Nigeria: Senior members of military must be investigated for war crimes

3 June 2015, 10:22 UTC

• horrific war crimes committed by Nigeria’s military including 8,000 people murdered, starved, suffocated, and tortured to death;
• senior military commanders, named by Amnesty International, must be investigated in relation to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity;
• new government needs to ensure the protection of civilians and bring to an end the culture of impunity within the Nigerian armed forces.

The Nigerian military, including senior military commanders, must be investigated for participating, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of more than 8,000 people murdered starved, suffocated, and tortured to death, according to a comprehensive report by Amnesty International.

Nigeria Senior Members of Military Must Be Investigated for War Crimes by Thavam Ratna

Rohingya trafficking crackdown: Thai army general surrenders in Bangkok

Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen turns himself in at police headquarters in Bangkok, Wednesday. Pic: AP.

By Asian Correspondent Staff Jun 03, 2015

A senior Thai army officer wanted in connection with the trafficking of Rohingya migrants has turned himself in to police after failing to do so on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen surrendered shortly before noon Wednesday, marking the first arrest of a military official since the investigation started last month.

He faces multiple charges, including human trafficking, detention and ransom. He was questioned by authorities for about 10 minutes before being taken to Songkhla, where his arrest warrant was issued.

Manas had earlier proclaimed his innocence, promising to defend himself in court.

“I’d like to ask society not to judge me as though I’m already guilty. They should weigh information from both sides and wait until the court judgement,” he said in an interview with Thai media.

“I beg for justice and I’m willing to cooperate with authorities. No matter what the court ruling is, I will respect it.”

More than 50 people, including several local politicians and officials, were arrested after the discovery of dozens of bodies believed to be those of Burma’s Rohingya migrants at the abandoned trafficking camps near the Thai-Malaysian border last month.

More than 100 graves have since been found nearby on the Malaysian side of the border.

An abandoned cage is photographed at a camp found in Wang Burma at the Malaysia-Thailand border outside Wang Kelian, Malaysia. Pic: AP.

Thousands of migrants have washed ashore in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in recent weeks, as efforts have been stepped up to rescue thousands more believed to be stranded at sea on rickety boats.

The recent developments have brought international focus on a years-old problem. Most of the migrants are believed to be fleeing persecution in western Burma (Myanmar) and poverty in Bangladesh.

Human rights organisations have long criticised Thailand for its treatment of migrants from Burma. Reuters published a special report in 2013 that alleged navy officials were complicit in the trafficking of Rohingya migrants in southern Thailand.

Shortly afterwards Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian were charged with criminal defamation for an article citing the Reuters report alleging that some navy officials “work systematically with smugglers to profit from the surge in fleeingRohingya,” and that they earn about 2,000 baht (US$63) per Rohingya “for spotting a boat or turning a blind eye.”

Chutima and Morison’s trial is due to begin on July 14, though pressure is mounting for charges to be dropped as more evidence of military involvement in the trafficking of Rohingya emerges.

Additional reporting from Associated Press

Kashmir battles to restore mobile services after militant attacks

A view of telecom towers installed over the buildings is pictured in Srinagar, June 3, 2015.REUTERS/DANISH ISMAIL

SRINAGAR, INDIA/MUMBAI | BY FAYAZ BUKHARI AND NIVEDITA BHATTACHARJEE

 Wed Jun 3, 2015

Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir battled on Wednesday to restore mobile phone coverage paralysed after a series of attacks by a previously unknown militant outfit on people who cooperated with service providers.

Networks have crashed across the region of seven million people, which has long suffered a separatist insurgency and been fought over repeatedly by India and Pakistan since independence and partition.

Two people have been killed and four others hurt in attacks by a group called Lashkar-e-Islam on landlords hosting cellphone towers and owners of recharge outlets, panicking others into shutting up shop.

As many as 2,500 telecom towers were affected, an industry group said, but authorities were bringing them back online gradually as police tightened security.

"We expect the problem to be resolved in the next few days, and normalcy to return to telecom services in the area by the end of the week," said Rajan S. Mathews, head of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Indian police, army and paramilitary forces in Kashmir, one of the most heavily militarised regions in the world, have stepped up patrols and detained more than a dozen people over the attacks.

The perpetrators have not been publicly identified and their motives are unknown, beyond warning posters they have hung in areas that they have attacked. The mystery deepened further when they were denounced by a militant umbrella group.

"There are black sheep using the name of militant groups and people must unmask such elements wherever they find them," the United Jihad Council said in a statement to local newspapers.

Telecom towers may be shifted near security posts to improve safety, said K. Rajendra, director general of the Jammu & Kashmir police. "Wherever the need arises for providing security to towers, we will provide it," he said.

Subscribers of six firms were affected by the disruptions: State-owned BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, Idea, and Reliance Communications, according to the operators association. Aircel is a unit of Malaysia's Maxis Communications Bhd.

One industry source estimated losses to the telecoms operators at as much as 800 million rupees ($13 million) a month if the outages persist. The impact on local businesses could be far higher.

"We are suffering huge losses," said Mohammad Yasin Tuman, Managing Director of Mascot Travels in Srinagar, whose internet has been down for two days, stopping him from checking emails and making hotel bookings. "It is like a paralytic attack."

($1 = 63.9100 rupees)

(Writing by Douglas Busvine)

Congress turns away from post-9/11 law, retooling U.S. surveillance powers

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) does an interview with Fox News on Capitol Hill on June 1. In protest of the NSA's bulk collection program, Paul blocked an extension of some parts of the USA Patriot Act, allowing them to lapse at 12:01 a.m. Monday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

By Mike DeBonis-June 2

Congress on Tuesday rejected some of the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the Senate voting to end the government’s bulk collection of private telephone records and to reform other surveillance policies.

Congress Turns Away From Post 9 11 Law, Retooling U.S. Surveillance Powers by Thavam Ratna

Sepp Blatter rival Prince Ali says human rights are vital

TUESDAY 02 JUNE 2015

Talking to Channel 4 News after Sepp Blatter's resignation, Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Hussein - who stood against him for the Fifa presidency - says human rights are more important than anything else.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein spoke to Krishnan Guru-Murthy following the announcement by Sepp Blatter that he would be standing down as president of Fifa, days after being re-elected to a fifth term. This is a transcript of the interview.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, are you standing again?

Well, first of all I think that I’m very happy that the change happened. I cannot say any more than that. I am very happy for the support that I got from the FA in particular. We need to work – and we need to work on the world to change the image of Fifa.

Well, if corruption has been proven with regard to Qatar and Russia, if it is proven, do you think those bids should be reopened? Or should the competitions go ahead?

Well, look, I think every place has the right to host the World Cup. But at the same time, from my point of view, I think that human rights are more important than anything else.

I am concerned, obviously, about these issues. I stood as vice-president from Asia for the last four years. The people who are suffering come from my own continent.

So what do you think can be done to clean up this organisation? How can it be done?

Well, I think we have to focus on Football, focus on reality, and so on. That’s it. And I think that we have to take a new step forward. I think that, you know, to me the idea of this organisation being a company, what have you…

It’s a service organisation. It’s a service for football. And we have to reverse the pyramid. We have to put the priority of players and fans above anyone else. That’s what I’ve thought all along. And that’s what I think for the future.

Prince Ali, ABC News in the United States is just reporting that Sepp Blatter is about to face investigation himself. Have you heard anything about that? What would your thoughts be?

I have no idea about that or about any other investigation that’s happened. I’m just here for the sport and I love it. And that’s the most important thing.

Is there not an argument for a complete clear-out now of Fifa and a completely fresh start?

Well, look, I’m willing to help. I think that we have many people, including Michael van Praag (Royal Dutch Football Federation chairman) and others, who are willing to do that. But we have to get into the system, and I think that it’s enough to do that at this stage.

These Foods Are Killing Us! Here’s Why You Should Avoid Them! 

Posted by Admin on March 17, 2015
This is only the top of the list of toxic food products which, in the opinion of foreign and domestic nutritionist, should be avoided. - The greatest enemy of health is processed foods with lots of additives, and still do not know which the long term effects of consuming these foods are – believes Rachel Harvest, a nutritionist from New York.

In the diet hot dogs, sausages and salami are equally undesirable, because the processed meat contains a lot of fat, and may contain up to 400 percent more salt and 50 percent more preservatives than just red meat; in order to disguise the salinity in these products dextrose is added.

- Many don’t know that bologna and salami special are not the same. Deli may contain only the proteins of the meat until a specific sausage may contain soy, gluten and skins. The same is the case with the Tyrolean Alps and sausage. Tyrol contains only the proteins of meat, and alpine proteins of other origin – says a technologist in a food company.

He explains that the pizza and ham products are of poor quality, because it refers to them by the worst types of meat, which is hydrogenated, and then shredded so the huge percentage of water is not visible.

Harvest says that industrially processed food has no nutritional value.

- It has too much salt and sugar, artificial colors, which the body cannot process. Processing over which are added various flavorings used in the meat and dairy industry. You have the margarine with the taste of butter, low fat cheese from processed vegetable oils. All this is unhealthy, burden the liver and kidneys, clog arteries and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

What you should avoid:

Pate

To make the pate, they use the cheapest and worst meat categories which include skins, bones, hooves, cartilage… More than half of the pate is of water, fat, skins, offal, starch, salt, spices, emulsifiers and other chemicals, while meat in certain types of pate is barely 30 percent. The pate has large amount of salt. Especially, the pate should be avoided in the intestine, because they are still lower quality than those in cans.

Margarine

Margarine is made from vegetable oils, which are extracted from sunflower with the help of chemicals. The high temperature in the process of converting oil destroys all the vitamins and antioxidants which include leads to the formation of free radicals that can cause serious damage to the cells and increase the risk of cancer. These oils are very start rancid and unhealthy, and adding new chemicals are converted into solid state, causing trans-fatty acids, which have been proved to be very harmful for health.

Cheese slices

This cheese is made from pure cheese, but from what remains in the process of cheese production. In it, in fact, is only 50 percent of the cheese, and the rest are whey proteins, water, fat, emulsifiers and artificial color to the final product was as true as possible taste. This cheese has twice more salt than in the ordinary, while it has more fat than any other dairy product. Melting processes kill all the probiotic and other bacteria that have a positive effect on our body.

Popcorn

On the list are especially the unhealthy food and popcorn for the microwave, because they contain chemicals which have been shown that can increase the risk of cancer, affect fertility and interfere with kidney function. Many microwave popcorn contain artificial flavors and trans fatty acids, and other chemicals that can cause headaches and nausea. Recommended by nutritionists is that fans of popcorn make this snack in the traditional way – in a saucepan on the stove.

Hot dog

All offal, skin, nails, hooves, intestines, blood vessels, cartilage, fat, bones, ligaments, and the worst quality meat grinding the mixture to be unrecognizable. Then add vegetables, soybeans, spices, starches, water, a lot of salt, the preservative sodium nitrate as the product would be lengthy, then potassium and calcium triphosphates, polyphosphates, sodium ascorbate and carmine – color found in lipsticks and paprika extract. And that’s hot dogs.

What is in them?

Sodium nitrite

It is a seasoning and preservative that is widely used in meat products such as bacon, sausage and ham. Experts link it to increased risk of cancer, and there are studies that can cause heart problems.

Carrageenan

This additive is among the most damaging. Products in liquid form ensures the homogeneity and density of the corresponding level, while the cured meat products are placed to bind as much water to be heavier. Potential is the challenger colon cancer.

Polyphosphates

Polyphosphates are commonplace in local cured meat products, and manufacturers don’t seem to mind that his excessive ingestion can cause gene mutations.

Monosodium glutamate

Its role is the better taste of the finished products, which is why it is called “delicious poison”. Today it is almost impossible to find a finished product that it does not contain. Disruptive work of the hormones produces hyperactivity in children, leading to chronic fatigue, sudden changes in blood pressure, headaches.

Trans fatty acids

These are artificial fats that are added to processed food in order to prolong shelf life. Trans fatty acids increase harmful LDL cholesterol and reduce good HDL, increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, and harm the arteries.

Parties of minority races disillusioned with president being used as pawn by JHU and extremists

(Lanka-e-News-01.June.2015, 6.00PM)  The president Maithripala Sirisena has become a pawn in the hands of the JHU and Sinhala  extremist groups , he is stymied in his efforts to dissolve parliament and go for general elections, whereby he is caught in their vicious and venomous vortex , minority community parties alleged.

A group led by Minister Champika Ranawake , presidential advisor Athureliya Rathane and President’s co ordinating secretary Shiral Lakthileke are unrelentingly conspiring to oust Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post of prime minister , according to sources from within the president’s house.

These conspiratorial activities have earned the displeasure and resentment of many including a majority of the members of the Cabinet , as well as a large number of ministers of the minority parties, it is learnt.

A number of private media Institutions which have fallen into the trap of the spurious show of minister Champika Ranawake , the slimy self serving politico ,and government media which are under the control of the racial influence of the JHU are by giving wide publicity to them protecting their hidden anti national and  nefarious agendas, based on reports.

The MPs and ministers of the parties of the minority races are justifiably questioning whether the  president is condoning the rowdy behavior of Champika Ranawake who openly condemned a comrade minister of his own cabinet representing a minority race using most insolent language and foulest  words, ‘enemy’ and ‘satan.’ The leaders of the minority political parties are of the view that the president by appointing such a low breed  extremist like Champika as president’s representative to Institutions like the sublime  constitutional council , the great  respect and  recognition  the president was accorded by the minority races is being eroded

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by     (2015-06-01 12:42:38)

Beyond accountability: the struggle for co-existence in Sri Lanka

AHILAN KADIRGAMAR and MAHENDRAN THIRUVARANGAN 2 June 2015

The promised report of a UN investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka will achieve little unless accompanied by real introspection by both Tamil and Sinhala communities. தமிழ் (Tamil), සිංහල (Sinhalese)

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in May 2009. For years, the lack of accountability for the grave human rights abuses committed during the last phase of the war has seemed for many actors to be the sole issue of concern. Powerful states, international human rights organizations, vocal sections of the Tamil diaspora, alongside some NGOs and courageous activists in the country, brought increasing international pressure to bear on the authoritarian Rajapaksa regime. This culminated in March 2014 when the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) established an investigation into the violations during the war.

Beyond Accountability the Struggle for Co-existence in Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

British Tamil Forum Seeks India's Help in Sri Lanka

 

June 02, 2015 01:

LONDON:  A representative group of Britain- based Tamils has sought India's help for Tamils based in northern Sri Lanka in improving their lives through a host of measures.

The British Tamil Forum, which claims to represent nearly 4,00,000 from the community living in the UK, met officials of the Indian High Commission in London last week and sought positive measures for the Tamils who are "first Sri Lankan but do have an affinity to India".

"The meeting went very well and whilst the Indian government will be keen to help in partnership with the Sri Lankan government for all such positive efforts, the point was made and unanimously applauded that peaceful and diplomatic avenues only remain our work-ethic base," said Anil Bhanot, managing director of Hindu Council UK - the charity which facilitated the meeting.

Some of the suggested measures included psychological and psychiatric help for the Tamils in the region, particularly women, apparently affected during the nearly three decade-long brutal war against the LTTE, besides setting up of Indian education institutions branches.

They also included a bridge between Rameshwaram in India and a northern Sri Lankan port for easier movement of goods and services and people with the appropriate controls; and a ferry service, that existed before the war, should be resumed.

The British Tamil Forum, an advocacy group, had recently also launched a petition calling on the UK government to take up the Tamil cause in the United Nations.

Story First Published: June 01, 2015 22:28 IST

Three Tamil Parties to Form New Political Front in Lanka

(Tamil dancers perform during an annual festival at the Venkatvar Sri Vishnu Hindu temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka.)

01/06/2015

Three political parties representing Tamils have decided to join hands to form a new political front in Sri Lanka, saying the main Tamil National Alliance only represent community members from the northern and eastern part of the country.

Mano Ganesan, the leader of the Democratic Peoples Front, a minority party for the Western province Tamils said two other political parties representing Tamils in the central hill plantations are to join his party to form the new political front.

“Tamils live not only in the north and east. There are Tamils who live in the western, northwestern, central and southwestern provinces,” Ganesan said.

He said the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) represents the north and eastern Tamils.

There are 3.2 million Tamils out of which a half live outside north and east. So the TNA can’t represent them, Ganesan said.

The National Union of Workers (NUW) and Up Country People’s Front (UCPF), both from the central hill plantations represent Tamils of Indian-origin are to join Ganesan’s party.

“We must stop calling them Indian origin Tamils. They are Tamils so why tag them Indian-origin Tamils?” he asked.

Both NUW and UCPF supported the current President Maithripala Sirisena in the January presidential election when he defeated incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sirisena received overwhelming minority support enabling him to defeat Rajapaksa the man favoured by the majority Sinhalese.

With a parliamentary election looming, the new Tamil alliance would be crucial for the incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wuickremesinghe’s United National Party.

Ganesan has been a long standing ally of the UNP.

Sirisena promised to call a fresh parliamentary poll by April 23, at the end of his government’s first 100 days.

The decision is now put on hold as he is keen to introduce electoral reform before holding elections
Outlookindia

Mr. President Please Re-Introduce The Death Penalty

By R.M.B Senanayake –June 2, 2015

R.M.B Senanayake

President Sirisena has announced that he is considering the re-introduction of the death penalty. It is a very timely decision indeed considering the heinous crimes committed daily in our country. The President will be remembered for this salutary decision if he implements it forthwith.

Man fears death more than anything else and the more heinous the death the greater the fear. This is probably why the ancients resorted to methods of killing criminals which we think today are heinous. Nothing else concentrates the would be criminal’s mind so much as the probability of punishment for his crime. If it is death then he would be more deterred from committing the crime than any other consideration. Fear of going to hell is no longer there among our people. Although all crimes are not pre-mediated yet many brutal and vicious crimes are committed after a process of thinking although the thinking is largely about how to escape being caught. The greater the probability of getting caught and punished the greater the deterrent. Similarly, the greater the punishment greater the probability of deterring the crime. The only argument against the death penalty is the probability of human error in the process of judgment and conviction in courts. But our law and legal procedures are heavily weighted 9 in favor of the accused that this probability is greatly reduced. The Judges too will impose the death penalty with caution and confine it to pre-mediated murder. They too are more likely to weigh in favor of the accused and give him the benefit of the doubt. So we need not worry too much that an innocent man would be hanged. The probability is more that a criminal who deserves the death sentence may go scot free or get a lesser punishment than the death sentence which h deserves considering the nature of the crime. According to the former Chief Justice Sarath Silva only 4% of those accused of crimes are convicted. In Japan it is 97%. So here lies another problem- the low rate of convictions. But it reduces the risk of an innocent man being hanged.

*Our women and girls are wantonly raped and killed as the incidents in Jaffna and Kahawatte have shown. Picture – Vithiya Sivaloganadan, raped and ordered in Jaffna    Read More

UNP ready for general election

*  Ranil: Did Rajapaksas use road development funds to buy helicopters?

by Zacki Jabbar-June 3, 2015, 12:30 am 

The UNP said yesterday that it had been ready for a general election since April 28 and it was the SLFP led UPFA that was dilly-dallying.

Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Harsha de Silva responding to questions at a news conference in Colombo said that in keeping with the Sirisena- Wickremesinghe led Joint Opposition manifesto at the January 8, presidential election, the UNP had been prepared to seek a fresh parliamentary mandate from the people at the end of its 100-day programme.

"It is the SLFP led UPFA which keeps coming up with various excuses as to why elections should be delayed. The UNP has been ready to face the hustings ever since April 28," he emphasised adding that honouring once pledges was the cornerstone of Yahapalanaya (good governance) that they had introduced after a decade of the rule of law being violated with impunity.

De Silva quoting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the Road Development Authority had, during the time of the previous regime, taken a Rs. 55 billion loan from the National Savings Bank for the construction of some roads but of that Rs. 28 billion had not been used for the purpose it had been taken for.

The former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had claimed that the Rs.28 billion had been used to construct "other roads," but it was illegal since monies borrowed for a particular projecte could not be siphoned off for some "other" purpose.

Asked if he knew where the monies had gone, the Minister replied :"That is what we are asking the ex-president to explain. The NSB says that Rs. 28 billion of the 50 billion loaned to the RDA had not been used for the special purpose. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe asked whether the monies had been used to buy helicopters and other luxuries for the Rajapaksas’ use."

Only a democratic South can democratise the North

Democracy in the South is intrinsically linked to the democracy in the North. 

2015-06-01
What serves the long term peace and security in Sri Lanka: high-handed national security state of the former regime or more nuanced judicial approach of its successor?
The contrast of these two approaches was in display last two weeks after the tragic rape and murder of an 18-year-old student in the Punguduthivu island, Jaffna. Protestors enraged by the perceived delay in producing suspects before the court, hurled stones at the court house. 130 protestors were arrested and later remanded. Under the previous regime, those would be rioters would not dare take to the streets. And if they ever did, ‘justice’ could more likely have been meted out by white vans.

Only a Democratic South Can Democratise the North by Thavam Ratna

In Response To ‘Practical Solutions To Curb The Rate Of Rape’

By Themal Ellawala –June 2, 2015

Themal Ellawala

By now, the article ‘Practical Solutions To Curb The Rate Of Rape’ would have made its rounds. I am willing to entertain the idea that the aforementioned article was written through genuine concern for the state of women in Sri Lanka, and for this sentiment I congratulate the author. However, the saying that there are many ways to skin a cat rings hollow in this particular instance as the approach Muhammed Fazl adopts is harmful to women, reinforces the inferiority of all non-male identities, and ultimately does little to solve the issue of rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Before I get into the meat of my argument, let me clarify. I identify as male and acknowledge my privilege. I have not experienced gender-based violence in its myriad of ways, unlike my sisters, female friends, and other women in Sri Lanka. I do not claim to be an authority on this topic. However, I believe it takes more male allies in our society to force dialogue and conversation about these topics when women are perpetually silenced or ignored. Secondly, I am not arguing only for the rights of the ‘Senoritas of Colombo’ to quote Muhammed Fazl (as grossly pejorative as that term is). While I cannot represent all the views and beliefs of those living in the peripheries, Sri Lankan society as a whole does suffer from a rather universal issue, as can be judged by the sad fate of Vithiya Sivaloganadan. Even if this was an exclusively urban issue, does not the suffering and pain of even one human being deserve our attention?

I need to address the most glaring contradiction in Muhammed Fazl’s argument before I proceed with the rest of my musings. Fazl seems to believe that rape stems from depravities of the oversexed mind, and that the solution to this issue is segregation and restrictions imposed upon women. Rape is never exclusively a sexual act. It is motivated by the need to control and dominate (refer to a sampling of research if you do not believe me: here, here, here, and here). One study of serial rapists found that over one-third experienced sexual dysfunction and all rapists reported overall low levels of sexual pleasure. It is important to understand that power assertion plays a dominant role in sexual violence, and is inherently bolstered by misogyny that sets women up as weaker, dependent, and subservient. Policing female behavior stems from this same mindset that women are inferior, weaker, and need to be protected from the dominant males. Try as he might, Muhammed Fazl’s beliefs will not ‘protect’ women, but reinforce the culture that leads to their suffering.Read More