New limb-lengthening technique is less cumbersome for patients, study finds

This is the circular external fixator used in the standard limb-lengthening procedure. Credit: Loyola University Medical Center

July 17, 2015

A highly specialized procedure that lengthens bones can prevent the need for amputations in selected patients who have suffered severe fractures.

And now a new study has found that an alternative limb-lengthening technique makes the long recovery process less cumbersome—while still providing good-to-excellent outcomes. Loyola University Medical Center orthopaedic surgeon Mitchell Bernstein, MD, is first author of the study, published in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. Senior author is Robert Rozbruch, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

The standard limb-lengthening technique requires patients to be fitted with a device called a circular external fixator. The device consists of a rigid frame made of stainless steel and high-grade aluminum. Three rings surround the lower leg and are secured to the bone in order to manipulate bone fragments with stainless-steel pins.

The study examined an alternative technique that employed an internal titanium rod in addition to the external fixator. Researchers compared the standard technique with this alternative technique in trauma patients who underwent lengthening of the tibia (shinebone).The alternative technique significantly reduced the amount of time patients had to spend in the external fixator (from 11 months to seven months).

This is an implanted titanium rod used in the alternative limb-lengthening procedure. Credit: Loyola University Medical Center

Preventing amputation is known as limb salvage. A prerequisite for salvaging an arm or a leg is the ability to regenerate missing bone.

Limb lengthening is used to replace missing bone or to lengthen or straighten deformed bones. Patients include children born with birth defects and patients who have suffered severe fractures or bone cancer. In trauma patients, broken bones can become infected, requiring surgeons to remove the infected segment. In bone cancer patients, the surgeon takes out a segment of bone in order to remove the tumor. The limb-lengthening technique enables the patient to grow back the section of bone lost to infection or tumor.

Limb lengthening works on a principle known as distraction osteogenesis. Four times a day, the external fixator pulls apart two bone segments, and new bone tissue fills in the gap. As a result, the bone lengthens at a rate of about 1 mm. per day. Bones can be lengthened by between 15 percent and 25 percent of their original length at a time.

Once the new bone tissue is formed, it takes several more months until it fully regenerates. In the standard limb-lengthening technique, the patient wears the external fixator until the bone completely matures, in order to support the weight of the limb. In the alternative technique, the surgeon implants a titanium rod inside the bone, in order to reduce the amount of time the patient must spend in the external fixator.

The study was conducted at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where Dr. Bernstein completed a fellowship in limb lengthening and complex reconstruction. The study included 58 trauma patients who underwent limb lengthening. Thirty patients were treated with the standard technique. Twenty-eight patients were treated with the alternative technique, which combined the external fixator with the titanium rod implantation. In both groups, the average limb lengthening was 2.1 in.

There was no statistically significant difference in the severity or number of complications between both groups, and good-to-excellent results were found in all patients.

Wearing an external fixator can irritate the skin and cause infections at the pin sites. Also, it's difficult to wear clothes over the device, and sleeping can be uncomfortable.

"As soon as we get patients out of the external frame they feel better," Dr. Bernstein said. "Limb deformity surgeons are trying their best to make it a bit easier for patients, without compromising the safety of the procedure."

Ado… Rajapaksa..! Where is Ekneligoda? Give him back to us

( July 18, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A Pooja will take place at Kali Amman Kovil in Colombo today (18) to mark 2,000 days since the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.

Police have so far failed to conduct an acceptable investigation into his disappearance, blamed on the previous Rajapaksa regime.

His wife, two children and the colleagues have had no belief in the investigations that had been going on during the past five years.

Sandhya Ekneligoda says she could neither be satisfied with the investigation launched by the new government.

Police spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara has said that information has come to light with regard to several telephone numbers and 22 mobile phones related to Ekneligoda’s disappearance.

Applying the racism paradigm – 2

By Izeth Hussain-July 17, 2015, 12:00 pm 

I will now apply the racism paradigm that I have sketched out above to what seem to me to be the essentials of the Tamil ethnic problem as it prevails today. I must clarify that when I use the term "Tamils" in the present context I am referring not to all Tamils but to their broadest segment as represented by the TNA. They insist that a political solution should be based on a very broad measure of devolution going well beyond 13A to federalism, and if possible even beyond that. They see that as following from their inalienable right to internal self-determination, which itself is a compromise on their full right to self-determination including the right to set up a separate state. They claim that their right to self-determination is sanctified by the UN Charter and by international law. This right flows from the fact that the Tamils are not just another minority but a national minority. This is because they are indigenous to Sri Lankan soil, and had a kingdom in their traditional homeland in the North East from the 14th to the 17th century.

As far as I am aware those claims have persisted since the time of Chelvanayagam and no counter-arguments have ever dented them. The counter-arguments could include the following. There are innumerable minorities all over the world who seem to be content without enjoying any devolution at all. This certainly applies to the Tamil diaspora in the Western countries and elsewhere. Therefore although devolution may be desirable for the Tamils it is not a necessary condition to enable them to live contented lives in Sri Lanka just as they do in the West and elsewhere. If devolution matters all that much to the Tamils, how is it that the majority of the Tamils live outside their traditional homeland in the North East? That fact suggests that they give priority to economic well-being over living together with their fellow Tamils. As for the right to self-determination, it is no more than a national right. No Government has been made answerable in Geneva or at the Hague because it has not allowed a minority to set up a separate state, nor for that matter for refusing to allow devolution

Those arguments seem to me very cogent, very powerful, indeed irrefutable. There seems to be no reason why the Tamils should not see their legitimate aspirations fulfilled with a modest degree of devolution plus a fully functioning democracy such as prevails in the West – as I have argued in earlier articles. But very probably only a small proportion of Tamils will accept that argument. Is it that the Tamils are a peculiarly mulish people, impervious to argument when they move outside the fields of maths, the sciences, and the professions? On the contrary I believe that there is a very powerful rationality at work behind the Tamil demand for as wide a degree of devolution as might be possible. That rationality can be understood only in terms of a paradigm of racism.

Those Tamils cannot believe that the Sinhalese are capable of giving them fair and equal treatment on an assured permanent basis. They may do so temporarily, but sooner or later the racist will treat the Tamils as inferior, relegating them to a lower position in a hierarchical system, or to exclude them, for instance from the State sector, or even to subject them to genocide as in 1983, will reassert itself. Therefore the legitimate interests of the Tamils dictate that there be a Tamil enclave in this island, as large as might be possible, to which all Tamils can gravitate and try to prosper in spite of Sinhalese racism. That really is the rationale for the Tamil insistence on a very wide measure of devolution. The drives to treat the Tamils as inferior, to exclude them, or subject them to genocide, fit into the paradigm of racism that I have earlier sketched out, and so does the essentialist notion that Sinhalese racism will never change.

I cannot go into the reasons why racism is wrong, intellectually and morally and in every way. I will confine myself to a few brief remarks on the Mahawamse mindset which many Sri Lankans, including the Sinhalese, believe is at the root of Sinhalese racism. It certainly had explanatory power in connection with the assertion of Buddhist supremacy after 1956. But it would be wrong to postulate a Mahawamse mindset that permanently imprints the Sinhalese mind with racism. The remorseful Dutugemunu was consoled by the monks that he in reality had killed only one and a half human beings, one who was fully converted to Buddhism and the other only half converted. But how many Sinhalese Buddhists take that seriously? Probably none. But they do take seriously that Elara merited the appellation Just, and they did walk past not ride past Elara’s tomb until the ‘fifties of the last century, as enjoined by Dutugemunu. I don’t want to go into any more of the well-known details that show that Sinhalese/Tamil relations were not just antagonistic but that they were also co-operative and even symbiotic. The projection of the Sinhalese, indeed of any people, as essentially and unchangeably racist is an absurdity. There are enough traditions among both the Sinhalese and the Tamils to enable them to combat their greatest enemy: the racists within their own ranks. In both their cases the tiger is within the gates.

I will now apply the racism paradigm to the Sinhalese side. The Tamils want maximum devolution; the Sinhalese want to give only minimum devolution. That is the stark opposition that is at the core of the ethnic problem in its present phase. The Sinhalese have wanted to allow 13A only in a truncated form without police and land powers. The reason for the Sinhalese allergy to an extensive degree of devolution is the fear that it will lead ineluctably in a sort of linear progression to Eelam. If the Tamils have federalism – so the argument goes – they will at what seems a propitious moment resort to UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) and the country will slide smoothly from federalism into a separate state. It is a nonsensical idea, as I have pointed out many times without provoking a rejoinder obviously because there can be no rejoinder that makes any sense. We have to approach this problem at a common sense level. A country can break up either because the majority ethnic group is willing to allow it or because it is coerced into allowing it. It means that no amount of devolution will lead by itself to a breakup. So the allergy to an extensive degree of devolution is thoroughly irrational.

But, just as in the Tamil case, what seems thoroughly irrational does make rational sense when it is seen in terms of the racism paradigm. First of all we must take count of the fact that the Tamils are not just a minority but a very special sort of minority: they are a minority internally but they are a majority in the regional context. It leads to a fear of the threatening Other, and therefore a fear about the possible implications of allowing extensive devolution. In terms of the racism paradigm there is also the drive to treat the Other as inferior, which means that the Tamils must be given no more than a modest measure of devolution without too much sharing of power. But I think that what is most important in the present phase of the ethnic problem is the essentializing habit of mind that goes with racism. It leads to the stereotype according to which practically all Tamils secretly want Eelam. It also leads to the notion that the drive for Eelam is of the very essence of being Tamil, which will never change however much devolution is allowed. So the core of the ethnic problem in its present phase is this: The Tamils believe that the Sinhalese will never give fair and equal treatment on an assured permanent basis; the Sinhalese believe that the Tamils will never give up the dream of Eelam. Both sides are in the grip of racism. (To be continued).

izethhussain@gmail.com

Governing Under Siege: Rules & Minorities

By Rajan Hoole –July 18, 2015

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Law Enforcement and the Security Services: Politicisation and Demoralisation – 22

The erosion of rules and legal accountability paralleled the State acquiring the self-image of a Sinhalese-Buddhist State. It resulted in governments with a siege mentality, protected not by professional and democratically accountable law enforcement agencies, but by agencies padded with sycophants. But once that is done, the temptation for abuse becomes too strong to resist. Jayewardene went the full length to make such abuse the art of governance.

Meddling with the security services may be partly attributed to the paranoia felt by governments after the attempted coup in 1962. But that too happened after the communal violence of 1956 and 1958 and when the polity seemed unable to resolve the Tamil question in a lifetime. Democracy was already sliding into crisis. But has the practice of padding the services with sycophants made the country or governments any safer?

It is police officers who made their way up the ladder when Athulathmudali was national security minister who connived with and failed to investigate his murder. Even more remarkably they failed to protect President Premadasa and left his murder a mystery.

The system is moreover one that has alienated the minorities, and the Tamils to a point of almost total exclusion. Has the loss of their services made the State any more secure?

The State appeared to miss Tamils in the security services rather late in the day. This was in the 1990s when the Army was losing many lives and Sinhalese youth were reluctant to join up. Attempts to recruit Tamils have been a failure and this is hardly surprising. No government should expect the Tamils to join until there is a political solution to restore among Tamils the legitimacy of the State.Read More

‘Truce’ in tea plantation wage dispute; normalcy in many estates

By Steve A. Morrell-July 17, 2015 

Chairman Planters’ Association of Ceylon ( PA) Roshan Rajadurai informed The Island Financial Review yesterday that although there was no agreement or conclusion to a protracted dispute between tea trade unions and Regional Plantation Company managements on tea worker wages, routine work was restored in the plantations.

There were some pockets of resistance to a resumption of work on the part of some workers who were unsure of their unions' stance, but, generally, trade union action was suspended, it is learnt.

CEO John Keels PLC, Sudath Moonasinghe’s response was that tea estates were functioning and trade union action was on hold pending further discussions between the disputing sides after the upcoming general election. He said restoration of industrial normalcy was welcomed by the tea trade, particularly because prices dipped to low net sales averages (NSA), and sustenance of the industry at such low prices would have been difficult.

Lifting of economic sanctions on Iran was an additional plus to the local tea market.

Iran was the third largest importer of Ceylon Tea. In 2014 they absorbed 30 million kilos. 2012, 41 million kilos and in 2013 the imported quantum to Iran was 39.65 million kilos.

Lifting of sanctions also meant that Iran had access to regular banking benefits with dollar accounts and allied transactions.

Would tea prices see improvement? "Don’t expect miracles in the short run, but the Western sanctions being lifted on Iran will undoubtedly have its salutary repercussions. When and how, is currently too early to conclude, Moonasinghe said.

Oil prices too will continue to influence market conditions in Colombo, but the general consensus among the tea trade was that Iran's improving economic situation would have a positive impact on Sri Lankan tea.

Particularly low growns will be in a better position. Iran does not buy filler grade teas but good garden marks. However, Westerns and Nuwara Eliya's will not benefit. Iran's buying is usually restricted to low growns.

Roshan Rajadurai agreed that restoration of normalcy in tea plantations was crucial to the industry. He also said although workers did not report to work, the compromise was that days not worked would be add ons for holiday wages.

Reverting to worker demands, Rajadurai said the flat rate of Rs. 1000 per day is unrealistic, particularly, because market conditions were bad and not because of any fault on the part of producers. But Ceylon Tea is constantly dependent on market conditions. The tea market is depressed, and would remain so for an undetermined period.

The granting of the Rs 1000 demand would have meant that the increase would be about 45 percent above current wage structures. The cost of production was Rs. 200 above the net sales average, which Rajadurai said was an untenable position.

The Fluid Prejudice In Writing History

By Sarath De Alwis –July 18, 2015 

Sarath De Alwis

“I can’t understand why they had to fight a conventional war. Prabhakaran could have gone underground. If I was the leader of the LTTE, I would have gone underground and I would have been in the jungles – fighting a guerrilla fight.” – Mahinda Rajapaksa in Interview by Editor of the ‘Hindu’8th July 2009

Prabhakaran died on 19th May 2009. The day after on 20th May, a triumphant President Mahinda Rajapaksa affixed his signature on a new one thousand rupees currency note portraying his mustachioed, shawl draped self, with both arms raised high in symbolic acknowledgment of the gratitude of the nation. The Central Bank then confirmed that the “decision to issue such a commemorative note was taken immediately after the completion of the humanitarian operations on 19th May, 2009.”

Thus commenced the single most successful political hoax in our history – the making of a parvenu patriot. His remarkable political success was due to his phenomenal ability to silence dissent by methods both good bad and absolutely ugly.

The caption of this article is inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s Devils Dictionary definition of history. “History is an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.”

On Friday 17th July 2015 the ex-president launched his return bid with the theme: “a new life to the country and a new beginning.”

Lest we forget, we who did not agree with the affable autocrat, lived in fear. We collectively surrendered our capacity for analysis of events. Fear paralyzed our will to resist. Until 8th January denial was mandatory. It is only in the past six months that we dared to speak of what frightens us.

With the looming threat of a return of the brutal ‘Bodhisatva’ it is high time that we dismantle false history.

Read More

Rajapakse regime chief minister Mahipala Herath’s official vehicle seized while transporting ganja !! Whither SL politics?

(Lanka-e-News -18.July.2015, 9.35PM) While ganja (cannabis) was being transported this noon in the official security vehicle of Sabaragamuwa province chief minister Mahipala Herath, Polgahawala excise department offiicers had been able to take into custody the ganja and vehicle.

At the time the police van GD 8457 providing security to the chief minister was taken into custody 3 kilos of ganja was found hidden in it. The driver of the vehicle was a police officer attached to the security detail of none other than the chief minister.

The chief minister upon learning that his vehicle has been taken into custody along with his security officer and  ganja , has rushed to the Kegalla police and made a false complaint that his vehicle had gone missing to save face ( however  a great many of Mahinda Rajapakse politicos are  faceless and shameless) . He is also leaving no stone unturned to supprees the episode, it is learnt  

The minister’s vehicle and his security officer taken into custody have by now been produced before the Kegalla district court . It is to be noted that when the Excise department officers conduct a raid , it is not necessary that they must have recourse to the police anti narcotics division to produce to court whoever and whatever  taken into  custody, as the Excise department has powers to directly and independently do that. Because of this, in the recent past we saw how political bigwigs like Mahipalas who are accustomed to bribing the police and escaping , getting trapped when the Excise department seized their goods and lackeys . These politicos were stranded and found it difficult to disentangle themselves .

A case in point was ,when the co ordinating secretary of Ven. Athurellya Rathane Thera was caught red handed with the drug ecstasy ( considered as more dangerous than heroin) . No matter how hard Rathane Thera tried to camouflage the crime , he could not succeed .Finally Rathane Thera having no escape route denied that the culprit is his secretary.

Interestingly ,chief  minister Mahipala's son Kanaka Herath is contesting Kegalle district at the forthcoming general elections unsurprisingly under the UPFA of  Mahinda Rajapakse and his den of racketeers.  

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by     (2015-07-18 16:10:29)

CHOICE OF A PRIME MINISTER FOR SRI LANKA

By Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe LLB, LLM, M Phil Attorney-at-Law-2015-07-18

When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.
– Gretchen Rubin

Sir Ivor Jennings commenced his acclaimed work Cabinet Government' (Third Edition-1969) end Italics stating that: The Cabinet is the core of the British constitutional system...In the Cabinet and, still more, out of it, the most important person is the Prime Minister. It is he who is primarily concerned with the formation of a Cabinet, with the subjects which the Cabinet discusses, with the relations between the Queen and the Cabinet and between the Cabinet and Parliament and with the co-ordination of the machinery of government subject to the control of the cabinet.

The people of Sri Lanka are on the threshold of electing a new government into power and the important question in their minds would be who would become the next Prime Minister of Sri Lanka who will play the most important role in the destiny of our people and our nation in the near future. Sri Lanka has followed the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy. As of 10 June 2015 the Cabinet had 40 members – President, Prime Minister and 38 Ministers. There were also 14 State Ministers and 25 Deputy Ministers who are not members of the Cabinet (in addition one Cabinet Minister and one State Minister were also Deputy Ministers).The Prime Minister is the Head of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka, which comprises the Council of Ministers that form the Central Government of Sri Lanka. It is responsible to and answerable to Parliament.

Colebrooke-Cameron Commission
Historically, the Executive Council of Ceylon was the Executive Council created in British Ceylon by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon, as the legislative body, on 13 March 1833. At its creation the Executive Council was headed by the Governor, along with five members appointed by the Governor. These five members were officials who held the posts of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding Ceylon. The Council exercised executive power and advised the Governor. As a result of the First Manning Reforms three non-officials were elected to the Executive Council. With enactment of the new Constitution of the Dominion of Ceylon in 1947 the Executive Council was replaced by a National Cabinet.

According to the 1978 Constitution, the President is a member of and Head of the Cabinet. The President appoints as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament who has the confidence of Parliament. Other Ministers of the Cabinet are appointed by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister. The President may appoint himself to any ministry he chooses. According to the Constitution the President must be the Minister of Defence. The President also appoints, in consultation with the Prime Minister, Ministers who are not Members of the Cabinet (Non-Cabinet Ministers, Project Ministers, Deputy Ministers). The Cabinet meets several times a week to discuss vital issues.

19th Amendment
The Supreme Court in its determination of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has ratified a Premier-Presidential system for Sri Lanka. Before delving into the SC judgment, one first needs to understand where Sri Lanka stands at present as a regime type under the 1978 Constitution. In pure Presidential regime types, the Government (or Cabinet) is not responsible to the Legislature, but to the President. In pure Parliamentary systems where there is no popularly-elected President, the Cabinet is responsible to Parliament as the assembly could dismiss it with a motion of No Confidence. There are also semi-presidential systems where a popularly elected President exists along with a Prime Minister and a Cabinet (that is the Government).

Therefore, the Executive in semi-presidential systems comprises a popularly elected President and the Government. Government responsibility in semi-presidential systems varies. In semi-presidential systems that are presidential-parliamentary, the Government is responsible both to the elected President and Parliament. In that, the Cabinet under the 1978 Sri Lankan Constitution faces dual responsibility as it stands dissolved both by a parliamentary No-Confidence motion, and when the President so decrees. In semi-presidential systems that are Premier-Presidential, the Government is responsible to Parliament. The 19A Bill has removed the dual responsibility of the Cabinet and moved towards a Premier-Presidential system where the Government is responsible only to Parliament. Clause 11 of the Bill provides for an Article 48(2) on Government responsibility to Parliament. The Supreme Court has endorsed this shift towards Premier-Presidentialism. However, typically in Premier-Presidential systems there is a dual executive where the head of the State is the elected President and the head of the Government is the Prime Minister. The most popular example is the French model.
Whether the clauses in the 19A Bill referring to the PM as the Head of the Government requires a referendum was a key question before the SC. The Supreme Court has accepted that the President is not the unfettered sole repository of executive power, and that the executive power should not be personalized in the office of President.

However, the Court struck down the clauses referring to the PM as Head of the Government and as Government formateur based on four grounds :-(1) There must be a 'link' between the President and the person exercising executive power, (2) An express delegated authority or permission given to the PM by the President is absent, (3) The President must be in a position to monitor those who derive authority from him, and (4) The President must retain the ultimate act or decision. It stands to reason then, the Bill would not require a referendum if this missing 'link' is installed with an express delegation of authority by the President, together with his control power to monitor. Several reasons could be adduced to the shift towards a dual executive where the President is the head of the State and the Executive and the PM is the head of the Government. The first is that, the Supreme Court has given approval for the establishment of a Premier-Presidential system. It is evident that Sri Lanka cannot shift to a pure parliamentary model without a referendum, as it would result in the repeal of a popularly elected Executive President. But the closest is a parliamentary system which is premier-presidential and thus constructs a dual executive.

Semi-presidentialism
The more a Constitution moves to semi-presidentialism, the lesser power an elected President wields and the closer it gets to a parliamentary system. This heightens democratic performance. The reason why the framers introduced a popularly elected President in Sri Lanka was stability: To prevent constant elections when governments break during unstable coalitions.
The Supreme Court has already laid down the method of designing a dual executive. First there must be a nexus between the PM, Cabinet and the President. The need thus arises to insert provisions, which provide that there shall be a Cabinet of Ministers entrusted with the authority of the President to determine and conduct the policy of the Republic. A provision that provides for an 'expression of delegation' by the President is required, so that, the Cabinet shall be formed and headed by the Prime Minister, summoned by the President to do so. The final act or decision also must emanate from the President. For this reason some Premier-Presidential constitutions require the PM to keep the President informed of the external and internal policy of the State and to get the President's signature for all Government decisions. However, the refusal of the signature is limited on grounds of illegality.

The President also can in his exercise of legislative power monitor Government through his power to invoke the Supreme Court's jurisdiction with respect to Bills. Notwithstanding the fact the PM heads the Cabinet, the President as Head of the Executive must have the power to convene the Cabinet in order to make directions for the due discharge of his powers under the Constitution and the law, and to determine policy relating to defence. However, to prevent a President from inventing situations of intrusion it should be a requirement that his directives must bear the approval of the Cabinet. Such checking and balancing mechanisms are prevalent in Premier-Presidential regimes. Presidential directives that invoke emergency regulations which affect People's rights and franchise guaranteed under Articles 4(d) & 4(e).must be made to bear the approval of the Cabinet.

In conclusion, Sri Lankans should ensure that the future Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is a person who possesses the capacity and the courage to withstand undue foreign interference or inter-meddling in the internal affairs affecting the sovereignty of our nation.
Foreign States however, powerful they may be, should never be permitted to dictate terms in matters of internal administration of Sri Lanka, which is indeed a dignified independent nation, not anymore under Western colonial rule.

Artistes join ‘A new journey for the country’

SATURDAY, 18 JULY 2015

Another rally of the series of rallies being held by the JVP on the theme ‘A new journey for the country’ was held at Kiribathgoda yesterday (17th) with the participation of several leaders of the party.

Several renowned artistes joined the JVP leaders on stage to express their solidarity.

The rally was organized by Gampaha District candidates of the JVP including the National Organizer of the party Bimal Ratnayaka, its Information Secretary Vijitha Herath and Member of the Central Committee Mahinda Jayasinghe and with the participation of the Leader of the JVP Anura Dissanayaka.

Among the artistes that got on to the stage to express their solidarity with the JVP were Deepani Silva, Gihan Fernando, Saranapala Jayasuriya, Susil Wickremage, Lalith Rajapaksa and Asela Rangadeva.

SLFP stalwart Duminda Dissanayake takes bold decision :Boycotts Mahinda’s maiden Anuradhapura election rally

(Lanka-e-News- 17.July.2015, 9.30PM) Minister Duminda Dissanayake a SLFP stalwart took a   bold decision to boycott  the maiden election rally of UPFA to be held at Anuradhapura today (17) .

The decision taken by Duminda Dissanayake to join with Maithripala Sirisena to defeat the brutal corrupt despotic family rule on 8 th January was hailed by the people and contributed to the defeat of the Rajapakse regime. Today when Mahinda Rajapakse is  participating in the Anuradhapura rally , Duminda Dissanayake took again a brave decision on behalf of the genuine  SLFP  not to betray his policies , thereby deciding   to boycott today’s rally. 

Today’s rally unfortunately for Mahinda is organized by a most notorious chief minister S.M. Ranjith best known for his worst corruption activities following in the footsteps of his mentor.

A great majority of genuine members of the SLFP formed from the Sanga Wedha Govi (farmers) laborers force had greatly applauded and acclaimed the fearless  decision taken by young politico Duminda Dissanayake , according to SLFP party members  of Anuradhapura .

The decision taken by brave and bold Duminda Dissanayake  had instilled fear into corrupt ,brutal, guilt ridden  Mahinda Rajapakse so much so that he is now of the view that he will not be  able to muster the support of genuine SLFPers of Kurunegala District  , and that he would lose, it is learnt.

Duminda Dissanayake is contesting the up coming elections under the betel leaf symbol as candidate No.9  for Anuradhapura 

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by     (2015-07-17 18:42:18)

Susil proves he is a nincompoop – Did Basil entered parliament from national list?

Friday, 17 July 2015

The UPFA secretary gave a slur answer that it is not possible to give a MP post for a person whose name is not in the national list for the statement given by President Maithripala Sirisena that there was a conspiracy attempt by the UPFA leaders to bring the former president to the parliament through a national list position.

However Susil has forgotten how Basil Rajapaksa entered the parliament in 2007. During the 2004 election despite his name in the national list Basils was not in the country. Although Basil came for the presidential election he got the opportunity to enter parliament following the death of the national list MP Anver Ismail.

Similarly there was an attempt to get an MP post to Gotabaya Rajapaksa but none of the MP’s resigned.

However the former eastern province provincial council minister Ameer Ali took oaths as a national list MP in 2014 despite not having his name listed in the UPFA national list. He got this opportunity following the resignation of the UPFA national list MP A.H.M. Azwer. The party secretary’s signature is the only component required to nominate a national list MP. It was him who signed for the above Mp posts as secretary. We never know Susil deliberately forgot or Susil
forgot due to the exposure of his escapade.

Legal action against Keheliya, Kiriella, 

Kongahage

2015-07-18
Police at the Kandy Police Headquarters was considering taking legal action against Keheliya Rambukwella (UPFA) Lakshman Kiriella (UNP) and Shathini Kongahage(UNP) for violating elections regulations and engaging in illegal propaganda activities after the handing over of nominations on Monday (13). 

The three named had allegedly gone with their supporters in processions shouting slogans and obstructing bus transport at the Cross Road near the Kandy District Secretariat where nominations were being accepted for forthcoming General Election. 

These violations of the election law had been brought to the notice of the Elections Commissioner and the advice of the Attorney General was to be sought on what action should be taken against them, a senior police official said. 

They said that they might also call for footage of the incident from the news outlets that were recording the proceedings to be shown on their channels. (J.A.L. Jayasinghe) - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/80071/legal-action-against-keheliya-kiriella-and-kongahage-for-violating-election-laws#sthash.8IClCi3F.dpuf

Indian police to fight drug traffickers to Sri Lanka

July 18, 2015

As Indian authorities witnessed a spurt in smuggling of drugs to Sri Lanka via the sea route, the district police have constituted “D-Team”, an exclusive police team to mount surveillance on drug traffickers and contain the smuggling activities, the Hindu Newspaper reported today.

Announcing the formation of the special team, Superintendent of Police N.M. Mylvahanan said the five-member team, headed by a Sub Inspector of Police, would work round the clock, collecting intelligence on drug trafficking after mounting surveillance on drug traffickers, who had been arrested in last three years in the district.

The ‘D-Team’ formed on the lines of ‘C Branch’ to deal with crime offenders would monitor the movements of the drug traffickers and function directly under the control of Special Branch police, which, in turn, would come under his direct control, the SP told The Hindu .

As the smugglers used the islets in the Gulf of Mannar region as transit points before they smuggled the contraband to Sri Lanka, it has been decided to launch joint inspections in the islets in coordination with the Forest department, Coastal Security Group, Q branch and Fisheries department, the SP said.

The coastal security meeting, chaired by Collector K. Nanthakumar on Tuesday decided to launch the inspections next week, the SP said and urged the general public to alert the police about the smuggling activities by calling the ‘Hello Police’ at 83000 31100’.

The details of the callers would be kept secret and those who provide vital information would be rewarded, the SP said.

The formation of ‘D-Team’ assumed significance as the district police had registered 24 drug trafficking cases during the last six months and arrested 36 smugglers, police said.

After the coastal Mandapam, Verkodu, Thriupullani and Uthirakosamangai check-posts were alerted, there has been considerable reduction in smuggling of drugs through the sea route to the sea shores, the SP said.

After alerting the check-posts, the police had last month impounded a lorry, used for smuggling ganja in Erwadi, police added.

Iran leader withholds verdict on nuclear deal, vows anti-US policies

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) waves to his supporters as Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Iran's Late Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, looks on during a ceremony to mark the death anniversary of the Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini at Khomeini's...

BY BOZORGMEHR SHARAFEDIN NOURI AND BABAK DEHGHANPISHEH-Sat Jul 18, 2015

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei withheld his verdict on Iran's nuclear deal on Saturday but in a fiery address vowed enduring opposition to the United States and its Middle East policies, saying Washington sought Iran's 'surrender'.

In an speech at a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", Khamenei said he wanted politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities.

An arch conservative with the last word on high matters of state, Khamenei repeatedly used the phrase "whether this text is approved or not", implying the accord has yet to win definitive backing from Iran's factionalised political establishment.

"Whether the deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant U.S. will not change," he said.

Under the agreement reached on Tuesday, sanctions will be gradually removed in return for Iran accepting long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb. Iran denies it seeks a nuclear bomb.

Khamenei's combative remarks about U.S. policies in the Middle East may sit awkwardly with a diplomatic offensive Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif plans in coming days in the wake of the deal.

"INSULT"

Iran regards its nuclear programme as an emblem of national dignity and dynamism in the face of what it sees as decades of hostility from Western countries that opposed its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Khamenei did not echo criticisms of the deal made on Friday by a top cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, who said in an address broadcast on radio that it reflected excessive demands by world powers that were an "insult".

But Khamenei's remarks radiated a broad mistrust of U.S. intentions, claiming that successive American presidents had sought Iran's "surrender", and declaring that if war broke out America would come off worst, nursing "a broken head".

"The Americans say they stopped Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," Khamenei said.

"They know it's not true. We had a fatwa (religious ruling), declaring nuclear weapons to be religiously forbidden under Islamic law. It had nothing to do with the nuclear talks."

Later on Saturday, the Supreme Leader praised Iranian negotiators who thrashed out the accord in marathon negotiations in Vienna.

"During the nuclear talks, we saw the Americans' dishonesty over and over, but fortunately our officials fought back and in some cases showed revolutionary reactions," Khamenei said during meetings with senior Iranian officials and ambassadors from several Muslim states, according to his official website.

But his remarks on Saturday did not shed light on Iran's procedures for ratifying the accord, which are not known in any detail. Zarif will brief parliament on July 21, Iranian media have said, and the agreement will also be examined by the National Security Council, the country's highest security body.

Zarif, who plans to visit several countries in the region, told fellow Muslim countries on Friday that Iran hoped the accord could pave the way for more cooperation in the Middle East and internationally.

In a message to Islamic and Arab countries on the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan, Zarif said: "By solving the artificial crisis about its nuclear programme diplomatically, a new opportunity for regional and international cooperation has emerged."

"REAL TERRORISTS"

Khamenei maintained that the Islamic Republic's policies in the region would continue to defy the United States, and the nuclear deal was an exceptional instance of dialogue.

"We have repeatedly said we don't negotiate with the U.S. on regional or international affairs; not even on bilateral issues. There are some exceptions like the nuclear programme that we negotiated with the Americans to serve our interests."

He said U.S. policies in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's policies.

"The Americans dub the Lebanese resistance terrorists and regard Iran as a supporter of terrorism because of its support for the Lebanese Hezbollah, while the Americans themselves are the real terrorists who have created Islamic State and support the wicked Zionists," Khamenei said.

Several Gulf Arab states have long accused Tehran of interference, alleging financial or armed support for political movements in several countries including Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon. Shi'ite power Iran denies interference but vows undimmed support for the Syrian and Iraqi governments, who are both fighting insurgencies by a variety of Sunni armed groups.

Prominent conservatives have largely kept silent on the deal. Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Khamenei, did not mention the agreement in his Eid al-Fitr message.

"If any of our security officials or members of parliament approve or denounce the deal before fully scrutinising it, they will regret it," Revolutionary Guard commander and head of Iran's Basij organization, Mohammad Reza Naghdi told the Fars news agency on Friday.

(Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by William Maclean and Louise Heavens)