Thursday, July 28, 2016

’ If one or two die that will be the best thing that can happen to us . We can march carrying the bodies’ - MaRa to make human sacrifices

(Lanka-e-News- 27.July.2016, 1145.PM) The Rajapakse den of thieves who are to launch a march tomorrow(28) from Kandy to Colombo by in order to cover up their monumental corruption and criminalities in respect of which they are being arrested and remanded on an unprecedented scale is plotting to create unrest , conflicts ,and mayhem including sacrifice of human lives under the pretext of the march and make the government the scapegoat for their violence and mayhem , according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Medamulana brutal Rajapakse who is well noted historically for bloodletting, at the secret meeting held at Ratwatte’s house in Kandy today , has blurted out this plan.

During the meeting when it was discussed the government too can start a march , and that could be an obstruction , Mahinda a byword for brutality had stated if that happens it would be the best environment.’ If one or two die that will be the best thing that can happen to us . From that moment our march will not be towards Colombo , but carrying the dead bodies on the shoulders and right round the country’ Mahinda had gleefully stated.

It is an open secret the paramilitary outfit that was engaged in abducting innocents, abducting and murdering , destroying the bodies of those murdered by severing the limbs and stomachs and throwing into the sea , as well as the murderer group appearing as ‘Grease yakas’ that were spread across the country , following the advent of the new government turned inert and went underground., but that does not mean those groups are not still at large, and not ready to pounce.

To the Rajapakses who created them , resuscitating them any moment is as simple as blowing a whistle. Hence , using those groups to create mayhem by attacking the marchers , and causing one or two deaths, is a simple matter for the Rajapakses.

We are revealing the statement , ’ if one or two die that will be the best thing that can happen to us . From that moment our march will not be towards Colombo , but carrying the dead bodies on the shoulders and right round the country’ made by Rajapakse as a warning because , he has also announced that he would breach the court order and start the march from Rajopavanaramaya situated within the Kandy municipal limits

The court imposed injunction orders on the march of Mahinda to be started tomorrow from Kandy town as well as the membership drive of the UNP which was also to be launched in Kandy tomorrow.

Kandy Magistrate Buddhika C .Ragala banned the march at Kandy town in the morning , and the UNP membership drive was ordered to commence only in the afternoon after 2.00. One restraining order was issued to the organizers of the march- Dilum Amunugama . Keheliya Ramukwella and Mahindananda Aluthgamage , while the other order was to be handed over to Lakshman Kiriella and Kaber Hashim of the UNP

These orders were issued by the court to avert conflicts and maintain peace in the country in the best interests of the whole nation , but Mahinda Rajapakse with brutal and bestial traits said their march will anyway commence , and that will now be from Getambe Rajopavanaramaya which belongs to Kandy Municipal limits meaning that it is a deliberate attempt to violate the court order.

Meanwhile the Mawanella magistrate too issued restraining orders on both parties. Ten people including Mahinda Rajapakse were banned from using the Mawanella main road for their march , and that the march shall be confined to the by road.

The UNP too was ordered not to hold the party membership drive in the Mawanella town limits . The restraining order was issued on nine party members.

It was the police that requested the restraining orders at Mawanella and Kandy.The police told court on the same day the president and the prime minister are to visit Mawanella to monitor the development project.

This den of thieves in order to ward off the criminal charges mounted against them based on their heinous crimes committed are trying to use the people as a shield . This is reminiscent of Prabhakaran’s days when innocent people were taken as a human shield until Nandikadal in order to escape from death, SLFP gen. secretary Duminda Dissanayake bemoaned.

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by (2016-07-27 23:00:56)

CB raises policy rate to 8.50%

2016-07-29

Sri Lanka's Central Bank yesterday (28) raised policy rates by 50 basis points taking the rate corridor to 7% and 8.5%. The Central Bank (CBSL) Monetary Board also decided to raise the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) to 7.00%.

"Further tightening of monetary policy is required to curb excessive demand in order to pre-empt the escalation of inflationary pressures and to support the balance of payments," a CBSL statement said. "The Board (Monetary Board)is of the view that tightening of monetary policy in a forward looking manner will ensure the maintenance of inflation at mid-single digits in the medium term, which is supportive of the growth momentum in the economy," it said.

"As such, the current policy adjustment is not expected to have a significant impact on the long end of the yield curve."
This policy rate hike came after the Central Bank held its key interest rates steady for five straight months.
The statement also said that market interest rates have adjusted upwards in response to the monetary tightening measures adopted in early 2016 and continued low levels of rupee liquidity in the domestic money market.

Although some deceleration in the growth of broad money (M2b) supply was observed in the month of May 2016, monetary expansion remained above the desired levels.

In spite of the increase in market interest rates, credit granted to the private sector by commercial banks increased at the high pace of 28.0 %, year-on-year, in May 2016, in comparison to 28.1 % in April 2016.

Provisional data also indicates that the high growth of credit to the private sector has continued during the month of June as well.

"The continued appetite for bank credit by the private sector in spite of the upward movement in market interest rates could create excessive demand and high inflation in the economy in future," it stated. (IG)

Ranga Kalansuriya withdraws his resignation letter

Jul 28, 2016

The Director General of the government information department Dr Ranga Kalansuriya has withdrawn his resignation letter which was handed over to President Maithripala Sirisena.

Dr Ranga Kalasuriya had become furious when he had written in the newspapers where it had been stated that he is responsible for setting the President against the Prime Minister.

The letter of resignation was not accepted by the President when it was handed over to him at the cabinet ministers meeting where the decisions of the ministers are made known to the media.

The cabinet media spokesman Minister of fisheries Dr Rajitha Senaratne had said that all matters have been resolved.

The subject Minister of mass media and communication Gayantha Karunatilleke also had confirmed that Dr Kalansuriya is working as the Director General of government information department.

Fallout From The Freshers Welcome Fiasco In Jaffna: Is Our University System Equal To The Challenge Of Sectarianism?

By N. Sivapalan, S. Selvarajan, Rajan Hoole and Prince Jeyaratnam* –July 28, 2016

Fallout From The Freshers Welcome Fiasco In Jaffna: Is Our University System Equal To The Challenge Of Sectarianism?

The following record of the welcome event is compiled from the experiences of several members of the Science Faculty in Jaffna who were present. The event is a warning when taken alongside sectarian violence in other Lankan universities, recently in Sabaragamuva, Uva Wellassa and Eastern, where the response of the authorities has been constrained by factors, which include local prejudices and peer pressures, bias in the university security services and local readings of wishes of the authorities in Colombo. The change in attitude of the authorities after the regime change of 8th January 2015 is reflected in their wanting as far as possible for the problems to be tackled on local initiative. The universities should use this opportunity to address, in their locality, causes that threaten the integrity of university values and education. These causes, if left to follow their course, would make peaceful coexistence and pluralism even harder to achieve.

Last year and the year before, as part of the freshers welcome in Jaffna, the Dean and the academic staff of the Faculty were garlanded by students at the faculty entrance from the main road. They were then led by a troupe of traditional drums and musicians in festive procession to the top floor of the Mathematics Block where the welcome ceremony was held. This time, for the welcome scheduled for Saturday 16th July 2016,the Sinhalese students put in a last minute request for Kandyan dancing, by students trained in it, to also be included in the procession. Kandyan dance has been performed as a stage event ever since Sinhalese students were admitted to the Faculty after the war ended. On Friday, the day before the incident, some science academic staff sensed that tension was brewing.

The tension persisted despite the conviviality at the morning’s session of the welcome, where the second years welcomed the freshers. Some active members of the science staff saw a group of non-science students numbering twenty to thirty, loitering near the Faculty. A faculty member questioned one of them wearing a BBA T-shirt on the reason for his presence. He moved away without responding. Sensing something unpleasant in the offing, some faculty members approached a Marshal and requested that he disperse the loitering students. The Marshal told them a little later that the students’ intentions were academic and would soon go away.

(Lanka-e-News -28.July.2016, 11.00PM) Opportunists have never been scarce in Sri Lankan politics. We’ve had S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s Faustian pact with Sinhala Only in 1956, the great Colvin de Silva’s capitulation in the promulgation of the 1972 constitution, Amirthalingam’s casual, but ultimately fatal, flirting with militancy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

One mustn’t let the UNP off the hook either: from D.S. Senanayake’s disenfranchisement of estate labour, J.R.’s lethal Padha Yathra to Kandy and the 1983 riots, Premadasa’s Black Cats and Ranil’s burning of the 2000 Constitutional Proposals, the UNP has also kow-towed at the altar of expediency.

In more recent years, we have endured the greatest opportunist of them all, - Mahinda Rajapaksa. The human rights defender for whom Geneva was a second home became the greatest purveyor of terror - all while in his slippery fashion being all things to all men.

Neither has Sri Lankan opportunism been confined to politics. We have seen the brave journalists of the Premadasa era, like Lucien Rajakarunanayke, become apologists for the most dastardly regime Sri Lanka has seen since independence.

But there is one major difference between these gentlemen and Dayan Jayatilleke. They were successful opportunists. Dayan, on the other hand, is a failed opportunist.

Despite his turn-coat chameleon ways, he has not succeeded in becoming a Minister, much the less an MP. Nor has he even become Ambassador in Delhi, Washington, New York or Beijing. Despite repeated requests the late Lakshman Kadirgamar would not even make him First Secretary in Washington. As for his coup at the ‘Geneva battlefield’, a rather undiplomatic and confrontational characterisation, I have shown how Genaralissmo Dayan’s victories are all machismo: he wins battles but loses wars.

On the academic front, he is not taken seriously. There are many journalists, including his late father, who have many more citations for their writing than Dayan. Don’t trust me: search for Dayan Jayatilleke on Google Scholar and see how many of his works are cited by other academics.

While Dayan’s opportunism is well known, for the benefit of the young who have not lived through his twists and turns, and the old who in their advanced years may have forgotten his foibles, it may be worth recounting a few choice moments in Dayan’s long career which almost account to a Seven Ages of Dayan Jayatilleke.

First, Dayan de Silvaat some point abandoned his comprador origins in name and embraced the ‘earthy’ Jayatilleke. While this does not smack of outright opportunism in itself, and if the rest of Dayan’s life where different could be held up as an example, the facts belie such a generous interpretation. He changed his name for political benefit, to obscure his comprador origins and win people’s trust on false pretences.

Second, the period when Dayan wanted to play an Eelamist Che Guevera. Joining the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Front, he fought under their flag, becoming a minister in the North-Eastern Provincial Council Board of Ministers. It was during the tenure of this Board of Ministers that the Unilateral Declaration of Independence was issued. It was during this period in the early 1980s that Dayan was constantly seeking to overthrow the state, even hiding in India for a year.

With the Unilateral Declaration of Independence’s failure and his arrest under the PTA, Dayan did his famous u-turn becoming an apologist for the state and the Premadasa regime at the height of its vigilante violence. Writing under the pseudonym Anurudda Tillakasiri in the Sunday Observer he was the Rajpal Abeynaike of his day. So much so that at Lalith Athulathmudalli’s funeral the mourners were enraged and stripped him of his clothes and chased him off. But poor Dayan, for all his u-turns, Premadasa only made him was a Director of Conflict Studies at IPS.

The next decade was a lean one for Dayan. Chandrika ignored him. Ranil ignored him. The LTTE ignored him. Now one took any notice of his ‘towering intellect’ so he revived his family heirloom, the Lanka Guardian, and started a Phd - all the while pestering LK for a diplomatic appointment. His ideology at the time was a mish-mash but he firmly supported the devolution of power well beyond the 13th Amendment. With this he would have slowly faded into Carlo Fonseka-like oblivion. But Mahinda then came along.

Mahinda found someone as slippery as himself who could also speak English. When Dayan berated, in English, what Mahinda wanted to say to him in English - obviously something that would set Sri Lanka on a course for confrontation with the world’s sole superpower and Sri Lanka’s largest export market - he found a new patron. So with a father-figure in the form of Mahida, Dayan’s writing went from confused to outright chauvinistic - they went from 13+, to 13, to 13 minus and now they more or less refuse to acknowledge the existence of an ethnic conflict. Now with Mahinda looking weaker and weaker by the day, he seems to be trying to worm himself into Maithripala Sirisena’s camp.

To summarise, Dayan the third world revolutionary, became the cosmopolitan apologist for a right-wing regime and now Dayan is the English face of a primordial chauvinist. But despite such blatant opportunism, Dayan today still roams the political wilderness mis-quoting philosophers he hasn’t read and concepts he doesn’t understand, while pleading for posting, position or simply recognition.

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by Armando Perera (2016-07-28 17:42:36)

Clash At Jaffna University: Conversations On Culture & History – Part II

By Mahendran Thiruvarangan –July 28, 2016

Mahendran Thiruvarangan

Challenging Chauvinism: Alternative Accounts of Political Activism at Jaffna University

In the aftermath of the clash at the University of Jaffna, as a way of justifying the Tamil students’ refusal to have Kandyan Dance at the opening procession, some nationalist commentators are busy crafting distorted accounts of the history of political activism within the campus that favors Tamil nationalism and the LTTE over other ideologies and actors. The history of the University of Jaffna is as complex as the history of any other place. It was driven by various forces that held divergent political views. When it was started in the 1970s, the University housed students from different ethnic communities. It was a center where notable Leftist and progressive intellectuals from various communities and various parts of the island such as Kailasapathy, Indrapala, A. J. Canagaratna, Silan Kadirgamar, M. Nithyanandan, Nirmala Rajasingam, Dayapala Thiranagama, Harsha Gunawaradena, M. A. Nuhman and Sitralega Maunaguru taught. The attacks on the hill country Tamil students in 1976 by a group of students with political links to the Tamil United Liberation Front show that Tamil chauvinism had its presence at the University even in its early days (for an extended commentary on this incident, read Rajan Hoole’s latest book Palmyrah Fallen). A notable aspect of the University of Jaffna in the 1970s was that it had arguably the most progressive Sinhala Department in the country at the time. Sucharitha Gamlath and Dharmasena Pathirajah were on the faculty of this department. When ethnic violence erupted in the South in 1977, the teachers, Tamil students and Tamil families in the neighborhood gave protection to the Sinhala students at the University of Jaffna and took every necessary step to send them safely to their homes in the South. But a section of the Sinhala students, upon reaching the Southern parts of the country, deliberately misinformed the public that they had been assaulted by the Tamils in Jaffna. Giving prominence to the untruthful statements made by the students, the government of that time and Southern media claimed that the ethnic violence against the Tamils in the South had started in retaliation to the attacks on the Sinhala students at the University of Jaffna by the Tamils in Jaffna. Thereafter, the government ceased to send Sinhala students to Jaffna University.

In the months following the ethnic violence of 1977, with the rise in hostilities against the Tamils by the UNP government, many Leftist intellectuals from the Tamil community started to align themselves with the Tamil national cause and even contribute to the armed struggle. Thus Tamil nationalist politics at the University of Jaffna began to gather momentum in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Yet, in the mid-1980s, with the onset of internecine warfare among the different Tamil militant groups, the University became a place where dissenting academics and students courageously expressed their criticism of the armed struggle and the narrow-minded Tamil nationalist politics that the militants espoused. In 1988, taking into account the volatile political situation in the North-East after the Indo-Lanka Accord, 50 academics attached to the University of Jaffna issued a statement emphasizing the importance of the Tamils’ participation in the first election for the North-East Provincial Council. When the violence around the second JVP insurgency led to the creation of collectives called University Teachers for Human Rights at the universities in the South, a similar collective was formed at the University of Jaffna in 1988. Documenting the trials and tribulations of the people in the North under the Indian Peace Keeping Forces, Tamil militants, and the Sri Lankan state during this period, four leading members of this collective the late Rajani Thiranagama, Rajan Hoole, K. Sritharan and Daya Somasundaram brought out The Broken Palmyrah in 1989.

Clash at Jaffna University: Conversations on Culture and History

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang Visits the University of Jaffna in mid-June, 2016

tamil_students_attack_on sinhala_students

In order to prevent the kind of violence that we witnessed at the University of Jaffna in the future at any other university or any other place in the country, we must call into question the deep-rooted racism and nationalist chauvinism that we have naturalized among ourselves over the years in the name of heritage, cultural rights and national liberation.

by Mahendran Thiruvarangan

( July 28, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The recent clash at the University of Jaffna has triggered discussions on the university as a multicultural space and the role it ought to play in building bridges between the communities in Sri Lanka. At one level, this clash mirrors the warring nationalisms in the country. Nationalisms in general hinge on an exclusivist logic where a particular territory despite its social, cultural and economic heterogeneities is identified exclusively with a particular community/nation, which in turn is associated exclusively with a particular state, one that exists or one that is yet to come.When humans and cultures move beyond the boundaries they are asked to stay within, a rupture occurs in the land-nation-state paradigm essential for the survival of nationalism. In order to overcome this rupture, nationalisms initiate a violent process of exclusion; they ferociously push some identities and cultural practices to the margins of the territory and sometimes even eject and annihilate them. A similar rupture and alienation culminated in violence at the University of Jaffna on the 16th of July 2016. In the larger political context of national contradictions and state-aided discrimination against minorities, partly as a result of being a mono-ethnic center of higher education for nearly 20 years and partly because of its location in the cultural heartland of Tamil nationalism, Jaffna University, for many of us, not just for the Tamils but also for a fragment of the Sinhala community, is and should be a Tamil university. It is in light of this deeply naturalized assumption prevalent among many that we need to understand the clash over the performance of Kandyan Dance during the welcome procession in the Science Faculty.

Conspiracy theories play a dominant role in shaping our response to the social and political happenings around us. When someone expresses her opinion, we first try to find out who she is spying for or what ulterior motive she has. We rarely evaluate people’s ideas at their face value. Even as we engage with the Sinhala students’ request to have Kandyan Dance at the welcome event, we tend to divert the focus of our discussion on proving for instance whether these students were manipulated by the military establishment in Jaffna or the ‘Joint Opposition’ in the South. Thus we have failed to evaluate the request on its own terms.

University and its Relationship to Culture and Communities

Because of the protracted ethnic conflict in the country,we should treat the articulations of culture taking place in shared spaces as highly sensitive subjects. The incident at the University of Jaffna reminds us of the importance of thinking carefully about what kinds of cultural practices and rituals are permissible in state-run universities where students of different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds pursue their higher education together. The cultural environment inside a university should make all of its members feel that it is their university regardless of where they come from or what language they speak;it should create the conditions necessary for the students to participate in academic activities without fear or feelings of being a minority or alien.

By Rathindra Kuruwita-2016-07-29

Minister of Higher Education, Lakshman Kiriella has taken steps to implement a number of programmes aimed at building reconciliation in universities, Additional Secretary of the Ministry, P.G. Jayasinghe said.

He added that most of the Sinhalese students at the Jaffna University have returned and the government has ensured their safety.
The ministry says the attendance of Sinhalese students is at a satisfactory level, especially in the Medical and Engineering Faculties. "The attendance of Physical Science Faculty is also at a satisfactory level. The students in the Agriculture Faculty are sitting for their exams and those in the allied health faculty are also working on their research," the representative of the ministry said.

All the unions have agreed to maintain a cordial situation at the university and the administration has taken all steps to ensure there is safety for all students, Jayasinghe said.

Primary Health Care at a crossroads

July 28, 2016, 9:19 pm

The concept of Primary Health Care (PHC) gained acceptance the world over following the famous WHO - UNICEF joint conference in Alma Ata (in former USSR) in 1978. Defined as, "Essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to the individuals and families in the community and the country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-determination", its approach was based on the principles of social equity, nationwide coverage, self-reliance, inter-sectoral coordination and people’s participation in planning and implementation of health programmes. Therefore this approach is also commonly known as "health by the people" and "placing people’s health in people’s hands". The concept of PHC was accepted by the member countries of the World Health Organization (in 1981) as the key to achieving the goal for Health for All (by the year 2000).

According to the original Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, the key components of PHC identified were,

* Promotion of food supply and proper nutrition

* An adequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation

* Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Care, including family planning

* Immunization against infectious diseases

* Prevention and control of endemic diseases

* Education about prevailing health problems and methods of preventing and controlling them

* Appropriate treatment of common diseases and injuries

* Provision of essential drugs.

With time, although a few more areas such as mental health, health care of elderly, oral health and school health have been added to this list, the basic objective of the PHC concept has remained the same throughout; "providing the people (especially in the developing countries) with at least the bare minimum of the health services". As a signatory to the Alma Ata declaration, the Government of Sri Lanka is pledged to provide PHC to the people.

Although much social and health developments have taken place over the four decades since "Alma Ata", by and large, realization of PHC has been an illusion. This is quite evident today by the fact that programmes have failed to deliver even in its "bare minimum" health to the large majority of the world’s population - especially the world poor. (On the contrary, health is gradually becoming a "luxury" of a few). Lack of political wisdom, will and patronage, shortages of health manpower (especially at primary care level), entrenchment of a curative culture within the existing health systems and concentration of health services and personnel in urban areas are among some of the universally identified factors that have hindered realization of PHC to its full potential. (In addition Dr. David Werner has identified Selective Primary Healthcare, Structural Adjustment Programmes and "Investing in Health" as another triad that has brought about a negative impact on the PHC - see "Who Killed Primary Health Care?" in the "Health and Society" next week)

Primary Health Care in

Sri Lanka

Historically, Sri Lanka enjoys certain achievements and realization of certain "milestones" with regard to PHC that the country could be proud of. While some of these achievements could be attributed to early establishment (and strengthening) of an organized public health system, others could be seen as the direct and indirect manifestations of some socio-political developments that took place in the country, especially as a result of "free" health and education.

"Health Units" - first of its kind in Asia

After establishing the Civil Medical Department in 1859 (which was to later become the Department of Health Services, and subsequently the Ministry of Health), a "sanitary branch" was created within the department in 1913 to oversee the matters relating to public hygiene and prevention of diseases that are originated from poor sanitary conditions. Establishment of the "health units", with the first in Kalutara in 1926 to be soon followed in many other places like Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and Hingurakgoda was yet another important development in the public health arena in this country, and in fact was the first of this kind in Asia. These health units covered large areas and were responsible for the implementation the preventive health programmes.

Malaria "epidemic" of 30s

The country was hit by devastating malaria ‘epidemic" in the early 1930s, which was estimated to have claimed over 80,000 lives. Malaria Control Programme was established in 1936, more health units were established in the malaria stricken areas of the country, DDT spraying started (in 1946) and strategies for "active case detection and treatment" aimed at malaria eradication were adopted later. In fact the results of this intensified anti-malarial action were soon to be seen. The country experienced very low levels of malaria by early 1960s, but to be hit by"resurgence" in 1967, for which some claimed laxities on the part of programme implementation, especially in the stages of "consolidation" and "maintenance".

Improved Maternal

and Child Care

Provision of free ante-natal care for the poor in Colombo was started in the early 1920s. Improved maternal services that followed both in curative and preventive fields, along with the establishment of Family Health Bureau (much later in 1967), which was to provide leadership and guidance to the field health staff involved in delivery of maternal (and child) care was responsible in bringing down the maternal and infant mortality rates in the country appreciably. By the turn of the last century Sri Lanka was able to record maternal and infant mortality rates that were far below than those of the other South Asian countries.

Communicable Disease Control Programmes

With regard to prevention of diseases (that were important public health problems of that time), the TB, VD and Leprosy Control Programmes were established in 1940. BCG immunization against TB, which was the first island wide, regular immunization programme, came into operation in 1949.

Pro-reconciliation mood tempers press coverage of Jaffna Ethnic clash

Jul 28, 2016

“In the post-2015 context, calls to desist from inciting racism have gained a degree of moral currency in the press. This development reflects the media’s reorientation to shifts in political power balances and priorities in light of the post 2015 transition. The moral currency of a pro-reconciliation position has hence served to mute the influence of nationalist arguments in press discourse,” the Colombo-based private research organization says.

Sinhalese students who wanted to present a Kandyan dance, were assaulted by Tamil students because of a difference of opinion over whether the dance item could be accommodated in the way the Sinhalese students wanted at the last minute. The wounded Sinhalese students were hospitalized ,with one being flown to Colombo, and the rest were transported to Vavuniya, though eventually, they were brought back at the intervention of higher authorities in Colombo. Apparently, government feared that the students’ arrival in the capital might trigger an anti-Tamil riot of the one the city saw in 1983.

But the government’s fears proved to be unfounded because, post-2015, the mood in Sinhalese-speaking South Sri Lanka had shifted in favor of non-aggression and reconciliation, as Verite Research points out.

Lankadeepa, the largest circulated Sinhalese daily, said in an edit: “We are divided by language and religion. However, what supersedes all this, is humanity. Only a barbarian can ignore this truth.”

The Sinhalese nationalist Divaina said in its edit: “We should never repeat the “Black July” which was the most brutal tragedy in Sri Lankan history.”

“It is the responsibility of the nation to prevent any recurrence of such an incident,” said Rivira.

Attributing the incident to a “racist” minority among the Tamils and Sinhalese, the Sinhalese paper Mawbima said: “It was a pleasure to see that the electronic media did not report the incident in a way that spreads racism. But the racists in the south would spread racism making use of the incident. They are accused of having a strong racist tendency, but the racists in the north are not different from the racists in the south. They will use the incident for their narrow agendas as well.”

However, Verite Research noted that the media coverage lacked depth from the point of the minority perspective, for example, the coverage had not taken note of the effects of Sinhalese students being close to the army stationed in Jaffna.

Expectedly, the Joint Opposition and the hardcore Sinhalese nationalist press, attributed the incident to aggression by ‘extremist’ Tamil students and the government’s perceived conciliatory approach towards the Tamil community.

The Sinhalese nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a partner in the coalition government, tied up with the Joint Opposition in denouncing the perceived unwillingness of Tamils to appreciate Sinhalese ‘sacrifices’ for reconciliation and “great Sinhala traditions.

By portraying the incident as victimization of the Sinhalese by Tamil terrorists nationalist voices were able to escalate the issue into a national debate, resulting in a break from typical coverage of student clashes, Verite Research said.

But it also noted that there were condemnations of nationalist incitement over the incident and reconciliation was touted as the need of the hour.

This view was expressed by the President, Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, opposition parties such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and several mainstream and alternative newspapers.

“The government’s approach was to downplay the ethnic dimension of the clash and emphasize the need for non-recurrence of such incidents in light of the 2015 transition,” Verite Research underscored.

President Maithripala Sirisena said that universities should foster reconciliation and not divisiveness, and proposed that reconciliation should be made part of school curricula. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wowed not to allow the incident to escalate and sent Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mavai Senathirajah to defuse the situation.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said in a press release: “The unfortunate incident at the University of Jaffna should not happen anywhere. Racist attacks should not be allowed in a country that suffered endlessly from a meaningless war. National peace is the only response to racism and yet the government has not been able to win the hearts of the Tamil youth yet. This attack provokes the racists in the South who exclusively use racism for political gain. We believe that the students’ movement should intervene to douse the conflict rather than fuelling it. We, as a party, will intervene in it.”

The TNA too wanted to douse the fire. It issued a statement saying: “We deeply regret the incident that took place at the University of Jaffna. We would like to invite the Sinhala students to return to the university. We were shocked at this unfortunate incident. It is sad that incidents of this kind take place, when we are urging the government to address the Tamil people’s grievances. It may give an opportunity to the groups which are trying to portray this as a Sinhala-Tamil conflict. We will lend our support to prevent such incident.”

www.newindianexpress.com

A Response To Thisuri: We Know All Forms Of Violence Better Than You

By Elanko Muthu –July 27, 2016

Elanko Muthu

An article by Thisuri Wanniarachchi on the recent violence at Jaffna University is being shared by many of my Facebook friends. It is great that she acknowledges her privileges and apologizes throughout the article. Her point about how women respond to everyday violence against them with “tolerance” (rather than violence) is noteworthy. We, among friends, have often debated on how every protest organizer should ponder on the fact that women were able to achieve so much in the last hundred years without resorting to violence. However, it is crystal clear that as long as the Sinhala majoritarian nationalism exists, Tamil nationalism will be alive. (How Tamil nationalism has turned or has been turned into an irrational passion is altogether another topic for conversation) Tamil nationalism of the future will undoubtedly become another form of narrow nationalism unless it roots from the marginalized and women.

Putting these aside, let us talk about Thisuri Wanniarachchi’s words addressed towards the Tamil students. As a person from the majority ethnic group who has claimed to understand her own privileges, she should not start with an “advice” for Tamil students. She should firstly address her own people who have the same privileges she has. Giving her some benefit let us and assume that her words come from true care and concern for the Tamil people. Her reading of history is still questionable. Is she reading history with her privileges or after getting rid of them?

To Thisuri:

You mention that our country fell into the abyss of a 3-decade war after an attack by Tamils (Tigers) in 1983. LTTE attacked the armed forces. Why did the retaliation end up killing many unarmed, innocent civilians? This question should be the beginning of every conversation. Let us say, in your own way, that LTTE sowed the seeds of violence. If so, who are the perpetrators of violence between the 1956 ‘Sinhala only Act’ and 1983? Your choice to ignore this means you have not stepped out of your privilege while racing to give ‘advice’ to the oppressed.

You request Tamils not become violent, but we are tired of you failing to see the source of the violence. After the colossal destruction of war and after being oppressed in every way, why do Tamils still harbor ‘violence’? It is important for you to give it some thought. You say that nothing has changed in the Sinhala society and you ask us what will happen if they turn to be the violators. You don’t seem to be giving the same advice you gave to Tamils to the Sinhalese. Moreover, I cannot fathom how you can say the following while also apologizing:

“But at the end of the day we are both Sri Lankan and we cannot let our parents’ and grandparents’ generation’s mistakes belittle the future we have to rebuild.”

I do not understand how you can say this. It is acceptable if you have acknowledged that we live in the same country with our own different ethnic identities, but no. Isn’t it great violence when we are never made to feel ‘Sri Lankan’ but are now asked to unite under one umbrella with a singular Sri Lankan identity? If you were a politician, we will tolerate you. It is astounding that you, who claim to acknowledge your privileges and to care for the Tamil people, can say what you have said.

(Lanka-e-News -28.July.2016, 11.30PM) The Rajapakse team which always plays with the crooked bat has raised objections pertaining to the coal power plant illicit deals and exposures .This is solely and wholly based on their anxiety , anguish and anger over their losing the corrupt benefits they were deriving from the deal.

The true story that has unfolded so far in short is : during the period between 2009 and 2015 in Sri Lanka (SL) when coal was imported it was the Rajapakses mainly and their relatives who earned in billions of rupees out of this racket. Hereunder are the exploratory details ……

First Coal tender 2009 -2012 –Noble Resources

When the first coal tender was called in 2009 , four companies were found eligible. The Technological evaluation committee based on the FOB value decided that the tender be awarded to ‘Coal of Africa’ Co. At that point the then secretary to the power and energy ministry , Ferdinando and Finance ministry secretary P.B.Jayasundara intervening at the behest of the Rajapakses changed the tender conditions and decided to take into account the CIF value .Based on that Holcim Co. was selected.Subsequently , citing a decision of the PAB Board under Mahinda Rajapakse it was portrayed that the coal to be supplied by Noble Co. has the highest calorie value ( never did Noble Co. supply coal of that high value – 6300 Kcal/kg ) , and the tender was awarded to that Co. The following week it was decided that the transport of coal be done via Chamal Rajapakse’s Ports Authority shipping Corporation (for obvious reasons)

Though the value was based back again on FOB system, the tender was not awarded to Coal of Africa. Following all these manipulations , the loss that resulted to the Ceylon Electricity Board was many billions of rupees .If the Supreme court (SC) had probed into this procurement manipulation at that time their hearts would have split apart and bled profusely at this massive ruthless scam committed by a selfish traitorous few to the detriment of the whole nation !

It is significant to note Noble’s Co. is not a locally registered Co. and even awarding a tender to such a Co. under the Government Contracts Act is unlawful. This is clearly mentioned in the order of the SC delivered recently . In any event , Senarath Kahandaliyanagamage of Baurs Co. was appointed as the local agent of Noble Co.

The entire machination was orchestrated and planned at Temple Trees and those involved were Amal Peiris , Jehan Amaratunge and Ravi Wijeratne who were paid commissions, while the Lion’s share of the illicit gains out of this coal scam were siphoned off into the pockets of the children of the sister of Mahinda Rajapakse , namely , Himal Hettiarachi and Rangani Hettiarachi.

It is specially worthy of note that in the 18 cases of money laundering against Namal Rajapakse and Yoshitha Rajapakse , these two culprits (Hettiarachis)are named as accused.

In the first round , on the instructions of Mahinda Rajapakse (the president at that time) ,Ravi Wijeratne spending Rs. 70 million purchased shares of Sena Yudhehige of Rivira Co. and Prasanna Wickremesuriya was appointed on that account as the chief of the Rivira Director Board.

In addition , Nimal Hettiarachi and Rangani Hettiarachi invested over Rs. 100 million in the CSN media chain while Ravi Wijewardena purchased Leader and Irudina newspaper Institution after paying a sum of Rs. 45 million to the brother of Late Lasantha Wickremetunge.

(Refer to reports of newspapers at that time) . The illicit gains of the coal scam were also used to send abroad children of news editors of several leading media organizations and to pay monthly allowances to them ; and to meet the expenditure of weddings of the offsprings of ministerial secretaries . A large amount of this wealth was invested by Himal Hettiarachi in Lyka Mobile establishment ( launched by close allies of the Tiger organization )

Second coal tender….

The second coal tender was called in 2012 , and since the power grid had expanded ,2.2 million tons more of coal (that is three fold more) were needed. At that stage , various Institutions came forward , and via appeals and litigation the tender awards were delayed , thereby a coal shortage was created , when the ministry of finance intervened and awarded the tender to Noble Co.

From that point of time , all the profits of the coal scam via tender were siphoned off into the ‘coffers’ of Yoshitha Rajapakse. It was thereafter Yoshitha became owner of CSN worth billions of rupees and massive funds in the bank accounts too in Dubai and Ukraine.

In 2013 ,bids were called for the tender, and it was decided that the tender be awarded to Swiss Singapore Co. The secretary to the minister of power and energy declared that all the companies including Noble Co are illegal based on an ulterior motive.

That was to release ‘kappam’ (extortion) payment to the LTTE Diaspora via South Africa . Those behind this dastardly and traitorous activity were Sajin Vaas Gunawardena , S. Subramaniam and South Africa’s ambassador . However after these surreptitious ‘games and deals’ were exposed by the media , the Swiss Singapore tender was cancelled, and the tender was again awarded to Noble Co., while Swiss Singapore Co. was given a license to import oil without any competition.

In 2015, at the presidential elections in order to bar the voting of the Tamils through the Tamil Diaspora , this illicit oil money was sought to be used , but that did not succeed. ( At the presidential elections the percentage of voting across the whole country was 80 % , while it was 65 % in Jaffna an Wanni.)

During the 100 days program because competitive tender bids were invited after halting the Swiss Singapore non competitive tender award ( along with this, the tender that was awarded to Unipack Singapore too became invalid) , the Petroleum Corporation gained many billions of rupees .

Similarly , the coal monopoly that was enjoyed by Noble Co. for 5 years also foundered in 2015 ; and instantaneous purchase of coal was put in place. Owing to this change and introduction of this new system , the Ceylon Electricity Board earned a profit of Rs. 1800 million just within a year ! Earlier on all this wealth that rightly belongs to the nation trekked wrongly into the bottomless extraordinarily large eternally open pockets of Rajapakses.

Torian transaction and Rocket Rohitha’s moon

During the period between 2009 and 2015 because Noble Co. was from time to time delaying and suspending coal supply ,the CEB lost in billions. Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya presented a comprehensive report in parliament on the 20 th of July in this regard. On one such occasion , the Lanka shipping Co. under Mahinda Rajapakse bought three ship loads of coal from Torian Co. , when a quantity of inferior quality coal was supplied .

When Patalie Champika Ranawake , the minister of power and energy at that time refused to pay Rs. 460 million in connection with this unlawful shipment , he was removed from that portfolio and ministry of Technology was allocated to him , and in his place Pavthra Wanniarachi was appointed as power and energy minister to enable the payment to Torian Co. in June 2013. Owing to this corruption and fraud , the Electricity Board is even today unable to overcome the monumental loss it incurred .

The local representative of Torian Co. sent a spurious satellite up through Rohitha Rajapkse the youngest son of Mahinda Rajapakse .The funds for this Supreme Sat project was provided out of the illict earnings through the three shipments of inferior coal via the shipping corporation under Mahinda Rajapakse .

When Rajapakses are being remanded ,Yoshitha and Namal Rajapakse are struggling and squeaking like two destructive rats caught in a mouse trap because they are reminded of their many billions of rupees amassed via this massive coal scam at the expense of the country and the people . While these two crooked ‘zeros’ are trying to become heroes and parade as Zorros despite their ruthless daylight robbery of public funds , more details of this mystery shrouded story of the coal scam can be secured if the aforementioned details are further probed into.

This exploratory article is by a Free lance exploratory journalist .

Sandamal Edirisinghe
Translated by Jeff

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by (2016-07-28 18:17:28)