AN INDIVIDUAL ARRESTED FOR TAKING VVIP PHOTOS IN SRI LANKA

Image: President Sirisena carries Amaradewa’s coffin.

09/11/2016

An individual who was taking photographs of VVIP is at the W.D. Amaradeva funeral at the Independence Square  on 4th November has been remanded till 15th November, reports Daily Mirror.

The  President and other VIPs were present  at the state funeral.

The Daily Mirror report further  says that@

According to the prosecution, the suspect  behaved suspiciously taking photographs of the VIPs continuously pretending to be a journalist.

Police officers attached to the President’s Security Division (PSD) had apprehended the suspect at the funeral and handed him over to the Cinnamon Gardens Police, and later the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) took over the case.

The suspect, Sapumal Devinda Kumara, a resident of Kotahena, was later interrogated under Police custody for three days.

The Police said based on the inquiry conducted so far with assistance of the Terrorism Investigations Division, the CCD had informed court that the Police couldn’t uncover any previous connections of the suspect into terrorist activities.

The prosecution also said that the suspect had been produced before a JMO and conducted a medical test over his mental condition and the report was pending.

The CCD also informed the court further investigations were going on into the phone conversations of the suspect. The inquiry was initiated upon a complaint lodged by the PSD.

(Shehan Chamika Silva)

Group of disabled members of the forces and Ravana Balaya invited attack to fulfill obligations of ‘contractors’ who hired them? (video)

(Lanka-e-News - 08.Nov.2016, 11.45PM) Doubts have proliferated whether  the attack launched yesterday on  a group of  retired disabled officers of the forces who had been in service for less than 12 years  and the maniacal  extremists under the name of Ravana Balaya  when they tried to forcibly enter the presidential secretariat was the outcome  of the sly maneuvers ,and was an evil  attack  orchestrated by bankrupt discarded  politicos .

The reasons that support this view are …

This group was staging a fast for the last 5 days demanding that their ‘service pension salaries ‘ be paid , while  the president had already decided to grant this payment as far back as  end of last year , and a gazette notification too was released in that regard. This payment was to be made from February next year after the allocations are made under this year’s budget .

As soon as  this group commenced the fast  , the commander of the forces , the defense secretary and other relevant officials clarified the position to this group most lucidly supported by documents while also giving a written promise. Yet the group yesterday tried to break the barriers and enter the presidential secretariat. Mind you , this same group after being subjected to tear gas and baton attacks dispersed based on the same promise given to them earlier and not on a new assurance. Therefore it is as clear as day , this group invited this attack at the behest of the behind the scene bankrupt politicos and to serve the foul and destructive  agendas of the latter based on their  contract.  

The case history is as follows …

There are two  specific schemes under which payments are made to the disabled officers who are victims of the  war :

1.The officers who had become disabled while they were  in service  for 12 years in the forces, and have completed that period (taking into consideration the right of these officers to retire after 12 years)
2.Those who became disabled while serving in the forces for 10 years, and have completed that period.

These are officers who can  of their own accord  go before the medical board , and retire . 

Accordingly , the first category, that is those who have completed 12 years , are entitled to  three payments per mensem :
The salary based on their   service in the forces
The disability pension salary
The service pension salary 

Whereas , the second category of officers who have completed only ten years (not 12 years) are entitled to  the other two payments only and not the  service pension salary .

When deciding on the ‘disability pension salary’ the disabled state  is assessed b y the Medical board ,  and based on the extent to which he/she  is disabled, it is computed.  The maximum payable is 80 % of the salary.

The ‘service pension salary’ is computed based on their  period  of service  ,and a percentage of the salary   is paid.

These war heroes who  transformed into pawns of evil bankrupt political forces and invited attacks yesterday were receiving  all the allowances except  the afore noted service salary payment, and constituted a section  of the  group that had not completed 12 years in service.

After the war ended in 2009 , and until Maithripala Sirisena became president in January 2015, that is during the interim six years these officers had been  making their demands ,yet  the former despotic Rajapakse reign  did not even grant them a copper cent.

 However after Maithripala took over the reins, he ordered that this group which had not completed 12 years in service  be granted the service pension salary , and a gazette notification was issued to that effect. As delays are experienced due to  procedural wrangles when making the necessary financial allocations and overcoming legal barriers ,  it was promised  this allocation will  be made in this year’s budget , and payments with arrears will be granted from next February. 

While this is the true situation , this group who fell prey to the bankrupt politicos , pretended yesterday that  the good governance government was attacking the war heroes, in order to make  a false display and paint a wrong picture. 

The above reasons therefore confirm this atrocious and delusive display was to serve the  vicious and venomous aims and agendas of the presently discarded , detested and drowning   Rajapakses who are now without even a straw to hold on to. 

Another abominable aspect of this odious incident is the short sightedness of the IGP. For the last full five days , this group which included not only some of the disabled officers of the forces but also the Ravana Balaya extremist frontline monks  was  conducting themselves most offensively disregarding  the genuine and reasonable promises given to them already.

Hence the IGP must bear the full responsibility for this incident , because even after knowing very well the violent mischief making monks and their leaders are behind this agitation , he did not take any action whatsoever until these hooligan monks exacerbated the tension and escalated the situation  so far as to forcibly enter the Presidential secretariat.

May be the IGP , better known as the Imbecile General of Police whose four mobile phones are busy with his receiving and answering calls of cuties and  lads ; making poses on face book pages  ; giving answers to the face book comments received ; and making four to five hours long vacuous sermons , naturally has no  time to attend to his onerous official duties . Perhaps, it is why he forgot to provide security ahead to the presidential secretariat. His globetrotting is no excuse in any case. Neither   does that exculpate him of the blame nor relieve him of his responsibilities. 

The video footage covering the incident is hereunder 

---------------------------
by     (2016-11-09 04:36:25)

Supreme Court Judge Eva Wanasundera Reported For Judicial Corruption

November 9, 2016

Supreme Court judge Eva Wanasundera has been reported to the CIABOC for judicial corruption, the Colombo Telegraph learns.

Justice Eva Wansundera

The complaint has been lodged by the Public Interest Rights Activist and a Lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku yesterday. In the complaint lodged to the CIABOC, Kodituwakku said that he conducted an in-depth independent investigation into the National List provision in the Constitution, which permits, rejected candidates to enter parliament through the National List.

He noted that his investigation revealed conclusive proof of a Constitutional Fraud, involving the then President J R Jayewardene, and 5 judges in the Supreme Court, who were directly responsible for permitting the clause introduced to the Article 99A of the Constitution by fraudulent means, paving the way for defeated candidates to enter the parliament through the backdoor, without a mandate being obtained from the people as the said clause patently violated the entrenched provisions of Article 3 of the constitution, which protects peoples sovereign power of franchise.

In his complaint, the activist informed CIABOC that he managed to discover the Supreme Court Record (SC/SD/02/1988), which revealed that the whole process adopted by the Supreme Court in 1988 was manifestly unlawful which was amounts to commission of a ‘Constitutional Fraud’ in which all organs of the government, including the judiciary was involved. The complaint of the activist further reveals that the Supreme Court has deliberately acted against its Constitutional obligation to the people to confer a unlawful benefit to the then government headed by President J R Jayewardene.

When he requested for a certified copy of the said case record it was initially declined by Chief Justice K Sripavan, Justice Chandra Ekanayake and Justice Priyasath Dep who had fully comprehended that there was a serious mistake done by the 5-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court on 18th of April 1988, approving the disputed clause permitting party secretaries to nominate defeated candidates through the National List. Therefore, activist Kodituwakku states that the Chief Justice and other two judges declined to release a copy of the relevant case record. However, when it finally came down to Judge Eva Wanasundera, she straightaway refused to release it to protect the interests of those who were involved in this fraudulent act. The order made by justice Eva Wanasundera against the release of the said Case Records reads as follows.

“… Communication between the President and the Chief Justice and the Observations of the Court, which are communicated to the President and to the Speaker, need not be disclosed to Mr Kodituwakku. The request contained in the Motion is therefore refused…”

Read More

Some cope members attempted to rope me in

2016-11-09

In accordance with the basic laws of the land, the management of state finances or public finances, come directly under the authority of the Parliament and its coordinator the Auditor General. However it appears to be doubtful whether this close alliance was guaranteed in the recent Central Bank Bond Issue. When queried, the Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe opined as follows.   

Q  As envisaged in the 100 day programme, the implementation of the Audit Act and the commission still remains ineffective. The civil society and the professionals too are exerting pressure, but what is delaying these matters?   

This is our problem as well. There is a new culture that is emerging, those who will face this new culture remain the people who were under the former regime. This is an issue. For example in the case of taking action against certain ministry secretaries whom we identify as chief accountants, we faced problems. Though they come under the Auditor General, there were weak areas whenever action was instituted against them. Under the new act that power would be vested with the Auditor General. 
It means that in the event of a loss, the Auditor General will have the power to issue orders for its recovery. The biggest hurdle is here. At present the category of officers who are identified as chief accountants are very powerful. Not all but some of them are opposing as they are not in agreement with the delegation of power. This is the reason for the delay.   

Q  In the implementation of action against corruption, state officers are being taken to task while the politicians escape. Even in the parliamentary sub committees, politicians are not bound to respond. Don’t you think that this situation should change?   

No. Why should it change? The responsibility begins from the chief accountant’s level. The ministry secretary or the one who is below him should know how to maintain his own self respect. Whatever said and done the officer who is straightforward would never stoop to low levels. The politicos would then refrain from doing wrong. To say that they cannot work is a scam. If it is so they can ask for a transfer to some other place. Without doing the needful there is no point in arguing.What is actually happening here is, that a handful of officers had fallen to the level of misleading politicos to obtain perks and privileges. They are the people who mislead the country and encouraged politicos to do wrong.   

Q  Are you implying that politicos are clean?   

No, absolutely not. What I say is that a politico cannot commit fraud alone. They essentially need the help of the bureaucracy. This is the culture that has been created.   

 

"A group in the COPE attempted to point a finger at me and were accusing me. 
An Auditor General cannot be accused and if that happened everything would have ended there. They began questioning me. This is the first time in history such an occurrence was reported. "

Q  With replacements not being implemented and allocation of inadequate funds, the audit department was at one time faced with issues. Is it better now and have the required facilities been provided?   

Honestly I have not faced such issues. I discuss with the Ministry of Finance and obtain my necessities. There are some obstacles, no doubt. The new act had been brought about to maintain independence. This commission had earlier become a white elephant. We took over a three storied building and recruited about twenty personnel. They have been idling for the past eleven months, without any specific work. Monthly expenditures amounting to Rs. 2 million were recorded. This is because the Audit act has not been passed yet. When the commission is established it has to implement the audit act which is yet to be passed. In a haste they established the commission expecting the act to be implemented. Now it has been almost two years.   

Q  In other words maintaining such a commission is a waste of public money.   

That is what I am stressing. There are five members employed by the commission. They are paid Rs 75,000 each and provided with vehicles. I have a secretary, additional secretary and an office staff. They cannot be sent back.  

Q  Several professionals had pointed out that it is more practical to have a system where allocations for the Auditor General’s activities be authorised by Parliament rather than by the Treasury. A scheme of that nature is prevalent in England and clearly emphasizes independence.   

That is absolutely correct and it is found in the Audit act as well. Accordingly the annual allocations for the Auditor General is prepared by the Audit services commission. It is directly submitted to the Speaker of Parliament and is referred to the preparation of the budget, following his approval. With this act now in the hands of time everything has come to a standstill.   

 

"Under the new act that power would be vested with the Auditor General. It means that in the event of a loss, the Auditor General will have the power to issue orders for its recovery. The biggest hurdle is here. "

 

Q  What is the nature of the relationship between the Auditor General and the COPE?   

If there is no Auditor General there will be no COPE. The COPE is dependent on the report of the Auditor General. In the absence of an audit report the COPE has no matters to be discussed. I direct about 1500 reports to the Parliament. Out of these only a selected few are taken up by the COPE. We are ready to work abreast with the COPE.   

Q  -Former COPE chairman D. E. W. Gunasekera once remarked that the COPE report is based on the Auditor General’s report, but in the bond incident several argued about the necessity of the audit report. What is the basis for this argument?   

If we argue over this point, we may also question: what is the necessity in having, supreme courts and appeal courts? We could manage with only the lower courts. This system is in place to safeguard the rights of the people. The COPE is vested with powers to act in accordance with the audit report as financial control has to be held by it. COPE issues its reports based on the Auditor General’s findings. That is tabled in Parliament, and they decide whether to go forward or not. Thereafter the matter is referred to courts. This is the democratic process. There was a time earlier when Auditor General’s reports were thrown into the dustbin. But that is parliamentary procedure.   

 

"The new act had been brought about to maintain independence. This commission had earlier become a white elephant. We took over a three storied building and recruited about twenty personnel. The personnel have been idling for the past eleven months, without any specific work. Monthly expenditures amounting to Rs. 2 million were recorded."

Q  Diverting from the earlier procedure, there was a split of opinions in tabling of the COPE report. What was the reason behind this controversy?   

There were no questions surfacing on my findings. If our main aim is good governance a difference of opinion cannot exist. But what happened here was something that went beyond. A group in the COPE attempted to point a finger at me and were accusing me. 
An Auditor General cannot be accused and if that happened everything would have ended there. They began questioning me. This is the first time in history such an occurrence was reported. The Auditor General goes to the COPE to assist it. They take my report and question the accused. This time around, they questioned me on my report. Without proceeding ahead with the Auditor General they contemplated on an offensive mission, and the controversy arose due to it.   

Q  Did you agree to alter some of your findings as stated in the COPE report.   

No.No. Nothing of that sort. Certain footnotes made by some had stated that the Auditor General had agreed on some issues. It is a canard. There was no reason to change my opinion, as the Auditor General has only one opinion and not 26 opinions. If that happens there is no validity in the Auditor General’s report. I have never backtracked on any opinion expressed by me and never altered my opinions either. There were no amendments. Those who disagree have the right to put some icing on it. In simpler words it is like allowing a student sitting for the grade 5 scholarship examination to examine my report and the student will also pick the findings I have noted. There is clear evidence of fraud and it is not necessary to go into hair splitting arguments.   

 

"There was no reason to change my opinion, as the Auditor General has only one opinion and not 26 opinions. If that happens there is no validity in the Auditor General’s report. I have never backtracked on any opinion expressed by me and never altered my opinions either. "

Q  Earlier there was little support from the state institutions for the audit procedures, has this changed the position.   

Now there is much change. It all depends on the chief accountant. If he begins to realize that the Auditor General is there to assist him and make good governance more effective within institutions, there would be no more issues. But some others are scared of him and regard him as a fault finder. In the bond incident the Central Bank continued to be evasive and tried to hide facts. They attempted to avoid providing information by saying things like very sensitive matters etc. COPE did not allow it and therefore we were able to uncover every detail.   

Q  There was opposition from the Cabinet of the former regime to a group identified as white collar criminals. Aren’t there any loop holes for those who are masters of this game to escape through the audit net.   

I am not convinced that this is not true. Let me go back to the audit commission and the act as the country has advanced rapidly and the economy is globalised. All sectors have become resurgent,but the necessary infrastructure had not been provided over the past period for the Auditor General’s Department to come to that position. There are 1500 staff members in my department. Out of them not even 100 have gone abroad on scholarships. With the greatest difficulty, funds were obtained, and now we are in the process of sending a small group to Malaysia for a two week training. The Auditor General’s department has not achieved the universal knowledge of audit and its activities. 
For example cyber crimes and money laundering, are crimes very difficult to be subject to audit. There is a dearth of officers who are competent for this kind of work. Therefore we lack the potential to attack the white collar criminals you mentioned. There are many obstacles to come up to that standard. Until we reach that position we have to accept your criticisms. Under the 19th amendment about 200 companies which are semi government institutions had been included in the audit list. Sri Lankan Airlines is also among them. No point in entrusting this workload without providing the necessary input.   

Q  In spite of the COPE committee taking centre stage for some, the issue was the mass media. With the audit act, people would gain access to obtain knowledge on misuse of public funds. Will this be a step forward in establishing financial discipline.   

After the implementation of the act, the Auditor General gets the opportunity of going before the media and provide reports and the public would be able to obtain information. This is the reason why the act is being shelved. However with the implementation of the RTI bill, no sooner my reports are presented to the Parliament, the reports would be uploaded to the Auditor General’s Department Website and the public could debate them. This would go a long way in the fulfillment of the good governance concept.   

Q   Despite the fact that the Auditor General is independent, the President and Prime Minister having their so-called powers, are they not in a position to interfere in issues. Say for example on a matter of national security, the President, as the Minister-in-Charge of Defence, doesn’t he have the opportunity of interfering.   

No. The Auditor General’s Department is not under any minister. It is independent. Only thing is, the issues connected with the political culture. When you are straightforward so many issues come up. How many issues have I had to face in the recent past? As long as the political culture is active this situation would continue and that is why we are asking the immediate implementation of the act and the activation of the commission. 
Some see us as an obstacle. Public money should be spent for the development of the people and should not be wasted. People have to fight to safeguard their rights. I have proved that matters relating to one’s conscience and peoples aspirations have not been proved in the face of law.   
These may change before the law in the face of hair splitting arguments.  

Messing Up On Mahinda: Michael Roberts On Eelam War IV

By Mark Salter –November 9, 2016 

Mark Salter

As a commentator on Sri Lanka’s civil war Michael Roberts has proved himself as productive and tirelessly self-referential as he is frequently misguided. The latest example comes in his article ‘From Historic Compromise to Resolve: Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2006’ (Colombo Telegraph, 27 Sept. 2016).

In response I will focus on aspects of Robert’s analysis – mostly concerning the origins of Eelam War IV (2006 – 2009) – that are either contentious, factually inaccurate, lacking in supporting evidence, seemingly uninformed by my analysis of the same – or in some cases all of the above.

Jaffna advance

But let us start a little earlier, as Robert’s article does, with some summary conclusions regarding a key event in Eelam War III (1995 – 2002): the LTTE’s effort to seize Elephant Pass – and beyond that Jaffna – in July 2000. Here Roberts suggests that the Tiger’s failure to advance on Jaffna after taking Elephant Pass was essentially due to the actions of ‘chief hero’ Defence Minister A Ratwatte, the ‘ordinary soldiers in the peninsula war theatre’ plus President Kumaratunga and the Pakistani government in ‘supporting roles’. This account omits or otherwise glosses over some important facts:

• The 7000 LTTE force advancing on Jaffna in summer 2000 was massively outnumbered by the 40,000-strong SLA force garrisoned inside Jaffna. And by mid-June 2000 the SLA garrison had indeed succeeded – unsurprisingly given the balance of forces – in pushing LTTE troops southwards along the Jaffna peninsula.
• Irrespective of respective force size, and for reasons that have never been fully clarified, at some point the LTTE appears to have decided to hold back from advancing on Jaffna. Erik Solheim has this to say on the matter: ‘From the town outskirts the LTTE issued a demand that [the SLA] should leave all their military equipment behind, and ships could pick up the soldiers and take them to Colombo … The Indians were ready to rescue the soldiers by ship, but wanted no part in the fighting. We worked closely with Delhi on this offer. The LTTE were ready to let the soldiers go, but insisted they should leave their equipment.’[1] In other words hardly a case of ‘heroic’ SLA military pushback.
• Any discussion of SLA surrender modalities lost its relevance once, as Solheim notes, government forces were able to ‘stabilise’ the military situation and relieve the immediate threat to the Palaly air base.
• Pakistan’s rapid emergency provision of military supplies—most importantly multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs), making their first appearance in the conflict here—undoubtedly played a critical part in the SLA military pushback: while at the same time India, in Solheim’s words, ‘looked the other way as it happened’.

Rajapaksa and Eelam War IV

Moving onto to events leading up to the start of Eelam War IV in July/August 2006, Roberts begins by outlining his basic thesis. Which is that, faced with a ‘Hobson’s Choice’, Mahinda Rajapaksa elected to follow the only reasonable course of action open to him, namely initiate all-out war against the LTTE.

Precisely why initiating what rapidly turned into full-scale war, going far beypnd the immediate objective of reopening the Mavil Aru anicut sealed off by the LTTE was the ‘only’, let alone ‘reasonable’ course of action open to President Rajapaksa remains unclear at this point, Before getting into the nuts and bolts of Eelam War IV’s origins, however, Roberts treats us to a somewhat breathless overview of the events of what might be called the functioning Ceasefire (CFA) era (2002-2006)..

Roberts is dismissive of the CFA – a position that gained widespread acceptance once it became clear the Rajapaksa administration had decided to ignore (and later officially abrogate) an Agreement that the previous administration had negotiated with the LTTE. I stress negotiated since, as Robert’s account makes abundantly clear, there was nothing in the CFA that had not been the subject of painstaking discussion, negotiation and compromise between the two sides.

Read More

Trigger Warning

Featured image by author

[TW: rape, sexual assault]

AMALINI DE SAYRAH on 11/09/2016

America just chose a rapist to be their president.

Let that sink in.

Let that properly sink in.

Let’s put aside the politics, policies and international relations aside for a minute and consider the other – potentially more worrying – message that the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America holds for people everywhere.

There are women who live for months and years after an experience of abuse who can barely bring themselves to see purpose in their lives.

There are women being sexually assaulted as I type, and as you read this, who will never be able to look at men in the same way again – never be able to hold hands or come into physical contact with men without it evoking memories of trauma.

There are women who have to face their attackers and abusers on the streets everyday because their ‘hearsay’ testimonies weren’t enough to put the man behind bars, or because they were just too scared to come forward because it would be made out to be their fault.

If you know someone who has been through sexual abuse, you know the weight of the darkness they carry on their shoulders. You know how it crushes them that men don’t understand that they were at fault, how it hurts them to hear someone write it off as them ‘asking for it’ and spinning the same ridiculous excuses about short clothes and alcohol and all the excuses that people use to ‘justify’ rape. Understand that because of society’s knee-jerk reaction to rape and the dismissal of rape culture, that the woman will always be at fault and her attacker somehow acquitted of his wrongs, just because.

Now take that man – who hurt your friend, loved one, that one girl you know – and make him a president of a country.

It’s not even limited to grave sexual assault of that nature. We’re always raging about street harassment in Sri Lanka and for good reason. But now think about that person who whistled or said something crude about what he’d like to do with you? That person who pleasured himself on the bus and then proceeded to try and grope your body?

Imagine that the man who made you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, violated, at risk – imagine that man having complete power over your life.

It’s bad enough that in most cases, they do have that power; because the women who face the assault carry that with them for years, that one moment defining and warping the rest of their lives on earth.

Now, the country that has been held as the gold standard for everything for decades goes and makes this man its leader.
Legitimising all the pain and torment – physical, psychological, emotional – that he has exerted on his victims.
Delegitimising the voice of every victim who has ever spoken up after being sexually abused on a campus, at a night club, on the street or in her very home.

Why don’t women report sexual assault? Because even if they do, a man who is a culmination of everything that women fear can make sweeping statements about how he has and would like to treat women, can be on trial for rape, can unabashedly be a vile misogynist, can treat his own wife and daughter like pieces of meat and still become President of the most powerful country in the world.

Imagine seeing the face of your rapist or abuser on television, news, social media, posters wherever you go. Where he is in a position to make decisions that affect your life while still maintaining the notion that he can ‘have’ you whenever he wants.

Everywhere you turn, signs of your abuser cloud your view – daily triggers of your most traumatic memories, sustained in such a way that dissociation is not possible, so that recovery is rocky at best.

If you have moved forward from your trauma, you relapse and fight again. If you have the strength.

But what if you have barely left those dark days? What if you’re still slitting your wrists at night and crying yourself to sleep, just needing one more thing to push you over the edge?

What if you’ve only just come to terms accepting what happened to you and speaking out about it?

What of all the women who are yet to face this, who will one day be preyed upon by some entitled man, who will live their lives having to see their abuser’s mindset reflected in the leader of their country.

It’s like the words and tears you spent coming to terms with yourself and others isn’t worth it anymore, because a man can do everything wrong and still be right and your voice will never be evidence enough.

Today was basically a whole nation telling every victim of sexual assault that their pain is not valid.

Someone who is on trial for rape, admits to sexual assault and treats women like absolutely worthless ‘objects’ was just elected president of the ‘free world’.

If you are a woman, chances are you have unpleasant experience at the hands of a man.

If you are a man, you might not always be the one inflicting this pain on a woman but take a moment to acknowledge that almost every woman has or will go through this for the sole reason that she is a woman.

Put yourself in their shoes before you start criticising people for caring about American politics so much because you have better things to do.

This really isn’t about politics. This is about the idea America is showing to the rest of the world.

How do you teach children with this example? Not just American kids but kids across the globe – that no matter what good you do, no matter the trauma you have suffered, the mean loud man will always be right. Dystopia is not fiction – it hasn’t been for a long time, really – but this is one more element that brings it to life.

I know this is a repetitive rant. I know this is more emotion than fact. I know that you’ll have a dozen different technical criticisms to throw at this. But please just take a moment and think about it.

Think of all the survivors and the many who might not survive with the impact today will take on them.

America just said yes to every man who has ever had his way with a woman without her consent and thereby said no to the story of the woman whose life was ruined.

How do you live with that?

Weerawansa’s daughter complained to Children and Women’s Bureau to seek political asylum for whole family in Western country ?

(Lanka-e-News - 08.Nov.2016, 11.45PM)   Wimal Weerawansa who wildly criticized the  Fundamental human rights and juvenile  rights in the past as  creatures of the Western conspirators , and are a prelude  to seek asylum in those cold countries, has most shamelessly visited the children  and  women’s rights bureau . Certainly this cannot be construed as  simply fate  that has ordained him to retract his own words , vis a vis the  stories  doing the rounds that he and his family are seeking political asylum on the sly in a Western country .

In the complaint lodged with the Bureau  , it is stated,  exploiting the death  of the youth that took place in Weerawansa’s  home  , the website owners and the social media are carrying on a mud slinging campaign against his daughter, thereby infringing her juvenile  rights.

It is a fact however that Websites including Lanka e news did not sling mud at Weerawansa’s daughter . It was only  reported  that an investigation be duly conducted into the suspicious ridden death of the youth who was staying that night in the house of Weerawansa .

When that is the factual  situation , is the life of  the youth who died under suspicious circumstances or the so called ‘repute’ of Weerawansa’s daughter that is more important to the nation ? Undoubtedly , the life of anybody  is much more important than the so called ‘reputation’ of somebody. According to the laws of the country , a girl is eligible to  marry when she is over 16 years , and Weerawansa’s daughter was just a few months below that age. 

Weerawansa who is so concerned about his daughter’s so called reputation surely should have known in a house where there is such a young daughter , allowing a youth to spend  the whole night in that house is most indecent and disreputable; and Sashi the mother of the ‘precious’ daughter should have known even better about how to look after the so called decency of the daughter  and safeguard her repute .Hence Sashi  should be questioned first, why she did not take care of her daughter and  her repute if they are genuinely  so worried about  her ? 

On the contrary , no website slung mud at Weerawansa’s daughter. It was only  reported that the deceased  allegedly murdered had an affair with the daughter. Therefore his  stupid  lawyers must enlighten and explain to Weerawansa,  a disclosure that a girl who is about to reach the legal age of marriage is  having a love affair with a youth cannot  be interpreted as mudslinging . It is hoped Weerawansa who is grade nine qualified is intelligent and intelligible enough to understand this basic fact at least relating to his own daughter without foolishly giving  way to a scandal involving his own daughter.

Of course, if it was  reported the girl had a relationship with a dog , that is mudslinging, and Weerawansa going in search of that dog is understandable.  But that is not the case in this instance. Moreover , the websites only questioned why the girl with whom the youth allegedly   murdered had a love affair was not interrogated  despite the fact both of them were in the same house on that fateful night , while only questioning all others who were in the house that night .

The stupid lawyers of his who also shouted and screamed in the past  when Weerawansa  earlier on uttered falsehoods , quoting names and defaming  editors of websites as running brothels in England , must also tell him what is the disgraceful description that fits his blatant and brazen lies. 

In any event , justifiable doubts have proliferated whether Weerawansa who was making  a loud din in the past that human rights are a conspiracy of the West , and is a ploy to secure political asylum in cold countries , is now seeking political asylum himself for his family in a Western country by advancing his daughter’s case before the law .

It is also learnt that it is Weerawansa’s lawyers who are as moronic as he or even worse  who had given him the advice to lodge a complaint  with the Children and women’s protection Bureau,  after the CID launched investigations to ascertain whether  the youth who died  in Weerawansa’s home on that fateful night was murdered . 

---------------------------
by     (2016-11-09 04:19:44)

Is Trump’s Victory A Harbinger Of Capitalism’s End-Game? Has US Opted For A Mussolini Populist?

By Kumar David –November 9, 2016

Prof. Kumar David

Donald Trump has defied forecasters and stormed to victory. It is a repudiation of the Obama legacy, a rejection of the Washington establishment and a mandate for racial prejudice. It is also the beginning of a new period in US foreign policy if he keeps the threats he flung on the campaign trail. The white working and lower middle class vote was a wall Hilary Clinton could not scale. They were angry with Obama, with Washington and with non-whites. Add America’s conservative, reactionary, gun trotting and male chauvinist population segments and you have Trump’s winning formula.

Colic in America will disturb the rest of the world as profoundly as did the decline and fall of Rome bring chaos to medieval Europe. A plunge in America will not usher in a Dark Age, a jihadist catastrophe or global financial chaos, but capitalism as a world system stands confounded. A political and economic mess in America will affect others. Inter-layering and spread of production, trade and political power across the world is more intense now than in Roman times hence the world today has resilience. Well, this is not quite true if you recall that the other great civilisations of the time, Imperial China and Gupta India, hardly noticed events in far way Rome and Constantinople; but that was a differently compartmentalised world. Global dependence is deeper today than millennia ago.

The insurmountable obstacle

The question is what will a Trump presidency look like given his idiosyncratic personality? This is the point of departure of this essay and my conclusions are negative. I wish it were otherwise; I am not a juvenile who delights in human wretchedness because it brings revolution closer. Capitalism when it goes will do so on its own, it does not need a push from me; in any case social revolution is not within the perspective of a short essay such as this.

The President Elect – What a pity!

Some things are so difficult to change that one could disagree with Napoleon that “the word impossible is found only in the dictionary of fools” – you can’t bring Queen Victoria back to life! Trumpism (the Trump phenomenon) is an outburst of anguish from a white working class which has lost or is losing its livelihood and is in distress. The underlying and impossible to reverse root cause is that US capitalism is no longer competitive, or to be more precise, US manufacturing and much of the US service sector is no longer competitive in world markets.

Read More

Crop insurance gone wrong – Why subsidised crop insurance won’t work 

Farmers have been applying excessive amounts of fertiliser under the subsidy scheme, therefore if they were to face the market prices the coupon will not

Thursday, 10 November 2016

compensate their fertiliser requirements fully – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

On 22 September 2016 I wrote about the importance of crop insurance programs, different ways of implementing crop insurance schemes and the most important things to be considered in implementing a successful program. However I limited myself from evaluating or constructively commenting on the crop insurance programs on the ground as of today.

Crop insurance gone wrong.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Govt. having deals with 2012 Welikada prison massacre culprits’


2016-11-10


The Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners yesterday charged that all hopes that justice would be served with regards the ‘massacre’ of 27 prisoners at the Welikada Prison on November 10, 2012 under the good-governance motto of the government, had faded as the government was allegedly having secret deals with those who are responsible for the deaths of these prisoners.

 Speaking at a media conference held in Maradana, the committee’s president, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera, said no individual has been arrested in connection with the prisoners’ deaths despite investigations initiated by the CID, a Commission having been appointed by the former Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Chandrasiri Gajadeera as well as an investigation by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) into the the incident.

 He said the government had failed to address this issue because it is engaged in a futile attempt to defend the main culprit who was having day-dreams of becoming the next leader of the country. The “Yahapalana" government pledged to punish those who are behind the Welikada prison massacre only for political purposes. The fact that these murders had taken place in a well-planned and organized manner is not a secret anymore,” he said.

 Civil Activist and Anti-Corruption Front (ACF) Convener Rajitha Keerthi Thennakoon, who also spoke, said that despite there were various investigations announced by the present and previous governments as well as the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, none of the reports had been published. 

Sudesh Nandimal, a prisoner who witnessed the incident in 2012 but was not injured, alleged that they were informed by the Welikada Prison authorities that the order to shoot 27 prisoners was issued by the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

 The committee said they would soon file a Writ Petition in the Colombo High Court to urge the Prisons Ministry to publish the investigation report which had already been completed and handed over to the government, which he said was not being done because the government was trying to protect the culprits. (Piyumi Fonseka)