What next? Part 3: Outside of Geneva

This is the final part of a three part series. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Human Rights activists invested a lot in the Geneva process, and the Government invested a lot in blocking them.

Aug 19, 2015

In the first two parts of this article we have argued that the September session of the Human Rights Council is unlikely to fully meet the need for accountability in Sri Lanka, but that nevertheless it can be used to set in motion a process that could eventually bring about the sort of internationalised transitional justice process that victims demand and require.

In the meantime war criminals walk free in Sri Lanka, a fact that continues to damage the rule of law, trust between communities, and hopes of a lasting peace.

States which are supportive of the idea of accountability in Sri Lanka therefore need to understand that their commitment to accountability cannot simply be limited to their approach to the Human Rights Council. They need to use every means at their disposal to end Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity.

In the aftermath of the publication of the OISL report supportive states should be asked the following questions:

• Will they now consider prosecutions under universal jurisdiction, travel bans, asset seizures or targeted sanctions against culpable parts of the Sri Lankan state (the army, TID, CID) or individuals in command positions when war crimes took place? Will they arrest former LTTE commanders living in their jurisdiction?
• Will the United States prioritise the prosecution of United States Citizens and Permanent Residents: such as Gotabaya Rajapaska, Basil Rajapaska, and Sarath Fonseka under United States law?
• Will the findings of the OISL report bear on decisions to grant licences for arms exports to Sri Lanka?
• Will they push for the UN to vet Sri Lankan peacekeeping troops?
• Given demonstrated ongoing torture in Sri Lanka, will they change their guidelines for asylum seekers and acknowledge the link between asylum and witness protection?

In conclusion

A sustainable peace in Sri Lanka requires the demands of the survivors on both sides of Sri Lanka’s civil war be met. Those demands are for truth and justice in the first instance; followed by acknowledgement, apology, guarantees of non-recurrence, institutional reform, a political solution to Tamil grievances, and reparations.

The international community and the Sri Lankan Government must both work to ensure that, as a starting point, the demand for truth is met. The release of the OISL report should present a unique moment in which the first meaningful steps towards that goal might be taken.

With regards to justice however, the weak desire of the international community to demand it and the unwillingness of the Sri Lankan government to provide it, suggests the need for a more determined and sustained strategy. Public pressure (both international and domestic) will continue to be essential, as will the establishment of an ongoing UN monitoring system.

Those states most supportive of accountability in Sri Lanka must also be encouraged to pick up the mantle as we continue to wait for a strong international process, for example, by pursuing bilateral prosecutions and sanctions. Taken together, these measures will help improve the chances of securing meaningful international justice for victims in the years to come.

Meanwhile, the Government of Sri Lanka must be reminded that grandiose yet meaningless gestures on reconciliation are not helpful and that a reconciliation process cannot be imposed from above upon an uninterested population.

It is vital that the international community clearly understand that their responsibilities with respect to human rights in Sri Lanka extend beyond merely voting the right way in the Human Rights Council. It is concrete actions that really matter.

Poll victor to build Sri Lankan unity government

Ranil Wickremesinghe (R), leader of Sri Lanka's United National Party (UNP), waves next to his wife Maitree Wickremesinghe at the Prime Minister official residence in Colombo August 19, 2015.-REUTERS/DINUKA LIYANAWATTE

 Wed Aug 19, 2015

General election victor Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday called on Sri Lankans to unite as he set about the task of forming a national unity government that will seek to heal the divisions of the past.

In his first major statement since his United National Party (UNP) foiled ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa's comeback bid, Wickremesinghe struck a note of reconciliation.

"I want everyone to come together now. Think of the country, think of the people," he told a spray of television cameras on the lawn of his official residence.

"We can achieve unity, progress in this country if we work together."

Wickremesinghe, 66, who has led a minority government since President Maithripala Sirisena beat Rajapaksa in a presidential election in January, said he expected to be sworn in as prime minister.

Rajapaksa accepted his defeat "with humility" but rebuffed calls by his opponents to retire from active politics.

"I will continue to engage in politics, in keeping with the people's mandate and I will function within parliament to safeguard the nation and the democratic system," the 69-year-old said in a statement.

Although Wickremesinghe's centre-right party fell tantalisingly short of a parliamentary majority, it can count on supporters of Sirisena from the opposition Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) to control parliament and push ahead with reforms.

Wickremesinghe said he would soon meet Sirisena to discuss the next government's makeup and policy agenda that will be presented to parliament when it convenes on Sept. 1.

In one key decision, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told Reuters he expected to be reappointed to the post.

Sirisena had clashed with Rajapaksa, who ran for prime minister on an SLFP ticket, and a political realignment could leave the former president isolated in a rump opposition, as he and his allies face a series of corruption investigations.

Rajapaksa, whose alliance polled just three percent behind the UNP and who won the district in which he ran with more than 400,000 votes, is still revered by many for ending a 26-year Tamil insurgency in 2009.

Asked whether his call for unity included Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe said: "It includes everyone."

(Reporting by Douglas Busvine and Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Shihar Aneez)

A vote for continuing change

"The question that helps us to understand Sri Lanka’s current trends in politics is not why the UNP-led coalition won the highest number of seats but why the Rajapaksa-led UPFA coalition failed to gain a majority."

• JAYADEVA UYANGODA-August 19, 2015
• 
  

The Sri Lankan electorate has voted to reject polarisation and reinforce the process of democratisation.

There are two significant political consequences following Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections. First, the majority of voters have given a verdict in favour of completing the partial political change that began with the presidential election of January 8 this year. Secondly, and no less important, it has dashed the hopes of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to power as Prime Minister.

A Vote for Continuing Change by Thavam Ratna

Characteristics Of Third World Dictators & Their Destinies 

By Lasantha Pethiyagoda –August 19, 2015

Prof Lasantha Pethiyagoda

Most third world dictators tenaciously cling to power and refuse to step down when their beleaguered people get fed up with them. One tell-tale sign is, they somehow get this absurd notion that the country belongs to them, and them alone and their families and future progeny and must rule forever. This delusionary belief of state ownership by dictators is often derived from the feeling that they “liberated” or “saved” their countries, from an enemy either in the form of colonial rule, separatism or insurgency, etc.

It seems most prevalent among the first generations of post-colonial nationalist heroes but has manifested in village strong-man terms in modern times. Having won independence from insurrections or uprisings or provided leadership in ending civil war, they are hailed as heroes and deified. Called “father of the nation,” or “every child’s father”, criticizing them is deemed sacrilegious by followers. Some even take awe-inspiring epithets for themselves such as saviour, people’s leader or redeemer of the nation which, in the local languages, mean an exalted demi-god.

To drill into the docile and awed populace that they are “saviours,” they are present everywhere, in larger than life cut-outs and huge banners. Currencies bear their portraits and their grinning pictures hung in every nook and cranny in the streets of cities and roads of their country. Every monument or building of some significance is named after them: their face is everywhere, from the buttons, t-shirts and caps of “a tomorrow for youth” to the dresses of quasi-national dancers. Highways, stadiums and schools are named after them. National holidays are suggested to honour them.                              Read More

Sri Lanka's new political path

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has failed to make a comeback with his defeat in the country's general elections.

 

 19 Aug 2015
Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's former president, was hoping that a victory in Monday's general elections would pave the way for him to become the next prime minister. But the coalition that defeated him in January's presidential elections has made big gains.

Rajapaksa is seen as a "warrior king" for ending a nearly 30-year-long civil war with the separatist fighters known as Tamil Tigers. But he was also accused of widespread human-rights abuses, especially in the final months of the conflict.

So, is this defeat the end of Rajapaksa's political ambitions?

And will President Maithripala Sirisena go ahead with his promised reforms?

Presenter: Jane Dutton

Guests:

Rajiva Wijesinha - Senior Professor at the University of Sabaragamuwa and former UPFA member of parliament.

Ravi Kumar - General-Secretary, British Tamils Forum.

Eran Wickramaratne - United National Party member and Deputy Minister of Highways and Investment Promotions for the Sri Lankan government.

Source: Al Jazeera

End of the road for Mahinda Rajapaksa -- Sri Lanka's 'warrior king'?

By Ravi Agrawal-Wed August 19, 2015

Delhi (CNN)In hindsight the odds were stacked against such a major comeback -- even for Sri Lanka's most powerful politician of the last decade.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa won his seat in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections this week, but his Freedom Party won only 42% of the seats on offer -- not enough to give him a chance of becoming prime minister, Vladimir Putin-style.

Rajapaksa then resolved to contest parliamentary elections in the hope of being named prime minister, despite new president Maithripala Sirisena openly saying he would not support his candidacy.

End of the Road for Mahinda Rajapaksa -- Sri Lanka's 'Warrior King' by Thavam Ratna

Rajapaksa's failure to make a comeback great news for India
PM Modi with former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during a meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi in May 2014. (TOI photo by Amrendra Jha)

Aug 18, 2015
With the government looking at UAE's commitment on terror as a snub to Pakistan, it had another reason to rub its hands in glee on Tuesday, as former Sri Lankan leader Mahinda Rajapaksa's bid to make a comeback in the parliamentary elections fell through.

The results have validated the outcome early this year of the presidential polls which saw Rajapaksa lose to former ally Maithripala Sirisena, the incumbent president.

Rajapaksa needed a strong showing to emerge as the next prime minister of the island nation but fell short in the end, with the ruling UNP leading. India dreaded a Rajapaksa victory as it was convinced that he would drag Lanka back to the days which saw the country emerge as the main facilitator of China's expanding presence in the Indian Ocean, something which had alarmed not just India but the US too.

According to strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, Rajapaksa's loss represented a defeat for Chinese diplomacy, which worked to turn strategically located Sri Lanka into a pivot of China's 'string of pearls' strategy, now renamed as the Maritime Silk Road.

READ ALSO: Sirisena-Rajapaksa face-off sets stage for Lankan polls

"The election result shows that genuine democracy works as a bulwark against the concerned state mortgaging its sovereignty to become a key component of an external power's regional strategy," said Chellaney.

Sirisena, who has the power to appoint PM, had only last week written to Rajapaksa saying that he was not going to make him prime minister even if his party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), won the election. However, an emphatic victory for Rajapaksa would most likely have prevented Sirisena from using his executive power so decisively. One of the reasons why Rajapaksa emerged as a prime ministerial candidate for SLFP-led United People's Freedom Alliance was that even his defeat in January's presidential election could not dent his popularity within the SLFP.

Until late evening Tuesday the ruling UNP led by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe was leading even though it will likely fall short of 113-seat target for ensuring majority. Sri Lanka legislature has 225 seats.

Even within Sri Lanka, there were many who loathed the idea of Rajapaksa making a fresh bid for power, apparently the reason for Sirisena's letter to Rajapaksa. In fact, the chief of Lanka's central bank had recently threatened to resign if Rajapaksa came to power.

READ ALSO: Sirisena allows Rajapaksa to run for Lankan parliament

Rajapaksa's defeat will be seen as second successive setback for Beijing which was keen to see the former president back in the saddle. India could never fathom why Rajapaksa courted the Chinese so assiduously, even allowing Beijing to dock a nuclear submarine in Colombo despite protest by India. Not even the poor execution of Chinese projects or extremely high interest rates on Chinese loans deterred Rajapaksa. While the former president has recently faced allegations of corruption, Indian officials have long believed that disproportionate assets allegedly acquired by the Rajapaksa family were routed to Sri Lanka through front companies based in southeast Asia.

For the time being though, Indian authorities can stop worrying about Sri Lanka and focus more on Maldives which recently tweaked its land ownership laws apparently to help the Chinese own land there.

As Chellaney said, in that light the erosion of democracy and troubled politics in the Maldives should be a cause for concern. "The setback in Sri Lanka means China will take greater interest in securing a hold in the Maldives, its Plan B, where the regime has already diluted domestic law to allow foreign ownership of land," he said.

Gota’s Death Squad Likely Killers Of Thajudeen

August 19, 2015 

The murder of popular ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen was likely carried out by former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ‘death squad’, Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.

According to a group of ruggerites who were part of ‘Rajapaksa prince’ Yoshitha Rajapaksa’s entourage on the night of Thajudeen’s death – following a heated exchange of words between the two, an angry Yoshitha had met Gotabaya Rajapksa in person later that night and demanded for ‘Thajudeen to be done away with’.

At this point, Yoshitha had been egged on by several other players of the Navy rugby team who had urged him to ensure Thajudeen’s removal, pointing out he had always ‘disrespected’ the Rajapaksa brothers.

Sources claim the ‘Rajapaksa princes’ attempted to recruit Thajudeen to the Navy team on several occassions, but they had been repeatedly turned down by him who had always made it very clear that he does not wish to maintain any engagements with the Rajapaksas.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on August 09th denied his son Yoshitha was involved in the alleged murder of Thajudeen. He said a future UPFA government would conduct an impartial probe into the alleged killing of Thajudeen if the party comes to power at the parliamentary polls. Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that investigations have unearthed the involvement of three Presidential Security Division (PSD) personnel who served during Rajapaksa’s time in the incident.Read More

The new government should restore Buddhist-Hindu amity

by Shelton A. Gunaratne

( August 19, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) If the Tamil community of Sri Lanka would follow the advice that Lord Krishna gave warrior Arjuna in the battlefield as explained in the Bhagavad Gita, they could rub shoulders with the majority Sinhalese as   equal citizens in a united country exemplifying diversity within unity much sooner than by insisting on a federal structure, which the Buddhist Sinhalese are unlikely to concede in the foreseeable future short of another tragic ethnic war.

The close cultural and religious bonds that the Tamils and the Sinhalese in

Sri Lanka share call for greater cohesion of the two communities rather than separation through a dubious federal structure that is unlikely to produce a lasting solution for current Tamil grievances. Separation entails divisiveness, conflict, rivalry–reflected in the three mule (unskillful roots) of lobha/raga (greed), dosa (aversion/anger), and moha/avijja (delusion) unleashed by the humans’ uncontrolled tanha (craving/desire) and upadana (clinging/attachment)–that are likely to place more roadblocks on the path toward ethnic peace and harmony. Tamil leaders must take the blame for leading their community along the wrong path toward separatism to achieve Eelam irrespective of how it might affect the other communities. The same suffering afflicts the Sinhalese and other communities because all human beings are composites of the Five Aggregates of craving — material form, feelings, perception, mental dispositions and consciousness.

A main priority of the new parliament/government should be to set up an inter-ethnic expert group to establish similarities between the path toward salvation/liberation as outlined in Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as the Abrahamic religions, if deemed necessary. If my understanding of these “religions” is correct, such an expert group is likely to document that both Hinduism and Buddhism follow a similar path toward attaining liberation from dukkha (suffering /unsatisfactoriness) inherent in samsara (cyclic existence), the vortex of punarbhava (re-becoming) or rebirth/reincarnation depending on one’s belief.

Historians have failed to trace the exact beginnings of Hinduism because it evolved as time and culture impacted the religious ideas of early India. Patheos Library identifies Hinduism as “a collective term applied to the many philosophical and religious traditions native to India” with neither a specific moment of origin nor a specific founder. It is backed by a collection of sacred texts known to constitute the Sanatana Dharma (The Eternal Teaching).

Thus, Hinduism “encompasses a number of major sects, as well as countless subsects with local or regional variations. However, the Hindu worldview is grounded in the doctrines of samsara (cyclic existence) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect), which hold that one’s actions (including one’s thoughts) directly determine one’s life, both current and future.” Hinduism is divided into four major sects: Shaiva (devotees of the god Shiva), Vaishnava (devotees of the god Vishnu), Shakta (devotees of the goddess), and Smarta (those who understand the ultimate form of the divine to be abstract and all encompassing, Brahman).   More than two-thirds of the 2.6 million Hindus in Sri Lanka, about 90 percent of whom are Tamils, belong predominantly to the Shaiva sect.

These Hindus share with the Buddhists the doctrines of samsara and karma, which appears as the fourth of the Five Aggregates (panca khandha) and the second of the 12 nidanas (in paticca samuppada) bearing the identity sankhara (volitional action/ dispositions).

The Buddhist path to escape samsara and attain nibbana (non-existence) is remarkably similar to that of the Hindu to attain moksha (union with the Brahman). A comparison between the Dhammapada and Bhagavad Gita, the two jewels of Buddhism and Hinduism respectively, makes this absolutely clear.

The primary sacred texts of Hinduism are the four Vedas (the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda), the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Epics (Mahabharata, and Ramayana), and other texts like the Laws of Manu. Bhagavad Gita constitutes a part of Mahabharata. Because Buddhism arose from the Vedic background, doctrinal similarities undeniably exist between the paths to salvation articulated in the two complementary religions.

If Buddhists and Hindus follow similar paths to reach their spiritual goal of attaining nibbana or moksha, it’s time that they realize that they could follow the same steps in attaining their socio-political goals of liberation. Sixty-seven years after independence, the Sinhalese and the Tamils have been unable to see each other as mere composites of the Five Aggregates that have to be disciplined through mind consciousness by following the   three-dimensional path of panna (wisdom and compassion), sila (ethics and morality), and samadhi (mindfulness and concentration).

The Bhagavad Gita asserts: “A person who has given up all desires for sense gratifications (kaman), who lives free from desires (nihsprhah), who has given up all sense of proprietorship (nirmamah) and is devoid of false ego (nirahakara)–he alone can attain real peace” (BG 2: 71). A more comprehensive comparison of the two jewels appears in the excursus to chapter 3 of our book Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach (Routledge, 2015).

The current demand of the Tamil political parties for a separate federal state comprising more than a third of the territory of Sri Lanka shows excessive desire, proprietorship, and false ego of the Hindus. The reluctance of the Sinhalese Buddhists to concede reasonable Tamil grievances also shows excessive craving and lack of wisdom and compassion. The result of these conflicting defilements has been increasing dukkha of all Sri Lankans.

The expert group I have suggested would be able to provide a spiritual approach to diminish the dukkha that the ethnic problem has engendered. Educating the people on the similarities between the Buddhist and Hindu paths to liberation should unite the minority and the majority in a manner that is alien to the strategies borrowed from secular (Western) political science.

President turns down Killi’s request to appoint Tiran

- Aug 19, 2015

The president has steadfastly turned down a request by Sirasa Media Network owner Killi Maharaja to name corrupt businessman Tiran Alles as a national list MP of the UPFA, reports say.

President Maithripala Sirisena has kindly informed Killi that he cannot violate his slogan of eliminating the corrupt at the general election by appointing Tiran. He has gone onto say that he has a justifiable suspicion as to why Tiran has not yet been arrested over the swindling of tsunami money of RADA.

Tiran is boasting these days that attorney general Yuvanjan Gunatilake, a pupil of his mother, will never order his arrest. The flowers sent every year by the AG on his mother’s birthday was brought this time by Tiran to his Mawbima office and put it on display. Among his friends, he refers to the AG as ‘Yuvanjan Aiya’. With the aid of Yuvanjan Aiya, Tiran Malli is getting, through the Supreme Court, his arrest delayed by the week. Without stopping there, he tries to enter parliament somehow. If he succeeds, he can use parliamentary privileges to his advantage.

During the general election, Tiran tried to get friendly with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by publishing his advertisements in Mawbima free of charge, say sources at the newspaper.

UNP govt. with Prez backing

by 

Shamindra Ferdinando-August 18, 2015, 11:13 pm 

UNP-led United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) secured ten out of 22 electoral districts, including Colombo to obtain the largest block of seats at the Aug. 17 parliamentary polls, though it couldn’t secure a simple majority in 225-member parliament.

The UNP won 106 seats, including 13 National List slots, UPFA 95 with 12 NL slots, ITAF 16 with 2 NL slots and the JVP six with two NL slots. The EPDP and the SLMC won one seat each and got no NL slots.

Authoritative political sources told The Island that President Maithripala Sirisena had assured SLFP’s backing to a future UNP government and, therefore, it wouldn’t be difficult for the new government to secure the required majority in Parliament. Sources further said that the UPFA’s defeat had automatically defused premiership crisis in the UPFA. President Maithripala Sirisena was expected to discuss the situation with the SLFP/UPFA group to reach an understanding regarding the formation of the next government.

The new parliament is scheduled to meet on Sept. 1.

The SLFP-led UPFA won nine districts, whereas the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) comfortably won Jaffna, Vanni and Batticaloa electoral districts.

The JHU, SLMC, ACMC and National Union of Workers contested on the UNP ticket. The grouping polled 5,098,927 votes to obtain 93 seats under Proportional Representation system. The SLFP-led UPFA secured 4,732,669 votes to obtain 83 seats, whereas the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (14), the JVP (4) EPDP (1) and the SLMC (1) shared the rest. The JVP, ITAK, SLMC and EPDP polled 543,944, 515,963, 44,193 and 33,481 votes, respectively.

The SLMC contested Batticaloa and Vanni electoral districts on its own while contesting in several other districts on the UNP ticket. The ACMC too contested on its own in the Puttalam and Ampara Districts.

In addition to Colombo, the UNP secured Gampaha, Nuwara Eliya, Mahanuwara, Trincomalee, Digamadulla, Puttalam, Polonnaruwa, Badulla and Kegalle.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa led the UPFA to a narrow win in the Kurunegala district. The UPFA also won Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Matale, Anuradhapura, Moneragama and Ratnapura. The UPFA lost President Maithripala Sirisena’s Polonnaruwa stronghold with the UNP comfortably winning two (Polonnaruwa and Medirigiriya electorates) out of three.

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s Democratic Party, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) led by veteran politician V. Anandasangaree and an Independent Group fielded by ex-LTTE cadres failed to secure seats.

At the last presidential election in April 2010, under then General Sarath Fonseka’s leadership, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) secured seven seats. The DNA’s seven included JVP’s four seats. At the last parliamentary election held close on the heels of the presidential poll, the UPFA won a whopping 144 seats, including 17 National List slots. The remaining seats were shared by the UNP 60 (nine NL slots), DNA (2 NL slots) and ITAK 14 (1 NL slot).

China Cannot Be Avoided: State-run Media After SL Polls

19/08/2015

Chinese official media asserted that “China cannot be avoided” because its ties with Colombo transcended “partisan politics”. | P.K.Balachandran

BEIJING: As a sense of unease prevailed here over defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary polls blunting Beijing’s influence in the Indian Ocean region, Chinese official media asserted that “China cannot be avoided” because its ties with Colombo transcended “partisan politics”.

While Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post headlined its report ‘Sri Lanka’s pro-China ex-president Rajapaksa concedes defeat’, highlighting the strategic significance of the poll result, the state-run Global Times blamed the Western and Indian media for attributing pro-China image to Rajapaksa.

It was during his tenure that Lanka had secured about USD five billion loans from China for strategic projects.

“Although the President (Maithripala) Sirisena government is recalibrating its foreign policy and seeking a balanced approach in handling relations with big powers, China cannot be avoided. It’s only the outsiders’ wishful thinking that partisan politics will stagnate or even turn back China-Sri Lanka relations. China will also not depend on any single party to maintain the bilateral relationship.

“Since Rajapaksa announced his run, some Western and Indian media have deliberately portrayed him as ‘Beijing’s preferred candidate’ and highlighted that his defeat would be frustrating for Beijing,” the Global Times said.

When the allegedly pro-China Rajapaksa “was unseated by Sirisena in January, there was also speculation that the change of government would pose challenges to Sino-Lankan ties and particularly for the Chinese investments in the country”, it said.

“Although partisan politics may have a certain effect on bilateral ties, it’s inappropriate to exaggerate the influence. To consolidate high-level strategic cooperation with China has gained bipartisan backing in Sri Lanka’s parliament. No matter which party takes power, it will maintain a good relationship with China,” it said.

Besides the anxieties over the costly projects, China is concerned over the future of its mega Maritime Silk Road project in the Indian Ocean for which Rajapaksa was first to announce support in 2014 before his defeat overriding India’s reservations over apprehensions that the Chinese project is detrimental to its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean.

The Sirisena government while welcoming the project has called for specific details of its implementation.

The Global Times commentary hoped that the new government will gradually resume the suspended

foreign-invested projects including the controversial USD 1.4 billion Chinese-invested Colombo Port city project, it said.

It was suspended by Sirisena government to review its environmental impact and to re-negotiate clauses like ownership of land by Chinese firms.

The commentary pointed Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s recent interview in which he had said Lanka hopes to negotiate a “win-win” compromise that would allow the suspended Chinese projects to resume after months of delays.

 PTI

Don’t play mad, go home & get the ID, Ranil tells Muzammil!

Aug 19, 2015

Colombo mayor A.J.M. Muzammil forgot to take his national identity card or passport when he accompanied prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the polling booth at the Colombo University to cast their votes on August 17. When he was asked to furnish identification, without saying that he forgot to bring them, he asked them, “Why, child, don’t you know me? I am the Colombo mayor.” But, officials insisted that he should furnish his identification.

The prime minister told his bodyguards to find out as to why the person who had accompanied to the polling booth was taking so long to vote. Coming to the PM with the bodyguards, the mayor asked that since he forgot to bring the identity card, speak to the officials and allow him to vote.

“Don’t play mad. Law is equal to all. I am the prime minister, but they checked my identity card. There is time. Go home and bring the identity card,” the PM told him and sent him home. This is the difference between Ranil and Mahinda. Had Muzammil made the same request from Mahinda, he would have said, “Ado, don’t you know the Colombo people? Who asked for your identity card? Send him home right now,” and sent home the officer who wanted to check his identity card.

Ranil’s exemplary act is an illustration for good governance. We should start small and proceed to bigger things.

UPFA submits two national lists : Elections Commissioner in deep predicament – swearing in of new govt. delayed.

(Lanka-e-News- 19.Aug.2015, 6.25PM) The General election official results have not  been announced yet . Consequently, there is a delay in swearing in of the prime minister and the Parliament commencing sessions.

The delay in the official announcement of election results is because , UPFA’s sacked secretary Susil Premajayantha as well as the newly appointed acting secretary Professor Vishwa Warnapala submitting separate  national  list candidates (two lists) to the Elections commissioner , which had driven the latter into a grave legal predicament. 

The final results cannot be announced officially without confirming  who are the national list candidates . Moreover the new government cannot be sworn in without an official gazette notification.

Based on a court injunction order issued against the ex secretary Premajayantha, he cannot clearly in any case  submit a national list of candidates legally. But the issue is pertaining to the appointment of the SLFP acting secretary. According to the UPFA constitution , the appointment of acting secretary can be made by ’ the SLFP party ‘

The Elections commissioner has therefore sought legal advice to determine whether the  term ‘party’  means the ‘party president,’ and whether the party president is empowered in that respect. 

The elections commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya is to hold discussions in this regard  with the attorney general this afternoon.  In any event  , it is the elections commissioner who is vested with the discretionary power to decide which list shall be accepted.

Under the constitution , the Elections commissioner is bound to release the official results  within a week of the final result is made available. In the circumstances the elections commissioner must mandatorily announce the results officially  via gazette notification before  Monday next. 

---------------------------
by     (2015-08-19 13:02:42)

Five copped with weapons & live ammo

BY KAVINDYA CHRIS THOMAS-2015-08-19

Five individuals were arrested for transporting weapons and live ammunition in a jeep yesterday (18) in a search operation conducted by the Moneragala Police.

Police Media Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekara speaking to Ceylon Today said that the suspects had allegedly driven through a Police checkpoint near the Moneragala Royal College poll counting station yesterday morning.

The Police officers who had stopped the vehicle had found 12 firearms and 10 rounds of ammunition inside the jeep, said ASP Gunasekara.

ASP Gunasekara revealed that the firearm had been licensed under the Moneragala District United National Party (UNP) candidate K. Sumathipala. The suspects were produced before the Moneragla Magistrate's Court yesterday evening.

Moneragala Police are currently conducting an investigation into the matter.

CSN workers intimidated by the Rajapaksa’s

Aug 19, 2015

“Has told to sell tickets and make money”

The second son of the Kurunegala district parliament MP Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha Rajapaksa the owner of the CSN and Singha FM has told the media journalists and the workers of his media institution to bear the expenditures of the logistics projects organized by its network.

The senior officers in the company have intimidated the workers to sell tickets for a program names “Yashoravaya” and if anybody unable to sell would be subject for a salary cut of Rs. 5000. This show was first organized to be held in the Nelum Pokuna but it was changed to
be held in the Maharagama Youth centre. Following the defeat of the UPFA from the General Election some of the sponsors have directly informed their resentment to sponsor the event is the cause for this.

However the senior management of the Carlton Sports Network has decided to sell the tickets by force and to convene the show.

Saudi Arabia executes Egyptian, three Sri Lankans

By AFP

Published: August 17, 2015

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday executed three Sri Lankans found guilty of robbing and killing a citizen as well as an Egyptian convicted of murder in a separate case, the interior ministry said.

The four deaths bring to 120 the number of executions this year in the kingdom, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

The three Sri Lankans were convicted of breaking into the Saudi man’s home, striking him on the head and suffocating him before stealing money, the ministry said in a statement posted on the official SPA news agency website.

They were beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, it said.

In a separate statement, the ministry said that authorities in Eastern Province also executed an Egyptian man convicted of stabbing and strangling to death a fellow citizen after an argument.

Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most prolific executioners, along with China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

Under the conservative kingdom’s strict Islamic sharia legal code, murder, armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are almost always carried out by beheading.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for carrying out the punishments but rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom.