American Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: Physicist for War and Profit

“Ash” is a one percent guy, representing the one or so percent that moves and shakes the classes that make up society like the puppeteer does marionettes. Carter’s primary interest is in further privatizing, and eliminating, the State’s role in national security for the purpose of providing more profit opportunities for defense contractors, weapons research laboratories and his bank account.

by John Stanton

“Most Americans apply a yardstick to America’s actions which is very different than the yardstick they apply to Russia’s actions. Whenever their bias in favor of their own nation gets into conflict with the truth, the odds are that the bias will prevail. As a result of this they are not capable of seeing current events in their historical perspective…In Washington, wisdom has no chance to prevail at this point…If we intend to drop bombs on Russia in case of war, and expect Russia to drop bombs on us…then our threat to drop bombs on Russia is tantamount to murder and suicide.” Leo Szilard: “Are We On The Road To War? (1961)

( June 25, 2015, Virginia, Sri Lanka Guardian) The US defense secretary, Ashton Carter, is the face of all that is wrong in Washington, DC. But he is “Mr. Right” for the varied capital interests and ideologies he represents: the fusion of neoliberalism and neo-conservatism; state sponsored corporate welfare; the revolving door; opportunism and greed; the “free market”; and a science and technology that is first and foremost in the service of weapons and war.

Carter has absolutely nothing in common with the rank and file of the military (those at the tip-of-the spear) who he ostensibly is supposed to represent. He would never go out beyond-the-wire.

“Ash” is a one percent guy, representing the one or so percent that moves and shakes the classes that make up society like the puppeteer does marionettes. Carter’s primary interest is in further privatizing, and eliminating, the State’s role in national security for the purpose of providing more profit opportunities for defense contractors, weapons research laboratories and his bank account. Even his two marriages seem arranged for political/economic purposes: his ex-wife, and 1977 college graduate, is president of Bates College in Maine; and the current Mrs., a 1991 college graduate, is a partner in ABS Capital.

The honorable US defense secretary studied physics, receiving his PhD from Oxford. His specialty was quantum chromodynamics, a field of study in which two of the giants of 20thCentury physics, Nobel Laureates Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, set the pace. Perhaps figuring he’d not make the Nobel Prize cut or had reached the end of his shelf life in the physics research community, Carter opted to pursue the profitable path of science and technology in the service of weapons and war, and the individuals and organizations that design strategies and technologies that require that America remain in a perpetual state of war of some kind.

Carter, and like-minded technocrats seeking to cozy up to monstrous global capital and power, has achieved a measure of wealth and fame over the years parlaying his technical and interpersonal acumen (contacts) in halls of government and in board rooms to maximum advantage for himself and vested interests. The Project on Government Oversight’s piece on Carter titled “Taking the Revolving Door to a Whole New Level” is illuminating in this regard. Carter is certainly no Leo Szilard (founder of the Council for a Livable World and heavyweight 20th Century physicist) being more in the mold of Edward Teller, a strident supporter of missile defense systems.

“…Carter’s role, like that of many other members of Washington’s defense policy establishment, went deeper. While working in the private sector, he has held plum positions on government advisory boards that called for reforms with potential ramifications for his defense industry clients and other companies that receive DoD dollars…Carter’s investment colleagues at Global Technology Partners included other former senior officials—such as former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former CIA Director John Deutch— who were serving simultaneously as advisers to DoD. Perry and Deutch also had close ties to giant defense contractors: Perry served on the boards ofUTC and Boeing, while Deutch served on the board of Raytheon.

From 1997 to 2001, Carter also served as a member of the Defense Policy Board, another influential Pentagon committee that advises on ‘issues central to strategic Department of Defense (DoD) planning,” according to its charter. Unlike the Defense Science Board, the Defense Policy Board “does not publish separate reports,’ according to a database of federal advisory committees, and it’s unclear what role Carter played in the panel’s work. Nonetheless, Carter’s industry clients stood to benefit from his role as a Pentagon advisor on both panels. (Another former member of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, ended up resigning after a controversy erupted over his ties to companies that had business pending before the government.)”

At the time of Global Technology Partners (GTP) press release/announcement of thealliance with Rothschild, besides Perry and Deutch, GTP key staff included former Pentagon undersecretary of defense for technology John Kaminski and John White, former Pentagon deputy defense secretary. William Perry figures prominently in Andrew Cockburn’s “Kill Chain. The Rise of the High Tech Assassins”, being in the forefront of automated killing machines.

Carter, according to the document on the GTP-Rothschild alliance, was listed as having this expertise: “…a Senior Partner of Global Technology Partners, LLC. From 1993 to 1996, Dr. Carter served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, with responsibility for formulating U.S. policy towards Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide, arms control negotiations, and oversight of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defense programs. He is also the former Chairman of the NATO High Level Group.”

Carter is well positioned, for the benefit of current and former clients—to include the next president of the United States (Republican or Democrat)–to lead the charge against Russia and China. As the Project for Government Oversight pointed out, Carter has been a champion of missile defense technology and deployment for decades. Let’s turn, in contrast to Carter, to Murray Gell-Mann, a physicist who worked on anti-ballistic missile defense systems in the 1960’s. He concluded that they would be destabilizing. “And the conclusions were very negative, that is, that it [ABM] would drastically reduce our security, and that we would be much better off if both the United States and the Soviet Union refrained from deploying significant ABM systems…” Fast forward to 2015 and the issues central to the deployment of ABM systems, or missile defense systems, remains largely unchanged: escalation to defeat the defensive system always ensues.

Gell-Mann, and Szilard, acutely recognized the fragility of the planet and the human race. They knew, having seen first-hand the destructive power at humanity’s disposal, that shortsightedness and narrowly defined interests—unchecked–will kill or alter the species beyond recognition. “…what might, what the human race might do to achieve greater sustainability in the course of the twenty-first century, which is when it really has to happen, because now is the time when we’ve reached the inflexion point in total human population and the rate of increase is beginning to decrease. It’s the time when we’ve reached the stage where human beings can make changes of order one in the whole globe, whether through unwise economic activity or through destructive war; and this is clearly the time when if a set of transitions to a more sustainable world is to occur, they must occur,” said Gell-Mann.

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. Reach him at captainkong22@gmail.com

Is Modi’s India Safe for Muslims?

Hindu nationalism is on the rise in the country with the world’s second-largest Muslim population.

James Traub is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesTraub1.

BY JAMES TRAUB-June 23-2015

This past March, a group of community activists in Aurangabad, an industrial city  in central India, convened a morcha — a demonstration — to protest a series of blatantly anti-Muslim measures taken by the state government in Mumbai, which is controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The morcha operated according to a well-worn protocol: A colorful tent was erected in a vacant lot across the street from the office of the district commissioner, and 250 or so Muslim men sat in the shade while a succession of speakers — a very long succession of speakers — denounced the state government and called for civil disobedience, in the spirit of Gandhi’s famed Salt March against the British, should their demands not be met.

Is Modi’s India Safe for Muslims.odt by Thavam Ratna

'How much?' Why bribes to people smugglers could revive a dying trade

Special report: Australia has been accused of paying a boat crew to turn back a vessel laden with asylum seekers. Near the struggling fishing port where the boat reportedly began its journey, the prospect of easy money is enticing

 Fishermen in Pelabuhan Ratu. A boat carrying 65 asylum seekers is believed to have set off from the port before being turned around, allegedly after payments by Australian officials. Photographs: Beh Lih Yi for the Guardian

Beh Lih Yi in Pelabuhan Ratu, Indonesia-Thursday 25 June 2015

Business has been bad for Gandi, a fisherman who rides the waves off Indonesia’s rugged southern Java coast.

The 44-year-old’s meagre catches are sometimes too small to cover the cost of the fuel he needs to power his 7.5-metre blue and white wooden boat.

'How Much ' Why Bribes to People Smugglers Could Revive a Dying Trade by Thavam Ratna

How close to finding alien life?

The search for life beyond Earth has heated up. Here are some of the ways that scientists have been thinking and talking about it.

EARTHSKY // SCIENCE WIRE, SPACE-JUN 25, 2015

In recent years, astronomers have become increasingly certain that planets are common in our Milky Way galaxy. It’s possible that every single star we see at night has at least one planet. That would mean a hundred billion planets, at least, in our Milky Way alone. According to a recent study, it’s possible that most stars have planets in their habitable zones, an area around stars within which liquid water – and therefore life as we know it – can exist. How many of those worlds are inhabited by simple or complex life forms? And when will we on Earth discover alien life? Follow the links below to learn more:

How Close to Finding Alien Life by Thavam Ratna

EXCLUSIVE: Cops Raid Cannabis Oil Activist Because Her Son Discussed Medical Pot Facts at School

BenSwann.com obtained an exclusive interview with Shona Banda, a cannabis oil activist who was reportedly raided by police after her 11-year-old son disagreed with some of the anti-pot assertions made by school counselors during a drug education class.

Screenshot featuring Shona Banda from a video by MedicalMarijuana411.com.

By Barry Donegan -

Apr 13, 2015

On March 24, cannabis oil activist Shona Banda‘s life was flipped upside-down after her son was taken from her by the State of Kansas. The ordeal started when counselors at her 11-year-old son’s school conducted a drug education class. Her son, who had previously lived in Colorado for a period of time, disagreed with some of the anti-pot points that were being made by school officials. “My son says different things like my ‘Mom calls it cannabis and not marijuana.’ He let them know how educated he was on the facts,” said Banda in an exclusive interview with BenSwann.com. Banda successfully treated her own Crohn’s disease with cannabis oil.

After her son spoke out about medical marijuana, he was detained, and police launched a raid on Shona Banda’s home. “Well, they had that drug education class at school that was just conducted by the counselors… They pulled my son out of school at about 1:40 in the afternoon and interrogated him. Police showed up at my house at 3… I let them know that they weren’t allowed in my home without a warrant… I didn’t believe you could get a warrant off of something a child says in school.” Banda continued, “We waited from 3 o’clock until 6 o’clock. They got a warrant at 6 o’clock at night and executed a warrant into my home. My husband and I are separated, and neither parent was contacted by authorities before [our son] was taken and questioned.”

“They subsequently conducted a raid and then called me when the raid was over letting me know that there was a list of items they took on my kitchen table, I was allowed to go home, and [an officer] gave me his word I would not be arrested in person or at work and that charges would be given to me in a postcard in the mail. I have not been charged with anything at this point, but I have a hard time believing that it’s OK for them to interrogate my child without parental consent for hours,” said Banda. A report by The Human Solution International notes that officers found 2 ounces of cannabis and an ounce of cannabis oil during the raid.

Banda then described the actions that the State of Kansas began to take in an effort to take her son from her, “On the 24th, he was taken into custody. That was on a Tuesday. He was taken out of town Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday we had a temporary hearing… and temporary custody was granted to my ex. Now the only reason why temporary custody was granted to my ex is because the judge said something to the effect that the amount of cannabis found in my home was going to possibly be felony charges and it was pointless letting the child return home to his mother.” She believes that the state is trying to take her son away and said, “The state is trying to deem it to where [Shona’s ex-husband] is not fit and I’m not fit and they’re trying to take custody of our child.”

“For him to have spoken up in class I can’t be upset about because he hears me daily on the phone talking with people, encouraging people to speak up and speak out. We did have the talk about how it’s not OK to bring this up in Kansas, because it’s a different state [than Colorado]. It’s very confusing for a child,” said Banda, noting how difficult it can be for children to understand how something could be considered legal medicine in one state and contraband in another.

Authorities have yet to charge Banda with a crime, and her next custody hearing is set to take place on April 20.

Update April 17, 2:20 PM: In light of new details confirmed by Radley Balko atThe Washington Post, the first paragraph of this article has been edited to clarify the fact that the Garden City Police Department did not participate in the school’s drug education class, but were called by Child Protective Services to search Shona Banda after school officials contacted CPS in response to her son’s comments during the class. 

In September of last year, Ben Swann released a Truth in Media episode exposing the government’s mixed messages on medical cannabis. Watch it in the video player, found below.

Vitamin B12: The Most Important Nutrient You Aren’t Thinking About.

Vitamin B12: The Most Important Nutrient You Aren’t Thinking About.

by Stacey Chillemi-June 25 -2015

If you aren’t getting enough vitamin B12, it is indeed very important – and you may very well not be thinking about it. One reason you aren’t thinking about it is that we tend to fall in (and out!) of love with one nutrient at a time (such as vitamin C, beta carotene, lycopene and so on), and vitamin B12 isn’t the nutrient du jour. But the other reason you may not be thinking about it is … because you can’t. A deficiency of vitamin B12 can limit your ability to think clearly about anything!

What is Vitamin B12 and why is it so essential?

Like all vitamins, B12 is an organic compound, made from carbons (as opposed to minerals, which are inorganic), and essential for our normal metabolic function and health. Also, like most vitamins, B12 plays a wide variety of roles in our metabolism. The short list of important effects B12 has on your health includes these:

1. Vitamin B12 is essential for the manufacture of red blood cells; a deficiency leads to a characteristic kind of anemia
2. Vitamin B12 is needed to support the normal function of nerve cells, and to manufacture myelin, the insulating material that surrounds some of our nerve cells and speeds neural transmission
3. Vitamin B12 is required for the replication of DNA

Each of these effects is obviously quite important, but note the third one in particular. When B12 is deficient, our DNA cannot replicate normally – meaning we can’t generate new, healthy cells. As a result, vitamin B12 deficiency can mimic all of the effects of aging.

Manifestations of Vitamin B12 Deficiency:

Common manifestations of vitamin B12 deficiency include weakness, numbness and tingling, fatigue, dizziness, swelling and irritation of the mouth and tongue, and irritability. Anemia can develop, as noted, but a high intake of folate can compensate for a deficiency of vitamin B12 and prevent anemia.

The most serious manifestation of B12 deficiency is impaired brain function, due to the effects of B12 on nerve cells. Advanced B12 deficiency causes dementia severe enough to resemble Alzheimer’s disease. Generally, though, the dementia caused by B12 deficiency is completely reversible with supplementation. While folate can prevent B12-deficient anemia, it cannot prevent the dementia – only B12 itself can do that job. 

Difficulties with Vitamin B12 absorption:

Vitamin B12 is found in animal foods (and fortified cereals), so vegans are vulnerable to deficiency. But the most important cause of deficiency has to do with the unique way B12 is absorbed. To get into the bloodstream, B12 must be escorted by a protein called intrinsic factor, produced by cells of the stomach. Many disorders of the stomach, such as gastritis, particularly common after age 50, can interfere with the production of intrinsic factor. This condition is called pernicious anemia.

Medications that affect the stomach – such as aspirin, antacids and proton-pump inhibitors – can also interfere with intrinsic factor production and result in B12 deficiency. The commonly used diabetes medication, metformin (Glucophage), can do so as well.

Treatment options:

For garden-variety B12 deficiency, due to inadequate intake from food or supplements, oral supplementation suffices to fix the problem. But pernicious anemia cannot be treated with oral B12, because the lack of intrinsic factor will prevent absorption. The appropriate treatment is B12 injections your doctor must provide.

In some cases, genetic mutations can limit the ability to metabolize B12 as well, in which case you will need to get the active form, called methylcobalamin, instead of the more common cyanocobalamin.

Health-care professionals are, of course, taught to be on the lookout for B12 deficiency, particularly in patients over age 50 with suggestive signs or symptoms. But health care is at its best when both clinician and patient are on the ball! I encourage an empowered, assertive role for all patients.

If you are at all concerned about the possibility of B12 deficiency in yourself, or a loved one, ask … before you forget the question!

Witnesses from No Fire Zone testify at UNHRC event on disappearances in Sri Lanka

24 June 2015
Witnesses from the No Fire Zone revealed their testimonies at a side event on disappearances in Sri Lanka at the 29th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, on Thursday.

A panel discussion on detainees and disappearances in Sri Lanka consisting of the Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee Kirsty Brimelow QC, President of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation and Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger, Human Rights Advocacy activist and contributor at the Tamil Guardian Sutharshan Sukumaran, was chaired by the former All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) chair Lee Scott.  

Witnesses From No Fire Zone Testify at UNHRC Event on Disappearances in Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

The Inherent Concept Of Sinhala-Buddhist Domination In Sri Lanka

By Thambu Kanagasabai –June 25, 2015 

Thambu Kanagasabai

The recent news feature in Colombo Telegraph spotlighted the Sinhala-Buddhist mentality of the President Maithripala Sirisena. To be precise, he is only following the footsteps of all his predecessors right from the first Prime Minister DS Senanayake in 1948, who without any delay targeted the Tamils in the East with Sinhalese colonisation and then killed the Indian Tamils’ representation in Parliament with two legislations.

This process has been faithfully followed and executed by the succeeding Prime Ministers and Presidents.

For recapitulation, the acts and deeds of the Sinhalese leaders are summarised as follows, which are featured with breach of pledges, pacts and betrayals.

The pledge given to Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam in 1921 was the first breach when James Peiris and EJ Samarawickrema promised a seat from the Western Provincial to Arunachalam and then dishonoured it. This was also the first historical betrayal which sowed the seeds of Tamil nationalism and the starting point for the communal drift and mistrust. No wonder Arunachalam fired the first salvo of ‘Tamil land’ or Tamil Aham when he inaugurated the ‘Tamil Mahajana Sabhai’ Jaffna in August 1921.

JR Jayewardene proposed the “Sinhala Only” idea in 1944 before the Soulbury Commission which was rejected. JR thus pioneered the Sinhala Language domination as a communal politician.

DS Senanayake initiated colonisation schemes in the Gal Oya region in 1948 and his speech on that occasion to the settlers bares the naked Sinhalisation agenda. “One day the whole country will look up to you. You men and woman who will carry the Island’s destiny on your shoulders. One day the country will look up to you as the last bastion of the Sinhala.”

DS then targeted the Indians Tamils to ensure their non-entity in Sri Lanka’s politics and passed the Ceylon Citizenship Act in 1948 and Indian and Pakistan Resident’s Act in 1949. The toiling Indian Tamils were sacrificed to ensure Sinhalese domination in Parliament.                      Read More

Chasing Mahinda’s ghost

As President Maithripala Sirisena grows more assertive in the presidency and focuses predominantly on consolidating power within the SLFP, will he continue to allow Mahinda Rajapaksa to dictate the political agenda?

  

President Maithripala Sirisena and his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa signed as witnesses at the wedding of the daughter of prominent gem merchant W. Vinil at the Cinnamon Grand last Thursday

 Thursday, 25 June 2015

After a disastrous meeting at the Parliamentary Complex in early May, President Maithripala Sirisena and his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa had a chance encounter last week, under less official, slightly pleasanter circumstances.

Chasing Mahinda’s Ghost by Thavam Ratna

Lakshman Kiriella Bungles Up Basil’s FR Defense

June 25, 2015

Minister of Plantations Lakshman Kiriella completely put the defense against the Fundamental Rights Petitions filed by Basil Rajapaksa and three others in disarray by appointing two Counsel on his behalf for the cases.

The move resulted in confusion and chaos,with Kolitha Darmawardena the other counsel who appeared on behalf of Kiriella completely jeorpadising the case on behalf of the Respondents.

Darmawardena had made submissions for over half an hour, completely unrelated to the legal matters that were being taken up, and the objections that were taken in unison by the Respondents including those of the AG’s department.

When the matter was taken up yesterday, both Saliya Peiris and Kolitha Darmawardana PC appeared on behalf of Kiriella for the separate cases although all cases were heard together.

Peiris had continuously represented Kiriella since the filing of the Petition and the new addition Darmawardena made his first cameo appearance.

Peiris represented Kiriella for all four Petitions on previous hearings until Darmawardena appeared yesterday.

The legal fraternity points out that there was no need for two Counsel at all because it was the same subject matter that was being argued in all four Petitions. Therefore all four Petitions were taken for hearing together and not separately.

Every other Respondent had only a single counsel representing them throughout.

The move was unprecedented and drew confusion among the Judges and the Counsel who represented the Attorney Generals Department and the other Respondents.

Chief Justice Sripavan infact pointed out that the move was unprecedented, while Romesh De Silva PC appearing on behalf of Rajapaksa said it was a “joke, never seen before”.

Earlier, the Respondents which included the cabinet of Ministers and the AG’s department took up a strong position against the Petition filed by Rajapaksa and the three others, saying that the facts contained do not fall within the ambit of a “breach of a Fundamental Right”.

This was in sharp contrast to the lakckadaisical approach taken by the AG’s department when the Interim Relief for Gotabaya Rajapaksa was granted.                                  Read More 

Sri Lanka's concept of accountability not in accordance of international standards - BHRC Chair

24 June 2015
Sri Lanka's concept of accountability has not been in accordance with international standards, said the Chair of the BAR Human Rights Committee for England and Wales, whilst calling on Sri Lanka to take a “first step by providing a list of names of all those detained.”

Speaking to Tamil Guardian at the 29^th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Kirsty Brimelow QC, said,

“So far the Sri Lankan government’s concept of accountability has not been in accordance with international standards. Truth, justice and reparation equals accountability. This means putting victims at the heart of investigations and providing them and witnesses robust protection so that they can give their evidence without fear. If Sri Lanka’s national institutions lack independent functioning so that impunity continues, it needs to appoint independent international legal support.”

Describing a tangible confidence building measure that Sri Lanka’s government could take, she added,

“A first basic step from Sri Lanka is to provide a list of names of all those detained and the legal basis for their detention. This will provide some clarity for grieving families who do not know if their loved ones are dead or alive”

Kirsty Brimelow QC led a team of barristers working on a report on sexual violence in Sri Lanka post conflict which was published by the Yasmin Sooka, BAR Human Rights Committee for England and Wales and The International Truth and Justice Project:Sri Lanka.  

The report entitled "An Unfinished War:Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka, 2009-2014" examined 40 cases of sexual violence and torture against Tamils. 

STOP report Yasmin Sooka 21Mar2014.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Good governance government like the previous regime metes out injustice to subordinate police officers, ignoring SC decision

(Lanka-e-News- 24.June.2015, 11.30PM) The Supreme court (SC) has already delivered a verdict that police officers over the age of 60 shall be sent on retirement compulsorily ,and giving extension to them is unlawful. The previous Rajapakse regime which was a byword for lawlessness however gave extensions to its shameless  stooge Anura Senanayake  on three occasions casting the laws of the country into the garbage bin. Sadly, the present government of good governance too  has acted unlawfully by extending the service of senior DIG Gamini Navaratne for another one year.

Gamini Navaratne is a  police officer who despite pressures brought to bear on him by the Rajapakse regime , carried out his duties with commitment to ensure a just and fair election as far as possible. If there are two upright public servants who worked to make the rainbow revolution a success , indisputably they are the elections commissioner Mahinda Desahapriya and Navaratne the police officer. Of course since Gamini Navaratne performed his duties duly , the government of good governance is obliged to  show its gratitude to him. But can it therefore be justifiably said , the extension of his services in the same way as did  the Rajapakse regime unheeding the SC decision, is  not wrong.

The present IGP Ilangakoon is due for retirement next April. Hence with this extension granted to Navaratne , the latter has now got the opportunity to become the IGP before his own retirement. Of course nobody envies this , but does that  mean vis a vis the clear SC decision, a flagrant unlawful act has  not  been   committed  thereby?

It is significant to note each time a police officer is given an extension in service this way wrongfully, a whole large group of officers of the lower ranks are being deprived of their promotions and they are placed invidiously , meaning that the verdict of the supreme court is not unjust.

Besides , if  the government has the need to groom its pro government police officer to the post of IGP , and clean up the police force , it cannot be said , that action is wrong. However ,if that is the goal, then in order to minimize the disequilibrium resulting thereby , a fair model  must be followed.

Simultaneously with the extension of Navaratne’s service , the two DIG’s , Waidyalankara and Ravi Seneviratne who are next among DIGs in seniority were also  elevated as senior DIGs. Because of the service extension of Navaratne , the highest officer  in rank next to him who is subjected to injustice is DIG S .A. D.S. Gunawardena . Since the latter is reaching 60 years of age next year , owing to the extension of service of Navaratne ,even if he continues until Navaratne’s retirement , Gunawardena will have to retire without promotion.

It is to be noted Gunawardena is not a stooge , and is an honest officer who performs his duties duly living up to the expectations of  a government of good governance. It is he who had the spine to take into custody the arms and ammunitions of Gotabaya’s illicit armory . Surely , the government of good governance should consider as a matter of paramount importance that such officers are inspired  and recognized.

Under the laws of the country , a senior DIG is appointed to each province. At the moment there is one province where there is a vacancy for a senior DIG. There were three vacancies at Uva, north central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Recently , because of  the two newly appointed senior DIGs and  the filling of the vacancies  of two provinces , one vacancy remains. The extension of service of Navaratne however  does not militate against the promotion of Gunawardena to fill the vacancy . Moreover, if Gunwardena is elevated without holding him  back in his position , the promotion of the other  officers too becomes possible without stagnation.

If  the responsible officials do not duly focus on this issue , may they be warned  they will   have  to brace themselves for a  fundamental rights (FR) case of Gunawardena against them  for acting in violation of the SC order and Gunawardena’s FR.

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by     (2015-06-24 22:29:54)