Sabiya Mahal: Commemmorating 25 years of the Northern Muslim eviction

Picture courtesy SriLankaBrief

• by An IDPs diary 
• - on 10/22/2015 

Excerpt from an IDP’s diary – 22nd August 2003

I am worried and mad at my Mum. Why is she doing this? Is she insane or greedy?

She says it is foolish to keep something that will be soon taken over by “them”.

I cried “Mum, it is our home. We have to keep it for our kids. Maybe they will not live there but this is the only connection we have got. After all, Mannar is our home town”.

Sabiya Mahal Commemmorating 25 Years of the Northern Muslim Eviction by Thavam Ratna

Int’l role in war crimes probe will be decided through consultations-Cabinet spokesperson

By Shamindra Ferdinando-October 22, 2015

Admitting that the level of foreign participation in the proposed war crimes court hadn’t been decided as yet, Cabinet spokesman and health minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne yesterday said that the judicial mechanism for inquiring into accountability issues here would be set up in keeping with an agreement to be reached between the UN and the government of Sri Lanka.

Addressing the media at the Government Information Department, Minister Senaratne explained possible foreign participation ranging from supervision of the proposed domestic judicial mechanism to participation of foreign judges.

The Cabinet Spokesperson was responding to a query by The Island regarding Attorney-at-law J. C. Weliamuna’s recent declaration at the Information  Department that foreign participation was inevitable as Sri Lanka lacked capacity to address the accountability issues.

Confirming Weliamuna’s contention, Dr. Senaratne claimed that the UN would have hardened its stand on Sri Lanka if Paranagama and Udalagama reports on accountability issues had been released before Geneva adopted the Geneva Resolution on Sept. 30.

The Cabinet Spokesman said that those who had been calling for the release of Paranagama and Udalagama reports were obviously surprised by some of the content as well as recommendations. Dr. Senaratne said that the Paranagama Report had dealt with the Channel 4 News issue, ‘white flag killings’ as well as the killing of Isipriya in a way not to the liking of those opposed to the Geneva process.

Responding to a second question on the same issue, Dr. Senaratne said that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government had been able to secure

H.L.D. Mahindapala & Ethnolunacy

By Izeth Hussain –October 19, 2015 

Izeth Hussain

I refer to HLDM’s attack on me in the Colombo Telegraph of October 13 under the title A- Izeth of Hussein’s Haram Politics. That title shows a highly eccentric use of the English language pointing to the ethnolunacy of which the whole attack reeks. By ethnolunacy I mean the extreme irrationality that is characteristic of extreme racists. HLDM has a wide notoriety, a richly deserved one, as an extreme Sinhala racist. Several of the readers’ replies to his article show that.

What is in question is sovereignty in the contemporary world. His prolix and rambling article fails altogether to address that question. I made two simple points that the average reader can understand without difficulty. The first is that after the Second World War there has been a steady erosion of state sovereignty. Anyone who disputes that well-established fact shows himself up as an utter ignoramus on international relations. The second point is that in the second half of the eighteenth century it came to be established that the people and not the wielders of power are sovereign. It follows that a UNHRC Resolution could be unfriendly to the sovereign state and friendly to the sovereign people. Instead of dealing with that argument HLDM rambles along at great length bringing in irrelevant issues such as globalization. He has failed to understand my simple and straightforward argument. So advanced is his state of ethnolunacy.

He charges that I proclaim myself to be one of the five best diplomats in the world. That was a statement made about me, not by myself, but by the late Indian journalist G.K. Reddy. I have clarified that fact in the past but HLDM prefers to ignore that. He claims that I was relegated to the position of a backroom boy by A.C.S Hameed. But that same Hameed got me appointed as Ambassador to Paris, an appointment that was aborted – I am reliably informed – because of representations made by Buddhist monks in Paris. It looks like he cannot get anything right about me because of his ethnolunacy.                   Read More   

Sri Lanka’s ‘White-flag’ Massacre was Botched Rajapaksa Deal: PM

 23/10/2015 

The controversial “white flag killings” were actually due to a botched surrender arranged by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa to save some of the senior Tiger leaders who had helped him to come to power in 2005, parliament was told Friday.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the assembly that Rajapaksa had wanted to save the LTTE’s peace secretariat chief S. Puleedevan for engineering his election victory in 2005 by organising a Tamil boycott of the vote and thus blocking votes for the UNP candidate.

QUESTIONS: Bus loads of Tamils disappeared after surrendering to Sri Lanka Army: Paranagama Commission report

President Rajapaksa won his first term by the narrowest of margins in Sri Lanka’s political history thanks to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) enforcing a boycott of the presidential election. Had Tamils voted, Wickremesinghe was expected to have won.

Wickremesinghe also made a startling allegation that the August 2005 assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was also linked to Rajapaksa’s plan to come to power.

The then president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had wanted to name Kadirgamar as her successor, but Rajapaksa rebelled and mounted a major campaign to secure, first the prime ministership and then the presidential nomination.

Wickremesinghe said plans to bribe the Tigers had been discussed at Temple Trees, the official residence of the prime minister when Rajapaksa was premier.

Wickremesinghe said there was no doubt that the Tigers killed Kadirgamar, a key contender  for the presidential nomination, clearing the way for Rajapaksa.

“There is a connection between the Kadirgamar assassination and the presidential election,” Wickremesinghe said. “The kadirgamnar assassination must be thoroughly probed and all this will come out.”

He said Rajapaksa was keen to save Puleedevan who had been the key figure who engineered Wickremesinghe’ s narrow defeat at the 2005 vote.

“Who wanted to save Puleedevan? Who put the November 2005 deal through for Rajapaksa,” Wickremesinghe said. “Why did the regime want to save Puleedevan? I don’t like people being killed, but Puleedevan is a man whose actions put the Tamil community in jeopardy.

“I do not shed any tears for Puleedevan. If not for him, Rajapaksa would not have been able to take power. It is by trying to save Puleedevan that the country is now facing this white flag crisis.

“Instead of leaving battle field decisions to field commanders, the then government tried to interfere. They were negotiating a surrender.”

Wickremesinghe suggested that a senior military commander may have been getting conflicting signals about the surrender and that led to the killings.

The then Sri Lanka’s top official Palitha Kohona had asked the Tigers to carry white flags, walk slowly and give themselves up to the military.

Later, the Tiger leaders were found dead and the UN as well as the Paranagama commission has called for an independent judicial investigation in to the killings after characterising it as a war crime.

Wickremesinghe suggested that local field commanders had carried out the shooting without being fully aware of the negotiations between the Rajapaksa regime and Puleedevan, a fact that is well documented by United Nations diplomats who were involved in the process.

“If it was not a surrender that was negotiated, we won’t be facing this problem today,” he added.

–  ECONOMYNEXT

Sri Lanka: Routine Police Torture Devastates Families

A Sri Lankan policeman keeps watch at a demonstration in the capital, Colombo, on August 14, 2014.  

  © 2014 Getty Images

OCTOBER 23, 2015

(Colombo) – Sri Lanka’s police forces regularly torture and ill-treat criminal suspects in custody, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The authorities should create an independent oversight authority and adopt concrete steps to end police abuse that has had such corrosive effects across Sri Lankan society.

 

“The Sri Lankan police treat the use of torture as an ordinary way of obtaining confessions,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The police regularly get away with using torture to falsely ‘resolve’ cases that really aren’t being resolved.”

The 59-page report, “‘We Live in Constant Fear’: Lack of Accountability for Police Abuse in Sri Lanka,” documents various torture methods used by the Sri Lankan police against criminal suspects, including severe beatings, electric shock, suspension from ropes in painful positions, and rubbing chili paste in the genitals and eyes. Victims of torture and their families may spend years seeking justice and redress with little hope of success.

Human Rights Watch conducted research in greater Colombo and other parts of Sri Lanka in 2014 and 2015. Previous Human Rights Watch reports have focused on wartime abuses, including torture of minority Tamil civilians. This report documents how torture and police abuse are entrenched and devastating to the majority Sinhalese population as well.

Human Rights Watch’s findings are consistent with those of domestic human rights groups that have long worked on documenting torture in Sri Lanka’s police stations and jails.

For example, Gayan Rasanga died in police custody in 2011 after he was arrested on suspicion of theft. Rasanga’s mother said that when she went to the morgue, she saw her son’s body had “dark marks on his ankles. The soles of his feet looked like they had been burned. There were bruises on his hips, his nose was broken and bloody.”

"One of the saddest things about these cases is that, although Sri Lanka has decent laws to protect against such abuse, these laws seem to be treated as mere suggestions and not as required police procedures.... The police are meant to protect and uphold rights, not be the torchbearers of dismantling rights. 

Brad Adams

Asia director

“AJ,” who was arrested on suspicion of theft in March 2015, said that police beat him to force a confession: “Within a minute I could feel my skin peeling, breaking. I was screaming very loudly from the pain. He kept saying that he knew that this was the way to get me to tell the truth.”

The history of police procedural violations against criminal suspects has contributed to the use of torture despite promises of reform by successive Sri Lankan governments. Suspects frequently are not informed about the reasons for their arrest. Police sometimes fabricate charges to justify the initial arrest and subsequent abusive interrogation methods. Suspects often are not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours as required by Sri Lankan law. Family members usually are not informed of an arrest or allowed access to their detained relatives. Suspects may have little or no access to lawyers, and protection mechanisms such as examination by medical officers are haphazard or improperly implemented.

“One of the saddest things about these cases is that, although Sri Lanka has decent laws to protect against such abuse, these laws seem to be treated as mere suggestions and not as required police procedures,” Adams said. “Arbitrary arrest and other police mistreatment end up contributing to the use of torture. The police are meant to protect and uphold rights, not be the torchbearers of dismantling rights.”

Even in cases where victims or their families were able to file complaints before the courts and other mechanisms, there has been only a remote chance of justice and accountability. Victims can file complaints against police abuse with the local courts, but lawyers and rights activists say that there are significant barriers to securing justice through this process, particularly in rural areas where the police engage in intimidation and threats against victims. In addition to court fees, there are regular court appearances and attorney fees for each appearance, and it typically takes years before cases are heard properly, if at all. Lawyers and rights activists advocating on behalf of the victims told Human Rights Watch that the police are allowed a wide discretionary berth by their superiors, the attorney general’s department, and the courts.

Sri Lanka’s new government took office in early 2015 on a promise of a wide array of reforms. To curtail the practices documented, the Sri Lankan government, at a minimum, should implement the following reforms:

• Issue clear, public directives that police torture and other forms of abuse will not be tolerated;
• Establish an independent police oversight authority charged with investigating allegations of police abuse, the results of which would then be forwarded to the attorney general’s department for prosecution as appropriate. This authority should be housed entirely outside the police department, report to the Ministry of Justice, have all relevant authority to conduct investigations, including on its own authority, and be empowered to subpoena police, other witnesses, and police files;
• Establish an independent office in the attorney general’s department tasked specifically with investigating and prosecuting cases of police abuse, including following up on referrals from the independent police oversight authority;
• Amend police rules and manuals to be consistent with the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions; the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials; and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials;
• Ensure magistrates fully comply with their obligations to ascertain whether a detainee produced in court has suffered torture or other ill-treatment, and to order legislatively mandated confidential medical examinations; and
• Fully implement the Convention Against Torture in line with international obligations, and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

“The Sri Lankan police forces should immediately end the barbaric practice of torture, adhere to the rule of law, and act to earn the trust of the communities they serve,” Adams said. “That can only be achieved by taking strict measures against abuses, ensuring justice for the victims, and punishing the perpetrators – not simply by transferring them or suspending them, but through transparent and impartial prosecutions.”

All Fallow Lands To Be Cultivated!

By Hema Senanayake –October 23, 2015

Hema Senanayake

I am an economic analyst and a macroeconomic researcher. If anybody wants to see further than others on any subject he or she has to do one thing. This was eloquently told by Sir Isaac Newton the great scientist. He said that, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This quote is from a letter written to fellow scientist, Robert Hooke in February 1675. The phrase is understood to mean that if Newton had been able to discover more about the universe than others, then it was because he was working in the light of discoveries made by fellow scientists, either in his own time or earlier.” This is what I always try to do in regard to economics.

Does the president or Prime Minister do this in regard to economics? I do not think so. And most importantly, there is no necessity for them to do it. They are politicians elected democratically to hold the most important public offices. They have to perform many duties. Among them what I consider most important are; “(1) activating and mobilizing citizens into participating in political decisions and transforming their opinions into viable policy options and (2) channeling public opinion from citizens to government.” (This quote is from The Electoral Knowledge Network).

Now, if the president or Prime Minister tells something wrong in regard to the pursuing of economic policy or part of it, what should I do? What their economic advisors should do? I am serious about this question. Why?

Around the world, many politicians elected to governments believe that they know better than economists. This happens even in many advanced countries. A few years ago, for an example, about seventy or so congressmen in the United States proposed to have a constitutional amendment which makes it mandatory to have a balance budget on the Federal Government. This was proposed to stop the ever increasing public debt on the federal government. If the budget is required to be balanced by law, there is no necessity to borrow for the government. In the event, public debt cannot go up.

Luckily, the congress and the senators consulted many leading economists who advised as to why the common sense proposal for balance budget was bad for the country. Finally, politicians gave it up. In fact, most of the common sense proposals of politicians do not work in the economic system. One of the most ridiculous proposals was submitted by Stalin to stop using money in Russia in early 1930s. There was inflation by that time in Russia. Stalin’s argument was simple. In order to combat inflation he argued that, “when there is no money there is no inflation.” His economic advisors defended Stalin’s policy. Are our advisors different? I do not know.

                            Read More

P.M. fully answers Anura Dissanayake’s questionnaire regarding controversial Avant Garde Co.

(Lanka-e-News -23.Oct.2015, 8.00PM) The chief opposition whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake M.P. presented a questionnaire to the prime minister (P.M.)  Ranil Wickremesinghe under standing order No.23(2) on 2015 -09-22 pertaining to the controversial Avant Garde Co.

Hereunder are the answers furnished by the P.M.today to all the questions raised by Dissanayake :

* Is the defence secretary empowered to take decisions in regard to national security ?  If he has no such powers , what is the action that is being taken against him  ?

Under section 52(2) of the constitution , the affairs of the three forces, other Institutions and departments under the state defense ministry will be carried out according to the orders  of the secretary to the State defense ministry under his purview..Under 2009 No. 35 of the security council chief Act  2(2) ,5 and 7(2) , the affairs of security council chief shall be monitored and administered by defense secretary , and are under him..

At the same time ,at  the security council meeting chaired by the president , special decisions shall be taken relating to national security. The defense secretary shall attend this meeting , and it is his duty to  implement those decisions taken.

However if any State officer including the defense secretary has acted in breach and trespassed on his limits of his powers, legal action can be duly taken.

* A.S.P. Liyanage who was the ambassador to Nigeria has signed as the intermediary in the agreement signed between Avant Garde of Sri Lanka (SL) and Nigerian Co.  Who empowered him in that regard? 

Currently the defense ministry of the government is not in possession of any documents that were supposed to be signed by A.S.P. Liyanage .

* Who is the official that gave authority to the  floating armory that ought to be in the international territorial waters to be anchored at the Galle habor?

The defense minister had authorised this armory to be in the international territorial waters . In this regard , the additional secretary to the ministry of defense and urban development , D. M.S.D. Jayaratne has informed the chairman of Avant Garde Co. by letter Ref.  MOD/UD/CS/FA/1 dated 2102-09-18. However the  defense ministry is not in possession of any letter that authorised the floating armory to be anchored at the Galle harbor. (annexure -1)

ii) Are there valid licenses for every weapon ?
The SL Government has not issued licenses to these weapons.

iii) Were the SL police aware of this floating armory that was at the Galle  harbor?
Until the police raided this armory on 2015-01-18 , there is nothing to confirm  that the  SL  police were aware of this

* What are the registers legally  in respect of each weapon ? Who monitors these weapons?

Under the weapons ordinance , there must be a valid license for every weapon  issued in SL by the defense secretary. The police is vested with the power to monitor them .

The licenses issued are of  the various countries to which these arms belong , and the arms have been undertaken and issued with the monitoring of the Navy .

* Among  the weapons in the floating armory what  are issued to the Sea Marshal ,the approval of the defense ministry should be obtained via the booking note.’  Was  such an approval obtained from the defense ministry ? What is the quantity of weapons so approved? Those weapons pertain to  what countries? In this connection what is the quantity of weapons that was not produced before the Sea Marshals?

No permission has been granted by the defense ministry to issue the weapons stored in the floating armory of Avant Garde Co. Hence the defense ministry does not have any records of the details of the quantity of weapons , or about the countries to which they belong

* Is it possible for Basnayake who was  holding the post of defense secretary , to exert pressures on courts abusing his powers while  pretending that he has such powers ? What is the action this government ought to take against him in this  respect? Will a probe be conducted into this and action be taken against him ?

Though the former defense secretary Basnayake responding to a written  request made by the CID , forwarded his observations on the withdrawal of th ban on foreign travel of the chairman of Avant Garde Co., he had not sent a letter to  the magistrate about it. In his observations  it is mentioned , since there is an on going investigation by the CID into Avant Garde ocean service (Pvt) security Co., it is appropriate that  the advice of the attorney general shall be followed because  foreign travel has to be undertaken without  hampering the  investigations (annexure 2). 

*I wish to ask from  the P.M., what is the action contemplated in relation to this floating armory at Galle harbor?

After the report pertaining to the investigation under way is received , the next step will be taken.

* Will measures be taken to  resume  an independent investigation into the charges against Avant Garde which was suppressed by the attorney general (AG)  following interference and pressures exerted by those in the top echelons of the government ?

No pressures had been exerted on the  AG nor had there been any interference in regard to Avant Grade investigation.Under no circumstances has  the AG suppressed the criminal investigations . Indeed , the AG has via letters dated 14 th June 2015  , 17th June  2015 and 6 th October 2015 advised the CID to continue with the Avant Grade investigations ,(annexure 3,4 and 5)

The AG has at no stage recommended that the case be witthdrawn or closed. Instructions have been clearly given to pursue the investigations. The bribery and corruption commission is already inquiring into the charges of bribery , while the police are conducting an exhaustive investigation based on charges under money laundering prevention Act 2006 No.5 . Therefore based on the grounds so far , a further investigation is unnecessary .

* Who is the official that vested the powers of the three forces and the police in Avant Garde and under what laws? How many underwent training under this program  and who are they ? How was it possible and with  whose authority  training in weaponry to foreigners was given ?

The defense ministry has authorized  the Avant Grade Co. to provide necessary training to ocean security officers under the training program.

* What is Avant Garde’s expenditure that is now under the microscope? Likewise , what are the Institutions, Foundations  and who are the individuals that  had received cash dole outs from Avant Grade , and on what basis? What are the amounts so received by each of them ? 

The Avant Garde Co. is a private Co. and the government has no report on its  expenditure and on its dole outs  . In any event the CID is investigatiing whether the Avant Garde Co. has committed an offence under Prevention of money laundering Act.

* On 2012-12-15 Rakna security Lanka bearing No. 36 , and Avant Garde Co. entered into a lease business agreement .Under this agreement , 50 % of the profits should be paid to  Rakna security Lanka . So far , how much has been paid as profits?

In addition to this aforementioned agreement , by an addendum on 2013-03-28 between the two parties,  the  net profit  payable to Rakna security Lanka Co. is 18 % . Accordingly , Avant Grade Co. has paid over Rs. 1014 million (Rs. 1014, 147, 312.20 ) ,  and over Rs. 475 million (Rs. 475,113,351.00 ) is the shortfall , Rakna security Lanka had recorded. 

(The relevant annexures are depicted in the photographs herein. )

---------------------------
by     (2015-10-23 15:16:53)

Sri Lanka detains soldiers in case of missing cartoonist

BY SHIHAR ANEEZ AND RANGA SIRILAL-Fri Oct 23, 2015

Sri Lankan police have detained 11 people, most of them soldiers or former soldiers, in a widening probe into the disappearance of a cartoonist that has become a test case of the new government's resolve to address human rights abuses.

Prageeth Eknaligoda, a fierce critic of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, went missing near Colombo more than five years ago, triggering allegations from his wife and rights activists that he had been abducted by government agents.

At the time of his disappearance in January 2010, Eknaligoda was working on a story on the alleged use of cluster bombs by Sri Lanka's military in the final months of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, his colleagues said.

The military has denied any such use.

New President Maithripala Sirisena has vowed to prosecute members of the previous administration for abuse of power and the first arrests in the high-profile case were made in August, a police official said.

Army spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera said four of the detained men were serving soldiers while the rest were ex-soldiers and informers employed by the military.

"It has been disclosed during the investigations these 11 people had taken Prageeth to a camp. Last week they were taken to this camp and questioned," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

Sri Lanka is under the global spotlight after a United Nations probe found that both the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger separatists committed war crimes including mass killings of civilians in the 26-year-long war that ended in 2009.

Eknaligoda's case could set a precedent for prosecution of war crimes, especially against serving members who have been beyond the reach of the law for their role in the conflict, activists say.

A spokesman for the military said it was fully cooperating with the police investigation. The military had withdrawn all privileges of the detained men, spokesman Jayaweera said, pending the investigation.

(Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Nick Macfie)

LSSP, cp stocking fires of racism - Dilan

Oct 23, 2015

State Minister of Highways and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) media spokesman Dilan Perera yesterday accused "certain opposition elements including the leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) Tissa Vitarana and the leader of the Communist Party D.E.W. Gunasekera of misinterpreting the Geneva resolutions in order to incite racism."

Addressing a press briefing yesterday at the SLFP Headquarters the minister said "We must commend the JVP for their informed and reasonable stance on the Geneva resolutions. In the past they were known to be a group which incited racism but are today a long shot away from that identity."

While commending the JVP, Minister Perera said the recent conference organized by nine political parties including the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), National Freedom Front (NFF) and the LSSP and Communist Party at the Viharamahadevi amphitheatre against the Geneva resolution was a poor attempt to gain short-term political mileage by inciting racism.

"The Geneva resolution is based on the Geneva reports. A study of the reports makes it obvious that the antagonism against Sri Lanka evinced at UN decisions relating to Sri Lanka at the beginning has been gradually diluted and watered down. This must not be looked at through tinted glasses. Certain elements state that the Geneva resolutions names individuals who must be penalised, adding that unjust allegations were brought against key persons. That is not the case and these individuals are interpreting the Geneva resolutions out of context. They have not read the resolution properly."

Perera further stated that this was a time in which all political parties must stand against racism, adding that even the media must report on issues involving racism in a manner that it helps douse the flames of racism and not vice versa.
- Ceylontoday -

Warming Trends

By Ranil Senanayake –October 23, 2015

Ranil Senanayake

This year is a signal of things to come and yet, not only are we ill prepared for the effects of climate change, but we are also gleefully adding to the problem by burning more and more fossil fuels to supply our energy needs. The new studies on global temperatures suggest that they will exceed all records this year. The map below that depicts the rise in temperatures over average suggests that we narrowly escaped a disastrous heat wave. The map shows Sri Lanka only just above the ‘record warmest’ band.

Why is a heat wave so dangerous? Apart from the heat stress in human and animals, it could exceed the threshold for enzymatic activity. All of agriculture depends on the good growth of plants, all plants rely on their chlorophyll to grow and produce. Chlorophyll is a molecule that functions to an optimum at about 37degrees, above that their performance falls. In heat waves often exceeding 38 degrees plant productivity will be impacted and yields drop (fig2). This year much of Australia dealt with a brutal spring heat wave that reduced farmers’ yields.

Fig.1

The danger to agricultural production is further exasperated by the reliance on chemical farming with so-called ‘high yield ‘ crops. These crops have been bred by reducing photosynthetic biomass for crop biomass. This reduction being made possible by the use of chemical fertilizers. But in a high temperature situation when chlorophyll is functioning sub-optimally such reductions may bring serious crop losses.

Fig. 2

Chemical fertilizers are produced using large amounts of energy, usually fossil energy. The creation of this fossil energy results in the discharge of huge volumes of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore chemical farming adds greatly to global warming, that creates the dangerous heat waves around the planet and finally affects the farmer through increased heat stress on the crop.Read More

Wimal bailed out - Arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport

Wimal bailed out - Arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport

BY Kavindya Chris Thomas and Gagani Weerakoon-2015-10-24 

Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) MP Wimal Weerawansa was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over an issue with his passport after he was stopped at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday (23).
Police Media spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told Ceylon Today that Weerawansa was stopped at the BIA after he had presented an expired passport. According to ASP Gunasekara, Weerawansa had obtained a VISA for the expired passport, which he had told Police recently had been misplaced.

He added that the MP was handed over to the CID for questioning regarding that issue by Immigration and Emigration Department officials and was later on arrested and produced before the Negombo Magistrate's Court. Weerawansa was released on a cash bail of
Rs 10, 000 and two surety bonds of Rs 10 million by Negombo Magistrate Thilakarathne Bandara, Police said.
Meanwhile, NFF sources told Ceylon Today that MP Weerawansa was about to board a plane to Napoli, Italy, yesterday morning, to attend a series of lectures when he was initially stopped by officials of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, citing several inconsistencies in his VISA and passport. Weerawansa had then resolved the matter and was about to board the 10:05 a.m. flight to Napoli, Italy when several CID officers had intercepted him and began questioning him, the source said.

The CID had quizzed him about the two passports and he was not allowed to board the flight. Weerawansa had misplaced his diplomatic passport and had obtained another passport which he had presented at the BIA yesterday. However, according to the sources, the passport he had presented had apparently been the diplomatic passport he had reported to have been misplaced.
Weerawansa was supposed to travel to Napoli, Italy, for a series of lectures on the UNHRC Resolution and in protest of the Geneva resolution, organized by overseas Sri Lankan organizations, which were to commence on 25 October. According to the sources, this series of lectures is being conducted in Napoli, Paris and London.
The case was adjourned until 28 October.

Double faced ,double tongued, double dealing Weerawansa finally arrested with double passport..!

(Lanka-e-News -23.Oct.2015, 11.45PM) Double faced , double tongued , double dealing Wimal Weerawansa who hitherto escaped arrest despite all his criminal propensities , was today arrested at the Airport on his double passport criminality , when he tried to leave the country on a passport he had reported lost , and subsequently produced two passports .

Weerawansa who first arrived at the Airport  this morning (23) to travel to Italy via Dubai, has submitted a passport of his to the officers of the Immigration and Emmigration department , when they have pointed out to Weeawansa that his passport is not in their computer records.

Weerawansa as usual had then turned tough and argued with the officers in his characteristic hooligan style . The officers have then explained to this grade 9 (dis)qualified buffalo brained brag , Weerawansa himself has reported loss of this passport , and the Immigration and Emigration department has withdrawn it from their computers therefore.

Weerawansa had then come back to Colombo , lodged a complaint with the Koswatte police of loss of passport , and returned to the airport terminal with a new passport taken in the morning itself.

Unfortunately , this vacuous brag of a politico  has not realized his Italian Visa endorsement has been in his old  passport . He was therefore compelled to submit the old and the new passports to the airport authorities 

Possession of two passports is an offence not only in Sri Lanka but in the whole world , which this buffoon who has survived on tomfoolery within and without parliament all along  did not seem to know .Finally he was arrested by the CID officers at the Katunayake airport , and produced before the Negombo magistrate . Weerawansa  was enlarged on  a cash bail of Rs. 10,000.00 and two personal bails of Rs. 1 million each .  Weerawansa alias Modawansa voluntarily walked into double  trouble this time on a double passport after having managed to successfully use his double tongued , double faced and double dealing abilities for so  long to dupe the masses.

Meanwhile the police media spokesman revealed  that 4 diplomatic passports have been issued to Weerawansa so far. Passports have been issued to this patriotic rat in 2011, 2012 and 2013 , and on each occasion the reason cited was  loss of passport to obtain the new  one.

This morning when he had arrived at the Airport first, he had claimed    he has lost his passport . Thereafter with the new passport issued this morning his passport collection had shot up to four. 

Weerasangili Panikkiyalage Wimalasena alias Wimalasiri Gamlath alias Wimal Weerawansa the notorious double faced, double tongued ,double dealing political renegade  has been operating under so many names , and from time to time changed his date of birth too. 

It is well to recall , his wife too was arrested and remanded on a passport forgery fraud recently. It is a big question mark whether this is an organized racket .

Even after all these glaring exposures of  the criminalities of this double faced , double tongued , double dealing , quadruple  passport holding buffoon who brags about his (cardboard) patriotism , Dinesh Gunawardena noted for his senile decay and presently a political desperado discarded by the people in toto  , and now  like a hobo without a home , unashamedly told in parliament ‘what happened to Wimal M.P today .could happen to the other MPs tomorrow.’

Ranil Wickremesinghe in reply said , he would come forward on behalf of Weerawansa, provided  there isn’t a court order. Perhaps , at that moment the P.M. did not know Weerasangili alias Weerawansa had committed  a Modawansa offence, and what a patriotic rat he is

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by     (2015-10-23 20:26:13)

Sarath N. Silva proves that CJ means Chief Joker

Oct 23, 2015

The former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva yesterday the 21st has once again proved that CJ means not Chief Justice but the Chief Joker. He has proved this once again when he attended as the chief guest during the release of the book written by the country’s most synthetic and patriotic Wimal Weerawansa’s “Geneva and New York in Vanni, The roadway to Ealam” function held in the Hector Kobbekaduwa agricultural and research auditorium Colombo.

Sarath N. Silvva who addressed the gathering said Wimal Weerawansa is a resource among the youths and he is not scared for any of the pala. Following this news published in the Lankadeepa newspaper a reader has written a comment that “I don’t take consideration of this latter because tomorrow he would say that he feel regret for what he said.
Another reader has written briefly this old buffalo has ruined the country. Another reader has commented that he feel shame to say that there was a chief justice as him and that he feel sorry for the gallery politicians who drag such respectable people to stoop to the 

bottom.

until Sarath N. Silva shuts his mouth he can be the former chief justice but as soon as he opens his stinking mouth he become a Chief Joker

Dozens killed in France as bus packed with elderly riders crashes into truck

 A bus carrying mostly elderly passengers and a truck collided head-on and caught fire near Bordeaux early on Oct. 23, officials said, killing 42 and injuring 5. (Reuters)

By Daniela Deane-October 23
Emergency workers raced to the scene of a horrific head-on collision Friday between a bus packed with retirees and a truck near Bordeaux in southern France, which killed dozens, the worst traffic accident in France in more than three decades, news reports said.

At least 43 people died in the fiery crash, including a child who had been riding with the truck driver and whose body was found in the wreckage, French authorities said. The truck driver was also reported killed.

After the impact, both the truck and the bus, which was carrying the elderly retirees on a day trip through French wine country, burst into flames. Most of the victims died from severe burns, reports from the scene said.

Several people were also injured, some gravely burned, suggesting that the death toll could rise further, according to reports from France.

The crash occurred on a winding country road through a forested area — a road that French news reports said was known as dangerous. It was the worst crash in France since 1982, when 52 people, including 44 children, were killed in an accident in Beaune.

A 1982 photo of bus wreckage from the deadliest road accident in France. In all, 53 people, including 44 children were killed in that Beaune crash. (Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)

A grainy photo shown on the French television channel, BFMTV, showed smoke rising from the burned-out shell of the bus. Helicopters evacuated severely burned victims from the scene.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that, as far as he could tell, all the passengers were French and from the region.

An official with the national gendarme service told the Associated Press that the high death toll in the morning crash, which occurred near the town of Puisseguin, came about because both vehicles caught fire after the collision.

French President Francois Hollande, on a visit to Greece, said the government was “totally mobilized” to help after what he called a “terrible accident,” reports said.

Hollande’s office said in a statement that Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve headed to the crash site just east of Bordeaux.

Valls, speaking to reporters near the scene, said eight people survived the accident, including four who were injured and in serious condition, the Associated Press reported. French news media said the bus driver was among those who survived.

Calling it an “immense tragedy,” Hollande promised an investigation into what happened. He also expressed “the solidarity of the whole nation” with loved ones of the victims.

Emergency workers take away an injured person from the site of a bus-truck collision on October 23 in Puisseguin, near Libourne, in southwestern France. (Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images)

Scores of emergency workers in the region were mobilized to help, reports said.

Gilles Savary, a lawmaker from the region, said on BFMTV that a bus company from the town of Libourne was leading the group on a tourist trip, the AP reported. The group had just left on the trip, reports said.

French media reports said some people managed to escape the blaze that followed the crash, mostly by breaking windows.

The entire circumstances of the crash were not immediately clear, according to Pierre Dartout, the top government official for the Aquitaine region, who announced an investigation into the crash.

Xavier Sublett, the mayor of the town where the crash occurred, said on France’s i-Tele television that the driver of the bus managed to open the door, allowing eight people to escape, the Associated Press reported.

The weather in the region was reported by news agencies to be overcast Friday morning but not rainy.

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Daniela Deane was a reporter in four countries in Europe and Asia and a foreign affairs writer in Washington before she joined the Post in 1999. She now writes about breaking foreign news from both London and Rome.