Most Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero-A Singularly Unique Personality

by M. Zulkifli Nazim

( November 9, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Most Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, the chief incumbent of the Kotte Naga Vihara, a most wonderful, profoundly honoured and an august personality left us at a very crucial time when he is needed the most. The Sadness, sorrowfulness and poignancy on his bereavement is beyond comprehension. The desolation and depression rammed into us like a pile driver, only when we knew that he is no more with us. The dedication, allegiance and commitment to build a society free from corruption, degeneracy and putrescence by establishing his People’s Movement For Just Society is ingrained in the hearts and minds of the people of Sri Lanka, irrespective of race, religion, caste or creed. This move has accorded a prominent place in the modern history of Sri Lanka as the man who fought tooth and nail to restore, rejuvenate and reinstate the dying democracy in Sri Lanka.

On this hallowed day of Poson Poya this year (2015) The Most Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero delivered one of the finest of speeches ever made. This sermon is full of guidance to those who are governing the country, counselling the masses, the general citizenry of our beloved country, steering them onto a path of righteousness, Warning of the disasters, calamities and cataclysms that would befall them and reduce them to extreme ruin and misfortune if they continue their evil ways of wallowing in crapulence, gambling, drug additcion and corruption. The warning extended not only to those indulging in such practices; but also those who perpetrate and promote such vicious evil and wickedness.

This great voice has now been quietened.

A great personality, totally selfless, altruistic and showing unselfish concern for the welfare of the country and its people, brought about some unification in an otherwise unruly political system, bringing together, the opposition, the trade unions, rights groups and the various professions including the academics.

The people of this country who are now eulogizing this unique personality can show their sincerity and dedication to this great prelate only if they can follow and emulate what he stood for and preached. Instead of just hot air and empty rhetoric let us all get together to implement and follow through where he has directed and struggled to channel the leaders and our nation.

May he, The Most Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, attain the highest state of Nirvana in complete bliss.

Role Model Of A Politically Concerned Bhikku 

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –November 9, 2015 

Shyamon Jayasinghe

Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha may be regarded as a role model of a politically concerned bhikku. Sri Lanka has had many bhikkus who got involved in the political game-play but all of them didn’t play that game rightly keeping the different roles of the bhikku and the politician distinct. There was no conflation of these two roles at any stage reflected in the public image of Revd Maduluwae Sobitha.

In the mid-fifties we had the disgraced Buddha Rakkita of the Kelaniya temple who along with his catspaw, Somarama, helped to bring down the image of the Sasana. When I was a kid my father once took me to the Kelaniya temple to see the monk. There he was like a grand prince. Bottles of whisky in display in his study. In my presence he received numerous calls from,maybe, Ministers that had approached him to act as go-between in political and financial deals. He himself had a deal with a shipping company. The deal did not materialise and Buddha Rakkita got the then Prime Minister assassinated. Before midday on that fatetful day SWRD was gone! Here was a monk who killed a Prime Minister!

Buddha Rakkitta, drunken with power, had even played lover to a woman Minister. Power is erotic, they say.

Numerous other lesser robed-beings came after Buddhi Rakkita but they did not go that far because the public outcry against the Sanga had been so great that for years none of the safrans came on political stage. With the formation of the JHU that negative trend disappeared. The JHU itself rode to recognition and political power on the dead body of the Australian-Sri Lankan monk, Revd Gangodawila Soma who for some mysterious reason became a very popular figure during a short stay in Sri Lanka.

Ven Sobitha – January 9th morning

Revd Soma was not widely popular in Australia. He did have a lot of enemies and some strong devotees but he virtually had no impact in the Sinhala community of Australia. He was a capable organiser and knew how to raise funds. Encouraged by his popularity in Sri Lanka Revd Soma declared his ambition to contest for President of the country. To gather more public respect he went on a deception trip to Russia along with a Catholic priest who had arranged to get Revd Soma a doctorate by showing a little booklet he had written many years before on stupas. Acute diabetic that he was, he suddenly died of a heart attack. This had been enough for the pseudo-patriots and extremist monks to go round the country and ask for an immediate investigation to what they were confident was a Christian conspiracy. These mischief makers succeeded in roping in gullible Sinhala Buddhists to back their campaign. It was their campaign that gave birth to the JHU. The new party promised during elections that they will launch an investigation and punish the conspirators. Elections were won but the resulting UPFA government of which the JHU were a part did pretty nothing. Revd Soma was forgotten for ever.

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Economic Policy Statement of Yahapalana Government: Building concrete plans for implementation out of the skeleton is needed - Part 1 

Monday, 9 November 2015
An economic policy statement at last

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe outlined the economic policy to be pursued by his Government in the next five-year period in Parliament last week (available at:

at: http://www.ft.lk/article/492945/%E2%80%9CEconomy-must-yield-results-for-all%E2%80%9D--Premier-outlines-plan-in-Parliament ). 
In a sense it is belated. That is because a Government conscious of the limited time available to it in delivering its promises to people would have acted faster. Many analysts expected the Government to come up with its economic policy plan not later than one week after the formation of the new National Government in August 2015.

Economic Policy Statement of Yahapalana Government Building Concrete Plans for Implementation Out of the Sk... by Thavam Ratna

Wimal Politics of desperate times




2015-11-09

imal Weerawansa, our rabble-rousing politico, fulminates that Sunny Leone, the Canadian- Indian adult film star turned Bollywood actress is tipped to visit Sri Lanka, allegedly at the behest of the government. This, he says, is a plot to promote the casino business and, like everything else, is part of a ‘conspiracy.’

Wimal Politics of Desperate Times by Thavam Ratna

Parliament to summon AG

Nov 09, 2015

Parliament is to summon the Attorney General Yuwanjana Wanasundera over ‘32 files’ containing criminal charges against individuals on which his Department is yet to take action, a senior Cabinet Minister told the media.

The AG is to be summoned before the Judicial Oversight Committee, which will be set up in Parliament in January, under the provisions of the 19th Amendment.

A group of MPs who do not have ministerial and deputy ministerial portfolios will serve as members of the Judicial Oversight Committee.

“Members of the government, on various occasions, have levelled various allegations against the Attorney General for his lukewarm approach towards investigations against certain members of the previous regime. The Judicial Oversight Committee will inquire into the allegations and assess the performance of the Attorney General and his Department,” the Minister explained.

He said there were allegations that the Attorney General had not taken action on 32 cases of which initial investigations had been completed by the Police Financial Crimes investigations Division (FCID) and other law enforcement authorities.

“Members of the government, including certain Cabinet Ministers, have expressed their opinions strongly on taking actions against those who were involved in bribery and corruption under the previous regime. What we see right now is a selective approach on prosecution that does not help the government’s anti-corruption drive,” he explained.

Meanwhile, when contacted by the Sunday Observer, a senior official from the Attorney General’s Department said, there was no deliberate or intentional delay on the part of the Attorney General’s Department.

He vehemently denied claims that the AG’s Department had not taken action on 32 cases of which initial investigations had been completed and said there have been only 23 cases of which nine have been sent back to the FCID for further investigations.

“Out of the rest of the 14 cases, suspects have not been found in four cases. That’s where it stands at the moment,” he added.

He also pointed out that most investigations conducted by the FCID into financial crimes had been submitted to the Attorney General without carrying out complete investigations. “They have been referred back to to the FCID to conduct further investigations,” he said

“Various aspects have not been considered which are essential to consider before sending out charges,” the official added. There is a dedicated team, led by a Senior Additional Solicitor General, to attend to matters related to the FCID.

There are Senior State Counsel and State Counsel to whom cases have been allocated,” he explained.
- http://www.sundayobserver.lk/-

A Constitutional Dream 

By Nihal Jayawickrama –November 8, 2015

Dr. Nihal Jayawickrama

A few days ago, a member of the government parliamentary group announced that the government will shortly begin drafting a new constitution. He also spoke about Parliament being transformed into a constituent assembly. He spoke of a referendum. Perhaps the time is opportune to identify which features of the present constitution should not be repeated, and what new features ought to be included, in the new constitution.

A national consensus

A national constitution is a document that crystallizes a “consensus” among the citizens as to the nature and character of their State and the manner of its governance. That is not a historical fact, because citizens do not actually sit and arrive at a consensus on what their constitution should be. But it is a legal fiction that gives the constitution legitimacy. It raises the issue as to how and through what mechanisms such a consensus may be arrived at. Whatever the mechanism, constitution-making is not the prerogative of the government. To entrust that task to a government is, as Senator S. Nadesan QC observed in 1970, comparable to what the outcome might have been if at Runneymede, the Barons of England had invited King John to draft the Magna Carta. The truth of his observation is evident if one reflects on the processes through which the three recent constitutions of this country were drafted and adopted.

The drafting processes

The 1946 Constitution was based on a constitutional scheme submitted to the British Government by the Board of Ministers of the State Council. It was prepared by Sir Ivor Jennings without any public participation. The only constraint was that it should be acceptable to three-quarters of the 58-member State Council in which 19 members belonged to minority communities. It was in many respects a replication of the Westminster system of government. It simply created the principal institutions and defined their separate powers and functions. It also contained certain safeguards for the minority communities. But the Royal Commission that was appointed to examine the scheme spent three months in the country travelling through the provinces, meeting various interest groups, recording evidence at public sessions, and gathering information at private discussions. Its recommendations were accepted by the State Council by 51 votes to 3. A young assistant legal draftsman, sitting with a typewriter at his home in the small town of Panadura, gave legal shape and form to these proposals which, when incorporated in an Order-in-Council, became known as the 1946 Constitution of Ceylon.

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Sri Lanka Uncovers Gun Running by Rajapaksa’s RALL

DEFENCE COMPANY:  Rakna Arakshaka Lanka is one of a large number of state companies incorporated under Sri Lanka’s company law without a governing act of parliament in recent years.

 09/11/2015

ECONOMYNEXT – A just concluded audit of weapons at the defence ministry’s private sector arm known as Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited (RALL) has led to a shocking discovery of an organised trade in weapons that is illegal anywhere in the world.

The most alarming discovery is the haul of 320 automatic assault rifles which had their serial numbers defaced in order to prevent the tracing of the original owner of the firearm in addition to the illegal weapons found aboard the now detained Avant Garde floating armoury.

These weapons were stored by RALL, a company initiated by former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,  at the Galle naval facility. The authorities also found another 59 automatic weapons with similarly tampered serial numbers aboard M.V. Avant Garde that was intercepted off Galle on October 5.

The audit of weapons was sparked by the latest raid on the Avant Garde floating armoury which the police say had made an illegal journey from a Red Sea port without proper documents for its cargo of weapons and ammunition.

The defence lawyer for Avant Garde Tilak Marapana told parliament last week that there was nothing illegal about the operation of his client who was in partnership with the defence ministry’s fully-owned subsidiary RALL.

Police were baffled why the state should have weapons with serial numbers altered and in some cases completely obliterated to prevent them from being traced back to the actual owner. It is not clear for what purpose these weapons had been used and in fact if they had indeed been used for any criminal activity both in Sri Lanka and abroad.

The private Avant Garde Maritime Services which operates the floating armoury by the name of Avant Garde is said to have received weapons from RALL and was supposed to be a joint venture with the defence ministry initiated by the then secretary Rajapaksa.

The latest audit shows that out of the 816 weapons found aboard M.V. Avant Garde, only 203 had actually been issued by RALL while the others were described as “alien” weapons. The balance 613 weapons are not owned by the Sri Lankan state or any of its agencies.

Foreign sea marshals are known to leave their weapons aboard floating armouries, but such vessels are anchored in international waters and need special permission to enter territorial waters of any nation. It is not immediately clear if the alien weapons are from foreign sea marshalls, but if so, the vessel did not have permission to enter Sri Lankan waters with such a cargo, according to the police.

In this instance, the navy and the police maintain that the Avant Garde vessel did not have proper authorisation to enter Sri Lankan waters with its lethal cargo. The ministry of defence had issued a letter asking the vessel to be allowed into Galle port only after the navy intercepted and boarded the vessel for a search on October 5, 2015.

An investigation had been ordered into the conduct of the ministry official,  an additional secretary,  who allegedly granted authorisation, but there had been conflicting signals from some ministers in the current administration who endorse the private security arrangements of the defence ministry initiated by the previous regime.

Despite three ministers in the current government maintaining that the RALL and Avant Garde operations begun by former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were “legal,” Rajapaksa’s own deputy has said otherwise.

Former Defence Ministry Additional Secretary Damayanthi Jayaratne told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Large Scale Corruption and Fraud that the procedure followed in giving weapons to RALL was illegal.

“Weapons were issued without permits, contravening the accepted rules,” Jayaratne said. “The Rakna Lanka Company had been issued with 3,473 firearms, of which only 89 has been issued with proper permits. The balance 3,384 were provided violating the usual legal practice.”

Apart from the evidence already gathered by the presidential commission, the latest weapons audit has added fuel to the raging Avant Garde fire that is threating the very stability of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration.

The audit uncovered serious discrepancies in the number of weapons issued by RALL and the weapons it is supposed to have received and the number of weapons stored at two armouries in Galle.

Defence sources noted that RALL and Avant Garde together had more than a division of men (over 10,000 highly trained combatants) who were not under the command of the Commander-in-Chief.

From a national security stand point, the private security firm could have posed a serious threat to stability of the government.

Sustainable development minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera told parliament that an Avant Garde employee was terrorising his electorate and the police did not take any action until he complained to the elections chief.

The weapons audit has found that 230 automatic weapons were missing from the RALL armoury in Galle and recommended that immediate steps be taken to track them down.(COLOMBO/November 08 2015) /ENS

Whither Rule of Law

The following statement issued by the Rule of Law Committee, Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL)

by Priyantha Gamage & Lal Wijenayake

( November 9, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)  The Rule of Law Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka expresses it’s serious concern about the very investigation process related to the death of the Five (05) year old girl who was found dead on 13 September 2015.

The Rule of Law Committee expresses its grave concern at the catastrophic publicity given to the incident with virtually nothing spared including the photographs taken of the naked girl’s body.

ARBITRARY ARRESTS:

The Rule of Law committee is particularly puzzled as to the basis of arrest of suspects in the said process with the police arresting over five (05) persons one after the other whose DNA did not match with the crime scene/ victim.  The police also appeared to be feeding the Media with news, without even a basic consideration as to what an “investigation”, means.

Thus, the pertinent question is whether there is any basis at all for the arrests?

The committee notes with much concern as to how and why the police, particularly the Media spokesman as well as the O.I.C., Kotadeniyawa Police station, rushed to the mikes no sooner a person was merely suspected.

SO-CALLED CONFESSIONS:

The eagerness with which these two officers informed the world that each one of these five arrestees committed this murder and/or rape solely on the basis of an alleged confession to that effect, has left a permanent scar on all capable officers of the Sri Lanka Police.

The committee draws the specific attention of all officers concerned with this investigation to Section 25 of the Evidence Ordinance which reads thus:

“25’(1) No confession made to a Police officer shall be proved as against a person    accused of any offence.

ALLEGED TORTURE:

The committee is also deeply disturbed by the media reports that, almost all the suspects had been subjected to severe torture, cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment, but reserves comment at this point since a Judicial Inquiry/proceedings are pending.

The Rule of Law Committee urges the Inspector-General of Police as well as the National Police Force at large to look into these serious issues and to duly deal with the relevant perpetrators, if any.

OPEN VIOLATION OF S.365(C):

The Committee also expresses it’s deep shock with regard to the continuous gross violation of section 365(C) which reads thus:

“(1) Whoever prints or publishes, the name, or any matter which may make known the identity, of any person against whom an offence under section 345 or section 360A or section 360B or section 363 or section 364A or section 365 or section 365A or section 365b, is alleged or found to have been committed (hereinafter in this section referred to as “the victim”) shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.       (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall apply to the printing or publication of the name or any matter which may make known the identity, of the victim, if such printing or publication is-     (a) by or under the order of the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer, making investigation into such offence, acting in good faith for the purposes of such investigation; or    (b) by or with the authorization in writing of the victim; or   (c) by or with the authorization In writing of the next of kin of the victim where the victim is dead or the parent or guardian of the victim, where the victim is a minor or is of unsound mind:   (3) Whoever prints or publishes any matter to relation to any proceeding in any court with respect to an offence referred to in subsection (1), without the previous permission of such court, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both”

URGENT ACTIONS NECESSARY:

The Committee considers it necessary and opportune for the IGP and the National Police Commission to intervene in this matter to ascertain as to what exactly has taken place with the investigation in issue and/or to see whether there in fact was an investigation; to see the need for competent, independent and professional officers to be in-charge; and to provide due advice and technical assistance, if necessary, as a matter of urgency.

The Rule of Law Committee is also of the view that the IGP has a pivotal duty to ensure that his officers are fully aware of their duty; are diligent, professional and competent in their respective work; are duly supervised; and that the due review processes are in place to recognize the deserving cases for rewards or removal.

The Committee also draws the IGP’s attention to the remarks of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Sri Lankan Police:

“The security forces, police and intelligence services have enjoyed near total impunity and have not undergone any significant reform since the armed conflict. A full-fledged vetting process should be designed to remove from office security forces personnel and public officials suspected of involvement in human rights violations.” – See more at:  here”

In the circumstances, the Rule of Law Committee will directly communicate with the National Police Commission and the Inspector General of Police with copies to all relevant persons urging them to remedy this situation.

09 November 2015.

Video: Marapana's resignation will not do any good: JVP




2015-11-09
Resignation of Law and Order Minister Tilak Marapana will not solve the matters with regard to Avant Garde case, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said today.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake at a media briefing said Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapakse is also an offender in the case. Mr. Dissanayake therefore questioned as how Minister Rajapakse got to know about the details pertaining to the revenue earned by Avant Garde. “Why couldn’t the Navy handle the floating armory if it was a lucrative business? “Mr. Dissanayake asked while referring to the statements made by Mr. Rajapakse recently in Parliament. Also he said the Minister of Justice tried to prevent the recent debate in Parliament on the case and therefore he too faces same charges as Mr. Marapana.

The JVP Leader dismissed the statement made by Mr. Rajapakse on the former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa that there is no need for the latter’s arrest. Therefore Mr. Dissanayake said former Defense Secretary should be arrested forthwith.

Further the JVP leader denied the claims made by the former Defense Secretary that the JVPers wanted Front Line Socialist Party (FLSP) leader Kumar Gunaratnam should be abducted. “We never wanted Mr. Gunaratnam abducted,” he said while mentioning that Mr. Rajapaksa by his statement had admitted that he was involved in abductions. (Yohan Perera) 

Sri Lanka minister resigns amid 'floating armory' probe

Mon Nov 9, 2015

Sri Lanka's law and order minister quit on Monday to avert a possible split in the ruling coalition government after he defended a security firm amid a probe into allegations of a "floating armory".

Tilak Marapana, an ex-attorney general handpicked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, last week defended private security firm Avant Garde in parliament.

Police this year seized more than 3,000 weapons in 20 containers from the armory, run by Avant Garde and docked in the southern port of Galle.

Marapana represented Avant Garde before he was appointed minister in September.

A faction of Wickremesinghe's ruling United National Party (UNP) along with some civil society groups had demanded Marapana's resignation after his speech. The ongoing probes are conducted by the police, which come under Marapana's ministry.

"Some members of the government and public suspect that my position as the law and order minister could have an impact on the ongoing investigations conducted by the police. So I have decided to resign," Marapana told reporters.

The investigations are part of a wide probe of alleged corrupt deals during the administration of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe's center-right UNP and President Maithripala Sirisena's center-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) formed a coalition government after Aug. 17 polls and pledged to ensure good governance and probe past corrupt deals under Rajapaksa.

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Nick Macfie)

AG To Act On Monies Owed By Rajapaksa Regime

Nov 09, 2015

The loss incurred by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) for providing free air rides to the former First Family in SLAF commercial flights, which amounts to several millions of tax-payers’ money, is yet to be probed. Although it is learnt that the former government owes over Rs. 31 million to the  SLAF, neither the Ministry of Defence nor any law enforcement authorities have taken steps to recover this money over the past 10 months since the defeat of the Rajapaksa regime.

These amounts were only for the air travel of MP Namal Rajapaksa, former Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, former Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premjayantha, former Chief Minister North Western Province Dayasiri Jayasekera, former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, 2015 Presidential candidate S. Manamendra who extended his support to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, and former Scientific Affairs Minister Tissa Witharana.

“The Air Force has provided the aircraft on credit facility and is going to lose the revenue in the event the outstanding bills are not settled. Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa had used air force commercial flights on 25 occasions from December 1, 2014 up to January 8, 2015 which cost the tax payer a shocking Rs.15.08 million. Basil had travelled in Air Force passenger aircraft on seven occasions on pending payments to the amount of Rs.4.81 million,” sources said. Wimal Weerawansa’s air travels had cost the SLAF Rs. 5.98 million, and Dayasiri Jayasekera  amounting to Rs 2.6 million. Shiranthi Rajapaksa had flown to Maharagama from Ratmalana which is not even a distance of 10 kilo metres on December 12, 2014 in MI 17 aircraft which had cost the country Rs. 5.2 lakh,” SLAF sources said.

When questioned on whose direction the SLAF flights were given to the former First Family and their supporters on credit and whether the SLAF had recovered the money, Air Force Media Spokesperson Wing Commander Gihan Seneviratne said instructions were given by the Defence Ministry.

However, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi confirmed to The Sunday Leader that it was the Defence Secretary who had given the orders, and it was then Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who had to take the responsibility.  When asked what action had been taken against those who were responsible for this loss and whether the money would be recovered, the Defence Secretary said he is not aware of the investigation process but added that it is up to the Attorney General to decide what action would be taken against those guilty.

- http://www.thesundayleader.lk/-

Foreign trainers killed in shooting attack at police training camp in Jordan 

Jordanian police officer fired shots at the training camp east of the Jordanian capital, killing 4 people, including 2 Americans and a South African 
The camp is used to train police officers from Iraq, Palestine and Libya (AFP) 

Monday 9 November 2015

Four people, including two US trainers and a South African, were killed on Monday after shots were fired at a police training camp in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

Six people were also injured in the incident, four of them Jordanian and two US citizens, Sky News Arabia reported. 

A security source told Sky News Arabia that the shooter, a Jordanian police officer, committed suicide following the outbreak of gunfire, suggesting that the incident may have been intentional.

However, details were sketchy amid conflicting statements from Jordanian officials.

The government's official spokesperson, Mohammed al-Mumini, said in a statement that Jordanian police had killed the attacker in the wake of the shooting, and were now investigating the motives behind the attack.

A government-run newspaper, al-Rai, quoted sources who named a suspect as Anwar Bani Abdo, a veteran police captain who had previously served with the criminal investigation unit and the security forces before being transferred to the camp for further training.

ِAccording to the source, the captain had asked to be exempted from service a few weeks prior to the shooting, although no further details were given.

The newspaper also gave details of the man's family life and named the small town where the suspect reportedly lived.

The US embassy in Amman told Middle East Eye they had "received reports of a security incident" at the camp.

"We are in contact with the Jordanian authorities, who have offered their full support."

Monday's shooting, which occurred on the 10th anniversary of three co-ordinated al-Qaeda attacks that targeted hotels in Amman, happened at a training centre in Muaqar on the eastern outskirts of the capital.

The camp is a US-funded facility that has been used to train Palestinian security forces working with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

From its inauguration in 2003 until 2005 the camp was used to train upwards of 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers.

The camp has also been used to train Libyan operatives. In 2012 Libyans who were part of a group of 1,200 trainees broke windows and uprooted trees at the camp in protest at conditions, which included not being allowed to leave the complex without special written permission.

In 2014 the facility was chosen as the site for a new training programme for the Iraqi special forces, with a US source saying that Jordan was chosen as a location for the programme due to it being close to Iraq, as well as existing legal agreements allowing US programmes to operate there.

The same source said up to 1,000 US operatives were present in Jordan, most of them members of the naval infantry brigades specialising in anti-terrorism and urban warfare.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/breaking-us-citizen-killed-police-training-camp-jordan-191426613#sthash.RJA99tkK.dpuf

Burundi On Edge as Disarmament Deadline Passes

BY TY MCCORMICK-NOVEMBER 8, 2015

NAIROBI, Kenya — Security forces went door-to-door in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura on Sunday to enforce a disarmament deadline that diplomats and analysts warned could tip the already fraught security situation over the edge into widespread violence.

Hundreds of soldiers and police deployed to opposition strongholds in Bujumbura, many of which had emptied out ahead of the Saturday night deadline set by embattled President Pierre Nkurunziza. Those caught with weapons after midnight risked being “dealt with as enemies of the nation,” the president said on Nov. 2. Thousands of people fled Bujumbura over the weekend in order to avoid being caught up in the security sweep.

Burundi was plunged into turmoil back in April, when Nkurunziza defied nationwide protests and sought a constitutionally questionable third term in office. He was re-elected with 69 percent of the vote in the July elections, which were roundly condemned by the international community.

Since then, anti-government protests have hardened into armed opposition, with tit-for-tat killings roiling the capital for months. The government has cracked down on opponents, shuttering local media houses, detaining and torturing protesters and activists, and allegedly carrying out a spate ofextrajudicial killings. According to the United Nations, at least 200 people have been killed since April and roughly 200,000 have fled the country.

The ultimatum from Nkurunziza marked a potential turning point in the conflict, with Western diplomats warning of the possibility of mass atrocities. “The United States expresses its extreme concern that the five-day ultimatum issued by the president will trigger widespread violence beginning this coming weekend,” Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a Nov. 5 statement.

The president’s threats to stamp out “enemies” and “terrorists” are the latest in a series of incendiary remarks from government officials that some analysts say is worryingly similar to the language used to incite genocide in neighboring Rwanda in 1994. “Today, the police shoot in the legs,” Burundi’s Senate president, Reverien Ndikuriyo, said last week. “[B]ut when the day comes that we tell them to go to ‘work’, do not come crying to us.”

The phrase “go to work” was widely understood to mean “kill Tutsis” during the Rwandan genocide, when coded language of this sort was broadcast by radio stations controlled by Hutu extremists.

“The language is unambiguous to Burundians and chillingly similar to that used in Rwanda in the 1990s before the genocide,” the International Crisis Group said in a Nov. 5 report.

Burundi’s government dismissed international concerns about an impending bloodbath. “There will be no war or genocide,” presidential communications chief Willy Nyamitwe told AFP. He said that security forces were simply countering “acts of terrorism, as with al-Shabab in Somalia.”   

Although most analysts are united in concern that an official crackdown could ignite unnecessary bloodshed, not everyone thinks the parallels to the Rwandan genocide ring true. “The current political crisis and violence does not stem from an ‘ethnic’ confrontation,” Christoph Vogel, a researcher focusing on Africa’s Great Lakes region at the University of Zurich, said in a Twitter message. “The underlying crisis is fundamentally political.”

Vogel added that while “Burundi and Rwanda share a neatly entangled history, both countries have evolved differently in terms of identity politics.” Burundians tend to emphasize the importance of clan rather than ethnic identity, he said, so ethnic cleavages of the kind that featured centrally in the Rwandan genocide “are sometimes less pronounced” in Burundi.

“Nonetheless, the recent escalation needs to be taken extremely seriously,” he said.

For months, bodies have been turning up in opposition neighborhoods, the result of extrajudicial killings that witnesses say are often carried out by uniformed police and military personnel. “A frightening lawlessness is taking hold, which some authorities appear to be taking advantage of to justify brutal repression,” Carina Tertsakian of Human Rights Watch wrote recently.“Politically motivated killings are more frequent by the day, with hardly any of the killers arrested or prosecuted.”

Tertsakian told Foreign Policy that Human Rights Watch has documented more than 100 killings in the last three months alone. Some are politically motivated assassinations, some are unexplained nighttime murders, and some are killings carried out by police officers, she said.

“The police have been going into [opposition] neighborhoods and killing quite a lot of residents, many of whom are unarmed,” said Tertsakian. “This is the category of killing we are afraid will escalate in the aftermath of the ultimatum.”

Credit: MARCO LONGARI 

Rising spectre of diminishing values in India

By Tariq Al Maeena,- 

November 7, 2015

For a country with a sizeable Muslim minority as well as Christians, Sikhs and others of different faiths, recent incidents of intolerance do not augur well for its future

A decade ago, I decided to surprise my teenage children with the announcement that I would be taking them to India for a short holiday. My distinct memories from having visited the country with my parents when I was a child left me with impressions of cultures and civilisations that one reads in history books. And then there was the Taj Mahal, one of the seven Wonders of the World, a beacon of global attraction.

At the time, there were a few objections from my family members and friends, who were somewhat alarmed and they peppered me with the question: “But why India?” Why not, I would reply. Their answers were somewhat patronising. India, they would say, is dirty, crowded and backward and we’d be sure to catch one of many diseases. I would be exposing my children to viruses and bacteria of gargantuan proportions. Malaria, diarrhoea, cholera and the plague were commonplace they said, and how could I be so insensitive or naive to expose my children to such deadly threats, all for the sake of seeing some old monuments?

I explained to them that I wanted my children to see India first-hand and not to have the impression that, unfortunately, a lot of us Saudi nationals and others in Saudi Arabia have about the country. I wanted to expose my family to a diverse culture that they had not experienced before. I thanked them for their concerns over health-related issues, but assured them that we would be taking all the necessary precautions.

However, with such a steady stream of warnings, doubts began to creep within me, creating some unsettling feelings. Was I being rash, expecting to be in India without getting into some debilitating medical condition? What about my children? Was I foolishly exposing them to transmittable diseases and possible harm? Going to a country with a population of more than a billion people, was I being immature and stubborn in not paying attention to my friends’ and family members’ concerns? Those were soon put to rest by a friendly official at the Indian diplomatic mission in Jeddah, who reassuringly advised me to “Drink only bottled water and eat only in the hotels you would be staying in”.

As we spun through Chennai, Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, my children were amazed. And they loved it. The hustle and bustle of Chennai, with its serene shorelines dotted with resorts and retreats offering world-class services; the grandeur of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (presidential palace) in New Delhi; the beauty of Marine Drive in Mumbai; topped with our visit to the majestic Taj Mahal in Agra had my children chirping in unison that this was indeed a trip of a lifetime. And from our observations, we were pleasantly surprised to find parts of India cleaner than our own city in Saudi Arabia! The roads in India, although crowded, were not run-down as some in Saudi Arabia are, and the Indians seemed more prosperous than we could imagine.

Yes, we drank only bottled water, but also ate at local restaurants. We witnessed wealth and we saw poverty. We learned about their great history and we observed massive new projects being built — designed to make life easier for an average Indian. We came back, truly enlightened with our Indian experience.

In spite of their diverse cultures and religions, India seemed to be tolerant at the time and moving forward and did not seem to be bogged down by what people in the Saudi Kingdom were suffering from: Fanaticism and intolerance on the part of a few who wanted to impose their vision on the rest of the people.

Alas, today, I cannot feel the same way about India. While Saudi Arabia has made tremendous strides in quashing the tide of extremism and fundamentalism within its borders, I am alarmed at the rising wave of such destructive philosophy within India’s borders. It is undeniable that much of this ominous change in direction had started with the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at last year’s general elections.

In a country that prides itself on its secularism, it is shocking to see and hear some of India’s lawmakers revealing their intolerance through comments on racial, religious and ethnic lines that are meant to pander to a section of the Hindu masses in the country. Some states in India adopted the ‘no-beef’ policy — in clear violation of the nation’s secular ethos. A Muslim male suspected of having eaten beef was dragged out of his home by a frenzied mob and lynched. Two children from the minority Dalit (backward class) community were burned alive in the state of Haryana.

For a country with a sizeable Muslim minority as well as Christians, Sikhs and others of different faiths, these incidents do not augur well for its future. The masses in the towns and villages of a vast country like India do not seem to be very well-informed about the need for the country to safeguard its secular credentials. Instead, they fall prey to divisive oratories delivered by some members of the ruling BJP and other rightist forces who are intent on stamping their own brand on the country’s identity. Politicians in India have historically been the driving force behind the discord between communities.

India should, under no circumstances, allow a divisive agenda — based on caste, creed, religion or ethnicity — to spread its roots in a soil that is known to have anchored plurality and tolerance in every sphere of life for centuries.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena.