Insight - Chinese troops play symbolic role in Hong Kong drama over democracy

Policemen stand in front of a tent set up by pro-democracy protesters with a banner supporting students, blocking a main road at Mongkok shopping district in Hong Kong October 5, 2014.

BY GREG TORODE AND DAVID LAGUE-HONG KONG Sun Oct 5, 2014 

(Reuters) - Major General Tan Benhong, the commander of the People's Liberation Army in Hong Kong, was a picture of uniformed calm as he shared champagne toasts with Chinese officials on Wednesday at local celebrations marking China's national day.
Insight - Chinese Troops Play Symbolic Role in Hong Kong Drama Over Democracy by Thavam

Country of God

• BY ADRIANA CARRANCA-OCTOBER 4, 2014

BRASÍLIA, Brazil — Pastor Hadman Daniel stands on the altar in Novo Dia in Brasília, a church of the Assembly of God, the most popular denomination among Brazil's 42 million evangelical Christians. In the pews, about 3,000 people chant and sing as the pastor invokes them to spread the gospel "to the ends of the Earth, from the Amazon to the world's five continents." Daniel also has another prayer: for Marina Silva, the Socialist Party's candidate in the Oct. 5 presidential election, and a member of Novo Dia, who has a chance to become the country's first evangelical Christian president.
Country of God by Thavam

Are You Embarrassed by Cracked Heels, Try these Home Remedies

Jun 03, 2013

•Take 1/4th bucket of water and squeeze one lemon in it, soak your feet on this bucket and clean your feet with pumice stone for few minutes.Then wash your feet and heels with soap lather. Do this cleaning process twice for a week.You can get the best result in a month.

• Blend turmeric, tulsi and camphor in identical proportions and mix all these components with aloe Vera gel and make it as paste.Apply this paste on the heels and wait for 20 minutes.The plain aloe Vera gel is good for cracked heels.After 20 minutes wash your heels with moderate warm water.Then apply any moisturizer lotion to heels.

• Take warm water and soak your feet in it for 15 minutes. This will relax the dead skin.Now clean off your heels with a pumice pebble.Rub the pumice stone at the cracked heel area.This process will remove the dead skin at heels and make blood flow at heels improved.

• Massage your heels with sesame oil before going to bed. This is allegedly the best remedy for cracked heels.

• Mix glycerin and rosewater simultaneously and apply on the heels every day. This soothes and therapies cracked heels real fast.

• Take a super ripe banana, which has almost turned very dark, and you are about to throw in the dustbin. Mash it, and use it on the affected heels area. Let it be there for 15 minutes at least. Clean off after 15 minutes. This is for a fast healing.

• Use special creams which are intended for healing cracked creams at night, and then scrub off in the morning and clean off, with a pumice pebble.

• Massage your feet with coconut oil every evening. In next dawn, scrub your heels and rinse off.

• Make a mixture of lemon juice and papaya. Apply it on the cracked heels. Let it be there for 20 minutes at least. Clean off after 20 minutes.

• Blend raw salt in Luke moderately hot water, and scrub your heels sin it as you soak it. Natural Pedicure for your feet, and this will exfoliate your feet too.

• Take Paraffin wax, and dissolve it adding some coconut oil to it. Load up in the chink with this blend whilst going to bed, wash off in the forenoon. Mum did for round 2 weeks and the cracked heels are gone.

• After cleaning your feet, massage with paraffin oil, Vaseline or hydrogenated vegetable oil. This will keep the feet hydrated.

• Mix sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) in moderately hot water and soak your feet in it. Clean off with a pumice pebble.

• Dehydration is also on of the cause for cracked heels. so Drink plenty of water to hold your skin and boy hydrated.

Tamils fearful of giving evidence to UN inquiry amid govt intimidation says TNA MP

04 October 2014

Tamils in the North-East are very afraid of coming forward to submit evidence to the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) underway, said TNA MP Maavai Senathirajah.

"People are scared," Senathirajah said, speaking to Tamil Guardian after a meeting with Tamils in London on Friday. 

"The government has issued severe threats [against Tamils wishing to submit evidence] and intimidation is extremely prevalent," he said, adding that there was no guarantee of protection to witnesses. 

"The government is also trying to counter Tamil witnesses, by making its own submissions," Senathirajah added. 

The OISL investigation, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in March this year, is currently calling on witnesses to come forward. The deadline for witness submission is the end of this month on October 30. 

See related articles: 

Fundamental and far-reaching accountability needed in Sri Lanka says UN Human Rights Chief (25 Sep 2014) 

SLFP to examine NPC resolution calling for OISL access (13 Sep 2014) 

Govt deciding on action against those who submit evidence to UN inquiry (07 Sep 2014) 

TNPF urges people to submit evidence to UN inquiry (04 Sep 2014) 

Call for submissions as 'OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka' begins (05 Aug 2014) 

Sri Lankan officials deny NDP MP victim of ‘political intimidation’

UN independent expert concerned over reports of intimidation of judges in Sri Lanka

US slams Sri Lanka over intimidation of war victims

Release Abducted Sandeer Kumar! - IUSF

Thursday, 02 October 2014

Inter University Students' Federation held a demonstration yesterday (1) in front of the Fort Railway Station.

 The purpose of the demonstration was to demand the immediate release of the University of Sabaragamuwa student, Sandeer Kumar Sadeshan who was abducted by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) on the 9th August. Students claim that the student has been under the custody of the TID for more than 50 days for no reason whatsoever. Students accuse the government of trying to ignite racial disharmony within the university as an extension of its strategy of keeping the masses divided in order to maintain the neoliberal asssault on the country's economy. 

Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act Sri Lankan law has bestowed wide powers on the Terrorrist Investigation Division to arbitrarily arrest any citizen under the charge of engaging in terrorist activity. Sandeer Kumar is a Tamil student who the government claims is a rehabitated member of the L.T.T.E,  the seperatist organization that waged a civil war within the country for more than 30 years. L.T.T.E was militarily defeated by the government in a brutal war in 2009 which has brough the government under the scrutiny of Human Rights Organizations including the United Nations Human Rights Council. 

Convener of the Inter University Students' Federation Najith Indika pointed out that Sandeer Kumar who is only a first year student at the University of Sabaragamuwa, even if he was a member of the L.T.T.E could not have been more than a child soldier. He questioned whether forced to being a child soldier was the crime that Sandeer Kumar committed for the government to charge him with terrorism. He also stated that terrorism, meaning politics by fear is only practised by the government and nobody else. 

Meanwhile Gotabaya Rajapakse, the Secretary of Defense has identified leftist activism and student activism as a possible threat to 'National Security of the Country'. He has expressed these opinion in an articel published in an American Defense Periodical. 

Students are accusing the government of trying to use the age old trick of racism and religious extremism in the country in order to carry on with their neoliberal economic reforms. 

SL police arrests protesting former EDPD politician in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2014, 23:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna arrested the General Secretary of Mutpoakkuth Thamizh Theasiya Kadchi (MTTK) Sutharsingh Vijayakanth and two of his fellow party members Friday night while they were waging a peaceful fast at Nalloor temple demanding the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release all Tamil political prisoners from the Sri Lankan prisons. The arrests were made on the charge that they were getting electricity from a nearby house to the podium of the fasting campaign. The fast was launched as there was no reply from the Sri Lankan President to their letter urging general amnesty to all Tamil political prisoners, the protesters said. Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit Jaffna on a two-day visit on October 12. 

Mr Sutharsingh Vijayakanth, a former EPDP member and a councillor of Jaffna Municipal Council, left the EPDP and launched MTTK recently. 

The party of Sutharsingh Vijayakanth was also behind a recent protest in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat. 

The arrests were made around 8:00 p.m. as the fasting campaign, which began Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. was gaining momentum. 

More than 40 people from various grassroots groups are taking part in the fast on a rotation basis. 

The protesters were receiving electricity from a nearby house to their podium with the permission from the house, they said. The SL police said the protesters were using illegal way to receive electricity. 

Despite the arrests, the campaign will go on as planned till Sunday evening, the MTTK members told media. 

“Five years have gone after the war. While certain ex-LTTE personalities, who were in the leading positions in the LTTE have become deputy ministers and confidantes of the presidential siblings, the others are still in prison without any amnesty,” Mr Vijayakanth said while he commenced the fast Friday morning.

வங்கிக்கு சென்ற யுவதி மாயம் 

 மட்டக்களப்பு மாவட்டத்தின் வாகரைப் பொலிஸ் பிரிவிலுள்ள புளியங்கண்டலடி கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்த யுவதி ஒருவர் காணாமல்போயுள்ளதாக மட்டக்களப்பு மனித உரிமை ஆணைக்குழுவில், நேற்று முறையிட்டப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

 

 

இதுபற்றி ஏற்கெனவே வாகரைப் பொலிஸில் முறைப்பாடு பதிவு செய்துள்ளதாக யுவதியின் தாய் கந்தசாமி தங்கநாயகம் தெரிவித்தார். 

 

கந்தசாமி நிரோஜினி (வயது 20) என்ற  தனது மகள் செப்டெம்பர் 22 ஆம் திகதி, அடகு வைத்துள்ள மோதிரம் ஒன்றை அடகு மீட்பதற்காக வாகரை மக்கள் வங்கிக்குச் சென்றவர் இது வரை வீடு திரும்பவில்லை என்று தாய் கந்தசாமி தங்கநாயகம் தனது முறைப்பாட்டில் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

 

தனது மகள் காணாமல்போன பின்னர் ஆறு தொலைபேசி இலக்கங்களில் இருந்து நபர்கள் தொடர்பு கொண்டு தெளிவற்ற முறையில் பேசுவதாகவும் காணமல்போன யுவதின் தாய் கூறினார். 

 

அதிலொரு நபர் தான் யாழ்ப்பாணம் மானிப்பாயிலிருந்து பேசுவதாகவும் தன்னிடம் தெரிவித்தார் என்று யுவதியின் தாய் மேலும் கூறினார்.

 

இன்னொருநபர் தான் கொழும்பிலிருந்து பேசுவதாகக் கூறியதாகவும் தாய் தெரிவித்தார்.

 

இந்த முறைப்பாடு தொடர்பான தாங்கள் விசாரணைகளை நடத்தவுள்ளதாக மட்டக்களப்பு மனித உரிமை ஆணைக்குழு விசாரணை அதிகாரி அப்துல் அஸீஸ் தெரிவித்தார். 

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=870793510804749140#sthash.xNYKkUol.dpuf

De Facto CJ Spends Millions To Finance A Luxury Stay For A US Judge

October 4, 2014

The De Facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris has spent over Rs. 7 million off the Supreme Court fund to pay for luxury accommodation and entertaining a US district judge and his wife who have not visited Sri Lanka on an official tour, Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.

De facto CJ

It has been revealed that the Judge who serves at the Nevada Supreme Court has not visited Sri Lanka on a regular exchange program but was in the island upon invitation extended by Pieris. He had accommodated the couple in a luxury apartment and had spent a whopping Rs. 2.5 million as entertainment allowance alone.

During their stay in Sri Lanka, Pieris had arranged and funded helicopter rides for the couple to travel to the North as well as various other parts of the country, lavishly drawing finances off tax payer money. He had also instructed local judges – 20 in each batch – to spend time with Judge Hunt.

Furthermore during discussions with Judge Hunt, it had been explicitly revealed that although he was invited and brought down to Sri Lanka, he has not been paid any professional payments. But he had informed that unlike in the US, he was given a Mercedes Benz car for his use (usually given to serving Supreme Court judges) by the Supreme Court Registrar.

Colombo Telegraph also learns that the total expenditure of Judge Hunt and his wife’s stay in Sri Lanka, has been directly financed by the Supreme Court Registrar. Interestingly, such budgetary allocations have not been included in financial allocations made by the Parliament to the Supreme Court.

Ministers boycott Shashindra’s swearing-in!

 

Saturday, 04 October 2014 

Senior ministers of the government have boycotted the recent swearing-in of president’s son-in-law Shashindra Rajapaksa as chief minister of the Uva provincial council. Less than 10 ministers, including Nimal Siripala de Silva, Dilan Perera, Wimal Weerawansa and Dullas Alahapperuma, were present.

Despite knowing that the president would be there, the cabinet ministers had stayed away in order to express their displeasure to the government. After the ceremony, a cabinet meeting was held, and except for Maithripala Sirisena, all the other ministers were present. As the SLFP general secretary, he should have been there at the swearing-in, but he spent the day in Polonnaruwa, even without attending the cabinet meeting.

At the ceremony, minister de Silva remarked that the government would never lose under the leadership of the president, and hearing it, the president has blinked his eyes and with an ironic smile, ridiculed him. When the other guests told him about that later, the minister said, ‘‘So, the president has correctly understood what I had said.’’

Sisira Uyana Creates Unexpected Climes

 Saturday, October 04, 2014

Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, B. Kusumawathi and W. Sugath

Houses in 34 Watta in Wanathamulla were demolished recently except the four houses of the residents who filed a writ application against the demolition in the court of Appeal. According to the government, these people have been offered flats in the adjoining new high rise ‘Sisira Uyana’ Complex. Many residents initially resisted taking the government’s offer but were later submissive to the orders given by the government authorities.
Sisira Uyana Creates Unexpected Climes by Thavam

Visit To The Vatican By The President

By Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda -October 4, 2014

Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda

The report that the President Rajapaksa soon after his return from New York has flown to the Vatican to extend an official invitation to the Pope Francis, astonished me.

It was somewhere in July this year that a delegation from the Vatican arrived in Sri Lanka to see to the logistics of the papal visit schedules for January next year. Subsequently there was also a media conference and announcements were made by the Sri Lankan Church authorities with regard to the Pope’s two-day visit. A senior police officer has also been appointed to see to the arrangements.

After all those arrangements have been made, it looks quite strange to me that  the President has now gone to the Vatican personally to invite the Pope. This gives the strange impression that the Pope, as the head of a State, has decided to visit  Sri Lanka without the consent of our government.

I cannot understand the protocol. Has this happened in previous instances when heads of States from China and Japan visited Sri Lanka? Could anyone be kind enough to explain this anomaly to me and to others who may find difficult to understand these proceedings regarding Pope’s visit?

In fact, on two previous occasions, when the popes, namely Paul VI and John Paul II, visited Sri Lanka, there were no visits made to the Vatican by the then prime minister or the President to extend formal invitations.

What was the need for our President to spend the money of the people to make this visit to the Vatican when a papal envoy is residing at Baudhaloka Mawatha a few kilometers away from the Temple Trees?

The ambiguity of this visit by the President at a time when an election is to be held soon in Sri Lanka is really creating suspicion and leaving room for legitimate speculation.

Is the pope having second thoughts about the visit? Is he considering to cancel the intended visit because of the election that is to be held a few days or weeks before or after Pope’s visit?

Is the government planning to get the needed legitimacy through his visit? Will his visit be used by the government as a part of his election campaign to attract the votes in the Catholic belt? Is there a hidden agenda behind the visit not made known to the public? Are the Sri Lankan Church leaders also involved in a secret agenda? Or as some people wonder, is there here an appeal to  the Pope to reverse his previous decision not to visit, bless or open the massive building complex intended for an Opus Dei University constructed by the armed forces  with the dollars of the Opus Dei flowing into the country, and of course to the metropolitan church?

The media has reported also that the Sri Lankan President has mentioned to the Pope about the socio-economic development that is taking place and the high level of religious harmony prevailing in the country.

Perhaps the Pope may not be aware of the results of the recent provincial council elections in Western and Uva provinces, which indicates the people’s fast losing confidence in the governance of the President !

Islamophobic racism -Sri Lankan Muslims at crossroads – 19 

Izeth Hussain-October 3, 2014

In the preceding sections of this series of articles on the Sri Lankan Muslims at the cross roads, I have dealt with ‘Muslim extremism’ so-called and with the Muslim population problem. In this article I will argue that both of those supposed problems are really non-problems, which can be explained only on the basis of Islamophobic racism among some segments of the Sri Lankan people. Thereafter I will – in situating these seemingly purely local problems in an international context - make some observations on Islamophobic racism on the global scale.

Islamophobic Racism -Sri Lankan Muslims at Crossroads – 19 by Thavam

The Ominous Pull Of Jihadism

By Shyamon Jayasinghe -October 4, 2014 

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“Ideas are bullet proof”- Allan Moore, V for Vendetta

A powerful idea can get a life of its own. The new Jihadism is one such idea. It is religious all right but it is more complex than that. It is intractable as a force for the simple reason that an ideology is something abstract. The danger is that it can be anywhere and 

everywhere. Hence, bombing it in one location is unlikely to help in the longer term, at least.

Jihadism is seen drawing out younger generations from their cosy family homes into the battlefields of Iraq and Syria and it has the backing of the older folk of Muslims in ways unforeseen. Those who remain home remain to plot and bomb and kill. Often bypassing normal channels of dissemination Jihadism spreads mostly through internet and social media bringing in waves of supporters. Have the Americans and the West got hold of the wrong end of the stick in controlling this phenomenon? Here, in Australia, has Tony Abbot been able to distinguish the wood from the trees? In order to meet this threat it is important to realize the complexity of the issue. I am wondering if Western leaders have had the patience and the prescience to comprehend this.

The Pull of Jihad

Jihadists are made and they don’t fall from the sky. What exactly makes them? What is it that invests this ideology with such a pulling power and a power to unleash destruction?

Sixteen Australian Muslim youngsters have so far fallen victim to the pull of Jihad. The eighteen year old youngster, Abdul Numan Haider from a Melbourne outer suburb is the latest victim. Apparently, the Melbourne and Federal police have been following him for some time. It is alleged Numan was seen with an ISIS flag at a shopping centre; that he was having links with extremist groups; that he had received and sent hate mail via internet. All sorts of stories are flying about this hapless youth who ended his promising life in vain. He is supposed to have threatened to kill the cops and wrap them in the Islamic flag of ISIS. It is hard to separate truth from fiction. However, the police got wind of all this and summoned Numan to the cop station for questioning. The teenager pulled out a knife and stabbed two police officers who are now in hospital. In defense, he was shot dead.                                                                           Read More

Vaas wins over clash with Nonis!

Saturday, 04 October 2014 

The external affairs ministry has officially informed Sri Lankan high commissioner in UK Dr. Chris Nonis, who was inhumanly assaulted by the ministry’s supervising MP Sajin Vaas  Gunawardena in New York on September 24, that it has accepted yesterday (03), on the order of the president, the resignation letter he had tendered to the president.

A little while ago Dr. Nonis spoke to BBC Sinhala Service and announced this officially. He said,

According to what the worldwide media has extensively reported by now, I was subjected to an unlawful attack by Sri Lankan external affairs ministry’s supervising MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardena in New York on September 24.

On the same day, I informed the president about the incident, tendered my resignation letter and returned to London from New York on the same night.

I feel that I have fulfilled to the maximum the task given to me by the president on behalf of my motherland and her people. I extend my heartiest devotion to the president for the valuable opportunity he had given me. Finally, I remember with gratitude all those who have supported and encouraged me to carryout that task.”

Sajin Vaas and ministry secretary Kshenuka Seneviratne have proposed the name of a magistrate serving at a Colombo magistrate’s court to fill the void created following the resignation of Dr. Nonis, and internal sources at the ministry say the president will mostly likely approve his name.

Sirisena’s letter – a red light for Rajapaksas

SATURDAY, 04 OCTOBER 2014 

It is reported that the Secretary General of the SLFP Minister Maithripala Sirisena has, in writing, asked the President why preparations are being made to hold a sudden presidential election when his term ends in two more years.

The internal conflicts in the government have developed rapidly after the Uva PC election and many seniors in the SLFP have expressed opposition to holding a presidential election before President’s 6 year term ends. The written query by the Secretary General of the SLFP would have been influenced by the forces opposing Rajapaksas point out political analysts adding that Minister Sirisena would not resort to such an action on his own.

In his letter Minister Sirisena asks why a presidential election is held when promises made at the previous presidential election had not been fulfilled and suggests it would be better if the election is held after fulfilling the promises.

Minister Sirisena too is a senior in the SLFP who has been harassed by Rajapaksa family regime. Political analysts say a large number in the government are preparing to publicly act against Rajapaksa family rule in the near future. They say the letter from Minister Sirisena is a signal for what is in store for the regime.

Victim sues cop for Rs 50 M 

BY STANLEY SAMARASINGHE- October 4, 2014
Weerasinghe Arachchilage Kanthilatha, of Ratnapura, yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights petition, in the Supreme Court, complaining that she was assaulted with a thick cane and kicked by a policeman. She claimed compensation in Rs 50 million from her assailant.

She filed this petition through Luxan Dias and Udul Premaratne, of Lawyers for Human Rights Collective.
The petitioner states that assault took place in the evening and it was witnessed by many people and she had later learned that.....someone had videoed the assault and uploaded to the internet.

The Officer-in-Charge of Ratnapura Police, Senior Superintendent, Ratnapura Division, the Police Spokesperson and the Inspector General of Police, have been cited as respondents.

According to her petition, she is 35 years old, at the time of her birth, father had left them and she had not seen her father.
In 1994, she married W.P. Thushara and have two kids but live separately. She has no proper job but whenever she needs money, she provides sexual services to men in the Ratnapura area as a commercial sex worker.
Prior to this incident, the police personnel who assaulted her had approached her at the Ratnapura Bus Stand and requested sexual service free of charge. When she refused, he had then demanded half a bottle of arrack, when she refused that too, he had stated 'you will see what I can do'.

That police personnel was angry with her since then and on the day in question, while she was roaming around the bus stand, she had an argument with another commercial sex worker over the waiting area. It was a heated verbal exchange, the petitioner stated.
She claimed the other sex worker was good with the police personnel and when the petitioner went to a nearby tea shop, the policeman followed her and asked her why she came to the area as she was told not to come. He had then started assaulting her, the petition stated.

Petitioner requested the Court to grant leave to proceed with the petition and order the Police Department to guarantee protection for the petitioner and her children in public places.
The petitioner also requested Court to order the Inspector General of Police to expel all those involved in the case from the Police Department if they are found guilty, through an Internal Police Department inquiry, with the offence of torture, cruelty, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Further, the petitioner also requested the Court to order the IGP to appoint a Special Committee to investigate this matter and a monitoring team in partnership and in consultation with Attorney General's Department, and Bar Association of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission.