigation over the past three years into the alleged involvement of a Pakistani diplomat, former Visa Consular Siddiqui, who is suspected to be the 'main conspirator'.

Indian media revealed that Siddiqui was allegedly involved in a conspiracy and had used Ansari, telling the latter to carry out terror attacks on the US Consulate in Chennai and Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru.
Ansari was arrested after six months of surveillance in September 2012, which led to the flow of information regarding terror activities taking place involving Sri Lankans. It is alleged that Ansari had links with the Pakistani diplomat Siddiqui.
Later in May this year, Zakir Hussain who was trapped again, is alleged to have had connections with the diplomat who was based in Sri Lanka.

"We have evidence here and we need more evidence from Sri Lanka related to these persons and the details relating to the exchanges that took place with the Pakistani diplomat who had served in Sri Lanka till May. He has been placed under India's surveillance and we want to get to the bottom of it," highly placed sources said.
"We have also asked Sri Lanka to probe and proceed with furnishing details to us." When asked whether India has given a time frame to Sri Lanka, he said 'sooner the better' and expressed hope that Sri Lanka would consider the matter seriously.

"Under the Treaty, from time to time, the NIA has been closely working with the central authority of Sri Lanka," he said.
"We need to find all evidence behind the terror plot in India. So far, it's something that had been prevented from happening and we cannot comprehend how serious the terror strike plot would be," he added.
Pakistan has been extremely quiet over many events taking place in Sri Lanka lately.
Sri Lanka's immigration authorities were directed to stop issuing visa on arrival to Pakistanis, on being warned of 'dangers'.

Sri Lanka has also taken stern steps to deport Pakistanis and Afghanistan asylum seekers.
Immigration officials recently told Ceylon Today, that Pakistanis were involved in nefarious activities that included drug trafficking and were arriving in Sri Lanka on tourist visa and then claiming asylum. They had turned out to be 'too much of a headache'.

The diplomat's involvement was exposed in several Indian media, and the 'Deccan Chronicle' said Ansari was in touch with Haji, a Tamil-speaking Muslim from Colombo who knew Siddiqui, and his second in command, Shaji.
Siddiqui is alleged to have used Ansari in 2012, to obtain the videos of the Nagapattinam Port and Mallipattinam in Tamil Nadu, a traditional landing point.

The diplomat's name again figured after IB, on a tip-off from its Malaysian counterparts, foiled an attempt by Pakistan's ISI, to carry out terror attacks on the two foreign consulates in India.
This May, a Sri Lankan Zakir Hussian, arrested on a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau, was accused of carrying out reconnaissance of the two consulates.
He revealed that he had been hired by diplomat Siddiqui and revealed that ISI planned to conduct the reconnaissance.

Hussain has confessed that the instructions were from the Colombo based Pakistani diplomats.
The case was eventually transferred to NIA. Sleuths had recovered pictures of the US and Israeli consulates, claiming that those pictures had been mailed to his alleged handlers in Pakistan and its Colombo High Commission and that the Cyber signatures showed that the pictures were downloaded in a computer within the premises of the High Commission and had been shared with Lankan authorities.

Commando four-wheel rally upsets environmentalists but Army is gung-ho

By Malaka Rodrigo-Sunday, July 27, 2014View(s):

A four-wheel-drive motor rally organised along east coast early next month has raised concerns among environmentalists.
Commando 4×4, the six-day rally planned to start on August 4, is being organised by the C

The rally ommando Regiment under its “Experience Sri Lanka with Commandos” project.will start from Point Pedro in Jaffna, ending at the Commando Regiment Training school at Uva Kudaoya in Moneragala, a distance of 775km.

The rally’s path lies through the Manalkadu sand dunes, Challai lagoons, Kokkilai Lagoon, Chundikulam Bird Sanctuary, Mullaitivu jungles, Thoppigala jungles and beaches such as Nayaroo, Nilaweli and Arugam Bay.

The organisers say the rally will promote adventure sports in Sri Lanka to boost tourism.

Environmentalist Ravindra Kariyawasam of Centre for Environment and Nature Studies (CENS) said the rally will cross some environmentally sensitive areas and cause great harm to the habitat.

“Had the Environment Authority considered the true environment impact of this entire event? How long it will take to re-build the sand dunes naturally after 50 high-powered automobiles run over them?

“What will happen to lagoon habitat once a parade of four-wheel-drive vehicles cross them, killing many of its fish and water creatures? What effect will cause by the vehicle gases and noise to the wilderness of Eastern jungles and its livelihood?” asked Mr. Kariyawasam.
“Sri Lanka cannot offer its limited natural assets for the fun and thrill of a very small portion of the population which seeks a thrill in torturing Mother Nature.

“Army commandos always stood for the betterment of motherland and must take immediate action to preserve the good name of the regiment by making amendments to the event,” Mr Kariyawasam said.

Army media spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya denied the event would cause harm to the environment, saying the environmentalists’ fears were due to a misunderstanding that vehicles would go off-road along the full distance.

“This is not a race but just a rally aimed at providing an opportunity to explore the country. The vehicles will only use the existing roads when completing the first phases of the event and will not go off-road and damage environment.

“The off-road event will be held on last day inside Commando Regiment Training Centre at Uva Kudaoya,” he said.

Brig. Wanigasooriya said that due to their training the commandos knew how to blend with nature without destroying it.

“For example, we do not allow vehicles to be modified to emit loud engine noise. The rally ends at 4pm every day, not to disturb wildlife at night. The participants have to complete only around 150km daily so drivers would not need stressful high-speed drives that could disturb the wildlife,” he said.

The website designed for the rally states that 50 vehicles will be allowed to participate the expedition with a maximum of four persons per vehicle. It gives rates ranging from Rs. 20,000 for one person for the first stage to Rs. 55,000 for all five stages. For four persons to participate all stages, the cost is Rs.190,000.

The website further states that these fund-raised by the rally will be used for Commando Regiment’s infrastructure improvements.

A ‘Child’s Guide’ to the IMF’s press release on Sri Lanka

An IMF mission with a mission-August 4, 2014

The International Monetary Fund, better known as the IMF, has issued a press release on July 29, 2014 after its Executive Board had discussed the report presented to it by the Staff Mission that had visited Sri Lanka in May 2014 (available at: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2014/pr14371.htm).
The staff mission had been fielded by the IMF under Article IV of its Articles of Agreement which is the constitution governing the Fund. This Article has stipulated that the IMF should have discussion with member countries, usually once a year, on their economic development and policies. The report submitted by the staff mission is discussed by the IMF’s Executive Board and a press release is issued thereafter outlining the conclusions of the Board.

A ‘Child’s Guide’ to the IMF’s Press Release on Sri Lanka by Thavam

Video:This is not the Gaza Strip

SUNDAY, 03 AUGUST 2014
It is reported that people in several villages including Puhulpola, Kotavehera, Dikkapitiya have been thoroughly distressed due to Uma Oya project. The residents in the areas have been asked to vacate their residences immediately.

They have been given only a 40 perch piece of land and the residents have been asked to leave even before a hut is erected in the land.

Cultivation, their main source of income, has been destroyed due to streams and irrigation system that had been used to bring water to their lands were blocked due to the new project.

Cultivation, their main source of income, has been destroyed due to streams and irrigation system that had been used to bring water to their lands were blocked due to the new project.

Many people who have been asked to vacate their residences have not been paid any compensation and a small number of people have been given only half the amount they had been promised.

The farmers in the area say like people in the Gaza Strip, they too have been left with death only. This explains the tragedy they are confronted with due to sinister, hasty and foolish projects of the rulers who think only of what they could gain by beginning various projects said a political analyst.

DIG Indran removed from Kalutara

Sunday, 03 August 2014

DIG V. Indran in-charge of Kalutara and Panadura has been transferred with immediate effect as the DIG in-charge of welfare activities at Police headquarters.

As we reported that the allegations were leveled against DIG Indran by Defence Ministry for rejecting to release 13 suspects arrested in connection with the communal riot occurred in Aluthgama.

Accordingly, DIG in charge of the Western-South Division, Sumith Edirisinghe has been appointed as the DIG in-charge of Kautara and Panadura.

Replacing him DIG G.D.A.K Senaratne has been appointed as DIG in-charge of Nugegoda and Mount-Lavinia which were previously under the supervision of DIG Edirisinghe.

DIG Senaratne apart from the particular position is also to continue to function as the DIG of the Traffic Division, reports Police headquarters.

Previous article

Afghanistan election crisis deepens with new fraud allegations

An Afghan election worker reads a ballot paper during an audit of the presidential run-off in Kabul August 3, 2014.

BY HAMID SHALIZI AND JESSICA DONATI

KABUL Sun Aug 3, 2014

(Reuters) - Afghanistan's troubled presidential election plunged deeper into crisis on Sunday when one of the main contenders accused a deputy of President Hamid Karzai of orchestrating fraud in favour of his rival.

Supporters of Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, released an audio recording they said was Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili encouraging vote-rigging in favour of Ashraf Ghani, the other contender in the race.

Khalili's and Ghani's staff dismissed the recording as a fake.

Allegations of mass fraud have shadowed the outcome of the vote, which was meant to be the first democratic transition of power in Afghanistan's history ahead of the withdrawal of international combat troops at the end of this year.

The 8 million votes cast in the second round of the election, held in June, are currently being audited under U.N. supervision, according to a deal brokered by the United States.

The audit has also been dogged by delays as Abdullah and Ghani have not been able to agree on some technicalities, such as how to disqualify votes.

The recording released on Sunday is the most recent that Abdullah's campaign alleges is evidence of high-level collusion in an effort to ensure Ghani, a former finance minister and World Bank technocrat, is declared the winner.

The speaker allegedly encourages cheating at the highest level of the administration to help Ghani win.

"I am aware that in all efforts within the government and within the electoral commissions and with his Excellency the President of Afghanistan there exists an agreeable perception of the victory of this team and this candidate," the speaker says after referring to one of Ghani's running mates, Sarwar Danish.

STOP-START AUDIT

In what is purportedly an address to close political associates before the June 14 run-off, the speaker is heard saying: "The election outcome must turn in favour of this team... even if these means are against electoral mechanisms."

Abdullah's team did not say where the speech was delivered, or how the recording was obtained. Its authenticity could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Karzai's office said it had no immediate comment.

Both Khalili's and Ghani's staff said the tape was fake.

"The audio is completely fake ... Khalili does not speak like that," said Abbas Basir, chief of staff for Khalili. "Our rival team is resorting to such an act because they are under immense pressure," he added.

Results from early counting, which was halted by previous allegations by Abdullah of vote rigging, showed Ghani leading with a substantial majority.

The auditing process re-started on Sunday after a week-long delay, but Abdullah's team boycotted the process.

Karzai has said the audit will be completed by the end of the month, but diplomats worry it could be months before Karzai's replacement is known. Afghanistan had been due to swear in a new president at the weekend.

The delay complicates the signing of two agreements that would allow the United States and NATO to maintain a small military presence in Afghanistan for training and counter-insurgency operations.

Karzai has refused to sign the security deals, but both Ghani and Abdullah say they will enact the pacts.

(Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Lynne O'Donnell and Hugh Lawson)

Israeli air strike on Gaza hits third UN school in 10 days

Seven people killed and dozens wounded in new missile attack on UN-run school in Rafah, according to witnesses

Jason Burke in Rafah-Sunday 3 August 2014
At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded after a projectile struck a street outside a school in the city of Rafah, in the south of Gaza.

Israeli Air Strike on Gaza Hits Third UN School in 10 Days by Thavam

With Confirmation of Captured Israeli Soldier's Death Hope of a Cease-fire Fades

BY COLUM LYNCH-AUGUST 2, 2014

Israel announced late Saturday that Second Lt. Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old Israeli soldier captured Friday in an ambush by Palestinian militants, is believed dead, bringing to three the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the attack and burying hopes of a swift ceasefire.

With Confirmation of Captured Israeli Soldier's Death Hope of a Cease-fire Fades by Thavam

Islamic State seizes two Iraqi towns

SUNDAY 03 AUGUST 2014

Islamic State insurgents capture two northern Iraqi towns and an oil field in their first major victory over Kurdish fighters, according to witnesses.

The insurgent group, which swept through northern Iraq in June almost unopposed by Iraq's US-trained army, poses the biggest challenge to the stability of the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

After thousands of Iraqi soldiers fled the Islamic State offensive, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish fighters have emerged as a key line of defence against the militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.

Kurdish forces poured in reinforcements, including special forces, to the town of Zumar to battle Islamic State fighters who had arrived from three directions on pickup trucks mounted with weapons, residents said.

The militants later hoisted their black flag over buildings in Zumar, a ritual that has in the past been followed by the mass execution of captured opponents and the violent imposition of an ideology that even al-Qaeda finds excessive.

Residents fled Sinjar

The Islamic State later also seized the town of Sinjar, where witnesses said residents had fled after Kurdish fighters put up little resistance against the militants.

Islamic State has stalled in its drive to reach Baghdad, halting just north of the town of Samarra, 62 miles north of the capital.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name earlier this year and declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.

The group has already seized four oil fields, which help fund its operations.

The group has been trying to consolidate its gains, setting its sights on strategic towns near oil fields,as well as border crossings with Syria so that it can move easily back and forth and transport supplies.

It has capitalised on sectarian tensions and disenchantment with Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Latin America comes out in force against Israel

August 1, 2014
Montevideo (AFP) - Latin America's leaders are among the most vehement in condemning Israel's Gaza offensive -- labelling the Jewish state "terrorist", recalling ambassadors, and offering near-unanimous, unwavering support to Palestinians.

Latin America Comes Out in Force Against Israel by Thavam

Ramadan ends with violence in China’s restive Xinjiang

Uighurs living in Turkey set on fire a representation of a Chinese flag outside the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday. Pic: AP.

By Cormac McCartan Aug 03, 2014

As the holy month of Ramadan came to an end in China’s Xinjiang province earlier this week, militant violence flared in numerous towns and cities leaving close to 50 civilians dead, including the state-approved Imam of China’s largest mosque. The latest additions to a long list of attacks in the province, these clashes come in the wake of a heavily restricted month of Ramadan which has seen China’s reining in of Islamic activities hit an all-time high.

In the early hours of Monday morning, men wielding axes and knives are reported to have co-ordinated an attack on local government buildings, police stations and passing vehicles in the town of Elixhu. State-owned newspaper China Daily called the incident a “premeditated terrorist attack,” and that ”police gunned down 59 terrorists and arrested 215 others.” The death count has been confirmed as 37 civilians, bringing the death toll to at least 96 in Monday’s violence.

Then on Wednesday, as Juma Tayier, the Ulm of Id Kah Mosque in the western city of Kashgar was returning from morning prayers, he was stabbed to death by three men, two of whom were shot by police. The Ulm had reportedly become unpopular after he publicly supported and collaborated with the Communist Party. Reports of the incident state that the attackers were men from the Uigur minority in Xinjiang, who were “affected by religious extremist thinking.”

The latest attack came then this Friday in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, with authorities claiming nine suspects were killed. Xinhua News Agency reported that those killed were “terror suspects.”

A province with vast oil and mineral reserves, Xinjiang became part of China in 1949 and is home to the Muslim Turk-speaking Uighur population. For years the Uighur people have opposed Chinese rule and accused the government of human rights violations and discrimination towards ethnic minorities. The recent wave of militant attacks in Xinjiang and greater China has seen Beijing create a correlation between Uighur violence and their Islamic religion. The focus of China’s year-long “anti-terror campaign” therefore is primarily on the Uighur community who they suspect have encouraged religious extremists backed by Al-qaeda and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Although it should be noted that 35 of the 37 civilians from Monday’s attack have be confirmed as Han Chinese, whose religious beliefs are those of traditional Chinese folk religions.

The state’s desire to monitor all cultural and religious practices in China has seen the enforcement of state-sanctioned religious parameters, the latest of which have seen teachers, students and civil servants banned from the traditional act of fasting during Ramadan. Children under 18 years old are now forbidden from being taught religion or entering mosques. Women are no longer allowed to wear certain types of veils, and the practice of religion outside state-sanctioned mosques or from a state approved Quran can result in imprisonment.

While the need to enforce policies that will counter the risk of terrorism are justified, many feel the state’s heavy handed approach of “extremely tough measures and extraordinary methods” is misguided and more likely to encourage radical separatists.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vow to deploy a ”strike-first approach against terrorists in the region” has seen more than 400 people across Xinjiang convicted of terrorist activities, reported Al Jazeera news. Some if these convictions have been carried out at public rallies, the most notable of which saw 55 men convicted in front of a crowd of 7,000 people during a mass trial at a soccer stadium in the city of Yining.

Unrest in Xinjiang and opposition of Chinese rule dates as far back as the early 1990s, around the time that the demographic of the area began to change with a push for economic development in the region. The migration of Han Chinese workers to Xinjiang coincided with the state’s attempt to diminish the Uighur culture. Mass protests in 1997 resulted in the state executing 30 Uighur “separatists” which sparked violence throughout Xinjiang. This opposition to Chinese rule stems from a time long before September 11 or the rise if Islamic extremism.

While an increase in support for conservative Islam has been seen among Uighur communities, experts claim this stronger attachment to Islam simply coincides with the oppression of Uighur culture and their identity. The displacement of a large number of Uighur communities in Xinjiang have made them marginalised in comparison to the Han Chinese, with the teaching of the Uighur language now even limited in schools. Their religious beliefs and practices are seen by them as one of the few forms of the their culture and tradition that still remain, and the government’s prohibition of these practices just one more act of oppression against the Uighur people.