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

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Chandra Calls On Labour Minister To Inquire Into Effectiveness Of EPF Bond Investments


Colombo TelegraphJune 3, 2016 
Good governance activist and former chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Chandra Jayaratne has called on Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations, W. D. J. Seneviratne to Initiate an Immediate Independent Inquiry, by persons with requisite capability, independence and integrity, to assess the operational efficiency and effectiveness of Bond Investments by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Chandra Jayaratne
Chandra Jayaratne
In a letter sent to Seneviratne on 03rd June 2016, Jayaratne said, “You would no doubt agree, whereas the fund management and administration accountability for the fund assets of the EPF lie with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, that the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations is the Custodian Trustee of the Employees Provident Fund, with direct oversight responsibility vesting in the Commissioner of Labour and Superintendent of the Employees Provident Fund.”
“In terms of the aforesaid Trustee responsibility and overall oversight responsibility, the ensuring of economic, efficient and effective fund management of the pool of investments held in Trust for the members of the EPF by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, lies with You, the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations as well as the said Commissioner of Labour and Superintendent of the Employees Provident Fund.”
“In view of the controversies surrounding the bond investments by the EPF, which have been raised since February 2015 till to date, I appeal to you to initiate an Immediate Independent Inquiry, by persons with requisite Capability, Independence and Integrity, to assess the Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness of Bond Investments by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF),” he said in the letter, which was also copied to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Full text of the letter;
3rd June 2016
Minister W. D.J. Seneviratna,
Minister of Labour & Trade Union Relations,
Ministry of Labour & Trade Union Relations,
Labour Secretariat,
Colombo 5.
Dear Mr. Minister,
Initiate an Immediate Independent Inquiry to Assess the Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness of Bond Investments by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)
You would no doubt agree, where as the fund management and administration accountability for the fund assets of the EPF lie with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, that the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations is the Custodian Trustee of the Employees Provident Fund, with direct oversight responsibility vesting in the Commissioner of Labour and Superintendent of the Employees Provident Fund.
In terms of the aforesaid Trustee responsibility and overall oversight responsibility, the ensuring of economic, efficient and effective fund management of the pool of investments held in Trust for the members of the EPF by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, lies with You, the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations as well as the said Commissioner of Labour and Superintendent of the Employees Provident Fund.

Travesty of justice as Gangodawila magistrate Kanishka tramples laws..! – Grants bail to bosom pal

LEN logo
(Lanka-e-News -04.June.2016, 8.20AM) Gangodawila magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne turned  the laws of the country topsy turvy and perverted the sacrosanct course of justice by granting bail today  in a non bailable offence committed by robber judge Thilina Gamage the notorious Elephant rogue  . This the first time in legal history of Sri Lanka and the world such a perverted verdict was delivered most disdainfully disregarding  the rules of law  ,legal norms and  precedents  . 

When a judge is expected to grace and exalt the bench , this judge Kanishka on the other hand disgraced and insulted  the bench most contemptuously to the dismay and disappointment of all law abiding citizens , and the legal circles !  Kanishka Wijeratne delivered this verdict  as though he was determined to blacken justice cruelly and  most ignominiously ,in order to call himself the world’s greatest record  breaker  in delivering  ‘black’ injustice verdicts.

How Kanisha Wijeratne shamelessly disgraced and insulted himself and the judiciary ……
The accused Thilina Gamage the Elephant rogue was issued notice by the CID to report and make a statement in connection with illegally holding an Elephant captive on  a fake  license . It is 22 days ago as at today this notification was made to Thilina by the CID. Yet Thilina uncaringly ignored the notification and treated the laws with utter  contempt despite being a judge.

Ten days ago, the Colombo magistrate court issued an order to Thilina Gamage to report to the CID and record his statement. Even that court order was brushed aside by Thilina , and he remained hidden  for the last ten days.

Thilina who was  playing hide and seek with the law and sacrosanct justice was sent on compulsory leave by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) . Thilina who behaved thus like an elusive underworld criminal who was chased after by the police appeared in court today. Hence , granting bail today without considering all the illegal conduct of his and contemptuous treatment of court and legal processes , is to say the least absolutely wrongful.

Even after a legal luminary pointed out , since the accused Thilina and  judge Kanishka are bosom pals (who are like two fashion junkies wearing the same jungi (pants) in turns , stench notwithstanding) , it is unethical for  Kanishka  to hear the case of Thilina ,Kanishka yet chose to hear this case.

Thilina filed an application for anticipatory bail before the Gangodawila court earlier , and it was taken up for hearing today .On the 30th of May when it was taken up for the first time , Kanishka the bosom pal of Kanishka inquired from the CID  twice whether Thilina is a  suspect in this case ?

The CID pointed out since  it will be unethical to hear the case all of a sudden without a statement being recorded of the accused Thilina Gamage , it is best the advice of the Attorney General is sought  because Thlina cannot be named as a suspect at once merely based on investigation alone without recording Tihilina’s statement. The CID based on AG’s instructions elucidated to Kanishka  , Thilina Gamage must first arrive at the CID and make a statement in accordance with the directive issued by the first court , and only thereafter he can be named as a suspect .

It was the aim and objective of the lawless pro MaRa  gang including Kanishka Wijeratne to make the accused appear in court direct and to grant bail to Kanishka’s bosom pal , without the accused going to the CID in which event the accused will have to be taken  into custody. The  true legal position is , before Thilina Gamage is named as a suspect he cannot appear in court direct and such a suspect should appear before the police first. Nevertheless , such an individual can get anticipatory bail without being named as a suspect.

It may be true these two fudging judges are such close fashion junkies that they wear the same stinking jungi  in turns , but that does not mean they can singly or jointly make the court also to stink  owing to their criminal intents to subvert the course of   hallowed justice .It should have been  clearly understood by Kanishka Wijeratne  , this being a case under the Public Property Act , the magistrate court cannot grant bail.

Kanishka questioning whether Thilina is an accused from the CID for the second time led the CID to entertain the belief that Kanishka might take action to grant anticipatory bail to his criminal counterpart  . The CID therefore through a motion filed in the Gangodawila court , informed Thilina is a suspect. The CID having cogent and copious supporting evidence had obtained the Attorney General’s advice too.
Kanishka as the chief magistrate ought to have taken into consideration two salient  facts :  

1.The accused is a suspect in a Public property Act case and
2.The accused has been evading the law enforcement authorities .

Under these circumstances bail cannot  be granted.

Yet Kanishka standing on his head granted bail to his bosom pal  tossing the sacrosanct laws of the country overboard.

During the proceedings , pro MaRa bootlicker Ali Sabry the lawyer for Thilina the rogue argued , if Hirunika ( not at all relevant to this case) was granted bail why shouldn’t Thilina be also granted ,and  since Thilina has a license in regard to the robbed Elephant , this case does not come under the Public Property Act. Kanishka however did not take into account the fact that Hirunika was not a suspect in  a Public property Act  crime.

State Counsel Dileepa Peiris who represented the AG’s department and CID raised his objection primarily against Kanishka for taking up this case for hearing on the grounds that  the accused and the judge are very intimate  friends. Despite that objection , Kanishka who has no self respect or respect for his own profession unethically and shamelessly took up the case for hearing.

The CID and AG explained , truly .the question that  has become an issue to the culprit Thilina is the supposed  ‘Ali license’ in the possession of Thilina as  Ali Sabry claims.

The phony elephant license of crooked Thilina came to light  first some time ago when the former Auditor General  Ambanwela (victim of acid attack) did an auditing regarding wild life , and prepared an audit  report.. 

It was revealed therein , there is no elephant license that can be  called as that of Thilina Gamage, and an agreement pertaining to the purchase of another elephant has been deceitfully  changed into that relating to  the purchase of the elephant of Thilina. That is ,there was  no elephant that has been purchased by Thilina.

Based on he investigations conducted by the CID , it is revealed, the imaginary  elephant supposedly purchased – that is the elephant whose  birth was changed to make it Thilina’s elephant  had been purchased from one Chandraratne Bandara Yatawara who had been a servant in the house of a cousin sister of Thilina.

When CID questioned Yatawara  , he stated , ‘Aney Sir. I am one who hasn’t the means to feed a cat let alone an elephant. I am a laborer , and I am only living on that income’
The elephant license Ali Sabry told in court as belonging to Thilina is that ‘license.’ It is such a ‘license’ ( phony document) Kanishka Wijeratne who pulled the wool over the eyes of the law accepted as a lawful license.

Under section 22 of  the Wild life and Flora Act , the elephant without a license is counted as an elephant robbed from the forest and as belonging to the forest . Therefore it is part of the Public property .

The most deplorable part of this unlawful drama staged by Kanishka Wijeratne who is Gamage’s (mango friend) bosom pal unfolded when despite the  CID and  even Attorney General’s department were vehemently and vociferously proving for two and half hours  that there is no valid license for Thilina’s elephant and therefore , it  has to be treated as  a wild elephant and part of the public property , Kanishka paying no heed to the findings of the  painstaking investigation of the CID , as well as AG’s department , decided in favor of his bosom pal and granted bail to Thilina.

Now, the most crucial question following this lopsided decision is , if Thilina’s elephant is not part of the public property , how did the elephant of Uduwe Dhammaloka become so? because the elephants of both rogues don’t have valid legal licenses. Just because the lawyer for Thilina is ‘Ali’ (elephant) (Ali Sabry) and not ‘ Koti’ by name ,did that give Thilina the edge over Uduwe Dhammaloka in this case ? Have the laws of the country been reduced to such ridiculous and ludicrous level because  judges like Kanishka exist in our judiciary ?

The worst part !  While the right to file indictment belongs to the AG , and he has stated the crime  comes under  the Public property Act ,  how can the magistrate say , it is not? Is Kanishka above the AG to interpret the laws according to his puerile whims and fancies? By that same token , does it mean the magistrate has  the powers to say , a Terrorist  who is charged under the Terrorist Prevention Act , as not a terrorist and grant bail?

There is another reason that bears out the  belief that this is a conspiracy hatched by Kanishka to grant bail .

It was about 6.40 p.m. when this hearing  was concluded , and Kanishka ordered that Thilina can be released on a cash bail of Rs. 500,000.00 and four surety bails of Rs. 2.5 million each.  By 7.15 p.m. Thilina fulfilled all the bail conditions , and he left  in a Van that was brought into the court premises. If these bail conditions were fulfilled by 7.15 p.m. on a verdict delivered at 6.40 p.m. , it is obvious Thilina Gamage was aware well ahead of the bail conditions Kanishka was going to impose . When Thilina boarded the Van, he told a friend of his nearby , “See how I made a fool of the CID and the AG”

Thilina Gamage arrived in court  masquerading as a lawyer. Lawyers who are eye witnesses said , he was hiding in the judge’s chamber of Kanishka until  the case was called up. Kanishka however denied it .
The case is to be heard again on 6th of June.

Better hand over the Prime minister post and president post to Thilina and Kanishka , pack up and go home

When calves are born to domesticated elephants they have a date of birth and are registered. Dates of births of calves of Elephants born in jungles are unknown and are not registered.

It is a well and widely known fact that elephants that are not registered anywhere are those calves captured from jungles after killing their mothers. Bogus birth certificates have to be made for them . The elephant that was in  the possession of Thilina Gamage was such an elephant  calf. Such calves can be treated with care and kindness  only by civilized humans with legitimate births. Kanishka on the contrary proved beyond doubt that he is an inhumane human of illegitimate birth when  he treated an innocent elephant calf that cannot speak as a toy elephant in order to save his intimate but criminal friend.

During the barbaric brutal era of the ‘nefarious decade’ ,laws were compromised most atrociously to please relatives and friends .Today ,however we have as civilized beings come a long way having  developed the laws in the direction of justice in accordance with mother nature to a great extent .

It  is very unfortunate barbaric brutes like Kanishka Wijeratne despite being a judge (or is he?  ) have today overturned justice unconscionably  and maltreated laws to please friends. This is the lawlessness that  became  entrenched and deeply rooted during the  deplorable despicable ‘nefarious decade’
It is that lawlessness which  was defeated by 6.2 million people on 8 th January 2015. Yet , the gangs and gangsters of lawlessness promoted and propelled by the Rajapakses are today in a position overriding the 6.2 million people, even killing  their aspirations and hopes ,   and brazenly deriding   justice and  fair play .

Sadly, barbaric gangs like Kanishkas, Thilinas and Dadallages have made the Independent commissions appointed to dance their tune , and have made independence their plaything.

It is within the confines of the Gangodawila court jurisdiction the power of Kanishka who overturned laws  and trampled justice exists . But the powers of the civilized law abiding masses extend far and wide to  where civilization began and spread.

Kanishka who decided today  that the robbed elephant of Thilina is not part of Public property , will no doubt decide tomorrow ,another public property as not coming under the Public property Act , and deprive the country of its public assets.

In the circumstances, the time is ripe now for the pro good governance masses and organizations that know about the extent of civilization ,take action  without waiting until this shameless , clueless , unscrupulous judge disgraces the bench further and makes justice a mockery wholesale. They  must rally together  and come to the fore to remedy the dire situation. If the  President and the Prime Minister are underestimating the powers vested in them by the people and are  treating  this grave conspiracy of the judges of the pro MaRa gang which surfaced  today lightly , it will  be better , as no harm will  be done if the President and the P.M. hand over their duties to Kanishka and Thilina , pack up and go home.

It is time the president and the P. M. understand Kanishka and Thilina could muster such courage because of a minister who is like a serpent creeping  into the ear while being on the body , and a President’s co ordinating secretary , a most notorious turncoat and a black coated shark who is best known for not only  biting the hand that feeds him ,but also  defecating in the place before leaving.   
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by     (2016-06-04 03:02:24)

The public sector and lessons in patience




Featured image courtesy Anushka Wijesinha for 30yearsago.asia

JANANI BALASUBRAMANIAM on 06/03/2016

To me, the best thing about the Department of Motor Traffic at Werahera is the subsidizedmaalu paan. However, this article is not intended for street food connoisseurs and it is not about how the recent hike in VAT is going to affect maalu paan consumption patterns. This is about the seemingly minor inefficiencies across various departments in our public sector which are, in fact, systemic, deep-rooted and perpetual. This is about how chaos, disorder and unprofessionalism (and corruption) have become normalized at these institutions. This is also about how the gazetted mandates of our plethora of ministries are pretty on paper but ambiguous and contradictory in practice.

It is 10 am at the DMT and van-loads of learner drivers are dropped off at Werahera to apply for a driving license. We are shepherded to a small hall where a security guard tells us to stand in a line to get tokens issued, which soon becomes a three-lane queue with Uncle A casually jumping the line and Uncle B, circling the “queue”, confused, asking us which line/lane to join. Eventually, we show our birth certificates and are issued tokens – my number is 189. We are told to ‘sit and wait’ until the security guard calls out our token number; ironic, since there are no empty seats. The Werahera DMT office receives around 10,000 applications a month so this is no surprise; we move to the back of the hall (partitioned) to ‘stand and wait’. What is surprising to a newbie like me, however, is that said security guard relies entirely on his vocal chords to call out token numbers – despite approximately 300 people being in the hall at the same time, half of us standing in a separate area. We hear nothing for an hour; people, impatient and tetchy, approach the security guard and are repeatedly told to wait until their numbers are called.

There is no loudspeaker, no screen indicating token numbers, and there are no written instructions. Eventually, the security guard shouts out something inaudible in Sinhala and there is a stampede towards the front of the hall. Numbers are called out in batches of approximately 20, with lapses of around 45 minutes or more, and people filter into another hall where we are seated, waiting to be called by the officials who enter our details. Again, there is no system in which we are called – it is completely ad-hoc and very much dependent on how proactive the applicant is. In our specific experience, for the most part, all officials we dealt with carried out their duties professionally; however, there was one instance where an official made an inappropriate sexual remark (which is one too many).

The process of registration took an entire day. The written test, and practical test were, similarly, rampant with delays, the only plus being the use of a loudspeaker to call out names when we eventually obtained licenses, again after a full day of what I would like to call a course in Mastering the Art of Patience in State Institutions. While this may seem like the norm now (i.e. ‘take a day of leave, you’ll be there at least until 5’, ‘aiyo, you should have seen what it was like 10 years ago’, ‘don’t complain, this is what a normal government office is like’), it is a system which can be improved vastly through simple measures. A screen to indicate token numbers, an efficient queuing system, trilingual instructions, more space for seating…the list is not endless. The importance of providing clear information and instructions cannot be emphasized enough, and this is a glaring issue in many State institutions. (That is not to say that all such institutions are inefficient – there are, of course, various instances where the public service proves to be above satisfactory, notably in the health sector).

The latest development at Werahera is the construction of a driver training track (at a cost of Rs. 100 million). While this is appreciated – sure, we need to be on par with international standards, it begs the question of where priorities lie. Surely, ironing out inefficiencies (of which there are many) in the existing transport system should be given priority. In the same vein, the recent vehicle price hike (interestingly justified by the Tourism Minister in terms of reducing vehicles on the road) should be matched with improvements in public transport. The mandate of the Ministry of Transport includes the following: ‘4. Provision of a safe and reliable passenger transport service’, and ‘5. Introduction of an environmental friendly transport system’, neither of which is evident on our roads or railways. A 101 bus ride down Galle Road feels like a street race; safety is secondary, speed is king. The morning Ruhunu Kumari resembles a disproportionate millipede, with commuters clinging on to footboards for lack of an affordable and speedy transport alternative. Train delays, derailments and accidents are so commonplace – after the initial buzz and sensationalizing in the media, we revert to square one. Our transport system is far from being environmentally friendly, although the move to encourage cycling under the Megapolis plan should be commended. However, if this is to happen, roads must be made cycler-friendly – the commitments outlined in the the Megapolis master plan must be adhered to, and it must not be yet another case of mismatch between policy and practice. If Sri Lanka aspires to be the next Singapore it should recognise that its success is largely attributable to an extremely efficient and motivated public sector.

Delays and waiting in haphazard queues have become ingrained in our system, and the DMT is just one among many examples. Time is money, as the old adage goes, and the costs borne by the economy as a result of delays (be it queuing to obtain an NIC, the process of faxing letters from one Government department to another to obtain basic information and lack of follow-up thereafter, cumbersome court procedures, lack of response in public grievance systems, i.e. Tell The President, or poor coordination between departments) must be substantial. At this juncture, Sri Lanka cannot afford them; moreover, yet again, it makes one wonder about promises made to raise the productivity of the public sector, promises made over a year ago and reiterated several times since

Sri Lankan Asylum seekers, passports and rhetoric of Mangala Samaraweera

sri_lanka_passportSriLanka_Diplomacy

by A Special Correspondent

( June 3, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Since the beginning of Sri Lankan conflict thousands of Tamils left the country legally and illegally. Most of them sought political asylum in the western hemisphere. This became possible mainly because of very effective propaganda mechanism of the LTTE and lethargic attitudes of the government of Sri Lanka, more specifically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lankan Diplomatic Missions on countering the LTTE propaganda against the country. These Tamils have successfully been able to convince the world community that they were the victims of well-planned genocide sponsored by the Sri Lanka government. In short, Sri Lanka was generally regarded as a “killing field.” However, after 9/11 incident, surfacing of fascist nature of the LTTE as well as its relations with the jihadist organizations in the world, most of the countries decided to proscribe it. The relentless efforts by later Minister Kadirgarmer contributed a lot to change perception of the western world about the LTTE. More importantly, very few of truly patriotic Sri Lankan diplomats made remarkable efforts to expose the true colors of the LTTE. When the world came to know the real face of the LTTE, Mahinda Rajapakse was able to garner support of the people of Sri Lanka as well as some friends in the international community to put an end to the LTTE atrocities wiping it out from the soil of Sri Lanka. Yet, remnants of the LTTE have been making all efforts to revive the organization aftermath of its shameful defeat. This process continues even today. In the western world still the LTTE is collecting funds and adding members to their organization.

Amidst these developments, the present government of Sri Lanka has been trying to play the role of hero without paying much attention to the present activities of the LTTE. There is no argument about welcoming those who left the country during and after the war. Yet, we cannot forget the fact the LTTE is not an organization like SLFP or UNP. Its sophisticated organizational structure in the international arena is mostly intact, although some factions are struggling to overcome the others. What is important today is the commitments of the Tamil Diaspora to continue its support to the struggle of the LTTE to carve out a separate state in Sri Lanka. They make every effort to realize their dream with or without the LTTE. More importantly, both Rajapake regime and present government have not got a clear picture of the post conflict period mentality of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora. This is very clearly reflected in the activities of the present government, especially work of Minister Mangala Samaraweera.
Recently, Minister Samarawera made two foolish moves i.e. declaring of channel 4 claim was authentic and abolishing of existing immigration rules to issue Sri Lankan passport to every Sri Lankan left the country mostly illegally due to “fear of prosecution.” The central aims of these acts are both political and pleasing of the international community. It is political because Mangala wants to highlight that Rajapakse regime was brutal. In the case of pleasing the international community, Mangala is looking forward to paint a rosy picture that the present government honors the UNHCR resolution on Sri Lanka by relaxing the rules and regulations that prevent Tamil community returning to Sri Lanka. Another aim is to play the hero shit before the Tamil community. However, the question is whether the Tamil community is ready to buy what Magala is trying to sell.

Let’s look at this from the perspective of the Tamil Diaspora. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka “the government had today, 1 June 2016, issued a circular ending the restrictions placed in March 2011 on the issuance of passports to Sri Lankan citizens resident abroad who, at different times, were compelled to leave Sri Lanka due to [the] conflict or political reasons.” This is completely false. According to a letter dated 31-05-2016 addressed to the Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Controller General of Immigration & Immigration that the department has suspended a letter of instructions dated 30-03-2011 due to “practical constraints faced by the applicants when submitting the requested documents for passports.” The letter is question has indicated that “no Sri Lankan citizen who has applied and gained refugee status or asylum in another country is entitled to a Sri Lanka passport.” In reality, there is nothing wrong in it mainly because if a person becomes an asylum seeker and later become a refugee, virtually he is a stateless person. Such a person cannot be considered as a citizen of Sri Lanka even though he/she possesses a Sri Lanka birth certificate and lived in the country previously, until that person withdraws his/her refugee status and ready to return to Sri Lanka. In fact, once an asylum seeker is granted with refugee status the country he is living in does not allow such a person to have a passport of Sri Lanka while holding a refuge certificate. These countries grant refugee status to a person according to the 1951 Convention. A number of criteria must be met for a person to qualify as a refugee:

• Well-founded fear of persecution
• For reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion)
• is outside the country of his nationality
• is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country
• not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.

The countries which have granted refugee status to Tamil Diaspora do not allow them to have Sri Lankan citizenship simultaneously. The moment that obtained Sri Lankan passports, the benefits granted to them will be withdrawn. Most of the countries do not have legal provisions for people to have two passports. More importantly, if a Sri Lankan holds a foreign passport, he can apply visa and visit the country and even engage in any legal business. It is not required them to have Sri Lankan passport to visit Sri Lanka.

In addition, considering the unstable political, economic and security situation in Sri Lanka asylum seekers would never think of returning to Sri Lanka. Of course, they do not have a faith in a government which failed to bring the most highlighted corrupted people of the previous government to justice. At the same time, according to the letter dated 31-05-2016 of the Controller General of Immigration, which we obtained from the department of immigration, the Sri Lankan Missions abroad have been requested to follow the instructions in the circular OM/05/[A]/2010 dated 13-07-2010 in issuing new passports to the Sri Lankans gained refugee/asylum status in other countries. Interestingly, according to the said circular “the applicant’s Sri Lankan citizenship first to be identified and verified” before issuing a passport. In this context, if a person no longer a citizen of Sri Lanka, he cannot be issued with a Sri Lankan passport. It is sad to note that either Mangala has been misled by someone or he has not been able to comprehend the true meaning of the recent Immigration Circular mainly due to his sheer ignorance. On the other hand, what Mangala has done was misleading the Sri Lankans who have sought asylum in other countries erroneously interpreting a circular for political gains.

The other factor is that Magala at this point is trying to convince the international community that the present government of Sri Lanka has been easing and relaxing the rules and regulation while preparing the grounds to fully adopt the UNHCR resolution on Sri Lanka. He wants to impress the UNHCR High Commissioner that Sri Lanka is now heading towards an era of reconciliation. He is wrong. The whole world knows that the present government failed to prosecute those responsible for human rights violation during and after the war and extra-judicial killings. This is because of the government is weak. The government has so far failed to make necessary legal preparations to adhere to the recommendations proposed in the UN resolution. The President and the Prime Minister indicated that they have embarked on a different journey towards addressing the core issues highlighted in the resolution. For example, when the PM insisted on participation on foreign experts in the process, the President, head of the government rejected the idea of participation of foreign experts. This political game of two parties has opened space for pro-LTTE groups to maneuver in the troubled water to reach its goal.

I wish to conclude bringing the attention of the world about corruptions at the department of immigration in Sri Lanka on issuance of new passports, especially to Sri Lankan Tamils abroad. Once an application is submitted to a Sri Lankan Diplomatic Mission abroad to obtain a new passport, the applicant has to pay a huge sum to Immigration Officers to expedite the issuance of a passport. Otherwise, they have to wait for a long time, perhaps a year or two. During this period, the agents of the immigration officers contact the applicant abroad and inform him/her on mistakes in the application and the documents. They asked the applicants to inform the relatives to appear before a particular officer of the Department of Immigration. At that point they ask them to pay huge sum of money to send the passport to their relatives abroad. Many officials in the Sri Lankan Embassies have been doing this business for a long time. This unpleasant practice has resulted in creating hatred towards the bureaucracy among the Tamil community. Many of the passport applicants are looking forward to returning to Sri Lanka or regularizing their visa status. Many names of the Embassy officials engaged in this business have been exposed previously but nothing was done. It is the duty of the government first to regularize issuance of passports rather than taking illogical actions just to please some sections of international community and media.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Notorious Sajin Vaas meets Machiavellian MR secretly ! Signs a number of documents


LEN logo(Lanka-e-News -03.June.2016, 11.30PM)  Sajin Vaas Gunawardena the most notorious accomplished crook of the Mahinda Rajapakse ‘nefarious decade’ who is  now pretending  that he has discarded the Rajapakses and is with Maithri had met Mahinda Rajapakse secretly on the 31 st morning , based on reports reaching L:anka e news inside information division.
Sajin Vaas who met Mahinda at a residence at Horton place , Colombo was fetched to this  venue hidden in  a vehicle by Lohan Ratwatte M.P. of the Mahinda faction.
It is learnt a request was made by Mahinda to Sajin Vaas Gunawardena to appear as a witness in connection with the large sums of unaccounted  ‘black money’  in the possession of Mahinda,  and Sajin Vaas has agreed to comply with the request.
Thereafter Mahinda has produced a number of drafts of the documents  in this connection to Sajin Vaas. Later, Vaas has arrived at his office at Borella with Ratwatte , and arranged the documents in order, signed them after placing  his  rubber stamp , and  returned to Horton place residence in Ratwatte ‘s vehicle , to  hand them over to Mahinda.
It is well to recall Sajin Vaas the most infamous crook was arrested and remanded after the present government took over the reins. However by stating he has become a crown witness he got himself released on bail. What is most  perplexing is , though Sajin says he is a crown witness , so far it has still not been revealed in which case he became a crown witness. There  is no such case in this whole Island. 
The Sajin Vaas – Mahinda secret meeting only goes to reveal that  good governance government is well and truly being taken for a ride. 
Earlier the  good governance government realizes this the better  for the nation.
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by     (2016-06-03 20:59:18)

We don’t want a fake degree – Medical students


Jun 03, 2016
A protest urging to abolish the Malabe medical college was held today 3rd opposite the fort railway station.

Medical faculty students attached to all universities joined this protest which was organized by the active medical students committee.

Joint Opposition And JVP Takes On Government Amidst Continuing Tax Slaps


Colombo Telegraph
June 3, 2016
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) declared today that it will fight the government for continuing to burden the people with various taxes.
Anura Kumara
Anura Kumara
Speaking at a protest rally in Colombo against the VAT increase, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the government is tormenting the people by slapping on various taxes on everything. “They keep slapping taxes according to their whims and fancies. They can’t see a car, they have to impose a new tax. The people are undergoing severe hardships because of this,” he said.
“We will take the government head on in this fight,” Dissanayake said. The protestors who took part in a protest march, carrying placards demanded to know if Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had no shame in slapping the people with taxes, whilst he was spending Rs. 600 million for two vehicles for himself.
Meanwhile, the Joint Opposition will bring in another no confidence motion against Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, following the recent tax revision, including the Value Added Tax and the increase in the minimum unit tax for vehicles above 1000CC.
Addressing a news conference in Colombo, Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardane, representing the Joint Opposition said that there was obviously conflicting views from President Maithripala Sirisena and the Government, including Finance Minister Karunanayake.
“President Sirisena said he will send home anyone who is burdening the people, and the government waits till he goes overseas to increase taxes. There is an obvious conflict within,” Gunawardena said.
Police quiz Wickramabahu on Vijitha Thera

2016-06-03
Nava Sama Samaja Party Leader Wickramabahu Karunaratne was today questioned by the Police on a complaint made by the Bodu Bala Sena to the Kirulapone Police.

 Mr. Karunaratne was asked about a function he participated a few years ago where Ven. Watereka Vijitha Thera had called for the tearing of the Lion flag. 

The Thera had also stated that he hated the Lion flag because it separated ethnic groups in Sri Lanka through its coloured stripes. (Indika Sri Aravinda)

Maithri following in Mahinda's footsteps

FRIDAY, 03 JUNE 2016
President Maithripala Sirisena wielding executive powers haws begun appointing electoral organizers of the Maithri faction of the SLFP who are not people's representatives for divisional coordinating committees. The President is not entitled to make such appointments which needs cabinet approval. However, the appointments made by President Sirisena had not received cabinet approval say reports.
This was revealed when the meeting of the divisional coordinating committee at Kesbawa was held today (3rd). The SLFP organizer Chandana Kathriarachchi, who represents Maithri faction, had been appointed as the co-president of the committee. Minister Susil Preemachandra was the President of the committee but with the new appointment of Chandana Katahriarachchi he too becomes a co-president.
When the JVP Member for Western Provincial Council questioned this issue the Divisional Secretary said the President had informed the appointment in writing.
However, Mr. Nipunarachchi vehemently opposed the move while Sirinal de Mel and Niroshan Padukka who represented the UNP were mum about the issue say reports.

Can you beat that ! Drug dealer has sold firearms to Anti narcotics bureau officer !

Can you believe ! Police high ups are trying to suppress the crime

LEN logo(Lanka-e-News -03.June.2016, 11.30PM)  A group of police high ups are planning to rescue a  sub inspector of the anti narcotics bureau who illegally purchased a firearm from a heroin peddler  cum  supplier of weapons to the underworld criminals , based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.
This criminal intent came to light when the TID (Terrorist investigation department) took Army Sampath , an underworld  leader into custody. During interrogation of Army Sampath  he had revealed that firearms were sold to him by a heroin dealer by the name of Sanath from  Negombo, who had been in France for some time working as a hiring vehicle driver.
Sanath was arrested some time ago for possessing a quantity of ecstasy drugs .While he was out on bail in the ecstasy drugs case , he was arrested again  on a confession made by Army Sampath over weapon transactions . On the second occasion he was taken into custody by the TID.
When Sanath was questioned on,  to who else arms were sold, he disclosed that he sold an  Air rifle to Mahinda ,the  Sub  Inspector attached to the anti narcotics division. He  has sold this weapon after the quantity of ecstasy of his aforementioned was taken into custody.
From this the close illicit relationship an officer of the anti narcotics bureau had with a drug dealer, became very evident.
The TID is in the fourth floor , and the anti narcotics bureau is in the third floor. The Director of the TID is Nalaka Silva SSP , and the Director of the Anti Narcotics Bureau is Kamal Silva SSP who are good friends, while  SI Mahinda is a shameless  lackey and lickspittle of  Kamal Silva and there are many secret dealings between the two.  Owing to this , Kamal Silva told Nalaka Silva to suppress this crime.
The air rifle that was sold  by Sanath the drug dealer to SI Mahinda was discovered  by the TID  from  the house of Mahinda .Though the rifle was brought to the TID , nothing was recorded of SI Mahinda.
SI Mahinda’s past records too place him in the worst possible light. He  serves as a body guard of Sarath Kumara Gunaratne and is  a wheeler dealer who transacts many under hand deals. It is because Kamal Silva is helped in his underhand transactions by  Mahinda SI , the former is protecting and safeguarding the latter despite this crime coming to light with full evidence including the weapon.
If it is the aim to eradicate the drug menace in the country through officers of the anti  narcotics division who are purchasing weapons on the sly from drug dealers , it is better to follow the policy of ‘setting a thief  to catch a thief’ , and employ the drug dealers in the anti narcotics division to apprehend the so called  anti narcotics officers within !  
As long as there are anti narcotics division Directors safeguarding such crooked officers  under them and  contributing to the drug menace ,people cannot ever expect solace.
The present IGP Poojitha Jayasundara was some time ago  a DIG  at the anti Narcotics Bureau , and he surely must be aware of the (mis)deeds and deals of Kamal Silva SSP . While Poojitha was at the Bureau , he made attempts to transfer Kamal De Silva , but after becoming  the IGP he had forgotten that. Sadly , Poojitha is now occupied full time not  in discharging his duties duly , rather building and boosting his image nursing  the aspiration to become a politician at the next election. With this in view , he is only working part time as the IGP .
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by     (2016-06-03 20:57:59)

Shiranthi sightseeing tax the government

Shiranthi sightseeing tax the government

Jun 03, 2016
Acting foreign minister Dr. Harsha De Silva said the former president’s wife has produced a bill to the government spending a sum of Rs. 2,573.746 rupees per night for four days in a star class hotel to see Vesak in Paris France.

The minister said the other people who joined the ex president’s wife for the tour has also stood in similar rooms and in addition to that a sum of euro 650 and 750 has been spent for housekeeping and another euro 371 has been spent for a mini bar.
 
He said the government has to bear those cost which is a waste of public money.
 
Minister Harsha De Silva said this in a media communiqué held yesterday 2nd at the government information department.

Ukraine bans Russian journalists accused of 'stirring hatred'

Rights groups express concern over press freedoms as Kiev imposes sanctions on 17 people, including Ukrainian citizen
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today TV, is one of those prevented from entering Ukraine. Photograph: Ruslan Krivobok/AP

 in Moscow-Thursday 2 June 2016

Ukrainian authorities have placed sanctions on 17 Russian journalists and media personalities they accuse of stirring hatred in the country. While many in Kiev believe it was a necessary move against Russian propagandists, it is the latest incident to raise concerns about media freedom in the country.

Rights organisations said it was understandable that Ukraine has concerns about Russian propaganda, but sanctioning journalists was not the way forward. Human Rights Watch called on Ukraine to revoke the sanctions.

The sanctions bar the individuals from entering Ukraine, as well as from owning property or holding bank accounts in the country. The list includes the editor-in-chiefs of a number of state-owned or pro-Kremlin media outlets, including Margarita Simonyan of Russia Today TV, as well as others that are less ideological, such as Russian Reporter magazine. Vitaly Leybin, the editor of Russian Reporter, who is a Ukrainian citizen, said he would challenge the sanctions in court.

“Putting sanctions on any journalist is a terrible idea, but sanctioning your own citizen is completely absurd and makes no sense at all; perhaps they didn’t even realise I am a Ukrainian citizen,” said Leybin, who is from Donetsk but lives in Moscow. It is unclear how Ukraine could ban its own citizen from entering the country.

“I’ve regularly travelled to both sides of the lines during this war. Like many people in east Ukraine, I’m a supporter of a more federal Ukraine. In the terminology of today’s Kiev I could be called avatnik, but I’ve never questioned the territorial integrity of Ukraine and I never gave approval to violence on either side.” A vatnik is a derogatory slang term used for those who strongly supportRussia

Supporters of the sanctions argue that Russian media coverage of the war in east Ukraine was instrumental in its escalation, and also note that in Crimea, annexed by Russia, the media environment has been completely decimated, with all dissenting voices against the new authorities crushed. However, western diplomats in Kiev and rights activists are pushing the Ukrainian government not to take their example from Moscow’s treatment of the press. 

“Ukraine is legitimately concerned about the effects of Russian propaganda, but cracking down on media freedom is a misguided, inappropriate response to whatever disagreement the Ukrainian government may have with Russia’s media coverage about Ukraine,” said Tanya Cooper, Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Targeting journalists in this way inevitably encourages censorship.”

Last September, Ukraine put dozens of journalists on a list of those who either “threaten national interests” or “promote terrorist activities”. The list included three BBC journalists, who were quietly removed along with a number of other foreign reporters after international outcry.

Last week Ukraine also slapped a five-year ban on Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, after he said in an interview he supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea. 

The latest sanctions came shortly after the personal data of hundreds of journalists who had accredited with separatist authorities in the east of the country was leaked online by a website that has tacit backing from authorities.

The website Mirotvorets publishes photographs and sometimes contact details of those it believes to be engaged in separatist activity or undermining the Ukrainian state. It has previously targeted individuals such as Oleg Kalashnikov, a former MP and associate of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, who was later killed.

The leak of journalist data caused fury among many Ukrainian journalists, given that registering with separatist authorities was a necessary step in order to be able to report from both sides of the lines. In the current climate, some fear they will receive threats for having travelled to separatist territories.

Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, has backed the website, accusing accused its critics of harbouring separatist tendencies.

Copy BDS tactics, pro-Israel activists told at UN conference

Republican pollster Frank Luntz, right at podium, told the #StopBDS conference in New York on 31 May that Israel is losing support amoung US youth.Rania Khalek---Luntz sounded the alarm over the decline in support for Israel among US college students.
Data presented by Luntz suggests Israel is out of step with the values that younger Americans want to see countries embody.--Data presented by advertising executive David Sable shows that Israel is failing to make a positive impact on global perceptions.---Israel is being forced to follow the agenda set by the BDS movement.--Advertising executive David Sable says materials created by BDS activists are often more compelling than pro-Israel propaganda.

Rania Khalek-3 June 2016

“When I was in school,” recalled Republican pollster and right-wing propaganda consultant Frank Luntz, “there was no opposition to Israel whatsoever.”

But today, he warned, “schools across the country have tremendous challenges” because young people are dramatically more liberal, increasingly hostile toward Israel and more sympathetic to Palestinians.

To defeat BDS, Luntz concluded that Israel’s supporters must adopt language that appeals to the campus left.

Luntz was speaking on 31 May to a packed conference hall at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where the Israeli mission to the UN and the World Jewish Congress hosted the first international #StopBDSconference.

An estimated 1,500 people, many of them college aged, attended the summit to learn and discuss strategies for crushing the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement burgeoning on US college campuses.

Speak young, speak left

To illustrate his point, Luntz presented polling he said was taken within the last 90 days showing attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinians among US college students.

He was most troubled that only one in three students considers themselves pro-Israel. Almost a quarter of students support Palestinians over Israel and 39 percent think Israel should return all Israeli land to Palestinians.

Forty-three percent favor boycott as a means to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights and 44 percent – almost half – view Israel as an apartheid state.

“I’m not looking to speak to people who already agree with me,” said Luntz. Anti-BDS messaging, he argued, needs to be tailored to Democrats, women and people under 29 – demographics he identified as most likely to sympathize with the Palestinian struggle for human rights.

His findings are similar to those of a recent Pew survey that found a dramatic increase in support for Palestinians in the Democratic Party’s liberal base.

“I want to speak young, I want to speak left and I want to speak to the women,” which requires “promoting equality” and “promoting human rights,” Luntz explained.

“I want you to focus on democratic language. I want you to focus on language to the left. I want you to imagine when you are communicating Israel that you are speaking to a 21-year-old college Democrat woman,” Luntz advised. “That’s the people that you need to reach out to.”

Then Luntz abruptly ended his presentation out of fear that his remaining slides would be publicized.
“There are a couple of people in this room right now who support BDS, who tweet about it, who write about it on social media. I have language that I’d like to show you but I think that I would actually do damage, that people would take photographs of it and put it out,” he said.

Earlier this year, some of Luntz’s slides from his anti-BDS presentation were leaked.

When The Electronic Intifada attempted to interview Luntz ahead of his speech this time around, he was upset to learn there was a media presence at the #StopBDS conference. “I didn’t know they were letting journalists in,” he snapped.

Emulating BDS

David Sable, CEO of the global advertising firm Y&R, struck a similar note with a presentation that resembled a corporate rebranding pitch.

Israel needs an image makeover, argued Sable, noting that Israel was not ranked in the top 10 countries for entrepreneurship, cultural influence, business friendliness or quality of life.

The only area where it made an impact on popular perceptions was for a category he called “Tanks and Banks,” where it came in at number eight.

Sable also presented data showing that to people in many countries, “Israel’s personality is alienating.”
To the surprise of many, he advised the audience to copy the style and language of the BDS movement, which he credited with dominating the conversation online and in social media.

“We are reactive, they are proactive,” said Sable, noting that anti-BDS content is “dated and uninviting” whereas BDS materials are “highly discoverable” and often well designed.

“We look like a corporate brochure. What they put out looks like a platform for self expression. This is what we need to start emulating,” he said.

He also highlighted the significance of solidarity building between BDS and other activist movements, paying particular attention to the Palestine solidarity movement’s relationship with Black Lives Matter, a dynamic that has rattled pro-Israel groups since expressions of solidarity with Palestine were first uttered in Ferguson, Missouri.

“The latest manifestation is equating everything that’s happening with Black Lives Matter,” Sable said.

Rebranding BDS as a hate group

While this isn’t the first time anti-BDS operatives have proposed adopting left-wing rhetoric to make their case, the coordinated emphasis on appealing to the left signifies a profound disconnect.

Shaham Nicole, CEO of the Israeli American Council, argued that part of the success of BDS is that it “uses identity to build alliances with minority groups.” Therefore Israeli-Americans “should create a bridge” with immigrant minority communities to counter that, he said.

But in the same breath, Nicole characterized BDS as “a violent racist hate movement” that “must be eliminated.”

“Rebranding Israel is important,” he said. “But we also need to focus on rebranding BDS as a hate movement. When people think BDS, their stomachs need to turn. We need to name and shame any person who supports this movement. No faculty member or student leader would be associated, for example, with the KKK. They should feel the same way about BDS.”

But “naming and shaming” is a tactic Israel’s propaganda planners have advocated and used for years, and yet it has done little to slow the growing momentum of BDS.

Intersectionality

Meanwhile Yosef Tarshish, chairperson of the World Union of Jewish Students, called for Zionist groups to incorporate intersectionality into their advocacy.

“Intersectionality is the theory of interrelated forms of oppression,” Tarshish told the audience. “A lot of anti-Israel organizations have managed to infiltrate this conversation.”

Within the last year, pro-Israel activists have started to raise concerns about intersectionality, which they see as responsible for the solidarity Palestine and BDS have received from other activist groups ranging from feminist organizations to the immigrant rights movement.

Tarshish’s solution is to claim intersectionality as a Jewish invention. “Before it was called intersectionality it was called being Jewish,” he insisted, referencing Jewish involvement in the US civil rights movement of the 1960s and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

“We need to remind students around the world that they need to stand with us because we will stand with them when their rights are trampled,” he said, adding that “Jewish students need to speak the language of the left.”

That BDS is modeled on those very movements was completely lost on conference participants.
More importantly, so is the fact that appealing to the left will be a near impossible task for the anti-BDS effort.

Its base is inherently right-wing and supports a blatantly racist regime led by far right nationalists and proto-fascists committed to denying basic human rights to Palestinians, stealing their land, demolishing their homes and corralling them into walled-off ghettos.

Justifying and dismissing such atrocities is completely incompatible with progressive values, particularly when coupled with the bigotry and bullying tactics of many Zionist organizations.

BDS isn’t rising in popularity among young people because it has slick messaging and authentic-looking brochures.

It is becoming popular because Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is unbearably atrocious and BDS is seen as a viable set of tools and tactics to challenge and begin to change that reality.

No amount of intersectionality, identity pandering, branding, left-wing buzzwords and polished propaganda is going to change that.