If Mahinda wins will Sri Lanka live or perish?

The country is at a critical juncture with regard to international pressure. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is ready to present its war crimes report on Sri Lanka in September. When that report was to be tabled last March, Maithri managed to get it postponed. He did that by strengthening cordial relations with America, Britain and the European Union. If Maithri wants to defeat the war crimes report in September, he needs the backing of America, Britain and the European Union.

by Upul Joseph Fernando

( August 12, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The story of the man who clung onto Mahinda’s finger at Akuressa ended up like the episode of the Samurdhi officer who was tied to a tree by Mervyn Silva in Kelaniya. The man who held onto Mahinda’s finger at Akuressa and got assaulted claimed he did it for the love he had for Mahinda. The Samurdhi officer who was tied by Mervyn to a tree claimed he did it on his own for joy.

There is a signal and a message from Mahinda from the Akuressa man’s incident. That is, if Mahinda wins and Maithri does not offer him the post of Prime Minister he would show the same physical strength he showed to the Akuressa man. When the Akuressa man held onto Mahinda’s finger, Mahinda reacted in a manner that it displayed his impatience. So if Mahinda does not get the Premier post, he may repeat such action on Maithri. If Mahinda is made the Prime Minister, he would not stay calm like D.M. Jayaratne or Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. He would eye on the Presidency and the SLFP Leadership. Also, he may try to create problems within the government by trying to oust Maithri from the SLFP Leadership.

Maithri unfolded an exciting story to UNPFA leaders before he offered nominations to Mahinda. He said if Mahinda becomes Prime Minister, the Presidency would stand at a bullet’s distance. What he indirectly meant was that Mahinda may even assassinate him to become the President. That indicates that if Mahinda wins he would destabilize the country and push it into utter confusion even if he is deprived of the Premiership. What is now evident from the Akuressa incident and other issues that followed like jeering SLFP seniors at Mahinda’s meetings is that Mahinda would make the Parliament a mockery if he wins. Those who know history are aware how Adolf Hitler played hell inside the German Parliament demanding the post of Chancellor. Finally, the German President who played for time was forced to offer the Chancellor post to Hitler as Hitler drove the country into confusion. Will Mahinda repeat a Hitler if he wins?

Mahinda’s game plan is clear from the incidents where incidents of jeering on SLFP stalwarts were reported from Mahinda’s political platform. Mahinda is interested only in his victory and not that of the SLFP. His is not only playing these games to get the Premier post, but also to go beyond that dream. When the 19th Amendment was passed, Mahinda loyalists opposed it not for the love they had for Maithri. If Mahinda ever dreamt to be the Prime Minister earlier, he would have joined with Ranil to make Maithri a puppet President. Mahinda loyalists opposed the 19th Amendment as they dreamt to make Mahinda the Premier and take him back to the Presidency. When Maithri said he would not make Mahinda the Premier, GL, Dulles and others screamed that if Mahinda won Maithri would be compelled to make Mahinda the Prime Minister. Now Udaya Gammanpila claims that the Premiership is not Maithri’s personal wealth. All these developments indicate that there will be chaos if Mahinda won.

J.R. Jayewardene

When J.R. Jayewardene drafted the 1978 Constitution, Dr. N.M. Perera authored a book to pinpoint the dangers of that Constitution. After JR retired in 1988, he made it a point to meet LSSP stalwart Bernard Soysa at the Jayewardene Centre. Once JR had discussed NM’s book with Beranrd, a scribe close to Bernard revealed. JR had told Bernard that he (JR) agreed with NM on one fact mentioned in that book. That was if the President was elected from one party and the Parliament majority went to another party, the country would look confused. As JR thought, the issue surfaced in 2001 as Chandrika and Ranil dragged the country in different directions. As a result, the country lost Rs 4,000 billion aid from the Tokyo Aid Conference. The LTTE managed to grab the benefit of that loss. The same thing would happen if Mahinda wins.

The country is at a critical juncture with regard to international pressure. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is ready to present its war crimes report on Sri Lanka in September. When that report was to be tabled last March, Maithri managed to get it postponed. He did that by strengthening cordial relations with America, Britain and the European Union. If Maithri wants to defeat the war crimes report in September, he needs the backing of America, Britain and the European Union. If Mahinda wins, he will get closer to China and attack America, Britain and the European Union. That will result in economic sanctions placed on Sri Lanka and the country will be known as pariah State. The party that would benefit from such situation will be the LTTE. In such a situation any attempt by Maithri to re-establish confidence with America, Britain and the European Union would be futile as Mahinda will stand as an obstacle.

In such a scenario, the LTTE will revive if Mahinda wins the general election. If the UNP wins, Maithri and Ranil will talk to America, Britain and the European Union to acquit the security forces from all war crimes charges. However, it would not be an easy task, but they would try their best. If that succeeds, the LTTE will face defeat at that point. In 2001, Prabhakaran allowed Ranil to become the Premier to reap benefits from the Ranil-Chandrika clash. Today the LTTE Diaspora dreams a Mahinda victory in order to reap benefits from the UN war crimes report from a Maithri-Mahinda clash. In that perspective it is difficult to say that a Mahinda victory would give life to the country or make it perish.

UNP candidate vies for Tamil votes in Jaffna

12 August 2015

The United National Party candidate for Jaffna Vijayakala Maheswaran has released a poster with her photo appearing alongside the image of a Tamil Eelam map, as part of her campaign ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections.

Earlier she had declared that if elected, Ms Maheswaran would allow Mahatma Gandhi’s 1927 visit to Jaffna to be commemorated in the North-East.

The Indian leader visited the peninsula on the 26th and 27th of November, coinciding with important dates in the Eelam Tamil calendar - the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran's birthday on the 26th and the national day of remembrance Maaveerar Naal on the 27th of November.

The Sri Lankan government currently suppresses any form of commemoration on those days, going as far as removing bells from temples and churches and beefing up military presence across the Tamil homeland.

Last month Ms Maheswaran also reportedly refuse to raise the Sri Lankan flag at a sports event in Jaffna.

However, in the run up to the election the UNP has been staunch in its rejection of federalism and giving Buddhism the foremost place on the island, as was declared in their manifesto and reiterated by Mr Wickremesinghe last week. A host of Sinhala parties have almost unanimously endorsed the same position.

Earlier this year the party also declared that it would protect Mr Rajapaksa from any potential war crimes probe.

Ms Maheswaran is the widow of former Tamil Member of Parliament Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, who was shot dead by gunmen while he was paying homage at a temple in Colombo in January 2008. The Sri Lankan government was blamed for the assassination by the UNP.

See our earlier posts:

Tamil MP shot dead in temple (07 Jan 2008)

Government blamed (07 Jan 2008)

Sri Lanka’s Chinese Election

BRAHMA CHELLANEY-AUG 11, 2015

NEW DELHI – Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election this month promises to shape not only the country’s political future, but also geopolitics in the wider Indian Ocean region, a global center of trade and energy flows that accounts for half of the world’s container traffic and 70% of its petroleum shipments. The country’s strategic importance has not been lost on China, which has, to the dismay of India and the United States, been working hard to strengthen its presence in the Indian Ocean.

 

A leading contender in Sri Lanka’s upcoming election is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose nine-year tenure, which ended in January with a shock defeat in the presidential election, was characterized by rising authoritarianism, nepotism, and corruption. To be sure, Rajapaksa brought an end to the 26-year Tamil insurgency in 2009, causing many in the country’s dominant Sinhalese community to view him as a hero. But it was a ruthless effort, during which Rajapaksa allegedly presided over war crimes, including the killing of up to 40,000 civilians in the final offensive against the Tamil rebels.

 

During Rajapaksa’s presidency, Sri Lanka’s relationship with India deteriorated, owing partly to his government’s failure to reconcile with the Tamil minority. (India has a sizeable Tamil population.) But the country’s relationship with China improved markedly, with Chinese firms winning a series of lucrative construction contracts that would secure Sri Lanka’s position as a key stop on China’s “maritime Silk Road” connecting Asia to Africa and the Middle East.

 

The maritime Silk Road is not just a trade initiative; it will also provide several access points for China’s navy in the Indian Ocean region, through accords for refueling, replenishment, crew rest, and maintenance. This fusion of economic and military interests was apparent last fall, when Chinese attack submarines, in their first known voyages to the Indian Ocean, docked at the new Chinese-owned container terminal in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Such activities risk turning Sri Lanka into India’s Cuba.

 

Rajapaksa’s successors, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, seemed to recognize the risks that such collaboration with China entails. Indeed, during the presidential election campaign, Sirisena – who had served as Minister of Health in Rajapaksa’s cabinet, before quitting to run against his former boss – has said that the contracts awarded to China by Rajapaksa are ensnaring Sri Lanka in a debt trap.

 

Likewise, in his election manifesto, Sirisena warns: “The land that the White Man took over by means of military strength is now being obtained by foreigners by paying ransom to a handful of persons… If this trend continues for another six years, our country would become a colony and we would become slaves.” While the manifesto does not mention China by name, the implication is clear.

 

Once in power, Sirisena’s government put on hold the construction by Chinese firms of a $1.4 billion city on reclaimed land, and ordered investigations into environmental violations and corruption, including an alleged $1.1 million bribe by a Chinese state-run firm to Rajapaksa’s failed presidential reelection campaign. Moreover, by passing a constitutional amendment, Sirisena rescinded some of the presidential powers that Rajapaksa had added, as well as restoring the two-term limit. (Somewhat ironically, this has strengthened the position of Prime Minister, for which Rajapaksa is now vying.)

 

Last month, however, Sirisena suddenly decided to allow Rajapaksa to contest the parliamentary election on the ticket of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – control of which Sirisena wrested from Rajapaksa after winning the presidency. It seems that Sirisena’s increasingly strained relations with Wickremesinghe, whose pro-democracy United National Party is the SLFP’s main opponent in the upcoming election, together with growing factionalism within the SLFP, left the president little choice but to accommodate Rajapaksa.

 

If the SLFP were to win a majority in Parliament, it is not inevitable that Rajapaksa would lead the new government; that decision would be up to Sirisena. The question, then, is how far Sirisena will go in accommodating his predecessor, and what Faustian bargain has he perhaps struck to win a parliamentary majority.

 

It should be noted that, even if Rajapaksa does not become prime minister, he is likely to win a seat in Parliament, providing him with the influence and political standing he needs to lead his SLFP faction more openly. But, of course, his influence over national policy would be much greater as prime minister.

 

That is the outcome that liberals and religious minorities fear the most. Rajapaksa’s authoritarian impulses mirror those of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who, after serving as Prime Minister for more than a decade, became his country’s first directly elected president last year. Just as Erdoğan fans Islamism in Turkey, Rajapaksa fuels Sinhalese nationalism in Sri Lanka.

 

China, however, would undoubtedly celebrate the return to power of Rajapaksa, who has accused Sri Lanka’s current government of “treating China like a criminal.” Such a result would help ensure that the country becomes a key component in China’s Indian Ocean strategy.

 

In the coming election, Sri Lankan voters will effectively decide whether their country should kowtow to China’s regional ambitions or shape its own destiny by promoting an independent foreign policy and an open economy. One hopes that they choose the latter option. Sri Lanka is, after all, more than a “swing state” in the competition for maritime supremacy among China, India, and the US.

Full Text: Misuse Of EPF Funds Case Against Rajapaksa And Cabraal

August 12, 2015 

The case against Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ajith Nivard Cabraal in Connection with the misuse of EPF funds in the purchase of shares to be supported in open courts today.

The complainant states the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) monies that have been invested in the stock market of Sri Lanka with intent to boost up the values of certain shares irrationally and arbitrarily at the expense of the Employees Provident Fund resulting in a total loss of approximately 12 Billion SLR.

These are all the documents that were filed in the Magistrates Court of Colombo;

Full text;

IN THE MAGISTRATE’S COURT OF COLOMBO
In the matter of application in terms of section 136(1) and 139 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code

Kelum Kumarasinghe
No.38, Bodhirukkarama Road,
Galborella,
Kelaniya

Complainant

-Vs-

1. Ajith Nivard Cabraal
6/31 School Lane,
Nawala,
Rajagiriya
2. Mahinda Rajapakse
Carlton House
Tangalle

Accused

On this …… day of August 2015

TO HONOURABLE MAGISTRATE OF COLOMBO:

1. The complaint of the complainant appearing by his Attorney at Law Gayani Dilrukshi states as follows :

2. The Complainant states that he is an Attorney at Law.

(a) The Complainant states the 1st Accused is the former Governor of the Central Bank and has caused a loss of Rs.12 Billion to the EPF Fund by intentionally investing in low shares in the stock market, and by being party to a process referred to as pumping and dumping with full knowledge of the fact and has thereby committed the offence of criminal breach of trust.Read More

UPFA clinging to MaRa’s moth eaten shawl now hanging on Maithri’s ‘tail’ : Maithri to make countermanding announcement

(Lanka-e-News- 12.Aug.2015, 6.00PM) After ensuring the appointment of Maithripala Sirisena to the post of president of the country 7 months ago, again as before , together with Maithri in their onward journey , Prime minister (P.M) Ranil Wickremesinghe is to be re appointed in a few days.

Under the theme ‘Together we shall create a new country for you’ without any representation via party symbol or party hues , the people who are committed to good governance and  a civilized life, published a full front page nerwspaper article amidst  full knowledge of  the risks they are incurring to their lives thereby. 

After announcing first that there cannot be victory without Rajapakse , and screaming  ‘let us rise with him’  a second time , the UPFA has now  realized defeat is ominously staring in their faces and is writ large on the wall  despite their  boasts and brags. Hence  in their  utter desperation published a full page  advertisement last Monday(10) in the newspapers with Maithripala’s photograph in an attempt to  counter  that published by the people for good governance earlier on.

This  advertisement carries with it slogans : ‘victory is certain for UPFA,’ ‘a certificate for the future’ and ‘ Maithri administration,’ while also publicising the Betel symbol and the blue color. In the second page of this advertisement is a  long report under the caption , ‘ Who is truly with president Maithripala?’

It is well to recall when addressing the nation the president  made it abundantly clear he had given instructions that  his photograph shall not be used for election propaganda -  which promise has now been broken .

This advertisement is arousing diverse sentiments in the political sphere because deposed ,dejected,  desperate Mahinda Rajapakse when addressing a press briefing recently said , he is having cordial ties (poor frantic Mahinda left with no choice is licking those who are kicking him ) with Maithripala Sirisena , and closely on the heels of that , this advertisement was splashed  in the newspapers.

When Lanka e news probed into this advertisement , it is learnt this advertisement has been made without the knowledge or  approval of president Maithripala . But what is most intriguing and reprehensible is , the newspapers that call for a written permission from an individual whose photograph is to be published , has most miserably failed to get approval from the president’s media division before publishing the president’s photograph. This is a most grave omission , let alone a grave indiscretion  as it concerns the president of the country.

Based on reports , it is only Welgama the owner of Divaina newspapers who has inquired from the presidential media division prior to the publication of the article which had been  received supported only by  a letter of Susil Premajayantha, the SLFP secretary.

When the presidential media had inquired what the contents are , Welgama had mentioned only  about the front  page , while concealing the second page and its contents.

The media division had been unable to get an answer from the president until evening as to what action should be taken in this connection . Finally , the president has told in disgust ‘let them do whatever they  want. Already I have received reports on what is going to happen at the elections.’  In any case, it is significant to note , the president has come to know about the inside page and its contents only after its publication Monday.

The president has neverheless decided to issue a notification countering this advertisement . Let us wait and watch what this countermanding notification is going to be. 

(A photograph of Monday’s  advertisement of the United National Front (UNF) is herein , which is a sequel to the earlier advertisement of the UNP )

---------------------------
by     (2015-08-12 12:42:13)

Cabraal don’t quack – listen to these facts

Aug 12, 2015

Lanka News Web is in posses of many large financial irregularities committed by the former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivad Cabraal. The following are the financial crimes which is not at all relevant to the current Central Bank Governor.

The Former Central Bank Governor has spent a sum of Rs. 697 million for a display pageant with the patronage of Namal Rajapaksa to acquire the Commonwealth Games in 2019. The bills of the kitchen behalf of the show has been paid by an official credit card. Apart this sum of 5000 million has been paid for a private hotel named Canwill.

 

The 54,000 million loss incurred in the employee provident fund during 2013 and 2014 is due to this transactions. In the year 2013 Ajith Nivad Cabraal has incurred a loss to the Central Bank for Rs. 38,761 million and for the year 2014 it is Rs. 32,309 million. This is evident when the security reserve in the Central Bank for the year 2012 has been dropped from Rs. 147,463 to Rs. 32,309 in the year 2014. Apart this the capital reserves in the year 2012 have decreased from 182,463 million to 81,711 million in 2014.

 

The former Central Bank governor is now trying to conjure the controversial bond issue of the current governance in order to cover these factual large irregularities. Cabraal is trying to heap the losses he incurred during his tenure for the comforts and pageants of Rajapaksa and his sons without disgust.

 

The former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the finance minister is directly responsible for all the financial irregularities. However the former president is trying to store all the irregularities and misappropriations over to Ajith Nivad Cabraal. Confirmed sources say due to this the relationship between the two latter has been hindered.

Full Text: Purchase Of Greek Bonds Case Against Rajapaksa And Cabraal

August 12, 2015

Full text of the plaint filed today in the magistrates Courts of Colombo against Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ajith Nivard Cabraal on the purchase of Greek bonds;

In the magistrates Courts of Colombo

An application made under and in terms of section 136(1) a read with section 139(1) of the Criminal procedure code

Ajith Nivard Cabral
6/31, Nawala road, Rajagiriya.
1st accused

Mahinda Rajapaksha
Carlton House, Medamoolana, Tangalle,

And or
Nandana gardens, Embuldeniya, Nugegoda.
2nd accused

I Kelum Darshana Kumarasinghe of No 38, Bodhirukkarama Rd, Galborella, Kelaniya being a Buddhist do hereby solemnly sincerely and truly declare and affirm as follows

1. I am the affiramant and the complainant of this complaint and I affirm to the following facts from the information that is publicly available.

2. I state that the actions by the Monetary board and specifically the Governor of Central Bank Mr.Ajith Nivard Cabral as detailed below have engaged in corruption in violation.

3. I state that it is of utmost importance that public funds and state property be used for the benefit of the public and public officials who are entrusted with the public duty to manage such public property must exercise and maintain maximum and utmost care and sensitivity in handling such power in keeping with public interest.

4. I state that relevant public officials are not permitted to act in an unlawful, manner in violation of the stipulated provisions of law as there could be no exceptions to the due exercise of care and due diligence as the same would thereby cause irreparable loss to the Central Bank, government of Sri Lanka and to the general public. Such action amounts to Criminal Breach of Trust by the 1st Accused who was the Governor of the Central Bank and the Chairman of the Monetary Board.

5. I state further that where public funds are managed in an arbitrary manner resulting in committing Criminal breach of Trust of Public Funds held by the Central Bank in total abuse power vested with the Monetary Board as set out in this Complaint, such action is rendered all the more heinous when there is in abuse of office as evidenced where in the 1st and the have held the highest office in the Central Bank and the 2nd accused as the head of the Ministry of Finance.Read More

CB governor, son-in-law noticed

2015-08-12
Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and his son-in-law, Arjuna Aloysius, have been noticed to appear in court on October 30 by Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandima Liyanage over the Central Bank bond issue.

The magistrate informed court that the petitioner had provided adequate facts in the complaint and ordered the Fiscal Authority to send the notices to the respondents by registered post.

Western Provincial Councillor Renuka Dushyantha Perera had made a private complaint against the CB Governor, Arjuna Mahendran, and his son-in-law over for defrauding the State of Rs. 20 billion as a result of their actions in the Central Bank Treasury bond issue. - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/83309/cb-governor-son-in-law-noticed#sthash.Xuq7HKzf.dpuf

ISIS in Egypt Claims to Have Beheaded Croatian Hostage

BY ELIAS GROLL-AUGUST 12, 2015

Once more, the Islamic State has published evidence of the beheading of a Western hostage. This time, there’s no video, only a photograph released by the group’s Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, that appears to show Tomislav Salopek’s body lying in the desert, his severed head lying atop his back. A large knife is seen wedged in the sand next to him. A flag of the Islamic State waves in the background.

Last week, Sinai Province said that it would kill Salopek, an employee of the French geosciences firm CGG who was kidnapped last month outside Cairo, if the Egyptian government did not release three female prisoners in exchange for the Croat’s freedom. The group set Aug. 7 as a deadline for the prisoners’ release. Before pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, the group was known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

The photograph showing the aftermath of Salopek’s execution was distributed on Twitter Wednesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi statements. A caption accompanying the photo charged Croatia with participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State. While Croatia has not participated with troops, it has pledgedto provide arms to Kurdish fighters battling the militants in Iraq.

A spokesperson for Salopek’s employer, CGG, told the Associated Press that they could not confirm Salopek’s death, but that they “fear the worst.” The Croatian government also hasn’t confirmed Salopek’s death, but the country’s prime minister is due to address the nation later Wednesday.

The Egyptian government is currently carrying out a ferocious crackdown on the country’s Islamists, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power promising to restore stability. The beheading of Salopek, if confirmed, would be the latest escalation in what has become an extremely bloody conflict. Scores of Egyptians soldiers have recently died in clashes with Islamist militants, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, and the growing presence of an Islamic State-affiliate would make his already difficult fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies even harder.

Photo credit: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

Syria's forgotten victims: the seige of Eastern Ghouta

WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 2015

Human Rights group Amnesty International says that over 160,000 civilians in the Eastern Ghouta region near the Syrian capital have been 'left to die under siege'.

Views: © Lamba Media Production: Ruins of residential buildings in al-Masaken, destroyed by a Grad rocket fired by Syrian government forces on 16 by Syria Team

360 panorama of the destruction after months of shelling

According to Amnesty, the Syrian government has been carrying out aerial and shelling attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Eastern Ghouta since 2012. Between January and June this year around 500 civilians have died in government airstrikes that Amnesty says are often discriminate or grossly disproportionate.
Syria's Forgotten Victims the Seige of Eastern Ghouta by Thavam Ratna

Taliban leadership struggle fuels wave of attacks in Afghanistan

Children look out from the broken window of a house near the site of a car bomb blast at the entrance gate to Kabul airport, Afghanistan August 10, 2015.

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN | BY JIBRAN AHMAD-Aug 12, 2015

A spike in attacks in Kabul was designed to prove the Taliban's new leader was firmly in charge, the group said, but Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour's position remains precarious as clerics and top militants meet secretly to decide whether to back him.

Divisions are deep over Mansour's appointment as head of the hardline Islamist movement fighting since its ouster in 2001 to overthrow Afghanistan's Western-backed government and re-establish strict Islamic rule.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed two of three big suicide bombs last week within 24 hours were in response to rumours the insurgents had been weakened by disputes following confirmation of the death of founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"Some of these attacks were already planned, but the aim at this stage was to convey a message to those saying the Taliban had been split into factions," said Zabihullah Mujahid.

"We wanted to convey a message that the Emirate of Afghanistan is still intact and is capable of carrying out attacks on highly guarded installations."

Whether the violence in the capital indicates a long-term escalation of the insurgency and an abandonment of fledgling peace talks begun last month may become clearer once Taliban leaders and religious scholars resolve the leadership row.

According to several Taliban sources, a group of around 1,000 religious scholars has been meeting senior figures in the movement opposed to Mansour. He was named leader by a "shura" leadership council in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.

They are also due to meet Mansour himself, although direct contact has not been possible because of security concerns, according to people close to him.

BOTH SIDES DIG IN

Mansour's appointment last month after the Taliban was forced to confirm the death of the reclusive Omar has shaken the movement, which has launched an increasingly successful insurgency since NATO troops ended combat operations last year.

The fact that Omar had apparently been dead for two years before the announcement and that Mansour, his longtime deputy, was appointed leader by a body based in Pakistan rather than Afghanistan, has deepened resentment.

Mansour's legitimacy has been challenged by Omar's family, as well as by longtime rivals and the former top official at the Taliban's Qatar office, who resigned last week.

While both sides say they will accept the clerics' decision, neither appears inclined to give ground, heightening the risk of a prolonged standoff.

"The majority of people are with us. We aren't going to form a faction but we are the representatives of the Islamic Emirate," said Mullah Manan Niazi, spokesman for an anti-Mansour faction.

"If Mansour and his few men refuse to accept the decision of religious scholars, then we call whatever they do in Afghanistan un-Islamic and against the Islamic Sharia," he added.

Niazi said Mullah Omar's 26-year-old son Yaqoob had the support of the group to take over the leadership.

For their part, Mansour's followers appear unwilling to budge, saying that whatever the decision of the scholars, he would not give up the title "emir".

"He has been appointed emir by the shura, so there is no way he will step down on demands of these people," Mujahid said.

TOUTING SUPPORT

Widely considered a pragmatist, Mansour recently approved the creation of an international Taliban office in Qatar to act as a point of contact with the rest of the world and a potential avenue for peace talks with the Afghan government.

But in one of his first public acts after being named leader, Mansour issued an audio statement pledging to continue the insurgency, which costs thousands of lives every year, and dismissed the idea of peace talks as "enemy propaganda".

"I don't think there is any change in strategy," said Kate Clark, country director for the Afghan Analysts Network in Kabul. "Mansour has largely been focussed on the military struggle for years, there's been precious little on the peace front."

So far, Mansour has proved as good as his word.

More than 50 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the Kabul attacks, which have derailed the tentative peace process and driven a wedge between Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, where many Taliban leaders are based.

With Taliban field commanders suspicious of any sign the armed struggle could be abandoned, and with competition from the ultra-hardline Islamic State growing, Mansour must show his fighting credentials.

"I don't think this is a turning point, I fear this is normal," said Clark.

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

The ethnic cleansing of Muslims in CAR

by Amnesty International

In a broad swathe of the Central African Republic (CAR) roughly the western third of the country the country’s Muslim minority has largely disappeared. The site of a violent wave of ethnic cleansing in early 2014, this region still very much suffers from its consequences. While a few towns have Muslim enclaves protected by international peacekeeping forces, many towns and villages

that were previously home to substantial Muslim communities are now empty of their Muslim inhabitants.

Mosques have been left badly damaged or destroyed, and the Muslim call to prayer, once a familiar sound, is no longer heard.

Yet this sombre picture masks a somewhat more complex reality. Notwithstanding the near-invisibility of the Muslim presence, a small number of Muslims have quietly returned to their home communities.

On a recent visit to three western provinces in the Central African Republic, Amnesty International delegates visited 12 towns and villages where Muslims are now living, and learned of several more. Some locales have only a handful of Muslim inhabitants, but others have more than 50.

Islam Made Invisible

The biggest challenge these small Muslim communities face is the lack of security. The armed anti-balaka militia that violently expelled tens of thousands of Muslims from the country last year continue to hold significant power. The Muslim communities that remain must, implicitly or explicitly, negotiate the terms of their existence with these anti-balaka power-holders.

The cost of survival for Muslims in these areas is high. In some places, anti-balaka militias have forcibly converted Muslims to Christianity, or have put Muslims under intense pressure to convert. Elsewhere in this region, except some towns in which UN peacekeepers are stationed, Muslims are effectively barred from practicing or manifesting their religion in public. To the extent that their presence in this part of the country is tolerated by anti-balaka militia, it is based on the understanding that they cannot publicly assert their Muslim identity or belief in Islam.

This means that they cannot pray (except in secret); they cannot wear traditional Muslim clothing, and in contrast to a few recent initiatives in Carnot and Bangui they cannot rebuild their mosques. Often they dare not even speak their preferred language within hearing range of others. Although members of the larger community may be aware that they are Muslim, their religion has been made invisible.

Religious affiliation, to be sure, is not the only element. Notably, the anti-balaka militia’s tolerance for the presence of Muslims tends to vary considerably depending on the Muslims’ ethnicity/nationality, as well as their kinship or other links to the Christian community.

Muslims belonging to ethnic groups that are deemed indigenous — such as the Gbaya — are much more likely to be allowed to remain than Muslims from other groups. In contrast, Muslims who are viewed as Chadian or Sudanese — who either themselves immigrated to the Central African Republic from Chad or Sudan, or who had parents or grandparents who did so are more often considered the enemy.

“The Arabs will never be allowed to return,” one Muslim told Amnesty International, speaking of people of Chadian and Sudanese descent. “For the anti-balaka, they are indelibly linked to the Seleka.”

More than 30,000 Muslims currently lead restricted lives in protected enclaves within the Central African Republic, while many tens of thousands of others have been made refugees abroad.

The beleaguered Muslim communities existing without protection in western CAR are relatively small in comparison probably fewer than 500 people in all — but their significance is disproportionate to their size. The extent to which their security and freedom of religion is protected will be an important bellwether to understand whether, when, and under what conditions others may be able to return. Much needs to be done.

Forced Conversion, Bans on Prayer

Nearly all of the Muslims that Amnesty International interviewed fled into the bush when the first anti-balaka attacks on their villages occurred. Some spent several days in the bush before returning home; others spent weeks or even months there.

“My whole family fled the moment the first anti-balaka arrived,” recalled Moussa J., from Guen, whose father was a Muslim convert and whose mother was Christian. “We spent two weeks in the bush, were captured and taken hostage by the anti-balaka, and then were able to return home after my cousin negotiated on our behalf. We paid the anti-balaka 50,000 CFA to not be killed.” The anti-balaka militia that had come to Guen in February 2014 had already killed more than 70 Muslims during a few days of slaughter.

Even after his release, Moussa J. and his family faced continuing death threats and harassment. “We had to pay the anti-balaka again and again. Finally we didn’t have any more money. My Christian relatives like me a lot and kept negotiating with the anti-balaka to save me.”

Omaru F., a diamond miner, described the forced conversion of some 10 people in Bania village, in Mamberé Kadeï prefecture. He said that anti-balaka militia from the towns of Carnot and Bouar attacked Bania in February 2014, killing two elderly Muslim leaders and causing the village’s remaining Muslims to flee into the forest, hiding in small groups.

After a couple of weeks, he said, the village headman and a Protestant pastor came into the forest to inform the Muslims that if they did not return, the anti-balaka militia would chase them down and kill them. But in order to return, they would have to convert to Christianity.

After the Muslims were baptised into the Apostolic Church in a ceremony attended by the village headman, they “had to show the anti-balaka [their] baptismal cards to not be killed,” Omaru said. Although Omaru had been baptised, he said that he did not accept the Christian religion in his heart, and that continuing religious harassment led him to flee to Berberati a few months later.

Muslims in Bania told Amnesty International in May 2015 that the situation had since improved somewhat, but that they still faced sporadic threats from anti-balaka militias coming from other villages, and that several had remained Christian for reasons of security.

De facto bans on Muslim prayer are ubiquitous. “We can only pray at home, alone, in secret,” said Ali I., in Bania village a description repeated by dozens of other Muslims whom Amnesty International interviewed.

“It is effectively illegal for us to pray,” said Abdou Y., in Mbaiki. “We have to hide, do it quickly, and do it by ourselves. Collective Friday prayers are impossible.” Some Muslims said that they were afraid even to pray at home, because if someone saw them they would face trouble.

Roots of the Conflict

The wanton violence of Seleka forces, who took power via a coup d’etat in late March 2013, generated enormous anger and resentment. Perceived by many Central Africans as foreigners as Chadians and Sudanese and as favoring members of the country’s Muslim minority, the Seleka carried out widespread human rights violations, including torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances.

Groups of largely Christian and animist anti-balaka militia, supported and to some extent led by members of the former armed forces loyal to former president Francois Bozize, organized to fight the Seleka. In September 2013, they started attacking Muslim communities, supposedly in retaliation for Seleka violence against non-Muslims.

Seleka and anti-balaka attacks on civilians escalated dramatically in December 2013, as sectarian hostility reached a fever pitch. French and African Union (AU) troops that were deployed to the country in December limited the power of the Seleka, but did not stop the anti-balaka’s depredations.

Then-President Michel Djotodia resigned on Jan 10, 2014 following intense international pressure. Immediately after he left office, Seleka forces began withdrawing from the west of the country, retreating to their strongholds north and east of Bangui. The power vacuum left in their wake was filled by predatory anti-balaka militia, which unleashed a violent wave of ethnic cleansing aimed at forcing Muslims to leave the country. Thousands of Muslims were killed, and many tens of thousands fled.

International peacekeepers, first under the auspices of the AU and then the United Nations (UN), helped stabilize the country but did not fully restore security. Even now, anti-balaka militia wield considerable power in areas from which Seleka forces have withdrawn.

The CAR government has yet to reestablish its authority across the country. International military forces are stretched thin, and according to multiple sources, many of them are seen more often in their barracks than carrying out patrols. Local government and religious authorities in several more remote areas told Amnesty International that they had rarely seen peacekeepers over the past year.

Courtesy: OnIslam