Displaced of Vali North demonstrate in support of Mullaitivu land protests

26 Feb  2017

The displaced people of Valikamam North carried out a demonstration on Sunday morning in solidarity with the protesting people of Pilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu.

The protestors called for the release of the Pilavu and Puthukudiyiruppu lands, as well as for the resettlement of Vali North most of which is still held as a high security zone by the Sri Lankan Army.

Related Articles: 

21 February 2017 : Let us return: Pilavu villagers' ongoing protest

The Making of a new Constitution Power sharing at the Centre

2017-02-27

A Constitution embodies a nation’s fundamental choice about government. In Sri Lanka which is one of the oldest democracies in South Asia the peoples’ choice is for democratic government. This is why one of the objectives of a new constitution is to do away with the executive presidency which had facilitated a shift towards a more authoritarian regime. However although democracy ensues the rule of the people it must be kept in mind that in a multi ethnic pluralist state it can ensure the rule of an ethnic majority. The main stream political parties reflect the ethnic composition of the country, for example in Sri Lanka the UNP and the SLFP.   
These parties although not overtly Sinhala parties nevertheless reflect the interests and aspirations of the majority ethnic group. The minority ethnic / religious communities are represented by separate political parties, which reflect their interests. Only the main stream political parties can capture power at the centre because they represent the majority of people.   
Because of the composition of the population the country is in effect ruled by the majority community or ethnic group, which is a permanent majority, although for the functioning of true democracy the majority should be one which is changeable and not fixed.   
This is the rationale for applying a Federal system in multi ethnic states. For example in Canada although the majority is English speaking, the French speakers in Quebec province have both provincial autonomy and also some measure of power sharing at the centre. Today the Prime minister of Canada is from the French speaking community. However even without a federal constitution it is possible to have constitutional arrangements which help to give the minority groups a greater degree of participation in the government of the Country.  

Countries devising new constitutions should seek the broadest perspective in the task they are engaged in and look at the experiences of other countries, while adapting them to the circumstances in their own countries. The fact that the minority is perpetually relegated to a subordinate or secondary position and cannot exercise any power at the centre can breed a sense of disenchantment with the state which comes to be regarded as a majoritarian state, and one which does not represent them. Hence in order to have true democracy and integrate the different ethnic communities into the body politic it is necessary to have power sharing both at the periphery i.e. Provinces, as well as at the Centre. In other countries with multi- ethnic / plural populations such arrangements have been made in the Constitution.   
A brief review of some of the Constitutional arrangements devised in 3rd World Countries are as follows.   

1. A second chamber like the Raja Sabha in India or the Senate, which we had in Sri Lanka under the Soulbury Constitution. This arrangement could ensure provincial / minority representation in the Legislative decision making process.   
2. Another method is a rotating Presidency between different communities, and a qualified majority for certain categories of legislation which have a bearing on the minority, as in the Constitution of Cyprus.   
3. The South African Constitution requires the Judiciary to reflect the racial and gender composition in the appointment of judicial officers. Similarly the Canadian Constitution provides that there has to be a minimum of French speaking judges.   
4. In some constitutions representation in the executive is ensured by appointing the Vice President from the minority community.   
5. To remedy the in-balance in employment in Government administrative service, provision by law for equal opportunities in employment, or quotas in central ministries.   
6. The Constitution of Macedonia for example provides for a certain proportion of the minority Albanians in the Armed Forces of the Country.   
7 The Fundamental Rights Chapter could be expanded to include a Bill of Rights which stresses the equality in respect of language, culture and religion as in the South African Constitution. The Bill of rights could also include group rights such as the right of minorities to adequate recruitment to the Public Services and the right of disadvantaged communities, such as the Upcountry Tamils (Malayaha Tamils) to affirmative action.  

The Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly has released the report of the Sub–Committee on Centre-Periphery relations. An interesting aspect of the report is that the principle of subsidiarity is sought to be applied so that Local government units and the Grama Rajya are also empowered, and not only the Provincial Councils. This is a welcome recommendation as it will enable even minority enclaves within majority areas to be able to have some say in managing their own affairs. This is especially necessary in the case of the Upcountry (Malayaha) Tamils.  
 This category of persons in the Estate sector have been unable to participate in the decision-making process in respect of their own affairs. I note that there is no reference to power sharing at the Centre in this Report or in any of the other Sub Committee Reports. However, I understand this subject is being handled by the Steering Committee and hopefully they will make the constitutional arrangements suggested.  
I might mention that the report of the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform (PRC) does touch on this subject. It must be pointed out that this Committee which was appointed by the Prime minister to obtain the views of the people of the Country did in fact visit all 25 districts of the Country, and had sittings from north to south where they received the representations of ordinary people who were able to give their views in both Sinhala and Tamil as well as English. In Chapter 8 of the report the committee deals with both power sharing between Centre and periphery and also power sharing at the Centre itself.   

"These parties although not overtly Sinhala parties nevertheless reflect the interests and aspirations of the majority ethnic group. The minority ethnic / religious communities are represented by separate political parties, which reflect their interests. Only the main stream political parties can capture power at the centre because they represent the majority of people."

With regard to power sharing at the Centre they set out the suggestions made by the people, which were as follows. Firstly, establishment of a second chamber, which will have significant Provincial representation. Secondly election of a Vice President by Parliament from a community to which the president does not belong. Thirdly, the composition of the Cabinet to reflect the strength of the different communities. The PRC, ascertained the views of the people of the Country, and the report of this committee sets out the recommendations of the people.   
It is submitted that this shows that the issue of power sharing at the centre, has been a matter which the people in all parts of the country have sought out not only as part of a solution to the national question but more so as being required to ensure more equal representation which is essential for example in the distribution of resources.  

 The greater representation of the Provinces in such a chamber will help towards a more equitable distribution of resources not only to the North but also to districts in the South as in Uva, Moneragala and Hambantota, thus far lagging behind in development. Hence it behoves the Steering Committee and the Constitutional Assembly to consider these proposals, and to act on them.   
The constitution of a second chamber is not something new to Sri Lanka as it will be recalled that the first Parliament of Ceylon consisted of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. One argument brought against power sharing mechanisms is that it will be expensive adding further to the burden on the people.   
However the advantages in giving people in all parts of the country a greater participation in governance and its positive effects on reconciliation, the resolution of the national question and in building a shared Sri Lankan identity not only for the minorities that have agitated for their rights (the Tamils, Muslims and Malayaha Tamils) but also for the disadvantaged poor in all parts of the country, outweighs the consideration of added expenditure to the exchequer. Democracy is after all an expensive commodity.

Restoring ‘Economic Democracy’: Is it an elusive goal? 

President Maithripala Sirisena

Promised delivery of economic democracy to people

Monday, 27 February 2017

One of the pledges made by the present Government in its election manifesto titled ‘The Five Point Plan for creating a new country in 60 months’ has been the delivery of economic democracy to people. In the preamble to the manifesto, the party has emphasised that the restoration of the proposed ‘social market economy’ is akin to the expansion of the frontiers of the economy alias delivery of economic democracy to people. 

Restoring Economic Democracy Is it an elusive goal.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

SC comes in for heavy flak at BASL special general meeting: elections on 15 th March before returning officers named by AG !

 (Lanka-e-News -26.Feb.2017, 10.30PM)  The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to hold BASL elections  on the 15 th of March before the elections   officers appointed by the Attorney  General (AG),  sans the assistance of judges , BASL  decided. 

At the special general meeting convened yesterday (25) this decision was taken . The  postponement of the BASL  election was necessitated due to the huge embarrassment caused and obstacles created  by the judges of the lower rung .A large group of  lawyers who expressed bitter resentment against the odious moves  of the judges of the Judicial service commission (JSC) frowned upon their self degrading  conduct .

The president Jeffrey Alagaratnam at the beginning made a long speech to explain and elaborate on  the lawful intervention of the BASL in the appointment of Ramanathan Kannan as high court judge and to what extent fair play and justice  was adhered to. 

It is specially noteworthy no one present objected to these revelations. Thereafter , all the lawyers  categorically criticizing  the conduct and abominable moves of the JSC ( truly only a few -5 to 6 judges villainous  of the nefarious decade who are still alive acted degradingly) is  something worthy of special mention.

Subsequently , an amendment to the BASL constitution  was proposed and that was passed  with the unanimous support of all, to hold the BASL elections before the elections officers appointed by the AG . Accordingly ,the election is to be held on 15 th of March .

Time serving pro Rajapakse lawyer Kaalawarnakulasuriya whose gaze despite the squint is only fixed on filthy lucre however earned and  was hoping against hope that a stormy situation would follow ,upon realizing nothing of that sort was going to ensue  , was seen walking out crestfallen and thoroughly disappointed  after about half an hour . It also became very evident the great expectations of the kudu (heroin)  television channel  magnates and share market racketeers of the Rajapakse ring too crashed to the ground.

Connected report :
Lawyers for Democracy issues statement following appointment of R. Kannan as High court judge

JSA has misled the public via false representations to president and even acted unlawfully ! -A retired judge Former president- JSA says..

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by     (2017-02-26 17:24:04)

Tears and meditation are poor substitutes for systemic police reform

• Sunday, February 26, 2017

When leaving his position as Chairman of the National Police Commission (NPC) to assume an academic appointment overseas last month, Professor Siri Hettige’s reported observation that Sri Lanka’s Independent Police Commission is unable to control the police force and that the Commission has had to seek appropriate powers, attracts a peculiar kind of public scrutiny.

The powerlessness of the NPC

One may well question as to why the outgoing Chairman woke up to this basic realization at the singular point of leaving the post. Surely should this not have dawned on him soon after taking up the leadership of this vital body? And should not the NPC then have forcefully intervened with the Government in bringing about the required changes to enable those powers to be exercised?

Or in the alternative, should not its members have taken the principled stance that there was no point in serving further? What is the point in having a police commission (independent as the case may be) with no powers to accomplish its task? And as I may question further, if so, what is the point of expending public funds on these bodies?

This was, after all, the major problem that was supposed to have been addressed by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Let us see exactly where the source of this powerlessness lies. As originally envisaged in the 17th Amendment, the NPC was supposed to be a path-breaker in South Asia when created in 2001. Modeled along the lines of independent police complaint commissions elsewhere in the world, it possessed direct power to appoint, promote, transfer, and exercise disciplinary control and dismissal of all officers other than the Inspector General (IGP). After these provisions were repealed by the 18th Amendment, they were restored by the 19th Amendment with the addition that the NPC must ‘consult’ with the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Political resistance and not the law was the obstacle

But the problem with the functioning of the NPC was not so much in the law. Rather, the obstacles were elsewhere. History teaches us this lesson very well. Early on in the tenure of the first NPC headed by noted criminal lawyer Ranjit Abeysuriya, the NPC took notice of extreme public concern regarding the disciplinary control and dismissal of police officers and recalled its delegation of that authority to the Inspector General of Police (IGP). It decided to interdict police officers indicted for torture. Has the current NPC decided on a similar court of action, one may ask?

That NPC directly challenged the nexus between the politicians and the police which was the main reason as to why the Rule of Law broke down. It prevented the political transfer of police officers during the pre-election period when elections were declared. At that time and before long, political reactions to the first NPC’s interventions were fierce. This was not confined to the Government. Sensing the dangers, politicians across the divide united in one common disgraceful task; to strip the NPC of its powers. Long before the 18th Amendment came into force, this ‘taming’ of the NPC had been accomplished.

This must be clearly recognized by those who are wont to lay the blame only on the crudities of the Rajapaksa phenomenon. This was no feat of a single political administration. Rather it was the ferocious reaction of a highly sophisticated political system trained to ‘bark and bite’ with terrific impact at any challenge to its authority. What the 18th Amendment did was merely formalize that systemic challenge. And all that we have done now is to plaster over that gaping wound, not to put medicinal salve on it and ensure that the skin eventually heals. This is the uncomfortable reality that continues even now, after the January 2015 ‘yahapalanaya’ victory.

‘Barking and biting’ at reforms

The NPC was also required (“shall) to establish procedures to entertain and investigate public complaints and complaints from members of the public. This was visited with a similar fate. Initially the NPC took every effort to draft such procedures bringing in public interest lawyers to voluntarily aid the Commission (including this columnist) but those procedures could not be gazetted in the first term where the NPC was at its strongest. They were gazetted later but the actual impact of this was again, minimal as the Commission itself was structurally weakened by the 18th Amendment fatally undermining the Commission’s powers.

This Government has proved itself to be pitifully incapable of addressing these outstanding issues. A case in point is the IGP being captured on national television promising the Minister of Law and Order that action will not be taken against a particular individual linked to the former Rajapaksa regime. It was astounding that the cry by civil society was for the IGP to resign rather than ask the particular Minister to step down as would have been the case in any country with minimum adherence to governance. In any event, both individuals have not been held accountable.

It is notable also that the tradition of ‘barking and biting’ at systemic reform continues. In recent months, exceptionally negative reactions have been evidenced by the police establishment to the National Human Rights Commission (HRCSL)’s statistics relating to complaints of torture. These indicate a different picture to that presented by government agencies and are substantially higher in number.

Familiar patterns of resistance

The HRCSL’s considered position taken before the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT Committee during consideration of Sri Lanka’s 5th Periodic Report) last year was that ‘torture is routinely used in all parts of the country regardless of the nature of the suspected offence for which the person is arrested.’

In other respects, the HRCSL has highlighted repressive actions, as for example its order (2015) that the Sri Lanka Police violated international humanitarian law in assaulting a group of students at a demonstration. Put on the defensive, police spokesmen (former and current) have been reacting with anger. These are familiar patterns that we are used to.

All in all, it is doubtful if asking police officers to engage in meditation (as the IGP has reportedly directed while astoundingly breaking down in tears at a function recently) will result in an effective solution of these myriad issues. Neither tears nor meditation will replace serious and sustained political will along with national pressure therein to reform what remains a fundamental deficiency in Sri Lanka’s Rule of Law systems.

SRI LANKA: RTI INVOKED TO EXPOSE ARMY SUPPORT TO REMANDED SUSPECTS & SPYING ON PUBLIC OFFICERS

Image: Sri Lanka Army by globalriskinsights.com.

26/02/2017

A wide-ranging Right to Information Act request was filed with the Army on Saturday, requesting details of how state resources have been used to aid soldiers and officers accused of attacks on media personnel and to confirm or deny whether the army has spied on the police and public officers investigating those attacks.

The request, filed by Sunday Leader journalist Nirmala Kannangara, covers “legal, financial and personal assistance” including “advice, money and material resources” with a special focus on the practice of retaining private lawyers to appear for suspects and paying for their fees with public funds.

The request also seeks information on any army involvement in physical or electronic surveillance of “police officers, prosecutors, magistrates or other public functionaries involved in investigating, 

prosecuting, or ruling” on the criminal investigations into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda, the assault on Upali Tennekoon and the abduction and assault of Keith Noyahr.

The purpose of the request, it reads, is to discover “whether funds of the state, or other material resources or state services including in particular the services of serving military personnel have been mobilised for the purpose of defending, protecting, supporting or advancing the interests of military personnel who are alleged, suspected or accused of having committed serious criminal offences which in no way could be attributed to protecting national security or countering terrorism.”

According to the RTI Act, the army would have 14 days to respond to the request with a decision to either provide the requested information or reject it, and then a further 14 days to provide the information if the request is approved.

While no legal basis exists for any state entity to spend public funds or utilise Government resources to defend public servants facing criminal charges, several reports have suggested that the army may have made exception for military intelligence officers facing criminal charges for the murder, disappearance, assault and abduction of journalists
FT

Rajapaksa Wants To Meet Tamils And Muslims

February 26, 2017 

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has indicated his interest in meeting representatives of the main two minority communities, sources said.

Rajapaksa

According to sources, Rajapaksa wants a platform to discuss the current political situation in the country with them, and a tentative meeting is scheduled for next month between the representatives of both communities, including leaders of political parties, and Rajapaksa, who has been largely unpopular in the face of both minority communities.

Sources said that Rajapaksa is seeking their support in his efforts to further strengthen his position in the political spectrum. “The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna which is indirectly led by Rajapaksa is hoping to contest the local government elections later this year, and it is very likely that during the meetings, this will also be discussed,” sources said.

Rajapaksa largely lost his popularity among the Muslim community following the Aluthgama carnage in 2014 allegedly carried out by the Bodu Bala Sena, which was a movement with the support of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then defence secretary and brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, last week, Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan castigated the present government under President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and said that the Tamil community was losing patience and was also disappointed by the Yahapalanaya Government, as they were treating the Tamils very similar to how Rajapaksa’s government treated his community.

Read More

How to rescue embattled Rajapakses ? Theme of secret discussion of troika, Ranil-Mahinda-Sagala at Singapore Grand Hyatt hotel !

(Lanka-e-News -26.Feb.2017, 10.30PM) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ,and Law and order minister Sagala Ratnayake met with ex  deposed president Mahinda Rajapakse on the 17 th in Singapore . This was  a secret meeting , based on reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division. 

While the P.M. was in Singapore after concluding his tour of Australia , the Machiavellian ex president Mahinda Rajapakse too was there citing medical attention grounds , and he took lodging at the Shangri La hotel. Sagala too left for Singapore saying he needed medical treatment there.
 
The secret meeting  of the troika – Ranil-Mahinda –Sagala took place on the 17 th at a different hotel – Grand Hyatt Hotel , Singapore . 

It is a well and widely known fact that the investigations conducted by the FCID and CID into the brutal murders committed by Medamulana Mahinda Rajapakse and his  family members , and their colossal frauds have reached  the final phase. The massive funds kept hidden in foreign countries by the Rajapakses too have by now come to light . In other words the Rajapakses who are a byword for  monumental corruption , rackets and murders are in  a most embarrassed and  embattled state currently.

The main aim and objective of the discussion  of this troika – Ranil-Mahinda –Sagala has been how to rescue the culprits (Rajapakses and family members) from their  crimes. 

A number of things were discussed , and Lanka e news is well informed about what were discussed. But for the moment let us reveal just one item that was on the agenda….

It has been decided that the two senior  DIGs in charge of the FCID and the CID who are discharging their duties duly sans interference be transferred , as a first step towards saving the Rajapakses . Sagala who has returned to the Island is now moving heaven and earth in that direction.

If anybody is taking steps to rescue corrupt brutal Rajapakses , the pro good governance masses treating such an individual as a traitor and an enemy of theirs is inevitable. Such an individual  is an enemy of good governance irrespective of his status and rank. To pro good governance masses his high position , status or rank is immaterial. 

Lanka e news which always champions the cause of the pro good governance masses in the best interests of the nation at large  , always stood by and been alongside  the masses  is ready to strip nude such individuals in public who are seeking to save or safeguard  the notorious, murderous, corrupt  Rajapakse villains who routed the country’s economy and plunged the entire nation  into the deepest depths of despair.

It is well to recall 6.2 million people of SL on the 8 th of January 2015 threw out the corrupt , cruel and crooked Rajapakses lock , stock and barrel , and allowed them to flee to Medamulana  safely without punishing them  because the present rulers made several solemn promises that these rascals and scoundrels who drove  the country to rack and ruin during the whole of the last nefarious decade , shall be meted out punishment duly .Otherwise the people themselves would have given the Rajapakse scoundrels and rascals  the maximum sentence in the same way as Gadafi of Libya was punished .

In the circumstances , if anybody is today seeking to circumvent the law or obstruct the legal processes and punishment, for and on behalf of the traitorous , crooked and criminal Rajapakses , that individual without any trace of doubt is going to be considered by the masses as a worse criminal  and crook than even the Rajapakses.

May we assert  no matter how  secretly  the discussions are held, those secrets will somehow seep out  because walls have ears .Hence , let us issue a dire warning to the P.M. ,and the law and order minister not to conduct  themselves in a manner that could provoke the public .

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by     (2017-02-26 17:13:28)

Going gung-ho over glaring gazette!

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

• Gazette purportedly issued by Mahinda Rajapaksa seven days before 8 January 2015 election lists issuance of Rs. 1.8 trillion worth of Treasury bonds of different redemption periods at different interest rates
• Includes many bonds issued in the past at various interest rates since 2011 as well as seven new bonds for 2015 of Yahapalana regime
• Ravi K blasts Central Bank; says required protocol not followed 
• Claims relevant Treasury bonds gazetted were issued in violation of the provisions of the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance
• Alleges MR regime’s CB Chief Cabraal raised money via questionable private placements of bonds; gazette in contention endeavours to legalise such issuance
• Mahinda issues firm rebuttal, says diabolical attempt by Yahapalana authorities to foist the blame for the CB bond scam on him
• Says not possible to have known back on 1 January 2015 borrowing requirements post-presidential election
• To pursue legal action over matter

Monday, 27 February 2017

A major battle has erupted between Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa over a 2015 January gazette by the Central Bank listing past and future Treasury bond issues with an aggregate value of a staggering Rs. 1.8 trillion.

Going gung-ho over glaring gazette.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Rajapaksa vows legal action against those who tried to ‘frame’ him  

February 26, 2017, 10:15 pm

Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday condemned what he called a diabolical attempt by the government to frame him for the bond scams, and vowed to take legal action against those responsible for it.

The former President has said in a statement:

"It is with regret that I inform the public of a diabolical attempt by the yahapalana authorities to foist the blame for the Central Bank bond scam on my government. The established practice in relation to government finance is that towards the third week of each month or even earlier, the Treasury determines the financial needs of the government for the coming month and informs the Public Debt Department which functions under the Central Bank that a certain amount of money is required by a certain date. The Public Debt Dept. then takes steps to borrow the required amount from the market by issuing the appropriate instruments such as Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. The Gazette notifications relating to such bond issues are published only after the transactions have been completed. The reason for this is that until the transaction is complete no one will know its final details because many variables are determined by the market.

"For example, when bids are called for a bond issue at a certain interest rate, all the bids received may end up being rejected. Furthermore, the bids may exceed the amount of bonds offered and then the Public Debt Dept. will have to decide how much to accept. Since none of these factors can be known beforehand, the Gazette notification relating to a bond issue is issued only after the entire transaction has been completed. The great Central Bank bond scam began with the bond auction of27 February 2015. What happened in this instance was that following the usual practice, on or around 20 February 2015 the Treasury informed the Public Debt Department that the government would need Rs. 13.5 billion by 2 March 2015. The Public Debt Department was able to raise about Rs. 3 billion immediately but needed another Rs. 10.5 billion.They called for bids for Rs. one billion worth of 30 year bonds with a face value interest rate of 12.50%. Bids amounting to Rs.20 billion were received and a little over Rs. 10 billion was accepted.

"How this particular bond issue became a major scam is well known and need not concern us here. The issue at hand is that the yahapalana government has tried to foist the entire responsibility for this bond issue on me through the extraordinary Gazette No: 1895/19 dated01 January 2015. This Gazette contains details of bond issues going back to 2011 and in the midst of this, the bond issues made during the year 2015 on 1 March, 15 March, 1 May, 15 May,1 August and 15 December have also been gazetted under my name. Through such devious means they are attempting to suggest that I issued a Gazette notification on 1 January 2015 in relation to a transaction that took place about seven weeks after a new President and a new finance minister had assumed office.

"It is obvious that I could not possibly have known back on 1 January 2015 that the Treasury will need Rs. 13.5 billion on 2 March 2015, that the Public Debt Department would call for bids for Rs. one billion in 30 year bonds at the face value rate of 12.50%, and that they would receive Rs. 20 billion in bids of which Rs.10 billion would be accepted. As I pointed out earlier, Gazette notifications relating to bond issues are published only after the transaction not before it. Even though Gazette No: 1895/19 bears the date 01 January 2015, it is clear that it has been published long after that date. The small print on the Sinhala version of the Gazette seems to indicate that it was actually printed only in November 2016. Therefore, I see this as a diabolical attempt to mislead the public and palm off the yahapalana governments crooked bond issues on me and my government. I will be taking legal action in this regard."

Gold smuggling from SL: Top Indian politician sacked

2017-02-26

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief Su Thirunavukkarasar yesterday sacked a party functionary from a key post, days after the man was arrested in connection with gold smuggled from Sri Lanka.

 "Good Luck Rajendran is being removed as the President of Ramanathapuram District Congress Committee for bringing disrepute to the party," he said in a statement.

 Rajendran was being replaced by M Deivendran, he added. 

Thirunavukkarasar said the announcement on Rajednran's sacking was being made "with the approval" of AICC President Sonia Gandhi, her deputy Rahul Gandhi and the party's Tamil Nadu in-charge, Mukul Wasnik.

 Rajendran and his car driver K Gandhi were arrested two day ago by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in connection with the alleged smuggling of 11.9 kg of gold bars, valued at Rs 3.58 crore, from Sri Lanka.

 "Gandhi admitted that he was carrying the gold to Chennai as instructed by S Rajendran also known as Goodluck Rajendran, who has been his employer for nearly 20 years", DRI had said. The seizure was made on the Pudukottai highway.

 DRI officers had also recovered "incriminating evidence" from the residence of Rajendran, who was earlier arrested in connection with another case under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, Chennai.(PTI)

Don’t be afraid, I will show how to win the case’ - Basil

Feb 26, 2017

Basil Rohana Rajapaksa, the younger brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, returned from the US yesterday (25) to be present at the Colombo high court tomorrow when indictments will be served against him.

Basil had been saying that he will not come back until the day for the local government elections were announced, but he had suddenly returned without letting anyone know in order to prevent the attorney general from obtaining a warrant for his arrest.

The AG will serve indictments against him under the money laundering act over the land he owned at Malwana. The other person accused over this property is wealthy businessman Tiru Nadesan, who is presently overseas.

The other main accused, architect Muditha Jayakody has surprisingly turned state witness now. Veterans of law say it will be bad for the enforcement of the law to use him as the main witnesses against Basil and Tiru. That is like releasing the robber and arresting his neighbours, they say.

Knowing this very well, Basil has returned home, giving a hint to Mahinda and Gotabhaya, ‘Don’t be afraid, I will show how to win the case.”

Suspect dies in custody, five cops arrested


February 26, 2017

Five cops including a Sub Inspector have been arrested after a suspect died while in custody at the Peliyagoda Police station. 

According to police, four police Constables are also among the arrested cops.

 The Police Media Unit on Sunday announced that the 41-year-old man had succumbed after admitting to the Colombo National hospital. 

The police say the suspect was hospitalized following an illness he suffered while police was escorting him to find a hidden weapon. The man was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and he was arrested in Nawagamuwa last evening (25).

 The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) in his verdict pronounced that the suspect’s death was due to either dehydration or internal bleeding, it was reported. The post-mortem examination was held on Sunday afternoon. 

The arrested cops will be produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.

February-August-October 1917

Centenary of the February Revolution in Russia

General Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov

by Kumar David-February 25, 2017, 5:42 pm 

Today 100 years ago, 26 February by the old Julian calendar, Petrograd rose up and within a week forced the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. In the modern Gregorian calendar 26 Feb is 7 March. Throughout this piece I use ingrained old style dates, otherwise the February Revolution was in March, the October Revolution in November and the counterrevolution, the "Kornoliv Affair", in September. But history has marked these cataclysmic events in indelible ink using other names that it is not in my power to change. It started on International Women’s Day, 23 February, when thousands of women marched from factory to factory in support of the strike at the Putilov Factory which had commenced the previous day. The action grew to quarter of a million and slogans matured from protests at food rationing to "Overthrow of the Autocracy".

The army in Petrograd mutinied starting with the Pavlovsy Regiment and finally the Volynsky Regiment, thus forcing the Tsar to abdicate on 2 March. A Provincial Government of grandees and liberals was formed with Prince Gregory Lvov as prime minister. Far more important for posterity was that on the 27 February the popular councils of the city united to form the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers deputies. A state of Dual Power (two parallel state powers in one country) came into being. Lenin in exile and the Bolsheviks in Russia were blindsided; the spontaneous seizure of power by the people astonished them. To be fair, Lenin had been preparing for decades, but this spontaneous capture of power by the people caught them all flat-footed.

I am going to let you into a secret if you promise not to stop reading after I reveal the plot. What motivates this piece is not what happened in Russia a century ago but our predicament in Lanka today. If you scale down from the world-historical to the national, then January 8 is our February. Two things are common; a despised autocracy was dismantled and secondly huge aspirations for a better future were unfurled. They reached their October; but we are still stuck in the mud sans a bourgeois democratic yahapalanaya. Therefore the pivot of this essay is not February or October, but August.

Post-February it was confusion and misgovernment, things were sliding. Counterrevolution was personified in General Kornilov who in August moved troops from the war-front to crush revolutionary Petrograd. Lanka now is in the throes of a reactionary backswing; our Kornilov is none other than the Joint Opposition (JO). I am running ahead, I need return and pick up the thread from Russia.

After February

Lenin returned to Petrograd from exile on 3 April and threw a spanner in the works for the Bolsheviks – the April Thesis. The Gospel according to European Revolutionaries of which Lenin was a high priest, up to that time said ‘two-stage revolution’. Pre-capitalist societies would first establish bourgeois democracy and capitalist consolidation before the tasks of socialism could be posed. Lenin stunned all of Bolshevism by dumping this in the dustbin and calling for "All Power to the Soviets", which amounted to overthrowing the Provisional Government and going forward to a workers regime. He was edging close to Trotsky’s thesis of uninterrupted or permanent revolution. In this they were both right but only about Russia. In one hundred years only in Russia (arguably maybe Cuba and Vietnam too) but nowhere else in the world has such a thing happened! Theories grow grey my friend, but the tree of life is ever green, said Germany’s greatest poet and intellect, Johann Wolfgang Goethe.

Throughout April, May and June political chaos (a tussle for power between the Provincial Government and the Petrograd Soviet) dragged on. In June Lvov resigned making way for Kerensky (a Social Revolutionary) as prime minister – the regime was pushed noticeably left. In July proletarian hotheads took to the streets in hundreds of thousands intending to overthrow the government. Utterly premature! The countryside and the army were not ready; the uprising would have been crushed. Then we see the genius of Lenin; unable to tame this ultra-left 1971-JVP like eruption, he threw the Party into the leadership of the movement so as to limit damage and execute an orderly withdrawal.

The backlash continued through late July and August. Kornilov was their version of a Felix Dias or a Gotabhaya. (The fatal mistake of the LTTE was prioritising the military over the political and turning itself into an army whose obliteration was foredoomed). Today in Lanka the Joint Opposition obstructs economic progress, inflames conflict about the constitution and instigates strikes. In an open letter to JO MP’s dated 28.12.16, Vasudeva, inter alia writes: "Our task is to give RW and his gang no peace, no rest, inside parliament and in the field of elections. We need to cultivate MPs of the government and act on the natural divisions in their alliance. . . People (do not) know the monstrosity of this government including the violence inflicted on our sovereignty and treacherous sell-out of our resources". Vasu blurts out in the open what others in the JO do on the sly. Such provocation lays the ground for Kornilov-type treachery. A Kornilov victory in Russia would have been a forerunner of the Pinochet coup in Chile in 1973. A JO triumph will likewise be a counterrevolutionary victory in Lanka.

Defeating the counterrevolution

How did the Russian revolutionaries defeat the coup and why is it that the Sirisena-Ranil combo is unable to deal with a threat to its own survival? The difference is two-fold; mobilisation and leadership. Thousands occupied railway lines and roads, railway workers stopped troop rains, revolutionary soldiers climbed aboard and fraternised with Kornilov’s battalions, women clambered up everywhere, pressed in among the soldiers and demanded to know "Are you going to shoot your mothers and sisters?" There is a marvellous chapter about the ‘routing’ of Kornilov’s army by people-power in Trotsky’s ‘History of the Russian Revolution’. In modern times we have seen people-power defeat dictators and armies in the Philippines, Easter Europe and briefly in the Arab Spring.

But mobilisation cannot happen, or will be thrown back after initial success, unless there is leadership. This is where Lenin and the network the Bolsheviks had built were decisive. Lenin who went to hiding in Finland at the start of the coup came back to Petrograd in September and took control of party and events. (He was no petty bourgeois romantic who bared his chest and declared "Shoot to see". He was a revolutionary realist). He held the Party back and refused to sanction a power grab till the Petrograd Soviet whose chairman was Trotsky – also head of its Military Revolutionary Committee – was ready to take power in the name of the Soviets, not in the name of the Party. "Peace, Land and Bread" had to seep deep everywhere. Peace for a nation exhausted from war and desperate for a settlement; land for a peasantry hungry for the great estates of the grandees and bread for starving Russia. Remember this above all else; there would have been no October if the backlash of August had not been defeated.

Thus I come to the moral of my story. There will no new constitution, no useful amendments, no economic programme, "no peace, no rest" until the counterrevolution in full swing under the leadership of the Joint Opposition is confronted and crushed. This political challenge has to be met first, otherwise nothing will happen; the government will whimper and die. To address that task the people have to be mobilised, for which in turn we need leadership. Will Sirisena tuck up his cloth and storm out declaiming "Gahuwoth Gahanawa"? Will Ranil strip off his suit, don a pair of shorts and accept the challenge instead of indulging in chamber room squabbles and daydreaming of life after Sirisena? Mobilisation has its own internal momentum and will move beyond limits and restraints imposed by conservative leaders. Maybe Ranil sees this and fights shy. Maybe Sirisena demurs for the same reason. The S&R duumvirate is ducking. Realising this citizen’s movements, smaller parties, associations of artists, journalists and trade unions are taking up the challenge. As this mobilisation builds it will confront the JO, then S&R will no longer be able to hide under their beds; they will be dragged out, kicking and screaming and made to stand in front.

The real issue right now is not the words in the Draft Constitution, or economic ideology, or the national question. No the stuff of the day is the political battle – Kornoliov or Lenin, Joint Opposition or January 8 Movement. He who wins this battle on the streets and in the eyes of the people will carry all before him. After that, victory at a referendum will be plain sailing.

[Readers last week would have been confounded since the paper did not reproduce the annotated photograph I submitted but had wrongly substituted another. Furthermore the caption contradicted my statements in the text. For the correct picture please visit: www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/we-must-not-put-cart-before-horse-on-constitutional-referendum/. Sinhala readers will find the correct picture in the Ravaya of 19 February.].