Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Monday, April 25, 2016

Fear over eating disorder care in Japan



The BBC's Tulip Mazumdar speaks to Japanese girls under pressure to be thin

BBCBy Tulip Mazumdar-25 April 2016


Most people suffering with eating disorders in Japan are not receiving any medical or psychological support, according to doctors.

The Japan Society for Eating Disorders claims the health system is failing hundreds of thousands of sufferers.
It also says the pressure on girls, in particular, to be thin has "gone too far".
The government says it's trying to set up more services and has tried to discover the extent of the problem.

"I hated being chubby when I was a kid," says Motoko - who is using a different name to hide her identity.

"The other kids bullied me so I always wanted to change."

Motoko was 16 years old when her eating disorder started. She would severely limit how much she ate and then started exercising excessively.

By the time she was 19, Motoko was dangerously underweight. She says her parents didn't know how to help her.

"They were negative about my illness," she says. "When I tried to see my doctor, they told me not to.
"My mother felt responsible, perhaps my father blamed her too."

Unhealthy aspirations


Vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control (CDR): Bad Science, or Willful Ignorance? Why the CDC has Lost its Trustworthiness

Vaccine-Syringe-Hand-Medical-HPVBy Dr. Gary G. Kohls-April 25, 2016

Despite the fact that I am a physician, I have long been suspicious of the influence of giant multinational medical corporate cartels that are best referred to as Big Pharma, Big Vaccine, Big Medicine, Big Insurance, Big Food, Big Agrichemical, etc. Most clear-headed observers of these industries (that meet the psychiatrist’s DSM definition of sociopathic entities) are justifiably concerned about the inordinate influence that they have over the mainstream media and most of our political parties, legislators and presidents.

These mega-corporations and their cunning multibillionaire owners (the 0.01%) are the paymasters of every politician and political party that thinks that they has to have millions of dollars in their campaign coffers in order to keep their political offices safe. Those paymasters, as is the case with all their other “investments”, expect a handsome long-term return on those investments. Those entities with excess luxury wealth are very serious when it comes to their money. That is why they can be so ruthless when it comes to getting what they want from their stable of politicians, lawyers and the publishers and editors of their newspapers and their television and radio stations.

My consciousness concerning the innate corruption in the vaccine industry was sharply raised when my father (in the totally bogus 1976 Swine Flu that NEVER materialized!) had the peripheral nerves to his hands poisoned by the neurotoxic mercury-containing Swine Flu vaccine. The small muscles that had been previously innervated by both of his radial nerves became permanently paralyzed. Within days the poisonous heavy metal in that vaccine caused a classical Guillain-Barre syndrome that he never recovered from. He never did regain his mastery of what was his lifelong love – fishing.

In a now frequently repeated scenario (the latest ones being the Ebola virus “pandemic” and now the equally  bogus Zika virus/microcephaly epidemic), the vaccine industry’s lobbyists are successfully capitalizing on what is very likely an iatrogenic illness (physician or medicine-caused disease).  And the public health agencies (all indoctrinated into believing the med school myths that all vaccines are safe and effective) are  scaring the wits out of us with plausible, but unproven theories about another vaccine-preventable epidemic.

Then, with the constant stream of propaganda from the once respected Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) shaping the beliefs of an easily freaked-out populace, president and legislature, the vaccine industry presents a blueprint for fast-tracking through the regulatory process a new, potentially dangerous, and likely untested vaccine that will be easily marketed to blindly pro-vaccine clinics and blindly pro-vaccine physicians to be given to every scared-out-of-their-wits patient in hearing range whose insurance will cover the unaffordable costs.

This is American capitalism, folks, and what is happening before our eyes is the old, tried and true strategy to siphon off a few billion dollars from us taxpayers and at the same time jack up the stock price of the corporation.

In retrospect, by the way, my father’s pro-vaccine 1970s internist was not unlike the current crop of doctors. He had been indoctrinated in med school with the notion that all vaccines are safe and effective, despite the fact that vaccines have never had to go through the rigorous science that most drugs have to do to get approval. He was totally in the dark about what had caused the Guillain-Barre syndrome (he said it was the virus).

He was also oblivious to the fact that mercury (which is still in flu shots and our dentist’s “silver” dental fillings to this day) was a serious poison to all tissues, particularly nerve and brain tissue. Unaware of his missed diagnosis (of the root cause), his ignorance made him continue to blindly inoculate the other patients in his clinic, many of whom were likely damaged in any number of ways by the unnecessary – and dangerous – toxic vaccine ingredients.

Since then, I have been confronted with uncounted numbers of patients and stories about the seriously adverse effects of mercury-containing vaccines, aluminum-containing vaccines, and fluoride-containing prescription drugs – especially when they are cavalierly injected into the muscles of tiny infants whose blood-brain barriers are at their most immature and who are increasingly likely to suffer permanent brain damage, especially when the shots are given in unproven combinations. (Some tiny infants – at their 2, 4 or 6 month doctor visits receive as many as eight different antigens at a time, each shot containing potentially neurotoxic substances [aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, antibiotics, viral particles, unfilterable contaminants, etc] that have additive toxic effects and  – what is far worse – synergistic effects when given simultaneously.)

Recently cunning lobbyists from  multinational corporations, particularly the vaccine industry, the genetically-altered mosquito industry, the insecticide and mosquito repellant industries, etc have been influencing the CDC and many well-meaning folks in the legislative and executive branches of government (including President Obama), creating a Zika virus freak-out no different from the other pseudo-epidemic hoaxes in the past (Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Avian Flu, SARS, etc, etc.)

In my reading and research, I came across a CDC document that claimed to teach physicians about the toxicology of aluminum. The book-length opus (see a few excerpts below) had been approved by the notorious (at least in vaccine skeptic circles) Dr Julie Gerberding, who had gone through the infamous government service-directly-to-industry revolving door in 2009.  In Dr Gerberding’s case she went from CDC public service official (where, as head of the CDC, she had shepherded Merck’s untested-for-long-term-safety-OR-efficacy, the first Human Papilloma Virus vaccine Gardisil]) to soon become Director of Merck & Company’s Vaccine Division. See more of the outrageous financial details below (hint: she received a reported $2.5 million salary at Merck, with generous stock options from the company as well).

I am outraged by the poor research that had been done by the various governmental agencies that are supposed to be regulating corporations. Everybody admits it is a fox ruling the henhouse situation. Most of the research quoted in the CDC aluminum toxicology document below was form the 1980s and 1990s, totally ignoring all the new sobering research that reveals how seriously poisonous are aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines. There is no recognition that vaccines are dangerous.

For more details about the new research on the neuro-toxicology of aluminum adjuvants, and the unlikelihood that the Brazilian microcephaly epidemic was caused by a mosquito virus, please google “Zika Virus Freakout – Gary Kohls” and read my series of columns on the subject.  Then for much more click on


to read a number of columns that I have written over the past 14 months on related topics, including mitochondrial damage from vaccine ingredients, brain damage from prescription drugs and vaccines and many other articles on the  vitally important now well-established ASIA syndrome that the CDC, FDA, AAP, AMA, AAFP and the medical establishment are either ignorant about or are otherwise refusing to acknowledge (google the Autoimmune/inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants).

In the meantime read the following CDC document that hardly mentions the now well-known fact that aluminum is a neurotoxin that, when it damages the brains of fetuses, is then legitimately called a teratogen. (A teratogen is any substance that can disturb the development of an embryo or fetus and thus cause a birth defect in the child.) The document talks about the toxicity of aluminum being given by mouth or inhalation or trans-dermally (through the skin) and even intravenously, but never mentions that aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines are injected intramuscularly, where they are dramatically more toxic than by any other route. It is a frightening example of bad science, which translates, of course, into bad medicine.

The CDC should be apologizing to every vaccine-injured baby, child, adult and family member and until it does, its veracity in the future needs to be constantly questioned. Here are portions of the 2008 document, which, to my knowledge, has not been updated. The italicized sentences immediately below have been added to the text by myself, and the underlining in the main text was also added by myself, in order to highlight certain important points, omissions or distractions.

Dr Kohls is a retired physician who practiced holistic, non-drug, mental health care for the last decade of his family practice career. He now writes a weekly column for the Reader Weekly, an alternative newsweekly published in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. Many of Dr Kohls’ columns are archived at

CABINET PORTFOLIOS A BAIT TO CATCH PRO-RAJAPAKSA MPS – SUNANDA DESHAPRIYA

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( PM Wickremasinghe and some of his cabinet colleagues in the Parliament)
by Camelia Nathaniel.-24/04/2016
Sri Lanka Brief

sunanda
Parliament has been converted into a Constitutional Assembly, and according to veteran journalist and social activist Sunanda Deshapriya, this is a positive development. In an interview with The Sunday Leader, he said that the country needs a comprehensive constitutional reform in order to establish a democratic system based on rights. These rights should include not only individual rights but collective rights as well. The new constitution or constitutional reform needs to address unsolved issues of collective rights of ethnic and social minorities. Today, we have a historic opportunity to arrive at a consensus of both major parties and ethnically based parties. In this context, transforming the parliament to a constitutional assembly is a commendable step, says Deshapriya.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Q: According to the government, the Constitutional Assembly was appointed for the purpose of deliberating, and seeking the views and advice of the people, on a new Constitution for Sri Lanka. Is the most important need of the moment a new constitution?

Much To Be Done For Victims Of Conflict Still Seeking Justice

  • Transitional Justice
by Camelia Nathaniel-Sunday, April 24, 2016

Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri and Dr. Jehan Perera

Sunday, April 24, 2016
Although the government under President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised a domestic investigation into allegations of atrocities, until 2015 no credible mechanism of justice was carried out. For over five years since the end of the war, those affected were still seeking justice as they were unable to put a closure to their suffering.
However, the present government has made relatively greater strides in terms of accountability. President  Sirisena has indicated a willingness to seek the truth regarding past atrocities, stating that a domestic process will be initiated to investigate war crimes. The government also invited the UN officials to visit the country and in March-April 2015 the UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Non-recurrence  of  violence  visited  Sri  Lanka.
The Sirisena government  also allowed  the  UN Working  Group  on  Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) to visit in August 2015 and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also visited the country.
The concept of transitional justice has influenced the legal, social and political discourse of societies undergoing fundamental social change, and that of the international community. In order to get over the bitterness of war, where mass atrocities have taken place and engage in a path of reconciliation, the country should engage in a process of judicial and non-judicial justice for past crimes, peace, a democratic society and an established rule of law. The United Nations (UN) definition of transitional justice states that the full set of processes and mechanisms associated with a societys attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuse, is required in order to secure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation.
Identifying the importance of the formal legal processes, and accountability for serious crimes also extends beyond investigation and prosecution. In order to achieve the goal of reconciliation truth and justice to those affected should be foremost and this should be a locally supported, participatory, transitional justice process established in accordance with international standards not only guaranteeing the rights of the victims, but giving them the assurance that such situations violations would not recur. According to social activist and leading academic Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri there is still much to be done.
There are a lot of things to be done especially to address the concerns of the Tamil society. There are some improvements especially where the military is present in the north and east but when it comes to the issues of these allegations of war crimes I dont think there is an improvement or progress. Actually this war crime allegation is a very tricky thing and I also think there are certain political motivations behind these allegations because some of them are highly objective allegations.
Those who promote these war crime allegations are also interested parties in the political agendas. But you cannot forget the fact that it is a very traumatic experience for the ordinary people in the north and east especially the Tamils. So whatever the legal definitions are for the war crimes, the bottom line is that the people in the north and east have lost their loved ones, their properties and so on, because they were subjected to highly unfortunate circumstances.
So, there is a need from their side to know what happened to their children, parents and loved ones and so on and that is a genuine concern. I mean you can’t always point your figure at the Tamil Diaspora and other Tamil nationals with certain political agendas. Ofcourse in certain instances you can argue that there are certain political interests but at the same time you cant forget the fact that there is a genuine concern from the ordinary people.
“So you have to address not just the concerns of the parties with political agendas but genuine concerns of the ordinary people. I have seen a number of studies done in the post war period where people have expressed their dissatisfaction over what has happened. They are not fully satisfied with the situation. Therefore I think there are alot of things to be done to improve the situation especially the human rights situation and the security situation from the point of view of the ordinary Tamil people. I am not talking about the Tamil political parties but about the ordinary Tamil people,” he added.
Meanwhile also expressing his views on transitional justice and reconciliation Executive Director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, Dr. Jehan Perera told The Sunday Leader that presently the government has initiated a process of national consultation on the issue of reconciliation and transitional justice and has given civil society the space to engage in these consultations.
“So it is after these consultations that the government hopes to finalise the mechanisms that it has in mind to implement the reforms that are necessary in the area of accountability, institutional reform and truth seeking. Hence I would say that the salient and most relevant feature at the moment is that the government is expecting the civil society to take the leadership in this process and has given them the space to take the leadership. The government is probably not taking the leadership itself because this is a controversial area and the government prefers the civil society to take the lead and test the waters and introduce these ideas to people and thereafter when the time comes for implementation the government will then step forward and take the lead,” he added.
Transitional justice, especially holding perpetrators accountable for alleged wartime abuses, is without question the most controversial, politically difficult, and significant component of Sri Lanka’s reform agenda. Accordingly, the United States and its allies should pressure Colombo about this aspect of reforms specifically, in order to promote lasting peace in what remains a divided, post-war country.
Unfortunately, the bulk of the new government’s reform agenda remains incomplete and there are no guarantees that Colombo will be able to follow through on all of the promises it has made, including creating a new, more inclusive constitution, implementing a comprehensive transitional justice package, and meaningfully dealing with high-level corruption.
Dr. Perera further went on to say that even though the transitional justice process and the reform process is being criticised for being slow, nevertheless the general environment for the ethnic and religious minorities is better than it has ever been since the 1950’s. “So we must also keep that in mind that even though the issues of dealing with the past and tackling the issue  of accountability is slow, the general environment for the ethnic and religious minorities is better than it has ever been in our living memory. That credit must be given to the government,” he said.
Further expressing his views on the reconciliation process and the pace and manner in which the government is handling it, he said that he is quite satisfied because the environment in which the different religious and ethnic groups and communities are living, is a positive one. It is one, he said,  where there is no fear and which every group has the sense that they will be protected by the government and the rule of law will prevail for them if there is an injustice against them. So that, said Dr. Perera, is the biggest improvement which overshadows the slow pace of dealing with some of the problems of the past.
When asked if incidents of the past should be left behind and the country should march forward instead of dwelling in the past, he said that the past has to be dealt with because we need to know the truth about the past.
“Unless we know the truth about the past we cannot take the corrective actions for the future. We also have several examples of having ignored the past and tried to pick ourselves up from where we had fallen and move forward without dealing with the past. We did it in 1971, we did it in 1988-89 but it did not serve our country well. We must learn that we cannot ignore the past from our own experiences. We need to deal with it even though it is difficult and painful and learn from those mistakes. The people must know what happened and then we resolve that, it never happens again,” he said.

*Federal unit in re-merged NENPC resolution should be examined like any other proposal – TNA


article_image
Sumanthiran,Hakeem

By Shamindra Ferdinando- 

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson M. A. Sumanthiran, MP yesterday told The Island that a resolution seeking the re-merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province adopted by the TNA-led Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on Friday (April 22) could be considered by the government as well as all other political parties represented in Parliament.

The TNA comprises the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi, the TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF.

Jaffna District MP and attorney-at-law Sumanthiran emphasised the need to take a look at the NPC’s proposal. It could be considered like any other proposal, Sumanthiran said.

Asked whether the TNA would throw its weight behind the NPC proposal for the re-merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province, MP Sumanthiran said that the TNA always stood for the amalgamation of the two provinces.

MP Sumanthiran said that the two provinces had remained merged for 18 years before the Supreme Court in Oct. 2006 found fault with the way it was done.

The two administrative provinces were merged in September 1988 in keeping with the provisions in the July 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord.

Though the merger had to be approved at a referendum in accordance with the accord, that requirement was never fulfilled. The two provinces were formally de-merged on January 1, 2007 on a Supreme Court order.

The Jaffna District MP said the NPC resolution was to be delivered to Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The TNA spokesperson said that the NPC resolution was meant to be taken up at deliberations leading to the new Constitution.

The NPC resolution called for granting federalism in addition to the re-merger of the two administrative provinces.

In the run-up to Friday’s adopting of the resolution, a special committee held consultations in all districts with various organisations.

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran moved the resolution.

Only two Sinhala members of the NPC namely Wannihamige Jayathilaka and Dharmapala Seneviratne of the UPFA opposed the resolution.

All other members of the NPC spoke in favour of the resolution.

Retired Supreme Court judge Wigneswaran was elected the Chief Minister following the first Northern Provincial Council polls conducted on September 21, 2013.

The NPC comprised 38 members with the TNA having 30 seats, the UPFA seven and the SLMC 1.

Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray has told the media that the issue is whether the NPC’s proposal was in line with the Constitution. Cooray was responding to a query raised by a television station on Saturday. The Governor couldn’t be contacted over the phone yesterday.

A veteran administrator told The Island that the NPC proposal was contrary to the Constitution as well as a Supreme Court ruling given in Oct. 2006 in respect of the merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province by President JR Jayewardene.

SLMC leader and City Planning and Water Supply Minister Rauf Hakeem yesterday asserted that a consensus in Parliament was required to advance NPC’s proposal. Minister Hakeem emphasised the need to secure the support of the two major political parties in Parliament to make such a proposal reality. Responding to a query, the SLMC leader said that unilateral statements in respect of a crucial issue could certainly be disadvantageous to those pursuing re-merger of the two provinces.

Minister Hakeem recalled the circumstances under which President JR Jayewardene had merged the two provinces by simply issuing a gazette notification. In spite of having serious reservations, the SLMC contested the first North-Eastern provincial Council polls conducted on Nov 19, 1988, Minister Hakeem said, adding that the party secured 17 seats in the Eastern province. However, the SLMC had distanced itself from the administration soon after then Chief Minister Varatharaja Perumal declared independence, the minister said.

Sri Lanka Ministry defends housing project cost


T. RAMAKRISHNAN-April 24, 2016

Also defends the selection of ArcelorMittal as the executing agency

“One cannot compare apple with oranges.”
Return to frontpageThis is how the Sri Lankan government’s Resettlement Ministry has reacted to criticism over the unit cost of houses to be built under the latest project in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief R. Sampanthan and Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran have both argued that at least two houses could be constructed under the given unit cost of over Rs.2 million.
In its detailed response, the Ministry stated that the unit cost of the latest project — Rs.2.18 million — had been arrived at after taking into account the cost of various components and without including taxes.
Each prefabricated house would have facilities like kitchen with pantry cupboard; a dining table and four chairs; a television set along with a stand; a laptop with Wi-Fi facility; a tube well and a 500-litre water tank. There are a total of 65,000 houses to be constructed.
Making a comparison with housing projects of other wings of the government, the Ministry said that the unit cost under the plantation housing programme was Rs.1.2 million and that under the Meeriabatta housing programme of the Sri Lanka Army was Rs.1.3 million.
It also said that when the Resettlement Ministry had carried out a housing project with an owner-driven model, the unit cost was Rs.8,00,000. However the cost element there did not cover the facilities that were being envisaged under the new project.
The Ministry said the temperature inside the proposed houses would be lower by 3-5 degree Celsius than the temperature outside. This was because of insulation technology to be adopted.
On the selection of ArcelorMittal Construction France as the executing agency, the Ministry said eight companies had submitted documents for “request for proposals (RFP)”. Of these, only two — ArcelorMittal and EPI-OCPL Consortium — were qualified. Of these two, only ArcelorMittal had provided a detailed financial package.

Remanded Ex-Crimes OIC Spills The Beans Over Thajudeen Killing


Colombo Telegraph
April 24, 2016
Former Crimes OIC of the Narahenpita police, Sumith Champika Perera has shared vital information over the cover up of former ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen’s murder, including the details of several others who had played a part in concealing the murder.
Wasim ThajudeenPerera, who was arrested and subsequently remanded on Thursday for concealing the murder, had informed the CID the names of the ‘higher authorities’ from where he received the order to cover up Thajudeen’s murder.
Highly placed sources said that, the newly appointed IGP Pujith Jayasundara had been informed about the development, and upon his instructions Perera was arrested, just hours after Jayasundara took over office.
Over the next few weeks, more arrests are likely, including those named by the former Crimes OIC, who have been directly involved in concealing the murder of Thajudeen. In February, Colombo Additional Magistrate, Nishantha Pieris ruled that Thajudeen was murdered, and ordered the CID to arrest the suspects in connection to the murder.
Six suspects, including ‘Captain Tissa‘, the personal chauffer of former President Rajapaksa, who also served as a bodyguard to former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and their sons, Namal and Yoshitha have been identified as a possible suspect by CID.
Thajudeen, a Sri Lankan ruggerite and former Havelock SC captain, was killed in Colombo in May 2012, and the police initially ruled it as a death by accident.

PM’s liberal universities: How to make them?

2016-04-24
rime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for creating a liberal culture in our universities. A noble goal, indeed.  Still better if he advocates a liberal society at large in this country. That would be much easier since his government has at its disposal a parliamentary majority to make laws and policy and to revoke discriminatory laws that put the vulnerable communities at harm. He can abolish those antiquated laws such as Penal Code  Article 365 A, and launch a public advocacy against all evils such as xenophobia, bigotry and homophobia.  Perhaps, doing that would be much easier than reforming universities where the rot runs deeper. Still, reforming university culture is worth a shot, though a long shot, it is . 
A liberal society worth trying creating, it should feel more acceptable to minorities than a Dharmista society the late President J.R. Jayawardene pledged to create, since the latter, inadvertently contained a religious invocation that might have alienated followers of other faiths. 
They say a liberal polity needs tolerance and respect for individual freedoms, which would be its corner stone. But, there is another prerequisite. A liberal society is possible only as long as the murderers are jailed, thieves are locked up, psychopaths are kept on medication and other delinquents have their freedom of action seriously contained.   All the above are the responsibilities of the government which wields the monopoly of legitimate violence.  It has to enforce the laws through its organs, no matter the circumstances and the context. After all, modern governments are ruled by  laws, not by men.
When the government derelicts that duty, it takes away the deterrent that keeps a check on less salubrious individuals among us, and in any society, there is a plenty of them. Even the most ardent of the optimists of the human nature can not vouch, if laws are suspended,  our societies would not derange into an apocalyptic frenzy as depicted  in that  2013 social science fiction horror thriller  “ the Purge”.
A world without laws or where laws are not efficiently enforced will have more murderers, rapists and robbers. The same logic applies to the universities.  Now, why university students are indulging in  ragging is that we don’t have effective laws that prevent that primitive sadistic ritual. Facts speak louder. Ragging that take place in most inhuman forms is an annual months- long event in all national universities.  Both academics and public see that happen in the universities, dormitories and by the road, at the entrances to those institutions. There are viral videos of students crawling in the mud, chastised in filth and forced to perform many a humiliating act. But the central question is, how many perpetrators of this sadistic mayhem have been arrested, brought before the court and successfully persecuted.  The answer is none! Universities may, time and again, largely as a face saving measure of its administrative incompetence, would suspend a bunch and then reinstate, when threatened with another round of student protests. The fact of the matter is that the laws within universities are not strong enough to combat this deeply entrenched rot. That is understandable since universities are meant to be liberal spaces to engage in pluralistic intellectual pursuits and not organs of 
social control.  

"After all, it is shame that after billions of rupees of tax money, the  best of our youth are condemned to be unwilling slaves of an antiqued  ideology without even knowing the monstrosity it unleashed on the  mankind"

If the sexual, physical, or emotional harassment of an individual is a crime punishable by law in the country at large, so should it be no matter it happened within the confines of academia.  However, those primitive violence that take place in universities, until now, have not been taken up by the courts, because the universities don’t report them. The whole idea of laws and punitive sanctions as a deterrent to crime is relegated to paper, when they are not enforced.  And the perpetrators are emboldened, and that is why, contrary to all the good intentions, ragging is flourishing.
The government should reinforce those deterrents.  It can make it is required by the law for universities to report all ragging related incidents to the police, which can then investigate and file charges against the perpetrators.  The Justice Ministry should consider increasing penalties for ragging, including jail sentences. It is always good to conduct public advocacy in universities against ragging, however, such efforts were (and are being) taken  in the past and the present, with very limited success.  Morality lessons alone do not deter an individual from violating them, but a strong deterrent in terms of punitive sanctions does the trick. 


Then there is this other fallacy.  They say the troubles in our universities are a reflection of imperfection in our society; that the frustration there is vented out through those primitive practices. That is a self-indulgent lie.  In fact, as the Premier pointed out,  politics in our part of the world, South Asia, is alive and transformative (no matter its imperfections), however the university politics smacks of North Korea.  The problem lies at the core of this monopolistic political ideology, some arcane form of communism or of the hard left that is dominant in our universities. Even in India’s famed Jawaharlal Nehru University, a leftist bastion that is now at the heart  of a freedom of expression debate, the lefties there have historically cracked down on other forms of political expressions. There is one hard fact: For communists, Islamists and terrorists, the niceties of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, is just a mere stratagem to reach their ends. When they reach there, or cement their hold, they have historically denied those freedoms to others.   There was a time in our universities when student unions affiliated to all political parties could freely contest student council elections and win a representation. When the JVP affiliated unions cemented their control in universities, they, in true communist style, dismantled that pluralistic tradition. Now the President of the country or the PM or for that matter any leader of a mainstream political party cannot visit a university and deliver a speech, without the event being sabotaged. But, the members of that Front Line Socialist Party with which the Inter University Student Federation is affiliated and slavishly worshipped by the student activists could do as they wish. The government should recreate that pluralistic environment in the past in our universities. To do that all major political parties should consider establishing  branches in universities and demand that the university administration provide a conducive environment for a pluralistic debate and that those who stand on those fundamental values be handed over to the law enforcement agencies. 
After all, it is shame that after billions of rupees of tax money, the best of our youth are condemned to be unwilling slaves of an antiqued ideology without even knowing the monstrosity it unleashed on the mankind. The government can change that miserable status quo only by creating a liberal space, in which fresh air will blow in and sweep away the rotten garbage now considered as the received wisdom in university politics. 

Follow Ranga Jayasuriya @ RangaJayasuriya on Twitter

- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/108587/PM-s-liberal-universities-How-to-make-them-#sthash.HUQdPRwK.dpuf

Organ-ised Crime In Colombo Hospitals?

  • Crossborder Kidney  Racket :
by Hafsa Sabry-Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Colombo Hulftsdorp Court has issued an arrest warrant on one of the seven Indian nationals arrested in connection with kidney transplants being carried out in some private hospitals. The suspect had escaped from the Mirihana detention camp.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest and also imposed a travel ban on him. The Magistrate also issued an order to the Controller, Department of Immigration and Emigration, to capture the suspect if he attempts to leave the country. The Defence Counsel informed court that the escapee has no links to the other six suspects.
“We have alerted the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Police Department asking that they arrest the suspect as soon as he is spotted; the suspect should not be allowed to leave the country and both departments will work together in this regard,” Police Media Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told The Sunday Leader.
The Magistrate detained the remaining seven suspects until May 2.
It is an offence under the Immigrants and Emigrants Act for a foreign national to enter/ stay in Sri Lanka without valid travel document and/or valid visa. Foreign nationals who violate the Immigrants and Emigrants Act are liable to be arrested, detained and removed from the country and his /her name will be included in the blacklist thus preventing him from entering the country again.
If detected at a port of exit he/she will be required to pay the visa fee and a penalty as the case maybe and his/her name will be included in the watch list. He/she may be interviewed on his/her next arrival into the country. If he/she does not pay the penalty, his/her name will be included in the blacklist and prevented from entering the country again.
It was under this law that the eight suspects were initially arrested in Wellawatte on March 4 for allegedly violating visa conditions. Following the arrest and inquiry they were also allegedly found to be involved in the illegal kidney racket in Sri Lanka.
As the suspects had scars suggesting they may have been subjected to the removal of their kidneys, the court ordered them to be produced before the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer. It was then revealed that the kidneys of six of the youth involved in this kidney racket carried out jointly by Indians and Sri Lankans, had been removed in several local private hospitals. The court issued an order to the Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministry to submit a report with regard to the alleged illegal kidney transplants. Defence lawyers said all surgeries had been carried out legally.
The Crimes Division also informed court that it had recovered 21 rubber seals in the possession of the suspects which are only permitted to be used by recognised doctors. The seals have been sent to India through Interpol for further investigation. The Sri Lanka Police will also seek Interpol assistance for further investigations into the illegal kidney racket.  The Transplantation of Human Tissues Act (No. 48 of 1987) for kidney transplants carried out in private hospitals, for both local and foreign patients, mandates seeking approval from the Health Ministry for each operation.
Meanwhile police investigations into the recent activities of a kidney racketeer in India concerning several illegal kidney transplantations revealed the involvement of three leading private hospitals in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Health Ministry has not given approval to these hospitals to carry out such transplants.
Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministry, Dr. Kanthi Ariyaratne said there is an appropriate mechanism for approving the transplant of kidneys or any other human organs in the private and government sectors but the ministry was unaware that these particular transplantations were being carried out in these private hospitals.
“If the donor and the recipient are from overseas, there are more documents and medical tests required than if the donor and recipient are local,” she said.   Police investigations revealed that the suspect had aided 15 transplantations during the past 14 months and had been a donor himself. The donors were from Nalgonda (4), Hyderabad (4), Bengalauru (4), Tamil Nadu (2), Mumbai (1) and New Delhi (1). Most importantly all transplantations surgeries were done in Sri Lanka  at Nawaloka Hospital, Western Hospital and Lanka Hospital.  Furthermore as the regulation for kidney or any other human organs transplantation reads, the donor (of kidneys) must be either a close relative of the patient or donating their organs for altruistic reasons if non-related.
Based on the recommendation of the application made by the Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministrywhich is followed by Deputy Director-General (Medical Services), the final decision whether to approve or reject a transplant would come from the Health Services Director General.

Sirisena faces May Day test of strength, growing challenge from pro-Rajapaksa ‘JO’

The Sunday Times Sri LankaSunday, April 24, 2016

  • Despite threats of disciplinary action, dissidents go full steam; President asks why UNP going soft on former leaders
  • Polonnaruwa VAT bombshell reverberates at crucial talks with IMF in Washington; major topic at Cabinet meeting
  • Tax not withdrawn, experts not sacked, but major changes made in proposals to reduce burden on people
He neither put a halt to new taxes nor sent home the Government’s economic advisors who reportedly recommended them.
Yet, President Maithripala Sirisena was able to ensure a few concessions were offered when the Value Added Tax (VAT), the biggest burden for low and middle income groups, becomes effective. There is still an element of uncertainty when a VAT increase to 15% comes into effect though it is currently scheduled for May 2. Other tax measures have already been made effective from April 1.
State Minister for Finance, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told the Sunday Times an extraordinary Gazette notification was due on May 2 but would be backdated if there was a delay. The outcome of talks between the Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC was being awaited. The Government made a case for an IMF Extended Fund Facility of US$ 3 billion whilst talks in Colombo saw a possible offer of US$ 1.2 billion. Reports from Washington DC indicate that a sum above US$ 1.2 billion but below US$ 3 billion would be the likely outcome. Stating Sri Lanka’s case to the IMF for the enhanced facility was a delegation led by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.
In what seemed a surprising turn of events, President Sirisena declared during a speech at the national New Year celebrations at Pulasthipura in Polonnaruwa, that he would not introduce any tax that would be a burden on the people. He said he had read reports in sections of the newspapers about the revision of VAT. He warned that if there were economic experts who made such proposals, he would send them home. The policy of the Government was to alleviate the burdens of the people and not to heap more, he said. Sirisena’s tough statement hit the headlines and reverberated in the Colombo-based diplomatic community. In Washington, where Finance Minister Karunanayake was negotiating for an extended facility with the IMF, and a promise that his Government would impose certain taxes in order to win an IMF loan, there was a barrage of queries for him. Has the Government gone back on its commitments to ensure financial discipline? How would it make up for the shortfall in revenue if VAT was not increased? These were some of the questions tossed at him. A Washington-based Sri Lankan told Karunanayake about the President’s tough comments and the minister confessed he was unaware of what had gone on in Sri Lanka. There was no official intimation to him from the President’s office or anyone in the Government if indeed VAT was not going to be increased. He was out on a limb, so to say.