FIB grills ex-Chief of Staff over financial fraud

March 16, 2015

Gamini Senarath, the ex-Chief of Staff at the Presidential Office, is being interrogated by the Fraud Investigation Bureau (FIB), over an alleged financial fraud, a police source said.   

The source added that Senarath was summoned to the FIB in connection with a complaint lodged by a financial institute.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) on Thursday (12) also submitted a file to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) against Senarath regarding alleged financial frauds committed by him during the former government.

Military officers in serious wrongdoing to be removed 

 Monday, 16 March 2015

We have exposed several senior military officers named in minister Mangala Samaraweera’s black book for carry out instructions of the former defence secretary outside their duties and used soldiers, vehicles, money and other properties of the military to campaign for the former president at the last presidential election.

Eastern security forces commander Maj. Gen. Lal Perera, Jaffna S/F commander Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis and S/F commander of the central region Maj. Gen. Mano Perera, who are prominent among them, have been removed from their positions with immediate effect in a letter MSB/A/6/1/(APPT) (43) dated 15 February 2015. The soldiers acknowledge this timely and must-do act by the president and the present government.

However, they are surprised and worried by several other officers mentioned in the black book who have either been given new postings or are retaining their previous positions. They include  Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe (chief-of-staff), Maj. Gen. Mahinda Ambanpola (deputy chief-of-staff), Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe (adjutant general), Maj. Gen. Renuka Udawatte (director general of finance management) and Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias (S/F commander in Mullaitivu), according to reports reaching us.

If no decision is taken soon with regard to these officers, that would not go well with the soldiers and the general public. Also, it will be unfair by Kilinochchi S/F commander Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, Vavuniya S/F commander Maj. Gen. Boniface Perera, eastern S/F commander Maj. Gen. Ubhaya Medawala, as they had refused to do the bidding of the ex-defence secretary outside their responsibilities.

The best action that could be taken regarding them is to send them on retirement on the day they complete their full-quota of three years as a major general, a majority in the Army say.

After Myanmar Bombing, China Deploys Jets, Warns of 'Resolute Measures'

A senior Chinese general has warned Myanmar of military consequences for its actions. 

By Ankit Panda-March 15, 2015

On Friday, Chinese media confirmed that air strikes conducted by the Myanmar Air Force, purportedly in their efforts to suppress ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels in the country’s northeast, mistakenly struck a sugarcane field across the border in China’s Yunnan province, killing four and wounding an additional nine. The incident represents the most serious cross-border escalation of Myanmar’s internal crisis and has drawn a sharp reaction from China, which warned Myanmar as early as last Tuesday to ensure that no bombs cross the border. On Saturday, members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army establishment chimed in with their views on the situation. As expected, senior PLA officials were outraged and expressed, in no uncertain terms, the need for Myanmar to treat this situation seriously.

General Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s apex military leadership body, told Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, that the situation was entirely unacceptable and that Myanmar ought to “seriously control” its military. Fan additionally told the Burmese commander that such an incident could never be allowed to take place again. Beyond his condemnation of the Myanmar armed forces, Fan continued and issued a warning, noting that should Chinese civilians face harm as a result of Myanmar armed forces’ actions, the “Chinese military will take resolute measures to protect the safety of Chinese people and their assets.”

This is a remarkable statement from the vice chairman of the CMC, and suggests that the People’s Liberation Army could move to take kinetic military action against Myanmar, a country that has had relatively close relations with China over the past decade. Fan additionally called for the government of Myanmar to appropriately investigate the incident and provide compensation to the families of the deceased. Fan also notes that PLA Air Force (PLAAF) jets had been dispatched the China-Myanmar border to “track, monitor, warn and chase away” Myanmar jets.

The fighting in northeastern Myanmar is beginning to spiral out of control for China. Last week, over 30,000 Myanmar citizens, most ethnically Chinese, crossed the border into Yunnan, seeking refuge from the fighting. The Myanmar government has additionally accused China of providing covert intelligence and material assistance to the Kokang rebels — a charge China has vehemently denied. Recently, a Chinese general was sacked as part of Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign in the military after he was accused of leaking state secrets to the Kokang rebels back in 2009.

As I noted last week, the fighting in Myanmar is perhaps the most serious test of China’s traditional non-interference policy in foreign affairs in a long time. Given that China has suffered casualties as a result of Myanmar’s military action, Beijing would be within its rights to justify military action as self-defense. Additionally, I suspected that the deaths of Chinese citizens as a result of a foreign military strikes would stir up Chinese nationalist sentiments, leading to calls for military action. After all, if China is to maintain its image as a rising superpower, it needs to be prepared to take action when necessary. General Fan’s comments will likely placate the nationalists who needed to hear stronger language from the Chinese government than just expressions of “grave concern.” What is concerning is that Fan’s warning could leave China’s political leadership cornered should a similar incident take place again. In such a scenario, the only option may be retaliatory military action.

A guide to the main political parties vying for seats in Israel’s parliament

Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog, center, and MP Tzipi Livni, right, co-leaders of the Zionist Union list for the upcoming general election, meet people at the outdoor Carmel Market on March 12  in Tel Aviv. 

March 15 at 9:06 PM

A guide to the main political parties vying for seats in Israel’s parliament

Zionist Union

This political alliance links Isaac Herzog’s Labor Party and the Hatnuah party of Tzipi Livni, a former Israeli foreign minister, justice minister and Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiator. The Zionist Union has taken the lead in polls on the back of popular dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fueled most keenly by Israel’s economic woes. Herzog has emerged as the fulcrum of the anybody-but-Netanyahu movement.

A Guide to the Main Political Parties Vying for Seats in Israel’s Parliament by Thavam Ratna

Dysfunction in Nigeria 

By Craig Murray

March 14, 2015 “ICH" - May 07, 2014 - I have fond memories of Borno state, camping beside my LandRover in the cold, crisp early mornings, steam rising from a cup of tea, then the thermometer climbing visibly as the sun got to work.  Fulani herdsmen crossing the horizon under conical hats with their angular cattle, women walking behind, slim and with beautiful posture, swaying as they walked.

 The neat homesteads surrounded by fences of beautifully woven millet stalk.  Meals of roasted corn and suya.  I remember the farmer who offered me a drink, then took a tin cup and brought milk straight from the cow, still very warm. The people there are grave and hospitable.

I never one felt in the slightest danger, thirty years ago.  I am taken aback that places I went round then without a care for the British High Commission (I had the agriculture brief, which was an amazing license to roam) are now no-go areas.  The region is mostly dry savannah: the forest area stretching into Cameroon, incidentally, is by no means impenetrable, though it is true the canopy would be a barrier to aerial surveillance.  Very little of it is primary forest any more.

The media now have a new cartoon figure of hate in the bearded, bobble-hatted leader of Boko Haram, and in truth he is a very bad person.  But armed rebellions of thousands of people do not just happen.  It is not a simple and spontaneous outbreak of evil, still less a sign that we must wage Tony Blair’s war on Muslims everywhere.

Nigeria is a country with governance and corruption as bad as anywhere in the world.  A country of billionaires and of near starving sufferers.  A country of pollution and exploitation by big oil, and a happily complicit and deeply corrupt political class.  Nobody disagrees with that, and very few would disagree that there lies the root cause of Boko Haram’s ability to gather support.

If the Nigerian government were to have sent in the army en masse to try to recover the kidnapped schoolgirls, the first result would undoubtedly have been, on all previous experience of the Nigerian army, that hundreds more women would have been raped, this time by soldiers.  Villages would have been looted and people arrested, tortured and killed, more on the basis of extorting money than of looking for suspects.

To be fair to President Goodluck Jonathan he knows this, and he had made the extremely brave decision a year ago to try to deal with Boko Haram by dialogue and negotiation, and call off the military campaign which was making matters far worse.  He drew much criticism for it at the time, particularly from neo-cons, and will be blamed now.  The problem is that things have gone too far to be easily remedied, and to negotiate with the crazed is not simple.

Were I trying to get back the girls, I would operate through the agency of traditional society.  Nigeria’s indigenous institutions are much degraded, but offer more hope than any Western style interventions.  I am not precisely sure which is the appropriate traditional ruler, but I suspect that it is the Lamido of Adamawa, whose immediate predecessor I took tea with on several occasions.  Information on the girl’s whereabouts will definitely be obtainable through the networks of subsidiary chiefs and elders, which still exist, even though their political and administrative power had passed.  It is particularly helpful that in this region these traditional allegiances are linked to Islamic authority.  Adamawa’s territory extends into the Cameroon, and even Chad.

The fact of the old state of Adamawa extending into Cameroon and Chad brings us to the heart of the problem.  Nigeria is an entirely artificial, colonial construct created by the British Empire (and bounded by the French Empire).  Its boundaries bear no relation to internal national entities, and it is huge.  The strange thing is that these totally artificial colonial constructs of states generate a genuine and fierce patriotism among their citizens.  After just my first year of living in Nigeria I had formed a firm view that it would be much better for the country to be split into at least three states, and that Britain’s attitude in the Biafran war, that colonial state boundaries must be inviolable, had been wrong.

Many patriotic Nigerians will be very angry with me for suggesting their country should split up.  It is also worth observing that, not only in Nigeria, many Africans who are, with justice, most vocal in their denouncing of colonialism, are at the same time most patriotic about their entirely artificial nationality, created by the colonial power.

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.

Brazil: hundreds of thousands of protesters call for Rouseff impeachment

Rightwing demonstrations across the country come amid frustration over economy and corruption scandal at state oil company, Petrobras 

Protesters against Brazil's president, Dilma Roussef, at Planalto, the office of the Brazilian leader in Brasilia. Photograph: EPA

Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro-Sunday 15 March 2015 
More than half a million Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday to protest against corruption, demand the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and, in some cases, to call for a military coup.

Brazil Hundreds of Thousands of Protesters Call for Rouseff Impeachment by Thavam Ratna

Investigation of whether Poverty Causes Crime

Mar 16, 2015 9:02:05 AM

In the current essay we will discuss the fact that poverty causes crime. Poverty is a characteristic of the economic situation of the individual or social group in which they cannot satisfy a certain range of the minimum requirements needed for life saving ability.  Poverty is a relative concept and depends on the overall standard of living in the society.

According to experts, not getting decent wages for their work, young people gradually lose the desire to marry and to have children - they are full of fear for tomorrow, not sure that tomorrow they will not be fired because of another financial crisis. In addition, low wages and lack of jobs, experts say, are pushing young people to commit crimes in order to get rich quickly.  It is, therefore, among criminals, increases the number of adolescents, aged 18 to 25 years.

Investigation of Whether Poverty Causes Crime by Thavam Ratna

Christians say under siege in Modi's India after rape, attacks

A protester attends a rally by hundreds of Christians against attacks on churches nationwide, in Mumbai February 9, 2015.

BY RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI-Mon Mar 16, 2015

(Reuters) - Christians in India said on Monday that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not done enough to protect their religion, after a spate of attacks including the rape of a 75-year-old nun at the weekend.

Christians prayed and held vigils across the country to protest against the rape during an armed assault on a convent school, the worst in a series of incidents that followers of the faith say are making them feel unwelcome in their own country.

The convent attack also comes in the same month an interview emerged of a man being held on death row for a fatal gang rape in which he showed no remorse and blamed the victim.

The government banned the documentary, "India's Daughter", a decision which angered some Indians who said it should be aired to highlight the prevalence of gender inequality and sex crimes.

Father Savari Muthu, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese and a national Church organiser, said the government had not taken "concrete action to protect Christians.

"We have to raise our voice against the atrocities. Christians will not tolerate this humiliation," he said, joining critics who say Modi has not done enough to ensure religious harmony in a country with a history of inter-faith bloodshed.

The motive for the assault and armed robbery in West Bengal on Saturday was not clear.

MOTHER TERESA LEGACY QUESTIONED

It happened weeks after the leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said the charitable work of Mother Teresa had been aimed at religious conversion.

Critics say the remarks by the leader of RSS, an organization close to the government, contributed to a climate where Christians are seen as outsiders, despite a more than 1,500-year presence in India.

"I am not Indian any more, at least in the eyes of the proponents of the Hindu Rashtra," prominent retired police chief Julio Ribeiro wrote in a column for the Indian Express paper.

The RSS condemned the rape.

"No attack should be tolerated on any woman in India. Be it a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian," Suresh Joshi, RSS general secretary, told reporters on Sunday.

Opposition lawmakers in the upper house of parliament on Monday said the attack could damage the secular fabric of the country, where about a fifth of 1.27 billion people identify themselves as belonging to faiths other than Hinduism. The large majority of those are Muslims.

Since December, half a dozen churches have been vandalised, at the same time as conservative groups have campaigned to convert to Hinduism members of "foreign religions" such as Islam and Christianity.

In February, shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama called for respect for religious freedom in India, Modi broke a long silence on the subject and, speaking at a church event, vowed a crackdown on religious violence.

Muthu said schools across the country were holding prayer meetings on Monday. Christians held a silent protest in the streets of Mumbai on Sunday.

Protesters demanded more security for churches and other religious institutions. On Sunday, a Catholic church being built in the northern state of Haryana was vandalised and its cross replaced with a small statue of a Hindu god.

Police in West Bengal said they had detained five of seven men who broke into the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Nadia district, northeast of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal. The man suspected of rape has not been caught.

The rape victim was discharged from hospital on Sunday night and appealed for peace, said Jaydeep Saha, a police official investigating the crime.

(Additional reporting by Rupam Jain Nair; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Mike Collett-White)

Not a Very Happy Birthday for Irom Sharmila

By MahtabNama,-March 14, 2015 

Today is 14th March, the 43rd Birthday of Irom Chanu Sharmia, often referred to as the Iron lady of Manipur. But it is not so very happy one for her this year. I remember meeting her briefly on 28th May 2014 while she was brought to Delhi to be produced before a Sessions Judge at the Patiala House Court.

Towards the end of our meeting, she hoped that her next birthday (14th March ’15) would coincide with the repeal of AFSPA. And after that, she would be free to lead a normal life. She was at a loss of words while saying this, but the conviction on her face was more than enough to convey what she wanted to say. To be frank, I was not very hopeful. It sounded naïve to me. But then I also thought that she had, other than hope, only to be optimistic and to keep fighting.

But, you may ask, who is Irom Sharmila? Irom Sharmila is an ardent believer of Gandhi’s non-violence and from the state of Manipur. She has been on a fast-unto-death since November 2000, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), a draconian law which gives extra-judicial powers to armed forces in the name of ‘countering’ insurgency and terrorism’. Last year, on the 4th of November, she completed the world’s longest fast and it seems that she is going to be the first Gandhian to complete her fast unto death in the real sense as we hardly see any intention to repeal the draconian law.

Over the years, it has been established that hundreds of ordinary citizens of the so-called disturbed states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir have lost their lives to the draconian law. Extra-judicial killings, illegal detention, rape, torture has become a routine affair for the people of these disturbed areas – men, women, children and the elderly alike. According to a report, between 1979 and 2012, at least 1,528 civilians were killed by the armed forces in Manipur alone.

The act has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness by the state, which is supposed to protect their life, liberty and dignity. And without an iota of doubt, the impacts of draconian laws like AFSPA, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) are more far reaching and disastrous than corruption. These are tools of the Indian government through which it is alienating and pushing its ‘own people’ towards the wall. And government after government has made no change to the status quo, no matter which party is at the helm of affairs.

I was meeting her for the first time last year, not that I had never tried earlier but that I had been denied permission on some flimsy grounds. When I saw her walking, standing and talking to her supporters, journalists and lawyers in the court, I was amazed to see her levels of energy, strength and optimism. How could someone manage to be so energetic and full of life I found asking myself? That, after going through so much of pain. It was incredible to see her talking, answering oft-repeated questions of those present so patiently.

During an hour long meeting, she reiterated that “I want to live. I want to lead a normal life like most of you. I want to eat and taste different food. I am interested in love, marriage and romance but all of these would only be possible when AFSPA is repealed”. Affirming her pledge that she would continue her struggle till the day AFSPA would be repealed, she said, “The moment AFSPA is repealed, I will eat whatever that is available in front of me.”

On being asked if there was any message that she would like us to carry forward, she emphasized on continuing non-violent struggles against all sorts of injustice. “Peace, love and non-violence are the only solution to everything,” she asserted time and again during our meeting. She also asked her supporters to read her writings and poetry. “My writings are my weapon for my struggle, they speak my mind and that is where I feel natural.”

Irom has made it very clear and shown by her practice as well that she would not stop fasting until AFSPA is repealed. Now the real question is, are we really bothered about her future, in a larger sense future of people of all these so-called disturbed area?  Or do we just want to let her die and later read stories of her brave struggles in our text books. The issue needs urgent intervention, not only of the government and state apparatus but also of ordinary citizens. Because Irom’s fight is not one of an individual, but of democracy and justice. So, we have to decide on which side we are on.

Is anyone listening?

If There Is Hell, It Would Be A Lot Better Than This!

 March 15, 2015

Rekha(20) is a young woman from Haveri, Karnataka. She got married to Vineet (name changed), her second husband, in 2011. Vineet is a taxi driver working in Bangalore and Rekha moved in with him. They took up a rented accommodation in Electronic City, Bangalore. Their married life was fine initially, but Rekha later realised that Vineet had a drinking habit and would often come home drunk and insult and beat her.

Unhappy with his drinking habit and beatings, Rekha told Vineet that she would move back to her village in Haveri. Vineet said he would never let her leave him and threatened her that he will destroy her. She didn’t take the threat seriously then, thinking that he had said it under the influence of alcohol.

On 2nd October 2013 –Rekha was sleeping with her daughter, who is just two-and-a-half years old, in their house. Vineet came in the morning at around 4.30 am. Rekha did not know that he was carrying a bottle of acid from his car’s battery. He came to where Rekha was sleeping and poured a little of the fuming acid on her head. When Rekha got up in shock and pain, he poured the rest of the acid all over her.

Rekha was initially treated at the district hospital in Haveri, where she could not be provided with specialised treatment and care required for cases of acid attack. She was shifted to a charitable based private hospital where she underwent her first round of surgeries. A few months after the attack Rekha’ss parents passed away leaving her completely alone with no support from her brother and sister.

After her first round of surgeries Rekha went back to her village to rest, but soon slipped into a deep depression and all of her wounds from the previous surgeries became infected. The doctors are not being able to perform any surgeries due to her mental instability and she needs these surgeries to reduce the risk of a fatal infection.

We were informed today that Rekha has now been diagnosed with the following-

• Wounds on her head and face are infected
• Her food pipe and intestines have become ulcerated
• She is suffering from jaundice
• She has blood discharge in her urine, indicating infection in her kidney or uterus (she was pregnant at the time  of the attack, and the foetus got aborted due to the shock following the attack)
• She is suffering from mental depression and instability

Acid attack survivors are entitled to government compensation which is said to be released in the first 15 days of  the attack. The compensation payable by the State Government under section 357A shall be in addition to the payment  of fine to the victim under section 326A or section 376D of the Indian Penal Code.

The chairperson of the state women’s commission has visited Rekha, but sadly she is yet to get even a single rupee of help from the state government, even a year and half after the acid attack.

Where is her compensation? Where are the funds that could help us get her quality treatment and trauma counselling  that could have been beneficial in avoiding her present state? Its been a year and a half and now Rekha is fighting for her life. No girl should have to ever be in such a position.

Ria Sharma, Founder- Make Love Not Scars and The Logical Indian are putting all their efforts to make life of these survivors, slightly  better. Join us in our efforts, we need your help! We are coming up with a follow-up post on the same.

A Dentist Found A Guava Sprout In This Man's Tooth

March 15, 2015

This man was experiencing tremendous tooth pain, so he went to his local dentist to see what the problem was. What they found that day is absolutely crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this!

Now, normally this is where you’d find some witty, relatable tale about a similar instance in my life. But this tale is far too bizarre for me to even feign an attempt at relating. My jaw literally dropped when I saw what they found in this poor man’s mouth. How does one let their hygiene plummet to this level of grossness? 

Have you ever seen something this insane? Do you have an even crazier dental story? We’d love to hear it! Please share your thoughts, feelings and opinions in the comment section below. 

WELL, SHIT. MAITHRI LIED.

WELL, SHIT. MAITHRI LIED.

MARCH 15, 2015

Remember that dude we voted in because he was going to abolish the Executive Presidency?

HE LIED.

In reforms discussed today, the Cabinet and the President apparently decided against acting on promises. Instead, they’re “pruning” the Executive Presidency. The pruning, done according to the 19th Amendment, is (roughly) as follows:

a) A President shall serve no more than two terms in office

b) Each term shall be no more than five years

c) The President cannot arbitrarily dismiss Parliament until he has served for 4 /12 years of his term.

d) The President can be removed if the Prime Minister, Chief Justice and the Speaker judge that he’s gone too far off his rocker.

This is a problem.  Because:

a) The President still appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet

b) No act of the President can be questioned in a court of law, as before

c) The President is still Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and gets to appoint the heads of the Army,  Navy and the Air Force.

And all of this will be presented in a bill to the Parliament. If this is passed, we’re no better off than before. The President can still d) do whatever the fuck he wants b) fuck whoever he wants, provided he makes a yes-man his PM.

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I believe I voted for a system of checks and balances, not for an extension of the same God-mode privileges that Sri Lankan Presidents have had since 1978. At least, that’s what the doctor told me. Turns out Maithri’s 100-day Manifesto turned out to be like Mahinda’s Chinthanaya. This is an outrage. We’ve been lied to- oh, wait, this is a familiar feeling.

The funny thing is, Suchetha Wijenayake, over at raramimu.blogspot.com, said “Here comes the new king, the same as the old king.” At the time it seemed like unwarranted cynicism. Now it stinks of prophecy.

What does this mean?

• Ranil, Chandrika and Maithri (I’ve stated them in that order because that seems to the real flow of power) are either horrible insecure or confident that they will not be voted back (same difference). Which means they’re also sure that Mahinda will come back. I don’t need to spell out what happens if MR returns – it’s going to be the political equivalent of a ripe pineapple inserted in the anus, and then twisted.
• 
  
• We have just voted in another potential dictator. Keep in mind that no President starting from Junius Richard Jayewardene has ever done right by democracy. Premadasa? CBK? MR? Bets on how long it takes for Maithri to go the same way.
• 
  
• Mahinda will experience a wave of popularity as the current government reneges on its promises (the only for voting it in).

Is this bad?

I don’t know. Maithri’s government has done both good as bad. Good in the sense that we seem to have gained a humble man, and, finally, some accountability and common sense in international politics. Forget all the people on LankaWeb who consider Mahinda sacred.  Arrogance and secularism isn’t going to win us any prices. Nor is turning a blind eye to corruption and nepotism.

From a power perspective, this makes sense – MR is still massively popular and Maithri’s government seems to have less support than it did when it started, a precarious position. They probably need this simply to instil order – at least, in their sense of the term. The problem is that they’re painting balconies and tiling floors above a fundamentally rotten foundation. Assume that Maithri works out. What of the next President? Will the Executive Presidency be abolished then? Or will we vote in another dictator?

What do you think? I think you should talk.  If you’re a writer, write about this. If you’re on Twitter, tweet. If you’re on Facebook, clear out those Candy Crush notifications and then TYPE SOMETHING IN CAPITALS. Because while we’re all collectively obsessing over Jeremy Clarkson being fired, socialism is backdooring the republic.

Valalaai people visit HSZ to find their homes and wells destroyed Photograph: Tamil Guardian 15 March 2015Displaced Tamils from the region of Valalai were allowed to walk through their former homelands for the first time in 25 years on Friday, after the Sri Lankan military displaced locals and converted the area into a High Security Zone in 1990. An official meeting was held on Wednesday, by the Minister of resettlement, Hareen Peiris, who pledged to resettle the Valalaai people to view their lands and be resettled before the end of the week. The families upon visiting their lands on Friday, expressed concern that their homes and wells and been demolished whilst the borders of their lands unidentifiable, reportsUthayan.  Member of the Northern Provincial Council Sarveswaran and the Valigamam North Chairman Sukirthan were also present during the site visits. The families are yet to be resettled. Photographs: Tamil Guardian

Vigneswaran hits out at PM’s remarks

March 15, 2015 

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jaffna, the Chief Minister of Tamil-majority region in Sri Lanka hit out at Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for his controversial comments on shooting trespassing Indian fishermen.

Vigneswaran said “that is not the way for a head of government to say to a friendly country. As far as the fishermen are concerned, all deep sea trawlers must be sent to Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.”

“The solution is to prohibit trawlers in the Palk Strait Area and have a Palk Strait management committee and they should be in a position to see that none of these things are happening and that they go to deep sea,” Vigneswaran added.

Wickramasinghe had alleged that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen.

Wickramasinghe had alleged that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen. “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed, law allows me to do that,” he said.

As many as 86 Indian fishermen were arrested and their 10 fishing boats seized by the Sri Lanka Navy for allegedly poaching in the country’s waters in February.

Modi on Saturday night returned home after wrapping up his five-day three- nation tour.

During his Sri Lanka visit, the first by an Indian PM in almost 28 years, Modi reached out to the country, saying the security of the two nations is “indivisible” and favoured a life of equality, justice and dignity for Tamils in its “new journey” of peace and reconciliation.

CNN-IBN

Reforms Need “People” Not “Proxies”

By Kusal Perera -March 15, 2015

Kusal Perara

There’s plenty good things told to the local media by this new government and its ardent fans on a daily basis on Constitutional Reforms, Electoral changes, Right to Information Act and also on “Yahapalanaya” (good governance). The fad now is to say, “But, there is freedom and a change for the better”. Yes, with Rajapaksas out of power, there certainly is a sense of relief. A carefree feeling blowing around, more in Colombo. There are things happening on reforms, whatever “yahapalanaya” is meant to be. What’s amiss though are PEOPLE, in all these rough and rushed efforts to keep pace with the much delayed 100 D programme of the new rule.

In Sri Lankan context, why people are the most important factor in democratic processes has two major reasons. It is now an internationally accepted norm and practise in the democratic world for any constitutional and State reform to ensure vibrant “citizen participation”. It’s not just the end product that is important, but the process as well through which changes are affected. People have to feel they were part of the reform process that decided change and own what’s done. Therefore, all reforms this government proposes, first have to be in public domain to fit in with democratic processes. Most unfortunately, what we see are drafts and discussion documents circulating in private circles and clearly labelled as “private” or “unofficial”. That too, only in English language.

The other is an added and a serious reason why we have to have people actively involved in deciding all reforms, before they go to this parliament and into effective implementation. This parliament is no legitimate body to represent the people anymore and have proved over and over again they are not competent and committed in taking up serious responsibility such as debating very important issues like constitutional and electoral reforms. Reading through “Hansards” of the past decade, one would not come across a single speech that can be taken as intellectual, logical, relevant and with common sense. Whatever the subject, there are no serious contributions in parliamentary debates except when at times the TNA is on their feet.

With that comes illegitimacy of this parliament. In 2010 April, the people voted at the elections and constituted a parliament with 144 UPFA members, 60 UNP members, 14 TNA members and 07 DNA members. Almost five years after, can anyone guess how the parliament is constituted now, without any elections held? The UPFA numbers went up to 156 MPs by end 2010 while the UNP was reduced to 42 members and the TNA losing their Ampara district MP to the Rajapaksas. Almost a year later, the JVP moved out of the DNA with their 04 MPs. That in every way deformed the people’s verdict in just one year.

In the latest break up in early January, 07 from the SLFP including Maithripala Sirisena crossed over, with 02 JHU MPs, 01 DNA, all SLMC and ACMC and 01 from the CWC joining the crossing over to the opposition. Meanwhile UNP lost their General Secretary who joined the UPFA. But the UPFA itself is now fractured with Weerawansa, Dinesh, Vasu and the breakaway JHU going their own way, canvassing a comeback for Rajapaksa. All of it has brought in a uniquely freak government that lives each day on the tactful sympathy of the SLFP majority in parliamentary Opposition. SLFP that in fact should be the government with their 125 MPs.

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