Hong Kong police clash with protesters targeting government buildings

Protest leaders of pro-democracy ‘umbrella movement’ condemn violence as breakaway group tries to storm legislature

Workers check a broken window at the government headquarters building in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

Tania Branigan in Beijing-Wednesday 19 November 2014

Police in Hong Kong have arrested four men after a small group of pro-democracy protesters wielded metal barricades and concrete slabs as they tried to force their way into the city’s legislature.

The clashes came hours after authorities used court orders to clear a small stretch of the main protest zone at Admiralty, where the government buildings are based.

Protest leaders and pro-democracy lawmakers condemned the attempt to break into the legislative council, stressing that the movement – now in its seventh week – has been peaceful.

Protesters in masks, goggles and hard hats used metal barricades and concrete slabs to smash glass doors before officers armed with pepper spray, batons and riot shields pushed them back. Police said the group injured three officers as it repeatedly charged the cordon.

“We want to escalate our protest,” one masked figure told local station TVB. “The government has not responded to the demands of protesters and residents.”

Pro-democracy legislature member Fernando Cheung tried to intervene but was pushed away by those trying to break in. “This is a very, very isolated incident. I think it’s very unfortunate and this is something we don’t want to see happen because the movement so far has been very peaceful,” he told Reuters.

Lester Shum, from the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told Agence France-Presse: “We call on occupiers to stick firm to peaceful and non-violent principles and be a responsible participant of the umbrella movement.”

In a statement, Occupy Central With Love and Peace – which originally proposed the civil disobedience movement – said: “The umbrella movement emphasises non-violent civil disobedience and the bearing of criminal responsibility. The  action [this morning] … went against the concepts of civil disobedience.”

It said its legal team would not offer support to those involved in violence.

But while Occupy Central and student groups initiated the protests in late September, the “umbrella movement” has taken on a momentum of its own. Many of those participating say they do not identify with those groups and are acting independently.

Those involved in the attempt to storm the legislature appear to have organised online. A regular session of the chamber was cancelled on Wednesday and visitor tours of the complex were suspended, the government announced.

“Police strongly condemn such acts by the protesters, which disrupted public order,” police said.

At the height of the protest movement more than 100,000 took to the streets in support. That is now down to hundreds and opinion polls show that public sympathy has ebbed as the protests drag on.

Occupiers have called for the resignation of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, and open nominations for his successor. Beijing has argued that offering universal suffrage for the 2017 election will be a huge step forward but critics say it is reneging on its promise by tightly controlling the selection of candidates.

Hong Kong enjoys considerable autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework. But there is growing concern that Beijing is eroding its liberties and unhappiness about inequality in the region.

On Tuesday, bailiffs and police watched as workers cleared barricadesfrom a section of the main protest zone at Admiralty, around the Citic Tower, leaving the vast bulk of the area unaffected.

Thousands of police are said to be on standby so another small section of one of the secondary protest zones, at Mong Kok, can be cleared; clashes have broken out repeatedly there.

Marriage as a licence to rape

Live-in relationships may be viewed as temporary and immoral, but funnily enough, our legal system and policing methods give women in live-in relationships, and not marriage, better rights.Po-TTI

2014-11-14

Compiled by Ruwan Laknath Jayakody and R.A. Sooriyakumar

Agnus Dei. The Lamb of God. The lamb in this case signifying innocence and corruption amidst the silence of God. God in this case, notwithstanding the Christian connotations, embodying the godlike reverence that the values of justice in its myriad forms of ethics, rationality, law, equality and fairness pertaining to fundamental rights and civil liberties, 

45 Marital Rapes Per Day

Marital Rape and the Indian legal scenario

PRIYANKA RATH is a 5^th year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune.

Priyanka Rath seeks to bring out the laws regarding rape in India while concentrating on the position of marital rape and its recognition as an offence by the system and the attitude of the society and the judiciary towards marital rape.

Marital Raperefers to unwanted intercourse by a man with his wife obtained by force, threat of force, or physical violence, or when she is unable to give consent. Marital rape could be by the use of force only, a battering rape or a sadistic/obsessive rape. It is a non-consensual act of violent perversion by a husband against the wife where she is physically and sexually abused.

Marriage as a Licence to Rape by Thavam Ratna

Half seeking help with homelessness are under 25

WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2014

Not only is homelessness on the rise, it is getting worse for younger people in particular - and they are not always getting the help they need from the authorities, forcing many to sleep rough.

The memories of our youth usually revolve around remembering our "first times". Do you remember the first music album you bought, the first time you went to a festival or even the first time you stayed out all night without telling your parents?

What about the first night you slept in a doorway because you had no family or friends to rely on, tipping you into a spiral of homelessness?

New figures from homelessness charities are warning that not only is homelessness rising, but it is becoming a worrying trend for young people under the age of 25.

The charity Homeless Link has published figures showing that 52 per cent of those seeking help with homelessness are young people. Even more worryingly, when those young people sought help from local councils, only one in five cases could be helped.

Far too many young people are being affected by homelessness.Rick Henderson from Homeless Link

However sleeping rough is not the only form of homelessness. The problem can often be hidden: for example many homeless people may "sofa surf", but due to the instability of this it is often a matter of time before their situation can escalate.

Six in 10 young people became homeless when a family or friend was no longer to put them up, the charity found.

Denise Hatton from the YMCA said: "The majority of young people become homeless after their families are no longer able to accommodate them or due to relationship breakdown.

"If more was done to tackle these problems at the outset then councils could significantly reduce the number of young people facing the uncertainty of sofa surfing or nights on the streets."

Housing crisis

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter said it has seen a 28 per cent increase in calls from people on the brink of homelessness since 2012 - a sign of the struggles of people at the very sharp end of the UK's housing crisis.

Homelessness minister Kris Hopkins said the government is giving £10 million to Shelter and the Citizen's Advice Bureau to run the national homelessness advice service, which supports frontline staff working with homeless people.

He said this is "part of increased spending to prevent homelessness".

He added: "Since 2010, this government has delivered more than 200,000 affordable homes across England, with plans for more investment that will lead to the fastest rate of affordable house building for two decades. Rents have fallen every year since 2010 in real terms across the country, while house building levels are now at their highest since 2007."

Ebola Survivor is Under Quarantine at Delhi Airport

A general view of the arrival hall at Terminal 3 of Delhi airport. (Agence France-Presse)

Cities | Ellen Barry, The New York Times | Updated: November 19, 2014 10:53 IST

NEW DELHI:  A 26-year-old Indian man who recovered from Ebola is being held at a quarantine facility at the New Delhi airport as a cautionary measure after his semen tested positive for the virus, health officials announced Tuesday.

When he arrived at the airport on Nov. 10, the man volunteered that he had been successfully treated for Ebola in a Liberian hospital and had been released Sept. 30.

Though tests of three blood samples came up negative, Indian officials opted to hold him because the virus can linger in other bodily fluids, like semen or urine, for as long as three months, according to a government statement carried by the Press Trust of India. Two samples of the man’s semen tested positive for the virus Monday.

The statement urged calm, reiterating that “the person concerned is a treated and cured case of Ebola virus disease.” Nevertheless, it said, the patient will remain in quarantine until all of his bodily fluids test negative for the virus.

"All necessary precautions are being taken at the isolation facility," the statement said. "This would rule out even the remote possibility of spread of this disease by the sexual route."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States have said that the virus has been detected in semen “for up to three months,” and recommends that men abstain from sex for that period.

For months, Indian officials have been preparing for cases here, mainly by installing screening systems at international airports and preparing quarantine sites in major cities in case people with the virus enter the country.

An estimated 45,000 Indians work as health care professionals in West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak is concentrated. Passengers arriving from countries affected by Ebola are directed to an airport health center, where they are given medical examinations that include a review of travel history and a test of body temperature. By mid-October, around 22,000 people had been screened and 485 people had been quarantined in Delhi, health ministry officials told The Hindustan Times, a daily newspaper.

Experts have expressed alarm at the prospect of the virus spreading in India, which has a population of 1.2 billion, crowded cities that lack sanitation infrastructure and many health facilities that are underequipped and unhygienic.

Dr. Peter Piot, the microbiologist who helped discover Ebola in 1976, has said that if infected people were to enter the population in India, it would be “especially challenging” to isolate them and trace their contacts.

"It is particularly important to be vigilant and monitor people closely, and make sure the public are aware of the risks," Piot said, according to The Hindu, a daily newspaper here.

Health officials in India were careful to draw the distinction between a confirmed case of Ebola and the man under quarantine, whom the Liberian government certified as cured.

"No cases of relapse of Ebola have been documented," the health ministry said in its statement.

© 2014, The New York Times News Service

Story First Published: November 19, 2014 10:51 IST

Sri Lanka disappearance probe to investigate human rights abuses

• Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa has allowed a commission to receive public complaints over disappearances in the country.

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Sri Lanka's Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances would entertain public complaints over war crimes and human rights abuses in the country, according to a top official.

"The Commission has decided to entertain public complaints on any war crimes and human rights abuses in the north and east. This could be done until December 31," said HW Gunadasa, the Secretary to the Commission.

On July 15, President Mahinda Rajapaksaextended the mandate of the Commission to include in the background of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission "whether any person, group or institution directly or indirectly bears responsibility in this regard by reason of a violation or violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law."

Since its establishment in August last year, the Commission has received nearly 20,000 complaints of disappearances of individuals. This includes over 5,000 disappearances of the soldiers.

The three-member panel headed by the retired judge Maxwell Paranagama was complemented by the appointment of three international experts, Sir Desmond de Silva, Sir Geoffrey Nice and Prof David Crane.

Sri Lanka is currently facing a UN Human Rights Council mandated war crimes investigation.

Both the government troops and the now defunct LTTE have been accused of war crimes during the military campaign which ended five years ago with the defeat of Tamil Tigers.

Increasing fear Rajapaksa not playing a straight bat

By Ashok Malik-November 18, 2014, 

Why are India-Sri Lanka relations in such trouble? The recent case of five Indian fishermen who were initially sentenced to death and then released (pending an appeal) for alleged smuggling of contraband is a case in point. The episode is scarcely the root of all problems but different perceptions of it point to a trust deficit.

Similarly, the docking of Chinese nuclear-powered submarines and warships in Colombo, too, caused concern. When spoken to by Indian officials, the Sri Lankan defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa (brother of the country’s president), is said to have been evasive and to have dissimulated, until irrefutable evidence was presented. This too has broadened the trust gulf.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In the past few years, as the UPA government faltered, it adopted a very short-sighted Sri Lanka policy. This policy was governed by Tamil Nadu politics and fringe groups in Chennai. As PM, Manmohan Singh did not visit Sri Lanka for the first Commonwealth summit in South Asia since 1983. All this disappointed Colombo. It was often joked that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the international leader who was most looking forward to Narendra Modi’s election.

The BJP-led government in New Delhi has been more open and clearheaded in its approach to Colombo. There is little question of surrendering to small-time politicians in TN or to those who are in effect LTTE apologists. In fact, there is reason to believe the entire idea of South Asian leaders attending PM Modi’s swearing-in event originated in the context of a discussion on Rajapaksa and the need for a breakthrough with Sri Lanka.

Subsequent months have betrayed that early promise. In the highest quarters of this government, there is an increasing sentiment that Rajapaksa is not playing with a straight bat. While Sri Lanka has benefited enormously from the end of the civil war and the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, and has seen an economic boom in recent years, it is still not in a position to leverage its economy and geography to become some sort of a swing state, playing off China against India. In this Rajapaksa’s ambitions may be moving ahead of reality.

China is today a very important economic partner for Sri Lanka. In the past four decades, the Chinese have given over $ 5 billion in loans and grants to the Sri Lankans. Tellingly 80% of this money has been transferred in the past five years, after the civil war. There is a big Chinese role in Sri Lankan infrastructure projects and Chinese debt has part-funded the property surge in Colombo. In September, when President Xi Jinping visited Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa enthusiastically signed on to the Maritime Silk Route project and legitimised China’s arrival as a south Asian power stakeholder.

To be fair, some of these infrastructure projects were offered to India. But it was either incapable of executing them or the previous government was too confused to do so. Neither do they take away from the importance of Sri Lanka’s economic engagement with India. Colombo port is viable only as a transhipment facility that serves the Indian economy. It cannot exist in the absence of Indian commerce, at least not for the foreseeable future. It is unlikely that any Chinese Maritime Silk Route network can make use of Colombo port as an Indian Ocean way-station and allow it to completely bypass India.

Having said that, there is concern Rajapkasa is not showing the due maturity of a leader who has been in power for a decade. The credit lines the Chinese had opened in the past five years seem to be leaving an impact on him and claiming a strategic price. There is a sense that businesses of Rajapaksa’s immediate associates, including relatives, are in personal debt to Chinese credit institutions. At some point this money will need to be repaid or a compensatory benefit will need to be offered. India fears that compensation could be a re-orienting of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy.

In January 2015, Rajapaksa is likely to call early elections, two years before they are due. Election campaigns are unpredictable and rhetoric can easily run faster than rationality. Given Rajapaksa’s Sinhalese base, it is to be hoped an overdone domestic triumphalism or a needling of India will not become part of the election. Should this happen, it will only strengthen those in New Delhi who are coming to believe that the current government in Colombo will now only respond to coercive diplomacy – given that it is willing to snub even a generally sympathetic Indian PM.

That China has become the third person in the room in what used to be a purely bilateral equation is suggestive of wider challenges for India. If it is Colombo today, it could be Dhaka or Kathmandu tomorrow. Beijing will not stop, not unless Modi finds the economic muscle and the hard-power tools to secure his nearneighbourhood.

R.K.W. Goonesekera Report: The Genesis of Media Reform Initiatives in Sri Lanka

[This article is being reproduced  in the memory of the prominent SriLankan  Civil  Rights advocate  and an eminent lawyer R,K.W. Goonesekera, who passed away on 10th Nov 2014]

The R.K.W. Goonesekera Committee Report-18/11/2014  

The Report of the Committee to Advise on the Reform of Laws Affecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression, popularly known as “the R.K.W. Goonesekere Committee Report”, was in many ways the genesis of media reform initiatives in Sri Lanka. This comprehensive Report examined virtually every aspect of the media and presented a host of recommendations, which established the foundation for reform efforts to follow. Notably, despite the lapse of fifteen years, key recommendations presented in the Report remain unimplemented today.

The mandate of the Committee was to:

 “ Study all existing legislation and regulations affecting media freedom, freedom of expression and the public’s right to information, with a view to identifying the areas which need to be rescinded, amended or reformed in order to ensure media freedom, freedom of expression and the public’s right to information; and to make recommendations as to the amendments and/or repeal of existing legislation as well as new legislation required to strengthen media freedom in general and to ensure freedom of expression and the public’s right to information.”

 One of the primary conclusions reached by the Committee was on the inadequacy of the constitutional guarantees in respect of the freedom of speech and expression. The Committee recommended that the provisions of the Sri Lankan Constitution be rephrased to reflect the wording of Articles 18 and 19 of the Report of the Committee to Advise on the Reform of Laws Affecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression ICCPR, and in particular, to include the freedom of information.

It was also recommended that the broad restrictions on free speech and expression under the Constitution be altered to ensure that the constitutional framework is consistent with Sri Lanka’s international obligations. More specifically, the Committee insisted that all restrictions imposed on free speech and expression by the Constitution be ‘necessary, in a democratic society.’

The Committee was of the view that provisions of the Penal Code that dealt with criminal defamation should be repealed, as ‘despite the several defences it allows, the possibility of such prosecution can discourage criticism of government ministers and policies or expression of political dissent.’

Moreover, the Committee strongly emphasised the need to exclude parliamentary privilege altogetheras a ground for restricting media freedom, as ‘neither Parliament nor its members require any protection from defamation over and above that enjoyed by ordinary citizens.’

The Committee was also one of the first to recommend a comprehensive law on contempt of court. It observed that in view of the ‘perils faced by the media’ when engaging in its duty to keep the public informed, there should be a Contempt of Court Act that clearly restricts the concept of contempt to ‘the publication of [an] abusive or scurrilous comment about a judge as a judge, or of an imputation of impropriety or of corrupt bias, or attack on his integrity as a judge.’

It was recommended that a Freedom of Information law be enacted, which makes a clear commitment to the general principle of open government. Moreover, the Committee stressed inter alia the importance of specifically listing the types of information that could be withheld; indicating the duration of secrecy; and providing for appeal to an independent authority when information is withheld.

As discussed below, the framework suggested by the Committee in 1996 remained the benchmark that most future advocates of the right to information aspired to reach through their respective proposals to the government.

Apart from these fundamental recommendations, the Committee also made several pertinent suggestions, many of which continue to be relevant today.

The Committee observed that the absence of protection in respect of confidentiality of sources in Sri Lanka was a ‘serious impediment to investigative journalism and the exposure of public scandals and wrongdoing.’

Hence the Committee recommended that the right of journalists not to be compelled to disclose their sources of information should be guaranteed by law.

Moreover, the Committee proposed that certain crucial reforms be introduced to better ensure the independence of the media. Such proposals included the establishment of an independent broadcasting authority to regulate the granting of broadcasting licences, and a “Media Council” to function as an independent body to inquire into complaints from members of the public against newspapers and radio and television stations.

[  'The R.K.W. Goonesekere Committee Report'   is one of the chapters of the research report  named LEGAL, INDUSTRY AND EDUCATIONAL REFORMS PERTAINING TO THE PRINTMEDIA by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena & Gehan Gunetilleke; the full research report  available on line ]

Video: Large crowds to say ‘No third term’

TUESDAY, 18 NOVEMBER 2014 

The protest march organized by People’s Movement for Democracy (PMD) under the theme “No third term for Mahinda! No illegal presidential eelction” in Colombo today (18th) has been concluded and the rally is being held now at Prise Park at Gunasinghepura.

Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero, JVP Leader Anura Dissanayaka, Author and Translator Gamini Viyangoda, Parliamentrian Vijitha Herath, Attorney-at-Law Namal Rajapaksa, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, Senior Lawyer Upul Kumarapperuma, Chief Editor of ‘Ravaya’ K.W. Janaranjana, renown Film Director Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja, President of Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Chandraguptha Thenuwara were on the stage at the rally held at Prise Park at Gunasinghepura

Photographs of masses that marched to protest against holding an illegal election are published here.

View Video here!

Post by Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Video Large Crowds to Say ‘No Third Term’ by Thavam Ratna

The ‘Islamic Caliphate’ In Sri Lanka

By Muhammed Fazl -November 18, 2014 

Muhammed Fazl

How [can there be a treaty] while, if they gain dominance over you, they do not observe concerning you any pact of kinship or covenant of protection? They satisfy you with their mouths, but their hearts refuse [compliance]…. – Al-Quran 9:8

Blood was shed, lives were lost, businesses and property destroyed. While the fabric of society is being threatened, spells danger it does when the inclusion of Sri Lankan Muslims itself is seriously being questioned. 

In a multi-religious multi-racial country, where unverified ancient history is only a myth, the question of ‘ownership’ of the country by a particular race need not arise when it serves no purpose or if it is detrimental to the development of the country. Considering the inclination measurements of the average Sri Lankan for change, chances of racist mentalities of the majority community embracing pluralism seems pretty remote as well.

Back to square one where the political demography stands divided on racial/religious lines, one cannot readily find fault with TNA and SLMC for pandering to Tamil and Muslim votes respectively. As much as I am a proponent of the ‘separation of the state and religion’, when communities are victimized solely due to their race or religion, loyalties to the same communities by their representatives cannot be avoided and need to be acknowledged and accepted.

Common it is now to play the ‘communal card’ by selfish politicians in seeking votes, power and wealth, but little do they realize the long term effects in doing so. Sri Lanka has had its fair share of ethnic violence in the last century, and sitting on a volcano waiting to erupt, the last thing this country needs is for one community to antagonize the other. If outfits like Bodhu Balu Sena (BBS), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Ravana Balaya (RB) stirs up nationalist/Buddhist passions all for the sake of supporting the despotic president Rajapaksa, the Muslims, the Tamils and the Catholics/Christians should be able to do the same in electing legislators from their own kind when electing a new government.                               Read More

Dr. Dhanapala And DG Post At IAEA

| by Dr. Janaka Ratnasiri

( November 18, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Every Sri Lankan, I am certain, would feel proud that Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala will receive the 2014 International Achievement Award for Nuclear Disarmament, at the UN premises on the 17th instant as reported in several weeklies last Sunday (16.11.14). This prestigious award has been previously received by two UN Secretary Generals – Kofi Annan in 2006 and Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1995.

Reading through the write up on Dr. Dhanapala which appeared in Sunday Island of 16.11.14, his main contribution towards nuclear disarmament which earned him this award appears to be the role he played as President of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference held in 1995 where he successfully steered the negotiations to get the powerful nuclear-weapon nations - USA, UK, France, Russia and China – and several non-weapon nuclear nations to agree for an extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty towards elimination of nuclear weapons and a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This achievement alone qualifies him even for the Nobel Peace Prize, more qualified than President Obama who was awarded the prize doing nothing towards world peace.

This news item brings to my mind the correspondence K. Godage had with Sunday Island of 19.10.14 in which he described how the five permanent-member countries of UN Security Council wanted Dr. Dhanapala to head the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) based in Vienna when the post fell vacant some years ago, but our then government did not nominate him, to the utter surprise of these countries.

Another correspondent describing himself as an UN Observer made an attempt to justify the government’s position saying that the Foreign Minister at that time did not nominate a Sri Lankan candidate for the post of DG IAEA as he had to balance the national interest as against the personal interest of one individual (Sunday Island of 02.11.14). He also tried to cast doubts about acceptance of Dr. Dhanapala for the DG post, which is now proved wrong with this award.

As a participant in many UN meetings on climate change and ozone depletion in the nineties, I have seen how governments clamour to get their people into high positions in the UN system. Unfortunately, this is not so in Sri Lanka where our man at the top only kicks the ladder down. This was highlighted by Mr. Godage when he spoke of our envy at the success of our fellow citizens. Dr. Dhanapala not given nomination is just another of these cases. May be it is part of Sri Lankan culture!

I also endorse the view expressed by Mr. Godage that had Sri Lanka not bartered the Security Council seat with South Korea for employment opportunities there, Dr. Dhanapala would have had the opportunity of being even elected for the post of UN Secretary General when he made a bid for the post, just the way Ban Ki-moon got into that position with S. Korea sitting in the Security Council, provided of course the government gave him the full backing.

20 இலங்கை அகதிகள் தற்கொலை முயற்சி!

Interest in resettlement cost life to Nakuleswaran

Nakuleswaran's assassination was timed to respond to the call made by C.V. Wigneswaran in Tamil Nadu on bringing back Eezham Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu and resettling them in the North, political observers said. 

Posted Date : 17:38 (18/11/2014

திருச்சி: திருச்சியில் உள்ள இலங்கை அகதிகள் முகாமில் தங்கியிருந்த 20 இலங்கைத் தமிழர்கள்  தூக்க மாத்திரை சாப்பிட்டு தற்கொலைக்கு முயன்றுள்ளனர்.

திருச்சியில் உள்ள சிறப்பு அகதிகள் முகாமில், பல்வேறு குற்றங்களின் கீழ் வழக்குப் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டு ஏராளமான இலங்கை அகதிகள் தங்க வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

இவர்கள் அனைவரும், தங்களை வேறு முகாமிற்கு மாற்றக் கோரி ,  கடந்த 4 நாட்களாக உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டம் நடத்தி வந்தனர்.

இந்நிலையில், தமிழக அரசுடன் நடந்த பேச்சுவார்த்தை தோல்வி அடைந்ததால் விரக்தி அடைந்து 20 பேர் தூக்க மாத்திரை சாப்பிட்டு தற்கொலைக்கு முயன்றுள்ளனர்.

இதனையடுத்து இவர்கள் உடனடியாக மருத்துவமனையில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

Interest in resettlement cost life to Nakuleswaran

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2014, 23:50 GMT]
Funeral of assassinated Krishnasamy Nakuleswaran was held on Sunday at his village, Eekam-kudiyiruppu (settlement of sacrifice), at Ve’l’laang-ku’lam in Mannaar. 15 uniformed SL military men were busy taking photographs from different corners at the funeral and 70 of the 200 participants were intelligence operatives on surveillance assignment, residents told TamilNet Sunday. While many people believed that the SL military intelligence had chosen a target to create fear psychosis among the families of Tamil Heroes, the residents of the village were of the opinion that Nakuleswaran’s interest in working for the proper resettlement of his people had cost him his life. Nakuleswaran's assassination was timed to respond to the call made by C.V. Wigneswaran in Tamil Nadu on bringing back Eezham Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu and resettling them in the North, political observers said. 

20 இலங்கை அகதிகள் தற்கொலை முயற்சி! by Thavam Ratna

Synthetic Development, Commodification Of The Body And The Vote Under Neoliberal Economic Policy: Where To Now?

By Siri Gamage -November 18, 2014

Dr. Siri Gamage

In modern day governance, there are certain principles that peace-loving people expect the rulers to implement. One of them is accountability. Accountability for the actions, expenditure, decisions, and appointments that governments make. In advanced democratic societies, there are mechanisms to ensure accountability with vested powers to seek and collect information, summon officials before parliamentary committees, investigate, and make recommendations. Effectiveness of these mechanisms depends on the availability of a degree of autonomy and independence for these mechanisms to function. If the politicians tamper and interfere with these mechanisms formally or informally, then the people cannot expect fair outcomes. Associated with accountability is the principle of transparency. That is the possibility for the people to know about the way governments make decisions, the nature of such decisions, and if there are any adverse impacts on any given sector of the population due to the decisions made. Steps for mitigating adverse impacts are then utilised. Consultation is another key principle of good governance.

However, in countries where there are no such democratic principles of governance, such as North Korea, authority of the leader and the party reins supreme. Rule making for the country is very much a party affair. So is policy making and decision making. The armed forces are firmly under the control of the leader and the ruling party. All major media outlets are heavily controlled to transmit state news, which basically means party propaganda. All institutions of the state including Law enforcement are highly politicised. A controlled and regimented society is constructed within which individual freedoms are heavily curtailed. Private sector is almost non-existent. Economic affairs are controlled by state entities. So is the civic life. A type of ‘politically manipulated slavery’ exists in such societies.                                    Read More