When a fish rots ...

Editorial-September 26, 2014, 7:19 pm 

Former Director (Administration) of Parliament Lacille de Silva has, in a brief interview with this newspaper, put his finger on what really ails the national legislature whose standards continue to deteriorate with senior political leaders doing precious little to arrest the spread of the rot. What attracts political dregs to Parliament is the host of perks and privileges MPs are entitled to, the former bureaucrat has argued. Everyone who has amassed wealth even through narcotics trade and other illegal operations wants to become a parliamentarian so that he can rise above the law and protect his interests.

One way of cleansing politics is to strip parliamentarians of their perks and privileges which make them, to use an Orwellian phrase, more equal than others. In developed countries, politicians do not kill one another to get elected because parliamentarians are not treated as demigods and they are equal before the law like everyone else. They have to drive and do shopping like their electors. Even in neighbouring India some ministers have been prosecuted for frauds etc, but here not even a deputy minister’s driver can be ticketed for speeding. If a policeman dares do so he not only comes under goon attacks but also is hounded out of his job.

Parliamentarians are state employees to all intents and purposes in that they are paid monthly salaries, allowances etc besides pensions with public funds though most of them are not qualified to be employed as even labourers in the state service. A fish, it is said, rots from the head down, and given the sorry state of affairs we have witnessed at the national legislature over the years, the deterioration of the state service is something to be expected. What moral right do parliamentarians have to lambaste the ordinary public officials for dereliction of duty when they themselves are shirking their legislative responsibilities?

There are too many parliamentarians, as former Parliament Director has rightly pointed out. We have also been flogging this issue all these years but to no avail. There are 225 MPs in addition to 279 provincial councillors including 36 ministers. If a wayside bush is kicked at random, as a local saying goes, at least one dozen parliamentarians and provincial councillors get thrown out. In the world’s biggest democracy, India, there are only 552 parliamentarians for a population of 1.2 billion people. What would happen if India were to follow the Sri Lankan example in determining the number of its MPs?

Electoral reforms are being talked about and the government has undertaken to adopt the so-called German Model which is a combination of the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems. This is a step in the right direction, but serious thought should be given to reducing the number of MPs. After all, the present-day parliamentarians have proved beyond any doubt that Parliament can manage its affairs with a much smaller number of members. The House, more often than not, is without a quorum and parliament workers have to run around looking for missing MPs, but in vain. There have been instances where only 25 or 30 MPs were present in the House to debate and vote for/against vital Bills. So, the question is why the public should be made to cough up so much money to maintain 225 lawmakers.

Above all, since parliamentarians are the highest paid public servants it should be made mandatory that they possess at least the same educational qualifications as those who are recruited as labourers in the state service. When skivers and school dropouts go places in politics and become people’s representatives so as to live in clover at public expense while graduates are staging street demonstrations demanding jobs, it is no surprise that parliamentary standards drop and the quorum bell has to be rung frequently.

Sri Lanka Hikes Defence Spending To Record High

[Sri Lankan commandos march during a Victory Day parade in the southern town of Matara on May 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)]

27/09/2014

Sri Lanka raised defence spending to record levels for a second straight year despite pressure to scale down its military after ending decades of ethnic war, official figures showed Friday.

The government allocated 285 billion rupees ($2.22 billion) for the defence ministry in calendar 2015, up 12.25 percent from this year, according to the appropriation bill tabled in parliament Friday.

There was no immediate comment from the government on its record defence spending to maintain a large security force more than five years after President Mahinda Rajapakse’s troops crushed separatist Tamil rebels.

Colombo is under international pressure to reduce its military presence in the island’s former war zones and take troops away from civilian duties.

However, official sources said a three-year spending plan of the government envisaged even more increases in national security spending to over 370 billion rupees ($2.89 billion) by 2017.

Security forces in May 2009 declared an end to 37 years of ethnic war which had claimed at least 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

Defence spending accounts for 16.6 percent of the government’s projected revenue for 2015, according to official figures.

Sri Lanka’s economy recorded more than eight percent growth in the first two full years after the end of the fighting, but is expected to grow at a slightly slower 7.8 percent this year.

Rajapakse, who holds both the finance and defence portfolios, is due to unveil the full 2015 budget in November, when he is expected to announce revenue proposals to meet state expenses.
AFP

VAT case: Eight sentenced for 20 years RI in absentia 

Jayatilake-September 27, 2014

Colombo High Court judge Kumudini Wickramasinghe yesterday sentenced eight accused convicted in the VAT case, in absentia, to 20 years rigorous imprisonment. The sentences imposed on several charges they faced are to run concurrently.

The convicts were charged under the Public Property Act. Senior State Counsel Shanyl Kularatne prosecuted.

The convicts were also fined three times the amount they had defrauded.

Mohamed Kamil Kuthubdeen found guilty of having defrauded the government of Rs.1,822,301,753.76 was fined Rs.5,466,905,261.28; Rasheed Mohamed Mursheed who defrauded Rs.2,117,062,596.40 was fined Rs.6,361,187,789.20; Bakeer Mohamed Rifaz alias Riyas who defrauded Rs.3,680,641,111.65 was fined Rs.11,041,923,334.65; A. S. M. Awamy who defrauded Rs.251,302,387.60 was fined Rs.753,907,162.80; M. M. A. Irshad alias Mohamed Naseer Cader who defrauded Rs.1,187,762,968.11 was fined Rs.3,563,288,904.33; N.A. Mohamed Nasmi alias Abdul Ibrahim who had defrauded Rs.831,807,226.80 was fined Rs.2,495,421,680.40; A. W. M. P. Safie alias Meera Sahibo Liyakath Ali who had defrauded Rs.208,678,248.95 was fined Rs.626,034,746.85 and M. K. M. Sakine who had defrauded Rs.29,900,194 was fined Rs. 89,700,584.40.

High Court Judge Kumudini Wickramasinghe directed the CID to seek the assistance of Interpol to arrest the convicted persons. She also directed the CID to check the assets belonging to them both here and abroad.

The case was postponed for October 3. Former Deputy Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Gnanasiri de Soyza Jayathilake was sentenced in May this year to 102 years in prison (to be served concurrently in three years) after he had pleaded guilty in the Rs. 4 billion VAT fraud case. Jayathilake had valuable assets in Colombo 7, Nawala, Kollupitiya and Kurunegala the Court was told.

Colombo High Court Judge Kumuduni Wickramasinghe imposed a fine of Rs. 12 billion on the accused. This is considered the biggest ever fine imposed by a Sri Lankan Court.

Of the 13 suspects who were prosecuted, eight reportedly fled the country at the beginning of the trial and only five appeared before the courts. Verdict was delivered against four of them in a previous trial after they had pleaded guilty. Accordingly, Gnanasiri de Soyza, the only suspect who remained, also pleaded guilty during the trial.

The main charge against the convict included conspiring to misuse money belongs to the Department of Inland Revenue, misusing the tax income and supporting such a scam together with Dharmadasa Wattalagedara in Colombo between November 15, 2002 and December 15, 2004. The case was heard for nearly six years whilst the suspect was indicted on 34 charges. He was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment on each count.

SRI LANKA: MOVING AWAY FROM BOTTOM-TRAWLING STILL WAY OUT FOR TN FISHERS? – ANALYSIS

Fishing boats on Palk Strait in Tamil Nadu

By Observer Research Foundation

By N Sathiya Moorthy-SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

The much-publicised first round of the officials-level talks on resolving the India-Sri Lanka fishing issue has ended up as a non-starter. However, hopes still cannot be ruled out for a possible, if not early, solution.
Sri Lanka Moving Away From Bottom-trawling Still Way Out for Tn Fishers – Analysis by Thavam

The International Community Weighs In for Peace: The Case Study of Colombia

by Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy 

- on 09/25/2014 

For most of us growing up in the 1970s and living through the 1980s and the 1990s, the armed conflict in Colombia seemed to be absolutely intractable. A very radical leftist group, which over years and with the help of the drug trade, was one of the most ruthless in the world, kidnapping politicians, recruiting child soldiers and forcing young women to take contraception. They began as the heroes of the peasantry but over time seemed to have lost their initial purpose.

The Colombian government, on its side, seemed equally brutal. When I was there for the first time in the 1990s I was amazed at the number of body guards, SUVs and men in sun glasses that were there near every restaurant. Everyone had a private army and the rich lived in a state of siege behind high walls in gated communities. Since the Colombian government was accountable for international human rights violations, the rich landowners delegated their protection to paramilitaries who were so brutal on the peasantry that their crimes were mindboggling for anyone dealing with human rights. Add to that the drug trade with incredibly powerful drug lords like Pablo Escobar also ruling large swathes of territory and Colombia seemed a playground for every kind of violence .At any given time someone was gunning someone else down and you did know when you would be caught in the crossfire. Colombia was the home to perhaps the greatest modern novelist of our time- Gabriel Marquez- whose imagination must have been fired by the social and political reality of Colombia where everyone lived close to the bone.

Suddenly it seems the country has begun to turn it all around with a lot of help from the international community.  The more belligerent President, President Uribe began the process by disbanding the paramilitaries realizing that Colombia’s trade options with the US were being stopped by the pro labour factions of the democratic party. Some form of accountability was assured though President Uribe in a surprise move sent some of the paramilitaries to the US for trial on drug charges. The Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman also began to do their work in an independent and objective manner with the lower judiciaries also falling in line to ensure the rule of law.  With regard to child soldiers, comprehensive programmes were developed for their rehabilitation that were the envy of many countries though child rights activists were concerned that such programmes came under the purview of the military. Brutality was slowly being replaced by a more sophisticated approach. There was successful military action against the FARC but also government programmes began to deal with underlying causes

At the same time, the present President who was the Minister of defense in the last government felt that a military victory was not possible without a terrible toll on the civilian population and he turned to regional and international friends. The regional countries acted first. Cuba and Venezuela began to place consistent pressure on the FARC rebels, Chile and Brazil on members of the Colombian government. As a result the present peace process began, slowly, and with very few expectations. Now over two years into the process there seem to be major signs of hope.

Firstly, the talks are taking place in Havana, a first for the government of Cuba that has normally resisted internationalization of issues. This gives security to the FARC rebels and they have more faith and are more amenable to discussion. Second, the primary facilitators are Cuba and Norway, backed up by the secondary “guarantors”, Venezuela and Chile. Representatives of all four governments sit in the room, they do not intervene directly but do provide administrative support to the government and the rebels to conduct the discussions. The United Nations is not in the room but is called on to assist with technical information or with consultations. The UN has been asked to facilitate dialogues and consultations throughout the country on the main themes of the negotiations which are 1. Rural development and land tenure, 2. Illicit drug 3. Political participation, 4. Rights of Victims, 5. End of the conflict and DDR and 6. Implementation. The UN has conducted these consultations in all parts of Colombia and have summarized the discussions and collated the recommendations.

The negotiators have also created three sub committees- one that would look at the causes of the conflict, the second that would plan the end of the conflict and the process of demobilization and reconstruction and the third that would look into the issue of gender equality. At the main table there are ten negotiators on each side, six plenipotentiaries who do the actual negotiations and four who back them up. The government has two women plenipotentiaries after a great deal of pressure from women’s groups but FARC has only two women who are not plenipotentiaries but are in the support group.

When the peace process began no one was very optimistic. However, the talks have lasted, and defying expectations the parties have come to an agreement on the first three points- rural development and land tenure, illicit drugs and political participation including the provision for gender quotas. They are called “partial agreements” because they will not be implemented unless there is agreement on all six points. Most observers thought these very divisive issues, given the ideological make-up of the parties, would create obstacles that would be insurmountable. But they have been proved wrong. The talks could come to an end, especially on the issue of the rights of victims, but the recent successes have given them a momentum that has surprised many commentators.

Another extraordinary development is that neither President Santos nor FARC, let alone the Cuban government, have been great supporters of civil society or NGOs. However, the peace processes has been very open, allowing many groups, including NGOs and victims, especially women, to speak directly to the negotiators, expressing their hope for what they feel the agreement should contain. In addition arrangements have been made so that victims of the conflict from all sides could meet with each other and discuss their common problems building certain solidarity across ideologies.

Many other problems outside the peace process plague Colombia. Smaller drug lords continue to exist and the former jailed paramilitaries coming out of jail have now become complex gangs. They engage in some political activity but are mainly criminal posing a threat to law and order in their provinces. And yet those who have watched developments in Colombia over the last three decades cannot believe that this peace process is taking place, that it is actually moving ahead and that the parties are slowly committing themselves to a future that will transform Colombia, as they know it.

Mahmoud Abbas calls on UN to back deadline for Israeli withdrawal

Palestinian president accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza conflict and declares US-brokered peace process dead

Mahmoud Abbas: 'it is impossible to return to the whirlwind cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the fundamental question.' Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem and Julian Borger in New York-Friday 26 September 2014

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has called on the United Nations security council to support a resolution setting a clear deadline for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories as he in effect declared the US-sponsored Oslo peace process over.

In a hard-hitting speech to the UN general assembly in New York, he also accused Israel of “war crimes carried out before the eyes of the world” during the recent 50-day Gaza war that ended in a ceasefire on 26 August, adding that Israel had “perpetrated genocide”.

“We will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment,” Abbas declared. Palestinian officials were expected to start working with members of the security council to seek backing for a resolution setting a timeframe for the ending of what he called the “racist and colonial” occupation – a resolution certain to be opposed by the US.

According to diplomatic sources, the proposed resolution has caused a rift with the US, which had been working for some months on another resolution with the Israelis, Jordanians and Qataris aimed at bolstering the Gaza ceasefire with an exchange of Palestinian security guarantees for some loosening of Israel’s economic stranglehold.

The official US reaction described the was comments as “offensive and deeply disappointing”.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “Such provocative statements are counterproductive and undermine efforts to create a positive atmosphere and restore trust between the parties.”

Abbas’s speech drew a furious response from senior Israeli officials, with foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman describing it as “diplomatic terrorism”.

“Abu Mazen’s [a nickname for Abbas] statements to the UN general assembly clearly illustrate that he doesn’t want to be – and cannot be – a partner to a diplomatic settlement,” Lieberman said. “There’s a reason that Abu Mazen entered into a joint government with Hamas.”

He added: “Abu Mazen complements Hamas in that he is preoccupied with diplomatic terrorism and slanderous claims against Israel.”

Aides to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu were also harsh in their condemnation. “Abbas’s speech was full of lies and incitement. This is not the way a man who wants peace speaks,” said one.

The White House later said that Barack Obama would host Netanyahu for a meeting on Wednesday to discuss Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians, the situation in Gaza, Iran nuclear talks, and the fight against Islamic State militants.

Even though the US holds the presidency of the security council, diplomats said the Abbas resolution would most probably find support from the nine council members necessary to pass. Only Britain, Australia and Lithuania would be expected to abstain, forcing the US to use its veto.

Although Abbas insisted Palestine was committed to “a just peace through a negotiated solution”, the moves underlined the frustration among Palestinians over US proprietorship of the peace process amid a new desire to internationalise efforts to secure a two-state solution.

Faced with a veto of the resolution, Palestinian sources say Abbas will accelerate moves to join UN and international bodies, including accession to the international criminal court.

In some of his strongest language to date, Abbas declared that the American-backed Israel-Palestinian peace process, which has dragged on for two decades, was dead, saying it was “impossible to return to negotiations”.

He said: “It is impossible, and I repeat – it is impossible – to return to the whirlwind cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question.

“There is neither credibility nor seriousness in negotiations in which Israel predetermines the results via its settlement activities and the occupation’s brutality.

“ There is no meaning or value in negotiations for which the agreed objective is not ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the entire Palestinian territory occupied in the 1967 war.

“And, there is no value in negotiations which are not linked to a firm timetable for the implementation of this goal.”

Instead, he accused Israel of planning “ghettos for Palestinians on fragmented land, without borders and without sovereignty over its airspace, water and natural resources, which will be under the subjugation of the racist settlers and army of occupation, and at worst will be a most abhorrent form of apartheid”.

Some observers had expected Abbas to go further and set a deadline of three years in his speech to the general assembly, a timeframe senior Palestinian sources say was never on the cards.

“We discussed different timeframes in our internal discussions from six months to three years, but without acceptance by the security council for the need for a deadline any time frame is meaningless.”

Abbas’s speech follows several weeks of intense diplomacy with Arab states that also saw him travel to France for bilateral talks. It also follows remarks by President Barack Obama in his own speech to the general assembly criticising the “too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace”.

The other main theme of his speech was the recent war in Gaza and his call for the long Israeli blockade of the coastal strip.

“This last war against Gaza was a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment, in a manner that makes it inconceivable that anyone today can claim that they did not realise the magnitude and horror of the crime.

Putting the blame for the failure of the peace process squarely on Israel, Abbas continued: “Throughout the months of negotiations, settlement construction, land confiscations, home demolitions, killing and arrest campaigns, and forced displacement in the West Bank continued unabated and the unjust blockade on the Gaza Strip was tightened.

“The occupation’s campaign specifically targeted the City of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, attempting to artificially alter the spirit, identity and character of the Holy City, focusing on Al-Aqsa Mosque, threatening grave consequences. At the same time, racist and armed gangs of settlers persisted with their crimes against the Palestinian people, the land, mosques, churches, properties and olive trees.”

No breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks, sides agree to keep talking

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani stands at the end of a press conference on the sidelines of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York September 26, 2014.

BY LOUIS CHARBONNEAU AND PARISA HAFEZI-Sat Sep 27, 2014 

(Reuters) - Iran and six world powers made little progress in overcoming significant disagreements in the most recent round of nuclear talks, including on uranium enrichment, Iranian and Western diplomats close to the negotiations said on Friday.
No Breakthrough in Iran Nuclear Talks, Sides Agree to Keep Talking by Thavam

Rebel Yell

Syrian opposition forces, Obama's key to defeating the Islamic State, say the Pentagon isn't consulting them on airstrikes.

• BY SHANE HARRIS-SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Just four days after the United States began a campaign of airstrikes in Syria to destroy the forces of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, the Obama administration's strategy is showing signs of backfiring and may be losing the support of some of the people it needs most to succeed.

Rebel Yell by Thavam

After China gives police new guns, spate suspicious shootings have followed

China’s special police take part in anti-terrorist exercise in Shanghai on Aug. 21. China has seen an alarming spate of police shootings, ever since the government removed a decades-long ban on guns four months ago and began issuing firearms to police. (ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

srilankatwo Edit

By William Wan September 26 at 9:15 PMLUOKAN VILLAGE, China — Invoking the threat of terrorism, Chinese police for the first time in years have started carrying guns and, with little training, using them.

The fatal effects have rippled across the country, reaching even this tiny mountain village.

After China Gives Police New Guns, Spate Suspicious Shootings Have Followed by Thavam

Will Russia and China Hold Their Fire Until War Is the Only Alternative?

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts-September 26, 2014
Obama’s September 24 speech at the UN is the most absurd thing I have heard in my entire life. It is absolutely amazing that the president of the United States would stand before the entire world and tell us what everyone knows are blatant lies while simultaneously demonstrating Washington’s double standards and belief that Washington alone, because the US is exceptional and indispensable, has the right to violate all laws.
Will Russia and China Hold Their Fire Until War is the Only Alternative by Thavam

Hong Kong police arrest student protesters at government complex

A student is taken away by policemen at the government headquarters in Hong Kong, Saturday. Pic: AP.

By Asian Correspondent Sep 27, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Riot police in Hong Kong are moving in to arrest the remaining 50 students who occupied the premises of government headquarters to protest China’s refusal to allow genuine democratic reforms in the semiautonomous region.

About 100 others are continuing to shout slogans Saturday outside the square where the government complex is located.

The dispersal follows a night of scuffles between police and protesters who forced their way into government headquarters, some scaling a tall fence. Police on Friday night responded with pepper spray to push them back.

Police say 29 people have been injured.

US ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

Thursday, September 25, 2014

WASHINGTON --

Eric Holder, America's first black attorney general and an unflinching champion of civil rights in enforcing the nation's laws, announced his resignation Thursday after leading the Justice Department since the first days of President Barack Obama's term. He is the fourth-longest-serving attorney general in U.S. history.
Us Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Resignation by Thavam

Court sends Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa to jail in graft case

1 OF 3. J. Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu and chief of Anna Dravida Munetra Khazhgam (AIADMK), gestures from inside a vehicle after addressing her party supporters during an election campaign More...

NEW DELHI Sat Sep 27, 2014

(Reuters) - A court on Saturday sentenced Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram to four years in jail in a corruption case that has lasted nearly two decades, television channels reported.

Jayalalithaa, one of the most popular politicians in south India, was convicted of having assets disproportionate to her income, the reports said. She was also fined 1 billion rupees ($16.36 million).

Television reports showed supporters of Jayalalithaa, chief of the AIADMK party, clashing with police in Bangalore and the state capital Chennai. TV reports said she was currently in hospital suffering from ill health.

In law, Jayalalithaa will now have to step down as the head of Tamil Nadu, which she has governed since 2011. However, she will have the option of approaching a higher court which could overturn the verdict.

"I am pleased that the Indian democratic system is working," Subramanian Swamy, a petitioner in the case and a leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, told the television channel Times Now. "It is an appropriate punishment."

The portly, fair-skinned Jayalalithaa acted in several movies before joining politics and has a huge fan following. She endeared herself to millions by distributing free laptops, grinders and fans to voters.

Before the general election in May, Jayalalithaa was seen as a potential ally of Modi if he failed to secure enough votes to form a government. However, Modi and his allies won a convincing majority.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Krishna Das and Stephen Powell)

Metformin linked to risk of low thyroid-stimulating hormone

By M Tyler, Sep 22, 2014

Metformin, a drug commonly used to help lower blood glucose levels in diabetics, could pose a risk to thyroid health, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In patients who were already being treated for hypothyroidism (low thyroid), taking metformin was associated with a 55-percent increased risk of low thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels when compared with individuals taking sulfonylurea, another antidiabetic drug.

The study included data on 73,000 patients over a 25-year period.

Thyroid and diabetes

Low TSH can sometimes indicate an overactive thyroid, but it's unclear exactly how metformin may influence TSH levels.

Symptoms of low TSH can include fatigue, nervousness, restlessness, muscle cramps and heat sensitivity.

Further complicating the matter is the evidence that insulin resistance can impact thyroid health, which could suggest that patients might have compromised thyroid health before they start taking metformin.

"Given the relatively high incidence of low TSH levels in patients taking metformin, it is imperative that future studies assess the clinical consequences of this effect," the study authors wrote.

Source: Science Daily

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Campain: Call On The GOSL To #ReleaseJeyakumary and All Other Political Prisoners

26/09/2014 

Please call on the GOSL to release Jeyakumary and all other political prisoners unlawfully detained without charges, with immediate effect. Join the campaign on the 29th of Sept (Mon), at 4pm, at the Fort Railway Station, to show our solidarity with Jeyakumary and all other political prisoners who have been arrested and unlawfully detained without charges under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Back ground
March 14, 2014/ A Statement from Women’s Action Network (WAN) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: The arrest of activist Jayakumari and her 13-year-old daughter

Yesterday (13th March 2014) one of the leading Killinochchi activists and her daughter who have been in the frontline protesting and demanding for the whereabouts of the missing have been arrested by the CID.

Balendran Jayakumari (resident of Tharmapurum) and her daughter Vithushaini (13 years) have been detained in their home (No. 5 Musalumpitty, Pullium Pokkanai, Tharmapurum , Killinochchi- Indian housing scheme) from around 4 pm till around 10 pm. Jayakumari called a politician around 4 pm and complaint that her house has been surrounded by the army. Around 4.30 one of Jayakumari’s friend K (who is also an activist and looking for her missing child called), Jayakumari answered the phone said she is at home but there are problems then her phone was answered by a man who asked her friend (K) who she is, why she is calling her. When K said her child is sick and she is at the Vavunia hospital and needs Jayakumari’s help, the man cut the call and thereafter Jayakumari’s phone was switched off. Since then there is no communication with her.

Jayakumari is a mother of three boys (two of them are killed and one is missing) and one girl. Both the mother and daughter have been in the frontline of many protested organized by Mannar citizens committee and families that are looking for missing and disappeared members. She and her daughter have been featured in many video documentaries on disappeared including the Channel 4 that was released in November. 2013. Beside Jayakumari has been the leader of mobilizing the families in Killinochchi for various hearings, public protests and meetings. She has met many visiting diplomats and media persons. Jayakumari’s one son was killing in Trincomalee, the second one died of a shell attack in Mullivaikal. She handed over her third son (Balendran Mahinthan) to SL army in May 2009 and at that time he was 15 years old (was recruited by the LTTE last minute). One of the government LLRC publications (on the release of rehabilitated cadres) carried his photo and this has been Jayakumari’s strong evidence that she gave her son to SL military.

I am told Jayakumari and her daughter have been brought to Vavunia for further investigation.

Police spokesperson Ajith Rohana stated to BBC Tamil yesterday night that a shooting incident took place in Tharmapurum on 13th morning and the suspect has escaped and they have identified a house where the suspect has been hiding and two women have been investigated. He also stated one of their police officers have been injured in the shooting incident.