NPC adopts resolution backing federal solution

April 22, 2016

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party TNA- controlled Northern Provincial Council today adopted a resolution seeking a federal solution to the long-pending issue of political independence for the country’s minority Tamil community.  

The resolution was presented by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran while the Ministers and members of the council expressed views on the proposal afterwards. 

 UPFA councilors Vannihamige Jayathilaka and Dharmapala Senevirathna had raised objections to the resolution, stating that it was not the solution to the issue and that it would have harmful repercussions.

 Apart from them, only 19 Northern Provincial Council members of the total 38 were present during the vote on the resolution today. 

The resolution adopted by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) aims to have the federal solution included in the current constitution-making process. 

 The government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has already launched a process to formulate a new Constitution for the country replacing the 1978 statute.  

The Tamil demand for a federal solution dates back to the days when Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, came to be granted independence by the British in 1948. 

 Later, the campaign was extended to a separate state demand when the LTTE fought a decades-old war with the government to carve out a separate Tamil homeland. 

 With the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the Tamil leadership has adopted a softer approach to give up on the separatist demand.

What The Majority Sinhalese Must Know

By Brian Senewiratne –April 23, 2016 

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

The majority Sinhalese (74% of the population) have been carefully and deliberately shielded from reality by manipulation of the media by Sinhalese politicians, and ethno-religious bigots, especially the Buddhist monks, playing to the chauvinist gallery.

The Sinhalese have been fed with myths and legends (masquerading as facts), and downright lies or not told what they should have been told. The realities have never been disclosed as to do so would lead to widespread misgivings about the wisdom of the Sri Lankan government’s policy.

This is something that has to be addressed since it is the Sinhalese who elect those to run (or ruin) the country. A separate publication is needed and this must be circulated in the Sinhalese area – something that is likely to be blocked by those in power – all of whom have the Mahavamsa mind-set” (see below).

There are at least four important factors that have to be addressed:

1. The failure of the colonial British to see the difference between a nation and a community. Sri Lanka is a British colonial construct that has failed – as have so many colonial constructs.
2. The Mahavamsa and the Mahavamsa mind-set that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist nation. If it is, then there is no alternative to setting up a separate Tamil State since the Tamils are neither Sinhalese nor Buddhist.
3. The Dutugemunu-Elara war – between a Sinhalese prince from the South and the ageing (Tamil) king originally from the Chola dynasty in South India who was ruling Anuradhapura – the ancient capital of Ceylon.
4. The claim that Sri Lanka is too small to be divided. That is arrant nonsense. After division, the Sinhalese State is larger than 63 UN nations and the Tamil State larger than 38 UN nations.

It is simply not possible to deal with these crucially important points here. A separate publication is needed. All that can be done here is to deal with them in the barest possible manner.

Sri Lanka has two nations (Sinhalese and Tamil) and five communities (Indian Tamils, Sri Lankan Muslims, Indian Muslims,, Burghers and Malays). A ‘nation’ is fundamentally different from a ‘community’.

A Nation

A nation is a historically evolved stable community of language, territory, economic life and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture. It is generally accepted that a nation possess a common ethnic identity, a continuous linguistic and cultural tradition, a definite territory as a homeland and a shared historical experience. It is all these that together that generates in a nation a dominating sense of collective consciousness which gives it the capacity and will for organisation.

The colonial British                                 Read More

DEMOCRACY IN STILL DECIDED POST WAR SRI LANKA

22/04/2016

19 April 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka: According to the latest ‘Democracy in Post War Sri Lanka’ survey conducted by Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lankans have a low level of confidence in the Government’s commitment towards eradicating corruption in the country. While 40.8% are of the opinion that the Government is not committed towards eradicating corruption in the country, 34.5% say that the Government is committed. The decrease in the level of confidence is seen when compared to October 2015 data, where 49.6% of Sri Lankans were of the opinion that the Government is committed towards eradicating corruption in the country.

On the issue of cost of living, almost 30% of Sri Lankans indicate that they are satisfied with the Government’s performance in addressing the cost of living in the country, while 51.2% indicate that they are dissatisfied.

While 48.8% of Sri Lankans agree that the National Anthem should be sung in both Sinhala and Tamil languages, 41.3% of Sri Lankans disagree.

42.2% of Sri Lankans are of the opinion that there should be a mechanism to look into what happened during the final stages of the war, while 44.2% are of the opinion that there shouldn’t be such a mechanism. Among those who indicate that there should be a credible mechanism, 47.3% are of the opinion that it should be an exclusively domestic one, whilst only 9.2% of Sri Lankans are of the opinion that it should be an exclusively international one.

While 72.6% of Sri Lankans agree that female representation in Parliament, Provincial Councils, and Local Government Authorities is insufficient, 10.1% disagree with the same. 52% of Sri Lankans are of the opinion that men are both qualified and capable of winning an election in comparison to women, while 23.7% disagree with the same. Furthermore, 51.4% of Sri Lankans are also of the opinion that once elected, women have less decision making power than their male counterparts.

Nearly 50% of Sri Lankans state that the Constitution should determine the number of Ministers and that there should be no room to increase the number of Ministers in Parliament.

A majority (74.4%) of Sri Lankans agree that the Clergy (religious priests/ monks) if found guilty of unethical/ illegal behaviour or misconduct, must be taken into custody and dealt with under the rule of law.

‘Democracy in post-war Sri Lanka’ sought to record public perspectives on democracy in Sri Lanka today and the findings are presented under four key sections – Economy and Development, Trust in Institutions, Perceptions on politics and Transitional justice. The first wave was conducted in 2011, the second wave in 2013, the third in 2014, the fourth in March 2015 and the fifth in October 2015.

Conducted in the 25 districts of the country, this survey captured the opinion of 2102 Sri Lankans from the four main ethnic groups. The selection of respondents was random across the country except in a few areas in the Northern Province where access was difficult. Fieldwork was conducted from February 18th to March 03rd 2016.

Download the report in full here.

Democracy-survey-April-2016_Final-report.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka - Human Rights Priority Country

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Published 21 April 2016

There was an improvement in the overall human rights situation in Sri Lanka in 2015, although some concerns remain. Reversing the downward trend of recent years, the government of Sri Lanka took positive steps to improve freedom of expression (including the media) and freedom of movement, reduce inter-community tensions, and restore the independence of institutions such as the Human Rights Commission. The government also signalled its willingness to address long-standing allegations of past human rights abuses and violations, co-sponsoring a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in October committing it to reconciliation, accountability and the protection of human rights. In a positive change of approach, the government engaged constructively with the international community, including with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other UN bodies.

In 2015, the UK worked to encourage and support the government’s reform process. The UK lobbied for progress on key issues such as the return of military-occupied land, the lifting of bans on Tamil diaspora organisations, and the release of long-term detainees held without charge under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The UK was a strong advocate for the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) and instrumental in the adoption of the HRC resolution in which the OISL recommendations were reflected. 

We supported this political effort through targeted funding that supported domestic monitoring efforts and increased participation for parliamentary elections in August. We also worked to improve police standards and police-community relations, and promoted interfaith dialogues across the country.

Some of these positive changes are less apparent in the north and east. Human rights defenders continued to report harassment and surveillance in 2015, a point raised by the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances during their visit in November. The OISL report also highlighted a number of human rights concerns that still remain, including continued reports of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. The UK has urged the government to investigate these and other allegations of human rights violations, and will continue to push for progress in these areas.

In 2016, we expect the positive trajectory to continue. This is a moment of opportunity for Sri Lanka, and the international community has an important role to play. The OHCHR will present its assessment of progress on implementation of its recommendations at the HRC’s 32nd session in June. We will continue to encourage and support Sri Lanka to deliver on its commitments to the HRC, and to make early progress to build wider support for its efforts to address accountability. The Prime Minister has pledged £6.6m over the next three years to continue our support for reconciliation and human rights. Our work with the government of Sri Lanka will aim to continue strengthening democracy and the rule of law, and reform the security sector, sharing UK experience and expertise.

Army fails to submit list of missing people

22 April 2016

A list of people who surrendered during the last phase of the armed conflict in 2009 was not submitted to the Mullaithivu magistrate court by the army, despite a pledge by the 58D Brigade Commanding Officer to do so.

Mullathivu Magistrate MSM Samsudeen ordered the officer on February 17 this year to furnish the list by April 20, however the state counsel was not present in court, causing the case to be postponed till May 17, according to Ceylon Today.

A writ of mandamus regarding people who went missing after surrendering to the army was submitted at a court in Vavuniya, before it was transferred to the court in Mullaithivu. When the witness statements were recorded in December 2015, the officer testified that the names mentioned were not amongst those who surrendered and when pressed said that there was a list of names of all those who surrendered.

The attorney, K Ratnavel, then asked the court that the list be submitted at the following hearing, and argued that as the issue of missing people was internationalised, it was an important piece of evidence.

Despite the state counsel's objections, the magistrate ordered the officer to submit the list.

SRI LANKA: Losing the sense of right and wrong

by Basil Fernando-April 22, 2016

What would happen in a society where there is no sense that murder is a grave wrong to be prevented by the state and the people? The same thing could be asked about rape, sexual abuse of women, children or anyone else, about robbery and theft, extortion and drug trafficking. Many more wrongs against individuals can thus be listed.

Then there are wrongs relating to public life. What if those who wield authority do not recognise the stealing of public resources as a grave wrong? What if such persons think that the abuse of power is permissible? Or if there was a common acceptance that politicians and statesmen could lie to people about important matters concerning them? Again, the list of such wrongs against the public could be very long.

From ancient times, all civilisations have accepted that such wrongs must be recognised and prevented. A sense of what is morally acceptable and what is not is imbedded in every civilised society. In fact, being ‘civilised’ is largely related to the development and enforcement of ideas of right and wrong, and the building of ethical codes in order to preserve these ideas as fundamental to society. Humanity has long struggled to develop and preserve these ideas, and to inculcate them in all individuals. Unfortunately, societies have also seen moments in their histories when there are grave breakdowns of the sense of right and wrong, resulting in great catastrophes. Some of the well-known courts relating to morality developed during such times, due largely to the efforts of great leaders, whether of philosophical or religious movements, or political leaders using state power.

The Ten Commandments in the Judaism tradition is one such example. Whatever the truth of the emergence of the Ten Commandments as in the Bible, what is important is that such an ethical code was developed, embodying certain matters that were of utmost importance to that society. Laid down as commandments, every person and generation was to obey these rules.

The noble eighth fold path in the Buddhist tradition is again another example of a code of morality and ethics spread among the people. While the Buddha and his followers preached this code, Dharmasoka, a great historical ruler, made it into state policy and became a great advocate in the spread of this moral code in his kingdom. King Dharmasoka used state power to implement a moral code as a foundation of society, and did everything possible to educate people on this. Impulse for him to do so came from movements prior to his times, and continued during his time, such as the Jain and Buddhist movements. These have become universal principles spreading into all neighbouring countries around India. That was also how his own son was sent to Sri Lanka, and the rest of the story is well known and recorded.

As civilisation progressed, it was realised that mere declaration of rights and wrongs was not adequate to prevent these wrongs. On this basis criminal courts were developed, defining criminal offences. The key difference between a moral declaration and a declaration of a crime, is that the state takes primary responsibility to punish those who commit any acts considered as crimes. Thus, murder becomes a serious crime to be seriously punished by either death or life imprisonment. Similarly, the wrongs of sexual abuse, drug trafficking, corruption and so forth have all been transformed into crimes with definite punishments attached.

State obligation did not end by mere declaration of certain things as crimes. The state developed machinery for investigation into crimes: criminal investigation departments, or the modern policing system. A primary obligation of such a system is to ensure public confidence that crimes will be immediately investigated, the people committing them will be arrested and subjected to interrogation, and after proper inquiries trials will be held in public, and if they are found guilty a judge will sentence them to punishment as laid down in the law.

Civilisation in recent centuries has developed around such criminal codes and their enforcements. This is the way that right and wrong is not only recognised by society, but also enforced. There have been times however, when the enforcement of these codes was impossible; times of social breakdown. The best known example of this is Germany after the First World War. The development of Fascism in Germany, Italy and several other countries was a catastrophic time for those societies. Things considered wrong in normal times lost their impermissibility. Being relativized, murder, rape and all other serious crimes were seen as permissible when done to society’s ‘undesirable persons’. For a Fascist, a Communist is undesirable. For those preparing for war, anyone who espouses peace or does not join in the war effort is undesirable. The killing of such persons is not a matter of much concern. 

In such times, society’s sense of right and wrong is seriously undermined

Has Sri Lanka reached this stage today, due to a long period of crises, particularly since the JVP uprising, its suppression, and the continuous violence in the following decades? The sense of right and wrong is not only undermined by violence, but also authoritarian political changes. An authoritarian ruler may develop intelligence and other services to suppress his enemies. Whatever is done to these enemies becomes a matter of no concern. Normal ways of dealing with crime investigation are displaced to the extent that those committing crimes can even be considered heroes. These are catastrophic times for any society.

An examination of various incidents reported over the last 40 years makes it clear that Sri Lanka today has reached the point where many grave wrongs are treated as matters of little concern. It now takes a huge public uproar—which only happens at times—to get the most scandalous of crime investigated. Even then, what happens after the initial stages of inquiry is unpredictable.

Sri Lanka’s lawlessness has been discussed and documented in detail, so there is no need to go into it at present. The question now, is whether there is a fundamental disturbance of Sri Lankan society’s ideas of right and wrong. Unless we face up to this problem, our society will be moving from peril to greater peril.

It is the duty of every person, particularly those committed to be opinion makers in their countries, to take up the issue of crimes as an issue of right and wrong in their societies. The times in which the ideas of right and wrong are challenged, are also the times in which great movements arise. In both western and eastern societies, the greatest morality movements have arisen in the midst of such crises, leading to great philosophical developments.

Sri Lanka today is facing a moment when either it will transform itself to a much more stable society, by again committing to define and enforce rights and wrongs, or it will fall into its greatest peril after a period of great disaster.

IP Champika Perera arrested over Thajudeen murder reveals all : Anura Senanayake who gave illegal orders , Gotabaya and Namal ‘baby’ !

(Lanka-e-News -22.April.2016, 11.00PM) Following the arrest of former OIC crimes division Narahenpita police  Samith Champika Perera IP by the CID on the 20th (evening) in connection with the murder of Thajudeen , for suppressing evidence pertaining to the murder at the time it was committed, the suspect had made a lengthy confession before the CID. He has made a number of revelations in his confession , based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

In his confession the suspect had disclosed that he suppressed  evidence in connection with the murder of Thajudeen at that time on the orders of Anura Senanayake , who was the DIG Western province , Colombo then.

The suspect had clearly stated , that while Thajudeen’s body was in the vehicle which had been set on fire after the murder , it was Anura Senanayake who gave unequivocal instructions to  Champika Perera  to record it as an accident.

Champika Perera had further stated in the confession , based on his long experience in police service , as soon as he saw he understood it was not an accident . He saw a hefty youth in  the vehicle thrust into with difficulty , and a two an half feet long iron rod nearby .

Champika Perera has while being at the scene of the crime immediately conveyed to the OIC  of the police station via phone that he suspects it is a murder , the OIC had thereupon instructed him to report it to  Anura Senanayake . When Champika phoned Anura and said ,‘Sir, this is a real murder,’ Senanayake had retorted ‘ without trying to be clever (panditha) record it as an accident in the police TIB traffic information book,’ and has instructed not to produce anyone. Champika had revealed  in his confession. 

Further , defense secretary Gotabaya is aware, and this is  a conspiracy to embarrass the government. After some days, information regarding the dead fellow will come to light, Sananayake had said.

In addition , via the bail report to record it as an accident , and to inform the IGP’s official quarter by phone that it is an accident. Anura Senanayake had ordered  , Champika had revealed  in his confession.

A little while later Thajudeen’s father had appeared on the scene. In accordance with the instructions received , Champika Perera   had taken Thajudeen’s father to meet Anura Senanayake in the latter’s office. Senanayake after  telling Thajudeen’s father to sit in front , had told him it was a vehicle  accident.

‘Your son was drunk when he was driving the vehicle , and the officer who is investigating is here. This has been revealed following his investigation . Hence if this is to be probed deeply , it is your son’s image that  will be tarnished , ’ Senanayake had stated while pointing at Champika as the investigating officer . Senanayake has then told Champika to drop  Thajudeen’s father at  his home in the police vehicle. Senanayake has also taken a phone call to Gotabaya Rajapakse and Namal ‘baby’ in font of Champika , and intimated to them of what took place.  Senanayake has  addressed Champika and said , ‘you don’t have to be afraid of anything.  What this bloke has done will come to light in the future.’ The ‘bloke’ , Anura Senanayake referred to was Thajudeen the victim,  Champika had disclosed in his confession. ,

Champika Perera has at that moment told nothing because he feared that the lives of his and his family were  at stake.’ Champika Perera had   further mentioned  in his confession.

Sumith Champika was remanded till May 5 by Colombo additional Magistrate Thilina Gamage yesterday(21)

The CID is conducting further interrogation.

---------------------------
by     (2016-04-22 21:06:48)

Celebrating Earth Day: Historic Steps & Humane Efforts

By Rumal Siriwardena –April 22, 2016

Rumal Siriwardena

April 22, 2016 marks the 44th anniversary of International Earth Day. Earth Day’s origins lie in two individuals. Peace Activist John McConnell who at a UNESCO Conference in 1969, put forth the idea that there should be a day to celebrate the Earth, and US Senator Gaylord Nelson, on April 22nd. In 1990, the organization Earth Day made the event a truly global celebration, with 141 states participating.  In 2009 the UN General Assembly decided that  April 22 should be celebrated as International Mother Earth Day, with the resolution A/RES/63/278.

Earth Day’s essence is the interconnected nature of the relationship between human beings, other living species and the planet, and how best to protect our planet. It is a day for all those who care about the environment – whether concerned about oil spills, or pollutions, or the oceans, pesticide use, protection of wildlife, conservation of forests etc. to unite under a common theme and platform.

The theme for 2016 Earth day is : Trees for Earth.The Earth Day Network has set a target of planting 7.8 million trees around the world, within the next 5 years. Trees are essential to combating climate change as they are valuable carbon sinks. Trees also help to conserve species and their habitats, as well as providing economic and other environmental benefits – by way of food and income.

2016 Earth Day and Climate Change             Read More

Muslim identity and caste 

by Izeth Hussain-April 22, 2016

One of the most important matters to be cleared up in promoting Muslim-Tamil relations is that of Muslim identity in relation to the Tamil caste system. Among the most prominent of the Tamil attacks set off by my four-part article on Tamil racism and 13 A have been the ones by Paul: he has been inveighing, week after week in response to my articles as well as other articles, against the Sri Lankan Muslims for denying that they are largely Tamil converts to Islam who married low-caste Tamils. He has kept reiterating "low caste Tamils" like hammer blows in practically every verbose response of his. He has also been ridiculing Muslims for claiming to be Arabs despite the fact that the Arabs hold them in contempt. His racist hatred was shown some time ago when he wrote that the Muslims were multiplying "like rats".

The notion that the Sri Lankan Muslims are really Tamils was first given classic expression by Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan in the late nineteenth century. He was quickly identified by the Muslims as anti-Muslim, and certainly some things he wrote give that impression. More than one Muslim has told me in recent times that he had either said or written that to educate one Muslim would be the equivalent of killing one Tamil. Taking count of some things recently publicized by Rajan Hoole I would say – using today’s terminology – that Sir PR was a reactionary casteist racist, while not discounting his many very positive achievements. Our Paul therefore has a very distinguished pedigree, and evidently represents an enduring strand of very negative Tamil perceptions about the Muslims. In this article I want to point out that those very negative Tamil perceptions are based on utterly silly misconceptions. I feel confident that my arguments in this brief article will eventually lead to the removal of a thoroughly irrational irritant in Muslim-Tamil relations.

The first point I want to make is that the SL Muslims are on average lighter in colour than the Tamils and the Sinhalese. My late friend Nissanka Wijeratne, Cabinet Minister and Ambassador, used to hold that the SL Muslims had a substantial proportion of Arab blood in them, the truth of which could be demonstrated by a simple experiment: go to any queue in Colombo and isolate the fairer ones and it will be found that most of them are Muslims. I would agree with that, and so certainly would most unprejudiced observers. I must now make some parenthetical clarifications before proceeding further. When we talk of SL Muslims we mostly mean the Moors – I am one of them. In addition there are the Malays, the Borahs, and the Memons, all of whom are lighter in colour than the Tamils and the Sinhalese. The second clarification is that we are here talking of averages: there are many Tamils and Sinhalese who are pale in colour or very fair, but on average they are darker than the Muslims. My third clarification is that to say that one ethnic group is fairer than another does not mean that a claim to racial superiority is being made. It is purported to be a factual statement which carries no value judgments with it at all.

What is the explanation for the colour difference to which I am pointing? It is known that Arab traders were coming to this island even from pre-Islamic times, and it is also known that they did not bring their females along with them, so that evidently they intermarried with local females, some with the Sinhalese in the hill country and elsewhere, and more with the Tamils in the maritime areas. It seems to be a reasonable hypothesis that after an initial Muslim nucleus was formed in this island, its members tended to intermarry within that nucleus, and that could be the reason for their persisting lighter colour. There were of course the Tamil Muslims who migrated to this island from South India. Presumably they intermarried with the Muslims who were already established here. I am writing this article at a commonsensical level not a scholarly one and I now therefore pose a commonsensical question. If all these Muslims are really Tamils, why is it that the Tamils themselves call these Muslims not "Tamils" but "Sonakars"? I pose another commonsensical question also. If the vast majority of the SL Muslims were Tamils who came from South India, why did the indigenous Muslims call Muslim immigrants from South India "Coast Moors"? That was the practice until recent decades.

It seems evident that the SL Muslims have been constituted by three different races: Arab, Tamil, and Sinhalese, with the Arab component not insubstantial if we are to go by the criterion of color. But I think that the question of Muslim racial origin is not of the slightest importance. I have considered it here only because it has apparently loomed large in Tamil consciousness from the time of Ramanathan. What is important is ethnicity, a matter of nurture and not nature, of culture and not genes. The fact that Muslims follow Islam makes them thoroughly distinct from the Tamils. I will cite just one example to show the importance of ethnicity over race. Bengali Hindus and Muslims share the same language and are of the same race, but the difference of religion – one of the factors constituting ethnicity – made Bengal one of the worst sites of rioting during the Partition. The truth is that because of differing ethnicity the Muslims and the Tamils have very little in common. That fact should not be obscured by nonsense about Muslims being Tamil.

I come now to the charge that the SL Muslims are the product of Tamil converts to Islam marrying low caste Tamils – a notion that clearly makes the Tamil Islamophobes ecstatic. That is quite likely because in Sri Lanka there seem to be no high caste Tamils. According to the Hindu Varna system the highest of the SL Tamils, the Vellalas, are Sudras, the lowest of the castes. I hope no Tamil takes umbrage over what I am saying here – I am merely applying the Hindu Varna system to the SL Tamil caste system However I believe that all that is really of no importance at all. What is important is that when someone outside the caste system marries a person of low caste, he is not lowering himself into the caste system but is taking that person outside the caste system. He should be seen as a liberator. That would certainly be true when a Muslim marries a low caste person because Islam places a high value on equality and unity, and according to the Koran human beings are the Vice-regents of God on earth.

It appears from material appearing in the Colombo Telegraph that Tamils have serious misconceptions about the Muslims, misconceptions that can bedevil Muslim-Tamil relations to a serious extent. I can attest that we Muslims never had any serious identity problem. We were aware of the Ramanathan thesis that we were really Tamils, but that caused more amusement than rage, and it certainly did not lead to an identity problem. I believe that the reason is that we Muslims had an instinctive grasp of the importance of the factor of ethnicity which made us very different from the Tamils. The idea that our ancestors could have married low caste Tamils never figured in our consciousness. If that had been brought to our notice as a fact, we would have given it no importance because the notion that some human beings are born inferior and have to occupy inferior stations throughout their lives is totally alien to the Islamic mind, something too ridiculous to be taken seriously. I think it is time to stop blabbering inanely about the identity or commonality of the Tamil speaking peoples. It is time to acknowledge the differences between us and deal with them in a spirit of pragmatic accommodation.

izethhussain@gmail.com

Legislation to make universities more autonomous: PM

Apr 22, 2016

As long as there is an absence of a liberal atmosphere, it is hard to stop ragging, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

He was addressing the High Level Consultative Dialogue on Preventing Ragging and Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Universities at the Hotel Galadari yesterday.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the government will introduce legislature to make universities more autonomous and financially independent within the structure of free education.

The Consultative Dialogue will have the University Grants Commission and University administrators working in the next 10 days to discuss mechanisms to address the issue of ragging and gender based violence in the 15 state universities.

“The law must apply to everyone but does it prevail in universities Academics have no way to address ragging other than not having lectures. Are we in a position to protect the students in the university” asked the Prime Minister.

He observed that while police enforced the law outside universities, tradition of universities dictated that the university administration handle issues within the university.

“At times, Vice Chancellors have abdicated all responsibility to student unions but that cannot happen anymore. Administratively, we will ensure that all responsibility goes to the university and we plan on bringing in supporting legislature at the end of this year or early next year,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

Speaking on the structure of the university system, the Prime Minister said: “At present we have an archaic system of university administration and along with FUTA we have decided to change that. Universities today are no better than a public cooperation or government department. But we want to make it more independent and autonomous.” He also suggested that a post for Assistant Vice Chancellor be created in the future to handle student affairs and services. “Rights and freedoms of students should be observed as long as the rule of law applies,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said. The Prime Minister also advocated for plurality of thinking within universities with all political parties, ideologies and movements being accommodated within the university sphere.

“The body politics is South Asian- alive and kicking but the student politics is North Korean. We have to resolve this issue. We are a multi-party state and within the universities that plurality must apply,” he said.

The Youth Affairs Ministry, the Prime Minister said will offer Rs. 200 million from next year to fund innovative student projects at universities to encourage plurality of thought. “We need to mobilise the whole country and that is where the government can come in, so that we campaign to stop ragging at the grassroots,” the Prime Minister said.
- http://dailynews.lk-

Reduction Of Meat Consumption For Climate Change Mitigation

By Zahrah Rizwan –April 22, 2016

Zahrah Rizwan

The specialty of the 22nd of April 2016 lies not simply in the fact that it is the Earth Day, but also because leaders from over 170 countries will officially sign the Paris Climate Agreement today. Going environmental friendly is consistently harped on as climate change is a burning issue at present. Though there is sufficient awareness created regarding animal cruelty issues in order to address environmental conservation there is sparse concern given to livestock in the context of global warming and climate change.

Meat Industry & GHG Emissions

Climate change is largely caused by carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions, while raising animals for food is a significant contributor to these emissions. It is important to note that the environmental impact of the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food, accounts for at least “51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions” according to a report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO).

Methane emissions are observed to be caused mostly due to natural digestive process of animals (enteric fermentation) and manure management in livestock operations. Nitrous oxide emissions are also associated with manure management as well as the application and deposition of manure, while carbon dioxide emissions from the livestock sector are related to “fossil fuel burning during production of fertilizer for feed production, the livestock production process, processing and transportation of refrigerated products.”

Consequently, animal agriculture is responsible for about 9 percent of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, 37 percent of human induced methane and about 65 percent of human nitrous oxide emissions, globally.” Furthermore, livestock are a major source of deforestation, desertification, as well as the release of carbon from cultivated soils.

Dietary Change as Solution to Climate Change               Read More

Govt. attempts to wriggle out of people’s indignation through lies

FRIDAY, 22 APRIL 2016

When people oppose the decisions taken collectively by the government the President and the Prime Minister blame each other to indicate they are free from the guilt says the Member of the Political Bureau of the JVP K.D. Lal Kantha.

Responding to a question posed by a journalist regarding the increases in VAT Mr. Lal Kantha said, “The President on many occasions has said he becomes aware of many things only from newspapers. He has learnt about the increase in VAT too from newspapers. The people should understand that not only the President fails to fulfill the responsibility as the leader of the state but also that the UNP, including Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, doesn’t get him involved in taking decisions for the country. The leader of the cabinet is the President. The Prime Minister and the UNP coalition are included in it. People are made to understand that decisions are not taken in the cabinet but secretly taken in the kitchen cabinet in Temple Trees or in a corner in Mr. Ravi Karunanayaka’s Finance Ministry. This is not so.  They take decisions collectively. When people oppose such decisions they blame each other or take the responsibility individually to avoid people’s indignation. Avoiding responsibility in such a manner is indeed a fraudulent act.

Do you remember the proposal to increase salaries of Parliamentarians? When people’s opposition rose up against it the President said he was not aware of it but knew about it only from newspapers. The President is performing an act of his own. The people should know that both these groups collectively burden the people to obscure their impotency.  This yahapalana government is the government that has become unpopular in the shortest period of time.  The SLFP Members who have entered Parliament through votes of members of the SLFP and have wriggled into the cabinet to conceal their frauds and corruption and say ‘yes’ to all what Ranil Wickremesinghe says, lie to their party members.”

SRI LANKA :Absurdities arising out of delays in litigation

April 22, 2016

A group of people at a workshop identified the following as the basic adverse consequences of delays in litigation:

• It changes the way litigation is conducted and encourages exchanging favors, as well as lying.
• It encourages using criminals and other third parties to settle disputes.
• Many judges preside over the same trial before its completion.
• It has caused the development of serious political and social tensions.
• The parties to the litigation suffer considerable financial losses.
• It increases the possibility of destroying evidence and harassment, and even the assassination of witnesses.
• It causes people to lose faith in the judiciary and the law.
• Women encounter particular pressures, including sexual harassment from various agents involved in the process.
• Serious criminals are allowed to move freely among the people.
• The witnesses gradually become discouraged and fail to be present at trials.
• There are ever-increasing loads of files, which gradually worsens the situation of delay.
• The inability to form reasonable expectations about when decisions will be made about matters in dispute.
• The corruption of the legal profession.
• The spread of corruption among the all the staff at the courts, and even the creation of opportunities for corruption by some judges.
• The spread of cynical attitudes regarding courts and the litigation process among the people, thus creating demoralization.
• The undermining of democracy and the rule of law.
• A significant loss of time for experts and government employees who are called upon to give evidence only to have the case repeatedly postponed.
• Good governance principles being undermined as a result of the loss of expectation of justice.
• The failure to deter crimes through effective punishment of criminals.
• A greater possibility of witnesses dying and thereby the loss of important evidence.
• The family disputes arising out of prolonged litigation.
• The serious undermining of institutional integrity.
• The devaluation of the very idea of justice.

Many of the issues listed above are self-explanatory. However, it is worth commenting on a few salient points from the list.

Prolonged litigation creates a culture that encourages lying. The long years between the commission of a crime and the disposal of the case provides immense opportunities for unscrupulous litigants and lawyers to engage in many forms of manipulation, which in turn favor those who engage in falsehoods rather than who are honest and state only the truth of what they know. The types of manipulations and tricks used are varied. For example: a particular party that is aware that it has a weak case will want to delay the trial as much as possible, with the expectation that, at some point or the other, the opposing party will get tired and will not appear in court. The victims of crime, who already suffered from serious emotional distress, particularly in the cases of rape, murder, and similar crimes, may often find it difficult to repeatedly come to the courts for many years. As a result, criminals can slowly get to being acquitted due to discouragement among the complainants or other witnesses.

After an aggrieved party becomes tired out due to delays, they often arrive at settlements, even in very serious crimes. For example, rape victims can be offered money in exchange for abandoning their rights. In some instances, the prosecutors may offer trivial punishments if the accused is willing to plead for a lesser crime than the one with which they are charged. An example of this is the granting of suspended sentences for very serious crimes, including rape.

There are many other more shocking forms of manipulation, such as the alleged loss of files, and the loss of other important documents and material which would work adversely against a particular party. For an example, in cases of fatal accidents, an insurance company may claim that the files relating to the particular vehicle involved in the crime no longer exist and, on that basis, claim that there is no proof of the existence of the an insurance contract relating to the relevant claim, or that there was no insurance cover during a particular time.

Another issue worth noting is that when the same case is heard by several judges, the judgement is written by the last judge, who, on some occasions, has not heard any of the evidence. One of the basic principles relating to assessing the credibility of witnesses and the weight of evidence is completely set aside. Often, a single case can be heard sequentially by five judges or more before the completion of a trial. Besides the inability to view the demeanor of the witnesses, there are other problems: the final judge, who writes the judgement, is unable to appreciate vital aspects of the trial or can even be misled by some unscrupulous lawyers who, in their submissions, give a version of events which are not at all supported by the actual evidence led in court. For example, in a case where there was clear medical evidence of about particular injuries, supporting the claim of the complainant, the defence lawyer in his written submissions stated that there was no such medical evidence. The trial judge wrote the judgment based on the defence lawyers submission and, on that basis, acquitted the accused. The case has now been pending before the appeal court for several years.

The most serious criticism that can be made against prolonged trials is that they fail to realize the very purpose of litigation. In fact, by creating a situation where lies prevail, the whole exercise reduces itself to an absurdity. When most serious crimes, such as murder, rape and many other forms of violations of life and liberty, are reduced to this absurd situation, it reveals the very tragic plight of human beings living in such a society.

SriLankan CEO Spews F-Word, Vilifies Colombo Telegraph And Admits He Is Incompetent

April 22, 2016

Using the word ‘fuck’ several times SriLankan Airlines CEO Capt. Suren Ratwatte went on to admit “I am not a numbers man nor do I have a financial background or business acumen’ when confronted by several pilots at a meeting held in Colombo yesterday.

Suren Ratwatte

The loose tongue wagging CEO Ratwatte, who frequently uses the word ‘fuck’ at meetings went on to say “I am here to make big decisions and ride my bicycle on my off days.”

Captain Ratwatte went on to brief the pilots that the flight sectors operated by SriLankan Airlines to Male and Chennai were super profit making sectors and also a couple of Middle Eastern destinations.

However he went on to complain that all European bound flights were not making profits due to the under cutting of ticket prices by Middle Eastern carriers.

“When he was asked why was SriLankan Airlines scheduling the country’s low cost carrier to operate these same profitable sectors as mentioned by him since they sell tickets at a cheaper price? he went on to give some irrelevant answers. This is absurd as with Mihin Lanka operating these sectors it is our sister airline that has become our biggest competitor on these routes. Further the surplus of passengers over booked on Mihin Lanka spill over to SriLankan Airlines and when we are full we end up giving Mihin Lanka passengers free tickets for being off loaded. The CEO also said that all staff rebated tickets will be slapped with a US$ 70 service charge. Earlier it was a fuel surcharge that was included in the staff tickets and now since global oil prices have dropped it is termed as a service charge. This is the only revenue generation plan I guess our airline has come up with in the last six months. No wonder the CEO’s probation has been extended. It was a waste of time listening to his poppycock. It is us pilots who always have to bear the brunt of a pay cut like we have done in the past. Now again the CEO wants us to give up our annual increments. They mismanage the airline despite being paid hefty sums of money and when they under deliver, we have to pay the price in spite of us doing our jobs right. Sadly in the last six months we have not seen him contributing in any way. Is this the calibre available today to resurrect our struggling national carrier? “asked a member of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka, who attended the meeting. Staff are not permitted to speak openly to the media and do so on condition of anonymity.

When the pilots had questioned CEO Ratwatte about his salary he went on to say ” Even Colombo Telegraph had gone on to state that my salary is Rs 4.5 million. They get these figures all wrong and its best we ignore these websites. My salary in actuality is lower than some of the senior captains in the airline”.

However there is no transparency and it is yet to be established as to who pays the Chairman, the CEO and the Board of Directors of the airline their salaries and how much they really earn and what their total package constitutes. It has always been a closely guarded secret.

Colombo Telegraph merely reported the fact that he was appointed to the role of CEO SriLankan Airlines under the headline “SriLankan Airlines: Charitha Ratwatte’s Brother Appointed As New CEO” but never published his salary details or perks.

After that story was published many people had asked him if the story was factual. It was then that he was reported to have told people that Colombo Telegraph is a “non entity”.

Colombo Telegraph can confirm that nowhere did it mention the CEO’s salary to be Rs 4.5 million in any of its publications.

However what Colombo Telegraph can establish is that the CEO Capt. Ratwatte did once write to the Editor on the 18th of February 2015 and requested an article that he had written be published to commemorate the 25th death anniversary of the late media personality Richard De Soyza.

In his email to Colombo Telegraph sung in a different tune then, he went to state “I am avid reader of the Colombo telegraph and really appreciate the contribution you have made to the journalistic scene in Sri Lanka”.

As far as Capt. Ratwatte is concerned his appointment as the CEO of SriLankan Airlines with no prior experiences in this this role was purely based on nepotism. This is solely because he is the brother ofCharitha Ratwatte, a close friend of Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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