India v. China in Sri Lanka: Lessons for Rising Powers

By Kadira Pethiyagoda.-12/05/2015
The changing fortunes for the two emerging global powers in Sri Lanka offer some interesting lessons.

John Kerry’s visit to Sri Lanka, the first by a U.S. Secretary of State in 11 years, recognizes country’s geopolitical importance. It also highlights the outcome of the recent tussle over the island state by two emerging global powers. This is a contest in which India has now gained the upper hand over China, offering important lessons for rising powers as they begin a “Great Game” in Asia.

India v. China in Sri Lanka Lessons for Rising Powers by Thavam Ratna

The Army: The Years 1984 – July 1987

By Rajan Hoole –May 9, 2015 

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Law Enforcement and the Security Services: Politicisation and Demoralisation – 12

The Army’s involvement in establishing the Weli Oya settlement in the Mullaitivu District and the subsequent dirty war to uproot Tamil villages in the East, both with the participation of the Mossad, placed it in a very difficult situation. These projects were clearly in breach of International Law and the Geneva Conventions. It made the Government’s programme among the Tamils appear in the likeness of Israeli aggression into Palestinian territory. This had grave political consequences through legitimising Tamil claims to nationhood as a people separated from the Sri Lankan State, as demonstrated by its actions. Indirectly, it had grave military consequences.

By this time, the war was in the hands of amateur politicians and amateur military strategists. Ravi Jayewardene would have denied any credit for being among the former since he probably did not understand the political consequences of what he was doing. Lalith Athulathmudali read copiously on guerrilla warfare and reportedly thought he had what it takes to win. Another structure – the Joint Operations Command – was imposed and the control of the war was given to the JOC chief. By bringing handpicked retired military officers into positions, who moreover served at the will and pleasure of politicians, political control of the machine was all but complete. Another strategy in this control was the offer of plum diplomatic postings to favourite service chiefs after retirement.

During this period massacres of civilians with complete impunity and the uprooting of civilians simply by going into a village and opening fire or by aerial attacks on peasants harvesting paddy became the norm. Apart from the Cabinet, those who headed the JOC must take full responsibility for implementing this policy.

Briefing the President of the intended battle plan

Thus following the Anuradhapura massacre, ‘Bull’ Weeratunge was packed off to Canada as high commissioner, while Cyril Ranatunge, a retired brigadier selected by Ravi Jayewardene, was made JOC chief after promoting him to lieutenant general. With the JOC head now effectively more powerful than the army commander, it became unnecessary for the Government to indulge in further manoeuvres with a view to appointing army commanders to its liking. Major General Nalin Seneviratne succeeded Weeratunge as army commander, but references to him in the Press were rare compared with those to the JOC chief. In reports of Operation Liberation, the Army’s major operation in 1987, the Army Commander was almost completely overshadowed.        Read More

Forced Evictions in Colombo: High-rise Living

May 12, 2015

12th May 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka:  The Centre for Policy Alternatives’ second report on forced evictions in Sri Lanka’s capital city looks at evictions that took place under the previous Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, where as part of its beautification agenda they aimed to create a slum free Colombo by 2020. The report discusses life after relocation to the high-rise buildings as well as the struggles of those still awaiting housing.

The rush to relocate communities to high-rise apartments was not done with the uplifting of people’s lives foremost in mind, but with the intention of freeing up property with high commercial value. What made the Urban Regeneration Project of the Urban Development Authority more problematic was the means used to acquire land. Military force, intimidation and harassment were used to evict people from their homes and the process did not follow Sri Lanka’s laws related to land acquisition.

Communities were relocated to high-rise buildings in Dematagoda and Wanathamulla where today they face many hardships. Residents are forced to pay Rs 1 million for the apartments over a period of 20 – 30 years. They are yet to be given deeds to their apartments and there are restrictions on selling, renting and mortgaging the apartments, which means that a source of financial security has been taken away from them. The lack of space is a serious issue faced by most people. The ‘one apartment per house’ policy means that today in some apartments there are up to 14 people or more and that some families have been forced to live on rent, elsewhere, simply due to lack of space.

The report also looks at other issues faced by communities such as disenfranchisement, impact on livelihoods, debt, breakdown down of community life, as well as the role of the World Bank in involuntary resettlements in Colombo.

The task in front of the new Government and the new Minister for urban development is certainly a challenging one and one that needs to be addressed urgently. It is necessary that all projects and activities under the URP are halted until a full review is done and the experiences, thus far, taken stock of. Unfortunately, we are yet to see this being done and instead have only seen a continuation of URP activities.

Download the full report here.

High-rise-living_report-FINAL.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Eva Wanasundara, Buvaneka Aluvihara, Sisira Abrew are judges for Gota’s FR petition: people watching whether judges will side with criminals

(Lanka-e-News -12.May.2015, 11.20PM)  The fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by ex defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse in the supreme court (SC) against the special financial crime division of the Sri Lanka (SL) police department is to be heard by a panel of judges which includes  Eva Wanasundara as the senior judge who received SC appointment under the Rajapakse regime . In the circumstances the entire judicial profession and all the courts are  eagerly watching with eyes opened wide as to how he will be conducting herself professionally when she hears this petition.

This petition is to be heard tomorrow (13)  Wednesday by a panel of judges constituted of Eva Wanasundara , Buvaneka Aluvihara and Sisira Abrew.

A group that exerted undue unlawful pressures on the courts on a scale unprecedented in SL’s judicial history under the Rajapakse regime , and secured judgments written in the way they wanted, as well as Ali Sabry lawyer , and Kalinga Indratissa PC  are bringing immense pressure to bear on the SC panel of judges to secure  permission if they are to hear the petition of Gotabaya , based on numerous reports that were floating at Hultsdorf , Colombo today.

Ali Sabry PC and his dastardly group had been resorting to devious and dubious  methods even using the SC registrar Ms. Jayasekera , specially to appoint a panel of judges , who would be partial to them in this trial in order to secure a judgment in the way they fancy, it has come to light. 

Buvaneka Aluvihara is one who has no experience as a judge , and  new to his tasks. He was appointed by the Rajapakse as an SC judge from the Attorney general’s department . Hence only Judge Sisira Abrew can be described as impartial. Though the judges should discharge their duties impartially and justly , the Hultsdorf  legal fraternity has faith if any , only on Sisira Abrew to live up to their expectations . The impartiality and fairness of Buvaneka Aluvihara on the other hand can only be decided tomorrow : whether he will contribute to justice pure and sublime maintaining  his dignity and decorum as a judge belonging to the lofty bench , or will make justice  a mockery thereby incurring the wrath   and resentment of the law abiding citizens who want crooks and culprits be meted out exemplary punishment so that others  will be deterred and daunted  from committing  crimes. If Aluvihara respects justice and maintains his judicial dignity, it is the view of the majority that it will then become impossible for Eva Wanasundara alone  to successfully do the sordid biddings of the Rajapakses.

It is best if everyone bears in mind that the people’s victory on 8 th of January was to bring all the crooks irrespective of their positions , power  and status to book, by hook or by crook , and not to allow them to escape while trying  to search for  technical and technological grounds when  even the rocket technology cannot save these ruthless bandits and bandicoots. 

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by     (2015-05-12 18:27:30)

Foreign intelligence warns of impending VVIP killing

Tuesday, 12 May 2015 

Foreign intelligence services have warned the state military that there is a very high likelihood of a murder of a VVIP in the country.

Data and information gathered by these intelligence services indicate that those behind this assassination conspiracy are the persons who had engaged in various irregularities during the previous regime. Persons who had committed these irregularities, including personnel in the military, are plotting a murder as they had lost a means of amassing wealth, foreign intelligence services have pointed out.

According to their assessments, president Maithripala Sirisena has a 100 per cent risk, followed by foreign affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera with a 95 pc risk and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with a 85 pc risk.

Foreign intelligence services have informed the government hierarchy that they could prove with data and evidence that top officials of the three armed forces are having a deep hatred for the present administration after enjoying various perks, privileges, foreign trips and securing commission money under the Rajapaksa regime. They are so loyal to the Rajapaksas that the former president, the former defence secretary and Namal Rajapaksa get to know every activity of the government within the hour.

Foreign intelligence services have cautioned of serious repercussions in the very near future if their warning is not heeded as imaginary and no remedial action is taken. It was these same foreign intelligence services that had predicted a few weeks in advance that Mahinda Rajapaksa would definitely be defeated at the January 08 presidential polls.

This Picture Of Mahinda Says Thousand Words

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –May 12, 2015

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“…. A world where black magic ruled and dark spirits and planets swayed the lives of men and women.”

Readers, it will excite you to try and read this picture of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Try to gauge the character and mindset of the man who ruled Sri Lanka like a dictator for ten years and is now demanding more ruling time.

Any of you noticed a most valuable piece written on MR’s character by Melbourne’s psychiatrist, Dr Prasad Mohotti, and published in the Colombo Telegraph? If you missed it go to archives and stretch it out. I will borrow some of Prasad’s ideas in getting this article together.

Dr Prasad states that MR suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder.Narcissism means love for oneself and the word originated from the myth about Narcissus getting drowned by contemplation and admiring the reflection of his image in the pool. MR was thrilled to bits so much when the “Maharajaneni,” song was composed and sung in his presence that he gifted the composer and singer. A road was named after the singer. MR was similarly thrilled when the popular actor, Jackson Anthony, announced the results of his personal historical research, namely that Mahinda Rajapaksa hails from a long line to which the Buddha belonged! They say Jackson was amply rewarded.

Being my good pal, I hope he was.

Asks Dr Prasad, “Why does a narcissist put up a grandeur façade? The psychological explanation is that a grandeur façade is an unconscious mechanism to cover his weak and fragile ego. A person with a weak ego has limited capacity to reflect on him or herself. Their grandeur self-image would not allow them to be self-critical and learn from their mistakes, because such action is unbearable to a fragile ego.”

Read More

Arrested corporal had gun, not water bottle – Police

May 12, 2015

Police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara today denied claims that the army corporal, who was arrested following a security breach at an event attended by the President, was only holding a bottle of water in his hand and not a gun.

On April 25, army commando Cpl. Senaka Kumara, who was detailed to protect former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had entered a meeting addressed by incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena in Angunukolapelessa, allegedly armed with a 9 mm pistol.

MP Namal Rajapaksa, with whom the soldier had arrived at the event, however, had claimed that he was carrying only a water bottle.

It has been clearly identified that it was firearm and not a water bottle, the police spokesman said, responding a question from reporters in Colombo.

He also said that the Hambantota District MP has not been question regarding the matter so far.

The spokesman stated that an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) had allowed the corporal to enter the location armed with a gun and that police Special Task Force (STF) personnel who had witnessed this alerted the Presidential Security Division (PSD).

Gunasekara conceded that the PSD was wrong to have released the suspect, who was subsequently arrested by the CID on May 02.

The police spokesman said that investigations are also being conducted on the suspicion that the corporal was in the possession of 2 firearms.

Meanwhile the ASP who had allowed the suspect to enter event has been transferred, he said.

Dear Good Governors – Open Your Eyes!!!! Rampant Ranjith screwed & sucked “Mobitel”

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

During the Last Presidential Election on January 08th 2015 Ranjith, “a Puppet of MaaRaa Regime” has taken every possible effort to use all the available resources of “Mobitel” to support MaaRaa in the last

Presidential Election Campaign and we wish to list few of them for your kind reading. As soon as the newly elected President, H.E. Maithreepala Sirisena had announced that he is going to contest the next Presidential Election as the “Common Candidate”, this idiot, Ranjith had expressed his views criticizing his candidature so badly and not as a big & significant threat to the candidature of “MaaRaa” while sitting at the Board Meeting which was held on the very same day. Having boasted like the above he has used every possible “Mobitel” resources to support the “MaaRaa’s Campaign” and few of them are listed below for your information.

It is very surprising to note that the same idiot now have a 180 degree turn and started to use the innocence of the newly elected Chairman, Kumarasinghe Sirisena who is the younger brother of H.E. the President, Maithreepala Sirisena to seek the sympathy of the new government to remain in the same position and recently he had managed to invite the present President, Maithreepala Seirisena as the Chief Guest to declare open the newly built “Innovation Center” in Colombo, the WiFi Zone in Polonnaruw and the Computer Lab in Royal College in Polonnaruwa using the very same innocent Chairman of Good Governance. You will be surprised to read some of the irregularities & misconducts this idiot, Ranjith had done during the “MaaRaa Regime”.

1. Ranjith had deployed a Team of 5 IT Culprits of “Mobitel” lead by Dhananjaya Palitharathna and deployed them in the TRC to maintain the MR’s Websites as well as the Social Media Campaign and
Dhananjaya was assigned to submit daily analytical reports to Temple Trees under the supervision of the so called Harsha Wijewardena who claims a Doctorate in IT from an unknown College or University in the
whole world.

2. Ranjith had forced and mobilized more than 100 odd Staff members at the colossal expense of Mobitel for the event “Hambanthota Conclave” while the key note speaker “Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad” made a
categorical statement that “If people have good working ethics a country will prosper”.

3. Ranjith was using the SMART Vote of the SMS Gateway to broadcast MaaRaa’s Campaign Promotional messages to all the customers of “Mobitel” throughout the campaign without charging a penny from MR. The law abiding people of “Mobitel” had stopped this ruthless work after the 05th in keeping with the Election Law. The arrogant Ranjith has immediately instructed his Senior General Managers to continue the same even on the very same day when election was held (08th January) even neglecting the clear instructions given by the Election Commissioner on a complaint received by him. Even though, the SGM/Legal has informed every officer concerned to terminate this service with immediate effect explaining the bad consequences if Election Commissioner’s guidelines are violated. But this idiot, Ranjith never listened to any of these voices and continued to provide this service to “MaaRaa”. Over 2.0 Million such messages were broadcasted and more than 100,000 “Mobitel” customers were
thoroughly disappointed about these nuisance messages and the Customer Care was flooded with such complaints with no avail. This had only caused a severe damage to the “Mobitel” Brand and a
complete dissatisfaction among valued and loyal “Mobitel” customers.

4. The very same Ranjith had instructed his Marketing and Sales Teams to work very closely with the MR’s campaign and extend funding by “Mobitel” for the Election Campaign Hoardings, Digital Displays and Display Trucks through the notable MR’s Advertising Campaign Agent “Kuma Stickers”. It is understood that he has spent more than Rs. 1,200,000.00 for a single Display Truck and 25 such Display Trucks were funded by “Mobitel”.

5. Almost all staff members at “Mobitel” were forcibly mobilized to attend the so called event organized by “Professionals for a Stable Sri Lanka”; Momentum, Asia’s largest synchronized professional
forum which was held on Wednesday Dec.17th 2014. No prior approval was sought from the Board of Management.

6. Funny and Honey to note that Ranjith did not have time to regularize such activities or funding through the Senior Management Team (SMT) Meeting for almost three (03) months since there was no any SMT
Meeting during the Election Campaign Time.

Sri Lanka's financial crimes investigating agency not under political control - PM office 
Mon, May 11, 2015, 08:00 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

May 11, Colombo: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of Sri Lanka today stated that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) of the Police Department or the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat is in no way controlled by the Cabinet Sub-committee on Anti-Corruption.

The PMO in a statement noted that the progress of the investigations carried out by the FCID and other law enforcement agencies is subjected to review once a week to ensure effective law enforcement.

"Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is only a functional division of the Police Department, which was established in response to the emerging trend of serious financial frauds," the Prime Minister's office said in a statement.

The FCID is directly accountable for carrying out investigations throughout the island into serious financial fraud, misuse of state assets or funds, cases of a nature that require intellectual skills and complex detection.

Parliamentarians loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa have criticized the FCID as conducting a political witch-hunt against the members of the former government and called for the unit to be disbanded.

This FCID was established in terms of the provisions of Section 55 of the Police Ordinance, with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and it operates under the exclusive supervision and direction of the Inspector General of Police.

According to the PMO, there are 64 functional divisions in the Police Department such as the Terrorist Investigation Division, the Criminal Records Division, the Criminal Investigation Division, the Colombo Crimes Division, the Narcotics Bureau, the Child & Women Bureau, the Fraud Investigation Bureau, the Environment Protection Division, etc.

In fact, most of these divisions were not there at the very inception of the Police Department. These divisions were established from time to time to cater to the contemporary trends; in the same manner the FCID was established. No special statutory power or mandate has been given to the FCID other than the powers vested with the Police Department.

The purpose of establishing this division is to employ the services of experienced officers to handle investigations on financial crimes of a grave nature and expedite those investigations, the statement explained.

The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) is a Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by the Prime Minister, which was set up on a decision taken at the Cabinet meeting held on January 21, 2015.
This Committee was set up with a view to recommending measures to be adopted to prevent the occurrence of large scale corruption and frauds in the future.

On the recommendation of the Anti-Corruption Committee and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers a dedicated Secretariat named Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat was also established to coordinate the investigations of the allegations on serious frauds, financial crimes and corruption.

"The Government assures the independence of the investigations carried out by all the law enforcement agencies in the country including the FCID and denies any sort of undue political intervention in the enforcement of law," the statement released by the PMO said.

Mihin Lanka Pilot Snoozes In Cockpit By Himself

May 12, 2015 

A Mihin Lanka Captain was found snoozing in the cockpit of a commercial flight en route to Colombo, whilst his First Officer of the low cost carrier was locked out the airline’s sources told Colombo Telegraphyesterday.

Capt Gajendra Wagh (left hand seat) Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama Manager Training and Standards (right hand seat)

The panic stricken Mihin Lanka First Officer (F/O) of flight MJ 408 Subki Lafir and the cabin crew returning from Sharjah on the 1st of May 2015, finally succeeded in their frantic bid to gain re-entry into the flight deck by using the emergency ‘overriding’ access code, after the F/O found himself locked out by his operating Captain Wagh, who was subsequently found fast asleep at the flight controls.

“The First Officer and the Flight Purser Rozeena were relieved to finally gain entry into the Flight Deck after they found themselves in a carbon copied situation that the fateful crew of ‘German Wings’ found themselves in recently ”, inside sources from within the airline told Colombo Telegraph yesterday.

Coincidentally the F/O Lafir could not have found a more appropriate day than the 1st of May to make that dreaded cockpit distress call ‘May Day! May Day! May Day!’.

However in this instance he made this call out to his Flight Purser Rozeena, who together with him managed to eventually gain entry to the Flight Deck by using the secret code designed for such emergency purposes.

Captain Wagh an Indian national is reported to frequently commute from his home town in Bombay to operate his scheduled flights, even though he has his own accommodation in Seeduwa, a town which is located closer to Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport Katunayake.

However on this particular day it was further reported that he arrived from Bombay in the morning of 30th April 2015 and headed to the Mihin Lanka office in Colombo to complete some official work.

Read More

Will Diyawadana Nilame be caught in FCID net ?

Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Diyawadana Nilame of the Dalada Maligawa Nilanga Dela Bandara was called to the Financial Crime Investigation Department (FCID) today in order to obtain a statement regarding a financial fraud committed in the Dalada Maligawa.

During the Rajapaksa regime there were many news exposed that money as well as expensive artifacts and relics used by ancient Kings, Queens of Sri Lanka and lords presented to the Dalada Maligawa went missing like the museum sword. There were many allegations leveled against the current Diyawadana Nilame who undermined all discrepancies with the influence of the Rajapaksa and controlled the administration of the Dalada Maligawa for his own wish.

Managing China – Can India Learn To Fish In Troubled Waters?

Jhinuk Chowdhury-12 May, 2015

While confidence building measures with China must continue, India should also take a broader view of how the larger Asian region, especially around China, is evolving, how that affects Beijing, and how India can leverage the situation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems all braced up for his maiden visit to Beijing next week. In a bid to connect with a larger audience, he joined China’s largest micro-blogging site Weibo.
Managing China – Can India Learn to Fish in Troubled Waters by Thavam Ratna

Story of turning Palestine into Israel

Palestinians worldwide observe Al Nakba, catastrophe, day on 14 May 1948 .

By Latheef Farook

Palestinians worldwide observe 14 May 1948 as  Al Nakba ,meaning  disaster or catastrophe, to mark the  exodus of  more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs  who were  expelled from their homes and lands. They were forced to flee  due to  panic and fears caused by the  by Zionist terrorists  who on 9 April 1948 massacred around 250 men, women, children and the  aged at  Deir Yassin  village in the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Story of Turning Palestine Into Israel by Thavam Ratna

British black women respond to Michelle Obama on race

MONDAY 11 MAY 2015
Michelle Obama has spoken out on being 'knocked back' by race perception. Do a generation of trailblazing Black British women agree that racist perceptions will hold them back?

Michelle Obama has spoken out about overcoming negative racial perceptions en route to becoming First Lady of the United States.

Speaking to an audience of predominantly black graduates at Tuskegee University founded by civil rights forefather Booker T Washington - the First Lady told the crowd:

British Black Women Respond to Michelle Obama on Race by Thavam Ratna