Kejriwal’s Huge Victory In Delhi Election : Calculated Risk Taken By Delhi Voters

by N.S.Venkataraman

( February 11, 2015, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the pre poll survey predicted that Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi party will win the Delhi assembly election, nobody really expected that the victory will be so huge, with other parties virtually being wiped out. In the coming days, there is bound to be animated discussions and investigation as to why BJP was given such a bad treatment by the Delhi voters and whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lost his sheen. While certainly, Modi would be carefully analysing the results and introspecting about his performance and decisions, he is bound to feel anxious and would be eager to regain his position in the mind of the people.

Delhi is a very small territory in the all India level and therefore , the defeat of BJP cannot be considered as disapproval of BJP in toto at all India level. The country still has lot of hopes from Modi. Perhaps, Delhi voters has sounded a note of warning to him that people cannot be taken for granted and people’s expectations have to be fulfilled. Modi would be reminded that promises and words cannot be substitute for action.

The most worried person today would be Kejriwal and his party men elected to Delhi assembly. Having made all sorts of impossible promises during the campaign and set a record earlier as a leader of chaotic government, the time has come for Kejriwal to deliver. Every economist and those with experience in governance would know that his promises such as free electricity etc. are unimplementable. Even his promise to root out corruption will be impossible, since he himself is likely to face serious charges and investigation in the coming days about the method of his collecting funds during the election campaign and sources of the donation not being correctly known in many cases. Nobody really believes that his collection of Rs.20,000 from individuals for attending his tea party was genuine.

Obviously, people voted for him more to convey their disappointment that Modi and BJP have not implemented their poll promises. While Modi government is taking number of measures to promote economic and industrial development which people know, the fact is that the biggest expectation from Modi that he would root out corruption and bring back black money from abroad within hundred days of coming to power have not been achieved. The corruption in Delhi administration and central government departments continue to be as bad as it was and Modi has really done nothing significant to catch and punish the corrupt people. He even appears to be going soft on people like Vadra.

Further, Modi raised expectation that he would provide strong leadership which again has not happened. Hotheads in BJP and other groups that are suspected to be close to him, have made all sorts of unwanted statements and indulged in acts which Modi has failed to condemn and put down. To teach a lesson to Modi, Kejriwal has been voted.

Today, even the pledged admirer of Kejriwal does not think that he would be able to deliver his promises . In the coming days, to conceal the inadequacy of his administration and inability to fulfil his promises, he will demand impossible things from central government and insist that Delhi police should be brought under his control and huge Delhi’s deficit financing that would happen due to his extending freebies should be borne by the central government. When the central government would not oblige, he would go for dharna infront of Modi’s residence and ask his party men to block Modi’s motorcade. He will show confrontationist attitude at every opportunity so that he would get the media coverage and keep his party men engaged.

With such a huge majority and the arrogance that will inevitably follow, Kejriwal’s party men are bound to indulge in corrupt practices and they have not come from heaven.

The voters in Delhi have shown themselves as keen watchers. They are bound to demand that Kejriwal fulfil his promises, sooner or later, sooner than later. Kejriwal may even have to run for cover.

One hopes that Kejriwal will show extraordinary level of statesmanship to survive in power in such conditions but based on his past behaviour, this appears to be a very tall expectation.

Insight - Deserted New Delhi hospitals sour India's healthcare dream

Temple to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped

Concrete Lanes, More Toilets: Mumbai's Slums to Get a New Look

BY ADITYA KALRA-Thu Feb 12, 2015
(Reuters) - Two state-of-the-art public hospitals in New Delhi are barely operational years after they officially opened - not for lack of funding but because officials did not spend the millions of dollars allocated to treat heart and kidney patients.

The empty hospitals in the heart of the Indian capital are emblematic of the paralysis gripping a public health system that is responsible for some of the world's worst health indicators. Many of the country's 1.2 billion people have a choice between expensive private care, or no care at all.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces many challenges to his stated goal of providing universal public health coverage, but one of the most daunting is ending the logjams that mean officials consistently fail to use their budgets.

At the 300-bed Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, gleaming marble-floored corridors disappear into dark wings, thick chains locking the doors to most of the five-storey building. Wards lie empty, without beds. It officially opened in 2008.

In another part of the city of 16 million people, the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital sits in a landscaped 13-acre complex. It started outpatient services in 2003 but more than a decade later only six beds - of the 650 the hospital was built for - receive overnight patients.

The hospitals were allocated $48 million in the current financial year but still lack basic equipment and, crucially, doctors. They will only spend a fraction of the amount by year-end: under 20 percent in the case of Janakpuri hospital.

A Reuters investigation found no evidence that corruption was responsible for the situation. Instead, officials and health experts blamed a tortuous procurement process, political wrangling and bureaucratic incompetence.

Janakpuri hospital Director M.M. Mehndiratta said he waited 15 months for approval to hire more doctors, with the request travelling to Delhi's top health officials before getting stuck for months in the administrative and finance departments.

"There have been times when I have felt like going to my old job or shifting to the private sector," Mehndiratta said with a laugh. He was earlier a doctor at the G.B. Pant Hospital, one of the biggest in Delhi.

India records the world's highest number of deaths during pregnancy and high rates of child mortality from diarrhoea, pneumonia and measles. Inadequate health infrastructure and a scarcity of doctors mean people in small towns and villages end up travelling long distances to get basic care.

India has 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people, less than a third of the global average of 2.7 beds, a World Health Organization (WHO) report said last year. There is one doctor for every 1,400 people, lower than neighbouring Pakistan.

India's health system will need to add 3.6 million hospital beds, 3 million doctors and 6 million nurses over the next 20 years to meet the needs of the growing population, consultants PwC India estimate.

"We buy an X-ray machine, but there is no X-ray operator," Health Minister J.P. Nadda said while discussing general health funding with reporters last month. "Money is not the major factor, it is (the lack of) optimal utilisation."

UNDERSPEND

Data compiled by Reuters in collaboration with the Public Health Foundation of India shows the under-utilisation is a national problem. Even though India revised down its federal health budget mid-year in all but one year since 2005, the country only once managed to spend all the funds.

Graphic: India's ailing health sector reut.rs/1KL2jxj

India spends a tiny 1 percent of gross domestic product on public health, less than Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. Federal budget cuts exceeded 15 percent in the last three years, partly because India tightened the purse strings to meet challenging fiscal deficit goals.

A senior health official in New Delhi blamed delays such as those plaguing Rajiv Gandhi and Janakpuri hospitals on the incompetence of government employees and a "lethargic and slow" process of selecting vendors. Fearing corruption charges, officials work in an environment of "procurement phobia".

"We need clearances from about 10 agencies before laying even a brick," said the official, who asked not to be named.

Delhi's local government also spent years debating whether the vacant multi-speciality hospitals should be run in partnership with the private sector.

"Finally the government thought, since we have invested money, we will run it," the government official said.

Since the Delhi government began building the Rajiv Gandhi and Janakpuri hospitals in 1998, dozens of private hospitals have sprung up to meet the city's growing medical needs.

Industry body ASSOCHAM estimated in 2013 that India's private hospital sector would grow at 20 percent annually and become a $125 billion market by 2017.

The private sector now accounts for 80 percent of India's healthcare delivery market.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., India's largest listed hospital chain by revenue, classifies inadequate public spending as one of its growth drivers. According to Thomson Reuters data, Apollo and rival Fortis Healthcare Ltd have registered annual revenue growth in excess of 15 percent for the last five years.

(Additional reporting by Tripti Kalro in BANGALORE; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Bob Simon, the embodiment of the fearless foreign correspondent, killed in New York car crash

‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Bob Simon killed in car crash

By Lindsey Bever February 11 at 9:44 PM

He covered wars and violence on every continent. He was kidnapped by Saddam Hussein’s soldiers in Iraq, where he was beaten and spat upon because he was a Jew. He survived, and he searched for more adventures.

Bob Simon, The Embodiment of the Fearless Foreign Correspondent, Killed in New York Car Crash by Thavam Ratna

Australia’s renewable energy future uncertain as investment falters

Just as Australia was too optimistic in its Renewable Energy Targets, plans are falling apart with a significant dropped in renewable investments last year.

By Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon Feb 12, 2015

Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) is facing an uncertain future with a recent report showing that investment in large-scale renewable energy has nose-dived over the past year.

Investment in renewable energy worldwide is up by 16%, in a stark contrast with Australia’s figure which dropped by 88%.

The Climate Council said the future of Australia’s renewable energy industry remains highly uncertain due to the lack of a clear federal government renewable energy policy.

The RET aims to achieve 20% of the country’s power supply from renewables. About 89% of Australians support the initiative.

Activist group GetUp blames Prime Minister Tony Abbott, along with his pro-capitalist, pro-coal agenda which favours power companies such as Origin, AGL and Energy Australia.

GetUp said since 2001 the RET has been responsible for a massive $20 billion in investment into the Australian economy creating over 24,000 new jobs and lower power bills for consumers.

Nearly 24,000 GetUp members made their voices heard by making a submission to the government’s review of the RET. In addition, over 5,000 GetUp members have switched from Origin, AGL and Energy Australia to renewable energy companies such as Powershop as part of a campaign to make consumers’ voices heard.

With the RET’s future hanging in the balance new investment in renewables has fallen to a 13-year low, the group said.

GetUp noted this is ironic considering the fact that the Government’s former Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment and Liberal Party Senator Simon Birmingham admitted in 2013 that the real driver of investment in renewable energy has been and continues to be the RET. The senator was quoted as saying, “We have always supported the RET and continue to offer bi-partisan support for this scheme. It has been interesting to note the claims being made about what the Coalition will or won’t do. All of it is simply conjecture. The Coalition supports the current system, including the 41,000 giga-watt hours target.”

Pic: AP.

Beyond Zero Emission (BZE) is also driving a campaign to discourage Australians from supporting the three main power companies. Although the three companies provide energy to the majority of Australians, the group said they have been actively campaigning to dismantle the RET.

Many Australians can opt for greener alternatives to the big three power suppliers. Victoria residents can switch to Powershop or Diamond Energy while consumers from South Australia, New South Wales or South East Queensland can switch to Diamond Energy.

World leaders will gather in Paris in December this year to determine the rules for a new global agreement to limit global greenhouse emissions and temperature below two degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Australia’s major trading partners have been building significant momentum to make ambitious contributions toward their post-2020 national targets. The Climate Change Authority (CCA) suggests that nationally determined contribution to reduce emissions, agreed by Australia, will be central in determining the climate policy framework that will cover and impact companies covered under any emissions reduction initiative. The Authority adds:

This is an important time to convene business, government and NGOs for a mature, constructive dialogue about what should be the nature of Australia’s commitment, why it is in our best interests to actively participate in the negotiations and to share views to understand the economic, environmental and social implications for business.

The CCA finds Australia’s emission reduction target (5 % reduction by 2020) to be too low and out of step with its allies and trading partners.

Ground Water Cleanup at Superfund Sites

OSWER 9283.1-11
EPA 540-K-96 008
PB96-963310
December 1996

Introduction

Over 80 percent of the most serious hazardous waste sites in the U.S. have adversely impacted the quality of nearby ground water (the water present underground in tiny spaces in rocks and soil). Just as the ground water cleanup process is complex, so are the issues behind the methods and techniques EPA uses to determine the best approach for each site. This brochure explains some of the approaches EPA uses to clean up ground water contamination and, most importantly, offers information on how citizens can help reduce and prevent ground water contamination.

Ground Water Cleanup at Superfund Sites by Thavam Ratna

Gwc1 Ground Water by Thavam Ratna

http://www.epa.gov/region1/students/pdfs/gwc1.pdf

Pattani Razeek: No justice 5 years after abduction and killing

by Ruki 

- on 02/11/2015 

On 11th February 2015, it will be five years since the abduction of Pattani Razeek, a well-known human rights defender in Sri Lanka. His body was exhumed on 28th July 2011. At the time of his abduction, he was the Managing Trustee of the Community Trust Fund (CTF) (www.ctfsrilanka.org) and an Executive Committee Member of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) (www.forum-asia.org).
Pattani Razeek No Justice 5 Years After Abduction and Killing by Thavam Ratna

Latest update on the Jaffna water contamination crisis

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 

Environmentalist and Northern Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Irrigation and Environment Ponnudurai Ayngaranesan is quoted in today's newspaper (Uthayan) condemning the misinformation campaign against the power plant, stating that the protests are politically-motivated and requesting the public to uphold law and order till the results of scientific study is made public.

MTD Walkers PLC has just issued this URGENT press release as workers of the Northern Power Plant in Chunnakkam, has been evicted from the premises, due to an order which the Company has challenged in the High Court of Jaffna, as being ultra-vires and mala fide.

Furthermore, some of the parties with vested interest, are trying to aggravate the issue by expanding the problem to Colombo by organizing a protest scheduled for coming Sunday in Wellawatte.

Sri Lanka: Call for Genuine Accountability Initiatives By Women Affected by War

11/02/2015 

The fact that thousands of women have gone before national commissions, committees and courts and appealed to international actors, including the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID), is indicative of the undeniable need to know what happened to loved ones and for justice. Despite numerous promises, no independent investigation into serious human rights violations in recent years has resulted in a successful prosecution and conviction of alleged perpetrators in Sri Lanka, a sign of the culture of impunity pervasive in post war Sri Lanka. We therefore call on the international community to engage and support Sri Lanka strive for truth and justice. A first step in this is to discuss the findings of the OISL findings in March 2015 and for UNHRC to provide a mandate for continuous monitoring of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka via the OHCHR. Another important step that can be sequenced is to support domestic credible processes. We believe these are both fundamental in the search for truth, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We therefore make the following demands from the Government of Sri Lanka and the international community.

To the Government of Sri Lanka

Constructively engage with the UNHRC and the OISL in terms of the present investigation and for a debate at the forthcoming UNHRC Session.
Initiate a credible domestic process that includes components of truth telling and trials. In light of the short comings of the present framework, initiate immediate legal and policy reform to introduce processes that are independent and impartial and have the necessary resources and expertise to carry out investigations and inquiries.
Introduce a victim and witness protection legislation and mechanism.
Facilitate the pending visits of UN Special Procedures including the UNWGEID
Initiate a comprehensive reparations program that addresses the grievances of affected communities

To the International Community

Table the OISL report and discuss Sri Lanka at the 28th Session of the UNHRC.
Pass a resolution at the 28th Session of the UNHRC which provides the High Commissioner the mandate to monitor progress of domestic initiatives in Sri Lanka and to annually report to the UNHRC.
The OHCHR should provide technical and other support to the Government of Sri Lanka in terms of moving forward with credible domestic processes.

Read the full statement as PDF:Call for Genuine Accountability Initiatives by War Affected Women

JUSTA Calls Upon University Deans To Disclose Their ‘Secret’ Letter

By Thangamuthu Jayasingam -February 11, 2015 | 

Dr. Thangamuthu Jayasingam

Many may not be aware of the Academic corruption at Eastern University over the past 3 years under the executive administration of Dr K Kobindarajah as Vice Chancellor. He is perhaps the only Vice Chancellor who was on Vacation of Post from the same university at the time of application and appointment; the only Vice Chancellor who had never been a Head of a Department or Dean of a Faculty prior to this appointment; the only person who had Police guards for 24 hours as a VC and many more of such exception.

The acceptance of his application was totally illegal in terms of the act and the E-code and the Waterloo begins. It ends with his nomination for the second term, approved by the UGC as legal.

He claimed that on the day of his assumption at the Eastern University he went and signed in the Department of Mathematics, thus terminating his VOP, which is the next waterloo. He had only requested for removal of VOP after the application to the VC post and letter went from University on December 1^st to report and he agreed to report y end of February 2012, which he never did.

However at the time of reporting he was not a citizen of Sri Lanka and he thus has no right to sign as per E-Code. When this was raised the Faculty the administration just stated that he was ‘eligible’ with no documentation or proof of eligibility.

The 2nd Waterloo

Dr Kobindarajah never declared in his application of his VOP or citizenship and this was reported to the UGC on 4^th November 2013 and to this day there had been no action by the UGC on it under the regulation.

The 3rd Waterloo

The Auditor General queried about the application during the VOP and the Non Citizenship factor from the university. The university on the advice of Dr Kobindarajah wrote ‘the requirement of citizenship was not in the advertisement’ and ignored the VOP clause.

This is the 4th Waterloo

Dr Kobindarajah applies for a duty free vehicle and gets one which he disposes. He is not entitled to the concession as a Vice Chancellor. He had not served continuously for eight years to be eligible as a Lecturer. In fact he had denied the benefit to other lecturers who were eligible and was restores on the order of the Minister of Higher Education at that time.

This is the 5th Waterloo

Dr. Kobindarajah reconstituted the leave and award committee (sub committee of the Senate) to keep away the Teachers Association representation in it. Not only that it was made of only Deans and Heads and no elected representative from the faculty from senate. The interesting aspect is that the decisions of the committee have been implemented without the approval of senate which is really null and void as it has no legal standing. Leave were arbitrarily, no pay leave was placed arbitrarily. Procedures were altered instantly and executed at the will to affect certain individuals positively or negatively.

This is the 6th Waterloo

Dean election had been postponed for more than a year against the UGC circular; appointment of a head was made before he assumed duties as Head of department; VC appointed the Head instead of Council; VC then ensures that person is elected Dean of Faculty.

This is the 7th multiple impact Waterloo

A person is appointed as Acting Dean as has been allowed to vote for the VC election. He had been away from the University for the past three weeks, having been also appointed the acting rector. He is allowed to Vote (illegal as the Dean is an elected position), the leave was interesting. He is granted leave from 5^thOctober 2014(exact date may be incorrect) to 24^th October 2014(exact date may not be correct) with the exception of 21^st October 2014( the day of the VC election). The backdated leave was granted on 21^stOctober 2014.

This is the X th waterloo, which drowns in the grave …

I could go on to list the irregularities and violations at Eastern University which I as a member of academic and we as Teachers Association of Eastern University are almost exhausted.

However with the change of government which promised corrupt free administration and charging those who violated laws as their MOTTO we still have a hope that the system may be able to rise from the graves of Waterloo. There is discussion on Changing the University Act. However if those who violated the law are buffered by the political verbosity and ambiguity to escape charges, then those affected would never get justice. If so, I have no option than to pray ‘may the God save higher education in this country from who prey on it’, academically, administratively and politically.

*DR. Thangamuthu Jayasingam – Senior Lecturer Eastern University

TNA MP calls for internationally mediated political solution for Tamils
10 February 2015

Reiterating the need for an ‘internationally supervised’ political solution for the Tamils, TNA MP S Sritharan told the visiting British Deputy High Commissioner Laura Davis, that Sri Lanka’s new government has made no progress in meeting Tamil demands,
Speaking to Ms Davis in Kilinochi, the TNA MP said,“Finally a solution should be found for the ethnic crisis that is ongoing for more than 70 years, with international supervision.”

“People a losing hope gradually. There is still army presence, army camps and surveillance. Nothing has changed. Resettlement has not happened, many things that were announced have not progressed any further,” he added.

Expressing concern at the high level of military involvement in everyday life, Mr Sritharan said,

"Former Tamil cadres that have been rehabilitated are struggling to find jobs, as farms and factoires are still under military control or not operating."

Sri Lanka’s Duty on War Crimes

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD- FEB. 10, 2015

It was just one month ago that Sri Lanka surprised the world by electing opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena as president, rejecting the authoritarianism, corruption and dynastic politics of the administration of the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Sirisena has moved swiftly to usher in a new chapter of hope for Sri Lanka.

So as not to reopen old wounds too soon, his government is now seeking a delay in the release of a report that is scheduled to be presented next month on a United Nations inquiry into war crimes and other human rights abuses committed during Sri Lanka’s civil war that ended in 2009. The government is also lobbying for support from the United States and the United Nations for a proposed domestic tribunal on abuses. The United Nations says as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed during the last months of the war. Mr. Rajapaksa had flatly refused to cooperate with the United Nations inquiry.

Mr. Sirisena’s government has taken other positive steps to begin the healing process. It has pledged to free hundreds of detained ethnic Tamils and to restore to Tamil owners land seized by the military for commercial development projects. It has also appointed a new civilian governor for the ethnic Tamil-populated Northern Province and lifted a travel ban on foreigners to the area.

Mr. Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who, as defense secretary, oversaw some of the worst abuses during the civil war, are still national political forces. One of the new government’s concerns is the outcome of upcoming parliamentary elections.

However noble its motives, the Sirisena government must deal with the legacy of the past. Any delay in the release of the United Nations report must be brief. And the United Nations must remain involved. 

This is not a rebuke to Mr. Sirisena’s welcome intentions. It is simply the best way to guarantee that the inquiry is swift and independent, that witnesses are adequately protected and that perpetrators are finally punished.

Tamil Province charges Colombo with genocide

Moved by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, the Northern Provincial Council resolution details episodes of oppression in Sri Lanka.

Northern Council wants probe by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights

MEERA SRINIVASAN-February 11, 2015

Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on Tuesday passed a strongly worded resolution accusing successive governments in the island nation of committing ‘genocide’ against Tamils.

The resolution moved by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran sought to give “an overview of the evidence demonstrating successive Sri Lankan governments’ genocide against Tamils” and appealed to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to probe the claim and recommend appropriate prosecution.

The resolution does not seem to have gone down well among the Colombo leadership, given that it has been engaging extensively with different countries, hoping to mobilise international support ahead of the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

Terming the resolution an “extremist position,” Health Minister and Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said President Maithripala Sirisena had promised to initiate an internationally approved, domestic inquiry process. “This is a period of reconciliation, and both sides should engage constructively, rejecting extremism,” he told The Hindu.

The 11-page document details different episodes of violence and oppression in Sri Lankan history — from the time of the country’s controversial Sinhala Only Act of 1956 — terming them “genocidal” acts targeting Tamils over the years, culminating in the brutal final phase of the war that, according to U.N. estimates, claimed 40,000 civilian lives.

While the NPC may be justified in raising concern over alleged war crimes, “they cannot call it genocide,” Mr. Senaratne said. “Choosing confrontational ways will hamper forward movement on the issue.”

When contacted, the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declined comment. The NPC resolution comes a month after Mr. Sirisena assumed office, following his victory in the January 8 elections.

‘A challenge to moral integrity of Sinhalese majority’

Mr. Wigneswaran said that it should not be considered an epistle only to the international community, but a challenge to the moral integrity and humaneness of the Sinhalese majority, whom he called his “brothers and sisters.”

In January 2014, when the NPC passed a resolution calling for an international probe into Sri Lanka’s rights record, it was Mr. Wigneswaran who insisted that the word “genocide” be dropped, observing it had a very specific meaning legally and hence had to be used with caution.

Northern Province Council member M.K. Shivajilingam of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who had earlier proposed the resolution, said the Chief Minister had decided to move it after carefully studying various incidents over the years.

The TNA, while pledging its support to Mr. Sirisena’s candidacy in the elections, said former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had not kept his promises on reconciliation. The northern Tamils voted in large numbers, a majority of them for Mr. Sirisena.

The TNA welcomed some of the early initiatives the new government, when it appointed a seasoned diplomat as governor to the north and also replaced a controversial chief secretary who had been on a collision course with Mr. Wigneswaran. However, a month later, the NPC grew sceptical, particularly after the “reluctance on the part of the new leaders,” including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, to de-militarise the north, said Mr. Shivajilingam.

“The TNA has urged the U.S. to take a strong position on Sri Lanka at the upcoming Human Rights Council session in Geneva,” he told The Hindu. TNA leaders briefed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal, who was recently in Colombo.

The development also points to apparent differences within the main political party representing the island’s northern Tamils. Some members of the TNA took serious objection to their Leader R. Sampanthan and parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran attending the country’s Independence Day ceremony in Colombo on February 4 and called for disciplinary action. At that time, Chief Minister Mr. Wigneswaran said he would attend Independence Day celebrations only after the country’s Tamils got freedom.

Tamil Issues In Back Burner: The Problem The Broken Covenant – UK’s Future Role?

By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah –February 11, 2015

Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

Part 2 : The Sinister Acts of Betrayal Against Tamils That Broke The Letter, Spirit And Essence Of Ceylon Independence

So far the new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has been paying only lip service to reconciliation with the Tamil people and nothing else. Not even in his proposals for constitutional reforms [1] has he made any inroads or mentioned any power sharing arrangement. What he has said however regarding the military deployment in the North and East – that it would remain as it is – is shocking and is hard to comprehend when he came to power riding on the back of the Tamil vote.

In the backdrop of this climate of uncertainty for Tamils with no offers in sight, nothing whatsoever in their pockets to crow about, nothing reciprocal coming from the new regime, for the goodwill [2] shown by Mr. Sampanthan and Mr. Sumanthiran of the TNA[3] who attended the independence day celebrations, breaking a long tradition of non-attendance. The Tamil people have waited and waited with no avail and still in the hope for scraps that may be thrown at us, we are forever destined to playing the waiting game.

Speculation is rife [4] at the moment post Nisha Biswal‘s visit to the island, that there could be a deferment of the March UNHRC resolution to September, with Sri Lanka trying its hardest to, “quash [5] or at least defer for a few months — a landmark United Nations inquiry into war crimes set to be released next month,” according to recent media reports. Mr. Sumanthiran himself has rushed to meet with the OISL team to discuss the report. [6]

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has come out scathing against any postponement, and so have, many members of the ITAK [7] [8]and the TNA. [9] In a “key development” NPC Chief Minister Justice Wigneswaran has called for an, “international Investigation on Genocide,” the recording of which TamilNet released today Tuesday morning in its website [10]:             Read More