Ex-LTTE cadres back in Prison

2015-11-11

The ex-LTTE cadres who were today granted bail were taken back to prison again because there was no one to sign for them. Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana

Ven. Sobitha: Conscience Of The Nation & A Leading Light

By Siri Gamage –November 11, 2015 

Dr. Siri Gamage

I am saddened to hear about the demise of this heroic and courageous monk who was the pulse of the nation during a turbulant period of Sri Lanka’s recent history. Where others felt fear to speak up, he stood up. When others were hesitant to criticise the existing arrangements of governance, he did not hesitate. When others were lost for words to articulate the sufferings of people and what’s wrong in the path our leaders were taking the country forward, he found relevant words in a way that others could understand to explain it. In doing so, on one hand he was informed by the message of Buddha. On the other hand, he could explain way forward for a Yahapalanaya in a way that everybody could understand.

Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha was a rare individual blessed with a pleasing personality and display of authority. He was a homegrown sociologist and a credible social critique that displayed animosity to none. During my young-middle years, he was a renowned Dhamma preacher whose words of wisdom and the unique style of preaching drew pious masses like a line of ants wherever he went. With the expansion of television, his Dhamma talks grew in popularity. Venerable Sobitha had an aura of simplicity and authority unparalleled among colleagues.

He related Dhamma concepts and stories linking them with the predicament of people and society so that the listeners could make sense of both better. He was not one for promoting blind faith even about Dhamma. He was a fearless, heroic monk in every sense and showed the right way for the leader and the follower alike. Generations of us benefitted from his Dhamma talks, social critique and explanations about many ills that afflict the body politic on one hand and the society on the other. The campaign for socially just society that he led against many odds during not so distant past yielded some results but there is a long way to go to achieve its objectives.

Read More

Ven Sobitha was a True Friend of the Tamil People – TNA

11/11/2015 

The Tamil National Alliance is deeply saddened by the demise of Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera. He was one who transcended the ethnic, religious and all other divides and truly worked for the well being of all the peoples of our country.

Ven Sobitha was a true friend of the Tamil people who fully understood their aspirations and was willing to accommodate those within the Sri Lankan polity.

He gave leadership to the moral voice of the country for the last couple of years and all communities in our land accepted that leadership. The change that took place in January this year would not have been possible without him. He continued to speak up for the passage of the 19th amendment and was willing to sommence another mass struggle for it.

– Press release by the TNA

He renounced Nirvana for the sake of others

Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero 

Thursday, 12 November 2015

At the time of his passing, Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero was the nation’s embodiment of political morality. To make rulers righteous was his life’s mission. He was the exceptional Buddhist monk who sacrificed his own nirvana for the sake of others.
He secured his place in our annals as the prophet who spearheaded the people’s movement for a just society. That was under trying times. At high noon we were groping in the dark. His call to be governed by righteousness has no parallel except of that inscribed in the second rock edict of Ashoka now standing in desolate grandeur between Lumbini and Buddhagaya. 
Once his militant profile adorned the jacket cover of the book ‘Buddhism Betrayed’ by the eminent Sri Lankan anthropologist Stanley Thambaiah who explored the role of religion in post-independence politics. 
Following 1956, there emerged a proposition that ‘political morality that regulated state-society relations in post-1956 Sri Lanka was in essence Sinhala nationalism.’ That is only half the story. 
Sir Walter Hankinson, the first British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, wrote to London a year after independence: “There have been no startling changes in the domestic political scene; there have been no disturbances among any section of the population; there have been no sudden or sharp alterations in any of the institutions of Government; there have up to the present been no untoward changes in the economic Situation. Nearly all the public institutions, Governmental and others in Ceylon, are based on English models, laid down often many decades ago by the Colonial administration. The result is that an appearance startlingly familiar to English eyes is presented by the political scene. The Cabinet, the House of Representatives, the manner in which Parliamentary business is transacted and relationship of the Civil Service to the political executive all follow the English model. This combined with good relations prevailing between Europeans and Ceylonese has produced an atmosphere in which an English observer feels almost strangely at home.” 
That Buddhist monks formed a sizable and significant component of the avant-garde [a stylish contemporary expression] of the movement that brought about the change of 1956 is no accident. 
Walpola Rahula Thero with his classic work the ‘Heritage of the Bhikku’ sought the space for the monk as a public leader in place of the ‘ascetic recluse’ a role assigned by the indigenous gentry whose fidelity to the systems of the mother country was so eloquently expressed by Sir Walter Haskinson. 
What happened in 1956 is best described by Pieter Keuneman in an article written to the Ceylon Daily News souvenir to commemorate the opening of the new Parliament at Sri Jayewardenepura 29 April 1982. A little more than one year before the pogrom of 1983. “I doubt whether we will ever witness again so moving a spectacle as the people streaming in to Parliament, as they did after the election of 1956, and reverently and affectionately stroking the benches where the members they elect would sit.” 
What followed after 1956 was the emergence of the Sangha as a defining political institution. Though eclipsed temporarily following the assassination of the Prime Minister in 1958 it gathered itself as a lever of power when politicians discovered them as movers and shakers in electoral politics in the sixties and seventies. Soon there emerged a UNP Sangha and an SLFP Sangha. That both sides are found weeping in Kotte is a tribute to the departed ‘Bodhisatva’ monk. 
It is now fashionable to claim that the introduction of the market economy in 1977 was an economic game changer that radically changed the direction of the nation. Our support of Great Britain on the invasion of the Malvinas islands and the scant attention paid to the massive social disparities created by cold blooded liberalisation indicates that the ideology of the free market economics was a return to the old charming world of Sir Walter Hankinson. That too was a repressive time. Robber barons were welcomed and protesters were bullwhipped. That was when the militant monk received his baptism under fire in the company of Professor Ediriweera Sarathchandra.
The market economy with a human face followed. That it could not wash away its war paint from the Chicago school is another story. 
The Sangha institution today is no better and no worse than any of our other public institutions. They have carved a niche as intermediaries in a thriving industry of patronage politics.
That venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero was no part of that grand design was the good fortune of our nation. That is what made him the exceptional leader. 
In his bid to repeal the 18th Amendment and scarp the executive presidency he did not find many backers from among his saffron brotherhood. On the contrary he earned the scorn of some firebrand defenders who muddled national sovereignty with a brand of neo fascism. At helm of the National Movement for a Just Society he was as lonely as was Sir Thomas More the martyr and author of Utopia.
Venerable Sobitha Thero in his role as democratic activist remained a committed Budhaputhra. He saw Buddhism as a creed of service to others. By word and deed he followed the ‘Mahawagga’. For more than two years before 8 January he wandered forth for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, in compassion for the world, for the welfare, for the good, for the happiness of gods and men.

Sobhitha Thera’s wish and Marapana’s fate

Ranil may have appointed Marapana on the National List this time to cover up his sin of not doing so in 2004. Prior to the August general election, Ranil appointed him as an Advisor to the Prime Minister. It was after accepting that appointment, Marapana accepted the position of instructing Counsel for Avant Garde.

by Upul Joseph Fernando

( November 11, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Before Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera fell ill he accused the government of not apprehending the culprits involved in corruption. He charged that the government was wasting time while the iron was hot to make use of it. The main charge made by the thera was that the Government was trying to sweep the controversial Avant Garde probe under the carpet. While the thera was breathing his last, Law and Order Minister Tilak Marapana was trying to give saline to the Avant Garde issue by trying to protect that company. When Maithri and Ranil requested Marapana to quit the ministerial portfolio, the thera had left this world. Marapana resigned last Monday.

Who is this Tilak Marapana? After the 1994 UNP’s defeat at the General Election, Ranil appointed the Attorney General of the D.B. Wijetunga Government to the United National Party (UNP) Working Committee. In the early days of the UNP Working Committee meets, a UNP member asked a pertinent question from Marapana. “The story goes that you misled President Wijetunga to hold the general election prior to the presidential election. Is it true,” he asked? Marapana sported a mischievous smile and said it was done on astrological predictions. “There was an astrologer whom President Wijetunga and I knew. He pushed the President to first hold the general election stating the UNP could win,” Marapana has told. “We were defeated because we first held the general election,” the member hit back. “Yes… those things happen that way. Even if we went for a presidential election we would have been defeated. No one can change the destiny,” Marapana quipped in lighter vein. Contrary to Marapana’s astrological prediction, Ranil was of the view to first go for a presidential election to be the UNP candidate. He had already made that arrangement with the then Opposition Leader Sirima Bandaranaike. In that scenario if Chandrika was not the Sri Lanka Freedom Party presidential candidate and had Ms. Bandaranaike who was in a wheel chair contested, the Wijetunga candidate would have won. Then there would not have been a change of Government in 1994. It was Marapana who misled Wijetunga on astrological predictions and sent the UNP home in 1994.

Though Marapana was in the UNP Working Committee in 1995 he was never critical of the Chandrika Government. When Gamini Atukorale launched the Janabala Meheyuma against Chandrika’s Government in 2001, Tilak Marapana stood by the position that the UNP should go for a National Government with Chandrika. When Gamini Atukorale led the UNP from the front, Marapana was silent. Later, he obtained a National List slot in the UNP. When Ranil planned to appoint Marapana as Defence Minister, Gamini was very angry. He met Ranil and objected to that move stating that a person who does not know the pulse of the people should not be offered such a high and responsible position. Gamini cautioned Ranil not to get the UNP Government destroyed by giving high positions to Marapana. When Gamini met with a sudden death, Ranil handed over Gamini’s Transport and Highways Ministry to Marapana. Ranil’s Government fell as a result of the continued Railway and Transport services strikes that were not practically resolved, pinning hopes on astrological predictions. Marapana also handled the Defence Ministry in a lethargic manner. He never attempted to remove the ‘LTTE Label’ that was fixed on the Government by the Opposition.

However, in 2004 Ranil did not accommodate Marapana on the National List as Marapana’s inefficiency led to the fall of Ranil’s Government. Even in 2010, Ranil did not offer a National List post for Marapana. It was Marapana who disrupted a UNP Impeachment Motion against the then Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva. Sarath Silva misled the UNP Leader promising that he would not contribute towards any action to topple Ranil’s Government in 2001. However, when Sarath Silva upheld that Chandrika’s grab of three ministries under Ranil’s Government was legal, Marapana slipped away. Marapana is a lawyer who upholds and protects the interests of his profession. Hence, he did not want to hurt the then Chief Justice. When former President Mahinda Rajapaksa brought an impeachment motion in 2013 against the 43rd Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, it was Marapana who advised Ranil to play a low profile on the issue. That was to allow Mahinda to appoint his (Mahinda’s) Chief Justice of his choice. The aspirant Mohan Peiris was a close friend of Marapana.

Advisor to the Prime Minister

Ranil may have appointed Marapana on the National List this time to cover up his sin of not doing so in 2004. Prior to the August general election, Ranil appointed him as an Advisor to the Prime Minister. It was after accepting that appointment, Marapana accepted the position of instructing Counsel for Avant Garde. Chief of Avant Garde Nissanka Senadhipathy decided on Marapana, being aware that the latter was the Advisor to Ranil as Premier. At the National Executive Committee meet of the Yahapalanaya Government, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake asked whether there were government ministers behind the move to release the passport of Senadhipathy which was impounded by Court. There it surfaced that Marapana had been instrumental in getting the passport released being the instructing Counsel for Avant Garde chief. Later it was revealed that Marapana had quit the post of Advisor to the Prime Minister. Thereafter, when he was made the Law and Order Minister under whom the Police came, not only Anura Kumara but also the entire country focused eyes on that issue as the Police probed the Avant Garde issue.

Venerable Maduluwave Sobitha: A True National Hero - Jude Fernando

- Nov 11, 2015

There would be no great leaders without great crises. If such leaders had lived in times of peace, no one would have known their names. The same is true of the Venerable Maduluwave Sobitha.

Our nation is bereaved. The entire country seems helpless because of our loss of him. But we are in a better situation today because Ven. Sobitha passed our way, because he provided leadership to democratic forces at a crucial time in Sri Lanka’s political history. His vision, character, and perseverance enabled him to carve out for us a democratic space within the shoals of treacherous seas that encompassed the country’s political culture during the UPFA regime. He provided leadership for citizen movements at a time when many thought democracy was dead and buried and change would not be possible through peaceful means. Unfortunately for us Sri Lankans, we lost the reverend at a critical moment, when we needed his services to prevent the current regime from abusing the democratic space he helped carve out and from allowing that space to be colonized by the political culture of the previous regime.

Sobitha-TheroWith Ven. Sobitha’s death, Sri Lanka lost one of its great religious leaders. He was a rare visionary. His vision was a moral one driven by his convictions of Dhamma. What motivated him in his valiant efforts to advocate for political reforms was the belief that one day Sri Lanka would be a better place. With absolute faith in the power of the citizens to bring about reforms based on moral principles, he allowed no political party to proselytize to him. Inflexible in his principles, he allowed no party to use him. Content with the support of concerned citizens of all religious and racial groups, he did not seek political patronage in ways that would contradict his quest for democratic reforms.  His model of leadership was about serving the society as opposed expecting the society to serve him.

In the death of Ven. Sobitha, we behold a great life ended, a great purpose achieved, an exemplary life lived, and a great model of commitment for social justice nobly established. For our own good and the good of those who come after us, we cannot let Ven. Sobitha’s example disappear from memory. Rev. Sobitha did not bewail his hardships, exult over his triumphs, or become discouraged by setbacks. His singular purpose was to mobilize citizen support for political reforms, at a time when the other prominent religious leaders, intellectuals, and politicians were complicit with abuses of state power. Until his death Ven. Sobitha stayed focused on his mission for democratic reforms. He did not allow the disappointments to distract him from that mission.

Now that Ven. Sobitha has departed this earth, as we all will, let us guard the memory of his contribution to Sri Lankan society as a precious inheritance, let us continue to teach our children the story of his life, let us try to imitate his steadfastness for social justice, and let us endeavor as he did to leave the world freer and more just than we found it.

While Ven. Sobitha’s death is an occasion of deep sorrow, it should also be one of celebration and dedication. We must possess the resolve to unite and continue to work, as Ven. Sobitha did, for a more just, equal, and peaceful Sri Lanka. The best way we can honor Ven. Sobitha is to be active citizens to ensure that his vision for a just society will not be abused by the leaders of this country. We must not allow unscrupulous politicians to make political capital by shedding crocodile tears and eulogizing Ven. Sobitha’s death!

Perhaps, people must send a strong message to the government by allowing only the colleagues of Ven. Sobitha, and the members of his family and Citizens Movement for Social Justice to lead the final rites of his funeral.

A Visionary – With A Mission Unfulfilled

By Lal Wijenayake –November 11, 2015 

Lal Wijenayake – Convener of the Lawyers for Democracy

Rev. Maduluwawe Sobitha was a visionary whose voice reverberated in all directions of the country. His vision was to see a Sri Lankan Nation that respects democratic values, human rights, equality. He is an intellectual whose mind was open to truth and justice.

Hence his ideas has involved during the four decades he was in active public life. He never was a part of any political party but stood for principles and values which he was convinced, was the path to reach his vision. He knew that this path was not a smooth simple one. But he walked literally bear footed and reached a stage where he emerged as the only personality that could rally round the forces that stood for Democracy, Rule of law, and Good Governance.

He emerged as the only figure that could win the confidence, the affection and the respect of all communities, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and all the religions.

The historic victory of 8th January, where the people from South to North belonging to all communities and religions voted with one voice fro Democracy, Rule of Law and Good Governance and in fact for freedom to live without fear as self-respecting citizens, was due to this one unique personality.

He sought no office, he sought no favours, he rejected all advances made to get him to abandon his struggle. He lost many of his friends because of this struggle and they became his enemies. His rejection of the offer of a car permit with the contempt that it deserved proves his character. He told them his legs are strong enough to walk the distance to establish a free society in Sri Lanka.             Read More         

Uva to ban teachers using mobiles in school

2015-11-11
The Uva Chief Minister has made a move to ban the use of mobile phones by teachers during school hours.

Uva Province Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake said yesterday that teachers would be instructed to switch off their mobile phones and place them at the Principal’s office during school hours.

He said a new circular would be issued and sent to the zonal education offices.

The new rule would be in effect from January 2016, he said.

“The use of phones had reduced productivity in the schools apart from other issues like pictures being taken without permission. Therefore we have directed the phones be left at the Principal’s office during the day and if there is an emergency the principal or the school can be contacted,” Dassanayake said.

Taking it a step further, the Chief Minister said the regulations on mobile phone use would be strictly regulated.

“Students who do not follow this rule will be dismissed, while teachers will be transferred,” the Chief Minister said.(Darshana Sanjeewa) - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/94927/uva-to-ban-teachers-using-mobiles-in-school#sthash.gezQ0sSJ.dpuf

Marapone’s portfolio split into two : Sagala and Swaminathan take oaths

(Lanka-e-News -11.Nov.2015, 11.00PM) The ministerial portfolio of Thilak Marapone who resigned has been divided between two ministers. The ministry of law and order, and  southern development has been allocated to Sagala Ratnayake, while  Swaminathan is the new Minister of prison reforms , re settlement and Hindu affairs . Both these ministers were sworn in  before president Maithripala Sirisena this noon.

Thilak Maraopne who was the minister of law and order , and prison reforms had to resign following several  baseless statements he uttered  , which triggered Islandwide resentment.

It is well to recall ,when Thilak Marapone was to be appointed as minister of law and order through the national list , Lanka e news published a report dated 27 th August , under the caption ‘Ranil to entrust the chicken coop to Marapone? anti corrupt organizations urge public to agitate against it.’ Via this report the opposition of a majority of organizations to the appointment of Marapone was revealed. 

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by     (2015-11-11 18:34:49)

Avant-Garde all at sea

• Govt. revokes all agreement following special Cabinet meeting; President hands operation over to Sri Lanka Navy

Avant Garde Mahanuwara ship 

By Dharisha Bastians -Thursday, 12 November 2015

The Government of Sri Lanka has decided to revoke all agreements with the private security company Avant-Garde Maritime Services, following a special meeting chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena last evening. 
President Sirisena convened a special meeting of the Cabinet and all parties concerned with the Avant-Garde controversy at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. 
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that the President had conducted a very clear discussion with all those parties involved.  “The Navy Commander was also present at this meeting and he clearly laid out the repercussions of these agreements with Avant-Garde,” Minister Senaratne revealed. 
He said the President had decided that all the contracts with Avant-Garde were cancelled and the Sri Lanka Navy would henceforth conduct the same operation.  All weapons currently with Avant-Garde were to be handed back to the Navy, the Minister added.  Senaratne explained that the Navy Commander had informed the President that the Sri Lanka Navy was fully capable of carrying out the same operation directly.
Avant-Garde
The decision to call this meeting was made a special cabinet meeting held on Monday (9), to discuss the arms scandal that had caused a major controversy within the Government. 
Several Government Ministers are under fire for their defence of the controversial company that was granted a contract by the former regime to operate floating armouries using Sri Lankan Government weapons.

- See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/495523/Avant-Garde-all-at-sea#sthash.ix3hNpNk.dpuf

PM-finance minister clash worsens! 

- Nov 11, 2015

From a minor difference, the clash between prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and finance minister Ravi Karunanayake has now worsened into a major concern for the government, say UNP sources.

It began after the state banks and many other institutions were taken away from the finance ministry and given to a separate ministry called state enterprise affairs under UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim. Karunanayake has expressed his objections to this to the PM, who has not taken much note of it.

Later, Karunanayake used the media friendly with him and carried out a campaign for several weeks that the PM has agreed to return the institutions taken away from him.

In the meantime, the state enterprise affairs ministry has informed the chairmen and directors of the institutions taken away from the finance ministry to resign, in order to make new appointments. However, the finance minister has told them not to resign under any circumstance.

Hashim has now informed the PM about this situation. For example, the PM appointed chairman of the People’s Bank, UNP legal affair secretary, advocate Nissanka Nanayakkara is still not able to assume duties as Karunanayake appointee Hemasiri Fernando is still on the job at his request.

The PM has apointed Krishantha Cooray as chairman of Hilton Hotel, but Sagarika Delgoda, appointed by Karunanayake, remains in the position.

The PM is angry and dejected over the finance minister’s conduct and has instructed his secretaries to gazette the names of the new appointees and pave the way for them to assume duties immediately. But, Karunanayake says that if that happens, that will be the end of the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government.

The president is looking on silently. Activists of the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government are going to request the president to take up the matter with both parties and give a solution before the situation worsens further.

I’m not suffering from a mental disorder to relinquish my portfoli – Second defender on Avant Garde bawls

by Dilanka Gunatileke
Courtesy: Ceylon Today, Colombo

( November 11, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Minister of Justice and Buddha Sasana Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said, he will not relinquish his ministerial portfolio because the charges against him are baseless.

He added that he will also not allow former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to be arrested.The Minister told Ceylon Today that the charges against him regarding the Avant Garde issues were made by ‘deluded socialists’ in their overwhelming anger against him and that he has no links of any nature with the Avant Garde company.

He added that “There is not even a small reason for them to make these charges against me for I have never spoken on behalf of Avant Garde. When I spoke in Parliament the other day, I spoke on behalf of the Attorney General’s Department. Everything I have said was completely true and if the AG’s Department, which is under my ministry’s purview, have done the correct thing it is my responsibility to safeguard those government officials. It is the natural thing for the Opposition to criticize the government. But when the government is doing that, it is one step closer to anarchy. I cannot allow that. My stance will not change.

The Ministry of Justice will not investigate this matter. However, the Police Department will continue investigations. I will therefore, not resign nor will I take instructions from the murderers of 67,000 people in the past. No matter what they say, I’m not suffering from a mental disorder to relinquish my portfolio.

In the past they said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa was good. They said he saved the country. These same Ministers say he should be arrested today. They further add that he should be arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. We should accept that he helped to eradicate terrorism from the country. These Ministers, including Anura Kumara, are trying to say that he is a terrorist. I will not allow it,” he said.

Marapana walks the plank

Editorial-November 10, 2015, 6:44 pm 

The Avant Garde floating armoury issue has taken a dramatic turn with ministers going for one another’s jugular savagely. Law and Order Minister Tilak Marapana was made to walk the plank on Monday. Unable to defend himself against some of his vociferous Cabinet colleagues baying for his blood he threw in the towel.

But, politically, Marapana’s resignation has inflicted more damage on the government than his controversial defence of Avant Garde in Parliament. For, he insists that the arms ship operations at issue have been within the confines of law and there has been no wrongdoing. The impression he has given the people is that he has been hounded out of office for telling the truth! What logically follows from his argument is that the action of his ministerial colleagues who claim to espouse good governance, against him, is tantamount to a kangaroo trial.

Avant Garde directors and their associates should not be condemned to the stake simply because some ministers are out for their scalps. They must not be presumed guilty until proven innocent. Nor should they be cleared of wrongdoing without a proper investigation. Sadly, the ministerial potentates have not cared to keep an open mind.

Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has said an ordinary person caught with an unlicensed weapon is hauled up before courts and remanded but those who operated the Avant Garde floating armoury consisting of thousands of arms have gone scot free. One cannot but agree with him on the fate of ordinary people who happen to be on the wrong side of the law. However, it needs to be added that the political party leaders who received thousands of firearms besides ammunition and hand grenades in the late 1980s from the then UNP government on account of JVP terror never returned them; they have also got away with a serious offence. The LTTE terrorists who killed thousands of civilians and destroyed properties worth billions of rupees were treated like VVIPs during so-called peace talks. They enjoyed SLAF chopper rides, stayed in five star hotels and used the VVIP lounge at the BIA, which they had attacked. Worse, no action has been taken against those who gifted container loads of arms and ammunition to the LTTE. President Ranasinghe Premadasa is dead but others responsible for the arms donations are still there. The LTTE subsequently trained those weapons on the security forces, the police and civilians. It is little wonder that the country is awash with illegal weapons.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also defended Avant Garde to the hilt in Parliament. Later, he told the media that the Attorney General would not take legal action against that company regardless of protests in some quarters. Strangely, his head remains intact in spite of having said almost the same thing as Marapana about the floating armoury. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka tore into three ministers, Marapana, Rajapakshe and Vajira Abeywardene, the other day for shielding Avant Garde. It is not being argued that the other two ministers should also be jettisoned. But, one wonders why Marapana has been singled out for guillotining, so to speak.

Ironically, the UPFA top guns including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa have thrown their weight behind the Avant Garde backers within the Cabinet ranks. Marapana, Rajapakshe et al have unwittingly given the lie to one of the main campaign slogans of the UNP-led coalition which effectively used the floating armoury issue to bolster its claim that the Rajapaksa government had been involved in an international racket. Former President Rajapaksa is over the moon. He has praised Marapana to high heaven as a man of integrity. A water monitor (kabragoya) becomes a land monitor (thalagoya) when one feels like eating it, as they say. The consternation of the UNP heavyweights calling for action against Avant Garde is understandable.

The greatest service ministers can render to the public is to resign from the jumbo Cabinet and lessen the burden on the taxpayers. However, if the government thinks it can tackle the problem of mismanaging the Avant Garde issue by getting a minister to resign it is mistaken. Dysentery cannot be controlled with a diaper, can it?

Video: Bank robbery attempt kills two

2015-11-11
A man who had attempted to rob a private bank in Kekirawa, Anuradhapura was killed along with the security officer of the bank when a hand grenade exploded, Police said.

The security officer had attempted to prevent the robber from entering the bank, which had resulted in a scuffle between the robber and the security officer. A hand grenade in the possession of the robber had then exploded, killing the two. (Rohana Chandradasa)Video by Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa Pix by Karunaratne Dissanayeka 

Gammapila’s wife gives statement at Police SIU

Nov 10, 2015

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) at Police Headquarters has recorded a statement from the wife of UPFA Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila.

Police media spokesman - ASP Ruwan Gunasekara said that she was questioned for around 4 hours yesterday (09) over a complaint regarding an alleged securities fraud.

However, speaking at a recent media briefing, Gammanpila had claimed that the police is preparing to arrest him and lock him up in jail.
- SLM -

UK could freeze arms sales to Saudi Arabia over Yemen strikes 

Official calls for 'proper investigation' into alleged violations by the Gulf kingdom, hinting that $3bn in annual UK arms sales could be halted 
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond meets his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir last month (AFP) - 

Mary Atkinson-Wednesday 11 November 2015

The UK will stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia if it is found to have breached international law during the months-long conflict in Yemen, the foreign secretary has said.

Philip Hammond, speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Tuesday night, called for “proper investigations” into Saudi Arabia’s actions in Yemen, where human rights groups warn of large-scale violations by both sides.

However, campaigners say British arms have played a "central" role in the conflict so far, and must be halted immediately while an investigation takes place.

Since March, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of regional powers in a campaign of air strikes that have targeted Houthis but have also devastated much of the country’s infrastructure.

Several mass casualty attacks attributed to the Saudi-led campaign have mistakenly hit civilian targets, leaving scores of people dead.

The first apparently mistaken attack, which occurred just five days after air strikes began, killed 45 people at a camp for internally displaced people near the Saudi-Yemen border.

In September, an air strike on a wedding in the coastal town of Mokha killed 130 people in the single biggest attack during seven months of war.

A second strike at a triple wedding party a week later killed at least 30 people, including two of the grooms and one of the brides, prompting the UN’s aid chief to demand an “impartial and transparent investigation”.

“With modern weapons technology, there is little excuse for error,” the UN under-secretary-general Stephen O’Brien said after the attack.

However, Saudi Arabia and its allies have always denied that they are behind the attacks, often saying that they have not been conducting operations in the area.

After an air strike attributed to the coalition destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Yemen in late October, Saudi Arabia said the facility “could not have been targeted by the coalition forces”.

A spokesperson expressed “deep regret” that the UN condemned the coalition “without waiting for full and accurate information”.

The Houthis, who are fighting supporters of the Saudi-backed government, are also accused of targeting non-combatants in a war that has so far left at least 4,500 civilians killed or injured.

Their guerrilla warfare tactics have included indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blockading whole towns like Taiz, which has now been besieged by the fighters for several months.

Stalled investigation efforts 

Despite the UN calling for a probe after accusations of violations by both sides, efforts to establish an independent investigation by the UN Human Rights Council stalled last month, reportedly under intense pressure from Saudi Arabia, which is currently chairing the council.

Hammond said on Tuesday that, if it is established that Saudi Arabia has violated international law, the UK will halt arms transfers to the kingdom, which is known to have used British weapons in Yemen.

“The Saudis deny that there have been any breaches of international law. Obviously that denial alone is not enough. We need to see proper investigations,” he said, stating that he plans to “work with” Saudi Arabia to ensure that they are complying with international law.

“We have an export licensing system that responds if we find that it is not,” Hammond said. “We will then find that we cannot licence additional shipments of weapons.”

But, said Hammond, “it would be hypocritical to think that we could have a large defence industry exporting weapons systems and that they never get used”.

Anti-arms sales campaigners, though, say that weapons shipments to Saudi Arabia must be halted immediately, given what Amnesty International has called "damning evidence" of war crimes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

"There is a humanitarian catastrophe being unleashed on the people of Yemen, and UK arms have been central to it," Andrew Smith of the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade told Middle East Eye.

"At the moment the UK government is being represented at the Dubai Air Show, where it is lobbying Saudi Arabia to buy more of its fighter jets. Only two weeks ago Philip Hammond was in Saudi Arabia trying to do the same. 

"This is a case of the government saying one thing and doing another."

In a statement to MEE, the government department responsible for approving arms export licences said it operated "one of the most robust arms export controls regimes in the world.

"We never export equipment where there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression, or would provoke or prolong conflict within a country, or would be used aggressively against another country.

"We are able to review licences and suspend or revoke as necessary when circumstances require."

In August 2013 the UK temporarily suspended dozens of arms exports licences to Egypt when the Foreign Office, which investigates the human rights situation in countries receiving UK arms, raised concerns.

The contracts were unfrozen a few months later.

On Tuesday the Foreign Office said it was "aware" of allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law by all sides in the Yemen conflict.

"We have raised our concerns with the Saudi government and have received repeated assurances of [compliance with] international humanitarian law."

Saudi Arabia last year became the world’s biggest arms importer, spending an estimated 35 percent of its 2014 budget on weaponry.

Though the US supplies much of Saudi Arabia’s imports, last year netting over $4.6bn from the trade, the UK sold the kingdom around $3bn worth of military equipment.

Though many Western powers have been urged to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia over alleged human rights abuses, most have declined.

In March, Sweden cancelled a lucrative arms deal with Saudi Arabia, citing abuses of women’s and human rights in the kingdom.

The decision led to a major diplomatic row between the countries, with Saudi Arabia breaking off diplomatic relations and stopping the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom – who on coming to office last year pledged to pursue a “feminist foreign policy” – from speaking about human rights at the Arab League.

Democratic think tank lets Netanyahu lie unchallenged

Rania Khalek-11 November 2015
Despite objections from liberals and progressives, the Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday afternoon, giving him a platform to spout wild fabrications and half-truths to a left-leaning audience completely unchallenged.

As Politico aptly put it, the Israeli prime minister “stepped into a liberal lions’ den on Tuesday — and walked away with nary a scratch.”

The event was billed as a “moderated conversation” between Netanyahu and the influential Democratic-leaning think tank’s president Neera Tanden. But far more monologue than dialogue, it felt like an hour-long one-man show starring an Israeli leader who seemed to be on a mission to determine how many lies he could tell without challenge.

It was a remarkable spectacle mostly because Netanyahu is a hardline right-winger whose ideological counterparts in the US include far-right figures like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and TV personality and real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, Republican presidential hopefuls who would never be met with such an abject display of deference by a Democratic partisan like Tanden.

Fawning praise

As Netanyahu advanced one absurd fabrication after another, Tanden looked like a deer in the headlights, nodding along smiling and at times giggling.

When Tanden did get a word in, it was to pose softball questions or shower Netanyahu and Israel with fawning praise.

“There’s many areas … where we, progressives can learn lessons from Israel,” Tanden declared in one of the most pathetic displays of pandering. With a wide smile, Tanden continued: “Israel’s military has been inclusive of women for a very long time. Are there lessons in that space for us in the United States that you can share with us?”

She made no mention of the war crimes, particularly against Palestinian woman and children, the Israeli military has committed, especially in Gaza in the summer of 2014, with full support from the United States.

Lies

Netanyahu tried to appeal to liberal sentiments with predictable hasbara — propaganda — talking points about Israel’s exemplary democracy.

“I’d like to talk to a progressive audience about progressive values,” he said in his opening remarks, boasting, against all available evidence, that the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel “are enshrined,” as are women’s and gay rights.

Netanyahu also claimed, “There have been no new settlements built in 20 years.” He even dared the audience to “Google it,” as if he was testing CAP to determine how large a lie the room would let him get away with. Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank has exploded in recent decades, though Israel claims — as if it makes a difference — that it is mostly expanding existing settlements rather than founding new ones.

He went on to deny that Israel engages in ethnic cleansing or land theft.

“What is this ethnic cleansing business?” he demanded to know, insisting that there are Arabs living “everywhere.”

“There’s massive Arab construction,” reasoned Netanyahu. Perhaps Israel’s demolition of more than 28,000Palestinian homes since 1967 is a figment of the Palestinian imagination. Had Netanyahu said that, chances are Tanden would not have objected.

What settler violence?

“You’ve made the point, and you’re absolutely right, that Israel is a rare democracy in a dangerous neighborhood,” Tanden told Netanyahu, validating a key propaganda talking point that frames Israel as a beacon of light surrounded by uncivilized and irrational Arabs.

“I want to acknowledge that we very much condemn the heinous knife attacks targeting innocent Israelis … We stand against such acts of violence,” she added, totally ignoring the more than 70 Palestinians including at least 15 children killed by Israeli forces since 1 October, dozens in what Amnesty International labeled a “clear pattern” of summary executions.

Tanden did at least acknowledge that “innocent Palestinians have also been killed,” citing the 31 July settler arson attack in the occupied West Bank village of Duma that burned 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha alive. His parents, Riham and Saad, died from their injuries in the following weeks, making an orphan of Ali’s severely burned 4-year-old brother Ahmad.

Israel’s defense minister admitted that authorities know who is responsible but have chosen to prevent prosecution of the killers.

“There’s a concern that the vast majority of cases of settler violence against Palestinians have not been prosecuted. What do you say to that?” asked Tanden, marking one of the only moments of adversarial questioning.

“That’s not true,” protested Netanyahu, who proceeded to minimize settler violence as practically nonexistent. “Except for Duma. Duma is real,” he conceded, adding, “There are many Dumas on the Palestinian side [against Israelis] … every four hours we have a Duma.”

“There is no symmetry in Israeli and Palestinian societies. We do not teach our children to hate. We don’t send them to suicide kindergarten camps. We do not teach them that we have to obliterate Palestine. We do not name public squares after mass murderers.”

In fact, Israel does teach children to hate. Incitement to genocide against Palestinians is not uncommon. And Israel’s streets, parks and squares are named after mass murderers.

Netanyahu’s “commercial”

Netanyahu also tried to sell Israel as a hub for technological innovation.

“I have diplomats coming from Asia, Africa and Latin America. And they all want three things,” he bragged. “First, Israeli technology. Second, Israeli technology. Third, Israeli technology.”

Netanyahu isn’t wrong, but he did leave out some key details.

Israel is indeed an innovation hub, but only because it produces cutting edge repression technology — likedrones, surveillance systems and militarized border measures — that have been tested and refined on Palestinians under occupation. Netanyahu also forgot to mention that Israel’s repression technology is oftensold to abusive and tyrannical governments.

But Tanden didn’t challenge him on that either. Instead she let him ramble on about his so-called “start-up nation,” prompting Netanyahu to issue one of the only truthful statements of the hour.

“I wanted to get my commercial in so you could understand how great an investment Israel is,” he remarked.