Monday, March 6, 2017

China Steps Into the Latin American Void Trump Has Left Behind

BY KEVIN P. GALLAGHER-MARCH 6, 2017

Latin Americans can’t afford to wait four years to see when the United States will be willing to have an honest and reciprocal conversation about economic prosperity in the Western Hemisphere. Luckily for the United States’s southern neighbors, over the past decade Latin America has found a new major trading partner: China. With economic ties with the United States more uncertain than ever, Latin America would do well to solidify those ties with China, but with caution.

In 2016, Latin American economies contracted for the second year in a row and are projected to grow by just over one percent in 2017 — barring any big surprises. What is more, the international private sector is retreating from the region at an alarming rate, with net capital flows to Latin America negative for the first time since 1998.

Traditionally, in turbulent times the region looked to the United States for trade and finance to help it through — whether from financing from Washington-backed institutions like the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, or through trade and investment negotiations.

Today, though, neither seems certain after the election of Donald Trump. It is still too early to see what the president’s policies toward development banks will be, but even before we do know that lending to the region has been dropping from the traditional U.S.-backed institutions.

And of course we also know that President Trump wasted no time in withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and announcing plans to re-negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Many Latin Americans would welcome a chance to renegotiate the TPP and NAFTA if such an effort would be on equal terms and in good faith. Chilean negotiators to the TPP felt like they did not get a great deal with the TPP. In particular, provisions that would force the country to deregulate its financial markets and its intellectual property laws would have given large U.S. firms an open field to do business in the country with little competition or government interference.

As for NAFTA, the 1994 trade deal helped increase Mexican exports to the United States sevenfold, and foreign direct investment jumped to four times pre-NAFTA levels. Yet with all that trade and investment, on average Mexico’s GDP growth has hovered stubbornly at one percent in per capita terms post-NAFTA, and the country lost at least two million agriculture jobs, as cheap imports of corn and other commodities flooded into Mexico due to NAFTA.

But of course, countries of the region are understandably wary of negotiating anything with a government that has denigrated them and called their citizens “bad hombres” and worse. Enter China, which just days after the election released a new white paper calling Latin America and the Caribbean a “land of vitality and hope.” The plan promises to implement earlier pledges of trade and investment, but without the U.S.-strings attached in terms of deregulation and name-calling.

China has pledged to increase trade with the region by $500 billion and foreign investment to $250 billion by 2025. And, to show they mean it, China’s two development banks, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, now provide more development finance to Latin America than the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) — combined! — each year.

In addition to bilateral loans, China also set up $35 billion in multilateral finance platforms for Latin America. The $20 billion China-LAC Industrial Cooperation Investment Fund and the $10 billion China-Latin America Infrastructure Fund are two new funding agencies established in 2015, and China pumped another $5 billion into the China-Latin America Cooperation fund that was set up in 2014.

And last week, as President Trump was bullying Mexico in an attempt to pay for a wall between the two countries, China became a key deal maker with Mexico. On February 2, Mexico announced that JAC motors (a Chinese automaker) will set up a $212 million dollar plant in Hidalgo that could create 5,500 jobs in Mexico.

Unlike the late 20th century, today Latin Americans have another option in China. That said, Latin America will need to rise to the occasion.While Chinese trade and investment into the region helped spur economic growth from 2003 to 2013, it also accentuated the de-industrialization of many of the region’s economies through the importation of cheaper Chinese manufacturing goods. What is more, China’s appetite for Latin American oil and minerals increased environmental degradation and social conflict across the region.

Latin America has a number of strong regional institutions in the CAF — Latin American Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean that could work with the weaker Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to ensure that China’s plan for engagement for the region brings long-run growth in an environmentally sustainable manner that is also socially inclusive.

Unfortunately, unless there is a course correction in U.S. policy, it looks like — for a little while at least — it will be up to Latin American governments themselves to carve out a more constructive relationship with a Chinese government that appears more-than-willing to fill the vacuum potentially left by the United States.

This article was first published by Latin America Goes Global.

Photo by Jason Lee-Pool/Getty Images

India: Women in Political Representation in Nagaland

Men have dominated the political space since the beginning of the 20th century, when the troubled history between Nagaland and India began.

by Lianboi Vaiphei-Mar 6, 2017

( March 6, 2017, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Around the world, tradition often opposes equality. But when it comes to the question of gender equality, such situations can become volatile. That’s what happened in India’s Nagaland this February, when protests relating to women’s political participation killed two people. The conflict has also led the government of this eastern federal state to play a game of political musical chairs.

The political violence erupted prior to municipal elections, when women’s organisations, under the leadership of the Naga Mother’s Association (NMA), demanded the application of Indian law 243(T) of India’s Constitution, which states that 33% of seats should be reserved for women within local political bodies.Nagaland, one of the eight northeastern Indian states, is mainly composed by ‘Naga tribes’ – a term coined by British anthropologists but which refers to various indigenous populations – who inhabited a large territory there before India’s independence. There are at present 17 Naga tribes in Nagaland, with distinct languages and customs.

Their demand was vehemently rejected, and male politicians invoked “tribal traditions” as their main argument. The conflict spurred deadly street protests in which mobs attacked offices, and shops were destroyed in the main cities.

Safe and bright but not equal

This situation contradicts a popular perception of gender equality in the Naga society. Naga women are often depicted as educated, hardworking and independent, and are admired for their enterprising spirit.

Nagaland and Naga society have also been praised for ensuring women’s safety. As India has been singled out for a huge number of reported rapes and crimes against women, such crimes occur at low rates in Nagaland.

But safety does not translate to equality. Naga society is also deeply patriarchal, and it is believed that women must be respected and their security cannot be compromised – especially by men.

But the traditional law of the Naga society clearly distinguishes gender roles and gendered responsibilities. For instance, women are in charge of domestic issues, such as family and its related issues, while man deals with society, including village administration and councils.

Women have therefore been excluded from the political realm. They are not allowed in the traditional village councils that oversee village management, and from “village development boards”, smaller local institutions that regulate economic projects.

Most villages in Nagaland have reserved 25% of village development boards seats for women, but that quota exists on paper only. In reality, traditional norms prevail. In its history, Nagaland has had only one woman representative as Member of Legislative Assembly (State Assembly) – in the 1970s.

A historical fight to be included in politics

Men have dominated the political space since the beginning of the 20th century, when the troubled history between Nagaland and India began.

Local consciousness of a distinct social identity emerged as part of a patriarchal discourse after the ‘Naga Club’ was formed in 1918. Young boys from different Naga tribes met in different educational institutions and hostels, and they together constructed a common “Naga” identity.

Women were largely absent during the rise of Naga nationalist movements, as, per the traditional fabrics of Naga society, any issues of social or political importance are the domain of men.

Zeliang Naga, rehearsing in traditional warrior dresses for a touristic festival.
Vikramjit Kakati/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC

In response, organisations such as the NMA have arisen. Women were the first victims of the violent crisis (1952-1970) that emerged from the conflict between the Nagaland insurgency and India.

Indeed, the NMA also played a major role in the negotiations – the latest leading to a 2015 ceasefire – but were conveniently excluded from the negotiating table with the Indian States. It, apparently, was a “dialogue of men”.

The activism of groups such as the NMA has encouraged women to join pressure groups to defend their rights. However, the glass ceiling limiting their participation in politics and ability to own land remained untouched.

Women saw some hope in 2006, as the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act granted “33% reservations to Naga women in local bodies”, according to the Eastern Mirror. Since then, the NMA and others have been fighting to implement the law. Their efforts paid off when, last year, the Indian Supreme Court granted their petition.

The February 2017 elections could have changed history for Naga women.

An infringement on tribal customary law

Instead, confronted with violent civil unrest, the present Naga’s People Front (NPF) government had to defer the elections. The strong opposition came from traditional tribal bodies, including the Naga Hoho groups (an apex body of 16 Naga tribal groups) and a higher authority, the Naga Council Dimapur (which is accepted as a indigenous and customary body, representing all the Naga tribes).

These groups assert that granting women seats in local bodies would not only dilute the traditions of Naga society but also be “unconstitutional”. They refer to the Article 371(A) of India’s Constitution which says that “no Act of Parliament” should apply to the State of Nagaland when regarding religious, political, social or law practices of the Nagas.

The argument of infringement by the Centre Government in Delhi on tribal customary law is not new, and it is particularly sensitive in Nagaland, which became the 16th state of the Indian Union on December, 1 1963, after years of defiance and conflict with the Indian Republic.

Behind the gender issue, the bigger picture

It also resonates with the physical presence of the Indian army for years and the use of special powers to armed forces on Naga land. The people of Nagaland have no choice but to accept it due to geostrategic location of the state in relation to countries such as Myanmar.

Oren Mozhui, a pop-singer from Nagaland has released a single in tribute to ‘Naga heroes’

Tribal political bodies perceive both the February elections, which were pushed by a government allied to the central government, and the municipal institution itself as possible interference with tribal customary law. That is why, under pressure, over 150 candidates out of 535 have withdrawn their nominations.

The events surrounding have snowballed to create a volatile situation where traditions, modernity and gender equality are at the crossroads. Some fear the electoral situation will lead to more impositions by India’s central government, which the Naga see as arrogant and dangerous.

Already, under pressure from local groups, several Naga women groups have severed ties with their lead women’s organisation pushing for the 33% quota, the Naga Mothers Association. Whether the authorities go ahead with the gender reservation or not, Naga women may now find themselves in a lose-lose situation.

Lianboi Vaiphei, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Thai king strips fugitive monk of his rank – army

2017-03-01T043855Z_403109950_RC1303B98100_RTRMADP_3_THAILAND-BUDDHISM-940x580

A Buddhist monk walks inside Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province. Pic: Reuters

6th March 2017

THE former Buddhist abbot at the heart of a standoff with authorities at Thailand‘s biggest temple has been stripped of his monastic rank by the king, the military government said on Sunday.

The symbolic step comes more than two weeks after police surrounded the scandal-hit Dhammakaya temple and began searching for Phra Dhammachayo, who is accused of money laundering.

The standoff at the temple represents one of the biggest challenges to the authority ofThailand‘s junta since it took power in 2014. The former abbot has not turned himself in and police say his followers have hampered the search.

SEE ALSO: Thailand temple row exposes power struggle

A document published in the Royal Gazette said King Maha Vajiralongkorn had agreed to the government’s request to demote Phra Dhammachayo because he had not turned himself in and had fled from the charges against him.

“Thus he does not deserve to hold his monastic rank any longer,” the document said.

The measure does not mean Phra Dhammachayo has been defrocked as neither the king nor the government has the power to do that. Only a religious council can take such a step.

The Dhammakaya temple declined to comment on the measure.

SEE ALSO: Thailand: Police order thousands of worshippers out of scandal hit temple

The former abbot faces charges of conspiracy to launder money and receive stolen goods, as well as taking over land unlawfully to build meditation centres.

His aides dismiss the accusations as politically motivated. They say that he is too sick to face questioning and that they have not seen him for months.

The Dhammakaya Temple’s brasher approach to winning adherents jars on conservatives, who say it exploits its followers and uses religion to make money. The temple says it is as committed to Buddhist values as anyone else. – Reuters

Dalai Lama says Chinese hardliners have parts of brain missing

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama puts a towel on his head during a news conference in Paris, France, September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/Files

Tue Mar 7, 2017

Chinese hardliners have parts of their brains missing, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said in an interview aired this week, comments likely to infuriate Beijing, which views the Nobel Peace laureate as a dangerous separatist.

The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.

The animosity between the two sides, and their rivalry for control over Tibetan Buddhism, is at the heart of the debate about reincarnation.

Speaking to U.S. comedian John Oliver in India's northern town of Dharamsala, where the exiled Tibetan government is based, he also said he might be the last Dalai Lama.

"Very possible," he said. "If I become the last Dalai Lama, I feel very happy."

Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death.

China says the tradition must continue and its officially atheist Communist leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor, as a legacy inherited from China's emperors.

The Dalai Lama has suggested previously the title could end with him, when he dies. China accuses him of betraying, and being disrespectful of, the Tibetan religion, by saying there might be no future reincarnations.

Asked if he was worried China might appoint its own Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader said it would be foolish.

"Our brain usually, you see, has the ability to create common sense," he said. "The Chinese hardliners, in their brain, that part of the brain, is missing."

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tibet's delegation to the annual meeting of China's parliament, which opened on Sunday, is likely to hold a news conference some time this week. Such meetings tend to be dominated by the issue of the Dalai Lama.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Precision medicine the theme at world's biggest cancer conference

New era of targeted treatment that will extend survival rates detailed at American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting

Advances in genetic profiling will allow for cancer treatments that extend survival while reducing toxic side effects. Photograph: Alamy

Sarah Boseley in Chicago-Friday 3 June 2016 20.12

A new era of cancer treatment is beginning in which patients get drugs matched specifically to their tumour, according to scientists at the world’s biggest cancer conference in Chicago.

Precision or personalised medicine, as it is called, “is about targeting treatment so that it’s more powerful, while reducing the toxicity, so there are fewer side-effects”, said Prof Roy Herbst, chief of medical oncology at Yale Cancer Center. “At the moment it’s more like using a cannonball to kill an ant – and creating a whole lot of damage at the same time.”

The talk at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting this weekend is of longer survival and fewer toxic effects through this approach, which is being made possible by advances in genetic profiling of the tumour itself.

A number of studies will present results at Asco showing that this approach can extend survival in many different cancer types, while a study being launched in the UK – if all goes as experts hope – could result in up to 7,000 women being spared the toxic side-effects of chemotherapy, while saving the NHS an estimated £17m.

The UK trial, called Optima, is being run by University College London and Cambridge University and funded by Cancer Research UK. Beginning in the summer, it will recruit 4,500 women with breast cancer, whose tumours will be genetically tested as soon as they are diagnosed to establish which will respond to chemotherapy and which will not.

“It will be a significant step forward,” said Dr Robert Stein, a consultant in breast cancer at UCL. “In every area of cancer treatment we have largely functioned on a one-size-fits-all basis because we didn’t have tools to do any better.”

Of the 50,000 or so women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year, about 40%, or 20,000, are currently given chemotherapy but only half of them do well as a result of it; in the other half, the benefit is unclear. The researchers hope to find out which of the latter group actually need chemotherapy.

“We would expect to reduce chemotherapy within the trial population by about two-thirds,” said Stein. “We are looking at between 5,500 and 7,000 fewer a year being treated with chemotherapy than are currently treated. It’s quite a big deal.”

A trial run by University College London will genetically test 4,500 women with breast cancer to determine if they will respond to chemotherapy Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA

The downside of chemotherapy is serious. “There are a small proportion of women who die from treatment. I normally quote 1%,” said Stein. People can be off work for six months to one year and some never recover emotionally, he said.

Precision medicine, one of the main themes at Asco this year, was described by Herbst as “about finding the right key for the lock – finding out what it is that is driving the tumour, what makes it tick. At the moment it is informed guesswork, so that treatment often doesn’t work for large numbers of patients.

“In some ways it is simple – it means that you can make sure you are giving the right drug to the right person at the right time. In others it is very complex, because there are so many pieces to the jigsaw. We need to put the puzzle together.”

The future is already here, said Herbst. Patients who are given the more established “targeted therapies”, the best known of which is Herceptin, are already tested to ensure they are among the group in the population whose tumour has a particular genetic variation.

Herceptin works only for the 20-25% of women whose breast cancer is Her2 positive – it has too much of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which makes the tumour grow.

About half of melanomas have a mutation in a gene called BRAF. Drugs targeting BRAF have had some spectacular, if sometimes short-lived, results but can be dangerous in people whose tumours do not have the mutation.

Cancer patients who are given targeted therapies such as Herceptin are tested to ensure their tumour has a particular genetic variation. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Instead of these single tests to match a patient with a specific drug, many experts want to see genetic profiling of all tumours, in the hope that they can design a package of treatment to suit the individual. But cost is an issue.

“I think in five years’ time we will be profiling most patients,” said Herbst, who is leading a trial on personalised medicine in 800 patients with advanced squamous cell lung cancer called the Lung Cancer Master Protocol (Lung-MAP) and is an honorary professor at UCL. “The difficulty is resources – this is $4,000 to $5,000 per test,” he said. “I think they [the NHS] need to find a way to fund it.”

Genetic testing can be used to select the patients who will best respond even in early clinical trials of new drugs, a study presented at Asco has found. These trials are mainly intended to establish whether the drug is safe, but the study of more than 13,000 patients in 346 trials found that patients had significantly better outcomes where genetic profiling took place.

In trials using precision medicine, tumour shrinkage rates were 30.6% compared with only 4.9% in those that did not.

Maria Schwaederle, of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at the University of California San Diego school of medicine, said: “Our study suggests that, with a precision medicine approach, we can use a patient’s individual tumour biomarkers to determine whether they are likely to benefit from a particular therapy, even when that therapy is at the earliest stage of clinical development.”

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Expose` : Navy criminal team that killed innocent students for extortion payments ! hitherto unrevealed bloody nightmare !!

By Wimal Dheerasekera

(Lanka-e-News -05.March.2017, 11.45PM) There is only one genuine norm that is followed when going to war. It is to crush the enemy in front of you , or if that is not possible , to die fighting the enemy . On the other hand if the enemy is crushed, the victor is the one who caused the defeat .

In which case the victorious soldier earns the recognition of ‘war hero’ . Otherwise , the coffin is wrapped in the national flag and interred. In this engagement , how many were killed or got killed are not reckoned as crimes.

While that should be the genuine aim and objective of a war , killing innocents exploiting the war and under the guise of war are certainly unpardonable crimes clearly and undoubtedly. Such killers can never ever be considered as war heroes , because they are war criminals out and out.

In any country where there is a war , war heroes as well as war criminals existing is natural . But that does not mean all of them are war heroes or all of them are war criminals .

In fact , in any war , there exist only a few war criminals. If those war criminals are not identified and punished it is the war heroes in entirety who will be fastened with the ‘war criminal ‘label .Therefore no civilized lawful ruler would hesitate to punish the war criminals. In the same way . if any ruler fastens the spurious label ‘war hero’ on such criminals , and makes proud self glorifying announcements ‘I am prepared to face the electric chair punishment on behalf of war heroes’ and screams for lies ‘ war heroes are being hauled up in courts’ , surely such a ruler is either a rascal , an imbecile or is raving mad.

Such rascally crooked rulers have only led their country to the worst holocaust ,and they do not stop until dragged the country into another war .World history has proved this trend beyond any trace of doubt.

Sadly , while the war was raging in Sri Lanka for three decades and the war heroes were battling it out in the field , criminals of the Naval forces of Sri Lanka took advantage of the war , and under that pretext abducted 11 individuals including school students and killed them ruthlessly and most brutally after collecting extortion monies. Fortunately for the country the Navy criminals were exposed, at least after many years . But unfortunately for the country, and unbelievably it is these brutal criminals the president recently attempted to save !

Identifying war heroes as opposed to war criminals

The details of these crimes were not highlighted by any of the media , and shameless media coolies and villains sought to suppress them .It is therefore the aim of this report to reveal the details based on absolute truth with the hope that the people can adjudge who is a war hero as opposed to a war criminal . By that they can also know what category of brutes and beasts the rulers belong to who are moving heaven and earth to fasten the spurious label of ‘war heroes’ on ‘war criminals’.

These 11 individuals including innocent school children belonged to Sinhala , Tamil and Muslim races residing in Colombo , Wattala, Kotahena, Dehiwala and Katunayake as well as the Northern province, and they were abducted during 2008-2009 period. It is significant to note all of them were children from affluent families .

Their names and addresses are as follows :

1.Kasthuri Arachilage John Rit alias John , 38/28 , Ratnam Road, Kotahena , Colombo 13.
2.Rajeew Naganathan alias Malli , 87 , Shoe Road, Kotahena , Colombo 13
3.Pradeep Vishwanathan . 1/6/220, Wasala Road, Kotahena , Colombo 13
4.Thilakeshwaram Ramalingam , A/F/12 , Bloemendhal Flats , Colombo 13
5.Mohomed Sajid , 40 , Clifton Lane , Dematagoda, Colombo 09
6.Jamaldeen Dilan , 75/ 12, Maligakande Road, Colombo 10
7.Amanon Lyon ,Arippu North, Arippu
8.Roshan Lyon, Arippu North , Arippu
9.Anton Kasturi Arachi , 38 /28 , Ratnam Road, Kotahena , Colombo 13
10.Thyagaraja Jegan , 42, Linganagar , Trincomalee
11.Mohomed Ali Anver alias Hajiar , Fernando Road , Karagampitiya , Dehiwala

It has by now been discovered that employing diverse methods , these victims were abducted and murdered after collecting extortion payments , by a group of wicked demonic officers engaged in special duties in Parakrama ships Institution affiliated to the SL Naval force under the former Lieutenant Commander Sampath Chandana Hettiarachi and ex Lieutenant Commander Don Nilantha Sampath Munasinghe (Navy Sampath) who was then the personal security officer of the ex Navy Commander Vasantha Karannagoda .

Evidence has been now furnished which substantiate the fact that Ranasinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasinghe a Lieutenant Commander then ( now promoted as Commander ) who was functioning as the intelligence officer of the SL Naval ships’ pool , on the instructions of Navy Sampath has detained these victims in an underground chamber called ‘Gunside’ belonging to Trincomalee Navy and Ocean academy , until extortion payments were collected , and the victims were killed thereafter .Moreover these victims have been most cruelty tortured before they were murdered , evidence indicate.

Group including Ali Anver alias Hajiar and Rajeev Naganathan abducted and killed …

Following instructions given to Ali Anver by Sampath Munasinghe , five individuals from Kotahaena including Rajeew Naganathan and Pradeep Vishwanathan were summoned to Fernando mawatha , Dehiwala on 17 th September 2008.

Thereafter , by a team headed by Lieutenant Commander Sampath Chandana Hettiarachi , the group including Naganathan was abducted after brandishing firearms and frightening them . The victims were then detained at the aforementioned underground Gunside detention chamber .Navy soldiers Kumara Kottegoda , Chandrakumara , Kithsiri and petty officer Hettiarachi have joined with the team that committed the abduction.

After the abduction of the group including Rajeev Naganathan , a sum of Rs. 10 million was demanded via phone from Naganathan ‘s father Govindasamy Naganathan if the victims were to be released without being killed . However after collecting the extortion payments the bodies were severed . Then those bodies were drowned and destroyed in the far off sea.

Some time after these crimes were committed , Ali Anver alias Hajiar was abducted in February 2009. The victim’s brother Siraj Ali lodged a complaint with the Dehiwala police about Ali Anver’s disappearance.

The abduction of Ali Anver was carried out by a team operated by Lieutenant Commanders Sampath Chandana Hettiarachi and Ranasinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasinghe on the instructions of Sampath Munasinghe. Petty officer Mendis, sailors Gamini , Sanjeewa, Kottage, Kithsiri, and Chandrakumara have also joined this team .

After Ali Anver was abducted and taken to “Pittu Bambu’ building at Chaitya Road , he was assaulted. A Navy officer by the name of Aluthgedera Upul Bandara gave evidence regarding the abductions of Naganathan and Ali Anver .

Bandara has also in his evidence state, the black color car No. KC 5559 used by Naganathan was robbed on the instructions of Sampath Munasinghe , and handed over to the group which included Sumith Ranasinghe and petty officer Mendis

More murders that came to light based on evidence of other witnesses.

Soosaipillai Amalon Lyon and Roshan Lyon residents of Arippu North were temporarily detained at Ramanathan flat , Colombo. After storming into the Flat , the two brothers were frightened , and their belongings were robbed. Thereafter ,they were abducted and detained in the torture chamber at ‘Pittu bambu’ at Chaitya Road.

K.P.L.P. Wickremesuriya , a Navy soldier in his evidence revealed , it was Lieutenant Commander Sampath Chandana Hettiarachi who committed the abduction . Wickremesuriya has been in Hettiarachi’s team of abductors at that time.

Another abduction came to light based on the evidence of Wickremesuriya . That is the abduction of a Sinhala youth Kasthuri Arachige Antony of Ratnam Road , Kotahena. The team of Sampath Chandana Hettiarachi after abducting Antony had detained him at Pittu bamboo torture chamber , and subsequently transferred to the underground ‘Gunside’ at Trincomalee . According to the evidence of Wickremesuriya ,group of members of the special intelligence division as well as Ranasinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasinghe were responsible for Antony’s abduction and murder .

Meanwhile the tenth victim in the list , Thiagaraja Jegan a student was abducted and a sum of Rs. 500,000.00 was demanded via phone from his mother Theagaraja Parameswary and sister Theagaraja Jeya if he was to be released without being killed .It was Commander Ranasinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasinghe and his team comprising members of the special intelligence division that have carried out this operation. In this connection the victims’ mother and sister have given evidence. The telephone call exchanges have confirmed the veracity of their evidence.

Vaas Gunawardena in league with Naval force criminals.

Ex DIG Vaas Gunawardena who is now incarcerated over the abduction and murder of a businessman of Bambalapitiya with extortion motive has also been associated with the Naval force criminals based on investigations. Investigations have revealed two Sinhalese nationals ,Gamaralage Shantha Samarawickrema of Hettimulla , Kegalle and Pradeep of Ibbagamuwa , were abducted in 2009 with extortion motive.

Those abductions were committed directly by Vaas Gunawardena , and the victims were held in detention in the ‘Gunside’ Trincomalee by Ransinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasinghe and his team of special intelligence division members until the extortion payments were collected. After extortions were successfully carried out, the bodies of the two victims , were drowned , and caused to disappear in the far off sea .

Shockingly ,it is these ruthless murderers who committed a chain of gruesome killings of innocent citizens , the former Navy commander Vasantha Karannagoda , present Navy Commander Raveendra Wijegunaratne , ex chief justice Sarath N Silva , Shaveendra Silva and minister Wijedasa Rajapakse the well known rogue who has acquired a monumental notoriety for also aiding and abetting rogues , were seeking to extricate and rescue them from these most brutal crimes. President Maithripala Sirisena too was in the ready to rescue these confirmed cruel criminals . These rascals and scoundrels left no stone unmoved to rescue these criminals by fastening the label of ‘war heroes’ on these most brutal and bestial criminals.

Yet , the officers of the CID who respect the laws and were working with assiduous ardor in the best interests of the country gathered 34 witnesses in connection with these ghastly heinous crimes committed by most bestial heartless Navy officers.

Unassailable scientific evidence and investigative evidence have been unearthed by the patriotic CID officers . Supported by this evidence two more suspects were arrested on 2 nd night , and were remanded after being produced before court on the 3 rd. Dhammika Anil Mapa lieutenant commander who was taken into custody earlier on is already in remand custody .

The two Navy criminals - the latest suspects are..

Commander Ranasinghe Pedige Sumith Ranasighe residing at Thalagahamulla watte Maharagama , Giriulla ( who functioned at that time as an intelligence officer of SL Naval ships’ pool ) , and an ordinary sailor Thilakaratne Lakshman Udayakumara residing at Paluketuwewa , Kahatagasdigiliya .

Charges of abduction , illegal detention , threatening with death , robbery , extortion , inflicting cruel torture ,committing murder , as well as conspiring to, aiding and abetting to commit those crimes have been filed against these suspects in respect of the 11 victims under the penal code , the firearms Act , and inhuman torture Act , and action is being duly taken in courts .

True war heroes need no protection of pensioned Grama sevakas

The masses and the true war heroes must understand , the foolish defeated, deposed and disgraced ‘dictator’ is making public announcements ‘I have a backbone’, ‘ even if the UN Organization desires , I will not allow charges to be mounted against the war heroes’, and ‘I am the only savior and protector of war heroes’, not to rescue the true war heroes but to rescue the ‘war criminals ‘ who committed the most heinous and ghastly crimes .

True war heroes don’t need the protection and patronage of wayside ‘Grama sevakas’ who have gone on pension . The term war hero ipso facto means , he is an individual who had risked even his life to protect others . It is such an individual with such a magnanimous and brave heart who is a ‘war hero’ and not a two penny half penny worth ‘Haalparuwa’ ( a non entity) with a double tongue and hideous double face. Hence , true war heroes must therefore act with caution and safeguard themselves from hypocritical criminals who are pretending to act for and on behalf of them , and time serving opportunists who are deeply in their toils trying to save the criminals .

By Wimal Dheerasekera

Translated by Jeff

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by (2017-03-05 20:26:01)

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION MONITORS ISSUE JOINT DECLARATION ON ‘FAKE NEWS’, DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA

05/03/2017

Geneva/Vienna (3 March 2017) – Leading monitors of freedom of expression around the world have come together to issue a Joint Declaration on freedom of expression, focusing this year on so-called fake news, disinformation and propaganda.

The action was taken by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, along with his counterparts from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).

Mr Kaye says: “Fake news” has emerged as a global topic of concern and there is a risk that efforts to counter it could lead to censorship, the suppression of critical thinking and other approaches contrary to human rights law. In this Joint Declaration, we identify general principles that should apply to any efforts to deal with these issues.”

The Declaration identifies the applicable human rights standards, encourages the promotion of diversity and plurality in the media, and emphasizes the particular roles played by digital intermediaries as well as journalists and media outlets.

Joint statement follows:

JointDeclaration3March2017.doc by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Keppapulavu protestors rally against surveillance on fifth day

05 Mar 2017

Tensions arose between Sri Lankan security forces and people protesting for land returns in

Keppapulavu on Sunday.

As the Keppapulavu families continued their protest for the fifth day and were joined by various supporters, they were subject to extreme surveillance from a heavy presence of police and military personnel.

Demonstrators gathered in front of a monumental armoured vehicle to protest the ongoing intimidation and surveillance by the armed forces within the protests themselves.