Two men arrested for Manchester bomb hoax

THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2015

Passengers on a plane at Manchester Airport have been evacuated following reports of a man carrying a bomb on their flight bound for Marrakech.

Officials have confirmed that passengers on board the easyJet flight to Morocco had to be disembarked from the craft this afternoon.

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "Due to an incident onboard an easyJet aircraft this afternoon, as a precautionary measure passengers were taken offboard whilst police investigated.

"In the meantime we will be working closely with the airline and third parties to look after all passengers until they can continue with their journey.

"At all times the safety and security of our passengers and staff is of paramount importance."

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that they were called to reports of a man claiming to have a bomb.

They said that officers were called at around 3.30 pm to Stand One at Manchester Airport's Pier B following reports that a passenger had claimed to have a bomb in his bag.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb hoax.

A spokesman said: "The aircraft was immediately evacuated and two men, aged 45 and 46, were arrested on suspicion of making a bomb hoax.

"The passengers and their baggage are now being subjected to another security screening before they are allowed back on the plane.

"The searches and security checks are on-going and no explosive devices have so far been found."

In Nigeria, $2 Billion in Stolen Funds Is Just a Drop in the Corruption Bucket

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-NOVEMBER 18, 2015

Nigeria has failed time and again to effectively beat back the Boko Haram extremists wreaking havoc across the country’s northeast. Officials there have tried to shift the blame to Washington, claiming American policies have prevented Nigeria from acquiring the weapons needed to win the fight against extremism. But it turns out the real culprits may have been closer to home.

On Tuesday evening, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the arrest of former National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki, who he claims stole more than $2 billion that should have been designated to purchase weapons and other equipment to fight the group. More than 10,000 civilians and security personnel are thought to have been killed by Boko Haram in recent years, including one incident last January when hundreds — and possibly upward of 2,000 — were reportedly killed in the strategic fishing port of Baga. The group is best known in the West for the kidnapping of more than 260 schoolgirls from their boarding school in the town of Chibok last year.

According to Buhari — the onetime military leader who beat out former President Goodluck Jonathan in March and took over the presidency in May — Dasuki awarded “phantom contracts” to buy a dozen helicopters, four fighter jets, bombs, and ammunition. None of the equipment or weapons were ever supplied to the military, and he said Dasuki pocketed the money.

Dasuki, the official who arrested Buhari when he was overthrown in a coup the first time he led Nigeria in 1985, has denied all charges.

J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that “there is personal history between the two men.”

For Dasuki to have stolen $2 billion out of a relatively small defense budget would be “getting into an unconscionable amount of corruption,” Pham said.

“I’m not saying that means Sambo Dasuki is innocent, but I don’t believe in coincidences either,” he said.

Two billion dollars may sound like a lot, and for a defense budget of just $6 billion a year, it is.

But even if Dasuki did dip his fingers that deeply into the defense budget, tracking down what he allegedly took may be nothing more than a starting point. Buhari believes roughly $150 billion has been stolen from Nigeria by corrupt officials over the past decade.

In July, when he visited Washington to discuss the fight against Boko Haram, Buhari requested that U.S. President Barack Obama help track down the jaw-dropping amount of money allegedly stolen by corrupt officials. The need to hunt for that much in missing funds is “a testament to how badly Nigeria has been run,” Buhari said.

Pham said that where exactly the $150 billion figure came from is still not clear and, to a certain degree, Buhari is right to track down and hold accountable those who let corruption fester. But according to him, the dramatic crackdown on corruption is in some ways a distraction from addressing structural problems, including oil prices and the government’s failure to diversify its revenue streams.  

“I fear that this is a populist substitute for addressing some issues that may be much more unpopular,” he said.

Just like Jonathan’s administration wanted a “magic bullet” to solve Boko Haram, Buhari’s can’t expect arresting a few corrupt officials to solve the root cause of the problem.

Last November, then-Nigerian ambassador to the U.S. Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye called on the United States to provide more military assistance for the fight against Boko Haram, claiming the United States was only allowing Nigeria to “deliver light jabs to the terrorists when what we need to give them is the killer punch.”

Four months later, roughly two weeks before Buhari ousted Jonathan in the country’s presidential election, top Nigerian military and intelligence officials visited Washington and again blasted the United States for not doing more to help Nigeria fight Boko Haram.

Rear Adm. Gabriel E. Okoi, then-Nigeria’s chief of defense intelligence, said at the time that Nigeria’s friends had “disappointed” them.

The officials were referencing the U.S. Leahy Law, which prevents the Pentagon from providing arms to militaries that have committed egregious human rights violations. Last year, the United States also blocked the sale of an Apache helicopter from Israel, claiming Nigeria did not know how to use the equipment, which further angered officials there.

Meanwhile, Femi Adesina, an advisor to Buhari, seemed to pivot from the American blame game Tuesday, saying instead that if the money allegedly stolen by Dasuki had been spent the way it was intended, “thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been avoided.”

But Pham wasn’t so sure. Even if the Nigerian military had acquired the equipment outlined in Dasuki’s alleged phantom contracts, Pham said Nigeria’s poorly trained military might not have known what to do with it.

“You beat a military uprising by war fighting, and, quite simply, they don’t have a war-fighting military,” he said.

Photo credit: Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

32,000 Children Die Every Day in the World

 

by Harvey Lothian / November 18th, 2015

A few years ago I was walking with my dog on one of the many forest trails in this area, when we crossed paths with a man I knew only by sight.  He was a distant neighbor.  Since we were going in the same direction we fell into step and engaged in small talk about the weather and recent news events.  When it became obvious we had somewhat similar views about the world I said I was upset that reliable sources estimate 32,000 children die every day in the world, from hunger and hunger-related diseases when there is enough food to feed them.  He replied, “Oh, I don’t want to think about that, it upsets me too much.”   I did not know what to say, so I said nothing.  About that time our paths diverged, he went one way; I went another, on my way home.  The man’s words disturbed me, but I did not know why.  By the time I got home, 15 minutes later, I knew why.

The Western World has an insatiable appetite for resources, income and wealth.  We are sucking all three from the Lesser Developed World where most of the 32,000 children die every day.  Thirty-two thousand children a day for one year is 11.68 million children a year.  That is more dead children than the combatant and non-combatant deaths per year during the Second World War.  We are now waging war on the children of the world.  Our political and economic leaders in the Western World value their positions of power and their wealth more than they value the lives of innocent, defenseless children.   To value political power and wealth more than the lives of innocent children are unmistakable signs of psychopathy.  Our leaders are psychopaths.  We elect psychopathic political leaders and tolerate psychopathic economic leaders.

Had I had a quicker mind and been more forthright and insensitive to my neighbor’s feelings, I would have said something like this to him:

If you don’t want to think about starving children now, when will you be willing to think about them?  Will you wait until they are white children starving to death, or will you wait until they are Canadian children, or B.C. children, or Powell River children, or your neighbor’s children?  Or, will you wait until they are your own children and grandchildren?  If you do not begin thinking about hungry children soon, make no mistake about it, our leaders will eventually steal food from the mouths of your family’s children because they are psychopaths who care nothing about children, probably not even their own.  Make no mistake about it, these people are psychopaths, their greed is insatiable, they want EVERYTHING.  When your children have died from hunger they will start taking the food from your mouth.  They will tell you it is for your own good, or nothing can be done to prevent your hunger, or that it is your fault that you are hungry and dying.  They will tell you this when there is enough food to feed everyone.

He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust. – Aquinas.

HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it. – St. Augustine.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Anyone of you who sees wrong, let him undo it with his hand; and if he cannot, then let him speak against it with his tongue, and if he cannot do this either, then (let him abhor it) with his heart, and this is the least of faith.”

Harvey Lothian is a 78-year-old man living on the Sunshine Coast of B.C., Canada. His passions since a teenager have been history, politics, economics, sociology, social psychology, learning, traveling and reading. In recent years he has come to understand what Plato meant when he said all dogs have the soul of a philosopher. He can be reachedplatosdog7782@gmail.com. Read other articles by Harvey.

This article was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2015 at 6:36am and is filed under Children/Youth, Corporate Globalization, Culture,Hunger.

OECD countries to limit overseas financing for coal plants

In this Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015 photo, a worker covers his face to protect it from rising dust at the under- construction coal-fired power plant, partially financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, in Kudgi, India. Pic: AP.

by AP News-9th November 2015 

TOKYO (AP) — Several major nations, including the United States and Japan, have reached an agreement to limit export financing to build coal power plants overseas.

Environmentalists say the pact reached Tuesday is an important step forward and sends a strong political message ahead of upcoming climate change talks in Paris.

The Obama administration announced in 2013 that it would unilaterally end U.S. financing for overseas coal power plants, and has been pressuring others to join. Japan was among those opposed to the move, arguing that its high-efficiency power plant technology is the best option for developing countries that need affordable energy.

The agreement was reached by the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group of 34 countries including most of Europe and other key economies.

Antibiotic resistance: World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'

What is a superbug?

By James Gallagher-Nov 19, 2015

The world is on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", scientists have warned after finding bacteria resistant to drugs used when all other treatments have failed.

They identified bacteria able to shrug off the drug of last resort - colistin - in patients and livestock in China.

They said that resistance would spread around the world and raised the spectre of untreatable infections.

It is likely resistance emerged after colistin was overused in farm animals.

Bacteria becoming completely resistant to treatment - also known as the antibiotic apocalypse - could plunge medicine back into the dark ages.

Antibiotic resistance: ‘People will die’

Common infections would kill once again, while surgery and cancer therapies, which are reliant on antibiotics, would be under threat.

Key players

Chinese scientists identified a new mutation, dubbed the MCR-1 gene, that prevented colistin from killing bacteria.

The report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases showed resistance in a fifth of animals tested, 15% of raw meat samples and in 16 patients.

The resistance was discovered in pigs, which are routinely given the drugs in China.

And the resistance had spread between a range of bacterial strains and species, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

There is also evidence that it has spread to Laos and Malaysia.

Prof Timothy Walsh, who collaborated on the study, from the University of Cardiff, told the BBC News website: "All the key players are now in place to make the post-antibiotic world a reality.

"If MCR-1 becomes global, which is a case of when not if, and the gene aligns itself with other antibiotic resistance genes, which is inevitable, then we will have very likely reached the start of the post-antibiotic era.

"At that point if a patient is seriously ill, say with E. coli, then there is virtually nothing you can do."

Image copyrightThinkstock

Resistance to colistin has emerged before.

However, the crucial difference this time is the mutation has arisen in a way that is very easily shared between bacteria.

"The transfer rate of this resistance gene is ridiculously high, that doesn't look good," said Prof Mark Wilcox, from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

His hospital is now dealing with multiple cases "where we're struggling to find an antibiotic" every month - an event he describes as being as "rare as hens' teeth" five years ago.

He said there was no single event that would mark the start of the antibiotic apocalypse, but it was clear "we're losing the battle".

The concern is that the new resistance gene will hook up with others plaguing hospitals, leading to bacteria resistant to all treatment - what is known as pan-resistance.

Prof Wilcox told the BBC News website: "Do I fear we'll get to an untreatable organism situation? Ultimately yes.

"Whether that happens this year, or next year, or the year after, it's very hard to say."

Early indications suggest the Chinese government is moving swiftly to address the problem.

Prof Walsh is meeting both the agricultural and health ministries this weekend to discuss whether colistin should be banned for agricultural use.

Projections of deaths from drug-resistant infections by 2050

Prof Laura Piddock, from the campaign group Antibiotic Action, said the same antibiotics "should not be used in veterinary and human medicine".

She told the BBC News website: "Hopefully the post-antibiotic era is not upon us yet. However, this is a wake-up call to the world."

She argued the dawning of the post-antibiotic era "really depends on the infection, the patient and whether there are alternative treatment options available" as combinations of antibiotics may still be effective.

New drugs are in development, such as teixobactin, which might delay the apocalypse, but are not yet ready for medical use.

A commentary in the Lancet concluded the "implications [of this study] are enormous" and unless something significant changes, doctors would "face increasing numbers of patients for whom we will need to say, 'Sorry, there is nothing I can do to cure your infection.'"

Follow James on Twitter.

UNWGEID reveals details of a 'secret' detention camp 



2015-11-18
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) concluding its visit to Sri Lanka today said they found an ‘unofficial’ detention centre operating within the confines of a Navy camp in Trincomalee where detainees had been held for prolonged periods and likely tortured.

A member of the UNWGEID, Ariel Dulitzky also emphasised the need to repeal the PTA, pointing out that several of its provisions provided room for a climate of enforced disappearances to take place.

Underground cells where victims were interrogated and cell walls with dates engraved by distressed detainees were among the unnerving images that met the independent experts of the UNWGEID when they visited the secret detention centre, accompanied by some CID officials as part of their ten-day mission.

At the press conference held last evening at the UN Compound in Colombo to announce the concluding remarks of their visit, the independent experts said there were 12 cells in the sector of the detention facility that they visited, the interiors of which indicated that the detainees were probably held in the locations for prolonged periods.

“We saw the number 20100725 engraved on a wall and we guess it is a date – July 25, 2010. All that we saw during our visit bears evidence to the fact that the location which had earlier been used for storing arms, was systematically used as a detention centre,” Tae-Ung Baik of the UNWGEID told the media.

Vice-Chair of the Working Group, Bernard Duhaime who also commented on their visit to the secret detention facility said that, although specific reasons for the existence of the facility or evidence of torture, or inhumane or degrading treatment have not yet been identified, strong evidence points at an ample lack of a transparency during the first stages of arrests of the detainees held in the location, and lack of guarantees of due processes for the arrestees.

He also noted that their fact finding exercises revealed that victims held at the location were likely held in another site in Colombo before being transferred to Trincomalee. He added that the high security maintained within the premises, and the strong control of the entrance and exit points to the compound indicate that the victims could not have been transported to the location without the knowledge of those standing on guard and the authorities.

“It is an important discovery, and an important site, which we believe should be properly investigated. The dates carved into cell walls indicate that, if there was an effective investigation from 2009 onwards on the disappearances, some lives could have been saved,” UNWGEID expert Dulitzky said.

He went on to state that, so far, only 11 potential victims had been identified in relation to the location; but added that it was probable that many more people were detained in the facility, based on the number of cells and the years that it had been used.

Duhaime said that, despite Sri Lanka’s history of the use of disappearances on a massive and systematic scale for decades, as a means of suppressing political dissent during the war, and even after (which were carried out by state officials or affiliated paramilitary groups; and followed by an almost complete lack of judicial accountability) the present time has presented a historic opportunity to ensure justice is delivered to the victims and their families.

He stressed on the importance of ensuring the rights of the victims’ families and expressed concern over intimidating tactics, threats, sexual abuse and other forms of coercion or vengeance followed by some security and investigatory officials against families who sought justice for their loved ones who were missing. He said they had received information that some of the persons with whom they met were questioned in relation to the visit of the UNWGEID.

“These acts are absolutely unacceptable in a democratic society,” he said.

This is the fourth visit undertaken by the UNWGEID following their visits to Sri Lanka in 1991, 1992 and 1999. Over the years, it has transmitted over 12000 cases to the GoSL, of which 5750 are still pending. While commending the fact that massive scale disappearances no longer occur in the country, the independent experts however announced a series of recommendations to be considered by the government of Sri Lanka to ensure truth, non-recurrence and reparations.

“We are encouraged by the measures adopted by the Government of Sri Lanka in the recent months, particularly the stand taken at the recent UNHRC sessions. But we believe many challenges still exist in delivering justice to the victims,” he said.

The UNWGEID experts also welcomed the proposal to create an office for missing persons, but added that it was vital that it should have all the necessary technical capacity to conduct exhumations and was equipped with the requisite forensic expertise; noting they were concerned with the present lack of technical capacity domestically to conduct a proper exhumation or DNA tests.

They also noted that a separate, comprehensive legislation must be enacted that clearly states that enforced disappearance is a continuous crime to which amnesties, immunities or statute of limitations cannot be applied -- especially in the context of crimes against humanity.

Among the other recommendations made was one to ensure the conclusion of the mandate given to the commission appointed to probe into disappearances. “This Commission does not have the confidence and trust of the victims; and its serious shortcomings should be addressed. To that end, its findings should be immediately transferred to the new office that has been proposed,” UNWGEID expert Dulitzky said.

The experts also commended the proposal to include the presence of international judicial experts in the accountability mechanism that is to be established and implemented, and noted that the lack of confidence that victims’ families bear in the government, and the lack of capacity of the judiciary to properly investigate and prosecute certain crimes -- all of which could be addressed through such a measure.

Meanwhile, UNWGEID expert Baik proposed the initiation of a system to issue certificates of absence, instead of death certificates, so that the families of disappeared persons could access the compensation systems that have been made available to them for the past few years -- but to no avail due to the absence of proof of death. (Lakna Paranamanna) 

UN expert group urges Sri Lanka to seize the moment to fulfil the rights of the families of the disappeared 

COLOMBO / GENEVA (18 November 2015) – “Sri Lanka has the opportunity to once and for all meet the rights and legitimate expectations of thousands of families of disappeared,” a delegation of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said today. “Families have waited too long - the time for action has come.”

UN Expert Group Urges Sri Lanka to Seize the Moment to Fulfil the Rights of the Families of the Disappeared... by Thavam Ratna

PM’s Economic Policy Statement; How Tamils Can Respond

By S. Sivathasan –November 18, 2015

S. Sivathasan

Placed before the country is an economic vision spread across several sectors, crossing provincial boundaries and bridging ethnic divides. Reference to North and East in a bid to take them into the economic mainstream is a clarion call to the ‘left behinders’. It is significant it comes off the highest levels. The onus is now upon the Tamils to develop on the initiatives made open by the Prime Minister and to sail along.

Change in the Offing – Or so it Seems

“We will pay attention to the imbalance in development on a geographical basis”- PM. So runs the statement.

In Sri Lanka geography denotes ethnic colouration, it also connotes historical rigidities. Yet overshadowing them is the melting process which has been at play for nearly a century. When the census figures for that period are analysed, changes in topography – ethnic and religious – are seen. Migration and emigration induced them within the country and out. To this phenomenon, economic changes, political turmoil and ethnically defined transplants made their contribution. Time seems now for the economy to direct our destiny.

PM’s Exposition

“We plan to rebuild war affected areas in the North and the East – we have discussed with Japan the possibility of convening an aid summit in this regard in 2016”- PM.

No better strategy could have been thought of. One recalls a similar effort initiated in 2002 and set in motion in 2003, with the thrust coming from Ranil, who was Prime Minister then. It was a multi-billion Rupee programme which made a difference to the war affected in the North-East and in adjacent areas. Tamils have to show interest and define the parameters.

“The airport and the port must be developed” – PM

This statement is with reference to the nation.

When going into specifics for the North, into that programme may be incorporated Palaly Airport and Kankesanthurai Harbour projects, both of which are lumbering along for a quarter century.

“We will encourage air connections that will connect the North and the East efficiently to the rest of the country” – PM.                                                                                        Read More

UN Experts Demand Action Over Suspected Secret Sri Lankan Prisons

AFP.-18/11/2015

UN experts Wednesday urged Sri Lanka to speed up probes into suspected secret detention centres after they inspected a former illegal prison complex in the island’s northeast during their visit.

Wrapping up a 10-day trip to the country, the UN delegation said it toured the little-known 12-cell prison hidden inside a sprawling naval base in the port city of Trincomalee.

The prison had markings on the walls that indicated people were still being held there until 2010 — one year after the island’s long-running separatist war ended, the group said.

“It is likely that there are many more like this,” said Ariel Dulitzky, a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. “Trincomalee is a success story in detecting illegal detention centres.”

Sri Lankan authorities are investigating the prison following allegations that navy sailors under former president Mahinda Rajapakse abducted Tamil youngsters and extorted money from their families in exchange for their release.

A court heard last month that at least 11 Tamil students had been held illegally there between 2008 and 2009. The main suspect in the case is a close aide of the then navy chief, the court has heard.

The UN group, which travelled through Sri Lanka’s former war zones, met with top officials as well as human rights activists and mainly ethnic minority Tamil families whose loved ones disappeared in the conflict.

President Maithripala Sirisena’s government has promised to punish war criminals and set up a truth commission to help heal the wounds of the conflict that ended in 2009 when the military crushed Tamil rebels.

But the UN group said a local investigation probing allegations of thousands of disappearances at the end of the war was moving too slowly.

“These promises and commitments must now be followed by concrete efforts and tangible results,” said working group vice chair Bernard Duhaime.

He also expressed concern that people who spoke with the working group had since been questioned by security personnel, maintaining a practice during Rajapakse’s regime of intimidating victims’ relatives.

“This is absolutely unacceptable in a democratic society,” Duhaime said.

A UN report in September spoke of horrific wartime atrocities committed by both the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tiger rebels during the 37-year war.

AFP./aj/tha/erf/fa

Penang forum on search for peace in Sri Lanka

 P Ramasamy-November 18, 2015

Last year around November, the Penang Society of Advancement of Tamils (PSAT) organised an international conference on Tamils with the sub-theme of ‘in search for an identity’. One of the topics that were discussed was the extent of human rights violations in Sri Lanka and why the international community was dragging its feet in terms of investigation and punishing those responsible for crimes against humanity.

This year, on Nov 21, PSAT will be organising an international forum with a specific focus on human rights violations in Sri Lanka and the way forward. The primary concern of the organisers is to examine critically the report published by the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) or the OISL Report on the extent of human rights violations in Sri Lanka and those responsible.

The OISL Report, one of the most comprehensive and well-researched reports, says that there were extensive violations of human rights mainly amongst the Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka during and after the war.

The Report thinks that crimes against humanity was committed without impunity by the Sri Lankan armed forces against the Tamil population ostensibly in the name of the defeating the ‘terrorism’ of the LTTE.

The Report in its recommendations thinks that Sri Lanka government alone is not capable of investigating the crimes against humanity and that the presence of international lawyers, prosecutors and judges are necessary through the establishment of hybrid court to take to task those responsible for crimes against humanity.

The UN publication provides extensive documentations how crimes were committed against the Tamil population and how thousands of them were killed during the closing stages of the war, how thousands of Tamil disappeared and not to mention the crimes against women and children.

Following the publication of this OISL Report, the US came up with resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that was biased in favour of the Sri Lanka government. The resolution while welcoming the OISL Report is of the opinion that the newly installed government of President Marthipala Sirisena should be given a chance to conduct its own investigation against crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka.

The US Resolution supported by a number of countries thinks that a domestic inquiry should be sufficient to investigate breaches of international law, international human rights conventions and domestic laws. Although the US Resolution is not against international inquiry, it leaves the matter to be decided by the Sri Lankan government.

The Tamils, the most affected segment of the Sri Lankan population, have been taken aback by the non-seriousness of the US Resolution. It is argued that the US Resolution welcomed by the Sri Lankan government would not do justice to those Tamils who have been gravely injured by the cruel and inhuman practices of the Sri Lankan government.

Moreover, since the most of the members of the present Sri Lankan government were in important positions in the former government that was responsible for the crimes against humanity, domestic inquiry alone would not address the issue of serious human rights violations suffered by Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Serious political debate raging

Serious political debate is raging in international circles about what should be done in Sri Lanka and to what extent the US Resolution would be able to address questions of justice, truth and reconciliation among Tamils. While the OISL Report provides an excellent framework and substance for the conduct of an international investigation with the presence of foreign judges and prosecutors, however, the US Resolution tends to pour cold war on this excellent initiative.

Even after the publication of the OISL Report and passing the of the US Resolution, normalcy has not returned to Tamils in Sri Lanka, particularly to those in the north and east, traditional homeland of Tamils.

The Sri Lankan armed forces continue to occupy lands belonging to Tamils in the north and east. Even the new government in Sri Lankan has not kept its promise of returning occupied Tamil lands. On the contrary, recent actions suggest that the army might be seizing more lands in the north and east.

Recent events indicate, that hundreds if not thousands of Tamil prisoners are languishing in the various jails in Sri Lanka without trial. Many of them were detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) under the former regime of Mahinda Rajapakse. Recently, these Tamil prisoners went on hunger strike and demanded that they be released unconditionally.

It is indeed ironic that President Sirisena who promised truth, justice and reconciliation for Tamils, has failed to address the serious human rights plight of Tamils in the country. Since the prisoners’ plight has not been seriously addressed, many are wondering how the present government would be able to address and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity.

The Penang international forum on human rights violations hopes to raise the matter of the OISL Report and serious concerns of the crimes against human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Some of the speakers would be able to critically examine the implications of a purely domestic inquiry and to what extent it will address questions of truth, justice and reconciliation principally amongst the Tamil population in Sri Lanka.

There are international as well local speakers. The forum will be opened by Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang. The two keynote presentations will be provided by Lim Kit Siang, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and member of parliament for Gelang Patah, and Vaiko, the secretary-general of the MDMK political party from Tamil Nadu, India.

Lim Kit Siang will speak on Malaysia’s stand on human rights situation in Sri Lanka whereas Vaiko will address the question as to why international investigation is the need of the hour for Sri Lanka.

The other speakers at this forum are: Manika Vasagar from Australia, P Ramasamy, Penang, members of parliament M Kulasegaran, Zairil Khir Johari and Steven Sim, Mohamad Sabu (Parti Amanah Negara), Kolathur Mani from Tamil Nadu, India, and Ananthi Sasitharan, Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

At the end of the day, this forum hopes to come out with some important resolutions that might assist in the elusive search for peace, truth, justice and reconciliation among the various ethnic communities in Sri Lanka.

Given the limited space, attendance is by invitation only.

Declare War On Pernicious Jihadism

By Ameer Ali –November 18, 2015 

Dr. Ameer Ali

The carnage in Paris yet again demonstrates how professionally organised the IS criminal enterprise is. The fact that it was able to penetrate Paris undetected by the nation’s security radar speaks volumes about IS’s intelligence and global reach. No decent human being can remain emotionally undisturbed by the horror of the satanic ritual that IS has displayed in Paris. It should be universally condemned in the strongest of words in any language.

In the aftermath of the Parisian infamy the crucial questions to answer are firstly, why did this happen, and what is the long term solution to this menace?

Had the Bush administration taken the most obvious and rational decision in 2001 to make Saudi Arabia accountable for what happened in S11 and continued to monitor and prevent the export of its Wahhabi ideology, instead of bombing and destroying Afghanistan and Iraq, the world today would have been spared of the murderous IS caliphate and the Parisians like others before them need not have fallen prey to IS’s sword. Bush’s soul mate Tony Blair’s mea culpa is too little too late to repair the damage.

Once again the world leaders while focusing on military retribution, which has already started and killing even more civilians who will not be counted because they are Muslims, and political solution to the Syrian chaos, which is yet to materialize, are about to make the same error of ignoring the fundamental problem of a fast spreading pernicious ideology.

No doubt the IS criminal enterprise must be eliminated, but is that possible having allowed it to become a virtual state with a sizeable territory of approximately 90,000 square kilometres with around six million people, a highly trained army with sophisticated weapons, ample economic resources, and a welfare administrative structure?

The collective disbandment of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni but secular Pretorian Guard by Bush’s US envoy to Iraq Paul Bremer, and after that the continued harassment, imprisonment and economic deprivation of the disbanded soldiers by Nouri al-Maliki’s Shia Government drove these military men into the arms of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the self-declared caliph of IS. Even though many of them are now in their mid and late fifties or early sixties they are providing valuable security intelligence and military advice to IS. Given this situation aerial bombing alone by France and other Western powers is not going to wipe IS out of existence. To make the offensive effective the West needs boots on the ground but that would be a nightmare even to contemplate after what the U.S. and its allies experienced in the quagmire of Afghanistan and Iraq.                      Read More