Justice Weeramantry – Hero Of Muslims

By M.F.M. Anoozer –January 24, 2017

M.F.M. Anoozer

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” ~ Matthew 5:9

Much has been written about Justice Weeramantry and his achievements and contributions. He was a genius at what he did as a Judge, academic and an advocate of world peace.

He was passionate about promoting peace between nations, communities and individuals. His quest for peace was not confined to his writings and lectures alone. He established the “Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education and Research” to enhance study and understanding of the main religions of the world. Many practical steps were taken by this Centre by involving individuals and organisations to promote understanding of each other’s cultures and religions.

This desire to encourage the study of religions other than one’s own was two-fold. Firstly he believed the study of other religions reinforces the teaching of one’s own and secondly and more importantly such a process of education would take away one of the primary causes of conflict.

Justice Weeramantry lamented the separation of religion from International Law which he acknowledged was due to wars of religion in the 17^th century (between 1618 and 1648). International law as written by Hugo Grotius, in the midst of this war, was euro-centric and monocultural. International law was shaped to suit their own ends dominated by economic and political values. However, he emphasized the need to bridge the gap between religion and international law pointing to the enormous reservoir of accumulated wisdom of International Law in the religions of the world. As a judge of the International Court of Justice he dipped into the teachings of various religions on international law on many occasions.

Justice Weeramantry

He was interested only in the principles of all religions and not matters of dogma and rituals. He concluded that all religions teach basically the same principles. They come together in their teachings on all matters such as dignity of the human person, the unity of the human family, the protection of the environment, the rights of future generations, the importance of peace, the peaceful resolution of disputes etc.

This study and research into other traditions brought him into contact with Islam, which he said was the subject of a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding. He wrote “Islamic Jurisprudence- An International Perspective” in 1988 which was an attempt to correct this in the interests of international harmony. With the publication of this book Justice Weeramantry highlighted facts which were unknown to the West and much of the modern Muslim world. We were made aware of the great flowering of scholarship which began in Arabia soon after the death of the Prophet of Islam in the 7^th century and continued until about the 15^th century.

Due to a paucity of literature and material, we Sri Lankans, particularly the Muslims of Sri Lanka were not aware of the enormous gratitude the world owes to the Arab empire for the advancement made in mathematics, astronomy and science. We have algebra and algorithm from Al-Khwarizmi. Abu Moosa brothers developed trigonometry and spherical geometry just to calculate the times of the five daily prayers. Al Beruni calculated the circumference of the earth, in the 11^th century, which is only 16.8 km less than the current known value of 6,356.7 km. Five centuries after Al-Beruni’s calculation of the circumference of the earth Galileo Galilei was punished by the King of Italy for claiming that the world was spherical! In the area of medicine the book written by Ibn- Sina (Avicenna to the western world) was used as recently as the 18^thcentury in the Western world. The first scientist of the world, who introduced the scientific method, was Ibn-al Haytham (Al Hazen to the western world). Ibn-al Haytham wrote a six volume text on optics in the 11^thcentury where he emphasized the need for systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. In the area of astronomy Nasir-ud-din-Al Tusi drew the planets of the universe in the 13^th century. This diagram was copied by Nicolaus Copernicus 3 centuries later and presented as his own. It is interesting to note that Copernicus copied even a mistake of the diagram of Al-Tusi thus indicating that he did not understand what he was copying! These are but a fraction of the contribution made by the Arab empire to the modern world.

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Bang-bang on Bond in Parliament

• JVP reveals Perpetual Treasuries dumped 95% of bonds on EPF at higher prices
• Ravi K hits back; says Central Bank officials loyal to ex governor Cabraal leaking info to opposition 
• JO wants CBSL to be removed from Prime Minister’s purview 
• Spoke about Perpetual’s white collar crimes in 2014; no action says Harsha 
• Namal challenges Govt. to arrest bond boy Aloysius 
• Kiriella points to Supreme Court rejecting petition on the matter
• Bandula G tables Perpetual accounts in P’ment
• Govt. urged to take super profits of Perpetual as tax
• Heated debate despite Speaker calling for decorum
• Wimal takes leave from custody to join debate
• Malik denies Arjuna Mahendran is Finance Ministry advisor

By the Daily FT News Desk -Wednesday, 25 January 2017

The parliamentary opposition was unified in its scathing criticism of the Government when the report of the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) on the controversial Central Bank treasury bond transaction was taken up for debate yesterday.

The auction allowed a company linked to the son-in-law of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran to make millions in profits from the sale of Government securities. In October 2016, the parliamentary oversight committee COPE found that Mahendran was “directly responsible” for the bad transaction and recommended legal action against the former Governor and other Central Bank officials for negligence and a full investigation into Perpetual Treasuries, the company that profited from the auction.

The main opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA), JVP and Joint Opposition flayed the for its failure to charge perpetrators of the controversial treasury bond auction in February 2015, just six weeks after President Maithripala and his UNP led administration was swept to power.

The Government hit back with charges of corruption at the Central Bank during the term of the previous regime and accused Bank officials of leaking information to the opposition.

Opening the debate on a fiery note, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake charged that the Government that had come to power promising to punish the corrupt had proven that it was not up to the task.

“The Government has been unable to act against thieves who engaged in corruption even before the heat from its new mandate had died down,” Dissanayake charged.

In a detailed submission before the House, the JVP Leader claimed that Perpetual Treasuries had dumped 95 percent of bonds acquired at Central Bank auctions between February 2015-May 2016 on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). According to Dissanayake, the EPF had incurred losses to the tune of Rs 14.9 billion from the transactions.

Dissanayake said that a report submitted to the Monetary Board of the Central Bank had showed Perpetual Treasuries, the company linked to the former Central Bank Governor’s son-in-law Arjun Aloysius, had bought Rs 227 billion of bonds.

Perpetual Treasuries is alleged to have purchased bonds at low prices at dubious auctions and dumped the securities on the EPF at higher prices, by selling them on the secondary bond market.

Perpetual Treasuries’ assets had grown exponentially in the two years leading up to November 2016, the JVP Leader added.

Expressing skepticism about the Government’s willingness to act against the perpetrators of the bond scam, the JVP Leader urged Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to take action against those implicated in the COPE report.

The strongest defence of the Government’s position came from Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who charged that officials within the Central Bank were preparing documentation and notes for the opposition ahead of the debate on the bond scandal.

“These are the jokers who were with Nivaard Cabral those days,” the Finance Minister claimed, taking broad swipes at Bank officials. Karunanayake said that the Greek Bond scandal had incurred losses to the tune of Rs 2.6 billion. “The hedging gamble lost the country 90,000 billion. This is what we lost compared to the notional loss from Perpetual – these are actual losses,” the Finance Minister said.

“Do any of these Joint Opposition members speak one word on this?” he added.

Referring to former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivaad Cabraal’s pyramid scheme, Karunanayake said he was naming the corrupt officials because “People should know where the thieves are.”

“Four of the people who spoke at this debate should be in jail. But they talk big now because of our democracy. We will not harass them like they harassed us,” he vowed.

Karunanayake said those who were engaging in corruption were doing so to soil the name of the Government. 

"Where is the person who destroyed the economy? Where is Mahinda Rajapaksa? When we talk they run, they don't have the backbone to face what we say," the Finance Minister said. 

He said the current situation was caused by loans that have been taken by the Rajapaksa regime. 

"Only now we have started paying the loans taken by Rajapaksas, in 2015 $ 2billion, in 2016, it is $1.8 billion in 2017 it is $2.4 billion in 2018 it is 2.56, in 2019 3.92, then in 2020 it is 3460. This is what we have to pay. We have been forced to impose the VAT, not a single MP here approves it but if we don't pay for Rajapaksas sins who will pay?" Karunanayake charged.

Addressing the House, Joint Opposition MP and COPE member Mahindananda Aluthgamage demanded that the Central Bank be removed from the Prime Minister’s purview. Aluthgamage charged that the Prime Minister was directly involved in the alleged bond scam.

Government Minister Champika Ranawaka also spoke during the debate, remarking at the way Perpetual Treasuries had managed to increase its assets from Rs 310 million to Rs 23 billion in under two years.

UPFA Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa challenged the Government to arrest Arjun Aloysius, who remains a director at Perpetual Holdings, the parent company of Perpetual Treasuries.  Namal Rajapaksa also criticized the President’s decision to appoint a Special Commission of Inquiry into the alleged bond scam, saying it would only add to a growing list of investigations into the same transaction.

Joint Opposition Member Bandula Gunawardane joining the debate identified the bond scam as the “greatest bank robbery in Sri Lanka”.

“A certain development program of the current government required an additional sum of Rs.15 billion, which was the starting point of this bond scam. Based on this price sensitive inside information the interest rates on the money market escalated to 12.5% from 9.5% within a few hours as a result of a secret plan of the then Central Bank Governor and his son-in-law who was to bid for the entire issuance and more.

Gunawardane charged that monies from this corrupt transaction was now being reinvested in different ways, including the purchase of media organizations, and urged Parliament to suspend the activities of Perpetual Treasuries.

However Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella reminded the MPs that Parliament had no jurisdiction to act against any culprits. “This is a process that must be decided by a court of law.”

Kiriella also noted that soon after the bond transaction was questioned, three people went to Supreme Court and the Court had rejected the petition. “The Government has nothing to hide and we were the first to appoint a member of the opposition to COPE Chairman’s Office. There were 40 COPE reports during the Rajapaksa regime and we were the first to send a COPE report to the Attorney General,” Kiriella noted.

Minister of Public Enterprise Development Kabir Hashim said the system of holding public auctions for treasury bonds was better compared to private placement followed by the previous government. “Perpetual Treasuries is not a new company. During the Rajapaksa regime the sister of former Governor Nivard Cabral was employed at the Perpetual Treasuries. So, we need to investigate all transactions that took place during that period. The JVP was unable to talk about those transactions then. This is the first time ever a COPE report was sent to the Attorney general and action was called,” Hashim noted.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva joining the debate said: “The COPE Chairman in his report held that the investigation was conducted fairly. How was he able to conduct a fair investigation? It was a dream to conduct such investigation during the previous government.”

De Silva said he was the first speak about Perpetual Treasuries in June 2014 highlighting white-collar crimes. “Nobody took any notice. Unless UNP supported you to conduct the investigation COPE investigation could have ended unsuccessfully. All this was possible due to our Government policy to promote good governance,” he explained.”

NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa, who is currently in remand over vehicle misuse and abuse of state property, was released to attend Parliament and was very vocal during the debate.

UPFA MP Priyankara Jayaratne who recently quit his ministerial portfolio sat in the opposition benches in Parliament yesterday.

Meanwhile Minister of Development Strategies Malik Samarawickrema replying to the JVP said that former CBSL Governor Arjuna Mahendran was not acting as an advisor to the Ministry of Finance.

The Government Information Department also released a statement last night, disputing claims made on a private television network, and reiterating that Mahendran no longer holds any position in the Government. 

Govt. insists Mahendran holds no positions in Finance Ministry

The Government Information Department reiterated that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran no longer holds any positions in the ruling administration.

Reinforcing remarks made in Parliament yesterday by Minister Malik Samarawickrema, the Information Department statement chastised a private television network for continuing to make claims about Mahendran continued role in the Government.

The statement also said that the Prime Minister’s Office had confirmed that Mahendran had not travelled on the Premier’s delegation to Davos, Switzerland.

The statement said that publishing such false and outdated information was not only a violation of media ethics, but also a breach of the legal framework within which the electronic media operates. 

Appointment of presidential commission to probe bond scam appreciated by both parties

Neethiyawala Thera filed case to postpone the debate ?

(Lanka-e-News -24.Jan.2017, 3.45PM) The president has decided to appoint a presidential commission to take legal measures in regard to the efforts made by the prime Minister to save his friend Arjun Mahendran  who did not spend even a cent towards the victory of the government of good governance ,which efforts are  compromising the interests of  the party and the government . The president has decided to take this action to cleanse and  wash away the mud that has been slung at the government on this account.  

A Supreme court judge, a High court judge and an Audit specialist are to be appointed to this Commission , and the report of the Commission is to be completed within three months , based on the instructions given by the president, according to media reports.
 
While this bond issue debate was to be taken up today in parliament , the president has signed the gazette notification in this connection yesterday .Meanwhile based on the COPE report  revelations ,Ven. Neethiyawala Palitha Thera has filed a case in court  last Friday .

Palitha Thera a powerful supporter of the UNP filing the case  pending the parliamentary debate is seen by many as a ploy to suspend the debate in parliament , because it then becomes sub judice .

At the same time , the groups that are not  comprised of   crooks and the corrupt within both the UNP and the SLFP , and all the leaders of the civil organizations who were responsible for the  victory of the present government have unreservedly expressed their pleasure at  the president’s move to appoint a commission. It is their considered opinion that if the government of good governance is to go ahead , this dirt and dross tarnishing its image shall be wiped out .Otherwise , the opponents and adversaries will make this weapon to sling mud at the government unendingly without ending it through legal redress , they pointed out.

Yet they are assailed by doubts : like the Commission appointed to investigate grave frauds and corruption by the president earlier which had not been able to conclude a single investigation successfully since its creation two years ago ,  whether this presidential commission will also falter, flutter  and flop  like the previous one. 

The groups which are harboring doubts are also of the view, Maithipala Sirisena dispatching  a group of chief ministers of the provincial councils to meet deposed  ex president Mahinda Rajapakse (presently discarded by the people and proved beyond doubt as a byword for corruption and deceits) the day before the appointment of the commission  , was  to prove through the appointment of this presidential commission that the UNP is corrupt , and create an image  ‘I am clean’ , with a view to curry favor with the Rajapakses again , and on a  plan to contest the next elections jointly with them. 

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by     (2017-01-24 10:22:59)

Sri Lanka: More than a third of government revenue goes toward servicing Chinese loans!

One big opportunity would be to use Sri Lanka’s comparative advantage in port services as the basis for a broader shipping services industry, much as Singapore used shipping as a foundation to build its economy.

by David Brewster-Jan 24, 2017

( January 24, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) 2015 was a major turning point for Sri Lanka as a nation. It was a year that saw the Sri Lankan people reject a corrupt and authoritarian regime led by Mahinda Rajapaksa and move decisively towards democracy and communal reconciliation. The new government under President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also signalled a return to Sri Lanka’s traditional ‘balanced’ foreign policy, away from its previous tilt towards China. Sri Lanka’s decision to turn away from authoritarianism, kleptocracy and communal division augurs well for its long-term future. But 2016 stands as a reminder that Sri Lanka must still pay the price for past policies before it can move forward with national renewal.

Sri Lanka has long been the most economically developed state in South Asia. Despite decades of civil war its social indicators are still among the best in the region. But it is now paying the price for past economic policies. After destroying the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, the former Rajapaksa regime embarked on an accelerated construction program largely funded by foreign debt. The construction by Chinese companies of a port, an airport and a cricket stadium in Rajapaksa’s home town of Hambantota, which now lie largely unused, symbolise everything that was wrong with this approach. As a result, Sri Lanka’s foreign debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 36 per cent in 2010 to 94 per cent in 2015, with more than a third of government revenue going towards servicing Chinese loans.

Sri Lanka also regressed in trade. Rajapaksa moved to raise barriers, including new para-tariffs, to Sri Lanka’s economy, resulting in a real tariff rate of around 30 per cent. Razeen Sally, a prominent Sri Lankan economist, argues that these measures effectively de-globalised Sri Lanka’s economy, reducing its trade-to-GDP ratio to 50 per cent just as Sri Lanka’s neighbours were moving towards greater global engagement.

2016 was the year when the bills really started to fall due. Growth slowed to around 5 per cent in 2016, well below that of India, its largest trading partner. Sri Lanka also suffered a debt and balance of payments crisis, with its financial position only being temporarily stabilised through a US$1.5 billion IMF rescue package. The government promised to implement new revenue measures intended to limit budgetary deficit and it is negotiating a new trade deal with India.

But the high debt load has ironically made Sri Lanka even more beholden to China, constraining its choices. Despite an earlier pledge to block the controversial Colombo Port City Project, the government has been bound to grant further concessions that would give Chinese owners even more control over the project. A debt for equity swap for the uneconomic Hambantota Port will effectively hand over control of the port to China.

Despite these problems, Sri Lanka is still a country with big ambitions. Sri Lanka has long aspired to become an Asian trading hub like Singapore. The government sees Singapore’s model for development as having special significance for Sri Lanka. Just as Singapore successfully leveraged its geographic position between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the hope is that Sri Lanka can leverage its position in the middle of the trade routes that cross the Indian Ocean. These aspirations are not new, but Sri Lanka now hopes to be able to break through the problems created during its 30-year ethnic conflict, including weak institutions, rampant corruption and loss-making state-owned firms.

Looking beyond 2016, if stability and good governance can be restored then Sri Lanka could be well positioned to take advantage of the growing economic connections between East and South Asia. Its geographic location and relatively educated workforce could make it an attractive destination for some industries that are moving out of Southeast Asia and China. Sri Lanka is well placed to be a major beneficiary of China’s Maritime Silk Route initiative, which involves developing infrastructure and new special manufacturing zones. It may also be in a position to play off other big investors, such as Japan and Singapore.

One big opportunity would be to use Sri Lanka’s comparative advantage in port services as the basis for a broader shipping services industry, much as Singapore used shipping as a foundation to build its economy. Colombo Port is already the biggest transhipment hub in South Asia, with some 70 per cent of containers handled by the port destined for elsewhere, mostly India. But a far bigger prize would involve ‘opening the boxes’ and moving up the value chain just as Singapore did, potentially turning Colombo into a regional hub for logistics, maintenance, engineering and financial services.

But this would require the government to take on the vested interests in the shipping industry and strengthen institutions, including tackling corruption and strengthening the rule of law. While Sri Lanka may have the potential to one day become a ‘Bengal Tiger’ to rival some of the East Asian economic tigers, this will require hard decisions and disciplined governance.

David Brewster is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Security College, The Australian National University.This article adopted from East Asia Forum

Energy Management System (ISO 50001) could influence upto 60% of the world energy use 

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

At a time the country is going through a potential energy crisis the available measures to conserve energy conservation needclose examination. The energy management system ISO 50001:2011 (EnMS) outlines the requirements of an EnMS and it is estimated this system has the potential of influencing total energy consumption to an extent of 60% of global energy usage.

It is clear that individual organisations cannot control energy prices, government policies or the global economy, but they can improve the way they manage energy in their own situation. Improved energy performance can provide rapid benefits for an organisation by maximising the use of its energy sources and energy related assets, thereby reducing both energy cost and consumption. The organisations will also make positive contributions towards reducing depletion if energy resources and mitigating worldwide effects of energy use, such as global warming.

The current efforts of the Government to promote other sources of energy, especially solar power, came a little late as EnMS was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2014 by the Sri Lanka Association for Quality (SLAQ) in association with the British Standards Institution (India), followed by a full day seminar on the same subject.

The message was picked up by Aitken Spence Hotel Management Services starting with their flagship hotel Heritance Ahungalla and this was followed up by rest of the hotelsunder Aitken Spence management. Heritance Ahungalla saved up to 8% of its total energy usage within the first year itself.

As noted in other management systems, the efficiency of the EnMS is basically dependent on effectiveness of the auditors and the certification body. In this type of a national issue it could be recommended to use one or two certification bodies and hold them answerable for not achieving results. This needs to be an independent body such as Sri Lanka Federation for Quality (SLFQ) to monitorthe effectiveness of these systems as it is proved the accreditation procedures do not fully ensure the reliability of these certification programs.

However this has not received any encouragement by the authorities and it virtually came to a halt. This could be an area where Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) exercises their authority.  

Resources

The global non-renewable energy supply can provide fuel oils for the next 45 years, gas for the next 65 years and coal for another 185 years (BSI 2009).It is also noted that the energy consumption in Asia is the highest with North America Europe and LatinAmerica next in linein that order.

The fuel oil supply is supplied mainly from West Asia and the supply is highly sensitive as it is directly related to the political situation in these countries. The hydropower is costly with long construction time involved and it hasalmost reached saturation point.

The other sources such as wind power and solar are still in the development stages and these tend to be costly.

Legislation

In many countries energy usage is controlled by legislations. These include:

• The Energy Policy Act (2005) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) - USA
• Climate Change Levy  (CCCL), and Climate Change Agreement (CCA) - UK 
• EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) - EU
• National Frame Work for Energy Efficiency (NFEE), National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (NGER) - Australia
• Energy Conservation law, Energy Conservation and increase in Energy Efficiency Law (Russia) and National Energy Strategy 2020 (ES 2020)
• Energy Conservation Law (October 2007) (China)
• Energy Conservation Law  1979 (Japan)
• Energy Conservation Act @001 (India)

It is time new legislations are introduced to conserve energy usage as most hotels, factories (tea/garment) and many other commercial operations are in a position to use renew energy supplies and thereshould be a timeframe to possibly go solar and some incentives should be provided.

It is time the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority addresses this issue without any further delay and recommends suitable measures to the Government.

What is ISO 50001?

World energy use is now receiving serious attention of the national planners as hydropower has limitations and is used for other purposes too such as agriculture, drinking, and further most countries have now reached the optimum level of generating hydro-power.

The other popular source of energy is the use of fossil fuels, which has a number of limitations. It is expected that fuel oil deposits are mostly found in the Middle East, with South America and East Asia also contributing significantly.

The supplies from these regions are highly volatile with many uncertainties in the political situation, where ongoing wars could any moment disrupt the supplies.

With this scenario ISO 50001 will play astrategic role in cutting down energy usage without immediately incurring additional expenditure for renewable sources of energy,

The request to develop EnMS standard was made by UNIDO, realising the need to mount an effective response to climate change and to the proliferation of national energy management standards. Experts from 44 ISO member countries participated in this exercise and in addition to UNIDO, the World Energy Council (WEC) also supported this move.

In this exercise numerous national and regional energy management standards, specifications and regulations, including ones developed in China, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand,the USA and the European Union were taken into consideration.

ISO 50001 is based on the management system model that is already understood and implemented by organisations worldwide. It can make a positive difference for organisations of all types immediately, while supporting longer term efforts for improved energy technologies. 

ISO 50001 standard explains that: “The  purpose of this international standard is to enable organisations to establish the systems and processes necessary to improve energy performance, including energy efficiency, use, and consumption, implementation of this standard is intended tolead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GSG) energy cost, and other environment related impacts,through systematic management of energy.”

Benefits

The expected benefits on an effective EnMS are;

• Allows for systems and processes to be established to improve energy efficiency
• Introduces a continuous improvement process
• Creates energy monitoring policy and objectives
• Secured energy supply
• Improved drive toward innovation

Remarks

As this standard can be used for certification, registration and self-declaration of an organisation’s EnMS. However this standard des not establish absolute requirements for energy performance beyond the commitments in the energy requirements and other requirements.

This standard specifically mentions requirements for an energy policy, energy planning, energy review,energy baseline energy performance indicators, energy objectives, energy targets and energy management action plans, and the current situation relies more on the ability of the auditors to ensure these EnMS requirements are adequately fulfilled.

In the absence of any legal requirements, the energy policy could be weak and as such it will be more of a responsibility of the organisation to make the EnMS really work.

It is recommended to appoint a tea m to look into ways of promoting this standard and make appropriate recommendations to the government to enact suitable legislations to encourage use of this standard and monitor the successes.

[The writer is a former Deputy Director General of SLSI and he was responsible for introducing EnMS (ISO 50001) in the Country. He is a winner of Harrington/Ishikawa medal of the Asia Pacific Quality Organization for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of quality in the Asian and the Pacific region.]

PM speaks on behalf of Ravi

Jan 24, 2017

Government sources say prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told several ministers that he would never agree, if the president requested him to remove Ravi Karunanayake from the position of finance minister. He has recalled how J.R. Jayewardene did not take accusations seriously within his government against ministers Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake. 

Certain persons in the government are jealous of Karunanayake’s abilities and talents, the PM has said, stressing that it was only the finance minister who had defended him whenever Sajith Premadasa challenged him. Karunanayake was way ahead of Premadasa when considering their talents and popularity, he has added.

 

President too, washes his hands off

 

Several UNP politicians, at a meeting with the president following the cabinet meeting on January 17, suggested that a powerful minister from their party should be removed, as he is accused of serious financial fraud and misuse of state property, in order to save the government of accusations.

 

Responding, the president said that as per his agreement with the UNP and in accordance with the 19th amendment to the constitution, it was up to the PM to decide on the subjects of the ministers.

 

Ravi has to answer for Malik, Paskaralingam, Ratwatte

 

Commenting on this, a senior minister said that Karunanayake might have been accused over economic affairs of the government, but that the related orders had been issued by two powerful officials close to the PM.

 

Also, a businessman-minister close to the PM is supplying anti-Karunanayake material to the media, he said, noting that it was the finance minister who had been the main contributor of funding for UNP campaigning at every election. 

UL crew crawls through barbed wire at Madurai airport



2017-01-24

A video footage showing crew members of a SriLankan Airlines flight from Madurai to Colombo crawling through the barbed wire fence of the Madurai Airport in India has gone viral on the Internet.

The incident had taken place amidst ‘Jallikattu’ protests, which were held in Madurai preventing access to the Airport. 

The footage shows crew members, including air hostesses, crawling through the barbed wire fence to enter the airport to reach their aircraft. 

Commenting on the incident, a spokesman for SriLankan Airline said crew members had to seek permission from the airport authorities to reach their flight in an un-orthodox manner because of protesters blocking the roads.

 “The Madurai Airport is a small airport and it was surrounded by the protesters three days ago. Our crew members had to enter the airport somehow to get on board and fly the passengers on schedule. Otherwise, not only the passengers will face difficulties but even the flight schedule would have been affected. We appreciate the extra measures taken by the crew to ensure an efficient service to the passengers,” the spokesman said.

Video: Soldiers shot and killed teen as he ran away

Maureen Clare Murphy-24 January 2017

Israeli soldiers shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian boy when he was running away from them last month, newly released video shows.

The security camera footage, published on Tuesday by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, shows Israeli forces firing on a group of youths during a night raid on Beit Rima, a village near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Ahmad Zeidani, 17, was killed and a 25-year-old resident of the village was also shot and injured during the raid.

According to B’Tselem’s investigation, when Israeli military vehicles arrived in the area that night, dozens of Palestinian youths attempted to block their passage by barricading the main road in Beit Rima.

Three Israeli military and Border Police jeeps stopped at the barricade.

“More than 10 Border Police officers and soldiers got out of the jeeps and deployed at the site, which was brightly lit,” B’Tselem stated.

“The youths, who were dispersed around the square, threw stones at the officers and soldiers, and they responded by firing teargas canisters and live ammunition.”

A half an hour after the Israeli forces’ arrival, the youths moved to a yard opposite where a group of soldiers were standing, in order to throw stones.

“One of the youths in the area threw a bottle of paint at the window of one of the jeeps in order to obscure its field of vision. Shortly after, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the jeeps from the direction of one of [the] nearby houses,” B’Tselem said.

Shot while running away

Ahmad Zeidani (DCI)

One of the youths who confronted the soldiers told B’Tselem that after the Molotov cocktail landed, the soldiers “started to shoot massively. One of the soldiers must have aimed at Ahmad [Zeidani], who managed to throw the stone [he was holding] and run away before they fired seven to 10 shots at him.”

The witness added: “He was hit, called out ‘ow’ just one time, and then fell to the ground. I began to shout, ‘Ahmad’s hit, Ahmad’s hit.’ I turned around to run away and then a bullet hit me.”

Zeidani and the other injured youth, not named by B’Tselem, were transferred to a hospital, but Zeidani died before arrival.

B’Tselem stated that the youths were “some 10 to 20 meters away from the soldiers and officers, and they were running away from them. There was no justification for shooting them and this action was unlawful.”

Thirty-five Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces and private security guards last year, all but four of them in the West Bank. Defense for Children International Palestine called it the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank in the past decade.

Extrajudicial execution

Last week, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Qusay al-Amour, 17, in Tuqu, a village near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Video from the scene shows Israeli soldiers violently dragging away the boy after he was shot.

The army claimed that al-Amour was the main instigator of confrontations with Israeli forces in the village that day.

The Palestinian rights group Badil said the youth’s slaying “amounts to an extrajudicial killing.”

“Taking into account the audiovisual evidence and eyewitness testimonies, it can be concluded that whether he was throwing stones at the soldiers or not, al-Amour could not have presented a lethal threat to the well-protected Israeli Border Police from a distance of around 100 meters, and the use of live ammunition against him was therefore unjustified,” Badil stated.

Impunity

Israel’s justice ministry announced a joint investigation into the incident by the army and police.

Only rarely do such routine probes result in punishment of the soldiers involved, leading B’Tselem to end cooperation with the military’s internal investigative unit, calling it “a fig leaf for the occupation.”

“In short, systemic impunity means Israeli forces are free to carry out grave violations with confidence they will never be held culpable,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director at Defense for Children International Palestine, stated after the slaying of al-Amour.

In only a handful of cases have Israeli soldiers been prosecuted for manslaughter since the year 2000. Only two soldiers have been convicted – one for the killing of Tom Hurndall, a British solidarity activist, and the other for the videotaped execution of Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif last year.

Israel announces 2,500 new units in illegal West Bank settlements

Defence ministry statement is second on new construction since Donald Trump became US president

Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs (AFP)

Tuesday 24 January 2017 

Israel's defence ministry announced plans on Tuesday to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since Donald Trump took office in the United States.

A statement from the ministry said the plans, authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, were intended to fulfil a demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life".

Trump's White House kept mum on the plans.

The previous US administration, under Barack Obama, had viewed such building as "illegitimate" and in recent months warned that settlements could derail hopes of a negotiated two-state solution.

But White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to give a view on Israel's decision.

"Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer said, when asked about Trump's perspective on the Israeli plan to further expand settlements.

"He wants to grow closer to Israel to make sure it gets the full respect in the Middle East," he continued. "We'll have a conversation with the prime minister."

Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs.

The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement which according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Saeb Erekat called for international action against Israel's illegal expansion.

"The international community must hold Israel accountable immediately for what it is doing," he said, adding that Israel had been emboldened by "what they consider encouragement by American President Donald Trump".

Trump has signalled strong support for Israel, which Israeli right-wing politicians have sought to take advantage of. Some hardliners are calling for an end to the idea of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu said he still supports a two-state solution, but told ministers on Sunday that all restrictions on building settlements in occupied East Jerusalem were being lifted.

He also said on Sunday he plans to expand construction in large settlement blocs in the West Bank, Israeli media reported, and that he foresees eventually bringing all settlements under Israeli sovereignty, a euphemism for annexation.

In December the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

The promises Trump broke on his first day

24 JAN 2017

America’s new president made a lot of promises on the campaign trail about what he would do on his very first day in office.

Donald Trump has now been in the White House since Friday, but he saidbefore taking office that he regarded Monday as the real first working day in charge.

Let’s go with that, and check how many “first day” promises he kept on Monday.

Trade deals

In a major policy speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in October, Trump promised to do 18 specific things “on the first day of my first term in office”.

As far as we know, he actually did two of those 18 things.

As promised, he signed a memorandum announcing America’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

And he signed another memorandum instituting a hiring freeze on non-military federal government employees.

The final memorandum of the three that Trump issued on Monday reinstated the “Mexico City rule” which forbids the US government from funding foreign health organisations that promote abortion.

Other trade policies – like renegotiating the NAFTA deal and labeling China a “currency manipulator” were not dealt with on Monday.

Deportations

Trump actually said he would start working on this in his very first hour. He told an audience in Des Moines, Iowa, on 27 August: “We will begin moving them out, day one. My first hour in office, those people are gone.”

He also said putting this plan into effect would be “the first thing I’m going to do, the first piece of paper that I’m going to sign” – but in fact he prioritised other things immediately after his inauguration.

The very first papers he signed on Friday confirmed various Cabinet appointments.

Trump also issued an executive order relating to Obamacare, signed a proclamation calling for a National Day of Patriotism, and issued a memorandum ordering a freeze on new federal regulations.

On deportations, in the early days of his presidential campaign Trump talked about deporting all undocumented immigrants – even though their numbers have been estimated at more than 11 million people.

More recently, he shifted the promise to removing illegal immigrants with a criminal record, putting the number at 2 to 3 million people, possibly based on an inflated reading of Department of Homeland Security statistics.

He has promised to create a new deportation task force “focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants”.

But there was no sign of this new agency coming into being on Monday.

The wall

Trump said his team would spend their first day “implementing plans for construction of a wall along our southern border”. It’s not quite clear what “implementing plans” means so there may be some wriggle room here.

He later said he would pass an Act within 100 days of taking office which “fully funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall”.

Both the timing of this, and the admission that US taxpayers will initially pay for the construction work, represent a scaling-down of earlier rhetoric.

Asked about the lack of action on the Wall on Monday, Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer said: “He is doing everything he can to direct agencies and Congress to commence with that work as soon as possible.”

Repeal executive orders

In a speech in North Carolina in September, Trump announced: “We are going to eliminate every unconstitutional executive order and restore the rule of law to our land.”

There’s an ambiguity here about whether he plans to cancel all of Obama’s executive orders, or just the (unspecified) ones that he thinks are “unconstitutional”.

Obama issued 277 executive orders. At time of writing, Trump has made five presidential actions.

Only one – the memo on the Mexico City policy on not promoting abortion – directly cancelled out an Obama order.

On Friday, Trump issued an executive order telling government agencies to “minimise the economic burden” of the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare”. This didn’t directly eliminate an Obama order.

Repeal Obamacare

Trump listed ten further pieces of legislation to be completed within 100 days of taking office, including the full repeal and replacement of Obamacare with Health Savings Accounts.

In a speech in September, Vice President Mike Pence appeared to suggest that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed on the first day of the administration.

If that was indeed the suggestion, then it didn’t happen.

Immigration

Another “day one” promise was to “suspend immigration from terror prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur”.

It failed to materialise.

Again, this promise was a significantly watered-down version of a pledge made on the campaign trail: 

Trump originally called for a “total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United State”.

He doubled down on the “Muslim ban” idea when challenged by journalists, but the promise was temporarily dropped from his website around election day.

Trump also said he would immediately suspend the US government programme to resettle Syrian refugees. But there was no word from the White House on any such order being given on Monday.

Islamic terrorism

In September, Trump added to his already busy “first day in office” schedule, saying: “I am also going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction: They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for defeating ISIS.”

Trump’s schedule on Monday was widely circulated among journalists. Some of it, like a meeting with the CEOs of some of America’s biggest businesses, took place on camera.

There was no record of a meeting with top military staff.

Gun-free zones

In a riposte to Obama’s attempts to tighten gun controls, Trump told a rally last January he would scrap gun-free zones around schools and other facilities.

“My first day, it gets signed, O.K.?,” he said. “My first day. There’s no more gun-free zones.”

The zones are still very much in existence on Tuesday.

Corruption

Trump promised to implement six measures aimed at rooting out corruption in Washington, including the civil service hiring freeze, new rules on lobbyists and a rule that two existing federal regulations must be scrapped for every new one introduced.

Only the hiring freeze has happened so far.