Mangala meets indian FM to discuss fishermen issues

Nov 06, 2016

India and Sri Lanka held Ministerial level talks on fishermen issues today, November 5, 2016, in New Delhi. External Affairs Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Mr. Radha Mohan Singh met with the Sri Lankan Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Mangala Samaraweera and Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera of Sri Lanka. Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways & Shipping Mr. Pon Radhakrishnan and Sri Lankan Member of Parliament Mr M.A. Sumanthiran were part of the two delegations.

The Ministers exchanged views on possible mechanisms to help find a permanent solution to the fishermen issues.
 
They agreed on the setting up of a Joint Working Group on Fisheries to meet every three months and a meeting between the Ministers for Fisheries every six months. The delegations would include representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Coast Guards and Navies of both countries. The 1st Ministerial Meeting would be held on January 02, 2017 in Colombo.
 
The Terms of Reference for the Joint Working Group (JWG) would include (i) expediting the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest, (ii) working out the modalities for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for handing over of apprehended fishermen, and (iii) ascertaining possibilities for cooperation on patrolling. The issue of the release of detained fishing vessels will be discussed at the first JWG meeting.
 
Both Governments agreed on the setting up a hotline between the two Coast Guards.
 
There was support for expediting the provision of communication tracking sets to the fishermen.
 
Both Governments agreed to the request by the Fishermen Associations that there should be no violence and no loss of life in the handling of fishermen by the Navies and Coast Guards of the two countries.
 
They agreed to encourage the Fishermen Associations of the two countries to meet every six months to take further their dialogue from the meeting held on November 2, 2016 in New Delhi.
 
The Ministers noted that the process is underway for the release of fishermen presently in custody on either side. 

WE ARE IN A RIGHT ROYAL MESS; is there a way out?



2016-11-07

No new faces, no innovations, no out of the box thinking, no principles – appeals not to the floating voter; the vote that changes regimes, as did the good governance kids in 2015 - more inclined to be anti establishment- to the old or new outlaws. Both sides of the divide are populated with dandies that dye their hair and retain green or blue shirts in stock, if a switch is required in an emergency.  

  Prof. G.L. Pieris is an eminent choice for chairmanship of an emerging party as he is devoid of sharp practices and honest on financial transactions (except travelling in unaffordable luxury around the globe at great cost to the public) and is able to win the goodwill of party seniors as he is a hospitable food and beverage (F&B) provider for a hungry leadership in lean times. In a school for scoundrels none is more acceptable than the tuck shopkeeper, if he keeps his doors wide open to a bunch of ravenous lads. 

   Expectations were shattered, with scams on the ascent; by those promising good governance became part of the filth and squalor.  
Cost of living is the prime issue not economics-unless it is personal home economics! Selfishly, each voter thinks of his wallet in the hip pocket! Is it bulging or shrinking? 
   Nursery rhymes ‘this little pig went to the market’ where he learns the local market conditions. Finance Minister does not market in the proper street. He markets in stocks shares and bonds and not at the village fairs wherein lie the rural vote that does not attract him coming to parliament from Colombo North.

    Scams at the bond issue bother Colombo Society: Is irrelevantly treated in the Sinhala and Tamil newspapers. Ranil Wickremesinghe read the message correctly and is not disturbed of the outcome at the Central Bank, as it does not impact on the votes of the majority poor. Likewise the previous administration’s corruption issues do not bother the shirtless and sleeveless. President Sirisena, after his bold speech is cornered. He damaged the concept of collective responsibility from the top berth of Presidency and now has to get back tamely into the UNP corner like a little boy lost to pick votes. Speech was counter-productive except that it pushed a nightclub incident into the background. His efforts to attract Gotabhaya [Gota] Rajapaksa were rebuffed positively as Gota cannot for his own upward mobility rise without the blessings of his popular elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa.    The split within the SLFP places Sirisena in the mini class in local politics as he cannot muster votes from his remaining team of SLFP appointed MPs as they are the defeated candidates of 2015.They would collect fewer SLFP votes in 2020 having sat in Ranil Wickremesinghe’s cabinet. MR would be a loser if he attached those candidates to his list; ultimate beneficiary could be Ranil Wickremesinghe if he is courageous to jettison the muck from the decadent SLFP and bring new faces to the front. Are we looking in 2020 at a leadership beyond 70 years with new votes churning in numbers from youth of 18 years above? MR’s strength lies in Team Sirisena’s inherent weakness. The ultimate winner Sirisena in 2015: acquires the loser’s award in 2016, as he has antagonized the voters both in the UNP and SLFP. Still 2020 is a distance away.  

  Lets peep in the midst of gloom and doom at the positives of the present government. It lies in the absence of fear psychosis in the expression of thought in the open. This had led to more media freedom with scandals and scams surfacing faster as media is not afraid to carry such news whereas during the last government such would be revealed only by way of idle gossip. With no authentication or denunciation once revealed to the chattering society, it gathers moss and the tales became sleazier and snottier. If it originates from responsible sources the news items would retain an authoritative value with defamation as a possible safety valve.    The present government has failed to present any evidence against the discriminatory selected members of the previous government against whom charges are framed in court awaiting trial while the ‘suspects’ are ritually paraded before the FCID.  Not an iota of evidence has been placed in substance in any court because of ineptness of some of the prosecuting officers of the Attorney Generals/Bribery Commissioners Departments. 

  One single officer Ian Wickremanayake, did his work alone in keeping bribery under control while the threesome in the Bribery and Corruption Commission appointed by the Constitutional Council has shown no results to make it a worthwhile entity. Could these aged lads show results in their septuagenarian age? Still worthwhile to park for the emoluments and perks obtained in office.    What became of the well-documented case against the TRO that was presented to the Attorney General’s Department by the anti-terrorist outfits of the State? [Could personally vouch having personally studied the evidence] State officers will undo this government, more than the previous government, if their work is not kept under surveillance. Being paraded before the FCID may become an easy way to enter the next parliament.  

   The State should retain Special Prosecutors from the private bar like the engagement of great George Chitty in the Bandaranaike murder case. The last government requested a non-Presidential Counsel to appear for cases where they felt State Counsel were deemed too feeble to present a case. Successful results were obtained without incurring fees. This government is more fortunate in having an array of eminent good governance counsel who no doubt would appear with or without fees if tapped for service.     At the Udalagama Commission on war crimes Yasantha Kodagoda of the Attorney Generals Department led evidence admirably for the prosecution on a virtual three days-a-week basis to complete 17 trials in 13 months. There are many able lawyers in the state sector amongst the more visible offenders. This government should hand the bribery/corruption cases to their trusted counsel with the spirit of good governance who may accept it as a national service or for an agreed fee or pass it to a selected dedicated state counsel. 

  COPE brought into spotlight Sunil Handunhettige, a balanced JVP MP, with no past scratches, steered a controversial report with aplomb and composure. Leadership material for the future; his workmanlike nature sure deserves appreciation after years of loose rhetoric originating from the JVP.  This was a great victory for the media, especially for investigative journalist suave Faraz Shaukate Ali, TV 1 and Financial Times that broke the story that stands confirmed by the COPE report. They are recipients of a trophy in the form of letters  of demand.

  Sometimes defamation plaints and the accompanying letters of demand are empty epistles to deter parties from making further exposures by the filthy rich who can afford to write off legal expenses. It is hard to imagine a party disgraced entering the witness box as plaintiff to loosen doors in cross-examination for the eliciting of other muck against him. Sometimes lawyers give advice to make a buck and clients should on their own weigh evidence before rushing to court. Otherwise they may look foolish.  

 Old familiar faces must be retired, as they are recipients of healthy pensions. We need a fresh leadership from a new generation if we are to overcome the problems. For sure the old boys must be packed home otherwise they would be interested in ending their days in stately comfort unaffordable on their own might. Where have all the young men and women gone? Issue search warrants seeking young people if you want to bring investigations to a successful end. Otherwise tri- partisanship of the UNP/SLFP old/new wings would bring inquiry to naught. 

IS THE SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO “OPEN GOVERNMENT”?

Asoka Obeyesekere.-06/11/2016

The Cabinet passed Sri Lanka’s first Open Government Partnership (OGP) plan on 11 October 2016. This lays out a 12-commitment national policy plan and timeline until June 2018 and establishes an implementation steering committee jointly headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickramasinghe to oversee its delivery. This raises three key questions:

Q1. What has OGP membership committed Sri Lanka to? Q2. What do the twelve commitments cover? Q3. Is the government committed to the principle of Open Government?

I will show that the OGP membership has committed Sri Lanka to policy planning akin to the thinking of the 100-day programme – of deliverables and dates for delivery. That the commitments range from Chronic Kidney Disease treatment to MP Asset declaration reform, with dates by which such actions will be completed. I will then conclude by asserting that success will stem from government being held to account against their commitments and that they should preclude failure by ensuring that the expenditure proposals in the upcoming budget are synchronised with their commitments.

What has OGP membership committed Sri Lanka to?

When Sri Lanka became a signatory to the OGP in October 2015, like the seventy other OGP member states, the government made two key pledges. Firstly, it pledged to produce a two-year policy plan that advances transparency, accountability and public participation in governance, which it passed on 11 October. Secondly, it agreed to have its progress against its national action plan reviewed by country experts appointed by an OGP independent review body. In the event that the Sri Lankan government does not deliver on its commitments, it will be independently assessed and called out for its failures.

What do the twelve commitments cover?

The twelve commitments fall within the areas of Health, Education, IT, Environment, Local Government, Women’s Affairs, Women’s political representation, Anti-corruption and Right to Information. These diverse commitments range from the need for enhanced procurement guidelines for local government to a step-by-step milestone plan for RTI implementation. The detailed milestones that the Sri Lankan government has pledged to can be seen on the Open Government Partnership website (http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/sri-lanka).

Is the government committed to the principle of Open Government?

Legislative steps and implementation steps provide two different answers. In August 2016 the government passed the Right to Information Act, which was a bold step towards explicitly recognising that the state holds information in trust for its citizens. However such legislative innovations are not an end game but a first step.

There must be corresponding efforts made by government to ensure that the state bureaucracy is geared for the change in how the state needs to serve its citizens. Similarly, questions have to be asked as to the government’s bona fide buy-in if the national budget that immediately follows the passing of an OGP National Action Plan is made in isolation of the government’s OGP commitments. This is especially in light of the fact that the OGP commitments have been brought to the attention of senior bureaucrats in their respective line ministries and the Finance Ministry. Similarly, if the President and Prime Minister are willing to co-head the OGP implementation steering committee, it must be resourced to play its envisaged coordination role. A failure to do so would be a proxy indication of the government’s failure to properly see through its commitment to the principle of Open Government.

The 100-day programme allowed the government to capture the public imagination around a challenging presidential election campaign. Will the government use the OGP as an opportunity to do the same – without a near-term presidential or parliamentary electoral advantage in sight? If it does, it could be a sign of an Open Government vision. The allocations within the upcoming national budget will therefore prove telling.

Asoka Obeyesekere is the Executive Director of Transparency International Sri Lanka.

EPF should be investigated promptly as recommended by COPE 

 

COPE recommendation: Investigate EPF fully

Monday, 7 November 2016

The COPE report on the bond scam in the Central Bank from February 2015 to May 2016 has come up with, among others things, a very strong recommendation relating to EPF.

It has recommended in both the main report and the dissenting report with footnotes that the activities of EPF from around 2010 until May 2016 should be fully investigated to ascertain irregularities in investments, improprieties, malpractices and losses to members.

EPF’s buying at high prices in the secondary market

EPF should be investigated promptly as recommended by COPE.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Building Megapolises While Rural Sri Lanka Burns

By Emil van der Poorten –November 6, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

In describing what the Maithripala/Ranil (MR2) lot are doing in the matter of following in the footsteps of the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR1) mob the title of this piece is in fact an understatement of the larger reality. It seeks to describe in a very abbreviated form the destruction of the Sri Lankan environment as we know it and those who depend on it for sustenance. And in this, I do not confine my reference to the abomination that the land reclamation/port project in Colombo constitutes.

Knowledgeable environmentalists such as Ranil Senanayake have spoken incessantly about the truly enormous negative implications of these schemes which do little but fatten the purses of those in the commission-collection queues. The Rajapaksa horde did very well on all of that and while there is no gainsaying that the MR2 bunch could not avoid inheriting that pile of corruption there is no excuse for the latter continuing that process without missing a beat, so to speak.

The ignoramuses – and I am being kind in describing these mouthpieces for the Commission Kaakkas – who write reams to the media on the need for these huge schemes – are deliberately blind to the fact that such humungous projects have proven to be nothing but economic white elephants and/or contributed to problems such as Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology as in the case of the accelerated Mahaweli Project. Read what Arundathi Roy had to say about the huge dam projects in India and how dead right she was proved to be. They simply created problems rather than provided solutions.

What macaques do to coconuts

“Small is beautiful” is not simply some romantic concept. It has proved to be the direction in which we should be going and, in some parts of the world which have learned the bitter lessons of “bigger is better” that is where governments are moving financially and philosophically, seeking reconstruction instead of glitz.

Do we have, over and over again, to walk in the footsteps of the greedy “developers” of the often-derided “west” whose behaviour has benefited no one but themselves, becoming complicit in their corruption? All of that, while trumpeting the fact that we are the beneficiaries of 2500 years of civilization?

A reading of Jane Jacobs might give some of our “planners” a few ideas on the direction in which we should be going. Admittedly, there is no glitter and glamour (and commissions) in that approach but it has certainly proved to be where salvation lies for urban dwellers. Jane moved from the US to Toronto where she, justifiably, proceeded to establish an iconic reputation in the matter of renewing the core of population centres.

Read More

Appraising Hillary without prejudice

Hillary Clinton is well-organised and committed on issues 

The scandal that may scuttle her presidential ambitions

Hillary Clinton addresses Congress on her healthcare reform plan in 1993

by Kumar David-November 5, 2016, 8:57 pm

Even the pro-Hillary media says she is likely to win only because her opponent is so lousy. A common jibe is that this election is between two unpopular personalities whose approval ratings are as low as 30% apiece. As a report of what people say this is true, as an appraisal of Hillary Clinton it is unfair and incorrect. Donald Trump is indeed an uncouth rat; unfit to be allowed near the Oval Office or the nuclear button, but this piece is not about this lewd jester. My focus is on Hillary and refutation of the shabby treatment meted out to her, mainly by white less educated America.

Hillary’s sterling moment was in fact a defeat; defeat of universal healthcare that she tried to pilot through Congress in Bill Clinton’s first term. She fought to bring sensible healthcare to America, but was shot down in flames by insurance companies, the healthcare industry, big pharma and US medical practitioners who are no less greedy than Lanka’s. She was reviled, humiliated, insulted in Congress and media and vilified by the aforesaid powerful lobbies. Her proposal was scuttled and Obamacare is an unsatisfactory second option that she will have to revisit and fix during her first term. To achieve this however, victory at the Tuesday (8 Nov) election will have to be complemented by Democratic majorities in the Senate (possible) and the House of Representatives. The latter is difficult unless there is a Hillary landslide because, though the whole House is up for re-election, Republicans currently hold a large House majority.

Hillary is no angel and this raises a parallel with my gambit in the January 2015 presidential election in Lanka. I did create the Single Issue Common Candidate strategy and employed many column inches of this valuable newspaper campaigning till the penny dropped. I had no idea who the candidate would be, a matter decided by the political powers of the day, but I do not minimise my answerability. The question is this: To what extent should I, along with others who latched on to the idea, be held responsible for the performance (good or bad) of this regime? Moral accountability in this instance pans out like this; defeating Rajapaksa was primary and had Sirisena turned out even inferior to what he is, prioritizing a Rajapaksa defeat was and remains the indisputably correct stance.

Next, having promoted this regime is one obliged to support it indefinitely? No, there is no time unlimited obligation. In the initial period one must support one’s creation and accept a degree of responsibility. I have extended critical support to the R&S outfit so far, but this is now wearing thin. Sirisena’s shenanigans (the Rs 200 billion Sampur fiasco, sweeping the First-Son’s thuggery under the carpet, interfering with independent commissions and misdirecting the police) are cause for concern. Ranil’s prevarications on committing to a firm dirigisme economic policy evoke worry. However, let’s wait for the constitution before settling final accounts. These two paras, I trust, will put my personal accountability in context.

Hillary and the white

working class

Hillary is said to be ‘less worse’ than Trump. I contest this damning with faint praises. The sociology is more complex. Traditional ‘old-industry’ white workers secreted in pockets in the rust-belt states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia and Georgia are fretful and gloomy; their world is in decay. Mines have closed, factories lie silent in industrial wastelands, the future looks hopeless. Workers who once were proud bearers of America’s industrial might are orphaned by the erosion of American capitalism. Trump’s eruptions are an outlet for despair and frustration; the more absurd and outrageous his bile the truer it resonates in their bitter gut. It is no wonder that 70% of white working class men and 62% of women abhor Hillary.

The drift of the white working class to right-wing extremism and racism is not confined to America. It is an emerging phenomenon in Britain, France, Austria, Denmark, Holland and most of Eastern Europe. Modernisation undermines the material basis of old working class family livelihood; Asia’s economic march is unstoppable; emigration of browns, blacks and Muslims is frightening.

The traditional white working class is only 20% of America’s population. In Europe and the US the new working class, which fondly thinks itself a middle-class, in trade, services, technology, digital activities, and clerical and key-board labour, numbers 50 to 70%. Little of this new working class is with Trump. The better-off middle classes and the bourgeoisie too have thrown in their lot with Hillary; Trump’s unruly rowdiness terrifies them. Is it surprising then that despite near total rejection by white workers, bookies give Hillary 3:1 odds of winning? Purveyors of gambling must know where their dollars lie.

Indisputably the root cause of the downfall of the traditional left (LSSP and CP) in Lanka was degeneration of the Sinhalese working class into racism. The sociological basics were familial and demographic merger of the working class with the rural and semi-urban petty-bourgeois, and secondly isolation of the Tamil working class in plantations instead of blending in industry.

Once the rot set in, the underpinning for left ideology disappeared clearing the way for the upsurge of chauvinism. The JVP took the place of the old-left but its racist tinged propaganda in its early years verifies my thesis. During the civil-war, workers were as rabidly racist as the worst dregs of urban and semi-urban petty-bourgeois and intellectually inane, high-society, Colombo drawing rooms.

Hillary Clinton and the labours of Sisyphus

Predictwise.com calculates with 90+% certainty that Hillary will win 22 states plus DC (273 electoral votes) and in 22 other states (180 votes) predicts that her chances as less than 10%. In six toss-ups (85 votes) her probability varies from 25% to 77%. [The magic number is 270; five days is a long time in politics and odds are slowly drifting in Trumps favour]. Prosperous and tech-savvy California, Connecticut, DC, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Michigan are Hilary’s; Trump gets most of the dregs. Identity of a political divide, with a modern versus atrophied social divide, has profound consequences if the economic crisis deepens.

Mainstream media, baffled by the intensity of Hillary hatred, contends that many males are hostile to a woman as president. The US presidency is the ultimate glass ceiling and to expect cruder white males, having put up with a black man in the White House for eight years, to now stomach a woman is too much. I do not know if the charge is fair but it is being repeated not only by women. For sure Obama is hated because he is a black and an intellectual to boot, which together engender a sense of inferiority among less educated whites.

Hillary has a feminist past dating back to the 1960s and once upon a time she was radical. She is a fighter who picks herself up again and again after being knocked down; the record shows she is no wilting violet. She is no orator and lacks Obama’s magical skill with words, nor does she project warmth and charisma and instead comes across as a well organised doer. But for heaven’s sake, what does a country need, a president who can govern or a prima donna on a floorshow?

The frenzy of the white working class is mirrored in the muted anger of some sections of the electorate. The complaint "Washington does not care, the establishment is corrupt, we have been left to wither" finds resonance. Add America’s hard-boiled reactionaries, religious conservatives, nativists and racists and you have the formula that assures Trump a minimum 40% of the popular vote. Hilary’s Achilles’ heel, which in a worst case may be fatal, is that she is an insider who has been around the Washington circuit for 40 years; the quintessential establishment candidate.

Still the truth is not the undeniable negligence of the Washington elite, it is that global and US capitalism is in the throes of an insoluble systemic crisis. Putting mad monk Rasputin, slayer-caliph al-Baghdadi, disoriented Idi Amin or a like figure in the Oval Office will make bedlam worse. The US voter is out of his/her depth at mention of ‘capitalism’. The overflow of this ignorance is that Hillary Clinton will lose lots of votes on the count of being "establishment".

The other downside that will cost her votes is the e-mail scandal and suspicion that she used her position as Secretary of State to raise funds for the Clinton Foundation. The Foundation is a charity of sterling quality and the world’s biggest donor of anti-HIV retroviral drugs to reverse the harm done by Thambo Mbeki’s lunacy. But this will not count as excuse enough in the minds of voters in the throes of this vicious election campaign. In any case Hillary is guilty of stupidity if not misdemeanour. Not since the days of Edgar Hoover has the FBI blatantly interfered in politics. Ten days before D-day it manufactured innuendoes that Hillary may be liable for ‘something’ but it’s not sure what! Amazing! Democratic Party leaders allege that FBI Director James Comey has acted illegally. Damage has been done to Democrats in Congressional races. A probe of Comey’s bank accounts is in order.

The charge that Hillary was paid tens of thousands to make speeches to big firms is facetious. So what if they were willing to pay? More seriously, will she, as president, lean towards Wall Street and the healthcare moguls? The latter I rule out, but the former is possible.

Weerawansa throws charge sheet served on him by the special presidential Commission to the ground !

(Lanka-e-News -06.Nov.2016, 8.40 PM)    When the indictment sheet was served by the Special Presidential Commission  on former minister of housing Wimal Weerawansa based on charges filed against him in respect of a fraud of a whopping Rs. 7,700,000,00 committed through  distributing houses and shops to his relatives  , the ex minister had disdainfully thrown the charge sheet to  the ground which is tantamount to committing contempt of court.

This most odious incident involving a present  responsible member  of parliament who should set an example in lawful behavior to the citizens took place on the 4 th. The presidential commission possessed of powers of the courts issued notice on him to appear before the commission yesterday , and when the charge sheet was handed over to him  , Weerawansa threw the charge sheet to the ground unnoticed by the judges in front of him.

This is an action that deserves punishment based on charges of committing grave contempt of court ,however since  the judges did not notice this , it had been  suppressed.
 
Following this reprehensible action of Weerawansa, when the charges were read out to him  who is the accused, he was dumbfounded and his lips went evidently dry. He was so unnerved and distraught that he had called for drinking water twice. The judges had also to explain to him the punishment in store for him if he is found guilty

The trial is to be continued

---------------------------
by     (2016-11-06 15:14:30)

To protect Sri Lanka’s mothers - EDITORIAL



2015-05-15

The National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) and the Daham Pahana’s Kandula group this week decided to launch a national movement to save Sri Lanka’s most precious treasures— our mothers, mother earth and the farmer community. 

 At a meeting held at the Musaeus College auditorium,  NMSJ leader the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Nayaka Thera and Daham Pahana pioneer Anton Charles Thomas gave some shocking details of what was happening to about 1.5 million Sri Lankan women, mostly mothers employed for domestic work in Middle Eastern countries. They said there was substantial evidence that in hundred if not thousands of cases the young mothers were forced into virtual slave labour for about 14 hours a day. Worst still, there were many cases where these young Sri Lankan mothers are being sexually abused by the men in those households. At the same time something equally bad or worse was taking place in many of the families where the mothers had gone overseas for work. Often it was the young daughter in the family who looks after the needs of the father and in many cases this also leads to sexual abuse. A senior police officer in Embilipitiya had given the movement many files containing documents of complaints and cases with pictures of 12-year-old girls carrying babies after being sexually abused by the father. While the mother is abused in the household overseas the teenage daughters were sexually abused here and as a result thousands of families are crumbling. 

 The mother is a precious treasure. She lovingly carries a child in the womb for nine months then allows her blood to be turned into milk to nourish the child for one or two years. Even after that the love relationship between a mother and her child is unique and irreplaceable, not even by the most loving father or grandmother. Until the children grow to adulthood and even after that it is the mothers who selflessly, sacrificially and sincerely serve the children, help and protect and be there for the children in any situation. 

 Therefore it is a crime and a crying shame that often when we want to scold or curse someone we use the name of the mother in a filthy way. Even more disgraceful and degrading is the fact that such abused mothers and others have become the biggest export earners for our country. According to Central Bank figures for last year, the foreign exchange sent by them was   7,017.8 million US dollars

  The two groups decided that they would soon launch a national movement to urge the new government that immediate and effective steps need to be taken to stop the degradation of our mothers. Last week, Indonesia announced it would be banning the export of girls or mothers for domestic work in the Middle East. Sri Lanka also needs to move in this direction and find some other way of earning foreign exchange instead of getting it from the slave labour and sexual abuse of our young girls and mothers. 

 Another important area where a mass movement is to be launched is the pollution of Mother Earth and the degradation of the farmers who have been a part of Sri Lanka’s culture and civilization for thousands of years. The movement is appealing to the government to take steps to gradually reduce and then ban the use of imported agro chemicals which are polluting and poisoning the soil. As a result most of the food we eat contains poison while in the North Central Province especially, the groundwater has been polluted resulting in thousands of farmers or their family members suffering from grave kidney ailments requiring dialysis. Instead we need to swiych to organic agriculture with natural fertiliser. This movement to protect mother earth and farmer communities will be based on the memorable old song, “Tikiri Menike Embula Genalla, Govi Rala Godata Evilla,”.  

 We hope millions of Sri Lankans will wholeheartedly support these noble causes to save our mother earth and the farmer community who have faithfully provided our ‘bath patha’ for generations.  

Armed forces and police capable of curbing armed groups: Ruwan 

Ava Group was created by Maj. Gen. Mahinda Haturusinghe!

‘AAVA Gangsters’ operate under auspices of Gotabhaya: Rajitha

Monday, 7 November 2016

Security forces and police have the necessary strength to restrain any armed group and no external party will be allowed to take the law into their hands, the State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said.

Speaking at a meeting in Biyagama on Saturday, the State Minister said that after the end of the three-decade-long war the Government had taken strict measures to beef up security in the country.

He rejected the allegations made by some elements that the Government had a political and military connection to the Aava group in the North. He said the security forces had already identified the members of the Aava group and they would soon be taken into custody. They will be produced before courts and action will be taken against them in accordance with the law, the State Minister said.

Police arrest six members of ‘Aava gang’ terrorizing North

The police have arrested as many as six suspected members of the ‘Aava Gang’, who are terrorizing the people in the North, in Jaffna.

The Terrorism Investigation Division of Sri Lanka Police has arrested two brothers suspected to be members of the gang at Uduvil in, Jaffna last night, while four others were arrested earlier yesterday.

Police are on the hunt for the members of the sword-wielding motorcycle gang who claimed responsibility for the attack on two police detectives in Jaffna recently.

The security forces and the police in the North have already identified the members of the Aava gang and they will be arrested soon, the State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene said.

Sri Lankan Foreign Policy and China

This is a clear indication of misusing of diplomatic privileges and immunities. The only action the Sri Lankan government should take is to declare the Chinese Ambassador “persona non grata” and expel him from Sri Lanka. This is a question of sovereignty of the country. If this is left unattended, the Chinese envoy can even openly criticize the President. Sri Lanka should not work like a satellite state of China.

by Our Special Correspondent

( November 7, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is a limit for any envoy of a country to act in a receiving state how big or powerful his country is. The conducts of an envoy has been clearly described in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. All states in the world follow and accept this convention as the foremost document in conducting intentional relations. Under this, Diplomats of the modern world enjoy diplomatic immunities. Yet, there is no room for any diplomat to interfere with internal affairs of any state. There are even provisions to arrest and charge a Diplomat if he or she involves in criminal activities. At the same time, the receiving state has the rights to send back any diplomat as per the provisions laid down in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Usually, states refrain from taking such actions unless there is no other alternative. Therefore, diplomats, in general do not interfere with internal affairs of the receiving country and they refrain from making any open comment mainly on political affairs and criticizing the political leaders. If an envoy acts contrary to the above, the receiving country can act according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. For example, On May 27, 1991 David Gladstone, then High Commissioner of the UK in Sri Lanka was declared persona non grata by the Sri Lankan government for ‘interfering with the country’s internal affairs’. His expulsion was confirmed ‘in conformity with the normal protocol procedure whenever a member of the diplomatic corps abused his/her privileges’.

The article 09 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations related to the above is as follows;

“The receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the mission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission. A person may be declared non grata or not acceptable before arriving in the territory of the receiving State.

If the sending State refuses of fails within a reasonable period to carry out its obligations under paragraph 1 of this Article, the receiving State may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission.”

Sri Lanka has faced a similar dilemma today as a result of explosive remarks by the Chinese envoy on Sri Lanka. His remarks on Minister, Ravi Karunanayake was unacceptable in terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. According to the reports, Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Yi Xianliang has openly criticized Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake by referring to his name three times during a press conference held on 01st November 2016. This is highly an unusual act by a foreign diplomat. In realty, he is criticizing the official position of a minister in Sri Lanka on Chinese loan. This is tantamount to criticizing the policy of the Sri Lankan government. This is not the first occasions the Chinese Embassy in Colombo interfering with the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. According to the reports, on 02nd July 2015, a mobile phone belongs to the Deputy Chief of Mission in Chinese Embassy in Colombo disseminated SMS messages criticising minister Ravi Karunayake. The mobile number is 0776706560. These messages have been highlighting the benefits the people of Sri Lanka can get as a result of the Chinese projects in the country. He alleges in the SMS, “….one Minister level political figure’s allegation of only Chinese workers lost jobs at Chinese funded projects is totally wrong….” In this case it was Minister Ravi Karunanayke who expressed views on the Chinese projects. As a minister of the government he has a right to express his views on anything. However, these SMS messages intended to support the election campaign of former President Mahinda Rajapakse and the group. A number of SMS messages have been sent soon before the parliamentary election against the UNP.

There are many implications on these statements by the Chinese envoys. This is a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It is also an indication for Chinese uppish attitudes towards Sri Lanka. China thinks that Sri Lanka should dance according to its tune mainly because it provides a large amount of funds to Sri Lanka for its development. The other issue is that failure of Sri Lanka to react to these actions as a sovereign state in accordance with the international law. This is great weakness. This reflects on Sri Lanka very badly in the intentional scene.

When the email scam of the former Deputy Chief of the Chinese Embassy was exposed no action was taken by the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. However, Chinese government transferred him to their Consulate in Lon Angeles. Failing to act in this instance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samraweera, displayed his weakness. Even today, the Minister of Foreign Affairs seems to be non responsive to the remarks of the Chinese Embassy. There are two main reasons for his inaction. One is his dislike towards the Minister Ravi Karunanayake. In the present cabinet of Sri Lanka, the Ministers do not treat each other as friends or colleagues. There is no agreement between them on any issue. This is because of internal political rivalry. The Prime Minister and the President have not taken any initiative to correct this nasty environment, which, indeed, an obstacle for a stable government. On the hand, the President, Prime Minister or Ministers do not have guts to talk against China. This is mainly because they need the Chinese funds and assistance very badly. Therefore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs may not take any drastic action against the Chinese Ambassador in Colombo. This attitude has been vividly reflected in the statement issued by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on this issue. It says, “The Ministry is closely studying the comments made by the Ambassador.” This is a indeed very funny and shameful statement.

This is a clear indication of misusing of diplomatic privileges and immunities. The only action the Sri Lankan government should take is to declare the Chinese Ambassador “persona non grata” and expel him from Sri Lanka. This is a question of sovereignty of the country. If this is left unattended, the Chinese envoy can even openly criticize the President. Sri Lanka should not work like a satellite state of China. The whole world is looking at Sri Lanka as to how it reacts towards this incident. Any action of Sri Lanka decides whether Sri Lanka has a backbone to behave as a sovereign state in the intentional system or a purport of China. People in Sri Lanka is closely monitoring whether the top political leadership of Sri Lanka could be able to act like President Premadasa. Yet, certainly they have doubts about the present leadership of Sri Lanka.

GL blames SLFP for duplicity

November 6, 2016, 10:01 pm 

Former External Affairs Minister and Chairman of newly registered Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday told The Island that the suspension of his SLFP membership should be examined against the backdrop of the then SLFP General Secretary Maithripala contesting the SLFP’s presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa at January 2015 polls.

Prof. Peiris said that he wouldn’t challenge the SLFP’s right to take disciplinary measures against him over the formation of a new political outfit. However, the SLFP couldn’t treat two members in respect of violation of discipline differently, Prof. Peiris said, adding that he expected the party to review his suspension.

Responding to a query, Prof. Peiris pointed out that immediately after Maithripala Sirisena had switched his allegiance

to the then Opposition, the party suspended him. But, subsequently, the suspension had been withdrawn paving the way for him to receive the leadership in the wake of his victory at the presidential polls.

Prof. Peiris urged the SLFP leadership not to adopt double standards in dealing with disciplinary matters. (SF)

Sri Lanka orders probe after report of maids being ‘sold’ in Oman



November 6, 2016 

A Sri Lankan government minister has ordered an inquiry into how their citizens are entering Oman illegally and has recalled an embassy official in Oman as part of the probe. 

The moves come after a Times of Oman investigation revealed that Sri Lankan housemaids are on ‘sale’ in Sohar. 

Now Sri Lanka’s Foreign Employment Minister, Thalatha Athukorala, has launched a top level government investigation. 

“My officials will be probing to find how Sri Lankan female domestic workers are travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on tourist visas and crossing into Oman on job visas illegally,” Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Employment Athukorala told Times of Oman.

 She also confirmed that a Sri Lankan embassy official had been recalled to Colombo as part of the probe. On October 26, Times of Oman revealed that female domestic workers from Sri Lanka and other Asian and African countries are brought into Oman by expatriate agents without the knowledge of the sending country’s embassies in Oman. 

An official from the Sri Lankan embassy in Oman confirmed that they had dealt with 70 trafficked cases this year alone. 

The agents in Sohar, talking to Times of Oman in a hidden camera operation, had said that “they have their own way to deal with embassy officials”. 

Agents in Sohar speak openly of skipping official government and embassy procedures to provide expatriate women to work as housemaids in Oman.

 According to the minister, the official recalled is now part of the government inquiry.

 “An official has been called back in October. We are checking whether he had any connections with the illegal gangs,” the minister said, adding that another 21-year-old woman was recently rescued from Oman after she was moved into the country by a Nepali agent through the UAE.

 According to the Lankan foreign employment rule, woman below 30 years old cannot legally migrate as a domestic worker. 

“We urge everyone to follow the rules set by the government. Take up overseas job opportunities only through official channels,” the minister added. 

The agents in Sohar had told Times of Oman that they need salary details, maudinyia and ID card to get a housemaid. 

SI arrested over jewellery theft

2016-11-06

Two men, including a Sub Inspector of Police, were arrested today in connection with a Rs.35 million robbery that had taken place at a jewellery manufacturers in Pettah two months ago.

 Police suspect that the SI was the mastermind behind the robbery. The suspects were arrested at Galenbindunuwewa, Anuradhapura

As Madaya's last hospital closes, one Syrian father loses two children in a week

'In Madaya we do not have a future. The town is bleeding, and writes its stories in the blood of children'

Syrian pro-government forces at the entrance to the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya as residents wait for an aid convoy on 14 January, 2016 (AFP)-Burned fields around Madaya after residents claimed they were razed by Assad regime and Hezbollah forces (supplied to Lizze Porter from Madaya resident)

UN's humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Yacoub el-Hillo, looks on after talking to journalists as an aid convoy waits on the outskirts of besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya, on 14 January, 2016 (AFP)-A handout picture released by UNICEF and taken on 14 January, 2016 shows a UNICEF employee measuring the arm of a malnourished child in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya (AFP / UNICEF)

Lizzie Porter-Sunday 6 November 2016 

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Moussa al-Maleh thought things could not get worse after the death of his 12-year-old son Mohammed. Shocked by a Hezbollah sniper in the besieged town of Madaya, the boy fell from a fourth-floor balcony, suffering serious skull and neck injuries. 

After appeals for an evacuation to Damascus for medical treatment failed, the middle-school student died in the small mountain town’s makeshift hospital – little more than a dingy room with a bed. 

But Maleh’s pain was about to worsen. A few days later, his pregnant wife went into labour. After an emergency Caesarean section, she gave birth to a still-born child, Abed al-Rahman.  

“He did not live. He preferred to die because it is better than seeing our reality,” Maleh told Middle East Eye in his first English-language interview since the death of two of his six children in a week. 

The still-born Abed al-Rahman was photographed wrapped in white swaddling, a flower placed next to his pink, sore skin. 

“We were forced to carry out an operation to take the baby out of her belly, but he was dead,” Maleh told MEE. “My wife’s blood pressure was still high. We appealed to the world to help her but also without response.” 

The mother, who survived her emergency labour, is now at home, alive but weak. 

“She wakes up for 30 minutes and then loses consciousness again," Maleh said. "We are waiting for the mercy of the God." 

His double bereavement is a small window into the pain of Madaya, where the population of 40,000 lives surrounded by snipers, landmines and the remains of charred fruit orchards, long since burned by surrounding troops of the Assad government and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. 

Siege Watch, a body that monitors surrounded towns and cities in Syria, said the town remains “critically besieged,” with deaths from starvation and forced displacement of families living near Hezbollah checkpoints being reported.  

The situation is so desperate that in the past few days the three medical staff running Madaya’s last hospital were forced to close the room.

“We shut the hospital because no one answered our needs. There are no painkillers here, no specialist doctors, no specific drugs,” said Mohammed Darwish, a dentistry student among the team of three people responsible for medical services in Madaya, as specialists have left or died. “They stopped the evacuations too, so we decided to shut the hospital, especially after the death of Mohammed al-Maleh.”

Equipment and medicines had run so low that they conducted operations without anaesthetic. When they were operating on Mohammed al-Maleh, Darwish said, oxygen ran out shortly into the work. He had to be kept breathing manually, he said.

They tried to consult surgeons in America or Idlib via the Internet for advice, but were often forced to treat patients with injuries and illnesses beyond the realms of their expertise.

“We are not specialists, but we have to work like this because there is no alternative,” he said.

The UN confirmed the closure in Madaya, saying medical authorities suspended their activities “due to lack of medical resources and specialists". 

Time and time again, the team had appealed for medical evacuations to the capital for cases they knew they could not treat.

Access to better medical facilities in Damascus has depended on the so-called "Four Towns Agreement".

Under the deal, signed last autumn, the Syrian government and its allies only permit accessout of Madaya and neighbouring Zabadani if similar evacuations are allowed from Fua and Kefraya, two towns besieged by rebels in northern Idlib province.

In July, Yacoub el-Hillo, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Syria, said its teams were ready to carry out medical evacuations and asked the involved parties to “put an end to the tit-for-tat approach of the [Four Towns] agreement” that prevented emergency responses. 

The following month, 18 medical cases, including 13 children, were allowed out of Madaya for treatment in Damascus. In September, Darwish and his colleagues secured the evacuation of a Madaya resident who stepped on a mine as he tried to escape the town. He survived, but one of his legs was amputated.

But others, including Mohammed al-Maleh and little Abed al-Rahman, were not so lucky.

Even when burying his older son, Maleh said, he could not escape the Hezbollah snipers who have surrounded his town since July last year.

“They tried to kill us and shot at us too during Mohammed’s burial. He was not enough for them to stop. They continued, but thank God I was safe afterwards.”

A 25-strong group of the schoolboy’s friends came to pay their respects to their friend, despite the risk of gunfire.

Mohammed al-Maleh, who died last week after falling from a balcony when shocked by a Hezbollah sniper in Madaya (photo supplied to Lizze Porter from Moussa al-Maleh)

“In the funeral service, his school friends came together,” the bereaved father told MEE. “The old people who were there started crying when they saw this scene. That was very emotional.”

Maleh now looks to the graves of Mohammed and Abed al-Rahman from his balcony every day.

“My home is near their burial place. Every day I look to them from my balcony, and start crying, and I cry, and cry, and cry.”

Madaya came to the world’s attention last year when images appeared of its starving residents, who had been reduced to eating grass and cats as food supplies ran out.

The town has since received aid deliveries, but the lack of variety means residents are still malnourished.

“People here have been eating bulgar wheat and rice for six months,” said Maleh, who was a property owner before the war and is now head of the local council. “You can imagine, if you were in Beirut and ate only hamburgers for a week, you will not want to eat it any more. The jails are better than here because there is a variety of food there, not the same food.”

His hometown was once an attractive market and resort. Just 40 km from the Syrian capital, it was a mountain retreat for wealthy Damascenes.

“Madaya was a very rich city – it had an international market and fancy houses,” Maleh explained. He said that his land had been set on fire by government and Hezbollah forces, preventing cultivation of fruit and vegetables which could improve the townspeople’s diet.

“I had apple and pear farms, but they burned them three years ago because I am an opponent. They burned all the farms in Madaya and Zabadani.”

It is not only the physical health of Madaya’s residents that has suffered. Save the Children reported in September that 13 residents had tried to commit suicide in the previous two months, including a 12-year-old girl. There had been next to no reported attempts before the siege.

Hundreds more people in the town are suffering from illnesses including severe depression and paranoia, the charity said, with no access to specialist mental health care services.

The trauma is raw for Moussa al-Maleh, who wonders where the future lies.

“Which future do you mean?” he said, when asked what he sees in the days to come. “Does the prisoner think about the future? In Madaya we do not have a future … the town is bleeding and writes its stories in the blood of children, men, and women.”

Translation by Ghayath al-Aziz