Sri Lanka’s Brexit hour still to come 

By Jehan Perera-June 27, 2016

The Sri Lankan government goes into the current session of the UN Human Rights Council with several accomplishments to show. These are primarily at the level of change of spirit and less as concrete changes that can be quantified. It is difficult to quantify the impact of the lifting of fear of agents of the state and their associates acting with impunity, of white vans into which people disappear and the attitude of confrontation. But these have transformed life in the country. The passage of the Right to Information law in Parliament unanimously, without a vote and therefore without division, is an indication that there is broad acceptance in the polity, to which the government gives leadership, that good governance is good for all. In addition, the government has been able to showcase the draft law setting up the Office of Missing Persons, which is one of the four transitional justice mechanisms that it promised to establish at the October 2015 session of the UNHRC.

There are many other changes in the political and legal framework that will infuse a new spirit and atmosphere into the country, such as the draft constitution, the preparation of which is proceeding more rapidly than anticipated. The Steering Committee appointed by the Constitutional Assembly formed out of the whole of Parliament for evolving proposals for a new constitution will be submitting its interim report that will give an outline of its preliminary proposals for constitution-making soon, as early as next month. The promise of the new constitution will be, amongst others, to provide a lasting solution to the issues that embroiled the country in three decades of violence, which led to war, to massive human rights violations on all sides and to war crimes.

With these changes in the offing, and those that have taken place, the Sri Lankan government is unlikely to face opposition or even strong criticism from the international community or from the member countries of the UNHRC when its performance over the past year is appraised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zaid Al Hussein during the present session of the UNHRC. The main issue on which it may be questioned is whether it is fully implementing the resolution of October 2015 that it co-sponsored. The government has yet to deliver on many commitments, including repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, restoration to people of land taken over by the military, the significant reduction of military presence in the North and East and, most controversially within the country and internationally, the issue of the nature of involvement of foreign judges and legal personnel in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism.

MINISTER’S SPEECH

In a speech delivered at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs in Oslo, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera responded to international critics of the government who accuse it of bad faith and going too slow in implementing the promises it made at the UNHRC in October 2015. His message was that the government was doing what was in the country’s national interest, and not to impress the international community. He quoted from President Maithripala Sirisena’s Independence Day speech this year to bolster this point. The President had said, "It is now time for us to seize the current opportunity that is before us to implement the provisions of the UNHRC resolution, not because of international pressure, but because as a nation we must implement these provisions for the sake of restoring the dignity of our nation, our people and our military…."

Minister Samaraweera also addressed the controversial issue of international participation in the post-war transitional justice process. There is virtual unanimity amongst the Tamil people that the Sri Lankan legal system will not be able to deliver justice on the issues of war-time violations of human rights and war crimes. They see the Sri Lankan legal system as being dominated by the majority ethnic community as indeed all state institutions in the country currently are, and therefore that they will not deliver justice to the Tamil people. Minister Samaraweera acknowledged the importance of ensuring justice to the victims through a process of consensus. He said "the final architecture of the courts we are hoping to set up will be in discussion. Especially with parties like the TNA or other groups that represent the victims."

However, the Foreign Minister also made it clear that it was the Sri Lankan government that would decide what should be done in regard to reform and to resolving its problems. It is the government that has to take the political decisions as to what should be given priority to, and what it can do, given the need to take the population along with it. The departure of UK from the EU is an important reminder that it is necessary for a government to be able to take the people along with it and to be pragmatic when it comes to the people deciding. In the UK the political establishment, the elites, the intellectuals and also the international community were solidly in support of the UK remaining within the EU. But still the vote to remain in the UK was lost. Similarly, in the case of Sri Lanka, it would be futile if the government were to seek to satisfy the international community, but find themselves rejected by the people.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

After the present session of the UNHRC, the government will have time till March 2017 to demonstrate to the international community what it has achieved. During this period Sri Lanka will be making its tryst with destiny. During this period the transitional justice mechanism will be put in place and the new constitution will be put before the people. The challenge for the government will be to take the people along with it in the course of this reform process, especially where it concerns inter-ethnic relations. As Foreign Minister Samaraweera said of the lost opportunities of the past, "we had all the opportunities, we had all the reasons to succeed but because we could not come to terms with our own diversity as a nation, what could have been easily solved at the early stages then became a bitter war and as a result Sri Lanka today has to I believe recommence that journey all over again…"

The gulf between the communities still remains wide. This is reflected in the repeated demands by the Northern Provincial Council for a federal solution in which there will be the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. Both of these demands, which are long standing ones from the Tamil polity, have little or no support from the rest of the Sri Lankan polity. Most people in the country who do not know what federalism is nevertheless believe that it is the equivalent of a separate state or will soon lead to it. Similarly with regard to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the constitution, which the government is legally obliged to do, there is no agreement on the devolution of land and police powers, with the communities taking opposing positions on these issues.

The convincing majorities with which the government has been able to ward off challenges to itself, such as the no-confidence motion against Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake which the government prevailed by a big majority of 145 votes to 51, and the unanimous passage of the Right to Information bill in Parliament does not necessarily reflect the strength of the government and its allies in terms of public popularity. People are disappointed with the government for a number of reasons, ranging from failure to demilitarize, release land and find missing people in the North and East, and to the rise in the cost of living due to unpopular taxes and shortage of job opportunities that affect all parts of the country. These discontents could lead to popular rejection of enlightened top-down government initiatives of transitional justice and constitutional change as in the case of the Brexit referendum where nationalistic parochialism triumphed over universal values. This suggests that the government will be looking to give priority to domestic politics over international expectations in implementing the UNHRC resolution. It also needs to build support amongst the people for the coming political changes so that the values of a "multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural nation" as described by Foreign Minister Samaraweera in his Oslo speech, prevail over nationalist parochialism.

Recapturing the democratic space

JUN 27 2016

Last week, a very senior foreign official, who had previously served as his country’s topmost diplomat in Lanka, during the height of the war, told in Jaffna that the present moment in Lanka constitutes the best opportunity to find a political solution. Every diplomat who visits Lanka suggests the same. Even the main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance, characterised it as such and expressed hope during the election campaign last year that by the end of this year a political solution would have been signed!

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe signed a peace agreement with Prabhakaran a decade ago. Then SLFP President allowed Wickremesinghe to make such an agreement. Hence it was a moment all bourgeois liberals got together to find a solution by negotiation with Tamil nationality. TNA too supported the action of Wickremesinghe. We lost that opportunity because of the chauvinist activities led by Mahinda Rajapaksa and Wimal Weerawansa.

Ceasefire agreement

The Parliamentary elections of December 5, 2001, resulted in a victory for the United National Front (UNF) alliance led by the United National Party (UNP). The UNP had campaigned on a pro-peace platform and pledged to find a negotiated settlement to the Sri Lankan civil war. Within days of the UNF victory, the LTTE announced a 30-day ceasefire. This ceasefire was formalised on February 22, 2002, when the UNF Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE signed a Norwegian mediated permanent ceasefire agreement.

In September 2002, peace talks began in Phuket, Thailand, but in April 2003, the LTTE suspended talks citing a number of reasons. However, on October 31, 2003, with the ceasefire still functioning, the LTTE issued their proposals for an ISGA.

The ISGA would have broad powers such as the right to impose the rule of law, collect taxes, run the administration and oversee the rehabilitation process in north and east, and it would be controlled by the LTTE until elections were held. Crucially however, the LTTE had dropped their demand for an independent Tamil Eelam in favour of regional autonomy. There was a tremendous possibility for a solution and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s intervention was compared to that of Abraham Lincoln in removing black national oppression. However Sinhala chauvinists upset the situation and opened the era of blood and tears.

Rights of Tamil people

Why is the current moment being called an opportunity?

The frequently heard answer is that it is an opportunity because again the liberals represented by two main southern parties are in the same government. It is true that both main parties are in the government and that this has never happened before. We cannot omit the heroic venture of Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2003. But this assumes that a political solution has not been arrived at owing to bi-partisan elite driven Sinhala politics.

Also, it assumes that there were no forces in the south that fought for the right of self determination of Tamil people. No, that is incorrect. In 2003, Prabhakaran opted for internal self determination in order to help the forces in the south that stood for the rights of the Tamil people. Though he was not committed to self determination, it is the opposition of the day that has impeded a political solution that the then sitting government was willing to settle for.

We cannot underestimate the struggle of Sinhala masses that constitute not only Sinhala Sama Samajists but also many radical groups spread throughout the Sinhala areas.

It is incorrect to say that the Sinhala, who accept Buddhist consciousness, will automatically and firmly identify a unitary Sri Lanka.

Any constitutional arrangement that deviates from the unitary character is understood to threaten the territorial integrity of the state. The Sinhala Buddhist attachment to a unitary state is driven by larger social forces that have been fed by insecurities that are deep-rooted in the everyday life of the Sinhala Buddhist community.

Electoral politics

These Sinhala Buddhist forces are hugely influential in electoral politics and there is no political party in the South that is not affected by its influence. Such arguments got bashed in the last two elections. It was not only a successful election campaign but also anti-racist, anti-fascist, political campaign where masses came out with slogans condemning racism and Sinhala chauvinism. These masses are still alert and active.

Hence it was surprising, early this year when the resolution to set up a constitutional assembly was being debated on, a section of the government and their party colleagues in opposition insisted and succeeded in deleting a reference in the preamble that the new constitution would aim to resolve the national question. However they agreed to discuss the document proposing substantial devolution. That is a great step forward.

We have to fight back and recapture the democratic space and march forward. Struggle for recognition of nationality is a protracted struggle with repeated one step back two steps forward.

Protestors in Jaffna demand accountability for the missing and release of land

 27 June 2016

Tamil protestors took to the streets of Jaffna today to demand the Sri Lankan government deliver accountability for their disappeared relatives, as well as release land that continues to be occupied by the military.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Nallur temple, before marching towards the United Nations office in Jaffna to hand over a petition. Protestors also marched to the District Secretariat of Jaffna and the Northern Province Governor’s office to submit further petitions calling for the release of military occupied and for Tamil political prisoners to be set free.

Participants came from a range of civil society organisations, including the National Fishermen Cooperation Movement, Federation of People missing from North and East, Movement for release of Political Prisoners, Mannar Citizen’s Group, as well as the relatives of disappeared people who continue to search for their loved ones.

The protest comes as the Sri Lankan military declared that it had released over 700 acres of land earlier this week. Villagers though state that they continue to be denied access to areas where their homes are situated.

Displaced villagers from Valikamam North also took part in the rally, who despite much publicised releases of land by the Sri Lankan military, continue to be displaced and denied access to their homes.

As the demonstrators marched with placards towards the UN office, Sri Lankan military personnel were also seen photographing participants, in an attempt to intimidate the protestors.

A Broken System: Sri Lanka’s ongoing battle against torture

RAISA WICKREMATUNGE on 06/26/2016

June 26 marks the International Day in support of Victims of Torture. Several recent reports have flagged that torture is a frequent and ongoing phenomenon among the police and military, even today, 7 years after the war has ended.

In light of this, Groundviews spoke to local activists and lawyers, to understand why, and how, such incidents continue to occur.

View the full story, compiled using Shorthand Social, here, or below:

Using Sri Lanka’s RTI as an ‘extraordinary exception’

Sunday, June 26, 2016

This Friday as Sri Lanka’s Parliament unanimously approved the  amidst the mumbling discontents of its gloomy detractors in the House, sceptics raised a rare and hearty cheer.

Born out of a tortuous process ranging back over two decades and frustrated by political hostility on several occasions, it was difficult to believe that this country had at last passed an information law which, though not perfect as such laws rarely are, eminently sufficed for the purpose.

A powerful tool to demand answers

The primary importance of Sri Lanka’s RTI law, once in force, will be its raw power in the hands of ordinary citizens to demand answers from politicians and public servants. Fashioning RTI into a powerful tool can transform Sri Lanka, far more than goose-stepping commissions, committee or task forces can ever hope to achieve.

It can also have immediate direct impact on peoples’ rights as opposed to convoluted constitutional provisions which depend on enlightened and liberal judicial interpretation, a quality that Sri Lanka has sorely been lacking in recent decades.

The core of RTI lies in the embracing of the law as their own by Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim citizens whether in demanding information regarding to moneys spent in building a culvert by a local authority or in demanding information in regard to the ‘disappeared.’

The use of RTI against ‘black money’ rackets

This is how it has been worked in India which is perhaps the most eloquent example in the region. The RTI impact on ‘black money’ rackets driven by politicians and profiting businessmen has been startling. Just a few months ago, massive evasion of tax and money-laundering was exposed through an RTI application filed before the Department of Income Tax by a retired Indian inland revenue service official where income from undisclosed sources was shown as agricultural income despite the level of production remaining the same.

This irrational boost during 2010-2011 in agricultural income as declared by some assesses coincided with the period during which government-initiated enquiries regarding black money in foreign accounts. The RTI disclosures have led to the Government pledging to hold an inquiry.

Further RTI requests have led to refusal by the Department on the basis that the applicant has not disclosed sufficient public interest compelling such disclosures between the Department and tax-paying citizens held in a fiduciary relationship. In response to this denial, a public interest petition has been filed in the High Court with the High Court calling for a reply from the Government. This is RTI activism in full swing.

Judicial interventions into financial scandals

In any event, the Indian courts have been successfully utilised to raise public awareness on gross financial scandals. Spurred by disclosures in the media, a wealth of information on money laundering rackets of Indians with massive unaccounted ‘black money’ accounts in foreign banks has come into the public domain. In 2011, the Indian Supreme Court issued an order on a public interest petition filed by senior lawyer and politician Ram Jethmalani directing the disclosure of names of Indian account holders in a Liechtenstein bank. The judges reprimanded the Government for its lack of interest in probing money laundering schemes and ordered the setting up of a multi-disciplinary team to investigate the alleged crimes. The Government’s appeal that a double taxation avoidance treaty between India and Germany prohibited revealing names of the account holders was dismissed.

At the centre of this scandal is a stud farm owner and scrap dealer Hasan Ali Khan who was estimated to have stashed away millions in foreign banks. Despite the Court’s 2011 authoritative order, the information on foreign bank account holders has been slow in coming. The Court warned consequently that this lack of action could amount to contempt of court. The investigation team headed by a retired justice began inquiring into the case. But there are undertones familiar to Sri Lanka as continuing lack of official vigor in pursuing the matter led to harsh criticism.

Writing to the Sunday Guardian on 23rd September 2015, Jethmalani subjected the Government to a scathing attack, pointing to the fact that ‘instead of implementing the order, it is focusing on how to get it reviewed, recalled or diluted.’ This year, Jethmalani engaged in another tactic familiar to Sri Lankans; he apologised to the Indian public for once supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian authorities have admitted that Khan owes the Income Tax Department the largest recovery amount in Indian tax history amidst fears that this may not be recoverable. Year by year, the amount owing by Khan to the Department has been whittled down with Khan spending only a brief stint in jail.

Correcting outrageous political betrayals

These are lessons that we should learn from India and elsewhere. Indeed, Sri Lanka gingerly steps into an ‘RTI-era’ long after it actually should have claimed such a law as its own. The 2004 Cabinet approved RTI Bill was defeated by the political pusillanimity of the Kumaratunga Presidency which dissolved Parliament while the Bill was about to be presented and by the chicanery of the Rajapaksa Presidency which outrageously declared that it was the source of all information.

Save for these unforgivable political betrayals, the RTI law would have been in Sri Lanka’s statute books during the past decade at least.

Even now and exuberance over the passing of the Bill nonetheless, the real difficulties lie ahead. RTI must be evidenced through vigorous activism in Sri Lankan villages and far flung outposts of the country, not limited to ‘information seminars’ and ‘talk shops’ in Colombo like many other such exercises. It must not be allowed to languish like information laws in Nepal and the Maldives.

Using the RTI differently

Our past experiences have not been encouraging in that regard. We have a plethora of laws which are excellent in theory but lamentably deficient in practice. The 1994 Convention Against Torture (CAT) Act is a prime example of this failure. In some respects, its legal thrust is even better than the United Nations Convention against Torture itself. Yet its implementation is dismal, due to deliberate obstruction and lack of political will by state actors including the Department of the Attorney General.

The challenge before us is to prove the RTI as the extraordinary exception to this disheartening rule.

Sri Lankan Army: release record of war ‘surrendees’

Jun 24, 2016

It has been almost 7 years since the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s civil war and there are still many questions that remain unanswered. One of the biggest of those is what happened to the many hundreds of LTTE ‘surrendees’, as well as the thousands of Tamil civilians, who were taken into the custody of the Sri Lankan army at the end of the war and whose whereabouts remain unknown.


In February 2009, as the war reached its final climax, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister for Human Rights and Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasinghe (now Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training under Sirisena’s Government) issued a statement in which they offered amnesty to junior LTTE cadres who voluntarily surrendered to the Army. It is estimated that several hundred, LTTE cadres did just that. Several thousand civilians also crossed the frontline during the final weeks of the war, many of them subsequently being detained in the notorious ‘IDP camps’ before being interrogated and/or sent for ‘rehabilitation’.
Among those reported or witnessed to have entered into the custody of the Sri Lankan armed forces alive, a significant proportion of them – particularly among surrendering LTTE cadres – remain unaccounted for. For many of the families who are still searching for answers about what happened to them, it is often at this stage in the timeline that the trail runs cold. There is strong evidence to suggest that many of those who did come under the control of the Sri Lankan armed forces at the end of the war were extra-judicially killed.
In this context, the revelation by Major General Chanayaka Gunaratna (head of the Army’s 58th Division), that the army is in possession of a list of people that surrendered during the final stages of the war is of enormous significance. The admission came in February during a writ of habeus corpus magistrates hearing filed by Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sathisaran (and several others) in relation to missing relatives, when the officer stated that none of those missing persons in question were on a list of names held by the army.
This would apparently be the first time that the army has confirmed that a record of individuals moving across the front-line at the end of the war was kept and – whilst the number of individuals accounted for by the record remains unclear – could potentially be a major development in helping to establish the last known whereabouts of many of the disappeared.
On 17 February, Mullaittivu Magistrate MSM Samsudeen ordered the officer to furnish the court with the list by 20 April. Disappointingly however, Army representatives informed the Mullaitivu Magistrate on the 19 May, that it needed more time in handing over information of persons surrendered into their custody – this after two separate postponements in the hearing due to the absence of Major General Gunaratna and his representation.

The army must disclose this information as a matter of urgency. It is now incumbent on the judiciary and political leadership in Sri Lanka – as well as the international community at the ongoing Human Rights Council session – to apply the pressure to ensure they do so. Amid the drafting of new legislation for an Office of Missing Persons, and Sri Lanka’s recent ratification of the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances, the Sri Lankan state now faces a major opportunity to clearly demonstrate the real depth of its commitment to establishing the truth about the 24,000 plus cases of missing persons in Sri Lanka. Their response will provide one of the strongest indications yet of whether the new mechanisms for investigating the disappeared will be able to prevail over the deep culture of secrecy within the Sri Lankan security forces, and the impunity it creates.

New political culture,an unattainable dream?

Heart and mind are so central to life. Politicians in power cannot be heartless or mindless and sensitive only to what affects them personally. What does your mind go after.. what does your heart go after? Where your treasure is, there your heart also will be.

by Fr. Augustine Fernando

( June 27, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) During the presidential and parliamentary election campaigns there was the big promise of a new political culture. Though the fear that was widespread in Sri Lanka till the dawn of 2015 is now no more, the culture of the robber barons introduced to Sri Lanka in 1978 persists. The Rajapaksas took advantage of the culture that prevailed, added to it their despotic ambitions, resorted to abuse of power, abuse of state resources, voluminous swindling, shameless flamboyant living, high handedness and flouted the rules of civilized conduct and lowered Sri Lanka’s politics to abysmal depths of corruption dragging down the legal system and making the public administration their sycophantic arm. Sri Lanka has for a long time been wanting of politicians who would place the country before their private ambitions and base appetites prioritizing their sensualities. The politicians’ personal entrenched enslavement to the appetites of their senses make them forgetful of the mission for which they were elected, leads them to misuse of power and cheating and deceiving the people in so many ways. Many resort to looting of the state resources and amassing money for them to indulge in their lusty and sordid lifestyle which has led them even to depravities of the uncivilized. Politicians’ personal flaws obstruct and hinder the development of the Country.

POLITICIANS’ SHENANIGANS

What is obstructing the coming about of a clean and new political culture that is beneficial to the people are these enslavements. The weaknesses the politicians naturally gravitate to become notably prominent especially in presidents, prime ministers, high profile ministers, parliamentarians and public officials when due to their faults, mishaps, foibles, indiscretions, events and doings that have taken place in hiding trickle down the grapevine and get to be known. Some elected representatives and officials while simulating to attend to one’s official functions actually care mainly about their own interests as for example when they unnecessarily go abroad when our Country’s ambassador at his post (the Government is expected to appoint qualified, competent and reliable persons to such high office) could attend to pertinent affairs. Thus they turn out to be irresponsible. This kind of political behavior has become quite common. They are elected to attend sessions of parliament and not to play truant like ill-behaved schoolboys and indulge in selfish shenanigans. ROGUES IN POWER ? Ministers of the present government say that they do not know where over a thousand motor vehicles used by the last regime have gone. Some of them were office holders of the last government. If there had been no record of responsible individual persons to whom expensive vehicles were allotted for official work, if there is no record of the fuel used and the travelling done, that itself shows the poor quality of responsibility of Rajapakse and his regime’s administration of ‘home affairs’. Why cannot the present Government hold them to account? It is said that some ministers of the government remain in collusion with those of the last regime. If that is so they show themselves to be corrupt. It is also openly said by many, among whom is Lal Kantha, M.P., that among the cabinet ministers are those who should be in jail. Citizens could never expect good governance with a bunch of rogues in power. This terrible indictment is a premonition that holds little hope for a new political culture. Those who are part of the government engage in practices that are detrimental to the common good. For example, Members of Parliament get hold of government owned low lying lands, especially close to urban commercial centres or habitable areas, fill them under the pretext of ‘land development’ and sell as housing blocks at exorbitant prices causing floods that damage the urbanized areas. MPs also have indulged in deforestation and caused environmental havoc in Sri Lanka, engaged in the drug trade, banking billions of dollars abroad and laundered black money.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Heart and mind are so central to life. Politicians in power cannot be heartless or mindless and sensitive only to what affects them personally. What does your mind go after.. what does your heart go after? Where your treasure is, there your heart also will be. Equipment costing billions of rupees were left neglected without it being installed because of the lack of due attention on the part of irresponsible, incompetent and careless politicians and bureaucrats. Their heart was elsewhere. It is not that the elected politicians do not know of what is called ‘conflict of interest’ when they represent the people and rob them at the same time; it is that in the absence of politeness, ordinary good manners, honesty and integrity, their roguish appetites overtake them. The people who feel let down come to know that attention to important matters of state are procrastinated, obligations and duties neglected, time wasted, and government funds squandered, official position misused and the people to be served are left in the lurch. When these things happen regularly and even in times of distress like the tsunamis, floods, landslides, natural and other disasters, they add criminality to tragedy. Some people think that madu waliges are not enough to punish them and that following the culture and style of former Sinhala kings they should be made to sit on the point of a crowbar the size of a tall arecanut tree!

‘KINGS’ : COLOSSAL WRECKERS

The ruins of the statue of a young pharaoh inspired the poet Shelley (1792-1822) to pen the sonnet that he called ‘Ozymandias’, the Greek name for Ramesses II who ruled Egypt for sixty seven years from 1279 to 1213 BC and whose military conquests and huge monuments and buildings have been wiped out by the sands of time: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.” The ruined statue’s remains articulate Pharaoh Ramesses’s arrogance and passions which have outlived him and which the sculptor’s ‘hand .. mocked’. Shelley is both ridiculing and pitying the pharaoh who crowed about his power. This poses fundamental questions about the important matters that should be foremost in the minds of the political leaders of nations wielding power. Personal moral defects and flaws that distort the vision and understanding of matters and affairs of a nation affect many Sri Lankan politicians in power and deprived of power.

BRUTALIZED MINDS AND HEARTS

Prominent human defects and failures which in a culture influenced by religions is generally called ‘sin’ get manifested in so many ways. The worst effects of sin are not always manifested in physical deceases and bodily effects and defacement. It is manifested in the disoriented and distorted and hardened faculties of the mind, unworthy loves, selfish goals, very low ideals, a slavish spirit, even brutalized attitudes of mind and heart. What is more important? To complete monumental projects to perpetuate one’s name irrespective of whether they benefit the people or not and to dominate and boss over everyone or to serve humbly and show compassion and loving kindness to the people, especially the poor and helpless over whom one is placed? Our country too has seen far too much of the spirit and type of the arrogant despot, the fraudulent dictator and the corrupt politician rather than the benevolent, just and compassionate representative of the people committed to the common good. Finally it devolves on the people to discard and get rid of the satanic characters: the morally and socially corrupt politicians, the wreckers of human relationships still clinging to power or trying to come to power. Before the next elections come, the people should organize themselves and go in search of honest and righteous citizens and unequivocally demand of party leaders to call upon them to shoulder the responsibilities of high political office and bring about what the people desire, the new political culture which should not remain an unattainable dream.

How did penniless wizened old Daisy disburse Rs. 50 million in Yoshitha’s fraudulent deal ? The true story unearthed...

(Lanka-e-News -27.June.2016, 11.45PM)  When Namal Rajapakse M.P. recently was summoned to  the FCID to record a statement , and on another occasion when his father Mahinda Rajapakse M.P. too went to record statements at the   FCID  , Yoshitha Rajapakse , the other son of Mahinda Rajapakse who addressed media conferences every now and then said , the government in order to take political revenge on the family is implicating their  family members  in a transaction pertaining to an ancestral  land in Mt. Lavinia,and  is summoning them to the FCID  , whereas that transaction was in fact a  private deal , he pointed out .

Unfortunately however for the Rajapakses , it has been proved with evidence and without doubt from a legal perspective that this transaction has been carried out transgressing laws , and the relevant owners had been forcibly induced to do this deal using powers illegally .Moreover it is now clear based on clear and cogent written evidence , by deploying a huge unaccountable amount of money and making their  old  grandmother by the name of Daisy Ferius Wikremesinghe a scapegoat , this fraudulent transaction has been concluded,

The true story as opposed to the old wives’ tale weaved using wizened old grandmother  by the fraudulent Rajapakses is hereunder … 

This ancestral land belonging to Shiranthee Rajapakse is located in Mihindu Mawatha , Mt. Lavinia. The rights to ownership of Shiranthee was transferred to Yoshitha Rajapakse via a deed No. 3221 on 2015-010-12 attested by a public notary by the name of  Weeraman.

However , as this land was not on par with  the so called reputation of Rajapakses , there was a need for Yoshitha and other family members to extend this land . With this in view , they have abused their powers to illegally carry out this infamous transaction . Therefore  based on an extensive   probe and an analysis  conducted into this transaction , it has come to light , Yoshitha Rajapakse has abused his power and  filthy lucre  to annex the contiguous lands of the neighbors around his primary land  by fair or foul means.

Accordingly , it is apparent the plots of land , 12.4 perches, 10 perches , 02.6 perches of the neighbors and 5 perches of land belonging to the Dehiwela- Mt. Lavinia cooperative have been illegally sought to  be annexed.

It is reported that a partition case No. 147/95/P had been filed in respect of this land 27.1 perches in  extent in the Mt.Lavinia district court.

The parties to this land litigation are as follows :
1.Steven Fernando
2.Irene De Silva
3.Cyril Fernando
4.Hemalatha Ranaweera
5.Mabel Suraweera
6.Patrick Fernando
7.Asalin Fernando
8.Edmund Fernando
9.Violet Fernando

Among those named above , some have deeds while others have actual rights to ownership of those lands , reports  say.

Law turned topsy turvy

According to the present partition laws of the country , it is the accepted legal position , a ‘Lis pendens’ file must be registered with the land Registrar’s office , and thereafter in respect of the land proposed for partition , except through  the final decision of the partition case , that land cannot be transferred by any other means to a third party .In the event ofsuch a transfer, the court acts to declare all such transfers as null and void in law.

How Yoshitha Rajapakse subverted and circumvented  the laws..

An agreement to sell was entered into first of all  by  Daisy Ferius Wickremesinghe with all the parties abovenamed of the partition case and it  is the Public notary Weeraman mentioned above who had attested the sale agreements Nos. 3084, 3085 , 3086 , 3087 , 3088,3089 ,3090, 3091 and 3092.

While the partition case is pending , a deed is signed. 

The Public notary Weeraman had prepared  a partition deed No. 3093 on 2013-05-03 in respect of the plots of land , 12.4 perches , 10 perches and 2.6 perches mentioned earlier. Unbelievably this is the first time  such a strange , bizarre and extraordinary  (il)legal method was followed in Sri Lanka.  Moreover , an agreement regarding partitioning reached among the parties to the partition case has been incorporated in this partition deed No. 147/95/P , as the partition case final decision.

How justice was made a mockery and court procedures were flouted

Based on this , against the interim decision in the case No. 147/95/P , the parties to the case have filed an appeal No. CA/938/97  in the appeal court. The parties have then obtained the concurrence of the appeal court in respect of the aforementioned agreement arrived at by the parties based on the partition deed noted above.

Daisy Achi of Yoshitha has paid Rs. 49.52 million as purchase price. 

Daisy Wickremesinghe has then paid money to the above parties at under valued prices and secured the ownership of the four deeds.

The deeds of  sale attested by Notary Weeraman are : deed 3107, 3108,  3109 and deed No. 3158 attested on 2013- 08-29. Daisy has paid Rs. 49.52 million to the parties  after undervaluing, as detailed below :

01.Steven Fernando – Rs. 7.5 million
02.Asirin De Silva-Rs. 3.54 million
03.Cyril Fernando –Rs. 7 million
04.Hemalatha Ranaweera –Rs.6 million
05. Mabel Suraweera –Rs. 3.34 million
06.Patrick Fernando – Rs. 7 million
07.Aslin Fernando –Rs. 2.5 million
08.Edmund Fernando –Rs. 1.5 million
09.Violet Fernando –Rs. 3.34 million

Following this transaction , among these  parties some   did  not have ownership but enjoyed rights , yet through them a deed  has been written and attested by Weeraman on 2013-03-06 disclaiming their  titles and its registration  No. is 3106.

Final analysis

By what have been revealed hereinbefore , clearly what is exposed is , how the Rajapakses abusing their powers had sought to exert pressures in regard to Establishments, and owners of properties overriding the laws and  trampling justice .In some instances they have even killed those who did not yield to their pressures , and who  obstructed their ambitions. Thajudeen murder is a case in point. In Thajudeen’s murder they have brought the criminal laws , the police , the courts and the medical sphere under their brutal control , in order to achieve their ambitions and pursue their foul agendas. 

According to what the CSN case  reveals  , in order to launder  the black monies generated by himself  illegally (Black monies amassed from Shangrila  hotel and Ports) the companies Act and television telecasting rights have been violated , to commit financial irregularities.

Based on the above  analysis it had come to light ,the laws relating to lands  have been bent ,  twisted and used by Rajpakses as they wished in the way they wanted to acquire them in a manner as never before in Sri Lanka .Similarly, it must be probed following this transaction ,how Daisy the wizened grandmother of Namal Rajapakse who is 80 years old acquire so much wealth to spend Rs. 49.52 million 

Moreover according to reports , she has never a day paid any taxes , and is  a lady who had no properties to call as her own 

By a special correspondent 
Translated  by Jeff

---------------------------
by     (2016-06-28 00:40:43)

Will Sri Lanka Get Green Climate Funding?

By Vositha Wijenayake –June 27, 2016

Vositha Wijenayake

In an attempt to address the needs of the vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka that are impacted by adverse effects of climate change, Sri Lanka has submitted a proposal to the Green Climate Fund for climate finance. The funding requested has as its objective strengthening resilience of smallholder farmers in the Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events through an integrated approach to water management.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOS) provide that the proposal was developed through multi-stakeholder involvement, as well as wide consultation of CSOs and local NGOs and communities at risk and under pressure due to climate change. It is further noted that the activities be entirely country driven and reflecting strong ownership of CSOs representing these vulnerable communities in both conflict-affected and non-conflict-affected districts in the three provinces.

However the Independent Technical Advisory Panel (ITAP) for the Green Climate Fund has provided an assessment which highlights concerns for providing funding to Sri Lanka’s proposal highlighting issues of sustainability of the project. This is according to the ITAP due to lack of community agreements on water management, and impacts of the war which impacted agriculture and the environment of the country.

Ex-ante agreements with communities

ITAP in its review points to the need to have agreements with communities at the preparation stage of the project for the implementation of the project. One of the reasons for finding the project having faults is the non-existence of such agreements.

However it needs to be noted that promising communities that they will be provided finance to implement activities at the community level prior to assurance of funding being received only would create a breach of trust between the applicants for funding and these communities. The CSOs state that they are extremely confident that the proposal has been developed in full consultation with local communities and draws from the experience of communities and CBOs that are prominent in the Dry Zone in delivering drinking water solutions. They further state that extensive engagement of the civil society, and CBOs in particular, is very much a part of the ground work during implementation of community water supply- a practice which dates back at least 15 years in Sri Lanka. It is further noted that community owned schemes allow the CBO to determine the rates which are affordable to each community and how households pay for the service.

Read More

Sri Lanka: Senadhipathi beating around the bush

by Our Defence Correspondent 

( June 27, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Colombo based weekly newspaper, ‘ The Sunday Leader’, has carried out a fresh thought by Nissanka Senadhipathi, a mimic and twister of all business, to defend his company, the Avant-Garde, on maritime security. The sheer purpose of the article could be whitewashing Senadhipathi while indirectly undermining what Sri Lanka Navy did when they found the distorted weapons on board.  Seems like Senadhipathi, an ex-Sri Lanka army official who has undergone less than 60 days of maritime training on his own expenses, is explaining the maritime laws in Island Nation.

First and foremost question is- did the Avant Garde distort the serial numbers of weapons on board? Photograph evidence released by the ‘Sri Lanka Guardian’ a few months back, when the issue was on the peak, proved the truth. Senadhipathi talks all but nothing about this severe crime of distorting the serial numbers of the weapons on board. He has not spit any single word about this crime.

Secondly, the significant question is- who disclosed about the unsecured situation in Sri Lanka, missing weapons etc. to the United Nations Special investigative team and on what authority he has done such severe damage to this nation?

However, the Sunday Leader article has forgotten few important points.

1. Every country has the Territorial waters (12n.m) and contiguous Zone (another 12 n.m). Neither Sendahipathi nor the newspaper itself has taken this as a very important principle to account in the report. The Country has its jurisdiction on the contiguous zone also (extension of Territorial waters). Further, this ship was not a foreign country registered ship as it was flying the Sri Lankan national flag.

2. Every country has the “Right of Self Defence” as per Article 51 of UN Convention. So, technical detail of “Distances” is not that important when we talk about illegal weapon transferred through the sea. The Sri Lankan Navy uses protection of UN Charter when they sank LTTE floating armouries in High Seas.

3. Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited (RALL) does not claim the ownership for weapons in which numbers were erased (by grinding) and weapons in which numbers were changed. Whose weapons are those?

The painful truth here is, “surprised delay” in the due process of law, which has partly discouraged the Sri Lankan Navy’s heroically accomplishment to prevent the crime led by Nissanka Senadhipathi. The ship was arrested in October 2015, almost one year ago. The Police and government legal experts are taking such a long time to punish the culprits!

The whole process came under the vowel game and a buccaneer like Senadhipathi alone with his mouth pieces had grabbed the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon for playing the new game of twisting the truth.

This is nothing but beating around the bush!

Yet another judgement surpassing Kekille court mockeries !

-Shame ! courts yielding to pressures of ministers-Galle court or Parana coat (worn out coat)?

(Lanka-e-News -27.June.2016, 11.45PM) Following the case of judge Thilina Gamage the elephant rogue , the people have become fully aware to what disgraceful level  the judiciary has descended, and how partial and lopsided the verdicts delivered by the  courts are . In the midst of this disgraceful state of affairs, yet  another case that was heard in Galle court had further illustrated the mockery of justice and the deplorable  lawless situation prevailing among courts in Sri Lanka. Indeed now justice is perverted so much so that even during the nefarious decade of the corrupt and crooked Rajapakse regime justice was not trampled this cruelly. 

During the Rajapakse era the courts were pressurized by the Rajapakses themselves , but now the courts are yielding to the pressures of  every rabid dog and bitch thereby making justice  a travesty. This was borne testimony to by an incident that took place in the Galle court on Friday the 24 th.  Galle magistrate Ms. Nilupuli Lankathileke remanded the captain, a Ukraine national , Granley Gauvrilow of the Avant Garde vessel containing weapons until the 5 th of July.

Though remanding an individual is nothing  strange , the magistrate Nilupuli acted strange by releasing the Ukraine captain on the previous day (23) , and  remanding him on the following day (24) in the same case on the same charges. 

It will be worth spending a little time to check whether Nilupuli’s name has now found its way into the Guiness book of most ignominious records for making a mockery of justice on a scale never before witnessed in any court in the whole Universe. Never were laws changed in a  day . Never were new witnesses gathered in a day .Never were new  charges filed in a day. When that is the position, how could Nilupuli who freed an individual on the previous day remand that individual the following day in the same case , and on what legal norms ?

Based on our previous reports this vessel of weapons is the ‘product’ of two ministers who are involved. The two ministers who are seeking to grab the Avant Garde business are via media reports and briefings distorting the truths , and taking the president for a ride. This  has become a deadly game played to the detriment of  the people by the two ministers. When the president acquired  the Avant Garde business for the Navy using his controversial executive powers we objected to it on the grounds that it is a dictatorial action.

When this acquisition was made without abiding by any laws , and not even with Cabinet approval , and just after a discussion among three ministers, what we reported was proved true when the defense secretary had the need to announce that the business which  was acquired by the Navy is to be given over to another country. Upon Lanka e News questioning whether that wouldn’t  be an issue to  national security , the ministers shut their gabs and remained silent.

Later after arriving at the Galle port , the two ministers  made  loud screams again that there were hundreds of illegal weapons in a vessel of Avant Garde. They also told at a media briefing that the numbers on the weapons have been expunged. Thereafter the Navy impounded the vessel.

On the 23 rd , Nilupuli heard the case pertaining to this scam.  During the proceedings it was revealed that the weapons that were in the vessel do not belong to Avant Garde, but belong to Rakna Lanka Co. of the government . When Avant Garde Co. requested permission from the defense ministry to transport the weapons in the floating armory in the Red Sea to the armory at the Galle harbor  , that permission was granted by the defense ministry.

The record of the quantity of weapons and bullets  when permission was sought  ; the weapons and bullets for which the defense ministry gave permission  ; as well as  the weapons and bullets based on the report provided by the government analyst are absolutely matching .

There were no disparities at all. ( All the records in this regard are herein) . If that is so , the screams and cries that there were illegal arms is an absolute lie.  Besides the story weaved by a minister and told to the media adding spice to it  that the numbers on the weapons have been deleted is an unalloyed  lie which was  further confirmed by the analyst’s report .(The analyst report is herein)

Accordingly , Nilupuli who heard the case on the 23 rd released the accused. Subsequently , the ministers who panicked , on the following day got around Ayesha Jinasena and Janaka Bandara of the Attorney General’s department . After pressurising them the captain of the ship ,the Ukraine National was arrested by the police. After the captain was produced before Nilipuli , the captain was remanded . Believe it or not , the accused who was released on the previous day as innocent became a wrongdoer  on the following day , clearly proving justice is being capriciously dispensed in respect of  the same indictment of illegally transporting weapons. That means the weapons that were not illegal the previous day suddenly turned illegal on the following day.

By this mad circus performed now in courts by judges who have metamorphosed into clowns , a number of vital questions have sprung up …

If these weapons are illegal , how come Rakna Lanka Co., the owners of those illegal arms , the chairman of Avant Garde Co. who had these weapons in his possession , and the defense secretary who gave permission are not remanded? Under what laws is only the ship captain remanded? Is it because he is a Ukraine national who does not know Sinhala.

If these weapons are illegal , did those become legal because they are in the possession of the Navy?  If that is the case , then the kasippu seized by the police too should become sealed arrack after those are taken into custody.

If these weapons are illegal , should those be in the custody of the courts or the Navy?  Can an individual be just remanded by mounting charges sans court production?

While the defense secretary had stated in writing these are legal, who is the mighty rascal who can say’ No, these are a threat to national security’ If so , who is this top flight scoundrel? Are these high and mighty rascals  the  crooked ministers aforementioned? 

If Kekille King was present in Galle court that day , he would have said ‘aney what are my mockeries of justice when compared with these.’ He would have committed suicide  in shame .

As Lanka e news revealed in its earlier reports,  the courts have acted differently and capriciously in respect of different individuals in cases under the Public property Act. 

Thilina Gamage was not arrested , and he was granted bail without remanding him. Dhammaloka thero was arrested but released on bail after a day. Mind you that was in a magistrate court that cannot grant the bail. Six officers of the government who were involved in a fraud at the Tourist Ministry , and faced charges were not arrested , and even  the AG’s department order too for arrest was returned.

If in this country justice cannot be meted out duly without treating it this disgracefully , it is best the judges in the  Judicial service commission tender their resignations honorably . In that case , at least judges with backbone and integrity who respect justice and laws can be got down from countries of the Commonwealth, and a new Commission with dignity and decorum be installed .

---------------------------
by     (2016-06-28 00:26:49)