Secret Document Shows CIA Reaction to Finding No WMD in Iraq

By David Swanson- July 10, 2015

The U.S. government invaded Iraq, devastated a society, killed upwards of a million people, wounded, traumatized, and displaced millions more.

The National Security Archive has posted several newly available documents Monday, one of them an account by Charles Duelfer of the search he led in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, with a staff of 1,700 and the resources of the U.S. military. Duelfer was appointed by CIA Director George Tenet to lead a massive search after an earlier massive search led by David Kay had determined that there were no WMD stockpiles in Iraq. Duelfer went to work in January 2004, to find nothing for a second time, on behalf of people who had launched a war knowing full well that their own statements about WMDs were not true.

42 percent of Americans (and 51 percent of Republicans) still believe Iraq had WMDs. | Photo: Reuters

The fact that Duelfer states quite clearly that he found none of the alleged WMD stockpiles cannot be repeated enough, with 42 percent of Americans (and 51 percent of Republicans) still believing the opposite. A New York Times story last October about the remnants of a long-abandoned chemical weapons program has been misused and abused to advance misunderstanding. A search of Iraq today would find U.S. cluster bombs that were dropped a decade back, without of course finding evidence of a current operation.

Duelfer is also clear that Saddam Hussein’s government had accurately denied having WMD, contrary to a popular U.S. myth that Hussein had pretended to have what he did not. The fact that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and their team knowingly lied cannot be overemphasized. This group took the testimony of Hussein Kamel regarding weapons he’d said had been destroyed years ago, and used it as if he’d said they currently existed. This team used forged documents to allege a uranium purchase. They used claims about aluminum tubes that had been rejected by all of their own usual experts. They “summarized” a National Intelligence Estimate that said Iraq was unlikely to attack unless attacked to say nearly the opposite in a “white paper” released to the public. Colin Powell took claims to the U.N. that had been rejected by his own staff, and touched them up with fabricated dialogue.

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller concluded that, “In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even nonexistent.”

On January 31, 2003, Bush suggested to then U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair that they could paint an airplane with U.N. colors, fly it low to get it shot at, and thereby start the war. Then the two of them walked out to a press conference at which they said they would avoid war if at all possible. Troop deployments and bombing missions were already underway.

When Diane Sawyer asked Bush on television why he had made the claims he had about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, he replied: “What’s the difference? The possibility that [Saddam] could acquire weapons, if he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger.”

Duelfer’s newly released internal report on his hunt, and that of Kay before him, for the figments of propagandists’ imagination refers to “Saddam Hussein’s WMD program,” which Duelfer treats as an on-again, off-again institution, as if the 2003 invasion had just caught it in one of its naturally cyclical low tides of non-existence. Duelfer also describes the nonexistent program as “an international security problem that vexed the world for three decades,” —  except perhaps for the part of the world engaged in the largest public demonstrations in history, which rejected the U.S. case for war.

Duelfer openly states that his goal was to rebuild “confidence in intelligence projections of threat.” Of course, having found no WMDs, he can’t alter the inaccuracy of the “projections of threat.” Or can he? What Duelfer did publicly at the time and does again here is to claim, without providing any evidence for it, that “Saddam was directing resources to sustain the capacity to recommence producing WMD once U.N. sanctions and international scrutiny collapsed.” Duelfer claims that former Saddam yes men, rigorously conditioned to say whatever would most please their questioner, had assured him that Saddam harbored these secret intentions to start rebuilding WMD someday. But, Duelfer admits, “there is no documentation of this objective. And analysts should not expect to find any.”

So, in Duelfer’s rehabilitation of the “intelligence community” that may soon be trying to sell you another “projection of threat” (a phrase that perfectly fits what a Freudian would say they were doing), the U.S. government invaded Iraq, devastated a society, killed upwards of a million people by best estimates, wounded, traumatized, and displaced millions more, generated hatred for the United States, drained the U.S. economy, stripped away civil liberties back home, and laid the groundwork for the creation of the Islamic State group, as a matter not of “preempting” an “imminent threat” but of preempting a secret plan to possibly begin constructing a future threat should circumstances totally change.

This conception of “preemptive defense” is identical to two other concepts. It’s identical to the justifications we’ve been offered recently for drone strikes. And it’s identical to aggression. Once “defense” has been stretched to include defense against theoretical future threats, it ceases to credibly distinguish itself from aggression. And yet Duelfer seems to believe he succeeded in his assignment.

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He is a 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

From Tenn. to Times Square, military recruiting centers prove easy targets

A police officer ducks under tape near a memorial in front of an Armed Forces Career Center on Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP John Bazemore)

By Michael E. Miller-July 17
Mohammad Youssef Abdul­azeez may have wanted to die, but he nonetheless appeared to have planned his last acts carefully — particularly the target for his hatred.

The FBI is trying to determine what drove Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez to attack two U.S. military sites in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he killed four U.S. Marines. Abdulazeez was apparently killed by police. (AP)

Authorities say at least four victims and one gunman are dead, with three others injured, in shootings at a Naval reserve center in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Thursday. (Reuters)

From Tenn. to Times Square, Military Recruiting Centers Prove Easy Targets by Thavam Ratna

International political order in transitional phase

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin arrives to meet foreign leaders during the 7th BRICS summit in Ufa on July 9, 2015. AFP

July 15, 2015, 8:02 pm 

The ‘BRICS Nations’ have just concluded a summit meeting of its leaders in Russia along with a coming together of the Russia and China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the same country and it is developments relating to these regional political and economic groupings that ought to be watched closely. In fact, the increasing emergence of these groupings is a marked feature of the new international political and economic order that is beginning to take shape.

In gradual degrees, as it were, the international political and economic order has been undergoing considerable change over the past couple of decades and the broad contours of this new system are now beginning to reveal themselves with increasing clarity. To be sure, the Asia-Pacific region has emerged as the world’s ‘engine of growth’ but there is a lot more that does not meet the eye immediately in this new system.

The ‘BRICS Nations’ have just concluded a summit meeting of its leaders in Russia along with a coming together of the Russia and China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the same country and it is developments relating to these regional political and economic groupings that ought to be watched closely. In fact, the increasing emergence of these groupings is a marked feature of the new international political and economic order that is beginning to take shape.

‘The world system’ is in a transitional phase and it is quite obvious that Asia would lead from the front in ushering this new order. The crumbling of the Cold War in the early nineties of the century past led to the establishment of a multipolar world political system with the US remaining as a global hegemon, but the indications are that the West, led by the US, would now need to contend with scores of emerging political, economic and military powers, in particularly Asia, along with assertive regional political and economic blocs, to prolong its dominance.

The BRICS are just one of these new formations that are challenging the economic and political standing of the West. Lesser known but equally productive economic formations are: IBSA – India, Brazil and South Africa and CIVETS: Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa.

The emergence of these formations is of multiple significance. They are the proof that the global South does not lack resourceful economic players who can effectively tap the opportunities for growth thrown-up by economic globalization, although the latter order of things by no means opens up an even playing field for most developing countries. The other point to be noted is that these new dynamic economic powers are representative of the totality of regions which formerly constituted the Third World. A case in point are the BRICS, which represent the continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The BRICS are foremost among the world’s dominant economic powers.

Besides, the following points about the economic performance of these powers and groupings, as mentioned in UNDP’s Human Development Report 2013, need to be noted:

* By 2050, Brazil, China and India combined are projected to account for 40 percent of world output in purchasing power parity terms.

* Between 1980 and 2010, developing countries have increased their share of world merchandise trade from 25 percent to 47 percent and their share of world output from 33 percent to 45 percent.

Thus, we have on our hands a substantially changing power relationship between the global South and the global North; the one time developing world or the Third World and the developed countries or the former First World. Accordingly, it would be apt to characterize this changing equation as a transitional phase in a shift of global power from the North to the South.

The South is coming to its own in the world power system and for the first time in centuries, the South is in a commanding position in relation to its former colonizers. The big question is, would these ‘emerging economies’ of the South, use their considerable weight to increasingly refashion the world economic system to meet the legitimate needs of the lesser economic players of the South or the Least Developed Countries? In other words, could the mandate of groupings, such as the Non-aligned Movement and the "Group of ‘77’, be fulfilled to at least a degree?

The above tasks call for a sense of purpose and clarity of vision on the part of the progressive sections of the South and it is left to be seen whether the key powers of the South would be equal to these challenges. Hopefully, the collective interests of the South would prove to be of greater importance than the individual interests of states and regional groupings.

Meanwhile, emerging trends in the South in particular establish the increasing significance of regional trade and investment for the general economic growth of countries. For instance, India is said to be considering linking with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, which, in turn, would probably integrate with China’s new Silk Route initiative. The latter envisages linking China, in economic terms, with Central and South East Asia and even farther. A prime consideration in these initiatives are the oil and gas reserves in Central Asia in particular. The economic growth of the ‘emerging economies’ comes at a price and increasing energy consumption is an aspect of the latter.

However, it is all too evident that all is not well with this ‘Brave New World’. It is no coincidence that several of the most violent identity conflicts are occurring currently in some of these ‘growth centres’ of the globe. The continuing Middle East conflict and the endemic armed strife in countries such as Syria and Iraq are cases in point. Identity conflicts, such as those pertaining to religion and culture, are proof that population groups in these growth zones are not filled with a minimum sense of security. Identity formation is accelerated when communities do not enjoy the required degree of social stability. Accordingly, economic growth is not necessarily synonymous with social peace.

The above considerations need to be reflected on by the global South. ‘Soft Power’ is as important as ‘Hard Power’ but what constitutes ‘Soft Power’ needs to be sorted out. A country’s cultural heritage is an important element, for example, in ‘Soft Power’ but it is equally important to demonstrate that a country is also an exemplar of equity and sustainable development. The latter are chief among the attributes of ‘Soft Power’ and they are also essentials for fostering of world peace.

Senior Saudi prince accuses cousin over alleged drugging and abduction

Sultan bin Turki files criminal complaint in Switzerland over kidnapping he claims took place just outside Geneva in 2003

Hugh Miles-Friday 17 July 2015

A simmering feud at the heart of the Saudi royal family is poised to break into the open after one senior prince accused another of orchestrating his abduction, sedation and forcible repatriation from Switzerland.

Senior Saudi Prince Accuses Cousin Over Alleged Drugging and Abduction by Thavam Ratna

INTERVIEW - Iran says offers India bigger role in strategic port

Gholamreza Ansari, Iran's Ambassador to India, arrives for an interview with Reuters in New Delhi, India, July 17, 2015

 BY NIDHI VERMA AND FRANK JACK DANIEL- Fri Jul 17, 2015

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has asked India to invest in infrastructure projects worth $8 billion, including an expanded role in developing a strategic port that will open up access to Central Asia, Iran's envoy to New Delhi said on Friday.

The port of Chabahar in southeast Iran is central to India's efforts to circumvent arch-rival Pakistan and open up a route to landlocked Afghanistan where it has developed close security ties and economic interests.

Rouhani suggested the larger role for India during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a summit in Russia days before the historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Iran's ambassador to India told Reuters.

"The potential between Iran and India is great but we were just facing such a wall of sanctions, wall of American pressure," ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said.

Ansari said that with sanctions likely to be lifted soon, it was a "golden time" for India to seize investment opportunities because of the two countries' close trade ties and shared interest in improving Central Asian transport links.

"Connectivity is the main policy of Modi that coincides with Iran's government policy," Ansari said. "We have offered them, in connectivy, $8 billion of projects."

Modi's meeting with Rouhani was part of a tour of Central Asia focused on increasing India's role in the region.

It was not immediately clear how Modi responded to Rouhani's offer.

India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Iran and six world powers reached a nuclear deal on Tuesday, clearing the way for an easing of sanctions on Tehran.

India and Iran agreed in 2003 to develop Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, near Iran's border with Pakistan, but the venture has moved slowly because of the sanctions over Iran's atomic programme.

The two countries maintained a close relationship despite the U.S.-led trade restrictions that halved their oil trade to 220,000 barrels per day last year.

In May, India's Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, signed an $85 million deal for India to lease two existing berths at the port and use them as multi-purpose cargo terminals.

Under the new proposal India could help build second and third terminals at the port, as well as railway connections into the rest of Iran, Ansari said.

India has moved slowly on opportunities in Iran in the past, including the giant Farzad B gas field. Ansari said India was the "first priority" to develop Farzad B, but urged New Delhi to move fast: "If they drag their feet, the market will not wait."

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Douglas Busvine, Robert Birsel)

MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS

Pumping wells in the dark of night, criminal bosses rule the liquid economy in one of the world's busiest cities. Can anyone stop them?

BY AMAN SETHI-PHOTOGRAPHS BY SANJIT DAS-JULY 17, 2015

Down by the sandy banks of the Yamuna River, the men must work quickly. At a little past 12 a.m. one humid night in May, they pull back the black plastic tarp covering three boreholes sunk deep in the ground along the waterway that traces Delhi’s eastern edge. From a shack a few feet away, they then drag thick hoses toward a queue of 20-odd tanker trucks idling quietly with their headlights turned off. The men work in a team: While one man fits a hose’s mouth over a borehole, another clambers atop a truck at the front of the line and shoves the tube’s opposite end into the empty steel cistern attached to the vehicle’s creaky frame.
Midnight Marauders by Thavam Ratna

Halve your sugar intake, say government advisers

Government advisers warn that the British diet should be made up of no more than 5 per cent sugar - just seven teaspoons and half of the current advice.

FRIDAY 17 JULY 2015

Sugar should make up only 5 per cent of daily calories, a limit which would require most Britons to slash their daily intake, official government advisors have warned.

Halve Your Sugar Intake, Say Government Advisers by Thavam Ratna

Rhinoplasty: The Most Typical Concerns People Have With Their Noses

Rhinoplasty: The Most Typical Concerns People Have With Their Noses

TUESDAY, 30 JUNE 2015

Rhinoplasty, also known as a nose job, is a cosmetic plastic surgery procedure that’s meant to change the nose’s structure, shape and form. People choose to get rhinoplasty for various reasons—patients may dislike the appearance of their nose and want to change it, or, they experience breathing problems and need to improve the nose’s structure. It’s a complex procedure, but a very commonly performed one. In fact, rhinoplasty was the fifth most performed procedure in the world in 2013 according to International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery statistics.

Advanced technology and techniques in cosmetic surgery allow surgeons to perform rhinoplasty safely. Even better, there’s now 3D computer imaging and simulation that can show patients how their noses will look like before the actual procedure. This is offered during a patient’s consultation to let them actually see what their results could look like.

Plastic surgeons will always try to deliver you the best results, but you won’t see the final results right after your surgery. There’s a recovery period where casts are placed on the nose. Patients are also recommended not to do physical activity like sports until six weeks after the procedure. Swelling is totally normal after rhinoplasty and is considered as part of recovery. Swelling can last a few months or up to two years. That means you can determine the end results of your nose once swelling subsides.

Dr. Mulholland, a Toronto cosmetic surgeon who has been performing rhinoplasty for the last 20 years, talks about the different types of noses he treats regularly.  He describes what they are and what steps he usually takes to treat them.

Source: SpaMedica. These are some common nose concerns patients have.

Nose bridge bump

Bridge bumps are usually present due to hereditary overgrowth of the bones and cartilages on the nose’s bridge. Sometimes, nose injuries or fractures can cause overgrowth of the tissue which results in bridge bumps. Patients with this look often dislike their three-quarter and profile views. Your surgeon will file down the nasal bones to reduce this bump. 

Bulbous tip

Bulbous tips are typically caused by excessive overgrowth of lower lateral cartilages. It’s often hereditary but sometimes bulbous tips appear after trauma. To treat this, external rhinoplasty would be the go-to option. The lower lateral cartilages will be reduced or contoured to leave the tip looking thinner and sleek. 

Crooked noses

Crooked noses come from the deviation of the internal partition of the nose called the septum. Irregular septums can make noses look like they’re lopsided. To improve the appearance, a septoplasty would be performed which involves removing part of the septum. Then, the nose bridge would be restructured (usually with the material taken from the removed septum) to create support and a straighter appearance of the nose. 

Wide nostrils

Patients with wide nostrils can have their nostrils reduced by having a portion of the nostrils removed. The incision would be hidden under the nostril’s base.

Book your rhinoplasty appointment

Want to know more about your rhinoplasty options? Book an appointment online or call 1-877-695-2835 to find out what you can do about your nose. 

"Tamil people must attain self-rule" - Northern Province Chief Minister  15 July 2015 The Northern Province Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneswaran, has stressed that comprehensive autonomy for Tamils in the North-East is the only way of recovering from the effects of genocide. “For the well-being of Tamils in our country, the Tamil people must attain self-rule,” Mr Wigneswaran said while addressing the annual conference of the Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA). Speaking of the genocide resolution recently passed by the Northern Provincial Council, Mr Wigneswaran said: “Several of my Sinhalese friends asked how I, with my interest in humanitarianism and spirituality, could have allowed such a resolution to pass. To that I replied that I had passed this resolution because of my commitment to humanitarianism and spirituality.” “How can anyone with any humanity accept the massacre of humans that occurs to this day?” “How can anyone with any spirituality say that we must go forward by forgetting everything that has happened over all these years?” On the need for Tamil autonomy, Mr Wigneswaran said:  “Today we live under the sixth amendment. Talking about any division in the country, acting upon those ideas or supporting them is forbidden by law, under section 157a.” “Taking into account our unique identity and traditional lands, we asked for comprehensive regional powers to be granted to us within an undivided Sri Lanka. It was on this basis that people voted for us. The South continued to oppose even our most reasonable demands.” Mr Wigneswaran said that he faced criticism from the South for focusing on atrocities committed by the government and Sri Lankan army. “To that I responded that the cause of our youth taking up arms were your governments and armies. Their oppressive tyranny created this war. The distrust in your politics made our youth instead pick up weapons.” “In my view, any form of repression, or violence or force should be avoided in life. However when a perpetrator of genocide inflicts these things upon a race, they are also accountable for the victims’ counter-resistance.” “What happened in our nation was not merely a social crisis but genocide.” Mr Wigneswaran also highlighted the new government’s reluctance to discuss plans for the North-East’s economic advancement, including increasing possibilities for trade links for India. “The politicians of the South fear an undesirable result in the polls if they say anything in favour of Tamils,” he said. Northern Provincial Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran will be delivering a special address on Friday, July 17th in London at the International Association of Tamil Journalists’ (IATAJ) annual lecture and cultural evening. See event details here.

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka improved-UK FCO-GOV.UK

GOV.UK

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka improved during the first half of 2015, although some concerns remain. Following the election of President Maithripala Sirisena in January and the appointment of a new government, Sri Lanka took a number of positive steps to address human rights and democracy concerns, including establishing new institutions and undertaking legal reforms.

Freedom of expression improved, with exiled journalists invited to return to the country and a number of banned websites unblocked. The democratic space has opened up with travel bans on foreign nationals visiting the north lifted, and the NGO Secretariat moved from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs. Local contacts in the north and east noted a significant reduction in surveillance by security forces with increased space for journalists and civil society activism. However, challenges remained, including those related to high levels of militarisation, such as military involvement in civilian life, and the continued occupation of land by the armed forces. There were also concerns over women’s security as well as reports of journalists being intimidated.

A special Declaration of Peace, read out at Sri Lanka’s 67th Independence Day celebration, paid respect to all Sri Lankans “…who lost their lives due to the tragic conflict that affected this land for over three decades and for all the victims of violence since Independence.” The declaration also pledged “…to adopt consensual approaches through democratic means, to advance national interest, national reconciliation, justice and equality for all citizens. We shall do this in a spirit of tolerance, accommodation and compromise and uphold the unity and territorial integrity of the nation for the progress and development of our pluralistic society”.

On 21 January the government announced the reopening of investigations into several high-profile murders, including those of a number of parliamentarians and journalist Lasantha Wickremetunga, as well as the 2010 disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. On 19 February the Sri Lankan Parliament passed legislation to “Assist and Protect Victims of Crime and Witnesses”. On 28 April it passed the 19th Amendment to the constitution limiting the term of the presidency and paving the way for restoration of independent state institutions. However, there was no agreement on appointments to the independent institutions, nor on right to information legislation promised prior to the dissolution of Parliament on 26 June.

The unofficial ban on singing the national anthem in Tamil was lifted and the national anthem was sung in Sinhala and Tamil at an event attended by the President and the Prime Minister in Jaffna on 23 March. On 30 March, the Sri Lankan police announced thearrest of three navy personnel (including two officers) suspected in the 2006 assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadaraja Raviraj. This was the first time in recent years that security forces personnel have been arrested for politically motivated crimes. Following this, there were a number of convictions against police and security forces personnel. In a separate case, the Criminal Investigation Department toldcourts that a former navy commander was aware of abductions of children by commandos of the Sri Lankan navy.

Nine persons detained without charge under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in 2014, including Jeyakumari Balendran (an activist working on the issue of disappearances), were released on bail on 10 March, while another female detainee was unconditionally discharged. The overseas travel restriction imposed on human rights defender Ruki Fernando, who was detained and released on bail last year, was removed by the Colombo Magistrate Courts on 30 June. Media reports indicated that a team of senior legal experts was examining the cases of 275 political prisoners. There has been no progress on investigations into widespread disappearances that occurred during the conflict, including those of missing ex-combatants (who allegedly surrendered to Sri Lankan security forces). Tamil activists and politicians continued to allege the existence of secret detention centres, which authorities have denied.

Violence targeting Muslims and Evangelical Christians reduced significantly during the first two months of 2015 but increased since, although to a much lower level than in previous years. Sporadic incidents continued however, including mob attacks targeting places of worship. Although court cases continue, no one has yet been held to account for past violence including the Aluthgama riots in June last year. A Special PresidentialTask Force on Reconciliation, appointed on 5 February, was tasked, among other things, with promoting inter-ethnic harmony.

Concerns remain over torture and extrajudicial killings. Policemen involved in two incidents of custodial deaths in Suriyavewa and Thalawakele were suspended (pending investigation). At least three other policemen were also suspended following two separate deaths of suspects in custody at the Ja-ela and Dummalasuriya police stations on 4 and 16 March respectively. NGOs raised concerns over the discovery of dismembered bodies showing signs of torture in several areas around the country in March.

The conduct of the Sri Lankan security forces and of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the final stages of the conflict that ended in 2009 remained on domestic and international agendas. In February, the mandate of the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons was extended by six months, although the commission handed itsinterim report to President Sirisena on 10 April. The commission continues to hold hearings in the north and east. The majority of Tamils boycotted these sessions, calling for progress on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) investigation.

The new government pledged to cooperate with the international community and the UN. Taking note of the “changing context in Sri Lanka, and the possibility that important new information may emerge…”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, recommended the deferral of the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka to its September session. This was agreed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on 16 March. Sri Lanka has invited Prince Zeid and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance to visit Sri Lanka. The Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, visited Sri Lanka from 30 March to 3 April. In his concluding remarks, Mr de Greiff noted: Sri Lanka’s historic overuse of commissions of inquiry leading to a confidence gap; the long process to achieve reconciliation; and the need for a state policy centred on human rights. He also noted the need to take immediate action on missing persons, harassment, violence, detention, land issues, and psycho-social support

FCO Minister for Asia Pacific, Hugo Swire, was the first foreign minister to visit Sri Lankafollowing presidential elections in January. Commenting on the deferral of the OHCHR report, he said that the extra time would “create an opportunity for the new Sri Lankan government to deliver on its commitment to engage with the UN investigation, potentially generating additional material to inform the High Commissioner’s report. And it will allow the Sri Lankan government to establish their own credible accountability processes”. During his three-day visit to the UK in March, President Sirisena noted that an internal mechanism to address issues from Sri Lanka’s past would be set up shortly. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed initial steps taken by the new government, but underlined that continuing this course of action was essential. The UK also welcomed positive improvements in the war-affected north and east, including the appointment of civilian governors to both provinces, and the return of over 400 acres of land occupied by the military in Jaffna.

New act of structural genocide seeks to uproot 3,500 Tamils from Mannaar islet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 July 2015, 23:39 GMT]
The civil officers working under the SL Government Agent in Mannaar have been exerting pressure on 500 Eezham Tamil families living in three GS divisions within Mannaar DS division to vacate from their coastal villages in the islet and settle in alternative lands 15 km away in the mainland. The war-affected poor families, comprising 3,500 to 4,000 people, are dependent on fishing as their livelihood. They were given land deeds in the three GS divisions in 2008 and 2009. Utilized with land deeds, the families have constructed permanent houses and huts in their villages. The move would severely affect their access to the coast and their livelihood. But, the officials receiving instructions from Colombo's administrative system, are bent upon uprooting the fishing families without any promising alternative arrangements, concerned civil sources in Mannaar told TamilNet on Wednesday. 



The Divisional Secretaries receiving instructions from the SL Government Agent, have been harassing the families throughout the last 3 months by extending false promises that the villagers would receive fertile lands and proper housing at newly identified locations near Thirukkeatheesvaram and Chi'ru-naavatku'lam in Maanthai division. 

A church being built by the people of Jim Brown Nakar situated in Emil Nakar, one of the GS divisions from where the people are to be uprooted.

Church, photographed from the backyard

A training centre put up by the SL Ministry of ‘Development’

Photographs displaying the existing village of Jim Brown Nakar as of 30 June 2015

When the fishing families confronted the DS officers on how they could abandon fishing as their livelihood, they were told they could commute daily between the new settlement and the coast. The families came with strong objections in the meetings staged by the DS officers throughout the last 3 months. 

Even though the DS officers conveyed the objections to the SL Government Agent, they have again received fresh instructions to hurry up the eviction, concerned civil sources said. 

The affected families live in the GS divisions of Emil Nakar, Panangkaddik-koddu East and South Bar. 

The families were initially resettled at these three GS divisions with the promise of constructing a ‘100 Houses’ scheme. Although they were provided land deeds, the promised housing scheme was not provided as promised. 

The DS officers are now reiterating their promises of better housing scheme at Maanthai together with ‘fertile lands’ as alternative arrangement. But, there have been no preparation of any such arrangement, the sources told TamilNet. 

The civil officials are already struggling to find lands for people who are being instructed to vacate from areas near Thirukkeatheesvaram and Chi'ru-naavatku'lam due to the expanded military occupation and the extended structural occupation in the name of ‘Vangkaalai Bird Sanctuary’. 

The officials are also finding it difficult to find lands for Eezham Tamil refugees who are arriving from Tamil Nadu. 

The official explanation given for the eviction of people from the above villages is that these places are ‘unfit’ for human settlement as their villages are exposed to floods during the rainy seasons and that they seek refuge at public buildings during the floods. 

The villagers say that the SL authorities could easily elevate the level of the low-lying lands above the flood-level than citing it as a reason to uproot them from their native villages. The mothers said they could themselves elevate the level of the ground where their huts are situated on their own if the civil officials could design and construct proper drainage. 

In the meantime, informed civil sources told TamilNet that the SL Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiyutheen, was trying to acquire these lands for a so-called ‘development’ project. The notorious SL minister has been causing communal disharmony between Tamil speaking Muslims and Catholics in the district for a longtime now. 

The villagers say they have clearly expressed their anguish when they were confronted by the Divisional Secretary of Mannaar DS division at Jim Brown Nakar. The village was named after a Catholic priest, Rev Fr Jim Brown, who has been missing without trace after being taken away by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary men at Allaippiddi in the islets off Jaffna in August 2006.