Speaker to summon DG of the Bribery Commission- Wimal’s wife questioned for seven hours

April 20, 2015

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa has assured that the Director General of the Bribery Commission will be summoned to the Parliament to inquire as to why they had summoned former President to the Commission, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa says.

The Former President has been asked to appear before the Bribery Commission on April 24. Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also been asked to appear before the Commission on April 23 and 27.

Weerawansa also said that his wife Shashi Weerawansa has been summoned the Commission to Investigate Allegations on Bribery or Corruption, and is being questioned for seven hours.   

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Rohan Weliwita hides A.S.P. Liyanage!

Monday, 20 April 2015

The person by the name Rohan Weliwita, who claims himself to be the media spokesman to Mahinda Rajapaksa, is playacting after concealing his very good friend, A.S.P. Liyanage, the owner of Peacock Palace, and issuing media statements, say sources close to the former president.

In a statement to the media, Weliwita ways Rajapaksa had put off taking up residence at Peacock Palace, which was due for today, as Liyanage has gone missing. Weliwita and Liyanage are bosom buddies and original racketeers, who struck many deals during the Rajapaksa rule.

It is well known that once, Rajapaksa found out a deal struck by Weliwita, rebuked him in raw filth, slapped him and expelled him from Temple Trees. Later, he apologized and started frequenting Temple Trees once again, and during the presidential election he got minister Champika Ranawaka mixed up in a big trouble.

That was - Weliwita photoshopped a picture of the ex-president embracing film director Dr. Lester James Peiris to show that it was KP who was being embraced, and sent it to Ranawaka. Falling for Weliwita’s trap, Ranawaka issued the picture to the media and found himself in deep trouble. However, Ranawaka humbled himself before Dr. Peiris and apologized. The entire conspiracy was planned by this Weliwita.

Former staffers of Rajapaksa’s media unit discuss among themselves as to how such a lowly figure could become the media spokesman of the former president. They say that Rajapaksa has not yet learnt his lesson.

Zulu leader suggests media to blame for South Africa's xenophobic violence

King Goodwill Zwelithini says journalists misquoted him saying ‘foreigners must pack their bags and go home’ during speech last month

 
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, centre, waves to supporters during a traditional gathering at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, South Africa. Photograph: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

David Smith in Johannesburg-Monday 20 April 2015

A tribal leader blamed for inciting deadly xenophobic violence in South Africa has claimed he was misquoted and demanded an official investigation into the media.

Zulu Leader Suggests Media to Blame for South Africa's Xenophobic Violence by Thavam Ratna

Air strike on missile base in Yemen capital kills at least seven

Mon Apr 20, 2015
(Reuters) - An air strike on a Scud missile base in the Yemeni capital Sanaa caused a big explosion that blew out windows in homes, killing seven civilians and wounding dozens, medical sources told Reuters. 

Yemen’s state news agency Saba, run by the Houthi movement which controls the capital, said the bombing resulted in “dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded,” citing a government official.

Saudi Arabia has led an alliance of Sunni Arab countries in air strikes against the Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi group and army units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The blast hit the base on Faj Attan mountain beside Hadda district, home to the presidential palace and many embassies, and sent a thick pillar of smoke into the air.

Resident Adel Mansour said it was the largest explosion in more than three weeks of bombing by the Saudi-led coalition.

“For the first time since the start of the bombing the windows of my house smashed,” Mansour said. “My children are terrified and one of my relatives fainted because of the force of the blast.”

An eyewitness at a hospital in the area said the emergency room was overwhelmed with victims, who screamed in pain from wounds sustained by the flying debris of their homes.

The campaign has repeatedly targeted the Faj Attan facility along with other military bases and airports in Sanaa and throughout the country.

The explosion also damaged the headquarters of a television station, Yemen Today, which is owned by ex-president Saleh, knocking its signal off air and wounding several people, employees told Reuters.

Why was Palestinian suffering forgotten on Holocaust Remembrance Day?

An Israeli army delegation marches into Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in 2007. (“Israel Defense Forces”/Flickr)

Michael Lesher 

The Electronic Intifada 

17 April 2015

What, exactly, was remembered during Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day this week?

Not the victims of Israel’s latest slaughter in Gaza, where more than 2,200 civilians were killed less than a year ago. In the propagandistic world of “Holocaust memory” only Jews can be victims, so mainstream media marginalize the hundreds of Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants who publicly condemned “the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza” (their words). Instead, a leading Israeli newspaper informed us this week that “adult children of Holocaust survivors in Israel tend to be more anxious than their peers … about the Iranian nuclear threat” — even though Iran has no nuclear weapons and has never attacked Israel.

Why Was Palestinian Suffering Forgotten on Holocaust Remembrance Day by Thavam Ratna

Post reporter jailed in Iran faces 4 charges including espionage

Washington Post's Jason Rezaian has been charged with espionage and three other serious crimes, according to his lawyer. (Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)

By Carol Morello April 20 at 11:40 AM

Iranian authorities are charging The Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, with espionage and three other serious crimes, including “collaborating with hostile governments” and “propaganda against the establishment,” according to his lawyer in Tehran.

Jason Rezaian’s journey has taken him from a childhood in San Francisco to his father’s native Iran. At 37, he became the Washington Post correspondent in Tehran. In July 2014, he was thrown into Iran’s Evin Prison, where he remains, without access to a lawyer. This is his story. (Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post)

Post Reporter Jailed in Iran Faces 4 Charges Including Espionage by Thavam Ratna

​Ethiopia’s Economic Miracle Is Running Out of Steam

Why it’s time for East Africa’s big success story to change the way it does business.

BY ROBERT LOONEY-APRIL 16, 2015 

Just over 30 years ago, Ethiopia’s famine regularly made the news. Gruesome accounts of up to a million deaths stemming from drought and civil war captured the attention of aid agencies, sympathetic governments, and humanitarian groups around the world. Contrast that with the past decade, when Ethiopia averaged an economic growth rate of slightly better than 10 percent. The about-face has been so dramatic that some seasoned observers have gone so far as to call Ethiopia’s progress an economic miracle, dubbing the country an “African lion” whose success recalls that of Asia’s economic tigers.

Encouraged by its accomplishments, the governing Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) continues to focus on a high-growth strategy aimed at making Ethiopia a middle-income country by 2025. To the casual observer, this goal appears increasingly within reach. Ethiopia is not just growing, but has already met or is coming close to meeting some of its important Millennium Development Goals, including universal primary education and reductions in infant mortality. The country’s poverty rate fellfrom 44 percent in 2000 to 30 percent in 2011. Unemployment rates, though still high, have been coming down. And the number of Ethiopianmillionaires has increased faster than in any other African country.

But these successes have come at a price. The government’s obsession with meeting high growth targets at any cost has resulted in widespread popular anger and discontent, much of it along regional and ethnic lines. The Ethiopian government claims its practice of cheaply leasing out large tracts of land to major agribusinesses after resettling or displacing the local population are necessary to sustain economic growth. Instead, these “land grabs” have led only to disappointing output levels, human rights violations, and abuses of power. As a result, despite the economic boom, if the EPRDF claims victory in the upcoming May 25 national and regional elections, it will be due only to its repressive political tactics: harassment of the opposition, harsh crackdowns on protests, and jailing of critical journalists in record numbers.

This is all part of the plan.Ethiopia’s late prime ministerMeles Zenawi believed, as did Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, that a measure of prosperity was essential before democracy could take root. As a result, since Zenawi rose to power in 1995, Ethiopia has followed an “authoritarian developmentalism” model, prioritizing state-directed economic growth over human rights or genuine political pluralism. But while this “development before democracy” strategy has paid off until recently, it is unlikely this success can be sustained for much longer. Even assuming the government can repress mounting ethnic and regional unrest, the country’s limited financial capacity poses another serious impediment to continued growth. Ethiopia’s public investments in infrastructure, state enterprises, and human capital amount to 19 percent of GDP — the third-highest rate in the world — and are outrunning the country’s financial capacity. As a result, the government’s hope of achieving its ambitious development goals depends on its willingness to scale back its control of the economy and letting the private sector fill the gap. This will require democratic reforms.

Some selective governance and economic reforms have already begun. Corruption, as reported by the World Bank, has fallen sharply in recent years, with Ethiopia now earning the highest ranking in East Africa. Additionally, because the public sector plays such a key role in the economy, the government instituted civil service reforms, making Ethiopia second only to Kenya among East African countries in its World Bank ranking of government effectiveness.

Unfortunately, progress in other areas has been underwhelming. The EPRDF’s history of bullying has had such a chilling effect on democracy that the opposition currently holds just one seat in Ethiopia’s 175 seat House of Peoples’ Representatives. It’s no surprise that the country ranks dead last in World Bank measures of voice and accountability, political stability, and absence of violence. Since 2005, Ethiopia has also experienced an almost continuous decline in Heritage House’s measure of economic freedom, placing it last in the region.

While the EPRDF continues to insist that its work has just begun and notes that the Asian developmental states needed decades to deliver on their socioeconomic and macroeconomic goals, it now faces major funding roadblocks. Revenue shortfalls have already forced the government to finance some of its more ambitious projects through international loans from China, India, and the World Bank. Another financing option has been through direct central bank financing and forcing private banks to purchase Treasury bills at a discounted interest rate. Resorting to domestic funding has only exacerbated inflationary pressures, with inflation reaching 40 percent at one point in August 2011.

An IMF report highlights the trade-offs involved in Ethiopia’s financing dilemma. Although inflation has subsided to the single digits, excessive borrowing from the financial system to fund capital expenditures could quickly cause it to ramp up again. Because inflation hits low-income ethnic groups and regions especially hard, this would almost certainly cause the current social discontent to erupt into uncontrollable turmoil. The alternative is external borrowing, which might ease inflationary pressures but at the cost of significant increases in the country’s debt burden. By IMF calculations, to stay within safe limits of domestic credit and external debt, Ethiopia will have to scale down its growth targets to more achievable levels.

Slower growth may, in fact, be a blessing in disguise. The experiences of other countries that have attempted sustained high rates of growth suggest that such approaches create increasingly harmful side effects. Shortly before his death, Meles Zenawi received some sage advice from Gao Xiqing of the China Investment Forum. “Do not necessarily do what we did,” Gao cautioned him, adding that policies pursuing “sheer economic growth” in China had saddled the country with massive pollution and inequality.“You have a clean sheet of paper here,” Gao advised. “Try to write something beautiful.”

Unfortunately, even slower growth may be a moot point. Ethiopia’s state-led development model is ultimately unsustainable if the government lacks the capacity to maintain the required rates of public investment. The only realistic alternative is to scale back state control of the economy, enabling the private sector to drive further growth. To be viable, however, the private sector will need secure property rights, impartial third-party contract enforcement, increased economic freedom, and quality public education — all the cornerstones of democracy.

Should the EPRDF prove unwilling to relinquish control and enact the necessary reforms, economic growth will almost certainly slow significantly, taking with it any prospect of a viable, functional democracy. Instead, Ethiopia would almost inevitably default to the type of “transitional democracy” found all too often in Africa. Neither fully democratic nor fully authoritarian, Ethiopia would join the likes of Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Zimbabwe in embracing the outward trappings of democracy, while overlooking inconvenient details, such as control of corruption and free and fair elections.

EPRDF officials have repeatedly stated that democracy, like development, is an existential matter for Ethiopia and that the party is equally committed to both. The time has come to put this philosophy into practice. Ethiopia’s state-led development model has run its course and now faces diminishing returns. Many of the abuses associated with that model are galvanizing large segments of the population against the government, and it will not have the resources to overcome this resistance. At this point, growth can only be sustained if the government allows and encourages a transition to a more dynamic model driven by the private sector. If the government can accomplish this, then both prosperity and democracy have a chance in Ethiopia.

ZACHARIAS ABUBEKER/AFP/Getty Images

State-level hacking: who’s got your back?

State-level hacking: who’s got your back?

Monday 20 Apr 2015

“If you take a rabbit from the hole, you can’t push it back inside”. Delivered with a heavy Russian accent this maxim from Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive of one of the world’s largest anti-virus companies, sounds like a bad line from a crime movie.

But the rabbit he’s referencing in our interview is an analogy for a new breed of high-tech threat: malicious software created at great expense by governments and unleashed online as a method of spying on and disrupting other nations, their industries and politicians.

 Stuxnet (a virus reportedly created by the US which crippled an Iranian nuclear reactor) has been joined by a growing list of exotically-named online nasties including Regin, a virus which hit a Belgian communications company and which some reports claim has been used by GCHQ.

It’s the cutting edge of espionage, but if you think such malicious software (or malware) is the digital equivalent of a precision missile, think again. It’s more like carpet-bombing, with innocent users caught up in the storm.“There are companies that develop commercial malware for Interpol, or for national police forces,” says Kaspersky. “We find these tools, even though they’re made for watching things like drug cartels, we find them on the computers of innocent people who are not in criminal gangs.”Bear in mind these viruses are often designed to take complete control of a computer, giving police and intelligence agencies access to its webcam and microphone. So who’s going to protect you from getting accidentally hit by the cyber spies? No-one, according to Kaspersky.“On cybercrime states co-operate, even though it’s a turbulent geopolitical situation, Russia is talking to the United States, etc, there’s still co-operation to fight cybercrime. When it comes to espionage, forget it”

It’s a bleak outlook, and one that’s starting to cause schisms among the companies who ensure our online safety. Some have reacted by throwing in their lot with one country: some US anti-virus firms, for example, have opted to focus their attention on Russia and Chinese cyber activity.

For the moment, many anti-virus makers are happy to expose spy software whatever the suspected source, even if it hails from the country in which they’re based. But as this type of government-level espionage continues (and morphs into state-sponsored sabotage), it will get progressively harder for such companies to remain on neutral ground, even in the virtual world.

Follow @geoffwhite 247 on Twitter

Study: Apple Extract Kills Cancer Cells, Outperforms Common Chemo Drugs 

March 22 at 10:13am

Numerous times food has proven to be the best medicine for treating lethal illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancers. A recent study conducted by the university researchers in Xi’an, China, has convincingly showed that apple extract kills cancer cells, thus outperforming conventional chemotherapy!

Actually, compounds in apples known as oligosaccharides were found to destroy up to 46 percent of human colon cancer cells. They outperform common chemotherapy, and even more so, they leave the toxic adverse effects behind!

The study abstract reveals this key point: “It is reported that apple polysaccharide can prevent colon cancer growth and impede colon cancer progression. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of apple oligosaccharide on the cellular viability of human colon carcinoma cells (or HT29 cells) and its mechanism.

These results indicated that apple oligosaccharide attenuated HT29 cell viability by inducing cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Apple oligosaccharide is a potential chemoprevention agent or anti-tumor agent and is worthy of further study.”

Apple Extract: Another Natural Solution to Cancer

Researchers isolated polysaccharides such as pectin and other fibers from the apple remains after apples have been processed for making juice. This waste product called pomace consists of skins, pulp, seeds and stems.

Upon isolating the polysaccharides, what the researchers did was treating them with the natural pectinase enzyme in order to break down their complex carbohydrate molecules into oligosaccharides. In the final step, the oligosaccharides were added to various concentrations of cultured human HT29 colon cancer cells, but a common chemo drug was added to others.

Although the researchers used different concentrations in every test, the results were the same: Oligosaccharides induced programmed cell death, known as apoptosis, at greater levels compared with the apoptosis levels of chemo drug administered to other infected cells.

At a concentration of 0.9 micrograms per mL (about 0.9 PPM), oligosaccharides killed 17.6% of the colon cancer cells within 36 hours only while the chemo drug, at a higher concentration of 1.3 micrograms per mL, killed 10.9% only! Then, at 9.0 PPM, 46% of colon cancer cells were terminated by the potent oligosaccharides. The chemo drug has not been tested at this level yet.

Because colon cancer is the second leading cause of death in women and the third leading cause of death in men worldwide, this finding is especially important to help curb this epidemic. As many battles against colon cancer fought with standard means (cytostatic drugs, radiotherapy, surgical removal of the colon from the body etc.) have been lost, it is best to turn to natural means.

The apple oligosaccharides are non-toxic to healthy cells. They can be used at higher concentrations than it is possible with chemo drugs. This is especially important for patients with cancers at advanced levels, who die sooner when treated with higher concentrations of chemical drugs or with radiation.

Just like the abundant scientific material in previous researches, this new study reconfirms the amazing effects of natural foods and compounds.

These oligosaccharides can be easily obtained from the waste product of apple juice industry. Read this:  

Amazing four million tons of pomace are produced annually! So, it is definitely the lowest-cost resource for producing valuable, life-saving drugs for dying people.Yet, do not be disturbed if you cannot enrich your diet with apples. Oligosaccharides are present in plenty of plant fruits and vegetables, then in sea algae, and even in raw honey and milk.

The study finding only strongly supports nutritionists’ recommendation for every individual to consume more fresh produce every day.

Giving with one hand and taking with the other?

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Constitution-making exercises in Sri Lanka are generally a coyly deceptive dance of appearing to give much but actually conceding very little. And for too long, we have suffered from a peculiar obsession with keeping rights away from the people. This is not an affliction limited to a particular political era or to individuals of greater or lesser talent as the case may be.

Constitutional compromises on rights
So the first attacks on an independent judiciary and public service under the 1972 Constitution were engineered by those generally acclaimed as the great leftist thinkers of the day. Such are our delusions. This constitutional document undermined the rights of minorities even as it was hailed as an ‘autochthonous’ (native) freeing of colonial fetters.

If this was the measure of our collective post-independent mind, then the constitutional autocracy that came later in 1978 to the detriment of both the majority and the minorities was not surprising. And the pattern of giving with one hand while taking away with the other continued. Sri Lanka’s second Republican constitutional pact did not even enshrine the right to life. It took the Supreme Court well over twenty years to impliedly recognize the same even in the limited sense of asserting that no person can be put to death except through order of a competent court.

Across the Palk Strait meanwhile, the Indian Supreme Court had long since reached triumphant heights in protecting the ordinary Indian, bringing in the right to information as well as liberty within the right to life.

Concerns with the draft RTI clause in 19A
Tragically, we have still not departed from this unhappy precedent. The proposed Right to Information clause in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is an admirable example thereto. A major promise of the Sirisena election campaign was the enactment of a separate Right to Information (RTI) law. Given that such a draft is soon due to be brought before Parliament, what was required from the constitutional process was a clear and lucid statement of the basic right subject to narrowly framed exceptions.

Instead the 19th Amendment contains an RTI clause which is undercut by several exceptions imported from archaic restrictions on freedom of expression inserted by the drafters of the 1978 Constitution in their infinitely outdated wisdom. This is despite the fact that the interests protected by the two rights are not necessarily similar.
In its final tweaking around before the Supreme Court recently, these proposed constitutional restrictions include not only national security, territorial integrity or public safety and opaquely defined ‘protection of morals’ and ‘protection of the reputation and rights of others’ but also parliamentary privilege and contempt of court.

Constitutional drafting at its most confused
Even in a most basic sense, it beggars the imagination as to why contempt of court has been included when ‘maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary’ is already specified as a permissible restriction to RTI in the same paragraph. This is constitutional drafting at its most confused. Similarly, I am compelled to ask as to what rationale could possibly be advanced for retaining ‘protection of the reputation and rights of others’ when this is (again) already covered by other restrictions?

Other problems abound. For example, ‘protection of morals’ is a perfectly legitimate restriction in regard to freedom of expression but sits somewhat oddly with a separate right to information. Protecting morals can properly restrict expression for instance, to prevent the publication and dissemination of pornographic material.

But restricting RTI on such a ground has little logical relevance as public bodies are not generally expected to be holding pornographic material regarding which an RTI request may be lodged.

Blanket restrictions on RTI
Moreover refusing information citing contempt and parliamentary privilege is not defensible at a conceptual level. Contempt of court lays claim to a torrid history in this country where the power has been wielded to protect judges who violate the Rule of Law.

For over a decade, draft contempt laws had been put forward by the Bar Association, the Editors Guild and by the National Human Rights Commission (formulated by an experts committee under the chairmanship of a former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka). These were no abstract discussions but emerged out of the excessive use of contempt powers by the Sarath Silva Court (1999-2009). Indeed, Sri Lanka has been requested by the United Nations to democratize the use of contempt power. This is, as yet, an unfinished task. The blithe insistence to constitutionally restrict RTI on this ground is therefore quite deplorable.

Neither is ‘parliamentary privilege’ an acceptable restriction. Parliamentarians should not be afforded special sanctity against the public right to know. And the draft 19th Amendment’s stipulation that these restrictions must be ‘prescribed by law as necessary in a democratic society’ is not an adequate safeguard.

Enabling two separate RTI regimes to develop?
Differing from all this meanwhile, exceptions to RTI in Sri Lanka’s proposed separate law are not vague or antiquated as the 19th Amendment’s clauses, as they currently stand. But as the Constitution is superior to all statutes, the constitutional restrictions will take precedence with possible negative impact thereto.

Public authorities providing information under the RTI law may be blocked by interested parties citing the broad constitutional exceptions. This may hinder information requests under the RTI law and render the law itself virtually inconsequential.

Worryingly therefore, there is potential for two separate legal regimes on information denials to develop. The first regime may be confined to narrow exceptions within the public interest disclosure which the RTI law strictly demands. The other regime may develop under the broad constitutional exceptions. Certainly this is not conducive to clarity in the law.

Better sense should prevail
Consequently if the 19th Amendment is to have any visible impact where RTI is concerned, a judicious tightening of the restrictions detailed in Clause 14A (2) is essential.
These concerns may have been discussed if this draft amendment had been disclosed in time for adequate scrutiny. Even at this late stage however, it may not be a forlorn hope that better sense will prevail.

​TNA Has No Loyalty Towards LTTE — M. A. Sumanthiran

M. A. Sumanthiran

Sunday, April 19, 2015

With the debate continuing on who should be the opposition leader in Parliament, the Tamil National Alliance, which had recently told the Speaker that the post should go to its leader R. Sampanthan, insisted that there is no reason why the Tamil party should not get the post. Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Tamil National Alliance  MP, M.A. Sumanthiran said that the TNA had not run after Ministerial posts and had declined positions even when they were offered, and that they will always stand up for the rights of the Tamil people. He also said that there need not be a rush in implementing the 20th amendment, and for the time being the 19th amendment should be passed.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q:  With the TNA having made proposals to the speaker regarding the eligibility of party leader R. Sambanthan for the position of the leader of the opposition, what has been the progress of that proposal?
A: We have not had any progress so far. We have given in writing to the speaker our position with regard to the post of the opposition leader, but we have not heard from him as yet.
 
Q:  There are some concerns regarding the TNA being given the position of the leader of the opposition as there is an allegation that the TNA supports the LTTE and their ideology. Is this so?
A: No we do not have any allegiance to the LTTE nor are we committed to their ideology. We stand up for the rights of the Tamil people but we are not in favour of terrorism nor do we encourage it and everyone knows this.

Q:  There is talk of a split within the TNA, based on differences of opinions between moderates like yourself and R. Sambanthan and members with more extreme views. How would you respond to these assertions?
A:  No there is absolutely no split within the TNA and these are all rumours that are being spread.

Q:  What does the TNA think of the newly elected government, and are you satisfied with their form of governance so far?
A:  This is a change that we ourselves worked for and we brought about, but we cannot say that we are totally happy with the way things are moving and we have our own concerns, especially concerning the return of normalcy to the North and the East, and things are not moving as fast as we would like it to move.

However having said that, it should also be noted that this government is moving in the right direction. Hence we would urge the government to do more but we are certainly not going to pronounce that this government is a failure or anything like that, and we are certain they are moving in the right direction and they need a little more time to correct all the mistakes made. We have to give them that time and space to rectify the shortcomings and move in the right direction at the required pace.

Q:  With regard to the 13th amendment and the promises made to the Tamil people, what is the progress made so far and is the TNA happy with what has been done so far?
A:  The 13th amendment is part of the constitution and it is not a separate thing. Hence there is no need for anyone to promise to implement part of the constitution as they have all sworn to uphold the constitution and it has to be implemented. If any government is not implementing it then they are guilty of violating the constitution.

Q:  With regard to the removal of the army camps and the reducing of the military presence in the North, which was a constant demand of the TNA, has there been any positive progress?
A: Our position is that large sections of civilian lands are being kept by the military for various purposes other than for security purposes. On the contrary we have never said that army camps that are required for security purposes should be removed. Whatever camps that is necessary for National security must be maintained.

However several thousands of acres of lands are being kept by the military and the army is cultivating on them and other recreational facilities are being built on these lands and various other activities which cannot be justified. These lands belong to the people and they should be able to now go back and live on their lands, now that the war has ended.

The government agreed to those conditions even before the elections were held, and in accordance have taken measures to release those lands gradually, stage by stage. However it is a very slow progress and what we are pressing them about is to speed up the process as these people who were dislodged from their lands need to be resettled fast in order to recommence their lives. Nevertheless even at snail pace there still is some progress and we are happy with that.

However having said that a lot more needs to be done urgently because there is no justification whatsoever for the army to be cultivating on these people’s lands and making money off it while these people are displaced and have  been lamenting in refugee camps despite the end of the war.

Q:  While we celebrate the end of the war and terrorism in this country, there have also been concerns being expressed regarding the possible return of the LTTE and their attempt to regroup. Do you think there is valid reason for concern?
A: No there is no need for concern regarding the return of the LTTE. This is just an attempt by certain parties to create fear among the people. There is absolutely no truth in the claims that the LTTE is attempting to regroup. But even if there is such a move the people will not allow it or support it as it is they who have suffered the most during the war. Therefore the people are quite steadfast in not allowing such terrorism to begin again as they know that they will be the ones that are worst affected.

Q:  There have been lots of concerns regarding the 19th and 20th amendments to the constitution, with the SLFP stating that a 20th amendment should be presented simultaneously with the 19th amendment, regarding a new electoral system. What is the stand of the TNA?
A:  Well the 19th amendment can now be passed because that contains the first two promises that President Maithripala Sirisena made during his election campaigning. These are to abolish the limitless powers of the executive president and restore other independent commissions. Hence there is no controversy over these and the bill is before parliament and it can be passed. The other is the promise of electoral reform, and this need not be tied up with the other two.

Yes there needs to be electoral reform but there need to be discussions with the other political parties where there is an agreement. However a lot more details need to be worked out and a lot more needs to be done in a proper manner. Hence merely because that is delayed for good reasons one does not have to hold the 19th amendment up for that reason. It is the opinion of the TNA that the 19th amendment needs to be passed irrespective of the electoral reforms. The electoral reforms also will happen in good time.

Q: Parties like the JHU were concerned that while reducing the powers of the executive presidency, there was a move to increase the powers of the Prime Minister. Is there such a concern within the TNA?
A:  Within the 19th amendment there is no executive prime ministerial position being created and that is very clear after the Supreme Court determination, and there is not going to be an executive prime minister in any way or form. The executive powers are retained in the presidency but just that it’s exercised in a more moderate manner and in consultation with the prime minister.

Q:  The UNP has come under criticism for grabbing some of the key positions within the new government, and allegations are being levelled that they have not shared the posts with the other parties within the coalition. Does the TNA too feel the same?
A:  We have nothing to comment in that regard as we are not part of the government and we are not vying for any positions. Sharing of power is up to the UNP and the president and so long as the president and the prime minister agree that is what will prevail. We were offered positions within the coalition but we have refused them.

Q:  At the next general elections will the TNA contest on their own or will they join with any other party or group?
A: We will contest on our own and we have no intention of contesting with any other party or coalition.