Maithri’s Gazette On Lands Adjacent To Wilpattu National Park

Written by Latheef Farook, Colombo Telegraph

April 6, 2017
Calculated Move to Prevent Muslim Refugees from returning to their lands?
On Friday 24 March 2017 President Maithripala Sirisena signed a gazette notification, during his official visit to Russia, declaring around 100,000 acre lands adjacent to Wilpattu National Park as “forest conserves”.

The inevitable question is why it was signed in Russia in such mighty hurry as if the whole world was coming to an end. Why didn’t he sign it in Sri Lanka. This controversial gazette, signed without taking into consideration the rights of Muslims refugees from the area, has caused serious concern among Muslim and triggered an unwanted controversy at a time when the country faces several acute political, economic and social crises.

Muslims now suspect this as a carefully planned and executed conspiracy to deprive them of their lands. They believe that racist elements have exploited the state machinery and misled President Sirisena to issue this gazette notification. They consider so called discussions with Muslim delegations planned by officials on the issue are only to hoodwink Muslims.

It is known that Sinhala racist elements were trying to block Muslims who, lived for ages in some of these villages and kicked out by LTTE fascists during the ethnic war, from returning to their lands from refugee camps and rebuild their shattered life.

Racists who persecuted Muslims during Rajapaksa regime, began a vicious campaign, distorting facts and misleading the nation, accusing Muslims of illegally clearing forests adjoining Wilpattu National Park and settling down there. Muslim refugees were only trying to return to their lands.

This controversy prevented Muslims from returning to their lands.

Already a comprehensive report prepared after extensive research by a six member team of academics led by Professor Shahul Hasbullah of Peradeniya University on the issue was submitted to President Sirisena. The report explained that the contested area in question was not located in Wilpattu. Returnees of the refugees remains the crux of the matter, but the ongoing controversy labelled returnees as ‘criminals’.
Under such circumstance one would expect President Sirisena, elected with the complete support of the Muslim community, to be fair by the Muslim refugees who neither asked nor encroached government lands. All what they wanted was to return to their own lands. They expected President Sirisena to conduct an impartial inquiry and understand the facts before issuing such gazette.

It was not done. As a result Muslims’ legitimate rights were dismissed. Frustrated and angry Muslims expected Muslim parliamentarians to jointly meet President Sirisena, explain the injustice and persuade him to withdraw the gazette.

Unfortunately Muslim parliamentarians who are keen on positions than the interests of the community failed to respond. They , especially those from Sri Lankan Muslim Congress which has ended up as Munafiq’s ( hypocrites) Congress, are busy accusing each other of  corruption, adultery, fraud and other such evil deeds displaying their moral bankruptcy disgracing the helpless community.

Instead of joining hands with Minister Rishard Bathiudeen to help ensure the rights of Muslim refugees Minister Rauf Hakeem and his team of sell outs started a vicious campaign against Minister Bathiudeen forcing Senior Minister A.H.M. Fawzie to caution   them.

Even former President Chandrika Kumaratunga said recently that Muslim politicians do not raise issues faced by the community unlike Tamil politicians who always raise issues of concern to Tamils. Even SLMC’s ousted general secretary Hassan Ali said recently the SLMC failed to raise Muslim issues. Perhaps he waited until he was removed from his post to make this statement.

However tension began to rise among Muslims accusing the government of abandoning them and pampering the very racists whom Maithri-Ranil team pledged during elections to contain.
With   Muslim parliamentarians failing to respond, the Muslim civil society took the initiative to take up the issue and held a meeting at All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema, ACJU, office in Maradana on Thursday 31 March 2017.

One of the participants told me that they met ACJU to try to use Friday Juma sermons to explain the crisis to Muslims. The need to use Juma sermons to educate Muslims of the challenges faced by the community has been a long felt one. Knowledgeable Muslims make repeated appeals urging ACJU  to use Juma sermons to address serious issues threatening the community. However this fell on the deaf ears of ACJU. Most Friday sermons were confined to subjects often irrelevant to the time.

ACJU has so far miserably failed in this respect and it cannot make any contributions to political issue. Under such circumstance involving ACJU is nothing but politicizing an organization which refuses to come out of its medieval mindset.

Meanwhile a Muslim delegation met President’s Secretary Palitha Abeykoon following day on 1 April 2017 to put forward their views to be passed on to President Sirisena.

During the meeting Minister Bathurdeen pointed out the unjust nature of the gazette while parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman said before signing this gazette President Sirisena should have spoken to Muslims. He said even now it is not late. The President could appoint a commission or a committee to verify facts and take a decision instead of simply throwing Muslims who suffered for more than three decades due to a racist war which is not of their making.

In the midst during a television discussion Minister Feizar Mustapha who owes his ministerial portfolio to  Sinhala political leadership defended the gazette notification saying Muslims were not affected by the gazette notification. This is not strange as he also defended former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he demolished Muslim owned house in Slave Island and threw them with their families on the road.
Instead of displaying his ignorance trying please Sinhala leadership Minister Mustapha should have attended the special National Shoora Council meeting during which Professor Hasbulla explained in detail the calculated damage done to the Muslims of the area.

National Shoora Council NSC, umbrella organisation of 18 national Muslim organizations, which formed a committee  to explore measures to ensure the rights of Muslims refugees, held a special meeting on 5 April 2017.Chaired by NSC chairman Tariq Mahmud the meeting was attended by several Muslim parliamentarians, lawyers, prominent journalists and other intellectuals.

Professor Hasbulla made a comprehensive presentation explaining how the gazette notification deprived Muslims of their land and confining them to a Gaza type enclave. He said only 40 percent of  the Muslim refugees have returned so far and around 60 percent of them are awaiting to return. The question is where to settle the refugees awaiting to come as, under this gazette notification, they cannot claim their own lands.

Meanwhile in a press statement Muslim civil society   said President Sirisena was misled to believe that the IDPs were encroaching the Wilpattu National Reserve, which he later withdrew and declared that “Not an Inch of Wilpattu Land” has been encroached.

Unfortunately, once again, anti Muslim forces have managed to convince the President to declare large extents of private and permit lands of Muslim IDPs as a forest conserve. This is total violation of the “Right of Return” of these patriotic citizens whose only crime was opposing the division of the country by the LTTE.

They called upon President Sirisena to withdraw the Gazette notification.

Muslims also begin to suspect that the anti-Muslim campaign carried out with violence under Rajapaksa government has been carried out invisibly by racist elements in the administration now.  Thus Muslims in general they begin to think that for them so called yahapalanaya government is no different from Rajapaksa regime.

SRI LANKA: CAMPAING FOR ENSURING EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MUSLIM WOMEN GETS BROADER SUPPORT

06/04/2017

We the undersigned find the recent statements of the Chairperson of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), that reform of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) is not needed, to be unacceptable.

It is patently clear that the ACJU has contributed to the 8-year delay in the reform process despite the desperate need for substantive reform of this law. Furthermore, the recently released submissions of the ACJU on MMDA reform, completely ignores the present day lived realities of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.

SRI LANKA CAMPAING FOR ENSURING EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MUSLIM WOMEN GETS BROADER SUPPORT.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Whose invisible hands are prodding the JSA to behave like a private bus union ? asks a former judge

(Lanka-e-News -07.April.2017, 9.30AM) It is an incontrovertible  fact that the Judicial Service Association (JSA)  most odiously  remained deaf and dumb when ex president Mahinda Rajapakse during his 9 years lawless reign chased away a chief justice  (CJ)  after hearing a case against her ,the verdict of which case  was delivered by a grade nine qualified Weerawansa  ;  appointed a chairman of a private bank as a CJ  and similarly gave appointments to misfits ; as well as  interfered with the judicial courts most unlawfully .

Then why is the JSA now pained at   the appointment of Ramanathan Kannan as high court judge legally based on accepted legal   norms and traditions ?  is a most pertinent question.

The JSA at its recent conference passed a resolution that the appointment of Kannan as high court judge shall be suspended.  This resolution only reflects how infinitesimally small is the knowledge  of law of these stupid  judges. They only betrayed their abysmal ignorance of the basic laws : after the appointment of a high court judge , he can be suspended from his duties only if he has acted in breach of the disciplinary code.

Kannan is an experienced  lawyer who was in the Attorney General’s (AG) department where he has a  10 years experience . He is not one who secured the post after being a brief -less lawyer roaming the court precincts or bootlicking or fawning on  someone . He is a  lawyer with a substantial professional income  ,efficient and who has proved his mettle .

The other repugnant and repulsive  announcement made by the magistrates association appearing in  the name of JSA is :  A high court judge is a magistrate promoted. This is  to distort the true picture and mislead society.Even the private bus association would not make such ludicrous and foolish distortions ,   or act this shamefully  or disdainfully as the Judicial Service Association . 

Appointments made to the higher courts are not magistrate promotions .  As a rule , across  the whole world , most talented  lawyers ,efficient  lawyers who are children of reputed lawyers ,highly  competent lawyers who are children of the judges of higher courts with excellent backgrounds or successful lawyers in private practice do not join the judicial service as magistrates.  This is common knowledge , and so it is in Sri Lanka too.

Sadly , there are matters the JSA does not talk about….. 

Those who secured magisterial positions merely  on facial shallow charm and cosmetic value; the non investigation of complaints received by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) ; and  judges facing grave charges getting appointments as judges of  higher courts . The JSA is on  mute mode in regard to these irregularities  .There is a whole list of such examples : Judges who have no knowledge of English and know nothing about law, for instance judges who at one time made offerings of court productions such as wicker, tusks, sterling gold and Buddha statues to temples violating laws most flagrantly , and committing criminal irregularities  .These so called judges of the JSA who are showing misplaced concern  and agitating against  Kannan’s appointment  are dumbfounded in relation to such judges.
 
What’s more ? The son of a former secretary of the JSC was given a post at Galle courts with a huge six digit monthly salary ; judges of courts allowing  the khaki uniformed police officers to do what they want and serve as their ‘rubber stamps’; judges travelling  in the police jeeps for inquests into sudden deaths yet collecting  fuel allowance; using  the cops to get their outside work done; abusing official powers to secure undue gains ;  displaying the judge ‘label’ and obtaining fish free from fish stalls ……..If these rascally actions are not enough for these so called mentally warped judges of the JSA who are deaf and dumb to these ,  we can make more exposures :

Judges forming unions is  against ethics .  But to the inferior quality beings who are holding posts of judges  , that does not concern them .

If it can only  be understood who are behind the JSA and pulling the strings to make its members dance like puppets , then it can be realized it is the politicians discarded not once but twice by the masses who are behind  these traitorous and treacherous activites.

The aims and actions of the magistrate association are therefore absolutely mala fides , and not in good faith .It is a conspiracy against the government pure and simple.

By a former judge
Translated by Jeff  

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by     (2017-04-07 04:09:54)

Is Ranil Checkmating Sajith By Making Fonseka Assistant Leader Of The UNP?

By Lankamithra  –April 7, 2017

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson

When one looks at the immediate future of leadership of the United National Party (UNP) with a keen eye, one comes to the inevitable conclusion that Sajith Premadasa is the natural successor to Ranil Wickremesinghe. But with the rumored entry of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka into the UNP as an Assistant Leader, another new and tumultuous chapter will begin in the storied Grand Old Party (GOP) of Sri Lanka.  Sarath Fonseka is a natural and real hero of the Sinhalese Buddhists. He is a person who has shown immense stamina to withstand the humiliation brought on by the Rajapaksas, resist their political witch-hunt, endure two and half years of jail time, and who had the guts and resilience to contest the Rajapaksas at their peak. With the entry of the former Commander of the Army who delivered the victory against the Tamil militants, the leadership-conundrum of the UNP will get muddier, to say the least.

UNP’s history of electing leaders

Unlike the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), whose leaders have arisen from one single family until, almost after fifty years of the emergence of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena, the election of leaders In the UNP has been relatively transparent. A sensible observer would not fail to note that at each stage of leadership change, except when Dudley Senanayake succeeded his father D S Senanayake in 1952 after latter’s death, there has been relative calm and peace in the wake of each succession. And each succeeding leader had had the full collaboration and unstinted support of the entire party. Despite the grave difference between Dudley and J R in the late sixties up to early-seventies, when the latter assumed the leadership of the UNP, he managed to take full and complete control of the party and secure an unprecedented victory in the 1977 elections.

No political party has obtained such a resounding mandate from the voters thereto and since. Nevertheless, entry of a total outsider, not an SLFPer, but an apolitical national leader in the caliber of Sarath Fonseka might upset many an applecart. The traditional UNPers would find it extremely uncomfortable in the presence of Fonseka. When leadership in political parties is in play in the main arena, all lofty ideals and inspirational rhetoric are thrown out the door. The lowest levels are stooped to and character assassination comes out as the principal tool in the hands of opposing contenders. Such loathsome political machinations manifested themselves in 1952 in the form of a short booklet, ‘Premier Stakes’ whose authorship was attributed to Sir John Kotalawela. However, it is most unlikely that such drastic and radical means would be adopted by any of the contenders in the field for leadership of the UNP today.

Sarath Fonseka is no unremarkable politician. His resume is rich with unparalleled achievements. He joined the Sri Lankan Army as a second lieutenant and rose to its zenith as Commander. His rank at the time was Lieutenant General. The rigid discipline of the army became part and parcel of him and he never hesitated to display that. Amidst an utterly undisciplined gallery of politicians, such a disciplinarian would unvaryingly stand out. In addition to his professional prowess, one outstanding quality that is associated with him is ‘strong-man’ image. In the narrow context of strong man, amongst the past UNP leadership, D S Senanayake, J R Jayewardene and Sir John Kotelawela stand out. The ‘Strong-man’ image is associated with two diametrically contrasting qualities. One is respect and the other is fear. Some leaders are respected by their followers as well as their adversaries while others are feared by their followers but loathed and disrespected by their adversaries. . All three aforementioned leaders, Sir John with his numerous weaknesses, were respected by their followers. Fear was never an emotion that was connected with that sentiment. R Premadasa belongs to the category of leaders who were feared but very seldom respected.  In political leadership, both sentiments, respect and fear, do play a very significant and crucial role. But those leaders who were feared by their own followers represent a very mean and base weakness of humanity- feared by the followers because these leaders hold power over them.

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Those who wait

Friday, 7 April 2017

Today, 5 April, as I write, my heart is strangely at peace. Not because justice has been done… or even looks remotely like it will be done in a singular landmark killing… But because the heart has its own reasons (of which reason knows nothing) – in the case which might stand, forever unsolved, on Sri Lanka’s post-war mediascape. Until the allegedly widely-known killers are identified conclusively, beyond the court of public opinion; brought to trial; and justice executed. 

Those who wait.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Who influenced magistrate to order bail for killer group?

Apr 07, 2017

At a hearing on the 30th, Mt. Lavinia additional magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama ordered the dissolution of an identification parade and granted bail for the suspects in the abduction and assault of ‘The Nation’ former editor Keith Noyarh.

The reason for her decisions was that Noyarh continued to be absent at an identification parade despite being informed through diplomatic channels. He presently lives in Australia. In a previous article, Lanka News Web questioned as to why he did not make an appearance at an identification parade. It is one thing to dissolve the identification parade due to the absence of the complainant. But, it is a totally different matter to grant them bail notwithstanding the fact that investigations have revealed that they (arrested state intelligence officers) were also suspects in the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge. The way charges have been filed in the Noyarh case prevents granting them bail.

Lochana Abeywickrama, who took up the case, was appointed to the judiciary by the notorious former chief justice Sarath N. Silva. She is the closest female friend of Aravinda Perera, a close confidante of both Sarath N. Silva and the ex-Rajapaksa regime. These are reasons to be considered as it was the Rajapaksa regime that had sent the state intelligence group to abduct Noyarh and to murder Wickrematunge.

Abeywickrama has no understanding of the law. The CID filed the charges under the charges of torturing Noyarh and under the firearms ordinance. She ordered bail despite the fact that magistrates cannot give bail to those accused under the firearms ordinance. And, she ordered them bail on an order received from the higher up.

The attorney general is to submit an amended application to the appeal court to get the bail order reversed. He has already taken up the matter with the CID.

Many believe that either president Maithripala Sirisena or prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is behind the bail order. But, reports reaching us say the ex-regime has positioned its henchmen at the appropriate places to ensure that the killers are freed and they too, are cleared of the charges. A political chameleon, Sarath N. Silva, is these days in the embrace of ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Overestimating himself ruins Weerawansa

• Everybody knew neither his demand would be met nor his fast would continue until death
• JO suddenly said he was fasting not against court ruling but against political witch hunt
• His over estimation made him be ridiculed not once, but twice

2017-04-07

Before former Minister and Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa called off his recent fast, who thought that his demands would be fulfilled due to the fast? Answer is nobody. And also who thought that the National Freedom Front (NFF) leader would continue his fast until his death unless his demands were fulfilled by the authorities concerned? The answer is again nobody.

Everybody in the country knew that neither his demand (whatever it is) would be met nor he would continue his fast until his death because of that. Nine days after he started the fast that followed the rejection of his bail application by the court he gave it up at the request of the Maha Sangha including the Mahanayake of the Ramanna Nikaya Most Ven. Napane Pemasiri Thera, as claimed by the leader of his party and his political companions, the Joint Opposition or the Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists. People expected something of the sort would help him to stop his fast and save his life as well as his face. Nonetheless, he was correct. He should not die for a vague or an ambiguous cause or for no cause.  

Why did he start the fast? When Bobby Sands of the IRA died at the end of a 46 day fast he had a cause. Mahatma Gandhi who also used the fast as a tool during his struggle against the British Raj had a cause. Even Thileepan and the Poopathy Kanapathipillai of the LTTE who died after indefinite fasts had a cause, though we accepted it or not.   

Weerawansa started his fast on March 22 after his bail application was rejected by the court on the previous day. He had been arrested by the police for allegedly misusing 45 vehicles when he was a Minister during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, causing a loss of Rs. 91 million to the State.  
Freedom fighters sometimes kill people and loot public or private property in the interest of their political movement. Even Chinese Communist Party Leader Mao Zedong is said to have looted a bank during his fight against Chiang Kai-shek’s rule. When they are arrested they claim that they are political prisoners despite the fact that they had been arrested for looting or murder, since they had violated the country’s laws in the interest of a political cause and not for personal gains.  

But here,Weerawansa had been arrested for alleged misuse of public property for personal gains. He was not given bail despite several requests made on his behalf. Then he started the fast. All media reported that he was fasting against the rejection of his bail application. Neither Weerawansa nor his party denied this at the initial stage. Then, after about a week the Joint Opposition, all of sudden started to say that he was fasting not against the court’s rejection of his bail plea, but against the political witch hunt carried out by the government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. JO might have shifted the cause of the fast as challenging a court ruling might amount to Contempt of Court.   

However, then the question remains as to what the government was supposed to do to stop the Parliamentarian’s fast. If he had demanded that he be granted bail, what was to be done was clear and specific. The government could have through the Attorney General amended the charges against Mr. Weerawansa, if possible, so that he could be granted bail. But, if he had started his fast against political vendetta what was expected was not clear. There are so many cases pending in courts and investigated by the FCID of the police against the government’s opponents. It is the judiciary that has to decide whether these are genuine cases or political witch-hunt.  

Nevertheless, nobody can rule out the fact that the current allegations of and investigations into corruption are selective. When the Yahapalana government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took office in early 2015 so many politicians of the former regime were hauled before the FCID, CID and the Bribery Commission but some of those cases seem to have been swept under the carpet. The cases against some of those who had aligned with the new government do not seem to be moving. If Mr. Weerawansa had pinpointed this selectivity through his fast as witch-hunt or political revenge, he was correct. 

But again that does not mean that the cases against him and others that are moving should also be swept under the carpet, rather it demands all cases be treated alike and those responsible for corruption and fraud including those in the government be brought before the law and punished.
Weerawansa’s fast was looked at by many with contempt even before he concluded it, because of the very fact that he had launched a similar fast in 2010 in front of the UN compound in Colombo against the appointment of a committee by the then UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon to advise him on Sri Lanka’s human rights issues. Weerawansa, a minister then wanted to disband the UNSG’s committee. That was also called a ‘fast unto death’ but was abruptly ended without any tangible result when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the site of the fast and offered him a glass of “thembili” water.   

Before the fast in 2010 against the Darusman Committee, as it was commonly called Mr. Weerawansa made several fiery speeches against the appointment of such a committee and called it a violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. In one of those speeches he warned the UN Secretary General that a minister of the Sri Lankan government was going to fast unless the latter withdrew the committee. This points as to how he had over estimated the position of the country as well as that of his in the international arena. These international forces do not budge even if a President, leave alone a minister of a country like Sri Lanka died in a fast. The British authorities were indifferent when ten fasting IRA prisoners including Bobby Sands died one by one in 73 days in 1981, demanding that they be treated as political prisoners. In Sri Lanka even after Thileepan and Poopathy Amma died in a 12 day fast and a one month fast respectively in 1987 and 1988, neither the governments here nor in India were moved.  

But something seems to have prompted Mr. Weerawansa to think that the UN system and the Sri Lankan judiciary would budge when he stated his fasts in 2010 and last month. It was this overestimation of self that made him be ridiculed not once, but twice.   

Ranil – Dinesh pow-wow successful, Wimal released

April 7, 2017

Former Minister of Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Wimal Weerawansa, who was remanded on charges of misusing several vehicles belonging to the presidential secretariat during Mahinda Rajapaksa regime was released on bail by Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna today (7th).

After the FCID arrested him for misusing the vehicles Weerawansa began a ‘hunger strike’ in the prison demanding he should be given bail. However, he gave up the ‘fast’, was admitted to prison hospital and from there he was transferred to National Hospital.

Joint Opposition Parliamentarian Dinesh Gunawardene had had discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wsickremesinghe seeking to get Weerawansa released and as a result Mr. Wickremesinghe had informed legal sections to make arrangements to get Weerawansa released on bail. On an earlier occasion too Prime Minister Wickremesinghe intervened to get Weerawansa released when he was arrested for using two passports to leave the country.

Weerawansa, who had misused several vehicles belonging to the government and thereby causing losses to the tune of Rs. 41 million to the government was released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 with two sureties of Rs. 500,000 each. The Magistrate also imposed a travel ban on Mr. Weerawansa. Earlier on 21st March a revision application filed by the MP was rejected by the Colombo High Court.

President Sirisena & Mahinda Rajapaksa Are In The Car Permit Scam!

By Nagananda Kodituwakku –April 7, 2017

Nagananda Kodituwakku

Sri Lanka: A Failed State with no Direction?

It is a hard truth that no country can move forward when those hold office and exercise people’s Executive and Legislative power are absolutely corrupt. However, it is very unfortunate that in the case in Sri Lanka, where the people are being ruthlessly and openly abused by utterly corrupt politicos, who attempt to show the outside world that in Sri Lanka the rule of law prevails. However, the track record of the new regime for the last two years proves otherwise.

New Govt (MS-RW) pledges to combat corruption

In its first fiscal policy statement of the new MS-RW regime, presented to the Parliament on 20^th Nov 2015, Ravi Karunanayake, the Finance Minister, went on to declare that the tax free car permit schemes adopted by the previous MR regime was open to abuse where the government had been incurring a revenue loss of Rs. 40 billion a year, hence proposed to abolish all tax free permits including the issuance of such permits to MPs. An extract from his speech is given  below.

‘… Honorable Speaker, the vehicle permit schemes have been politicized and misused and have created a huge revenue loss over Rs. 40 billion a year to the Government. I propose to abolish all the vehicle permits granted under different schemes, including to Parliamentarians. However, I ensure all government officers will be financially compensated for the benefit foregone. Further, all the vehicles purchased to the Government will be subject to all applicable taxes and necessary allocations will be provided in the Budget…’

In spite of this bold declaration it is very unfortunate that the same Finance Minister violated the pledge made to the people within a span of just 60 days.

President Sirisena pledges to address people’s desire to fight corruption 

Whilst attending the World Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12^th May 2016, President  Sirisena made a thought-provoking pledge to the world community accepting the responsibility to establish an administration free from all forms of corruption. He declared that ‘Corruption is one of the factors that promote political violence and other forms of human rights abuses. Sri Lanka went through such a stage during the previous administration. The people reacted strongly against corruption by changing the corrupt administration by the power of the ballet in January 2015 at the Presidential Election and again at the Parliamentary Election in the August 2016…’

And President Sirisena also declared that the current national unity government consists of two major political parties in the parliament under his leadership and the other led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickermesinghe both of whom were elected to office on the policy platform of democracy, good governance and rule of law with a prime duty to root out of corruption from the country.

Prime Minister Wickramesinghe’s stand against corruption

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s main slogan at the General Election held in August 2015 too was to eradicate corruption in the government business and to establish a government free of corruption that respects sovereignty in the people which includes the legislative, executive and judicial power.

The said declared policy against corruption by the government had been in line with the government fiscal policy enunciated in the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act No 3 of 2003 which reads as,  ‘Directing Principles and State Policy of the government’ and states that the government shall formulate its Fiscal and Economic Policy, having regard to the financial impact of its decisions on future generations [section 3 (g) of the Act] enacted inter alia to ensure and facilitate public scrutiny of fiscal policy and performance of the government.

Local and international media gave maximum publicity to the bold stand taken by the govt of President Sirisena to fight corruption whilst the citizens placed total trust in the Government’s declared policy against corruption. The international community as a whole valued the commitment of the new government to make Sri Lanka a better place. However,  it was a false hope.

MP car permit abuse exposes state-sponsored corruption at the highest level

From what has now been revealed about the organised frauds and corruption  involving those who hold office in the legislature and executive the government has begun losing its credibility in the eyes of the general public. In spite of more and more state-sponsored corruption coming into light in an unimaginable scale on a regular basis, the MP tax-free car permit abuse, continues to  occupy the most prominent place amongst them.

Beginning from Feb 2016, the new administration went  against its own fiscal policy statement of eradicating corruption with the re-introduction of the issuance of the tax-free car permits to all 225 MPs, enabling them to defraud public funds with total impunity.

How does the car permit scam defy the law causing a colossal loss of revenue? 

The tax-free car permits to MPs are issued in the pubic interest under Section 3C of the Excise (Special Provisions) Act No 08 of 1994, having regard to the economic development of the country facilitating the MPs to perform their office effectively and efficiently. However, the law stipulates that any person who intends to sell or dispose of any goods (including vehicles) imported tax-free shall obtain prior permission of the Director-General of Excise (in Sri Lanka tax charged on motor vehicles is called Excise duty) and to pay all levies exempted at the time of importation.

The investigation carried out into this MP car permit abuse, confirms that these permits are freely sold in the open market with buyers importing expensive vehicles and register them in their names as new owners, despite they  are not entitled to enjoy this tax-free privilege at all.

Complaints made to the CIABOC 

This fraud was first reported to the Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on 11^th Dec 2014. However, on 04^th March 2015, the then Director General CIABOC refused to enforce law citing the following reason.

‘…The Conditions in the tax-free permits were decided as policy of the government. Therefore any loss caused to the government due to the implementation of such government policy will not fall within the scope of Section 70 of the Bribery Act. Accordingly, please note that the Commission will not take further action on your complaint.”

In the absence of the rule of law MPs misappropriate tax-revenue with total impunity 

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MR displaying posters to self glorify exploiting demise of Ven .Duvuldena Thera condemned even by Lord Buddha as ‘low born’ trait !

(Lanka-e-News -07.April.2017, 9.45AM) The funeral of most Ven.  Aggamaha Panditha Davuldena Gnanissara Thera the mahanayake of  Sri Lanka (SL) maha sangha the apex religious body , took place on the 6 th of April with due performance of religious rites and with  full state honor. However , this most solemn and sacrosanct occasion was most profaned by a most disgraceful display never before witnessed at such funerals in S.L.’s history, and the ‘low born’ (in Lord Buddha’s words) individual responsible for this disgraceful sacrilege was no less a person than  Machiavellian Mahinda Rajapakse the deposed people discarded ex president. 

That is , as always deposed people discarded ex president Mahinda Rajapakse best known for worst hypocrisies and perfidies  exploiting even death and despair of others , as well as being  characterized by the overriding trait of a ghoul had cashed in on this bereavement too to score political plus points via  poster displays and shameless vain self glorification.

These posters had been printed  with an enlarged photo of Machiavellian Mahinda Rajapakse worshipping the most Ven .Thera with the inscription  ‘ may he attain Nibbana’ . In addition , the photograph depicts the ‘pirikara’ that he gifted . The true Buddhists who saw this exclaimed ‘Aney apoy’ in rude shock .

Low bred low born individuals like Mahinda Rajapakse have no qualms about  taking advantage even of the demise of a most venerable religious personality  to make a selfish self  vainglorious display  of themselves even profaning the hallowed ceremonies and  committing sacrilege only to demonstrate  this is how they hypocritically worship Lord Buddha.

‘ If an individual glorifies himself based on his acute inferior imagination , he is one of low birth’ 

(Lord Buddha – Suthra pitakaya, Buddhaka Nikaya, Suttha nipathaya, Uraga Vaggaya , Wasala suthraya – No. 132)

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by     (2017-04-07 04:20:18)

The most disabling health condition which needs an overall approach 

2017-04-07

Each year on April 7th – World Health Day, important areas of health are brought to the attention of the global community under the sponsorship of the World Health Organisation. The aim is to improve the health status of people and communities by raising awareness, generating interest and initiating activities among stakeholders. This year’s theme being depression, I wish to bring to the attention of the community a few important issues about depression in the context of Sri Lanka and the challenges faced in the country.   

What do we know about depression? 

The most disabling health condition which needs an overall approach.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Israel sunk in 'incremental tyranny', say former Shin Bet chiefs

Ami Ayalon and Carmi Gillon speak out ahead of 50th anniversary of occupation of Palestinian territories

Ami Ayalon, ex head of the Shin Bet intelligence services, suggests Israel has a dynamic ‘of ongoing war’ and ‘like 1984, there’s always an enemy’. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem-Thursday 6 April 2017

Two former heads of Israel’s powerful domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, have made an impassioned and powerful intervention ahead of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the country’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in June.

One of the pair warned that the country’s political system was sunk in the process of “incremental tyranny”.

Ami Ayalon and Carmi Gillon were speaking ahead of a public meeting at a Jerusalem gallery which is threatened with closure for hosting a meeting organised by the military whistleblowing group Breaking the Silence, one of the main targets of the rightwing government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his recent visit to the UK, Netanyahu also asked Theresa May to cut UK government funding to the group – a request that baffled diplomats as no direct UK funding exists.

“Incremental tyranny [is a process] which means you live in a democracy and suddenly you understand it is not a democracy any more,” Ayalon told a small group of journalists, including the Guardian, ahead of the event. “This is what we are seeing in Israel. The tragedy of this process is that you only know it when it is too late.”

Ayalon cited recent moves by ministers in the Netanyahu government to change the laws to hit groups such as Breaking the Silence by banning them from events in schools and targeting their funding, while also taking aim at the country’s supreme court and independence of the media.

Issues of freedom of speech and expression have become one of the key faultlines in Israeli society – in everything from the arts to journalism – under the most rightwing government in the country’s history.

The Babur gallery is under threat of closure after being censured by the country’s culture minister, Miri Regev, for holding an event with Breaking the Silence on publicly owned property – a group which Regev claimed “hurts Israel’s image”.

Gillon was equally bleak in his analysis of Israel’s trajectory, saying that the country was being “driven by this occupation towards disaster”.

He added: “This country was established on the values of liberal democracy, values written in the only kind of constitution we have – which is our declaration of independence – values we don’t fulfil any more.

 You can analyse what happened to us in the last 50 years, but everything is under the shade of occupation. It has changed us a society. It has made us an unpleasant society.”

The comments by Ayalon and Gillon come amid a growing and heated debate between the right and opponents of the occupation over the historic meaning of the six-day war, in June 1967, which marked the beginning of the occupation. Rightwing ministers celebrated the occupation on Thursday as the “liberation” of the occupied territories.

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“I am here,” added Gillon, “because I think that Breaking the Silence and groups like it are completely legitimate organisations. Sometimes I don’t like what they say, but the mission they took on themselves, through interviews with soldiers, should give a better understanding [about] what it means to occupy another people.”

The decision by Ayalon and Gillon to make such a public show of support, was seen as a big coup for the human rights group, which has been facing increasing official efforts to limit its activities.

The two also criticised the unwillingness of the Israeli media and senior opposition politicians to speak up for freedom of speech, in particular concerning the moves against groups like Breaking the Silence.

“They do what they do because they understand it is their moral duty. They are soldiers who serve and like every gatekeeper they hold up a mirror image of the Israeli reality in the occupied territories. What they see is very ugly. So we hate the mirror and blame the mirror and don’t hear what they say,” said Ayalon.

They added that they were also deeply concerned about a growing apathy in Israeli society where, after so many years, an occupation justified by the Israeli courts and legal system as temporary had come to defy the meaning of the word.

Ayalon suggested an Orwellian dynamic that supported Israelis in a state of fear for political ends. “What is necessary to pave the way for this concept of incremental tyranny is an ongoing war. It is like 1984. There is always an enemy.”

Just days ago Regev, a controversial rightwing minister, said that Breaking the Silence and others who supported it “had no place in Israel”.

The two former Shin Bet chiefs were speaking as it was revealed that one of Israel’s main official ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the six-day war would controversially take place in the settlement of Gush Etzion in the West Bank.

The two ministries will spend a total of 10m shekels ($2.74m) on events marking the anniversary of what the education minister, Naftali Bennett, and Regev described as “Israel’s glorious victory in the six-day war, and the liberation of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley”.