Iran has stopped dismantling nuclear centrifuges: senior official

A Russian worker walks past the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010. Reuters/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour

Tue Nov 10, 2015

Iran has stopped dismantling centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants, state media reported on Tuesday, days after conservative lawmakers complained to President Hassan Rouhani that the process was too rushed.

Last week, Iran announced it had begun shutting down inactive centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow plants under the terms of a deal struck with world powers in July that limits its nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions.

Iran's hardliners continue to resist and undermine the nuclear deal, which was forged by moderates they oppose and which they see as a capitulation to the West.

"The (dismantling) process stopped with a warning," Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the National Security Council, was quoted as saying by the ISNA student news agency.

Only decommissioned centrifuges were being dismantled to begin with, of which there were about 10,000 at Natanz and Fordow, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran has said.

Shamkhani did not specify what he meant by "warning", but the head of parliament's nuclear deal commission, Alireza Zakani, told Mehr news agency that the dismantling had stopped in Fordow because of the lawmakers' letter to Rouhani.

Zakani, who was not one of the signatories of the letter, did not mention activities at Natanz.

A group of 20 hardline parliamentarians wrote to the president last week complaining that the deactivation of centrifuges contradicted the directives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei has said that the deal should only be implemented once allegations of past military dimensions (PMD) of Iran's nuclear program had been settled.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to announce its conclusions on PMD by Dec. 15.

South Asia Record Investigating Violence Against Scribes Is Dismal

THE CITIZEN BUREAU Sunday, November 8, 2015

NEW DELHI: This week, the world marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, with the sad realisation that most cases of violence against media personnel remain uninvestigated. According to the UN, in the past decade 700 journalists have been killed, with no convictions in nine out of ten cases. 

South Asia Record Investigating Violence Against Scribes is Dismal by Thavam Ratna

The Modi presidency is over

Bihar has reintroduced a healthy balance in our polity

Illustration by Sandeep Joshi

Harish Khare-Nov 9 2015

The clever and the cunning among the Modi ‘bhakts’ were prescient enough to enter a caveat by way of  an insurance: the Bihar vote would not be a verdict on the Prime Minister. True, every analyst knew that whatever be the Patna outcome, the Lok Sabha numbers would remain unchanged. But there is a message way, way beyond Patna because he opted — so breathtakingly and so recklessly — to stake his shirt in Bihar, the Prime Minister’s  image and stature stand considerably diminished.

The trend that began in Delhi early this year has now consecrated into a new, definite mood.  But there is no joy in all this. Indeed the Bihar outcome has hoisted the nation, to use a very old cliché , on the horn of a dilemma. Narendra Modi is the only Prime Minister we have, he  still has three and a half years left in his term and, yet, it would truly be a national tragedy if his government gets rendered  a  hors de combat.

It is sobering to observe that a sensible section in the country was hoping that the Bihar voters would rebuff Mr. Modi, which in turn would, hopefully, induce him to reinvent himself. But it is too hopeful a hope to expect Mr. Modi to change his stripes.  

This pessimism suggests itself on three counts. First, what the people of Bihar -as also in the rest of the country-saw was the real Narendra Modi. Abrasive, abusive, acerbic, cheerfully acrimonious, a bruiser, a street-fighter with a preference for the knuckle-duster. A leader who is refusing to grow up. Perhaps that is the only trip he knows.  During the 2014 parliamentary campaign his massive media machine was able to bewitch the middle classes as also the leading liberal intellectuals to make them believe that Modi had put "2002" behind him; that he had grown into a sober, rounded personality. 

Of course, even in 2014, the voter in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat was wooed, subtly, to see him in the old familiar garb of an anti-Muslim, Hindu partisan. But the post-victory narrative grafted a modernising halo around him.

The middle classes opted to overlook this unpleasant part of his political persona and, instead, applauded because he had promised to slay the “mother and son sarkar.” 

In the 2015 Bihar, there was neither a ma nor a beta for him to gore, though he did try to resurrect them as the ‘enemy.’ Meanwhile the country had become wise to Modi’s  techniques and tricks. The Bihar political antagonists led by Nitish Kumar had read Modi loud and clear and were ready to repay him in kind: insult for insult, slogan for slogan, gali for gali. 

Second, the BJP campaign in Bihar has done enormous damage to the idea of economic growth. The choice got narrowed down to the ‘social justice plus development’ of the Nitish Kumar variety or the ‘development plus communalism’ of  the Modi-Amit Shah version. It is most regrettable that 'development' as the national agenda stands discredited. It was all so needless but Mr. Modi himself abandoned it; he did not stay with the message. That too is no surprise.  Because being who he is, Narendra Modi put  ‘vikas’ on his rhetorical back-burner and began trading in communal metaphors. He had no qualms in invoking “the other community.”  In case anyone missed the communal pitch, his comrade-in-chief, Amit Shah, made it explicit  when he argued that Pakistan would be celebrating a BJP defeat. 

This was back to the familiar Gujarat rhetoric of 2002.This cultivated regressive relapse has taken the sheen off Mr. Modi as a new messenger of a new era of national prosperity. The prolonged Bihar spectacle has defrocked this self-promoted messiah of techno-nationalism, a man who can effortlessly woo the CEOs and other technocrats in the Silicon Valley and still practise pre-Partition politics. 

Thirdly, Bihar also highlighted Narenda Modi’s  single-minded preoccupation with the relentless accumulation of power. After Bihar, it would have been UP, then West Bengal. The unspoken message was clear: Control the Rajya Sabha, become invincible, answerable to none, or maybe, if at all, only to the Nagpur bosses. Bihar was invited to pay its democratic obeisance to the new Mughal. The invitation was spurned. When even so mature a political leader like Mufti Mohammed Syed allows himself to suggest that Mr. Modi would be Prime Minister for the next ten years, the Indian people’s democratic soul became restless.    

 All these three counts add up to a larger message: Mr. Modi  has lost two major institutional  assets  — trust and moral licence — no Prime Minister can do without. 

A political figure becomes a leader when the citizens come to feel that he can be trusted to take life-and-death decisions; that he has that elusive but critical capacity to strike a balance between short-term advantages and long-term interests; when the leader is able to induce  hope and confidence that he would “do the right thing;”  The nation has to trust its leader to summon the necessary wisdom  to reject extremes and to encourage moderation without losing vitality and energy. Only a trustful leader taps the very best in each of us. 

Once a leader acquires that trust a moral licence accrues to him. Such a trustful leader can seek the willing acquiescence of the congregation in changing its outlook, values and meta-ideological propositions. Only a trustful leader can become a transformative figure because of his ability  to extract cooperation and compliance in rebuilding a society. 

For a while Modi had both trust and moral licence; for instance, when he wielded a broom and led the nation to clean our streets and mohallas, he was exercising a moral licence; what he was asking of the citizens was totally impersonal; the leader was not seeking any glory for himself, only some contribution to the collective good. In Bihar, Mr. Modi squandered it all away. 

It is still open to Mr. Modi to redeem himself. The only painful question is whether he would belatedly understand that he was not elected to an all-powerful  presidency but to the office of Prime Minister. India has become too argumentative and too democratic a nation to pay homage to an emperor. Mr. Modi can still salvage his government’s efficacy and respectability if he is made to realise that a Prime Minister cannot demand or dictate conciliation and cooperation from all stakeholders in the polity. The Modi presidency is over. Our democratic equanimity stands partially restored.

Portuguese MPs force minority government to quit over austerity

Alliance of socialists and communists brings down centre-right coalition weeks after general election
Outgoing Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho leaves at the end of the debate. Photograph: Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

 
A protest outside the Portuguese parliament building in Lisbon before the vote. Photograph: Joao Profirio/EPA

Angelique Chrisafis-Tuesday 10 November 2015

A surprise alliance of leftwing parties with a mission to “turn the page” on austerity has ousted Portugal’s centre-right government barely 11 days after it took power.

The moderate centre-left Socialist party forged an unprecedented alliance with the smaller Communist party and the radical Left Bloc, linked to Greece’s anti-austerity Syriza party, and used a parliamentary vote on policy to force the government to resign on Tuesday.

Portuguese MPs Force Minority Government to Quit Over Austerity by Thavam Ratna

The farmer who has become a focal point for Scottish land reform

The farmer who has become a focal point for Scottish land reform

Alex Thomson's View-Tuesday 10 Nov 2015

By way of an update, let us revisit the case of Andrew Stoddart. Many will remember him, standing in the rolling wheat fields of East Lothian, in the film we made a few weeks back about Scottish land reform – or perhaps the lack of it.

A massively built man, reduced to tears as we filmed him, who says he has “sweated blood” working and improving the soil of his 900-acre rented farm south of Edinburgh.

He faced eviction with his family on 28 November. Two other farm workers would also go. In all seven children would be turfed out of their homes.

Since our report was transmitted it has created some impact. Most gratifyingly of all Andrew himself messaged me on Twitter to say: “Thankyou – it has changed everything.”

Matters came more generally to a head at the SNP conference in Aberdeen this year. As ever a slick, disciplined affair with barely a murmur of dissent between the party faithful and the executive on the stage – bar one issue.

Yup: land reform. The problem for the SNP, as we reported, is that Nicola Sturgeon promised Scotland something “radical” on this and, in the judgement of many in her own party, she has signally failed to deliver.

Which is why, in part, Andrew Stoddart has become something of a focal point for all this. When he broke down as he was asked about the effect all this is having on his young family, the reality of unsafe leases to farmers in Scotland was painful and direct.

Since our report a petition of around 19,000 signatures has been signed in his support and the Scottish government appears to be getting directly involved now.

Today they told Channel 4 News: “Given the urgency of this situation the Cabinet Secretary, Richard Lochhead, personally intervened and has spoken to both Mr Stoddart and the Colstoun Trust, which owns the farm, to support and urge a mediated resolution.”

And according to the Scottish government, mediation is not the only possible solution on the table: “Options under consideration include extending the current lease at Colstoun Mains Farm, the possibility of finding alternative farmland for Mr Stoddart and facilitating renewed negotiations around his compensation for the improvements he has made to the farm.”

This afternoon, the landowner has released a statement indicating that Andrew and his family can stay beyond their eviction date, but for how long we don’t know.

All in all rather a lot has changed since we met on a blustery October day on his farm, so watch this space.

Follow @alextomo on Twitter

BBQ, pan-fried meat and kidney cancer: 5 key takeaways from a new study

By Ariana Eunjung Cha-November 9

If you aren't already cutting down/totally avoiding (or at least feeling guilty about eating) meat following the World Health Organization warning in October, a new study out this week may give you more reason to reconsider your dietary choices.

[WHO says hot dogs, bacon cause cancer. Does this mean we should all become vegetarians?]

A paper published in this month's issue of the journal Cancer finds that people who have diets high in meat may be at increased risk of developing kidney cancer. The research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health as well as other grantees, involved collecting survey information about eating patterns and genetic data from 659 patients at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who were newly diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and 699 healthy patients.

Here are five key points from the research:

1. Individuals with kidney cancer consumed more red and white meat compared to those in the healthy control group.

2. The researchers theorize that the carcinogenic effect may come from the ingestion of meat-cooking mutagens that are created when meat is cooked at high temperatures or over an open flame — which includes barbecuing or pan-frying. Previous work has shown that these techniques result in the formation of two carcinogens: 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo(4,5-b) pyridine (PhIP) and amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f) quinoxaline (MeIQx). The study shows a 54 percent increased risk associated with PhIP intake and a nearly 200 percent increase with MeIQx intake.

3. Your genetics may make you more or less susceptible to the effects. Researchers found that patients with variations in the gene, ITPR2, which has previously been associated with kidney cancer, may be more vulnerable to ill effects to these mutagens.

4. The researchers aren't suggesting that you should stop eating meat. They echoed recommendations from the American Cancer Society that people consume meats in moderation as part of a well-balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables.

5. They did have specific recommendations about grilling or pan-fry meat, however: As much as possible, try to avoid charring it .

The cancer study appears to support the controversial findings of a WHO decision to declare processed meat a carcinogen and red meat "probably" one in October. One of the most aggressive stances against meat taken by a major health organization, the announcement prompted an outcry from bacon lovers and other fans of meat who vowed to continue to eat as they did in the past. According to market research firm NPD Group, they made good on that promise so far, with consumption of processed and red meats and other animal proteins remaining about the same in the week following the decision.

This post has been updated.

Read More:

Unsettling finding from CDC investigation: Tapeworms can pass cancer cells to man

What you need to know about tapeworm cancer in humans

5 theories about why white, middle-aged Americans are dying at such high rates

Cutting sugar from kids’ diets appears to have a beneficial effect in just 10 days

SPECIAL REPORT: Billionaire Paul Allen's quest to build an artificial brain

For more health news, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter here.

 

Ariana Eunjung Cha is a national reporter. She has previously served as the Post's bureau chief in Shanghai and San Francisco, and as a correspondent in Baghdad.

Sri Lanka, a land like no other… for broken promises

By Chandani Kirinde, Lobby Correspondent

Sunday, November 08, 2015

The lofty ideals on which the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) was put together with the great promise to fight bribery and corruption and deal with the problems faced by the people with compassion, was shattered to a large extent by the actions of a few of its members in Parliament this week.

Sri Lanka, A Land Like No Other… for Broken Promises by Thavam Ratna

The Ashes Of My Father: The Voice Of The Son Of A Freedom Fighter

By Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan –November 9, 2015

Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan

My name is Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan. I was born in the midst ofthe Black July, the ignis fatalis for the civil war starting in 1983. My father, named by his comrades by his nom de guerre Vannai Ananthan, was one of the most prolific and charismatic speakers of the Tamil Youth movement.

The post-colonial history, the ethnic conflict, decades of hate and ignorance, shortly: the tragedy of this country -despite its beauty- became my invincible sibling. However, I would not say that the tragedy of Sri Lanka overshadowed my childhood and youth. It became a constant reminder for hope.

Imprisonment

The imprisonment of my father, ‘appa’, for seven years in Welikade did not leave him without scars – visible and more worryingly, invisible scars. He was beaten up, tortured, spit at, cigarettes of prison guards were stubbed out on the skin of appa. And what was more distressful: he was denied the right to conduct the funeral of his mother, my grandmother, according to the Hindu rites, being the oldest son in a Hindu family. My grandmother died during his imprisonment. A woman that loved him so much; he was the first male child after three girls, my aunts. She and my grandfather had fasted and prayed to God that they will be given a son- given the unfortunate patriarchal perception. As he went to prison, my grandmother’s life came to an end, she was a walking dead. All she wanted was to see him once again before she died. But both, neither my appa nor my grandmother, were able to see each other ever again.
And yet, my appa never taught me to hate the Sinhala people. He taught me love those who humiliated him. He said: “Only because of one or two persons who carried so much hate in their hearts, I shall not hate the Sinhala people and scapegoat them. They have not done anything wrong. Neither should you. Forgive those who have acted wrongly towards you.”

A project in Maskelya

Appa was a civil engineer – his actual profession. He was dispatched to Maskeliya, back then a jungle in Sri Lanka. I am not sure if things have changed. He was assigned to construct bridges and pathways.

Appa was a heavy chain smoker and for that reason he went outside his provisional office to have a cigarette. He saw an older Sinhala lady with -presumably- her grandchild. She sat by the river and washed that child that was very loud and crying. She hit that child and said in Sinhala: “Demala aya vage, mata karadara karanna epa” – which is translated as: “Do not trouble me like the Tamils do!”

My appa told me this story. But not for the reason to hate the Sinhala. But to depict what we are teaching the next, growing generation, the future leaders of our country: hate and ignorance. This happens in Tamil as well as Sinhala communities, in Sri Lanka and abroad. Hate and ignorance were the key ingredients that deepened the division.                                             Read More

Political Prisoner Issue Threatens To Get Ugly

Political prisoners will be released in stages

by Easwaran Rutnam-Monday, November 09, 2015

Opposition leader and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan said last week that some Political prisoners will be released in stages beginning tomorrow but not all are happy.

Political Prisoner Issue Threatens to Get Ugly by Thavam Ratna

Dispatches: Sri Lanka Homecoming

Makeshift home of a displaced family in Sampur, Sri Lanka. October 2015. 

 © 2015 James Ross/Human Rights Watch

James Ross-NOVEMBER 8, 2015

“More than others, the Tamils know the trauma of war,” Sri Lanka’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena, told those gathered at a resettlement ceremony in August in Sampur, in the country’s northeast.

In 2006 more than 800 ethnic Tamil families here were forced to flee fighting between the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and government forces. Although the war ended in 2009, the creation of naval bases on previously inhabited land had prevented those displaced from returning to their homes.

Some 200 families quickly took up Sirisena’s offer to return and by the time I visited Sampur in October, many others had joined them. Humanitarian agencies were helping to build homes and other infrastructure and Sampur, a flat, exposed region near the coast, is now vibrant with reconstruction.

“Many of these people suffered terribly during the war,” an eastern provincial counselor told a Sri Lankan human rights activist and me. There were forced disappearances and many others just went missing. “Most people don’t know the fate of their relatives,” he said. “The government should provide them information and compensation.”

Many others are waiting to return to their homes. I met several women from a group of 250 Tamil families who have waited almost six years to return to their homes. They’ve been living in makeshift houses with no electricity and inadequate water and sanitation. International food assistance ended years ago. They get some government assistance and make a little cash working on nearby construction projects.

The owners of the land on which they’ve been living want the families to leave. The families want to leave too. The Sri Lankan navy, which had built a base on their land just a few kilometers away, has already relocated to a new area, but says the families can’t return until January. 

“Why January?” a young woman asked, shaking her head. “Why can’t we return now?”

SRI LANKA: VISIT OF THE UN WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED AND INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE TO SRI LANKA

By Amnesty International, 8 November 2015, Index number: ASA 37/2821/2015

The UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) is preparing for its first visit to Sri Lanka in 15 years. This important visit will raise the hopes of thousands of families of the disappeared that with the UN’s help they may finally discover the fates and whereabouts of their missing relatives and have the opportunity to pursue justice and reparation.

As a 3728212015 English by Thavam Ratna

 இலஙக வஜய

As a 3728212015 Tamil by Thavam Ratna

Sobitha Thera’s remains lie in-state at Sri Naga Viharaya 



2015-11-09
The remains of Ven. Sobitha Thera were brought today to the Kotte Sri Naga Viharaya from a private funeral parlour in Colombo. The body will lie in-state at the temple till Thursday for the people to pay their last respects to the prelate, who passed away in a Singaporean Hospital. Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana   - 

Sobitha Thera’s Remains Lie in-state at Sri Naga Viharaya by Thavam Ratna

Ven Sobitha Thero left us when the country needed him most

Light and flame have gone, leaving the country engulfed in darkness.

by Latheef Farook : -2015-11-09

Around 6 in the morning on Sunday 8 November 2015, I received an SMS message informing that Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero passed away in Singapore though he looked okay and walking on TV few days ago.

 That was the most depressing news I got for some time.

 Popularly called Sobitha Thero, Ven Maduluwawe,  is one person whom I always respected   for his brave and historic role in bringing about the political change in the country though the mood within months today is one of dissolutionment among the people.

Thus one cannot say he died a contented person. Instead he may have been deeply disappointed as the performance of those whom he fought to bring to power to clean up the political system and administration were themselves accused of inaction and protecting those accused of crime, corruption and plundering nations’ wealth.

In the not so distant past under former President Mahinda there was an atmosphere of fear in the country. People were afraid to speak out due to fear of being kidnapped, tortured, and killed and what not.

It was under such a frightening atmosphere that Ven Sobitha Thero  came out and  spoke against the crime, corruption and injustice of the ruthless government despite threats to his life.

 In fact at the early stage his was the sole struggle against injustice, crime, corruption and mismanagement of the country. His leadership was given a much needed shot in the arm when President Maithripala Sirisena crossed over from the government and began his campaign for” good governance” which is in turmoil today.

Thus the tide was turned and the unexpected, defeat of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, took place paving the way over night for the change of political environment    where jubilant people began breathing fresh air of freedom with great expectation from good governance.

However numerous controversies in the government which Ven Sobitha helped to bring to power certainly would have disappointed him as he had indicated by many of his statements and his silence during the past few months.

In him I found great human qualities to emulate.

In this corrupt, criminalized and communalized political and social environment Ven Sobitha has been a ray of hope and a rare source of inspiration, irrespective of race and religion, to all those who cherish family, religious and cultural values and firmly believe and dream of   a decent government, corruption free administration and a peaceful country where all could live in harmony.

He left  the scene  and orphaned the country  at a time when there is the  need for  not one   but hundreds of Ven Sobithas to uplift the country from the morass into which the two main political parties-United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party- brought  with their    short sighted racist politics.

He was respected by the island’s Muslim community in view his liberal policies genuinely representing the true teachings of Lord Buddha.

If history is written in its proper perspective he will remain a legend in the hearts and minds of all those who long for a decent country where civilization could flourish.

This is the very reason I always compare Ven Sobitha to the role played by Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Ayatollah guided the people to remove the American-Israeli backed   oppressive Pahlavi Monarchy in Iran while here in Sri Lanka Ven Sobitha Thero played the lead role to defeat the corrupt autocratic Rajapaksa family regime.

With his death the light and flame have gone and the country is engulfed in darkness. Ends 

Most fitting tribute to venerable Sobitha is to uphold good governance

By Jehan Perera-November 9, 2015, 6:20 pm 

Buddhist monks have been central figures in Sri Lanka’s history. It is they who recorded the early history of the country and its people in the ancient chronicle of the Mahavamsa. They were the guides of the Sinhalese kings and the protectors of the Buddhist religion. When foreign powers invaded the country they even accompanied the armies that went to confront the invaders. They were, and remain, the guardians of the Sinhalese Buddhist civilization of Sri Lanka. Venerable Maduluwave Sobitha belonged to this tradition. He emerged as a national figure on this account. He became a subject of international controversy when his photograph appeared on the cover of a book titled "Buddhism Betrayed" by Professor Stanley Tambiah of Harvard University who was of Sri Lankan Tamil origin.

When Sri Lanka’s internal conflict that pitted the government against Tamil militants was growing in intensity in the mid 1980s, Ven Sobitha was a prominent spokesperson for the Sinhalese Buddhist perspective. He was portrayed by his critics as a hard line and nationalist Buddhist monk who advocated war over peace. He engaged in debate against those liberals who advocated a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict and power sharing arrangements, especially through the devolution of power, which they argued would address the roots of the conflict. The Ven Sobitha also challenged the might of the government of President J R Jayewardene who enjoyed a 5/6 majority of seats in Parliament when the president signed the Indo Lanka Peace Accord on 1987 that devolved power to the provinces and invited the Indian army into Sri Lanka to disarm the Tamil militants.

But three decades later Ven Sobitha took on himself an even bigger challenge when he gave leadership to those opposed to a third term for President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In his second term President Rajapaksa sought to concentrate more and more power in his presidency and in his family. Corruption, authoritarianism and impunity rose to an unprecedented level. But the Rajapaksa government appeared to have an undefeatable formula of engineering Sinhalese nationalism on a mass scale by referring to threats to the nation from an assortment of enemies that included the country’s own ethnic and religious minorities, the Tamil Diaspora and the Western-led international community. It was in this context that Ven Sobitha gave leadership to a multi-ethnic and multi-religious civil society coalition for good governance that challenged President Rajapaksa’s government and saw its defeat at the presidential elections of January 2015.

BUDDHIST LEADERS

The government has decided to give Ven Sobitha a state funeral on Thursday November 12, and to declare it a Day of National Mourning. It would be no exaggeration to say that the present government, a government of national unity unprecedented in Sri Lanka’s history, is a result of Ven Sobitha’s inspired and courageous leadership. Together with another Buddhist monk, the Venerable Athureliye Rathana, he was instrumental in the dramatic and unbelievable political changes that took place in the country in January. At the presidential elections in January, and again at the general elections in August, these two Buddhist monks played differing but major roles in mobilizing the civil and political opposition to the abuses and mis-governance of the previous government.

The decision of the Sinhalese nationalist JHU led by Ven Rathana to break ranks with the government undermined the Rajapaksa government’s case regarding an international conspiracy. Their decision to oppose President Rajapaksa’s bid to be re-elected for a third term was the defining moment of the presidential election. In explaining their departure, the JHU leaders said that they united with the government in the past to defeat the LTTE and its threat to the unity of the country; but now that threat was over, the need was to achieve good governance in the country. The top leadership of the JHU resigned from their positions in the government after they failed to extract promises from the Rajapaksa government to accept the reforms they proposed that would ensure good governance. On the other hand, the Ven Sobitha who never joined any political party gave leadership to a civil society movement for good governance. The small group of civic activists who started to work with him eventually became an electoral majority of all ethnic and religious communities that removed an authoritarian government from power through peaceful means.

During the election campaign and after it, Ven Sobitha advocated policies of reconciliation with the Tamil and Muslim minorities, including the devolution of power and providing them with the equal protection of the law. It was for this reason that the National Peace Council, itself a multi-ethnic and multi-religious group established with the objective of promoting a negotiated political settlement of the country’s ethnic conflict, decided to honour Ven Sobitha with its Citizens Peace Prize for 2015. I was part of the group of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims from the organization who went to ask him two months ago whether he would accept our prize which is meant for those who have upheld human rights, good governance and ethnic harmony in their public lives even at risk to themselves. He said there were others more qualified for the prize than he, but eventually agreed when we said our choice was unanimous.

LIVING TRUTH

When we last met Ven Sobitha in his temple a few days before he entered hospital for heart surgery, he was anxious not so much about himself as about the sense of drift in the government on the issues of good governance most dear to his heart. He spoke about the reports of corruption in the government and its inaction with regard to investigating both the past offences of the previous government as well as the newly occurring ones. And tragically, in the weeks that have followed, the government has been plunging into crisis on that very count. Government ministers who once gave leadership at the election campaign for good governance are at loggerheads with others ministers on issues of insider trading, nepotism and conflict of interest, among others, and some have threatened to resign. Vested interests are on display and eroding the moral credibility of the government.

In keeping with election promises, the government passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that reduced the president’s powers and re-established independent commissions to key state institutions. Most of the independent commissions are in place with eminent persons put in charge of them. But these systems are still new and untested. They need political leadership to get started. New champions of good governance need to emerge both from within the government and civil society who will speak up and act without shirking their responsibilities or deferring to vested interests. The drift within the government needs to cease. On the occasion of Ven Sobitha’s funeral on Thursday it would be fitting for the government and civil society leaders who were his compatriots in the struggle to change the government, to renew their pledge to the people of the country to take us on the path to good governance.

Due to the untimely demise of Ven Sobitha the mantle of his leadership must now pass to new leaders. He ended his life as a Sri Lankan leader, seeking nothing for himself, but seeking everything for the people, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion. On social media, Tamils and Muslims mourned his demise within hours of his passing away. The words that befit Ven Sobitha are those that were spoken for Mahatma Gandhi by his protégé Jawaharlal Nehru: "The light has gone out I said and yet I was wrong … For that light represented the living truth… the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom." Indeed, the most fitting tribute to Ven Sobitha is to stand for the values of good governance and ethnic harmony and ensure that they are realized in the life of the Sri Lankan nation.