British jihadis 'handed back to IS in prisoner swap'

MONDAY 06 OCTOBER 2014
Two Britons suspected of being jihadis, including one who until May was studying for his A-levels, are understood to have been part of a prisoner swap between Turkey and Islamic State.

Shabazz Suleman, 18, and Hisham Folkard, 26, are thought to have been among up to 180 fighters reportedly returned to Islamic State by Turkey in return for Turkish consular staff captured when IS stormed the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in June.

The Britons' names were on a leaked list passed to the Times newspaper. The list is said to include the names of citizens from other European countries, including three from France, two from Sweden, two from Macedonia, and one from Switzerland and Belgium.

However, there has been no confirmation that the Britons were among the Turkey-held prisoners.

Humanitarian aid

Mr Suleman had been studying at the Royal Grammar School (RGS) in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire until May of this year, when he took study leave ahead of his A-levels. He has not been seen since.

RGS headmaster Roy Page said on 3 October that Mr Suleman had undertaken voluntary work in Syria last year.

"In the summer of 2013, Shabazz made a trip to Syria as a member of a convoy that delivered humanitarian aid to the people of Aleppo as part of a Turkish charity," he said in a statement on the school website.

Counter-terrorism officers contacted the father of Hisham Folkard in August in connection with his brother, Omar, according to the Times. Omar Hisham is said to be known to the security services.

Plea to IS

In a separate development, the parents of Abdul-Rahman Kassig - formerly known as Peter - have released a film pleading with Islamic State to release their son (see above).

Mr Kassig, a US citizen, appeared in an IS video released last week showing the beheading of UK hostage Alan Henning. It ends with a threat to kill the American.

In the film, Ed Kassig, the hostage's father, says his son was taken captive in Syria on 1 October 2013, where he was providing aid for refugees fleeing the country's civil war through an organisation he founded.

The Kassigs also released a letter written by their son in June and sent while he was in captivity. In it he says: "I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping and wondering if I should even hope at all."

Abuld-Rahman Kassig is thought to have converted to Islam while in captivity. In a statement, his parents say they understand he became a Muslim voluntarily late last year while sharing a cell with a devout Muslim.

‘Racist’ Indian mob attacks African students

A mob attack on three terrified Africans in Delhi has raised new allegations of racism in India

The crowd forced its way into the empty police booth to try to grab the terrified Africans cowering on the roof

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi-01 Oct 2014

African student leaders have spoken out over the racism they face in India after a video captured an attack on three young African men by a large mob of Indians in one of the capital’s largest metro stations.

The men were forced to climb up on top of a station police booth as the baying mob thrashed at them with sticks and tried to pull them down.

The crowd forced its way into the empty police booth to try to grab the terrified Africans cowering on the roof. They were eventually rescued when a policeman arrived.

Many bystanders filmed the attack on their mobile phones and comments on their YouTube clips suggested they had “misbehaved” with women on a train.

But African students in the capital said it was the latest in a series of racially-motivated attacks based on the colour of their skin.

Warning: this video contains violence

The clip emerged as Delhi’s former law minister Somnath Bharti was charged with harassment of African women in January, when he led a vigilante mob which forced several women from their homes in South Delhi and accused them of being prostitutes and drug dealers. Some of them were forced to give urine samples in public for drug tests.

A few months earlier Nigeria’s high commissioner complained after ministers in Goa said Nigerians living there were drug dealers and “a cancer”. Political leaders waged a campaign for Nigerians to be evicted from their homes as young Africans complained of violent attacks and racist verbal abuse. Dozens were arrested when they protested over the murder of an African by a local drugs gang.

Professor Zubair Meenia of Delhi’s Jamia Milia University said racism was at the heart of the attacks on Africans.

“There is no doubt about it. Indians are racist and the irony is we are not aware of it and hence no sensitisation and acceptance. We have a history of racism. In north India, people from the north-east and south India are treated differently and in some cases racially. We have been marginalising people from African countries to assert ourselves and show our racial superiority.

“Most Indians still have a territorial possessiveness and in urban areas we often see people of other races or communities denied homes on their colour and looks”, he said.

A spokesman for Delhi’s railway police said the attacks were triggered by rumours that women had been molested but there had not been any complaints of sexual harassment. One of the African men was injured in the attacks but later discharged from hospital.

Police had registered a case of rioting and detectives were investigating whether the attacks were “racially motivated
”

Rights groups voice concern over World Bank’s plans for Burma

Rohingya refugees at Da Paing camp in Rakhine State. Rights groups say it is essential that the World Bank Group sets the right precedent in Burma. Pic: AP.

By Kyle Lawrence Mullin Oct 06, 2014

While The World Bank Group (WBG) has aided swaths of struggling economies across the globe, activists in Burma say such assistance for the beleaguered South East Asian nation should come with strict conditions.

Rights Groups Voice Concern Over World Bank’s Plans for Burma by Thavam

EBOLA! EBOLA! EBOLA!

Dr. Phil Leveque and Bonnie King, Salem-News.com-Oct-06-2014

Exclusive interview with Dr. Phil Leveque, Forensic Toxicologist and Pharmacologist, on the Ebola Epidemic.

Graphic: WHO

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - I was there with boots on the ground. In 1968, I was recruited by the University of London to train doctors in east Africa. I taught at the National University in Uganda and the National University in Dar es Salaam for two years.

In addition to that, from my main base in Uganda, which is just about in the center of Africa, right on the Equator, the British medical education system goes like this: 3 months on, teaching, and one month off. That gives three whole months during the year to do anything not necessarily related to my teaching in Uganda or my teaching at Dar es Salaam.

During this time, I decided that I should see as much of the country as possible. This is probably, or it appeared to be, a one-time opportunity to see as much of Africa as I could. So from my base in Uganda, I went 200 miles, approximately, south to Dar es Salaam, 200 miles north to what is called the Samburo country, 200 miles west to the edge of the Congo, and 200 miles east to the coast of Kenya to Mombasa.

And so, my remarks are based upon a block of country 400 miles north and south and 400 miles east and west.

The Poverty is just Striking.

Ebola! Ebola! Ebola! by Thavam

Report To UN Raises Concerns On Lanka

By Easwaran Rutnam-Sunday, October 05, 2014

A 40-page briefing submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee has raised concerns in Sri Lanka, including the alleged persistent climate of impunity.

Amnesty International has submitted a 40-page briefing on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Committee in connection with the Committee’s review this week of Sri Lanka’s fifth periodic report on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The submission looks at selected human rights concerns raised in the Committee’s List of Issues from March 2014 and documented extensively over the reporting period. In particular the submission features information gathered between 2012 and 2014 drawn from interviews with survivors of human rights violations and their families who have sought refuge outside Sri Lanka, as well as from correspondence with human rights defenders in Sri Lanka.

In a background note on the briefing, Amnesty International says the Sri Lankan government’s hostility towards human rights monitors makes it difficult for international human rights organisations to reach out to victims of repression and their families in Sri Lanka, who risk retaliation for communicating with international organisations.

Because of the possibility of  reprisals to family members still in Sri Lanka as well documented cases of reprisals against returned asylum seekers, Amnesty International says it has withheld identifying information, which may include names of victims or witnesses, current locations, place names in Sri Lanka and dates or methods of communication.

“Sri Lanka’s fourth periodic report was submitted in 2002, soon after a cease-fire had been declared between the LTTE and government forces. It was considered by the Committee in 2003. The current report, due in 2007, was substantially delayed and was finally submitted in October 2012. It covers the nine year period from 2003 to 2012, during which major changes occurred in the nature and scale of human rights violations and abuses as Sri Lanka transitioned from a five year cease-fire to intensive armed conflict and when fighting ended, to a post conflict period that continues to be characterised by serious violations of human rights,” Amnesty International notes.

The briefing document says it is disturbing to note that despite these changes, many core concerns expressed by the Committee in its Concluding Observations in 2003 continue to exist 11 years later, including about Sri Lanka’s continued reliance on the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the incompatibility of its provisions with the Covenant; the use of torture and enforced disappearances; and violations of freedom of expression and association.

Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the persistent climate of impunity in Sri Lanka and the weakness of domestic mechanisms to protect human rights and deliver justice; its failure to protect minorities from violence and discrimination; and the pervasive use of torture, including sexual violence, and extrajudicial executions against former members of the LTTE, people with suspected links to the LTTE and their families and individuals reportedly detained for seeking information from the authorities about missing relatives.

SL Missing Persons Panel biased: CPA

By P K Balachandran

Published: 05th October 2014 

KILINOCHCHI: The Sri Lankan human rights watchdog, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), has accused the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons of being biased, with its members trying to get statements from victims which would shore up the image of government presently accused of  having committed “war crimes”.

“The commissioners posed leading questions to those providing testimony. This implies bias and could lead to influencing testimony and subsequent findings,” the CPA said in a statement after attending the commission’s sittings in Kilinochchi from September 27 to 30.

Express found that the line of questioning of the Chairman of the panel, Maxwell Paranagama, was designed to get the witnesses to say that it was the LTTE which had abducted their kin; fired the shells which caused death and destruction on a massive scale; and forcibly prevented people from seeking refuge in army lines.

While most witnesses did say that the initial abduction was done by the LTTE (mainly in cases from 2008 onwards), “disappearances” as such had occurred later, in the final days of the war, when there was heavy fighting and many persons had surrendered to the army or where taken in by the army for questioning. The panel appeared to be sidestepping this aspect, though Paranagama stressed the need for a proper probe.

The translator added to the bias by repeatedly questioning the witnesses on the same matter in a stentorian and authoritarian manner. Thrown off balance, many witnesses backed out from their earlier statements and said: “We don’t know”, to please the panel.

The CPA charged that at the hearing on September 29 at Pooneryn, persons identifying themselves as military intelligence attended the sittings and photographed persons waiting to give testimony. There were also several military personnel outside the venue, all of which could have intimidated the witnesses. “Lack of genuine steps at this juncture will severely undermine efforts to arrive at truth, justice, accountability and reconciliation in SL,” CPA warned.

What Price Does A Country’s Integrity Command?

| by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

Courtesy: the Sunday Times, Colombo

( October 5, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In these perilous times, Sri Lanka faces possibly its severest test of democratic strength since the granting of independence. A dearly loved judicial philosopher in the United States, the late Judge Learned Hand (1872 –1961) said it best when he warned that ‘liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.’

What Price Does a Country’s Integrity Command by Thavam

SL military chases Tamils out of farming land in Poththuvil, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2014, 22:16 GMT]
15 Tamil farmers who were clearing the agricultural lands at Oottuch-cheanai in Poththuvil of Ampaa’rai district were chased away by the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who came from Oo'rani camp on Friday. The SLA soldiers have seized the tools used by the Tamil farmers, said T. Kalaiyarasan, a councillor from the Eastern Provincial Council. The Tamil councillor said the act by the SL military is just another example for how the civil affairs are being subjected to the control and command of the SL military. The Tamil people have been using the upper-lying lands of 100 acres for more than 60 years, he said. 

Militarisation and deployment of the State mechanisms of Colombo go hand in hand in the demographic genocide against Eelam Tamils in Ampaa'rai, the Tamil councillor said. 

The farmers were clearing the lands for the next season of agriculture on Friday. 

Some of the farmers were also summoned to the SLA camp in Oo'rani and threatened by the SL military officers there, Tamil farmers from Oottuch-cheanai said. 

Sri Lankan Forest Conservation Department from Colombo has been claiming 50 acres of the 100-acre farming land as ‘State land’, the farmers further said.

What Exactly Do We Need From A Presidential Poll ?

By Kusal Perera -October 5, 2014 

Kusal Perera

Its a mad rush in Colombo these days to find out how Rajapaksa could be defeated at the next presidential polls, he would offer. In the South, there is the “Common Candidate” in Sobitha thero, still insisting he could be the winning horse. There is new hope in the UNP after the Uva PC elections.Ranil is seriously into the game, while opposition groups in Colombo have no confidence he could defeat Rajapaksa. Meanwhile, the JVP having accepted they on their own can not field a candidate and with Sobitha thero below promise, have opted to go on a negative path. Even before Uva PC elections. They were toying with the idea of a boycott, if President Rajapaksa comes forward as the UPFA candidate. A news plant to that effect in Sinhala media is perhaps to test the ground.

Meanwhile the question whether Rajapaksa could contest a third time under the 18 Amendment is being questioned and debated by Colombo middle class fringe groups. After Uva PC elections, the UNP is more interested in headline gossip than the 18 Amendment. UNP stalwarts are now talking of running the race to win and not just to participate. Perhaps some are even counting cabinet ministers in their next government.Ranil is hard on his heel, trying to win more than his due, from Sinhala South. Attanayake‘s statement about discussing the BBS programme was no foot in the mouth statement, but one in step with Ranil’s strategy. Such is the confusion in opposition ranks, wanting to see the end of the Rajapaksa regime.

Reports of old Left leaders in the government trying to persuade President Rajapaksa to avoid a snap presidential poll and advising him to work towards winning back lost credibility, has not convinced Rajapaksa. The old “Left” is said to have told Rajapaksa, even if he gains around 63% of the Sinhala Buddhist votes in 09 districts, which is 05% more than what UPFA polled in Moneragala this time, the possibility of winning on the first count seems difficult. Yet, if President Rajapaksa could find a very auspicious date and time for him in first week of January, EC Deshapriya is all ready to go with the gazette notification for an election. That for now is how the situation is evolving and that may pave the way for a presidential election in 2015 January'

Read More

Diaspora urges Commonwealth

 Sunday, 05 October 2014

Call on SL to desist from proscribing NGOs

The Tamil Diaspora urged the UK Commonwealth Office to urgently call upon the Sri Lankan authorities to withdraw the proscribed prominent Diaspora organizations and individuals as 'foreign terrorist entities'.

In a letter to Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign and Commonwealth Office MP Philip Hammond dated 1 October, 2014, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) President Rev. Dr. S. J. Emmanuel said that while all the assistance the United Kingdom Government and Foreign and Commonwealth Office has given to the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and the Tamil community in their efforts to bring peace to the people in Sri Lanka, unfortunately, the Government of Sri Lanka do not view them as favourably and have proscribed GTF and a number of other prominent Diaspora organizations and individuals as 'foreign terrorist entities'.

In the letter he thanked Hugo Swire MP, who expressed his concerns on this matter saying that "this development is not conducive to a successful reconciliation process."
"I welcome, also, the definitive joint statement from the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird MP, and his deputy, Ms Lynne Yelich MP, which said, "Sri Lanka's action has no legal effect in Canada."
In the United States, representative from designated organizations met the Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia, Nisha Biswal, and conveyed their concerns.

In his recent oral update on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, stated that "on 21 March 2014, the government also announced the proscription of 16 Tamil organizations and 424 individuals pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1373. These included not only the LTTE, but many mainstream Tamil Diaspora organizations which have been actively engaged with the Human Rights Council and international human rights mechanisms.

He noted that the Sri Lanka Gazette published a list of designated persons, groups and entities whom they claim the competent authority has reasonable grounds to believe commit, or attempt to commit, participate in or facilitate the Commission of, terrorist acts within the meaning of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) (hereafter UNSCR 1373).

With polls coming, Rajapaksa seeks communal harmony

Sunday, October 05, 2014

With an early presidential election on the cards, the UPFA Government wants to launch a campaign to win the hearts and minds of different communities.
At the political level, President Mahinda Rajapaksa will head a Cabinet Sub Committee “on social reconciliation and co-existence” among communities. A similar Committee at official level will be headed by Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga. President Rajapaksa has noted that “communities in our country have distanced themselves from each other due to the military background that prevailed over a period of more than three decades.” He has said this was also due to “the consequent religious, cultural and social phenomena.”

In a note to his ministers, the President has observed that “instead of interacting with trust the people are in the process of looking at others in an unfriendly manner.” In the circumstances, he has observed, “social integration and social harmony have become a special topic as at present.”

Pointing out that the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) have been made with the aim of promoting coexistence among communities, Mr. Rajapaksa has said that ensuring it “among communities is not something that can be done easily as reconstruction or resettlement is not something which yields quick results.” He has said that it is mandatory “to act systematically with tolerance basing your actions on selected principles and processes.”

President Rajapaksa has added: “Various Government Ministries, Departments, Corporations and Statutory Boards are implementing programmes and projects based on recommendations of the LLRC from national level to regional level. It is possible to establish coexistence among communities systematically by implementing these programmes and projects having fixed a proper target and maintaining mutual co-ordination. However, the absence of a mechanism to regulate these activities at national level has become a constraint in implementing these activities productively.”

Yes We Can. But Will We?

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.”

Paine (The American Crisis)

( October 5, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Hopefully it is a fabrication, made in Medamulana, like the ‘news’ of America softening its stance towards Sri Lanka or Premier Modi wanting the TNA to participate in the latest All Parties Conference.
Yes We Can. but Will We by Thavam

Post July 1983 & JOSSOP: A New Kind Of War

By Rajan Hoole -October 4, 2014

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Border Aggression and Civilian Massacres – Part 3

We saw in earlier chapters that Gandhiyam and other social service NGOs helping Tamils in these border areas were being targetted from late 1982. Gandhiyam was sealed in April 1983 and its leaders detained. On the eve of the July ’83 violence Gamini Dissanayake made veiled threats of strong-arm tactics against Tamils settled in areas earmarked for Sinhalese colonisation (Chapter 5). In the prison massacre, Dr. Rajasundaram, perhaps the single most active worker among these refugees in the field, was murdered by the State in a most contemptible manner.

In the weeks following the July violence there was an air of impunity and anarchy and also, as we shall see, grand plans to drive away the Tamil settlers and even destroy old Tamil villages along border areas and put in militarised Sinhalese settlements. And whom did these strategists choose as their model? Why, Israel of course! Gamini Dissanayake was at the forefront and for him it was a continuation of what was begun before the July 1983 violence. He was soon joined by Ravi Jayewardene who, as the President’s security advisor, was a key figure at operational level.

On the one hand Jayewardene was talking to the Indian Government’s envoy G. Parthasarathy who was trying to push through a political settlement to the ethnic problem, but on the other he was making overtures to the US in a bid to achieve a military solution. The num- ber of Tamil militants however was then small and the escalation sought by Jayewardene was to prove very costly.Read More

Opposition common front and common symbol finalized- Ranil instructs from U.K.; Mathripala fires first salvo at regime

(Lanka-e-News- 05.Oct.2014, 3.55PM) The opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who attended the Britain’s conservative party annual convention on the 2nd of September left for Sri Lanka after his tour on the 4 th evening . Meanwhile a number of rounds of decisive discussions had also been held in connection with the formation of a common opposition front, according to reports from our foreign correspondents in Britain .

These discussions had been successful , and a decision has been arrived at for a common front with a common party symbol for the next Presidential elections with the concurrence of all the parties of the opposition . In this connection the opposition leader has given instructions from Britain itself to his party what must be done by them towards this end.

Accordingly , measures have been taken to go ahead with the opposition front already before the Elections commissioner. Answering Lanka e news , the opposition leader just before leaving Britain said , he cannot elaborate on this right now, and quipped that he has an affinity to make statements to the media secretly .

In any event in spite of the successful discussions for a common front , two issues have not been ironed out. Issue one : If the Executive Presidency is to be abolished within 6 months of appointment of new President , should opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe take over that role ? This is because , Wickremesinghe who has the ability to rebuild the country , has to be the Prime Minister under the new constitution of an elected government. Second issue : Based on the proposals of the UNP, under the new constitution , whether the Prime Minister has to be appointed via a separate election ? It is the view of the party members , that would be another controversial muddle akin to the present like the Presidency.

Although, further discussions are necessary in this regard these do not have any impact on the decision taken for a common symbol and a common front to defeat Mahinda Rajapakse . Meanwhile speculations are rife that if the holy Pope is visiting Sri Lanka (SL), the Presidential elections may have to be postponed which means that the auspicious Presidential election date that is favorable to Mahinda based on astrological calculations will be rendered difficult to follow. Holy Pope’s arrival is militating against the date fixed by astrological calculations, since it is the Papal tradition that the holy Pope does not arrive in a country where an election is about to be held or just after the conclusion of an election in the visiting country.

In the circumstances , according to MaRa’s horoscope , if he is to hold the election to suit the astrological calculate on the non arrival of holy Pope is imperative . Otherwise , the elections must be postponed until March. It is learnt that MaRa flew suddenly left to the Vatican on this account to make a final decision. Basil who extended the invitation and his organizers connected therewith are now dazed and perplexed . To compound the confusion , the SLFP party has still not made an official announcement pertaining to a snap Presidential election.

Usually before a Presidential election ,the SLFP executive committees should jointly meet and arrive at a decision , but that has still not happened. Only one thing took place , that is Basil summoning all the SLFP organizers to the Temple Trees and announcing at the meeting , they will have to gear themselves for an ‘important election’ in the future. Although Basil concealed the possible Presidential election while at Temple trees , in the notifications distributed among the organizers prior to the meeting , the prospective Presidential elections was mentioned. The organizers who were baffled speaking in whispers said , Rajapakses themselves are now contradicting each other and not sure what they are going to do, and where they are headed.

It is significant to note that , it was a very small group of SLFP organizers who attended the meeting convened by Basil , and they remained tight lipped . They were reluctant and reticent when it came to expressing what they are going to do at the next Presidential election.

To make matters worse for the already wobbly Rajapakse regime , as though to further shake it at its very foundation , the SLFP general secretary Maithripala Sirisena had fired the first salvo by addressing a letter to MaRa by asking in it , when there are two more years officially for the Presidential elections why this sudden haste to hold elections ? There are so many promises given to the people at the last presidential elections which are still remaining hollow. Hence it is best those unfulfilled promises are honored before going for elections prematurely, he had pointed out in his letter .

It is implied in Maithripala’s letter that Medamulana MaRa is seeking elections ahead of time because of family’s power obsession and loss of equilibrium within , and not in the best interests of the SLFP party he represents , which has not concurred in that decision.

Answering queries posed by Lanka e news in this connection from the SLFP trade union leaders , they lamented , now the Rajapakses are conducting elections not with the support of the SLFP trade unions , but rather with that of Namal’s Nil Balakaya. This group knows nothing about politics except go under the cover of night in Defender vehicles and shoot at opposition party members , and this was largely contributory to the government’s debacle at the recent Uva elections, the SLFP union leaders told Lanka e news.

Lanka bristles with expectations of change

Can Ranil surf the post-Uva tide? 

by Kumar David-October 4, 2014

Uva declared that the tide had turned, but the flood gates have not ruptured; it may be imminent or months away. The point is not 20% decline in UPFA vote from 2009 PC or 14% drop from 2010 general elections; rather it is the dynamics. The political stage is changed acutely; the Rajapaksa game has reached terminal decline. Lanka’s egregious misery cannot last, it has to snap. The worm, the pliant citizen, has turned, but when will chrysalis turn angry wasp?

A related concern is the crown prince in waiting. Does Ranil’s scalp fit the soon to be vacated executive crown? What about the Single Issue Common Candidate (SI-CC) suggestion that I have pushed so hard for years? I will not attempt to answer all questions today; that must emerge from a broader discourse. Discussion is already passionately joined, if not in the print and electronic media, at least in small rooms and seminars. My purpose here is to fertilise this debate in three steps. Must Lanka jettison the Rajapaksa regime? What about Ranil and the SI-CC? What afterwards?

Lanka Bristles With Expectations of Change by Thavam