In Burma’s wildest corner, jade, drugs and rebels will test the new government

Yup Zau Hkawng, a jade businessman in Kachin State, and member of Peace Talk Creation Group, PCG, in portrait in his home. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly/For The Washington Post)

In Hkum Lu, 90, the eldest resident in Shwezet IDP camp. She says she often cries at night thinking of and missing her previous home. (Quinn Ryan Mattingly/For The Washington Post)

By Annie Gowen-April 4

MYITKYINA, Burma — The jade tycoon of Burma lives behind stone walls and a sophisticated security system. A visitor must be buzzed through a gate into the garden, pass a hunk of jade as big as a compact refrigerator, enter through a sliding screen and glide by the preserved tusks of the family elephant before sitting down with the man himself.

Yup Zau Hkawng is a well-known figure in Burma’s Kachin state, a broker in the peace process between armed rebels and the military and one of the few ethnic Kachin to own a jade mining business.

Burma’s northernmost state is home to 1.2 million people and some of the country’s most intractable problems — including a rapacious jade mining culture, opium cultivation, environmental devastation, controversial development deals with China and an armed insurgency. Kachin may pose one of the stiffest challenges to the new democratically elected civilian government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, that has taken over a country that suffered decades of military rule.

[Burma gets an unassuming democrat as president]

Ask Yup Zau Hkawng what the odds are that Suu Kyi and the new civilian leaders will be able to make any headway here, and he breaks into a slow, conspiratorial smile.

“I’d rather say [I] hope than tell you what I think,” he said.

At the root of much of Kachin’s agony lies the immensely valuable green stone — jade. Activists have charged that families and cronies of the country’s all-powerful military are plundering the state’s jade and other natural resources, such as timber and gold. Large companies have been working around the clock in the past year to extract as much jade as possible before the new government comes in, turning mountains into valleys in a matter of weeks.

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Icelandic PM faces no confidence vote over Panama Papers disclosures

Protests outside parliament after documents show Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s wife owned offshore firm with large claim on collapsed banks

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Iceland’s prime minister, in parliament. Photograph: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP/Getty Images

Up to 10,000 people gathered during a protest on Austurvöllur in front of the Icelandic parliament. Photograph: Birgir Þór Harðarson/EPA

Protests in Reykjavik – video

Jon Henley in Reyjkavik-Monday 4 April 2016

Iceland’s prime minister is under fierce pressure to step down after leaked documents showed his wife owned a secretive offshore company with a potentially multimillion-pound claim on the country’s collapsed banks – representing what opponents said was a major conflict of interest.

As opposition parties called a vote of no confidence in Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson for later this week, as many as 10,000 protesters – in a country of 330,000 – gathered outside parliament in central Reykjavik for an evening protest, chanting, banging drums and barricades, and blowing whistles. Some waved bananas, symbolising the belief of many that they were living in a banana republic.

“He’s just lost all credibility,” said Arntho Haldersson, a financial services consultant. “Our prime minister, hiding assets in offshore accounts … After all this country has been through, how can he possibly pretend to lead Iceland’s resurrection from the financial crisis? He should go.”

“He lied,” said Anna Mjöll Guðmundsdóttir, a tourism researcher. “These people, they say they’ve learned the lessons from what happened to us in 2008, but they’re still just hiding our money.” Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, a university professor, agreed: “He’s not been forthright. If people had been informed of this they might have voted differently. The size of this demonstration shows how disappointed people are.”

The Panama Papers, released on Sunday, revealed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir, bought a British Virgin Islands-based company from Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the leak, in 2007 to invest money from the sale of Pálsdóttir’s share of her family’s business.

Gunnlaugsson sold his 50% of the company to Pálsdóttir for $1 at the end of 2009, soon after he was elected as an MP for the first time and a year after the financial crisis that plunged Iceland into a devastating depression. He has never declared an interest in the company.

The prime minister’s office now says his shareholding was an error due simply to the couple having a joint bank account, and “it had always been clear to both of them that the prime minister’s wife owned the assets”. The transfer of ownership was made as soon as this was pointed out, a spokesman said.

Since he became prime minister in 2013, Gunnlaugsson has overseen sensitive negotiations with the creditors of the three big Icelandic banks that collapsed during the 2008 crisis – while knowing, the leaked documents show, that his wife’s offshore company, Wintris Inc, which lost 515m kronur (£2.8m) in the crash, was owed a sizeable sum from their bankruptcies.

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Chinese Censors Rush to Make ‘Panama Papers’ Disappear

Several Beijing leaders were implicated in the big leak. Reading social media, you’d never know it.

BY DAVID WERTIME-
APRIL 4, 2016












On April 3, the Washington, DC-based non-profit International Committee of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) dropped what struck many as a bombshell: news that a leaked trove of 11.5 million previously secret files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca showed a dizzying array of world leaders have, or are closely connected to, offshore entities. Its shockwaves have reached Beijing: Relatives or contacts of several sitting and former Chinese high officials are prominently listed, including the brother-in-law of current President Xi JInping, the daughter of former Premier Li Peng, and the grand-daughter of Jia Qinglin, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), a tiny and elite group of officials that runs the country. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that functions under a separate legal system, also lives up to its reputation as a haven for mainland capital: the ICIJ report tags it as the largest source of “intermediaries,” meaning the lawyers, accountants, and other middlemen that make the system of veiled ownership work.

Using an offshore entity isn’t, by itself, against the law. But because offshore entities make it easier to hide ownership of cash and assets, the news is juicy fodder for anyone watching China’s notoriously opaque leadership for signs of the corruption that President Xi has worked so hard to extirpate.

Then again, China-watchers have come to expect such revelations to elicit mere whimpers within the country’s borders, mostly because the country’s media apparatus is accustomed to wide and deep censorship of anything likely to tar the reputation of Beijing’s top leadership. Chinese media is, not surprisingly, mum on the subject. A leaked provincial government directivereported by California-based China Digital Times orders media outlets to “find and delete reprinted reports on the Panama Papers. Do not follow up on related content, no exceptions. If material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website,” the directive adds, “it will be dealt with severely.”

And true to form, China’s online censors have also gotten busy in the wake of what the ICIJ calls the “Panama Papers.” Neither the word “Panama” nor the names of several of those named can currently be searched on Weibo, the country’s largest microblogging site and the locus of many (often coded) public discussions about the indiscretions of Chinese officialdom. Searches for the names of former premier Li Peng, his daughter Li Xiaolin, and Xi Jinping brother-in-law Deng Jiagui are also blocked on Weibo, and only some results for those searches are shown on Baidu, China’s most popular search engine. In both cases, a note in bold text states that “relevant rules and regulations” have led to suppression of results. (Baidu has done the same with Jia Qinglin, also named in the report.) It is not possible to ascertain when these words were first blocked:


A small handful of online posts about the Panama Papers gained traction before getting the axe. According to Weiboscope, a project of Hong Kong University that tracks deleted content on Weibo, one popular but now deleted post insisted that “no wall keeps out all the wind. In an information age,” it continued, “cheating and blinding people can’t last forever. The truth will one day see daylight.”

To some extent, that’s already true, as China’s information blockades have not quashed all online discussion. As usual, however, web users have had either to skirt the outer edges of the topic in order to avoid being censored — or worse, being visited by authorities or even jailed under rules that criminalize the online posting of “rumors.” One sports commenter wrote, “Reminder: simply having an overseas company is not illegal.” The statement is correct, but of cold comfort to many. One wrote in response that law “should not be used as a shield,” and another noted that offshore entities are often used “to launder money.”

In particular, Li Xiaolin has continued to draw attention, partly because the well-known oil executive and daughter of former Premier Li Peng declared in an April 2014 interview with state-run China News that “I myself don’t have an offshore company.” The statement came just months after the ICIJidentified the younger Li in January 2014 as one of dozens of rich Chinese who used offshore tax havens. It’s perhaps not surprising that those words have now come back to haunt her, with one user reposting her words. According to mirror site Freeweibo, other posts discussing the latest revelation about Li have not survived.

There was a time when Chinese social media sizzled with juicy talk about China’s leaders. In early 2012, at the “two sessions,” a meeting of Chinese legislators and elite hob-nobbers, social media users widely rebuked Li, who also participated, for wearing a pink pantsuit from designer Emilio Pucci worth almost $2,000. Also in early 2012, the stunning fall of Chinese politician and onetime PSC aspirant Bo Xilai set social media aflame, cementing its place as a crucible in which official careers could be speedily destroyed. Since then, Chinese leaders have learned to keep censors working harder, and at all hours. When the New York Timespublished an award-winning dive into then-Premier Wen Jiaobao’s family wealth in October 2012, the article quickly vanished from the Chinese Internet, and the entire Times website was blocked.

The shockwaves from the Panama Papers may not yet have reached Beijing. But ICIJ has said that more information is yet to come. China’s censors are likely to stay extra vigilant.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian contributed reporting.

Top image: Feng Li/Getty Images

Activists try to shut down China’s Yulin dog meat festival 

Humane Society International visits dog meat markets and slaughterhouses in Yulin, China.

by AP News-4th April 2016

BEIJING (AP) — Animal rights activists are seeking to shut down an annual summer dog meat festival in southern China blamed for blackening the country’s international reputation as well as fueling extreme cruelty to canines and unhygienic food handling practices.

Activists said Monday that they will continue press for the festival to be banned as well as legislation outlawing the slaughtering of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.

While an estimated 10-20 million dogs are slaughtered each year, the June 20 event in the city of Yulin has come to symbolize the cruelty and lack of hygiene associated with the largely unregulated industry.

Yu Hongmei, director of the VShine Animal Protection Association, said China needs to follow the example of developed nations that have banned eating dog and cat.

Good economy? More bowel cancers, study finds

By Meera Senthilingam, for CNN

(CNN)Economic development is a good thing -- but not when it comes to the risk of developing colorectal cancer.

According to a recent study, as a country develops, rates of this type of cancer rise alongside it.

The study revealed a 10-fold difference in cases worldwide, based on a country's level of economic development. The "western" lifestyle that comes with a country's growing economy is thought to be behind the increase in rates.

"Colorectal cancer is the clearest marker of societal and economic transition," says Cancer epidemiologist Melina Arnold, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who led the study.

Also known as bowel cancer, it's the third most common type of cancer in the world. It affected 1.4 million people in 2012 and is predicted to increase by 60%, to more than 2.2 million cases -- and 1.1 million deaths -- by 2030.

 

This form of cancer is a common result of poor lifestyle choices such as a bad diet, low levels of exercise, smoking and drinking excessive alcohol.

"[It] is largely preventable because it's related to lifestyle factors," says Arnold.

Arnold and other experts in the field were already aware of the geographical variation seen in rates of this cancer specifically, but its extent came as a revelation.

"There is a widening disparity," says Arnold.

Does prosperity lead to cancer?

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Cold-fX makers misled public, case should receive class-action approval: lawsuit

Published Monday, April 4, 2016

VANCOUVER -- The makers of Cold-fX are in court fighting allegations they ignored their own research and misled consumers about the short-term effectiveness of the popular cold and flu remedy.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals (TSX:VRX) was in British Columbia Supreme Court on Monday, opposing an application to grant the lawsuit class-action status.

Vancouver Island resident Don Harrison launched a claim in 2012 against Valeant and its subsidiary, Afexa Life Sciences, over advertising saying that Cold-fX offered "immediate relief of cold and flu symptoms" if taken over a three-day period at the first sign of illness.

Harrison's notice of claim said Valeant and Afexa continued to "knowingly or recklessly" promote Cold-fX despite evidence the natural-health product only had a possible positive impact after being taken daily for prolonged periods of two-to-six months.

"The gist of the case is that people paid money for a worthless product ... and the money they spent should be returned," said Harrison's lawyer, John Green, in a interview.

Valeant also unnecessarily exposed its customers to a health threat by distributing a useless drug with a risk of adverse side effects, he said.

The Laval, Que.,-based company denied the accusations in a statement and said it will fight the application for class-action certification.

"Valeant believes the suit is without merit and is vigorously defending this matter," said the document.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Afexa is the original manufacturer and licence holder of Cold-fX and was bought by Valeant in 2011.

Valeant has been marred by a succession of controversies in recent months that have sapped its stock value and hammered its reputation, leading the CEO of the embattled Quebec drugmaker to step down last month.

The series of setbacks include gouging customers by hiking drug prices and filing misstated earnings, the latter of which it blames on its former chief financial officer.

Green also alleged Valeant and Afexa kept quiet about an internal study conducted in the early 2000s that contradicted the health claims around Cold-fX.

"The defendants knew at least as early as 2004, when they had a study done themselves, that Cold-fX might be even less effective than a placebo," he said.

"The study actually showed the placebo to be more effective at relieving (some) cold symptoms than Cold-fX."

The study found the product effectively reduced the severity of a runny nose during the early days of a respiratory infection, but that it had limited efficacy in treating other symptoms, particularly a cough and stuffy nose.

If the case receives class-action approval, anyone who bought Cold-fX for the short-term relief of cold and flu symptoms will be able to apply to a fund that will be created to get their money back, said Green.

He estimated the total to be refunded would amount to about $500 million. That calculation uses $50 million per year in estimated revenues for Valeant from Cold-fX, then assumes a 100-per-cent markup, over a five-year time period.

Because of differences in provincial law, a court victory in B.C. wouldn't allow people outside the province who bought Cold-fX to make a claim, said Green. For that reason, an identical lawsuit has been launched in Saskatchewan, where a positive ruling would apply to everyone across the country.

A successful judgment from a B.C. representative plaintiff could be taken to Saskatchewan to bolster the case in that province, he said.

Valeant is expected to begin its defence on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Sri Lanka torture victims call for international war inquiry

HUMAN RIGHTS

Two Sri Lankan Tamils tell DW how they were rounded up after the civil war ended, and tortured. They hope to pressure the government to bring in foreign judges to investigate war crimes allegations.

Branding marks on the back of a Tamil torture survivor, photographed for Freedom From Torture's report, Tainted Peace: Torture in Sri Lanka since May 2009

34-year-old Mayairan, from Sri Lanka's north-eastern district of Mullaitivu was studying in Malaysia when his country's 26-year-long civil war ended in May 2009.

• Author Nik Martin- 01.04.2016

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had fought ferociously for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, was overwhelmed by government forces in the last months of the conflict. The government finally defeated the notorious group known as the Tamil Tigers.

In the months following the war, thousands of Tamils went missing, including Mayairan's parents. Witnesses described how security forces rounded up Tamils in white vans for interrogation, never to be return. Fearing his parents could have been taken, Mayairan flew home and went looking for them, but was arrested himself when he reached the former war zone.

"I was taken to an army camp and they told me I had to sign a document admitting to being an LTTE member. I said I wasn't even living in Sri Lanka, but they didn't believe me," he told DW.

Mayairan says he was beaten and tortured for several weeks. At one point, the pain was so bad he passed out. Despite having no direct association with the LTTE, he eventually signed the confession.

Trauma and scars

"Sometimes they'd bring you into the room twice a day trying to get you to confess. They broke my nose and I lost several teeth. I'd get hit on my head, my back and my legs," he told DW, showing scars on his head and body he said were inflicted during the torture.

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Vaddukoddai Resolution: More Relevant Now Than Ever Before

By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah –April 3, 2016

Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

As the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Vaddukoddai Resolution[1], articulating a free and independent Tamil Eelam, that which won an overwhelming democratic mandate in the 1977 general elections, draws near on May 14, 2016, no one can refute how absolutely profound, and vitally relevant this declaration STILL IS for Eelam Tamils and how now at this critical time, it is undeniably even more profound and relevant than ever before!

Vow To Uphold

Wherever we may be, beholden to truth and justice, and never wavering for small favours, never accepting small scraps thrown at us, never persuaded by those nations that colonised us, lumped us together and created the inequality; never listening to yet others who fought for their own freedom, but begrudge ours; Eelam Tamils must not yield or capitulate but vow without reservation, to uphold the fundamental precepts enunciated in the Vaddukoddai Resolution – a declaration that affirms and avows, “the restoration and reconstitution of a Free, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM,” that which must be considered equal to, and as sacrosanct as the 1776 American Declaration of Independence [2] is to all Americans; as the 1215 Magna Carta [3] is to the English; and, as the 1948 United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights [4] and other United Nations conventions are, to all freedom loving people of the world!

Trial-at-Bar for Sedition

Now is the time for Eelam Tamils to join hands with the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), theInternational Tamil Youth Organisation and the International Council of Eelam Tamils who are(individually and collectively) calling for, in their words, all Tamil organisations and movements to commit to the Vaddukoddai Resolution: “…to work on projects which shall bolster the Vaddukoddai Resolution in this 40th anniversary year, and take it forward in all its dimensions with vigour towards our political goals.”

The Revalidation in 2010

We must not forget the Vaddukoddai Resolution obtained revalidation in January of 2010, by way of a Tamil Diaspora wide referendum, [5] taking place in the immediate aftermath of the final genocidal onslaught against Tamils in May 2009, in a war without witness, where between 40,000 [6] – 70,000 [7] – 146,679 [8]Tamils were allegedly massacred or disappeared by the Sri Lankan military under the supervision and leadership of the Rajapaksa regime. [9]

Some of the Factors That Led to Tamil Separatism           Read More

The ‘Ides of April’ and the absence of governance

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Sri Lankans were blithely reassured this week by President Maithripala Sirisena that they need not fear the Ides of March anymore, taking into account the annual critical focus on the country by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

But in truth, this claim is unduly optimistic.

Reducing of the ‘yahapalanaya’ brand

If the concerns of the Wanni’s war afflicted are not prioritized in transitional justice initiatives and the end result contemplates superficially attractive ‘packages’ stamped with the ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) seal, international scrutiny may return, albeit in a different form.

More ominously, disaffection in the North will simmer. This will only allow unscrupulous politicians to take advantage if and when the occasion so presents itself. Our ill-omened history surely teaches us this. The Government’s record so far is not reassuring. One recent example is the housing project in the former war theatre caught up in a tug of war for profits between competing political interests and corporate interests. This has left displaced people (the unfortunate would-be occupiers) out in the cold, with the possibility of having to settle for sub-standard housing units.

Matters are no different elsewhere. The destruction of the Wattala jogging track is a clear instance. Government agencies pass responsibility to each other for this wanton destroying of public property while law enforcement authorities are rendered impotent. What has the ‘yahapalanya’ brand been reduced to? Is the law activated for fraud and corruption only against the Rajapaksas?

Justifying the unjustifiable

If the late Venerable Madulwawe Sobitha had been alive today, he would have been most vociferous in respect of these profound indignities. Unfortunately, those who aspire to wear his mantle are but waxen imitations of this firebrand personality.

Indeed, these pretentious moralists adopting various ‘yahapalanaya’ labels must be told that their public legitimacy cannot be salvaged by a sanctimonious speech or two in front of television cameras or through proffering excuses for failures in governance. Rather, they must engage in relentless pressure on this Government.

But we see the contrary. In fact, some ‘yahapalanaya’ activists justify the unjustifiable, such as the recent increase of allowances for parliamentarians at the very same time that the public was asked to accept enhanced taxes. True, this proposal was withdrawn when sanity dawned a trifle late but ruling party politicians do not deserve credit for the withdrawal. Such an astoundingly ill-judged decision should surely never have been made in the first place. Even now, some Ministers trumpet that they deserve these incentives. For what, one may well ask?

Potentially more perilous threats

Meanwhile, familiar March rhetoric on war time accountability has been replaced by potentially perilous threats amounting to a veritable ‘Ides of April.’ Thus, unannounced power cuts and looming water cuts are accompanied by intimidating new taxes apparently coming into effect from the 1st of the month. The knavishly clever humor customarily attendant on that day surfaced when the Inland Revenue Department withdrew a circular on future tax increases issued the day before with no satisfactory explanation. Yet this was manifestly no April Fool’s joke. One can only pity public servants who look ludicrous in the public eye due to the ineptitude of politicians.

Now we have been told to expect a host of finance bills before Parliament mid month with no clear idea as to their contents. Worse, if taxes are directed to operate retrospectively, what will be the position of individuals and entities who have taken steps meanwhile in relation to their personal affairs and business deals? Without certainty in tax policy, how can the polity function with any measure of stability? Is this not a basic question that the Government must answer?

To be clear, the point is not only about the worrisome state of Sri Lanka’s economy. Unsettlingly, this is also about indecisive and secretive government decision-making which makes the pending Right to Information (RTI) law a cruel joke.

A singular absence of clarity

Generally in past years, trepidation over the UNHRC scrutiny in March was tepidly viewed by some as propaganda. Many would have been hard put to identify what the UNHRC does or where it is based. In contrast, the current absence of clarity on the economy with different factions of the Government pulling in different ways has dire immediate attendant consequences.

Other questions remain. Why should ordinary citizens literally pay for the sins of former rulers gone mad? Was it not enough that the people suffered so acutely during the past decade even as the political classes collaborated with each other, notwithstanding their ferocious snarls in public? Further, it was precisely because the (then) opposition did not perform its role properly that the Rajapaksa Presidency plunged Sri Lanka into such a calamitous chasm.

Now the UNP prides and preens itself on being brought into power on a ‘yahapalanaya’ wave. Suffice it to be said that whilst this wave is fast receding, it was not its stellar performance that topped the Presidency in 2015. Mahinda Rajapaksa accomplished that all by himself, by his colossal arrogance and thirst for absolute power through a racist ideology. On his own part, President Sirisena was supposed to act as a commonsensical restraint on elitist UNP power brokers. But that is far from the case. What is this dark magic of this Executive Presidency which can negatively transform the most pedestrian individual?

The ‘withdrawing’ syndrome

In sum, incoherence in government cannot be denied any longer. The Inland Revenue Department issues and withdraws circulars. The Ceylon Electricity Board issues and withdraws notifications of power cuts. The Government issues and withdraws Bills. This is not simply a case of a faulty communications strategy or of Rajapaksa saboteurs per se. In addition, there is a significantly growing disconnect within the Government itself as well as between the political leadership and the people.

If these twin disconnects are not properly addressed, airy boasts by the President and the Prime Minister that their alliance cannot be dislodged will count for little. Meanwhile, Rajapaksa rabble rousers wait salivating in the wings rubbing their hands in glee at the formidable Gordian knot now entangling this Government.

Caught between these two patently uninspiring forces, can enlightened Sri Lankans from the North to the South once again summon their revolutionary spirit of one year ago? This is a question anxiously awaiting an answer.

Sri Lanka awards houses for Sinhala soldiers married to Tamil women

Sri Lankan Govt grabbing Tamils land                            Israel grabbing Palestine land

Guardian 03 April 2016


The Sri Lankan government on Sunday opened what it termed a 'village of reconciliation', awarding houses to Sinhala soldiers married to Tamil women, as well as Tamil female soldiers. 

The village, consisting of 51 new homes in Vavuniya, was build by the Ministry of Defence. The state minister of defence, Ruwan Wijewardena, attended the event, along side the Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva, commander of the army. 

The scheme was criticised by the Tamil National Alliance, who stated the scheme was aimed at forcibly colonising Tamil areas with Sinhala soldiers. See more here. 

Sri Lanka's governor in the north, Reginold Cooray, was earlier this year criticised by the Northern Provincial Council's chief minister, C V Wigneswaran for urging marriages between Tamil and Sinhala people as a means of reconciliation. 

"I am not against mixed marriages. My children have married ethnic Sinhalese people. First however, ensure all rights to the Tamil people as the Sinhala people have, and then we can think of mixed marriages," Mr Wigneswaran said. 

‘Reconciliation village’ forcibly settles Sinhalese soldiers in North-East – TNA

Judicial Decision Making In The Cases Of Bracegirdle & Gunaratnam

By Nagananda Kodituwakku –April 3, 2016

Nagananda Kodituwakku

The arrest, keeping in the remand custody for inordinate period of time, prosecution and finally the Court ruling made in the Kumar Gunaratnam’s case should open the eyes of all concerned citizens of their immutable sovereign rights enshrined in the Constitution, that includes the Judicial power, the Court System exercises purely on trust.

Kumar Gunaratnam is a native Lankan, who had fled the country for fear of his life. Technically he is an Australian passport holder for immigration purposes, yet born Sri Lankan, who has lost his natural right of abode, as he had obtained Australian naturalisation, without retaining his biological right of abode. He was arrested on 04th Nov 2015 ‘for overstaying in his own native land’ and charged in the Magistrate’s Court.

For violation of visa restrictions, for persons born in or coming from a country other than one’s own birthplace, the Immigration law provides penal sanctions (a jail term of not exceeding five years and to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand rupees at the election of the Magistrate). And the Legislature never intended this provision of law to be used against born Sri Lankans. In Kumar Gunaratnam’s case, the Court has imposed him a fine of Rs 50,000/- coupled with a imprisonment of one year in Jail ‘for over stay’ in his own birthplace.

How the justice system functioned under the British colonial rule

There was somewhat similar case occurred in the British Colonial period, popularly known as Bracegirdle case. Mark Bracegirdle was an Englishmen and a planter. During his stay in Ceylon, he was an undercover supporter of the Socialist movement formed by two respected socialist leaders, N M Perera and Colvin R de Silva. And on 3rd April 1937, he attended a meeting at Nawalapitiya organised by Dr N M Perera and addressed it criticising the exploitation of estate labour by British planters and threatening to expose scandalous abuses of poor plantation workers. He demanded that no planter should be allowed to break labour laws to abuse the poor plantation workers.

Photo- Mark Bracegirdle, seated left next to LSSP leader Colvin R. de Silva, in front of other party members in about 1937.

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