Fight Club: Erdogan and Putin Square Off

BY DIMITAR BECHEV-NOVEMBER 25, 2015

But with Turkey and Russia more friend than foe, is it a battle royale or pissing match?

It was not so long ago that Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan were the best of chums. As recently as last week, the Russian and Turkish presidents were seen shaking hands for the cameras at the G20 summit in the Turkish resort town of Antalya. Russia-watchers surely remember how the Kremlin’s master snubbed Europe last December, when he announced from Ankara that a planned pipeline that would transport gas from Russia across the Black Sea to central Europe was to be replaced by a pipeline passing through Turkey. 

Though deeply divided on Syria, Erdogan and Putin have a proven track record cooperating on matters of mutual interest. Turkey has adamantly refused to join the Western sanctions against Moscow, instead looking for opportunities to boost its presence in the Russian market, in the hopes of partly offsetting the gaping trade deficit with Russia. The two leaders even seemed to share a similar style; “two angry men at the borders of Europe: loud, proud and impossible to ignore,” in the words of one Guardiancolumnist.

With Turkey’s downing on Wednesday of a Russian Su-24 fighter jet, however, the world is wondering whether the two macho leaders are about to begin a proper fist fight. Both sides have ratcheted up their rhetoric. The Russian president spoke angrily of a “stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism,” accusing the Turks of collusion with radical jihadists, including the Islamic State, and warned of “serious consequences.” He also lamented Turkey’s slide toward Islamism under its present rulers. Erdogan, for his part, insisted that the plane was shot down in Turkish airspace after having ignored repeated warnings. Always keen to stir nationalist sentiments, he has also condemned the Russian air attacks on Turkmen-populated areas in northwest Syria.

This grudge is not new. Top officials in Ankara have been voicing anger at the bombing of Turkmen villages across the border, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addressing the issue last Friday. But the direct confrontation between Turkish F-16s and Russian jets brings tensions to a new level. Gathered in Brussels on Turkey’s request, NATO ambassadors expressed solidarity with Turkey.

Is the crisis bound to spiral out of control? Don’t hold your breath. Having been at peace since the 1917 Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the smart money is on Moscow and Ankara remaining civil. There will be muscle-flexing aplenty, but a military showdown serves neither country’s interests.

Turkey’s Western allies are already trying to ease tensions. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg actually struck a conciliatory note, calling for “calm and de-escalation” between Russia and Turkey following the NATO meeting. The incident is being framed as a failure of existing “deconfliction” arrangements in Syria’s overcrowded skies, rather than a punch-up between NATO and the Russians reminiscent of the Cold War.

Indeed, Moscow and Ankara already seem to be moving to deescalate tensions. After Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu phoned to “express sorrow,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was not going to wage war against Turkey. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, once the architect of Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy, also noted the Russian Federation is a friend. “We have no intention of escalating this incident,” added Erdogan.

That said, it is hard to paper over the conflict between Russia and Turkey in Syria. To be sure, Russia’s intervention has come as a shock to Erdogan and his associates. The dramatic build-up of the Russian air base near Latakia, along with the deployment of a 4,000-strong contingent of troops, has dealt a serious blow to the Turkish goal of establishing a no-fly zone and a de facto safe haven for anti-Assad rebels. Moscow’s airstrikes have hit militias supported by Ankara. What is more, a potential deal between the United States and Russia over a political transition in Syria, elusive as it is, risks sidelining Turkey.

Erdogan has good reasons to bare his teeth and try to teach Putin a lesson. Turkey is not in a position to undercut the incipient political negotiations over Syria — French President Francois Hollande is heading to Moscow on Nov. 26 to continue that process. Yet, Ankara will do its best to bloodying the Russians’ nose, if only to save face.

At the same time, Putin and Erdogan have plenty of incentives to prevent things getting out of hand. From a Russian perspective, Turkey is a valuableeconomic partner: It remains the second-largest customer of Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas company and Putin’s personal cash-cow. Even if the much talked-about “Turkish Stream” — Erdogan’s term for the Russian gas pipeline that would pass through Turkey — is in tatters, the prospects for energy sales are actually good. According to estimates by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, demand for gas is going to triple in 10 years’ time, in contrast to the continuous decline of sales in the increasingly competitive EU market. Conversely, Turkish construction firms like Enka İnşaat have made billions of dollars in projects across Russia, notably in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics.

A lucrative tourism business also connects the two countries. Millions of Russians flock to Turkish sea resorts each year and their numbers are likely to go even higher in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack against a Russian airliner above Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Thus far, the Russian government has resisted calls to restrict flights to Turkey because of security concerns, but now it is facing renewed pressure to take that step. Lavrov said Russia will discourage its citizens from traveling to Turkey, but thus far there is no mention of cutting flights to Istanbul or Antalya. Turkish Airlines is now the biggest foreign carrier serving Russia, having seen an increase of its traffic by 16 percent over the past year. The recent tensions, however, are hurting its stock, along with that of a number of Russian oil and gas companies.

Despite the negative chemistry at present,

Ankara and Moscow are also on the same page regarding a range of security issues. Turkey is irked by Russia’s support for the Syrian Kurds — but Russians have not backed Kurdish autonomy, nor raised the question of the revisiting territorial boundaries in the region. Turkey has also shown a great deal of understanding to Russian concerns about militancy and separatism originating in the North Caucasus, which has been a key concern for Moscow since the 1990s. Ankara closely monitors North Caucasus diasporas and has not allowed radicals from there to operate freely from its soil. Indeed, Turkish law enforcement agencies have failed to prosecute recurrentassassinations of prominent Chechens who fled there after the second Russian-Chechen war.

And for all the sympathy expressed to Russia’s Tatar population, Ankara’s reaction to the 2014 annexation of Crimea was rather subdued — much like the response to Putin’s presence in Yerevan for the centennial of the 1915 Armenian genocide. (A bill has just been introduced in the Duma to criminalize its denial, however, may yet irk Ankara.)

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) might have overhauled Ankara’s policy in the Middle East — but with regard to bilateral ties with Moscow, the conservative, risk-averse line pursued since the 1990s still holds. Off the record, Turkish officials also blame the West for the war in eastern Ukraine, pointing out that the reluctance to intervene in Syria has given license to Putin to step in to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Turkey and Russia may not be friends — today, they seem far from it — but the two countries seem to understand each other well. How this current incident will play out depends on Erdogan and Putin: True to their penchant for using foreign policy to please constituents at home, the two leaders might well continue their Punch and Judy show in the short-term. But after the obligatory bellicose outbursts, it would be rational to de-escalate the conflict.

Putin’s priority remains the Entente Cordiale with the West, not the opening of additional fronts. Brimming with confidence after his triumph in the Nov. 1 elections, Erdogan has scored a last-minute point and reminded everyone, including the Kremlin, that Turkey matters. However, it is anyone’s guess what the Turkish president’s winning strategy in Syria may look like.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images

Modi meets Sonia Gandhi to discuss new indirect tax

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in a cricket stadium in Srinagar, November 7, 2015.

Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi walks after paying homage at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial on the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi October 2, 2014.-REUTERS/ADNAN ABIDI/FILES

NEW DELHI | BY RUPAM JAIN NAIR- Fri Nov 27, 2015 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted opposition Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi for talks on Friday to try and break a deadlock over launching a new indirect tax, in a bid to put his economic recovery agenda back on track.

The face-to-face meeting between the rivals was the first since Modi rose to power 18 months ago, and could herald a long-awaited compromise on the proposed goods and services tax (GST), billed as the biggest tax reform since independence.

While there was no immediate breakthrough after the 30-minute meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters that the Congress party has raised its concerns, and both parties were expected to meet again soon.

Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh left Modi's official residence by car without talking to reporters.

Modi, 65, has raised India's global profile with a series of trips abroad but suffered his biggest setback as prime minister when his nationalist party crashed to defeat in a big state election this month.

That loss, aides and analysts said earlier, means Modi will have to show more willingness to compromise on the GST after Congress - which first proposed the tax when it was in government - set a series of non-negotiable demands.

"The government is under tremendous pressure to get GST cleared," said Rakesh Sinha, director of the India Policy Foundation, a think tank with close ties to the government.

"Modi's engagement with the opposition is only way to prove that every effort is being made to accelerate the pace of economic growth. He is willing to discuss, debate and negotiate now."

Financial markets ticked higher on Friday as TV channels flashed news that Modi had for the first time reached out to Gandhi. Her son and heir-apparent Rahul, the target of a series of public attacks by the BJP, did not attend the talks.

Analysts cautioned that while the outlines of a compromise on GST were taking shape, there was no guarantee that a bargain would be struck.

"Clearly it is not given that today's talks will be a blanket 'yes' or 'no' to what the government wants," said Ashish Vaidya, head of trading and asset liability management at DBS India.

The GST would create a common market in Asia's third-largest economy and, the government estimates, add 2 percentage points to economic output.

Yet horse trading has threatened to wreck efforts to simplify taxes: BJP-ruled states have called for an extra state levy and a GST rate of over 20 percent, raising concerns of yet more red tape and tax evasion.

BOTTOM LINE

Congress wants to cap the GST at below 20 percent, scrap the state levy and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.

"We will discuss every aspect of GST with the prime minister and they will have to accept our demands," a senior aide to Sonia Gandhi said before the meeting.

Complicating matters for the government is the need for a two-thirds majority in the upper house to pass a constitutional enabling amendment that would make it possible to implement the GST as soon as next April.

The government's strategy has been to try and win the backing of smaller, regional opposition parties for the GST, thereby isolating Congress.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that 30 out of 32 parties now backed GST. Still, to be sure of guaranteeing passage the votes of Congress would be needed.

(Additional reporting by Nigam Prusty and Manoj Kumar in New Delhi, and by Suvashree Choudhury and Karen Rebelo in Mumbai; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Turkey putting Syrian refugees 'at serious risk of human rights abuse'

Amnesty International says move by Turkish authorities to expel 80 Syrian refugees is in violation of international law

Constanze Letsch in Istanbul-Friday 27 November 2015

Dozens of Syrian refugees have been deported to Syria by the Turkish authorities, putting them at risk of serious human rights abuses, Amnesty International has said.

The human rights group said about 80 Syrian refugees who were previously held at a detention centre in the Turkish city of Erzurum had been expelled in violation of the non-refoulement principle of international law, which bans countries from returning refugees to conflict zones where their lives are in danger.

It said another 50 more Syrian refugees were being held at the EU-financed detention centre following their participation in peaceful protests against being banned from entering Greece in September, and all of them faced deportation.

On Sunday the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, will attend a special summit in Brussels during which the EU hopes to finalise a deal for Turkey to help stem the large numbers of refugees and migrants that have been travelling through its territory on their way to Europe.

Andrew Gardner, Turkey researcher for Amnesty International, said: “Refugees in Turkey are increasingly facing arbitrary detention and forced return to Syria as the government punishes those it perceives as jeopardising its lucrative EU deal.”

Many of the refugees held in Erzurum, the vast majority of whom are Syrians, were detained in September at the main Istanbul bus station and in Edirne, a city close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders, where they had been holding out in the hope of reaching northern Europe by land rather than risk the dangerous sea journey.

Without access to mobile phones or other means of communication, refugees held in the centre were unable to inform family members of their whereabouts. One Syrian woman told the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet that she was worried that her sister, an engineering student from Aleppo, would be deported to Syria without their knowledge.

Local human rights groups were alerted to the pending deportation of the Syrian refugees by an anonymous police officer. “I told [the refugees] to start a hunger strike or to start a fire inside the facilities in order to draw somebody’s attention,” the officer told local activists. “These people are already desperate, and now they are being further victimised.”

Amnesty documented several cases of Syrian refugees who were beaten in detention, and said the detainees were forced to sign documents prior to their deportation stating that they were leaving Turkey of their own free will.

“But these returns are anything but voluntary,” Gardner said. “Several people have told us that they did not understand what they were signing since the text was in Turkish and no interpreters were present. Some told us that they were locked in a room until they agreed to sign. In other cases police officers literally took their hand and used their fingerprints to act as signature.”

Amnesty said the refugees were denied legal representation or aid, making it impossible for them to challenge their detention and deportation.

It is not the first time that Turkey has deported Syrian refugees. In 2013, hundreds were forcibly returned to Syria following violent protests at a refugee camp in the south-eastern province of Şanliurfa.

Turkey is currently hosting around 2.2 million refugees, the largest such population in the world. Despite international praise for Turkey’s swift response to the influx of Syrians since the beginning of the war in 2011, human rights groups have repeatedly documented the country’s violation of the non-refoulement principle, with people trying to flee to Turkey routinely beaten, shot at and pushed back at the country’s border with Syria.

Outspoken Miss World Canada denied entry to China

Canada's Miss World contestant Anastasia Lin poses for photographers after she was denied entry to mainland China, at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015. Pic: AP

by Asian Correspondent Staff -27th November 2015 

CANADA’S Miss World contender Anastasia Lin has said she was barred from entering this year’s pageant in China for her human rights campaigning.

Associated Press:

“… Anastasia Lin was prevented Thursday from boarding her connecting flight from Hong Kong. Authorities gave no reason.”

Since winning Miss World Canada in May, the Chinese-born Lin has been outspoken in her opposition to China’s human rights and treatment of the Falung Gong spiritual group that China regards as a sect.

Lin first reported earlier in November that she had not received an invitation from the Chinese government that would enable her to apply for a visa. Other contestants received their letters in late October.

The Miss World tournament is due to happen in Sanya in the southern island province of Hainan on 19 December but Miss World’s policy is that she would have to make the opening ceremony on 23 November to enter.

Associated Press:

Li is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation sect, which was outlawed by China’s ruling Communist Party as an “evil cult” in 1999.

She was not immediately available for comment. In a pre-departure statement she said denying her entry would mean China was trying to prevent her from speaking out about human rights issues.

BBC:

Lin says that she has spoken to former Chinese Miss World contestants who agree with her stance on China’s human rights policies, but didn’t want to speak out for fear of risking their own ability to get a visa.
“I’m not speaking without fear, as I’ve seen the repercussions,” Lin says.
After she won the competition earlier this year, Lin’s father was contacted by Chinese security forces. They threatened that there would be consequences if Lin continued to speak out. As her father still lives in China, Lin is concerned.
“Dad’s really scared. He doesn’t really dare to talk to me as he worries his phone is tapped. He doesn’t speak his mind anymore.”

Parasitic worm 'increases women's fertility'

Image copyrightSPL

By James Gallagher-20 November 2015

Infection with a species of parasitic worm increases the fertility of women, say scientists.

A study of 986 indigenous women in Bolivia indicated a lifetime of Ascaris lumbricoides, a type of roundworm, infection led to an extra two children.

Researchers, writing in the journal Science, suggest the worm is altering the immune system to make it easier to become pregnant.

Experts said the findings could lead to "novel fertility enhancing drugs".

Nine children is the average family size for Tsimane women in Bolivia. And about 70% of the population has a parasitic worm infection.

Tsimane people live a "forager-farming" existence

Up to a third of the world's population also lives with such infections.

But while Ascaris lumbricoides increased fertility in the nine-year study, hookworms had the opposite effect, leading to three fewer children across a lifetime.

Prof Aaron Blackwell, one of the researchers , from the University of California Santa Barara, told the BBC News website: "The effects are unexpectedly large."

He said women's immune systems naturally changed during pregnancy so they did not reject the foetus.

Prof Blackwell said: "We think the effects we see are probably due to these infections altering women's immune systems, such that they become more or less friendly towards a pregnancy."

He said using worms as a fertility treatment was an "intriguing possibility" but warned there was far more work to be done "before we would recommend anyone try this".

The hookworm lowered fertility

Prof Rick Maizels, a specialist in parasitic worms and the immune system, told the BBC News website: "It's horrifying that the hookworm effects are so profound, half of women by 26 or 28 have yet to fall pregnant and that's a huge effect on life."

Bacterial and viral infections try to outpace the immune system by having explosive population growth.

But Prof Maizels said parasites did the opposite, "growing slowly and trying to suppress the immune system", which is why they make vaccines less effective and lower levels of allergies.

He suggested hookworm may also be causing anaemia and leading to infertility that way.

'Very surprising'

Prof Allan Pacey, a fertility scientist at the University of Sheffield, told the BBC: "It is very surprising and intriguing to find that infection with this particular species of roundworm actually enhances fertility."

He said drugs had been tried to alter a woman's immune system to boost IVF, but without success.

He added: "Whilst I wouldn't want to suggest that women try and become infected with roundworms as a way of increasing their fertility, further studies of the immunology of women who do have the parasite could ultimately lead to new and novel fertility enhancing drugs."

Follow James on Twitter.

U.S. lauds Sri Lanka government on post-war Tamil reconciliation

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena speaks to the media during a news conference after attending the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters, in Colombo, October 2, 2015.

BY SHIHAR ANEEZ- Tue Nov 24, 2015

COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United States has praised Sri Lanka's new government for speeding up efforts towards reconciliation with ethnic minority Tamils after a separatist civil war which lasted nearly three decades and killed tens of thousands of people.

Steps such as the return of land, efforts to find the missing and the lifting of bans on Tamil groups will help heal wounds that linger six years after conflict ended, said Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

"A lot has been done in a short period of time," Power told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday on the sidelines of a youth conference during a visit to the Indian Ocean island.

"The government has laid down a list of commitments and ... (is) making their way through those commitments, in terms of giving back lands, in terms of Prevention of Terrorism Act, in terms of missing people, implementation of the accountability mechanism."

Since President Maithripala Sirisena was elected in January, he has tried to mend relations with the United States and other Western nations, strained under his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa who was criticised for not doing enough to promote reconciliation between Tamils and the majority Sinhalese.

Rajapaksa won the 26-year war by crushing separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, but the United Nations accused his military of killing thousands of civilians, mostly Tamil, during the final weeks of the conflict.

He rejected international calls for an independent investigation into alleged war crimes and refused to cooperate with U.N. officials appointed to probe claims of human rights abuses including abduction, rape and torture.

In October, Sirisena's government said it planned to find a middle way by establishing a credible judicial process involving foreign judges and prosecutors to investigate alleged abuses.

Sirisena has also taken other steps for peace and reconciliation in the multi-ethnic island nation of 21 million.

Over the weekend, Colombo lifted a ban imposed by Rajapaksa on eight Tamil organisations and 267 individuals who were accused of being a threat to national security for demanding a separate nation for Tamils.

The Foreign Ministry said the ban was removed after many groups and people, based in countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada, made public statements expressing their commitment to a united, undivided country.

The lifting of the ban means they can freely enter Sri Lanka and transfer money in and out of the country. Eight other groups and 157 people, however, remain blacklisted and their assets frozen.

Sirisena has taken other steps towards reconciliation. Earlier this month, he allowed 30 suspected former Tamil rebels, who have been in prison for years accused of abetting terrorism, to be released on bail.

The government has also returned thousands of acres of land confiscated during the war by the military in the island's east and north and has made public all government reports on war abuses to ensure transparency and accountability.

The United Nations says much more needs to be done. An expert panel which visited Sri Lanka last week urged authorities to investigate the thousands of reports of people who went missing during the civil war.

Some Tamil groups have also complained about the slow pace of reconciliation, including the failure to withdraw significant numbers of military from the Tamil-dominated former war zone.

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez. Editing by Nita Bhalla. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

Budget 2016; How Tamils Can Go Along

By S. Sivathasan –November 26, 2015

S. Sivathasan

Quite a few worthwhile projects for the North and East of Sri Lanka, with due financial provision are found in the nation’s Budget for 2016. Several steps have been taken and some hurdles cleared, at the highest levels to reach this threshold to implementation. Much requires to be done from early next year by the administration to see that the ambitious objectives are realized. While not getting distracted in any way, as we go along in 2016, the project needs and provision for 2017 and the ensuing years may be considered and plans mapped out. The Tamil polity needs to engage with the government very actively in this regard.

North and East Development

Provision in a sum of Rs 14 billion for Financial Year 2016 is great. Its dimension may be seen in the light of the Donor Conference 2016, announced in the Budget Speech. Next year starts with several advantages for the North and East. For the moment I will limit my attention to the North. A Governor, a Council a Board of Ministers, a Chief Secretary and Secretaries exclusively for the North are all in place for two years. The process of normality is moving towards consolidation. Physical infrastructure is built up sufficiently for tri-sector take off.

Experience of 2002

Thirteen years are now past, providing a rare fund of experience. The benefits are more to those yet in service. The Centre and two in one Province engaging with the most powerful militants positively was uncommon for any country. A major reconstruction effort proceeding smoothly under a tenuous atmosphere of peace was a rarity. External assistance flowed generously and it was utilized with checks cleverly built in. Elements neither official nor the powerful had a chance for private profit. Multi-tiered mechanisms completed the surveillance process. In sum results were substantial and neat.

With distance in time, performance then seems more enchanting now. A little reflection shows that personalities made the difference. As is seen at present a bi-partisan government led the country following on the ceasefire. President Chandrika and Prime Minister Ranil were mutually accommodative. They had the large heartedness to see North East being reconstructed and rehabilitated. To programmes of resettlement and money in the hands of the displaced and the impoverished, they lent their support unreservedly.Read More

UNHRC resolution to be discussed at Malta CHOGM

By Shamindra Ferdinando-November 25, 2015, 12:00 pm 

Although Sri Lanka is not on the formal agenda of the three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta scheduled to begin tomorrow (27), the UK intends to discuss progress made since the adoption of a UNHRC resolution to probe Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes

The 47-member Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) unanimously approved the resolution on Sept. 30. Co-sponsored by Sri Lanka it calls for a thorough investigation into the alleged accountability issues during eelam war IV. The UK and Northern Ireland are representatives of the UNHRC.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the head of Commonwealth, is leading the delegation to Malta. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera will accompany him.

The UNHRC has recommended that Commonwealth and other international judges as well as prosecutors and investigators be included in the proposed judicial mechanism.

Asked whether the UK was satisfied with the progress made by Sri Lanka and whether the Geneva issue would be taken up during Malta summit, a British High Commission spokesperson told The Island: "The UK has welcomed the commitments made by the Sri Lankan government to the UN Human Rights Council to address issues of reconciliation, accountability and human rights. We believe it is vital that the legacy of the conflict in Sri Lanka is properly addressed, to allow the country to fulfill its huge potential. Sri Lanka is not on the formal agenda at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta, but we look forward to discussing progress in our meetings with the Sri Lankan delegation."

Geneva issue came up when President Maithripala Sirisena visited the official residence (Westminster House) of the British High Commissioner in Colombo on Monday (Nov.23) to plant a Na tree in the garden there. The British HC spokesperson said that the event marked President Maithripala Sirisena's last week as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office before he departed for CHOGM 2015 in Malta.

Soon after the visit to the Westminster House, the spokesperson said that High Commissioner James Dauris had discussed CHOGM in Malta, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris and other issues including Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the UN Resolution.

Maithripala Sirisena succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa as Commonwealth head following his victory at the January presidential polls. The Commonwealth invited Malta to take over leadership following Sri Lanka due to Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam (the next host) refusing to attend Colombo summit to protest human rights violations.

Diplomatic sources told The Island that the Mauritian PM Prime Minister declined to visit Colombo over the human rights situation and thus withdrew as the host of the next summit as protocol had required him to attend the summit in order to personally invite other member states.

Well informed sources told The Island that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government had not yet taken a final decision on proposed judicial mechanism to investigate alleged war crimes. The Paranagama Commission has, in its report on the Second Mandate, recommended international observers and technical expertise in case the government decided against foreign judges.

The post-Geneva developments had been high on the agenda during the recently concluded US Permanent Representative to UN Samantha Power's three-day visit here. The Sri Lankan government is seeking a consensus on a mechanism encompassing recommendations made by Geneva as well as Paranagama Commission.

A Northern Province student commits suicides behalf of the political prisoners

- Nov 26, 2015

Reports reaching us from Jaffna confirm a student who has suicide himself by colliding to a train demanding the release of the Tamil political prisoners who are still in remand custody.

An advanced level student residing at northern Kopai named Rajeshwaran Senthuran from the Hindu College situated at Kokavil has been committed suicide. Before the death the student has written a letter to the president demanding him to release the Tamil political prisoners.

Friends of Rajeshwaran Senthuran said that their friend was continuously talking about the release of the Tamil political prisoners and he was quiet for the last few days.

Senthuran has written Tamil Ealam in the letter he wrote to the president demanding the release of the political prisoners. Currently the police are conducting investigations.

'Have we not lost enough lives for our rights?' - Jaffna Uni protests in tribute to student who committed suicide 26 November 2015 Students at the University of Jaffna held a demonstration calling the Sri Lankan government to account, after a school student committed suicide over the ongoing Tamil political prisoners crisis. @uthayashalin Demonstrators called for justice for the death of 18-year-old Rajeswaran Senthuran, who took his own life in protest at the Sri Lankan government's failure to release Tamil political prisoners. Rajeswaran Senthuran, a student at Kokkuvil Hindu College jumped in front of a train at Kondavil railway station near Jaffna. The student, from Kopay North, left a suicide note in Tamil, addressed to President Maithripala Sirisena, demanding the release of Tamil political detainees, who have been imprisoned under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. The note reads: "To Tamil Eelam; give freedom, shed light His Excellency the Presidency's good-governance regime must rehabilitate and release all political prisoners immediately. Not a single Tamil political prisoner can remain imprisoned any longer. When even I have realised the urgent need to release these political prisoners, it causes me much pain that this good-governance regime has not realised it. In Tamil Eelam, Yours, with love for the Tamil people greater than life, R Senthuran" See more here. Tamil Guardian Students gathered in front of the university's arts faculty after classes on Thursday as news of the student's death broke. Candles were lit in vigil. Tamil Guardian Some placards held by the demonstrators read: "Good-governance regime, answer for the sacrifice of this student's life!" "This schoolboy today, who else tomorrow?" "Have we not lost enough lives for our rights?" "Did the good-governance regime not understand what this student understood?" "The school student today, who tomorrow?" Tamil Guardian Expressing shock and sadness at the news, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) urged calm. "We are very shocked and saddened by the suicide of of the 18 year old student, Rajeswaran Senthuran," the leader of the TNA, R Sampanthan and the TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah said in a statement on Thursday. "In such a situation it is important that everyone safeguards the peace. We will express and share our agony and grief without any violence." See more here.

Sri Lanka’s Police Commission Recommends Disciplinary Action Against Officers Assaulted HNDA Students

26/11/2015 

Nov 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s National Police Commission (NPC) has recommended disciplinary action against the police officers who were involved in the assault on Higher National Diploma in Accountancy (HNDA) students last month.

The NPC has instructed the Inspector General of Police N. K. Illangakoon to take disciplinary action against the low-ranking police personnel who were found to have been involved in the October 29 attack on HNDA students.

The National Police Commission (NPC) on November 2 appointed a three-member committee comprising senior officers of the administrative service to launch an investigation into the incident where the police baton charged the students who were protesting opposite the University Grants Commission at Ward Place in Colombo.

Few senior police officers including the Acting IGP were also summoned to the NPC to gather information regarding the incident.

NPC Secretary N. Ariyadasa Cooray told Daily Mirror that the report of the three-member committee, appointed by the NPC to inquire into the attack, was discussed today before directing the IGP to take action against the police officers involved.

According to the official, the Committee in its report has indicated that several police personnel below the rank of Chief Inspector had been involved in the attack but there was no evidence for any involvement of any high-ranking police officers The committee had handed over its 57-page report to the NPC on November 19.

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