Russia offers to reopen, broaden military talks with the U.S. over Syria

By Craig Whitlock and Brian Murphy-October 6 
ROME — Russia and the United States tentatively agreed Tuesday to resume talks on how to prevent conflicts between their warplanes in the skies over Syria, even as concerns mounted about the potential for a broader confrontation in the Middle East between the two powers.

Russia Offers to Reopen, Broaden Military Talks With the U.S. Over Syria by Thavam Ratna

Military officials say Iraq likely to welcome ‘no red line’ Russian airstrikes 

Will Russian airstrikes replace US-led coalition hits like this in Iraq? (AFP) 

Tuesday 6 October 2015
Iraqi officials say stringent US-led coalition protocol impedes anti-IS airstrike speed, frequency, increasing the appeal of Russian involvement 

BAGHDAD - Iraq is likely to ask Russia to expand its role in the war against the Islamic State (IS) and conduct airstrikes on the group in the country, largely because the Russians have "no red lines" when it comes to hitting targets that have slowed US-led attacks, Iraqi security officials told Middle East Eye.

Last week, Baghdad announced that it will share "security and intelligence" information with Russia, Iran and Syria to counter the IS group which has seized most of the towns and cities in three Sunni-dominated provinces in the north and west of Iraq since June 2014.

There have also been reports that Iraq is mulling over allowing Russia to carry out airstrikes on IS in the country, a consideration that is ongoing, a senior Iraqi security official told MEE this week.

"Initially, I have no problem," Haider al-Abadi, Iraq's Prime Minister said in response to a question about the possibility of the implementation of Russia's airstrikes in Iraq on Saturday. "Actually, I would welcome it if the Russian side will be ready to strike Daesh (an Arabic acronym for IS) inside Iraq.”

"This option is on the table now,” the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MEE, “and if the Iraqi government found that there is an interest to go with it, it will go with it”.

"The Iraqi government has priorities and defeating Daesh, as soon as possible, is at the top of these priorities, so this is an option," the official said.

No red lines

One of the main reasons Russia’s offer is appealing to the Iraqi government is that the protocols that the US-led coalition follow slow down its attack time and also limit the types of targets that are hit, the official and two others in senior security positions told MEE.

"They (US-led coalition) refuse to strike private cars, mosques, bridges, schools despite the fact Daesh militants are mainly using these places as headquarters," a senior military officer, who declined to be named, told MEE.

The US-led rules, which enforces the stringent verification of targets, regularly give IS militants enough time to save their supplies, equipment and fighters, they said.

"This is an exceptional war and our enemy has no rules," one of the officers said. "How [can] you ask me to stick to the rules while my enemy is brutally killing my people every day, enslaving my sisters and destroy my towns and cities?”

"Russians have no red lines, no complicated and restricted rules, so it would be easy for us to deal with them," he said.

Additionally, because many of the militants operating in Iraq are Caucasian, Chechen or Russian who may eventually head back to their home countries, Russia has a particular interest in monitoring their movements and learning who funds them and were they are headquartered.

No Russian presence yet

Iraq’s Ministry of Defence said that the cooperation with the Russians has not started yet and the preparations to establish a security-intelligent cooperation centre which will take place in Baghdad, are still going on.

"We still, until this moment, are preparing the centre and [there is] nothing tangible on the ground with respect to either the intelligent sharing information or the airstrikes," Nassier Nuri, the media advisor of the Iraqi Minister of Defense, told MEE.

"Iraqi government has not presented a request to the Russian Side to engage in the airstrikes [against IS] inside Iraq and we still talking about the intelligent cooperation, no more," Nuri said.

Reports earlier this week suggested that Russia and Iraq had agreed to allow the Russian air force to start using the country’s Al Taqaddum Air Base in Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad, as a launching pad for bombing missions against IS in Syria and northern Iraq.

But Nuri said that the reports are entirely inaccurate.

"This (Taqaddum) base is an advanced training base where some of the US trainers are stationed to train the Iraqi security forces and the (anti-IS Sunni) tribal fighters, and no Russians are there," Nuri said.

Iraq has had limited air force capability since the 1990s after the US army destroyed most of its aircrafts and equipment when former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invade Kuwait.

Since 2003, Iraq has made concerted efforts to rebuild its air fleet, signing contracts mainly with US companies to buy F-16 fighter jets.

But the delivery dates for the planes have been hampered by security, political and financial problems – aircrafts have been bought on credit since last summer - that have engulfed the country.

While an increased Russian role in Iraq could speed up the fight against IS, analyst say it might worsen the situation in the country as it becomes a battleground between the US and Russia and could further complicate the situation with multiple countries and interests at hand.

For decades, Iraq has had complicated ties with Iran. More recently, Iran has provided crucial support to Iraqis in their war against IS, including advising, equipping and funding Shia militias which are the backbone of the country’s armed forces after the dramatic collapse of the Iraqi army last summer.

The US-led coalition also been assisting Iraq in its fight, including striking IS in Iraq and Syria and training and advising Iraqi forces. Both sides insist that they are not coordinating their efforts but in fact they complement each other, analysts said.

David Cameron challenged over Saudi Arabian teenager

TUESDAY 06 OCTOBER 2015

The Prime Minister indicated that he would try and personally intervene with Saudi Arabian authorities in the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr who has been sentenced to death.

David Cameron has indicated that he will attempt to personally raise the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, the teenager sentenced to execution and crucifixion if there is an "opportunity" with Saudi Arabian authorities. 

Challenged on allegations that the UK and Saudi Arabia struck a deal to ensure both countries were elected to the UN human rights council the Prime Minister said Britain "disagree with them about punishment routines" and the death penalty. 

He said his party "oppose the death penalty anywhere and everywhere" 

The Prime Minster added that Saudi Arabian intelligence has thwarted a terror attack on British streets potentially saving lives. 

Speaking to Jon Snow at the Conservative party conference in Manchester Mr Cameron said: "The Foreign Secretary has raised this, our embassy has raised this, we have raised this in the proper way. I look to see if there is an opportunity to raise it as well. 

"We oppose the death penalty anywhere and everywhere in all our international contacts."

This week classified Saudi memoranda released by Wikileaks, and published in the Australian newspaper, suggest that in November 2013 British and Saudi diplomats agreed to support each other's election to the UN Human Rights Council. 

Both countries were later elected to the 47-member council for three-year terms running to the end of 2016.

Challenged on the alleged deal Mr Cameron said: "Saudi Arabia is a member of the United Nations but we completely disagree with them about the punishment routines, about the death penalty.

He added: "We totally oppose their record in that area."

Guinea-Bissau president rejects proposed government

Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz arrives to speak with journalists after a meeting with his Portuguese counterpart Anibal Cavaco Silva (not pictured) at Belem presidential palace in Lisbon June 19, 2014.

Wed Oct 7, 2015

Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz rejected on Tuesday a cabinet proposed by his new prime minister, dealing a blow to efforts aimed at turning the page on a crisis that has threatened to destabilise the coup-plagued West African nation.

Carlos Correia was appointed premier on Sept. 8 following weeks of political turmoil triggered by Vaz's dismissal of Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira and his government over a row between the two rivals within the ruling PAIGC party.

After more than a month of political haggling, Correia submitted a list of ministers to the president on Oct. 2. However Vaz said the cabinet was too large.

"The presidency asks Carlos Correia to reformulate his 34-member government because the state budget will not be able to cover the cost," said a statement released by Vaz's office.

Vaz also complained that the prime minister's cabinet was largely composed of ministers from Pereira's dismissed government, some of whom are facing court cases over alleged corruption.

Pereira was himself named on Correia's list as minister to the presidency in charge of cabinet meetings and government spokesman.

The former Portuguese colony has become a major transit point for cocaine smuggled from South America to Europe amid chronic political instability that has seen the country rocked by nine coups or attempted coups since 1980.

(Reporting by Alberto Dabo; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Hong Kong ex-leader Tsang charged in corruption probe

DISPATCH TIMES

BY NEWSMEDIAON OCTOBER 6, 2015

Tsang will appear in court again on November 13, and he has been bailed on a surety of HK$100,000.

Former Chief Executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Donald Tsang Yam-kuen appeared in Eastern Magistracy this (Monday) afternoon after being charged by the ICAC with twocounts of misconduct in public office.

The city’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said Tsang had failed to publicly declare that he was in talks to lease the apartment while its owner was involved in a bid to seek a broadcasting license from Hong Kong’s government. He was also ordered to inform the ICAC of his travel itinerary at least 24 hours before leaving Hong Kong and not to interfere with the prosecution witnesses.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that his wife accompanied him during his appearance at court, and she said that she was truly disheartened as she and her husband are harassed daily for the past few years.

Public resentment towards Tsang had centred on reports of lavish spending on overseas duty visits, along with allegations of taking trips with tycoons by private jet and luxury yacht and of accepting a sweetheart rental deal for the Shenzhen flat. Tsang was proposing that the architect be referred for consideration for nomination under the city’s honours and awards system.

It is the latest in a string of corruption revelations that have raised concerns about the relationship between government officials and business leaders.

Tsang stood in court as a clerk read out the charges, saying “I understand” after each charge.

In 2012, Tsang had retired after a high-flying career as a civil servant, serving as a senior official in the former British colonial administration and a former financial secretary.

“My conscience is clear”, he said. In a separate corruption case past year, a former Hong Kong chief secretary – the second-highest ranking official – and a co-chairman of one of the city’s biggest property developers were given prison sentences.

“I have every confidence that the court will exonerate me at the end of its proceedings”, he said.

Muslim coalition sues Burma’s president for Rohingya ‘genocide’

Burmese President Thein Sein. Pic: AP.

By Kyle Lawrence Mullin Oct 06, 2015

Burmese President Thein Sein and several of his top officials have been accused of being complicent, if not active participants, in the genocide of their nation’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

The Guardian reported that the suit was filed by a coalition of Muslims in New York’s federal court on Thursday. Their complaint says Thein Sein’s administration has violated the U.S. Alien Tort statute, a policy that has previously been invoked by foreign citizens seeking compensation and relief from human rights violations outside of America’s borders.

The Muslim coalition also requests that New York Judge Debra Freeman issues summonses to  the Burmese president, his Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and other upper echelon officials.

However, President Thein Sein seems unfazed by the civil suit. Yesterday one of his representatives said: “Myanmar [Burma] is not a vassal to America. There’s no reason why Myanmar would go and face the lawsuit of a federal court in America.”

The Burmese government’s dismissive response comes in spite of the suit’s strong wording which, according to Al Jazeera, accuses the Thein Sein administration of planning and instigating “hate crimes and discrimination amounting to genocide” of the Rohingya people. Specifically, the plaintiffs decried how that Muslim minority is being “subjected to genocide, torture, arbitrary detention, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” at the hands of the government.

President Thein Sein seems to have little to worry about in the immediate future. Judges require several months to decide if such cases can proceed, which may prove difficult in this case because of a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that makes the protocol for such lawsuits more stringent, including a policy that such claims must “touch and concern” U.S. territory “with sufficient force” to “displace the presumption that the law does not cover non-U.S. conduct”.

Regardless of the suit’s viability in court, it has successfully attracted international media attention, which may be a key goal for activists ahead of Burma’s landmark election next month, a poll which the Rohingya people have been barred from voting in.

Driverless robot taxis to be tested in Japanese town

Fujisawa residents will be ferried in driverless cars, which, if successful, could be used to transport spectators for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

 Robot Taxi is expected to intensify the global race to launch unmanned vehicles on to the consumer market. Photograph: Yuya Shino/Reuters

Justin McCurry in Tokyo-Monday 5 October 2015

Dozens of people in Japan will be whisked to the local shops in driverless taxis from next year in an experiment with robot technology that could be fully commercial by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics in 2020.

From March 2016, the taxis will take about 50 residents of Fujisawa, a large coastal town near Tokyo, from their homes to supermarkets along the city’s main roads in journeys of about 3km.

Robot Taxi – a collaboration between ZMP, a developer of automated vehicle technology, and mobile internet firm DeNa – is expected to intensify the global race, involving Google, Ford, BMW and other firms, to launch unmanned vehicles on to the consumer market.

While Japanese developers have faith in the car’s GPS, radar and stereovision cameras, attendants will sit in the driver’s seat during the journeys in case human intervention is needed, according to media reports.

If the Fujisawa trials are successful, the cars could be used to ferry spectators around at the 2020 Games and in rural communities with little or no public transport.

As one of the fastest-ageing societies in the world, Japan is thought to be ideal for the introduction of self-driving vehicles, amid a rise in the number of accidentsinvolving older drivers.

The number of Japanese drivers aged 75 or older was 4.25 million in 2013, and is expected to exceed 5 million in three years.

The age of the “silver” driver prompted the police to seek a revision to traffic laws that requires drivers aged over 74 who are suspected of suffering from dementia to a provide a “fit-to-drive” document from their doctor.

Japan’s police agency says drivers aged 75 or older were responsible for 458 fatal road accidents in 2013, a rise of 20% over a decade.

Technological obstacles and safety concerns aside, Japan will also have to change road traffic laws requiring all vehicles to have drivers.

Officials in Fujisawa, which is aiming to become Japan’s first sustainable“smart town”, said the trial would be the first using the driverless vehicles on local roads, and with residents as passengers.

“This time, the robot taxi experiment will be conducted on actual city streets. I think this is quite amazing,” the governor of Kanagawa prefecture, Yuji Kuroiwa, told reporters at the vehicle’s recent media launch, according to the Japan Times.

Shinjiro Koizumi – son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi – who is a ruling party MP for Kanagawa, told reporters: “There are a lot of people who say [self-driving cars] are impossible. But I think this will happen faster than people expect.”

China’s New Plans for a Cap and Trade System Just Might Work

And the country's recent economic slowdown could actually help.

BY EDWARD A. CUNNINGHAM-OCTOBER 6, 2015

While it is easy to dismiss China’s new cap and trade policy as just a partial Band-Aid on hemorrhaging Chinese carbon emissions — or as destined to languish because of poor Chinese emissions data, weak enforcement of rules, corruption and weak market institutions — the timing could not have been better. Announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Sept. 25, China’s plan is to launch a national emission trading system in 2017, covering key industries including power generation, iron and steel, chemicals, building materials, paper-making, and nonferrous metals. Political directives from the top in Beijing are combining with China’s recent economic slump to produce a much higher likelihood that China will succeed in creating a cap and trade market that makes a difference. Past experiments in emissions trading systems (ETS) in China certainly have been difficult. But this one could be different.

First, a rapidly growing energy system often leaves Chinese policymakers little room for experimentation when the government is simply trying to keep the lights on and underlying energy prices are high. Fear of grid instability, price volatility, and more dynamic demand curves hindered the scaling of many of the previous demand-side energy reforms, conservation efforts, emissions trading schemes, and other initiatives. In addition, high demand and high fuel prices led to a wide gap between the lower state-subsidized prices for things such as electric power, and the higher liberalized market rate resulting from experiments. In contrast, the recent economic slowdown to about seven percent GDP growth and resulting drop in fuel prices has closed this gap, and enabled reforms such as power pricing reforms in critical markets like the southeastern city Shenzhen, where high power prices will be reduced. This breathing room in the energy system is important for emissions trading schemes, which by design seek to place a price on emissions and therefore raise costs to reflect social costs.

Second, the strategic inclusion of a $3.1 billion fund to aid developing countries in the fight against climate change, also announced on Sept. 25, signals a growing and important psychological shift among Chinese policymakers. Providing funds, even if limited, departs from a “Copenhagen era” approach in which a fractious developing-world bloc often placed China as a de-facto lead in climate negotiations, arguing that climate mitigation technology and infrastructure funds should flow from the developed to the developing world. Instead, China is committing to fund climate efforts in the world itself, thus breaking from this unproductive negotiating dynamic.

Perhaps most importantly, China’s move has implications for U.S. domestic climate legislation. Beijing’s recent cap and trade announcement directly undermines U.S. policymakers who have long argued that China’s participation in climate mitigation policy is a prerequisite for U.S. action in this arena. With China attempting to blanket larger swathes of its industrial economy in carbon policy, the United States will find it harder to not follow suit and is instead likely to expand beyond actions covering only the domestic power sector.

The trading of any commodity requires buyers and sellers.Break-neck economic growth limited the supply of sellers from previous Chinese attempts to start regional sulfur dioxide markets and more recently, pilot carbon dioxide markets. With power generators trying to keep up with demand, few were in a position to have any excess emissions credits to sell. The result was stilted, forced trades with only symbolic value. With slowing economic growth, China’s expanded fleet of more efficient power plants and renewable assets, along with stagnating iron, steel, and coal plants, represent a growing cadre of real potential credit sellers.

To be sure, significant carbon accounting challenges will now finally need to be addressed, rather than delayed, and equally vexing governance problems ofmonitoring, reporting, and verification must be resolved. Measuring GDP in China has proven difficult enough, let alone the carbon content of varying coal feedstocks and emissions in fragmented industrial uses. The potential for major market power of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in a carbon market is also a real concern, should SOEs with a generally lower capital cost compete with private companies that often are shouldered with a higher capital cost. There are also solutions to such challenges, including holding limits. These are all welcome challenges, however, given the centrality of government policy in these approaches and the political will represented by Xi’s recent policy move.

While Europe’s decade-long cap and trade experiment has been difficult, we should keep in mind that China’s pilots were a mere concept five years ago and were launched two years ago. This push occurred during a dark period for cap and trade, during which the United States failed to pass a nationwide cap and trade policy, Australia reversed its own carbon market plan, and the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism market collapsed.

China’s coordinated move to reduce emissions through more efficient credit trading and more efficient electricity dispatch will need to combine with proactive international diplomacy with the other major emitters. Supporters of climate action across the globe are placing much hope on the upcoming COP21 climate conference in Paris this December. Fortunately, Chinese leaders in this respect have also shifted to a more active stance. Historically Chinese negotiators were often caught between the demands of other developing nation coalitions, such as the “Group of 77” focused on supporting adaptation funds for smaller emitters, and the demands of developed economies to focus efforts and the majority of funds towards climate mitigation. China itself is rather unique in this regard, as a major emitter with both gleaming modern cities of the 21st century and deeply impoverished areas and populations.

Funding from the developed world to the developing world in the form of green technology transfer funds or climate adaptation funds were one of the many bones of contention between China and U.S./EU parties. Here China has transformed. President Xi’s announcement of the $3.1 billion fund to aid developing nations, while not particularly large, reflects the same shift evident in Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s historic visit to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) earlier this summer, the first of its kind of any senior Chinese leader. Li signed China’s joining of the OECD Development Centre and related assistance programs. On the private sector side of the ledger, a growing number of sectorial green technology funds have begun to emerge that leverage Chinese finances to deploy energy efficiency, new materials, renewable energy, and energy service technologies from the U.S. and EU in China and the developing world.

China consumes just over half of the world’s coal, emits twice the carbon of the United States, yet is aiming to build a carbon trading market twice the size of Europe’s — by far the largest in the world. While critics cite the exclusion of transport in this initial phase of the market, inclusion of the fragmented and critical industrial sectors of iron and steel, chemicals, and construction represents a critical step towards bending the carbon intensity curve downward. As one useful Chinese saying goes, “beyond the mountains are yet taller mountains.” While challenges are clearly ahead, the timing of the most recent cap and trade policy provides another major lift above a mountain range that has stymied serious Chinese commitment for some time. The resulting view is impressive, and a cause for realistic hope heading into Paris this winter.

AFP/Getty Images

Court acquits Tamil mother after 15 years of detention under PTA

• by Ruki Fernando 
• - on 10/05/2015 

Last week, Tamil children in the North of Sri Lanka reportedly took to the streets to demand the release of their parents detained for years[1] under anti-terror laws[2]. This was hardly reported in mainstream Sri Lankan media. But many Sri Lankan media reported that two suspects in the Town Hall bomb case of 1999 (injuring former President Kumaratunga and countless others and killing 26[3]) were sentenced to 290 and 300 years respectively.

Court Acquits Tamil Mother After 15 Years of Detention Under PTA by Thavam Ratna

‘Yahapalanaya’ and ‘cutout palanaya’: Overzealous sycophants reduce ‘Yahapalanaya’ to a mere slogan 

2015-10-05

In the Buddhist folklore, there was this monkey that a king reared as his trusted companion. The king had full faith in the ape, who accompanied the sovereign anywhere he went.  On one fine day, after attending the affairs of the State, the king took a short afternoon nap, leaving his sword with the ape. The monkey sat next to the sleeping royal, ever vigilant to guard his master against undesirable intruders.  Seeing a pesky fly buzzing around the king, and worried that it would disturb the royal, the monkey tried to chase it away, but in vein. When the fly kept circling around, the monkey, now enraged at the repeated incursions, grabbed the royal sword, and landed one heavy blow, aiming the fly, perched on the king’s chest. The king was effectively hacked to death.

When President Maithripala Sirisena on his return from the UN General Assembly was greeted by those numerous cutouts hanging from all available space in the city, touting him as the hero who defeated imperialism, he should have reminded that monkey. (That is subject to the assumption that MS himself did not order the display of that sycophantic affection. That, I guess, is a fair conjecture because in January after he was sworn-in as the President, he ordered the removal of his cutouts that had sprung up around the country).
We are a nation of sycophants. However, the level of sycophancy hit its disturbing zenith under President Sirisena’s predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, though successive Presidents (perhaps with the exception of D.B. Wijethunga, whose tenure was anyway brief), were not far behind.

‘Yahapalanaya’ and ‘Cutout Palanaya’ Overzealous Sycophants Reduce ‘Yahapalanaya’ to a Mere Slogan by Thavam Ratna

CID to inspect Giritale Army Camp

2015-10-05
The CID has said as part of its ongoing investigations into the fate that had befallen journalist Pragneeth Eknaligoda who had gone missing, it would inspect the Giritale Army Intelligence Corps Camp where he was alleged to have been detained. 

Police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara said the 11 suspects currently detained by the CID would be taken to the military facility between October 3 and 13 to facilitate the investigations. 

He said the Attorney General’s advice would be sought on how to proceed with the investigations and the prosecution. 

The Homagama Magistrate granted leave to the CID on September 28 to photograph the camp belonging to the Giritale Army Intelligence Corps and to examine the books and documents maintained by the camp authorities. 

The CID informed Court that the investigations were launched on a complaint made by Mr. Ekneligoda’s wife Sandya. During the ongoing investigations two lieutenant colonels and several intelligence officers had been arrested and were being interrogated. 

The detectives sought a court order to obtain these records as they were needed for their investigations. 

Permission had been granted to the CID to visit the camp and conduct the necessary investigations. (Darshana Sanjeewa) 

After The UN Resolution What?

By S. Sivathasan –October 5, 2015

S. Sivathasan

For years together, three primary entities; UN, Tamils in Sri Lanka and outside and the Sri Lankan government more reactively than pro-actively were engaged in getting the Resolution passed. For plain sailing, sails were trimmed selectively. Now throwing the trimmings to the waves, vision needs to be riveted on navigation: direction, speed and avoidance of shoals. With UN surveillance, no shipwreck is anticipated. UN High Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein has inspired confidence as an able helmsman. With belief in ourselves and trust in the UN and the HC to be constant like the North Star, we can nurture a positive frame of mind.

What is Primary by the Tamils?

Recognizing that the phase of post war coldness is over after six years, the inevitable rebalancing act needs to be embarked upon. Stated, declared, emphasized and reiterated even ad nauseam, has been for the Tamil leadership to institute a ‘Think Tank’. To undertake studies immediately, to continue eternally, this mechanism is multi tasked. It has perforce to be multi- disciplinary. Drawing personnel from the world of scholarship, specialism and expertise is unavoidable.

Why this unprecedented step which will certainly be protracted? No hypothesis can be evolved or conclusion reached without studied analysis supported by statistics that are authentic and credible. Take just one area as a case in point:

• In 1971, the last year of credible population census, Sri Lankan Tamil population was: 11.22% of the nation’s total.
• In 2011, the latest population census, Sri Lankan Tamil population was: 11.15% of the nation’s.
• It is known thoroughly that in the 40 year period, emigrant Tamil population together with their natural increase is an estimated 900,000 (Nine lakhs) and no less.
• In the same 40 years, violent deaths of militants, their associates and those caught in between number an estimated 150,000 if not more.
• Tamil population in Sri Lanka depleted by 1.15 million in 2011, remains at the same level as in 1971 as per the report of the Department of Census and Statistics ie as endorsed by the government.

It is asserted by this writer that the census statistics are falsified. A challenge is thrown before anybody to establish otherwise.

Why this designed mischief? On such data are argued the statistics of killings (the rot of 7,000 deaths in the final phase against a probable 70,000 or more; so with ‘missing’ and ‘disappeared’; and to minimize Diaspora strength to a miniscule 0.07% or 14,000 in several countries in all continents. So the UN need not take the Diaspora seriously). What a travesty! Onus is upon the government to correct the falsification. No rigmarole will hold water.

Read More

SRI LANKA CO-SPONSORS UN RIGHTS RESOLUTION IN BID TO REMOVE THE STING

Victims of war crimes in Sri Lanka

JEHAN PERERA. Monday, October 5, 2015

COLOMBO: By co-sponsoring the resolution on Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka the government has taken the initiative with regard to the implementation of its recommendations. Some of the recommendations are controversial. The main controversial recommendation is to set up a judicial accountability mechanism with international participation. But the gain for the government is that it is in charge of the implementation. In addition, for the first time since 2009 when Sri Lanka was taken before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the government succeeded in obtaining the unanimity of the members of the international community represented there regarding Sri Lanka’s future. 

The time table for reporting back to the UN Human Rights Council gives the government a degree of flexibility in getting its implementation mechanisms in order. The government is expected to give its written report on implementation in March 2017, which is 18 months away. At that time the government will have to defend and justify its progress or lack thereof in the implementation of the recommendations to be found in the resolution. Prior to that there will be a continuous assessment made of the implementation of the recommendations by the UN High Commissioner who will also be giving an oral update to the UN Human Rights Council in nine months. 

As can be expected the opposition parties took the view that the government gave in to the Western led international community by agreeing to co-sponsor the resolution on Sri Lanka. They have argued that by co-sponsoring the resolution, the government is left with no option but to implement the recommendations which have been imposed on Sri Lanka. The previous government which was led by those who are now in the opposition argued that the successive resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council were damaging to Sri Lanka’s interests. But they could not prevent the resolutions being passed despite their opposition, and each time the resolution was stronger in terms of what was being imposed on the country. 

The previous government’s strategy of seeking to defy the United States and other Western countries in the UN Human Rights Council led to three successive defeats for Sri Lanka. By aggressively countering and opposing those countries the previous government also began to internationalise its differences with them. The last resolution of the UN Human Rights Council in 2014 established an international investigation under the aegis of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that probed the allegations of human rights violations and war crimes in the last phase of the country’s war. There was anticipation that in the event of further resistance from Sri Lanka, further unilateral measures would be imposed on the country by the Western led international community. 

However, by co-sponsoring the present resolution, the new government has succeeded in reducing the level of imposition. The government’ decision to co-sponsor the resolution on the future its post-war accountability process means that Sri Lanka has the status of an equal partner. The fact of co-sponsorship implies that the Sri Lankan government will be party in charge of implementing the recommendations, and this would be within its sphere of control. The tilting of the balance in favour of Sri Lanka is also reinforced by the reference to a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism in the resolution. The government has announced a mechanism to deal with the past that will be based on four components. It will include a Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation, an Office of Missing Persons, a judicial mechanism with special counsel to be set up by statute and an Office of Reparations. 

The international community is showing that it is aware of the problems posed to the government in addressing the issues of human rights violations due to the war. The Western led international community is seen in an adverse light by the nationalist sections of the Sinhalese who allege that there will be danger to Sri Lanka from it and from the Tamil Diaspora. This means that the government has to tread carefully in dealing with the Geneva process. So far the government’s approach to the release of the UN report appears to have induced a moderate approach on the part of the general population to the issue of possible war crimes of the past. As a result the space has opened up for rational dialogue within the country as to what needs to be done to heal the past wounds and unite to face the challenges of the future. 

Due to the new government’s cooperative approach, the international community also appears to have tried to tone down the resolution to meet some of the concerns of the Sri Lankan government. An analysis of the resolution by the South Asian Centre for Legal Studies (SACLS) provides a commentary on each paragraph of the solution argues that the US and other co-sponsoring countries “were very keen that the text of the resolution reflect the changes that took place in Sri Lanka after January 2015 (presidential election) and thereafter again in August (general election).” It also noted that the US ambassador in Geneva repeatedly stated that “the resolution should reflect two realities: First the change that had happened in Sri Lanka, and second the gravity and seriousness of the violations of human rights and crimes contained in the UN report.” 

Thus, the resolution noted in a positive manner the passage of the 19th Amendment and its potential contribution to promoting democratic governance, including strengthening judicial independence within the country. It also highlighted the positive steps taken by the government to improve life for the war-affected people of the North and East, and acknowledged the progress made by the government in rebuilding infrastructure, demining, returning land taken over as high security zones and resettling displaced persons. The analysis by SACLS also notes that the drafters of the resolution were also sensitive to phraseology, and gave deference to the Sri Lankan government’s preferences. Instead of calling on the UN High Commissioner to monitor the implementation of the recommendations it used the alternative formulation of assessing rather than monitoring. 

Now that the session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is over, the government’s attention will necessarily have to turn to Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken the lead in addressing the country on the contents of the resolution and what it means. He is reported to have met with the top military and police commanders and explained the Geneva process and resolution to them. It will also be necessary to take this message to the larger civil society. This can be done both through NGOs and also government servants who reach vast numbers of the general public. It is largely civil society work that has created a general environment in post-war Sri Lanka that demonstrated a positive resistance to attempts to re-ignite ethnic nationalism within society.