SRI LANKA: What Poddala Jayantha means to us

By Basil Fernando-June 14, 2016

I do not know Poddala Jayantha personally. However, I have felt for several years and still strongly feel that I as a human being, and we as Sri Lankans, owe a serious obligation to him.

I remember the first day I heard about the cruel way he was dealt with some 7 years back. Though no stranger to the extreme forms of cruelties that have taken place in Sri Lanka in the recent decades, or perhaps because of the knowledge of these things, what I heard about this incident left a deep sense of disappointment within me.

Now, reading his own published statement about the incident in a Sinhala publication, seven years after the events, my sense of disappointment in the Sri Lankan State, and in us as a community, re-emerges, fresh, as it was when first felt.

The expertise with which the abduction into a mobile torture chamber was carried out, the speed with which the series of acts of cruelty were done, and the utterly emotionless and remorseless manner in which it was completed, are all reminders of a training that some persons have received to become torturers on sheer command. The torture industry in Sri Lanka has reached this advanced stage.

However, now, in this present moment, what I see in my mind’s eye is the sheer horror and depravity of the one who gave the command to carry out this horrible act. That command came from a man who had by then become very smart about the use of cruelty to achieve his ends. Perhaps on hearing that his commands had been carried out the same way as he wished, he would not only have been happy but also thrilled. Such is the way of the human brain, which can play tricks by sophisticated techniques of mental perversion. The pleasure of power addiction is like the pleasure of drug addiction.

However, the greater disappointment is in US. We have made it possible for these things to happen in the land that we call ours. What really surfaced in this incident more sharply, as it has in various ways in other similar incidents that can be counted in the thousands, is why and how we have become incapable of outrage against moral depravity and depredation.

This drama of cruelty was done in a way for it to become a spectacle for all of us. We were all supposed to see this and be awed by the power of a cruel master who was telling all of us – “beware, this is what I am capable of”. This message was brought to us through a mobile torture-team. To the producing mastermind, the whole nation was his theatre. This was that producer’s way of teaching us all a lesson.

What is disappointing about ourselves is that we have all become humble learners in the traditional book on cruelties that has moulded us all, where we have such punishments as breaking of legs and bones. The threats of breaking legs and bones is not uncommon in our parlance. There is an underwritten fear in our minds about such threats. However, we dismiss these kinds of threats perhaps as bad humour. However, Poddala Jayantha was used as an example to demonstrate that such things can be done and all that is needed for such things to happen is for one of us, who has become a monster, to become capable of giving such a command.

A society that has become so timid it is now incapable of outrage in the face of such acts and words has no other option but to watch such horrible spectacles of inhuman cruelty.

If we are to become our own saviours, we have to discover the capacity for outrage against moral wrongs. Every moral wrong that happens in the public sphere, is an insult to the whole population. A population that puts up with such insults allows itself to be demeaned. Such a population will be visited by many such cruelties packaged and sent by its rulers, who would have learned that acts of extraordinary cruelty are a useful means of subduing the ruled.

Democracy becomes possible only if a population learns not to tolerate insults and becomes truly capable of expressing its outrage in a manner that the rulers become aware that the people in the country are not willing to be treated as fools.

A population becomes capable of moral outrage only when it sees social responsibility as the core value that keeps the society together. It is the sense of responsibility to each other that creates a strong society.

In the 3rd Century B.C. when under the influence of the Great Dharmasoka, Buddhism was bequeathed to Sri Lanka, it was envisioned as a great philosophy to unite people together by a sense of moral responsibility. Romila Thapar, one of the eminent historians India has produced, in one of her great books, “Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas”, makes this point sharply:

“In the past, historians have generally interpreted Asoka’s Dhamma almost as a synonym for Buddhism, suggesting thereby that Asoka was concerned with making Buddhism the state religion. We propose to show that this was not his intention, although he himself, as a firm believer in Buddhism, was convinced that it was the only way to salvation. The policy of Dhamma was a policy rather of social responsibility than merely of demanding that the entire population should favour Buddhism. It was the building up of an attitude of mind in which social behaviour, the behaviour of one person towards another, was considered of great importance. It was a plea for the recognition of the dignity of man, and for a humanistic spirit in the activities of society.”

What happened to Poddala Jayantha is something so serious that it should, even belatedly, lead to an adequate response from the society as a whole. This can be done only if the society willingly re-examines its own position in relation to the value attached to social responsibility. It we accept responsibility for each other and are willing to examine where we have failed, on that score alone, we could lay the foundation for a society that does not ask: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster

Jun 14, 2016

Disasters can be cleaned up.

7 Jun 2016 – Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO Chief of Decommissioning at Fukushima Diiachi Nuclear Power Plant, finally publicly “officially” announced that 600 tons of hot molten core, or corium, are missing (Fukushima Nuclear Plant Operator Says 600 Tons of Melted Fuels is Missing, Epoch Times, May 24, 2016).

Now what?

According to Gregory Jaczko, former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), it is not likely the fuel will ever be recovered: “Nobody really knows where the fuel is at this point, and this fuel is still very radioactive and will be for a long time.”

A big part of the problem is that nobody has experience with a Fukushima-type meltdown, which now appears to be 100% meltdown, possibly burrowed into the ground, but nobody really knows for sure.

What’s next is like a trip into The Twilight Zone.

“The absolutely uncontrollable fission of the melted nuclear fuel assemblies continue somewhere under the remains of the station. ’It’s important to find it as soon as possible,’ acknowledged Masuda, admitting that Japan does not yet possess the technology to extract the melted uranium fuel,” (600 Tons of Melted Radioactive Fukushima Fuel Still Not Found, Clean-Up Chief Reveals, RT, May 24, 2016).

Nuclear fission is when atoms split apart into smaller atoms. With nuclear bombs, fission must happen extremely quickly to charge a large explosion whereas, in a nuclear reactor, fission must happen very slowly to make heat, which, in turn, is used to boil water to make steam to turn a turbine to generate electricity.

Eventually, by rubbing two sticks together, one can boil water, but modern-day society doesn’t have the patience, which means accepting risks leaps and bounds beyond rubbing two sticks together. Welcome to an altered world.

Even if Masuda’s cleanup crew find the missing 600 tons, which is so highly radioactive that workers cannot even get close enough to inspect the immediate areas, then they need to construct, out-of-midair, the technology to extract it, and then what? It’s guesswork. It’s what modern-day society has been reduced to, guesswork. Toss out rubbing two sticks together and build monstrous behemoths for billions to boil water, and when it goes wrong, guess what to do next. What’s wrong with this picture? Well, to start with, nobody knows what to do when all hell breaks loose.

They do not have the technology to extract it!

In 1986, Russian teams of workers found the melted corium of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor core in the facility’s lowest level. Whilst “frying 30 workers” along the way, they contained it just enough to prevent burrowing into the ground, maybe.

During containment work at Chernobyl, a makeshift robotic camera managed to actually photograph the monster, the melted core, nicknamed “the Elephant’s Foot.” Thirty years after the fact, the “Elephant’s Foot” is still lethal.

By way of comparing/contrasting Chernobyl and Fukushima, extraordinarily high radiation zaps and destroys robots at first sight when sent into Fukushima’s containment vessels. It’s kinda like the Daleks in Doctor Who.

Whereas, thirty years after the fact, Chernobyl seems to have found a solution to the elephant’s foot menace to society, but as for Fukushima, they must first locate 600 tons of hot stuff. That may be an impossible task. Then what?

“Thirty years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, there’s still a significant threat of radiation from the crumbling remains of Reactor 4. But an innovative, €1.5 billion super-structure is being built to prevent further releases, giving an elegant engineering solution to one of the ugliest disasters known to man,” Claire Corkhill, PhD, University of Sheffield, New Tomb Will Make Chernobyl Site Safe for 100 Years, Phys.Org, April 22, 2016.

As it happens, the older collapsing sarcophagus for Chernobyl is being replaced by a brand new enormous steel frame: “Thanks to the sarcophagus, up to 80% of the original radioactive material left after the meltdown remains in the reactor. If it were to collapse, some of the melted core, a lava-like material called corium, could be ejected into the surrounding area in a dust cloud, as a mixture of highly radioactive vapour and tiny particles blown in the wind. The key substances in this mixture are iodine-131, which has been linked to thyroid cancer, and cesium-137, which can be absorbed into the body, with effects ranging from radiation sickness to death depending on the quantity inhaled or ingested,” Ibid

“The Elephant’s Foot could be the most dangerous piece of waste in the world,” (Chernobyl’s Hot Mess, “the Elephant’s Foot,” is Still Lethal, Nautilus, Science Connect, Dec. 4, 2013). It’s a highly charged radioactive massive hunk of goo that will not die or waste away. This could be a Doctor Who script, par excellence! Therein exist the soft underbelly, the vulnerability, and the risks of using nuclear power to boil water, or alternatively, the sun and wind could be used. They’re not radioactive and still much faster than rubbing two sticks together.

Fukushima is three times (3x) Chernobyl, maybe more; however, in Fukushima’s case there’s a distinct possibility that its white-hot sizzling corium has already started burrowing into Earth. Thereafter, let your imagination run wild because nobody has any idea of how that ends, if ever!

But, Einstein knew. Here’s a famous Einstein quote: “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.”

We’re finally there!

Gregory Jackzo, former head of the NRC, ponders the security of nuclear power: “You have to now accept that in all nuclear power plants, wherever they are in the world … that you can have this kind of a very catastrophic accident, and you can release a significant amount of radiation and have a decade long cleanup effort on your hands” (Epoch Times).

Looking ahead a few years, the question remains: Where will the sizzling white-hot melted corium be when the Tokyo Olympics arrive in 2020?

Nobody knows!

Still, Prime Minister Abe told the Olympic selection committee that Fukushima was “under control.”

“This debate has dogged him since his Sept. 7 speech to the International Olympic Committee, when he said the nuclear disaster is “under control.” The next day, Tokyo won hosting rights for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games,” (Tsuyoshi Inajjma and Yuriy Humber, Abe Olympic Speech On Fukushima Contradicts Nuclear Plant Design, Bloomberg, Oct. 23, 2013).

“French authorities are investigating payments worth around $2m to a company linked to the son of former world athletics chief Lamine Diack over alleged connections to Japan’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games,” (Tokyo Olympics Bid Questioned as Prosecutors Probe $2M Payouts, The Financial Times, May 12, 2016).

Japan won the right to host the 2020 Olympics with a bid to spend $5 billion, which is suspiciously small, especially in an historical context. For the record, rival Istanbul’s bid was almost $20 billion, a much more realistic commitment for such a momentous worldly event.

Thusly, with mucho “balls-in-the-air,” one has to wonder if PM Abe’s infamous secrecy law will click into play, in other words, is there any way it can impede investigations? After all, the law allows any Japanese politician to put an offender behind bars for 10 years for breaking state secrets, which are (very embarrassingly) whatever the accuser claims to be “secretive.” After all, prima facie, between Fukushima and the Olympics, there could be a lot of secretive stuff going on behind the scenes.

Japan’s state secrecy law Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets (SDS) Act No. 108 of 2013 passed on the heels of the Fukushima meltdown, is very similar to Japan’s harsh Public Peace and Order Controls of WWII (a real doozy). According to Act No. 108, the “act of leaking itself” is bad enough for prosecution, regardless of what, how, or why. Absolutely, if someone “leaks,” they’re going to “the can.”

Susumu Murakoshi, president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations dissents: “The law should be abolished because it jeopardizes democracy and the people’s right to know,” Abe’s Secrets Law Undermines Japan’s Democracy, The Japan Times, Dec. 13, 2014.

The Japan Times needs to fact-check the definition of democracy.
- https://www.transcend.org -

Finance Minister & The Central Bank Treasury Bond Scam

By Rusiripala Tennakoon –June 14, 2016

Rusiripala Tennakoon

In a TV appearance by the Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake (Face the Nation Programme TV1 Sirasa TV, 0n 13th June) the subject of theCBSL Treasury Bond issue came up for discussion. The FM in his opinion expressed several concerns in defending the Governor Arjuna Mahendran, and inter-alia, asked has any body calculated any loss arising out of this allegation. In fact, he categorically asked “what was the loss to the government as a result of the Bond deal of February 2015?

By now, all concerned are aware of the calculated loss not only to the Government but even to some of the Primary Dealers as consequential losses on their operations because the matter has been discussed widely in different forums publicly. However, it appears that either the Minister has not been presented with true facts or has been mis-informed. As the Minister of Finance he was the biggest loser resultantly extending the same to the people of this country vis –a- vis the huge unprecedented gain of one primary dealer, who in this instance happens to be a Company having a direct relationship with Arjuna Mahandran, Governor of the Central Bank.

In the context, it will be appropriate to revisit the issue and examine the statistical data to clarify matters.

The 30 year Bond carrying a Fixed interest rate of 12.5% was advertised by the CB for a value of Rs.1 Billion( 12.50%-2045A) for the Auction to be held on27th February 2015. As a practice, with every such advertisement, the Public Debt Department (PDD) of CBSL used to indicate a rate to the Primary Dealers to submit their bids. This rate is based on the prevailing market rates for similar bonds and this was intended to dissuade primary dealers from bidding at rates pretty much above or or far below the prevailing rates. In this manner the Public Debt Department attempts to keep the auction rates as close as possible to the going market rates or, in other words, the prevailing yield curve.

Read More

Glyphosate banned, but new pesticide far worse - expert


June 14, 2016
A new pesticide named ‘Glufosinate’ which is reportedly 15 times more powerful than the banned pesticide ‘Glyphosate’ has been registered in Sri Lanka, an expert said.

 Dr. Channa Jayasumana of the Department of Pharmacology of Rajarata University claims the new pesticide is already available in stores which can be harmful for people.

 According to Dr. Jayasumana, the side effects of Glufosinate may harm the male reproductive system and may lead to many illnesses including kidney diseases.

 “Immediate steps should be taken to remove Glufosinate from the local market,” he added. Dr. Jayasumana also held the Registrar of Pesticides Department responsible for his failure to test the quality of pesticides before sending it to the market. 

However, Assistant Registrar of the Pesticides Department Sumith Jayakody told Ada Derana, if safety measures were followed, the new portside will not cause unreasonable adverse effects.

 “According to the WHO pesticide evaluation scheme, banned pesticide Glyphosate had come under the second category, but Glufosinate comes under the fourth category. Occupational exposure limit of Glufosinate is higher as well,” he said. 

Jayakody also stressed Glufosinate was first registered in Sri Lanka back in late 90s, not recently. 

The government had earlier banned the use and sale of pesticides containing five certain ingredients including Glyphosate, which has been linked to the dramatic increase in Kidney Disease in the North Central Province earlier.

 In a Gazette Notification, the Registrar of Pesticides stated that every license issued in respect of pesticides containing the active ingredients Glyphosate, Propanil, Carbaryl, Cholopyrifos and Carbofuran were modified.  

According to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the active ingredient known as Glyphosate becomes highly toxic when mixed with ‘hard’ water or heavy metals like arsenic or cadmium that naturally exists within the soil or added as fertilizer. 

 Earlier, the Government had also approved the immediate removal of pesticides containing Glyphosate from the local market after an investigation carried out by local medical specialists and scientists revealed that kidney disease was mainly caused by the herbicide, however the proposal was not signed into a law. Starting in the mid-1990s, this Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) was discovered among the rice paddy farmers in the North Central Province (NCP) of Sri Lanka.

  Over the next two decades, the disease spread rapidly to the other farming areas. The prevalence of the disease is estimated at 15 % affecting a total of 400,000 patients with an estimated death toll of around 20,000.

President and P.M. intimidated by corruption riddled officer mafia subordinate good governance goals

List of ministry secretaries riddled with corruption…

(Lanka-e-News -14.June.2016, 7.45PM) An organization of State officers riddled with corruption including  ministry secretaries has been secretly launched to oppose the enforcement of laws against the State officers who were steeped  in corruption during the ‘nefarious decade,’  based on confirmed reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.  This organization through the president and the Prime Minister (P.M.)  has already successfully  obstructed the arrest of culprits based on  investigations findings of the CID , and FCID , as well as  recommendations of the Attorney General (AG)

The grounds cited in defense to the president and P.M. by these corruption riddled high rung State administrative officers is : these culprits were involved in the crimes because they had to follow  instructions issued by the ministers in charge, and therefore enforcing the laws against them is unfair. At the same time ,if punishment is meted out to the ministerial secretaries , the entire State administrative service would collapse because in the future the officers will not implement the  decisions of the government .

The  answer given by the P.M. with the approval of the president to the question posed by Anura Kumara Dissanayake in parliament recently confirmed this.

The president and P.M. who swallowed this rotten bait of these corrupt scoundrels had unheeding the two election  manifestos and forgetting good governance for which the  people  elected them , have instructed the relevant officials not to arrest any corrupt officer. This no doubt is tantamount to  exertion of political pressure against the laws and justice in the country. This is obviously not good governance - not even a semblance of it.

Consequent upon this directive , the officers with a backbone engaged in investigations in the security divisions have to endure the evil challenges posed by the corrupt riddled officers , and are in a deep quandary .

In many of the corruptions and frauds committed  during the ‘Nefarious decade,’ it is secretaries of ministries who have been named as the prime suspects . Without these scoundrels who posed as secretaries, corruption and frauds could not have been committed by the politicians during the Rajapakse regime. It is these corrupt officers in the ministries  involved mainly in  furnishing accounts  , and as chiefs of tender boards who have  connived at and approved most of the fraudulent activities of the politicians. 

Hence , investigations cannot be pursued against the culprits leaving out these corrupt officers. If they continue , the police officers may have to get implicated in cases  based on human rights and many other grave issues which can be detrimental to their career  and even their lives.

Not only  ex defense secretary  Gotabaya Rajapakse and ex chief of staff Gamini Senarath of former president , but even the secretary of the incumbent president , the present defense secretary , the present secretary of P.M. are behind this clandestine  organization of corrupt ministerial secretaries, based on reports supported by copious and cogent evidence reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

It is under the president , many of the high ranking crooked  administrative officers who were under the Rajapakse corrupt regime received appointments as ministerial secretaries though it is less under the P.M.  Hence , the president is most inclined to yield to the pressures of those  corruption  riddled  scoundrels .

No matter what Lanka e news first with the news and best with the views , which always champions the cause of the people fearlessly  , frankly and forthrightly  come what may , deems it is its  responsibility as a pro Good governance media website to reveal those ministerial secretaries and  former secretaries involved in massive frauds , yet are safe and secure under the protection of good governance government . Their names are hereunder …

Secretary to ministry of law and order – Jagath Jayaweera
He is facing charges of releasing 08 kilos of gold seized by the Customs to the Navy unlawfully when he was the Director General of Customs on the orders of Gotabaya Rajapakse . Investigations are under way . 

Secretary to ministry of Agriculture – Wjeratne 
He is facing charges following an audit inquiry into a suspicious transaction  when taking a building on rent.  

Secretary to the ministry of resettlement – Sivagnanosothy
He is facing charges of a fraudulent deal in violation of  tender procedure when taking a building on rent. 

Former secretary to ministry of sports – Nanda Mallawarachi
He is facing charges of importing carom boards and distributing them in connection with Mahindananda Aluthgamage’s election campaign.( The political authority had stated ,  taking Aluthgamage into custody without taking Mallawarachi is no issue. Accordingly , the investigation has been concluded , yet  arresting the accused and filing cases have been stalled.) 

Former secretary to ministry of Finance – P.B. Jayasundara
He faces charges of paying Rs. 3012 million to a Chinese construction Co. whereas only Rs. 40 million was approved towards the Gingana and Nilwala ganga project; non commencement of the  project; and failure to collect back the money released. 

Present secretary to Finance ministry – Samaratunge
Failure to recover the monies so far  under the same charges aforementioned .. 

Secretary to Public Service Commission – Gamini Seneviratne
The Commission inquiring into allegations of Bribery and Corruption is investigating a fraud and corruption committed by him when he was the district Secretary , Kandy.

Former presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunge 
Involved in the Rs. 600 million Sil cloth fraud (investigation under way)
Supply of vehicles and fuel unlawfully to Wimal Weerawansa and his party engendering a colossal loss of many millions of rupees to the government . Arrests and filing cases have been halted.

Former secretary to ministry of economic development  - Dr. Jayatileke 
Faces charges in respect of three Divineguma frauds

Tourist promotion Authority Board – includes Ms. Hema Dharmawardena (currently additional secretary to P.M.) 
Fraudulently   releasing State funds towards Mahinda Rajapakse’s propaganda activities in 2015 under the pretext of tourist promotion .

Former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse
Misuse of State funds amounting to Rs.67 million under the name of Weeraketiya project to reclaim a land and organize the   construction of  a mausoleum  and a park in memory of his parents. Out of that amount Rs. 27 million was returned after pleading guilty. 

However so far no investigation has been launched  into his direct engagement in politics illegally while  being a public officer  . Besides, no investigations have been launched  into his  transfer of state funds into various accounts without entrusting them to the General treasury.

May we point out the foregoing are only what have come to light so far . There are many more  such perfidious and treacherous activities still suppressed  and not unearthed yet . Whither SL ? 

In the circumstances we urge the president and P.M. not to play into the hands of the mafia of the State officers , instead  please focus on the 6.2 million pro good governance masses and take a decision directly based on their  hopes and aspirations . This abject surrender could not only undermine the state administration of honesty and integrity  the good governance is striving to install , and the masses are earnestly anticipating.

 ( In this list we have published, there are three officers known to Lanka e news. But , as we are acting in the best interests of the people and the country , personal connections and friendships have been subordinated in the larger interests of the nation, so  it is  hoped they would bear with us)

---------------------------
by     (2016-06-14 15:17:22)

Two-year-old brutally murdered in Nawagamuwa

2016-06-15

The act of murder has become a habit for some. The psychotic actions of certain people who eventually become criminals are quite absurd at time. It won’t be before long when even newborn infants will become party to these horrible crimes that living in this world today has become quite uncertain. As the crime rate is exponentially on the rise, every day some innocent soul sacrifices his or her life to a brutal crime. Following is the story of S.V. Minul Devthis who sacrificed his life to an arrogant individual. 

The incident
Dilani Fonseka, a single mother from Mahiyanganaya had been working at a garment factory in Nawagamuwa ever since her husband left the family. While working there, she met and developed a relationship with her colleague Vimukthi Samarasena. In order to make travelling easier, Dilani rented out an annexe at Godagama. However, as they continued with their affair, Vimukthi became a regular visitor to her annexe. During the night of  May 7, 2016, he visited Dilani and her only child Minul Devthis, who was two-years-old. The following day, the child was playing with his toys in the room when Vimukthi joined him.   

While they were playing, little Minul’s fingernails accidentally scratched Vimukthi’s skin and that roused his anger. He lost his cool and slapped the innocent child many times on his face and yelled at Dilani that her son had the same features as his father. Dilani screamed to stop slapping the child. But Vimukthi did not. Instead he took a broomstick from under the bed and started clubbing Minul on his tender chest, stomach and back. When he stopped the carnage, little Minul became unconscious and fell on the floor. However, Dilani assumed that Minul was still alive and tried artificial resuscitation to help him regain consciousness. But she saw blood oozing out of his mouth and then only the duo realised that little Minul was no more.   

When Vimukthi realised the crime he had committed, he threatened Dilani to not reveal this and said that if she did, they would end up in prison. So they waited till dusk to bury Minul’s remains. Dilani draped Minul’s body with a piece of cloth and carried it to an abandoned land closer to Vimukthi’s house. Vimukthi dug a pit and buried the body. However, Dilani took the piece of cloth home.   
When her husband tried to contact her several times to question about the child, she lied to him saying that he was sleeping. As she was unable to repeat the lie over and over, she told him that the child fell from the stairs and died and she dumped the body in the Kelani River. After listening to this, her husband came in search of her and it was only then that she confessed what exactly had happened.   

The aftermath
According to our correspondent Irangi Edirisinghe, the Athurugiriya Police is conducting investigations on the murder. However, when the police visited the scene, Minul’s body was found to be missing from where it had been buried. At this juncture, Dilani gave a different statement saying that on May 11, Vimukthi had called her and said that Minul’s body would be taken out for some reason and said he would hide it again. 

A Few body parts were discovered : Athurugiriya OIC
According to Athurugiriya OIC Senior Inspector of Police Sanjeewa Mahanama, a few parts of human body that were suspected to be Minul’s were discovered in a nearby shrub. He said Dilani was arrested and Vimukthi would be produced in courts. 

We must protect our children; they are our future: Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, former Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa said that in Sri Lanka, the main cause of child abuse is the behaviour of parents. 

“In most of these incidents, we found that parents do not understand their children nor do they know what children’s rights are. Children tend to make mistakes and parents shouldn’t be harsh on them. But, what happens is some parents punish them brutally. There was an example where a retired army officer wanted to feed his child but because he didn’t eat, he brutally tortured the child and killed him. Parents should know how to treat kids. The other problem is addiction to drugs and alcohol. When people are intoxicated, they are not in their proper senses and want to take revenge and behave violently including with their own children.”

He further said that the mental health of most of the adults too needs to be monitored. “Psychiatric disorders could also lead to these types of murders. Another serious issue is that most of the cases of incest go unreported mainly because the mothers are not economically empowered in Sri Lanka. Therefore, when a father or an uncle sexually abuses a child, the mother normally does not report it. If reported, there is always a question as to who would feed the family if the accused is thrown into jail. Also when women migrate, they don’t have any alternative arrangements to look after their children, and therefore, the children are vulnerable to all types of harassments.”  

Speaking about the legal framework addressing child rights, Dr. Mahanamahewa mentioned about the existing laws in the country. “In 1995, there was an amendment introduced to the Penal Code, then in 2006, we introduced laws against child trafficking. In most cases, it takes a long time to get the judgement delivered and these cases get dragged on and finally dismissed. But on cases, of this type, I suggest that action should be taken within 6 months. 

The LLRC recommended that there should be a special court of justice similar to Labour Tribunals set up to address issues concerning child rights. In Sri Lanka, another disturbing issue is the fact that offenders and perpetrators are granted bail while the victims are made to suffer. This is mainly because they receive political patronage and also powerful people protect them. Implementations of these laws still remain at the preliminary level. 

There are several bodies  that address issues concerning child rights and children’s welfare. But a majority of cases come up due to the lack of understanding between the parents and the children. Therefore, I suggest that there should be a proper enactment and implementations of the laws, and verdicts should be given within 6 months; family relationships should be discussed and taught in schools and children should be educated of the family environment. 

Sri Lanka is a part of the Child Rights Convention, and therefore, we must ensure that the laws are in place and we must protect our children because they are our future.” 

Is the audit act amended to protect the corrupt?

Jun 14, 2016

A protest was held today 13th at Colombo fort against the amendment of the proposed audit bill. The protest was organized by the trade unions attached to the auditor general’s department.

Workers in the auditor general department said few sentences have been amended in the national audit bill to be passed. They said trade unions attached to the auditor general’s department has strongly opposing the amendments made.
 
The workers said doubts has been erupted that the amendment has been made to protect the people involved in the illegal and corrupt transactions.

Cocaine worth Rs.1.8 Bn seized by Customs



2016-06-14
Three travelling bags packed with around 91.3 kilos valued at Rs.2 billion which was the largest ever detection of cocaine in Sri Lanka were seized by the Customs with the assistance of the Police Narcotic Bureau at the Rank Container Terminal (RCT) Container Yard Orugodawatte this morning, the Finance Ministry said. 

The Ministry Secretary Sisira Wijesinghe said the raid was carried out on a tip off received by the Finance Ministry’s Special unit. 

“The Cocaine was packed in one kilo packets and concealed in three travelling bags among the sugar sacks inside a 20-foot container,” he said.

 “Officers of the Finance Ministry Special Narcotic Raid Unit in collaboration with the Special Task Force (STF) personnel carried out a search operation to identify the suspicious container since yesterday afternoon. Later the officers identified the particular container at the Orugodawatta Container yard in which the contraband of Cocaine was concealed,’ Mr. Wijesinghe said.

 Deputy Customs Director P.J.B. Basnayake said the businessman who had imported this container had been a sugar importer for some 40 years and had declared the goods in the container as a consignment of sugar. 

The container had arrived in Sri Lanka from Brazil and it was checked on a tip off received by the Finance Ministry’s Special unit, he said.

Three people including the businessman and two wharf clerks had been arrested. The cocaine will be handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau.

 Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena visited the Orugodawatte RCT container terminal and inspected the Cocaine seized by Custom officials.

 While thanking the officials of the Customs and the Special Task Force for the detection, the President assured that stern action would be taken against those engaged in drug smuggling.

 Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the Customs would continue to carry out raids showing the Government's commitment to fight the drug menace. 

Meanwhile, Special Investigative Unit Chief Ravi Jayasingha said the cocaine haul was the largest ever detection of cocaine to be made in Sri Lanka. 

The investigations were carried out by the commandant of STF and DIG Ranjith Perera, head of the Finance Ministry’s Special Unit, Wing Commander Ravi Jayasinghe, Customs Deputy Director Lalitha Weerasinghe and several other officials. (Chaturanga Pradeep and Darshana Sanjeewa) 

FCID questions Keheliya Rambukwella



June 14, 2016
UPFA MP Keheliya Rambukwella arrived at the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) this afternoon (14), the police said. 

 A statement will be recorded from him with regard to the investigation on allocation of Rs. 200 million through the Presidential Secretariat as expenses for medical treatments for him, an official said.

 Earlier, Secretary to the former President, Lalith Weeratunga and Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare Ranjan Ramanayake, were summoned and questioned by the FCID in this regard as well. 

Vietnamese Fighter Jet Missing in the South China Sea

A Vietnamese fighter jet is missing after vanishing from radar during a training flight along the South China Sea coastline.

 14.06.2016

"We haven’t found the jet yet, we are still looking," according to Senior Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy armed services chief of staff.

© SPUTNIK/ MAKSIM BOGOVID

Ties That Bind: Why US Lifting Arms Ban on Vietnam Could Be Good for Russia

The aircraft is a Sukhoi Su-30 MK2, and was flying some 30-40 km off the coast of Nghe An province. The reason for the disappearance is unknown.

"We have to find it to know it," Tuan said.

State-run Tuoi Tre news reported that a fisherman in the area identified as Le Van Cuong saw a jet fighter crash near an island just off the coast. The paper also reports that rescuers found traces of oil near the island.

Vietnam has experienced a number of military mishaps in recent years in relation to its aging military hardware. Two helicopter crashes in the past two years have killed 24 people.

© FLICKR/ CARLOS MENENDEZ SAN JUAN

Vietnam May Buy F-18 Fighter Jets, Littoral Combat Ships From US

Hanoi has attempted to modernize its military in light of ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. 

Beijing’s construction of artificial islands in the region has angered Vietnam and other territorial claimants in the region, though China maintains it has every right to build within its own territory and that the islands will be used primarily for humanitarian purposes.

Although the United States has no territorial claim to the region, it has pushed Pacific allies to counter China’s growing influence. Last month, Washington lifted a decades-old arms embargo against Vietnam and will soon begin providing Hanoi with military equipment.

"The Vietnamese would like to focus on developing joint venture partnerships with the United States to ensure technological progress over the next 10 to 20 years. The idea would be to gain access to US and Western technology on a reliable and sustained long-term basis," Eurasian Business Coalition (EBC) Vice President Ralph Winnie told Sputnik.

© AFP 2016/ SAUL LOEB

US-Vietnamese Growing Partnership ‘Entirely Independent’ of China - Obama

As part of the embargo removal, Hanoi will likely acquire F-18 fighter jets and naval combat ships.

President Barack Obama has stressed that the new arrangement has nothing to do with countering Chinese influence.

"Our growing partnership with Vietnam is happening entirely independent of China," he told reporters last month.

"The fact that China would perceive that [cooperation with Vietnam] as some sort of provocation to them I think says more about Chinese attitudes than it says anything about our [US] attitude."

Aborted Nuclear Mission and Murder

Arrow Air 1285 blown-up to prevent public disclosure of an aborted nuclear attack on Iraqi nuclear facility.

Wreckage from Arrow Air Flight 1285, which stalled, crashed, and burned killing all 248 passengers and 8 crew members on board, December 12, 1985--Caskets containing the bodies from Arrow Air 1285, Photo: Wikimedia Commons

MK54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition or SADM: SOF Backpack Nukes

Jun-14-2016

(GANDER, Newfoundland) - A US Army Special Forces mission to use nuclear backpacks to blowup an Iraqi nuclear research facility in 1985 led to the death of hundreds of 101^st Airborne troops returning from a six-month tour with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai when the aircraft was deliberately destroyed in Gander, Newfoundland, with the loss of 248 Army personnel and six crew members.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF flight originated in Cairo, stopped in Cologne to change crews and refuel and landed at Gander to refuel but after takeoff, the aircraft never reached more than 700 feet in altitude before an incendiary device planted on the aircraft in Cologne was remotely detonated.

Information from two informed sources supported the destruction of Arrow Air 1285 was done by a CIA faction or their cutouts to prevent the public disclosure of an aborted covert mission by Special Forces to use a nuclear backpack to destroy an Iraqi nuclear research facility.

Public disclosure of the planned use of a nuclear weapon and the deaths of several Special Force troopers would have been breaking news and could have led to the impeachment of President Reagan and Vice President Bush with a ripple effect throughout the government, including the indictments and prosecution of CIA, NSC, DOD and Army officials who were part of an illegal ‘off-the-books’ covert operation.

On-Board Fire and Explosion

The Arrow DC-8-63 fully loaded with 45,000 liters of jet fuel took off from Gander and had difficulty gaining altitude, reaching only about 700 feet above the runway, according to witnesses.

Witnesses on the highway saw a “bright glow emanating from the aircraft before it struck terrain just short of Gander Lake and crashed…3,000 feet from the end of the runway.”¹

The Canadian Air Safety Board (CASB) had the primary responsibility for investigating the crash. In a split decision, the CASB (5 to 4) approved a majority report that found the crash caused by icing on the wings and fuselage; a minority report from the four professionals on the board found that icing played no part and that the crash was caused by an incendiary device and explosion.

Majority Report: The aircraft crash was caused by icing on the wings and fuselage, which increased drag and caused the DC-8-63 to stall and crash. The CASB “was unable to determine the exact sequence of events which led to this accident. The Board believes, however, that the weight of evidence supports the conclusion that, shortly after lift-off, the aircraft experienced an increase in drag and reduction in lift which resulted in a stall at low altitude from which recovery was not possible.

“The most probable cause of the stall was determined to be ice contamination on the leading edge and upper surface of the wing. Other possible facts such as a loss of thrust from the number four engine and inappropriate take-off reference speeds may have compounded the effects of the contamination.”

Read More

Israel spin doctors move to exploit Orlando massacre

Ali Abunimah-13 June 2016

Authorities in Florida are still releasing the names of the 49 people massacred by Omar Mateen in Orlando’s Pulse gay nightclub early on Sunday morning.

It is an agonizing list of predominantly young and Latino people who could not have imagined their lives would be cut short in such a horrifying manner as they went out for a night of enjoyment.

But even before all the victims are known, the US and Israeli far right are moving to exploit Mateen’s crime to

further a narrative that indicts Muslims collectively and fuels hatred and confrontation.

This is despite the reality that factors other than religious motivation likely played a major part in Mateen’s horrific act.

One group with ties to Israel’s intelligence services is even trying to implicate Palestinians.

“As most Israelis know, terror attacks by Islamic radicals often benefit the right, especially when placed in the hands of a master manipulator such as [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu,” observed commentator Chemi Shalev, in the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz.

And the master manipulator wasted no time. “We are all shocked by the terrible massacre in Orlando,” Netanyahu said at the start of Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting. “Islamic terror threatens the entire world and all enlightened nations need to unite in order to fight against it.”

Even as the details were emerging on Sunday, Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the US and now a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was advising presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on how to exploit the tragedy for political gain.

“If I was Donald Trump, I would have come out the minute that the FBI started to indicate this morning that we are talking about a guy who was operating from Islamic motivations,” Oren told Israeli television. “Just his name alone … a Muslim name, the son of Afghan immigrants who apparently maintained connections of some sort to extremist Islamic organizations, that in itself will greatly influence the presidential race.”

Trump needed no such advice and quickly seized on the killings to renew his calls for a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Blaming Palestinians

Meanwhile, Shurat HaDin, the lawfare group linked to Israel’s spy agency Mossad, sought to implicate Palestinians in the Orlando attack.

In a message on its Facebook page, Shurat HaDin claimed that the Orlando massacre “is part of a series of attacks planned by the Hamas leadership together with ISIS to be executed in the month of Ramadan.”

Shurat HaDin claimed that the first in this series was a shooting that killed five Jordanian personnel at a security office in a Palestinian refugee camp near Amman last week, followed by the shooting attack in Tel Aviv that killed four Israelis.

The Orlando massacre was allegedly the third in this linked series. But no credible source has drawn any connection between the incidents.

Jordanian authorities have called the shooting in Baqaa refugee camp an “individual and isolated act.”

The attack in Tel Aviv came as part of the escalated confrontrations between Israelis and Palestinians since last October. There is no indication that the alleged shooters, two cousins from the village of Yatta near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, were under the command of any armed group.

Even the mayor of Tel Aviv, as well as the father of one of the victims, linked the attack to Israel’s ongoing occupation that deprives millions of Palestinians of their basic rights.

And yet, Shurat HaDin is not only trying to draw direct connections between these incidents, it is even trying to implicate Palestinians in the United States in the Orlando attack.

“Orlando, the Florida town where the attack took place, is fertile ground for Palestinian terrorists like al-Arian, a Hamas activist who was sitting in an American prison, and came from there,” Shurat HaDin claimed.

This is a reference to Sami al-Arian, the former professor at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, who was indicted by the US in 2003 for alleged support for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Despite the US spending millions on the lengthy trial, a federal jury could not convict al-Arian on a single count.

After a decade pursuing him in what the American Civil Liberties Union called a “pointless and vindictive” prosecution, US authorities finally dropped the charges against al-Arian and allowed him to leave to Turkey last year.

Al-Arian has no plausible connection to the Orlando shooting or to any of the other incidents.

Similarly, Israel Hayom, the pro-Netanyahu newspaper owned by casino billionaire, Republican financier and anti-Palestinian donor Sheldon Adelson, ran photos of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen alongside Neshat Melhem, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who killed three Israelis on New Year’s Day, with the slogan, “A chilling similarity.”

But as +972 Magazine noted, the only similarity is that the men had shaved heads and glasses, and that they came from Muslim backgrounds.

Israel Hayom pointedly did not mention what +972 Magazine called “the more obvious parallel – between Mateen and Yishai Schlissel, who attacked the Jerusalem Pride Parade in June 2015 and murdered a teenage girl with a knife.”

Schlissel, a Jewish extremist, had served time in prison for a similar attack a decade earlier.

Destroying the “grayzone”

The effort to tie Palestinians in particular and Muslims more generally to the Orlando massacre is part of a long-standing campaign by Israel and its supporters to present Palestinian resistance as part of a bigger “jihad” against “the West,” rather than being a response to Israel’s violent occupation and colonization.

Israel then presents itself as the vanguard of this civilized West faced with alleged Islamic barbarism.

This war of civilizations narrative suits Israel because it absolves it of any responsibility to change its behavior toward Palestinians.

But it is incredibly corrosive. Journalist Max Blumenthal has argued that it plays directly into Islamic State’s own declared goal of destroying the “grayzone” – the coexistence of multicultural societies – through such atrocities as those perpetrated in Paris and Brussels in recent months.

Disturbed individual

True, authorities say Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to ISIS, or Islamic State, just before his killing rampage.

But US authorities have not found any direct operational links between Mateen and any group.

The FBI revealed that Mateen has previously claimed to be a member of Hizballah, the Lebanese resistance group that is affiliated with the Shia branch of Islam, and which is a mortal enemy of ISIS. He had also claimed to have relatives affiliated with al-Qaida, but an 11-month FBI investigation in 2013 found nothing to back up his wild statements.

A disturbed person carrying out a horrific act is not necessarily the most reliable source.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has acknowledged that while Mateen may have been inspired by online propaganda, “We see no clear evidence that he was directed externally” by the Islamic State or any other group.

The picture that is emerging of Mateen is not of a person with any religious piety, but of a violent, abusive and deeply troubled man who had spewed racist and homophobic bile for years.

Mateen was licensed to own firearms and worked for the global security and incarceration firm G4S since 2007.

G4S has long been the focus of protests by the Palestine solidarity movement for its role in Israel’s human rights abuses. It has also been implicated in human rights abuses in other countries.

G4S allegedly ignored complaints about Mateen’s erratic and threatening behavior.

An ex co-worker told NBC news that Mateen was racist and belligerent.

“I quit because everything he said was toxic,” the co-worker told media, “and the company wouldn’t do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people.”

A major US government contractor, G4S said it vetted Mateen when he was hired in 2007 and again in 2013, but found nothing of concern.

The FBI had twice investigated Mateen, in 2013 and 2014, but found no basis to charge him.

Calling him frequently unstable and “obviously disturbed,” Mateen’s ex-wife described horrific abuse at his hands.

Mateen also appeared to idolize law enforcement and armed forces. He had posted pictures of himself online wearing NYPD insignia, though he had no connection to the New York police.

According to a neighbor, Mateen had US Marines stickers on his car, including one that read, “Semper Fi,” the armed service’s motto.

Neighbor who knew Omar Mateen tells @WPTV he had U.S. Marine stickers on his car, including one that read Semper Fi. https://t.co/MoRyL5uPt2

— Joshua Chavers (@JoshuaChavers) June 12, 2016

 Follow

Joshua Chavers 

✔@JoshuaChavers

Neighbor who knew Omar Mateen tells @WPTV he had U.S. Marine stickers on his car, including one that read Semper Fi.

6:21 PM - 12 Jun 2016

His ex-wife said that Mateen had even applied to be a police officer.

There appears to be more that ties the Orlando massacre to other US mass shootings: toxic masculinity,homophobia and easy availability of guns, especially assault rifles.

Separately, James Howell, a heavily armed Indiana man with firearms-related convictions, was arrested on Sunday as he headed toward the Los Angeles Pride parade with a car full of assault weapons and chemicals. Police were still trying to determine Howell’s motives.

Only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of mass shootings in the United States have been linked in any way to “radical Islam.”

Yet “radical Islam,” rather than any of the factors cited in other mass shootings, is considered to provide conclusive explanatory power whenever a perpetrator happens to be from a Muslim background.

Such assumptions make it harder to understand the phenomenon of mass violence and how to stop it. They also endanger whole communities as Muslims in the United States, and people of color more generally, fear a racist backlash.

By Monday evening, regulars at Pulse were reporting that Mateen was himself a habitual patron at the nightclub he later attacked, and that he used a same-sex dating app, adding to the complexity of the picture of him.

A former police academy classmate also told The Palm Beach Post that he used to go to gay bars with Mateen a decade ago, and that Mateen had once asked him out.

Unity

In Chicago, on Sunday, hundreds attended a vigil in the city’s Boystown neighborhood, where they heard an opening prayer, before community activists, people of different faiths and elected officials vowed to maintain unity in the face of violence and hatred.

“God send comfort and healing to those who were there last night, whose safe space to dance and be free became a massacre site,” the pastor said. “God provide safety for those in the Muslim community who will be targets of bigotry and violence, for something they did not do and do not condone.”

That sums up how many people are feeling, yet again, in the wake of horrific violence.

In Chicago and around the country, leaders of LGBTQ and Muslim community groups have expressed solidarity with each other.

At a San Francisco vigil for the Orlando victims, Dr. Suzanne Barakat recalled the killing of her brother.

Deah Barakat was murdered along with his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, in the Chapel Hill shootings in February 2015.

Craig Hicks, who has been charged with first degree murder for the killings, had a history of gun-toting harassment, violent threats and anti-religious statements.

Barakat said she sees the shootings as a symptom of “hatred, cruelty and intolerance.” The cure, she added, “is the medicine of love, kindness and compassion.”

In the meantime, far-right spin doctors are working overtime to exploit the Orlando attack and make sure that its poisonous legacy is more division and hatred.

This article has been updated as new information has become available.