What Does True Political Change Imply?

By Basil Fernando –June 23, 2016

Basil Fernando

I had the good fortune of attending a meeting organized by civil society organizations which worked to oust the Rajapaksa regime and helped bring the present government into power. It was held at the auditorium of the public library on 21 June 2016 and was well attended. It demonstrated that people had and are having great expectations from the government but were anxious about the slow pace at which the government was moving It showed lot of soul searching was going on as to how to get the great expectations come true.

On return I wrote this poem

You roasted my soul

You roasted my soul
By placing me as a log
In a senseless milieu
Burning out in violence
For long years,
And then one day declared,
Democracy has arrived
“you are free’ ,
But who is to free my roasted soul,
You did not tell me.

Trying to depict the predicament of today’s Sri Lankans is a rather difficult task. In fact it is so difficult that none is attempting even to do it. But I thought I will try to do it. As it is also impossible to write it in prose, I thought I will write a poem about it. That is how the poem you see above came about.

The context in which we live is expressed in the words, ‘Burning out in violence, for long years’ How long were the long years? In my assessment it was over forty years. That calendar begins, in my view in 1971 and has that ended or when it will end? I do not know.

“And then declared, the democracy has arrived’. This of course refers to Jan 2015. The word ‘declared ‘ is deliberately chosen. It does not refer to a fact, but only the fact of a declaration made by someone else. Did it really happen in the way the declaration said, it to have happened? I really do not know.

However, the really important issue is , what does such a declaration mean to a person whose soul has been roasted for over forty years. The reference is not the body that has been roasted, as it happened in very large numbers. For this declaration means nothing, they are no longer alive.

For the roasted souls, it is another matter. To those who are alive with the roasted souls inside them, it is another matter. Can they really be free? How to free a roasted soul, so as to make democracy something really true and genuine? That is the heart of the matter. ‘But who is to free my roasted soul,

you did not tell me.’

Forty years of repression, is deeply inside every heart, every soul. There has been no healing touch. Instead, attempt is to ignore the fact of having been roasted. An election does not have a healing power. Replacement of one government by another is only a political fact. What that political fact means in terms of the interior of the human beings whose souls has been burned like logs, is a far more deep emotional and spiritual affair. That requires to be a physician of suffering, if we are to go by our own LO Weda Sagarawa, which refers to Buddha as the’ Dukatas Wedanan’

Duka of having roasted souls is indeed a great suffering. Political declarations, however grand they may be, cannot alleviate such a suffering. Such declarations are just ‘words, words, words.’ If that be so, what follows is that talk of arrival as a democracy is just superficial talk.

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'The situation in Sri Lanka is not alarming for refugees to return'

'I am not saying the situation is either good or conducive'

'What I am trying to do is to place all the facts before the refugees and just nudge them to take a call' 

Image: A file photograph of Tamil civilians at a refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya. Photograph: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/Reuters/Pool.--IMAGE: Refugees who have returned to Sri Lanka congregate at the church in Mannar.

IMAGE: Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have returned home fishing off the Mannar coast.

June 23, 2016 

A 28-minute documentary, No Longer A Refugee, tells the story of Sri Lanka Tamils who have returned home after spending many years as refugees in Tamil Nadu. According to one estimate, there are over 65,000 65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees still living in nearly 110 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.

The documentary was produced by Ashok Gladston Xavier, a Chennai-based academic, on behalf of the Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation or OfERR, a self-help group run by refugees since 1983 and which has offices in Chennai and Colombo. The documentary will be shown in all refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, and where not possible CDs will be supplied to refugee camps for exhibition.

After the documentary was screened in Chennai recently, S C Chandrahasan, founder of OfERR, said out of the 65,000 refugees still in India, some 1,700 of them want to go back to Sri Lanka immediately and that he is in touch with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to arrange for their return. 

“We had asked Swaraj to arrange for ships to send back these refugees and the minister had promised to look into it. We had also asked the minister to re-start the ferry services between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka to facilitate their return. Since these are all poor refugees, the government has to ensure their return by arranging for their travel free of cost,” Chandrahasan said. "The situation is fast improving in Sri Lanka, and this documentary is a soothsayer’s message to the refugees who are living in India."

In a conversation with R Ramasubramanian, Xavier said, "My documentary attempts to find answers to those frequently asked questions from Tamil refugees who are still in India."

What made you produce this documentary?

I wanted to find out the challenges faced by those refugees who had returned to their motherland, and to find answers for refugees who are still living in camps in Tamil Nadu.

When and where did you shoot the documentary?

I visited Sri Lanka in April-May 2015 and in April 2016. I had gone to at least seven places including Colombo, Vavuniya, Killinochi, Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaitivu and spoke to those refugees who had come back from India.

Full Story>>>

Governmental Apathy, Continued Surveillance Inhibit Rehabilitation of LTTE Cadre

By P.K.Balachandran

Published: 23rd June 2016

KILINOCHCHI: Former cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had surrendered to the Sri Lankan army and undergone a year’s  ‘rehabilitation’ in special camps, are manifestly eager to get back to normal life, forgetting their past.

But lack of active interest on the part of the political leadership; the bureaucracy’s apathy; and above all, the Security Forces’ continued lack of faith in them; are preventing their return to normalcy. State actions ensure that eminently forgettable memories of the conflict are kept alive even though the war ended seven years ago.

The on-going struggle to find their feet and secure citizenship rights keep taking them and their families back to the traumatic past, leaving them with little or no hope of relief, according to Ranjini, a disabled and discharged cadre of the LTTE, who is now a widow, single-handedly bringing up her 10 year old girl child in Selvapuram in the outskirts of Kilinochchi in North Lanka.

Selvapuram has 163 widows and the Kilinochchi Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division, of which it is part, has 1800 widows. Some households are headed by widows.  

Ranjini surrendered to the Lankan army with her 38 year old husband and serving cadre Sudhan, and her then two and a half year old daughter, Blessiya, at Pudumaatalan in Mullaitivu district on April 24, 2009, less than a month before  Eelam War IV ended.

Predictably, Sudhan was isolated from her as he was a senior leader in the “Radha Vaan Padai” (the anti-aircraft unit of the LTTE), and kept in a special detention center. But in December 2009, Sudhan was declared dead “after a heart attack.”  Ranjini did not believe that he died a natural death. But had no option but to accept his death and move on.

“Some asked me to file a case, but I had no money to do that. I decided to carry on with my life as I needed to bring up the child,” she said sitting in the compound her yet unfinished house. 

Ranjini’s agricultural family, back in her native Akkaraipattu in Amparai district in East Lanka, is indigent and also traumatized by the conflict. Her father was killed by the anti-LTTE “Three Star” group, and her brother, who was a member of the LTTE’s medical unit, was arrested and detained at Boosa, a special prison for terror suspects.

Ranjini completed the rehabilitation process and was released without fuss, probably because she was not an active cadre at the time of arrest. She had been discharged from the LTTE way back in 2000 following a series of disabling battle injuries.

Recalling the war years she said: “On April 14 ,1991, in a battle at Poovarasankulam near Vavuniya, a shell hit my stomach and the intestines popped out. In 1995, I was in coma for 13 days at the Jaffna hospital.”  With the result, she limps, and can use only one arm. 

Governmental Apathy

Once released, Ranjini faced governmental apathy, which continues to this day. Used to being looked after by the LTTE as an ex-cadre, she found it hard to manage with her physical disabilities and no income to boot. 

“To repair my house and set up this poultry farm I had to go to a state-owned bank 13 times, spending 14,000 rupees on autorickshaw fares alone. But while the government gave no financial help to repair this house, UN Habitat gave me LKR 2.2 lakhs. Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran arranged to give LKR 1.95 lakhs. Tamil National Alliance MP, Mavai Senathirajah, also arranged some funds. The NGO AFC, gave funds to set up a small poultry farm, which is the source of my income,” she said.

Ranjini was disappointed that TNA’s loudest campaigner for the rights of the disappeared cadre, Anandhi Sasitharan, took no interest in her case.  She would not even take her calls.

Now, Ranjini’s sole aim in life is to give her daughter an education “to enable her to stand on her own feet” as she put it. She cannot send her for private tuition for lack of money. But having studied up to GCE Ordinary Level, she teaches the child.

Continued Surveillance

While the State believes that constant surveillance is necessary to prevent ex-LTTE cadre from returning to militancy, Ranjini thinks that such surveillance only chains the cadre to the now unwanted past.  

“ When my wish is to erase the past and chalk out a new life, I have to submit all my past documents to the concerned security agencies three times a year. I have to put up with frequent and un-announced visits by the CID and other surveillance agents. They keep inquiring about my past and the present. They ask about my dead husband. All this not only prevents me from forgetting the past, but affects the mind of my child.”

“ When the CID men go away, I have to answer the inquisitive 10 year old’s questions about the visit, and the past, and explain why she, unlike other children, has no father.” Ranjini said.

Asked about the impact of all this on the child, she said: “ When we were in the killing fields of Pudumaatalan and subsequently in the refugee camp, Blessiya  was only two and a half. She would have forgotten all about that but for the frequent inquiries by the security agencies which keep recreating the unpleasant images in the child’s mind.”

The police do not leave her family back in Akkaraipattu alone either, Ranjini said.

“They question them about me, when in fact they have nothing to do with me. I have told my family not to talk to them but to ask them to come here and meet me,” Ranjini said.

The CID had once entered her compound without her permission and when asked why they did so, they said that the gate was open.

“Very annoyed by this reply, I asked if the house door was open, would they have entered the house too?” Ranjini said.

Justifying her tough stance, she doughty fighter said: “If you run away from a challenging situation like a coward, even a rat will chase you!”

No Ill-Will Toward Sinhalese

For all the communal hostilities generated during the conflict, when the only Sinhalese she ever saw were soldiers who were trying to kill her before she could kill them, Ranjini harbors no ill will against the Sinhalese people.

“I had good rapport with the female Sinhalese staff in the refugee camp, a far cry for a person who had joined the LTTE in 1989 after personally witnessing the violence unleashed against the Tamils by the army. When I was leaving the camp, the Sinhalese women staff became emotional and hugged me,” Ranjini said.

Asked  if she minds Sinhalese coming to the Tamil areas in the North to settle and take up jobs there, she said: “ We cannot condone occupying lands belonging to the Tamils or settling Sinhalese in a planned way as government policy. But just as we Tamils go to the South to work and stay there as individuals, the Sinhalese too should be able to come, live and work here. They are also human beings!”

HRC OF SRI LANKA ON DETENTION UNDER PTA

23/06/2016

The Human Rights Commission welcomes the Directives issued by His Excellenry President Maithripala Sirisena on the arrest and detention of persons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act No 48 of L979 (PTA) and a state of emergency when in force.

The Directives would facilitate the Commission exercise its powers, functions and duties in this regard and would without doubt reinforce the protection afforded to persons subject to arrest and detention under extraordinary laws.

Read the full statement as  a PDF:Detention under PTA Public-Statement-by-HRCSL

Detention-under-PTA-Public-Statement-by-HRCSL.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Kiriella and Daya Gamage share loot of Rs. 3.63 Billion.! Cabinet misled and ethics relegated to dustbin

-Herein is evidence ; good governance or friends in business ?

(Lanka-e-News -23.June.2016, 9.15PM) Minister of Highways cum  leader of the house Lakshman Kiriella, and minister of primary Industries Daya Gamage together have secured the cabinet approval for the construction of a highway costing Rs. 3630 million (Rs. 3.6 billion!) via a subterfuge after misleading the Cabinet and casting away accepted political ethics into the garbage bin.

On the 3 rd of June when the cabinet met, the Highways minister by submitting a cabinet paper had secured the cabinet approval for 18 contracts , and among them the  approval for 17th and 18th contracts have been obtained in favor of Olympus Construction (Pvt) Ltd. Co. which was shown as a joint Co. of Rani Construction Pvt. Co. India.

It was  indicated that  these two contracts are in view of Gramiya (village) road rehabilitation and renovation, Kalutara. One contract  covers  89 kilometers while the other covers 94 kilometers .The cost of 89 kilometers is Rs. 1,811,352,867.60 while the other that is 94 kilometers costs Rs. I, 817, 750,688.60 , and the  total cost is Rs. 3,629,103,556.20 . (copy of the cabinet paper is herein) 

Though this  lucky Co. , that is  Olympus Construction (Pvt) Ltd. is on the face of it  an Indian Co., truly the owner is none other than Daya Gamage (the evidence in support are provided herein).

Lakshman Kiriella and Daya Gamage had jointly trampled  accepted ethical codes  and  deluded the Cabinet as follows ….

While these contracts were being projected as having been duly and legally secured via tender, Lakshman Kiriella should have  informed the cabinet ahead before the tender was  submitted for approval of the cabinet that the owner of Olympus Construction Pvt. Ltd . to which  Co. it  is being awarded is within the Cabinet. On the 3 rd , Lakshman Kiriella did not notify this. Hence , it is very evident the Cabinet has been deceived. 

The charges of unethical conduct is mounted because , when such a tender, that is a tender of his is being submitted to the Cabinet , what Daya Gamage should have done was , instead of raising his own hand to give approval to it , kept   away and marked absent. Whereas , what Daya Gamage did was , on the 3 rd by raising his hand had grabbed it himself. 

When we are ourselves ashamed to expose this outrageous corruption and racket , we wonder how Daya Gamage can go about with dress on in public after most shamelessly indulging in such  dastardly activities of corruption . 

It is true Daya Gamage was a road construction contractor before he entered politics , and was the first businessman who constructed roads with world bank loan . Though he had the qualification therefore to be granted this contract, it cannot also be forgotten that the  people on the 8 th elected a government of good governance not to perpetuate the same corruption that prevailed earlier, rather to put a full stop to it. Hence it is best  if perpetrators of frauds and rackets understand clearly this government has been appointed to halt these corrupt business activities even if those  are being carefully organized  by bosom business pals.

In the circumstances this attempt at pulling the wool over the eyes of the cabinet , and uncaringly hurling every ethical code into the garbage bin by people’s representatives themselves cannot be treated as something trifling. Besides , it is worthy of note , though Daya Gamage is the minister of primary Industries he had never  made any worthwhile contribution towards the development of the country in his role as a minister so far . 

( By clicking on the image below the supporting evidence can be read by magnification)

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by     (2016-06-23 20:12:22)

Sri Lankan govt responds to ‘cluster bombs’ allegation

June 23, 2016

The Sri Lankan government categorically rejected allegations leveled at its military forces following a latest news report on the alleged use of cluster bombs in the final stages of the civil war.

  The news report published by The Guardian has been based on certain material, including photographic evidence, said to have been provided by those previously involved in demining in parts of North, areas where fighting took place in late 2008 and early 2009.

  However, Health Minister and Co-Cabinet Spokesman Dr Rajitha Senaratne stated that many similar photographs had been put forward in the past and inquired whether the name ‘Sri Lanka Army’ had been written on the photograph of the cluster bombs. 

 Firstly it has to be found out whether the photographs were taken in Sri Lanka and secondly whether it is the army or the LTTE, he told reporters on Wednesday (22). 

They say it was found in the war zone but we don’t know who they belong to and how can you say at once that it was the army, he said. “The other thing is why didn’t they reveal this at that time. It has been around 6 years since demining was carried out. Why are they saying this now?” 

Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media, Karunarathna Paranawithana, stated that this is possible an attempt to put the government in a tight spot ahead of the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.  

 “The organizations carrying out the demining work have no moral obligation to reveal the information to media. Demining is a separate profession and they have no right to talk about it outside.” 

  “We see this as something done to put the government in a difficult situation at a time when the topic of Sri Lanka will be discussed in Geneva once again, he said addressing the cabinet press briefing in Colombo. 

 “However, similar allegations have been made against Sri Lanka in the past but Sri Lanka’s army is not an army that has used cluster bombs,” he emphasized. 

  Cluster bombs are distinguished by their capacity to explode and release smaller submunitions that scatter over a wide area. 

 Their inherently indiscriminate nature means their deployment in populated areas could amount to war crimes, as the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, observed earlier this year, citing alleged incidents in Yemen.

Govt yet to approve funds

By Ishara Ratnakara-2016-06-24

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday informed Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris that the Ministry of Law and Order had still not approved costs to send CCTV camera footage of the murder of Rugger star Wasim Thajudeen to Canada, in its efforts to clearly identify Thajudeen's killers.

Though the IGP had submitted a written request to the Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order to supply the finances to send five CDs containing the CCTV camera footage of the Thajudeen murder to the British Columbia Institute in Canada, the CID told Court that approval for funds was yet to be received.

The CID is now planning other means of sending the five CDs to the British Columbia Institute in Canada in a bid to clearly identify Thajudeen's killers to file reports to the effect that the rugby player had died of injuries sustained in a road accident.

The CID said, in a progress report, submitted to Court yesterday, that investigations made to date have revealed that several top ranked Police officers had collaborated with the assailants of the rugby player in an effort to conceal the crime.
The CID added that they had recorded a statement from the OIC of Unit 5 of the Colombo Crimes Division and a former Police Inspector named Sumudu Sudesh Wijesinghe concerning the manner in which initial inquiries into the crime had been conducted.
The CID told Court that Wijesinghe was currently employed as an Inspection Officer at SriLankan Airlines.
The CID officers also told Court that as per a statement made by Wijesinghe, following an order given by the then Director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) SSP D.L.R. Ranaweera, they had obtained a report pertaining to telephone calls, through a Court Order, regarding a robbery case bearing number B 6082/01/11.

The CID informed Court that the Department had also obtained a report on the cell phone bearing registration number 0777354500 which was used by the victim, to be given to the former Head of the National Intelligence Unit, Kapila Hendawitharana, before it was handed over to the former Head of the CCD D.L.R. Ranaweera.

The CID informed Court that according to investigations into the Thajudeen murder, a statement from the Chief Operations Officer of Dialog Axiata Premasiri Ratnayake had also been obtained.

The CID stated that investigations also revealed that following a request by Kapila Hendawitharana, relating to cell phone number 0777354500, a report on calls made from 1 March 2012 to 19 May 2012 had been sent to the e-mail address [email protected]
The CID told Court that they had recorded another statement from Wembert Basker, who had found the wallet of the victim down Robert Gunawardene Mawatha in Kirulapone between 6 and 6.30 a.m. on 17 May 2012.

The CID stated that upon further interrogation, Basker had told Police that two Police officers arrived in a jeep and had taken him to the Kirulapone, Narahenpita and Colombo Police Stations where he was asked to make statements.

The CID further informed Court that it will be recording statements from Police officers connected to inquiries relating to the discovery of the wallet of the victim and the Police officers who had furnished photographs of the accident to the CCD.
PC Anil Silva made a plea for Court to release former DIG Anura Senanayake on bail on grounds of ill health. Senanayake is currently in remand custody on charges of concealing the murder and of having conspired in the crime.

However, Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris dismissed the appeal and ordered suspect Senanayake and former Narahenpita Police Crimes OIC Sumith Champika Perera to be further remanded until 7 July.

AG recommends arrest of Namal & others!

Jun 23, 2016

The Attorney General has informed the FCID that it could take its own decisions and arrest the suspects in a corrupt coal tender deal committed during the previous Rajapaksa regime.

Accordingly, within the next few days, Hambantota district MP Namal Rajapaksa, Pan Asia Bank chairman Nimal Perera, Noel Selvanayagam, Rohan Iriyagolla and Sujani Bogollagama are to be summoned to the FCID for questioning. The tender in question has been submitted by Namal Rajapaksa-owned HELLO CROP.

Dispute between FCID & AG

Instead of directly recommending the arrest of the above-mentioned persons, the AG has recommended that the decision to arrest them after questioning them and wrongdoing is revealed is at the disposal of the FCID, due to a previous controversial incident.

That is – on the AG’s recommendations, the former director board of the Tourism Board was to be arrested and produced before courts over collective responsibility to an instance of abuse of public money.

However, when the FCID went to implement that recommendation, more than 150 officers in the state service appeared on behalf of thieves and threatened to resign, and even a top person in the government has told the FCID to deal compassionately with state officials.

However, the AG had maintained that they should be arrested in view of the abuse of public money for which they were responsible. One of the suspects cited is presently an additional secretary at the prime minister’s office, and tremendous pressure was exerted from the two key partners of the ‘Yahapaalana’ government. So far, no arrests have been made.

This incident has led to a dispute between the FCID and the AG’s Department.

Therefore, this time the AG’s recommendation to the FCID says the decision to arrest them after questioning them and wrongdoing is revealed is at the disposal of the FCID. Anyway, Namal Rajapaksa and the others cited are presently arranging the bail deposits and public servants required, sources say.

Doom and gloom looms over the judiciary : signs of elephant rogues, pimps, henchmen, rapists getting appointments

-CJ Sri Pavan deluded by Bodhi Pooja groups

(Lanka-e-News -23.June.2016, 10.45PM) The applications for appointment of new magistrates and additional district judges to  Sri Lanka ‘s judiciary closed on 10 th June 2016. Yet , based on information reaching Lanka e news inside division (judiciary), with the assistance of Ampara high court judge Sumudhu Premachandra , even  before the final date of closing of applications , confirmation of appointments to some applicants   have already been given.

Premachandra has phoned a judge an intimate friend of his who holds a high post in the Judicial service commission (JSC) and requested to provide opportunities to a number of his friends among those to be appointed as judges . Our information service had confirmed that  this high rung officer of the JSC had consented to his request.

Those who know the inside out of the judicial services say , this kind of favoritism is nothing new , and during the time when  Sarath N Silva was the chief justice and Chandra Jayaratne  was the ex secretary of the JSC since 2001 or thereabout this deplorable system was followed.

Sumudhu Premachandra is a judge who was in the group that offered Bodhi pooja (religious observances ) with great pomp and fuss along with Sarath N .Silva  when the latter was masquerading as a great Buddhist follower while practicing all the cardinal sins on earth  , in order to conceal all the corrupt and treacherous activities of theirs .Even before Premachandra was confirmed in his appointment by the JSC , with the aid of  the Bodhi pooja mask Sarath Silva  enabled Premachandra to follow the Master’s degree course in London.

However , after Sarath Silva went on retirement , Asoka De Silva who replaced him as chief justice did not continue with the Bodhi Pooja ‘circus’  and hypocritical charades , because by then , this Bodhi pooja hypocrisy and masquerades had incurred the displeasure among those in the judicial circles. Besides, Asoka De Silva was not a Buddhist.

In any event no sooner Asoka De Silva was appointed as CJ ,than he visited the Dalada Maligawa to meet the Ven. Mahanayakes. Premachandra the Kandy magistrate then having got wind of CJ’s arrival ahead , and who is highly  skilled in the art of hypocrisy , along with a group of his henchmen also appeared at the Malwatte Vihara.
 
Asoka De Silva who noticed the magistrate inquired, ‘what are you doing here ? Are the courts closed today ? It is now 9.30 a.m.’ and ordered Premachandra to  immediately go to the courts. Poor Premachandra who went with great hopes to fawn on the new CJ , got blown off with those remarks. 

Now , the latest victim who is  misled by  Sarath Silva’s  Bodhi pooja group notorious for masquerades , piety  charades and hypocritical religious parades is Sripavan the present CJ.

This   group of henchmen (judges) alias hangers on  now  swarming around  Sripavan have now revived  the Bodhi pooja hypocrisy ‘circus’ of Premachandra and group in the precincts of the courts  again.  

In the light of this  portentous situation  gripping the judiciary ,those of the legal profession including luminaries are naturally concerned about the rapid deterioration  of the already degenerate judicial standards  in the country amidst pimps, elephant rogues , rapists, and rascals creeping into posts of judges even before selections are duly made and examinations held  , as highlighted  in the earlier paragraphs  . It is their carefully considered opinion the end result of these hypocritical circuses and religious charades too will be , courting total  disaster  for the judiciary.    

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by     (2016-06-23 19:38:20)

Nearly 50,000 heroin addicts in Sri Lanka


2016-06-23

About 50,000 heroin addicts were reported in Sri Lanka while nearly 200,000 people were reportedly addicted to cannabis, National Dangerous Drugs Control Board Chairman said today. 

Chairman Prof. Ravindra Fernando said about 1000 to 2000 people were getting addicted to drugs annually.

 “We are not getting exact details of the drug addicts as they are doing it secretly. But we hope to conduct a survey to identify the people addicted to drugs next year,” he said.

 Professor Fernando said International Narcotics Research Institute had revealed that Sri Lanka has become a drug transporting hub since of late and added that Sri Lanka had sought the assistance of several Asian countries to establish a centre in Sri Lanka to share information on drug smuggling and related incidents. 

“We have received information that most of the drugs seized in Sri Lanka is not for the consumption in the country but to export to European countries,” he said. 

Professor Fernando told a news briefing that drug addicts were being rehabilitated in rehabilitation centres operated by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board in Kandy, Colombo, Galle, Nittambuwa and Piliyandala.

 He said International Anti-Narcotics Day would be celebrated at the Foundation Institute on June 26 with the participation of President Maithripala Sirisena, where officials of the police, three armed forces and customs officials who contributed to the prevention of drug smuggling would be commended.

 He added that the document of the national policy on drug prevention would be handed over to the President at the ceremony.
 When asked, the chairman said they were going to get information from the courts how the seized drugs were being destroyed so as to ensure the transparency of the process of destroying the seized drugs. (Ajith Siriwardana)

Down syndrome man, child, killed by Israeli soldiers

Relatives of Arif Jaradat, a 22-year old who was fatally injured by Israeli occupation forces, mourn over his body during his funeral in Sair village near the West Bank city of Hebron, 20 June.Nasser ShiyoukhiAP Photo

Charlotte Silver-21 June 2016

Israeli soldiers opened fired on a car of young Palestinians returning from a late-night pool party celebrating Ramadan, killing 15-year-old Mahmoud Badran and injuring four others.

The army has admitted the Palestinians were bystanders, saying they were “mistakenly hit” while soldiers were responding to reports that Palestinians were throwing rocks and firebombs on a highway that runs between Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the town of Modi’in.

But the mayor of Beit Ur al-Tahta, Mahmoud’s home village, said the boys’ vehicle was not attacked when it was on Highway 443, but on a smaller road that isn’t used by Israeli drivers.

The highway was built on land expropriated from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank but is reserved for Israelis.

Mahmoud’s father told the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz that the car his son was in was driving on an underpass beneath Highway 443 when it was fired on.

“As they approached the passage, a car stood on the bridge, next to a man with a gun who opened fire on the vehicle,” the elder Badran said.

“As far as I could understand, some of the passengers jumped out of the vehicle and some remained inside, and were hit, including my son who was very seriously wounded and died a short time later.”

The Palestinian news website Quds tweeted these photos of Mahmoud.

View image on Twitter

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الاحتلال يواصل احتجاز جثمان الشهيد الطفل رأفت بدران الذي ارتقى برصاصها غربي رام الله فجر اليوم.#الانتفاضة_مستمرة

2:54 AM - 21 Jun 2016

A total of seven people were in the vehicle when it was fired on. Three of the injured passengers were taken to a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah and another to an Israeli hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that soldiers prevented paramedics from attending to the injured Palestinians for over 90 minutes.

The Palestinian health ministry reported that the three teens treated at the Palestinian hospital had bullet wounds in the head and chest.

Israeli soldiers detained the other two passengers, according to their father.

The Israeli army has opened an investigation into the shooting, but such investigations have been criticized for habitually whitewashing incidents in which Palestinians are killed or injured.

According to the Israeli army, an Israeli and two tourists were injured at 1am on Tuesday after a firebomb and rocks were thrown onto Highway 443. A group of soldiers arrived at the scene and reportedly chased after a stone thrower. That is when they shot at Mahmoud Badran’s car.

The Palestinian Authority has called the shooting a “coldblooded assassination.”

“The most loveable person”

In a separate incident, a 22-year-old man with Down syndrome died Sunday evening from wounds sustained when Israeli forces raided his hometown of Sair in the occupied West Bank over a month ago.

Arif Jaradat was shot in the abdomen on 4 May when Israeli forces raided his village.

He is the 14th Palestinian from Sair to be killed by Israeli forces since last October.

Jaradat’s father, Sharif, told Agence France-Presse that his son went outside when he heard villagers confronting soldiers.

“He got about 10 meters from the soldiers and put his hands in the air,” Sharif Jaradat said.

He added that his other sons were there and shouted to the soldiers in English and Hebrew not to shoot.

“There were seven soldiers there; they started to leave but one came back and fired,” Jaradat said.

Arif Jaradat was treated at al-Ahli hospital in Hebron, where he died on Sunday.

On Monday, Jaradat’s family held a funeral attended by dozens of relatives and neighbors.

“He was the most loveable [person] in the village,” his father told AFP.

Beaten by mob

On Saturday night, a mob of bystanders in Tel Aviv beat an unconscious man they believed to be a Palestinian who had intentionally crashed his car into a restaurant.

The man, who later died, reportedly had a heart attack at the wheel, causing him to lose control of his car and crash into the crowded restaurant.

In addition to the driver, who was in his 50s, two customers were killed and six were injured in the accident.

According to reports, customers pulled the unconscious driver from his car and immediately began beating him.