Friday, February 24, 2017

Delhi allows Dhaka use of border roads

The Border Security Force, deployed along the Bangladesh border, will monitor the border outposts' construction activities. A file photo of the BSF personnel patrolling along the India-Bangladesh international border fencing. | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

Move will aid construction of outposts

Vijaita Singh

-FEBRUARY 25, 2017

In a rare gesture, India has decided to throw open its border roads to help Bangladesh construct border outposts in Chittagong hill tracts, known for its inhospitable terrain.

Some areas in Chittagong, bordering Tripura and Mizoram, have no motorable roads and India has decided to allow the Border Guard Bangladesh to construct 13 border outposts using the road connectivity available in the two States. The Border Security Force, deployed along the Bangladesh border, will monitor the construction activities.

India has on multiple occasions handed over details of insurgent camps operating from the Bangladesh soil, particularly in the dense Chittagong Hill Tract area. Following the leads, the neighbouring country has acted against these camps and demolished them.

“The BGB will be criss-crossing over 100 km of road distance in India to ferry construction material from Bangladesh to Chittagong area. There are no roads here and since India has a good road network, they will use it,” said a senior BSF official.

The proposal was first mooted during the annual Home Secretary-level talks last year. A 19-member Indian delegation, mainly comprising BSF officials, which concluded its Dhaka visit last week informed the BGB that the proposal had been approved. While six BOPs would come across the Tripura border, another seven would be along the Mizoram border.

“The proposal has initially been accepted for a year and if the need arises then the time-frame might be extended,” said the official.

During talks held in Dhaka last week, the BSF is learnt to have handed over a list identifying 21 insurgent camps to Bangladesh. But the latter denied the presence of any such camp.

A press statement issued by the BSF after the meet said: “DG BSF sought further cooperation from BGB for destruction of reported hideouts of Indian Insurgent Groups in Bangladesh and safe release of Indian Nationals whenever abducted by the insurgents. DG BGB stated that there are no insurgent camps/ hideout in Bangladesh and that it does not allow her soil to be used by any entity or element hostile to any country, which stems from the principle position of the highest leadership of the country.”

Infographic: Here’s How the Global GDP Is Divvied Up

BY ROBBIE GRAMER-FEBRUARY 24, 2017

The World Bank this month released new numbers on the state of the world economy, and the numbers tell an interesting story.

The United States still dominates the global economy, accounting for nearly a quarter of the world’s GDP, which the World Bank estimates to be $74.1 trillion in total. For all the talk of China overtaking the United States as the world’s economic juggernaut, Asia’s economic giant lags 10 percentage points behind — 14.84 percent of the world’s economy compared with the United States’ 24.32 percent.

Since China overtook Japan as number two in the world in 2011, Japan’s slice of the global GDP has fallen to 5.91 percent the world’s GDP.

For the non-number junkies out there, the data and market research gurus over at cost information website HowMuch.net put together a helpful diagram using the new numbers to show just who has what slice of the pie in the global economy:

The infographic shows 40 of the world’s largest economies, according to World Bank data from the year 2015, the latest available. The Asian economic bloc of countries accounts for over a third of global GDP, 33.84 percent, representing the largest chunk of the world’s economy. North America comes in at second with 27.95 percent of global GDP, and Europe third at 21.37 percent.

Emerging economies, despite the hype, still account for just a small sliver of the pie. India accounts for 2.83 percent of the world economy, Brazil 2.39 percent, and Nigeria 0.65 percent. As the experts who created the graph point out, the “rest of the world” section (155 countries in all) adds up to roughly the same size as the gap between the United States and China’s share of the world GDP.

Update Feb. 24, 2017, 1:32 p.m. ET: This post was updated to include the World Bank’s estimated dollar amount of the global GDP.

Image credit: HowMuch Cost Information Website / https://howmuch.net/

4 Indonesian billionaires have collective wealth of over 100 mil population – report

24th February 2017

DESPITE Indonesia’s economic boom, the collective wealth of the richest four billionaires was more than the total wealth of about 100 million of the population, a study revealed.

The study by international aid and development charity organisation Oxfam, released earlier this week, said the four billionaires were worth US$25 billion in 2016, which was more than the wealth of the bottom 40 percent of the population combined.

“In just one day, the richest Indonesian man can earn from interest on his wealth over one thousand times more than what the poorest Indonesians spend on their basic needs for an entire year,” Oxfam said in the 48-page report.

“The amount of money earned annually from his wealth would be sufficient to lift more than 20 million Indonesians out of extreme poverty.”

According to the organisation, Indonesia has the sixth worst inequality of wealth in the world, with the wealthiest 1 percent of the population owning nearly half of the country’s total wealth in 2016.

There was only one billionaire in 2002 and that number grew by tenfold to 20 in 2016 – all of which were men.

Oxfam also said gender inequality, which is regarded as one of the oldest forms of inequality, is pervasive in Indonesia and acts as both a driver and a consequence of economic inequality.

The group also noted that since 2000, economic growth has taken off in Indonesia with a significant increase in the country’s score on the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) with the proportion of people living in extreme poverty falling from 40 % to 8 %.

SEE ALSO: 12 Asians among richest 62 who own wealth of half the world’s population

However, it said the benefits of growth have not been shared equally, and millions have been left behind.

Urban inequality, Oxfam pointed out, has been rising, which presents an inequality risk for the future as Indonesia has the highest urbanisation growth in Asia.

Jakarta government workers clean up a canal which runs into the Cilliwung river in Jakarta, Indonesia. Pic: Reuters

“The widening of the gap between the rich and the rest is a serious threat to Indonesia’s future prosperity,” Oxfam said, also pointing out the high inequality between rural and urban areas.

Between rural and urban areas, Oxfam said unequal access to infrastructure such as electricity and good quality roads compounded spatial inequalities.

“If inequality is not tackled, then reducing poverty will be much more difficult, and social instability could increase.”

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Jokowi seeks to address ‘poverty problems’ with Cabinet reshuffle

Comparing the situation for regular Indonesians with the $3.10 World Bank ‘moderate’ poverty line, Oxfam said the number of Indonesians living in poverty shoots up to 93 million or 36 percent of the population. It said many more Indonesians live just above the poverty line, making them vulnerable to falling back into poverty.

In the past 20 years, Oxfam said the gap between the richest and the rest has risen faster than in any other country in Southeast Asia.

“The drivers of inequality in Indonesia are complex and multi-layered, ranging from structural causes to more specific policy choices.”

Following a period of relatively equitable growth, Oxfam said Indonesia’s move to introduce market fundamentalism following the financial crisis of 1997 has produced an economy that enables “those at the top to capture by far the greatest share of the benefits of growth.”

It said this has resulted in an increase in political capture, as those at the top have been able to use the influence that wealth bestows to rig the rules in their favour at the expense of the many.

“Low wages and insecure work for those at the bottom further compounds inequality and prevents workers from lifting themselves out of poverty.”

Oxfam also said concentration of land ownership in the hands of big corporations and wealthy individuals means that the benefits of land ownership accrue to those at the top, at the expense of the rest of society.

“Research also suggests that inequality is hampering economic growth. Conversely, taking action to narrow the gap could lift millions of people out of poverty, lead to a more cohesive society, contribute to sustainable and equitable growth, and help Indonesia to meet its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.”

India's wind power tariffs hit new low in push for renewables

Wind turbines turn in the breeze in the outskirts of Jaisalmer in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan November 30, 2009. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar/Files

By Sudarshan Varadhan | NEW DELHI- Fri Feb 24, 2017

Indian wind power tariffs fell to a record low in a government-run auction on Friday, weeks after solar power rates too hit an all-time low, as the country looks to cut chronic electricity shortages in one of the world's biggest clean energy programmes.

India, the world's third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has set a target of raising its renewable energy generation to 175 gigawatt by 2022, around five times current usage, to supply power to its 1.3 billion people and fight climate change.

The government push, personally monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has prompted companies to bid aggressively for solar and wind projects, pushing tariffs low enough to challenge power generated by fossil fuels such as coal over the long term.

In an auction conducted by state-controlled Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for various wind projects totalling 1 gigawatt, five companies separately quoted a tariff of 3.46 rupees ($0.0519) per unit to win the projects.

"After solar cost reduction below 3 rupees/unit, wind power cost down to 3.46 rupees/unit through transparent auction," India's coal, power and renewable energy minister, Piyush Goyal, said in a tweet on Friday.

Mytrah Energy, part of London-based Mytrah Group, Ostro Kutch Wind, backed by British private equity firm Actis, and Indian company Inox Wind Infrastructure won contracts for 250 megawatts (MW) each.

Green Infra Wind Energy, majority-owned by Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd, won a contract for 249.90 MW and Adani Green Energy, part of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's infrastructure group, was awarded a 50 MW project, according to a senior SECI official and a bid document seen by Reuters.

"The auctions have been hard fought and have led to tighter pricing than one would have foreseen even a few months earlier," said Vikram Kailas, chief executive of Mytrah Energy.

The other companies were not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 66.6850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath and Subhranshu Sahu)

Fasting diet 'regenerates diabetic pancreas'

By James Gallagher-24 February 2017

The pancreas can be triggered to regenerate itself through a type of fasting diet, say US researchers.

Restoring the function of the organ - which helps control blood sugar levels - reversed symptoms of diabetes in animal experiments.

The study, published in the journal Cell, says the diet reboots the body.

Experts said the findings were "potentially very exciting" as they could become a new treatment for the disease.

People are advised not to try this without medical advice.

In the experiments, mice were put on a modified form of the "fasting-mimicking diet".

It is like the human form of the diet when people spend five days on a low calorie, low protein, low carbohydrate but high unsaturated-fat diet.

It resembles a vegan diet with nuts and soups, but with around 800 to 1,100 calories a day.

Then they have 25 days eating what they want - so overall it mimics periods of feast and famine.

Previous research has suggested it can slow the pace of ageing.

Diabetes therapy?

But animal experiments showed the diet regenerated a special type of cell in the pancreas called a beta cell.

These are the cells that detect sugar in the blood and release the hormone insulin if it gets too high.

Dr Valter Longo, from the University of Southern California, said: "Our conclusion is that by pushing the mice into an extreme state and then bringing them back - by starving them and then feeding them again - the cells in the pancreas are triggered to use some kind of developmental reprogramming that rebuilds the part of the organ that's no longer functioning."

There were benefits in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the mouse experiments.

Type 1 is caused by the immune system destroying beta cells and type 2 is largely caused by lifestyle and the body no longer responding to insulin.

Further tests on tissue samples from people with type 1 diabetes produced similar effects.

Dr Longo said: "Medically, these findings have the potential to be very important because we've shown - at least in mouse models - that you can use diet to reverse the symptoms of diabetes.

"Scientifically, the findings are perhaps even more important because we've shown that you can use diet to reprogram cells without having to make any genetic alterations."

What's it like?

BBC reporter Peter Bowes took part in a separate trial with Dr Valter Longo.

He said: "During each five-day fasting cycle, when I ate about a quarter of the average person's diet, I lost between 2kg and 4kg (4.4-8.8lbs).

"But before the next cycle came round, 25 days of eating normally had returned me almost to my original weight.

"But not all consequences of the diet faded so quickly."

His blood pressure was lower as was a hormone called IGF-1, which is linked to some cancers.

He said: "The very small meals I was given during the five-day fast were far from gourmet cooking, but I was glad to have something to eat"

Peter Bowes: Fasting for science

Peter Bowes: Intermittent fasting and the good things it did to my body

Separate trials of the diet in people have been shown to improve blood sugar levels. The latest findings help to explain why.

However, Dr Longo said people should not rush off and crash diet.

He told the BBC: "It boils down to do not try this at home, this is so much more sophisticated than people realise."

He said people could "get into trouble" with their health if it was done without medical guidance.

Dr Emily Burns, research communications manager at Diabetes UK, said: "This is potentially very exciting news, but we need to see if the results hold true in humans before we'll know more about what it means for people with diabetes.

"People with type-1 and type-2 diabetes would benefit immensely from treatments that can repair or regenerate insulin-producing cells in the pancreas."

Follow James on Twitter.

SRI LANKA: “YOU ARE PROMOTING EXTREMISM IN OUR RANKS” – FULL TEXT OF SAMPANTHNA’S SPEECH.

by Hon. Rajavarothiam Sampanthan – Leader of the Opposition.

23/02/2017

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are starting this Adjournment Debate half-an-hour behind time. Might I suggest that in case Hon. Members want to speak, you might have to sit a little beyond 7.00 p.m. to be able to accommodate the Hon. Members because we are already 35 minutes or 40 minutes behind schedule? I leave that to you, Sir.

I will now read my Adjournment Motion which is as follows:

“All people who lived in Sri Lanka, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, or any other difference, whether Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher made their fullest contribution to the achievement of independence.

It is almost 70 years since Sri Lanka attained Independence from Colonial Rule.

SRI LANKA YOU ARE PROMOTING EXTREMISM IN OUR RANKS – FULL TEXT OF SAMPANTHNA’S SPEECH..docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mullaitivu locals take land protest to DS office

23 Feb 2017

People in Mullaitivu protested outside the district secretariat in support of the land return protestors at Pilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu.

The protest took place on Wednesday morning, while a similar large scale demonstration happened in Jaffna town.

Tamil politicians including Northern Provincial Councillor Ravikaran and former TNA MP Suresh Premachandran also participated.

By S. Krishnananthan –February 23, 2017

S. Krishnananthan

This is in response to the article of Dr. Laksiri Fernando on “An Appeal To Tamil Political Leaders On ‘The New Constitution”.

Instead of appealing to Tamil Political Leaders, Dr. Laksiri Fernando should have appealed to the Sinhala political leaders because the Sinhala political leaders have a long history of being obstinate and even going back on agreed proposals. The intellectuals among Sinhalese are not better. Despite these reservations, I more or less agree with his intention and concern and I hope my intervention only enriches the attempt made by Dr Fernando and provoke lively serious discussions towards arriving at a consensual final product.

However I, as a Sri Lankan wish to submit my appeal to all Sri Lankans of all ethnicities that particularly includes all politicians and others even in the joint opposition because the final product have to be the result of an all inclusive effort so that all Sri Lankans irrespective of any differences could maintain allegiance and pledge ownership and be proud of the final outcome.
At the outset, I subscribe to the theory that the Sinhala community being the majority community should be given the rightful place without jeopardizing the equality of all citizens resident in the country.

Having acknowledged this reality, I humbly place before you all a brief outline that could be the basis for formulating a compromised version that is acceptable to a wider section that cut across communal and religious differences. Let me be brief.

1 Nature of State: Sri Lanka shall be a unitary state with extensive power sharing with the provinces.

2 Sovereignty: Sovereignty rests with the people

3 Religion: Foremost place be given to Buddhism, but the state shall be secular in the allocation of resources and treat all religions alike.

4 Form of Government: The form of government shall be Presidential accommodating the 19th Amendment to the constitution and improving on it. Let the President be the symbol of national unity and safeguarding territorial integrity of the country rests primarily on the President.

5 Electoral Reforms:

5.1 Local Authorities: The Local Authorities elections shall be conducted on the first past post ward system without the proportional representation system and measures shall be taken to depoliticize and to evolve a people centered development oriented vibrant system of local governance at the grassroots level. Subsidiarity and proximity shall be the guiding principle and local issues take precedence.

5.2 Provincial Council: The Provincial Council shall have a mixed First Past Post within an overall proportional representation system with the participation of political parties for balanced regional development. Provincial Councils will automatically enhance democracy by the involvement of all communities and religious groups in the periphery

5.3 Parliamentary Elections: The Parliamentary Elections shall be conducted on a district based proportional system with national seats as at present. This will satisfy minor political parties and ethnic and religious minorities. This system will encourage the professionals to gain representation at national level. The First Past Post system is not required for Parliamentary elections. Parochial interests should not be allowed to gain ground during parliamentary elections.

6 Merger: The Merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces may be set aside permanantly, but the provincial boundaries could be adjusted in consultation and with the consensus of the people of the respective provinces.

Dr Laksiri Fernando mistakenly mentions that North East merger is in the 13 Amendment. It is not so, it is only in the Provincial Council Act No 42 of 1987.

7 Language: The Official Language shall be Sinhala, Tamil and English and we propose to build a trilingual Sri Lanka without any compulsion.

8 Language of Administration: The 16th Amendment to the Present Constitution shall be incorporated in full in the new constitution. In this instance The recommendations of the sub-committee on Fundamental rights that proposes innovative Language of Administration provisions shall be accepted in full

9 Power Sharing: The Power Sharing shall be territorially not ethnically based, but designed to address the ethnic concerns of different communities living in the provinces.

10 Center-Periphery Relations:

10.1 – The sub-committee report had made a series of satisfactory recommendations and all the recommendations shall be seriously considered for inclusion in he new constitution.
The recommendation for the establishment of “Rajya Sabas” for every ward is also a welcome move.

The subsidiary principle should be the basis for the different tiers of governance and the 4FS should be clearly defined to ensure viable units.

TNA leader says he’s ‘extremely unhappy’ with the way Tamils are treated by govt.

Meera Srinivasan

-FEBRUARY 23, 2017

After two years of engaging the Sri Lankan government on reconciliation and constitutional reform, the country’s Tamil polity seems to be losing patience, if Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan’s address in Parliament is any indication.

On Wednesday, the veteran Tamil leader attacked the government that, he said, was treating the minority Tamils the same way the previous governments did. Pointing to two key issues — land and disappeared persons — the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader said: “Let me be frank. I am extremely unhappy with the way our people are treated by this government with respect to their land.”

Over the last three weeks, families in Mullaitivu district — that witnessed the last and most brutal phase of the civil war — are protesting, inspiring similar protests in other parts of the Tamil-majority Northern Province. They have only one demand — “release our land” taken over by the military.

Alluding to the government’s perceived double standards in regard to disappeared persons, Mr. Sampanthan said: “So many soldiers are missing, their families are not protesting. The government must be talking to them, offering some solace, there must be some conciliation. The same is not available to our people.”

The tone and content of his address, moving an adjournment motion, signalled a possible shift in the Tamil leader’s engagement with the government.

Positive relationship

Much the promise initially offered by this government, which came to power with the overwhelming endorsement of Tamils and Muslims, was pegged to the positive and constructive relationship it had with the Tamil political leaders. Though in Opposition, the Tamil leaders had until now opted for cooperation over confrontation, voting favourably on its budgets and other proposals. Seen as willing partners, they are heavily criticised by political opponents for that approach. The same Tamil leadership that focussed largely on accountability over alleged war crimes when Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power, pragmatically shifted its goalpost to the new Constitution that President Maithripala Sirisena promised to deliver. After all, a just political solution was necessary to address the root cause of the conflict, they firmly believed, as did some other sections of Tamil intelligentsia and civil society. And now, even that endeavour of the government appears to be on a sticky wicket, with sections within the government strongly opposing a new Constitution, reportedly fearing they would lose a referendum that is needed to see it through. The TNA is keen on a referendum.

Speaking at a discussion on the new Constitution recently, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran underscored the point saying: “Reconciliation is important, but we don’t want it behind the backs of the Sinhala people. We want them to approve it.”

A government that has not been able to move ahead despite a supportive Tamil ally in Mr. Sampanthan, may only find it harder to do so without him on board.

Release of the report on the dialogue among the Civil Society representatives of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan

Feb 23, 2017

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) organised a dialogue among civil society representatives of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan on 28 and 29 November 2016 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

It was hosted by the Afghan Women’s Education Center (AWEC). The main purpose of the dialogue was to review the peace and security issues in Afghanistan, especially with regard to relations between Pakistan and India and its impact on the country.

Dr Nimalka Fernando said , This report contains an overview of the status of the relations among Afghanistan, Pakistan and India; challenges and best practices in cooperation among civil society of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan; chronology, strengths and weaknesses of the formal and informal peace processes in Afghanistan and themes and areas of cooperation to enhance civil society space for future engagement in Afghanistan. The Kabul Declaration, annexed, was presented to relevant government authorities the delegation met with.

AshWaru Colombo

Families of missing continue Kilinochchi protest for fourth day

23 Feb 2017

Families of the disappeared continued their protest in Kilinochchi for the fourth day on Thursday.

Muththan Theivendran insists his son Ratheeswaran is still alive and demands that the government reveal his whereabouts.

Sri Lanka: Weeramantry — A heart that matches his mind

The following article based on the Excerpts of the delivery made by Jayantha Jayasuriya PC, Attorney General of Sri Lanka

by Jayantha Jayasuriya PC-Feb 23, 2017

( February 23, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) My Lords, We look back on a most remarkable life. What an extraordinary man he was! He combined relentless drive with absolute integrity, a love of freedom with respect for the law and the quest for peaceful compromise with an insistence that historical truth must be made known.

Sri Lanka Weeramantry — A heart that matches his mind.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Don’t Backtrack on Justice for Sri Lanka’s Victims

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera speaks during a news conference on a UN report about Sri Lanka’s civil conflict, in Colombo on September 17, 2015.

Meenakshi Ganguly-FEBRUARY 19, 2017

The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) remains in force, and there have been several arrests under this law in the past year
Civil society groups are once again able to speak out safely on issues of concern
There has been no tangible progress in setting up courts with international involvement to bring to trial those responsible for serious wartime violations

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told journalists recently that while his government was committed to justice, it was in no great hurry to begin the process to ensure accountability for abuses during the country’s long civil war. ‘Justice delayed, is justice denied,’ goes the old adage, and one can imagine wartime commanders and officials who committed atrocities breathing a sigh of relief. But for the victims of abuses and their family members, the foreign minister’s remarks must have seemed like another devastating blow to their fight for justice for the loss of loved ones.

This is especially bad news since Samaraweera had been the leading Sri Lankan government official to recognise the need for justice and accountability particularly for the crimes in the final stages of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in 2009. In 2015, the Sri Lankan government agreed to a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that mandates the creation of various transitional justice mechanisms, including an accountability mechanism for war crimes that envisions international involvement. This change in approach won the new government praise, and at the Human Rights Council’s upcoming March session, the government will report on the steps it has taken.

There have been a number of positive developments in Sri Lanka. Civil society groups are once again able to speak out safely on issues of concern. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and several UN experts have visited over the last 18 months.

The government passed legislation to create an Office of Missing Persons, and signed the International Convention against Enforced Disappearance, two important steps toward tackling a massive decades-long problem.

It has reportedly also started drafting legislation for truth-seeking and reconciliation, as well as for reparations and non-recurrence of the widespread human rights abuses carried out by the army and the LTTE, which the government asserts are being revised to reflect national public consultations.

For the victims of abuses and their family members, the foreign minister’s remarks must have seemed like another devastating blow to their fight for justice for the loss of loved ones.

Yet, while substantial progress has been made in many areas, other vital commitments have not been met. The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) remains in force, and there have been several arrests under this law in the past year. Moreover, many imprisoned PTA detainees were charged after allegedly being tortured to confess. The government has still not put forth a plan to provide redress for those unjustly detained under the PTA.

Large tracts of land remain under military control, primarily in the predominantly ethnic Tamil north and east. Delays plague the creation of the Office of Missing Persons.

Above all, there has been no tangible progress in setting up courts with international involvement to bring to trial those responsible for serious wartime violations. A government appointed task force reported in January that communities favour international participation in a justice process.

Despite its inclusion in the Human Rights Council resolution, President Maithripala Sirisena has increasingly spoken out against foreign judges and other international involvement. So has former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, now the head of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation who has recently said there was no “necessity to have courts to probe war crimes” and opposed international participation in the justice process.

A report issued in January by the government-appointed Consultation Task Force, concluded that communities in both the country’s north and south favour international participation in truth-seeking and justice.

While the Sinhalese-dominated south wants international technical expertise, the Tamil-majority north wants a more robust international role, including foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators. The common theme within both communities, however, is that they believe international participation is necessary due to lack of faith in the government to ensure accountability.

So when a strong public supporter of justice such as Foreign Minister Samaraweera appears to backtrack, there is little wonder that the victims and the advocates on their behalf are deeply concerned. The sooner the government publicly reinforces its commitment to justice, the better for all.

If not, governments at next month’s Human Rights Council will have an important opportunity to express their displeasure with Sri Lanka’s go-slow approach. The victims of abuses have provided repeated testimony at personal risk, braved surveillance and threats, and altogether waited too long. It’s time to make justice a reality in Sri Lanka.