BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- A car bombing outside a popular Kabul restaurant Friday evening left at least two people dead and 15 injured, officials said.
The powerful explosion tore through a quiet residential neighborhood and rained smoldering car parts down on houses a block away. The attack appeared to target Le Jardin, one of the few restaurants in Kabul still frequented by foreigners.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility, boasting on Twitter that its suicide bombers had "inflicted heavy casualties" on "the occupiers' restaurant." The Taliban also said there had been a gun battle with government forces.
Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said in a tweet that police had arrested one suspect. It is unclear if there were other attackers who escaped or died in the blast.
The attack was the second bombing claimed by the Taliban in the Afghan capital this week. On Monday, another car bomb killed one person near the Kabul airport. The Taliban said it was targeting foreign troops.
The bombings come amid renewed efforts at peace talks. On Jan. 11, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are scheduled to meet in Islamabad to begin discussing solutions to the conflict. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said the Taliban must reject terrorism to join the talks, while the Taliban has refused to participate until foreign troops leave Afghanistan.
Friday's attack was not the first to target a Western-style establishment. In January 2014, a Lebanese restaurant popular with foreigners came under ferocious attack. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the front gate before two gunmen shot their way inside, killing 21 people.
In the wake of that and other attacks, many restaurants closed. Le Jardin did not.
The restaurant, a chic French bistro where diners could order a steak, listen to American pop music and find themselves seated near an Afghan government official, did beef up its security in recent years. When a reporter from The Washington Post visited on Wednesday, two days before the attack, he was frisked and ushered through three heavy steel doors before entering the restaurant.
Those security gates may have saved lives on Friday, when the car exploded outside Le Jardin just as the restaurant began serving dinner.
The powerful explosion shook the Qala-e Fatullah neighborhood and sprayed debris for the length of a football field.
“I was talking on the phone when I heard a loud explosion that lit up the whole neighborhood,” said Masoom Ali Hazara, who lives down the street from the restaurant. When he ran outside to see what happened, Hazara said, he saw an old man with shrapnel in his hand.
“The glasses of my house’s windows have been shattered,” he said, “and the car parts of the suicide attacker have fallen inside my house.”
One of the two people killed in the blast was a 12-year-old boy, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told local television.
Both victims were Afghans.
Mohammad Sharif in Kabul contributed to this report.
Michael E. Miller is a foreign affairs reporter for The Washington Post. He writes for the Morning Mix news blog. Tweet him: @MikeMillerDC
Fri Jan 1, 2016
An unidentified gunman killed two people and wounded at least three others on a bustling thoroughfare in central Tel Aviv on Friday before fleeing, Israeli authorities said.
Security camera footage aired on Israel's Channel 10 television showed the assailant, who appeared to be in his mid-to-late 20s and wore protective eyeglasses and a windbreaker, browsing dried fruit at a delicatessen on Dizengoff Street. He then pulled a machine pistol from his backpack and stepped onto the pavement, shooting wildly.
With the suspect still at large, police declined to offer a motive.
"All possible angles are being investigated," spokeswoman Luba Samri said. "Large-scale police forces are conducting searches for him."
Nati Shakked, owner of the next-door Simta bar where there were several casualties, told Israel's Channel 2 TV: "It was a terrorist attack, without a doubt."
Israel has seen a wave of Palestinian street attacks since October, fuelled in part by Muslim anger over stepped-up Jewish visits to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque complex, also sacred to Jews, as well as the lack of any progress towards peace with Israel. The violence has been encouraged by Islamist groups that preach Israel's destruction.
There was no immediate claim by Palestinian armed groups for Friday's attack.
Israel has also been bracing for a possible attack by Islamic State, which has a small but growing following among Israeli Arabs. An Islamic State audio message circulated on social media last week threatened to strike at Israel "soon".
Israeli media showed images of an abandoned ammunition clip at the scene of the shooting that appeared to have come from a Spectre M4 machine-gun - a weapon rarely seen in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
While mob killings and lethal domestic violence are fairly commonplace in Israel, random shootings by civilians are rare.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
A woman sits with her dog after being questioned by police at the scene of a shooting incident in Tel Aviv, Israel January 1, 2016.-REUTERS/NIR ELIAS
Saudi says 3 civilians killed in missile fire from Yemen Two children in Saudi Arabia were among the dead as a result of suspected Houthi militia fire from the Yemeni side of the border Eleven civilians were wounded in Saudi Arabia, among them nine children, following suspected Houthi militia missile attack from Yemen, despite presence of Saudi Patriot missiles (AFP)
Friday 1 January 2016
Three civilians including two children have been killed in cross-border missile attacks from Yemen on a residential area in southwestern Saudi Arabia, civil defence authorities said.
Eleven others were wounded, among them nine children, when several missiles hit residential districts in the Jazan region on Thursday, civil defence spokesman Major Yehia al-Qahtani said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition that has been battling Iran-backed Houthi militia in neighbouring Yemen since March.
Saudi Arabia is supporting the Yemeni government, which called on Riyadh for help after the Houthi militia, backed by renegade forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, occupied the capital in September 2014 and moved south to capture other cities.
The Houthi militiamen intensified their rocket attacks across the Saudi border in recent days, prompting the coalition to threaten severe reprisals.
The Saudis have deployed Patriot missile batteries designed to counter attacks and have recently been intercepting missiles fired from Yemen on an almost-daily basis.
More than 80 people, most of them soldiers and border guards, have been killed in shelling and cross-border skirmishes in the kingdom's south since coalition operations began in Yemen.
In Yemen the conflict has left nearly 6,000 people dead since March, according to UN figures.
I can make only one prediction about 2016 with certainty: We will not know the significance of any developments that may take place in the new year until well after the year has faded into memory. Predictions are easy. Perspective is hard.
It does not take an oracle to prognosticate that the U.S. election will be one of this coming year’s most important developments, or that Hillary Clinton is likely to win that election. It requires no great visionary gift to know that in 2016 the world economy is likely to slow or that there will be shocking terrorist attacks, more cyber attacks, or more gun violence in the United States. It might take a small leap of faith to suggest that there will be a big push in 2016 for a Syria political settlement and that it might lead to the eventual departure of Bashar al-Assad from office. And it takes even less insight to suggest that this step forward is unlikely to solve Syria’s myriad problems or to stop the flow of refugees or to address the broader issues that have roiled the Middle East. But it will take real insight to know what any of these developments might mean.
Take the likely election of Clinton. The arithmetic is pretty straightforward. She will be the Democratic nominee. The Republican Party is in disarray and still has to rid itself of the existential threat that the candidacy of Donald Trump poses before settling on another candidate who, judging from the current field, will likely be weak and flawed. Demographic trends in the United States favor Clinton, as does her track record of intelligence and relative strength on vitally important issues like foreign policy. (There is no one in either party—nor has there been one elected president in a quarter century—who can hold a candle to her international experience).
Assuming there’s no major shocking plot twist in the story of Campaign 2016 (which, of course is always possible), Clinton will become the first woman to be elected president of the United States. Because the United States remains the world’s richest and most powerful nation, her election will be a resonant statement and will be an historical development—one on a par with, or, given the fact that women are the majority population, perhaps one that will even transcend the election of Barack Obama as America’s first African-American president.
But it is precisely the example of Obama that should give would-be seers…and voters…pause. Because while Obama’s electoral achievement was a great one and a development that reflected well on the maturation of the voting public, it is also possible to look back now on the Obama presidency and fairly ask whether the president’s greatest achievement did not take place the day he took office and shattered a barrier that should have never been in place. That does not minimize the achievement. Nor does it minimize either the generally good domestic record he achieved or the adverse domestic and global circumstances he faced. It merely means that the likely first line of any historical record of the Obama presidency will focus on the color barrier he broke and not on his subsequent, generally positive but average-range achievements. In short, he became a president that achieved something historically significant through his election, but was unable to equal that impact during his time in office.
Further, he was elected in part because he made such a compelling case as a candidate that he would represent something new because he was unlike any president that came before. But being different is not the same as being successful or being prepared. He did not have enough experience to be president, did not have the right temperament to lead and manage the U.S. government or the Congress, did not have the international chops or strategic vision to cope with shifting global realities and so from the perspective of America’s role in the world, his presidency represents not a breakthrough but actually an extrapolation of the line of the Bush era, one tracing growing international doubts about U.S. leadership. (Despite the president’s sincere efforts to the contrary.)
Leaders in the GOP will no doubt try to use Obama’s record to taint Clinton, arguing—though they know better—that she was an “architect” of his policies. Of course, the Obama White House was so hands-on that it micro-managed or undercut the affairs of most of its cabinet departments on the international front. This fact has now been attested to in memoirs and comments from five such top international officials—most recently former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel here in an interview at Foreign Policy, former Defense Secretaries Gates and Panetta, David Petraeus, a man who like Panetta ran the Central Intelligence Agency, and by Clinton herself, though delicately in her memoir. On critical issues—most notably Syria—had Obama followed the advice of his more experienced cabinet members, he would arguably have done much better. In any event, the chorus of critiques that have come from former top officials confirms some of the weaknesses of the current president and his inner circle.
Thus, while it is tempting to focus on celebrating the breakthrough that Clinton would represent should she be elected president—as it seems likely she will be—we should now have the perspective to know that is not enough. It is an important step. It will be a moment to be celebrated. It will be long overdue and will begin to right centuries of wrongs against women in politics and as U.S. citizens. But for the Clinton presidency to be historically important, voters should ask themselves not what a vote for her means on election or inauguration day, but what it will mean at the end of her term (whether that will be in 2020 or in 2024).
Further, when we look at the great issues confronting the United States, domestic issues that far outweigh in importance or risks associated with them the international threats we face—from growing inequality to gun violence, from political dysfunction to the tensions associated with the demographic shifts that are transforming America—it is also important for voters to recognize that the big question is not who we want to lead America but what kind of an America we want to have in 2020 or 2024.
The candidates for president and the next president will be faced with the aftershocks of what is certain to happen in 2016. We are certain to see more gun violence. We are certain to see more terror attacks. We are certain to see more dysfunction in Washington. We are also therefore certain to see more anger and alienation within the country—from disenfranchised minorities to that of majority populations, like middle class white males who recognize that not only do they face real economic challenges but that their historical political dominance is fated to end. (The anger of this last group is the bread and butter of the repugnant Donald Trump campaign of intolerance and hate speech.) Not only are these real issues that will continue to trouble America in the year ahead, but they are also likely to grow more divisive and hard to deal with during the term of the next president.
As a result, we will need a president who is as adroit at handling conflict management at home as she is handling it internationally. We will need one with real depth of experience in Middle America, in Washington and around the globe. We will need one who has been tested by crisis and whose character in the face of such tests is known. We will need one who has the intelligence of an Obama but the know-how to manage the entire U.S. government as it faces these great challenges.
Fortunately, the reality is that the likely next president, would not only be the first woman to be president of the United States, she is also, of all current potential candidates for presidency, the one who possesses most of the above qualifications. It will not be easy for her to rise to the challenges she will face in the White House…nor will it be easy for America. But the 2016 election is likely to put the person (among all those in the running for America’s top job), who is best positioned to ensure that when we look back at this coming year from 2020 or 2024, we will see it as having been a turning point for the better.
Figures paint picture of police service in which people from ethnic minorities have less chance of jobs than white counterparts
A white applicant to the police has a better chance of getting a job than someone from an ethnic minority in more than two-thirds of the UK’s forces, according to official data.
The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, paint the most complete picture yet of a police service in which people from ethnic minorities are represented in disproportionately low numbers and have less chance than their white counterparts of getting jobs when they do apply.
The data will put more pressure on police bosses to improve diversity. It comes after the home secretary, Theresa May, attacked Britain’s forces for not employing enough black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) officers. In a speech in October, May said four forces – Cheshire, North Yorkshire, Dyfed-Powys and Durham – did not have a single serving black officer. She also said 11 forces had no officers from ethnic minorities above the rank of chief inspector.
The newly published data shows that 31 of the UK’s 45 territorial police forces appoint a greater proportion of white applicants than they do people who identify themselves as being from a BAME background.
According to the figures, London’s Metropolitan police, as well as the Gwent and Hertfordshire forces, displayed the greatest discrepancies. Three forces appointed a lesser proportion and 11 did not provide enough data to make a fair comparison. In the Met, 28.1% of applications come from black and minority ethnic groups but they make up only 17% of appointments.
The data also shows that more than four-fifths of UK police forces – 39 of the 45 – appoint a disproportionately low number of people from BAME backgrounds, when compared to the makeup of the areas they serve.
The Met, West Midlands and Bedfordshire and police forces were among the least representative in that respect, followed by those serving the City of London, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Surrey.
The figures also show that more than three-quarters of the UK’s forces (34 of the 45) received a disproportionately low number of applications from BAME communities. The Met, as well as the Bedfordshire and West Midlands forces, had among the greatest discrepancies.
Janet Hills, the new president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), said trust and confidence in the police among minority ethnic communities was partly to blame.
The figures portrayed the need for positive action and greater scrutiny of police chiefs, who should be held accountable for failing to ensure that their forces reflect the communities they serve, Hills told the Guardian. “We find that, where there is no accountability, nothing gets done. It is unfortunate because everyone will talk the talk but, when it comes to the action, that is not so visible.
“On the national level, you have got fewer forces recruiting, you have got the legacy of the community engagement, so there are the trust and confidence issues instilled in communities.
“One example is stop and search. Nationally, it is disproportionately more BAME people being stopped. So, ultimately, just on that alone, you are not making friends.”
She cited the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s drive to recruit more Catholic officers under the post-Good Friday Patten reforms, as well as what she saw as recent improvements by the Met as examples of how positive action could work.
Chief constable Giles York, of the National Police Chiefs Council, said forces better reflecting the communities they served would improve ties with the public but that progress had been slower than he wanted.
“The rate of officer recruitment from black and minority ethnic communities is increasing. It has risen from 3.6% in 2006 to 5.5% in 2015. Forces have encouraged more BAME people to join the police.
“There’s much more to do and, with reduced budgets constraining recruitment, it is difficult to move at the pace we need to. Police chiefs are committed to continuing to do everything they can to increase diversity in the service, working with the College of Policing, but there are no quick or easy solutions within current legislation.”
His highlighting of funding as a contributing factor followed the home secretary’s insistence that, despite the chancellor’s spending review promise to protect police budgets, every force would nevertheless be expected to find savings.
The new figures show that three forces appointed only one BAME officer each in the years up to 2014 for which they provided data. Three more appointed none, but these figures relate to only a short period of time. In some cases, all the officers self-identified as white. In others, those who did not say they were white preferred not to disclose their ethnicity.
Cheshire was the only police force that reported appointing a greater proportion of people from BAME communities than live in its local area.
The figures go back as far as 2005. While some forces released a decade’s worth of records, others only provided figures from a portion of that period – including some that covered only one year. Three – North Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Sussex – released no data at all.
The forces were asked to specify the ethnic breakdown of people who applied to join and those appointed as police officers over the last decade. It should also be noted that not everybody who was successful will have been appointed in the same year as they applied.
Many constabularies, though not all, provided very detailed breakdowns, dividing the ethnicity into several subgroups. However, since not all the constabularies provided data in this way, the Guardian chose to add together all black, Asian and other ethnic minorities into one group and white into the other group.
‘There is a culture that I do not think is tailored for diversity’
One newly appointed BAME officer, who did not want to be named, said he was initially put off applying to the police because he did not think he would be welcomed. It took working alongside officers in another job to convince him it was worth applying. “It took me a while to make the decision, purely because I did not think I would be successful. It was just a perception that I had and a few of my friends have it as well. One friend to whom I mentioned the idea of joining the police force ruled out my chances of being accepted because I am a first generation immigrant.
“You feel like you are different because there is a culture in the police service that I do not think is tailored for diversity. It is not a deliberate structure, but it is probably because there have not been a lot of BAME people joining. Sometimes, I feel like I am alone. I sit among all of these officers and I am the only person from a BAME background. Nevertheless, my force has done well in making it easier for people to join.”
‘I want black people to apply so we can change the stereotype’
Tezra Nassimbwa started volunteering with Victim Support, a charity that works on behalf of the police, in September. She said she wanted eventually to work in Derbyshire constabulary’s CID but needed to gain experience first. She said she was, however, the only one of her friends who would consider doing so.
“When I said I wanted to work for the police, my friends said, ‘Why? We hate the police.’ I do not, I want black people to apply so we can change the stereotype. I think they wonder why they should go through the process to be told ‘no’. They think, ‘I might as well work somewhere else.’ It is quite sad because they are losing out on that opportunity.
“I am the only person I know who has applied to the police. I think others haven’t because, with things like the riots or stop and search, they are not keen on them. They wonder why I would want to waste my time working for the police. They do not understand my position; for them, I am working for the enemy. But I want to serve the community.
“With my friends, maybe if they saw more black people they would be more comfortable. Some of my friends feel like they cannot approach the police because they think, ‘Well, last time, I got stopped and searched and that was not fair.’”
‘I have not seen any improvement or will to get better’
One Greater Manchester police officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was shocked when he heard that nearby Cheshire police had no black officers. “Chief officers do need to be held to account. They can all use excuses about the current cutbacks and lack of money for recruitment but a lot of forces have been taking on and training student officers over the last two years.
“They have not embraced the skills of BAME officers for the cause of increasing representation in a sustained manner. As for progression and retention, that is another matter again. In the next five years, BAME representation is set to halve, due to retirements and people choosing to leave. It upsets me that, in all my time with the police, I have not seen any improvement or will to get better.
“The facts speak for themselves and the police have to make efforts to go into communities and ask for their help. Unfortunately, the police service lacks pioneers and too many of the leaders are from the same safe schools of thought.”
Rescuers prepare near the capsized ship Eastern Star after it was righted by cranes on the Yangtze River in Jianli county of southern China’s Hubei province, as seen from across the river from Huarong county of southern China’s Hunan province, Friday, June 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING: An official investigation has concluded that the capsizing of a cruise ship in China that killed hundreds earlier this year was caused by a strong storm, but that representatives of the shipping company and local authorities should be punished for management flaws, state media said Wednesday.
The disaster on the Yangtze River on the evening of June 1 killed 442 people. Just 12 people survived the capsizing of the Eastern Star, which was carrying many elderly tourists on a 10-day cruise from Nanjing in China's east upstream to Chongqing.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the Cabinet's investigation team concluded that the Eastern Star was brought down "by strong winds and heavy rains" associated with a downburst, a strong downdraft that is "a very rare weather phenomenon."
The conclusion backs up the initial finding that the disaster was caused by strong winds, although passengers' relatives previously raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its voyage despite a weather warning.
Xinhua said the investigation team also found that seven people from the shipping company and 36 local government and party officials should be given administrative punishments for flaws in their daily management, which would likely include demotions and firings.
The seven people included the ship's captain, Zhang Shunwen, whose license should be revoked and his contract terminated, the investigation concluded. It also recommended that his case be sent for further investigation to determine whether he should face criminal charges.
The captain was arrested after he was rescued from the river, with investigators looking into why he chose to sail into the storm instead of dropping anchor. A government agency in years prior had cited the ship for safety violations, but no one tied to the capsizing has been convicted of wrongdoing.
Earache, poor response to sounds, diarrhea, headache, tugging the ear, fluid drainage from the ear, vomiting, problems with sleeping, high fever etc. are very common symptoms when you suffer from ear infection. It may be caused by the bacteria and viruses in the middle ear and it happens more often to kids that to adults.
There are many different remedies used for this purpose, and here are the most effective:
Salt
This is probably the most available home remedy that you can use.
Preparation:
Heat up one cup of salt on a pan over low heat for a few minutes. You can also heat it in a microwave or double-boiler.
Place the hot salt on a cloth and seal the open end.
When it is warm, put the salt on the ear for 5 to 10 minutes.
You can repeat this as many times as you need during the day The heat helps draw out fluid from the ear and stops swelling and pain.
Garlic
Preparation:
There are more ways to use this very effective remedy for treating ear infection. Here’re some:
Make garlic oil by cooking two garlic cloves in two tablespoons of sesame oil or mustard oil until it turns blackish. Strain the solution. When it is bearably hot, use two to four drops of this oil in the infected ear as ear drops.
Alternatively, you can also boil two or three fresh garlic cloves in water for five minutes, then crush them and add some salt. Put the mixture in a clean cloth and place it against the affected ear.
Consuming two to three cloves of raw garlic daily also helps speed up the healing process.
Basil
The basil can help you to reduce the infection and to stop the pain.
Preparation:
Extract juice from five fresh basil leaves. Put the juice around the ear. Try not to get juice inside the ear.
You can also mix a few drops of holy basil oil with an equal amount of carrier oil like coconut oil. Soak a cotton ball in the mixture and gently wipe just inside the ear, around the outer edge and behind the ear. Repeat the process twice daily.
Apple cider vinegar
It is the option for you when it comes to word about any fungal infection.
Preparation:
Mix one part apple cider vinegar with an equal amount of water or alcohol. Soak a cotton ball in the solution.
Put the cotton ball in your ear like a plug and leave it for about five minutes.
Remove the cotton ball and lay down on your opposite side to drain the liquid from the ear. Use a hair dryer to dry your ear as much as possible.
Olive oil
You should use olive oil to clean the Eustachian tubes when they are blocked due to wax in the ear.
Use:
Warm some olive oil. Put a few drops of the warm oil into the infected ear.
The wax will then soften. Remove the infected wax.
You can also use mustard oil in the same way as olive oil.
Warm water bottle
You can use this in order to quickly relieve some of the paint, and it will also prevent micro-organism infestation.
Place warm water bottle or heating pad against the ear.
You can also use a warm compress. Dip a clean washcloth in lukewarm water, ring out the excess water and then place the washcloth on the infected ear.
Do not put heat too long. Start with five minutes, then remove it. Wait for a while and you put it again
Onion
When we hear onion, we always think about how it’s used in food. But it is also great in treating a lot of diseases, including ear infection.
Use:
Put one chopped onion in the microwave for one to two minutes. Allow it to cool and then strain out the onion juice. Put two to three drops of the juice in the infected ear, leave it for sometime and then turn your head to let it drain out of your ear.
You can also bake an onion for half an hour, cut it into halves and put one half in a thick cotton cloth. Place the cloth on the infected ear for five minutes. Wait for 10 minutes and then repeat the process.
Tea tree oil
Because of its mild antibacterial properties, it can give an instant relief from earache.
Put three drops of tea tree oil, two tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of colloidal silver and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Warm the mixture a little bit.
Put the mixture in the ear and leave it for 5 minutes. Then turn and lay on your other side so that the mixture drains out of your ear completely.
Repeat this two to three times a day for two days.
Mango leaf juice
Extract from this fruit leaf is a quick and effective way to get rid of earache.
Use:
Crush or grind two to three soft mango leaves to extract the juice. Slightly warm the juice.
Using a dropper, put three to four drops of the juice into the infected ear. Within a few minutes, you will feel relief from the pain.
Follow this remedy two to three times a day for full relief from ear infection.
These remedies can help treat minor ear infections. If there is no improvement within a couple of days, seek medical attention.
The government has declared its intention of prioritizing constitutional reform in the New Year. Parliament is to be converted into a Constituent Assembly (parliamentary committee) that will deliberate on issues pertaining to a new constitution. The government has also appointed a 24 member committee drawn from political and civil society leaders to obtain the views of the people and feed them back to the parliamentary committee. The promise to amend the constitution was made by government leaders at both the last presidential and general elections that took place in January and August of this year. Their main pledge was to abolish the executive presidency and to change the electoral system from one based on proportional representation to a mixed system of proportional representation and first-past-the-post voting in which parliamentary seats would be apportioned in proportion to the total number of votes obtained by each of the political parties. There is a general consensus in society about the need to reduce the power of individuals elected to power and to ensure their accountability.
However, amongst the key issues that will need to be part of the constitutional reform process is the issue of power sharing between the different ethnic and religious communities who, together, constitute the Sri Lankan nation. At the regional level for this has been the demand since 1956 when the Sinhala Only Act was passed to make Sinhala the only national language.
Attempts to change or even soften this law at that time were not supported by the Sinhala majority. So deprived having the Tamil language as a national language the Tamil parties demanded devolution of power to regions to be demarcated linguistically. This was opposed by the ethnic majority assuming it would lead to a federal state. This has been the most contentious issue in post-independent Sri Lanka. Efforts made by previous leaders of government to tackle this problem from 1957 onwards floundered due to opposition from nationalist elements in the polity who roused the fears of the general population that it would mean the break up of the Sinhalese-dominated state.
The National Peace Council believes that the present period offers a unique and unprecedented opportunity to politically resolve the ethnic conflict once and for all, based on equity and justice. This is due to the cohabitation of the two main political parties headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the National Unity Government. Historically these two parties have never worked together to resolve the ethnic conflict.
Instead when one party sought to resolve the issue the other party took to the strets against the proposed solution. It is noteworthy that virtually all of the small political parties, whether ideology-based or ethnic and religious-based, are broadly supportive of the National Unity Government. We note that the government has gone to the extent of postponing local government elections that might have been divisive in the context of the constitutional reform process.
We urge that the opportunity that now exists should not be undermined by factional infighting in both north and south. It appears that this factional infighting is less about policy differences than about power struggles for inclusion in the political process and control. We call on members of all political parties to start discussions within their parties and collectively towards a vision of Sri Lanka as a prosperous and united nation where the rights of all are safeguarded.
President Maithripala Sirisena has directed the Sri Lanka Army to release 701.5 acres of land in two DS Divisions in the Jaffna district on a request made by Prisons Reforms, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan.
According to Prisons Reforms, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy, 468.5 acres of land in Tellippalai and 233 acres of lands in Kopay DS divisions in the district have been released by the Sri Lanka Army in the resettlement process.
The 30 year war resulted in internally displaced families and the private lands owned by the people been occupied by the Armed Forces. With the cessation of the armed conflict in the country in May 2009, there was very little progress made in releasing the lands to the original occupants. In Jaffna there are 12,000 families still living either in welfare centres or with friends and relatives as their lands were not released for resettlement. The largest area of lands occupied by the Forces is in Tellipalai and Kopay D.S. Divisions.
Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D.M.Swaminathan submitted a Cabinet Memorandum dated 7th December 2015 requesting President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Cabinet of Ministers, for the release of private lands occupied by the Armed Forces for resettlement in the Jaffna district.
The details of the lands released include Kankesanthurai South, Palaiveemankamam North and Thaiyaddi South which covers 213.5 acres and Palaly South, Palaly East and PalalyNorth which covers 255 acres.
In Tellipalai D.S. Division 468.5 acres of private lands have been released. In Kopai D.S.Division, Valalai 233 acres occupied by the armed forces have been released. Accordingly, the total acres of land released are 701.5 acres. Further, it is noted that in the Kopay area almost 100% of the private lands have been released for resettlement.
Following discussion at a meeting held in President’s Office with the officers of the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Army Commander, District Secretary, Governor’s Office of Provincial Council and other authorities 701.5 acres of land was released. Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary V.Sivagnanasothy informed that on December 29, 2015, the Divisional Secretary of Tellippalai and Kopay have already taken over the 701.5 acres of lands and commenced removal of fences.
This will enable the resettlement of over 700 families and provide livelihood opportunities through agricultural activities in the Jaffna District. Release of lands to the displaced families to resettle them in their original place of residence is a major milestone to ensure durable solution and establishing sustainable peace in the war affected Northern Province.
Further, the resettled families will be provided with resettlement allowance by the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs for land clearance, tool kits, food package and temporary shelter.
Further, the 65,000 housing programme initiated by Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Ministry D.M. Swaminathan will give first priority to the resettled families said Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy. These houses will have solar electricity, water, sanitation facilities and furniture.
Sivagnanasothy also stated that in addition to the 701.5 acres released now and in 2015 already 1000 acres of land from Jaffna, 500 acres from Kilinochchi and 1000 acres from Sampoor, Trincomalee and other small parcels of lands had been already released by the state for the resettlement of IDPs and returnees where they had lived previously. With the Christmas, New Year and Thai Pongal, this initiative demonstrates the good gesture on the part of the Government towards finding durable solutions for the conflict affected people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
A special discussion was held today 30th at the opposition leader’s office between the leader of Muslim Congress and Tamil National Alliance. A group representing the TNA and the leader of the opposition R. Sampanthan and a group representing the Muslim Congress and its leader Rauff Hakeem has participated.
Both parties has focused attention about the proposed constitution and discussed how to resolve the problems of their people with the new constitution.
Both parties have agreed to have more discussions in the future.
Afghan policemen carry a wounded man at the site of an explosion in Kabul on Jan. 1. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)
Both victims were Afghans.
