யுத்த காலத்தில் பாதிக்கப்பட்டவர்களுக்கு உணவு வழங்கி அவர்களின் காயத்திற்கு மருந்திட்ட என்னை புலி பயங்கராவதி என கூறி எனக்கெதிராக தேரரொருவரே வழக்குத்தாக்கல் செய்தார். அதேபோல தற்போது என்னுடைய மக்களின் பிரச்சினைகளுக்காக போராடும் என்னை இனவாதி என பட்டிப்பளை பிரதேச செயலாளரும், மட்டக்களப்பு கிராம உத்தியோகத்தரும் மக்களிடம் பொய்கதைகளை சித்தரித்து வருகின்றனர்.
இதன் காரணமாக வெளிநாட்டில் உள்ளவர்கள் புலி கொடியை ஏந்தியவாறு என்னை கொலை செய்வேன் என இலட்சக் கணக்கான குறுந்தகவல்களை அனுப்புகின்றனர். எனது மக்களுக்காக நான் இறப்பதற்கும் தயாராக உள்ளேன். இவ்வாறான செயற்பாடுகளுக்கு அஞ்சியவன் நானல்ல என்று மட்டக்களப்பு மங்களராமய விகாராதிபதி சுமனரத்த தேரர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
கிராமசேவகரின் ஊடாக வழக்கு பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ள ஆறு சிங்கள குடும்பங்களுக்கு நீதியை பெற்றுத்தருமாறு வலியுறுத்திய மகஜர் ஒன்றை மட்டு அரசாங்க அதிபர் பி.எஸ்.எம். சார்ள்ஸிடம் கையளித்து விளக்கமளிக்கையிலேயே அவர் மேற்கண்டவாறு தெரிவித்தார்.
நான் இனவாதியோ மதவாதியோ அல்ல. தமிழர்களுக்கு எதிரானவனும் அல்ல. சிங்கள மக்களின் உரிமைகளுக்கே போராடுகிறேன். நான் இனவாத ரீதியில் செயற்படுவதாக செய்திகள் பரப்பட்டுள்ளதால் என்னை கொலை செய்யப்போவதாக வெளிநாட்டில் உள்ளவர்கள் இலட்சக்கணக்கான குறுந்தகவல்களை அனுப்பி கொண்டு இருக்கின்றனர்.
மட்டக்களப்பில் மேய்ச்சல் தரை பிரச்சினை இருந்து வருகிறது. அதேபோன்று சிங்களவர்களுக்கு காணிப் பிரச்சினை இருக்கின்றது. இது தொடர்பில் போராட்டம் நடத்திய சிங்களவர்கள் மீது அச்சுறுத்தல் விடுத்த பட்டிப்பளை பிரதேச செயலாளரும் கிராம உத்தியோகத்தரும் தற்போது ஆறு குடும்பங்களுக்கு எதிராக வழங்கு தொடர்ந்துள்ளனர்.
இவ்வாறு வழக்கு தொடரப்பட்டவர்களில் சிலர் தந்தை இன்றி தமது பிள்ளைகளுடன் தனியாக வாழ்ந்து வருகின்றனர். பான் கூட வாங்க முடியாத இந்த அப்பாவி மக்களுக்கு எதிராக வழக்குத்தாக்கல் செய்து அம் மக்களை காணியிலிருந்து வெளியேறுமாறும் நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவு பிறப்பித்துள்ளது.
இவர்களுக்கு எந்தவிதமான உதவிகளும் இல்லாததால் நானே அவர்களுக்கு வீடுகளை அமைத்துக் கொடுத்துள்ளேன்.
இவ்வாறு உதவி இன்றி இருப்பவர்களிடம் தற்போது இருக்கும் வீட்டையும் விட்டு வெளியேறுமாறு கூறினால் அவர்கள் எங்கு செல்ல முடியும் என்பதை சிந்தித்து பார்க்க வேண்டும்.
நான் அந்த குடும்பங்களுக்காகவும் சிங்கள மக்களின் உரிமைகளுக்காகவுமே போராடுகிறேன். இது மாத்திரமன்றி விகாரைகளுக்கு சொந்தமான நிலப்பிரதேசங்களை இன்று நெற்செய்கைக்காக பயன்படுத்துகின்றனர்
இந்நிலைமைகள் மோசமானவை. இவற்றுக்கு நியாயம் பெற்றுக் கொடுக்க நினைத்ததினாலேயே நான் இன்று உயிர் அச்சுறுத்தலுக்கு உள்ளாகி இருக்கின்றேன்.
நான் அவதூறு பேசுவதாகவும் இனவாதம் மதவாதம் பேசுவதாகவும் பிரதேச செயலாளரும், கிராம உத்தியோகத்தரும் தமிழ் மக்களிடத்தில் பொய்யான தகவல்களை பரப்பி வருகின்றனர். நான் இனவாதியும் அல்ல மதவாதியும் அல்ல.
என்னை கொலை செய்தாலும் பரவாயில்லை. ஆனாலும் எனது மக்களுக்கு நியாயம் கிடைக்க வேண்டும். தற்போது வழக்கு பதியப்பட்டுள்ள ஆறு குடும்பத்தவர்களுக்கும் தாங்கள் நியாயம் வழங்க வேண்டும். தங்களை நான் அச்சுறுத்தவில்லை. மாறாக கோரிக்கையாகவே முன்வைக்கின்றேன்.
இப்பகுதியில் தமிழ், முஸ்லிம் அதிகாரிகளே அரச சேவையில் உள்ளனர். சிங்கள அரச அதிகாரிகள் இல்லை என்பதால் எம்மக்களுக்கும் பாரபட்சம் இன்றி நீங்கள் உதவ வேண்டும்.
இப்பிரச்சினைக்கு தீர்வு கிடைக்கும் வரை இந்த அப்பாவி மக்களுக்கு எதிராக யாரும் செயற்பட வேண்டாம்.
ரஜமகா விகாரையை ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் மண்ணால் மூடிகொண்டு வருகிறார்கள். இதுவா நல்லாட்சி? இன்னும் ஒரு மாதம் மாத்திரமே பொறுத்திருந்து பார்ப்போம். நாங்கள் எல்லோரும் இறப்பதற்கும் தயாராக உள்ளோம்.
தமிழ் சிங்கள மக்கள் அடித்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்பதே இவர்களின் தேவை. கருப்பு பட்டி அணிந்து ஆர்ப்பாட்டம் செய்கிறார்கள் என்றார்.
எனவே எமக்கு நியாயமான பதிலை நீங்களே பெற்றுத்தரவேண்டும் என தெரிவித்து அரச அதிபரிடம் மகஜரை கையளித்தார்.
இந்நிலையில் விகாராதிபதியின் ஆக்ரோஷமான விளக்கத்தை அவதானித்துக் கொண்டிருந்த அரச அதிபர் சார்ள்ஸ் அமைதியாக நின்றிருந்தவாறு மகஜரை பெற்றுக்கொண்டார்.
Image: Extremist Buddhist monks has become violent hate mongers in recent times in SriLanka.
18/11/2016
I a letter to Inspector General of Police with copies to leaders of the government hundreds of citizens have asked the government to immediately arrest all hate preachers notwithstanding their religious of social affiliations.
The letter calls for urgent action by the Police on ollowing incidents:
A government with an economic vision and cohesive goals will not penalise and discourage national savings through re-imposed taxes. A government which has a modicum of economic reason will not give free tabs to A Level students while hiking the costs of using internet. A government which has an iota of political sense will not undertake the building of the world’s tallest Christmas Tree in the world while destroying the livelihoods of a substantial segment of people in the Catholic belt via intensified dredging and sand mining.
by Tisaranee Gunasekara-Nov 13, 2016
“…the issues you fought the election on resonated far beyond the borders of the USA. With your election…we look forward to a new world order based on the principles of the sovereign equality of all nations and non-interference in the internal affairs of nation states.”
( November 13, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Donald Trump’s victory is a beacon of hope to extremists of every stripe, from the Ku Klux Klan to Marine Le Pen, from Islamic extremists and Hindu nationalists to our very own Bodu Bala Sena. Reflected in Mr. Trump’s campaign slogan, Make America great again, they see the shape of their own lost paradises, a white-only Shangri la, a Hindu Raj, a Sinhala-Buddhist Kingdom, a Caliphate… Mr. Trump’s victory demonstrates the possibility of what every radical reactionary dreams of – a new national order in which the dominant racial/ethnic/religious group has special rights and the ‘Other’ can exist only on terms of explicit and structural inequality; and a new world order in which dominant groups are allowed to oppress minorities, subjugate women, exploit workers, dispossess peasants, destroy environment and act as tyrannically as they want to within their own national borders.
Mr. Trump’s victory heralds a new Zeitgeist, one pivoted on fear and hate of the ‘Other’ and embodying all the worst impulses of the human mind. It speaks not to the best in us, but the worst in us. It lends wings to the fears we fear to articulate and the hates we hate to express. It renders normal what is truly abnormal and makes possible that which should never happen. It cleaves to the parochial and abhors the mere idea of the universal, including universal franchise.
When Maithripala Sirisena won the 2015 Presidential election, the pro-Rajapaksa camp derided his victory and his presidency as ‘not-quite-legitimate’. Mr. Rajapaksa had won more Sinhala votes than Mr. Sirisena, and in the eyes of Sinhala-supremacists, that made him the real winner of the presidential election. The underlying argument was a profoundly anti-democratic one – Sri Lanka is a Sinhala land and Sinhala votes should have a greater weight in deciding the country’s ruler; any victorious candidate who fails to obtain a majority of Sinhala votes is not a legitimate president but a usurper.
It was a similar vein of racial resentment Donald Trump tapped into. He depicted the election as the last chance for white Americans to take their country back. His nomination as the presidential candidate of the Republican Party and his open and unabashed embrace of an atavistic vision of America turned the US election into a head-on battle between the cosmopolitan, open-minded side of human psyche (which is as old as civilisation and enabled it) and its older tribal half. As a commentator for Slate said, “Trump forged a politics of white tribalism and white people embraced it.”[iii]
For the first time in a long time, the sole super power is led by a man who has no problem with overt white racism, who regards the non-white people of the world as unequal beings undeserving of equality or even common respect. A closer look at Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric demonstrates this attitude. He is not against immigration per se or even illegal immigration per se; his current wife began her life in the United States by breaking immigration laws. His opponents decried this as a sign of hypocrisy, but his supporters shrugged it away, just as they shrugged away his racism and his misogyny, his tax-dodging and his vulgarity, his ignorance and his lack of compassion. They knew better. His problem – and their problem – is not with all immigrants, but with immigrants who are racially different, the non-white immigrants mostly from the Third World. When Mr. Trump said he wanted to make American great again, what he meant was he wanted to make America white again.
And every extremist everywhere, who wants to destroy the present and build on its ruins a future which is the replica of some imaginary past, is cheering.
Economic Injustice Breeds Reaction
Brexit was warning sign, but the first churnings of the tidal wave of retrogression which swept the orange-haired tycoon to victory began in Maghreb and the Middle East. The tragic failure of the Arab Spring not only killed hope for progress in the Arab world; it also opened a path to relevance for radical reaction in Europe and elsewhere.
In Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen, the future warred against a politically and religiously stultified past, and lost. The bewildering series of wars which engulfed the region – and the spectacular growth of the IS – ignited a massive refugee crisis. As millions fled their war-ravaged homelands to Europe, the European ultra-right gained a new lease of life. Immigration shifted from a fringe obsession to a winning issue, xenophobia became a legitimate and respectable way of expressing patriotism and the hitherto inconceivable started to become all too hideously possible.
The victory of left-wing Syriza in Greece presented the only realistic chance of staving off the onslaught of the radical right, but that possibility was killed by the neo-liberal fundamentalists governing Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who led the EU operation to undermine Athens’ progressive experiment, is now suffering the consequences of her own success. The downward path which began with Brexit is likely to end with her political demise, together with the demise of her goal of an inclusive Europe.
History warns us, time and again, that demagogues flourish in economies which are broken, economies which manifestly fail large swathes of ordinary people. Economics played a major role in the failure of the Arab Spring. Economics also played a major role in igniting anti-immigrant hysteria across Europe and enabling Brexit to score an unexpected victory. Donald Trump’s demagoguery would not have succeeded to the degree it did, had American economic recovery been a little more equal, a little less skewed in favour of the 1%. Mr. Trump, who inherited his first million from his father, whose business practices are notoriously anti-labour, who used a legal loophole to get out of paying taxes close to a billion dollars, was able to cast himself in the unlikely role of the saviour of the white working class because there was no competition from his rivals. Race was the lynchpin of his winning bloc, but economics played a key role in forging that lynch pin.
Commenting on the electoral disaster which befell his country, astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson said that the task for the next four years is to make America smart again[iv]. Donald Trump did outperform Hillary Clinton among the less educated and the wilfully ignorant (such as climate-change deniers and evolution-deniers), according to exit polls. A more intelligent and aware electorate is necessary to keep other Trumps out of power. That is necessary. But the starting point should be the acceptance of a historically validated fact – inclusive politics cannot be sustained without inclusive economics. Economic inequality is the greatest enemy of political equality. Trying to promote political progress in a context of reactionary economics which create huge income gaps between the rich and the rest is like running a marathon with one leg.
In the US, the economy of 1% enabled the rise and the triumph of Donald Trump. That he too is a member of that 1% was not relevant; that is how demagoguery works. The only way to prevent that disastrous outcome in other lands is for progressive political parties and forces to place economic inclusivity on par with political inclusivity.
Sri Lanka, Vulnerable
Sri Lankan probably marks the last victory of the global democratic wave, the final beneficiary of a politically progressive Zeitgeist. But no victory is eternal. And in this über-globalised world, no country can isolate itself from the ideological tentacles of the incoming Zeitgeist.
Donald Trump’s victory in and of itself cannot bring about a Rajapaksa resurgence, but it enhances that possibility considerably. Not because Mr. Trump would help the Rajapaksas; we can be very certain that Mr. Trump wouldn’t be able to tell Mr. Rajapaksa and Mr. Musevini apart or find Sri Lanka on a world map. But his victory renders legitimacy to those who hate progress and yearn to return to some ideal past, to those who seek salvation through a racial/religious project led by a strong leader. As a spokesman for the Syrian Jihadist group Jabhat Fatah-al-Sham, Hamza al-Karibi tweeted jubilantly, “Trump’s victory is a powerful slap to those promoting the benefits of democratic mechanisms.”[v]
In Sri Lanka, the myth of rich Tamils, rich Muslims and rich Christians preying on poor Sinhalese and poor Buddhists is probably as old as the Dharmapala-phenomenon. That pernicious lie has remained deeply engrained, in part because no political party has challenged it. On the contrary, almost all political parties have tried to use that myth to their electoral advantage time and again. That lie will be a fundament in the Rajapaksa project to regain power. But it will resonate with the Sinhala majority only if the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration fails to deliver at least a modicum of economic justice.
The signs so far are not very encouraging. The VAT hikes indicate that this government too prefers to take the easy path of increasing indirect taxes, thereby imposing an even greater share of the burden of recovery on the poor and the middle classes. The new budget provides some marginal relief by reducing the taxes on several essential consumer items. But the budget also illustrates the government’s lack of an economic vision. This critical absence has prevented the government from abandoning the Rajapaksa strategy of massive physical infrastructure projects which bring negligible benefits to the ordinary people.
Promising million jobs doesn’t deliver million jobs. The government needs to encourage industries capable of creating employment opportunities which tally with the human resource base we have. The construction industry – including the government funded physical infrastructure projects – is no longer capable of that. So unemployment will not be dented and youth unemployment in particular will continue to remain at its current dangerously high level while more Chinese and Indian labour will have to be allowed in, to fulfil the short term demands of the construction industry.
The budget underscores that the government has failed to develop a clear path to save the existing export industries or to develop new ones. There is nothing akin to the 200 Garment Factories Programme, which created the best kind of private-public partnership and encouraged economic activity which led to job creation and income generation at village level. Handing over thousands of acres to Chinese investors in Hambantota is not development. It will worsen the living problems of the people – including the exacerbation of human-elephant conflict. So will the continuation of the Rajapaksa craze of building highways.
A government with an economic vision and cohesive goals will not penalise and discourage national savings through re-imposed taxes. A government which has a modicum of economic reason will not give free tabs to A Level students while hiking the costs of using internet. A government which has an iota of political sense will not undertake the building of the world’s tallest Christmas Tree in the world while destroying the livelihoods of a substantial segment of people in the Catholic belt via intensified dredging and sand mining.
“The taxes including a recent value added tax on health care is likely to test the popularity of the administration which has also been wracked by high profile corruption scandals…”[vi] warned a commentator. The budget is not a development budget but a money-making budget. The money made primarily via more indirect taxes will be spent on glitzy infrastructure projects and silly handouts (such as the bursary to student monks).
That is a path to economic and political disaster. At its end awaits the Rajapaksas.
People in general are fed up and disgusted at the government’s refusal to fulfil its pledge to bring to book, those involved in crime, corruption, amassed wealth illegally, plundered the country, waste and other such activities during the previous regime. On 8 January 2015 they voted with great enthusiasm in the hope that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would be sincere in their election slogans to punish all who plundered country’s wealth. However, dashing all hopes, the government, instead of fulfilling its promises, is being accused of the same evils such as widespread corruption and waste, while crooks, criminals and others accused of various crimes remain free and even travel abroad.
The mood in the country is “Gloom”. Civil society organisations even discuss the possibility of a third political force as both the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, ruled alternatively since independence,had turned the country into one of the most mismanaged in the world.They realise that the shortsighted racist politics of these two parties had brought nothing but disaster. For example Sri Lanka, during the time of independence, was one of most stable countries, often described as the role model, in the entire third world. There was political and economic stability, sufficient foreign reserve, health care and education systems, communal harmony and peace.
Those were the days one could walk from Matara to Jaffna without fear of being waylaid. Instead one may have been treated for a free cup of tea or a meal as human values were cherished Rights and privileges of all were enshrined in the constitution. People respected one another’s religious and cultural values. Politicians, professionals, intellectuals and all others were respected by the society. Corruption and crime were relatively unknown.
There was an independent judiciary and police. Thus the country was blessed with everything required to move ahead to ensure a better future for all. However it failed to produce a visionary leader from the majority community who could think above communal politics and guide the country. As a result, almost seven decades after independence today, Sri Lanka remains as one of the most mismanaged countries in the world.
Who is responsible? Isn’t it the destructive racist politics of the UNP and SLFP which turned the island into Asia’s worst killing field? Racist politics began as early as the 1930s when some politicians began to promote the interest of the Sinhalese for their own selfish political interest. For example during the State Council days in the 1930s it was D.S.Senanayake as Minister of Lands and Lands Settlement who initiated the colonisation of Sinhalese in Polonnaruwa, Padaviya and Inginiyagala in the East which were claimed by Tamils and Muslims as their traditional homeland. Adding fuel to fire, politicians also started claiming that this was a Sinhala Buddhist country and dismissed minorities. Minorities who do not want to be second class citizens demanded equal rights and equal roles in the affairs of the country and in deciding their own destinies.
Realising the racist mind-set of politicians, the British colonial government, enshrined in the Soulbury Constitution a special provision, section 29A , as a security valve in the hope of protecting minority rights. Some of the Sinhalese leaders, before and after the independence, were quite open in continuing to whip up communalism.They openly equated and continued to equate Sinhalese nationalism with Sri Lankan nationalism and Buddhism, and began implementing their communal agendas ruthlessly, not realizing that they were plunging the country into a bloodbath.
Exploiting the mood of the Sinhalese the Legislative Council Member S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike formed the “Sinhala Maha Sabha” which segregated the Sinhalese from the mainstream political scene. J.R. Jayawardene moved in the United National Party annual convention the Sinhala only resolution. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike called for “Sinhala only within 24 hours” and faced elections on communal slogans to gain power. Politicians also encouraged the rise of Sinhala chauvinism with frequent violent attacks on Tamils causing death and destruction.
However Mr. Bandaranaike was quick to realise the consequences of his communal politics and took damage control measures such as the Bandaranaike Chelvanayagam Pact, BC Pact. Even at that stage, did the politicians do some stock-taking of the consequences of their racist politics? They were not bothered.
Instead almost all governments with their eyes firmly fixed on elections, either to win or to retain power, aggressively continued to woo the majority community as the most effective vote-caching strategy.
This unfortunate trend continued, not realising the consequences. In 1970 Prime Minister Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike removed Section No 29A of the Soulbury Constitution in her Republican Constitution and made Buddhism the state religion. This led to all Tamil political parties uniting under the umbrella of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) which demanded equal rights.
Added to this President Jayewardene’s draconian 1978 Constitution which created a democratically elected all powerful dictator, virtually turned minorities voiceless and helpless. In July 1983 his party thugs attacked and killed Tamils besides burning their properties under a very well organised anti-Tamil programme.
The result was the emergence of the Tamil militancy, later trained, armed and financed by India, which produced some of the deadliest terrorists who virtually paralysed the island, besides paving the way for a powerful Tamil Diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils.
There were death and destruction all over, the economy was crippled, and people lived in fear. The situation was such that women folk at home were not sure whether their husbands who went to work or the children who went to school would return alive. Those were the days when people went about only for essential work as they did not know when and where a bomb would explode.
While people suffered, politicians and their cronies flourished in the form of commissions in weapons purchasing. This dire catastrophe spelt adversity to the helpless people and prosperity to politicians of the two main parties.
The ethnic war also brought in all sorts of players to the island. For example India entered the island’s politics when the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi forced down the throat of President J.R.Jayawardena, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. In the subsequent years India’s interference and dominance in the local politics came to such a ridiculous stage that Sri Lankan politicians visited New Delhi frequently to brief and, perhaps, to get their blessings on local issues. Most disillusioned people from all communities left the island in search of peaceful life to countries all over the world. Squeezed between Sinhala chauvinists and the Tamil racism and militancy, the Muslim community had its own share of sufferings. Their grievances fell on the deaf ears of almost every government after the independence.
A section of Muslims from the East, launched a separate Muslim party which isolated the Muslim community from both Sinhalese and Tamils. Their sufferings continued even after the war ended due to the Rajapaksa government’s hostility towards Muslims.
That historic opportunity was squandered once again due to racist politics, unprecedented crime, corruption, waste and the virtual collapse of the administration under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. The regime unleashed violence against Muslims. There were more than 350 attacks on mosques, religious schools, business establishments and the organised programme at Aluthgama, Beruwala and Dharga town.
It was under such circumstances that President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came out with the slogan they would eliminate crime, corruption and pave the way for good governance and communal harmony.
Almost two years after assuming office where do we stand today? Once again allegations of racist politics, widespread corruption, lawlessness, rapid erosion of democracy, wasteful expenditure, extravagance and luxury.
Due to mismanagement of the two parties, today the island has become a playground for all deadly players from India, China, Israel, United States, Britain and even Russia who are all active with their own designs here.
Describing the situation, columnist Lacille de Silva said in a recent article that “OURS IS A KLEPTOCRACY - LITERALLY ‘RULED BY THIEVES”.
Under the circumstance are we going to vote for these parties. Isn’t the time ripe to think of a third political force to save the country and restore its dignity?
Former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the USA Jaliya Wickremesooriya has been arrested by the FCID say reports.
He has been arrested on charges of misappropriation of public money and would be taken before a Court today (18th).
Investigations being carried out have revealed he had misappropriated Rs. 3.2 million when buying a building for the Embassy using a fund of rs.6.6 million.
After the transaction had been completed the broker company involved in the transaction has informed Jaliya Wickremesooriya that a sum of Rs.3.2 million was remaining. He had e-mailed the broker company to deposit the money to a company in the USA.
Later, Jaliya Wickremesooriya has informed the relevant company in the USA to transfer the money to Ceylon Royal Tea Pvt. Ltd. and PP International Pvt. Ltd – both companies in Sri Lanka. The directions have been made by e-mail.
Investigations carried out by FCID on eh companies have revealed Ceylon Royal Tea Pvt. Ltd belongs to Jaliya Wickremesooriya.
Also, investigations carried out regarding PP International Pvt. Ltd have revealed that it has no connection with Jaliya Wickremesooriya. However, he had withdrawn the deposited money from the company.
The submissions made by the CID in connection with the deaths of two IUSF-activist university students at Imbulgoda in Gampaya are contradictory, and their deaths are suspicious, lawyer Rajika Silva, who appears on behalf of the rights of the deceased, told the Gampaha courts yesterday (17).
Suspicious statements The lawyer noted that police have given statements that upon receiving a report of a road accident at Imbulgoda junction in Gampaha around 4.30 am on 27 September 2012, they had gone there and seen the two students moving their limbs. They had been taken in a hearse to hospital around 7.30 am. Funeral parlour employees have given statements that the two students were dead by that time. The lawyer pointed out to the court that it was highly suspicious that the two students, who had been alive by 4.30 am, had not been taken to hospital until 7.30 am, and also their being taken to hospital in a hearse. Wrong mobile phone reports A certain telephone service provider has given incorrect reports with regard to the calls list of one of the deceased, and the magistrate who had previously heard the case had ordered the CID to take legal action in that connection, the lawyer said, adding however that instead of taking the company in question to courts, the CID has given statements to the effect that it had been a mistake. There cannot be mistakes in telephone calls reports which are crucial in a court case, she noted. Kelaniya University students’ union president Janaka Bandara Ekanayake and Ruhuna University’s first year student Sisitha Priyankara Silva died under mysterious circumstances as they had been on their way by motorcycle to Nugegoda to collect leaflets required for a IUSF-organized protest march from Kandy to Colombo, in support of a struggle by university lecturers demanding a six per cent budgetary allocation for education. Police claimed they died in a vehicle accident, but owing to the aspects of the location of the so-called accident, injuries to the two students and the suspicious conduct of the police, there have been many accusations that the then Rajapaksa regime had murdered them. Further hearings will take place on December 08.
While expressing his concern only over the cost of taxes that the government will incur from the vehicle allowance to be granted for 58 MPs, President Maithripala Sirisena appears to be attempting to score points by informally agreeing to ‘bribe’ Parliamentarians in his attempt to further secure their support.
Maithri
According to a leaked letter, Sirisena’s has at no point vehemently objected to the allowance as a whole but had instead expressed his concern over the tax components in the allowance. The Rs. 590,000 allowance will increase to Rs. 700,000 a month per MP due to the VAT and NBT taxes. The total cost of the new allowance is expected to cost the country Rs. 2.4 billion.
Further, in the letter, Sirisena had highlighted that the proposal should be reconsidered specially as the taxes was high and as per the calculations the cost per kilometer was around the range of Rs. 250. Sirisena, however instructed that there should be transparency in such initiatives.
Citing the proposal by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Sirisena has said, “With regard to the above matter by the Finance Minister, the rent per month for each vehicle will be Rs. 590,000. When you add VAT and NBT, the approximate cost per each vehicle will be Rs. 700,000. This means that the approximate cost per each kilometer is Rs. 250 as per the total cost of the monthly allowance. I believe this is very high, therefore, I suggest that this proposal be submitted for deliberations to the Economic Affairs Ministry Committee,” he said in the letter.
32 SL Muslims have joined ISIS: Wijedasa claims 2016-11-18 Thirty two Muslims from four families have joined the IS IS Group in the recent past, Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa told Parliament today. He said the government would not allow these people to disrupt the country. The minister said the government would not control the social media websites but would take action within the legal framework should these websites violate the law. "We will not allow the media to abuse the freedom given to them" he said. The minister said mischievous elementsare attempting to create a fear psychosis saying the government was trying to dilute the status given to Buddhism in the constitution." We will safeguard Buddhism while ensuring the rights of other religions," he added. (Yohan Perera)
We were picking our way cautiously through the rubble of demolished farms and buildings on a recent afternoon in the al-Faraheen neighborhood of the town of Abasan al-Kabira in the southern Gaza Strip, east of Khan Younis.
His caution was warranted. Just 100 meters away loomed a concrete wall, part of the barrier Israel has erected around Gaza’s boundaries, complete with watchtowers, cameras and soldiers with sniper rifles.
We were too close. While there is no official determination, it is generally understood that anywhere within 300 meters from the boundary is a no-go zone. Going there could be fatal. And when this reporter tried to move closer to take a few photos on a mobile phone, Abu Khater was having none of it. He had seen army jeeps near the wall and he was feeling uneasy.
“You never know with these soldiers. We have to hurry.”
This is the very edge of Gaza, where the Israeli military has been busy fortifying a buffer zone of uncertain size within Gaza that keeps residents on constant alert and at risk of injury or death.
These so-called Access Restricted Areas – or simply no-go zones as residents know them – are enforced in a number of ways. Soldiers can arrest those who enter, usually farmers trying to work their land, and confiscate their equipment. Live ammunition is fired to clear people away, land is leveled and property demolished to allow soldiers clear lines of sight.
According to Abu Khater, here in al-Faraheen, soldiers begin to shoot at 5 pm. The gunfire, he said, is random and sporadic and has destroyed any kind of social existence in the neighborhood. Now, it is the sound of projectiles striking walls and tin roofs that marks the evenings.
The situation has only deteriorated since the devastating Israeli assault of 2014. No visitors come to these areas anymore, fearing for their lives. This, Abu Khater said, is the reality of life in the no-go zones.
He looked at his watch again while crouching behind a wall. “The occupation knows that you’re a stranger,” he said. “I advise you to return to my house and complete your work from there.”
Gaza’s wall
The no-go zones on land have long been ill-defined.
At sea, the Israeli navy has since April enforced a strict nine nautical mile limit, up from the six miles that had been allowed after the 2014 war on Gaza.
But that is much less than the 20-mile zone stipulated in the 1995 interim agreement signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and just three-quarters of the 12 miles that was the most it ever allowed in practice. The limit went down as far as three miles after the capture of an Israeli soldier in 2006, seriously undermining Gaza’s fishing industry and harming fish populations.
Overhead, Israel retains complete control of the airspace. The Yasser Arafat International airport, near Rafah in the south, survived only three years after it opened in 1998 and as the second intifada got seriously underway. The terminal building is still there, but the runway was long ago dug up by Israeli bulldozers.
On land, however, there is little clarity. According to the United Nations, areas up to 300 meters from the boundary with Israel are “generally considered to be a ‘no-go’ area.” But farmers are scared to work land in what is considered a high-risk area as deep as 1,000 meters from the boundary. (Gaza is about 10 kilometers wide, 15 at its thickest.)
Palestinian human rights groups say the access-restricted zones can go as deep as 1,500 meters.
In addition, Israel recently announced the “largest project ever” undertaken by the military, a 60-kilometer above and underground concrete wall meant to prevent tunnel digging that is slated to run right along Gaza’s boundaries.
Ground was broken on the NIS 2 billion ($520 million) “barrier” project in September. Near the boundary, residents can hear the sounds of diggers and heavy machinery.
Barren land
A few minutes before 5 pm, Omar again urged us to leave and speak to residents who live near the no-go zone. The only voices here now were those of the wind and the engines of tanks and diggers.
On our way, and some 200 meters down mostly sandy paths, Yasser al-Amour was picking his way carefully around the 15 dunams (a dunam is the equivalent of 1,000 square meters) of land he inherited from his grandparents.
The land now lies arid. The 54-year-old farmer has not been able to work here since the start of the second intifada in 2000, he said, fearful of being shot should he stay too long in the area.
“The soldiers shoot every time we try to cultivate the land because it is so close to the boundary. Of course I want to grow crops. But at the same time, I don’t want to die or get injured doing it.”
His is not an isolated story. The impact on Gaza’s farming industry is dramatic. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, some 27,000 dunams (27 square kilometers), or 35 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land, can only be accessed at “high personal risk,” and 95 percent of the restricted area is arable land.
This land is one of the perennial stumbling blocks in ceasefire negotiations with Israel involving Hamas, which controls Gaza’s internal affairs, and other Palestinian factions in the territory. In 2012, after the Israeli offensive on Gaza that year, the parties, with Egyptian mediation, agreed to a ceasefire that would see farmers ostensibly able to cultivate land as close as 100 meters from the boundary.
But that was never borne out on the ground and after the 2014 aggression, only fishing restrictions were mentioned in the final communique. The mediation then was undertaken by a different Egyptian leadership that, the very next year, was to begin creating its own buffer zone on the Egyptian side of the boundary.
“We’ll never leave”
Hazem Abu Mur, 45, was sipping coffee after finishing work in one of the car mechanic shops in the still-inhabited western part of the al-Faraheen area. He was sitting at the entrance to his house. Behind him were walls scarred with bullet holes.
The Abu Mur family of eight is trying to maintain as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
Hazem’s 19-year-old son is at university studying accountancy, four other children are in school and Bisan, at four the youngest, plays with her mother in the house.
Students return home from school in al-Faraheen, Israel’s militarized fence in the distance.
Abed Zagout
“The occupation has always been a part of our life,” said Abu Mur. “Every day we face the risk that bullets penetrate the walls of our house. Anyone can be killed, injured or arrested at any moment. However, we have to go on and have a normal life.”
He also objected to any suggestion that family members leave their land for safer neighborhoods.
“The occupation is trying to force us to leave,” he said. “We’ll never leave, even at the risk of death.”
Adapted to cruelty
The adverse living conditions in the buffer zone extend to services. Potable drinking water is scarce and has to be bought from water trucks, electricity is intermittent at best and roads and other infrastructure lie unrepaired.
Most residents here are Bedouin. They work in agriculture, herding livestock, or drive delivery trucks. And the “barrier” project that Israel is pursuing not far away is well known here and resented.
“We know what Israel has planned for, and we’ve heard about this wall. We’ve seen the diggers, we are adapted to cruelty. Whatever happens, we’ll never leave,” said Abu Mur.
Omar Jaara, an Israel affairs expert with An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, said the “barrier” project – which Israel says is undertaken to prevent tunnel infiltration under the boundary – indicates that Israel remains fearful of the capabilities of the Palestinian resistance.
It also suggests that there has been no change in the fundamentals of the Gaza situation. The coastal strip continues to be mired in poverty and despair imposed after a decade of blockade.
“The siege continues, reconstruction is delayed, slow, non-existent. There has been no serious mediation from the Palestinian Authority, Egypt or any other Arab country.”
It all suggests, he said, that another major conflagration is in the offing.
Not far from the Abu Mur family’s home, Abdullah Rumeilat, 24, was herding sheep. He has been shot in the right leg twice, once in 2006 and once last year. He continues to work, though, and an extreme situation has become normal to the young man.
“We herd our sheep and, from time to time, the soldiers shoot at us. They want to make us leave.”
Not far from where Rumeilat’s sheep were grazing, Siham Abu Rashid, 55, was collecting herbs with her grandchildren. The family’s livelihood – collecting medicinal herbs to sell to shops – is also under threat from Israel’s buffer zone.
“We feed our children. And when we can’t get to the land because of the shooting, we risk starvation,” Abu Rashid said.
She is only out now because her husband was injured in a shelling of their house during the 2014 war. Fathi, 61, used to work the land too, but Siham had to stay with him for months after the shelling when he was too incapacitated to look after himself.
Death journey
Such stories are common right across the edge of the Gaza Strip. Anyone straying close to the boundary runs the risk of being maimed or killed. It is danger by dint of location.
According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Israeli troops committed 111 human rights violations in the restricted-access areas in the first half of 2016, from live fire and artillery shelling in the areas to troop incursions and the spraying of chemicals on crops.
In the crosshairs have been farmers, shepherds, bird hunters, iron and scrap collectors, as well as demonstrators who took part in a protest there on the commemoration of the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, in May. In all, seven Palestinians, including three children and a woman, have been killed in the no-go zones in 2016.
Two Palestinian rights groups have submitted some of these findings to a UN special rapporteur for an upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council, due in March 2017. The submission highlights, among other violations, the crop spraying the groups say the Israeli military has implemented in the restricted zones near Gaza’s boundary and the effect of movement restrictions and closures generally on Gaza’s farming and fishing industry.
Ramy Abdu, head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said that “Israel commits grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by its repeated targeting” of residents in Gaza’s boundary areas, adding that Israel’s leaders should be taken to the International Criminal Court.
But those whose livelihoods depend on the no-go zones have little choice but to get on with it.
Majid al-Err hunts birds, and the mostly empty agricultural lands near the boundary are prime hunting grounds. The 28-year-old sets nets to catch birds, but has to hide behind sand dunes in order to avoid becoming prey himself for Israeli soldiers. It is a dangerous life, he said, but this is the hand he was dealt.
“Bird hunters call this the ‘death journey.’ Every day, I kiss my mother before leaving home, afraid I may never come back.”
Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a freelance journalist and writer from Gaza.
"My job was to sell, sell sell," says former Trump University instructor James Harris, who explains the inner workings of the company, detailing high pressure sales tactics and the battle for profit. (Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post) By Rosalind S. HeldermanNovember 18 at 5:23 PM
President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, has agreed to a $25 million settlement to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University.
The settlement eliminates the possibility that Trump will be called to testify in court in the midst of his presidential transition. It ends three separate lawsuits that made claims against Trump University, including a California class action case that was scheduled to go to trial later this month, as well as a second suit in that state and an action filed by New York Attorney Gen. Eric Schneiderman.
In a statement, Trump Organization General Counsel Alan Garten said he believed Trump would have prevailed at trial but settled so Trump could “devote his full attention to the important issues facing our great nation” during his presidential transition.
Schneiderman, who had faced harsh attacks from Trump since filing the 2013 suit, said in a statement that his office had sued Trump for “swindling thousands of innocent Americans out of millions of dollars” and that the settlement had come despite significant resistance from Trump for years.
“Today, that all changes,” he said. “Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university.”
He said the settlement includes a $1 million penalty paid to New York state for violating the state’s education laws by calling the program a “university” despite offering no degrees or traditional education. Trump did not, however, admit fault regarding the claims that customers were cheated.
A lawyer representing former customers in the two California cases also confirmed the settlement at a hearing in San Diego.
The Trump University settlement appears to fit a pattern in which lawyers for the president-elect are working to reduce the number of his legal entanglements before he takes office.
On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers dropped an unrelated lawsuit he was pursuing in Florida against Palm Beach County in which he had complained about commercial air traffic over his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump has fought the county for years over flight patterns from the county airport, which he has complained cause too much noise at his historic club. New air space restrictions likely to be imposed with Trump’s election could mean that Trump will win the long fight without legal action.
Negotiations over the Trump University deal were handled in part by lawyers for Schneiderman, a Democrat, who had filed suit against Trump University in 2013. Schneiderman has called the real estate program “a fraud from beginning to end.”
Here’s what president-elect Donald Trump has been doing after the election
He has been holding interviews and meeting with Congress and the president as he prepares to transition into the White House.
The fates of the New York case and the two California suits were closely linked because they were all brought on behalf of an overlapping pool of former Trump University customers, said a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations.
Trump is known for aggressively pursuing his business interests in court. Still, he has settled lawsuits many times, despite arguing that doing so only invites further litigation.
“I don’t settle cases. You know what happens? When you start settling lawsuits, everybody sues you,” he said on MSNBC in March, responding to a question about Trump University. “I don’t get sued because I don’t settle cases. I win in court.”
The Trump University case emerged as a political issue during the presidential campaign. And even as he rose in the polls, won primaries and emerged as the Republican nominee, Trump at times seemed deeply engrossed in the litigation and repeatedly defended the business from the stump.
At a rally in San Diego in May, Trump dissected the matter at length, insisting that most customers who had spent money on the real estate program had been pleased. He attacked particular plaintiffs by name, including one who later dropped out of the case, citing the publicity.
Trump’s San Diego statements included an attack on Federal District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing the California cases, and a promise: “If we have a trial, we’ll go all the way,” he said then. “Watch how we win it.”
In subsequent interviews in June, Trump continued to press complaints against Curiel, alleging that the Indiana-born judge was biased because of his Mexican heritage.
Those comments sparked an uproar that swallowed days of Trump’s campaign and only subsided when his campaign released a lengthy statement in June claiming his comments had been “misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage.”
The cases against Trump University were based on complaints from customers who described their experiences in programs that could cost more than $30,000.
The former customers said they were taken in by false promises including advertisements in which Trump promised seminar attendees would learn his personal tricks for succeeding in real estate from instructors he had personally handpicked. In depositions, Trump has acknowledged he did not pick seminar leaders.
Trump argued in a written statement that, “with all of the thousands of people who have given the courses such high marks and accolades, we will win this case!”
Curiel had strongly urged a settlement in the cases pending in his courtroom, where Trump’s lawyers had recently asked for a delay, citing the burdens of the presidential transition. They suggested the trial, which was scheduled to open Nov. 28, would be easier in February or March, after Trump takes office.
Roxana Popescu in San Diego contributed to this report.
