UN Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka & The Tamil People

By Brian Senewiratne –April 10, 2017

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

Sri Lanka recently co-sponsored a resolution at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), allowing Sri Lanka two more years to implement the recommendations made in Resolution 30/1 of 2015. The outrageous decision is devastating for the survival of the Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka and also calls into question the credibility of the UNHRC.

On the very day it was passed in Geneva, President Sirisena in Colombo promoted a war criminal to a senior position in the Armed Forces, sending a clear message to the international community in general and the UNHRC in particular that he had not the slightest intention of doing what Sri Lanka undertook to do in Geneva. It was all a joke, not to be taken seriously. It has reduced the Human Rights Council to irrelevance.

There is talk of the “slow progress” made the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Where the Tamils North & East are concerned, it is “no progress”. The North – East continues to be under the heel of the brutal Sri Lankan Armed Forces that has committed all these atrocities and continues to do so. So where is the progress – ‘slow’ or otherwise?

The Tamils in the N&E are not concerned with the ‘benefits’ to those in the rest of the country from the change in Government from the dreadful Rajapaksa regime to that of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s friend and former colleague, Maithripala Sirisena. Their problem is an entirely justifiable fear – fear of the Armed Forces that control the area and who treat the area as ‘conquered territory’ and the inhabitants as the ‘spoils of war’. For them the change from Rajapaksa to Sirisena is only a name-change of no consequence.

Of serious concern is the extensive relocation of Sinhalese from the South to the Tamil areas – ‘Sinhalisation’. This is proceeding at such a pace that the Tamils will become a minority in the only area where they are a majority. Sri Lanka will be a Sinhala-Buddhist nation – the Mahavamsa mind-set – that Buddha ‘gave’ Lanka to the Sinhalese to foster his doctrine.

If Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist country, what then happens to those who are not Sinhalese and not Buddhists? There are only 4 things that can happen – 1) to leave the country – as a million Tamils already have done, 2) to involuntarily ‘disappear’ 3) to become ‘non-people’ with no land, no occupation, and no rights 4) to die – slowly but surely, which is genocide of the Tamil people.

There are scores of publications on this disastrous situation. Countries in the HRC are fully aware of all this, or should be aware, since it is common knowledge. To claim that they are unaware is nonsense.

The HRC is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

To claim that ‘promotion and protection’ of human rights of the Tamil people in the N&E has been done by the United Nations (UN) or the UNHRC, is arrant nonsense.

Let us look at the past activities of both the UN and the UNHRC. The current (March 2017) decision of the UNHRC to give another two years for the GoSL (to continue to do what it has done all these years – to make Sri Lanka into a Sinhala-Buddhist nation) is simply a continuation of what has gone on for years. To claim that this is “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights” is not only nonsense but dangerous nonsense. It is a gross irresponsibility by both the UN and the UNHRC.

The only thing that has changed is that Ban Ki-moon, the worst Secretary General the UN has ever had, has been replaced by Antonio Guterres, the former High Commissioner for Refugees (2012-2015) and prior to that the Prime Minister of Portugal (1995-2002). Whether Guterres will be better than Ban Ki-moon, is too early to tell. He certainly cannot be worse.

May 2009 – A UNHRC disaster

On 27 May 2009, just a week after the end of the slaughter of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka’s N&E, the UNHRC passed a deeply flawed resolution at a ‘Special Session’ on Sri Lanka. It praised the GoSL whose Armed Forces were responsible for the repeated indiscriminate shelling of civilians. There was not even an expression of concern for the thousands of Tamil civilians killed and the 350,000 men, women and children locked up in the largest open air detention centre in the world. The gross violation of human rights and humanitarian law committed by the Government Armed Forces was ignored. The crucial message that the GoSL needed to hear – to ensure access to displaced civilians and uphold human rights – was not sent. This undermined the very purpose of the Council.

The majority of Council members, including China, South Africa and Uruguay, ignored a call for accountability and justice for the victims made by the then High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay. She called for an independent international investigation into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Here is what she said: “The images of terrified and emaciated women, men and children fleeing the battle zone ought to be etched in our collective memory. We must act”.

Instead the resolution reaffirmed the principle of non-interference in the domestic jurisdiction of States, a backward step by the Human Rights Council.

Human Rights Watch in a Report released on the same day (27 May 2009): “Sri Lanka: UN Rights Council Fails Victims. Member States Ignore Need for Inquiry into Wartime Violations” expressed serious concerns.

The Report rightly blamed Ban Ki-moon: “Secretary General Ban Ki-moon regrettably undercut efforts to produce a strong resolution with his recent comments on Sri Lanka. Ban publicly praised the Sri Lankan government for “doing its utmost” and for its “tremendous efforts” while accepting government assurances, repeatedly broken in the past, that it would ensure humanitarian access to civilians in need”.

Ban Ki-moon also distanced himself from the entirely appropriate warnings by the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, April 2009, that the fighting in Sri Lanka could result in a “bloodbath”. Unlike the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-moon failed to press for an international inquiry.

The Report ended with: “Secretary General Ban shares the blame for the Human Rights Council’s poor showing on Sri Lanka. This adds to a crisis of confidence in UN bodies to speak out clearly on pressing human rights issues”.

As recently as March 29, 2017, Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative on the U.N. Security Council, dismissed the UNHRC as “so corrupt”. Addressing a meeting on Foreign Relations in New York she said,: “I mean, the Human Rights Council is so corrupt that it includes ‘bad actors’ who use it to protect themselves”.

Geoffrey Robertson

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Why Sri Lanka had too many revolutions?

orty six years ago on April 5, the JVP launched its first rebellion, which was quickly extinguished though at a hefty cost of lives. A second uprising followed 17 years later and caused mass carnage. In between, another insurrection that over time transformed itself into mindless terrorism flared up in the North, and held this country hostage, until it was conclusively defeated in 2009 through equally brutal means. 

2017-04-11

Why Sri Lanka had too many revolutions.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

BASL gives a slap in the face answer to the outrageously erroneous decision of JSA !

(Lanka-e-News - 10.April.2017, 8.00PM)  The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) gave a slap in the face answer to the decision taken by the Judicial Service association (JSA) comprised of judges of the low rungs which demanded  that R.Kannan  the newly appointed high court judge shall be removed from that post.

The BASL quoting article  111(2) of the constitution said , the BASL shall not intervene . Under this article  , the recommendations made by the JSA based on disciplinary grounds  only can be considered by the JSC   ,and not anything else . Though the BASL can make recommendations in regard to appointment of lawyers to posts of judges, as regards promotions of judges in   lower rungs , there are criteria governing those , the BASL had pointed out , in response.  

This decision was taken by the BASL in response to the request made by the JSA, when addressing the issues  that had sprung up.  Senior silks  and past  presidents of the BASL who met at the BASL OPA room on 2017-03-20 at 6.30 p.m. took this decision. 

Present
Mr. Ikram Mohamed PC
Mr. Ajantha Athukorala
Mr. Upul Jayasuriya
Mr. Geoffrey Alagaratnam P C

Excused
Mr. K Kanag- Isvaran P C
Mr. Faiz Mustapha P C
Mr. Nihal Jayamanna P C
Mrs Maureen Seneviratne P C
Mr . W Dayaratna PC
Mr. Upali  Goonaratne P C 

The Views sent by Mr. K. Kanag - Isvaran P C, Mr. Faiz Mustapha P C, Mr. Nihal Jayamanna P C were tabled at the meeting. Members considered the views expressed by the three PCs and unanimously accepted their views. They agreed that the BASL should not get involved in recommending the removal of a High Court Judge who has been now appointed. This can only be done in terms of Article 111(2) of the Constitution subject to the disciplinary Control of His Excellency the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission. 

Further the following recommendations were made in this regard  - 

1.The BASL has a duty and every right to look after the interests of the members of the Bar and to ensure quality justice, and in that the BASL is entitled to make recommendations to His Excellency the President of eminent members of the Bar for judicial appointments.

2.Members of the Bar who have joined the Judiciary by way of direct appointments have proved to be successful and eminent judicial officers and to therefore request His Excellency the President to consider recommendations made by the BASL from time to time for appointments to the Judiciary.

3.There should be a transparent criterion adopted in promoting judges such as 

*Consideration of the No. of judgments written. 

*Consideration of the no. of judgments reserved but not written

*Quality of judgments and whether they have been sustained in the Appellate Court

To constitute an Advisory Committee consisting of Senior President’s Counsels and Past  Presidents to advise the President of the BASL in matters of such importance.

By a special correspondent 

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by     (2017-04-10 14:51:50)

Prez pledges to follow ‘established procedures’ in appointing judges

By Shamindra Ferdinando-April 10, 2017, 10:34 pm 

President Maithripala Sirisena has assured National Unity Alliance (NUA) leader Azath Salley that political interference wouldn’t be allowed in the appointment of the new President of the Court of Appeal.

NUA leader Salley yesterday told The Island that he had received an assurance from President Maithripala following the front-page story headlined ‘CC urged to thwart ‘political interference’ in yesterday’s edition of The Island.

"I’m glad, President Sirisena responded immediately after the alleged political interference was brought to his notice."

President of the Court of Appeal Justice Vijith K. Malalagoda, PC, was recently appointed to the Supreme Court after being overlooked on more than one occasion and, as a result, the post of the Appeal Court President fell vacant.

President Sirisena has told Salley that A. H. M. D. Nawaz would be appointed on April 11 (today) to function as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal pending a permanent appointment.

Salley has told President Sirisena that the administration had interfered in the established procedure and recommended Justice P. R. Walgama, third on the seniority list, through the Office of the Chief Justice to the Constitutional Council chaired by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

The Constitutional Council comprises Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, Ministers, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, John Seneviratne, MP Vijitha Herath, Sarvodaya Leader A.T. Ariyaratne, former UN official Radhika Coomaraswamy and former Attorney General Shibly Aziz.

Salley has brought to the notice of President Sirisena that it isn’t fair to interfere in the Office of the Chief Justice Priyasath Dep. Responding to a query, Salley claimed that he had informed President Sirisena that the Office of the CJ had been told to issue a letter recommending Justice Walgama.

Alleging that the latest move had severely undermined the Constitutional Council established in accordance with the 19 Amendment to the Constitution, Salley said that the recommendation in respect of Justice Walgama had been made at the expense of Justice Deepali Wijesundera and Justice A.H.M.D. Nawaz, first and second judges of Court of Appeal as per seniority.

Salley explained that President Sirisena’s assurance meant that the recommendation that had been sent to the Constitutional Council couldn’t be considered and a fresh recommendation would have to be made by the Office of the Chief Justice.

ADMIRAL SARATH WEERASEKARA ON PRAGEETH AND SANDYA: LIES AND DAMN LIES

Image: Sarath Weeraseka at a side event, HRC 34. Credit Freddy Gamage.

10/04/2017

Rtd. Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, a former MP under Rajapaksa and who attended the 34th Session of Human Rights Council is now propagating complete lies about abducted and disappeared journalists Prageeth Eknaligoda.

Prageeth was working as a journalists in lanka-e-news when he was abducted, he had written many articls and drawn many cartoons.

Police investigaters have unerthed  clear evdence that Prageeth was abducted and taken to military camp in the East.

Prageeth’s wife Sanday Eknaligoda too attended the 34th session of HRC. She arrived in Geneva on 06th March and left for Sri Lanka directly from Geneva Air Port on 10th March. She stayed in Geneva all from 06th to 10th March 2017.

Sarath Weerasekara arrived at  Human Rights Council after Sandya left for Colombo. On 12th March Ceylon Today reported that ‘Rtd. Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara will leave for Geneva tomorrow’ . By the time Weerasekara reached Geneva, Sandya Eknaligoda was back at home.

Speeking to Ceylon Today (09 April) Weerasekara has told number of lies about journalists Prageeth Eknaligoda and Sandaya Eknaligoda:

“Prageeth is not a journalist and he has written only one article.”

” I saw his wife Sandya in Geneva. From Geneva she left for Paris.”

“She went to Paris to see her husband. That is the truth.”

“Many people have seen him [ Prageeth Eknaligoda] there [ in Paris]. It’s okay if she has gone to see him.”

Here is the relavent section of the interview published in Ceylon Today on o9th April 2017.

What about the murder of ‘Sunday Leader’ editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda and the ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen? Why didn’t the former government probe such murders and disappearances?

A: Those are not war crimes.

But these cases are also alleged to have links to the security forces and you have not addressed them. Don’t you think so?

A: There are thousands of cases still not attended to and you are talking about Ekneligoda. Is he a journalist first of all?

Journalist or not, why don’t you condemn his disappearance?

A: You said he was a journalist and I am saying he is not. He wrote only one article. I saw his wife Sandya in Geneva. From Geneva she left for Paris.

What do you mean by that?

A: She went to Paris to see her husband. That is the truth.

Are you sure he is in Paris and how do you know it?

A: Many people have seen him there. It’s okay if she has gone to see him.

If what you say is correct, why didn’t you or the Rajapaksas get him down or publish his photograph because his ‘disappearance’ has ruined the reputation of the security forces?

A: True. We failed to bring him down, but now we cannot do anything about it. Over his disappearance, 13 soldiers were remanded. Under section 296 of the Penal Code the body of the missing person should be found or there must be an eye witness to charge or remand someone. However, the soldiers were remanded without any charges. Also Major General Chaggi Gallage was not issued visa to travel to Australia.

Truth Commission will be set up soon: Harsha

2017-04-10

The government will be in a position to set up the Truth Commission soon and to gazette the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) under a selected ministry, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva said today.

He said reconciliation was not an easy task but assured the Government would go ahead despite obstacles by 'racists and those with petty political agendas'.

“We are moving ahead as fast as we can to achieve reconciliation. As a sovereign country and people, we have taken steps within a democratic setting,” he told Daily Mirror.

He said there was no pressure from the international community on Sri Lanka though Sinhala and Tamil extremists in the country were attempting to ignite racism by provoking religious leaders and people on the UN resolution and Constitutional amendments.

“They are hell-bent on misleading the people and sabotage reconciliation efforts. These groups are sowing seeds of disharmony by the lucre amassed in the past,” the deputy minister said.

When asked about the two-year-extension given by the UNHRC to implement the UN resolution, he said the Government has given a timeline to the people of the country.

“Constitutional amendments are part of this timeline. Our stance is to move ahead while protecting our identity,” the deputy minister said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

Watching Syria, Seeing Sri Lanka 

By Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka –April 10, 2017

Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka

It was not easy to watch the proceedings on Friday April 7th at the UN Security Council’s emergency ‘open session’ on Syria without thinking of Sri Lanka, although the actual circumstances of the UN’s engagement with the two countries are very different.

Only one thing seemed alarmingly similar. It seemed like a set up.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley’s dramatic gesture of holding up photographs of chemical-gassed children only served to bring to mind the now famous theatrical display of a vial of anthrax by US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the same venue to warn the Council of the imminent danger that lay before the world from WMDs in Iraq.

It was only a matter of time before one of the members would hold up a photograph of that particular shameful attempt, and so it happened at the hands of the Bolivian Ambassador/Permanent Representative Sacha Lorenty who proved that there are still good men left in the world, taking on every irrational argument by the West, and quoting his President Evo Morales’ condemnation of the US strike on Syria, even though Bolivia had no dog in this fight. He stood up for the principles that all those Security Council members had signed up to.

The Russian Deputy Ambassador inevitably referred to the 2003 ‘Anthrax episode’ as well, since the Security Council session’s target for verbal recriminations by US, UK and France was more Russia than Syria. He made it a point to warn Britain not to even try to get into a war in the Middle East because in that part of the world they remember, he said, Britain’s colonial hypocrisy.

Ambassador Nikki Haley, new to diplomacy, and apparently new to due process, insisted that “while the Syrian regime is responsible for the chemical weapons attack, it is not the only guilty party.” Really? Had the UN completed its investigations? It hadn’t. Is the new world order ‘Post-UN’ as well as ‘Post-Truth’? She continued: “The Iranian government bears a heavy responsibility. It has propped up and shielded Syria’s brutal dictator for years.” Oh please. In this digital age where information (including about past decades) flows freely, when it comes to propping up brutal dictators, which country comes to mind first?

The Bolivian ambassador helpfully reminded the Security Council about the overthrow of Allende in Chile and the training, sponsorship and support to brutal military juntas throughout Latin America. Add to that the more recent practice of propping up ‘moderate rebels’ who then turn into moderate terrorists.

Is this looking like an improved way of conducting international relations? Could this become the new norm? Aren’t we lucky that the world is increasingly multipolar? And bless those vetoes! Listening to the UK Permanent Representative’s outrage and indignation at Russia for blocking sanctions on Syria, one had to wonder if the UN was not to play any role at all, except to provide the room, the table and chairs for the Western Big Powers to indulge in their prejudgments while bullying the rest into compliance.

Russia was in the process of negotiating a resolution for a credible investigation to gather facts about what actually happened in Idlib, Syria, when the Trump attack took place. Isn’t an impartial UN investigation necessary anymore? As the Bolivian Ambassador explained at the media stakeout at the UN on April 7th, the Security Council could not be expected to accept without question the findings of the intelligence agencies of those states that were opposed to the Syrian regime.

The US missile attack flouted a number of provisions in international law. The Security Council is meant to prevent threats to international peace and security. And here were three of the five permanent members cheering on the violation of the sovereignty of another country and verbally carpet bombing Russia for not agreeing with them.

No sane person would condone chemical attacks. Not even after the most powerful state in the world set a terrible example in the in the 1960s and 1970s in a failed attempt to bring a poor Asian state to heel. Whatever the color of the chemical agent (sorry, defoliant), the perpetrators need to be stopped, once they are properly identified. But all within agreed norms and standards. I daresay UN standards. I would go further: those who have been recognized as past perpetrators could even be made to apologize and compensate the victims. That would surely stop future miscreants.

Was the US missile attack on Syria meant to be R2P? That requires sanction from the Security Council. It wasn’t even sought. It was completely unilateral. Take a bow, President Trump.

It’s frightening how similar this is turning out to be to like the story line of the ongoing Season Six of the TV series ‘Homeland’ (with Claire Dane as Carrie Mathieson and Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson). The plot is scarily simple. The newly elected President tries to go independent of the ‘Deep State’. The Deep State carries out false flag attacks. The President tries valiantly to resist the pressure from the media and more personal threats from the Security Establishment with the help of dissenting elements within it. But she seems doomed to failure and the Deep State destined to win. As on TV, so in life. (The US version is an adaptation of an original Israeli TV series and book.)

Sri Lanka faced similarly outraged diplomats from the West in 2009. The then British FM was particularly passionate, flying across to the US in April 2009 to lobby then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was later discovered that Minister Miliband had ‘electoral compulsions’ which drove this effort, when his top aide admitted this to a ranking US diplomat in London who cabled it to Washington (the world read it courtesy WikiLeaks).

Seeing how the West brings in its full arsenal including its control of global media into play to support its interests, the unqualified thwarting of their concerted efforts to put Sri Lanka in the dock at the UN in Geneva in 2009 for its victorious war against LTTE terrorism, is a singular achievement. I can hardly believe now, that nearly two thirds of the UNHRC voted with Sri Lanka, despite the West’s best efforts, including the personal involvement of the powerful Secretary of State and future presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.

Since then we have seen the West’s escalation on the Sri Lanka issue at the UNHRC, imposing resolution after resolution requiring War Crimes related inquires, first on a hapless postwar Rajapaksa administration without a clue as to how to respond to the combined onslaught from Human Rights lobbies, Diaspora groups, and powerful states which later included our neighbor India, and then on the new Yahapalana administration which laps up every indignity with relish.

Viewing the live TV coverage of the April 7th debate on Syria at the UNSC, it looked like hypocrisy has now evolved to even greater heights (or descended to even greater depths) in those very same powers who are attempting discredit Sri Lanka’s war of reunification of this island, a third of which was under separatist terrorists. The unilateral missile attack by the US on a sovereign country while resolutions were being negotiated at the UN and peace talks were on-going in Geneva, was hailed by Western allies for being ‘restrained’. That makes it alright then.

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SRI LANKA: I HAVE A LIST OF PEOPLE TO BE HANGED – RAJAPAKSA REP WEERASEKARA

10/04/2017

Rtd Admiral Sarath Weerasekara who attened the UNHRC 34th session representing former president Rajapkasa led Joint Opposition (JO) says that he has a list of tratiors who shoud be hanged. He further says that once the Rajapaksa come back to power they will file cases against them and if proved gulity they will be sentenced to death.

He was dubbed as Gota’a War hero!

In his interview he has mentioned 3 names of such tratiors: Dr. Paikiyasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando and Sunanda Deshapriya.

He has stated his opinion in an interview with a English weekly with is being publishd by another Rajapaksa supporter.

A summarised version of his interview follows:

I saw government representatives seated there in Geneva and the NGOs registered with the UN. I observed that only I spoke for 90 seconds in two general debates and I find many separatists Tamil pro-LTTE groups coming through various NGOs including persons like Dr. Paikiyasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando and Sunanda Deshapriya who spoke against the government and soldiers.

I am disturbed to hear some of these NGOs telling that young Tamil women are being used as sex slaves in our army camps. Do you think it’s correct? Persons like Nimalka Fernando should deny such claims.

They are still claiming even now that Tamil women are being used as sex slaves. If we come to power these traitors should be charged with treason. That is what I would advise the government that comes to power next time. These people are traitors letting down the entire country and the armed forces.

They are not asking for justice. They are asking for a separate Tamil homeland.

The government should address them and take judicial decisions. In other countries it takes years to establish the truth but only we are being rushed by everybody because we defeated the LTTE.

I cannot send anyone to gallows, but I have a list of names. When the next government comes to power, we will file cases against them for treason. If the charges are proved beyond reasonable doubt, the punishment would be death. We don’t need a military government to do that. Anyone can file a case against anybody.

I think as in the US, Singapore and UK, people here must be given military training to be disciplined.

Summrised edited version of relavent paragraphs from a longer interivew published Ceylon Today on 9 April 2017

Mahindananda’s lies about London house

Apr 10, 2017

A front-runner in the gang of thieves in Sri Lanka parliament calling themselves the joint opposition is Mahindananda Aluthgamage. Recently, the media reported about his having sold, for 320,000 Sterling Pounds, a house he had bought in London. Lanka News Web broke that news.

Mahindananda has told parliament that a brother of his living in Japan had bought a house in London. However, deeds and other documents for the house received by LNW give the name of Mahindananda Aluthgamage as the owner. Therefore, it could be that he is having a brother by the same name. He said in response to a claim by deputy minister Ranjan Ramanayake that he has a brother in Japan by the name Vijayananda Aluthgamage and that he had bought a house in England.

But, according the information we have, the flat 4, Blyton House, 19-23 Sydenham Hill, London was owned by the couple Ambagahapolage Asha Vijayanthi Aluthgamage and Meethalawe Mahindananda Aluthgamage. Vijayananda in Japan might have become Vijayanthi in England, or Vijayananda might have changed his name to Mahindananda, we don’t know. 

But, this shameless Mahindananda is deceiving the country’s most supreme place, the parliament. MPs have privileges, but there are who hide behind these privileges and play games. Lying to parliament is a serious crime. For Mahindananda who lives a life of lies it will be nothing to lie to parliament. What is wrong in that is that his being a minister in the past and now trying to become one again. The next question is as to how he can evade the law. 

Whoever the thief is, the thief should be exposed. It is ridiculous for a person like him to point out corruption in the present government. The country should know how, starting life at a Rs. 2,500 salary at a finance company, he had progressed to buy houses in London. That will expose as to why Mahindananda and others in the JO try their utmost to bring back the corrupt Rajapaksas to power once again.

Govt. finds fair and just solution to SAITM issue abiding by court decision : special training and exam !

(Lanka-e-News -10.April.2017, 7.40PM)   The ministry of higher education , abiding by  the court decision in response to government’s appeal, and the appeal made to the Supreme court by the GMOA which is being taken up for trial pertaining to the SAITM,  issued a communiqué on the 7th (copy of that official communiqué is appended) to resolve the SAITM issue.

According to that , Malabe Neville Fernando hospital is to be taken over  by the government , and after upgrading it as a teaching  , it  is to  be run continuously without interruption.

The students of SAITM medical College who pass the final exam are to be given a month’s training in surgery , gynecology ,obstetrics and pediatrics at Homagama and Avisawella hospitals.

Following this training the SAITM graduates will have to sit an examination again monitored  jointly by the Sri Lanka Medical Council and University Grants Commission .

In addition , the health ministry shall be gazetting the minimum standard of country’s medical education submitted  by the SL Medical council with the approval of the Attorney General (AG)

Sadly , while the report of the SL Medical Council on the standard of medical education was to be handed over  on the 7 th of April , the doctors struck work , and refused to treat patients  .

The communiqué as follows

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by     (2017-04-10 14:39:31)

China demands control of H’tota Port

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-2017-04-09

The government appears to be in hot water these days as the Chinese have demanded the complete handover of the Hambantota Port to the China Merchants Port Holdings Company, without the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) having any stake in it. The Chinese, on seeing the new amendments put forward by the SLPA urging them to reduce the 99-year lease plan to a 33-year lease, are also in a quandary as to whether they should release the US$ 1.2 billion loan, obtained by the former government, in full or to give it in instalments, Ceylon Today learns.

It is also learnt that the top Chinese official, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Yu Zhengsheng, who is also a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, the most powerful decision-making body in China, had arrived in Sri Lanka (6 to 8 April 2017), to put pressure on Sri Lanka to embark on the Hambantota Port project soon. The government, which was initially firm in going forward with the project, is now in two minds as the Chinese have demanded the complete control over the Hambantota Port.

The Committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena, to review the implementation of the project, has come to some sort of an understanding on the principal terms that were already being agreed upon.

"China is pressurising to get going with the project and the government needs the money to boost the country economically," reliable sources informed Ceylon Today.

A reliable source said China had said if there were variations in the terms agreed upon in the original agreement then they will also release the US$ 1.2 billion loan not at once but in instalments.

Minister of Ports Arjuna Ranatunga had given his submission pointing out the terms and conditions the Government had said they would like to take forward to the project, and willing to discuss further on the crucial terms tabled by the Chinese.

The government has requested the Chinese to agree to a 33-year lease plan instead of a 99-year plan and to also jointly review the progress every five years or so.

The government has been clear that two different authorities cannot run the Hambantota Port and the Colombo Port, but the Chinese have said they would want it run separately.

The Government has said they would want to take charge of the port. The security, bunkering, piloting and collecting port charges to come under one body, that is the Ports Authority, while the Chinese have refused the deal, the sources said.

"If that comes into play there would be two separate authorities in Sri Lanka running the maritime affairs," sources added. The initial deal on the revenue was that Sri Lanka would have a 20% stake and the Chinese would collect the majority 80%. However, the SLPA has now said they would want 40% of the profit and the Chinese to take the balance 60%.

The visit of Yu Zhengsheng is considered the visit of the highest ranking Chinese official next to Chinese President Xi Jinping's State visit to Sri Lanka.

Apparently, Zhengsheng has come to execute the contract, the reliable sources said.

When Ceylon Today contacted the Chinese Embassy to get more information on the VIP's visit, they said it's a high level meeting and cannot disclose further information.

The current Government is unable to pay back the US$ 1.2 billion loan the Rajapaksa Government obtained from the Chinese, hence the Chinese have come up with a deal to pay back the money with a favour of asking the Southern Port on a 99-year lease.

According to sources, the government audit shows that the entire Hambantota Port Project did not cost US$ 1.2 billion, but around US$ 800 million had been 'played out' and the cost of the project does not include the land value and that was mere sacrifice by the former government, it was revealed.

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( April 10, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “Two Mercedes Benz S600 (Customized Limited Edition) cars have been bought spending Rs. 574,270,099 for the use of the President say reports. The Secretary to the President has made a request to Customs for a tax relief for the two cars that have been unloaded in the port (Chassis No. WDD2229762A295414 and WDD2229762A295805), ” Colombo-based news portal Lanka Truth has reported.

The two vehicles have been custom-built to meet security needs and cost a lot more than normal vehicles of the same range. However, the fleet of vehicles in the President’s vehicle reserve include three bulletproof Benz cars imported when Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa was the President, several other bulletproof vehicles and a large number of vehicles. Another expensive luxury car was bought for this fleet last year as well. According to internal sources this vehicle is for the use of President’s son.

The value of the famous Cadillac Beast car used by former US President Barak Obama was close to US$1.5 which is nearly Rs. 230 million.

Crimes within police on the decline! 

 Apr 10, 2017

Under the incumbent IGP Pujith Senarath Bandara Jayasundara, the Sri Lanka police department is experiencing a steep decline in crimes committed within the institution, say employees of the department. As a result, the police are in danger of losing its crown as the most corrupt institution in Sri Lanka.

The reasons attributed for this is what IGP has introduced to the department. Every employee at police stations in the country should engage in meditation between 8.30 am and 8.45 am every day. Jayasundara has tasked ASP Prasanna Brahmanage, known in the department as ASP (Bhavana) with overseeing the meditation. He is helped by inspector Priyadarshana.

It can be seen at police stations from 8.30 am that from senior DIGs to lesser ranks, all officers put down the files in their desks and getting onto the desks, engage in meditation for 15 minutes. The IGP gets daily reports from Brahmanage about this meditation.

If any crime is committed between 8.30 am and 8.45 am, police can be informed only after 8.45 am, with the IGP assuming that no crime will happen during that period.

Also, road accidents have decreased due to the traffic police, on the IGP’s instructions, pinpointing accident-prone areas and chanting Seth Pirith at such locations. We wish that the police chief will get more such just ideas in the upcoming Sinhala Tamil New Year too.