A bite from this fly puts you into a deadly sleep

The tsetse fly can carry trypanosome parasites (Credit: Scott Camazine/Alamy)

A bite from a tsetse fly can infect you with a terrifying parasite that brings on a deep and possibly fatal sleep

• By Melissa Hogenboom-19 December 2016

A bite from a tsetse fly is an extremely unpleasant experience. It is not like a mosquito, which can furrow its thin mouthpart directly into your blood, often without you noticing. In contrast, the tsetse fly's mouth has tiny serrations on it that saw into your skin on its way to suck out your blood.

To make matters worse, several species of tsetse fly can transmit diseases. One of the most dangerous is a parasite that causes "sleeping sickness", or "human African trypanosomiasis"to give it its official name. Without treatment, an infection is usually fatal.

Like so many tropical diseases, sleeping sickness has often been neglected by pharmaceutical researchers. However, researchers have long endeavoured to understand how it evades our bodies' defence mechanisms. Some of their insights could now help us eliminate sleeping sickness altogether.


A Trypanosoma brucei protozoan (purple) amongst red blood cells (Credit: Eye of Science/SPL)

There are two closely-related single-celled parasites that cause this deathly sleep: Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and T. b. gambiense. The latter is far more prevalent: it is responsible for up to 95% of cases, mostly in western Africa. It takes several years to kill a person, while T. b. rhodesiense can cause death within months. There are still other forms that infect livestock.

After the initial bite, sleeping sickness symptoms often start with a fever, headaches and aching muscles. As the illness goes on, those infected become increasingly tired, which is where it gets its name. Personality changes, severe confusion and poor coordination can also happen.

A person can have no symptoms but still both harbour the disease and spread it

While medication does help, some treatments are toxic and can themselves be lethal, especially if they are given after the disease has reached the brain.

It is worth noting that sleeping sickness is no longer as deadly as it once was. In the early 20th Century several hundred thousand people were infected each year. By the 1960s the disease was considered "under control" and had reached very low numbers, making its spread more difficult. But in the 1970s there was another major epidemic, which took 20 years to control.

Since then, better screening programmes and earlier interventions have reduced the number of cases dramatically. In 2009 there were fewer than 10,000 cases for the first time since records began, and in 2015 this figure dropped to fewer than 3,000, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO hopes the disease will be completely eliminated by 2020.

While this decline looks positive, there may be many more cases that go unreported in rural Africa. To eliminate the disease completely, infections have to be closely monitored.

More problematically, a series of new studies have shown that the parasite is more complicated than previously believed.


There was a major sleeping sickness outbreak in the early 1900s (Credit: Interfoto/Alamy)

Sleeping sickness has always been considered – and diagnosed – as a blood disease, because T. brucei parasites can readily be detected in the blood of its victims. However, in a study published in September 2016 researchers found that the parasite can reside in the skin and fat, as well as in the blood.

There may even be a higher density of the parasite in the skin than in the blood, says co-author Annette MacLeod of the University of Glasgow, UK. A tsetse fly drinking a person's blood can "take up the skin-welling parasites along with the blood."

You can harbour these parasites for a long time and be okay

That means a person can have no symptoms but still both harbour the disease and spread it. "We think the skin is therefore a hidden reservoir of infection," says MacLeod. People carrying the infection in their skin would not be treated, as those with detectable levels of the parasite in their blood are given medication.

The finding could explain the mysterious 1970s epidemic, and why the disease can spring up in areas that had previously been cleared.

"We had one person from Sierra Leone but hadn't been back for 29 years, and then came down with late-stage sleeping sickness," says MacLeod. "You can harbour these parasites for a long time and be okay."

That is not the only reason why the parasites can evade our immune systems.


A tsetse fly's bit is extremely painful, and can be deadly (Credit: Scenics & Science/Alamy)

In 2014, Etienne Pays of the University of Brussels in Belgium described the history of sleeping sickness as an "arms race" between humans and the parasite. In this battle, our key weapon is a protein called apolipoprotein L1, which is resistant to an earlier form of T. brucei.

This protein was "efficient in killing the parasite in the blood," says Pays. "As far as we know, it was only there to kill the parasite."

Pays now suspects that some people are resistant to all forms of the parasite

Unfortunately, over time the parasite found a way past the protein's protection. While apolipoprotein L1 can still kill the variant that infects cattle, it is not effective against the two T. brucei strains that infect humans. These two "managed to escape," says Pays.

Pays and his team managed to tweak the protein in their lab to make it resistant to T. b. rhodesiense, the rare but more lethal form.

What they did not realise is that there are people in Africa who already have a similar defence system. Thanks to a mutation in the same protein, they have a natural immunity to T. b. rhodesiense. Pays now suspects that some people are resistant to all forms of the parasite.

Unfortunately, this natural immunity comes at a cost. Nobody knows why, but it has been linked to kidney disease in older age.

The challenge is to make a variant with no side effects. Pays's team has made another protein able to kill both forms, but when they tested it in mice the animals died.

The parasite must cross the blood-brain barrier, which blocks most diseases and toxins

Pays is still tweaking this protein in the lab, in the hope that it will provide an effective cure. "We engineered another one, which we are currently testing," he says.

If he can make it work, doctors will simply need to inject the protein into an infected person. It will then kill the parasite and disappear. This is promising, but there is an additional challenge.

The reason sleeping sickness is so deadly is that it can enter the brain. There it causes its most severe symptoms, such as confusion, hallucinations and poor coordination. Once in the brain it becomes harder to treat, and therefore more likely to be fatal. Doctors think of this as the second stage of the disease, the first being when it infects the blood.

To reach the brain, the parasite must cross the blood-brain barrier, which blocks most diseases and toxins. The key question is how it gets through. But again, it seems we may have had the wrong end of the stick.


Once the parasite crosses the blood-brain barrier it is far more deadly (Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Alamy)

A study published in October 2016 proposes that sleeping sickness actually has three distinct stages, not two as previously thought.

The first stage is the bite from the tsetse fly, after which the parasite infects the person's blood. In the second stage, which was not previously identified, it appears in the cerebrospinal fluid and in three membranes that surround the brain, known as the meninges. In the third stage, the brain's protective borders break down and a "mass invasion" of trypanosomes crosses the blood-brain barrier and attacks the brain.

The idea is to keep the host alive, so that the parasite has longer to infect others

Michael Duszenko of the University of Tübingen in Germany and his colleagues discovered the second stage in mice. They also found a reason why the third stage sometimes takes months or even years to occur. It turns out the parasite keeps itself in the second stage, actively slowing the progress of the disease.

To do so, it releases a compound called prostaglandin D2, which does two things. First, it induces sleep in the patient, making them more vulnerable to the bite of a tsetse fly. Secondly, it causes some of the parasite cells to start a process called apoptosis, or "cell death". In other words, the trypanosome purposely destroys some of its own cells.

Killing some of your own cells may sound like a bad idea, but doing so "reduces the burden for the host and increases the chance for parasites to be transmitted to the tsetse fly," says Duszenko. The idea is to keep the host alive, so that the parasite has longer to infect others. If the concentration of parasites were to rise too quickly, the host would die before the parasite could spread to another.

This finding may help explain why some people live with chronic levels of the disease for years. Textbooks should now be rewritten accordingly, Duszenko says.

Despite these advances, there remains the problem is that T. brucei is extremely good at staying one step ahead of its hosts' defence.


Sleeping sickness fatalities have declined in the last decade (Credit: The Science Picture Company/Alamy)

The parasite is particularly skilled at "antigenic variation": it has over 1,000 versions of the protein in its outer surface but only displays one at a time, so the host's immune system only makes antibodies against the one on display. In the meantime, some of the parasites have switched to another version, which cannot be attacked by these antibodies.

Every time the host makes antibodies against a new wave of parasites, some trypanosomes will switch to a new coat. "The immune response is always trying to catch up with the parasites," says Martin Taylor of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK.

Fairly recently there's been an effort to find drugs for these neglected diseases

Partly for this reason, there have been no new drugs for decades. One of the recommended drugs is Pentamidine, which treats first-stage T. b. gambiense. It was developed in 1940. Melarsoprol, which treats the final stage, was developed in 1949. It is toxic and causes death in about 5% of cases.

Another issue is that pharmaceutical companies have not invested much money into research on sleeping sickness: it is a neglected disease.

"The reason they are called neglected diseases is because they were neglected," says Taylor. "Because they are diseases of the poorest people in developing countries, and since it takes millions of dollars to develop a drug to market, there isn't the economic incentive to develop new drugs."

That seems to have changed a bit in recent years. Some pharmaceutical companies have even partnered with not-for-profit organisations who push for new drugs, such as the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative.

MacLeod says there are two new drugs "in the pipeline" undergoing trials. "Fairly recently there's been an effort to find drugs for these neglected diseases," she says.

The disease will clearly be around for years to come. But by unlocking more of the parasite's secrets, one day we might be able to put sleeping sickness to bed for the last time.

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Overcome inter ethnic tensions beneath the surface

 12 Little Known Laws of Karma (That Will Change Your Life)

Building More Viharas In The North-East-------Iranai Madu

By Jehan Perera-December 19, 2016, 8:12 pm

The practice of nationalist Buddhist groups setting up temples and putting up statues in places where there are hardly any or no Buddhists has become a visible source of inter ethnic agitation. The Northern Provincial Council has passed a resolution that no Buddhist temples should be constructed in the North. Many Tamils see the putting up of Buddha statues and the construction of Buddhist temple as a projection of Sinhalese domination in the North after the defeat of the LTTE. They ask why Buddhist temples are being built and statutes are erected in areas where there are no Buddhists. Some of them are constructed by the armed forces. However, it is not only Buddhist groups that are engaging in this practice. Christians in the North have complained of Hindus doing the same and that large numbers of Hindu temples are coming up on encroached state and private lands using Diaspora money.

After a two year lull that followed replacement of the former government through the electoral process, public manifestations of inter-community tension and media coverage of the same have been on the rise. There are indications of political maneuvering behind these efforts to disturb the peace in the country and to bring ethno-religious nationalism to the fore. Video footage of religious clergy engaging in vitriolic attacks on those of other ethnic and religious groups have gone viral on the social media. Most notably in the North and East, there are clashes being reported on inter religious grounds. There are many incidents of religious clergy getting involved in expansionist projects, such as religious conversions, destruction of ancient sites or building places of worship in areas where they are less numerous.

A particularly acute source of inter religious tension is the constant use of hate speech by groups that form themselves under the name of religion and attack those of other religions. Most visibly, nationalist Buddhist groups have been targeting the Muslim community in this regard. Ethno nationalist organizations have been engaging in hate campaigns and intimidating those of other communities at the local level. The expansion of the Muslim population, its increasingly visible economic strength, alleged connections to militant international Islamic groups and religious practices such as Halal have been the main focus of their campaigns. This has created and continues to sustain a sense of apprehension and insecurity in the Muslim community particularly in areas where they are a minority, which is most of the country.

SOCIAL TOLERANCE

During the period of the last government, these incidents of hate speech and violence were ignored by the government. There was also a widespread belief amongst human rights groups and the Muslim community that a section of the former government was also tacitly supporting the aggressors. On the other hand, at the present time government leaders have shown no support for actions that are in opposition to inter ethnic and inter religious harmony. Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have made it clear that they wish these incidents to cease and the law to prevail. President Sirisena’s admonition that anyone who violates the law would be dealt with by the law enforcement agencies will serve to embolden the police to take deterrent action rather than stand idly as they did during the Aluthgama anti Muslim riots in 2014.

As a result of government policy that is not anti minority but is focused on preserving inter community relations, there is no mass sentiment that is in favour of communal confrontation visible in any part of the country. The National Peace Council has been conducting inter religious meetings at the community level. A gathering earlier this month in Trincomalee which was attended by members of all religions, and by government officials and police, on the contrary revealed a great deal of goodwill. The police officer who had been entrusted with communal amity said that there were youth who went about pasting stickers which had hate messages. But apart from pasting the stickers they did nothing much else, and the general population did not support them. It appears that at the level of the general population there is little or no personal animosities. On the contrary social relations and cultural similarities make the people prepared to sit with one another and attend meetings that are called in the name of inter ethnic and inter religious harmony.

Sri Lanka is fortunate in that its past traditions of inter ethnic and inter religious tolerance, of which there are records from the days of the kings, continues to prevail at the social and individual level. On the other hand, the visible manifestations of aggression and intolerance are politically created ones. When such politically motivated action takes place they are highly visible and are immediately given media attention. This creates an impression of crisis. But those who seek to attack those of other communities on account of religious rivalries and for purposes of religious domination do not have support amongst the people. Therefore the agitators are susceptible to control by the law enforcement agencies.

COMMUNITY TENSION

However, in contrast to the politically motivated inter religious tension, there is a degree of community level tension between the different ethnic communities living in the North and East that is having an impact on their lives. In Mullaitivu, an inter religious meeting became a forum for conflicting views to be expressed on matters pertaining to land. A Muslim participant explained that in 1990 when the LTTE expelled the Muslim population from the Northern Province, about 1500 Muslim families had left Mullaitivu. But now more than 26 years later, there are about 4500 Muslim families that have returned due to the natural increase in their population. Obtaining land for the additional families is providing to be difficult as it is resisted by those from the Tamil community and the government administration that functions in that area.

In Batticaloa it was a similar issue of land that led to one of the outbursts of the Buddhist monk against the government servant which went viral on the social media. The monk was angry that Sinhalese who sought land permits were being denied them although they had a claim to the land, according to the monk. On the other hand, the Tamils in the area felt that it was they who were under threat, now that the Eastern Provincial Council had a Muslim Chief Minister. According to them most of the provincial council appointments were going to Muslims, including being security guards in Tamil schools. They also pointed out the prosperity of Muslim towns in the east, as compared to the impoverished Tamil towns that lay adjacent to them.

In situations where there is political mistrust between communities and a history of conflict, it is important that governmental and provincial authorities should take decisions in a fair manner and in a manner that does not create more conflict. The use of a majoritarian mindset by politicians to favour their own community when they are the majority in a region is not conflict-sensitive nor is it acceptable. Decisions that are taken need to be seen as fair by all communities. If this is not the case, inter ethnic and inter religious harmony will be difficult to achieve, and the gains of the present will be dissipated in the new conflicts of the future. The role of civil society would be to identify these conflicts in dialogue with the communities and find ways to take them up to those who make the decisions so that they may decide fairly and take into consideration the concerns of each community in a conflict-sensitive manner.

பொருத்து வீட்­டுத்­திட்­டத்­திற்கு எதி­ராக ஆர்ப்­பாட்டம்

 2016-12-19 

வடக்கில் முன்­னெ­டுக்­கப்­ப­டவுள்ள பொருத்து வீட்­டுத்­திட்­டத்­திற்கு எதிர்ப்புத் தெரி­வித்து கிளி­நொச்சி மாவட்ட பொது அமைப்­புக்­களால் கிளி­நொச்சி மாவட்ட செயலகம் முன்­பாக இன்று  காலை 9.00 மணியளவில் கவ­ன­யீர்ப்பு போராட்டம் நடத்தப்பட்டது. 

2009ஆம் ஆண்­டுக்கு  பின்னர் கிளி­நொச்சி மாவட்­டத்தில் மீள்­கு­டி­யே­றிய சுமார் 20 ஆ­யிரம் வரை­யான குடும்­பங்கள் நிரந்­தர வீடுகள் இன்றி கடந்த 7 ஆண்­டு­க­ளாக தற்­கா­லிக வீடு­களில் வாழ்ந்து வரு­கின்­றன.

அவ்­வா­றான நிலையில் குறித்த பொருத்து வீட்­டுத்­திட்டம் தொடர்பில் அவர்கள் தெரி­விக்­கையில், 

மீள்­கு­டி­யேற்ற அமைச்­சினால் தற்­போது 65000 பொருத்து வீடுகள் வழங்­கு­வ­தற்­கான நட­வ­டிக்­கைகள் முன்­னெ­டுக்­கப்­பட்டு வரு­கின்­றன. இவ்­வா­றான பொருத்து வீடுகள் எமது சூழ­லுக்கு பொருந்­தாது. 

எமது வாழ்க்­கை­முறை, எமது பிர­தே­சத்தின் கால­நிலை, எமது பாரம்­ப­ரிய கட்­ட­ட­முறை என்­பன இதன் மூலம் சிதைக்­கப்­ப­டு­கின்­றது. மறை­மு­க­மாக பல கட்­டட வேலை செய்யும் தொழி­லா­ளர்­க­ளது வேலை பறிக்­கப்­ப­டு­கின்­றது. 

பனையால் வீழ்ந்­த­வனை மாடு ஏறி மிதிப்­பது போல கடந்த 30 வருட யுத்­தத்தால் பாதிக்­கப்­பட்ட எமக்கு 5 வருட ஆயுட்­காலம் கொண்ட இவ்­வா­றான வீடு­களை வழங்க முற்படுவது ஏற்றுக்கொள்ள முடியாத ஒன்றாக காணப்படுகின்றது. எனவே முன்னர் வழங்கப்பட்டது போன்ற நிரந்தர வீட்டுத்திட்டங்களை வழங்வேண்டும் என கோரியுள்ளனர்.

Tamils Together Towards Tomorrow at SOAS, London -17 -18 December 2016

by Victor Cherubim- Dec 20, 2016

( December 20, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Whenever Tamils meet we often have a cacophony of voices, but strange as it seems this gathering of Tamils living abroad, from the corners of Canada to Australia and meeting in London, were more of a contemplative gathering.

Issues were discussed, establishment of a framework for constructive action and needs assessment for Tamils living in Sri Lanka, was scrutinised in a plethora of ways with candour and caricature to arrive at a carillon call for a clear involvement of the role of the State and the role of the diaspora in conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Failed experiences, survival projects, the lack of political and social capital to the daunting humanitarian challenge and the limitations of international involvement were also on the agenda at this two day conference attended by more than 100 delegates.

Imagine listening to twenty eight speakers and you will understand the scale of the problem faced by Tamils abroad in sympathy or otherwise of their brethren in Sri Lanka. The excuse was “remembering the pathos or the pathetic state of affairs or the progress” taking place in their homeland for sake of an unknown future.

Change of perspective

Gone was the assigning of blame on the State and the government for all the ills of the Tamils, gone too was the hand of fate in the lives of the Tamils displaced by the near 30 year war.

In its place was seen and heard a change of perspective. This was noted in the pragmatic and studied approach of the many presentations, the theme of the conference, the participants from worldwide destinations and the public discussion after session and feedback.

Sustainability and dependability of future action

It was also noted the enormous bank of goodwill of the people other than in the North and East for the plight of the dispossessed Tamils and the unspoken feelings which have not been contemplated, rather capitalised. It was necessary to synthesise these approaches into a sustainable and dependable action for the future. A clear mechanism of action was mooted. It was to move from a charitable to a business model for sustainable development.

I was shocked when a speaker suggested that the idea of post war development of the North and the East of Sri Lanka was capacity building taking the participation of the military and armed services, as part and parcel also of any future development.

Private Public Partnership

Though not spelt out in defined projects, the way forward was for more private public partnership projects. The days of charitable giving for micro projects had passed and a dawn of a new era of thinking macro was the future.

The diaspora can be part of the solution by many ways, but poignantly through strategic leadership. Distance learning, testing market appetite for building retirement for Sri Lankans living abroad. 

Providing micro-finance. It was noted that this was visible in the projects undertaken by the diaspora with Government assistance in the Eastern Province. Further there were too many organisations working piecemeal in the Northern Province with little to show. This problem it was hoped could be resolved as there was a very great need here for coordination and cooperation among the various organisations without duplication of projects, effort and funding. One motto for action was using the bank of energy and skills of the local people in the North and East for their betterment rather than imposing a “westernised” mindset of development by the diaspora. “Whatever you do, do it effectively” rang throughout the conference.

Dr. R.Cheran, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, University of Windsor, Canada highlighted the fact that there we many UNESCO heritage sites in parts of Sri Lanka but not one in the North and the East. He did contest that heritage was a universal standard and not a national standard. World heritage sites are not simply belonging to one culture but belong to the entire human civilisation. He implied that he was no worried by this, but expected much to happen in the future.

The issues highlighted

Women and Gender was one of the hottest contested subjects of the conference. Rajes Bala, a Woman’s Rights Activist and writer stated: “Wherever there is poverty, there is women.” Women all over Sri Lanka and particularly, in the North and East have suffered the most. “When and where women’s voice is to be shut up, I get very angry, I then speak in English. When women wear trousers, then women are equal to men.”

Caste and religion have been intertwined with Tamils. Past Tamil sages such as Arumuga Navalar vs. Swami Vipulananda had voiced their respective opinions on each subject, but there cannot be real democracy for Tamils if there is discrimination.

The pendulum always gravitates to equilibrium in relationships said one speaker. Tamils in the homeland begin to take up their own responsibilities, in the role as breadwinners, as farmers, fisherman, from weaklings to being empowered. As the world is changing, so are Tamils views among the diaspora both as political and economic actors. Working with difference is the future.

The conference ended with the theme that there is no one way to be Tamil.

LET US CHANGE THE MINDSET BEFORE CHANGING LAWS









2016-12-20

A public seminar was held recently to celebrate the 68th International Human Rights Day. Titled ‘Let us change the mindset before changing laws’, the panel of speakers consisted of experts in constitutional law, human rights and women’s affairs. The speakers mainly focused on making a people’s constitution that addresses the problems they faced so there would not be a recurrence of further strife threatening national unity and reconciliation. Stressing that human rights could be safeguarded through constitutional reform, the speakers voiced their opinion on the abolition of the executive presidency, devolution and the need for a referendum to establish the new constitution. 

“The executive presidency has been an obstacle to establish democracy”

J.C. Weliamuna- Human Rights Lawyer

Stressing the importance of abolishing the executive presidency, Human Rights lawyer and former Executive Director of Transparency International Sri Lanka, J.C.Weliamuna said that power over the state and judiciary had been vested with one person or a group of people in the prevalent presidential system. Referring to the unexpected defeat of Yahya Jammeh, the dictator who ruled Gambia for 22 years he said, “These kind of experiences differ according to countries. But it’s important to draw lessons from these experiences to prevent the system from falling onto the path of dictatorship. In this respect, abolishing the executive presidency is one pre-condition.”  
He noted that there have been hopeful signs of the abolition. “The sub-committee report reflects that there is immense improvement. There is a 38-page report on the field of human rights. This report is in accordance with international standards and is something we’ve not seen in past constitutions. For instance, there are explanations as to what civil political rights and social economic politics are,” he said.  
Stating that the abolition of the executive presidency did not solve all the issues in countries, he added it would prevent power from being misused to fulfill personal aspirations. “The executive presidency has been an obstacle to establishing democracy,” he added.  
He said the discourse on human rights which was previously limited to civil societies had now become a topic of discussion within the government.   

“It’s important to move back to the parliament democracy we had before 1972”

Dr. PakiasothySaravanamuttu- Executive Director at Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)

“This is the second year in which we are able to celebrate International Human Rights day in different circumstances to what we have faced in the past. We mustn’t fall into the trap- and I use that word deliberately- into thinking in the same way as we did before. We need to acknowledge that change, understand that change and recognize what that change entails,” said Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, the Executive Director at Centre for Policy Alternatives(CPA).  
Noting that the programme of the yahapalanaya government was defined by liberal civil society and was presented during a course of two and a half decades under inhospitable circumstances, he said, “It’s our programme and therefore we are challenged as to whether we have a special responsibility to ensure the programme is realised, if not in full measure, in substantive measure.”   “I don’t think we have the license or the liberty to sit on the sidelines and criticise.We have to engage in a critical and constructive engagement with the government on the basis of shared values and common objectives,” he said.  
Referring to the consequences of the executive presidency, he said, “We have come into a political culture which is fundamentally antidemocratic and fundamentally problematic in terms of the deficit in the government and especially in the emerging ethnic conflict.”  
“One of the arguments J.R. Jayawardane of the UNP made in the 1970s was that we need a strong executive to ensure uninterrupted and smooth economic development. But interestingly, after the executive presidency was set up, there was an insurgency in the South and a civil war which went on for three decades,” he said  
“If we are to move towards a constitutional architecture which meets the aspirations of all our people and addressed their grievances, we have to be able to diffuse power,” he said, adding that there should not be a single office relatively immune to checks and balances.  
“That is why it’s important to move back to the parliament democracy we had before 1972, and not after 1972,” he said, emphasizing the need to end the debate on the executive presidency which has been going on for the past three decades.   

“We have reached the utmost limit in terms of reforming the executive presidency.”

Niran Anketell- Expert in Constitutional Law 

Speaking about threats posed to the process to evolve a new constitution, Niran Anketell, Attorney-at-law and expert in constitutional law, said the primary threat was that necessary constitutional amendments could be effected without a referendum through piecemeal reform.  
He said those who questioned the need for a referendum referred to the referenda that took place during the course of 2016. This includes the referenda in the UK with Brexit, in Colombia with the peace plans and with the constitutional referendum in Italy. “They believe that referenda gives power to the racist. Therefore, the general argument is that Sri Lanka should not have a referendum and we should attempt to make constitutional reform through piecemeal legislation and in a way that does not attract the referendum provisions in the constitution,” he added.  
Raising the question as to what can and cannot be done with a referendum, he said, “There are two significant cases in the Supreme Court that answer this question decisively. The first and the most recent is the 19th amendment determination. When the 19th amendment was brought to parliament, the Supreme Court weighed in the question. The Supreme Court found that certain clauses in the 19th amendment require a referendum and they decided certain clauses did not. It’s fairly clear that it would be very difficult to further reduce the powers of the presidency without a referendum. Any further attempt to dilute presidential powers, any further attempt to set Sri Lanka on a trajectory back to the pre 1972 constitutional structure would in all likelihood require a referendum.”   

“We need a constitution that dispels gender based discrimination.”   

Sumika Perera- Women’s Rights Activist

“We need a constitution that dispels gender-based discrimination. The existing constitution states there should be no discrimination based on gender. But practically speaking, this does not happen. Women are constantly harassed,” said Sumika Perera, a women’s rights activist who functions as the coordinator of the Women’s Resource Centre.  
“Women and the disabled have been included in the same clause in the constitution. There can be groups which have special needs. But the very fact that women have been categorized in this manner reflects the place of a woman,” she added.  
Stating that women were permitted to suggest proposals with regard to the new constitution she added that along with the ‘Women and Media collective’ she had visited 19 districts and obtained opinions from 22 groups of women. “The Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim women and those of other races joined this endeavour. At the end, we gave our recommendations to the committee in writing.”  
She added that women from all districts unanimously voiced assent for a new constitution that better suited the needs of the future.  
She recollected an instance when a woman from Muthur expressed gratitude for being able to suggest a proposal. “She said she felt she was a citizen of our country. She said that even if her recommendation is not carried out the chance of being able to propose her suggestion was itself a victory.”  
She said that though certain rights had been established constitutionally, as they are not executed, there was a need for a special platform. “Any woman has the right to join politics. But if there are no special opportunities women can’t receive equal treatment. Though Sri Lanka produced the world’s first prime minister, currently the representation of women in the parliament is not even 6%. But we have been able to achieve a 25% quota for local government which is gratifying.”    She further added that religious extremist groups tried to control not only women’s opinions and political inclinations, but also their body. She noted that there was a challenge as to how women’s rights which include the right to a livelihood, food safety, social protection, to a house, and to land could be ensured.  “There was a thirty year war In the North. Women suffered immensely. They had to carry on their family and societal roles with arduous difficulties despite the absence of their husbands and children who had gone to join warring factions,” she said emphasizing the need for a safe society where people were not burdened by the fear of disappearances or conflict.   

SRI LANKA: IMPUNITY THROUGH IMMUNITY IN SPECIAL PROVISIONS BILL FOR RANIL, MALIK

Image: Ranil Wickremesinghe and Malik Samarawickrama; Daily FT photo.

Ravi Ladduwahetty.

19/12/2016

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. – Former US President Abraham Lincoln.

As the Ceylon Today Sunday Edition reported in its lead story, now the latest is that the government is to bring a Special Provisions Bill, in the House of Parliament, for two Ministers, namely Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Minister National Policies and Economic Affairs and Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrema, in the guise of removing bottlenecks that exist in the promotion of Foreign Direct Investment.

The Development (Special Provisions) Draft Bill under Clause 51 on page 34 states: under the headline ‘No action or prosecution shall be instituted against –

( a) The Agency, Board or other institution for any act which is done in good faith, or purported to be done, by such Agency Board or other institution under this Act or

(b) any member or Officer , servant or agent of such Agency, Board, or other institution for any act which is done or purported to be done by him in good faith under this Act on the direction of such Agency, Board or other institution, as the case may be ;

(2) Any expenses incurred by Agency, Board, or other institution in any action brought by or against the Agency, Board or any other institution before Court, shall be paid out by the Consolidated Fund and any cost paid to or recovered by Agency, Board or any other institution, will be paid to the Consolidated Fund.

Any expenses incurred by such a person as is referred to in Paragraph (b) of subsection ( 1) in any other action or prosecution brought against him under this Act on the direction of the Board, Agency or other Institution, shall, if the Courts hold such act was done in good faith, be paid out by the Consolidated Fund, unless such expenses are recovered by him in such action or prosecution.

Usurpation of the President

It is also moot to note that this special piece of Draconian Law is the usurpation of the Powers of the President, which is also a contravention of the Constitution. If this Special Provisions Bill is also to be included in the Constitution, then it will have to have a two-thirds majority in Parliament and also a Referendum.

It could be technically possible for the government to get the two-thirds majority with the SLFP Members of Parliament, who will vote like lackeys but the crunch will come when it will go to a Referendum. But, whether the Government will go for a Referendum. to test the pulse of the people, is anybody’s guess!

Article 3 of the Constitution says: In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.

Article 4 of the Constitution says: The Sovereignty of the People shall be exercised and enjoyed in the following manner:–

(a) the legislative power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament, consisting of elected representatives of the People and by the People at a Referendum;

(b) the Executive power of the People, including the defence of Sri Lanka, shall be exercised by the President of the Republic elected by the People;

(c) the Judicial power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament through Courts, Tribunals and institutions created and established, or recognized, by the Constitution, or created and established by law, except in regard to matters relating to the privileges, immunities and powers of Parliament and of its Members, wherein the Judicial power of the People may be exercised directly by Parliament according to law;

(d) the fundamental rights which are by the Constitution declared and recognized shall be respected, secured and advanced by all the organs of government and shall not be abridged, restricted or denied, save in the manner and to the extent hereinafter provided; and

(e) the franchise shall be exercisable at the election of the President of the Republic and of the Members of Parliament and at every Referendum by every citizen who has attained the age of eighteen years and who, being qualified to be an elector as hereinafter provided, has his name entered in the register of electors.

Immunity with President only

Then, comes the clause of the Immunity. Right now, the immunity is vested with the President and only the President, which the government solemnly pledged to abolish. Any move to usurp that, will be, again, in violation and in contravention of the Constitution. That will also require a two-thirds majority in Parliament and a Referendum.

Articles 31 to 38 of the Constitution specially deals with the President and the Executive. Article 35 specifically deals with the immunity of the President from suit.

Immunity of President from suit.

Article 35. (1) While any person holds office as President, no proceedings shall he instituted or continued against him in any Court or Tribunal in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him either in his official or private capacity.

(2) Where provision is made by law limiting the time within which proceedings of any description may be brought against any person, the period of time during which such person holds the office of President shall not be taken into account in calculating any period of time prescribed by that law.

(3) The immunity conferred by the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article shall not apply to any proceedings in any Court in relation to the exercise of any power pertaining to any subject or function assigned to the President or remaining in his charge under paragraph (2) of Article 44 or to proceedings in the Supreme Court under paragraph (2) of Article 129 or to proceedings in the Supreme Court under Article 130 (a) relating to the election of the President or the validity of a referendum or to proceedings in the Court of Appeal under Article 144 or in the Supreme Court, relating to the election of a Member of Parliament.

• Ceylon Today

Media censorship by the police?

Dec 19, 2016

Sources from the Police headquarters have reportedly said that a directive has been issued to stop the issuing of media communiques of the Police Media Unit to the private media institutions.

Media reports state that the latest police directive could be due to the role played by the private media to publicize the controversial telephone conversation IGP Pujith Jayssundera had with a “sir” during an event in Ratnapura recently.

Therefore, the media communiques on the police logs received by the Police Media Unit are likely to be stopped from being emailed to private media institutions.

- http://srilankaedition.com -

Ceylon’s First Moor Journalist

Photograph by author, from the National Library and Documentation Services Board, Colombo. 

RAMLA WAHAB-SALMAN on 12/19/2016

The Muslim community is at the centre of news each day- rarely for the right reasons. The unfolding of the Islamic State has shown the worst ways in which  religious identities could be abused. The conflict in Yemen reveals that even the guardians of the religion’s most sacred sites are capable of inhuman violence against co-religionists. It is not simply a case the perpetrators of ungodly acts of violence in the name of religion. The Syrian victims of conflict, the Palestine question, the decades long Kashmiri struggle and Rohingya refugee crisis are among examples within Asia of a people at the centre of global political questions and crimes against humanity. At home in Sri Lanka, the narratives of displacement of Muslims over the civil war and rise and fall of tensions over safety and security in a global context of Islamophobia contribute  uncertainties of a peaceful future of coexistence. Each of the examples mentioned above have their own historical, economic and socio-political narrative and counter-narratives. However one underlying factor remains that majority of the peoples embroiled in these conflicts have either been born to, practice or identify with the religion of Islam at different levels.

In celebration and reflection on pioneering journalism through the years, on the 10th anniversary of Groundviews, I have selected to revisit the history of the first Ceylon Moor newspaper dedicated to affairs of the ‘Muslim’ world. The publication titled Muslim Nesan (The Muslim Friend) engaged in journalistic production on affairs of Muslim identity, culture, religion, education and struggle under the yoke of  British colonialism from  1882-1889 . As access to information and technologies of reportage advance rapidly, the world faces an increasing need for reflection and responsible responses to matters that matter. Muslim Nesan is  an example to take from the past. A lesson of thought and action in tandem as we move toward the new year 2017- into an uncertain near future.

Muslim Nesan was founded and edited by Mohammed Cassim Siddi Lebbe Esqr., the son of the Head Moorman of Kandy. While Siddi Lebbe is known best as one of the founders of Colombo’s Anglo Mohammedan School and Zahira College, my article  seeks to understand his career as a pioneering journalist and newspaper editor at the heart of Colombo toward the final decade of the 19th century. Placed awkwardly behind screens of the seminar room of the National Library and Documentation Services Board, Ministry of Education hangs the portrait of this Moorman who was instrumental in altering the course of journalism within the community by establishing a publication of repute among the Tamil speaking worlds of South and Southeast Asia . His portrait sits in a distinguished company of portraits including Dr. R.L.Spittel, Swami Vipulananda and Rev. Sri Sumangala Thero among others, however, I could not help but notice its inconspicuous placement.

Historiography on the topic of Ceylon Moor journalism is relatively limited. Despite this, the legacy of Siddi Lebbe is a useful reflection on the past. Living in a time where the multiple cultures, histories and identities of Muslims is questioned and re-questioned at home and across the world, Lebbe’s struggle toward promoting awareness and prompting action, engaging with a style of education for Muslims in harmony with other influences and encouragement of poetry and the arts within the community for men and women alike is remarkable.

Early journalism among the Moors of Ceylon

By no measure was Lebbe isolated in his pursuit of using the medium of journalism through the printed press as a tool in identity formation. In the late 19th and early 20th century sections of the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities were actively engaged in the pursuit of a form of cultural revivalism through the written word. In this period, fifteen journals were published by Muslim editors in English, Tamil and Arabic-Tamil (Arwi). Among the political motives behind these publications was the need to counter widespread feelings that the Moor community that depended on trade were hesitant in the adoption of the English language. Therefore, an alternate movement began in the 1880’s to promote educational and social reform while working toward adequate political representation.

Muslim reformists and intellectuals of the late 19th century were inspired by Turkish, Egyptian and Indian revivalist and political movements. The figures of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan of the Anglo-Mohammedan College (later Aligarh School) and Colonel Ahmed Orabi Pasha who was in political exile in Sri Lanka from Cairo between the years 1884-1901 are among the prominent influences on Ceylon Moor intellectual activity.

As the first Moor solicitor, member of the Kandy Municipal Council and scholar in the languages of English, Tamil and Arabic who was a follower of the Qadiriya Sufi order, Lebbe was a visionary who ran counter to the general thinking of his community. He worked amid criticism for his writings among religious leaders and laymen alike. A pioneering achievement of Muslim Nesan was that in the short time the publication lasted, Lebbe drew the attention of an inward looking Moor community  of developments and struggle taking place in distant lands.

Malay and Moor Intellectual Exchanges

The National Archives of Sri Lanka holds a collection of Malay language newspapers which preceded Muslim Nesan and influenced Lebbe. Alamat Langkapuri (News from Lanka) written in Gundul language functioned as a fortnightly source of printed news among the Malay readership of the island in 1869. Further, a Tamil language Malay newspaper called Unmai (on which information is limited) also played a role in prompting Lebbe to begin Muslim Nesan for the Moors of Ceylon which grew to include a Tamil readership in South and Southeast Asia.

These publications were not strictly confined by bounds of Moor and Malay ethnicity. They  were circulated and read in Gundul, Arabic-Tamil and Tamil with writers actively engaging in  reading and translating each other’s works.

Issues Central to Muslim Nesan

The Tamil language newspaper  dealt primarily with international affairs within and outside the Muslim world. It was published from a printing press in Colombo Fort . Central to this weekly production were articles related to the freedom movements in Egypt and the Sudan. The wide readership of Muslim Nesan across the seas included audiences in parts of Singapore, Penang and South India. In this time. upto eleven articles regarding the Mahdiyya Movement unfolding in the Sudan originally published in Muslim Nesan were reprinted in Singapore by its Tamil press. Singaporean Tamil newspapers such as Cinkai Nesan in Singapore and Vitya Vicarini in Penang and Nagore carried articles written by  journalists from Ceylon on international affairs.

Despite Muslim Nesan being identified as a source for reliable accounts on activities unfolding in far parts of the world, Lebbe was aware and sensitive to the distortions in information received and the inadequacy of ‘accepted’ news. In May 1889 Lebbe stated “We are ignorant of the truth in the affairs of the Sudan”. The newspaper also had a network of anonymous correspondents from Penang and Singapore who provided information and firsthand reports from refugees from the Aceh War over the late 19th century.

In identity politics at home, the Muslim Nesan directly engaged in a series of articles in clear opposition to the views put forward by Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan on the topic of Ethnology of the Moors of Ceylon in 1888. Sir Ramanathan’s views on the cultural and linguistic affinity to Tamils by several Muslims including Lebbe and I.L.M Abdul Azeez on behalf of the Moors of Ceylon.

Remembering Lebbe

A reflection on the times and writings of Siddi Lebbe over the years of Muslim Nesan is relevant in the study of pioneering journalists , who connected the island to the world. Living in an age of information at our fingertips, understanding the relatively limited avenues to information available in the 1880’s, the extent of  reflection on matters of significance to its readership provided by Lebbe  demonstrates  much we can learn from.

Much like Siddi Lebbe adopted the technologies of the telegraph  and  printed press to enhance awareness and action from within the community, it may be useful to explore the need for similar avenues in the present. A reputed and reliable publication initiated by the Sri Lankan Moor community may contribute toward ably and effectively communicating  positions on issues that matter locally and globally .

While present  technologies adopted in journalism and the wars of the world  are a world away from Lebbe’s time, I cannot help but imagine how he would have responded to the recent call of an elderly Syrian man as recorded by Al-Jazeera in the Last Messages from Aleppo:

“Oh Muslims, from the East to the West. Where are you?”

Reform the Central Bank, but don’t erode its independence 

Prime Minister wants a more independent Central Bank

Monday, 19 December 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in the economic policy statement he presented to Parliament in November 2015, pledged that his Government would ‘make structural changes in the Central Bank’ enabling it to ‘engage in their work in a more independent manner’. This was a solemn promise. But the Budget speech delivered by his Minister of Finance two weeks later did not mention a word about the Government’s wish to restructure the Central Bank.

Reform the Central Bank.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Sri Lankan fishing industry incurs a loss of Rs. 9000 million each year

Dec 19, 2016

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, Mahinda Amaraweera issuing a statement today (19th December), stated that the Sri Lankan fishing industry incurs a loss of Rs. 9000 million each year due to illegal fishing by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, local media reports.

He added that the Indian fishermen had illegally snared close to 6000 tons of fish from Sri Lankan waters each week. He stated that at least 3 Indian fishing boats enter Sri Lankan waters to conduct illegal fishing activities, and that it adds up to nearly 5000 fishing boats entering our waters each year. “This is a huge threat to the Sri lankan fishing industry”, he said.

He added that however, in comparison to previous years, the number of illegal fishing boats entering our waters had decreased by 50% this year, due to the strict security provided by the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sri Lankan Coast Guard.

AshWaru Colombo