A centralising Budget?

Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Much will be written about the 140-page opus that is the 2017 Budget Speech. I was reflecting on a cross-cutting theme that would capture its essence. What emerged, to my surprise, was centralisation: efficiency-destroying, innovation-killing, impractical and counter-productive centralisation.

Efficiency-destroying centralisation

The exhibit is para 380:

“We will also establish a Central Procurement Agency, which will procure stationery, office equipment, etc. centrally. It is estimated initially with this Rs. 1,500 million mechanism, the Government will be able to save at least Rs. 4,000 million per annum.”

So for a government department to get a packet of half sheets, forms would have to be filled, calls would have to be made and vehicles dispatched. Anyone who has run a government organisation, as I have, or worked in one, knows how difficult it is to get approvals and concurrences from other government organisations. One has to develop relationships, revive old school friendships and make follow-up phone calls to prevent other people’s inaction from getting in the way of completion of one’s work.

A centralising Budget.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

UN probe sought on torture by Sri Lankan security forces

Indian-origin Yasmin Sooka is a member of a former UN special panel on Sri Lanka's war with the LTTE.

United Nations. (File Photo)

November 14, 2016

The UN Committee Against Torture should visit Sri Lanka and conduct an independent investigation into the continued abductions, torture and sexual violence committed by the security forces, a former member of the UN special panel has said. Indian-origin Yasmin Sooka is a member of a former UN special panel on Sri Lanka’s war with the LTTE. She heads the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP).

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Her call has come ahead of the UNCAT’s meeting in Geneva this week to examine torture in Sri Lanka.

“Torture and abduction are so systematic and entrenched in the DNA of the security forces that even a realignment of political parties in parliament and the new government under President Sirisena are not able to stop these crimes.

“It requires political will and a commitment on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka to carry out a comprehensive security sector reform programme which is sadly missing in Sri Lanka,” Sooka said in a statement.

She was one of three in the panel appointed by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war with the LTTE which ended in 2009.

Her International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has collected testimony from 36 Tamil victims in three European countries, who have suffered abduction, illegal detention, torture or sexual violence at the hands of intelligence and security officers under the present Sri Lanka government.

“In 10 of these cases the victims have already been granted asylum, meaning their cases have already been found credible by foreign governments,” she said.

“Overall ITJP has more than two hundred statements from Sri Lankan victims of alleged war crimes and post-war torture and sexual violence who have fled the country. The orgnisation has also begun to identify some alleged perpetrators, Sooka said.

“I want the outside world to know that torture is still happening in Sri Lanka and the torture that I suffered,” said a young Tamil woman abducted in a “white van” and gang raped this year in illegal detention in the north of Sri Lanka.

“The international community, including the UN is under an obligation to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka honours its commitments made in the Human Rights Council in regard to the transitional justice programme in Sri Lanka.

“Overlooking the ongoing violations is not doing either the Government of Sri Lanka a favour or the victims, whose suffering should not be swept under the carpet just because of political expediency,” Sooka added.

That pesky problem of calling a government to account

Sunday, November 13, 2016

When the Experts Panel of the European Union (EU) released its Interim Report in August 2009 on the question of whether to renew GSP Plus benefits for Sri Lanka, it signaled an early warning of trouble to come.

Sunny optimism about regaining EU GSP Plus

The report expressed considerable dismay in regard to multiple violations of the Rule of Law. This was opined to offend the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (CAT) and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). From that point onwards, the Rajapaksa Presidency went down an unpleasantly slippery slope to the final EU decision refusing the continuation of the benefit.

Let us leave aside for the moment the argument as to whether 

adherence to the international human rights order should be used as a veritable bargaining tool to obtain what amounts to a duty free or trade benefit having direct impact on thousands of lower income workers. One may support or oppose this approach with equally excellent points of views for or against as the case may be. But the stubborn realpolitik is that this is the standard to which not only the Government of Sri Lanka but also EU officials themselves must conform if the facility is to be restored.

Currently, the Government has expressed sunny optimism that it will regain the GSP Plus backed by even sunnier assurances of EU officials in Brussels. Therefore it is relevant to examine how Sri Lanka’s proposed Counter-Terror draft law meant to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) offends every substantial principle of international law underlying the Experts Report on which the European Union’s decision to discontinue the GSP Plus benefit was based.

Confessions under the PTA

Incidentally it is a matter of relief that the proponents of this draft within the Government as well as those co-opted into government ranks have now finally conceded ownership of this atrocious document. At one level, if any were uneasily reluctant to take the bull proverbially by the horns and rigorously critique the draft on the basis that its exact ‘status’ was unclear, they may now be reassured. Mortifyingly this is indeed what has officially been proposed by the ‘yahapalanaya’ Government as the basis for a new Counter-Terror law for Sri Lanka.

Returning to substantive issues, the PTA has long been foremost on the ranking of laws offending constitutional and international standards. Its allowing of confessions to police officers as forming a basis for convictions was a particularly sore point. This allowance has been continued by the Counter-Terror draft albeit tossing a sop or two by stipulating that the prosecution has to prove the voluntary nature of the confession and that a government forensic medical specialist must examine the suspect, supervised by a magistrate.

But as pointed out earlier in these column spaces, this so-called protection is farcical. From the Supreme Court downwards, the sheer inefficacy of magisterial supervision in custodial torture cases has been adversely commented on and documented in multifarious instances. And the prosecution’s burden to prove the ‘voluntariness’ of the confession is no weighty task given the frighteningly secretive circumstances in which these confessions customarily take place.

Not relying purely on judicial discretion

Granted these are questions that have perplexed the best of our judges. The division of opinion therein is best seen in Theivandran’s Case (2002) where then Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, writing a 26 page opinion, declined to accept the argument that confessions obtainable under the PTA are solely sufficient to convict an accused in the absence of corroborative evidence.

His categorical question was as to why, when the ordinary law of the country shuts such confessions out, are they allowed under what amounts to a ‘special politically motivated law’? This view was not shared by his colleagues on the Bench including (surprisingly) the late Justice MDH Fernando. However all the judges concurred that the particular confession in issue lacked ‘congruity and consistency.’ Consequently the conviction was not allowed to stand. But the fragility of this outcome is well seen in the fact that the Court of Appeal examining the same facts had concluded that there was nothing wrong in regard to the integrity of the confession.

The ruling of the appeal court was set aside by the Supreme Court in this instance. Nevertheless, given a different Bench at the time, the matter may well have gone the other way. This is indeed what happens in the majority of cases under the PTA. Herein lies the danger in allowing individual judges to decide rather than laying down a firm principle of law disallowing such confessions. Sri Lanka’s age old Criminal Procedure Code excludes confessions to police officers as a general principle precisely on the reasoning that the possibility of coercion is too real to even take the risk.

An overriding principle at stake

In 2009 the EU Experts underscored Sri Lanka’s problems in theory and in practice. Citing critical national assessments including this columnist’s analyses in this column and elsewhere, the Experts pinpointed not only theoretical failings but also concluded that even legally secured rights are not practically implemented.

For example, the excellent Anti-Torture Act (1994) giving effect to the UN Convention Against Torture was frustrated due to bad investigations, lackadaisical prosecutions and a sluggish legal system. That was the case then. This remains the same now.

Consequently – and even if wiser thought prevails with a well drafted law replacing the PTA – a slick ‘ticking off the boxes’ will not do. Instead, this Government has to ensure practical changes in implementing legal rights. If the Rajapaksa State was ‘punished’ for its callous obduracy by the EU, then the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe alliance must surely be held to that same standard. Absent this, the outcome will not be kind.

No room for crippling conjecture

In other words, if the EU GSP Plus privilege is restored sans actual structural reform, it will only worsen the creeping fears of some that the Rajapaksa Presidency was penalized for its refusal to dance to the tune of international pied pipers rather than failure to ensure the betterment of the people. There must be no room be left for such crippling conjecture. Its impact will only have negative repercussions on Sri Lanka’s internal reform process.

That would be most unforgivable.

How would Trump presidency affect Sri Lanka



2016-11-15

 few months ago, it could have been treated as a cynical joke, but now Donald Trump is the President of the world’s most powerful democracy. His hate-filled and polarizing campaign has left deep scares in America, it would be a long time before they would be healed. Elsewhere, world leaders, still recuperating from the daylight shock of his upset victory are gradually resigning to the disturbing prospect that America would be a less dependable ally in the future.  
Mr Trump’s foreign policy is as obscure as smoggy air in New Delhi these days. Most of his foreign policy snippets were announced through tweets and off the cuff remarks to the media. He has threatened to disavow collective security responsibility of NATO and pull out troops stationed in South Korea and Japan, unless the host countries paid up. Being a global hegemony means also providing public goods such as peace and stability and normality. However, Mr Trump, who is more concerned about the transfer of jobs to China than the transition of power in the international system to China seems to be less endearing to that time-honoured notion.  
However, it is likely that even a man as self-important as Mr. Trump would be constrained by the structures of the American political system; the existing alliances and treaty commitments are too sacrosanct to dismantle and any effort to that end would be resisted by the Generals and the military industrial complex. So one could expect much of that would remain intact, though it would not be a surprise if South Korea, and even Japan, disenchanted by an unreliable American ally go nuke, to provide their own security.   

However, Trump’s American relationship with countries like ours would be very different. Our recent return to the good books of Washington was for two reasons; first there were those democratic gains and the advent of a government amenable to Washington. The second, and perhaps more important, was because of our strategic location, the utility of Sri Lanka in the US hedging against China. Those concerns were multiplied by the growing rapport between Beijing and the former Rajapaksa administration and the increasing Chinese activity in Sri Lanka, which Washington viewed as losing out to Beijing. And Rajapaksa’s successor, the Sirisena- Wickremesinghe administration (especially the latter) was more than willing to play a role in the US pivoting
to Asia.  
Now, democracy may not be a strong asset nor is a sufficient inducement for Mr. Trump, who himself has pledged to bar the Muslims from America and deport 11 million illegal Latinos. Thus, our first strong point is no longer as strong as it was before. As for the second point, though he may stick to existing treaty commitments, Mr. Trump is unlikely to commit himself to expansive and expensive geopolitical commitments such as the pivot, which after all was championed by Hilary Clinton. Mr Trump has already promised to snuff the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade pact involving 11 Asia Pacific countries and America. TPP is also the economic dimension of the pivot. So, as far as the second point is concerned, changing priorities of the Trump administration would make it harder for the government in Colombo to present itself as a useful ally.  
Sri Lanka recently had better relations with Republican administrations than with the Democrats. The short- lived UNP government in the early 2000s, helped by its personal rapport with Richard Armitage, then Deputy Secretary of State, nurtured a functional strategic relationship with the Bush Administration. Sri Lanka supported the Iraqi invasion and agreed to send an engineering battalion to Baghdad as part of the US-led coalition. (Before that happened president Kumaratunga staged a palace coup and the Wickremesinghe administration
was toppled.)   

However, Mr. Trump is an outsider to the Republican establishment, which he has accused of undermining his campaign. None of his successors, except Bob Dole endorsed him. It is not clear how old ties between the UNP and the Republican Party would help Sri Lanka under a Trump administration.  Then, if Mr. Trump decides to scale down US presence and therefore the US pre-eminence in Asia, it would not only be us who would be abandoned. There is India, the Obama administration’s latest candy. Strategic partnership between India and America has reached its all- time high, and still growing, except short of an overt military alliance. The raison d’etre is the rising China. India is the only country in the region with a sufficient heft to balance China. Though the US relationship with India is a bipartisan effort in Washington, with the Civil Nuclear Agreement signed during the Bush Administration being a pillar, it is not clear how far Mr. Trump is keen on building strategic ties with India.   

"The raison d’etre is the rising China. India is the only country in the region with a sufficient heft to balance China. Though the US relationship with India is a bipartisan effort in Washington, with the Civil Nuclear Agreement signed during the Bush Administration being a pillar, it is not clear how far Mr. Trump is keen on building strategic ties with India"

In the absence of the offshore balance of America, India, albeit its growing economy and military muscles is vulnerable to the implications of the growing Chinese clout. (The Chinese economy is five times that of India’s in GDP market value). Abandonment by America would leave it paranoid and insecure. This leaves small nations like ours in India’s backyard that have chosen to deal both India and China, in an increasing dilemma. An insecure India could well resort to subterfuge as it did during the Cold War in order to keep its rivals out. That would complicate our relations both with India and China for we need both for our economic prosperity. Thus, America maintaining the status quo in the region is in our interest, but it is beyond our control.  
However, there could still be a way out; since everything in American politics has suddenly become personal, rather than principled, and since Mr. Trump prides in his ability to cut deals, Sri Lanka too can cut a deal with him. Perhaps he would like to open a Trump casino in Colombo.   

Follow Ranga Jayasuriya @RangaJayasuriya on Twitter   

Obstacles to Ranil’s destiny

 

By Somapala Gunadheera-November 14, 2016, 7:58 pm 

I was tempted to write this piece by the outspoken remarks of an Island editorial under the title "O tempora! O mores!" After highlighting a list of failures by a young minister holding an important portfolio, the editorial raised the question, "If it (the Government) had been really serious about developing vital sectors … it would have got very senior Cabinet members to helm the relevant ministries without turning them into playpens for politicians still wet behind the ears."

It is public knowledge that the level of performance of the current executive is below par. Youth and inexperience, as pointed out by the above editorial, is only one of the reasons that have downgraded its output. While some operatives are ‘wet behind their ears’, at the other end of the scale are found some others who are ‘long in their years’. Listening to their trembling voices on the electronic media, one wonders how they could deliver the goods expected of themeffectively. While all other vocations have an age of retirement, politics has become the exception in which one can stumble up to his death. It is hoped that the promised code of ethics, when it appears at last, would fix an inviolable upper limit to those who live by their votes. Fixing a minimum age limit for ministers and deputies would also control the scramble for portfolios, bringing our mammoth Cabinet within civilized standards. In addition, the move will act as a barricade against greenhorns who aspire to use their connections to handle portfolios in which they are out of depth.

There are yet other ministers responsible for crises but they carry on regardless in the face of sanctions and criticism. They appear to depend on old school ties. A fourth category is supposed to be under a cloud but they are allowed to continue in office without any visible investigations and indictments. These shortcomings have left a negative impression in the public mind, depressed by the belief that nothing positive happens, despite the immensity of the management team entrusted with a distribution of duties that has many gaps alongside duplications. The only activity that is conspicuous to the man in the street is a plethora of arrests and remands of prominent members of the last regime. Not one of those thus exhibited in public have been convicted by a Court of Law,so far. People are getting fed up with this exhibitionism and if any prosecution is successfully concluded at some future date, no one would take the matter seriously. A typical case, in which the process defeats the purpose!

All these hiccups point to one failure of the new Government. After nearly two years in office, they have failed to get their act together. This failure appears to stem from two main causes, one structural and the other personal. So far the Government has not been able to gear its machinery to achieve its targets efficiently. Although there may be certain shortcomings in the machinery available to Government, it has failed to put it right under an effective organization. A conspicuous example is the amateurish handling of prosecutions against the aforesaid politicians. Leaders are heard blaming the public service for this situation but what they do not understand is that the basic cause for this awkward lethargy is the failure of those in power to make prompt and effective decisions to replace incompetent officers and to introduce effective systems and procedure.

Now that RW has become the principal decision maker under a coalition with a weaker partner, the onus of decision making falls squarely on his lap. The speed of Government is set at his pace. He cannot afford to forget what happened when he was in power last. Placed in a strong position after the general election at the turn of the century, it looked as if RW would soon capture the slender vestiges of powerstill left with his opponent. His supporters were pushing him hard to act fast and impeach the President out of power. But that was not to be. With Hamlet like hesitation, Ranil was dragging his feet until the carpet was pulled under his feet, unexpectedly, at the opportune moment. All his grandiose plans to make the country a better place to live in fell by the wayside and RW was exiled to the political wilderness for many years. Back in power, he cannot afford a repetition of that debacle. He has to act ‘come or go, Chicago’.

The immediate cause for the current hesitation appears to be the oncoming local government election. The mood of the electorate may have changed for the worse after the last general election due to added financial burdens and stagnancy. This time around however, the rival configuration is such that inaction cannot put RW completely out of power, though he might lose his two/thirds majority. A few electorates may be lost to the Government,if a local government election is held and that number will increase in proportion with the delay to hold the election. However, that cannot have a substantial effect on the ruling coalition. It can confidently settle down to implementing the economic programmes that RW is trying to create, running all-over the world. If that could be done effectively, even some members in the Joint Opposition may decide to cross over in due course. With a self-satisfied electorate and its adversaries subdued by economic gains and successful and impartial prosecution of the corrupt, the governing coalition can confidently retain its power.

The latest debacle of the Government is the Bond Scam. Things have got so much out of hand that even the role of the proverbial Mr. Clean has come to be challenged. Although the general public may not be convinced by that allegation, it is in RW’s own interests to prove his innocence before a delayed defence gives credence to the charge levelled by his critics. We are told day by day, that the matter would be referred to Courts for a decision.That is not all. There are other proposed alternatives like appointing a Presidential Commission to make recommendations. Parliament would pass the final verdict but it would be inoperative until the investigations are over. Here again the government’s fault lies with its habitual tendency to drag its feet on burning issues.

The allegation against RW is centered on his alleged cliquish tendencies. However, prompt investigation may reveal other motives for the alleged scam. Was the instruction to deviate from course, if any, made by the urgency to meet commitments undertaken with the change of Government? Did any unlawful benefit accrue to the instructor from his instruction? The bona fides of RW can be established only by a proper investigation held into the matter expeditiously. Come to think of the government’s recurrent problem of procrastination, the solution appears to lie in the Prince of Lanka acquiring the resoluteness, the persistence and the detachment of Lady Macbeth.

Sagala’s portfolio is in danger

Nov 14, 2016

Information has come to light that the siege of the Presidential Secretariat by a group of disabled soldiers and Buddhist monks was a conspiracy planned to inconvenience the president, say Presidential Secretariat sources.

When the incident occurred on November 07, IGP Pujith Jayasundara was not in the country, and acting in his capacity was senior DIG C.D. Wickremaratne, who is a close friend of law and order minister Sagala Ratnayake. Also, he is the most senior officer with qualifications to succeed Jayasundara as the police chief.

Therefore, both Wickremaratne and Ratnayake should take responsibility for the attack on disabled soldiers, and the latter is under pressure to resign from his ministerial position, reports say.

Presently, investigations are underway to determine as to who had given the order to attack the protestors. Sources close to Ratnayake says, the minister was unaware of the order. There is suspicion that an official of the Presidential Secretariat is behind that.

However, sources at the Prime Minister’s office say they believe a former major general had led the attempt to storm the Presidential Secretariat. PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered a full investigation report into the incident.

The suspect major general is a very close friend of ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He has been connected to activities relating to disabled soldiers, and also stands accused over various irregularities committed during the previous regime.

It is questionable as to how the protesters managed to reach the Presidential Secretariat, despite the police having obtained a court order to use power to disperse the protestors if there was a breach of peace.

After the ‘Yahapaalana’ government came to power, there have been many major student protests, but none were allowed by the police to come near the Presidential Secretariat. In such a scenario and furthermore, this incident happening at a time when both the president and the prime minister were not in the country, give rise to suspicion that it could well have been a test for a major conspiracy, say sources at the Presidential Secretariat. State intelligence services had in advance informed the authorities concerned that a group near Hotel Taj Samudra was planning to storm the Presidential Secretariat.Other sources say this incident could be related to the power struggle brewing in the Sri Lanka police.

Commenting on the incident later, president Maithripala Sirisena said an invisible political hand was using the disabled soldiers, who have already been promised a pension. Four months ago, they had submitted their demand for eight years, and a decision was taken to discuss the matter with the defence ministry and take a decision in consultation with the cabinet, he went onto say. “We decided four months ago to grant the demands. The relevant institutions and organizers were informed. When they went on a protest rally and staged a sit-down protest, we informed them too,” said the president.

However, the subject minister dealing with disabled soldiers is defence state minister Ruwan Wijayawardena. Also, the Ranaviru Seva Authority has a responsibility, but its chairperson, Anoma Fonseka, wife of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, is accused of not having paid proper attention to the matter.

(D. Manjula Kumara)

Honourable Rathana Imports Brand New Toyota Land Cruiser, Despite Being Vocal On Anti-Austerity And Poverty

November 14, 2016

Parliamentarian Athuraliye Rathana Thero who is very vocal on anti-austerity and poverty has imported a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser from Japan under the tax concessionary terms evading total tax revenue of rupees tens of millions.

The customs declaration form which is in possession of the Colombo Telegraph shows, the total tax waived off for Rathana Thero’s brand new Toyota Land Cruiser is approximately Rs. 33.5 million on the vehicle.

According to Sri Lanka’s pioneering MP Monitoring Website (Manthri.lk) JHU – UNFGG National list MP Rathana Thero has only participated 7 times in parliament and shows poor performance.

Meanwhile in a letter addressed to the Director General of Customs, lawyer and rights activist Nagananda Kodituwakku in a letter dated November 10, 2016 accused the Director General of intentionally violating the Constitutional rights conferred in all citizens in terms of Article 14A (1) (b) of the Constitution and Section 3 of the Right to Information Act No 12 of 2016 and also the provisions of Section 6 Paragraph XLVII of Volume II of the Establishment Code – to obtain the said information helped with the office of the Director General of Customs.

Kodituwakku accused the Director General of Customs that he had not only violated the public trust placed in his office, but had abused his office to protect the interest of dishonest politicians, while also helping them in unjust enrichment by defrauding the government revenue.

At least 77 MPs in Parliament have used their duty free permits to purchase luxury vehicles in 2016 alone, which has resulted in the country losing billions of rupees in revenue.

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Conspiracy to smuggle out infamous criminal Duminda ! -Fudging judge, medical specialists and media coolie involved

(Lanka-e-News - 14.Nov.2016, 10.00PM) The notorious drug Kingpin who is now in the death row in connection with the cold blooded ruthless murder of Baratha Lakshman and three others  in broad daylight is  somehow, either by  hoodwinking the authorities ,or by secret methods is to be found an escape route from jail . Plans are afoot to  smuggle him  out of  the country  by sea, based on information reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Judge Ayesha Abdeen involved…

One such plan involves Colombo District Judge Ayesha Abdeen  of all people . Shockingly, this judge has gone to the prison to meet Duminda on the 10 th at about 8.30 p.m. Our inquiries revealed that she has entered the prison , and  prison records confirm it. A doctor at the prison hospital is witness to this. Further inquiries revealed that Ayesha the shamelessly fudging  judge had visited Duminda within prison in the night on the very day Duminda  was incarcerated.

These two meetings are absolutely illegal and  the reasons are :
1.Meeting a prisoner within prison at 8.30 p.m. after the visitors’  time is over at 4.30 p.m. is unlawful . It is the duty of the Prisons Commissioner to take action against the prisons officers who permitted this  illegal meeting .
2.While Duminda has filed an appeal in the supreme court (SC) , Ayesha despite being a  District judge met with  a prisoner without the permission of the SC.

It is the duty of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) , in the circumstances to immediately interdict Ayesha , and launch an investigation.

It is worthy of special note that Ayesha  was a judge  who faced an investigation launched by  the JSC earlier too , and pleaded guilty . In that instance , her involvement was the releasing of the cronies and assistants on bail of Duminda Silva engaged in heroin dealings.

The four suspects who were charged under the Opium and dangerous drugs Act section 54 were released on  bail despite the legal position  the suspects cannot be granted bail under that Act. This has taken place  on several occasions , and all the suspects were heroin dealing cronies and assistants of Duminda Silva. 

When JSC summoned her and investigated in this regard , she pleaded ignorance of the law (which is not excusable in law, anyway ) despite being a judge , while promising she would not commit that mistake again, and to pardon her. Ayesha who  was pardoned on that occasion has this time committed a more heinous crime. Currently ,   her connections and links with heroin dealers have become most manifest.

Involvement of medical specialists ..

Another diabolic plan under way to help Duminda’s escape :

The other culprit trying to help heroin King pin and murderer Duminda Silva is no less a person than medical specialist Lakshman Jayamanne the chief medical officer of prison hospital. 

Medical specialist  Ms. Maheshi Wijeratne of Jayawardenapura hospital earlier furnished a phony medical certificate to dispatch Duminda to Singapore, while   the  other party to this most abominable conspiracy is Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage , the chairman of Jayawardenapura  hospital .

Based on their conspiracy , Duminda was hospitalized for about a month and given indoor treatment on the  grounds he was  having fever. Thereafter on the  spurious recommendation of Dr. Lakshman Jayamanne , Duminda was sent to Jayawardenapura hospital  on the 11 th.  Unbelievably , this infamous  criminal was recommended to be sent to Jayawardenapura hospital on the grounds that he was suffering from giddiness , continuous headache and loss of memory , ignoring the most vital and pertinent  fact that he is  a most dangerous and notorious criminal . The bed ticket  shows  his sicknesses . 

The most perplexing and perturbing recommendation of this scoundrel of a medical specialist Lakshman Jayamanne was : Duminda shall  be sent to the same doctor who treated him previously at the Jayawardenapura hospital. Usually doctors do not recommend that treatment shall be taken from a specific doctor unless there is an ulterior motive. But to doctors like Jayamanne those rackets are a matter of routine.

Duminda who was dispatched to Jayawardenapura hospital on the 11 th was sent back however. The reason for this  cited by Dr. Kahanda Liyanage was , the medical specialist Maheshi Wijeratne (who furnished a bogus medical certificate earlier on  to send Duminda to Singapore is not in the Island and therefore medical treatment cannot be given. This course of action is most outrageous and abhorrent.

Where on earth do such things take place and in which hospital in the world is a patient who is dispatched for treatment sent back without being treated  just because a particular doctor is not there ? This clearly bears out that if by any  another doctor examines Duminda , and states Duminda is not having any sickness , the entire conspiracy they are striving hard to conceal would be exposed, and the cat would be out of the bag. Based on reports reaching Lanka e news, Maheshi Wijeratne returned to SL on the 12 th (evening) .

The conspiratorial plan continues thus ….

The scoundrel of a Doctor  Maheshi Wijeratne is to recommend that Duminda Silva has to receive treatment in the hospital in Singapore where he was treated earlier. Accordingly , he is to secure Court permission .The present courts that even kicked aside the time honored sacrosanct laws existing since 1833 to release Tiran Alles on bail ,refusing to grant permission to Duminda Silva  to travel to Singapore will be a matter for great surprise. 

It is a universal fact that nowhere in the world , an accused who is in the death row after being sentenced to death is allowed to move out from the zone of the court under any circumstance , but  since courts of SL have won ‘trophies’ and set world records in travesty of justice and making a mockery  of the laws , it is not impossible for the SL  courts to grant permission to Duminda Silva the notorious accused who is punished in connection with the multiple murder including Baratha Lakshman, to travel even to Singapore for medical treatment. 

Media coolies who are involved …

Already a blaze of publicity necessary in this direction is being given. The media belonging to Ruwan Ferdinands , a spy of Gotabaya Rajapakse  is giving publicity that the specialists who treated Duminda at the Mount Elizabeth hospital have given a special report which warns  that,  at this juncture if Duminda does not get the due medical treatment his ‘life is at stake.’ The most ridiculous part of this drama is , renegade Ruwan Ferdinands with a putrid antecedence, and one who  would stoop to the lowliest levels for selfish and sordid gains has also proved what a wicked clown he is by showing concern for the life of Duminda and giving false publicity that his  ‘life is at stake’  despite Ferdinands  knowing very well that Duminda the ruthless criminal and heroin magnate  is already sentenced to death after a long trial  , and is in the death row.

Remaining part of conspiracy 

Based on reports reaching Lanka e news , the remaining part of the conspiracy  is as follows :

Duminda is to remain in Singapore until the appeal filed in the Supreme court is heard. If the verdict gives him relief , he will return to SL . Otherwise ,he is to flee to another country. 

If for any reason his trip to Singapore is obstructed , the alternative plan is: while he is being transported   to Jayawardenapura hospital , an escape operation is to be arranged to wrest him from  prison custody, and smuggle him via  sea route  by boat , according to inside information division reports  of Lanka e news. 

If the rule of law in a country is abided by , and sovereign sacrosanct laws are given due recognition , never can such criminal machinations and manipulations take place . In fact none will dare !

However ,as long as there is a  defense minister  and so long as he says  in public , a criminal like Gotabaya Rajapakse who is facing a number of charges will not be allowed to be taken into custody so  long as he  is  the defense minister  , certainly the sovereignty and sacredness of the laws of the country will continue to be undermined and demeaned.
 
Need we remind the cardinal responsibility of the president and the Prime Minister is to protect and uphold the rule of law, the lofty legal traditions and the sovereignty of  the judiciary .

Connected reports: 

Incredible but true.! Basil the criminal in robust health becomes ‘critical’ as he takes first step into prison !!
-Doctor mafia that neglects poor patients helps the powerful to circumvent laws

Court orders Anura Senanayake to be moved out of hospital and into prison –Sickness racket exposed !
Doctor -mocker mafia helped him with false reports !

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by     (2016-11-14 17:09:31)

Arrests by TID illegal- relatives of ‘Aava’ suspects

2016-11-14


Relatives of eleven suspected members of the "Aava" gang, who were arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) in Jaffna, lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) stating that the arrests were illegal. 

The eleven youths were arrested in Jaffna on charges of being involved in anti-social activities and criminal activities connected to the ‘Aava’ group. 

SLHRC Jaffna District Investigation Officer Thangavel Kanakaraj said the relatives claimed it was illegal to arrest the suspects under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and take them to Colombo when they were charged with robbery.

Disparity of opinion on Aava gang among Yahapalanaya

 Nov 14, 2016

The state minister of defense Ruwan Wijewardena  is at a contradicting stand on the issue of the "Aava" gang in Jaffna which has been agreed upon by the United Natioanal Front.In this regard a special attention had been drawn by the leader of the Front..

It is reported that the Aava gang had been organized under the instructions of the then defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with a high official of the army..This information have been received is the stand of the United National Front.In this regard the cabinet spokesman and Minister of health Dr Rajitha Senaratne had told the media at the media briefing where the cabinet decisions were revealed. This has been hence confirmed by the United National Front.
 
Adding to the media the state minister Ruwan Wijewardena and the governor of northern province Reginald Cooray had confirmed that there is no connection to Aava gang.
.
Anyhow on the other hand  what the United National Front claims is that no one could say that the Aava gang has no connections to the Aava gang.
 
In the context of the above the political critics confirm that with the disparity of opinion what surfaces is that there is a titanic clash internally in the yahapalanaya government on this issue.

A Lifetime Of Scientific Thinking

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –November 14, 2016 

Shyamon Jayasinghe

Book Review: ‘Essays Of A Lifetime‘ By Professor Carlo Fonseka – Publisher: S. Godage & Brothers (Private) Ltd (2016)

At St Joseph’s College Colombo I had a vivid image-memory of the young Carlo Fonseka as an artist who drew together an informal kind of singing club at Bonjean Memorial Hall.The radio was the mass media device during those days and I remember him and his soulmates flock around it to join the singing during “Listeners’ Request.” As a junior who held seniors in awe, I gravitated toward the flock with some trepidation in order to add my humble input into the vocal outpour. Sunil Shantha was the star then. The handsome singer with the sitar in hand. As we now know only too well, the artist in Carlo never left him even though he was soon to turn into a celebrity exponent of scientific thinking.

The last-mentioned phase commenced after Carlo Fonseka left school to join the prestigious Medical College in Colombo. He performed brilliantly and joined the academic staff. However, he was not destined to hide within the cloistered walls of esoteric academia. We saw him virtually catapult as a celebrity figure invoking people to use their brains and think for themselves about the evidence of their beliefs. A kind of modern Lankan Socrates who had proclaimed that the unexamined life isn’t worth living.

Carlo made an impassioned rebuttal of the claims that the phenomenon of fire walking was evidence of divine intervention. I attended one of his famous fire walking talks and demonstrations. He impressed. Here was an academic messiah come to defend scientific thinking against a widespread flood of superstition. At that stage in his life, Carlo was simply heroic and he represented the intrepid anti-establishment. By his 18th year he had left behind at school his inherited Catholic baggage and he now opened up his fertile mind to the world -at -large encouraging fellow humans to follow suit. From the point of view of traditional superstition one singular attack of this kind can be infectious in the sense that thinking people may begin to wonder if other such claims to divine intervention are also that hollow.

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